Tag: Gun Violence
Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence: ‘Trayvon is Dead Because a Man with a Violent History Was Allowed to Carry a Gun’
The Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence issued a statement following the verdict which exonerated George Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin. The statement reminds us that Trayvon would be alive today if people like George Zimmerman, who has never even had the decency to say he’s sorry for the mistakes he made the night he harassed and then shot an unarmed 17-year-old, were not trusted to carry a concealed handgun.
Even Rick Perry once said, “Oops.”
Dan Gross, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence today called the verdict, “part of a tragic event that could have easily been prevented.”
Gross said, “There is sharp disagreement over the verdict, but there can be no disagreement over the reason why Trayvon Martin is dead. George Zimmerman had a gun that night, and the state of Florida allowed him to carry it virtually anywhere despite a violent history. […]
White, Middle-Aged Americans at Greatest Risk of Suicide
40%
The rate of increase in suicide among middle-aged (35 – 64) white Americans during the decade ending in 2010. There was almost no increase among older or younger people, or other racial groups. Theories on the uptick include the poor economy during that time, and increased use of prescription drugs. Nearly half of the suicides were accomplished using guns.
Gun Company Stocks Nosedive After Its Lobbyists Prevail in Washington
Without the gun industry whipping them into a frenzy by telling them Obama’s going to take their guns away, people are less interested in buying more guns.
Gosh, whodda thunk?
Alliant’s (ATK, Fortune 500) stock price dropped 1.5% Thursday, after seeing its shares surge 38% over the last year. Ammunition maker Olin Corp. (OLN) fell 1.2%, after climbing more than 13% over the last year. Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC) managed a 1.7% gain Thursday, while Sturm, Ruger (RGR) slipped 1.5%.
The stock price for Cabela’s (CAB), a retailer dependent on gun sales, dropped nearly 5%…
Brian Rafn, a gun industry analyst and director of research at Morgan Dempsey Capital Management, said gun companies are going to have to figure out how to remain profitable now that the “visceral political craziness is removed from the equation.”
Don’t worry, the NRA and Gun Owners of America will come up with new lies tomorrow, and the people they’re counting on to believe them will dump more money on guns and ammo.
Senate Goes Rogue: Votes to Continue Gun Show and Internet Loophole
The next time there’s a mass shooting and they’re asked what they did to prevent it, they’re going to have to say nothing.
Erica Lafferty, the daughter of the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary, who was shot and killed along with 20 first-graders and five teachers during five minutes in December of 2012. Lafferty was reacting to news that the Senate failed to pass a bill to close a loophole exempting gun shows and online gun sales from background checks. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) joined three other Democrats and all but four Republicans in voting against the measure, which polls show that 90 percent of Americans favor.
Rick Warren Forgives Whoever Sold His Son the Gun He Used to Kill Himself. But Should He?
That was quick. Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren wasted no time in forgiving the person who sold online an unregistered handgun with the serial number filed off to his son, who used it to kill himself.
On the Thursday following 27-year-old Matthew Warren’s death on Friday, his father tweeted:
Someone on the internet sold Matthew an unregistered gun.I pray he seeks God’s forgiveness. I forgive him. #MATTHEW 6:15
The passage cited reads, from the New International version of the bible, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Warren is no doubt using the quick logic that if his son hadn’t gotten that gun he would have gotten another, because someone who is bent on suicide will find a way. But he should slow down and, painful as the truth is, examine that idea.
Colbert On Why We Don’t Know Gun Death Numbers
Colbert highlights an overlooked but significant — possibly THE most significant — change in the public’s attitude toward guns going forward. When Pres. Obama signed an executive order freeing the Centers for Disease Control to count gun deaths and injuries for the first time in 17 years, he made it possible for us to know the impact of the continuing escalation of gun violence in America. This is information the NRA and Gun Owners of America need to keep hidden, because if we realized the extent of the problem, we might do sensible things about it.
h/t to Beach Peanuts for the Colbert video.
