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August 18, 2013
Why living in Shannon, Quebec, is bad for your health
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/why-living-in-shannon-quebec-is-bad-for-your-health-8773342.htmlWhy living in Shannon, Quebec, is bad for your health
Water quality was once a source of pride for a town in the shadow of an arms factory. Now, 500 cancers have been diagnosed
Benjamin Shingler
Sunday 18 August 2013
Jean Bernier slows his car to a stop on a quiet, tree-lined street. “They call this the ‘red zone’,” he says, gesturing towards a row of tidy bungalows. “Nearly everybody here had cancer. You could go from house to house and probably find someone in each.”
Mr Bernier, 60, lives in Shannon, Quebec, a town that has been plagued by abnormally high rates of certain cancers. Medical professionals have pointed the finger at the town’s Valcartier military base, where trichloroethylene (TCE) – a solvent which strips grease from metal – was used by a munitions manufacturer for more than 40 years.
Although it was confirmed in 1997 that the solvent had seeped into the town’s water supply, residents say repeated calls for a full investigation have fallen on deaf ears. However, after years of waiting, they may soon get some answers.
In May, Quebec public health officials set up an international committee of experts to examine more than 500 cases of people diagnosed with cancer in the area. Rene Bouchard, a spokesman for the public health agency, says the researchers are collecting evidence and plan to meet again this autumn...
Water quality was once a source of pride for a town in the shadow of an arms factory. Now, 500 cancers have been diagnosed
Benjamin Shingler
Sunday 18 August 2013
Jean Bernier slows his car to a stop on a quiet, tree-lined street. “They call this the ‘red zone’,” he says, gesturing towards a row of tidy bungalows. “Nearly everybody here had cancer. You could go from house to house and probably find someone in each.”
Mr Bernier, 60, lives in Shannon, Quebec, a town that has been plagued by abnormally high rates of certain cancers. Medical professionals have pointed the finger at the town’s Valcartier military base, where trichloroethylene (TCE) – a solvent which strips grease from metal – was used by a munitions manufacturer for more than 40 years.
Although it was confirmed in 1997 that the solvent had seeped into the town’s water supply, residents say repeated calls for a full investigation have fallen on deaf ears. However, after years of waiting, they may soon get some answers.
In May, Quebec public health officials set up an international committee of experts to examine more than 500 cases of people diagnosed with cancer in the area. Rene Bouchard, a spokesman for the public health agency, says the researchers are collecting evidence and plan to meet again this autumn...
August 18, 2013
A federal Bureau of Reclamation official says the drought along the Colorado River is the worst in a century.
Study: Drought will cut flow from Lake Powell
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/17/study-colorado-river-drought-will-cut-flow-from-lake-powell/2667677/A federal Bureau of Reclamation official says the drought along the Colorado River is the worst in a century.
Dennis Wagner, USA TODAY 4:03 p.m. EDT August 17, 2013
...The bureau said releases from Lake Powell in the coming year will be cut from 8.23 million acre-feet to 7.48 million acre-feet — the lowest since the lake was first filled in the 1960s. An acre-foot is roughly 325,000 gallons, or enough to supply two households for one year.
Water from Lake Powell flows through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead, where levels are expected to drop eight feet next year, causing reduced deliveries to farms and water banks...
...“This is the worst 14-year drought period in the last 100 years,” said Larry Walkoviak, the Bureau’s Upper Colorado Region director.
Based on the projections, CAP officials said shortages could trigger a 20 percent decrease in Arizona deliveries to agriculture.
...The bureau said releases from Lake Powell in the coming year will be cut from 8.23 million acre-feet to 7.48 million acre-feet — the lowest since the lake was first filled in the 1960s. An acre-foot is roughly 325,000 gallons, or enough to supply two households for one year.
Water from Lake Powell flows through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead, where levels are expected to drop eight feet next year, causing reduced deliveries to farms and water banks...
...“This is the worst 14-year drought period in the last 100 years,” said Larry Walkoviak, the Bureau’s Upper Colorado Region director.
Based on the projections, CAP officials said shortages could trigger a 20 percent decrease in Arizona deliveries to agriculture.
August 16, 2013
Key Takeaways From the Washington Post Report Detailing Thousands of Privacy Violations by the NSA
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/key-takeaways-washington-post-report-detailing-thousands-privacy-violations-nsaAugust 16, 2013 | By Trevor Timm
Key Takeaways From the Washington Post Report Detailing Thousands of Privacy Violations by the NSA
The Washington Post has published two important stories, based on perhaps the most signficant documents yet leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Separately, the stories tell of an agency in charge of policing itself, leading to thousands of violations of Americans’ privacy per year, and a secret court with no power to stop them.
