Happy Holidays, and Peace on Earth

Thank you, to all of you who work so hard to reduce gun violence, and to those who read this blog.  2015 has been a very successful year for commonsense gun regulation in Oregon, thanks to you, but we still have so much to accomplish.

Let's continue to work together to make a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.

Happy Holidays, and may you and your loved ones have a healthy and peaceful new year.

Have A Safe Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, when we give thanks for all the people in our lives, reflect on our relationships, and feel thankful for the resources we have.  It is a holiday that is particularly relevant to me, as part of my family dates back to the period and region of the original Thanksgiving, and may even have had a family member present at the actual event at Plymouth.

One hallmark of Thanksgiving is visiting with friends and relatives at their homes.  But as you eat lots of great food, joke with your relatives, and watch games, please be aware of any guns in the home.  If there are children around, I urge you to ASK about guns in the home before you visit, and make sure that, if any guns are there, that they are locked up, separated from ammo, or removed from the home.

For more on the ASK campaign and tips on how to get the conversation started, see here:
http://coef.ceasefireoregon.org/ask

HERE is also a good link with a flier to help.

HERE is a previous blog post with some relevant statistics about children and guns.

HERE is a previous blog post that compares parents' perceptions about guns in the home compared the reality shown by statistics.  It's shocking how underestimated the danger is.

The public health departments of Seattle and King County, Washington, have taken a proactive step in protecting their youth.  Via their "Safe Storage Saves Lives" campaign, they are working with area firearms retailers to offer 10-15% off discounts for gun locks and safe boxes.  From an article:

The “Safe Storage Saves Lives” campaign developed by Public Health – Seattle and King County is an inspired effort to promote the use of safety devices on weapons kept in thousands of homes. Congratulations to public health director  Dr. David Fleming, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Sheriff John Urquhart, participating gun dealers, and 20 participating law enforcement agencies for stepping forward Monday to promote the ideal holiday shopping event. Thank you. 

As explained at this King County site, starting November 25, 2013 through December of 2014, mention Public Health or LOK-IT_UP and receive 10-15 percent off select storage devices or lock boxes at participating retailers. The initial list of 15 shops and their locations is at the site. 

Proximity to firearms is reflected in tragic statistics available for review via this county link. Homicides, accidents and suicides aided and abetted by easy access to weapons.  The risks and hazards are compounded students who show up on school grounds with guns from home.  

This is not about Second Amendment prerogatives, but the responsibilities that go with rights that can have lethal consequences for others.

And with all the shootings across America, every day, and the profound increase in mass shootings in the last year, doubtless the issue of gun violence will come up at home.  To help with that conversation, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has made this place-mat (see below), with an informative quiz, to help with the discussion.  I urge you to download it and put it somewhere prominent where you and your relatives can discuss.

Please be safe this Thanksgiving, eat lots of turkey, and cherish your relatives.

Be Safe This Halloween

In Oregon, as in most states, a private gun sale requires no background check, paperwork, or questions asked at all (except at gun shows in Oregon).  That means ANYONE can purchase a gun:  it's just cash-and-carry, no "underground black market" needed.  And too many of those sales are to unstable individuals or criminals.

Be safe this Halloween, and demand background checks and other sensible gun regulation to make a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.

An Emotional Weekend: Father's Day, Six Months After Sandy Hook

This is an emotional three-day weekend.  Friday was the 6 month anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting, and Sunday will be Father's Day.

I'm a father to two small children, ages 7 and 8.  Sunday will be great, and I'm certain they've got a homemade goodie to give me.  I love my kids.  They are so special to me, and have such potential and strengths.

So it makes me grieve to think that those 20 little kids in Newtown leave behind 20 fathers who won't be celebrating Sunday, who won't be getting homemade gifts, who won't see the promise of their children fulfilled over time. 

Since that horrifying day, six months ago, I have watched as many of those fathers and family have lobbied endlessly for solutions to keep such a horror from happening again.  They are tireless, brave, and enduring.  It is their promise to their children, enshrined in the Sandy Hook Promise:

I Promise to honor the 26 lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School.   

I Promise to do everything I can to encourage and support common sense solutions that make my community and our country safer from similar acts of violence.

You can sign that promise, too.  I have.

Many of those victim families were in Washington, D.C., today to lobby again, meeting with legislators and President Obama.  Said one father:

“I feel like it’s my responsibility as Ana’s dad to do something that honors her life and, in some small way, maybe prevents some other family from having to go through what we’ve had to go through,” Jimmy Greene said.

Said another father:

“We’re in mile one of a marathon, so we’re going to continue to work for this,” Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son, Daniel, was killed, told Spencer. “And we’re going continue to try to convince people and influence people that this really is the right thing to do.”

