Current circumstances in this country - and indeed around the world - demand we demonstrate the courage demonstrated by these words of Elie Weisel.  It is certainly easier to offer the encouragement of our words but sit back and let others do the work of protesting.  Now is not the time for that posture. 

Bad things happen when caring people do nothing.  That's at least partially why we're in the mess we're in.  So prepare yourself to stand shoulder to shoulder with other caring people when you are asked to do so.  The survival of our democracy may depend on it.

EDITORS NOTE:  Hans Nordlinger posted these comments on our FaceBook page in response to an appeal to join in the March For Our Lives.  It is, of course, his opinion, but we believe it is well worth the read.

 

I’m a veteran, I spent 43 years in and with combat arms in the military. I hunted for game for 50 years.

I state the foregoing to attest to my experience in knowing the difference between weapons designed to kill lots of people quickly, and weapons designed for killing game and self defense.

I support the 2d amendment.

We must regulate weapons that are capable of wounding and killing lots of people quickly,

Regulation must include,

registration,

background checks,

a permit,

secure storage,

transfers to only a person who has a class III weapons permit.

A federal agency to implement regulate and enforce the law,

A sever set of penalties for violating the law.

I read the law that stopped the unchecked slaughter of people in the 1920s 1930s by weapons capable of wounding and/or killing lots of people quickly, the National Firearms Act of 1934, known as the NFA.

The NFA meets all the requirements to regulate weapons of mass destruction. Penalties for violating the NFA are severe, a $250,000.00 fine and 10 years in federal prison, for the first offense. That penalty applies to anyone who possess, buys, or sells a class III weapon of mass destruction, or violates the act in any way.

After the NFA was enacted, in 1937, class III weapons were turned in, or people went through the process to keep their class III weapons.

The NFA effectively regulated weapons of mass destruction until gun manufacturers developed the AR-15, as a civilian model in the 1960s-70s, a semiautomatic weapon loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines, capable of wounding and killing lots of people quickly, but evaded the NFA.

Since the advent of the AR-15, we have seen the slaughter by semiautomatic weapons loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines for decades.

People want to ban AR-15, or assault rifles.

I don’t use the term, AR-15, or “assault rifle”, because using those terms begs an argument about what is, or is not an assault rifle. The term “ban” raises a 2d amendment issue. The term assault rifle also does not cover the other semiautomatic weapons loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines designed to wound and/or kill lots of people.

I use the term, “semiautomatic weapons loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines”. I know that is a long description, but it describes accurately the weapons being used, to kill lots of people quickly.

Semiautomatic weapons loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines, whether they be handguns, long guns, look like military weapons, or don’t look like military weapons, provide shooters the capability of firing a large number of bullets quickly, replacing the external magazine quickly, and continuing to shoot another magazine of bullets, creating massive numbers of wounded and killed victims.

Semiautomatic pistols have quick change magazines holding 9-14 bullets. A shooter with a semiautomatic pistol loaded with 14 bullets can fire 14 bullets in 7 seconds, reload in three seconds and fire 14 more bullets in 7 seconds, and keep doing that until he runs out of loaded magazines, killing or wounding dozens of people. Semiautomatic hand guns do not have the power or range of a long gun, and do not out gun the police, but are deadly and fire lots of bullets.

Semiautomatic hand guns are used in 77% of mass shootings.

A shooter using a semi automatic rifle loaded by external quick change 30 round magazine can shoot 30 bullets in 20 seconds, change magazines in 3 seconds and shoot 30 more bullets in 20 seconds, and keep up that firepower until he runs out of loaded magazines. Semiautomatic rifles fire high velocity bullets that cause more damaging and fatal wounds, and out gun law enforcement.

Semiautomatic weapons loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines, are not now classified as class III weapons under the NFA.

THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE;

Amend the NFA, and reinstate its original powers

Add semiautomatic weapons loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines to the NFA list of weapons of mass destruction.