These new revelations, and the many before it, lead to one conclusion: we need a full, independent investigation of the NSA’s powers. Here are the most significant new facts we learned yesterday:
An internal NSA privacy audit showed thousands of violations of the law per year, despite administration statements insisting NSA hasn’t abused its powers:
The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance.
Key Takeaways From the Washington Post Report Detailing Thousands of Privacy Violations by the NSA
The Washington Post has published two important stories, based on perhaps the most signficant documents yet leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Separately, the stories tell of an agency in charge of policing itself, leading to thousands of violations of Americans’ privacy per year, and a secret court with no power to stop them.
These new revelations, and the many before it, lead to one conclusion: we need a full, independent investigation of the NSA’s powers. Here are the most significant new facts we learned yesterday:
An internal NSA privacy audit showed thousands of violations of the law per year, despite administration statements insisting NSA hasn’t abused its powers:
The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance.
August 16, 2013
Good article, with much about the Liberal Gun Club
http://www.theliberalgunclub.com/
And yes, they actually *do* provide gun safety training- thus helping to break the NRA's near-monopoly
on training:
http://www.theliberalgunclub.com/firearms-courses/firearms-courses/
Not Just A Novelty Item: Get to Know the Americans You'd Least Expect to Fancy the Firearm
http://www.good.is/posts/good-magazine-feature-not-just-a-novelty-item-get-to-know-the-americans-you-d-least-expect-to-fancy-the-firearmGood article, with much about the Liberal Gun Club
...Immediately after the Newtown, Connecticut, shootings, I found myself compulsively tucking and retucking my kids into bed. “There but by the grace of God go I” flickered in my brain like a short-circuiting neon light. I hovered extra long over my son, a preschooler, my mind teetering precariously into macabre horrors—bullets flying, frail, lifeless bodies. Simultaneously, I was swallowed by fear and incensed with outrage. I mouthed off about right-wing gun nuts. I shuddered as more news broke about Adam Lanza and his paperback copy of Train Your Brain to Get Happy, his holiday check from his mother for the purchase of a C183. I emailed my editor at GOOD a copy of the letter that I’d written to the President demanding gun control, hoping whatever power either held could spur some action and stop the guns...
Now, at the behest of that same editor, I’ve stepped into foreboding new terrain. When I first learned that people like me were gravitating towards firearms at a moment like this, I was revolted. I’d come to equate every American gun owner with Lanza, with James Holmes, with Seung-Hui Cho. Mine was a perspective that not only lacked nuance, but that had strayed from reality. My own rhetoric had become a shorthand in which merely owning a gun threw a person into a camp of those who were cavalier with deadly weapons, whose personal rights trumped public safety, and who were politically alien to me...
...Despite the high-profile mass shootings, and enough guns for every adult in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data, the homicide rate is down 49 percent since a 1993 peak. By 2011, other violent crimes with firearms—assaults, robberies, sex crimes—were down 75 percent from 1993. According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year in the United States, approximately 11,000 people are killed in gun homicides. Nearly 20,000 die in gun suicides. Cox reminded me that in comparison more people (35,000) die in car accidents each year. According to data derived by Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt in their book Freakonomics, a child is about 90 times more likely to die in a swimming pool than by gun.
For some liberals, doing the math—aligning policy with the available data— feels like a natural extension of their political philosophy. Marlene Hoeber, a “glorified mechanic” at a biotech firm, is a gun owner who describes herself as a “lefty feminist.” To Hoeber, the gun debate is the only time she sees the American left treating numbers and evidence as completely irrelevant, as though there is no reasonable political discussion to be had. Her characterization reminded me of years of willful denial of climate change on the right. But, says Hoeber, “the strategy of chipping away at rights looks an awful lot like the anti-choice movement to me.”
Now, at the behest of that same editor, I’ve stepped into foreboding new terrain. When I first learned that people like me were gravitating towards firearms at a moment like this, I was revolted. I’d come to equate every American gun owner with Lanza, with James Holmes, with Seung-Hui Cho. Mine was a perspective that not only lacked nuance, but that had strayed from reality. My own rhetoric had become a shorthand in which merely owning a gun threw a person into a camp of those who were cavalier with deadly weapons, whose personal rights trumped public safety, and who were politically alien to me...
