Gun Violence Survivors Hold Their Own ‘State of the Union’

 

‘We are not going anywhere until you do your job ’ — These gun violence survivors united in D.C. to hold their own ‘State of the Union’ organized by a coalition of orgs including March 4 Our Lives, Brady Buzz, CJ ACTION FUND, Guns Down America, and Newtown Action.

Horsford Shares Father's Story With Gun Violence

 

Rep. Horsford lost his father to a senseless act of gun violence — and he’s done with the gun lobby deciding what laws get passed.

What's behind America's obsession with guns?

Senator Chris Murphy talks to host Steve Clemons about the US's unique relationship with guns and violence.

In the United States, there are more guns than people. Gun deaths are a daily occurrence, and the country is a world leader in public mass shootings.

Most attempts to curb gun ownership, control the types of weapons that can be sold, and reduce the number of guns in the streets fail, due to the strength of the weapons industry and its lobby in Washington, DC.

 

Licence to Hate: White Supremacy in the US

How did the racist ideology behind recent US white supremacist attacks seep into the country's mainstream discourse?

In less than a year, the United States has seen two of the deadliest white supremacist attacks in its recent history.

In October 2018, a white supremacist gunman stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The perpetrator murdered 11 worshippers in what became the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.

Just nine months later, a white supremacist opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people and injuring dozens. Among the victims were new parents, grandparents, people from three different countries, a US Army veteran, and a 15-year-old high school student.

Christchurch in context: Media as accessory to the crime?

The Christchurch attacks and the history of Islamophobia in western media. Plus, politically conscious rap in Senegal.

Christchurch mosque attacks and the media

It has been just over a week now since 50 Muslim worshippers were killed in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The attacker livestreamed his killing spree on Facebook, and the video - all 17 minutes of it - spread from there.

There is a depressing pattern to the coverage of stories like this. The big tech platforms scramble to take down the offending video and then face questions over whether they did enough, quickly enough.

Mainstream news outlets enter a state of inner conflict. Playing that video on a loop is wrong, but they have got clicks and ratings to consider.

America's Guns: Arming Mexico's Cartels

People and Power investigates how an astonishing flow of arms from the US has exacerbated crime and conflict in Mexico.

The United States's constitutionally enshrined love-affair with firearms has given it the highest levels of private gun ownership in the world, a truly staggering rate of gun-related deaths (from high-profile "mass killings" to more routine daily homicides), and a hugely powerful and wealthy arms industry dedicated to preserving the status quo.

Following the latest appalling calamity in February, when 17 people were slaughtered at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the pro and anti-gun ownership lobbies have been engaging in a now familiar debate about the extent to which US gun laws should be tightened up - with the notoriously pro-gun President Donald Trump pledging to stop such carnage happening in the future.

Bullets and bills: The cost of getting shot in America

Video by Hannah Long-Higgins

Megan Hobson still cannot walk properly since being caught in a crossfire of bullets in Florida six years ago. But for her and many other shooting victims, the price of survival is not just months of rehabilitation and operations.

It is tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills with no end in sight.

Seeking Justice in Mexico, US and Turkey

Mothers march against US police violence; activists lobby for change in Turkey; friends search for Mexico's disappeared.

After her unarmed son, Dontre Hamilton, was shot and killed by a police officer in Milwaukee, US, Maria Hamilton formed Mothers for Justice to bring together women who have lost their children to police or vigilante violence.

After months of organising, the mothers took their demands to Washington, DC.

"I found out that justice wasn't served in any of these [other mothers' cases] and it was overwhelming," says Maria. "We are ordering a national call for the DoJ (Department of Justice) to have special prosecutors, people who do not have any links to the police officers or the DA's (District Attorney) office."

America's Guns: Arming Mexico's Cartels (video)

People and Power investigates how an astonishing flow of arms from the US has exacerbated crime and conflict in Mexico.

