Showing posts with label the NRA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the NRA. Show all posts
Friday, January 1, 2016
President Obama's Weekly Address 1/1/16: Making America Safer for Our Children
WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, the President reflected on the progress of the past year, and looked forward to working on unfinished business in the coming year, particularly when it comes to the epidemic of gun violence. As he has many times before, the President reminded us that Congress has repeatedly failed to take action and pass laws that would reduce gun violence. That’s why the President a few months ago tasked his White House team with identifying new actions he can take to help reduce gun violence, and on Monday will meet with the Attorney General to discuss the options. In his address, the President called on everyone to join him in the fight to reduce gun violence, because it’s going to take all of us to make America safer for our children.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Snub Nose .38 and Greenie Stick-M-Caps: Vintage Toys
How times have changed... 50 years ago what little boy wouldn't want this toy? No one questioned back then if it was appropriate to be left under the Christmas tree or not.
Today, toys like this can't be sold due to safety concerns, but the NRA would endorse it and the ad anyway under the guise of 2nd Amendment.
I know if I was a 9 year old boy 50 years ago, I'd want this under the tree and I'm sure my father would have been just as happy to make sure it was there.
Today, I still think it's cool but totally inappropriate for our times.
XmasFlix.com
Monday, December 7, 2015
...The Daily News published another controversial cover, sarcastically declaring, "Everything is awesome!" in response to those, like members of the National Rifle Association, who refuse to consider stricter gun control measures to combat gun violence....
Hat Tip Yahoo
Hat Tip Yahoo
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Chris Smith: The Gun Lobby's Lap Dog
Chris Smith represents a large portion of Middletown in Congress and he happens to be a Lap Dog that does tricks for treats from the corporate gun lobby to block gun violence prevention legislation.Smith got a "Thumbs Down" from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and has REFUSED to support common sense gun legislation such as a National System for Background Checks that would keeps guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic abusers and terrorists.
See who else is a Lap Dog for the NRA and the corporate gun lobby
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Stop the School Shooting
For Immediate Release:
Republican Congressman Chris Smith says that he feels sorry for the victims of the recent spate of gun violence. We are tired of politicians "feeling sorry"! We demand action right now! This do-nothing Congress has sat around avoiding the issue of gun control for too long.
Since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook in December of 2012 there have been 74 school shootings. Just this year we have already had 37 shootings on school grounds. What more does this Congress need? How many innocent lives have been lost since Chris Smith took office over 30 years ago. Yet Smith has opposed universal background checks, and has done nothing to ban the sale of assault rifles, like the one used earlier this week in Portland. As many of you know, I have promised not to sell myself to special interest groups like the NRA.
I will stand up to powerful lobbyists and dedicate myself to taking assault rifles and other dangerous weapons off the street. I will fight to make sure that background checks, waiting periods and limits on the sale of all guns becomes the law throughout this entire country. I ask that you do what's right to protect our children on November 4th and vote Scolavino for Congress.
LETS STOP SCHOOL SHOOTINGS NOW!!!!!
#scolavino4congress
#congressionalchallenge
Sunday, August 25, 2013
NRA Over NJ: Preventing Gun Violence
One week ago, Governor Christie vetoed three commonsense bills to reduce gun violence. The Governor, in a cowardly attempt to draw attention away from his senseless vetoes, announced his decision on a Friday evening. Instead of taking decisive action to protect communities across New Jersey, Governor Christie sided with the NRA and a fringe conservative group in New Hampshire. Governor Christie, once again, decided to put his national ambitions ahead of New Jersey.
Friday, January 18, 2013
$50.4 billion
The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:
On Tuesday evening, the House finally passed a $50.4 billion disaster relief bill that will help New Jersey and other states rebuild after Hurricane Sandy.
That’s the good news – and it is, to be sure, very good news. For the tens of thousands of New Jerseyans still working hard to recover from the storm, this bill will make a real difference. It provides significant emergency support to FEMA and the Small Business Administration, and it invests wisely in preventing future disasters.
But the vote also reflects a deeply troubling trend in our politics. It is troubling that Congress would hesitate and debate for months whether we would rebuild after a hurricane. It is alarming that, when Congress finally decided to act, the bill passed mostly along party lines, with small Republican support and that small Republican support coming almost entirely from northeastern states or from states usually affected by hurricanes.