...Despite the high-profile mass shootings, and enough guns for every adult in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data, the homicide rate is down 49 percent since a 1993 peak. By 2011, other violent crimes with firearms—assaults, robberies, sex crimes—were down 75 percent from 1993. According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year in the United States, approximately 11,000 people are killed in gun homicides. Nearly 20,000 die in gun suicides. Cox reminded me that in comparison more people (35,000) die in car accidents each year. According to data derived by Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt in their book Freakonomics, a child is about 90 times more likely to die in a swimming pool than by gun.
For some liberals, doing the math—aligning policy with the available data— feels like a natural extension of their political philosophy. Marlene Hoeber, a “glorified mechanic” at a biotech firm, is a gun owner who describes herself as a “lefty feminist.” To Hoeber, the gun debate is the only time she sees the American left treating numbers and evidence as completely irrelevant, as though there is no reasonable political discussion to be had. Her characterization reminded me of years of willful denial of climate change on the right. But, says Hoeber, “the strategy of chipping away at rights looks an awful lot like the anti-choice movement to me.”
http://www.theliberalgunclub.com/
The mission of The Liberal Gun Club is to provide a voice for gun-owning liberals and moderates in the national conversation on gun rights, gun legislation, firearms safety, and shooting sports. We serve as a national forum for all people, irrespective of their personal political beliefs, to discuss firearms ownership, firearms use, and the enjoyment of firearms-related activities free from the destructive elements of political extremism that dominate this subject on the national scale. We also actively develop and foster a variety of programs for the purpose of firearms training and firearms safety education, for both gun owners and non-gun owners.
And yes, they actually *do* provide gun safety training- thus helping to break the NRA's near-monopoly
on training:
http://www.theliberalgunclub.com/firearms-courses/firearms-courses/
The Liberal Gun Club is pleased to announce the launch of our Basic Firearms Course. Currently, we have LGC certified instructors in Illinois, Florida and Massachusetts – where it is an Approved Basic Firearms Safety Course for the state.
Our course is designed to be intimate and free of political baggage. It is aimed at inexperienced firearms owners or those who simply want to relearn the basics. Class sizes are small and range instruction groups are even smaller – they are limited to no more than three students at a time. This makes for more one on one time with the instructor so that you get the most out of your time at the range.
The course consists of both a classroom portion and a hands-on portion at a range. The classroom portion takes approximately 4 hours to complete. After successfully mastering the class materials you will spend an additional hour on the range familiarizing yourself with the proper way to safely and effectively handle a handgun.
For more information email the LGC Education Coordinator for your state listed below. If you don’t see your state listed, we apologize but encourage you to check back again – new instructors are being added all the time, maybe one will be close to you. Thanks for your interest in The Liberal Gun Club’s Basic Firearms Course.
Our course is designed to be intimate and free of political baggage. It is aimed at inexperienced firearms owners or those who simply want to relearn the basics. Class sizes are small and range instruction groups are even smaller – they are limited to no more than three students at a time. This makes for more one on one time with the instructor so that you get the most out of your time at the range.
The course consists of both a classroom portion and a hands-on portion at a range. The classroom portion takes approximately 4 hours to complete. After successfully mastering the class materials you will spend an additional hour on the range familiarizing yourself with the proper way to safely and effectively handle a handgun.
For more information email the LGC Education Coordinator for your state listed below. If you don’t see your state listed, we apologize but encourage you to check back again – new instructors are being added all the time, maybe one will be close to you. Thanks for your interest in The Liberal Gun Club’s Basic Firearms Course.
August 15, 2013
A good read, with members of the Liberal Gun Club heard from
Not Just A Novelty Item: Get to Know the Americans You'd Least Expect to Fancy the Firearm
http://www.good.is/posts/good-magazine-feature-not-just-a-novelty-item-get-to-know-the-americans-you-d-least-expect-to-fancy-the-firearm Not Just A Novelty Item: Get to Know the Americans You'd Least Expect to Fancy the Firearm
by Sarah Stankorb
Illustrations by David Schwen
------
My shooting instructor shows me how to control my breathing.
“Like in yoga?” I ask.
She responds with a nod, a chuckle, a shrug. Breathe in, breathe out, wait a beat. Fire. I see a yellow flash spark over the blackness of the XDm 9mm semi-automatic’s slide. I can feel the pistol recoiling in my hands, but not the terror I expected to feel. My shot lands well inside the target’s center square—a guileless sheet of paper printed with a vaguely human form now has a bullet in its chest.
