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Save Someone from Gun Violence this Holiday Season

Many of us are preparing to visit friends, relatives for upcoming holidays.  Whether you are hosting or heading to house parties, stays with relatives, whatever you’re going to do, please take a few extra precautions.  We are all expecting fun, good times, a chance to catch up.  The awful truth is that every year the lethal cocktail of unsecured weapons, alcohol, arguments, drugs will result in the shooting of people of all ages.

Let’s do all we can to prevent tragedy – a little prevention will save lives.

ACTION:

1 Please read these tips – and act on them:-

  • If gun owners are in your home, or homes/venues you will visit, ensure their guns will be locked up unloaded, away from children and adults alike.   Most police departments will give out free gun security advice and devices.
  • If you have any reservations at all about how a gun owner stores and handles their weapon:  consider not being around them.
  • If you find yourself in the company of gun owners who are beginning to behave erratically (whether because of alcohol, drugs, arguments – any reason), leave as soon as you can safely do so.  Go as soon as you feel concern.
  • Keep an eye on children where guns are present:  it only takes a moment to find a gun and pull a trigger.  Toy guns?  Say no to realistic-looking ones.
  • Do not be afraid to tell anyone not to bring a gun to your home.  Don’t be afraid to say no to visiting places where gun safety is not strictly observed.

2  Please share this message with your friends, family – it might well prevent a tragedy.

 

https://www.onepulseforamerica.com/action-alert/action-save-some…s-holiday-season/ ‎

Once you have read and shared this action alert, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!  We never share your details; we only use this information to count the actions taken.

 

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Demand charges be dropped against 10 year old who found coach’s illegal gun

10 June, 2021 – Lancaster, S.C. The Associated Press reported a South Carolina youth basketball coach has been arrested after a 10-year-old player took a loaded gun from his car to his elementary school.

Isaac Lamon Adams, 36, was barred from legally owning a gun because of a previous criminal conviction, Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile said.  Exactly what ‘a person convicted of a crime of violence’ was doing around children while having the unsecured gun in his vehicle is a question those who hired him should be asked.

That Adams is to be charged is great news.  Now the extremely bad news:  the little ten-year-old boy is to be charged as a juvenile for having the gun!  This is wholly unacceptable.  Deputies say the child did not brandish the pistol or use or threaten to use it in any manner at the school.

The trauma to be visited on this child for the illegal actions of Adams by charging him must be averted.

ACTION:

Please contact the Lancaster South Carolina Sheriff’s Office through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

I am writing to demand that the charges you inexplicably want to lodge against a little ten-year-old boy who found a gun his coach illegally had are immediately dropped.  A child of ten who was sent to a vehicle with an illegal gun in it is far below the age of criminal responsibility. I am glad you are charging coach Adams, who was prohibited from having a gun.

Drop the charges on the boy (who any child psychologist will tell you cannot have understood the implications of what that gun could do) and add a charge of child endangerment to Adams’ charge sheet. You must surely know giving this boy a record serves no good at all and will do harm. 

I expect to see an announcement shortly that all charges against the child are dropped.  Why would you inflict such psychological damage on an innocent child?

Phone:  803-313-2121

Email:  sherifffaile@lacoso.net

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LancasterCountySheriffSC

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

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Obscene: Guns are Covid-19 vaccination prizes in W Virginia

West Virginia is to offer a raft of incentives and prizes for those citizens who get immunized against Covid-19.  It is unfortunate that some people need to be bribed to protect themselves and their communities from deadly disease. It is positively obscene that weapons are to be among the prizes.

As CBS reports, from  June 20, West Virginia will “…give out $1 million and other prizes each week up until Aug. 4, when two grand prizes of nearly $1.6 million and $580,000 will be announced, according to state officials.

“Other prizes include five custom hunting rifles and five custom hunting shotguns”.

