David Riedman’s Post

The Coalition is continuing to impact the narrative around this omnibus gun bill and gun violence in general. Our CEO Ruth Zakarin spoke to ABC6 News on Friday about the omnibus bill that was signed into law last week, and how MA state laws impact the rest of New England. “There’s no one solution to gun violence, so when we talk about it at the coalition is we move the needle on this issue through policy change, sustained investment in community-based solutions, and making sure we are listening to data and research. A state is only as safe as the gun laws in the neighboring states. So we’re impacted when other New England states and other places in the country have weak gun laws. And so if Massachusetts can be an example of leadership, which I think it has been and continues to be with the passage of this law, then we can show other states what it looks like to have this comprehensive approach." Watch the full segment here: https://buff.ly/46s1GJw

I have the Right in America 🇺🇸 to HATE GUNS, especially the ones thst should not be in the hands of any citizen like AR-15’s. I hear people say stupid stiff like guns don’t kill > People kill > tell that one to the parents that have lost loved ones when it should have been just. Regular school day. I hear bad guys still get guns, then lock up your guns & Biden when you wake up from your nap send our military in to every bas section of every city & confiscate all guns from bad people, drug dealers, etc. that don’t have a gun license. WE NEED MUCH BETTER GUN MANAGEMENT NOT CONTROL>Also, if you are one of those Nuts that keeps crying about your 2nd amendment, then RESPECT your RIGHT to have COMMON SENSE & KNOW OUR AMERICAN 🇺🇸 GOVERNMENT will NEVER EVER TAKE ALL ZILLIONS OF GUNS AWAY>As they shouldn’t because every good lawful trained citizen has RIGHT to OWN a “NON-MILITARY STYLE GUN” for protection of their home & family, but not to act like the law on Main Street or be Radical like on January 6th (no speech or pep rally is responsible for MORONS charging capital when they traveled hundreds of miles ready to do Damage>IDIOTS like that need to follow American Laws like everyone else & not Blame anyone other than themselves for doing a Stupid Act)>”A very fair and informative article ...lots of facts ... including the fact that the NRA has spent $13 million on politicians between 1998 and 2016... wouldn’t it be great to have laws based on what the majority of citizens want (vs. paid of politicians) and to use that money to improve that data base system for people owning and buying guns to PROTECT ALL OF US”…

The United States is plagued by an epidemic of gun violence that kills more than 40,000 Americans every year — but it does not have to be this way. California is proof. Over the last 30 years, thanks to our nation-leading, commonsense, data-driven gun laws, policies, and programs, we have transformed from a state with some of the highest rates of gun violence to one with some of the lowest. Read more about how our office is tackling gun violence in this week's Weekly Update. https://lnkd.in/g7_btG2b

The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has declared gun violence to be a public health crisis. But his “solutions” to the problem are nothing more than the same old liberal talking points; ban automatic rifles [my note; that should have been “semiautomatic rifles”, but the good doctor doesn’t actually know much about firearms], introduce universal background checks for purchasing guns, regulate the industry, pass laws that would restrict their use in public spaces, and penalize people who fail to safely store their weapons.   I could get behind the concept that violence, not just gun violence but all forms of violence, represent a public health emergency. But the solutions do not lie in these tired old tropisms of the liberal left. They may sound good in theory, but none of them would have much impact on real world gun violence. The answers will only be found when we are willing to objectively examine, understand, and address the underlying causes of violence in modern American society. Unfortunately, this is not something either our politicians or the public in general are eager to do. And so, Americans will continue to die from the violent acts of others while we debate the merits restricting the Second Amendment rights of our law-abiding citizens. https://lnkd.in/dsMi-ggp

Did you catch us on WGBH this week? Coalition CEO Ruth Zakarin spoke about the lifesaving omnibus gun safety law and why we need to protect it from repeal. Excerpt: “While Massachusetts has lower rates of gun violence than other states, it is not zero — and we want to get it to zero,” Ruth Zakarin, CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, told GBH News. “We also know that there’s no one single policy that is going to solve the issue of gun violence. It is about strengthening policy. It’s about investing in community based solutions. And we see this law, it’s important in how comprehensive it is and the fact that it really takes a number of different steps to keep our community safer from gun violence.” Read the full piece here:

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal regulation in a 6-3 ruling prohibiting ownership of bump stocks, a type of semi-automatic rifle accessory that enables the shooter to fire rapidly, simulating fully automatic fire. This type of accessory was responsible for killing 60 people during the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting – the deadliest mass shooting in American history – and was banned by the Trump administration in 2018 with wide bipartisan support. “We’re incredibly disappointed by this decision that rolls back the bipartisan progress to make firearms a little less lethal as our nation continues to face increasing rates of gun violence,”- Lauren Levin, chief advocacy officer at Sandy Hook Promise. Over the years, multiple surveys and polls have indicated that a majority of Americans are in favor of banning bump stocks. In an increasingly divided nation, bipartisan solutions like these are more important than ever to protect children from gun violence. #SandyHookPromise #EndGunViolence #ProtectOurKids

Dr. Vivek Murthy has a history of advocating for gun control and sees gun violence as a “public health issue”. He apparently feels the need to speak out again in this election year, calling for a host of new regulations on firearms. He wants to restrict guns in public places (guess you can’t defend yourself anymore) and have penalties for gun owners who don’t store their firearms safely. How are you supposed to defend yourself from a home invasion if your gun is stored somewhere? He even wants the medical profession to discuss gun violence during doctor visits. Really? Dr. Murthy I’m sure is a good doctor but he’s out of touch with most Americans on this issue. Making good public health recommendations based on sound medical science is what he needs to be doing. Getting injured or killed because you right to defend yourself is limited is not public health, it’s public danger.

It's hard to imagine, but there really are people who believe the whole "trigger pulls the finger" foolishness. There are about 81 million Americans who legally own guns. They own 350 to 400 million firearms, including about 29 million rifles like the AR-15, AK-47, etc. A recent survey reported that half of Americans live in a household with a gun. That's almost 63 million households with guns. According to the CDC, there were 48,204 gun-related deaths in 2022. 19,651 were homicides, 27,032 were suicides. The majority of the homicides were not committed using legally owned guns, but we'll ignore that for now. Those 46,683 deaths would account for less than 0.06% of gun owners, even if legally possessed guns were involved in all of them. How can those people believe these myths when they're so easily disproven? I guess P.T. Barnum was right: There's a gun control fan born every minute.

Gun violence threatened to swamp America’s cities in the 1980s and ‘90s. But looking back, regulatory attempts to turn that tide may have unintentionally turbocharged the gun industry by radicalizing gun proponents. More in the latest episode of “Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust” with Long Lead Productions.