Does this mean disaster relief has become a partisan or regional issue, rather than a shared commitment to aid our fellow citizens who fall victim to nature’s wrath? Congress seems to be losing its belief in a great America, a country that doesn't for a moment think that natural disaster or hardship will set us back.
Not Just Tears. Action.
President Obama this week unveiled a wide-ranging set of proposals to rein in gun violence, drawing on the recommendations of a task force led by Vice President Biden. Already the President has taken meaningful steps to help track the flow of firearms and to support research into gun deaths, but as he was quick to point out, real progress will require Congress to act.
And act we must. For decades, too many in Washington have stood passively by as our schoolchildren and moviegoers and worshippers and police officers and so many others have been gunned down. This shameful inaction must end.
First and foremost, we must enact a permanent ban on military-style assault weapons. Of course, Congress will protect the right of law-abiding Americans to own firearms that are useful for sport or self-defense. But semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines have no legitimate use whatsoever outside of police and military forces. These military-style assault weapons are useful only to criminals who wish to commit mass murder, and they should be banned once and for all.
We must also make sensible investments in strengthening mental health care. To be clear, the NRA lobbyists who claim that this step alone is sufficient to rein in gun violence are self-serving and wrong-headed. Better access to mental health care will likely play only a modest role in preventing gun murders – but it could play a critical role in preventing gun suicides, which represent the majority of all gun deaths. Moreover, better mental health care in America is an end worth pursuing in itself.
Finally, we must recognize the crucial role of law enforcement in preventing gun violence. In particular, the President is right to emphasize the value of school resource officers: specially trained law enforcement officers who work in schools every day. These resource officers do much more than just staff metal detectors or respond to violent crises. They work within schools day in and day out to build trust, create a culture of nonviolence, and strengthen respect for the law. We should invest in placing trained school resource officers in every school in America, and I plan to introduce legislation in the weeks ahead to help make that possible.
To hear the stories of the little children and the teachers murdered in Newtown makes you want to cry. But even more than that, it should make us want to act.
Forty Years of Scientists on Capitol Hill
So many of the challenging issues that Congress deals with every day, from climate change to internet security to national defense to space exploration, demand expert-level knowledge of science and technology. Yet most members of Congress do not have a scientific background, and even those of us who are trained as scientists cannot possibly hope to be an expert in every field. Where can we turn for much-needed expertise?
For the past four decades, the American Association for the Advance of Science (AAAS) has helped to answer that question through its Science & Technology Policy Fellowships program. In 1973, AAAS societies selected seven scientists and engineers to work for a year in a Congressional office, providing their expertise to Congress and learning about the political process. In the decades since, the program has expanded, and its alumni have brought their experiences to high-level positions throughout the government and the private sector.
I owe a great debt to the AAAS Fellows program: I was a AAAS fellow in 1982, and I have been honored in my time as a member of Congress to host many fellows in my office. To celebrate the program’s 40th anniversary, I recently joined several other past fellows to contribute to a short documentary about the program’s impact. The result, an engaging 16-minute video, is now available online.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
On Tuesday evening, the House finally passed a $50.4 billion disaster relief bill that will help New Jersey and other states rebuild after Hurricane Sandy.
 |
| Congressman Rush Holt |
But the vote also reflects a deeply troubling trend in our politics. It is troubling that Congress would hesitate and debate for months whether we would rebuild after a hurricane. It is alarming that, when Congress finally decided to act, the bill passed mostly along party lines, with small Republican support and that small Republican support coming almost entirely from northeastern states or from states usually affected by hurricanes.
Does this mean disaster relief has become a partisan or regional issue, rather than a shared commitment to aid our fellow citizens who fall victim to nature’s wrath? Congress seems to be losing its belief in a great America, a country that doesn't for a moment think that natural disaster or hardship will set us back.
Not Just Tears. Action.
President Obama this week unveiled a wide-ranging set of proposals to rein in gun violence, drawing on the recommendations of a task force led by Vice President Biden. Already the President has taken meaningful steps to help track the flow of firearms and to support research into gun deaths, but as he was quick to point out, real progress will require Congress to act.
And act we must. For decades, too many in Washington have stood passively by as our schoolchildren and moviegoers and worshippers and police officers and so many others have been gunned down. This shameful inaction must end.
