The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Legal Community Against Violence) provides comprehensive legal expertise in support of gun violence prevention and the promotion of smart gun laws that save lives. As a non-profit organization founded by attorneys, the Law Center provides free legal assistance to governmental entities and gun violence prevention and allied organizations. If you are an activist or public official working for state and local solutions to prevent gun violence, the Law Center may be able to help. For more information on the Law Center see page 5, and visit their website: http://smartgunlaws.org/

The Law Center began its mission in response to a horrific shooting that took place on July 1, 1993, at the 101 California office tower in San Francisco. The shooter took the elevator to the 34th floor and offices of a law firm looking for ways to vent a grudge over a legal dispute he had with the firm. Armed with 2-TEC-9 assault weapons, a handgun, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, he moved through an internal staircase down several floors. His rampage killed eight people and injured six others before he committed suicide.

Julie Leftwich along with the entire staff of the Law Center focus all of their considerable expertise and time on one of the most critical problems facing our nation: the public health epidemic of gun violence. In a recent Sacramento Bee op-ed, Ms. Leftwich, along with Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Law, University of California, Irvine, wrote:

“Perhaps it’s because the victims this time included 20 innocent first-graders. Or maybe it’s the cumulative impact of all the unbelievably horrific mass shootings our country has witnessed – Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Aurora and now, Newtown. Regardless of the reason, we as a nation seem to have finally reached a tipping point when it comes to gun violence. 

“Many Americans have had enough and are demanding that our political leaders do something to end the senseless bloodshed. Fortunately, the Second Amendment is not an obstacle to a variety of strong laws to reduce gun deaths and injuries, including laws regulating who may have guns, what type of weapons they may have, and where they may have them…. 

“The Second Amendment really has nothing to do with the laws our nation so desperately needs to stop the 30,000 gun-related deaths and 70,000 gun-related injuries needlessly suffered each year in communities throughout America. It’s not about our Constitution – it’s about common sense, human decency and political courage.” 

Welcome Julie Leftwich to Santa Barbara and listen to one of the nation’s experts on firearm legislation and how we can have safer communities. CAGV is the only gun control organization on the Central Coast and your support is critical to our continued success. Your voice and your support are needed now more than ever. For reservations and information, please call 805.564.6803 or Download the Invite.

However, more must be done at both the state and federal levels to make our communities safer. Over 6,000 people are shot in California each year, nearly half of them die. In the U.S., firearm laws remain the weakest of all industrialized nations. Weak federal firearm laws undermine California’s efforts to reduce its gun violence. In spite of this, California’s gun laws have proved effective in saving lives.

CA Continues to Reduce its Firearm Mortality Rate

The chart at the right compares firearm deaths in California with those in the rest of the country. In 2010, California’s firearm mortality rate declined to 7.5 per 100,000, while the rest of the nation was at 10.3.

Data source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, WONDER online database. Underlying cause of death used to select firearm deaths. Rates were calculated using census population estimates adjusted to the 2000 and 2010 US population.

In 1993, over 14,000 people were shot in California, and over 5,000 of them died. The numbers have decreased steadily since then as gun laws have been enacted. Some of California’s most important gun laws went into effect in the early 1990s including: an assault weapons ban; universal background checks of gun sales/transfers (including gun shows); a Department of Justice (DOJ)-maintained database of all handgun sales; prohibition of gun sales to persons guilty of certain violent misdemeanors; a law making it possible to hold gun owners criminally responsible for child access and misuse of their gun; and a basic handgun safety training and certificate requirement for handgun purchases.

Help Prevent Gun Violence in California

It is easy to get overwhelmed by statistics and studies but in the end we have to remember that gun violence takes human lives, destroys families and communities, and shreds the fabric of our society. Everyone must work together to answer the question: How can we keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people? We are accomplishing this in California without treading on any constitutional rights. By enacting strict gun laws and regulations, we are saving lives. The rest of the country must follow California’s lead until gun violence is no longer an American public health epidemic.

WE CAN AGREE ON THESE FACTS:

Gun deaths in America average 86 each day, and 30,000 each year – too many. 

Guns are here to stay. No one’s going to take your gun away – it’s a fear tactic used by the gun lobby. Gun control advocates and organizations don’t talk about banning all guns. They talk about REASONABLE GUN POLICIES and work closely with law enforcement.

America has a culture of violence. Media violence does have an effect on people and children. Why did the killer in Aurora wear a Joker costume? Life imitates art.