“Congratulations! You just fired a real gun.” The sweet-faced and aptly named Amy Shotwell, my instructor at Ashburn, Virginia’s Silver Eagle Group, grins....
by Sarah Stankorb
Illustrations by David Schwen
------
My shooting instructor shows me how to control my breathing.
“Like in yoga?” I ask.
She responds with a nod, a chuckle, a shrug. Breathe in, breathe out, wait a beat. Fire. I see a yellow flash spark over the blackness of the XDm 9mm semi-automatic’s slide. I can feel the pistol recoiling in my hands, but not the terror I expected to feel. My shot lands well inside the target’s center square—a guileless sheet of paper printed with a vaguely human form now has a bullet in its chest.
“Congratulations! You just fired a real gun.” The sweet-faced and aptly named Amy Shotwell, my instructor at Ashburn, Virginia’s Silver Eagle Group, grins....
A good read, with members of the Liberal Gun Club heard from
August 8, 2013
NYPD to stop archiving names, addresses of stop-and-frisk targets
Source: New York Daily News
NYPD to stop archiving names, addresses of stop-and-frisk targets
By Rocco Parascandola and Dareh Gregorian / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, August 7, 2013, 6:40 PM
The NYPD has agreed to stop keeping the names and addresses of people who've been targets of stop-and-frisks, a civil rights group announced Wednesday.
In a settlement with the New York Civil Liberties Union, the NYPD has agreed to remove all names and addresses from its stop and frisk database within the next 90 days.
"With this settlement, hundreds of thousands of black and Latino New Yorkers never convicted of any crime will no longer face the threat of being the target of a criminal investigation merely because they previously had been stopped and frisked," said NYCLU lawyer Christopher Dunn.
The NYPD was forced to remove the names and addresses of people who were stopped but not given a summons or arrested back in 2010, thanks to a change in state law. The NYCLU sued the department that same year, seeking to also excise the names and addresses of people just given a summons or who were arrested but later cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-stop-keeping-names-addresses-stop-and-frisk-targets-article-1.1420603?print
August 7, 2013
Suppose your landlord was a Freeper and declared that you couldn't post 'unacceptable'
(to them) things online, or decided that LBGT people or Muslims were no longer allowed.
Would you accept that?
Legally, it *is* your home, and there's lots of case law to back that up.
Granted, landlords have certain rights as property owners- but those don't include
the right to arbitrarily decide what Constitutional rights you do and do not have in your own home
A commenter at the link in the OP put it best, I think:
Your home is not the same thing as a place of business and there is a recognized level of sovereignty involved with where someone lives. Note ownership is not a prerequisite for exercising rights. First there is already established case law stating all out bans on firearms in the home is unconstitutional. Second there is already established case law stating any portion of a contract that signs away someones constitutional protected civil liberties is invalid. This property management company is in for a big loss in court. Bet on it.
Suppose your landlord was a Freeper and declared that you couldn't post 'unacceptable'
(to them) things online, or decided that LBGT people or Muslims were no longer allowed.
Would you accept that?
August 7, 2013
Rising water levels threaten Boston’s waterfront
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/08/03/water-threatening-waterfront-development/b4eCLXFdwk5d8hUHcYdIeI/story.htmlRising water levels threaten Boston’s waterfront
Business is booming from end to end of the waterfront, but the specter of surging sea levels has developers on edge
By Casey Ross
Globe Staff
August 04, 2013
Boston’s effort to redevelop its waterfront is running into a major obstacle: Water.
From downtown to East Boston to Dorchester, rising sea levels are posing an increasingly urgent threat to developers’ plans to build hundreds of homes, offices, stores, and parks along Boston Harbor, with many acknowledging the need to reinforce existing properties and redesign new ones in case of flooding from another Hurricane Sandy-like storm.
“We can’t ignore it,” said Donald Chiofaro Jr. of the Chiofaro Co., which is seeking to redevelop the Harbor Garage along Atlantic Avenue. “We can’t allow ourselves to look the other way and end up in the same situation as lower Manhattan after Sandy.”
Several building owners are already preparing for the growing possibility of flood waters. At Fan Pier, developer Joseph Fallon has moved critical electrical systems higher in his buildings. Nearby, developers of a residential tower at Pier 4 are proposing to use special flood barriers for lower entrances. And the newly built Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown is surrounded by protective walls and landscaping buffers, and no patient programs are located on the ground floor...
