Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America released the following statements in response to the shooting at Ft. Hood today in which four people were killed (including the shooter by his own hand) and 16 were injured. A fact sheet on the 2009 mass shooting at Ft. Hood is available here . . .
“Our thoughts are with all those at Ft. Hood tonight as another tragedy unfolds among the heroes who have given their utmost for our country,” said Mark Glaze, executive director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. “We don’t know all the details, but days like this remind us that killers with illegal guns murder 33 more people every day across America. This March marked the first month in 11 years with no military fatalities in Iraq or Afghanistan. And yet we start the spring with military fatalities on our own home front.”
“Moms’ hearts sunk again today as we learned the news of another shooting at Fort Hood. The victims and their families are in our thoughts and prayers right now,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “We send our soldiers into the line of fire, but we don’t expect that battleground to be here at home, as it was again today. While we don’t know all of the facts, we do know that preventable gun deaths are a public health epidemic, and mothers across the country are more committed than ever to doing what we can to end it, once and for all.”
Biographies of spokespeople available for comment and TV interviews (from NYC, DC and via satellite) are below.
John Feinblatt, Chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, previously served as Chief Policy Advisor to New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Mr. Feinblatt leads former Mayor Bloomberg’s national coalitions on guns and immigration reform. He previously served as the Criminal Justice Coordinator for the City of New York and was the founding director of the Center for Court Innovation, the country’s leading think tank devoted to problem solving justice.
Mark Glaze is Executive Director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Mr. Glaze is the son of a former federally licensed gun dealer in Colorado.
Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, is a 43-year-old mother of five children. Watts was not an activist or involved in gun issues prior to the shootings at Sandy Hook on Dec. 14, 2012. The day after the tragedy, she started a Facebook page called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Since then, Moms Demand Action has become a nonprofit organization with tens of thousands of members and more than 80 local chapters across the country. Ms. Watts’ goal is for Moms Demand Action to become the Mothers Against Drunk Driving of safe gun laws.
Duly noted! And now, back to your regularly scheduled bleating….
Tom
We send these guys into combat, they come back with problems, and seek treatment. When the treatment doesn’t work and the now patients come unglued we should take guns away from law abiding civilians. Yeah, that makes sense.
Take guns away from all the people who didn’t do it. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do when these things happen?
Yep, that’s how it works.
“We don’t know all the facts yet, but we’re gonna make some shit up here.”
I read an article yesterday abot the shooting that blew my mind. Literally within the same paragraph were the following sentences about hte shooter:
“He was using an UNREGISTERED .45 caliber handgun” (caps are all me)
“Police say he bought it a few days prior at a local gun store”
I think someone needs to look up what the word “unregistered” means, cause if it truly were, they would not have know the the shooter is the one who bought it and where it was bought. Of course, why ruin a good antigun polemic with facts right?
Other than possession in a gun free zone, what was illegal about this particular gun?
It scared them…..
It was an assault pistol thingie with a forty-five caliber mag clip thingie.
No shoulder thing that goes up though, so thank goodness for that.
That’s worse than a 30-caliber magazine clip! Heck, it probably sprays all of its bullets in a quarter of a second. And even if it doesn’t I’m going to assume it does, anyway, just to be on the safe side. You can never be too careful where children are concerned.
He had not registered the handgun with base authorities. That is grounds for NJP at least. Hence, illegal gun.
Shouldn’t be that way in my opinion though…
There are no “illegal guns.” There are only illegal laws against guns.
And even if you don’t believe that, you can still see the inflammatory, leftist-defines-the-argument nature of the label “illegal gun.” Maybe you could illegally possess the gun, or maybe you might use the gun illegally, but starting the conversation by calling something an illegal gun leaves no room for discussion of whether someone, anyone, in some situation somewhere, should be allowed to keep and bear that particular gun.
Also note that they attributed every single gun homicide in the year as occurring with an “illegal gun”. That’s certainly not the case. Facts and logic mean little to these people.
Hmm… every mass shooting was from an illegal gun?
Get rid of illegal guns by making them all legal. Problem solved.
guns only have to be registered with the provost marshals office if you live on base or you want to bring the gun on base for lawful purposes (like trap shooting, hunting etc.)
Dude, it was a .45 acp!
We are lucky the entire place didn’t blow upon impact.
“Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, is a 43-year-old mother of five children. Watts was not an activist or involved in gun issues prior to the shootings at Sandy Hook on Dec. 14, 2012. The day after the tragedy, she started a Facebook page called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Since then, Moms Demand Action has become a CASH COW”.
