Category: Action Alert

In January 2017, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) announced it was partnering with the controversial, Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) in an initiative to reduce gun suicide. Since that time, the AFSP has publicly shunned gun control advocates across the country.

The AFSP-NSSF partnership was supposed to focus on the distribution of suicide prevention materials at gun stores, ranges and clubs across the country. Sadly, there is no evidence that any such materials have been distributed. Meanwhile, AFSP has been removing gun violence survivors and GVP advocates from their ranks:

• The executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, Nick Wilson, was invited to speak at AFSP’s “Out of the Darkness” walk in Portland, Maine on September 24, 2017. He was taken off the agenda at the last minute by national AFSP staff who said they did not want to be seen “endorsing gun control.”
• On October 28, 2017, NSSF materials were distributed at an AFSP walk in San Diego, California. San Diego Brady and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense volunteers were told they could not hand out their materials, however. “As a suicide prevention organization, we are not in the business of saying who can and cannot own firearms,” AFSP’s Jessica van der Stad told them.
• One Pulse for America member Erin Dunkerly published an op-ed  in the New York Times on December 26, 2017 detailing her removal from the board of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of AFSP. Dunkerly joined AFSP after her father committed suicide with a gun. According to Erin,”despite what it claims, the AFSP doesn’t have a neutral stance on guns.”

Meanwhile, the NSSF continues to lobby against virtually every solution that could help to curb gun suicide, including Child Access Prevention laws, Emergency Risk Protection Orders and smart gun technology.

Please contact AFSP CEO Robert Gebbia through one of the channels below and give him the following message:

I am deeply disturbed to see AFSP suppressing peer-reviewed research regarding the risks of keeping firearms in the home.  The way that AFSP is treating gun control supporters is also of great concern. Gun violence survivors like Erin Dunkerly and GVP advocates like Nick Wilson have worked with local AFSP advocates on the ground for decades. Is your initiative with NSSF worth treating your friends in this manner? I can assure you I will not be supporting the activities of AFSP until you revoke this offensive policy of removing gun violence survivors & GVP advocates from your organization and prohibiting them from participating in your suicide prevention walks. This is simply unacceptable and it is NOT how we move forward on suicide prevention in this country.

AFSP CEO Robert Gebbia
Phone: (212) 363-3500, ext. 2012
Email: rgebbia@afsp.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AFSPnational/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/afspnational

After you contact Robert Gebbia, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

On October 12th, Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies, armed with handguns and AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, engaged in a gun battle in the street with a severely mentally ill 30 year-old man named Brian DiSario. Disario was firing back at the deputies with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle sold to him by Pasco County Sheriff’s Office detention deputy Michael Brady.

Officers arrived on-site to hear DiSario kill his mother’s friend, 55 year-old Dave Armstrong, with the AR-15 rifle once owned by deputy Brady. DiSario would later kill himself with it.

The rifle was sold privately to DiSario without a background check.  DiSario’s criminal record included arrests for disorderly conduct, aggravated assault and using threats.  He was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder when he was 19 and frequently heard voices in his head. He stopped taking his medication a year ago according to his mother, Kathy Ulbrich.

Ulbrich called the Pasco County Sheriff’s office multiple times in recent months to see if they could remove her son’s rifles from their home. She notified them about his mental illness and past history of violence. They told her there was nothing they could do.

Sheriff Chris Nocco has taken no action against his deputy, Michael Brady. His office has indicated that because Brady’s sale was legal under Florida’s incredibly lax gun laws, than was he did was fine. That is not the case.

Please share the following message with Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco through one of the channels listed below:

Please fire deputy Michael Brady for selling an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to Brian DiSario, a severely mentally ill man in your community with a lengthy arrest record. By making this sale, he put this young man and everyone around him at risk unnecessarily. This was an act of gross negligence that led to the deaths of Brian DiSario and Dave Armstrong.  It also terrorized a community and put children at Gulf HIghlands Elementary at risk. Whether or not Deputy Brady’s sale was legal or not is IRRELEVANT because Florida has incredibly weak gun laws. What is relevant is that his act was totally lacking in judgment, which is necessary for a law enforcement officer. You should also acknowledge the failure of your office to take Kathy Ulbrich’s warnings more seriously concerning Brian’s AR-15 and another rifle he was keeping in their home. Did deputy Brady inform her at that time that he had made this sale to her son?

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco
Phone: (727) 847-5878
Email: See form at bottom of https://pascosheriff.com/contact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pascosheriff/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PascoSheriff

After you contact Sheriff Nocco, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

The FBI just released a cache of documents associated with the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. It is now being reported that a resident of Newtown warned police that she overheard Adam Lanza threatening to perpetrate a mass shooting before he killed 20 children and six adults.

