"Demandan alcaldes de EU "acción" contra violencia
de armas
Familiares de víctimas piden a los líderes
políticos que aprueben, entre otras medidas, revisiones obligatorias a los
compradores de armas para evitar que caigan en manos de personas con
antecedentes penales o enfermedades mentales.
Notimex Publicado:
28/03/2013 12:49
Washington. La coalición de Alcaldes contra las Armas Ilegales lanzó
hoy una Jornada de más de 120 eventos en varias ciudades estadunidenses para
"demandar acción" al Congreso para que impulse medidas que terminen con la
violencia de las armas.
La coalición también divulgó el primer anuncio de familiares de las víctimas
de la masacre en la escuela elemental Sandy Hook, en la localidad Newtown,
Connecticut, en diciembre pasado en el que murieron 20 niños.
En el anuncio, los familiares piden a los líderes políticos que aprueben,
entre otras medidas, revisiones obligatorias a los compradores de armas para
evitar que caigan en manos de personas con antecedentes penales o enfermedades
mentales.
El presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, tiene previsto este jueves una
reunión con los sobrevivientes de la violencia de las armas, miembros de las
fuerzas del orden y madres de familia para urgir al Congreso que reforme las
leyes sobre las armas.
"No podemos esperar que ocurra otra tragedia, ya es tiempo que los
funcionarios electos escuchen a sus electores", puntualizó en un comunicado el
copresidente de la coalición, el alcalde de Nueva York, Michael Bloomberg.
La coalición anunció recientemente la contratación de docenas de
organizadores y la apertura de oficinas en diez estados.
Bloomberg informó el pasado fin de semana el lanzamiento de una nueva campaña
de publicidad valorada en 12 millones de dólares para presionar a las
legislaturas estatales a respaldar los esfuerzos de control de armas.
El Senado en Washington, dominado por demócratas, está impulsando la
ampliación de las medidas de verificación de antecedentes de todos aquellos que
deseen adquirir armas de fuego.
Sin embargo, los senadores demócratas han reconocido que existe una falta de
apoyo para restablecer la prohibición de armas de asalto derogada por la
administración del presidente George W. Bush.
La Asociación Nacional del Rifle (NRA), que defiende la posesión de armas de
fuego con base a la Segunda Enmienda de la Constitución, criticó el lanzamiento
de la campaña.
"Lo que Michael Bloomberg está tratando de hacer es ... intimidar a los
senadores a no escuchar a los electores y en vez de ello que le den su confianza
y lealtad a él y a su dinero", dijo el portavoz de la NRA, Andrew Arulanandam."
"Demand Action To End Gun Violence. A Campaign Of Mayors Against Illegal Guns
We Have A Plan, Now It's Time To Congress To Act"
"President Obama and Vice President Biden have proposed a comprehensive strategy
to fight gun violence. And now bills have been introduced in both houses of
Congress to make those priorities into laws that will save countless lives. But
our work is far from done. The time has
come to Demand Action.
New polls released this week by Mayors Against Illegal Guns
conducted by Douglas E. Schoen LLC showed likely voters in a wide range of
states and congressional districts overwhelmingly support background checks for
all gun sales. The average support for background checks for all gun sales among
41 congressional district polls was 89 percent; the average among 21 statewide
polls was 86 percent. The findings of these surveys can be found here. Full-page advertisements in today's Washington Post,
Politico and Roll Call feature the poll results along with members of Congress
from these states and districts and their ratings from the National Rifle
Association.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Releases New PSA Demanding Action from Congress
Mayors Against Illegal
Guns has released a PSA featuring 30 mayors demanding that Congress take
immediate action to prevent gun violence. The PSA marks a transition in the
coalition's campaign from demanding a plan to demanding that Congress take
action to pass legislation to require background checks for all sales, limit
military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and make gun
trafficking a federal crime. The bipartisan coalition now includes more than 900
mayors from 45 states and more than 1.4 million grassroots
supporters.
