Progressive News, Opinion, and Analysis
Rhode Island Pride and the RI LGBTQ Center stand together in solidarity with those touched by the recent mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse LGBT club.
Our hearts are with our Florida brothers and sisters, their families and all those affected by this senseless act. We lament the agonizing loss of life, and we are renewed in our commitment to create a safer world.
The vibrant light of our LGBTQ community will not be extinguished by violence or terror.
[From a press release]
Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense In America joined with organizations across the nation yesterday to mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day by wearing orange, and illuminating the State House with orange lights. The event also marks the beginning of June as gun violence prevention month.
Music was provided by the bands Saints and Saviours, Select Band and Me Jane.
According to the Wear Orange website, “On January 21st, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old high school student from the south side of Chicago, marched in President Obama’s 2nd inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed.
“Orange is the color a group of Hadiya’s friends chose to wear to remember her life. They chose orange because that’s what hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.”
Moms has been working tirelessly to pass a law that would disarm domestic abusers, H7575 and S2767. So far these bills have not made it out of committee, despite the support of a clear majority of Rhode Islanders.
Jerry Belair, President of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV) had hinted at the poll results during the recent rally against gun violence outside the State House, but yesterday the coalition released the full poll on Rhode Islander’s attitudes towards some common sense gun legislation currently under review by the General Assembly, and the numbers were staggering.
Remarkably, in Speaker Nicholas Mattiello‘s own district, the numbers for keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers is higher than the state wide pol, at 95%. Mattiello has an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle association (NRA) and has been obstinately opposed to any proposed gun legislation. In the case of ethics reform, it took a disaster to change the Speaker’s mind. Is the Speaker waiting for another kind of disaster to occur before he gets behind common sense gun reform?
You can watch the full press conference below. The bills under consideration are: No Guns in Schools (H7243, S2761), Disarm Domestic Abusers (H7283, S2730, S2491) and the High Capacity Magazine Ban (H7199, S2835)
You can access the full poll here.
The RICAGV (Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence) held their second annual rally outside the State House, reaffirming their support for three critical pieces of legislation that would ban guns on school grounds, take guns away from domestic abusers and limit magazine capacity to ten rounds. The General Assembly has shown little appetite for these bills in past years, though there are some signs that some sort of compromise bill on keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers might pass this year.
This rally comes after a punishing Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday night that lasted until after midnight. (I’ll have a piece on that over the weekend.) Speaking about Tuesday night’s hearing, Jerry Belair, president of the RICAGV, said that though he doesn’t like to speak ill of any elected officials, Senators Stephen R. Archambault (Democrat District 22, Smithfield, North Providence, Johnston) and Frank S. Lombardi (Democrat – Distict 26, Cranston), “did more testifying than almost anybody else. They seemed to be unwilling to listen.”
Between the first three witnesses, all representing the gun lobby, and the Senators own “testimony” it took three hours before a single member of the public representing the other side of the argument could testify, said Belair. When his side finally got to speak, said Belair, the Senators did everything they could to interrupt and disagree, “doing everything they could to not make us as effective” in delivering our message.
Belair teased a poll that the RICAGV will be releasing soon that indicates that Rhode Islanders, 3 to 1, want a ten round magazine limit. The same poll says 4 to 1 Rhode Islanders don’t want guns in schools (contrary to Senator Lombardi’s fantasy scenario spelled out here), and 92 percent of Rhode Islanders don’t want domestic violence offenders to possess guns.
The bills to disarm domestic abusers are House Bill 7283 and Senate Bill 2730.
The bills to keep guns out of schools is House Bill 7243 and Senate Bill 2761.
The bills to ban high capacity magazines are House Bill 7199 and Senate Bill 2835.
The RICAGV is encouraging Rhode Islanders to contact their elected officials and demand their support.
Below is all the music and speakers from the rally, plus plenty of pictures.
I got to the event a good half hour early. As I crossed the small parking lot outside the Oak Lawn Grange I was intercepted and asked about my business.
“I’m just here to take notes and a few pictures,” I said, “for RI Future.”
Pause. “We’re not set up yet,” said the man, “you’ll have to wait.”
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll sit over at the picnic tables.”
“Sure,” said the man, “Why not? It’s a beautiful day out.”
It was. I sat for a few minutes, reading my phone, when another man holding a clipboard approached me. We introduced ourselves. He was Leo Skenyon, Nicholas Mattiello’s chief of staff.
“I don’t know if we can get you in,” said Skenyon, “We’ve got over 130 people coming, and priority will be given to Cranston residents.”
“Okay, “ I said, “I get that. I can stand. I just need to take some notes and a few pictures.”
“We might get you into the basement with a TV,” said Skenyon, “You’ll be able to hear the answers, but you might not hear the questions.”
“We’ll see what happens then,” I said.
I waited outside near the entrance, watching people arrive. I saw two people from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV) handing flyers to passers by. One of them was Tom Wojick.
“Do you support common sense gun legislation?” asked Tom, holding out a flyer to a man and his wife.
“No,” said the man, “I’m a NRA member.”
I had taken a bus on a Saturday morning to the middle of Cranston to see Representative Nicholas Mattiello, the Speaker of the House and arguably the most powerful politician in Rhode Island, engage with his constituents.
This isn’t an every day occurrence. Some reps have regular events with their constituents, some have none, but as Mattiello told the crowd, his duties as Speaker take up a lot of time, and he doesn’t often get the chance to hold events like this. Today was a rare chance to see Mattiello engage with his constituents and hear what voters in Mattiello’s district care the most about. [Spoiler: It’s RhodeWorks]
Mattiello wasn’t alone either on stage or behind the scenes. Organizing the event were about a dozen men delivering coffee and donuts, escorting people to their seats and acting as what seemed like de facto security. There were two Cranston police officers stationed at the event. In addition to Leo Skenyon, who was organizing, I saw Larry Berman, communications director for the RI House of Reps, helping out.