First and foremost, we must enact a permanent ban on military-style assault weapons. Of course, Congress will protect the right of law-abiding Americans to own firearms that are useful for sport or self-defense. But semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines have no legitimate use whatsoever outside of police and military forces. These military-style assault weapons are useful only to criminals who wish to commit mass murder, and they should be banned once and for all.
We must also make sensible investments in strengthening mental health care. To be clear, the NRA lobbyists who claim that this step alone is sufficient to rein in gun violence are self-serving and wrong-headed. Better access to mental health care will likely play only a modest role in preventing gun murders – but it could play a critical role in preventing gun suicides, which represent the majority of all gun deaths. Moreover, better mental health care in America is an end worth pursuing in itself.
Finally, we must recognize the crucial role of law enforcement in preventing gun violence. In particular, the President is right to emphasize the value of school resource officers: specially trained law enforcement officers who work in schools every day. These resource officers do much more than just staff metal detectors or respond to violent crises. They work within schools day in and day out to build trust, create a culture of nonviolence, and strengthen respect for the law. We should invest in placing trained school resource officers in every school in America, and I plan to introduce legislation in the weeks ahead to help make that possible.
To hear the stories of the little children and the teachers murdered in Newtown makes you want to cry. But even more than that, it should make us want to act.
Forty Years of Scientists on Capitol Hill
So many of the challenging issues that Congress deals with every day, from climate change to internet security to national defense to space exploration, demand expert-level knowledge of science and technology. Yet most members of Congress do not have a scientific background, and even those of us who are trained as scientists cannot possibly hope to be an expert in every field. Where can we turn for much-needed expertise?
For the past four decades, the American Association for the Advance of Science (AAAS) has helped to answer that question through its Science & Technology Policy Fellowships program. In 1973, AAAS societies selected seven scientists and engineers to work for a year in a Congressional office, providing their expertise to Congress and learning about the political process. In the decades since, the program has expanded, and its alumni have brought their experiences to high-level positions throughout the government and the private sector.
I owe a great debt to the AAAS Fellows program: I was a AAAS fellow in 1982, and I have been honored in my time as a member of Congress to host many fellows in my office. To celebrate the program’s 40th anniversary, I recently joined several other past fellows to contribute to a short documentary about the program’s impact. The result, an engaging 16-minute video, is now available online.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
Monday, December 17, 2012
NRA Shuts Down It's Facebook Page and Twitter Accounts
It seems that the NRA would rather hide than defend their position on gun control regulations in the wake of the Sandy Hook School shootings, now that they are faced by a public that has become outraged over the senseless gun violence that is becoming more and more common.
AdWeek- The National Rifle Association shut down a key Twitter account last summer in the aftermath of the Aurora, Colo. theater shootings. On Saturday, one day after the unthinkable shootings at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school, the NRA took a more drastic measure by deactivating its Facebook page after celebrating getting to 1.7 million fans on the social site earlier in the week.
While the group has not commented since Friday's tragedy, it appears to have staked out a strategy to take its brand out of the social media picture in the wake of a mass-shooting news event. Given its guns-rights cause, the social media buzz after such events seems to be an unenviable conversation for the org to partake in. The NRA's chief Twitter account, which has doubled in followers to 63,000 since the Aurora shootings, has been silent since tweeting out a holidays giveaway contest early Friday.
Meanwhile, Facebook news feeds and Twitter streams have been inundated with debate about whether the nation's politicians should enact federal gun-control legislation in reaction to the recent string of mass shootings. The conversation has ranged from typically political to thoughtful to downright ugly.
Scarborough's Morning Joe Commentary On The Sandy Hook School Shootings
I was up early this morning and when I turned on the Morning Joe show on MSNBC, I was pleasantly surprised to see show host Joe Scarborough open his show with a strong monologue pertaining to Friday's Sandy Hook School shooting. Scarborough made a heartfelt, commonsense plea for some type of gun regulations that will end the senseless violence that has become far more common in recent years than anyone would like.
When in Congress, Scarborough was one of the most conservative and partisan members of the Republican Party, who during his 4 terms as a congressman, received the NRA's highest endorsement. So for him and for people like him, to have a change of heart on the issue gun control in the aftermath the Sandy Hook shootings is commendable.
It's extremely unfortunate however that this change of heart on his and their parts has come only after 28 people, 20 of whom were innocent 6 & 7 year old children lost their lives before they had really every begun.