Business is booming from end to end of the waterfront, but the specter of surging sea levels has developers on edge
By Casey Ross
Globe Staff
August 04, 2013
Boston’s effort to redevelop its waterfront is running into a major obstacle: Water.
From downtown to East Boston to Dorchester, rising sea levels are posing an increasingly urgent threat to developers’ plans to build hundreds of homes, offices, stores, and parks along Boston Harbor, with many acknowledging the need to reinforce existing properties and redesign new ones in case of flooding from another Hurricane Sandy-like storm.
“We can’t ignore it,” said Donald Chiofaro Jr. of the Chiofaro Co., which is seeking to redevelop the Harbor Garage along Atlantic Avenue. “We can’t allow ourselves to look the other way and end up in the same situation as lower Manhattan after Sandy.”
Several building owners are already preparing for the growing possibility of flood waters. At Fan Pier, developer Joseph Fallon has moved critical electrical systems higher in his buildings. Nearby, developers of a residential tower at Pier 4 are proposing to use special flood barriers for lower entrances. And the newly built Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown is surrounded by protective walls and landscaping buffers, and no patient programs are located on the ground floor...
August 5, 2013
Sen. Leahy: Bloomberg’s Gun Ads ‘Didn’t Help A Bit’
By Arlette Saenz
Aug 3, 2013 6:00am
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pointed some of the blame for the failed Senate debate over comprehensive background checks at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who dedicated millions of dollars to eviscerating senators who opposed such legislation.
“Unfortunately, you have some on the left like the mayor of New York City, who actually didn’t help a bit with his ads. He actually turned off some people that we might have gotten for supporters,” Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview to air on C-SPAN Newsmakers on Sunday. “Then you have some on the far right who say that the second amendment allows us to have anything. I mean, you can take a machine gun to deer hunting. There needs to be a balance between the two.”...
...Leahy predicted the background check bill will not make it back to the Senate floor.
“It is not going to get through now,” Leahy said. “It’s unfortunate because, Could you pass one law that would stop all the gun violence in this country? No, but can you do a lot better than we have? Yes.”
Leahy is correct on both accounts, and it's a damn shame that UBCs are off the table for the forseeable future
Sen. Leahy: Bloomberg’s Gun Ads ‘Didn’t Help A Bit’
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/sen-leahy-bloombergs-gun-ads-didnt-help-a-bit/Sen. Leahy: Bloomberg’s Gun Ads ‘Didn’t Help A Bit’
By Arlette Saenz
Aug 3, 2013 6:00am
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pointed some of the blame for the failed Senate debate over comprehensive background checks at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who dedicated millions of dollars to eviscerating senators who opposed such legislation.
“Unfortunately, you have some on the left like the mayor of New York City, who actually didn’t help a bit with his ads. He actually turned off some people that we might have gotten for supporters,” Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview to air on C-SPAN Newsmakers on Sunday. “Then you have some on the far right who say that the second amendment allows us to have anything. I mean, you can take a machine gun to deer hunting. There needs to be a balance between the two.”...
...Leahy predicted the background check bill will not make it back to the Senate floor.
“It is not going to get through now,” Leahy said. “It’s unfortunate because, Could you pass one law that would stop all the gun violence in this country? No, but can you do a lot better than we have? Yes.”
Leahy is correct on both accounts, and it's a damn shame that UBCs are off the table for the forseeable future
August 5, 2013
https://progressivemajorityaction.nationbuilder.com/assets/pages/64/Voicing_Our_Values-To_Curtail_Gun_Violence.pdf
Voicing Our Values—To Curtail Gun Violence
http://www.progressivemajorityaction.org/sources_for_more_detailed_talking_points
Here's the Center for American Progress one
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/141743245/CAP-Memo
Changing the Conversation: Preventing Violence, Not Gun Control
Found more anti-gun "talking points" guides
http://www.progressivemajorityaction.org/gun_messaginghttps://progressivemajorityaction.nationbuilder.com/assets/pages/64/Voicing_Our_Values-To_Curtail_Gun_Violence.pdf
Voicing Our Values—To Curtail Gun Violence
Gun Messaging
Voicing Our Values—To Curtail Gun Violence
This is an addendum to our book, Voicing Our Values: A Message Guide for Candidates. Our purpose is to help lawmakers, candidates and activists understand how to argue in favor of current proposals to curtail gun violence. As we explain here, we have tried to make this resource as easy-to-use as possible by placing model language in boxes throughout. We encourage you to adapt the language to your own voice and personalize it with your own knowledge and experience. Much more comprehensive, detailed or technical talking points are available from advocacy groups listed at the end of this paper.
