Washington CeaseFire Remembers Victims of Gun Violence

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It would be so tempting to go to this, packing of course. We've been touched by gun violence - it's the excuse they use to take our rights!

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Washington CeaseFire Remembers Victims of Gun Violence With 16th Annual Day of Remembrance
Last update: 2:58 p.m. EDT Oct. 24, 2008

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SEATTLE, WA, Oct 24, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) --

What:    The 16th annual Day of Remembrance to honor the people who
have been lost to gun violence and the survivors who take a
stand against gun violence in their memory.
When:    Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.
Where:   North end tennis courts at Green Lake Park. The courts are
adjacent to the clubhouse nearest the swimming pool and softball
fields.
Who:     Washington CeaseFire members and volunteers, parents, children,
survivors, community leaders and concerned citizens.
Greg Nickels, Mayor of Seattle, will be in attendance and will
speak briefly.
Details: During the previous fifteen years, hundreds of families have
joined as one community to plant daffodils as a lasting memorial
to those who have lost their lives to gun violence and to help
raise awareness of the impact of gun violence in our
neighborhoods. More than 30,000 bulbs have been planted since
the first Day of Remembrance in 1992. Every day here in
Washington we lose nearly two people to gun violence.  This
event marks a time of remembrance for families and friends
that have lost loved ones to gun-related suicide, homicide or
unintentional shootings.

All people interested in this cause or who have been touched by gun violence are invited to attend. Bulbs and tools will be provided on site. About Washington CeaseFire Washington CeaseFire ( http://www.washingtonceasefire.org) is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to reducing gun violence in Washington State through education, research and advocacy. Formed in 1983 by a group of citizens directly affected by gun violence, CeaseFire has grown to more than 6,000 members across the state.

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WCF Media Contact:
Kristen Comer
Executive Director
Email Contact
Tel: 206.322.1236[/quote]

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Sunday will be a very nice day for a walk around the lake.

I'll be the tall guy with the XD-45

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We pretty much have to be there. To stand up to Ceasefire and to stand up to Nickels.

Anybody remember the old Tyranny Response Team?

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Anyone else find the odd statistic "nearly two people" to be funny? Seems to me that it would be pretty easy to know if it was two or not.

Every day here in Washington we lose nearly two people to gun violence.

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Isnt zero and one also "nearly" two ? If they use that wording, the its pretty easy to cut that static in half and still be close. Even at that, how many where violent criminals, or gang related deaths?

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This sounds like the perfect opportunity to meet in defiance of the mayor and his bad ideas, at a city park no less.

Having been the victim of crime and having a family member commit suicide with a gun, I am actually all for ending gun violence, so I guess I would be supporting part of Ceasefires cause. The difference of course is that I don't believe disarming law abiding citizens is the way to do it. Maybe I'll make a sign that says something like "Stop gun violence now, enforce the laws we already have" on one side and "Stop armed assault, Shoot back!" on the other.


Anyone one up for a peaceful excercise of 1A right to assemble and 2A right to bear arms?

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911 you read my mind. Why can't we all stand together?

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Triple Tap wrote:

Isnt zero and one also "nearly" two ? If they use that wording, the its pretty easy to cut that static in half and still be close. Even at that, how many where violent criminals, or gang related deaths?

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The "nearly two" figure comes from 539 firearms deaths in 2006 (according to ceasefire website), averaged out that is 1.4767... a day, general rules of rounding numbers would make it closer to one than two, but that is splitting hairs.

What surprise me is that in 2006 Washington had 647 traffic related deaths, that is even "nearer" to 2 deaths a day, and more than 20% greater casualty rate than firearms, yet no one is doing anything to get rid of cars...:what:

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Just had 5 signs made at Fedex Kinkos.

Guns Save Lives on one side,

Gun Control is Tyranny on the other.

11x17 inches, thick stock paper, less than $3 for the 5.

I took them a CD with a .doc burned onto it, so it was all pre-formatted for them. Took about 5 minutes for them to print.

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Gah!

And I'm gonna be out of town.



Keep the voice recorders and the cameras rolling and let us all know how it goes!

