From Town Hall Thursday July 14, 2011::

Democrats to Introduce Gun Control Legislation Tomorrow

 

By Katie Pavlich

Democrat Representatives Maloney, Cummings and McCarthy, all members of the Minority on the House Oversight Committee chaired by Republican Congressman Issa, plan to hold a press conference tomorrow to announce new gun control anti-gun trafficking legislation in light of Operation Fast and Furious. The “Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act,” is designed to “keep high powered firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals, including Mexican drug cartels.”

U.S. Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) will join other members and a leading law enforcement organization for an event Friday, July 15th, 11:00 a.m. at the House Triangle to introduce the “Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act,” which establishes a dedicated firearms trafficking statute to empower law enforcement to keep high-powered firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals, including Mexican drug cartels.

More…

Again from Town Hall:

So let me get this straight, democrats want to punish law abiding Americans and impede on Second Amendment rights with new legislation “to prevent gun trafficking to Mexico,” however, aren’t willing to focus on the ATF and DOJ’s role in deliberately putting high powered firearms into the hands of criminals including Mexican drug cartels? It doesn’t matter how many gun control laws we have on the books if the federal government is willing to break them to push a political agenda, however, this is not surprising.

FLASHBACK:

“Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated.” –Special Agent John Dodson ATF Phoenix Field Division.

Damning new evidence from Capitol Hill shows that ATF Directors and Justice Department Officials knew about and encouraged the purposeful trafficking of thousands of weapons across the southern border, despite strong objections from ATF agents. Thousands of innocent lives were taken as the result, including those of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE Agent Jamie Zapata.

The announcement of new legislation comes just a day after Townhall obtained emails showing Operation Fast and Furious was designed to promote gun control and four days after the DOJ Deputy Attorney General James Cole, who is under investigation for his involvement in the scandal, released new reporting requirements for multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles.

New York Times Editorial July 13, 2011:

Gun Mayhem Along the Border

It is an open and deadly scandal that at least 70 percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico’s bloody drug war originate in the United States, where shady gun buyers operate freely thanks to loopholes in American law. To its credit, the Obama administration has ordered the more than 8,000 dealers along the border to begin reporting multiple sales of AK-47s and other semiautomatic battlefield weapons to the federal firearms bureau.

Straw buyers have been easily purchasing thousands of fast-firing weapons on the American side to supply the cartels, which deal drugs back across the border. These guns have no legitimate place in civilian life and were banned outright for 10 years until Congress and two successive administrations failed to fight for the ban’s renewal. In Mexico, semiautomatics have been at the heart of a five-year-long drug war in which more than 35,000 people have been slain.

The National Rifle Association, of course, is greeting the new regulation as an unconstitutional outrage against the right to bear arms. But the reporting of multiple sales of handguns is already required of dealers in all 50 states. Gathering information on a buyer of two or more semiautomatic rifles within five days is logical and overdue in the four border states. The rule, issued by the Justice Department, even provides that a report will be destroyed after two years if it produces no criminal cases.

Gun lobby sycophants in Congress are calling the regulation a smoke screen to distract attention from a gun-tracking operation botched by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Known straw buyers made purchases that were supposed to lead to the cartels’ main brokers. But hundreds of guns disappeared into Mexico, and two turned up at the scene of a shootout where an American Border Patrol guard was killed. If anything, the ill-conceived operation, which deserves the fullest investigation, is a measure of the firearms bureau’s frustration in dealing with porous American law.

More…

COMMENTARY: The ATF Fast and Furious scheme allowed thousands of guns to “walk” to the Mexican drug cartels.

Was it our gun laws that allowed this to happen? No.

It happened because ATF overruled its own agents who didn’t want the guns to “walk” and it overruled concerned gun shop owners who reported questionable gun sales to what looked to them like “straw” buyers.

So what is the “solution”:  mandatory reporting of gun sales. Was that the whole point of ATF’s Fast and Furious? Seems likely.

22,400 rounds of ammo seized heading south

Justice Department announces program to have semi-auto rifle sales reported in border states

And to put this in context…from the Arizona Republic July 15, 2011:

Guns in Arizona: Sales at record pace

by Max Jarman – Jul. 15, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Guns are selling at a record pace this year at sporting-goods stores and specialty shops in Arizona, creating millions of dollars in revenue for retailers.

The ability to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, general apprehension and lingering concerns that the Obama administration could crack down on gun ownership are among the sales drivers.

In Arizona, it is likely that more than 200,000 new weapons will be put in buyers’ hands after background checks this year. That figure doesn’t include firearms purchased at gun shows and through private transactions. Such non-tracked sales are thought to account for 40 percent of all sales, adding about 150,000 guns purchased annually. The estimated sales total: about 350,000 guns per year.

Retailers report that demand for small handguns that can be concealed in a purse or briefcase has soared, while sales of rifles and shotguns have remained flat or declined.

Firearms are widely available at many major retailers in Arizona, including sporting-goods stores such as Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, Sports Authority, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Big 5 Sporting Goods.

Firearms sales remain brisk to consumers across the nation, as well, and retailers make sure they are stocked up: Nationally, retailers buy more firearms than golf equipment.

The Maryland-based Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association reported that $2.8 billion worth of firearms was sold by manufacturers to sporting-goods retailers in 2010, eclipsing the $2.35 billion in golf equipment sold that year. Only fitness equipment generated more sales for equipment manufacturers, at $3.2 billion.

“Firearms traditionally have been one of the top three sellers at sporting-goods stores,” said Mike May, a spokesman for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

Sales to retailers from manufacturers have risen dramatically since 2007. And even with an 11 percent drop in revenue in 2010 compared with 2009, firearms sales at sporting-goods retailers are up more than 20 percent since 2007, May said.

In addition to major retailers and specialty gun shops, firearms are available at 200 pawnshops in the state. Many pawnshops sell new weapons in addition to firearms that have been pawned and never claimed.

Busy marketplace

The FBI reports that 123,043 people submitted themselves to background checks to purchase guns in Arizona through June. That puts the state on track to break the record of 215,379 background checks in 2009, the year President Barack Obama took office.

The federal government requires the background checks for guns purchased through dealers licensed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Although the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, application doesn’t reflect an actual purchase, less than 2 percent of the applicants are rejected, and it is seen as a reliable indicator of gun sales and consumer demand.

In June, the ATF reported there were 1,629 licensed dealers, manufacturers and collectors of firearms and ammunition in Arizona. That compares with 1,589 in January 2011 and 1,566 in June 2010.

In Massachusetts and Washington, two states with populations similar to Arizona’s, there were, respectively, 492 and 1,155 licensed dealers, manufacturers and collectors of firearms and ammunition.

Experts attribute the relatively large number of licensees in Arizona to the state’s strong gun culture and gun-friendly laws.

