Because People Matter Progressive News and Views January / February 2009 Follow the Bullets, Find the Guns How Sacramento City’s ammunition ordinance helps By Amanda Wilcox to treatment are morally right and necessary for true violence prevention. The enforcement of laws that keep It is said that a child in the US is far more likely to firearms out of inappropriate hands is also essential. catch a bullet than to catch the measles. Every year in Laura’s killer had a houseful of illegal weapons. The our country, about 30,000 people die from gun violence Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence believes that and over 70,000 people are injured dangerous weapons should be kept by gunfire. Drive-by shootings and Last year, Sacramento out of dangerous hands. There are firearm homicides are becoming City Councilmember classes of people, who, based on common occurrences in the Sacra- past behaviors, are deemed to be at mento area. Have you had enough? Kevin McCarty high risk of committing violent acts Join the Campaign to keep illegal introduced a city with firearms. We have laws that guns off our streets and help curb prohibit these persons—such as the Laura Ligon Wilcox 1981-2001 gun violence in Sacramento. Ask ordinance that tracks dangerously mentally ill, gang mem- Age 19 at the time of her death. Sheriff McGinness and the Sacra- ammunition sales. bers, violent felons, or wife batter- photo courtesy Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence mento County Board of Supervisors ers—from purchasing or possessing to adopt an ammunition ordinance firearms or ammunition. We have regularly uses the ammunition log information in the that will save lives. laws, such as the Brady Background Check, that regulate investigation of gun crime. My family has been personally touched by gun vio- the transfer of weapons and provide the means for keep- After eight months of data (Jan 2008—Sept 2008), the lence. In 2001, my only daughter, Laura, was murdered ing guns out of dangerous hands. The City of Sacramento results are astounding. The Sacramento Police Depart- while home on winter break from college. Laura was and the State of California are leaders in adopting such ment reports that 117 prohibited people purchased filling in as a receptionist at a Behavioral Health clinic in laws, which need to be expanded to other jurisdictions ammunition. Of these prohibited people, 80% had felony Nevada County, when without warning, a patient suffer- or states. convictions and 6 were gang members. 67% of the illegal ing from severe paranoid schizophrenia opened fire with Last year, Sacramento City Council Member Kevin ammunition purchased was primarily ammunition used a semiautomatic handgun and shot Laura four times at McCarty introduced a city ordinance that tracks ammu- in handguns. It is important to note that handguns are point blank range. Laura was killed instantly. When the nition sales in order to deter and detect ammunition the weapons of choice for criminals. shooting rampage at the clinic and at a nearby restaurant purchases by criminals, gang members, and other unlaw- As a result of the information from the ammunition ended, three people lay dead, three were severely injured, ful purchasers. The ordinance requires gun dealers to logs, the Sacramento Police Department was able to a community was shaken, and the world was diminished maintain a log of ammunitions sales, including identify- execute 28 search warrants and recover 56 illegal fire- by the loss of an incredible young woman. ing information about the purchaser. The Sacramento arms, 800+ rounds of illegal ammunition, and 3 stolen The circumstances surrounding Laura’s death dramati- Police Department cross-checks these logs with the firearms. Arrests, felony charges and convictions have cally highlight the tragic intersection of untreated severe existing state database of prohibited persons and can taken place. The Sacramento Police Department reports mental illness and inappropriate access to firearms. determine who is illegally buying ammo and may be that “the ordinance and the enforcement program which Certainly, improved mental health care and better access illegally armed. Furthermore, the Police Department see Ammunition, page 6 The Elephant in the Room Even before the invasions of War and the economy Afghanistan and Iraq, the US was an elephant in the room spending as much on its military No country in the history By Bill Durston which few people seem to as the next ten militarized of the world, from Ancient notice or talk about. War is Greece to the former Soviet he National Bureau of Economic Research the gigantic pachyderm that countries of the world combined. Union, has been able to declared in December, 2008 that the US economy most pundits overlook in consistently devote massive is officially in the throes of a recession, with the the middle of our country’s economic mess. And almost human and financial resources toward war and prepara- Tnation’s gross domestic product having declined for the no one in a position of power is suggesting, as a solution tion for war without collapsing from within. It would past two quarters. The recession has economic experts to the current economic crisis, that we stop wasting vast be foolhardy to believe that the United States can be any and political leaders, including President Obama and his human and financial resources on war and preparation exception to this rule. As the 1987 United Nations con- newly assembled economic team, scratching their heads for war, and that we instead redirect these resources ference on Disarmament and Development concluded: and trying to figure out how we got into this mess—and toward more constructive uses. see Economy, page 14 how we can get out of it. We’ve spent over $800 billion already on the military A number of factors have been cited as contributing invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. to the economic downturn, including the sub-prime Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates mortgage debacle, the burst of the housing bubble, the that long-term costs will approach $3 trillion. But even deregulation of the financial industry, increasing energy before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the US was costs, and tight credit markets. The solution to the eco- spending as much on its military as the next ten milita- Inside this issue: nomic crisis, we have been told, is to spend trillions of rized countries of the world combined. Editorial .................................................... 2 dollars to bail out Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, When President Dwight Eisenhower stepped down AIG, the auto industry, and other corporate interests after his second term as President in 1960, he warned: Rick Nadeau Dies ...................................... 3 fortunate enough to be considered by those controlling “…we must guard against the acquisition of unwar- Soapbox Needs Your Help ......................... 3 the government purse strings as essential to an economic ranted influence…by the military-industrial complex. SB840: We Will Be Back .......................... 4 recovery. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power But during press conferences and Congressional hear- exists and will persist.” What Will Happen to Big Media? ............ 4 ings concerning the country’s economic woes, there is Few would disagree that America needs a strong Conscientious Objectors ........................... 5 defense, but conventional Dorothea Lange Exhibit ............................ 5 military force is not effective in combating Foreclosures ............................................... 6 terrorism. And when we KKK in Sacramento .................................. 7 spend as much on our West Coast Eco-Socialism ......................... 7 own military as the next ten militarized countries The American Worker ............................... 7 of the world combined, Proposition 8 Resistance ........................8-9 we cannot construe this Proposition 11 ......................................... 10 as “defense spending.” The vast sums of money Nuclear Threats ...................................... 10 being wasted on war and August Peace Event ................................ 10 preparation for war rep- Declaration of Human Rights ................. 11 resent war profiteering, enabled by “the disas- Who Owns Black History Month ........... 11 trous rise of misplaced Reporting Live from the West Bank ...12-13 Your tax dollars at work: a view of the American Embassy in power” by the military- Book Review: Much Too Promised Land 14 Iraq, originally estimated at $1 billion, just one of many sink- industrial complex that holes into which our money is disappearing. President Eisenhower Calendar .................................................. 15 photo: MSNBC warned us about. Progressive Media ................................... 16 2 Because People Matter January / February 2009 www.bpmnews.org because Editorial Page People Matter Volume 18, Number 1 Jacqueline Diaz Coordinating Editor for this issue Published Bi-Monthly by the Sacramento Community for Peace & Justice P.O. Box 162998, Sacramento, CA 95816 Looking Back to Move Forward (Use addresses below for correspondence) Editorial Group: Jacqueline Painful but necessary security policy basis for the range of counter- and Diaz, JoAnn Fuller, Jeanie United States, and International Law have been anti-terrorism measures taken by the Adminis- Keltner by Jeanie Keltner ignored or ridiculed. If we are to have Justice, tration in addressing