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I think that we should all get behind the basic idea of Ceasefire... that is to stop gun violence. There is no reason that there should be any dividing line on this issue which would normally separate us into the pro-gun/anti-gun groups. If I weren't on the east side of the state I would show up in support to end gun violence, and I think that education is one of the best ways. Again, I hope that a lot of you west siders are able to make it to this event to OC in support of an end to the only real argument the anti-gunners have on us... that criminals use guns too. We are not criminals so they should welcome our support of their cause.

(If only the world actually worked this way, Hopefully you guys do show for the event to prove that we are good guys too).

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Shy_Panda wrote:

I think that we should all get behind the basic idea of Ceasefire... that is to stop gun violence. There is no reason that there should be any dividing line on this issue which would normally separate us into the pro-gun/anti-gun groups. If I weren't on the east side of the state I would show up in support to end gun violence, and I think that education is one of the best ways. Again, I hope that a lot of you west siders are able to make it to this event to OC in support of an end to the only real argument the anti-gunners have on us... that criminals use guns too. We are not criminals so they should welcome our support of their cause.

(If only the world actually worked this way, Hopefully you guys do show for the event to prove that we are good guys too).

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You misunderstand their thinking. They think guns are what cause gun violence not people. So by their illogical thinking the precedences of guns causes violence. Don't confuse them with the facts, they already made up their minds.

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I don't think I can make it, but it would be totally awesome to go.

I think my side wouldsay "End Gun Violence" on one side and "Gun Laws Kill" on the other.

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So did anybody go to this?

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Pics from the event
Gene Beasley and I attended. I OCing.

Before the show got started, a friendly lady from their group came up and introduced herself, and we reciprocated. She asked us to sign their roster (Right!) which we never did.

The mayor was late, notwithstanding the fact that his driver parked the mayoral car in a no parking zone in order to be closer to the event (see pics.) The mayor was driven/guarded by who we assumed to be a Seattle Police officer, in plain clothes. This driver/guard gave me the once over from a distance and was clearly keeping track of us during the event, although he really didn't move from one spot.

A couple of people from CeaseFire spoke about the purpose of the event. Apparently they've been planting daffodils in that spot since about 2000, in memory of those "lost to gun violence." Their thrust as far as politics goes this year is preventing gun access to the mentally ill.

The mayor spoke, mentioning a bunch of shootings in the past (Jewish Center, V-Tech, Skagit County, etc.) where mental health was apparently a factor. He also mentioned the recent Folklife Festival shooting, although conspicuously absent was any mention of his campaign to ban guns from Seattle property. He also mentioned Heller, and conceded that individuals do have the right to own guns. He emphasized that he didn't want to take anyone's guns away, and then repeated the threadbare "reasonable regulations" argument.

Then the planting began. KIRO sent their man with a camera.

I brought my signs previously mentioned. We didn't display them. It was just us two. It seemed clear to me that even though there was a little politicking involved, these people were mostly there to plant flowers. Once this was clear, we shifted to intelligence gathering mode and just observed and recorded. If there had been more of us there (hint) I think we could have made a good showing with the signs probably including some face time on KIRO.

Gene videoed the proceedings. Hopefully he will post to YouTube and that record will fill in any blanks or correct any errors in my account.

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Wow, doesn't look they had much of a turnout. I went to a Halloween party last night and totally forgot about this. Certainly wouldn't have been hard to equal their numbers with a little more notice and planning.

As far as the parking issue - rules don't apply to those in power.

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First night back on night shift - I feel like the walking dead. Anyway, just found out that my camera saves to .mov format which I can't edit, so this is the raw video.

[flash=320,256]http://www.youtube.com/v/cG6Dol2hDlQ&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=18[/flash]

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911Boss wrote:

As far as the parking issue - rules don't apply to those in power.

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We were also thinking that the driver is perhaps an SPD officer, similar to WSP trooper that serves as the Governor's driver. I would think that that is suck duty on both counts. Dean noticed emergency lights behind the SUV grill.

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Yes, the mayor's security detail is, in fact, provided by the SPD.

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Wow, Ceasefire's website has a pie chart comparing deaths from AIDS to deaths from firearms. Talk about apples and oranges.