TatankaGap
Regular Member
imported post
Now they're pressuring Panama Red Coffee in Vallejo, my fav Brady doublespeak quote is: "We are not a party group," she said. "And we're not saying we want to do away with people's Second Amendment rights. But we are serious about stopping the tidal wave of gun violence sweeping the country, so people can live safer lives."
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_14395898
Spike in Vallejo crime fires up anti-gun group
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen
Ellen Faden displays a banner for the Solano County chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which is tryng to gather support after the recent outbreak of gun violence in Vallejo. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald)
The head of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's local chapter said Friday she is stepping up efforts to build membership in the wake of a recent Vallejo crime wave.Ellen Faden of Vallejo said her group is stepping up the frequency of its meetings and working to grow membership, which now stands at about a dozen.
And members plan to accompany those of other chapters to Sacramento next week to lobby legislators on gun control issues, Faden said.
"We need to strengthen our chapter," Faden said. "This is directly related to someone walking up to an ice cream lady and shooting her in the chest. People are shot here. A psychologist was shot here a few years ago. A ninth-grade student was shot walking home.
"There are killers living among us in this town. How much more is it going to take before we do something?" she said.
Longtime Vallejo psychologist Ira Polonsky, 64, was shot and killed in his Capitol Street office building in 2005. Fifteen-year-old Emmanuel Hernandez was shot and killed near Vallejo High School early last year.
Having grown up in an "unpleasant" home situation that included firearms, Faden, a 50-something mother of two, said she was searching for ways to make a difference. When she discovered the Brady Campaign had no Solano Chapter, she decided to start one.
"I was familiar with the campaign since James Brady was shot, and I wanted to do something that was meaningful to me," she said.
Brady, White House Press Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, was shot and permanently disabled in 1981 during an assassination attempt on the president. Brady and his wife, Sarah, became ardent gun control advocates as a result.
According to its Web site, the Brady Campaign and the associated Brady Center, seek to "make it harder for convicted felons, the dangerously mentally ill, and others like them to get guns in the first place."
They work toward that end by working to get federal and state laws passed like those requiring criminal background checks on all gun sales, banning military-style assault weapons and strengthening law enforcement's efforts to stop the illegal gun market, the site notes.
Most recently, the California chapters have been engaged in a battle of wills with the owners of some coffee houses and restaurants -- most notably Starbucks -- over the group's desire that the retailers ban people coming in with firearms openly displayed, California Brady Campaign chapter services coordinator Karen Arntzen said.
"Peet's Coffee (& Tea) and California Pizza Kitchen have agreed to ban lethal weapons on their private property, but Starbucks said they'll go by state and local ordinance, and we think that's a cop out," Arntzen said. "And the manager of Panama Red coffee house in Livermore says he won't make such a policy."
Panama Red workers in the Livermore and Vallejo locations said they don't know if there's a companywide policy on the so-called Unloaded Open Carry issue. A worker at the Vallejo Panama Red said she was unfamiliar with the controversy and doesn't know if her store has a customer policy about guns.
Faden said she's met too many people who have lost loved ones to gun violence, and her group addresses the issues head on.
"We are not a party group," she said. "And we're not saying we want to do away with people's Second Amendment rights. But we are serious about stopping the tidal wave of gun violence sweeping the country, so people can live safer lives."
For information on the Brady organization, call (925) 381-7814, or visit http://health.groups.yahoo.com /group/solanocountybrady/.
Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or rzrihen@timesheraldonline.com.
Now they're pressuring Panama Red Coffee in Vallejo, my fav Brady doublespeak quote is: "We are not a party group," she said. "And we're not saying we want to do away with people's Second Amendment rights. But we are serious about stopping the tidal wave of gun violence sweeping the country, so people can live safer lives."
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_14395898
Spike in Vallejo crime fires up anti-gun group
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen
Ellen Faden displays a banner for the Solano County chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which is tryng to gather support after the recent outbreak of gun violence in Vallejo. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald) The head of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's local chapter said Friday she is stepping up efforts to build membership in the wake of a recent Vallejo crime wave.Ellen Faden of Vallejo said her group is stepping up the frequency of its meetings and working to grow membership, which now stands at about a dozen.
And members plan to accompany those of other chapters to Sacramento next week to lobby legislators on gun control issues, Faden said.
"We need to strengthen our chapter," Faden said. "This is directly related to someone walking up to an ice cream lady and shooting her in the chest. People are shot here. A psychologist was shot here a few years ago. A ninth-grade student was shot walking home.
"There are killers living among us in this town. How much more is it going to take before we do something?" she said.
Longtime Vallejo psychologist Ira Polonsky, 64, was shot and killed in his Capitol Street office building in 2005. Fifteen-year-old Emmanuel Hernandez was shot and killed near Vallejo High School early last year.
Having grown up in an "unpleasant" home situation that included firearms, Faden, a 50-something mother of two, said she was searching for ways to make a difference. When she discovered the Brady Campaign had no Solano Chapter, she decided to start one.
"I was familiar with the campaign since James Brady was shot, and I wanted to do something that was meaningful to me," she said.
Brady, White House Press Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, was shot and permanently disabled in 1981 during an assassination attempt on the president. Brady and his wife, Sarah, became ardent gun control advocates as a result.
According to its Web site, the Brady Campaign and the associated Brady Center, seek to "make it harder for convicted felons, the dangerously mentally ill, and others like them to get guns in the first place."
They work toward that end by working to get federal and state laws passed like those requiring criminal background checks on all gun sales, banning military-style assault weapons and strengthening law enforcement's efforts to stop the illegal gun market, the site notes.
Most recently, the California chapters have been engaged in a battle of wills with the owners of some coffee houses and restaurants -- most notably Starbucks -- over the group's desire that the retailers ban people coming in with firearms openly displayed, California Brady Campaign chapter services coordinator Karen Arntzen said.
"Peet's Coffee (& Tea) and California Pizza Kitchen have agreed to ban lethal weapons on their private property, but Starbucks said they'll go by state and local ordinance, and we think that's a cop out," Arntzen said. "And the manager of Panama Red coffee house in Livermore says he won't make such a policy."
Panama Red workers in the Livermore and Vallejo locations said they don't know if there's a companywide policy on the so-called Unloaded Open Carry issue. A worker at the Vallejo Panama Red said she was unfamiliar with the controversy and doesn't know if her store has a customer policy about guns.
Faden said she's met too many people who have lost loved ones to gun violence, and her group addresses the issues head on.
"We are not a party group," she said. "And we're not saying we want to do away with people's Second Amendment rights. But we are serious about stopping the tidal wave of gun violence sweeping the country, so people can live safer lives."
For information on the Brady organization, call (925) 381-7814, or visit http://health.groups.yahoo.com /group/solanocountybrady/.
Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or rzrihen@timesheraldonline.com.