Statements of Mayors Against
Illegal Guns Co-Chairs on President Obama's Comprehensive Proposal to Reduce Gun
Violence
Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Releases New Television Ad Demanding Action From Washington and Report On Gun
Lobby Suppression of Research on Gun Violence on One-Month Anniversary of
Newtown Shooting
Marking one month since the tragedy in Newtown, Mayors Against
Illegal Guns today released a new national television ad (available here)
featuring family members of gun violence victims demanding that political
leaders take immediate steps to end the gun violence that kills 33 Americans
every day. Co-chair Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg also released "Access Denied", a
new report that surveys all the efforts by the gun lobby, with the cooperation
of Congress, to suppress data and research funding on gun violence, making it
difficult to study the causes of gun violence and to hold the firearms industry
accountable for their role in the epidemic. The report (available here)
was released at a summit focused on gun violence research at Johns Hopkins
University's Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Launches New TV Ad on Second Anniversary of Tucson Shooting
Two years after the
Tucson mass shooting in which six were killed and former Representative
Gabrielle Giffords was shot, Mayors Against Illegal Guns today released a new
television ad featuring Roxanna Green, mother of Christina-Taylor Green, the
nine year-old girl murdered that day. The 30-second spot opens with a scene from
the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in which 20 children were killed.
In the ad, Green demands that elected officials in Washington D.C. take
immediate action to reduce gun violence in America. The ad can be viewed at www.demandaplan.org/christina-taylor.
"How
many more children must die before Washington does something to end our gun
violence problem?" said Mayors Against Illegal Guns Co-Chair and New York City
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "We need political leaders to hear Roxanna loud and
clear: we cannot wait any longer for you to do something about gun violence.
Another child should not have to die."
"Roxanna Green knows all too well
the pain of losing a loved one to gun violence - sadly, there are parents and
siblings and friends who learn this every day in our country," said Mayors
Against Illegal Guns Co-Chair and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "It's time for
Washington to act to reduce gun violence - for the 33 Americans that are killed
every day and for all of our children."
Statements of Mayors Against
Illegal Guns Co-Chairs On National Rifle Association Press
Conference
December 21, 2012 – “The NRA's Washington leadership has long been
out of step with its members, and never has that been so apparent as this
morning. Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our
country. Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped create,
they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent
America where everyone is armed and no place is safe. Leadership is about taking
responsibility, especially in times of crisis. Today the NRA's lobbyists blamed
everyone but themselves for the crisis of gun violence. While they promote armed
guards, they continue to oppose the most basic and common sense steps we can
take to save lives - not only in schools, but in our movie theaters, malls, and
streets. Enough. As a country, we must rise above special interest politics.
Every day, nearly 34 Americans are murdered with guns. That's why 74 percent of
NRA members support common sense restrictions like criminal background checks
for anyone buying a gun. It is time for Americans who care about the Second
Amendment and reasonable gun restrictions to join together to work with the
President and Congress to stop the gun violence in this country. Demand a
plan.”
Coalition Members Send Concrete Proposals
to Washington in the Wake of Newtown Mass Shooting
December 19 – More than 750 member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns
today sent a letter to President Obama and Congressional leadership urging
passage of legislation to: close deadly loopholes in the national background
check system; limit the availability of military style weapons and high-capacity
magazines; and make gun trafficking a federal crime.
Survivors and Family Members of Gun
Violence Victims Demand a Plan to Reduce Gun Violence from Washington
December 17, 2012 - Mayors Against Illegal Guns Co-Chair and New
York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was joined today by survivors and family
members of victims of gun violence to release personal videos demanding that
elected officials in Washington D.C. take immediate action to reduce gun
violence in America. The videos can be viewed at www.DemandAPlan.org
The videos tell the stories of 34 Americans whose lives have been forever
changed - whether in mass shootings in Aurora, Oak Creek, Tucson and Virginia
Tech or in the daily gun violence that kills nearly 34 Americans every day. The
diverse voices hail from urban and suburban areas across the country, young and
old, of different races and religious backgrounds. Every story is different, but
all survivors are united in their belief thatsomething must be done to prevent
more tragedies like the one in Newtown, Connecticut and like the tragedy they
personally experienced.
“What happened in Newtown was an unspeakable crime – a mass murder in which
six- and seven-year-old children were gunned down in their classrooms, along
with their elementary school teachers and administrators,” said Mayor Bloomberg.
“Gun violence is a national epidemic – and a national tragedy – that demands
more than words. It demands immediate national action, from the President and
from Congress. It needs to be at the top of their agenda.”
