Friday, June 16, 2017

Feel Good Friday - Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (#3)

If you are a regular follower of Feel Good Friday, you know I like to avoid repeats. Sure, I talk about AAA Tipsy Tow every New Year's Eve but otherwise my feeling is there are enough good programs and organizations in the world that every week should be a new story.

However, with the multiple mass shootings in the United States this week, I'm going to post about the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence for the THIRD time.

Lest you get too discouraged by lack of progress on this issue, you can go to the success stories page on the website to read about some of their legal victories. Most recently, "a federal appeals court struck down an NRA-backed Florida law that prevented doctors from talking to their patients about the risks of guns." '

Please read the original post from October 9, 2015 to find out what the Brady Campaign is all about and how you can get involved in preventing gun violence.

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In the almost 3 years I've been writing these Feel Good Friday posts, there have been a number of mass shootings in the United States, including the most recent at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. So today we're going to focus on an organization with the goal of "cutting gun deaths in half by 2025", Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

You may remember Jim Brady, Assistant to the President. He was shot and paralyzed during an assassination attempt on Ronald Regan in 1981. It wasn't until 1993, the Brady Bill, which required a five-day waiting period and background checks on handgun purchases, was signed into law by President Clinton.

Today the Brady Campaign is "the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence." Their mission, as stated on the website, "is to create a safer America for all of us that will lead to a dramatic reduction in gun deaths and injuries." You can go there to read shocking statistics on gun violence.A few highlights are below:


Every day, 89 people die from gun violence: 
    • 31 are murdered
    • 55 kill themselves
    • 2 are killed unintentionally
    • 1 is killed by police intervention
    • 1 intent unknown.
Every day, an additional 208 people are shot and survive.

In order to reduce these numbers, the Brady Campaign focuses on policy and legal changes, as well as a public awareness campaign. They ensure that all of their programs and efforts have an opportunity for impact, that no one else is doing similar work and that the actions fit into their core values. You can read their full list of solutions here or watch a 16 minute video Pathology of Gun Violence, which explains their strategy in great detail.
Support the work of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence by visiting their take action page, liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @Bradybuzz. Enough is enough.

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