Only she is an empty mouthpiece for the left. She refuses to engage and defend her position or debate .. so she doesn’t really hold any credibility.
Having an abortion, or two, or three, does not a mother make.
Woah, woah, WOAH!
I see in that press release a blatant lie (besides the more obvious ones).
If my history serves me correctly Shannon Watts did NOT start Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America the day after Sandy Hook. IIRC Shannon Watts founded One Million Moms for Gun Control the day after Sandy Hook. It was only after she realized they had significantly less than one million members that she founded MDA.
I was going to post the same thing. Plus, if “activist” is being used to describe what Watts does (getting paid by a guy to be a PR talking head), she’s been an “activist” her entire professional life. At least 80% of that paragraph is lie… it must be in their DNA.
What’s a little revisionist history among friends, eh Comrade?
Far more vanilla than what I was expecting.
Watts was not an activist before sandy hook? Oh really? I think Monsanto might have something to say about that….
Yep. Long and storied history here.
http://gunfreezone.net/wordpress/index.php/2013/06/05/moms-demand-action-shannon-watts-the-plastic-gardener/
Shh! Facts spoil the narrative.
Watts superficial concern with her; “our soldiers” comment reminds me of Hillary’s superficial concern with her; “our troops” comment she made, while running for POTUS, in reference to the poor care being given at Walter Reed Hospital.
They most certainly are NOT HER soldiers.
“We send our soldiers into the line of fire, but we don’t expect that battleground to be here at home…”
We are the “Great Satan” and the sworn enemy of the jihadists. Yet we are so militarily effective that in the foreign combat zones they were unable to cause a single fatality amongst our troops in the month of March, 2014.
They may be religious fanatics. They may be sociopaths, but they are NOT stupid and they have many centuries of knowing how to fight and kill people they disagree with. From a purely strategic military standpoint, if you cannot inflict casualties in one theater of operations you must find another place to attack.
While this particular event may not, probably is not, an Islam-fascist attack, how has our senior command not recognized that the one place they have left the jihadists freedom to attack our troops with impunity at our own bases here in CONUS? Do they really believe there are no groups within the U.S. who have not considered this? It is only a matter of time before these unarmed targets come into the sights of those who want to exact revenge on our military.
F*ck them. How about not restricting MY right to self-defence on a military installation. I AM the trained professional these meat puppets tout as the only ones who should be armed. I am an EXPERT marksman with small arms but because of foolishly passed laws I and my brothers and sisters in arms are exposed. AGAIN.STILL.
This. The lefts hypocrisy on this issue is stunning and leaves their hands completely bloodied by this tragedy.
Oliver2W1,
It gets even better. The gun grabbers keep telling us that only military and police can have firearms. And yet our military personnel cannot “legally” have firearms on base in the U.S.!!!!!
This reveals the true end goal of gun grabbers: they want everyone disarmed accept for a few “chosen ones” that serve their direct interests … and everyone else can go to Hell as far as they are concerned.
Can someone please tell me again why we are supposed to be nice to these people?
You cant. We just have to keep fighting lest ALL our rights will be gone and ONLY the military will have weapons. THAT scares the hell out of me. Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. Reagan nailed it.
Morons Demand Action!
Blah, Blah, Blah…
Here it is simply put all guns used in crime are used illegally. So let’s pass more laws to make committing crime “more illegaler”. Notice those that run Maig, were also supporters/flunkies of Bloomberg?
Laughable yet again.
Two things to note:
1) “We don’t know all the details” (Mark Glaze, but we can opine) and “While we don’t know all of the facts” (Shannon, but she can stare into space with those blank eyes and give an opinion)
2) “We send our soldiers into the line of fire, but we don’t expect that battleground to be here at home, as it was again today.” (Shannon – oh, do you mean where we send our soldiers into battle ARMED and allowed to defend themselves but while on base, another gun free zone, they are, like you, sheep waiting for the slaughter???)
+1
I see they still haven’t taken responsibility for their campaigns for gun free zones allowing the defenseless to become victims.
And they never will.
Back in Imperial China, in about 450 AD, a terrorist group infiltrated the higher levels of Chinese government, which at the time had a great asymmetric military advantage. Through politics, under the guise of safety, the terrorist spies changed the rules that Chinese warriors couldn’t carry their swords in their forts. Once this was accomplished, the comparatively small terrorist group was able to take the fort and slaughter the unarmed warriors.
