ETM Now: A brief history

ETM Now was created primarily as a clearinghouse of information, conversation and advocacy to confront the senselessness of American gun violence.To promote this advocacy, ETM Now has been distributing gun safety “bumper” stickers, on request, free of charge.

Neither by law nor regulation can Americans yet count on gun background checks, semi-automatic rifle control, ammo clip limitation, a “lethality tax,” mandatory shooters’ insurance or manufacturer/dealer accountability to stem the mayhem inflicted upon innocent victims.

Anybody — criminal, domestic abuse, terrorist or mental health record notwithstanding — with ready cash and lethal intent may purchase firearms at gun shows or on-line with the click of a mouse. If San Bernardino CA, Colorado Springs CO, Roseburg OR, Lafayette LA, Chattanooga TN, Charleston SC, Overland Park KS, Cobb County GA, Isla Vista CA  and too many other venues to count fail to teach us that the country needs sensible regulation, then we need serious remedial learning.

Nothing has changed to make the USA safer, but much since Newtown has endangered ever more Americans. On the issue of gun safety, public indifference and congressional fecklessness persist. What we have witnessed is the mushrooming of lethal “stand your ground” laws, guns on-campus, concealed-carry in bars and restaurants, open-carry lobbying by a national group that darkly warns “A right unexercised is a right lost.”

In South Carolina we lost eight innocent lives to racist hatred run amok, enabled by a freely available firearm. In Georgia guns will soon prevail everywhere and anywhere except in the workplaces of those who pass and sign the laws that proliferate them throughout public gathering spaces. These legislators make sure to keep themselves safe.

Happily, activist beacons of courage refuse to be extinguished. Such groups are linked near the top of this page. Please support them to help reduce the 7:1 spending advantage that the gun lobby enjoys over all groups dedicated to gun sense. Let’s prove today’s Congress wrong about gun control by electing a new Congress of real, not paper, patriots.

Disclaimers

A word of caution, please. Bumper stickers that convey strong points-of-view can generate negative responses, and sometimes inappropriate reprisal. For example, if your car is shiny and new (it goes without saying that you dropped a bundle), offended folks have been known to indulge their displeasure by furtive, or open, expressions of malice or vandalism. We recently saw an online ad for a T-shirt that boasts “Guns don’t kill people; I do.” Please understand the risk before “going public.”

ETM Now cannot assume any risk for your public display of a sticker. Please assure yourself that you are comfortable making your view known with these stickers before displaying any one of them in public. Thanks!

As for taking bumper stickers off your car or laptop cover, there are several solutions. Here’s a helpful Web site for removing expired stickers. (ETM Now stickers will expire when  our US Congress shows the courage to act sensibly to control American gun carnage.)

At the outset of this project, our major hope is that we help enable a stronger voice for sane, constitutional national protection against needless gun violence. We also have two distinct fears:

1. That we’ll end up distributing no more than 10-20 stickers that will collect dust in a file drawer, or
2. That the response will be so overwhelming that we’ll be swamped beyond our one-person capacity and have no idea how to sustain this undertaking.

Of course, We’re hoping for Fear #2 to come true by seeing scads of stickers on American laptop covers or other safe display objects hither and yon, until meaningful firearms regulation occurs at national and state levels. It will be a long and loud battle. Please tell your representatives how you feel, early, often and with passion.

Please help spread the word by linking the Web address of this site to your Facebook, Linked-in, Google+ pages, or by e-mail or by any other means. More importantly, please contribute generously to one of the PAC/action groups highlighted on the ETM Now home page or some other group dedicated to controlling gun violence in America.

You opinions and ideas are most welcome. Please submit a comment here or on the home page of this blog.

etmnow@gmail.com
© 2016, ETM Now