Most of the license holders are dealers. In Arizona, about 1,200 of the 1,629 licensees are buyers and sellers of firearms. They range from gun shops, sporting-goods retailers and pawnshops to individuals, primarily gun enthusiasts, who hold dealer licenses so they can buy directly from manufacturers.

Walmart, which stopped selling guns at most stores in 2006 because of weak sales, has recently restocked rifles and shotguns at 1,700 of its 3,800 stores, including many in Arizona.

Walmart spokeswoman Ashley Hardy attributed their return to customer demand.

“People depend on us for hunting and sporting goods, and we listened to the feedback and added them back,” she said.

The Walmart stores do not sell handguns.

“We carry sporting firearms only,” Hardy said.

Although background checks are required for guns purchased through licensed retailers, no such screening is needed for guns purchased at the more than 20 major gun shows held in Arizona each year or through private transactions among individuals.

Non-licensed sales, which are hard to track, are thought to represent about 40 percent of the approximately 20 million guns that are sold in the U.S. each year.

Aaron Merchant started selling guns out of his Ahwatukee Farmers Insurance agency but outgrew the space last year and opened Merchant Firearms in Ahwatukee Foothills. Merchant said he expected his business to gross $1.5 million this year.

The shop specializes in higher-end weapons.

“We don’t sell the cheap Saturday night specials that some stores do,” he said.

No permit needed

Firearms sales in Arizona get a boost from some of the nation’s most liberal gun-ownership laws, as well as general angst and lingering concerns about tougher national gun laws.

Arizona is one of only three states where a concealed weapon can be carried without a permit.

Last year, an Arizona law that required gun owners to have permits to carry concealed weapons was repealed, allowing people 21 and older to carry guns out of sight.

Arizona dealers note that demand continues to grow for small handguns that can be concealed in a purse or briefcase, although many believe that most people interested in carrying a concealed weapon already were doing so with a permit.

Andrew Molchan, president of the Professional Gun Retailers Association in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., attributes the increase in gun sales to a number of factors, including general apprehension about the direction of the country, and worries that the Obama administration will tighten gun-control laws, and the fact that more states now allow people to carry concealed weapons, generally with a permit.

“General apprehension is good for gun sales,” he said, noting that sales tend to spike during recessions and times of political unrest.

One of the biggest drivers is fear of tighter gun-control laws. Besides the jumps in gun sales in 2008 and 2009 when Obama was elected and took office, there was a sizable jump in 1994 when President Bill Clinton banned assault weapons.

Sales soared in 2005 when it became legal again to buy semiautomatic rifles and semiautomatic pistols with large ammunition magazines.

Tragic shooting incidents also can spike sales because of similar apprehension about the enactment of stricter gun laws.

Gun sales jumped after the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado in 1999, and Molchan believes the Jan. 8 attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords that left six people dead near Tucson could be driving some of the increased sales so far this year.

A slight uptick

Brittany Hightower, a saleswoman at Bear Mountain Sports in Mesa, noticed a slight increase in sales after the Tucson-area tragedy, as did Dave LaRue, owner of Legendary Guns of the West in Phoenix.

LaRue said he also saw an increase in high-capacity magazine sales after the Giffords shootings because people were worried they may be banned.

The magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition were banned with assault weapons in 1994 and became legal to own again when the ban expired in 2004.

The gunman used a Glock 19 pistol with 33-round magazines in the attacks.

COMMENT: Watch…there is going to be a big surge in buying semi-automatic rifles in the next few days.

Brady Campaign target girl from ad

From the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence:

Fiancée Of Slain Giffords Staffer Visiting Capitol to Endorse Ban On Large Capacity Magazines

Kelly O’Brien, fiancée of the Congressional staffer who was killed in this year’s shooting rampage in Tucson, AZ, will be in Washington D.C. on April 12 to endorse the bills to ban large-capacity ammunition magazines.

O’Brien will be joined by bill sponsors Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). O’Brien shares much in common with Rep. McCarthy – both are nurses who became activists in Washington D.C. after shooters with large-capacity ammunition magazines took the lives of their partners. The women now are working together with Sen. Lautenberg and more than 100 co-sponsors to urge members of Congress and the public to support legislation to reduce gun violence in America.

New tv ad

» Click here to read about H.R. 308/S. 32

» Click here to learn more about high-capacity magazines

» Click here for a poster of mass shootings committed with large capacity magazines

» Click here to urge your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 308

Shortly after 19 people, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, were shot outside a Tucson, Arizona grocery store with a handgun equipped with a large capacity ammunition magazine, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and Sen. Frank Lautenberg introduced H.R. 308/S. 32, the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act, in the 112th Congress, to prohibit civilian possession of these military style magazines.

The Brady Campaign strongly supports this legislation.

The Problem

Large capacity ammunition magazines are designed to enable shooting mass numbers of people quickly andefficiently without reloading. They have been used in numerous mass shootings, including in Tucson, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, and Columbine, but they are not useful for hunting or self-defense.

According to law enforcement, “There’s absolutely no doubt the magazines increased the lethality and the body count of [the Tucson] attack. >In just 15 seconds, the shooter was able to fire more than 30 shots fromone magazine, hitting 19 people, including Rep. Giffords, killing 6, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge. The damage was limited to the firepower of his magazine; when it was empty, he was stopped while attempting to reload. Unfortunately, a large capacity magazine enabled him to fire more than three times the rounds of a standard magazine.

New magazines containing more than 10 rounds were banned under the Federal Assault Weapons Act, but Congress did not renew the law in 2004, despite widespread support from over 70% of Americans.

Now only 6 states and D.C. limit the capacity of magazines.

What The Act Does

The Act makes it unlawful for a person to possess a large capacity ammunition magazine unless it was lawfully possessed before the bill was enacted. It also prohibits the transfer or sale of large capacityammunition magazines.

The Act defines large capacity ammunition magazines as those devices holding more than 10 rounds ofammunition.

The Act does not restrict in any way the sale or possession of conventional-sized ammunition magazines used by sportsmen and other law-abiding firearms owners.

The bill eliminates a problem of the lapsed federal ban, as it prevents sellers from circumventing the law bystockpiling large capacity magazines, and then selling them after the ban takes effect.

Leading experts on gun policy have concluded that banning high-capacity magazines is “a common-sensepolicy change that is likely to generate modest but important benefits to society at a very small cost, and so is worth doing.”

Exemptions

The Act contains exemptions for active and retired law enforcement, for certain federal and state departments and agencies, and allows manufacture, transfer, or possession of large capacity magazines for authorized testing or experimentation.