On “stage” with Mattiello were RI State Senators Frank Lombardi and Hanna Gallo, Rep Robert Jacquard and RI Department of Transportation director Peter Alviti, there to answer technical questions about truck tolls and RhodeWorks.
When I entered the Grange Larry Berman saw me and said, “He can come in,” but behind me Leo Skenyon said, “He’s taking a couple of pictures and heading downstairs.”
That’s what I did. Here’s one:
Downstairs in front of the TV was a man who was interested in RhodeWorks but happened to live in Providence, so he was sent to the basement with me. A minute later we were joined by Lorraine Savard, wearing a small version of her “Save Burrillvile: No New Power Plant” sign pinned to her lapel.
At least I was in good company.
We ended up watching everything on closed circuit TV, downstairs from the main event. We laughed when the camera upstairs went to a wide shot, showing at least seven empty seats in the main room. We laughed again when we noticed that the two police officers were in the downstairs room with us, leaving no police presence in the room above, where over one hundred people were in attendance.
Most of Mattiello’s talk was a defense of RhodeWorks. One idea the Speaker was keen to dispel was that RhodeWorks was broadly unpopular. He said that he has in his district 14 thousand constituents and 10 thousand registered voters. When he counted the number of emails he received opposed to RhodeWorks, it was thirty.
“I don’t believe that,” said the man from Providence sitting next to me.
But I don’t think Mattiello lied. People in Mattiello’s district aren’t that upset about RhodeWorks, or at least not upset enough to threaten him politically. Mattiello maintains that the reason people don’t like RhodeWorks is because they are misinformed about it.
“We have a talk radio community,” said Mattiello, “misinformation gets out through that medium” either through callers saying things that aren’t true or talk show hosts repeating false information.
“Misinformation takes your vote away from you,” said the Speaker.
Lombardi and Jacquard also defended their RhodeWorks votes. Lombardi said, “We live in a post 38 Studios world. RhodeWorks opposition is based on a distrust of [any] legislation, not on the plan itself.”
Gallo went a different direction, touting the work she does on education, including full day kindergarten.
Eventually the question and answer phase of the discussion, nearly three hours into the event, got around to a subject other than RhodeWorks. A woman (it was very hard to hear the specifics of her question on the TV) asked about the three bills the RICAGV has brought forward, including the bill to prohibit people with concealed carry permits from bringing guns into schools.
“There are two sides to this issue,” said Mattiello (who incidently has an A+ rating from the NRA), “There are those who want no change [to our guns laws] and there are those who want to abolish guns.”
This opening surprised me. The RICAGV has worked hard to strike a nuanced position on guns, and here Mattiello was claiming that the group was simply seeking to abolish all guns.
As for guns in schools, said the Speaker, “Please tell me where this has been a problem. And if its never been a problem, you’re affecting the rights of law abiding citizens.”
Mattiello gave the hypothetical situation oaf a man with a concealed carry permit picking his kid up at school. Is he supposed “to leave his gun on the sidewalk? Leave it in his car where it might be stolen, or drive home and drop it off first?”
“In trying to solve a problem you’re creating a bigger problem,” said the Speaker.
Guns are not allowed in courthouses or airports, countered the woman (and I might add, not allowed in the State House where Mattiello works either.)
Senator Lombardi cut in at this point, saying that the problem isn’t gun owners, it’s the mentally ill accessing guns. Columbine and Sandy Hook were the results of mental illness, said Lombardi, not lack of gun control.
“If,” said Lombardi, “God forbid, a [gunman] goes into a Cranston school, I hope the first person he sees is a law abiding citizen with a concealed carry permit.”
“We have to address the mental health aspect of this equation,” added Mattiello, “People with concealed carry permits are not the problem. I don’t think they’ve ever been the problem.”
Mattiello’s last words on the issue of guns were, “You can affect the behavior of people who respect the law, but not the behavior of those who don’t respect the law.”
That kind of makes me wonder why we pass any laws.
The next question was about the ethics commission.
“Senator Sheehan’s bill is the worst bill I’ve ever seen,” said Mattiello, “I can’t imagine supporting that bill because it make’s no sense to me.”
“Conflict of interest rules are ‘gotcha’ politics,” said the Speaker, “lawyers in the General Assembly serve clients across the country. Technically they are always in conflict of interest. They would never vote!”
Mattiello feels that Sheehan’s bill will encourage “frivolous complaints”. “What’s going to happen is good people are not going to want to run [for office],” said the Speaker.
“Most people in government are extremely ethical,” continued Mattiello, “Everybody up there, I believe, is entirely ethical and good.”
Mattiello seems to believe that the job of identifying conflicts of interest falls to the fourth estate, saying, “Kathy Gregg is a great reporter. She points out every conflict of interest.”
Somewhat echoing his last word on gun control laws, Mattiello said about ethics, “Ethics commissions don’t make better people. That’s [the electorate]’s job.”
Other random things of interest Mattiello said during the meeting:
“I disagree that the Speaker is the most powerful person in the state. Sometimes it’s the governor.”
Ex-Speaker Gordon Fox, now in prison, “had his problems but he did good things policy wise.”
“I don’t believe in trickle-down economics. I just want to be competitive with our neighboring states.”
“Rhode Island right now is in excellent shape.”
The State House will be a raucous, contentious place this evening as a series of bills dealing with guns will be heard in the House Judiciary meeting in room 101 at the rise of the House, around 4:30-5pm. Testimony is expected to run until late in the evening. Ahead of the testimony the 2nd Amendment Coalition, the Official National Rifle Association (NRA) Affiliate for the State of Rhode Island, is holding a rally at 3pm in the State House rotunda and they will have a parade of guest speakers.
The Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV) is backing three bills.
H7283 would take away guns from those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors.
“Rhode Island law prohibits gun ownership and possession by individuals convicted of a domestic violence felony,” says the RICAGV, “This law is weaker than federal law which prohibits gun ownership and possession by those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors. There is ample evidence that misdemeanor domestic violence offenders present an extreme risk to domestic partners when in possession of a firearm. Rhode Island should help protect the victims of domestic violence, not their abusers.”