So I made that up, but you get the point. To disarm soldiers on base while fighting an asymmetric war is stupid, unless you are the terrorists.
Gee, I think the moms just might be a little more outraged at the fact that MDA is exploiting their tragedy to push an agenda.
On that note, why havent Sharpton and Jackson donned wigs and joined MDA yet?
My career councilor in high school never mentioned that I could get rich off of being publicly outraged.
Translation.
”We are deeply disappointed that an AR-15 or any other high bullet clip assault gun was not used in this shooting. Since it is easier to wave small bloody shirts and no children were victimized, we won’t harp on this subject for long. Especially because it gives us little traction in our push to disarm America. Blah blah blah Sandy Hook blah. Please pay no attention if you hear the shooter’s name called the next time we read off victims of gun violence.”
I wonder what particular model of .45 caliber pistol was used… if it was a 1911 even New York’s attempt at a 7 round magazine rule wouldn’t have been enough. Gotta ban everything but revolvers next.
They hastily redacted Leland Yee from their spokespeople available for comment, as he doesn’t sound as good speaking through a prison phone handset.
As usual they got it wrong. Bill Clinton is responsible for the incredibly stupid decision to disallow our military personnel from carrying firearms on base. President Bush did nothing to reverse it, and President Obama, even after what happened in Texas and Virginia, has done nothing to correct it either. It’s ridiculous to the extreme to call for even more (Non) sense gun control when it’s gun control that is at fault to begin with..
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/17/this-is-why-most-military-personnel-are-disarmed-on-military-bases-and-its-not-clintons-fault/
This is the exact link I was going to post. Big government republicans are very similar to big government democrats in many ways.
Bush 41 was nothing if not a “big government” Republican and a committed statist.
Sign this petition.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/legalize-concealed-carry-soldiers-military-installations/FDk9cNpH
I think all that is required is that staff NCOs, and company and battalion officers carry weapons while on duty just the way they did before WWII. That is enough armed presence to deter any mass shooter.
.It’s the Army for god’s sake, why should it be concealed carry. As said above, Noncoms and other officers should have a side arm. This would discourage or minimize the casualties of a mass shooter. But we still don’t know if this was a result of a dispute of the likes that occur in this world with one target and 17 collaterals.
Or was the Army his target?
Note for Mag limit proponents, if it was a S&W .45 or any 45 and 18 victims, he had to have swapped mags. Maybe twice if he missed or shot his victims multiple times.
Let’s also talk do-ibility. It is far easier to get the added deterrence of NCO/Officer carry than concealed carry for everyone on the base as desirable as that may be. All it takes is an order from a service Chief to implement the policy and the usual voices of insanity won’t be able to delay or stop it.
td, why shouldn’t any trained and qualified soldier have the right to carry? It’s the military. Can’t the military train people?
yes, Ralph, of course- but as Hasdrubal and a couple others with long service have commented, its one thing to train to military tactics on the battlefield, than to train to a different standard on base, and maintain that training. Typically a battalion of Marines will go thru a full workup prior to deployment, and its intense.
Trying to get and keep every e1-e5 trained up and ready with good judgement for a much more ambigous civilian situation, would simply overwhelm resources.
And there are valid issues of judgement and control vs risk issues, that I defer to those with current or recent military warfighter experience to comment upon in a practical manner. IMHO tdi has a good perspective on what has worked in past, and could be very easily implemented with least amount of disruption. Certain rates and MOS with trained expertise and readiness, for example, spec ops, could also carry, open or concealed. It doesnt have to be one-size fits all and if you pushed it down to Base CO level, then they could tailor for what works best, for the units they support, with resources on hand.
But first common-sense leadership has to come from the top, to trust the experts, to get it done.
And thats the problem- theres no competence, or trust, or leadership in the WH, and no one with the wits or balls to advise him, in the civilian defense leadership around him…
I mean, who gave him the okay to go after Osama, after 3 weeks of thumbs twiddling– a former real estate broker and who-knows-what-else named Valery?
Trying to get and keep every e1-e5 trained up and ready with good judgement for a much more ambigous [sic] civilian situation, would simply overwhelm resources.
We’re talking E4s and above. And the “ambiguous situation” would be “shoot the person that you see is shooting people with a gun.” Not rocket science when you get down to it.