The woman told investigators she heard Adam Lanza say he “planned to kill his mother and children” in Newtown. Nancy Lanza said that Adam “had an assault weapon and that she was scared of him,” according to the woman.

The police told the woman there was nothing they could do because Nancy Lanza owned the massive stockpile of firearms and ammunition in her house and could do whatever she wanted with it.

Nothing was ever done about the tip and Adam Lanza would go on to commit one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle equipped with high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Please share the following message and article link today with your Friends on Facebook (share it on the Public setting to facilitate sharing):

I was horrified to learn that a Newtown resident had warned police that Adam Lanza was going to perpetrate a mass shooting BEFORE he killed 20 children and six adults on December 14, 2012. You know what the police told this woman? They said they couldn’t do anything because Nancy Lanza was a legal owner of the arsenal of firearms and ammunition in her house (including a gun safe IN ADAM’S BEDROOM where she was not allowed to go). This is gun culture run amok and you can draw a direct line from the negligence here to the non-response we are seeing to the Las Vegas shooting. We MUST pressure our government officials at all levels to do MUCH more on gun safety and gun reform.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandy-hook-shooting-investigation-fbi-documents/

After you share the article, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

A Phoenix coffee shop owner is facing death threats from pro-gun activists after deciding to give up his firearms in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting.

After the tragedy, Jonathan Pring had a change of heart. “Who doesn’t love Las Vegas? I couldn’t sleep last night.,” he told the Arizona Republic. “I was watching news and on Facebook and seeing lots of different posts…and I was just mad…I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to do something.'”

So he decided to give up the two guns he owned, including an assault rifle, to the Phoenix Police Department. [Yes, he should have had them destroyed instead. See ask below.]

When asked whether he would be afraid without his guns, Pring said, “If I have a break-in at my house, I’ll hit him with a baseball bat. I’m not afraid. I don’t need a gun to be a man.” He told  a local Fox affiliate.  “I think the easiest way to stop mass shootings from happening in America is to take guns away from civilians.” Finally, he added, “If I was to write down the 10 most important things in my life, guns wouldn’t make the list.”

In response, pro-gun activists doxxed him and encouraged people to break into his house. The situation got so bad that Pring and his family had to leave town.

Please contact Jonathan Pring through one of the channels below and give him the following message:

Thank you so much for giving up your two guns. Your compassionate gesture is very much appreciated. I am sorry you are receiving threatening communications from Americans who fetishize firearms and I want you to know I stand with you. You had the courage to do something and it matters. I ask you one favor: Please, when talking to others about your actions, encourage them to have their weapons destroyed as opposed to turning them into local police. Regrettably, many states force police to sell crime guns to dealers, where they are put back into circulation and make their way quickly to the secondary (unregulated) market.

Jonathan Pring, owner of The Teapot coffee shop
Phone:  (623) 522-6027
Email: info@theteapotus.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.pring.9 or https://www.facebook.com/theteapot.us/

Once you have contacted Jonathan, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: Karen Marshall submitted her letter of resignation as VP of programs for the Gallatin County Republican Women on October 23, 2017. Thanks to everyone who took this action and demanded she be let go!

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On Thursday, Karen Marshall, the vice president of programs for Gallatin County Republican Women, told Voices of Montana that she would have shot Ben Jacobs of The Guardian if he had approached her the way Jacobs approached now-U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) in May to ask a question about health care. Gianforte body-slammed and punched Jacobs during that encounter and was subsequently convicted of misdemeanor assault.

“If that kid had done to me what he did to Greg, I would have shot him,” Marshall told the Voices of Montana radio program. She made the comment after calling in during a radio interview of John Heenan, a Democrat who hopes to run against Gianforte in 2018.

Karen Marshall donated $2,700, the federal maximum, to Gianforte’s congressional campaign in 2016.

Please contact the Gallatin County Republican Women through one of the channels below and give them the following message:

I am contacting you today to ask you to fire Karen Marshall immediately. There is no place in our democracy for the threatening comments Marshall made about reporter Ben Jacobs of The Guardian. Her comments reflect the views of anti-democratic dictators like Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duterte rather than an American who respects freedom of the press under the First Amendment. We do NOT shoot journalists in this country for doing their job, we salute them. I will be watching your actions closely and driving more concerned citizens to you if you fail to remove Karen Marshall from your organization promptly.

Gallatin County Republican Women 
Email: galvalrep@gmail.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gallatin-County-Republican-Women-337910372905176/ 

Once you have contacted the Gallatin County Republican Women, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: On February 23, 2018, Chubb Limited announced it will no longer be underwriting “Carry Guard” insurance for the NRA.  Lockton Companies LLC followed suit on February 26, 2018, announcing it would  discontinue providing brokerage services for NRA insurance programs. Thanks to everyone who took this action!