Statements of Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Co-Chairs on Newtown, Connecticut Shooting
December 14, 2012 – Statement of Mayor's Against Illegal Guns
Co-Chair New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg: "With all the carnage from
gun violence in our country, it's still almost impossible to believe that a mass
shooting in a kindergarten class could happen. It has come to that. Not even
kindergarteners learning their ABC's are safe. We heard after Columbine that it
was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after Virginia Tech. After
Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are hearing it again. For every day
we wait, nearly 34 more people are murdered with guns.
Michigan Mayors Against Illegal Guns,
Police, Domestic Violence Opponents Block NRA Attempt to Eliminate Background
Checks for Handguns Bought from Unlicensed Sellers
The Michigan Senate today rejected an attempt to eliminate a law
requiring people who buy handguns from unlicensed sellers to first pass a
background check, voting instead to preserve every essential element of a system
mayors and police called a successful crime-fighting tool.
The vote marked a
remarkable turnaround for legislation the National Rifle Association’s
Washington office had designed as a vehicle to repeal the state’s “permit to
purchase” system and eliminate the permit database maintained by the Michigan
State Police. A version of the bill that would have gutted the permit system
passed the Michigan House earlier this year and was widely expected to reach
Governor Rick Snyder’s desk during the legislature’s lame-duck session.
Aurora Shooting Survivor Demands a Plan to
Reduce Gun Violence From Presidential Candidates in Ad Campaign Aimed at
Colorado Debate Viewers
A survivor of the July mass shooting in
Aurora, Colorado is appearing in a new TV ad asking the presidential candidates
to explain how they will reduce gun violence when they meet to debate on
Wednesday less than ten miles from the Cinemark theater where a dozen people
were killed and 58 wounded. The ad features Stephen
Barton, a recent Syracuse University graduate and Fulbright Scholarship
recipient who was shot while spending the night in Aurora on a bicycle trip
across America. The ad will air nationally during the week that President Barack
Obama and Governor Mitt Romney meet at the University of Denver for their first
face-to-face debate.
Coalition Launches Interactive Map Showing
Failure of States to Submit Mental Health Records
August 16, 2012 - Mayors Against Illegal Guns
has launched an interactive map showing how many mental health records each
state has submitted to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
(NICS), and comparing this performance with the best-performing states. Based on
new FBI data updating the coalition's November 2011 Fatal Gaps report, the map
shows that 21 states have each submitted fewer than 100 records. This continued
failure to repair the system also spurred sixty-seven survivors and victims'
family members of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting to send a letter to President
Obama and Governor Romney – demanding that the candidates announce plans to
improve the nation's background check system.
Coalition Releases New Poll of NRA Members
Showing Strong Support For Common-Sense Gun Laws
July 24, 2012 - Mayors
Against Illegal Guns released the findings of a recent survey by GOP pollster
Frank Luntz showing that NRA members and gun owners overwhelmingly support a
variety of laws designed to keep firearms out of dangerous hands. The survey's
key findings include that 87 percent of NRA members agree that support for
Second Amendment rights goes hand-in-hand with keeping guns out of the hands of
criminals, and 74 percent of NRA members and 87 percent of non-NRA gun owners
support requiring criminal background checks of anyone purchasing a gun.
Coalition Co-Chairs Urge the U.S. Senate to
Reject Bills That Would Override State Laws on Concealed, Loaded
GunsMarch 15, 2012 - New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino join the more than 625 mayors, police
officers, prosecutors and domestic violence experts who oppose legislation
introduced in the U.S. Senate that would gut state rules for who can carry a
concealed, loaded gun in public.
Coalition Co-Chairs Star in Super Bowl Ad
Promoting Common Sense Reforms to Keep Guns Out of the Hands of
CriminalsFebruary 2, 2012 - This Sunday, during
Super Bowl XLVI, Patriots fan and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Giants fan
and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will appear in a new television
advertisement promoting common sense reforms to keep guns out of the hands of
criminals.
Fix Gun Checks: Delete Online Outlaws Urges
Websites to Crack Down on Illegal Gun SalesDecember 14, 2011 - In response to a new investigation by
the City of New York that exposed the vast, unregulated online market for
illegal guns, Mayors Against Illegal Guns launched a grassroots effort to crack
down on illegal online gun sales. The investigation found that 62% of sellers
were willing to sell to individuals who said they couldn't pass a criminal
background check. The coalition is urging Congress to take action to require a
background check on all gun sales, and for websites to take simple steps to stop
illegal sales: requiring sellers to register with the site before listing guns
for sale online; requiring buyers to register with the site before contacting
gun sellers; providing a simple mechanism to flag suspicious behavior; and
auditing their own sites - as many sites are already doing.
