Category Archives: #NEVERAGAIN

Not what I expected: Mike Thompson on gun violence

By Roger Straw
U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson – Gun Violence Prevention Task Force  mikethompson.house.gov/issues/gun-violence-prevention

An influential Benicia resident (who wishes to remain anonymous) wrote to me on May 22, highly concerned over our Rep. Mike Thompson’s moderate statements on the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force page on his website.  Her email subject line was “Not what I expected: Mike Thompson on gun violence.”  She wrote:

Rep. Mike Thompson, District 5, has been chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force in the US House of Representative for several years. Here is his disturbing current statement on the Task Force site: note: there are links on the site about his gun prevention plans.  From his website…

“As a hunter and gun owner I believe we should protect a law-abiding individual’s Second Amendment right to own firearms. As a dad and grandfather I also believe that we have a responsibility to make our schools, streets and communities safe. We can do both, but Congress will need to step up.

After being named chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force in the U.S. House of Representatives, I held a series of open town halls in our district that examined some of the actions that Congress could take. Hundreds attended these meetings. I heard views from law enforcement officials, mental health experts, school officials, NRA members and gun control advocates. Many feared that their Second Amendment rights would come under attack when my task force made its recommendations to Congress. Others wanted to cast those rights aside.

I believe both views are too extreme. I will never give up my guns and I will never ask law-abiding Americans without a history of dangerous mental illness to give up theirs. Not only am I personally against this, the Constitution does not allow it. In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court affirmed once and for all that Americans have a right to keep and bear arms.

However, just as the First Amendment protects free speech but doesn’t allow you to incite violence, the Second Amendment has restrictions too. As conservative justice Anthony Scalia outlined, Heller does not prohibit laws forbidding firearms in places such as schools, nor does it restrict laws prohibiting felons and the mentally ill from carrying guns.

This ruling provides people on both sides of the issue with an opportunity to work within the confines of the Second Amendment and pass legislation that will reduce and prevent gun violence.”

I wrote back, detailing Mike’s stated views on assault weapons: “After the Parkland FL school shooting in February … Mike held a Benicia town Hall on March 17, where he very clearly, more than once, stated that ‘military grade automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons do not belong in the hands of citizens.'” (See Mike Thompson makes news in Benicia: ‘military grade assault weapons do not belong in citizens’ hands’.)

I wrote to Thompson’s staff, sharing our concern about the Gun Violence Prevention page on his website, and suggesting they update the page to show Mike’s evolving views on this subject.  “I hope you will pass this on to Mike and make an effort to update the website, calling for new and more stringent controls on guns, with special attention to military grade automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons.”

I heard back that same day with a promise to pass our concern on to Mike’s communications director in Washington D.C., Alex Macfarlane.

As of today, there have been no updates on Mike’s Gun Violence Prevention page.  Similarly, I can find no mention of assault weapons or automatic / semi-automatic weapons on Thompson’s Facebook page.  I hope to hear from his office about changes, and will report here with updates.

Contact Rep. Mike Thompson – ask him what is his position on banning military grade automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons:

Roger Straw
Benicia

Eight mass shootings in California this year (1/1/18 – 5/18/18)

By Roger Straw

California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.  And yet, in less than 5 months  so far in 2018, California has seen 8 mass shootings, killing 7 and injuring 32.  Three of these incidents took place in the Bay Area (source: Gun Violence Archive).  Even California’s laws need to be strengthened.  For California legislative issues, see bayareastudentactivists.org/resources/.

Incident Date City Or County # Killed # Injured More info
27-Jan-18 Los Angeles 0 5 View
13-May-18 Stockton 3 2 View
9-Apr-18 Vallejo 0 4 View
20-Apr-18 San Francisco 1 5 View
12-Mar-18 Modesto 0 4 View
7-May-18 San Diego 0 5 View
21-Mar-18 San Francisco 1 5 View
13-May-18 Los Angeles 2 2 View
Total 2018 as of 5-19-18   7 32

High school students react, comment on latest mass school shooting

From National Public Radio, NPR:

The students behind the March for Our Lives movement, which started after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, sent a note of support, saying, “This is the most fatal shooting since the one at our school and tragedies like this will continue to happen unless action is taken.”