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Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, is partnering with GunsDown to call on Chubb Insurance and Lockton Affinity to end their partnerships with the National Rifle Association on “Carry Guard” insurance.

The insurance is intended for individuals who shoot a fellow citizen and want to claim self-defense.  This includes “Stand Your Ground” murderers like George Zimmerman, who killed Sybrina’s teenage son. Carry Guard provides coverage for these shooters’ criminal legal defense, firearm replacement, “clean-up costs,” payouts to bail companies, and a 24-hour legal hotline to provide shooters with guidance on how to avoid prosecution. Meanwhile, the NRA lobbies to make “Stand Your Ground” laws even more permissible and lethal.

Lockton Affinity is the company selling the NRA’s Carry Guard insurance.

Chubb Insurance underwrites the policies and takes a profit for its service.

In doing so, they are “perpetuating fear of minorities and immigrants and…promoting gun violence.”

Please sign the following petition from GunsDown calling on Chubb and Lockton Affinity to end their immoral partnerships with the NRA immediately:

https://stopmurderinsurance.org/

Once you have signed the petition, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: On November 1, 2017, cub scout Ames Mayfield appeared on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” where the host celebrated him for his concern about domestic violence. Mayfield told Bee he has received communications from around the world thanking him for asking tough questions of Senator Vicki Marble (Esquire has confirmed that Ames did, indeed, research and write his own questions). He also joined a new cub scout den that was delighted to have him. Thanks to everyone who took this action!

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On October 9, 2017, the Broomfield, Colorado Cub Scouts den hosted state Senator Vicki Marble (R-23rd) for a presentation and Q&A session. During the Q&A, one scout asked Marble why people voted for President Barack Obama just because he was black. Marble responded and no one chastised the scout for asking a question with racist overtones.

Yet, when Cub Scout Ames Mayfield said to Sen. Marble, “I was shocked that you co-sponsored a bill to allow domestic violence offenders to continue to own a gun. Why on earth would you want someone who beats their wife to have access to a gun?” he was cut off by his den leader and Marble was excused from answering. This den leader then kicked Ames out of the Broomfield Cub Scouts altogether a few days later.

Sen. Marble is best known for overtly racist remarks she made in 2013, when she stated, “When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race. Sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up. Diabetes is something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup, and you just can’t help it. Although I’ve got to say, I’ve never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down South.” Marble was asked about these remarks at her meeting with the Broomfield den. She lied, insisting the media had made it up, and told the Cub Scouts, “We just better figure out our genetics.”

Nicole Cosme, marketing director of the Boy Scouts of America Denver Area Council, has defended Ames’ removal from the Broomfield den and said he will be offered membership in other dens. That is not good enough.

Please contact Nicole Cosme through one of the following channels and give her the following message:

I am absolutely disgusted that Cub Scout Ames Mayfield was forced out of his Broomfield den for asking racist state Senator Vicki Marble respectful and appropriate questions about critical issues like gun-related domestic violence. Shame on you for allowing this to happen, and for bringing this woman before the den in the first place. Given that there were no repercussions for another scout who asked Marble why people voted for President Obama just because he’s black, it’s clear Ames was removed because of a political agenda. I demand that you remove the den leader who made this decision from his position and reinstate Ames’ membership in the Broomfield den immediately. If you do not, I can assure you that you will be hearing a great deal more from me and other family/friends who I will share this story with. We will not allow you to stigmatize and traumatize this 11-year old boy in this manner without consequences.

Boy Scouts of America Denver Area Council Marketing Director Nicole Cosme
Phone: (303) 455-5522, x. 2218
Email: nicole.cosme@scouting.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DenverBoyScouts/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/denverboyscouts

Once you have contacted Nicole Cosme, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked the White House to withdraw Brett Talley’s nomination for judge on the U.S. District Court of Alabama due to widespread condemnation. On December 13, 2017, the Trump administration did so.

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Our friends at the Alliance for Justice are warning us that Donald Trump has nominated 36 year-old pro-gun blogger Brett Talley for a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Talley has never tried a case and has less than three years of experience practicing law. He’s an ultra-conservative GOP speechwriter who blogs.

As AFJ has noted, Talley has written things about gun violence that are horrifying. After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, he embraced violent insurrectionism, writing, “having the right to bear arms is, in many ways, the ultimate right. It is action in a way that voting or speech is not, and it makes a mockery of the notion that the government has a monopoly on force. It is power, the kind ordinary citizens have not held during 99% of human history.” He also said that “certain members of the [elementary school] faculty should be armed” and paid more than other teachers.