Over 70% favor banning large capacity ammunition magazines and assault weapons, The Harris Poll, Sept. 9-13, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 28, 2011

 FOLLOWING OBAMA’S CALL, TUCSON SHOOTING VICTIMS’ FAMILIES ENDORSE PLAN TO FIX U.S. GUN BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM

For the First Time Since Tucson Tragedy, Arizona Families and Civic Leaders Endorse Legislative Fix, Join More Than 250,000 Americans to Support Closing Loopholes That Allow Dangerous People Easy Access to Guns

83% of Arizonans, including 75% of Gun Owners, Support Instant Background Checks for All Gun Purchasers

Father of Gabe Zimmerman, Law Enforcement Leaders, Elected Officials Point to 2,680 Americans Killed with Guns since Tucson to Fix Gun Checks

Follow the Fix Gun Checks Campaign and Mobile Truck Team at www.FixGunChecks.org   

Two weeks after President Obama signaled his support for “instant, accurate and comprehensive” background checks for U.S. gun buyers, victims and families of Arizonans slain in the deadly January 8 shooting endorsed legislation to require instant background checks for all gun sales and improve the national do-not-sell database.

The announcement today at a press conference in Tucson’s Jacome Plaza marked the first time a group of Arizonans affected by the Tucson tragedy endorsed a specific policy change in the wake of the mass shooting.  

“On January 8th, my son Gabe was taken from me by the actions of a mentally ill man who never should have been allowed to purchase a gun,” said Ross Zimmerman, father of Gabe Zimmerman, Giffords’ Director of Community Outreach who was killed in the Tucson shooting.  “I support the Fix Gun Checks legislation because it will improve the submission of names of prohibited purchasers, such as the severely mentally ill, into the background check system and require colleges and universities to develop a mental health assessment plan to improve student access to mental health services.  Enacting this legislation will help prevent other families from experiencing the terrible loss that we have suffered.”

“The Fix Gun Checks Act is a common sense step that will help save innocent lives,” said Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of trauma at University Medical Center. “I believe that a background check system that is thorough, effective and that applies to every gun buyer will help to keep the streets safer, and keep innocent people out of my operating room. This plan will do that by getting all the right records into the background check database and requiring a background check on all gun sales. In my view, this proposal deserves broad support, and as a doctor who has seen and treated many gunshot wounds, I think it is overdue.”

What happened on the 8th of January was a shock and a tragedy for all of us in Tucson and Arizona, as well as the rest of the country,” said Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor.  “It was senseless and it was devastating.  And it raises questions about the state of gun laws in this country.  That’s why I support legislation to address the loopholes that currently exist.  We need to place all the records of prohibited purchasers into the system and require a background check for every gun sale.  Most background checks only take a few minutes.  As a law enforcement officer, I strongly support the Second Amendment and know that any American would gladly take a few minutes out of their day to save a life.  Let’s make something positive out of this senseless tragedy and fix our background check system.”

More than 250,000 Americans have signed a petition calling on President Obama and Congress to fix the gun background check system.  On Monday, supporters delivered petitions bearing the names of 6,784 Arizonans to the offices of U.S. Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl.

The proposal was first developed by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan coalition of more than 550 mayors who advocate firearms policies that respect the rights of law-abiding citizens while keeping guns away from criminals and other dangerous people.  The plan has been introduced as The Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 in the U.S. Senate and will soon be introduced in the House. 

The proposal was crafted in the wake of the Tucson rampage that killed six and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.  The Arizona shooter, Jared Loughner, was an admitted habitual drug user – a fact that led the U.S. Army to reject him and should have barred him from owning guns under current law.  Loughner’s records, however, were never sent to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) database.

Arizona voters – including gun owners – overwhelmingly support attempts to close loopholes in the background check system.  A survey conducted for the mayors’ coalition in February showed that 83% of Arizonans, including 75% of gun owners, support instant background checks for all buyers.  The poll was conducted by American Viewpoint, a firm that advised the McCain-Palin ’08 campaign.

“If it weren’t for the quick actions of courageous citizens and skilled medical care professionals, the death toll from the devastating January shooting might have been even higher,” said former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.  “I strongly support the Second Amendment but I also know that respecting the Second Amendment means stopping dangerous people from being able to purchase guns.  I call on Congress to reform our background check system immediately so that we can prevent future tragedies like the one we faced here in Tucson.”

“Having called Tucson home for more than 40 years, the shooting here affected me deeply,” said former Tucson Mayor Tom Volgy.  “It also highlighted serious problems with our national background check database.  I strongly support the legislation to Fix Gun Checks.”

“Like all Americans, I value our shared constitutional rights, and I strongly support the Second Amendment,” said former U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini.  ”I also believe it’s possible to honor and protect our rights while keeping guns away from criminals.  That’s why I urge my former colleagues in Washington to support the Fix Gun Checks Act, pass it quickly and get it to President Obama for his signature. We can’t wait for another tragedy before acting to ensure that all the records are in the background check system, and that background checks apply to all gun sales.”

“Having served the Tucson community for 22 years as an elected official, including eight years as mayor, I was particularly horrified when I learned that a mentally ill man had assaulted Gabby’s meeting with her constituents, many of whom I know personally,” said former Tucson Mayor George Miller.  “It’s clear that Jared Loughner never should have been allowed to purchase a gun. The Fix Gun Checks Act will ensure that dangerous individuals like Loughner are prevented from purchasing a gun by beefing up the background check system.”

“Our faith teaches us that all life is sacred, and we have made it our mission to honor that tradition,” said Rev. Jan Flaaten, Executive Director of the Arizona Ecumenical Council.  “What happened on that tragic morning in Tucson, and what happens every day with gun violence in our communities, does not need to happen.  That is why I support the work of this coalition to protect the peace and help save lives by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous and unstable individuals.”

“As a law enforcement official, I know firsthand how important it is to have a federal gun background check system that has accurate information on the people who are prohibited from possessing firearms,” said Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.  “For the system to work as it should, we need to have all the records in the database, and background checks must apply to all gun sales.  That’s why I fully support the legislation to Fix Gun Checks, which will protect my deputy sheriffs and all law enforcement officers by helping to stop someone like Jared Loughner from purchasing a gun.”

“On January 8th, as I stood in line waiting to speak with Rep. Gabby Giffords, Jared Loughner, a young man with some seemingly severe mental health issues who tragically fell through the cracks of a broken mental health system, suddenly opened fire, shooting me and 18 others,” said Tucson shooting survivor Randy Gardner.  “I am fortunate that my physical wounds have largely healed, but the tragic memory of that day will stay with me for the rest of my life.  I support the Fix Gun Checks legislation because I know firsthand how important it is to input the mental health records of prohibited purchasers into the system and require a background check for every gun sale.  Who wouldn’t support legislation that could have prevented Jared Loughner from being able to purchase a gun in the first place?”

A complete list of attendees at Monday’s event is at bottom.

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition wants to increase incentives for states to send records of people who are legally barred from buying guns to the federal do-not-sell database.  These “prohibited purchasers” include criminals, drug abusers, domestic violence offenders and the seriously mentally ill.  The mayors would also require all gun buyers to pass an instant background check. 