See an interview with some of these parents below:

US News | Weird News | More ABC News Videos

Since the Newtown shooting, six months ago, another 5000 Americans have been killed in homicidal shootings.  An estimated 10,000 or so have died in suicides. 

According to one estimate from the Children's Defense Fund, 3000 children and teens a year die from gun homicides, suicides, and accidents.  Another 14,000 are injured.  That's a lot of fathers who won't be celebrating Father's Day!

And our legislators continue to do nothing about it.

Said one Connecticut policeman:

“And how much has changed, really, since then?” a Darien, Conn., town policeman asked Friday morning, near one of the entrances to a cemetery where one of the small coffins was brought last December. 

“Tell me how much will ever change in this country.”

In the absence of leadership from our Federal legislators, states have instead had to take the lead:

And despite the shameful lack of progress at the federal level, state governments are not sitting still. In the past six months, several states have passed gun violence prevention legislation that will save lives and help prevent future shootings. 

Some of the states that have passed, or are currently considering strong gun violence legislation, include:

• Connecticut enacted a strong package of laws, including: the strongest state assault weapons ban on the books; a ban on armor-piercing ammunition; a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines; and background checks for all gun purchases. 
• A new law in New York State strengthened its ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and required background checks for all gun and ammunition sales, as well as other measures. 
• Colorado put a new law in place that limits ammunition magazine capacity to 15 rounds and requires universal background checks for all gun sales. 
• California, which already has some of the strongest laws in the country, is moving forward with a legislative package that passed the state Senate at the end of May, and is now awaiting action in the Assembly. The bill requires that all semiautomatic rifles have non-detachable ammunition magazines with a capacity of 10 rounds or less, requires background checks for ammunition sales, and expands the prohibited categories for gun possession (for example, those with multiple drug/alcohol convictions within a three-year period). It also closes the "bullet button" loophole that now allows gun manufacturers to circumvent the state's assault weapons ban by exploiting a definitional weakness in the law.

But in other states, there have been rollbacks in protections for citizens, from a weakening of gun laws.

Here in Oregon, despite widespread support for four bills to require universal background checks, prohibit guns in schools and government buildings, and require proficiency testing before being issued a concealed carry license, the bills nonetheless are not getting enough senators to support them.  With up to 90% support for universal background checks among Oregonians, according to a poll that was taken in the state, one has to ask:  Who, exactly, are these senators representing?

It's time to demand real change.  It's time to reduce the grieving.  It's time to put the welfare of our children and adults to the top of the priority list, above the concerns of a minority of extremist gun advocates.

Have a safe and happy Father's Day.

ADDENDUM (6/16/12): See below for a message from another father of a Sandy Hook victim:

.

A Successful Mother’s Day Weekend for Ceasefire Oregon

Baldr Odinson (at right) speaking, for Ceasefire Oregon, at the
2013 Million Mom March rally and march for peace in Eugene
(photo by Jasmine Rose Penter)

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day, a day when children everywhere show their love for the woman who raised them, and that mothers return that love.  Here in my home it was special, with my wife showered with homemade gifts from our two small children, in a safe and loving home, and a gift and call to my own mom, whom I will be visiting in another state later this year.

But Mother’s Day is different this year.  Still fresh in our nation’s collective experience is the horror that was Newtown.  Since that horrifying day, when 20 little children were gunned down, along with 7 adults, at least another 71 kids *under the age of 12* have been killed by gunfire in homicides and accidents, according to Mother Jones magazine.  From the article:

An average of 197 children ages 12 and younger died from gun shots each year from 1999 through 2010, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dozens are killed annually in accidents—often with other young kids firing the gun—although the majority die in homicides. 

Among the 71 shooting deaths we analyzed from the past five months: 

• 40 killings were unintentional and 31 were alleged homicides.
• The most common scenario was kid-on-kid: At least 29 of the accidental deaths occurred when a kid under 17 pulled the trigger.
• The average age of the victims was just under six years old.
• 20 victims were girls and 51 were boys.
• The problem was worst in the South: Florida had the most kids killed (four accidents, five alleged homicides), followed by Ohio and Tennessee (four accidents and two alleged homicides in each state), followed by Alabama (two accidents, two alleged homicides) and South Carolina (four accidents).

I see it every day, in dozens of email Google alerts, which I try to post whenever I can to the Kid Shootings blog.  But there is no way to keep up with them all, without taking away time from my own parenting and work responsibilities.  As we say at the Kid Shooting blog, over and over again: “Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.”  Children and guns don’t mix, and it is the gun owners, usually the parents, who are typically responsible for allowing access to guns in these tragedies.