State Governor Jim Justice, Republican said:  “These vaccinations are amazingly safe and they’ll protect you — I don’t know how in the world people are sitting on the sidelines still saying, no, I’m not going to do one, I’m not going to do it,”

One Pulse is happy with initiatives to encourage immunization, but we are appalled that lethal weapons should be linked to saving lives.  These handguns and shotguns may be intended for killing animals, but as we know, such weapons are part of the country’s huge death toll.  Trivializing guns by turning them into prizes which in theory anyone could win is unsupportable.

ACTION:

Tell Governor Justice you approve of efforts to improve take-up of Covid-19 vaccines, but you condemn guns being part of any reward system.

Please contact Governor Justice through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

I am pleased that West Virginia is using prizes and rewards to convince people to get the Covid-19 vaccine.  It should not be necessary to bribe or reward anyone to take this lifesaving step,  but if it helps, fine.

I am however disgusted that the prizes will include guns:  this is obscene to me on many levels.  The irony of trivializing lethal weapons as prizes for those who are helping to save lives by being immunized is saddening.  The idea of earmarking a gun of any kind as being a prize or reward is a huge insult to those of us who have been the victims of gun violence.  This decision to paint a gun as a desirable object which seemingly anyone can win sends completely the wrong message – and I expect you to halt this ridiculous, potentially dangerous, insulting initiative.

I will be waiting for you to call a halt to this unacceptable scheme.  West Virginia lost 300 lives to shootings in 2019:  why are you turning lethal weapons into raffle prizes?

 

Phone:  888-438-2731

Email (form):  https://appengine.egov.com/apps/wv/governor/contactus

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/WVGovernor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/WVGovernor

 

or send a tweet – this is a suggestion:

@WVGovernor West Virginia lost 300 lives to shootings in 2019:  why are you turning lethal weapons into raffle prizes for those who get Covid-19 vaccines? A gun is not a toy; it is not a prize. This insults those who lost loved ones – 300 dead in WV in 2019. Stop this.

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

 

 

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Remind parents guns and children do not mix

1 February 2020 – there have been at least 4 children hurt or killed in gun accidents in their family homes in the last week.  All of these were wholly avoidable.

An Indiana father ‘play wrestled’ with his toddler while wearing a gun- that child is dead.

A nine-year-old in Brigham City, Utah was shot in the head after finding a grandparent’s weapon.  Police in this case have issued guidelines which we will share on social media and help raise awareness.

As any member of the gun-owning ‘well-regulated militia’ is supposed to know, to prevent these accidents all guns in a home should be unloaded, in a safe, and that guns and ammo must be stored separately.

Brigham City, Utah, police said:

“If you don’t have a safe then you can get what’s called a trigger lock that you put a lock on the trigger of the gun,” said Crapse. “You can buy those when you buy the gun, they are cheap. Or most police departments, you can go to the police department and get those trigger locks. We give them away for free.”

The ‘good guys with guns’ who think a lethal weapon will make them safer, despite all the evidence to the contrary, keep ignoring basic safety measures, and their children are paying for these unforgivable lapses with their lives.

Police would like gun owners to discuss how dangerous guns are with their children, and to tell children to tell an adult immediately if they find a gun.

ACTION:

This time, please just share the message below on your own social media or discuss with your friends  the following message, personalized to your liking – or just share this link for the message; it’s fast and easy:

https://www.onepulseforamerica.com/news/one-pulse-for-america-issues-reminder-children-and-guns-dont-mix/

 

American gun owners are still not getting the message that guns and children do not mix.  In the last week, at least four children were injured by finding loaded guns – guns which legally should never have been left lying around where children were able to get them.

Police in Utah where a 9 year-old was shot in the head reinforced that all guns in a home should be unloaded, in a safe, and be sure to store the guns and ammo separately.

They said “If you don’t have a safe then you can get what’s called a trigger lock that you put a lock on the trigger of the gun,” said Crapse. “You can buy those when you buy the gun, they are cheap. Or most police departments, you can go to the police department and get those trigger locks. We give them away for free.”