Arizona has some of the weakest gun laws in the country and is one of only four states to allow individuals to carry guns without a permit.  The state has sent only 5,036 records to the NICS database, leaving an estimated 121,700 Arizona records yet to be submitted.  

In a March 13 Arizona Daily Star column, President Obama said the nation needs “an instant, accurate, comprehensive and consistent system for background checks to sellers who want to do the right thing, and make sure that criminals can’t escape it.”

The Fix Gun Checks Campaign

On February 16, the bipartisan Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition launched the “Fix Gun Checks Truck Tour,” a mobile billboard traveling across the country to call attention to glaring problems in the U.S. gun background check system.

The “Fix Gun Checks Truck Tour” is part of an online advocacy campaign, www.fixgunchecks.org, that includes an online petition encouraging citizens to join the call to improve the do-not-sell system. 

The truck is led by Omar Samaha, whose sister Reema was killed at the mass shooting at Virginia Tech.  Samaha is meeting with mayors, elected officials, families of victims and others on the truck’s two-month journey across America.

The Background Check System is Broken

The U.S. gun background check system is riddled with holes that enable dangerous people to slip through the cracks and purchase guns. 

Millions of records on prohibited purchasers are missing from the NICS database.  In April 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, who had a history of serious mental illness, was able to pass a background check and buy the firearms he used to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech because records of his mental illness had never been submitted to NICS. 

Jared Loughner, the Tucson shooter, was disqualified from military service after he admitted that he was a habitual drug user, which should have barred him from buying firearms.  The Army never submitted information about his drug abuse to the background check system.

In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, Congress passed the NICS Improvement Amendment Act, which was intended to incentivize states to submit records of prohibited gun purchasers – including felons, drug abusers, domestic violence offenders and the mentally ill – into the system.  Congress, however, has chronically failed to provide enough funding for these efforts, and has not imposed tough penalties for noncompliance. 

Almost four years after Virginia Tech, ten states have not submitted any mental health records to NICS, and 18 states have submitted fewer than 100 records.

Even if the NICS system had contained the necessary records to flag Cho and Loughner as prohibited purchasers, the shooters could have easily bought their guns from a private seller.  Under current federal law, all federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct background checks on gun purchasers.  But private “occasional sellers” who sell firearms at gun shows, through classified ads, in parking lots or on the Internet may sell guns without conducting checks.  Private sales account for an estimated 40% of all gun sales in the United States. 

Two Simple Solutions: Send the Records, Close the Gaps

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) recently introduced the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 (S.436), legislation that would make vital improvements to the national gun background checks system.  Based on a proposal first developed by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the bill would take two critical steps to stop prohibited purchasers from slipping through cracks in current law.

First, the Fix Gun Checks Act would impose tougher penalties on states that do not comply with laws that require them to send their records on prohibited purchasers to the NICS system. 

Today, states that fail to report to the NICS database 50 percent or more of their records on individuals who are not allowed to buy firearms face a maximum three percent cut in their Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding.  The Fix Gun Checks Act would increase the reporting requirement to 75 percent by FY2013 and 90 percent by FY2018.  The amount of JAG funding states could lose would increase to 15 percent and 25 percent, respectively. 

In addition, federal agencies would be required to certify to the U.S. Attorney General twice every year that they have submitted all relevant records to the NICS database.

Second, the Fix Gun Checks Act would require a background check for every gun sale.  The bill would require private sellers to verify, either with local law enforcement or through certified gun dealers that the person they are selling to is not on the national do-not-sell list.  The bill would include reasonable exceptions, including sales to law enforcement and transfers among immediate family members.

Attendees at Monday’s Fix Gun Checks Press Conference

Tucson shooting victims and others in attendance:  Ross Zimmerman (father of slain Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman), James Fuller, Randy Gardner, Patricia Maisch (who stopped Loughner from reloading).

Attendees included the following Arizona civic leaders: Terry Goddard (former Arizona Attorney General, 2010 candidate for Governor), Dennis DeConcini (former U.S. Senator), Sheriff Clarence Dupnick (Pima County Sheriff), Tom Volgy (former mayor of Tucson), City Councilmember Regina Romero, City Councilmember Paul Cunningham, City Councilmember Karin Uhlich, Reverend Jan Flaaten, Executive Director of Arizona Ecumenical Council, staff for U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, Sheriff Tony Estrada (Santa Cruz County) and Dr. Peter Rhee (Chief of Trauma at University Medical Center) and Pastor David Wilkinson (Sr. Pastor at Saint Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church, where several victims are congregants).

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its inception in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 mayors to more than 550.  The coalition has united the nation’s mayors around these common goals: protecting their communities by holding gun offenders and irresponsible gun dealers accountable, demanding access to trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking, and working with legislators to fix gaps, weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other prohibited purchasers to get guns.

Note: Majority of Arizonans favor limits on who can get access to guns

One gets the impression listening to some folks in the state legislature that Arizona wants every baby born in the state (legally) to own an automatic weapon….no regulations whatsoever on gun ownership.

But maybe the impression Arizonans aren’t willing to accept reasonable regulation of guns is not true.

Arizonans may in fact be more moderate than the news accounts of state legislative efforts to allow guns on college campuses….

A new poll by the bipartisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns found that 83 Percent of Arizonans and 75 Percent of Gun Owners Support Requiring All Gun Buyers to Pass a Background Check – no matter where they buy the gun or who they buy it from.

In other words…gun shows would have to require background checks.

Other results of the poll:

91 percent of Arizonans and 91 percent of gun owners support requiring federal agencies to share information with each other about suspected dangerous persons or terrorists, in order to prevent them from buying guns.

88 percent of Arizonans and 86 percent of gun owners support fully funding the NICS Improvement Act, the law passed after the Virginia Tech shooting to prevent people with a history of mental illness from buying guns.

77 percent of Arizonans and 72 percent of gun owners support requiring gun dealers to notify state and local police when someone fails a background check when buying a gun.

85 percent of Arizonans and 85 percent of gun owners support prohibiting people on the terrorist watch lists from purchasing guns.

75 percent of Arizonans and 71 percent of gun owners support tracking bulk purchases of semi-automatic assault rifles, the weapon of choice of Mexican drug cartels.

69 percent of Arizonans and 56 percent of gun owners oppose proposals to allow carrying concealed guns on college campuses.

75 percent of Arizonans and 72 percent of gun owners oppose state proposals to allow carrying of concealed guns in government buildings, including courthouses and the state legislature.

Arizonans Support Closing Loopholes and Gaps in the Background Check System

82 percent of Arizonans and 78 percent of gun owners support a law to require background checks for all guns sold at gun shows.

83 percent of Arizonans and 75 percent of gun owners support requiring all prospective buyers to pass a background check, no matter where they buy the gun and no matter who they buy it from.