Also from the Mother Jones article:

Many accidental shootings happen in or around a family home, often involving kids playing with guns. Others involve parents accidentally shooting their kids. These incidents don't exactly shore up the gun lobby's claim that Americans need to secure their homes with handguns or even AR-15 assault rifles. Public health researchers have found that having a gun in the home puts gun owners and their families at higher risk of being shot intentionally or accidentally. Forty-three percent of homes with guns and kids contain at least one unlocked firearm. And one study found that a third of 8- to 12-year-old boys who came across an unlocked handgun picked it up and pulled the trigger.

But we needn’t just shake our heads and despair.  We have to take action to limit the violence.  Ceasefire Oregon has been active in trying to get the word out about the dangers of gun violence.

Last Saturday, Ceasefire Oregon held its annual gun turn-in in Portland, and hundreds of people showed up.  485 firearms were turned in, in exchange for gift certificates to Fred Meyer and Safeway stores.  Among those guns were four assault weapons.  These are weapons, in working condition, which are now out of the hands of those who feel unsafe having them in their homes, who have inherited them from deceased relatives, or who have come to the realization that a gun in the home is 22 times more likely to harm you than to be used to protect you.  From an article:

“Given the recent events at Clackamas Town Center, Newtown, Connecticut, and elsewhere, people are obviously thinking twice about having weapons in their homes,” said Penny Okamoto, Ceasefire Oregon’s executive director. “The huge turnout we had today is clear evidence of that.” 

The number of weapons turned in was the highest since 2001, when 504 guns were turned in. Nearly 8,290 guns have been turned in since the annual event began in 1994.Participants who turned in working guns received gift certificates from Safeway or Fred Meyer. Handguns merited a $100 gift certificate, with rifles and shotguns getting $75, assault weapons $150, magazines with 50-round capacities or more $25 and pellet and BB guns $10.

And then, on Sunday, Ceasefire Oregon joined with Million Mom March for the 14^th annual march for

Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy addressing the
audience at the 14th annual Million Mom March
rally and walk for peace
(photo by Jasmine Rose Penter)

peace in Eugene, Oregon.  Around 100 people showed up to hear live music, speeches from Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, MMM organizer Betsy Steffensen, and myself, and then march 2-3 miles along the river trail in solidarity to reduce gun violence. 

From an article from the Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene:

About 100 people met at the Eugene Water & Electric Board Plaza along the Willamette River and listened to statements from Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy and others who chose Mother’s Day to advocate for gun legislation reform. 

Several speakers echoed the words of the Dalai Lama, spoken during his sold-out presentation Friday at the University of Oregon, during their remarks at the plaza before embarking on a one-mile walk along the river to the Owen Memorial Rose Garden. 

Piercy said she is disillusioned by the absence of change in state or federal gun laws, even in the wake of the massacre shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December. She paraphrased the Dalai Lama when she said “never give up” and encouraged everyone to work together to put pressure on politicians to enact more thorough background checks for gun purchases. 

“We have to care about each other’s well-being,” Piercy said, again citing the Dalai Lama in saying the “core of peace” is caring about others.

I spoke mainly on the false assumptions that the pro-gun crowd make regarding “rights” granted by the Second Amendment, versus the historical truth of the amendment according to the Supreme Court and Constitutional scholars, and the difference between *having a right* and what *is* right to do.  My speech was well-received.  As I've said before, I greatly enjoy speaking in public on this issue, and will have other chances soon.

Mothers, hug your children tightly.  According to one study, around 3000 teens and children die every year in America to gunfire, and another 14,000 are injured.  I've seen it myself, when one teen shot another to death just a few feet from me, and in the death of a young friend in a suicide.

We have to work hard as responsible parents and citizens to limit those numbers, through child access protection laws and other sensible gun laws to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and youths, and create a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.


ADDENDUM (5/15/13):  A related article, written by the mother of a Sandy Hook victim, about the poignancy of losing a child to gun violence as a mother, particularly when Mother's Day comes around, by Rebecca Bond, who started the organization EVOLVE:

When I started Evolve, after the horrific tragedy of Sandy Hook, it was because I could not contemplate anything more unimaginable than taking away the life of a child. My child or another mother's child. One of our human miracles. It wasn't about guns to me. It was about a mother's conscience and the unfathomable idea that 20 children could be massacred and what if? What if nothing happened and we continue to look away from the truth about gun violence and gun behaviors in this country? As a mother, it was too unimaginable to consider. 

What drove me to start Evolve is knowing that we have to do better. That as mothers we must do better to make saving a life our priority. We know that human life is fragile because we know first-hand the miracle of creating one. We also know once that life is created, we must do everything within our power -- within our society's power -- to ensure that life does not go to waste. 