Mentally unstable people are a long way from receiving adequate care and therapy, and as a consequence many are jailed or become homeless, resulting in millions of suffering people who are living on the edge. States do not share information regarding persons who have had a history of hospitalization due to mental illness. A perfect example locally was the Goleta Post Office shooting on January 31, 2006. The shooter got her gun in New Mexico, not California, where we have laws that would have prevented her purchase.

Domestic violence is prevalent. Millions of women are constantly threatened with the use of a gun, some are shot by their partners. Murder/suicide or annihilation killing of a family results in 1000 to 1500 deaths per year, 90% with a firearm.

The new activist interpretation of the Second Amendment whereby the Supreme Court rejected the gun lobby’s mantra: any gun, anywhere, anytime by stating,“The individual right to possess guns in the home for self-defense does not prevent the enacting of common-sense gun laws.”

We must agree and demand action on gun violence prevention legislation.

Panelists Marisa Martinez, Jamie Rotnofsky PhD, Suzanne Grimmesey, Dr. Paul Erickson,Kris Bergstrom, Deputy Police Chief Frank Mannix, Judge Denise de Bellefeuille, and ToniWellen viewing a special screening of “Celebrating a Life: Vincent Martinez,” a victim of a drive-by shooting and son of panelist Marisa Martinez. photo ©Laura Lynch.

A Community Forum, “The High Costs of Gun Violence,” sponsored by CAGV on February 21, 2013, at the Faulkner Gallery in Santa Barbara’s Main Library, received an outpouring of support from a standing-room only audience. The Forum was superbly moderated by Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider and co-sponsored by CAGV partner organizations: The League of Women Voters, American Association of University Women, Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County, Domestic Violence Solutions, The Glendon Association, La Casa de la Raza, Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee and The Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara. The Forum panelists included:

Toni Wellen, MFT, CAGV Chair • Judge Denise de Bellefeuille SB Deputy Police Chief Frank Mannix • Kris Bergstrom, SB Unified School District • Dr. Paul Erickson, Medical Dir. Psychiatry & Drug Dependence, Cottage Health Systems • Suzanne Grimmesey, SB County Adult and Children’s Division Chief, ADMHS • Jamie Rotnofsky PhD., Licensed Psychologist Consultant, Glendon Associ-ation • Marisa Martinez, Past President of Ventura County Parents of Murdered Children. Jina Carvalho, of the Glendon Association, spoke about the Santa Barbara Response Network.

Forum panelist Marisa Martinez flanked by Adrienne and Drake of Santa Barbara Middle
School Teen Press. photo ©Laura Lynch

The event was well reported in the media by local television stations, KEYT, KCOY, the Santa Barbara Independent and the Santa Barbara Middle School Teen Press. The Forum attracted an enthusiastic and varied audience of all ages concerned about gun violence prevention as it could affect our community. The crowd was attentive and related well to the highly professional and diverse panel culminating in a spirited Q & A. A spontaneous collection drew support from many in the crowd. The Rev. Julia Hamilton spoke briefly and led a closing ceremony.

Universal background checks, bans on military-style assault weapons and high capacity ammunition won support from the doctors.

Admitting there is a range of political views in America about gun rights, they agreed there is a culture of violence and that they had to take a stand about gun safety. They agreed there is a need for research on violence, gun violence, violence against children and mental health. However, they did not want party politics to hinder discussions of physicians and professional health workers.

From 1986 to 1996, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sponsored high-quality, peer-reviewed research into the underlying causes of gun violence. People who kept guns in their homes did not – despite their hopes – gain protection, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Instead, residents in homes with a gun faced a 2.7-fold greater risk of homicide and a 4.8-fold greater risk of suicide.

In 1996, after a particularly critical report on gun deaths in America, the National Rifle Association used their lobbying dollars to influence legislators to suppress the dissemination of these results and block funding of future government research into the causes of firearm injuries. Arkansas Republican Jay Dickey, sponsored an amendment that removed $2.6 million from the CDC and other federal agencies that did gun research. This was the precise amount the agency had spent on firearms studies. It hasn’t published a gun safety study since.

President Obama earlier this year issued a memorandum order for the CDC and other federal agencies to do gun research. The 101 Newtown doctors emphasize that medical professionals need to have a role and a voice in compiling statistics on gun deaths.

Dr. Begg told the senators, “We are being intimidated not to discuss gun violence as a public health issue,” Begg told the committee. “Allow me as a medical doctor, when I see a patient and I talk to them about the risks of excess alcohol, or tobacco use, or safe sex, morbid obesity, seat belts, texting and driving, can I talk to them about the risk of gun violence, please?”