Press Release:

POLL: ARIZONANS – INCLUDING GUN OWNERS -

OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT FIXING GUN BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM

83 Percent of Arizonans and 75 Percent of Gun Owners Support Requiring All Gun Buyers to Pass a Background Check -

No Matter Where They Buy the Gun or Who They Buy it From

Strong Majorities of Arizona Gun Owners Support Tougher Laws to Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Dangerous People

While Protecting Rights of Law-Abiding Citizens

75 Percent of Arizonans and 72 Percent of Gun Owners Oppose State Proposals to Allow Carrying a Concealed Gun in Government Buildings, Including Courthouses and the State Legislature

FixGunChecks.org Campaign and more than 250,000 Americans Urge President and Congress to Fix Background Checks

The bipartisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today announced the results of a statewide poll demonstrating overwhelming support among Arizonans for measures designed to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, including fixing glaring loopholes background check system.

The survey by American Viewpoint found deep support for provisions contained in the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011, introduced today by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The legislation, modeled on a proposal by more than 550 mayors in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, would create stronger incentives for states to submit records to the National Instant Background Check System (NICS) on individuals who are prohibited from purchasing firearms. The bill would also require federal agencies to certify that they are sharing information about prohibited purchasers and require all gun buyers to pass a background check, with narrow exemptions.

Full results for the polls are available here: http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/downloads/pdf/poll_slides_2011.pdf

The poll questionnaire is available here: http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/downloads/pdf/poll_questionnaire.pdf

“This isn’t just about public opinion, it’s about saving lives and making our families safer,” said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva. “There’s a reason 83 percent of Arizonans and 75 percent of gun owners support requiring all gun buyers to pass a background check. The loopholes that gave Jared Loughner easy access to deadly weapons have no place in civil society, and ending them will make this country a safer place to sleep at night. Background checks are a simple law enforcement tool to ensure that gun buyers are not a threat to public safety, and opposing them puts one far outside the mainstream. This is a bill whose time has come, and I will strongly support it in the House.”

Tucson shooter Jared Loughner had a history of drug abuse that led military recruiters to reject him in December 2008. According to U.S. Army sources, he was eventually rejected from enlistment after admitting that “he smoked marijuana to such an extent” that they decided they were “not going to accept a habitual drug abuser into the Army.”

Any of these facts should have prohibited Loughner from buying a gun for at least one year. But less than a year later after the military turned him away, he was able to buy a shotgun after passing a background check conducted by the NICS. A year after that, in November of 2010, he bought another gun-a Glock that he used to kill 6 people and injure 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

The national gun background check system has serious flaws. In part because Congress has failed to fully fund the system, millions of records of prohibited purchasers (including criminals, drug abusers, domestic violence offenders and the mentally ill) are still missing from the NICS database. Arizona has submitted only 5,036 mental health records and only one drug abuse record to the NICS database.

There is also no federal law requiring background checks for “private sales” by someone other than a licensed dealer. Around 40 percent of U.S. gun sales are private sales completed at places like gun shows, in parking lots or over the Internet.

The Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 would provide tough incentives to states to ensure that all records of prohibited buyers are included in the background check system, and that all purchasers have a background check, with reasonable exceptions.

“Debates since the Tucson shooting, ranging from the tone of politics to the gun culture in Arizona, have been conducted in general terms and give the impression of sharp divisions,” said pollster Bob Carpenter of American Viewpoint, which conducted the survey. “However, our poll today shows that when you get down to the policy details, Arizonans, including gun owners, unite behind their support for proposals ranging from improving reporting of mental health records into the background check system, reporting bulk purchases of assault rifles, and requiring background checks on all gun sales. When you get past controversy and turn to specifics, even gun owners agree that there many places where gun laws need to be fixed.”

The polls were released as the National Drive to Fix Gun Checks campaign truck continues its two-month journey across the United States. The campaign is holding events in cities across the country with local mayors, families of local gun violence victims and others to harness the growing momentum for reform. The truck is led by Omar Samaha, whose sister was killed in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. Around 250,000 Americans have signed petitions calling on the President and Congress to fix the gun background check system. The campaign site can be found here: http://www.fixgunchecks.org/

Support for Getting Records of Dangerous People into Background Check System and Requiring Background Checks for Every Gun Sale

91 percent of Arizonans and 91 percent of gun owners support requiring federal agencies to share information with each other about suspected dangerous persons or terrorists, in order to prevent them from buying guns.

88 percent of Arizonans and 86 percent of gun owners support fully funding the NICS Improvement Act, the law passed after the Virginia Tech shooting to prevent people with a history of mental illness from buying guns.

77 percent of Arizonans and 72 percent of gun owners support requiring gun dealers to notify state and local police when someone fails a background check when buying a gun.

85 percent of Arizonans and 85 percent of gun owners support prohibiting people on the terrorist watch lists from purchasing guns.

75 percent of Arizonans and 71 percent of gun owners support tracking bulk purchases of semi-automatic assault rifles, the weapon of choice of Mexican drug cartels.

69 percent of Arizonans and 56 percent of gun owners oppose proposals to allow carrying concealed guns on college campuses.

75 percent of Arizonans and 72 percent of gun owners oppose state proposals to allow carrying of concealed guns in government buildings, including courthouses and the state legislature.

Arizonans Support Closing Loopholes and Gaps in the Background Check System

82 percent of Arizonans and 78 percent of gun owners support a law to require background checks for all guns sold at gun shows.

83 percent of Arizonans and 75 percent of gun owners support requiring all prospective buyers to pass a background check, no matter where they buy the gun and no matter who they buy it from.

Poll Methodology

This poll was part of a five-state bi-partisan polling project sponsored by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and managed by Momentum Analysis. The Arizona poll was conducted between February 16 and February 17, 2011 by American Viewpoint, a Republican polling firm.

About American Viewpoint

American Viewpoint is one of the most widely respected public opinion research and strategic message consulting firms in the United States. Founded in 1985 by Linda DiVall, the company has established a national reputation for outstanding quantitative and qualitative research in politics, corporate affairs, public policy and government relations. American Viewpoint has advised Republican campaigns and groups, including McCain-Palin ’08, Bush-Cheney ’04, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senator Roy Blunt and Senator Johnny Isakson. Corporate clients have included AT&T, CBS News, International Paper and Pfizer.

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its inception in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 mayors to more than 550. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has united the nation’s mayors around these common goals: protecting their communities by holding gun offenders and irresponsible gun dealers accountable, demanding access to trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking, and working with legislators to fix gaps, weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other prohibited purchasers to get guns.

_____________________________
President Obama had a commentary in the Arizona Daily Star Sunday March 13, 2011:

In his commentary Obama noted:

…But one clear and terrible fact remains. A man our Army rejected as unfit for service; a man one of our colleges deemed too unstable for studies; a man apparently bent on violence, was able to walk into a store and buy a gun.

More…

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Press Release March 13, 2011:

MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S COMMENTS ON GUN POLICY

Today, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino released the following statement in response to President Obama’s comments about gun policy in the March 13 Arizona Daily Star. The mayors are co-chairs of the bipartisan Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition.