Guns are powerful, but human choice is more powerful. More powerful than a gun, more powerful than legislation, more powerful than the Second Amendment.

.

"Celebratory Gunfire" Kills. Watch For It This New Year's

Every year, I hear reports of people shot, injured, or nearly hit by bullets fire on New Year's and other holidays (4th of July comes in second, when I last blogged on the topic).  For instance, HERE is one from last New Year's, where a 14-year old boy was wounded in Illinois.

Another from last New Year's was a 12-year old boy in Florida (the "Gunshine State"), Diego Duran.  He was sitting outside watching fireworks with his family when a bullet struck him in the head.  He went into a coma for a while, but survived and has recovered, though with memory damage and a shunt in his head.  From an article:

As 2011 turned to 2012, Diego and his family were celebrating the New Year by watching fireworks from their yard; their home is an oasis of peace, surrounded by acres of solitude. Within the first few minutes of the New Year, Diego suddenly fell to the ground, bleeding. A bullet, fired into the sky from possibly miles away, found him and changed his life forever. Somewhere out in Ruskin, his assailant remains unknown and unidentified, someone who fired a gun into the air in celebration without giving thought to the fact that the bullet that emerged from the barrel did not simply disappear into the night sky. It came back down and struck a child. Intent or deliberation are not factors because the thoughtlessness of such an act is little different from a direct shot at a child; the end result was the same. A child was struck in the head by a bullet and instantly began fighting for his life. Until that moment, the young family rightfully thought they were safe in their own yard, celebrating the New Year together at home. But celebratory gunfire knows no boundaries. No one is safe from it. 

Over the past year, Diego has endured repeated surgeries, gains and setbacks. He never stopped fighting for his life and is now on the road to recovery. And now he is fighting for the lives of others.
 “Diego continues to improve overall,” Sandy said. “He still has a shunt to help drain his cerebral spinal fluid and he is on blood thinners due to a constricted artery in his brain. Still, he seems to be just great! If anyone was to see him in person, they would not even have a clue of what he had been through since January 1 of this year.” 

Upon meeting him it is clear that Diego is an intelligent, polite, creative and sensitive young man. His struggle to recover and his fight to prevent this from happening again have garnered worldwide attention. He is still coping with memory loss but is improving thanks to the dedication of his family, teachers and therapist.

Diego and his family now work hard to try to fight this phenomenon through an organization they started, called Bullet Free Sky.  Here is a link to their website:  http://bulletfreesky.com/spread_the_word.html.  They also have a Facebook page.

From that previous article:

“We are doing our best to educate people regarding the dangers of celebratory gunfire, a very irresponsible use of a firearm,” Sandy said, referring to Bullet Free Sky. “We have had booths at events leading to the New Year. We’re working on a public service advertisement to air on television and are planning on educating students in schools.” 

You can help their efforts by visiting the Bullet Free Sky website at www.bulletfreesky.com. There, you can find free posters, banners and flyers in both English and Spanish to download and display at businesses or anywhere they can be seen by the public. On the website, there are also t-shirts, wristbands and medallions for sale, with all of the money earned going back into the nonprofit organization and used to help fund current and future activities to help keep the skies over South Hillsborough and America bullet free. 

“You can help create awareness without even saying a word,” Sandy said of the t-shirts, wristbands and medallions. One person can make a big difference. One person may save a life.”

My friend, Joe Jaskolka, previously wrote a "survivor story" here at New Trajectory, describing how, at age 11, he was hit in the head by a celebratory shooting.  He still has the bullet in his head, and has endured 40 surgeries.  Now he and his father, Greg, work hard to prevent further celebratory shooting.  Here they are, featured in a Philadelphia news article on the topic (click to watch):

Another friend of mine, Henry Louis Adams, also works hard to reduce celebratory shootings, administers a Facebook page (Citizens Against Celebratory Gunfire and Senseless Gun Violence), and recently wrote an article on the topic:

Every year, the names of the injured and fallen will continue to grow, Celebratory Gunfire is increasingly even more a dangerous, irresponsible, and intrusive activity. Many victims were in their places of safety such as inside of their homes, churches, or simply watching fireworks from their own doorsteps on New Year’s Eve night when their lives were altered by a celebratory bullet. 

As our heart is still healing from one of the most gut wrenching gun massacres in U.S. history, let us remember the long fight ahead to a safer America. I believe that education is the key in combating celebratory gunfire. I have talked with lots of people over the years and so many people simply cannot understand how someone can be severely injured or killed during this activity. Even more shocking is that everyone that participates in this activity often will never know that they may have pulled the trigger that took the life of a innocent child or adult miles way.