QUICK LINKS:
How to introduce your argument
About Background Checks
About Military-Style Assault Weapons
About High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines
How to rebut common pro-gun arguments
Sources for more detailed talking points
A PDF copy of Voicing Our Values—To Curtail Gun Violence
Our most important advice: (1) Lay out the problem in very simple terms—most Americans have no idea how easy our laws make it for dangerous people to buy handguns and assault weapons; (2) Don’t let pro-gun advocates sidetrack the debate into “straw man” arguments, obscure “facts,” or a focus on the technical properties of guns—about 90 percent of their arguments are actually designed to change the subject so you need to insist on a debate that is relevant to the legislation at hand; and (3) Generally:
Don’t say . . .
Gun control
Stricter gun laws
You oppose the 2nd Amendment
Preventing gun violence
Stronger gun laws
Support for the 2nd Amendment goes hand-in-hand with keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people
Why . . .
People have negative reactions to “gun control” and “stricter” laws, and they feel positive about the 2nd Amendment. Also, average voters have a favorable view of the National Rifle Association (NRA). You are welcome to criticize the NRA when speaking to the progressive base, but it won’t help you persuade swing voters. That’s why these talking points don’t include anti-NRA language. If the situation requires you to attack the NRA, then condemn “NRA lobbyists” or the “NRA’s out-of-touch leaders.” Do not attack average NRA members or local NRA leaders; that language doesn’t work.
Voicing Our Values—To Curtail Gun Violence
This is an addendum to our book, Voicing Our Values: A Message Guide for Candidates. Our purpose is to help lawmakers, candidates and activists understand how to argue in favor of current proposals to curtail gun violence. As we explain here, we have tried to make this resource as easy-to-use as possible by placing model language in boxes throughout. We encourage you to adapt the language to your own voice and personalize it with your own knowledge and experience. Much more comprehensive, detailed or technical talking points are available from advocacy groups listed at the end of this paper.
QUICK LINKS:
How to introduce your argument
About Background Checks
About Military-Style Assault Weapons
About High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines
How to rebut common pro-gun arguments
Sources for more detailed talking points
A PDF copy of Voicing Our Values—To Curtail Gun Violence
Our most important advice: (1) Lay out the problem in very simple terms—most Americans have no idea how easy our laws make it for dangerous people to buy handguns and assault weapons; (2) Don’t let pro-gun advocates sidetrack the debate into “straw man” arguments, obscure “facts,” or a focus on the technical properties of guns—about 90 percent of their arguments are actually designed to change the subject so you need to insist on a debate that is relevant to the legislation at hand; and (3) Generally:
Don’t say . . .
Gun control
Stricter gun laws
You oppose the 2nd Amendment
Preventing gun violence
Stronger gun laws
Support for the 2nd Amendment goes hand-in-hand with keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people
Why . . .
People have negative reactions to “gun control” and “stricter” laws, and they feel positive about the 2nd Amendment. Also, average voters have a favorable view of the National Rifle Association (NRA). You are welcome to criticize the NRA when speaking to the progressive base, but it won’t help you persuade swing voters. That’s why these talking points don’t include anti-NRA language. If the situation requires you to attack the NRA, then condemn “NRA lobbyists” or the “NRA’s out-of-touch leaders.” Do not attack average NRA members or local NRA leaders; that language doesn’t work.
http://www.progressivemajorityaction.org/sources_for_more_detailed_talking_points
Sources for more detailed talking points
More information from the experts:
Brady Campaign on background checks, on military-style assault weapons, and on high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns on a variety of gun measures and "Demand A Plan."
Center for American Progress on “Changing the Conversation: Preventing Violence, Not Gun Control”
Message Matters one-pagers on guns.
For an excellent book by Dennis Henigan about how to debate the NRA, read Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy.
More information from the experts:
Brady Campaign on background checks, on military-style assault weapons, and on high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns on a variety of gun measures and "Demand A Plan."
Center for American Progress on “Changing the Conversation: Preventing Violence, Not Gun Control”
Message Matters one-pagers on guns.
For an excellent book by Dennis Henigan about how to debate the NRA, read Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy.
Here's the Center for American Progress one
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/141743245/CAP-Memo
Changing the Conversation: Preventing Violence, Not Gun Control
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