The New York lawmaker condemned the fatal attack on Twitter, focusing her message on the American gun group.
“At 1st I thought of saying, ‘Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.’ But I couldn’t say ‘imagine,’” the lawmaker wrote, citing the deadly shootings at a Charleston, S.C., church, a Pittsburgh synagogue and a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church.
“What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?” She added.
Ocasio-Cortez noted that “thoughts and prayers” is a reference to the NRA phrase she says is “used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies.”
At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.”
But I couldn’t say “imagine.”
Because of Charleston.
Pittsburgh.
Sutherland Springs.
What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?pic.twitter.com/2mSw0azDN8
The progressive congresswoman called on communities to “come together, fight for each other & stand up for neighbors.”
“Isolation, dehumanizing stereotypes, hysterical conspiracy theories & hatred ultimately lead to the anarchy of violence,” she wrote on Twitter. “We cannot stand for it.”
Ocasio-Cortez added that she greatly admires New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Ardern called the shootings “one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” according to The Associated Press, adding that it was “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”
“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” Ardern said.
The prime minister raised the national security threat to the second-highest level following the shootings.
Authorities have charged one person and detained three others in the attack. They also defused explosive devices after the gunman published live footage of the shooting and published a “manifesto” calling immigrants “invaders.”
North Coast U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson unveils expanded gun bill requiring universal background checks
By Kevin Fixler, January 8, 2019, 6:31PM
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, right, watches as Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chairman fellow Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, signs the bill, accompanied by gun violence victim former Rep. Gabby Giffords, left, and others, during a news conference to announce introduction of bipartisan legislation to expand background checks for sales and transfers of firearms, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
With the stroke of a pen and a stroll onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson introduced the highest-profile legislation of his political career, believing the newly sworn-in Democratic majority finally will be able to deliver on the promise of requiring universal background checks on all private gun sales.
The St. Helena Democrat and House veteran of 20 years was accompanied in Washington, D.C., for the ceremonial submission of House Bill 8 by former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Arizona, who nearly lost her life in a mass shooting attack in Tucson in 2011.
Tuesday marked eight years since a gunman shot and killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Giffords with a bullet in the head from close range, outside a Safeway supermarket during a public meet-and-greet event.
Since recovering, she and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, have dedicated much of their lives to advocacy work to prevent gun-related deaths.
“Stopping gun violence takes courage — the courage to do what is right, the courage of new ideas,” Giffords said during an afternoon press conference announcing the introduction of Thompson’s expanded legislation to help ensure people only get access to firearms after their backgrounds are vetted. “I’ve seen great courage when my life was on the line. Now is the time to come together, be responsible — Democrats, Republicans, everyone. We must never stop fighting.”
Not one year after the tragedy in Tucson, a 20-year-old gunman stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 young children and six adults. Thompson, a Vietnam War veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart after being wounded while serving, has been working to gain traction on enhanced gun legislation ever since that 2012 tragedy.
The latest call for background checks on all gun sales, including for the first time at gun shows, over the internet and in classified ads, is Thompson’s fourth try at getting a gun safety bill to reach the House floor for a vote. The new Democratic majority and Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, again in the key decision-making position as House speaker should allow that to happen.
“For the last six years, there was Republican control of the House, and they would not even have a hearing on the issue of gun violence prevention, let alone on the bill,” Thompson said in an interview Tuesday. “This is a new day. Every day that goes by potentially loses more lives and the whole idea is to save lives.”
His previous attempts at a law weren’t as ambitious, he said, because the congressional appetite hadn’t yet fully formed. Thompson, chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and lifelong hunter, said he needed to remain practical. Through “a natural progression,” however, he now thinks he’s garnered the necessary support across the aisle to pass the bill onto the Senate, namely as the pendulum has swung further forward with each subsequent mass shooting — Aurora, Orlando, Las Vegas and Parkland, to name a few.
“The fact of the matter is the population across the country is fired up on this,” Thompson said. “Young student leaders from one end to the other, they’re engaged and demanding that some action happen. The American people are way out in front of this and I believe the public sentiment wins out.”
The No. 8 assigned to the legislation was a symbolic decision by Pelosi to pay respect to the eight-year mark of the shooting in Tucson on Jan. 8. But the single-digit number for the bill also is used to signal its importance and level of priority for the new speaker, who spoke of the issue’s “growing crescendo” from the packed stage during Tuesday’s press conference announcing the bill.
