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Rally
to Renew the Assault Weapon Ban
and for Gun Violence Prevention
-- on Wed, August 18th -- 12 noon
EDITOR'S NOTE: We received notification of these events only
recently, and were asked to post an article about them. We're delighted
to accommodate the community, and hope to see some of you there:
1) Rally in the Park
2) Assault Weapon Ban
3) Big Pink Rig
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1)
We will have a Rally to Renew the Assault Weapon Ban and
for Gun Violence Prevention
Here are the details: |
When:
Wednesday, August 18th at 12 noon
Where: Darby Park - 3400 West Arbor Vitae Street, Inglewood.
Meet at the Peace Pole. The main entrance to Darby Park is on
Arbor Vitae off of Crenshaw Blvd. It is in front of the Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Gymnasium which is off the parking lot.
Who: Million Mom March United with the Brady Campaign
to Prevent Gun Violence, Women Against Gun Violence, Evan Leigh
Foster Foundation and other gun violence prevention organizations.
We have chosen Darby Park because this is the site where Evan
Leigh Foster, age 7, was murdered. On Monday, December 8, 1997,
an assault weapon was used in Darby Park to shoot him, an innocent
bystander. 75 rounds were shot. Eleven of which hit the family
car where 7 year old Evan Foster was sitting in the back seat
after picking up his soccer trophy. Two bullets struck him in
his right eye and forehead fatally wounding him. Bullet fragments
penetrated his 10-month old brother, Alec, in his nose and left
eye and critically injured him.
In the presence of their mother while their father led prayer
at church, a crueler act than this would be if the President
of the United States, Congress and Senate do not to renew the
assault weapon ban law!!!" |
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2)
Congress and President Bush continue to avoid the assault
weapon ban issue. THE BAN EXPIRES ON SEPTEMBER 13TH!!!
We are doing our best to put pressure on President Bush. Our
senators are working tirelessly to put the issue in the forefront.
The Los Angeles Times brought up the issue in an excellent editorial
recently, which resulted in a Letter to the Editor supporting
the ban's renewal: |
EDITORIAL
August 9, 2004
Bush's
Obstructionism
... on assault guns. A poll released last month found nearly
80% of Americans support renewing the 10-year-old ban on the
manufacture and sale of certain semiautomatic assault guns.
That ban expires Sept. 13. Even a majority of gun owners have
told pollsters they think the ban on such murderous weapons
makes sense.
Most senators seem to agree: An amendment reauthorizing the
ban passed in March, 52 to 47, but the larger bill to which
it was attached died. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)
hasn't allowed a vote since, and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert
(R-Ill.), who admitted last week that the measure "might have
a chance on the floor," has blocked all votes.
Look to the National Rifle Assn. for the reason why. Killing
the assault ban is one of the group's top goals. In years past,
Bush said he supported the ban, but these days he's anxious
to win the NRA's endorsement, as he did in 2000. So he has stayed
mum, and GOP leaders won't put him on the spot by sending a
renewed ban to his desk. Maybe the inaction of Bush and GOP
lawmakers will help the president among his most conservative
supporters, but it is against what most Americans see as their
best interests.
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LETTER TO THE TIMES
August 12, 2004
Hard
Truths and Myths About Assault Weapons
Re "Bush's Obstructionism," editorial, Aug. 9: To read that
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker J. Dennis
Hastert are obstructing the vote to renew the assault gun ban
pierces me to the core, as a mother who witnessed my two young
sons fall victim to a person shooting an assault gun as we sought
to leave the park after signing up my 7-year-old for the Youth
Winter Basketball League. He was fatally wounded, with bullets
having penetrated his right eye, cheek and the center of his
forehead. My younger son, 10 months old at the time, sustained
bullet fragment wounds to the right side of his nose and his
left eye. He survived to endure the removal of his lens and
receive a "buttonhole" cornea transplant, taking anti-rejection
medication on a daily basis, regular hours of patching his uninjured
eye to maintain sight in the left one, and living in the absence
of his big brother who loved him so dearly. In spite of what
has been dealt him, he is an excellent student. He is now 7.
Tell me, President Bush, Sen. Frist and Rep. Hastert, is this
your answer to my son, seven years later, in addressing the
gun violence epidemic in our country, that you are now going
to open the floodgates for the sale and manufacturing of the
very type of weapons that took his brother's life and scarred
him?
Rhonda Foster
Inglewood |
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3)
The Big Pink Rig that has been traveling across country and
will be coming to Southern California on Aug. 17th ... and
there will be at a fundraiser on that evening.
On Wed. morning it will be at a press event in North Hollywood
where we will highlight the importance of the assault weapon
ban with Chief Bratton, Mayor Hahn, Senator Boxer, and Sheriff
Baca.
Then the rig will drive over to Inglewood where we will have
a rally. |
We
are marching on - determined as ever to prevent gun violence!
Suzanne
Los Angeles County West
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
United with the Million Mom March
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