What we’re reading: Week 2

Reporter Jacob Byk in the News21 newsroom in Phoenix, AZ. Photo: News21

By Jessica Boehm

Texas gun groups clash with NRA on armed protests in public spaces (Lisa Maria Garza, 6/02, Reuters) Texas gun rights groups that arrange public carry demonstrations received criticism from the National Rifle Association over carrying rifles and shotguns in public campaigns.

3-D printed guns are useless, according to firearms experts (Dylan Love, 6/02, Business Insider) A firearms expert from the National Ballistics Intelligence Service tested several 3-D printed guns and says that each time he has tried one, it has failed.

Does teaching kids to shoot guns make them safer? (Juju Chang, Nick Capote and Lauren Effron, 5/29, ABC News) Parents and experts weigh in on the potential benefits and drawbacks of teaching children to shoot guns.

Sonic and Chili’s: Leave guns at home (Patrick M. Sheradin, 5/30, CNN Money) After campaigns against guns in restaurants by gun advocacy groups, Sonic and Chili’s become the most recent chains to ask customers not to bring guns into their establishments.

Eye on churches as they decide whether to allow guns (Carly Sharec, 6/03, gainesvilletimes.com) With Georgia’s new gun laws going into effect on July 1, churches must decide whether they will allow guns in their worship halls.

Jessica Boehm is a News21 Hearst Fellow.

Prepper community gathers for expo in Prescott

Over 90 vendors showcase items at the Arizona Survivalist/Prepper Expo. (Photo by Jim Tuttle/News21)

By Jim Tuttle and Alex Lancial

More than 90 vendors at Saturday’s Arizona Survivalist / Prepper Expo in Prescott, Ariz. were offering everything from medical supplies, camping equipment, knives, swords, military tactical gear and bomb shelters.

According to the Expo’s website, the event’s motto is, “We won’t rest until every Arizona Citizen is prepared and ready for any natural, man-made or economic disaster.” In an essay on the site, event organizer Lance Baker describes members of the “prepper” community as living theirs lives “day-to-day” while also “always be(ing) prepared for anything.”

Yavapai County Sheriff Scott Mascher speaks about second amendment rights. (Photo by Jim Tuttle/News21)

Guns and ammunition were not being offered for sale, but many of the vendors were offering gun accessories and several of the speakers focused on the Second Amendment and the importance of an armed populace.

Cope Reynolds, operations manager at Shots Ranch in Arizona, shows a sign that he posted on his gun shop after the 2012 election. (Photo by Jim Tuttle/News21)

Cope Reynolds, who identified himself as the operations manager of a firearms training facility and an Arizona-based militia member, gave a talk titled, “Liberty’s Teeth.” He said every American citizen has the responsibility to carry a gun and be prepared to use it at all times.

Alex Lancial is an Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation News21 Fellow.

Newtown summit trains young people affected by gun violence to become advocates

Students display the names and stories of dozens of gun violence victims to show during the daylong Youth Leadership Summit. (Photo by Sarah Ferris/News21)

By Sarah Ferris

A few years after Ismael Beah moved from his war-torn village in Sierra Leone to New York City, a group of men jumped into his subway train and held their guns in the faces of passengers around him.

As a former child soldier, Beah noticed that the safety switch on the men’s semi-automatic rifles was turned on. They were not in danger.

“This is not the way to live in a civilized society,” said Beah, the author of the international bestseller “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.”

Speaking to more than 100 young people who have been affected by gun violence in communities including Newtown, Conn., Hartford, Conn. and Harlem, N.Y., Beah stressed the importance of educating others through storytelling.

He said most people who opposed stricter gun laws had not experienced gun violence themselves, and if a young person can put his or her face on the issue, it can change the hearts and minds of their opponents.

“We don’t need to wait until everybody has suffered,” Beah said.

Beah spoke May 24 as part of a daylong youth summit on preventing gun violence, hosted by a high school group called Newtown Action Alliance.

Ten-year-old Carmello Roberts, who lives in Hartford, holds up a painting during a workshop led by a Newtown Middle School art teacher. (Photo by Sarah Ferris/News21)

Sessions included grassroots lobbying 101, healing and activism through the arts, and a movie screening and discussion with Virginia Tech survivor and activist Colin Goddard.