The words don’t seem to get through, so here is a picture of 4 year-old Tripp Shaw from Indiana and his parents. 

His dad was wrestling with Tripp when his gun went off, killing him.  You won’t ever be seeing a picture of Tripp at age 5. 

He’ll never grow up to be a doctor, a football hero, an artist. 

The parents will live with this the rest of their lives.  Please, if you must have a gun, get a lock for it, keep it unloaded, and keep it in a place children won’t be near it.  Discuss how dangerous guns are with children who live under a roof where guns are kept.  Better yet, just don’t have a lethal weapon in the same home as  children.  Don’t let your child, your friend’s child be the next Tripp Shaw.

Please share this post; it might well stop a tragedy.

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

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Illinois mayor: cut militarized police raids after 12 year old shot

A woman whose 12 year-old child was shot by police in a dawn raid is suing.

On 26 May 2019, according to the lawsuit filed by Crystal Worship, the mother, some two dozen Country Club Hills and Richton Park, Illinois SWAT officers entered her home in May with exploding flash-grenades and automatic rifles to execute a search warrant intended for her boyfriend. During the raid, her  son, Amir, was allegedly shot by a white officer as he sat on his bed with his hands in the air and suffered a shattered kneecap.

Blasting News reported “As Amir started screaming, Ms Worship asked officers in the next room if they were “shooting” the children, the lawsuit says. Officers allegedly refused to tell her what happened and “lied to her and told her they shot someone walking past outside.” (-as if that were somehow acceptable or reassuring).

One child was cuffed and left in a police car according to the mother, and flash  grenades were used at 5am, terrorizing the household.

Were the police looking for dangerous terrorists, a cache of guns?  They were looking for Ms Worship’s boyfriend who had been accused of drug possession.  Those charges were since dropped.  And in the meantime, “According to an orthopedic doctor, Amir will not be able to play any sports again, will have difficulty in physical education, will walk with a limp, and will have difficulty walking and running for the rest of his life,” the lawsuit states.

The increasingly militarization of civil police forces is an issue – and people are being shot, killed, harmed.  Should someone sought for drug possession lead to 24 gun-toting police to break into a house?  It seems rights are a thing of the past.

ACTION

Please contact Illinois Governor  J B Pritzker through one of the channels below and give him the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

I am pleased to know you are looking after citizens’ rights and will not allow ICE to operate private facilities in the state.  I agree ICE is out of control and denying people their basic rights:  but so are your increasingly-militarized police force.

I read about the lawsuit filed by Crystal Worship after bungling, dangerously inept police raided her home, terrorised her family with flash grenades at 5am, had some 2 dozen masked, camouflaged, gun-brandishing men round her and her children up. The reason?  Her boyfriend was wanted on some sort of drug charge that was later dropped.  And in case you didn’t know:  they shot her 12-year-old child in the knee, and he will never play sports again.

Who is paying for all this military hardware, police time and planning over a drugs possession charge?  How many such raids are taking place?  How are they getting authorized?  With financial pressures on the state, is it really appropriate to continue like this?  What about rights?  Who will pay for this family’s suffering and their medical bills?

The situation is a disgrace and it needs sorting out at the gubernatorial level – clearly the police have lost all sense of perspective.  I expect to see you take action to help this specific family and to ensure that this kind of senseless, rights-destroying, terrifying raid is a rarity used only in the most extreme cases.  I expect to hear from you by reply.

Phone:  217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831

Email: (form) https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/gov/contactus/Pages/AssistanceRequest.aspx

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GovPritzker/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JBPritzker

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

 

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Fire officer who called for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to be shot

A Gretna, Louisiana police officer has brought the controversial force further disgrace by calling for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to be shot: the officer must be fired.

Newsweek reported “‘This vile idiot needs a round,” officer Charlie Rispoli wrote in a Facebook post referring to Ocasio-Cortez last week, according to a screenshot first reported by New Orleans news site NOLA.com on Saturday. ‘And I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,’ he continued, referring to the fact she once waitressed.”

