ROUND UP: Progress on Gun Safety (10/09)

October 9, 2018

Last week marked the one year anniversary of the biggest mass shooting in modern American history at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. The shooting claimed the lives of 58 victims, injured more than 800, and left far too many people exposed to a senseless act of preventable violence. This tragedy has also has had a $600 million economic impact on Nevada. Prior to the shooting, the annual economic cost of gun violence in Nevada was $2.3 billion. This cost will increase by an estimated 26 percent due to the Las Vegas massacre alone.

Despite national calls for stronger gun laws and pleas from gun violence survivors, the federal government has taken no action in the past year to make our communities safer. As David Chipman, Senior Policy advisor at Giffords and a retired ATF Special Agent of 25 years stated following last week’s shooting of five law enforcement officers in Florence County, South Carolina, “It’s impossible to get through a week without hearing of another senseless and tragic shooting.”

But with less than a month to go until election day, voters are getting fired up to elect leaders committed to stronger gun laws:

A Year After the Las Vegas Shooting, Gun Control Advocates Are Getting Out the Vote in Nevada (Mother Jones) : Giffords, the gun control organization founded by former congresswoman and mass shooting survivor Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), has partnered with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and local progressive group Battle Born Progress to host a roundtable with Las Vegas shooting survivors and Democratic members of Congress. Later that day, Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, will join Democratic megadonor Tom Steyer for a get-out-the-vote kickoff at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, an event that’s part of a joint effort with Giffords, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Steyer’s youth-focused NextGen America to register 50,000 high school students for the midterm elections…This week’s campaign initiatives don’t mark the gun control groups’ first foray into Nevada’s races. Everytown has already spent $3.5 million to support Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sisolak, who had spearheaded the fundraising effort for Las Vegas victims. Giffords endorsed Rosen, who represents part of Las Vegas, and gave $5,000 to her campaign back in May. Rosen had been a vocal proponent for banning bump stocks, an appliance used in the shooting that turns firearms into semiautomatic weapons.
Gun violence, health care among top concerns for women, especially minorities, new survey finds (NBC News) : Women, particularly minorities and millennials, say gun violence, medical expenses and access to affordable healthcare are among the issues that concern them the most, according to a new report released on Monday. The survey titled “What Women Want 2018” was commissioned by the YWCA, one of the nation’s oldest and largest organizations working to empower and provide resources to women, girls and families. The survey, conducted by Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint, interviewed 1,038 adult women nationwide of different ages and backgrounds, with over samples of minority groups. The report found that about a quarter of women are very worried about access to affordable housing, reproductive health care and paid family and medical leave.

And while gun safety voters are ramping up for November 6th…

NRA’s spending is way down in the 2018 midterms. Does it have ‘a popularity problem?’ (Miami Herald) : The National Rifle Association’s political spending is sharply down heading into the 2018 midterm elections, a shift that could reflect declining fundraising in the wake of a string of mass shootings and an FBI investigation into the group’s Russia ties…Gallup found in June that, while a majority of Americans still hold a favorable view of the gun-rights organization, fewer support the group now than did in 2015.

Finally, in the face of federal inaction, states, coast to coast, continue to fight successfully for stronger gun laws:

California passes new gun laws, including restricting access to some with mental health issues (CNN Wire) : There were loud and sustained calls for more gun control legislation after the mass shooting earlier this year at a high school in Parkland, Florida. A lot of those efforts failed — but not in California. Gov. Jerry Brown just signed several gun control bills in a state the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence says already had the strongest gun laws in the nation.
Pennsylvania passes stricter gun control in domestic violence cases (Christian Science Monitor) : Pennsylvania lawmakers on Oct. 3 passed the first anti-violence legislation in more than a decade that deals directly with firearms, after years of lobbying by violence-prevention groups to persuade a Legislature historically protective of gun rights. The bill would force people in Pennsylvania with a domestic violence ruling against them to more quickly surrender their guns… The Republican-controlled Senate voted 43-5 on Wednesday to send the bill to the desk of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who plans to sign it.
‘Red flag’ law goes into effect in Maryland: Supporters say it does more than just prevent mass shootings (WTOP) : Maryland’s new “ red flag law ” has gone into effect and supporters predict that it will save lives. The law allows people to ask a judge to remove guns from anyone deemed a threat to themselves or others. Police departments have been preparing to deal with having to store more guns now that the law has gone into effect, but Riverdale Park Police Chief David Morris said the law should not be seen as a “gun grab.”
N.J.’s new gun control law is constitutional, federal court says (NJ.com) : A federal court has dealt a blow to gun rights groups by ruling Gov. Phil Murphy ‘s ban on 15-round magazines doesn’t violate the Constitution. The group that challenged the 10-round magazine limit on firearms in the state already filed their appeal Monday night and vowed to fight the law to the Supreme Court.
The Times recommends: Vote yes on gun Initiative 1639 (Seattle Times) : A proposed initiative on the November ballot would make some sensible improvements to Washington state gun laws and save lives. Voters should say yes to Initiative 1639. The proposal would raise the minimum purchase age from 18 to 21 for semi-automatic rifles, establish new safe-storage rules and require safety training before buying any kind of gun or rifle. Initiative 1639 would smartly make it more difficult for everyone to buy a semi-automatic assault rifle by increasing background-check requirements and adding a 10-day waiting period. These are similar to Washington requirements to buy a handgun. This proposal makes sense.

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