H7243 would close a loophole that allows guns in schools and on school grounds.
“Concealed Carry Permit (CCP) holders can carry their weapons ‘everywhere’ including schools, but not in RI courthouses, airports and most government buildings,” says the RICAGV, “RI’s concealed carry law came into existence in 1990, long before Columbine and other school shootings, so schools were not exempted at that time. Currently, any CCP holder (staff, parent, visitor) can carry a firearm on school grounds including the school, surrounding property, parking lots, and after school sporting events and gatherings without knowledge of police or school officials.”
H7199, a high capacity magazine (HCM) ban, limits the number of rounds in a weapon to 10.
“Limiting HCMs to 10 rounds saves lives,” says the RICAGV, “Limiting rounds in a magazine requires that a shooter pause to change out the magazine. The shooter in Sandy Hook Elementary School killed 20 small children in less than 5 minutes with HCMs. Evidence reveals that several children escaped the schoolroom when his magazine jammed and he was forced to reload. Similarly, the shooter in the Gabby Gifford Tucson, AZ mass shooting was disarmed when he dropped his HCM clip during reloading. This enabled bystanders to subdue him saving lives.”
During the past ten years, from 2006 to 2015, 54 people lost their lives to domestic violence homicides in Rhode Island over the course of 48 incidents, says a new report from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence (RICADV). Domestic Violence Homicides in Rhode Island, 2006-2015 is a first-of-its-kind report. The report contains key findings, homicide incident descriptions, and recommendations for preventing future domestic violence homicides in Rhode Island.
By analyzing the collective data, the report delivers some key findings:
The report offers five recommendations:
At the press conference to announce the report there were two posters bearing the names of all those murdered in Rhode Island in domestic violence incidents. Two women told heartbreaking stories about losing a family member to domestic violence. In the first, Jami Ouellette talks about her sister Stacy’s death at the hands of her abusive husband. The story is graphic and chilling.
Next, Ann Burke tells of her daughter’s death from intimate partner homicide. A health teacher, Burke has been instrumental in getting the state to teach teens about intimate partner violence, but she has been doing so without any funding since the program began. She co-founded the Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund in he daughter’s memory.
Deborah DeBare, executive director of the RICADV walks us through the report.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin also spoke. He has been a strong advocate for the prevention of domestic violence.
Last year, when Speaker Nicholas Mattiello brought the legislative season to an abrupt end, he said that the bills that did not come to the floor were “not very consequential” and “just not as important” as the legislation he had dealt with and passed. Among the bills that Mattiello deemed inconsequential and unimportant were three that dealt with guns.
Those three bills have just been reintroduced in the House.
H7199 criminalizes the manufacture, import, possession, purchase, sale or transfer of any ammunition feeding device capable of accepting more than ten rounds. Two years ago, when this bill was first introduced, Jerry Belair, president of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence asked the following question, “Rhode Island law limits the number of rounds to five when hunting deer. Rhode Island law limits the number of rounds to three when hunting ducks. If we can limit the number of rounds in a firearm to protect deer and ducks, how can we not limit the number of rounds to protect our children and citizens?”
H7243 provides that only peace officers and persons approved by the school authorities for the purposes of educational instruction may carry firearms or other weapons on school grounds. A similar bill was introduced last year and died in committee. Apparently the idea that someone might bring a gun into a school in Rhode Island without the knowledge of school administrators does not bother our legislature.
H7283 prohibits any person convicted of a misdemeanor offense under §12-29-2 (a crime involving domestic violence) from purchasing, owning, transporting, carrying, or possessing any firearm. A similar bill submitted last year died in committee after Frank Saccoccio of the Second Amendment Coalition successfully mischaracterized the bill as a gun grab in both the House and Senate committee meetings.
Last year a poll indicated that 80 percent of Rhode Islanders want to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, yet when it came time for action, the General Assembly, under the leadership of Speaker Mattiello deemed the bills above “not very consequential” and “just not as important.”
What has to change in Rhode Island before common sense gun legislation can be passed? Mattiello has an A+ (100 percent) rating with the National Rifle Association (NRA). Senate President M Teresa Paiva-Weed has an A (93 percent) rating from the NRA.
We applaud President Obama for engaging in serious, reasonable conversation about gun violence. He is doing this on the heels of issuing an Executive Order to expand background checks for gun sales, something that Americans overwhelmingly support. However, his Executive Order only goes so far and there is more that needs to be done. The next steps require soul searching and honest conversation.
The President’s “Town Hall” meeting approach opens up the conversation in needed ways. Clearly, no one is advocating that the rights of Americans to possess a firearm be rescinded. Indeed, not all concerns will be solved with regulation. Smart gun or smart lock technology might be a better way to keep guns safely away from children. However, restricting access to guns for people with mental health issues and for criminals requires regulation.
Most Rhode Islanders are not gun owners and many of us do not know some of the nuances of gun ownership and gun safety. For example, we may not know that 82 percent of teenage suicide by firearms involve guns left poorly secured or foolishly unprotected by members of their own families. On average someone being shot by a child, often a toddler, occurs twice weekly in America. Reasonable people believe that there is a solution to this problem.
As religious leaders, we know the carnage and the heartbreak that accompanies gun violence. We do the funerals. We provide the pastoral care to families during their moments of anguish. We want this needless and senseless violence to stop. We know of no religious tradition that defines freedom as unfettered license to do as one pleases. We join with the President and call upon all people of good will, particularly gun owners, to engage in serious, sensible conversation about gun safety.
We commend President Obama for his Executive Orders today to better protect Americans from the out of control epidemic of gun violence.
None of what the President ordered adversely affects the rights of Americans to firearms except for criminals or people with mental health issues that are prohibited from possession of a gun. Private gun dealers and online firearms dealers who presently refuse to obtain a firearm dealer’s license will be required to do so and will now have to perform background checks for every gun they sell. There will be an improved National Instant Criminal Background System (NCIS) greatly expanding the inclusion of mental health records of prohibited firearms buyers. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF&E) agents will be added to perform the increased demand for NCIS Background checks. Firearms purchases by Federal Agencies will be directed to gun manufacturers who invest in “smart gun” technologies and who market their products in an ethical manner.