Rispoli has been on the Gretna police force since 2005.  After his offensive, violent post about AOC, he has closed his social media accounts down.  It seems he did not understand a satirical article on AOC, which may have prompted his unacceptable call for gun violence.

It is one thing to think someone should not be in office.  It is disturbing to call for any human being to be executed.  But when someone who swore to uphold the law publically incites a shooting, they have broken their oath and demonstrated contempt for the law.  They should not be carrying a gun on our streets.

Generally speaking, state and local police officers take the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor at the beginning of their careers. The oath affirms their standards of integrity, bravery and honor to the community and law.

The department’s police Chief Arthur Lawson told the local news site that the post was “disturbing” and appeared to violate the department’s social media policy. Although he said he did not believe it was an actual threat against the congresswoman, he promised the situation would be dealt with.

Can we trust Lawson to take action?  It was under his command that hundreds fleeing Hurricane Katrina had shots fired over their heads while trying to cross a bridge to safety in Gretna.  They had been told to do so by a different police force.  The force has unsurprisingly been involved in shootings – and they are captured on film kicking a person on the ground who was complying and handcuffed.

Gretna is also America’s arrest capital city – according to a reporter in 2016 it had the country’s highest arrest rate with only a population of 18,000:  the majority of those arrested were non-white.  Gretna’s revenues depend largely on its arrests and resulting fines.

ACTION:

Please contact Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:


I was absolutely horrified to see a Gretna, Louisiana officer post on social media that elected representative Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez should be shot:  the officer must be fired at once.

“This vile idiot needs a round,” officer Charlie Rispoli wrote in a Facebook post referring to Ocasio-Cortez last week, and they are still on the force:  they broke their oath of office to serve the community and act with honour.  No one who can casually call for a shooting deserves to be an officer, let alone an officer on our streets with a gun.  

Gretna police Chief Arthur Lawson said the post was “disturbing” and appeared to violate the department’s social media policy. He said he did not believe it was an actual threat against the congresswoman, he promised the situation would be dealt with.  I however believe it is a very real threat, coming from someone in a position of power in the community who decided to broadcast this call to violence to millions:  I want this officer out of office and for the state prosecutors to take action against them.

When I look at the history of the Gretna police, I have zero confidence in Lawson taking any action at all.  Gretna’s arrest rate is among the highest in the country with minorities being by far the most targeted group.  Gretna has seen police shootings and police brutality.  Infamously, Gretna’s police fired shots over the heads of people seeking shelter there from Katrina – as advised to do so by a different force.  Clearly shooting is taken far too casually and officers feel they can threaten citizens – and disaster victims – with being shot.  The entire system needs investigation, and Lawson, like Rispoli, must go.  

As a member of  One Pulse for America, I demand you immediately intervene to rid the force of Rispoli, and set up an external investigation into the Gretna police.  Should anyone out there who saw Rispoli’s call to violence against Ocasio-Cortez takes violent action based on that post, I will hold you responsible as well as Rispoli and the culture of Gretna  Police if you do not act.  I will be watching to see what you do.

Once you have contacted Instagram, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards
Phone: (225)342-7015
Email (form):  http://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/form/home/4
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LouisianaGov/ 
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LouisianaGov

Once you have contacted Instagram, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

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Gun-threat police must be fired and charged

On May 27, 2019, Phoenix Arizona police  threatened to shoot, assaulted, and endangered the lives of a family including small children.  We call for these police officers to be fully removed from the force immediately without pay; for law enforcement to arrest them promptly; and for prosecutors to prepare a robust case against the officers on a number of charges – as well as making some form of substantial financial compensation to the family.

Phoenix police responding to a prior dollar store theft were allegedly told by staff that  Dravon Ames, 22, Iesha Harper, 24, were in possession of stolen goods (allegedly a doll taken by a 4 year old).  The family and an unidentified woman are alleged to have driven away while police asked them to stop.  The unidentified woman apparently exited the car and was arrested before the unacceptable, violent drama unfolded.