Today, President Obama signaled he has heard the message of more than 550 mayors – Republicans, Democrats, and independents – who support common-sense reform of our broken gun background check system. Our coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns has proposed a straightforward plan to fix the problem the President discussed: people who are legally prohibited from owning guns can easily buy them. First, we must ensure that all records of prohibited purchasers like criminals, drug abusers, domestic violence offenders and the seriously mentally ill are in the federal background check system. Second, we should make sure every gun seller performs a simple background check.

We strongly agree with the President that we can – and must – respect the Second Amendment and the rights of law-abiding gun owners while still tackling this problem. And we look forward to working with him to ensure that the new national dialogue he has called for culminates in real solutions.

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its inception in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 mayors to over 550. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has united the nation’s mayors around these common goals: protecting their communities by holding gun offenders and irresponsible gun dealers accountable, demanding access to trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking, and working with legislators to fix gaps, weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other prohibited purchasers to get guns.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 13, 2011
Op-ed by President Obama in the Arizona Daily Star: We must seek agreement on gun reforms
The full text of the op-ed by President Barack Obama is printed below. The piece, published in today’s Arizona Daily Star, can be read online HERE.

We must seek agreement on gun reforms
Arizona Daily Star
March 13, 2011
By Barack Obama

It’s been more than two months since the tragedy in Tucson stunned the nation. It was a moment when we came together as one people to mourn and to pray for those we lost. And in the attack’s turbulent wake, Americans by and large rightly refrained from finger-pointing, assigning blame or playing politics with other people’s pain.

But one clear and terrible fact remains. A man our Army rejected as unfit for service; a man one of our colleges deemed too unstable for studies; a man apparently bent on violence, was able to walk into a store and buy a gun.

He used it to murder six people and wound 13 others. And if not for the heroism of bystanders and a brilliant surgical team, it would have been far worse.

But since that day, we have lost perhaps another 2,000 members of our American family to gun violence. Thousands more have been wounded. We lose the same number of young people to guns every day and a half as we did at Columbine, and every four days as we did at Virginia Tech.

Every single day, America is robbed of more futures. It has awful consequences for our society. And as a society, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to put a stop to it.

Now, like the majority of Americans, I believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. And the courts have settled that as the law of the land. In this country, we have a strong tradition of gun ownership that’s handed from generation to generation. Hunting and shooting are part of our national heritage. And, in fact, my administration has not curtailed the rights of gun owners – it has expanded them, including allowing people to carry their guns in national parks and wildlife refuges.

The fact is, almost all gun owners in America are highly responsible. They’re our friends and neighbors. They buy their guns legally and use them safely, whether for hunting or target shooting, collection or protection. And that’s something that gun-safety advocates need to accept. Likewise, advocates for gun owners should accept the awful reality that gun violence affects Americans everywhere, whether on the streets of Chicago or at a supermarket in Tucson.

I know that every time we try to talk about guns, it can reinforce stark divides. People shout at one another, which makes it impossible to listen. We mire ourselves in stalemate, which makes it impossible to get to where we need to go as a country.

However, I believe that if common sense prevails, we can get beyond wedge issues and stale political debates to find a sensible, intelligent way to make the United States of America a safer, stronger place.

I’m willing to bet that responsible, law-abiding gun owners agree that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few – dangerous criminals and fugitives, for example – from getting their hands on a gun in the first place.

I’m willing to bet they don’t think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas – that we should check someone’s criminal record before he can check out at a gun seller; that an unbalanced man shouldn’t be able to buy a gun so easily; that there’s room for us to have reasonable laws that uphold liberty, ensure citizen safety and are fully compatible with a robust Second Amendment.

That’s why our focus right now should be on sound and effective steps that will actually keep those irresponsible, law-breaking few from getting their hands on a gun in the first place.

First, we should begin by enforcing laws that are already on the books. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System is the filter that’s supposed to stop the wrong people from getting their hands on a gun. Bipartisan legislation four years ago was supposed to strengthen this system, but it hasn’t been properly implemented. It relies on data supplied by states – but that data is often incomplete and inadequate. We must do better.
Second, we should in fact reward the states that provide the best data – and therefore do the most to protect our citizens.
Third, we should make the system faster and nimbler. We should provide an instant, accurate, comprehensive and consistent system for background checks to sellers who want to do the right thing, and make sure that criminals can’t escape it.
Porous background checks are bad for police officers, for law-abiding citizens and for the sellers themselves. If we’re serious about keeping guns away from someone who’s made up his mind to kill, then we can’t allow a situation where a responsible seller denies him a weapon at one store, but he effortlessly buys the same gun someplace else.

Clearly, there’s more we can do to prevent gun violence. But I want this to at least be the beginning of a new discussion on how we can keep America safe for all our people.

I know some aren’t interested in participating. Some will say that anything short of the most sweeping anti-gun legislation is a capitulation to the gun lobby. Others will predictably cast any discussion as the opening salvo in a wild-eyed scheme to take away everybody’s guns. And such hyperbole will become the fodder for overheated fundraising letters.

But I have more faith in the American people than that. Most gun-control advocates know that most gun owners are responsible citizens. Most gun owners know that the word “commonsense” isn’t a code word for “confiscation.” And none of us should be willing to remain passive in the face of violence or resigned to watching helplessly as another rampage unfolds on television.

As long as those whose lives are shattered by gun violence don’t get to look away and move on, neither can we.

We owe the victims of the tragedy in Tucson and the countless unheralded tragedies each year nothing less than our best efforts – to seek consensus, to prevent future bloodshed, to forge a nation worthy of our children’s futures.

The tragedy in Tucson has brought to light some glaring holes in our gun control system.

Thousands of the records that should be in the background check system-people with documented histories of serious mental illness and drug abuse, like Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner-have never been entered.1 And you can still buy guns at gun shows with no background check at all.2

A bipartisan group of mayors from across the country, led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is now pushing to close these loopholes.

There is huge public support (over 90%!) for doing this 3-but the gun lobby and the NRA are powerful and super well-funded and they will fight this tooth and nail. If we can show overwhelming public demand for the mayors’ efforts right now, change is possible.

Can you sign this petition to Congress supporting the bipartisan proposal from Mayors Against Illegal Guns? If we can get over 250,000 signatures, mayors from across the country will deliver them directly to Congress. Click here:

http://pol.moveon.org/guncontrol/?id=25897-17904220-B6dLBix&t=3

After the tragic mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2006, Congress passed the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Act that created incentives for states to improve the reporting of background information to the NICS database. While it helped (increased the number of records in the database from 300,00 to 1.1 million), the database is still over a million records short. Here are some key facts: 4

Twenty-eight states and D.C. still have less than 100 mental health records in the system, in part because this bill was underfunded.
The database only has 2,000 people listed as drug abusers-something that Jared Lee Loughner should have been listed as and would have prevented him from getting the gun he used.