While the Gun Lobby will undoubtedly issue bombastic claims that the President’s actions violate our 2nd Amendment rights and are a slippery slope to gun confiscation none of that is true. Over 90% of Americans and a large majority of gun owners support expanding Background Checks for every single gun sale. Hopefully, these common sense measures will encourage a national debate that will lead to reforms that result in a reduction in the nearly 90 daily gun deaths each day in America.
We thank President Obama for standing up to the Gun Lobby and call on Congress to take meaningful action to protect American lives.
(From a press release)
You can watch the President Obama’s announcement Here:
A sense of optimism was expressed by many speakers at last night’s Interfaith Memorial Vigil, held at the Second Free Will Baptist Church in Providence. Despite the steady, deadly drumbeat of mass shootings and the hysteria being generated by the Republican presidential front runner over refugees and Muslims, forces are beginning to coalesce around a series of reforms to our gun laws on both the sate and national level.
The day before Governor Gina Raimondo held “a two-hour discussion… about ways to reduce gun violence” and though the NRA was represented through the Second Amendment Coalition‘s Frank Saccoccio, his views did not dominate the discussion, a far cry from what is usually seen at the State House, where legislators seem to treat his every word and opinion as gospel.
Former State Representative Linda Finn, one of the founders of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV) talked about Saccoccio at the governor’s discussion when she addressed the crowd.
“Yesterday I got to sit in on the governor’s round table discussion,” said Finn, “and it was wonderful because one of the guys who comes to every hearing and just throws out so many lies and misperceptions had three judges sitting there telling him, ‘That’s just not true, what you’re saying, it just doesn’t happen… When a domestic violence charge is issued it’s not two people [who are typically charged] it’s just one person. It’s not two people. [Saccoccio] was saying that most of the time it’s two people that get charged. And if a woman gets charged then she can’t carry a gun to protect herself [from her abuser]. And our politicians and our legislators believe that. And one of the judges who sits on the court she said, ‘I have 800 cases that I’ve been dealing with this year and I only had one situation where two people [were charged with domestic violence.]’”
Last year, said Finn, “was the first time we had more people who were for the gun bills than [the gun proponents] did.”
These facts give Finn hope that this will be the year that real gun reforms bills could pass out of the General Assembly. Specifically a bill to ban domestic abusers from owning or purchasing guns, and a bill to prevent people with conceal/carry permits from bringing those guns into public schools.
Also of particular interest were the words of Imam Farid Ansari. “Obviously the Islamic community has been affected by this scourge of gun violence,” said Ansari, but, “Let me assure you that the images that are being portrayed in regard to Islam is not the true picture of Islam… As an American I myself most certainly condemn these acts of violence that are being perpetrated in the name of Islam.”
Ansari talked about the current climate of Muslim scapegoating and fear mongering. “There is a vocabulary emerging today that is unfortunately being focused on the Islamic community. We hear the words jihadist, terrorist, fundamentalist, all these words are words that are designed to inflame and incite the passions of the people… It’s an evil. It literally is an evil.
“Don’t be persuaded by this vocabulary, of this image being portrayed about Islam. And please do not listen to – I don’t know how to describe him – but you know who I’m talking about.,” said Ansari, getting laughs for his allusion to Donald Trump.
“This portrayal of us as a menace,” said Ansari to a standing ovation, “is absolutely evil.”
I’ll have a full 90 minute video later today of the entire Vigil, but for now I’ll leave you with two more speakers. First up is The Reverend Jametta Alston of the United Church of Christ giving a rousing sermon against gun with a powerful reference to the Biblical commandment “Thou shall not kill.”
And here’s Jennifer Smith Boylan speaking about her awakening to the issue of gun violence in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings and her involvement with Moms Demand Action.
“I believe the Second Amendment was written to ensure states had armed militia to protect themselves,” said Carl T. Bogus, a professor at Roger Williams University School of Law and a prolific writer of scholarly material on Second Amendment history. “The history and wording of the amendment, by James Madison, was to ensure they would remain armed irrespective of what congress wanted to do.”
The professor was generous enough to grant some time on December 8 for an interview to provide expertise on the subject of constitutional law and the history of the ever controversial Second Amendment. A conversation via Skype revealed and explained fascinating truths behind American gun culture.
Insurrectionist Theory
“Throughout the history of the republic, until about 1960, as a matter of law, the right to bear arms was a collective right and not an individual right,” said Professor Bogus. He explained that the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy as a crucial moment in gun rights history, noting that Lee Harvey Oswald purchased his rifle from a mail-order ad in American Rifleman, an official publication of the National Rifle association. “Afterward,” said Professor Bogus, “there was a fear of significant gun regulation. The NRA was overtaken by right-wing political extremists.”
Of course, this version of history does not compute with the lofty rhetoric commonly used to espouse the right to bear arms as promoted by the NRA. Rather, one hears broad and abstract statements about the how the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right that belongs to all Americans. For example, according to the Rhode Island Second Amendment Coalition website,
“… our very liberty is in jeopardy at the hands of misinformed, and/or over zealous anti-gun legislators who don’t understand or respect the systems put in place through the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Let’s not forget this; without the 2nd Amendment, the entire Constitution is nothing but unenforceable words on paper. The 2nd Amendment is the only thing that separates us from every other country that has confiscated the privately-owned firearms of the public – turning them into ‘subjects’ as opposed to ‘citizens’.”