It only takes one bullet to kill the party, as this Miami program against celebratory gunfire advertises.  If you or someone you know is thinking of shooting a gun in celebration, think again.  Every bullet comes down somewhere, and there may be people and property there.  Stick to fireworks.

ADDENDUM (12/31/12):  Check out the interesting comments on the article by Henry Louis Adams.  Also, here is a related article, also featuring Joe Jaskolka, with Philly police pleading with citizens not to shoot for New Year's Eve.

UPDATES (1/1/13):

HERE is dramatic audio of the shots fired over Atlanta at New Year's.

A 10-year old girl was shot and is in critical condition, by celebratory gunfire, in Pennsylvania.

Henry Louis Adams, cited in this blog post, shared on Facebook the sounds of Dekalb County, Georgia, at midnight on New Year's.  It sounded like a battleground.  Here is an article about the violence there this New Year's, with Henry featured in it.  Here is one article illustrating the danger, where two men were nearly hit by a bullet that, luckily, richocheted off a window crossbar instead of hitting them inside their apartment:

Another Dekalb County woman spent part of the evening in her husband's bulletproof gear.

HERE is another report, this one of an elderly lady in Los Angeles hit in the foot.

Five people were arrested in Saginaw, Michigan.  Read there for individual stories of victims.

A woman and an 8-year old boy were injured from celebratory gunfire in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the hand and the foot, respectively.

Veteran's Day, But No Armistice On Our Streets

Today is Veteran's Day in the United States -- a day when we stop to consider the sacrifices of our military veterans, and most especially those who served in war, live or dead. 

I have family in the military (one currently in the Army, another in the Army National Guard), both of whom served as MPs in Baghdad.  I have a friend who is a veteran of Afghanistan and the Balkan war, and is still a recruiter in the Army.  And I have a number of family members, living and dead, who served our country, including in battle.  I take their service very seriously.  They fought and risked their lives to serve the interests of our country and allow us the luxury of the lives that we live today. 

Veteran's Day coincides with Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day) which marks the signing of the armistice that ended World War I, and end of one of modern history's worst nightmares.  May we never experience another like it.

"In Flanders Fields" -- A poem written in 1915 by Colonel John McCrae in honor of his friend who had fallen early that year in The Second Battle of Ypres:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

And yet, the killing continues in the streets and homes of America, in the form of never-ending gun violence.  53,402 American servicemen died in WWI.  But here in America, that many citizens die from gun violence every 20 months.

Last Memorial Day, I posted a blog post where I showed that more citizens die every year in America than American soldiers who died in any year of  any war since WWII.  Go to that link and see the shocking statistics.

Yes, WWI was a nightmare on foreign battlefields, but we are living with a nightmare right now on our streets.

The people I know and love, live and dead, who served in foreign wars, did what they did in order to preserve peace at home.  But we don't have peace at home.  Instead we have 100,000 shootings a year, a gun culture that allows 40% of gun sales to go without a background check, and streets in some areas so violent that people don't let their kids play outside.  There can be no armistice without sensible reform.  There are no poppies where our children are gunned down.

It's time to change our culture of violence.  It's time to demand a plan to reduce the shootings.  It's time to make a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.

"Celebratory Gunfire" Kills -- Keep Your Guns Inside This Fourth Of July

Wednesday is our nation's birthday, Independence Day, when we celebrate the birth of Democracy, the founding our nation, and the rule of laws made by men to protect our freedoms.

It is a time for families to come together and enjoy each other's company, grill some hot dogs, and shoot of some colorful fireworks.  Some of my best memories are of Fourth of July get-togethers.

But it's also a good time to reflect on a bit of old wisdom:  with increased freedom comes increased responsibility.  Not everyone is responsible enough for those freedoms. 

You are free to drink if you are of legal age, but the Fourth of July is a time of increased drinking and driving.  Because people are not always responsible, there are laws against it, and increased police patrols. 

You are free to shoot off fireworks, but some fireworks are dangerous.  Every year people are injured or killed by them, and they can start fires.  So, here in Oregon at least, there are limits to what fireworks you can buy and set off (no bottle rockets or Roman candles, for instance).  Over at the Common Gunsense blog, the author, Japete, points out that, in Minnesota, you have to show your ID and have your driver's license scanned in order to buy even the simplest of fireworks, but you don't even need that much to buy a gun in a private purchase.

