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Brady Campaign

Brady Campaign To Prevent


Last Updated: 6/4/2009

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State: Washington DC
Country: US
Signup Date: 11/13/2006

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Monday, June 01, 2009 
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence


Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement:

“The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court appears to be a positive one for those committed to reducing gun violence in this country.  Judge Sotomayor’s legal opinions have shown a strong respect for precedent in upholding federal and state gun laws, while her background and experience promise to bring a real world, personal understanding of the effects of gun violence that will be welcome on our nation’s highest Court. 

“Respect for precedent and understanding the importance of strong gun laws in the real world will be especially important as the Supreme Court is likely to face gun lobby efforts to expand the Court’s recent Second Amendment ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller into an unbridled right to any gun, any place, any time.  Her experience prosecuting perpetrators of gun crimes in New York City added to her appreciation for the real-world life and death consequences of any efforts to roll back gun laws that protect all Americans.

“As a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Sotomayor has shown a respect for precedent that has narrowly interpreted the Second Amendment,  a far contrast to the activist majority in the Heller case, which sidestepped seventy year old precedent in finding a new individual right to have handguns in the home.  Judge Sotomayor has consistently rejected challenges to gun laws that protect our communities from gun violence.

“Based on her background, her experience, and her strong record of upholding lifesaving gun laws, we are pleased with Judge Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court and look forward to hearing and evaluating her testimony during her Senate confirmation hearings.”
2:56 PM 
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Monday, April 27, 2009 
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence


The Brady Campaign called on U.S. leaders to strengthen American gun laws to make it harder for Mexican criminals to arm themselves with U.S. firearms.

Brady President Paul Helmke said, "'Enforcing the laws on the books' will never be enough: we need stronger laws, and strong enforcement of those laws."

“Our polices help enable this cross-border violence,” said Helmke at a news conference in Washington D.C. “For too long, we have been putting our own citizens at risk by making it so easy for criminals to get guns.  Now our neighbors are threatened as well, and our national security is at risk.  We must do more to keep dangerous weapons away from dangerous people.”

Helmke also announced the release of a report by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Exporting Gun Violence: How Our Weak Gun Laws Arms Criminals in Mexico and America.  The report documents how Mexican drug gangs have exploited weak American gun laws and corrupt American gun sellers to amass arsenals of high-powered guns that have killed thousands, and pose an increasingly grave security threat to Mexico, and the U.S. The report is available at www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/pdf/reports/exporting-gun-violence.pdf.

“Mexican criminals, and traffickers who supply them, cannot get the guns they need in Mexico because of Mexico’s strong gun laws,” said Helmke.  In the United States, however – especially in the border states of Texas and Arizona – virtually non-existent gun laws enable access to a ready supply of guns including assault weapons and .50 caliber sniper rifles.

“The same weak gun laws that are enabling the supply of Mexican criminals are supplying criminals in the U.S. as well,” Helmke continued.  “Existing laws are so weak that even one of the most notorious dealer supplying the cartels, the owner of X-Caliber gun shop in Phoenix that allegedly supplied 700 guns to Mexican drug gangs, had all criminal charges brought against him dismissed recently.  As the X-Caliber case shows, ‘enforcing the laws on the books’ will never be enough: we need stronger laws, and strong enforcement of those laws.”
2:46 PM 
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Thursday, February 12, 2009 



Brady Campaign Files Suit Asking Court to Strike Down Bush Administration Change to Guns in Parks Rule



Guns and the 2008 Elections: Common Sense Won, the NRA Lost [cover]

The Brady Campaign filed a complaint in federal court asking the court
to strike down a last-minute Bush Administration rule change that
allows concealed, loaded firearms in national parks and wildlife
refuges.

The suit was filed on behalf of the Brady Campaign and its
members, including school teachers in the New York and Washington, D.C.
areas who are canceling or curtailing school trips to Ellis Island and
the Statue of Liberty and the National Mall in Washington, D.C due to
the Bush Administration's rule change.

Brady Campaign President, Paul Helmke, said in a statement,
"The Bush Administration's last-minute gift to the gun lobby, allowing
concealed semiautomatic weapons in national parks, jeopardizes the
safety of park visitors in violation of federal law."


4:01 PM 
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Monday, January 12, 2009 







Wounded in America at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco

January 13 - March 27


On January 12, the Brady Center, Grace Cathedral and California Brady
Chapters hosted the opening reception for this moving exhibit of
stories and photos of gun violence victims. 

Photographer Robert Drea and Writer Stephanie Arena team up in this
compelling and informative humanitarian documentary project that
profiles survivors of gun violence through photographs and oral
histories.

Exhibit Details

Photos On display January 13 - March 27, 2009

Grace Cathedral

1100 California Street

San Francisco, California

Phone : 415-749-6355




4:07 PM 
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Sunday, November 30, 2008 


15th Anniversary Report Highlights Success of Brady Background Checks


Brady Background Checks: 15 Years of Saving Lives [cover]

President Clinton signed the Brady bill into law fifteen years ago on November 30, 1993.

Since Brady background checks went into effect in February 1994,
every day, more than 300 attempts by dangerous people to purchase a gun
have been blocked. During the same time period, gun crimes declined
sharply.
Brady background checks have contributed to the decline in gun crime
by making it harder for dangerous people like felons, domestic violence
offenders, and fugitives from justice to purchase guns at gun dealers.



4:36 PM 
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Thursday, November 20, 2008 





Guns & The 2008 Elections:

Common Sense Gun Laws Won, The NRA Lost,
& What it Means



The analysis highlights what happened in states with
high gun ownership and states where the National Rifle Association
spent millions on ads to attack the Obama-Biden ticket.