The United States's constitutionally enshrined love-affair with firearms has given it the highest levels of private gun ownership in the world, a truly staggering rate of gun-related deaths (from high-profile "mass killings" to more routine daily homicides), and a hugely powerful and wealthy arms industry dedicated to preserving the status quo.

Following the latest appalling calamity in February, when 17 people were slaughtered at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the pro and anti-gun ownership lobbies have been engaging in a now familiar debate about the extent to which US gun laws should be tightened up - with the notoriously pro-gun President Donald Trump pledging to stop such carnage happening in the future.

School Revolution: Wednesday Walkout By Students

• Students to leave class for 17 minutes to honor Parkland victims
• Protests and demonstrations to take place across America
• School shootings: 17-minute protests to mark 17 deaths
• Full details: The essential information about the protests
• An adult’s perspective: Whatever it takes, support all kids marching

Wednesday walkout: students step out of class to spur action on gun control – 

#NATIONALWALKOUTDAY

#NeverAgain: Teenagers, Twitter and the US gun debate

How US school shooting survivors spar with gun rights activists on air and online. Plus, media strangled in Eritrea.

#NeverAgain: Aftermath of the Florida school shooting

Sometimes it's worth waiting for a story to play out and then examining what's been reported in the aftermath. The Florida school shooting, which happened three weeks ago, is one of those cases. Seventeen were killed in the attack, 14 of them students.

Unlike some previous school shootings in the US, these survivors didn't shy away from the cameras - they went looking for them.

The teenagers used the plentiful airtime they got to push for tougher gun control laws. And they found themselves taking on not just politicians, but one of the most potent lobby groups around - the National Rifle Association.

Is this a watershed moment for gun control in the US?

Young people lead the charge for tougher controls on firearms after mass shooting at high school in Florida.

Young people across the US are calling for stricter gun laws after a mass shooting that killed 17 students and staff at a high school in Parkland, Florida, last week.

Most of those leading the calls for change were not born when Congress last approved gun-control legislation in 1994.

They are up against the National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful gun lobby, which remains opposed to any new restrictions.

Florida shooting: Suspect held in deadly high school attack

Police in Parkland, Florida, have arrested a suspect after responding to a deadly shooting at a local high school.

More than an hour after the shooting began, the Broward Sherriff's Office said the "shooter is now in custody".

But it warned that the scene at Stoneman Douglas High School "is still active".

School superintendent Robert Runcie told reporters: "there are fatalities involved here."

Both Mr Runcie and the Sherriff, Scott Israel, identified the suspect as a former student of the school.

"So far we have at least 14 victims," the Sherriff's department said, without specifying their condition.

US media outlets reported that up to 20 people may have been injured, while some have been evacuated.

• Live updates: Florida school gunman shoots 'dozens'

Reality Check: The NRA wasn't always anti-gun control

Mehdi Hasan on three things you may not know about the history of the US gun debate.

The US is in a league of its own when it comes to the stats on guns, and many point to the US constitution to explain why keeping and bearing arms is a right in the country.

But the history behind the US constitution's second amendment and the politics surrounding the gun control debate may surprise you.

In this Reality Check, Mehdi Hasan explores three little-known facts when it comes to the politics of this debate.

Congressmen, Aides Reportedly Shot At Early Morning Baseball Practice

Shots were fired on a group of Republican lawmakers in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday morning and witnesses say that several aides and members were hit.

Among those who were shot were Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), according to Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Al.) Brooks told reporters he used his belt as a tourniquet to stop Scalise’s bleeding and that more than 50 bullets were fired.

The lawmakers were at baseball practice, as is customary this time of year in preparation for the annual congressional baseball game.

Stray Bullets: Guns in the Philippines

As the new Philippines government takes an uncompromising line on crime, will it finally end rampant gun violence?

In 2014, 101 East went to investigate gun culture in the Philippines, where love for firearms is not restricted to the country's most crime-ridden neighbourhoods.

