“I don’t think there’s a more important voice in the fight to end gun violence than those who have been impacted.”
2022, advocates say, is a result of their groundwork, encapsulated in an anecdote Murphy conveyed to an audience at the Center for American Progress last Wednesday. When his two lead Republican negotiators on the legislation went to share progress with their GOP colleagues, they were met with resistance — but not the sort of resistance Murphy had anticipated. “One senator stands up and says, ‘Why are you going to force us to vote on this?’” Murphy recalled.
Barden and Hockley retreated from politics as their primary pursuit. Sandy Hook Promise, the nonprofit they founded, pivoted its attention from passing stricter gun laws to training young people how to recognize the signs of someone who might be a risk to themselves and others. Other-minded activists set out to change the politics of the issue.
But “moving in lockstep” didn’t happen right after Sandy Hook. Largely absent from policy conversations was how to address the everyday gun violence that had ravaged Black and Brown communities for decades. “You have to be the perfect victim for people to care,” Marquez-Greene says. “What elevated Newtown? They were the perfect victims. They were children and teachers in a quaint white town in Connecticut.
The NRA wasn’t at the table as the 2022 legislation came together — but the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents the interests of gun sellers and manufacturers, was. The influence of those groups is still visible at the state level, where 25 GOP-controlled states have passed bills to allow for concealed carry of firearms without a permit.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Up Close: Crime, controversial bail reform, gun violence on 10th anniversary of Sandy Hook shootingUp Close: Manhattan Attorney General Alvin Bragg discusses the progress the city has made on crime and bail reform, as well as what needs to be worked on.
Read more »
Before and after Sandy Hook: 40 years of elementary school shooting survivorsOn the 10th anniversary of the massacre in Newtown, Conn., four survivors of elementary school shootings, ages 52 to 10, talk about what it’s done to them
Read more »
After Club Q, We Must Build a Movement for Queer and Trans LiberationThe Club Q shooting is part of a wave of fascist violence. Now’s the time for a mass movement for LGBTQ liberation.
Read more »
How a development fight in this East Bay city spurred a national pro-housing movementAfter a decade of legal and political wrangling, the fight over an East Bay apartment project that jumpstarted a national pro-housing movement may finally be coming to a close.
Read more »
New Jersey overhauled its bail system under Christie. Now some Democrats want to roll it back.Eight years ago, New Jersey became among the first in the nation to effectively eliminate cash bail. Now, some of the state’s most powerful Democrats want to roll back those changes amid rising crime and political lessons from neighboring New York.
Read more »