Talley also swore allegiance to the National Rifle Association, writing, “Today I pledge my support to the NRA; financially, politically, and intellectually. I ask you to do the same. Join the NRA. They stand for all of us now, and I pray that in the coming battle for our rights, they will be victorious.”

How can this man possibly be expected to be unbiased as a judge?

Please call your two U.S. Senators through the U.S. Capitol Hotline at (202) 224-3121 and give them the following message:

Please vote NO on the nomination of Brett Talley to serve on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama should the nomination come before your committee, or to the floor of the full Senate, for a vote. Talley is a man with no real legal experience to speak of who has expressed a radical, insurrectionist view of the Second Amendment. He has also exhibited little, if any, empathy for victims and survivors of gun violence. He has no place on the federal bench. This nomination is pure graft and dangerous. It must be opposed.

If you don’t know who your two Senators are, or want their direct-dial numbers, click here:

https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Once you have contacted your Senators, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Indiana state Representative Jim Lucas has drafted a bill that would require professional journalists to obtain a license from state police in order to exercise their First Amendment right. The reason? “If you’re OK licensing my Second Amendment right, what’s wrong with licensing your First Amendment right?” he stated.

Lucas is upset about media coverage of his efforts to repeal the longstanding law requiring Indiana residents to obtain a permit before carrying loaded, concealed handguns in public. Lucas wants to allow concealed carry with no background check, training or permit. Reporters have refused to use the absurd “constitutional carry” label given to unpermitted carry by the NRA, and that irks Lucas. “If I was as irresponsible with my handgun as the media has been with their keyboard, I’d probably be in jail,” he claimed.

When reporters asked Rep. Lucas if he actually plans to introduce the bill, he responded, “It depends on you guys. It depends on how egregious and irresponsible you are between now and then.”

Please contact Rep. Jim Lucas through one of the channels below and give him the following message:

Your proposal to restrict the First Amendment rights of journalists is despicable and juvenile. I’m equally disgusted by your response to the mass shooting in Las Vegas, which confirms that firearms idolatry is more important to you than saving human lives. There is no validity whatsoever in your insurrectionist reading of the Second Amendment. Like other regressive white men, you support loose gun laws because you believe you have a “right” to engage in acts of armed treason against our government should it threaten the power and privilege you enjoy in our society. You do not, and our Founders made that clear in the Constitution. If you introduce this grotesque piece of legislation, expect to meet with determined and vocal resistance.

Indiana state Rep. Jim Lucas
Phone: (317) 234-9499 or  1-800-382-9841
Email: devan.strebing@iga.in.gov
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jim.lucas.52/posts/1902200373128567
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LucasSemperFi

Once you have contacted Rep. Lucas, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: On October 3, 2017, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the SHARE Act was no longer on the House schedule. Ryan indicated there are no plans to bring the bill back up for consideration. Additionally, Congressman Peter Defazio, a Democrat from Oregon, has removed himself as a sponsor of the SHARE Act. Thanks to all those who contacted their Representative asking for this dangerous bill to be tabled!

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McClatchy is reporting that Republicans in Congress are still looking to move the SHARE Act forward after the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas on October 1st. This heinous bill would deregulate silencers and armor-piercing ammunition and make the next mass shooter even more lethal.

“I personally think it would be a mistake to take [the silencer provisions] out,” said Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC), the bill’s sponsor. “[Silencers] had nothing to do with Las Vegas. I believe the facts stand for themselves.”

In truth, the Las Vegas shooting was committed by a gunman using many different types of lethal, legal firearm accessories, to include high-capacity ammunition magazines, holographic scopes, bump stocks and forward pistol grips. Silencers—which are strictly regulated at the moment—could have helped him avoid detection by reducing the sound of his gunfire and suppressing the  muzzle flash of his rifles, a key given his distant position.

The SHARE Act would also make it legal for individuals to transport their assault rifles through states that ban them and kill bear cubs in their dens as they hibernate, among other insidious provisions.

Please call your representative in the House of Representatives through the U.S. Capitol Hotline at (202) 224-3121 and give him/her the following message:

After the horrific shooting in Las Vegas, the SHARE Act must be tabled immediately. By deregulating silencers, the SHARE Act would make future active shooters even more lethal and difficult to detect because of the reduced sound of gunfire and muzzle flash suppression. To move forward with this heinous bill after nearly 600 casualties were inflicted on our civilian population by a heavily armed shooter is grotesque. I call on you to exercise all the influence and authorities you have to ensure the SHARE Act is tabled, immediately and permanently. I will be watching your actions closely, and making decisions as a voter, donor and activist based on them. This issue is very important to me.

If you don’t know who your Representative is, you can find out at this link (and get their direct dial number):

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members

Once you have contacted your U.S. Representative, click the orange banner below to report taking action!