I don’t understand, what’s their issue? The base was a very model of the laws they propose, it was a gun free zone for the non-LEO population. The laws had their intended and only possible affect– all the victims were disarmed.
So why are the Moms complaining? In this incident, they got everything they desired.
“I don’t understand, what’s their issue? ”
Glad you asked – their issue is guns exist, and they somehow believe that if they pass a law that says you can hold back the tide with a slotted spoon then the tide will stop when you stand out there with your slotted spoon.
Because it will only work if it’s true everywhere, according to their logic. So, again according to their logic, they must keep expanding these laws rather than just admit they don’t work.
i like how with the nomination of a gun-grabbing surgeon general, the “public health” comments to enact gun control are starting to become more prominent.
I’m glad I wasn’t the ONLY person to notice that…
The words “Health” and “Epidemic” being used in relation to ownership of firearms is a bad thing. Positive/negative association is a powerful tool when trying to spread a message or idea and the gun grabbers are pushing that line pretty hard. All these “fence sitter” unicorns people love to talk about around here (has anyone ever seen one in the wild?) are likely to be swayed in the wrong direction…
It’s not like calling something a “health issue” is a political trump card or anything. Oh wait…
In some ways, I hope this is an epidemic. Responsible gun owners will infect others with the ability to think rationally about guns and gun violence. People will think critically about laws creating “gun free zones” and ask “Wait, how does that protect anyone?” Just maybe, it will catch in the media, fostering the spread of rational public discourse throughout the US. Oh wait, I think we’ve had our rational public discourse immunizations…
I think there’s an epidemic of “Stupid” going on in Liberal/Progressive circles, and that’s definitely a public health issue. Why? Because of stupid, useless feel-good laws, people are being killed. That’s why.
Like clockwork…
What did he use? Where did he get it? I bet the answer doesn’t help with the MDA or MAIG agenda.
No, they won’t. That’s why it’s such a nothingburger of a “statement”. In fact, if they had any circumspection at all, it would be even less of a statement, given that it happened [again] in one of their beloved “gun-free zones” and was perpetrated by one of the folks they claim are the only ones to be trusted with guns (a soldier).
I agree it’s time for common sense. Let’s remove gun free zones.
these people knows what it takes to prevent such tragedies but alas, they will not speak about more security. they should be ashamed to be human beings
“Gun Free Zone” is just a cover phrase for “Target Rich Environment”
MDA/MAIG should stop speaking for everyone else and ask the U.S. military personnel stationed at the forts, camps, stations, bases, etc. around the world what they think of gun-free zones. I’m pretty sure I know what my son, daughter, and nephew would tell them, and they wouldn’t like it.
You’re assuming that MDA/MAIG give a damn about anyone else’s opinion.
Trust me, I don’t assume that. Unfortunately, the low-information crowd does.
“…Days like this remind us that killers with illegal guns murder 33 more people every day across America.”
Yes, legal guns remind us of illegal guns and because of this psychological equating, all guns should be illegal.
So just to be honest, why don’t the Mayors remove “Illegal” from their name.
… and the laws they propose will ensure that all the victims of criminals will be disarmed.
I suspect the majority of those 33 kllings per day occur in areas which have the kind gun laws supported by MDA/MAIG. So, MAIG/MDA is working hard to ensure that death toll of 33 will increase by removing the capability for self-defense from a significant portion of the population.
I do agree that it’s time for gun sense in America…
That is, it’s time to repeal a bunch of gun laws that make no sense at all….
It’s time for more Americans to be educated about how guns work and how to use them so there will be more ‘gun sense’ amongst the population….
Well, the gun laws actually make sense if you are a person in a position of power, exploiting your position to gather more, to provide payoffs and benefits to your friends, if you believe you should be able to tell other folks how to live and control their lives, if you think you should be able to confiscate whatever money and property they have through confiscatory taxes, if you think whatever damage your regulations do to the economy and the resulting poverty and misery of others is justified by your vision of how things should be….
…because eventually those folks who you view as subjects vice citizens might start to take offense, get angry, and do something about it. They need to be disarmed before that point is reached. Gun laws make a lot of sense from that perspective.
I’m kind of surprised they did not declare “VICTORY!” as it would make more sense than when they DO say it.
So, you win this round, MAIG/MDA…Gun Free Zones wins more lives for your cause.
Remainder of Comment Self Moderated.
MDA and MAIG are blood dancers. They cynically exploit the pain of the victims before thr facts are even in. Every mayor and every Mom chapter director should be named and shamed. Publicly.