Relatively new, this interpretation of the language of the second amendment is referred to as “insurrectionist theory,” and has been developed, in no small part, through NRA grant funding. In The Hidden History of the Second Amendment, a 1998 publication in the UC Davis Law Review, Professor Bogus writes that, “insurrectionist theory is premised on the idea that the ultimate purpose of an armed citizenry is to be prepared to fight the government itself.” But, in this self-contradicting concept, the wise framers of the constitution, whose foundation for American democracy is praised for its unique freedoms, expresses enough mistrust to require the need for citizens to arm themselves with sufficient deadly force and vehemently contested regulation to risk unparalleled levels of collateral damage. The Hidden History points out that insurrectionist theory would have one believe that all of the other Constitutional components designed to prevent the abuse of government power are insufficient and the ultimate guarantee of freedom comes from the barrel of a gun.
Well Regulated Slave Patrols
The popular, contemporary association, however, of armed individuals being the thin, lead line standing between liberty tyranny is not supported by the history of the “founding fathers.” Furthermore, it ignores the very language of the :
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
When asked whether individual citizens can be considered the de facto Militia necessary to the security of a free State, Professor Bogus said, “Not according to the framers. Militia is defined in the Constitution. Article 1 Section 8. There was a concern at the Virginia Constitutional Convention by George Mason and Patrick Henry, in 1788, that if congress declared, they could disarm the militia. There was a large dispute over what militia ought to be. There was talk of every white male able body. Madison wrote the second amendment to solve that problem, irrespective of congress.” Professor Bogus is, of course, correct. Notwithstanding the lack of an immutable definition of who actually composes a militia, well regulated or no, the article in the main body of the Constitution gives Congress power over the militia.
And, according to Bogus, at the time, state militias had only one job: controlling slave insurrections.
By the middle of the 18th century, in the South, militias and slave patrols had become synonymous. In Virginia, by the time the delegates convened to debate ratification of the evolving Constitution in 1788, over 40 percent of the population were non-white slaves. For all intents and purposes, the “well regulated militia” was a vast, industrial police system. Therefore, by that logic, the founding fathers’ intent by writing into the document delineating the supreme law of the land language that spoke of an armed militia as necessary to the security of a free state was, in practical terms, to preserve slavery. “Even during the revolution,” said Bogus, “the south refused to commit state militia because of slave insurrections.”
It was not principally Heller
When asked whether the primary shift in contemporary public opinion was the Supreme Court Decision laid out in D.C. vs. Heller, Professor Bogus said, “It was not principally Heller. They (the NRA, the gun manufacturing lobby) sold the view that guns signify freedom and the fear that people may need to go to war with their own government. Heller is the fruit of the long campaign to sell these views. Heller made it the law of the land. The culture here is a greater obstacle.”
To what culture does he refer? Is it the culture that flies the flag of the armed minuteman, but ignores the armed slave owner? Is it the culture that places its trust in the men in government who cry loudest that government cannot be trusted? Is it the culture that creates a campaign to stamp out every single cause of gun violence except for the guns? Or, is it the culture that calls itself the greatest democracy the world has ever seen, but only if the provisions of the doctrine that enable those ideals it holds in such high regard – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – are held at gunpoint?
The firearms industry and the consumers who rally against the notion of gun-safety measures do so using a public face of constitutional nobility. The rhetoric is one of rights and revolution as well as self defense for gun owners and their families. Yet, recently I was inadvertently given a glimpse into the world of the irresponsible marketing of guns and, in my experience, it is anything but noble.
Approximately six weeks ago, I was using the internet for its intended purpose: arguing with strangers about social policy issues while simultaneously binge-watching the latest Netflix series and shopping for the best online deals for boxer-briefs. During my bandwidth frenzy the social media debate in which I was engaged turned to the issue of gun laws. It must have been in the recent aftermath of one or another mass shooting. With the frequency of such occurrences, I cannot recall which one.
I made a comment concerning the relative ease of purchasing a firearm and was met with a strong opposing statement about how difficult it is to buy a gun. I believe I had said that peanut butter is too dangerous to bring on to school property, but certain lawmakers want to allow concealed firearms. I followed that up with something comparing the simplicity of buying a gun to that of buying peanut butter. Admittedly, this was not my best case argument to date. But, I was testing an angle. I decided to try an experiment.
Opening yet another browser window on my laptop, now hot to the touch due to the number of running applications, I typed into Google, “buy a gun online.” I clicked the first response that popped up. Six and a half minutes later, I had located a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, completed the background questionnaire, and been approved. I requested a hold for delivery to a nearby gun shop for pick up within six days. I also checked to see how long it would take to buy peanut butter online. For the record, ordering peanut butter for in-store pickup was quicker and easier by a good two or three minutes.
Also, for the record, I had no intention of actually purchasing a firearm. Nor do I plan on owning a gun. I rely heavily on statistics for most decisions and the numbers point to a much higher probability of something irreparably traumatic occurring to me or someone for whom I care than of requiring such a device for protection. I feel no need to repeat the statistics that have been accurately expressed ad nauseum by other sources. Suffice it to say, they all strongly suggest that more guns result in more shootings.
It was after I went through the online registration with the site that acted as the broker for my gun purchase that never was, that I started to receive the almost daily promotional e-mails from Gallery of Guns, a site that prices and deals in firearms. I had gone through something that called itself the Gun Genie. The primary address for the operation is in Prescott, Arizona. Yet, I also noticed a secondary address in Greensboro, North Carolina. I have no knowledge of Arizona. I did, however, live in Greensboro, North Carolina for six years. I went to college there. And, I cannot say that I am at all surprised that such an operation would exist in Greensboro.
But I digress. Below are some of the highlights from the e-mails that I have been receiving.
Then there was a bit of a shock when I was offered aan opportunity to enter for a chance to win not one, but two guns. Mind you, these are not just any guns. The Jericho 9mm is a nearly indestructible, polymer sidearm; and the Tavor is a unique, bullpup design, with a similar barrel-length and muzzle velocity to an AR-15 assault rifle. However, the configuration allows it to be more compact and maneuverable in close-combat situations. You know, like close-combat deer hunting and close-combat target shooting. Both are Israeli-design and versions are used by the Israeli military. I will be sure to let you all know more about their design characteristics if I win the “Great Gun Giveaway.”
