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World's mayors united in appeal to curb spread of firearms

holeinhead

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:? http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011810446_peirce09.html


World's mayors united in appeal to curb spread of firearms
International law could be used to curb the torrent of U.S.-made pistols, rifles and assault weapons now fueling the bloody Mexican drug wars and being trafficked globally, writes columnist Neal Peirce. The idea surfaced among mayors from around the world who gathered recently in Chicago.

Syndicated columnist

CHICAGO — Could international law be used to curb the torrent of U.S.-made pistols, rifles and assault weapons now fueling the bloody Mexican drug wars and being trafficked globally?

The idea surfaced among 100 mayors and other municipal officials from around the world gathered here for a two-day Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum (named after the current Mayor Richard M. Daley's legendary father).

The message he'd heard from the international mayors, Daley said after the meetings, was: "We're tired of your guns, America. ... Why are you shipping your guns to our country? Why are you marketing guns today ... not with hunting, but guns that are supposed to kill people? ... Why are you doing this to Africa, the Caribbean, Mexico, the rest of the world?"

The "extremely violent" Mexican drug gangs, Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon reported, are getting 85 percent of their weaponry from transfers across the U.S. border.

Ebrard joined Daley, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman and others in pressing for a resolution, approved by the mayors, to "seek redress against the gun industry through the courts of the world — including local, state and federal courts, and international courts — for damages caused to our countries, cities and communities by global trafficking of illegal guns."

Daley, a long-standing leader among U.S. mayors in seeking tough gun regulations and holding gunmakers responsible for the deadly impact of their products, faces the grim reality that the U.S. Supreme Court may soon strike down Chicago's own ban on handguns and assault weapons — even as Chicago's gun-driven murder rate has spiked.

But Philadelphia's Nutter is equally fervid on the issue. "People are being killed every day with illegal weapons," he said, suggesting "I love the Second Amendment. But I have a First Amendment right not to be shot." No other U.S. industry, Nutter added, has the legal protections against the impact of its products that the gun industry enjoys — protections that culminated with Congress passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (heavily lobbied by the National Rifle Association) in 2005.
"Politicians are so deadly afraid of the NRA that they can't make the right decisions for their constituents," Nutter alleged. So an appeal to the World Court, he acknowledged, might be a longshot but "worth trying."

The gun issue is all the more vital, the mayors' resolution noted, because of the increase in youth violence worldwide and the role of illegal guns in strengthening international criminal organizations that also deal in "other contraband, including humans."

The mayors' outspokenness on guns may be part of a new global pattern. "Both national governments and journalists should get used to mayors having strong positions and expressing them," said Mayor Bertrand Delanoe of Paris. Mostly, when world mayors have met in the past they have passed mildly progressive policy resolutions and focused more on exchanging accounts and ideas about processes and "best practices" being tried in their own cities.

But the right moment for mayors and city governments to rise as global policy players may have arrived. The world's population has turned majority urban. National governments, faced with fiscal and administrative crises, are pressed to decentralize powers. Mayors around the world are in increasing personal contact with each other. Rising numbers of city delegations, business and public, are matching ideas and strategies on worldwide visits.

As opposed to nations' political wars, cities' agendas tend to be overwhelmingly practical, not ideological — one recalls the legendary New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's observation: "There is no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the streets."

Could we have a worldwide urban voice taking that practical approach about restraining guns, or acting on carbon issues before cities are either flooded or victimized by extreme heat?

Let's hope.

Neal Peirce's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is nrp@citistates.com
 

Batousaii

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So.. Basically this guy is not really a reporter, but a propagandist, and is still trying to use the figures that have been repeatedly proven false.

- I also like the part where he says "I love the Second Amendment. But I have a First Amendment right not to be shot." - How exactly does that work ?? - Sounds like he really doesnt know what a Preamble is, or a bill of rights, or a constitution. If these guys cannot hold true the original values of the Unites States, then they should not be in office - period.

:dude:Bat
 

Washintonian_For_Liberty

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Batousaii wrote:
So.. Basically this guy is not really a reporter, but a propagandist, and is still trying to use the figures that have been repeatedly proven false.

- I also like the part where he says "I love the Second Amendment. But I have a First Amendment right not to be shot." - How exactly does that work ?? - Sounds like he really doesnt know what a Preamble is, or a bill of rights, or a constitution. If these guys cannot hold true the original values of the Unites States, then they should not be in office - period.

:dude:Bat
Until you understand their goal and their lust for power, you won't be able to understand how they could continue to use data that has been proven false time and time again. Most people who have gone through the "Public" Education system have been sufficiently dumbed down to be easily tricked with anti-gun propaganda.

These people all believe we are a democracy.... and in a sense... they are right.... because the bulk of the people have been convinced that we are a democracy... and who but a demagogue can take complete control in a democracy.... we are dealing with despots who use their constituents ignorance to rule them with an iron fist.

Just think of all the NON-VIOLENT crimes that police are allowed to use violence and force against you to apprehend you. Think of all the victimless crimes that are putting non-violent offenders in jail.

Despotism is here... it is just a softer form of it... but it is here and we will NEVER get rid of the despots unless we can get rid of all the bureaucracies they inhabit such as the FBI, FDA, FCC, BATFE, DEA, EPA, Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health & Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice and CPS just to name a few.... if we cannot get rid of these havens for despots... then its only a matter of time before they can justify taking any right from us they deem necessary for the greater good.
 

kparker

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So.. Basically this guy is not really a reporter, but a propagandist,

Well, yeah, it says so right there on the label:

Neal Peirce's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times.

That's not a claim to be a reporter, at least not the way I read it.
 
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