New Coalition Report Shows State and Federal
Failures Undermine Background Check System and Allow Substance Abusers and the
Mentally Ill to Buy GunsNovember 14, 2011
- New Mayors Against Illegal Guns report reveals data showing that states and
federal agencies fail to send millions of records to the federal firearms
background check system, enabling substance abusers, the mentally ill and other
dangerous individuals to pass background checks and purchase firearms.
Mayors Oppose Concealed Gun Mandate in New
AdOctober 20, 2011 - Mayors Against
Illegal Guns placed a full-page ad in USA Today calling on the U.S. Senate to
reject an effort to strip state authority to decide who can carry concealed,
loaded guns in public. This federal mandate would threaten the safety of our
communities by putting loaded guns in the hands of people who are too dangerous
to qualify for a local permit.
Coalition Launches Campaign Against National
Concealed Carry ReciprocitySeptember 12,
2011 – A coalition of more than 600 mayors has launched a campaign to
defend the rights of states to decide who can carry concealed, loaded guns. The
campaign website, OurLivesOurLaws.org, highlights the broad opposition to the
National Right-to-Carry Act (H.R.822) from law enforcement, faith leaders,
domestic violence groups, and the more than 45,000 Americans who have signed the
Our Lives, Our Laws petition. A new poll, also released today, shows that voters
overwhelmingly oppose Congressional efforts to override state concealed carry
laws.
Obama Administration Adopts Coalition
Recommendation to Combat Illegal Gun Trafficking to MexicoThe co-chairs of Mayors Against Illegal Guns applauded the Obama
Administration's implementation of a new policy that will help curb illegal gun
trafficking to Mexico. The program requires gun dealers in border states to
report bulk sales of the type of semi-automatic rifles preferred by Mexican drug
cartels. A similar nationwide requirement for bulk handgun sales has already
been in place for years. The new program is modeled on a proposal first made by
Mayors Against Illegal Guns in August 2009 in its Blueprint for Federal
Action on Illegal Guns.
Coalition Calls on President Obama to
Strengthen and Better Enforce Gun LawsOn the
six-month anniversary of the tragic shooting in Tucson, Mayors Against Illegal
Guns issued a letter calling on President Obama to prevent criminals,
terrorists, and other dangerous people from obtaining illegal guns. The
coalition members offered four concrete steps the administration could take
without Congressional action to better enforce existing gun laws, reminding the
President that over 6,100 Americans have died from gun violence since the Tucson
shooting.
Mayors Urge Repeal of Restrictions that
Impede Investigation of "Fast & Furious"Mayors Michael R. Bloomberg and Thomas M. Menino, coalition
co-chairs, called on Congressional leaders to repeal the Tiahrt restrictions
that are blocking Congressional oversight of the ATF's controversial "Operation
Fast & Furious." ATF allegedly allowed guns to be illegally trafficked to
Mexico, possibly putting law enforcement officers in danger. The Tiahrt
Amendments prohibit ATF from sharing crime gun trace data. As a result, Congress
has been forced to request trace data connected to the Fast & Furious
investigation from the Mexican Government.
Mayors Launch TV Ad Addressing Al Qaeda Gun
PlotA coalition of more than 600 mayors has
launched a national TV ad campaign calling attention to a recent Al Qaeda
propaganda video that urges the terrorist group's followers to exploit loopholes
to purchase firearms without background checks. The mayors' ad is running on
national cable news programs this week. It urges Congress to pass the Fix Gun
Checks Act of 2011 and the Denying Firearms to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2011,
bills pending that would close the loopholes Al Qaeda publicized.
House Leaders Force Vote on Terror
GapMay 12 2011 - Today, members of the
House Judiciary Committee forced a vote on an amendment that would have closed
the "Terror Gap" – a flaw in our national security infrastructure that has
allowed more than 1300 terror suspects to buy guns and explosives since 2004.
The amendment would have given the Attorney General the discretion to block the
sale of firearms and explosives to terror suspects on a case-by-case basis. The
Coalition strongly supports bipartisan legislation to close this deadly
loophole.
The Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 is
Introduced in the House of Representatives
May 6,
2011 - Yesterday members of the U.S. House of Representatives
introduced the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 (H.R.1781). This legislation will
close gaps in the national gun background system that have enabled criminals and
other dangerous people – including Tucson shooter Jared Loughner – to easily
obtain firearms. The bill was introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and more than
two dozen other members, including Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie
Wasserman Schultz, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers and Crime
Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby Scott. Senator Chuck Schumer introduced
similar legislation in February. The Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 achieves the
goal President Obama set after the Tucson mass shooting, a gun background check
system that is "instant, accurate, and comprehensive."
Following President Obama's Call, Tucson
Shooting Victims' Families Endorse Plan to Fix U.S. Gun Background Check
SystemMarch 28, 2011 - Arizona families,
civic leaders and elected officials today gathered to endorse legislation based
on the Mayors' plan to fix the gun background check system. The press
conference, in Tucson, brought together victims of the mass shooting on January
8th that killed 6 people and injured 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords. Attendees included Ross Zimmerman, the father of Gabe Zimmerman, Rep.
Giffords' staff member who was killed in the shooting; James Fuller; Randy
Gardner; Patricia Maisch, who prevented the shooter from reloading; Dr. Peter
Rhee, chief of trauma at University Medical Center; and others. The event comes
just two weeks after President Obama signaled his support for fixing background
checks.
Key Members of Congress Join Mayor Bloomberg
in Announcing House Version of the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011March 15, 2011 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg today applauded
President Obama for his recent statements in support of fixing the gun
background check system and closing the loopholes that enable criminals to avoid
these checks; the President expressed his support in a March 13 letter written
to the Arizona Daily Star. During the press conference in Washington D.C., Mayor
Bloomberg was joined by New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, who will
introduce the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 in the U.S. House, other key House
members from across the country.
President Obama Expresses Support for Fixing
Background ChecksMarch 14, 2011 - In a
letter to a Tucson newspaper yesterday, President Obama announced his support
for an improved system to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. The
President called for an "instant, accurate, and comprehensive" background check
for gun sales, stressing that dangerous individuals should not be able to avoid
the background check requirement altogether. His comments add to the growing
momentum behind the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Fix Gun Checks campaign, which
polls show also has the support of an overwhelming majority of
Americans-including gun owners.
New Polls in Five Bellwether
States Show Overwhelming Support to Fix Gun Background Check
System
March 2, 2011 - Mayors Against Illegal Guns today
announced the results of five state polls showing that large majorities of the
public - including gun owners - in five key states support closing the loopholes
in the national gun background check system that now give dangerous people easy
access to firearms.
February 23, 2011 - Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg and Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced new
legislation to get all records of criminals, drug abusers, and the mentally ill,
who are already prohibited by law from buying guns, into the background check
system, and also to require background checks for every gun sale.
February 16, 2011 - This morning, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg appeared on Good Morning America to launch the National Drive to Fix
Gun Checks and raise awareness of gun crime across the country. The Fix Gun
Checks billboard truck started in Times Square and keeps a running toll of the
numbers of the Americans murdered by guns since the tragic shooting in Tucson,
Arizona. The National Drive will criss-cross at least 25 states to meet with
mayors, law enforcement, faith leaders, victims of gun violence, sportsmen, and
supporters over the next two months.
America’s Mayors, Kennedy, and
King Families Call on President and Congress to
Act
January 25, 2011– This morning, Mayors
Against Illegal Guns joined with Martin Luther King, III and Kathleen Kennedy
Townsend in sending an open letter to President Obama and Members of Congress
urging them to fix the nation's criminal background check system. The letter
appeared as a full page ad in the January 25th edition of the Washingon
Post.
Coalition Urges President and
Congress to Fix the Gun Background Check SystemJanuary 24,
2011 - Today coalition co-chair Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg stood with
Martin Luther King III and family members of gun violence victims to urge
Congress to fulfill the intent of the historic 1968 gun law and fix the nation’s
broken background check system. In conjunction with the event, Mayors Against
Illegal Guns launched a new website, www.fixgunchecks.org, to call on the
President and Congress to fix the background check system by (1) getting all of
the names of all prohibited purchasers into the background check system and (2)
requiring background checks for all gun sales.
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