The last promotional e-mail is the real class-act. One might think that the day following the November 27 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood siege, in which a gunman killed three and wounded four over the course of a six hour standoff, it would be in good taste to refrain from sending advertisements for military-style firearms. However, one would be wrong to think so. Advertised as a special for this weekend only, the ever popular AR-15 type weapon, touted here as the best gun for WSHF/WROL (without forward assist). If you do not know (I had to look it up) that stands for “when shit hits the fan,” and “without rule of law.” So, I suppose this is the one you would want to buy if you found yourself trapped by police after invading a women’s health facility and opening fire on unarmed, innocent civilians.
I cannot pinpoint exactly what to take away from my own story. I suppose the issue worthy of discussion is this: If guns are tools of either survival or of sport, why are they being marketed so hard. As soon as I provided one single point of contact, I have been bombarded with a barrage of marketing that has showed me a glimpse of the culture of the firearms market. These are instruments designed to maximize the efficiency with which a human being can cause life threatening injury or death to another living thing. When there are cries of guns getting into the hands of the wrong people and discussions of responsible gun owners, limiting access to convicted felons, or (the most recent scapegoat) the mentally ill, it holds even less weight than before I became aware of all the savings, deals, promotions, and shameless advertising tactics for tactical weapons.
This experience has further validated my suspicions of an industry and a culture that speaks out of both sides of its mouth when it promotes rights and responsibilities and then acts in such a sensational and classless manner, offering deals on AR-15 rifles the day after a national gun-related tragedy. And, as for the “Great Gun Giveaway,” yes, they have indeed given it away. But not just the gun. They gave away the whole scam.
Congressman Jim Langevin and State Representative Teresa Tanzi will be the guests at a RI Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV) fundraiser Thursday evening. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is the honorary host, but is unable to attend. The event is taking place at a private residence and tickets are $50 per person. Contact RICoalitionAgainstGunViolence@gmail.com to purchase tickets and confirm the event’s address.
With the debate on guns in the United States taking a long slow turn against the intractable positions of the NRA (National Rifle Association) and towards instituting common sense gun legislation, it is only a matter of time before the RICAGV starts making real progress in the RI General Assembly.
Based on the first Democratic Party presidential debate it seems that a taste is developing for taking on the NRA with both Hilary Clinton and Martin O’Malley claiming the group as a political enemy. Even Bernie Sanders, thought to be “soft on guns” has a D- rating with the NRA and has consistently called for the kind of common sense legislation the RICAGV has been calling for in Rhode Island.
President Obama has issued an executive order and called for Congress to pass legislation that might deal with the almost daily issue of mass shootings.
State Senator M. Teresa Paiva-Weed and Speaker Nicholas Mattiello may well find that their staunch support for the NRA a political liability as the local Democratic Party moves ever further away from the values and positions of the national party.
Last year the RICAGV was stunned to find little appetite in the General Assembly to deal with guns. Bills to limit ammo clips to ten rounds, keep guns out of schools and keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers all died in committee despite overwhelming public support.
This year these bills and more must pass, or there will be big changes coming in both the make-up and leadership at the General Assembly. Become a part of this change and consider volunteering or donating to the RICAGV.
The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America (RIPDA) are holding their annual fundraiser Thursday, September 17 from 5:30-8:30pm at Ogie’s Trailer Park, 1155 Westminster St in Providence. This year, they’re honoring Mike Araujo of the Restaurant Opportunities Center and the One Fair Wage Coalition with the Progressive Hero award.
In Rhode Island, Democrats have near total control over the state government, yet we see almost none of the economic advantages that other blue states, like neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut, enjoy. Our General Assembly will not pass reasonable gun legislation, moves to prevent cities and towns from raising the minimum wage, passed the biggest tax cuts for the rich in the nation, slips anti-reproductive rights legislation into the budget at the eleventh hour (preventing real discussion around the issue) and is the only Democratically controlled legislature in the country to have passed voter ID.
In short, our Democrats are political and economic conservatives and on core issues of concern to progressives, have more in common with the national Republican Party than the national Democratic Party platform.
That’s why RIPDA’s voice is so important and deserving of support. They are the conscience of a political machine in Rhode Island that would much rather be unbothered by thoughts of the poor and vulnerable. They consistently fight back against the worst abuses of state government, and they do so with virtually no funding, just the dedicated work of a gung ho group of volunteers.
Mike Araujo, honored this year with the Progressive Hero award, worked tirelessly to eliminate the tipped minimum wage, which unfairly discriminates against women and opens them to sexual harassment in the workplace. After a year long battle the tipped minimum wage was increased for the first time in decades, meaning there is still much work to be done, and you can bet that Araujo will be leading that fight. He’s also a terrific speaker and advocate.
So come on down to Ogie’s Trailer Park Thursday night and enjoy some fine food and fine company. Think about joining the RIPDA and moving the Rhode Island Democratic Party out of the hands of neoliberal blue dogs and into the hands of the working class, where it belongs.
There’s work to be done, and the RIPDA is doing it.
Rhode Island is one of eight states that “continues to fail at submitting records of dangerously mentally ill people who are prohibited from owning guns to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS),” says gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety, based on recently compiled FBI data.
Jack Warner, spokesman for the group, said, “Each record is critical. In fact, the Virginia Tech shooter in 2007 was able to buy his gun because his mental health records had not been submitted… RI is still among the worst-performing states.”
Due to the vast influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) on the General Assembly in Rhode Island, no meaningful legislation has passed in this state limiting access to guns in years. Not wanting to take any meaningful action after the terrible shootings in Newtown CT, in which 20 children and six adults lost their lives to a shooter, the Rhode Island General Assembly convened a task force to deal with the issue of mental health and guns.
The report compiled by that task force, “Behavioral Health and Firearms Safety Task Force to Review, and Make Recommendations for, Statutes Relating to Firearms and Behavioral Health Issues” made a series of recommendations for legislation that might improve Rhode Island’s participation in the NCIS program, none of which were followed up on by the General Assembly this legislative session.
