#nogunviolence

[libraryjournal]

BKLYN Library on Twitter

“Today students and teachers across the country say #ENOUGH. In solidarity, 17 desks stand empty in our Central Library's lobby to honor the students and educators who lost their lives in Parkland. #NationalWalkoutDay”

How is your library comemmorating #NationalWalkoutDay?

[raygun631]

Stop the Gun Violence!

[scy-chicago]

The Joyce Foundation & 25 Years of Gun Violence Prevention Research Grant Making

This week’s blog is written by Dion McGill, SCY Communications and Community Outreach Manager.

For you loyal readers, you’ll recall that a few weeks back, I wrote about the Joyce Foundation and a recent study they did, in which they reached out to experts and academic researchers in the fields of violence prevention, public health, and crime policy, to get their takes on the “best evidence-informed ideas about how the federal government can reduce gun violence.”  If you missed that post, go here to read it.  

However, if you’re familiar with the gun violence prevention landscape, then you certainly wasn’t surprised by that study.  In fact, The Joyce Foundation has been funding research on gun violence prevention for 25 years. 

To quote the Joyce Foundation’s About Us page:

The Joyce Foundation is a nonpartisan private foundation that invests in public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.

We support policy research, development, and advocacy in five areas: Education & Economic Mobility, Environment, Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform, Democracy, and Culture. Joyce focuses its grant making in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and partners with funders to explore promising policy solutions in other states or at the federal level.

The Joyce Foundation has budgeted 2018 charitable distributions of $50 million on assets of approximately $1 billion.

The Joyce Foundation was established in 1948, and in 1993, launched their Gun Violence Program, which has gone on to be known as the Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform Program. Since 1993, the Joyce Foundation’s support for gun violence prevention research has been a “consistent through-line in their program’s grant making strategy,”  and represents about one-third of their total spending. 

Recently, the foundation released a report that highlights the impact of their $32 million investment in gun violence prevention research.  As the Joyce Foundation said in a recent news release,

During a time when few other private funders invested and federal funding was nearly non-existent, Joyce’s support has helped produce some of the most seminal research findings on gun violence prevention, building and sustaining the field.

We encourage you to go on over and check out the report.  We are appreciative to the Joyce Foundation for the work they have done, and continue to do.  If you work in the philanthropic sector, this report is a roadmap for how you can invest your money to build on what we already know, and “enhance our shared commitment to public health and safety.” 

[mygirlshirt]

This notice was posted at the entry to Sprouts. Too bad this doesn’t reflect the national sentiment as a whole, but maybe the tide will turn. #nogunviolence #justsayno #lovenothate #waronguns #senselessviolence #letsworktogether #runnotguns (at Sprouts Farmers Market) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByeMfIMg0Sp/?igshid=1346jc72tu0an

[scy-chicago]

Everyone Is Talking About Fix The FOID!!!

This week’s blog is written by Dion McGill, SCY Communications and Community Outreach Manager. Dion is currently blocked by the National Spokesperson of the NRA on Twitter.

This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of venturing down to Springfield, Illinois to the Capitol Building for Advocacy Day. A large contingent of concerned citizens ventured down to talk with their elected officials on the Fix The FOID Act, which is currently winding it’s way through the state legislature.   I wrote about the Fix The FOID Act 2 weeks ago, but I encourage a visit to that article to get all of the background on the bill.  

First things first...if you’ve never been to Springfield for an Advocacy Day, I encourage you to do so post haste. I definitely feel it is invaluable to see how your government actually works, and to get your hands dirty being a part of it. Additionally, I also feel it is imperative that constituents meet their elected representatives and government officials. As I’ve always told my students,

“It’s a general trait of the human condition that we tend to treat people we know better than strangers...would you all agree? Alright then, so don’t you want your elected officials to know who you are? To see your face? Shake your hand? Hear out of your mouth your concerns and worries?”

This is also why whenever i work with groups on issues of advocacy, activism, or political science (I’ve taught all 3 subjects in public school classrooms) my first question is always, “How many of you have actually met your alderman?” Often times, that question is met with “What’s an alderman?”...and yes, we’re off to the races. 

So I ask you, dear reader, have you met your alderman? Mine was sworn into office 4 days ago, and yes, I’ve already met her.   Yet I digress, it is always amazing to get down to Springfield and actually see all of these people that you usually only see on TV in passing or read about.  

And since my last posting, discussion has picked up about the Fix The FOID Act. Notably, The Chicago Tribune recently did an excellent investigative article on the Fix The FOID Act and why we need the passage of this bill to happen. 

Members of Vicente Juarez's family with a portrait of Juarez at their home Wednesday, May 22, 2019, in Oswego. Juarez was one of five people fatally shot Feb. 15 at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora by a co-worker whose FOID card had been revoked. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) 

More than 34,000 Illinoisans have lost their right to own a gun. Nearly 80% may still be armed.

I encourage you to read that article from top to bottom. Here are a few things that jumped out at me: 

Before the Tribune finished its analysis, gun rights advocates predicted it would be a waste of time, insisting most people had their cards revoked simply because they moved out of state. In reality, less than 4% — or 1,332 of 34,221— lost their FOIDs for that reason.

Domestic violence-related infractions are the most common reason for a resident’s card to be revoked, followed by mental health concerns and felony convictions.

Of 157 Cook County residents who committed suicide with firearms in 2018, nine had revoked FOID cards.

Chicago accounts for about half of the 10,382 revocations in Cook County. Orland Park and Schaumburg are second and third in the county with 151 and 145 revocations each.

Among towns with more than 10,000 adults, Mount Vernon, Kankakee, Marion and Plainfield had the highest non-compliance rates in the state.

Allow me to also take a moment to thank the Chicago Tribune for such an in-depth and well researched article on this issue. 

There are already FOID compliance teams across the state that do the work to make sure revoked cardholders relinquish their weapons, and they overwhelmingly support the bill, as does Tom Dart, because it would increase funding for revocation teams statewide. 

It’s not too late to take action to show your support for Senate Bill 1966, Amendment 1. As a reminder, SB 1966, Amendment 1 is an important gun violence prevention bill that: 

Requires a background check for all gun sales (including those by a private seller) 

 Requires FOID applicants to submit fingerprints as part of their application 

 Mandates action by State Police to remove guns once a FOID card is revoked 

 Reduces the FOID card duration from 10 years to 5 years 

Strengthens the concealed carry license process

Please call or write your legislator NOW! Find your legislator here or text ACTNOW to 77948 to be sent a direct link to call your state legislators. Let them know you support SB1966, Amendment 1!

Thank you all, and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

[imherprettyboy]

I feel like we need to look at this is another perspective, yes I get that if the government didn’t put guns out onto the streets school shootings, and other criminal acts committed with guns wouldn’t happen, but we need to look at the things that are going on inside of the schools, “bullying”. Yes, I understand that getting bullied is no excuse for murdering people, but our generation doesn’t understand that what we do or say can really mess someone up. We’ve been trying to stop bullying for years and still it goes on, I feel schools should talk about it a lot more, because I know for a fact that once you get to high school, they expect you to be able to handle yourself, but I also feel that we should be able to control our actions toward another person. Maybe if we would stop being judgemental assholes, actually talk to a person and get to know them, things like this could be prevented. We could prevent a lot by being a friend, being nice. We’re a very fragile/thin skinned generation & I feel we need to stick together at times like these. 👁🗨

[diegooceanfive]

“SAVE LIVES Sound track by : Childish Gambino -This is America” …

[gemforfun]

Play nice, No Gun Violence by Rylverine