| Chapter
11
Guns and Gun Control
By David J. Krajicek
The Brady Center’s lobbying affiliate is known as the Brady Campaign. It is also affiliated with the Million Mom March, which it described as “the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence.”
Increasingly, the Brady Center has actively lobbied for specific changes in gun laws, much like the NRA. In the summer of 2007, its legislative initiatives included:
- Enhancements in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
- Background checks for all gun sales, including at gun shows, rather than just for those from federally licensed dealers.
- Cancellation of the requirement that records of background checks be destroyed within 24 hours of approval.
- Imposition of a background check waiting period to allow a more thorough review of records.
- Reinstatement of the federal assault weapons ban.
- Repeal the Tiahrt Amendment. (See Chapter Four.)
- Require "microstamping" of certain weapons to enhance law enforcement's ability to solve gun crimes.
An excerpt from the Brady Center’s mission statement:
“We are devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities. As the Brady Campaign, we work to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations, and public policies through grassroots activism, electing public officials who support gun laws, and increasing public awareness of gun violence.
“Through our Million Mom March Chapters, we work locally to educate, remember victims, and pass sensible gun laws, believing that children have the right to grow up in environments free from the threat of gun violence. As the Brady Center, we work to reform the gun industry by enacting and enforcing sensible regulations to reduce gun violence, including regulations governing the gun industry. In addition, we educate the public about gun violence through litigation, grassroots mobilization, and outreach to affected communities.”
The Brady Center and the NRA often serve as point-counterpoint adversaries on gun issues. The Brady website includes this take on gun control:
“Our stand is simple. We believe that law-abiding citizens should be able to buy and keep firearms. And we believe there are sensible gun laws that we can and should insist upon when it comes to gun ownership.
“First and foremost, we should try to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them, including criminals and children.
“Second, there are certain classes of weapons that should be out of bounds for private ownership. They include Saturday-night specials, which are used almost exclusively for crime, military-style assault weapons like Uzis and AK-47s, and .50-caliber sniper rifles, which serve no ordinary sporting purpose.
“Third, we believe that those who do own guns ought to be held to the highest standards of safety. They should be well trained in the use of their weapons and they should be required to keep weapons secure, so that neither innocent children nor prohibited persons can get a hold of them.”
More on the Brady Center: http://www.bradycampaign.org/about/
Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Website: www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org
The newest high-profile player in the firearms debate is Mayors Against Illegal Guns, with members from more than 200 municipalities.
The group was founded on April 25, 2006, during a “summit” in New York hosted by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Its goal is to stop the flow of illegal guns into American cities.
The group’s founding principles:
- Punish criminals who possess, use, and traffic in illegal guns.
- Target and hold accountable irresponsible gun dealers who break the law by knowingly selling guns to straw purchasers.
- Oppose all federal efforts to restrict cities' right to access, use and share trace data that is so essential to effective enforcement, or to interfere with the ability of the ATF to combat illegal gun trafficking.
- Work to develop and use technologies that aid in the detection and tracing of illegal guns.
- Support all local state and federal legislation that targets illegal guns; coordinate legislative, enforcement, and litigation strategies; and share information and best practices.
By the summer of 2007, the group had 226 member mayors from 40 states. Many of the mayors comes from cities in the northeast, Midwest and west, but about 20 percent are from the south—the traditional pro-gun bulwark.
In 2006, Bloomberg sued 27 gun dealers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia, based upon evidence gathered by a private investigation firm, the James Mintz Group. Using hidden cameras, the investigators recorded gun purchases that the dealers “should have recognized as straw purchases,” according to the Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
(In a straw purchase, an intermediary buys a gun on behalf of someone who is not eligible to do so. The transaction is a felony under the Gun Control Act of 1968.)
About half of the dealers settled the suit by agreeing to allow inspection of the sales records for three years.
Virginia passed a state law to prevent New York City from sending investigators to look into gun dealers there without local or ATF supervision. Other states have threatened to follow suit.
Bloomberg and the group have become targets of the National Rifle Association, which says the effort amounts to “breathing new life into the gun control movement.”
The group’s website has more background and contact information: http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/home/home.shtml
Other Organizations
Many other organizations are involved in gun lobbying and debate. Here are thumbnails of some of them. Media contact information for these and other organizations can be found in the Resources section of this chapter.
American Hunters and Shooters Association
Website: www.huntersandshooters.com
Founded in 2005, the Maryland-based group says it advocates a “common sense” approach to gun ownership.
According to the group’s website, “AHSA is committed to advancing common-sense gun policy initiatives that will have an immediate impact on violence, crime, accidental injury and death and make our country safer.”
An excerpt from its mission statement:
“In recent years, extreme political positions purporting to support gun rights have jeopardized our sport and have hurt the image of responsible gun owners. Unless the sporting community can become unified behind an organization that fights for safe and responsible hunting and shooting practices and sensible gun ownership, future generations may be unable to participate in and enjoy the shooting sports.”
The group is at odds with the NRA and aligned with Mayors Against Illegal Guns. "Gun owners are tired of being vilified," said Ray Schoenke, AHSA president and a former pro football player. "The NRA has hijacked our heritage."
The group’s media contact is Bob Ricker, the former gun industry lobbyist who brokered the 1997 voluntary trigger lock agreement, angering the NRA.
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