According to Everytown, “States that have taken steps to improve record-sharing have seen tangible results, not just in record submission, but in background check denials to dangerous people. In 2014, 342 gun sales to seriously mentally ill individuals in South Carolina were blocked by background checks, up five-fold from just four years before.”
Rhode Island has submitted only 27 reports to the NICS. To join with the best performing states Rhode Island would have to submit 8,505 records. According to Everytown, “20,400 gun background checks were conducted in Rhode Island in 2012 using this incomplete database, which fails to block gun sales to the hundreds of thousands of prohibited purchasers whose mental health records are not in the system.”
In addition to do nothing about keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, the General Assembly also failed to move forward on a bill designed to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. Yet when Speaker Nicholas Mattiello brought the legislative season to an abrupt end, last week, he said that the bills that did not come to the floor were “not very consequential” and “just not as important” as the legislation he dealt with and passed.
“It is inconceivable that domestic violence could be seen as trivial or characterized as inconsequential…” said the Rev. Gene Dyszlewski, Chair of the Religious Coalition for a Violence-Free RI.
“The person who has been violent in the home has already lost the trust of his family and of most reasonable people. What more do we need? Rhode Island families deserve better. For a legislature that has accomplished so little, this could be the crowning achievement; instead it is a mark of shame.”
More than 400 people gathered inside the Grace Episcopal Church in Providence on Sunday afternoon for an interfaith memorial and prayer vigil for the victims of the racist murders that took place in Charleston more than a week ago. Though these events happened far from Rhode Island, our state is far from innocent. Ours is the state with the lowest percentage of Black home ownership. Our General Assembly ended the the legislative season unable to pass any laws banning guns from schools or keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
Jim Vincent, President of the NAACP-Providence Branch, connected the racism of the alleged shooter with the rash of church burnings throughout the south and with the racist leaflets recently dropped in East Greenwich.
Flowers were distributed to attendees, and candles were lit for the victims. It was an often emotional service, and the videos below document the entire event. The event ended with all those in attendance singing “We Shall Overcome.”
All nurses see mental illness up close and personal. Even those trained to treat diabetes rather than delusions.
Mental illness is neither uncommon nor separate from physical illness. People with conditions like schizophrenia are not necessarily acting much different from the rest of us, especially if they are getting effective treatment. Whether we know it or not, all of us know people who are dealing with serious mental health challenges.
People who are truly disengaged from reality may do things that are self-injurious and have no gain or rationale that others can understand.
In my own urban neighborhood there are people who are driven to wander the streets in their own purgatory. A family member is lost to us, out of contact. Mental illness causes immense suffering and it’s a shame that it’s used as a slur or a joke. It’s a disgrace that so many influential voices are using a cowardly attack on the mentally ill to avoid admitting that we all have a social disease. Worse, they prefer to deny and spread it around rather than come clean and seek a cure.
Different cultures have different kinds of crazy. During the European witchcraft hysteria of the 1400’s a book was published that warned men about – a belief that got a lot of women killed. Insane by our standards, but not in that society. Is The Hammer of Witches really so different from The Turner Diaries, a book that inspired racist mass-murderer Timothy McVeigh?
Does mental illness explain a pattern of crime where the perpetrators dress up, shout slogans and for the most part target the same kinds of people repeatedly? Does it explain why so many violent men seem to believe they are part of a community of right-thinking patriots? Does it excuse our leaders for failing to demand that anyone who wants to own a lethal weapon owes the rest of us some accountability?
Mental illness may explain the derelict masturbating in public on a park bench, but it does not explain the serial rapist. The kind of premeditated violence driven by hateful ideas is not simply sick individuals and will not be solved by locking them up after the damage is done. There will only be more to replace them.
What is needed is a clear assessment of the cultural delusions that enable bigotry to hide in plain sight. As someone described the latest mass killer:
“I never heard him say anything, but just he had that kind of Southern pride, I guess some would say. Strong conservative beliefs,” he said. “He made a lot of racist jokes, but you don’t really take them seriously like that. You don’t really think of it like that.”
South Carolina still flies the Confederate flag at its Statehouse. The governor expresses her regrets with care not to offend her supporters invested in denial about racism and guns.
America is gun-crazy. Every child grows up watching hundreds of dramas where guns bring power and respect, the bad guys are eventually out-shot and other ways to resolve conflict are ignored or disparaged. They don’t see the damage, the wounds that don’t heal, the bereavement that is never outlived. Nurses see that but it’s not entertaining and there’s no happy ending.
Mass shootings boost gun sales. Fear is good for the industry.
A gun carries the magic power of every movie cowboy and TV hero. Having one demands a high level of responsibility and good judgment, or else the gun owner is no longer the ‘good man’ but a menace. In spite of this, any attempt to ‘well regulate’ our self-appointed militia is met with outrage. In the wake of many decades of political assassinations it’s an act of physical courage to stand up to the most extreme of the gun lobby.
Only 21 years old, and given one moment to turn away from atrocity-
Roof, 21, has told police that he “almost didn’t go through with it because everyone was so nice to him,” sources told NBC News.
And yet he decided he had to “go through with his mission.”
Why? Who gave him his mission? Who armed him? He had his problems but he was not some lost soul wandering aimlessly and hallucinating. He had a script and he was armed. The adults in his life enabled him to get a lethal weapon and no one thought his indoctrination into racism was a problem. When America is racist and gun crazy, how will we even know who is a threat? The problem is in plain sight but requires letting go of delusion.
Easier to blame mental illness and the disempowered people who struggle with it.
Image from Good Magazine.
When testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on bills that would bring state law in line with federal law and close the loophole allowing misdemeanor domestic abusers to keep their guns, Frank Saccoccio, representing the Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition, insisted that he was in no way defending domestic abusers. It’s surely not his intent to defend domestic abusers, but that is exactly what Saccoccio is doing.
Time and again Saccoccio made statements that were refuted by Rachel Orsinger, representing the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Julia Wyman, representing the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV).