Under this law, federal agencies-including the military-which rejected Loughner due to drug use should have been sharing that information with the NICS database.

Finally, even if the Arizona shooter had failed the NICS background check, he could have walked right into a gun show and bought a gun without any check at all.

The mayors effort focuses on two major components: Fully fund the NICS Improvement Act and strengthen procedures for compliance with the law, and fix the gun show loophole by requiring reasonable background checks at gun shows.

Their proposals are supported by more than 90% of the public, including gun owners.

But the NRA is incredibly powerful and has a lot of allies in Congress. They’ve prevented important reforms like this before and they could again, unless we all speak out now.

http://pol.moveon.org/guncontrol/?id=25897-17904220-B6dLBix&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

Sources:

1. After Arizona Shootings Background Checks Examined, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, January 14, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205871&id=25897-17904220-B6dLBix&t=5

2. Fix Gun Checks, Mayors Against Illegal Guns
http://www.fixgunchecks.org/background-checks

3. In Aftermath of Tucson Shooting, New Bipartisan Poll Shows Americans, Including Gun Owners, Support Tougher Laws to Keep Firearms Out of Dangerous Hands, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, January 18, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205872&id=25897-17904220-B6dLBix&t=6

4. Fix Gun Checks, Mayors Against Illegal Guns
http://www.fixgunchecks.org/background-checks

Arizona Shooter’s Gun Purchases Should Have Been Blocked, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, January 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205873&id=25897-17904220-B6dLBix&t=7

 

“Congress must keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people by taking two critical steps: 1) Get all the names of people who should be prohibited from buying guns into the background check system. 2) Require a background check for every gun sale in America.”

 I agree !!!!

I am not advocating taking guns per se away from people (except criminals and the mentally defective to use the federal term). But I think meaningful distinctions can be made as to what sort of firepower is available to whom and with what level of training.

While I doubt if a K-12 education system is the answer as one commentator has suggested …I do agree that we need a very wide spread basic education about guns whether or not someone is actually wanting to own and use one…with more degrees of training above that depending on the role one wants to play.

Coming back to the basic education level….having grown up with guns one gets a really good idea of the damage they can do and the responsibility that goes with firearms possession and use. That level of education was sort of basic as a part of rural life and family members took care of this.

Ideally the basic training including having the opportunity to do some shooting (like was offered in summer camps) changes the fear of guns to respect and responsibility. Fire is beneficial or can burn homes and forests down. We cannot be afraid of fire…we must learn how to use it positively. Same for guns.

Even though I had what I’d call “basic training” with a wide range of firearms as a kid…when put in a situation of working with cops in the field under cover it was immediately obvious I really didn’t know squat about how to use a weapon in the context of real-time crime situations. The cops involved were not about to have me out there without being a functional part of the team on the ground, so I got a cop’s vesion of Police Academy with a real life “pass fail” situation in which to assess wheter or not I had any business being out there. I passed…but gained a whole new comprehension about how really difficult it is to keep your cool when bullets are flying or someone is waving a weapon around.

There is a kind of training that law enforcement folks as well as emergency responders and crisis management people get that focuses on, what I’ll call “being in the zone” where one goes to a different level of consciousness, your training kicks in, you’re not over thinking a situation, and you act appropriately and responsibly. The aide that went to Gabby’s side and used his training to save her life for example…listening to him talk about what he did and why he did it…wow….

There are what I call the “oath people” who are tasked with law enforcement and emergency response who…when the gunfire starts or the planes hit buildings run towards the event…not away from it. The nore of us that are “oath people” the better for all.

What concerns me is there are a lot of people who think that by just merely owning a wespon, they are prepared to deal with a crisis situation…and I’m sure there are many who have the right instincts to act…but I also think that a whole lot of people would benefit from the kind of training that is offered in the emergency response and law enforcement venues.

The last decade, because of my duties and responsibilities in Nogales, I went through a lot of additional training and drills in the FEMA emergency response context and have served in various capacities in Emerency Operations Center management of stuff like train wrecks as well as training exercises such as having a bunch of terrorists blow up the port of entry and inflitrate into the city carrying automatic weapons.

I encourage everyone to consider taking some of the training that’s available for citizens to be part of an emergency response effort. Check the FEMA website or your local fire station for training opportunities.

When you look at how everyone acted in the wake of the shooting….there were obviously lots and lots of people doing the right stuff because they were trained.

I think the gun debate has to focus on responsibility and not just rights.

Sales of guns, including Glocks, soar across US

….A national debate over weaknesses in state and federal gun laws stirred by the shooting has stoked fears among gun buyers that stiffer restrictions may be coming from Congress, gun dealers say. The result is that a deadly demonstration of the weapon’s power has boosted sales of handguns in Arizona and other states, according to federal law enforcement data.

More….

Hmmmmmm.

–the rhetoric of hate needs to be toned down

–Arizona’s gun laws are crazy

–and we didn’t have any effective way to sort the crazies and keep them from being inspired by the hate rhetoric to buy a semi-automatic weapon.

What’s interesting is there are lots of people defending the inflammatory rhetoric and pointing out there is probably not a direct cause and effect relationship between venomous commentators like Glenn Beck and Jared Loughner.

Maybe. Maybe not. We’re likely to get the answer to that issue one of these days.

There’s also a lot of people arguing that guns didn’t kill 6 people and seriously wound Congresswoman Giffords and 13 others…it was a crazy person.

And then there’s a lot of information coming out about how weirded out Loughner appeared and how there is virtually nothing anyone could have done to get him into a treatment program or deny him the right to buy a gun.

Whenever someone goes on a rampage and shoots a lot of people it is easy to write off the incident to a deranged person. Arguably anyone who commits murder, especially mass murder, is crazy.

But that is a convenient way to deflect the much broader responsibilities the entire society has.

Whether or not the bile being spread by left or right had anything directly to do with the Giffords shooting….bile is still bile and we need to tone down the political debate in this country. Just because we don’t agree with each other doesn’t make one side a bunch of traitors and the other side a bunch of fascists. We all love our country, and all sides have meritorious issues to consider.

I personally do not like the fact that the whole culture of violence and hate speech is making big money for the media outlets that purvey it. We can hold someone accountable for yelling fire in a theater, and we can stop people from broadcasting pornography to our kids At minimum the media outlets that provide the soapboxes for the hate-mongers can issue some civil guidelines and fire some flamethrower mouths. And we sure as heck can boycott the sponsors who buy ads in shows that incite hatred.

Creating a climate of violence and justification to demonize this or that group of people has repeatedly proven dangerous for a long long time.

As to the gun issue…Arizona has put gun rights ahead of human rights. I’ve got to wonder what the folks who wrote the Second Amendment would think if they saw the kind of weaponry gun rights advocates claim everyone can carry anywhere at any time.