“The absence of guns from children’s homes and communities is the most reliable and effective measure to prevent firearm-related injuries in children and adolescents. Adolescent suicide risk is strongly associated with firearm availability. Safe gun storage (guns unloaded and locked, ammunition stored and locked separately) reduces children’s risk of injury. Physician counseling of parents about firearm safety appears to be effective, but firearm safety education programs directed at children are ineffective. The American Academy of Pediatrics continues to support a number of specific measures to reduce the destructive effects of guns in the lives of children and adolescents, including the regulation of the manufacture, sale, purchase, ownership, and use of firearms; a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons; and the strongest possible regulation of handguns for civilian use. Scope of the Problem – firearm-related deaths continue as one of the top three causes of death in American youth.”

—American Academy of Pediatrics Journal, Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention Executive Committee 2012–2013

In 2008, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision that redefined the Second Amendment — stating for the first time that it protects a responsible, law-abiding citizen’s right to possess an operable handgun in the home for self-defense. However, the Court also made it clear that the Amendment protects only a limited right and does not protect a “right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner what-soever and for whatever purpose.”

The Supreme Court has identified several examples of constitutionally valid regulations, including:

• Prohibiting firearm possession by felons and the mentally ill
• Forbidding guns in sensitive places such as schools and government
• Regulating the commercial sale of firearms

The Court also noted that the Second Amendment is consistent with laws that: 

• Ban dangerous and unusual weapons
• Regulate the storage of firearms to prevent accidents

Almost immediately, courts across the country were confronted with an onslaught of costly, time-consuming Second Amendment litigation. Courts have been confronted with challenges making extreme claims about a variety of critical public safety measures, including laws preventing dangerous persons from possessing guns, laws prohibiting military-style firearms, and laws limiting guns in public places.

Despite the gun lobby’s rhetoric about “individual rights” and gun laws being unconstitutional, almost all of the courts confronted with these important challenges since the Supreme Court’s decision have affirmed the continued vitality of smart gun laws which keep our communities safe.

STRONG GUN LAWS AREN’T JUST CONSTITUTIONAL –THEY’RE CRITICAL TO REDUCING THE EPIDEMIC OF GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA.

All too often, the Second Amendment is cited as a reason why our gun laws remain far too weak. If the Second Amendment is an obstacle, it’s a rhetorical impediment, not a legal one. As five years of legal decisions show, legislators and activists should feel confident that a variety of smart laws, supported by a significant majority of the American public, are both constitutional and desperately needed.

Today, President Obama released the recommendations of Vice President’s Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention delineating specific steps to take to reduce gun violence in our society. The recommendations include a comprehensive approach to preventing and reducing gun violence in America, while protecting the rights of law abiding gun owners.

Some of the Task Force’s recommendations include:

1) Closing background check loopholes to keep guns out of dangerous hands
2) Banning military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines to reduce gun violence
3) Making schools safer and giving local communities the opportunity to hire up to 1,000 school resource officers and mental health personnel
4) Improving mental health services to make sure students and young adults get treatment for mental health issues and ensure coverage of mental health treatment

For the most part, many of these proposals are not new. For example, California already requires universal background checks and bans high capacity magazines and assault rifles. According to a recent report in the Sacramento Bee, while sales of guns have increased in California, incidents of injury and deaths from gun violence have simultaneously decreased.

I’d like to hear what you think of the Task Force Recommendations.

Please let me know by answering a few survey questions, which are available here.

Also, please feel free to forward this email to family and friends who would be interested in weighing in on the debate about how we can reduce gun violence.

As always, please keep in touch with me through my website, by liking my Facebook page, following me on Twitter, or sending me an email.

Sincerely,

Lois Capps
MEMBER OF CONGRESS

SAVE THE DATES:
February 21st and April 7th
Two important CAGV events in 2013

The High Cost of Gun Violence
Thursday, February 21, 6:30-8:30pm
Faulkner Gallery, downtown Santa Barbara Library
A community forum moderated by Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider with speakers from law
enforcement, mental health, justice system and public schools.

CAGV Annual Luncheon
Sunday, April 7, 11:30 am
The Santa Barbara Club

Speaker: Julie Leftwich, Legal Director of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

cagvsb@gmail.com | 805-564-6803 | sbcoalition.org | facebook.com/sbcagv | twitter @sbcoalition

Background photo by Tim Hunt