Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 5, 2013
May 1, 2013 Meeting
Upcoming Action-Events:
·
June 5, 2013 CeaseFirePA
trip to Harrisburg
·
May 30, 2013 WQED
Gun Violence Documentary, part 2 (7:30pm)
followed by live Gun Violence Forum (8pm)
·
June 6, 2013? CeaseFirePA
+ WFA South Hills Gun Violence Forum
Legislation to Watch:
·
PA-House Bill 805
o
This bill, introduced December 10, 2012, attacks
local attempts to limit “the right to bear arms.” If passed, a successful legal
challenge to local gun regulations, which entail gun ownership, possession,
transfer, transportation, or ammunition, would make the municipality that attempted
to create or sustain ANY gun regulations monetarily liable for the cost
of the challengers’ legal fees, “damages,” and “costs.”
§
Memo concerning bill: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20130&cosponId=9883
§
Full Text of bill: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=PDF&sessYr=2013&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0805&pn=0916
Forum
Revised Questions for Panelists
All questions try to
get at the larger question of ‘what is the best way to prevent/reduce gun
violence in OUR community?’
[Qs targeting legislators]
·
What are you doing to change laws to make
records on gun violence easily and readily available to the public?
·
We are amenable to the licensing and
registration procedures that accompany the ownership of animals and vehicles.
We are also amenable to the restriction on these ownership rights in the event
of dangerous or irresponsible use. What steps are you taking to make sure that
the same amount of liability (and registration) is necessary for the owners and
users of guns?
·
Relatedly, what is your position on the lack of
liability for gun manufacturers?
[Qs more broadly]
·
What are your concerns about providing safety
for the people your organization supports?
·
How has your organization been impacted as a
result of the increase in gun violence?
·
Law Enforcement: how is this impacting the ways
in which you do your jobs?
Notes on Event
·
Group agreed that some educational components
need to be present at the event
o
This includes helpful organizations and websites
o
This also includes fliers that include the laws
that need to be advanced/blocked and local/state/national/international gun
violence stats (as well as pushing for easier access to them).
§
-Info?
Stats on gun violence:
§
-malitia groups/patriot groups
·
Goal of the forum, from WFA perspective, is to
provide the community with information to push people to action. People need to
be shocked and angry and realize that Newtown could be our town (realize that
it could happen HERE). Are these goals at odds with current forum being
planned?
·
Note that the LWV is planning another event for
the fall (more on this later).
Advertising
·
What?
o
For materials: http://www.vistaprint.com/lawn-signs.aspx
o
Fliers
§
Title: South Hills Forum on Gun Violence
§
Sub: Be Part of the solution!
o
Yard Signs
o
Online
o
Through partner orgs.
·
Where?
o
Unitarian Church (yard signs)
o
Southminster (electronic signs)
o
Libraries (Shelia’s library list)
o
WQED (Hazel to contact)
o
Strategically placed lawns w/ yard signs
o
Gyms and Coffee shops?
In Other News
·
Crickett makes guns for kids (hooray!),
including one that was used when a Kentucky 5yr old shot his 2yr old
sister…link to article HERE.
·
“Court Watch:” a program that asks local
citizens to sit in on gun cases that go in front of local judges. Citizens are
to watch the judges to make sure people get penalized properly.
·
WQED gun violence awareness documentary and town
hall event to be held on May 30. Link to website HERE.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
April 24, 2013 Meeting
Meeting Notes
The following are a few of the meeting notes taken by your always-tardy blogger, Missy. The rest of the meeting notes will be sent to me by our scribe of the day, who arrived on time! After I arrived, we mainly focused on refining our list of participants so that we can more effectively coordinate our planning efforts for a gun violence awareness event in the South Hills with those of CeaseFirePA (see twitter feed on right-hand bar). Three members will meet with the CeaseFirePA representative later in the week to settle on a date for the event (tentatively June 6) and further refine the list of panelists before we begin to contact them.
Next week, we will (A) discuss the outcome of the meeting with CeaseFire; (B) refine questions and info sheet for potential panelists (below); (C) discuss advertising and other potential partners (beginnings of list below); (D) assign contacts for each potential panelist and reach out to them.
Potential Participants
Potential participants fall into roughly six categories of folks that deal directly or indirectly with perpetrators and victims of gun violence. We sketched out these categories and chose a few potential participants that would fall within each.
- Religious Leaders [Bower Hill Minister; Southminster Minister; Unitarian Church Minister]
- Law Enforcement [Chief McDonough; Allegheny Co. D.A. Zappala; FBI South Hills; PA State Police Troop B]
- Health Professionals [Cyril Wecht; AGH trauma surgeon Allan Philp; Public Safety Medical Director Dr. Roth (see also PIRC); Psychologist Mark Miller]
- Education [Nancy Rose; Pam Cook--tofind more info on others who may be of interest in education]
- Community Member [Those directly impacted by gun violence, may include: Mother of West Penn Shooting victim (spoke at Murphy meeting); College student/HS Student; WFA member; Baumhammer Victims; LA Fitness Shooting Victims]
- Government [Blaise Larotonda; Matt Smith]
Additional Partner Organizations?
- PIIN
- LWV
- PTA
- Moms Demand Action
- UPitt Public Health Community Violence Prevention Project
Draft of Flier for Panelists
Reducing Gun Violence in the South Hills: What
YOUR Family Needs to Know!
Too often gun violence events, while deemed horrific, are
still viewed as something that happens elsewhere: in “the city” or in another
state. However, as one Newtown parent lamented, things always seem distant and
surreal until they happen close to home. The purpose of the event will be to
provide some perspective on gun violence issues by educating the community on
how gun violence issues impact residents of the South Hills, and surrounding
area(s). The event will provide information about how problems are currently
being addressed in the region (and beyond), and what might be done in the
future.
Logistics
· The event will be conducted in the evening on a
weekday in May or June (prior to the end of the school year) and will be no
more than two (2) hours long.
· Each panelist will be asked to speak for 5-10 minutes
to provide background about who they are and why issues of gun violence are
important to them (personally or professionally). They might also answer some
of the questions posed below.
· After all panelists have presented, there will be an
open Q&A session, with questions being provided by the audience. Audience
will provide questions by writing them on notecards to be picked up and read by
MC/staff. This format will be made clear to the audience by the MC in the
opening remarks, but will also be posted around the meeting room and on some
event fliers as to preempt confusion.
· Multiple panelists may answer questions, and
discussion among panelists is encouraged. Depending on the number of audience
questions submitted, these discussions may need to be timed/cut off in order to
move on to different issues.
· Information about gun violence, mental health, and
activism more generally will be compiled on fliers and made available at the
event.
Content
The following are a sampling
of questions that were relevant to organizers:
· What are the statistics on
gun violence in Allegheny County, including the city of Pittsburgh?
· What records of assaults with
guns are kept in each locality and are they shared with any other entity?
· How much work is involved
in finding out the ownership of any gun used in a crime? How could this be
reduced or improved so it is easier and faster to obtain?
reduced or improved so it is easier and faster to obtain?
· What is the best way
families can protect themselves against gun assault?
· What preparedness steps
have been taken to plan for a potential event in our school, our community?
· What do you see as the best
way to decrease violence in the community?
· What can we, as families,
do to stop the increase in gun violence?
· What does your organization
need to support your efforts to reduce violence?
· What are your concerns
about providing safety for the people your organization supports?
· How do we keep guns away
from children? How do we educate parents on gun safety?
· Are there any known militia groups in the South Hills
(or nearby communities)?
· Are most guns used in
crimes legally purchased under current law? If so, where are they purchased?
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
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