I think some hard lines need to be drawn between the sort of recreational and home protection guns most everyone does agree we have a right to keep versus semi-automatic Glock 19s with 31 shot magazines.

Let me add another dimension to the gun rights debate….the Second Amendment refers to a “well regulated militia”.

I would suggest that a second tier of gun permitting be created whereby some folks would be allowed access to more military and police type weaponry….but only if they went through serious training and were part of a supervised militia structure that was like our auxiliary police forces. Not some wacko self-proclaimed Minutemen…but a force that could work effectively in tandem with law enforcement and increase safety and security without a political agenda.  What bothers me is having a lot of people armed to the teeth that really don’t know what to do how and when.

 The third thread is how do we figure out who is crazy and how to we keep them from buying guns.

I would hope the Second Amendment crowd could at least agree we do not want criminals or crazies having access to guns.

The first issue is basic permitting….and this is essential to at least weed out the criminals buying guns on the black market versus legitimate sales. The best thing a permit program can do is give  law enforcement a basis to bust someone with a weapon who does not have a permit.

Now comes the really thorny problem of trying to keep guns out of the hands of crazies.

Who decides who is crazy? What is the definition of “mentally ill”?

There is a long and sordid history around the world of governments using mental illness as an excuse to jail political dissidents. In a right-wing dictatorship it is the lefties that are “crazy” and in a left-wing dictatorship it is the right-wing packed off to insane asylums.

We have tilted the scale in our country to protection of the rights of the mentally ill.

Just suggesting someone is “crazy” is grounds to be sued {1}

 But we do not have an effective system of getting people who need help into the “system” for treatment, our “treatment” systems are heavy with drugs and warehousing and do little to help people function in society, and our ability to intervene in situations where someone is acting in such a way that they might be a potential threat is broken.

We need to figure out a fair and just way to intervene when people really need some help without the intervention system being abused by folks who want to lock up people they don’t like or disagree with. A tough problem, indeed.

But we’re a smart country and ought to be able to set up a system where a guy like Loughner can’t walk into a gun shop and buy a Glock 19 with extended ammo clips.

The problem is multi -faceted and there isn’t a clear simple solution. Real problems are like that.

If there is blame…it is widespread throughout our culture. There is no one simple point of fault.

What we can do is try and tone down the inflammatory rhetoric a bit and treat those we disagree with respect.

What we can do is take a hard look at who gets to carry around what kind of firepower on our streets, in our stores and in our public places.

What we can do is a lot better job of  identifying people like Jared Loughner and getting them the help they need before they act out their delusions.

As Pogo said “we have met the enemy and he is us.”

[1} I once defended a publication in a libel case over a published statement that the person was “crazy”.  Truth is a defense and we won.

On top of that anyone can conceal such a weapon and go just about anywhere they want…except on a university campus (which some Arizona state legislatures want to allow).

OK..it is one thing to have the right to own a gun….but where does the right to own a gun run into the responsibility of actually buying and carrying weapons around?

To hear the Second Amendment folks argue…the more people carrying a gun the less likely a scene like what happened in Tucson would happen. Presumably, the argument goes, someone there at the grocery store could have pulled out his or her Glock 19 and shot Jared Loughner.

Let me ask each of you how many of you really think you’d know what to do if you were in a situation with a shooter like Loughner spraying a crowd with 9 mm bullets?

Would you really trust someone to know exactly what to do in a situation like that whose main claim to gun proficiency was their Second Amendment bumper sticker? I sincerely hope not.

Is the point of having the right to carry whatever weapon you want to buy really the right to be ready to go to the streets and fight off the UN take-over of America or some other nonsense spewed on the Web?

Is everyone just itching to be a modern Minuteman and defend our border or stop the left-wing takeover of the country?

I don’t see the Second Amendment advocates taking responsibility for arming the society… in fact they’ve done just the opposite when they got the training and licensing requirement voided for carrying a concealed weapon.

There is a lot of justification to requiring folks who want to walk around town with their gun to have some serious training about how and when to use that gun.

There is serious justification to trying to figure out how to keep guns out of the hands of crazy people…as well as street gangsters and others.

There is serious justification to asking just what kind of gun do you really need for home protection and safety?

It’s one thing to have the gun at home and quite another to go shopping packing your heat.

And I don’t really get why it is so important that everyone can buy a semi-automatic pistol. Does anyone hunt deer or coyotes with a Glock 19?

People are describing Arizona as Tombstone…the Wild West. One ought to remember that there was a very concerted effort to create a civil society with law enforcement so everyone in town wasn’t carrying a gun. Arizona grew and prospered in that civilized setting.

It should not surprise anyone that Sheriff Clarence Dupnik (as many law enforcement folks) question the situation where anyone can buy any kind of gun they want and carry it wherever they want in this state.

The gun rights decision focused on whether US Constitutional rights apply to state and local governments…in this case the Second Amendment.

The issue revolves around whether the 14th Amendment to the Constitution allows a “reach through” to apply federal laws and rights to states.

The US Supreme Court used the 14th Amendment to reach through and strike down state and local laws regulating guns in violation of the Second Amendment.

What we have in Arizona with SB 1070 is a state trying to meddle with what is clearly federal law…immigration.

Under the same legal theory used to strike down gun restrictions, federal courts may have an open door now to strike down SB 1070 as infringing on federally pre-empted authority.

I’ll bet gun rights advocates will be surprised that their victory reaches to a lot of places where federal pre-emption can be applied  to state and local government protecting people’s federal  rights and freedoms they didn’t see coming.

On a second level, another defect in SB 1070 is the attempt to dictate to local governments what  their law enforcement priorities should be.

It is well settled law in Arizona that prosecutors have absolute discretion over which cases they prosecute and which ones they don’t. There are limited resources to enforce the law, so cops and prosecutors have to have discretion where they focus their resources.

What SB 1070 attempts to do, especially via the citizen suit provision, is to dictate to local jurisdictions that enforcing immigration law takes precedence over local decisions on where to use their law enforcement resources. My guess is the courts will strike SB 1070 down also on the basis that the legislature cannot divert police and prosecutorial resources to enforce a non-violent misdemeanor offense.

Opponents of illegal immigrants keep whining “but they violated the law”. Yes they did…and everyone violates laws all the time. All laws are not equally enforced because of the limitation on resources to do that…and that is reality. It is clearly a situation where Joe Arpaio and his buddies want to divert Arizona’s law enforcement resources to the immigration issue.

Too bad all the energy being spent to try and run illegal aliens out of the state couldn’t be spent on finding a way to create a legal path for workers to be here. The absence of any serious effort on the part of the anti-immigrant crowd to solve the problem with a legal path speaks volumes about the racist undertone to this fight.

My bet is the courts will make short work of SB 1070 because the state cannot get into the immigration issue, and the legislature cannot usurp police and prosecution discretion as to where to use limited law enforcement resources.

———————————————-

[Note: I am an attorney and a former prosecutor.]