Goddard, who works as a full-time gun policy advocate in D.C., stressed that in addition to advocacy, young people must also watch out for friends or classmates they believe could become dangerous.

“You just have to be an ear to them, listen to what they say,” Goddard said, adding that they should also know when to seek help in severe situations.

While working for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Goddard said he once answered a call from a high school student in Bridgeport, Conn. – about a 30 minute-drive from Newtown – who was curious about the Virginia Tech shooting. They spoke for more than a half hour that day, then the calls continued nearly every day over the next week.

As his questions became more focused on the shooter’s methods and the caller’s own troubles at school, Goddard reported him to the police – a call that may have saved his life and those of others.

“A few years ago, we talked again and he’s doing a lot better,” Goddard said.

Goddard is now working for a national coalition called Everytown for Gun Safety.

Sarah Clements, a senior and confounder of the organization, said it was crucial to bring activists from Newtown as well as cities like Hartford and Harlem because gun violence affects every type of community.

“The main purpose of this summit was to bring everybody together. The only way that we can really address the issue is if we come together and share our stories,” Clements said.

“Newtown isn’t alone in this. Harlem isn’t alone in this.”

What we’re reading: Week 1

By Jessica Boehm and Marlena Chertock

Detroit police chief gracing cover of NRA Magazine, defends stance on right to bear arms (5/19, CBS Detroit) After at least five fatal shooting in two months that dealt with home intrusion, the Detroit police chief is featured on the cover of an NRA Magazine voicing his support of the right to bear arms as a method of protecting one’s self.

Smart guns, electromagnetic pulse, and planning for unknown-probability dangers (Eugene Volokh, 5/23, The Washington Post): Volokh discusses the possibility of how an e-bomb (a nonnuclear electromagnetic pulse that renders all electronics useless) could destroy “smart gun” technology.

Kentucky legislature clearing way for more gun permits (Mike Wynn, 5/27, The Kentucky Courier-Journal) After the passing of at least a dozen laws that make it easier to secure a gun permit, Kentucky has seen the number of people with permits quadruple in the past 10 years.

How the NRA rewrote the Second Amendment (Michael Waldman, 5/19, Politico Magazine)
Waldman explains how public sentiment about gun ownership and the Second Amendment has shifted over the course of history with the help of the National Rifle Association.

After attack near campus, California weighs gun bill (Jennifer Medina, 5/28, New York Times) A bill proposed in California days after the mass shooting in Isla Vista aims to allow law enforcement and private citizens to file restraining orders against those with a potential propensity for violence, keeping them from buying and owning guns.

Photographs: A Decade’s Worth of Toy Guns in America (Kristina Loggia, 5/27, New York Magazine): Loggia photographed toy guns from the past decade.

Jessica Boehm is a News21 Hearst Fellow.

Lawsuit will decide future of Colorado gun laws

By Jacy Marmaduke

More than five weeks after a federal judge took the case under advisement, Coloradans are still awaiting a decision in a lawsuit that would overturn the state’s controversial set of gun control measures.

A group of sheriffs, gun shop owners and others filed the lawsuit last year in an effort to overturn legislation that limits magazine capacity to 15 rounds and requires background checks for private and online gun sales. U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger heard the two-week civil trial in April.

The Colorado legislature passed the laws in 2013 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Krieger ruled that the 55 sheriffs who signed on couldn’t sue Colorado in their official capacity, only as private citizens.

At trial, they argued that the laws will harm businesses and were based on emotion rather than evidence. Defendants representing Gov. John Hickenlooper argued the laws, which went into effect in July 2013, would bolster public safety.

The laws set off a historical recall of two senators, and another resigned in the face of a recall election. An April Quinnipac University Poll found that 39 percent of Colorado voters were in favor of the laws, while 56 percent opposed them. In a poll released just a month earlier, support sat at 43 percent and opposition was at 52 percent.

Jacy Marmaduke is a News21 Peter Kiewet Fellow.