In "Stray Bullets", the question at the time was whether recently introduced guns laws were going to put an end to the gun violence then plaguing the Philippines.

As REWIND discovers, it is an issue that current events have made just as relevant today - with a new Philippines government taking an uncompromising line on crime.

Steve Chao returned to Manila to see what has changed since the documentary was made, and especially since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power. He talks to Jose Manuel Diokno, a human rights lawyer, about Duterte's war on drugs and its effect on gun violence.

Americans under the gun: NRA and the gun business

As gun ownership rises in the US, we look at how attempts to rein in gun violence are benefiting gun makers.



The National Rifle Association (NRA) is holding its annual convention in the United States. It's both a trade show for conventional shooting and hunting, but also a massive political and social event. In an election year and with more and more shootings happening in the US, it takes on extra significance.

Guns kill 33,000 Americans every year, and yet the number of guns being bought in the US continues to rise. A climate of fear has led to there now being more guns - approximately 300 million - than people in the entire country.

President Barack Obama's efforts to introduce stricter gun control has had little impact, partly because the NRA uses the billions it receives from gun manufacturers to block legislation.

Fixing A Computer The American Way: With A Gun Pointed At Your Head

Everyday life in America isn't like other places, where the mundane is the norm and life just isn't all that exciting.  Living in a country that believes itself to be exceptional can be taxing how does one live up to that standard?  For example having a computer repaired. Most people would do one of say three things, call the customer service line, take it a repair shop or have the technion come to your home and finally just do your self.

Let's say you choose to have the repair person come to your home and while there informs you that, yes it can be repaired but they must leave to retrieve the necessary parts. How would you react? Resignation, acceptance, frustration but willing to go along or would you choose an extreme?

Remember this America and Americans are exceptional.  

In this case the owner of the computer chose the extreme and what he used to emphasize that he was "exceptional" was a gun.  Yes, this "exceptional" American decided that what was needed was a  Second Amendment remedy  to motivate this defenseless computer tech.    

damn, y’all.

Mondello told the tech ”you’re not leaving this house until the computer is fixed” — a feat that would be difficult to accomplish without the needed parts.  That’s when [he] decided a Second Amendment Solution was in order. He left the room and returned with a what appeared to be a gun, telling the tech:
”I’m going to kill you slowly.”

The Second Amendment remedy guy is Joe Mondello the former Legislative Director for Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.  

Remember only "exceptional", conservative,  NRA card carrying and responsible gun owners may act this way because they're responsible. 

San Bernardino shooting: How not to cover breaking news

We look at the divisive and sensationalist media coverage of the mass shooting; plus, the rise of social news videos.



As televised news events go, it had a touch of the surreal about it.

Two days after the San Bernardino mass shooting, scores of reporters stormed into the home of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, two of the crime's main suspects, broadcasting live while rummaging through their personal effects.

Airing images of family members and releasing sensitive material that only a few hours earlier had been part of an FBI investigation, the coverage brought the journalistic ethics of a number of news organisations into question.

Hashtags like #Thisisntjournalism were trending while reporters were still in the house, live on air.

The ensuing media coverage, which combines two big issues in the US right now - the so-called war on terror and gun control - prompted Republican presidential contender, Donald Trump, to call for a blanket ban on Muslims entering the US, while several media outlets went into a frenzy focusing on the suspects' religious beliefs as a primary motive for the killings.

End the Gun Epidemic in America

EDITORIAL

This is the first editorial published on the front page of the New York Times since 1920

​It is a moral outrage and national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency.

All decent people feel sorrow and righteous fury about the latest slaughter of innocents, in California. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are searching for motivations, including the vital question of how the murderers might have been connected to international terrorism. That is right and proper.

But motives do not matter to the dead in California, nor did they in Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut and far too many other places. The attention and anger of Americans should also be directed at the elected leaders whose job is to keep us safe but who place a higher premium on the money and political power of an industry dedicated to profiting from the unfettered spread of ever more powerful firearms.

It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.