The report shows that support for gun laws can be a winning message for politicians and not a dangerous political "wedge" issue. It makes the case that voters want pragmatic solutions to protect their families and communities from gun violence and know that sensible gun laws won't hurt legitimate gun owners.






4:21 PM 
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Tuesday, November 04, 2008 



Law Enforcement and Communities Less Safe

Since Expiration of Assault Weapons Ban

Assault Weapons: Mass Produced Mayhem Report

A Brady Center report entitled, Mass Produced Mayhem,
highlights how the availability of assault weapons has changed the
balance of power between law enforcement and criminals, endangering
police officers and communities. At least 15 police officers have been
killed and 23 wounded since the ban expired in September 2004.

Brady President Paul Helmke said that "Our communities are less safe
today than they were four years ago, when devastating weapons like
AK-47s were not readily available to thugs and other dangerous people."
Helmke urged policy makers to take action immediately to get
military-style assault weapons off our streets.





4:41 PM 
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Thursday, December 06, 2007 

Current mood:  sad
Category: News and Politics
Washington, D.C.  - Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement about yesterday's tragic shooting in Omaha, Nebraska:

"Our sympathies and prayers go to the families of the eight who died and the five who were wounded in yesterday's mall shooting in Omaha.

"Having an SKS rifle and high-capacity ammunition clips enabled a troubled young man to kill and injure a large number of people quickly and efficiently.  Allowing the easy acquisition and possession of military-style weapons like this is foolhardy and the results are tragic.

"We need to find out how and where the killer got this gun and this ammunition. We need to stop selling military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips to civilians. The killer knew what he was going to do, and he knew what tools he needed.  Our weak gun laws make these killing machines readily available.  We can take steps to prevent tragedies like this in the future."

Examples of assault weapon violence since the expiration of the Federal assault weapons ban can be found at http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/pdf/assault/awb_violence.pdf.

6:00 PM 
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007 
Just a reminder:  Today is the one year anniversary of the Nickel Mines shooting at the Amish schoolhouse.



Amish Quietly Mark Massacre Anniversary

By MARK SCOLFORO
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 2, 2007; 9:04 AM
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100200332.html)

NICKEL MINES, Pa. -- Whoops from a children's baseball game and the singing of hymns rang in the air on the eve of the first anniversary of one of the Amish community's worst moments.

In keeping with Amish custom, no public observances were planned for Tuesday's anniversary, although local Amish families held a private gathering on Monday to mark the occasion.

West Nickel Mines Amish School, the scene of a gunman's massacre that left five girls dead and five others wounded one year ago, has long since been razed and replaced with overgrown pasture, in part to prevent it from being treated as some sort of shrine or becoming a morbid tourist attraction.

The Amish invited state police troopers and some neighbors to join them in prayer, singing of hymns, a meal of barbecued chicken and a sunny afternoon of watching a ball game.

"I think they still have some hurt," said Bart Township Fire Department Chief Curt Woerth II. "We could say some prayers for the children and their families this week, because it's going to bring back some memories."

Officials from Virginia Tech were also invited to attend. Four months after the massacre at that school, members of the Amish community traveled to Blacksburg, Va., to pass along a comfort quilt.

Woerth said he would spend time on Tuesday at the fire hall that served as a community nerve center for weeks after the attack. The Amish were expected to pass the day quietly with their families, and the wider community also scheduled no public event for the anniversary.

A year ago, milk truck driver Charlie Roberts, 32, the son of a police officer and father of three young children, suddenly commandeered the one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania Dutch farm country.

Roberts, who had no criminal or mental-illness history, apparently was tormented by the death of his infant daughter in 1997 and by a memory of having molested two female relatives about 20 years earlier _ a memory that investigators have never been able to substantiate.

The ordeal in the schoolhouse lasted about 40 minutes from when Roberts entered the building at 10:25 a.m. until he shot the girls in rapid succession at 11:05 a.m. Two and a half minutes after the shots rang out, state police were able to breach his makeshift barricades and enter the school just as he committed suicide.

On Monday, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller attended the Amish gathering and said there was nowhere he would rather have been. "I wanted to share with them that they're never far from our hearts," Miller said.

Four of the five wounded girls were able to return to classes by December, but the fifth is confined to a wheelchair and is fed by a tube. One of the girls had surgery recently to repair damage to her arm and shoulder, while another has vision problems because of her gunshot wound.

Amid cheers and laughter on Monday, some children played a marathon baseball game on a ball diamond constructed next to their new one-room schoolhouse, the New Hope Amish School, while others raced scooters along the driveway and waved to passers-by.

There were no classes on Monday and the school was expected to remain closed Tuesday.

© 2007 The Associated Press

11:39 AM 
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Friday, September 28, 2007 

Current mood:  annoyed
Category: News and Politics

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is blocking legislation that would help close gaps that allows a dangerous person to be armed.  Read more here.

After Virginia Tech, even the NRA, which fought the Brady Bill for so many years, joined in support of strengthening Brady background checks.

Passage of this bill (HR 2640: 2007 NICS Improvement Act) would improve the Brady background check system concerning prohibited gun buyers, including those declared mentally ill by the courts. The Brady Campaign and the Commonwealth of Virginia both confirmed, after the Virginia Tech massacre, that the killer should not have been permitted to buy firearms, and that the failure of State authorities to supply relevant records to the Brady background check system led to the purchase of the guns used in the shootings.

Please call/contact Senator Coburn and urge him to let this bill move forward!

2:48 AM 
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