Ashley Curtin / NationofChange & Common Defense & The Us Campaign – 2018-02-21 23:00:45
Dallas official urges NRA to take its convention elsewhere and address the ‘madness now’
Dallas Official Urges NRA to Take its Convention
Elsewhere and Address the ‘Madness Now’
Ashley Curtin / NationofChange
(February 21, 2018) — Dallas is home to this year’s National Rifle Association’s annual convention. Since 2012, the city arranged to be the host to the meeting in exchange for the revenue brought in by the attendees. But this could all change as one city council member and mayor pro tem is urging the NRA to take its convention elsewhere.
After the country’s tragic number of mass shootings in recent months with the most recently taking place in Parkland, Florida last week where 17 people were killed, Dwaine Caraway is asking the NRA to find another place to host this year’s annual convention, which is scheduled to take place May 4-6, as well as urging members to take a stand on the issue.
“It is a tough call when you ask the NRA to reconsider coming to Dallas,” Caraway said. “But it is putting all citizens first and getting [the NRA] to come to the table and elected officials to come to the table, and to address this madness now.”
There are huge protests already planned in Dallas if the NRA goes forth with the convention. The NRA, which “aggressively marketed” the AR-15 as “America’s most popular rifle,” will “permit the sale of ammunition at its convention,” according to Common Dreams.
But instead of selling ammunition and assault weapons, which is the weapon of choice in many of the country’s mass shootings, Caraway is asking the NRA to “show leadership” in the wake of such tragic events.
“Yes, mental illness is an issue, but it’s not just an issue that should only be associated with guns,” Caraway said. “At the end of the day, we need to connect the dots. The NRA needs to step up to the plate and show leadership. Elected officials are receiving dollars from the NRA, and they’re afraid to set policy and to set necessary gun rules.”
Gun lobbying groups keep “insisting that greater presence of firearms through concealed carry legislation would make Americans safer, and that a stronger mental health treatment system would reduce mass shootings,” according to Common Dreams.
But Caraway believes a ban on military-style, semi-automatic weapons is necessary to curb mass shootings. “Who needs an AR-15 to go hunting? Who needs an AR-15 to protect their house?” he said.
While Caraway is asking the NRA to take its annual convention elsewhere, Dallas’s city attorney is also examining whether the convention can be canceled altogether.
The NRA Funds Domestic Terrorism
Common Defense
(February 21, 2018) — The mass shooting of students and teachers at Stoneman Douglas High School last Wednesday was unspeakably horrific.
The murderer was a Trump-supporting fellow student, radicalized by white supremacists. But unsurprisingly, the NRA — who almost always has a lot to say — has been completely silent.
For years, the NRA has fed violent, paranoid rhetoric to their millions of members. They share apocalyptic, terrorizing propaganda videos, openly threatening peaceful protesters with menacing violence.
The NRA’s leadership and spokespeople constantly spew racist rhetoric about Muslims and people of color. And they spent an unprecedented $11.4 million to support sexual assaulter and bigot, Donald Trump.
Anytime a black person is gunned down or a school is shot up, the NRA stays silent. Why? Because they don’t actually care about ending violence in our communities, or the safety of our kids and families. They care about funding corrupt politicians and are complicit in domestic terrorism.
But as long as the NRA is able to push their hate-filled agenda without recourse, we’ll never be able to end this mass shooting epidemic. They have our children’s blood on their hands and unlike them, we will not be silent.
ACTION: Add your name. Stand in solidarity with your fellow veterans, military family members, and allies. Join the Vets/Military Families’
#MarchForOurLives mass protest on March 24 here!
Politics Money and Guns the US Campaign
The Us Campaign
Are you angry? You should be. Mass shootings regularly dominate our news cycle and yet nothing ever gets done about it. Seven out of ten voters want to see changes in our gun laws, 85% of Americans support background checks and 67% of Americans support a federal database to track gun sales.
But Republicans in Congress refuse to take action on any of these common-sense measures. Why? Because the money keeps pouring in from the Gun Lobby. In the 2015-16 election cycle alone, members of the House of Representatives received $5.7 million from the NRA and other gun-rights groups, with 98% of that going to Republicans.
That’s why, right from the beginning, the Us Campaign has highlighted the connection between the Gun Lobby and the woeful inaction of policymakers when it comes to gun safety legislation. And it’s why the Us Campaign is ready to join the battle for sensible reform of our gun laws.
We’re supporting congressional candidates who are ready to stand up to the Big Money insiders and do what’s right for the people. We’re also supporting the marchers who are mobilizing to fight back against the NRA and the gun manufacturers.
There were 346 mass shootings in 2017, and there have been over 30 in 2018, but Congress has yet to pass a single bill to stem gun violence in our country. It’s time to connect the dots. Our leaders in Washington aren’t working for Us the people, they’re working for the Gun Lobby and they should be ashamed.
It’s time to expose the corrosive effect of Big Money and special interests.
The Us Campaign Fund, 499 S SW Capitol St, Suite 422, Washington, DC 20003, United States
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