Nonetheless, I commend Joe Scarborough's change of heart and thinking on this issue. This is a very complicated issue that can't be legislated in one swipe of the pen. As Scarborough states in his commentary, much more needs to be done to recognize people with mental health issue and to see that they received treatment. And to make sure that guns aren't getting into the hands of unstable people.
When in Congress, Scarborough was one of the most conservative and partisan members of the Republican Party, who during his 4 terms as a congressman, received the NRA's highest endorsement. So for him and for people like him, to have a change of heart on the issue gun control in the aftermath the Sandy Hook shootings is commendable.
It's extremely unfortunate however that this change of heart on his and their parts has come only after 28 people, 20 of whom were innocent 6 & 7 year old children lost their lives before they had really every begun.
Nonetheless, I commend Joe Scarborough's change of heart and thinking on this issue. This is a very complicated issue that can't be legislated in one swipe of the pen. As Scarborough states in his commentary, much more needs to be done to recognize people with mental health issue and to see that they received treatment. And to make sure that guns aren't getting into the hands of unstable people.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
McCain Camp Tries To Downplay Top Aide Lobbying In Favor Of Gun Rights For Suspected Terrorists
Think Progress
by Satyam
In 2007, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced legislation giving the Justice Department the discretion to prohibit gun sales to terror suspects. The legislation was supported by gun-control groups as well as the Bush administration.
Siding with the gun industry in opposing closing this “terror gap” was Randy Scheunemann, now Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top foreign policy adviser. Newsweek reports that Scheunemann lobbied against the bill on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation:
One group opposed to closing the loophole is the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun manufacturers’ trade association. Until this spring, one of its congressional lobbyists was Randy Scheunemann … Registration documents filed by Scheunemann’s company, Orion Strategies, list the terror-gap bill as one of its specific lobbying objectives, and the registrations listed Scheunemann as a lobbyist until he took a leave.
In response, the McCain campaign “declined to say if Scheunemann had ever lobbied McCain on gun-control bills.” McCain spokesperson Jill Hazelbaker said that Scheunemann is a “foreign-policy adviser.” In March, however, Scheunemann told National Journal that “he has weighed in with advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues” in advising McCain:
Officially the top foreign policy and national security adviser to McCain’s campaign, Scheunemann told National Journal in March he has weighed in with advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues. He said he had stopped lobbying for all his clients early this year, and his lobbying registration forms show that the NRA work ended at the end of 2007.
After McCain spoke to the NRA national convention in May, “Scheunemann spent most of his time at the event backstage — where McCain had a brief meeting with NRA leaders.”
Hinting at yet another conflict of interest, the McCain campaign “refused to answer questions about whether the senator supports or opposes the White House plan to close the loophole” giving expanded gun rights to terrorists, reports Newsweek.
by Satyam
In 2007, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced legislation giving the Justice Department the discretion to prohibit gun sales to terror suspects. The legislation was supported by gun-control groups as well as the Bush administration.
Siding with the gun industry in opposing closing this “terror gap” was Randy Scheunemann, now Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top foreign policy adviser. Newsweek reports that Scheunemann lobbied against the bill on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation:
One group opposed to closing the loophole is the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun manufacturers’ trade association. Until this spring, one of its congressional lobbyists was Randy Scheunemann … Registration documents filed by Scheunemann’s company, Orion Strategies, list the terror-gap bill as one of its specific lobbying objectives, and the registrations listed Scheunemann as a lobbyist until he took a leave.
In response, the McCain campaign “declined to say if Scheunemann had ever lobbied McCain on gun-control bills.” McCain spokesperson Jill Hazelbaker said that Scheunemann is a “foreign-policy adviser.” In March, however, Scheunemann told National Journal that “he has weighed in with advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues” in advising McCain:
Officially the top foreign policy and national security adviser to McCain’s campaign, Scheunemann told National Journal in March he has weighed in with advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues. He said he had stopped lobbying for all his clients early this year, and his lobbying registration forms show that the NRA work ended at the end of 2007.
After McCain spoke to the NRA national convention in May, “Scheunemann spent most of his time at the event backstage — where McCain had a brief meeting with NRA leaders.”
Hinting at yet another conflict of interest, the McCain campaign “refused to answer questions about whether the senator supports or opposes the White House plan to close the loophole” giving expanded gun rights to terrorists, reports Newsweek.
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