What Dick Cheney once said Shannon.
“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.”
Jeff Cooper
MILF’s Demand Action and MAIGots were in Tallahassee yesterday opposing a couple of our Bills. These are some of the most rude and obnoxious people I have ever encountered. 10s of thousands of members my a$$.
I don’t think MILFs is really the proper term for these ladies. I would explain my opinion further, but it would just get moderated.
Of course right away we’re being told that the guy was on Ambien and that while he wasn’t properly diagnosed with PTSD, depression and stress he suffered from them. So basically the media is making crap up again trying to push the new front on the war against guns, the mental health issue! Is Ambien is a reason people will snap, then make it illegal for ANYONE using Ambien to drive a car! Cars kill more people every year than just about anything else. Where’s the mental health protection from drivers?
Did I read it right, the shooter took his own life when confronted by someone else that had a gun ?
Yes, a miltary police woman confronted him and he started to draw on her. She pulled her gun and he shot himself. I think that people who snap like this take their own lives because the shock of be confronted by another person, especially a LEO, snaps him back to reality. It is kind of an oh $hit moment and knowing what they have done choose to end it.
Makes sense. Only a coward tries to gun down unarmed people; why would we expect them not to back down when actually confronted.
That’s seems to be the way it goes down in most instances.
The only thing that makes sense in true reality (we know Shannon has no clue about reality) is that true gun sense is the discontinuation of disarming law-abiding citizens. The current tirade of Shannon and her cohorts is only benefitting the criminal element and I am betting they have her on their pedastol. Ft. Hood is a massive criminal playground beings that it is one of the infamous “gun free” zones. Simply google this – how my point of view on gun control changed while traveling. Listen to the NY girl explain the indoctrination she recieved as a NY native and how hitting the real world changed her point of view. She is a whole lot better to look and listen to than Shannon is.
“Killers with ILLEGAL guns”, please. The issue is the government walks all over our soldiers and does not support the ones who give all to protect our freedoms. There will be more deaths by self inflicted wounds then those who died during deployment after all is said and done. The government should be held accountable. What’s ironic, you never hear of gang bangers shooting up schools on involved in mass shootings. Bottom line, it’s people with no record that have mental issues that are responsible for most of these sick shooting sprees. If more people would have been armed, here’s a novel idea, arming our armed forces, this perp would have been taking done much sooner.
Shannon should be careful: she’s getting really close to dropping the “common sense gun safety” mantra that they pretend is their raison d’etre and that gets otherwise well-meaning folks to listen to them. Here are the issues they’ve harped on so far . . .
– Background checks for private sales: shooter apparently bought gun legally from a gun store, so he underwent a background check (strike 1)
– Getting businesses to implement policies prohibiting otherwise legal concealed carry in their stores: Ft Hood is a federally-mandated gun-free zone (strike 2)
– “assault weapons” ban: shooter used a .45 handgun, that would likely (not sure of the exact model yet) be legal even under NY’s “SAFE act” (strike 3)
Therefore, since this shooting had nothing to do with any of the issues Shannon’s group of uninformed harpies like to talk about, it seems only logical that her statement that they want to “end it, once and for all” must mean that they are advocating a complete ban on civilian ownership of firearms. If so, just be honest & come out and say it.
So…. which “illegal guns” were used? I just lost my appetite.
By the way, confirmed the shooter was on Ambien, which is supposed to be for insomnia. It is not an SSRI, is in the sedative/hypnotic category. One side effect, oddly, is “lost of sleep”. Others include excessive crying, mood swings, impaired thinking, bizarre thinking, and “sleep-eating”. A case mention is sleep-eating of buttered cigarettes and eggs – shell and all!
One Ambien prescribee was Robert Stewart, 45, who shot up the Pineland Health and Rehab nursing home in Carthage, NC, killing 8 and wounding 2. His original target was his wife, who worked there, but she successfully hid and was not injured.
Shouldn’t we, at this point, simply make a list of mass murderers who were NOT taking some form of heavy duty prescription medication? And then see who on that list didn’t have a brain tumor.
How do you propose to find out that they were not? Seeing as I do not believe you are stupid, this is a very odd question.
“…killers with illegal guns…” I didn’t know that a .45 handgun was illegal in Texas. Did anyone else here know that?
March 12 Fort Hood job posting seeks “individuals for mass casualty exercise”!!!
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/04/fort-hood-job-posting-seeking.html