One video circulating in mainstream press including ABC  shows officers with guns drawn yelling ‘you’re going to get f**king shot’ at  pregnant  Harper, two small children, and demanding  that she put her hands up – while she was holding a child – which she was forced to hand over to a complete stranger.  The police were at the scene about a previous earlier theft, but apparently on the say-so of the dollar store personnel, they decided drawing guns on a family, assaulting, shouting and threatening them was the way to deal with an alleged shoplifting misdemeanor.  Why the store staff didn’t confront the family before they left the store has not been explained, but One Pulse will be asking.

Police Chief Jeri Williams and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego both offered apologies after a fashion, but with Williams undoing her statement by saying ‘… but there is more to the story…’  it is far from an acceptable situation.  One Pulse will be asking what precisely that story is that required guns drawn on a family with officers threatening to shoot them over alleged petty theft.

As it stands the police involved seem to have only been put on desk duty.  According to the family’s attorney,  Tom Horne, said:  “The police officers committed battery, unlawful imprisonment, false arrest, infliction of emotional distress, and violation of civil rights…”  Jay-z is funding the legal fees for the family.

 

From the video
Images from ABC News video; top shows police kicking Mr Ames’ legs out from under him; image below shows Ms Harper forced to hand her child over to a complete stranger as she is cuffed.

TAKE ACTION:

Please watch the video on this link and read the article, or read other related articles to be familiar with the case.

Next, please contact the following individuals through one of the channels listed below and give the following message, personalized to your liking:

I was absolutely furious to learn that Arizona police officers pulled a gun on two children, a pregnant woman and her fiance over what apparently amounted to resisting arrest.

Whether or not a third woman who may or may not have been with the couple, Dravon Ames, 22 and Iesha Harper, 24, earlier was wanted by the police, the video footage being watched around the world shows two white officers threatening to ‘f***king shoot’ the adults, assaulting Ames, threatening a pregnant woman and terrorizing children:  allegedly over a petty theft. 

Without any delay, we demand the police involved be arrested and charged with what surely seems, as defence council claims,  committed battery, unlawful imprisonment, false arrest, infliction of emotional distress, and violation of civil rights:  presuming the State of Arizona finds these as serious as its officers finds alleged dollar-store theft.  We also want without delay any and all charges dropped against the couple, an investigation into how the officers were trained, an explanation from the store staff as to what they did to confront the family before they left the store about any alleged shoplifting.  We also want Police Chief Williams to explain what ‘more there is to the story’ that warranted assault, firearms drawn, and a pregnant woman forced to hand over a small child to a stranger.  We’re waiting.

The state owes more than a half-hearted, partially retracted apology to this family, and we want a minimum of a five figure sum, to be agreed with their lawyer, to be paid to them forthwith.  We also want assurances that none of those who filmed the outrageous behaviour of your police to have any action whatsoever taken against them.  We demand assurances from Arizona that any such approaches to threaten, jail, intimidate or in any way interfere with the video filmers will not happen whatsoever.

Finally, one reason that your officers claim to have drawn weapons is that they feared the couple might have been armed.  We now demand that your state legislature re-think your cavalier gun laws as they clearly have been shown to escalate officer responses – to an alleged petty theft – before any more tragic shootings by your officers, who obviously need re-training, occurs.

We will demand your answers and your actions; we will follow-up on this campaign and we hold all officials involved responsible for this life-threatening attack.  If you don’t act, you will be responsible for any subsequent deaths; if you don’t act, we will campaign until there is justice for this family, and we will campaign to oust anyone from office who is not working for justice for this family and to prevent further such illegal, violent, deadly police acts.

Phoenix Police / Police Chief Williams
Email: Chief of Police  (form)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phoenixazpolice/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PhxPDChief 

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego
Phone:  602-262-6011
Email:  Mayor (form) 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CityofPhoenixAZ/

After you contact Williams or Gallego, click the orange banner at the top of this page to report your action!