News and Headlines
The Second Amendment: NRA’s Challenges Shot Down!
Not satisfied! That is the theme of the National Rifle Association – not satisfied until every U.S. citizen is packing heat everywhere and anytime. The gun control advocates are not surprised. The Supreme Court’s rulings on Heller and McDonald, an activist’s decision which made new law, redefined the Second Amendment as an individual’s “right to [...]
Teen Tragedy
Tragic firearm stories are far too numerous in which both victim and perpetrator share misery at multiple levels – death, grief, loss and a knowing that justice, whatever that means, will never resolve the pain. There are many questions left unanswered perhaps forever in this tragic story – a story that has been investigated, analyzed, [...]
Fast & Furious – The Bottom Line
What was the goal and purpose of the now failed ATF’s program dubbed Fast and Furious? ATF agents in Phoenix allowed licensed firearm dealers to sell weapons to legal “straw” buyers in the hope that the agents could track the weapons and arrest Mexican drug cartel leaders. The tracking system was seriously flawed. This resulted [...]
President Obama’s Small Quiet Steps
Despite strong opposition from the National Rifle Association, President Obama has quietly made several efforts to toughen current gun regulations, which will bypass a fight in Congress, including: Strengthening the national electronic system by collecting new information to make background checks for handgun buyers simpler and easier, leaving an electronic paper trail under the Brady [...]
Santa Barbara’s Advocacy Work in the Schools on Bullying
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has developed the No Place For Hate Initiative to organize schools to work together on developing projects that enhance the appreciation of diversity, and foster harmony between diverse groups. These programs are empowering many of the schools within the United States, promoting respect for individual and group difference, and challenging prejudice, [...]
A Glimpse Into An Intriguing Book on Guns & Male Role Models
Mike Messner grew up with a typical male bonding experience – hunting with his dad and Gramps. In a personal narrative about his life and family, Mike describes how the male family rite of passage created inner conflicts within him. At age 13 Mike decided he didn’t like killing animals. In 1973 he wrote, “I [...]
Bullying is Not Just Teasing — It’s More Invasive Today
Yes, kids have always teased each other. It begins in kindergarten and continues, accelerating during the tumultuous years of middle school. Deep emotional scars often result. Today, bullying has become more invasive due to social media and a media that celebrates violence. Another difference is that stories are being heard, facts are being collected and [...]
Guns in Mexico: Hard to Buy, Easy to Smuggle
Unlike the United States, Mexico has strict legal restrictions on gun ownership, with most legitimate sales processed through one tiny store on a military base on the periphery of Mexico City. However, Mexico is awash in guns, thanks mainly to the criminal cartels and lax US gun laws. What has become increasingly apparent is that [...]
Condolences for Norway
Numbing grief and profound sorrow; mere words cannot plumb the depths of the loss of a child. Millions of words searching for the “why” behind this heinous act matter little to the precious space that adored child occupied which is forever empty. We wish to extend our expressions of condolence to the families and the [...]
Highly Dangerous Killing Instruments
“In discussion of the atrocity in Norway, there is one subject which has been notable by the almost total silence about it: guns.” “Highly dangerous killing instruments” is a far better term than “guns” according to A C Grayling in an article from the Independent.co.uk. Grayling, currently the first master of New College of the [...]