So there were 2 deaths from fireworks in 2009 and 8800 injuries in the U.S. I remind my readers that firearms take the lives of 30,000 Americans every year ( including 8 children a day) and another 70,000 injuries costing the country billions of dollars. And yet, I needed to produce my driver's license to buy 2 boxes of "Pop Its" today! There is widespread recognition that fireworks and firecrackers can be and are dangerous. Guns? Not so much. I should say that most people understand the dangers of guns but the NRA and its' minions won't allow any common sense laws to pass to prevent deaths and injuries. I also remind my readers that private sellers of firearms are supposed to ask for a driver's license but many do not.  In hidden camera video after hidden camera video, we have the proof that many people buy guns without producing one piece of identification. Here is just one of the latest exposés about how easy it is to buy guns, no questions asked. It's easier to buy a gun than it is to buy fireworks. And fireworks cause a very small number of deaths and injuries to Americans in a given year. Where is common sense?

And if you are a law-abiding adult, you are free to purchase and own a gun in your home, but you cannot willy-nilly fire it in public.  And yet, every year, there are injuries and deaths from "celebratory gunfire."  For some reason, some people aren't satisfied by simply whooping and hollering, or even exploding fireworks.  Instead, they find it necessary to fire off bullets into the night sky.  It makes a loud and fantastic boom, right?  What are the chances that the bullets are actually going to fall on someone?

Don't say that to the parents of this 7-year old, who was hit in the abdomen by celebratory gunfire this New Year's.  Or this 14-year old who was injured.  Or this 12-year old who was shot in the head and put in a coma.  The list goes on....

The 12-year old, Diego Duran, was in a coma for a month and is now recuperating.  He and his family have started an initiative, called "Bullet Free Sky" to try to reduce celebratory gunfire.  Their webpage: http://bulletfreesky.com/ .   Their Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/BulletFreeSky.

Here is a good article about the dangers of celebratory gunfire.  As the Author, Henry Louis Adams, writes:

Every year countless numbers of people are either killed or injured due to this senseless activity. It has been two years since Marquel Peters was struck in the head by a celebratory bullet while sitting in a Georgia church on New Year’s Eve. Also, Sergio Martinez at age 34 was struck in the head with a celebratory bullet while inside of his family’s home. The paramedics found him lying on the kitchen floor. Diego Duran, a 12-year-old Florida boy, was sitting in his front yard watching the fireworks in January of 2012 when he was struck by a celebratory bullet.

Diego sustained life threatening injuries, but survived and is still struggling from the effects of that shooting today. Joseph B. Jaskolka shares the moment he came in contact with celebratory Gunfire. He says: "I was struck in the head at about 12:05am, January 1st , 1999, in South Philadelphia. I was at a family party, I was almost immediately struck in the head after I took a few steps down Fernon Street. The bullet entered the top of my head, then fell down and now is resting on my brain stem. I was an athletic pre-teen who is now a hemiplegic man (I only have the use of my left sided extremities). By the way, I was just 11 years old at the time."

When I think of celebratory gunfire, images of third-world nations come to mind, like of Saddam Hussein shooting off a rifle at his public events.  But, as I have posted before, we are worse for shootings than most third-world nations, including many of those who are at war.

I urge you to spread the word to your community about this danger.  Here is a good pledge to take part in, Marquel's Pledge, to stop celebratory shootings.   Take part in a virtual event the Say NO to "Celebratory Gunfire" Facebook event.  Join the Citizens Against Celebratory Gunfire and Senseless Gun Violence Facebook group.

Enjoy your Fourth of July festivities.  Have fun with friends and families and fireworks.  But please be safe.

And for those of you who have guns at home, don't make your gun part of the festivities, for safety's sake. It's illegal, after all.

ADDENDUM: A related article, with some historical information on "celebratory gunfire."

ADDENDUM:  An interesting comment about this issue,by Peg Thon, from a related posting (click to zoom):

UPDATE (7/5/12):  Added information on Bullet Free Sky.

.

An Appeal To Fathers To Oppose “Stand Your Ground” Laws

Today I celebrate being the father of my two small children, and for them to celebrate me.  Since we just got back from a week-long vacation, I plan to take it easy and hang out at home, opening whatever heartfelt gifts they give me, doing fatherly things like cooking out and doing home improvement projects, and giving them lots of hugs.  I love my children, and would never want anything bad to happen to them.

Sadly, each year, around thirty thousand people are shot and killed in America.  Three thousand of them are children and teens.  Another 17,500 children and teens are injured by gunfire.  The vast majority of these children (and adults) have fathers who love them as much as I love my own.  I can only imagine the grief and torment these fathers must go through upon learning that the children they nurtured and tried to keep safe are now dead or injured by a bullet.

One father is speaking out about the death of his child: Tracy Martin, father of Trayvon Martin – a boy shot down by an over-zealous gun nut who used Florida’s "Stand Your Ground" (SYG) law as an excuse to stalk and ultimately shoot and kill an unarmed teen.