Staff and fund the ATF to implement the amended law for all people who now own semiautomatic weapons loaded by external quick change high capacity magazines, register, conduct the background checks, issue permits, inspect storage facilities, enforce the law, and prosecute violators.

To facilitate the program, a buy back program will encourage voluntary turn in of these weapons by those who do not want to go through the process to legally own a class III weapon.

The NFA has worked since 1934, even though it has been weakened by amendments by the republicans.

Criminals and crazies will continue to commit crimes and attacks, however we can regulate the weapons designed to kills lots of people quickly, reduce the deaths, and make sure they don’t out gun the security and law enforcement officers.

We must stop the slaughter, America did it in 1934, we can do it again.

 

Ponder the undeniable connection between reproductive justice and gun violence.  Those same politicians who wield their power to deny women reproductive justice in the name of being pro-life will do nothing to save the lives of children lost to gun violence.

• The politicians who care more about NRA donations than the lives of children are the same politicians who vote against abortion access. They are not pro-life; they are pro-violence, pro-terror and anti-family.
• Reproductive justice is about accessible abortion as well as the right to raise children in safe, healthy communities. It’s the ability to parent in peace, without fear that your child will be gunned down in school or on the street, without fear that your baby will go hungry from lack of formula. To truly achieve reproductive justice we need common sense gun reform.
• Pro-terror politicians whose pockets are lined with NRA money want to force pregnant people to give birth and subject our families to horrific violence and trauma. Abortion is a human right. Education is a human right. A future is a human right. Reproductive justice is the answer.

Read more »

Corporations are profiting from our communities and then using that money to fund politicians who are determined to deny our rights and health care.  They and others are doing it in Florida and are most certainly  doing it in other states.

FLORIDIANS FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS (FRF) has launched a campaign to fight back.  #AbortionInjusticeInc intends to hold politicians and their corporate funders accountable by educating the public as to what they are doing and urging every eligible citizen to register and VOTE!

Let’s begin our commemoration of this month by learning about its’ beginning and the traditions that have become a part of it.

The following is documentation from the Library of Congress.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as "Gay Pride Day," but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation the "day" soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events. Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

.In 1994, a coalition of education-based organizations in the United States designated October as LGBT History Month. In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month within a list of commemorative months. National Coming Out Day (October 11), as well as the first "March on Washington" in 1979, are commemorated in the LGBTQ community during LGBT History Month.

Annual LGBTQ+ Pride Traditions

The first Pride march in New York City was held on June 28, 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Primary sources available at the Library of Congress provide detailed information about how this first Pride march was planned and the reasons why activists felt so strongly that it should exist. Looking through the Lili Vincenz and Frank Kameny Papers in the Library’s Manuscript Division, researchers can find planning documents, correspondence, flyers, ephemera and more from the first Pride marches in 1970. This, the first U.S. Gay Pride Week and March, was meant to give the community a chance to gather together to "...commemorate the Christopher Street Uprisings of last summer in which thousands of homosexuals went to the streets to demonstrate against centuries of abuse ... from government hostility to employment and housing discrimination, Mafia control of Gay bars, and anti-Homosexual laws" (Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Fliers, Franklin Kameny Papers). The concept behind the initial Pride march came from members of the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO), who had been organizing an annual July 4th demonstration (1965-1969) known as the "Reminder Day Pickets," at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. At the ERCHO Conference in November 1969, the 13 homophile organizations in attendance voted to pass a resolution to organize a national annual demonstration, to be called Christopher Street Liberation Day.

As members of the Mattachine Society of Washington, Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz participated in the discussion, planning, and promotion of the first Pride along with activists in New York City and other homophile groups belonging to ERCHO.

By all estimates, there were three to five thousand marchers at the inaugural Pride in New York City, and today marchers in New York City number in the millions. Since 1970, LGBTQ+ people have continued to gather together in June to march with Pride and demonstrate for equal rights.

Photo by Emily Webster on Unsplash