Saccoccio claims that the bill before the committee is the same as the bill presented last year. The bill did not pass and Saccoccio implied that though his organization was willing to help make some changes to the bill’s language that would allow the bill to pass, no one asked for the 2nd Amendment Coalition’s opinion. “We haven’t seen this bill until it was brought forward now,” he said.
This seems contrary to the statement by Rachel Orsinger, who thanked the Committee Chairman Cale Keable, the 2nd Amendment Coalition, the RICAGV, various law enforcement people, the Attorney General and the Public Defender’s office who “sat in very hot, very long meetings last year to come up with the language” in the bill, “That everyone could agree to, at least last year.”
Julia Wyman also remembered the “roundtable discussion last year, and all the major stakeholders were involved… including… two members of the 2nd Amendment group…” Wyman found it “rather incredulous” that the 2nd Amendment Coalition cannot support a bill they helped to craft.
Perhaps it’s Saccoccio’s strategy to obfuscate the issue. Time and again he prefaced his statements with some variation of, “Those of you who are lawyers will understand,” as if those in the room who are not lawyers will never be able to get their heads around the complex legal definitions of misdemeanors and petty misdemeanors. Fortunately, Rachel Orsinger was able to clear up the confusion Saccoccio sowed.
“I know there’s been some confusion around petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors,” said Orsinger, “those are two separate legal categories, just like book worms and worms are not the same thing, just because they have one of the same words in there.”
Lawyers in the room who work in family court, said Saccoccio, know that family court judges are “very very liberal” and likely to “err on the side of caution” when issuing protective orders. But, that’s the way the system is designed, pointed out Orsinger, once again cutting through the fog of Saccoccio’s words. It’s only after a judge makes a final decision that a permanent firearm restriction is put in place.
“Even if there’s no nexus to a firearm,” an indignant Saccoccio said, even if “there’s no allegation that a firearm was ever used,” a domestic abuser might lose his guns under this law.
“If someone is routinely showing that they have power and control over ending your life,” countered Orsinger, “knowing that they have a gun is an inherent threat.”
This legislation binds judges hands, offerred Saccocio. The word used to be “may” as in “a judge ‘may’ remove a domestic abuser’s guns.” That word has become “shall.” In Saccoccio’s opinion, judges should have discretion. Of course, other states, even states as gun friendly as Louisiana, use the word “shall” in similar legislation, said Orsinger.
Ultimately Saccoccio got to the end of his testimony by telling the assembled Representatives the same story he told the Senate weeks earlier. Saccoccio told of a “seminal case” in which a man with a protective order against him ran into his wife three times by coincidence, and was charged with violating the order. In Saccoccio’s telling of the case, the man was coincidentally holding the door for his wife when they ran into each other at the post office, and another time the man innocuously waved to his wife as he passed her while driving.
According to Orsinger, such stories tend to minimize what victims of domestic violence go through. “For those of us who have had healthy relationships in our lives,” she said, “it seems really reasonable that even in the most animosity filled divorce… you can bring a coffee to court just to be nice. But to the person who always got a Starbucks Latte the morning after they were brutally beaten, a Starbucks Latte means something different. It can be an inherently violent act to violate a restraining order… What it says to that victim is that no court can hold me back, no police can hold me back… I can get to you whenever.”
Saccoccio’s performance seemed doubly unnecessary when we remember that the bill under discussion simply brings state and federal law into alignment. It doesn’t do anything but close a loophole. “Already, under federal law,” said Julia Wyman, “if you commit a domestic violence misdemeanor, you are barred from owning a firearm for life.”
“By the time someone gets a conviction” for domestic violence, added Rachel Orsinger, “they’ve either… committed a felony assault that’s now been pled down to a simple assault… or this is their seventh or eighth time being arrested.”
“But don’t get me wrong,” said Frank Saccoccio, “we are not supporting or in any way… advocating for domestic violence. It should not be condoned or supported in any way.”
Frank Saccoccio and the 2nd Amendment Coalition say they agree with Wyman on the need, “to take firearms out of the hands of abusive people,” but until he supports this common sense legislation, his bewildering word clouds are “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
An overwhelming majority of Rhode Islanders support a bill to make it illegal for those convicted of domestic abuse or those under a domestic violence protective order to possess guns according to a new poll from the Rhode Island Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown for Gun Safety.
The poll comes as Rhode Island’s General Assembly considers two bills: S0503 and H5655, which will prohibit domestic abusers from possessing guns. Rhode Island Moms issued a statement in support of the legislation when the bill was introduced in February, saying “it’s just common sense that people convicted of domestic violence crimes and under protective orders shouldn’t possess guns.”
Among the poll’s findings:
80 percent of Rhode Islanders support a proposal to change state law so that a person convicted of domestic violence or a person subject to a domestic violence protective order cannot buy or possess a gun.
83 percent of Rhode Islanders believe people convicted of a domestic violence crime should not be allowed to buy or possess a gun and 82 percent believe people subject to a domestic violence protective order should not be allowed to buy or possess a gun.
76 percent of Rhode Islanders support a proposal to change state law so that a person convicted of domestic violence or a person subject to a domestic violence protective order has to turn in any guns they already own.
72 percent of Rhode Islanders believe it’s possible to protect the Second Amendment while also keeping guns away from dangerous people.
“The poll shows that keeping guns away from domestic abusers is something four out of five Rhode Islanders support,” said Jennifer Smith Boylan, volunteer chapter leader with the Rhode Island Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “It’s not surprising that an overwhelming majority of Rhode Islanders rally behind this common sense proposal. States as diverse as Texas, Connecticut, and 20 others have already taken similar steps to protect domestic violence victims from armed abusers. Eighty percent of Rhode Islanders, and the nearly 10,000 Everytown supporters in our state, urge our lawmakers to get up to speed.”
This poll comes in the wake of the largest Rally Against Gun Violence ever staged at the State House. Over 350 people rallied to ask the General Assembly to approve this legislation.
This post is crafted from an Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action press release.