One of the leaders of the group, Emma Gonzalez, added via Twitter, “Santa Fe High, you didn’t deserve this.”

Video of student reaction, comments: Youth Radio.

Here is a post from March For Our Lives on Twitter:

71 Mass Shootings in the US since Parkland Florida: 70 killed, 277 wounded

By Roger Straw, May 18, 2018

Just 93 days ago, 17 were killed in the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida.  In the 13 weeks since, there have been 71 mass shootings in the US, killing 70, including the 10 who were murdered today in Santa Fe Texas.  Another 280 suffered gunshot wounds in those 71 mass shootings.  #NEVERAGAIN

Can you catch a bullet like you can catch a cold? Intriguing study looks at gun violence under epidemiology lens zmescience.com/science/gun-violence-contagious

69 dead in 71 mass shootings in 93 days – all incidents where 4 or more are shot or killed. #ENOUGH

These shocking statistics are kept by the Gun Violence Archive (More about the Gun Violence Archive below.)

[Editor: The following table was taken from the Gun Violence Archive early on 5/18, with only preliminary count on the victims in Santa Fe Texas.  LATER: updated the Santa Fe numbers.  – RS]

Mass Shootings since Parkland, Florida on 14 Feb 2018 (Source: gunviolencearchive.org)
Incident Date State City Or County # Killed # Injured
18-May-18 Texas Santa Fe 10 13
16-May-18 Texas Ponder 5 1
14-May-18 Maryland Baltimore 0 4
13-May-18 California Stockton 3 2
13-May-18 Mississippi Byhalia 0 4
13-May-18 California Los Angeles 2 2
12-May-18 Nebraska Omaha 0 6
12-May-18 New Jersey Paulsboro 0 4
11-May-18 Oklahoma Talihina 1 4
11-May-18 Missouri Saint Louis 0 4
9-May-18 Nebraska Omaha 0 4
9-May-18 Missouri Saint Louis 0 4
7-May-18 California San Diego 0 5
6-May-18 Oklahoma Stillwater 0 4
6-May-18 Tennessee Memphis 2 4
5-May-18 Georgia Columbus 0 5
4-May-18 North Carolina Henderson 0 4
4-May-18 Illinois Chicago Heights 0 4
2-May-18 Illinois Chicago 1 4
2-May-18 Minnesota Minneapolis 0 6
2-May-18 New York Brooklyn 1 4
1-May-18 Louisiana New Orleans 0 5
30-Apr-18 Florida Pompano Beach 0 4
30-Apr-18 District of Columbia Washington 0 4
29-Apr-18 Tennessee Wartburg 0 4
29-Apr-18 Washington Seattle (Skyway) 2 2
29-Apr-18 North Carolina Monroe 1 3
29-Apr-18 Florida West Palm Beach 1 3
28-Apr-18 North Carolina Maxton 0 5
25-Apr-18 Arkansas Pine Bluff 0 4
25-Apr-18 Missouri Saint Louis (Spanish Lake) 3 1
24-Apr-18 Michigan Flint 0 4
22-Apr-18 Tennessee Antioch 4 3
22-Apr-18 Louisiana New Orleans 1 5
21-Apr-18 Pennsylvania Philadelphia 2 2
20-Apr-18 California San Francisco 1 5
18-Apr-18 North Carolina Asheville 4 3
15-Apr-18 Louisiana Shreveport 0 6
9-Apr-18 California Vallejo 0 4
8-Apr-18 North Carolina Hickory 1 3
8-Apr-18 Florida Miami 2 2
6-Apr-18 Florida Jacksonville 0 4
6-Apr-18 Virginia Virginia Beach 1 3
4-Apr-18 Louisiana New Orleans 2 2
2-Apr-18 Texas Houston 1 3
1-Apr-18 Alabama Mobile 1 4
1-Apr-18 Michigan Saginaw 0 5
31-Mar-18 New Jersey Asbury Park 0 5
29-Mar-18 Texas Plano 1 3
29-Mar-18 New Jersey Camden 0 4
24-Mar-18 Utah Salt Lake City (West Valley City) 0 4
21-Mar-18 California San Francisco 1 5
17-Mar-18 Kentucky Louisville 0 7
17-Mar-18 Illinois Harvey 0 4
13-Mar-18 Florida Macclenny 0 4
12-Mar-18 California Modesto 0 4
11-Mar-18 Illinois Champaign 1 3
11-Mar-18 Indiana South Bend 0 6
11-Mar-18 Michigan Saginaw 0 5
9-Mar-18 North Carolina Wadesboro 3 1
7-Mar-18 Alabama Hurtsboro 2 2
4-Mar-18 Illinois Rockford 1 4
3-Mar-18 Florida Miami 0 4
3-Mar-18 New York Brooklyn 1 3
27-Feb-18 Connecticut Bridgeport 0 4
26-Feb-18 Michigan Detroit 5 0
23-Feb-18 Florida Palm Beach Gardens (Riviera Beach) 1 3
18-Feb-18 Texas San Antonio 0 5
17-Feb-18 Kansas Kansas City 1 7
17-Feb-18 Tennessee Memphis 0 5
16-Feb-18 Oklahoma Oklahoma City 1 3
Feb 15 to present
70
280


ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE ARCHIVE:

Mission Statement

Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online.

What GVA considers Gun Violence…and why

Our definition of gun violence is intended to be fully inclusionary of disparate elements of gun related incidents…in that, all types of shootings are included, whether officer involved shooting (OIS), accidental, children shooting themselves, murders, armed robberies, familicide, mass shootings, defensive gun use (DGU), Home Invasions, drivebys and everything else. We derive our definitions from CDC, FBI, NIH, and other organizations who have established standards.

Only by being totally inclusionary in our definitions is our data accurate, allowing the researcher to decide which parts of the complete dataset they need for their work. Our goal is to provide a complete picture of impact. Users then glean what they need from the whole. We intentionally have no GVA POV on the subject… but put in more real terms, GVA is against gun violence, not guns or gun owners and in that we strive to provide an unbiased, complete view of the subject.

Why are GVA Mass Shooting numbers higher than some other sources?

GVA uses a purely statistical threshold to define mass shooting based ONLY on the numeric value of 4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter. GVA does not parse the definition to remove any subcategory of shooting. To that end we don’t exclude, set apart, caveat, or differentiate victims based upon the circumstances in which they were shot.

GVA believes that equal importance is given to the counting of those injured as well as killed in a mass shooting incident.

In that, the criteria are simple…if four or more people are shot or killed in a single incident, not involving the shooter, that incident is categorized as a mass shooting based purely on that numerical threshold.

How does GVA define School Shootings?

Gun Violence Archive defines a school shooting as an incident that occurs on property of the elementary, secondary or college campus where there is a death or injury from gunfire. That includes school proper, playgrounds, “skirt” of the facility which includes sidewalks, stadiums, parking lots.  The defining characteristic is time…Incidents occur when students, staff, faculty  are present at the facility for school or extracurricular activities.  NOT INCLUDED are incidents at businesses across the street, meetings at parking lots at off hours.

In those incidents where someone is injured/killed we include any gunfire, whether intended to shoot/kill students or not.  Those can be sorted by extra characteristics  such as suicide or accidental.

Suicides

Because of the way Law Enforcement and Coroners report suicides, they cannot be collected in near real time so they DO NOT appear on our Daily Summary Ledger. They ARE added to our End of Year totals in AGGREGATE when they become available.