Here is Mr. Martin’s appeal:

Like Tracy Martin, I urge all readers to contact their state governors and legislators and ask them to review their state’s “stand yourground” laws. 

And what will those governors find?  The Tampa Bay Times recently did a study of Florida’s law.  What they found was shocking.  No doubt many of the cases were truly justified shootings.  But, as you'll see by the findings, the potential for abuse is very, very high.  Justice has not been done.


From the review:

• People often go free under "stand your ground" in cases that seem to make a mockery of what lawmakers intended. One man killed two unarmed people and walked out of jail. Another shot a man as he lay on the ground. Others went free after shooting their victims in the back. In nearly a third of the cases the Times analyzed, defendants initiated the fight, shot an unarmed person or pursued their victim — and still went free.

• Similar cases can have opposite outcomes. Depending on who decided their cases, some drug dealers claiming self-defense have gone to prison while others have been set free. The same holds true for killers who left a fight, only to arm themselves and return. Shoot someone from your doorway? Fire on a fleeing burglar? Your case can swing on different interpretations of the law by prosecutors, judge or jury.

Some of their findings suggest racism in the successful outcome of SYG trials. Two-thirds of the defendants used guns.  In 75% of the cases (148 out of 200), the victim wasn’t even committing a crime that led to the confrontation.

70% (135 out of 192) of the victims were unarmed during the confrontation.

In a quarter of the cases (53 out of 200), there were no witnesses to the shooting.  That means that, if the victim died, the case comes down to the word of the shooter against that of a dead man.  In over half of the cases (110 out of 200), there was either no physical evidence or it is unclear if physical evidence was found.  Given that people who have successfully used the SYG defense include drug dealers and gang members, these data are truly alarming.

HERE is a database of findings from the study.

These results stand in stark contrast to the argument by the NRA, who crafted these laws, that only law-abiding citizens would use SYG laws, and only to protect themselves against imminent and lethal danger.

25 states currently have SYG laws, and the NRA and other gun lobbies are pushing to have them in all 50 states.

Today, if you are a father, love your children and hold them tight.  But also keep in mind that too many die from gunfire each year.  Don’t let your child be one of these.  Fight hard for sensible gun law reform, so that you won’t be the next grieving father on YouTube urging other fathers to do the same.

Shocking: How Do War Deaths Compare To U.S. Shooting Deaths?

Today is Memorial day.  Today we remember our fallen soldiers -- those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to further our nation's interests.  According to an article at CNN, around 600,000 soldiers have died in service to our country since Memorial Day (and its predecessor, Decoration Day) was first observed back in 1868. 

I've had quite a few relatives, living and deceased, who have served, or are serving, in the military. Today is also a time to think about the sacrifices made by those who did not die in battle.  My maternal grandfather was a sailor in WWII, in the Pacific, and returned home safely, passing away as an old man.  The giant flag presented at his memorial service is, today, covering my bay window.  My niece's husband is an Army MP serving abroad.  He's barely spent any time with his new daughter, born in September.  So many first moments missed!  Today I honor him, too.  His wife, my niece, was in Iraq with him as an MP, and is now home with their three young daughters.  My father, stepfather, and numerous great uncles all served in conflict, too, and have passed away.  Luckily, none of my relatives died in battle.

But let us remember, that although we rightly show concern for those who are dying (or surviving) in distant wars, we should also note that far, far more people are dying from gunfire here on our own soil.  People don't like to think about it that way.  They don't want to believe that our nation is warring against gun violence here.  But at 100,000 shootings a year in the U.S., we can't afford to cover our eyes and pretend that all is right.

This weekend I read a post over at the Common Gunsense blog.  There the author, Japete, quoted a disturbing statistic, which was reposted from a page from Legal Community Against Violence: 

Because I write a blog about gun violence prevention, I want to talk about America gun deaths as they compare to deaths of Americans because of war. More people have lost their lives to bullets on the streets and in the homes of American communities than American military members serving since the Viet Nam war:

Between 1955 and 1975, the Vietnam War killed over 58,000 American soldiers – less than the number of civilians killed with guns in the U.S. in an average two-year period.4

In the first seven years of the U.S.-Iraq War, over 4,400 American soldiers were killed. Almost as many civilians are killed with guns in the U.S., however, every seven weeks.5

Those alarming statistics got me to thinking.  How do our yearly fatal shooting numbers compare to other wars?  So I took a closer look at the numbers. 

I list my sources for these statistics at the end of this post.  I compared fatal and non-fatal shootings in the U.S. to battle-caused fatalities and injury statistics of American military from each war (only battle-caused, since those do not count deaths due to non-combat accidents or sicknesses, for instance).

