End the Madness Now
“ETM Now” home, 4/29/14
Sat, 29 Dec 2012 02:42:56 +0000
jflebaron
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Guns everywhere, all the time: Georgia, sweet Georgia out of its mind
New sheriff in town (scroll to see what she has to say)
Go directly to the sticker order form
See what’s available (but not for cars)
April 29, 2014. Good news-bad news from the states.While Washington State passes a bill to disarm domestic abusers, a federal court panel rules California’s strict law regulating concealed-carry permits unconstitutional. In Georgia, Governor Nathan Deal signs a law permitting gun-carry basically everywhere in his State except where he works. Meanwhile at the national level, the GOP has launched gun give-away sweepstakes as a nifty campaign tactic to attract votes and donations.
Last summer End the Madness Now rode temporarily into the sunset because of thuggish blow-back from some or our displayed stickers. We’re back. The issue keeps keeps nagging us while American gun violence continues its relentless rampage. Our decision last summer to suspend ETMNow was prompted by an incident involving someone near and dear to us. Her car sported this bumper sticker:
Anonymously under the cover of night, some brave soul smashed a rock through her rear car window. Maybe this was a random act of violence totally unrelated to my friend’s exercise of her 1st Amendment constitutional right but no other nearby vehicle was so much as scratched. It appears to us that legitimate 1st Amendment expression might put innocent folks in harm’s way at the hands of our stalwart 2nd Amendment “patriots.”
Let’s dwell on this for a moment. A recent NY Times report described a quintessentially free-market American innovator, Belinda Padilla, who has drawn NRA wrath not for her role in in promoting government tyranny through any proposal to regulate street mayhem, but for investing, developing and marketing owner-recognition technologies for safer guns; guns, for example, that would fail to fire if a small child found one in an unlocked cabinet.
What I find disturbing is not so much the malign absurdity of the gun lobby which is sparing no effort to shut Ms. Padilla down, but my the orchestrated campaign of intimidation against her. For this is how the gun lobby “debates:” through threats, intimidation, and the willful trampling of her 1st Amendment right to make her views known and to advance the technology for safer firearms. Ms. Padilla is the true American here.
ETMNow is re-born primarily as a clearinghouse of information about American gun violence. But ETMNow stickers remain available free-of-charge. Please, however, keep them off your car bumpers unless, eyes wide open, you are willing to risk street rage, willfully dangerous driver aggression or damage to your parked car. (Trust us, we know.) To receive a sticker as a discreet reminder not to let this issue fade from civil American discourse, please open this online order form, select your sticker and submit the e-form. We shall distribute our current stock of stickers until the supply runs out.
Neither by law nor regulation do Americans yet have gun background checks, semi-automatic rifle control, ammo clip limitation, a “lethality tax,” mandatory shooters’ insurance or manufacturer/dealer accountability for the mayhem inflicted upon innocent victims. Anybody — criminal or mental health record notwithstanding — with ready cash and lethal intent may purchase firearms at gun shows or with the click of a mouse. If Overland Park KS fails to teach us that, then we need learning remediation.
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, enabling of concealed-carry in bars and restaurants, open-carry lobbying by a national group that darkly warns “A right unexercised is a right lost.” In Florida we’ve lost Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis to SYG run amok.
Happily, activist beacons of courage refuse to be extinguished. A new group, Everytown for Gun Safety launched in April 2014 to amplify a strong message to policy and power in Washington and in the states. This struggle will ultimately prevail, if not in our lifetimes then at least for our children and grand children.
Let’s prove Congress wrong about gun control.
In return for your free sticker (or even if you don’t want one), here’s what ETMNow asks of you:
- Make a donation of any amount to the Gabby Giffords & Mark Kelly Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC (at their Web site, click on “Contribute”), to Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (Click on “Donate Now”), Everytown for Gun Safety or the Newtown (CT) Action Alliance.
- Spread the word among friends, family, or anybody else you believe wants to end senseless gun violence. Use email, social media, word-of-mouth … in whatever way you can.
ETMNow is a wholly charitable enterprise; nobody makes a dime from it. We pledge NOT to share your contact information with anybody or any organization anywhere at any time. We shall, however, keep a confidential local record of names and addresses where we send each sticker. Your pledge to donate is honor-code only. No questions will be asked; nobody from ETMNow will call or spam you. We promise.
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Please help spread the word by linking the Web address of this site to your Facebook, Linked-in, Google+ pages, by e-mail or by any other means. Follow us on Twitter at @ETMNow.
Ask our elected leaders to lead! Sustain pressure to honor the sacrifices of Manchester IL, Portland OR, Tucson AZ, Aurora and Monument CO, the Washington DC Naval Yard, Overland Park KS, Virginia Tech and Newtown CT … and, in the meantime …
Remember the fallen children. Remember their teachers. Remember their families. Remember our own national security.
End the Madness Now 