“In communities across America, courageous survivors, families and young advocates are showing outstanding courage and persistence demanding an end to the horrific scourge of violence in our nation,” Pelosi said in a prepared statement. “Our Democratic majority will press relentlessly for bipartisan progress to end the epidemic of gun violence on our streets, in our schools and in our places of worship. Enough is enough.”
The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 is actually co-sponsored by 10 members of Congress, including five Republicans. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, is for the fourth time joining Thompson in his pursuit of what’s been labeled “commonsense” and “bold” gun legislation.
A request seeking comment on the legislation from the National Rifle Association, which traditionally opposes the expansion of laws that restrict access to guns, went unreturned Tuesday. If passed by both congressional chambers as written and signed into law by President Trump, Thompson’s bill still would allow firearm transfer exceptions between families, friends and hunting partners. It does not address a Trump administration rollback of an Obama-era gun law that would have required the Social Security Administration to provide information on those with mental disorders during background checks.
Thompson bristles at the idea of maintaining inaction as the continued response to tackling the complex issue because there exists no panacea for ending mass shootings and gun deaths in their entirety in America.
“There’s no single piece of legislation that’s going to solve all the problems and address the overall issue of gun violence,” he said. “The experts say the single most important thing that yields the greatest return is expanding background checks. It’s our first line of defense in keeping people who shouldn’t have guns from having guns.”
No set timetable for when the bill might advance through a House Judiciary Committee hearing and then, if approved, onto the House floor, but Thompson said he’s confident it will pass with near-total support among the 235-member Democratic majority and at least the five Republicans who signed on as co-sponsors. He said he expects that will happen in the first 100 days of the 2019 Congress, and then it would be up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, whether to put the bill up for a vote in the Senate.
“The Senate is a hurdle,” Thompson acknowledged. “I also think sending this bill over with a good bipartisan vote puts pressure on McConnell to allow the issue to come up in the Senate. It’s important we have success with this, pass the bill out of the House, which sends a loud message that yes we can do these things, and my colleagues in the House and Senate need to stand up for what’s right and take these issues on.”
Repost of an email from the Pension Boards of the UCC [Editor: I usually refrain from posting articles from my faith community, the UCC. But this report is an exception – it’s encouraging to hear about interfaith efforts to control gun violence and promote environmentally-friendly projects through responsible investment policies. – R.S.]
Corporate Social Responsibility
FAITH & FINANCE IN ACTION
December, 2018
“…action to change laws, influence corporate behavior, and work together as a society to bring about life-sustaining change is the co-creative call of God in our lives to do much more.”
The Pension Boards, through its Faith and Finance Initiative, investment policies, and discernment around its social justice ministry, has responded to the overwhelming call of acting on the issue of gun violence in our country. The Pension Boards has joined with ecumenical partners in calling for specific action to reduce gun violence and live out our commitment to the UCC’s Three Great Loves initiative by engaging in life-sustaining rather than death-dealing action. An extension of our witness to the corporate world has resulted in bold action described in the article below. We invite your response.
The Pension Boards Adds Gun Screen to Investment Policy
Religious organizations, including the Pension Boards, have called for common sense measures to reduce gun violence without interfering in Second Amendment Constitutional rights of legitimate gun owners for several years, even before the most recent mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. PBUCC, however, decided that more action was necessary.
On August 1, 2018, the Investment Committee of the Pension Boards’ Board of Trustees voted to eliminate direct investment in U.S. companies engaged in the production of small arms ammunition or firearms, including pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, or sub-machine guns, and that derive 10% or more of revenues from sales.
Prior to the vote, on May 9, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee of the Pension Boards voted unanimously to recommend that the Investment Committee consider an appropriate screen, or policy, regarding firearms. Read the full article.
Catalyzing Corporate Change
In the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) newsletter, read about the more than 100 corporate wins ICCR members scored during the 2018 proxy season, demonstrating the environmental/social concerns shared by mainstream investors. ICCR is a coalition of over 300 institutional investors working together to promote more just and sustainable corporate practices. READ MORE
CNN: Global Lessons on Guns – A Fareed Zakaria GPS Special
Breaking CNN News Today Nov 25, 2018
An incredibly important and informative analysis of gun violence in the U.S. and in various countries around the world. Zakaria has been following this deadly issue for years, and presents here a carefully researched study with alarming results. [NOTE: as of August 2019, the VIDEO that was previously viewable on Youtube can no longer be found anywhere on the internet. If you can stand the obnoxious ads at the beginning of this audio, you can listen to Zakaria’s excellent analysis.]
NO LONGER AVAILABLE (saved here in case it returns somehow…)
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