According to CDC statistics of the most recent yearly statistics available, 31,593 people died from lethal shootings in America in 2008 (2,633 per month).  66,769 were injured (5,564 per month).

Then I calculated:  How long would it take for annual shootings in the U.S. to match the total number of deaths or injuries from our modern wars?  Here's the result (click to enlarge):

Yes,  it only takes 15 days for lethal shootings in America to match the total number of servicemen killed in the Afghanistan war.  Only 2 months to match the number killed in Iraq.  A miniscule 2 days to match the Persian Gulf War.  And as for Viet Nam, our most controversial and bloody post-WWII war, it only takes 18 months.

You have to go all the way back to WWII to see numbers that seem somehow more reasonable, and that was a world-wide war requiring the majority of our able-bodied young men to serve, many dying.

But let me point out that this is an unfair test.  Those numbers represent yearly shootings in the U.S. against all combat deaths across ALL years for each war.

It is more fair to compare average yearly U.S. shootings against the average yearly shootings for each war.

Here is what I found (click to enlarge):

Compare the first and second blue columns.  Even if you lump together ALL post-WWII wars, the number killed in battle per year in all those wars combined is only HALF the number shot and killed in America each year.  Half!! 

I've used an "average number of battle deaths per year" value to compare against.  For you gun guys who would argue that I should instead compare against each year of each battle, consider this:  even in the most bloody year of the Vietnam war, 1968, we saw 16,592 soldiers killed.  That's only about half the number of people fatally shot in the U.S. each year.

Japete at Common Gunsense pointed out a meaningful Doonesbury cartoon strip, which pretty much says it all:

I found this interesting article from PolitiFact checking the accuracy of a Doonesbury cartoon strip which noted that in the nine years since the 9-11 attacks 270,000 Americans have died from bullets not having to do with war. From the article:

"What are we like as a people?" Slackmeyer muses to himself in his studio. "Nine years, ago we were attacked -- 3,000 people died. In response, we started two long, bloody wars and built a vast homeland-security apparatus -- all at a cost of trillions! Now consider this. During those same nine years, 270,000 Americans were killed by gunfire at home. Our response? We weakened our gun laws."

Make no bones about it:  The number and rate of shootings here in America shows that we are at war, a war more deadly than any other war we've fought since WWII.  But the enemy isn't across a trench or hiding in a cave.  The enemy is our lax gun laws, allowing with surprising ease the ability of guns to get into the hands of those who shouldn't have them.  The battlefield is anywhere guns are present:  our towns, our streets, our homes.  It's time to make a new trajectory for our nation away from gun violence.

ADDENDUM (2/15/13):  More American citizens have died since 1968 (1,384,171) than U.S. soldiers killed in ALL wars combined (1,171,177).  See the breakdown statistics HERE.

Statistics Sources:

United States shooting deaths and injuries:

http://www.bradycampaign.com/xshare/Facts/Gun_Death_and_Injury_Stat_Sheet_2008__2009_FINAL.pdf

War casualties prior to present wars:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

Iraq War Casualties:

http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm

Afghanistan War Casualties: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_casualties_in_Afghanistan

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., is one of my heroes.  I celebrate his legacy every year.  My family has four different races represented in it:  African-American, Caucasian, Native American, and Latino.  So King's message of the peaceful coming together of all Americans is an important one for me, which I live every day.


From King's Nobel Prize acceptance speech (Dec 10, 1964):

Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.  If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.  The foundation of such a method is love.

For those pro-gun folks who read this, and point out that King had protected his family by requesting a conceal carry permit or having them in his house, I offer you this quote from him:

"How could I serve as one of the leaders of a nonviolent movement and at the same time use weapons of violence for my personal protection? ... I was much more afraid in Montgomery when I had a gun in my house. When I decided that I couldn’t keep a gun, I came face-to-face with the question of death and I dealt with it. From that point on, I no longer needed a gun nor have I been afraid. Had we become distracted by the question of my safety we would have lost the moral offensive and sunk to the level of our oppressors."

I also will add this quote by him:

"By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes." 

Today's post over at Common Gunsense is an important one which pretty much says it all.  Thank you, japete, for your post:
http://www.commongunsense.com/2012/01/we-remember-dr-martin-luther-kings.html?spref=tw


I urge my readers to pay tribute to King and his legacy of peace and non-violence in some manner this week.  Do something uncharacteristically understandng to help your fellow man, volunteer for an organization that espouses non-violence, or attend an MLK celebration.  Peace be with you.


(updated 1/16/12 with additional quotes)
(image taken from HERE)