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For the presidential "town hall" debate on October 9, ABC and CNN moderators
will ask questions with input from the Internet and have agreed to consider the
Top 30 questions on the Open Debate Coalition's voting platform.
The NRA is asking their members to "help us get the Second Amendment
in the presidential debate" and their question is now #3. Can you vote
for these progressive questions so the candidates debate our issues and
our framing?
- Debt-Free College (question from young person with debt)
- Campaign Finance Reform (a question that goes beyond Citizens United)
- Expand Social Security (question from a mother and son)
- Wall Street Reform/Accountability (question about Dodd-Frank)
- Voting Rights (question promoted by a leading civil rights group)
- Immigration Reform (submitted by 6 year old girl who doesn't want her parents taken away)
- Gun Safety (question from the father of a shooting victim)
The best way to fight a bad guy with an email list...is with a good
guy with an email list. Please forward this to others and fight back
against the NRA.
Help Us Get the Second Amendment in the
Presidential Debate.
Have you ever wanted to personally address the
candidates during a presidential debate? Find yourself yelling questions at the
moderators through your TV? Don’t worry – you’re not alone. But now, you can
actually do something about it. On Sunday, October 9th at 9 p.m. eastern,
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will once again face off as they make their
cases to the American public and the moderators have agreed to ask questions
submitted and voted on by the general public. Vote
today in the Open Debate process being watched by ABC and CNN moderators for the
presidential "town hall" debate"
Police shootings: Miami Beach cops replace old shotguns with less lethal beanbag rounds |
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Tell Pres. Obama: Stop giving weapons of war to local police | |
"Police aren’t at war with civilians – they don’t need weapons of war. Stand strong on your ban on certain military equipment transfers through the 1033 Program and move to end the 1033 Program completely." In 2014, people across the country were shocked when police in combat gear and mine-resistant vehicles violently confronted thousands of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri who had taken to the streets to protest the killing of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown by a local police officer. This outrage led hundreds of thousands of people, including more than 110,000 CREDO members, to demand that President Obama stop the federal government’s militarization of police departments. President Obama responded by issuing an executive order limiting the types of weapons available under the Defense Department’s 1033 Program, which has provided weapons of war to local law enforcement agencies since the 1990s. The ban stops the federal government from arming police departments with certain militarized gear, including grenade launchers, tracked armored vehicles, armed aircraft, bayonets, and guns and ammunition of .50 caliber.1 Police unions and departments are pushing President Obama to restore access to all military weapons, and their pressure is working. Recently, the Obama administration announced that it would reconsider the 1033 Program ban.2 We must show President Obama that more people want to maintain the ban on police militarization than want to lift it. Tell President Obama: Local police departments don’t need military grade weapons. End the 1033 Program entirely. Click here to sign the petition. Under the 1033 Program, the Department of Defense has distributed an astonishing array of equipment to state and local agencies, from machine guns and bazookas to armored personnel carriers and helicopters. The 1033 Program has transferred more than $4.3 billion in equipment to local police departments since its inception in 1997.3 The Department of Defense has turned American neighborhoods into combat zones, propagating a culture of war between police and civilians in communities across the country. When police departments are armed with military-grade weapons and trained to use military tactics, they are more likely to treat the people they are meant to serve as enemy combatants. In July, Baton Rouge, Louisiana police responded to peaceful protests of Alton Sterling’s murder as if they were going to war. They wore full-body armor, drove around in mine-resistant ambush protected tanks—which are designed to deflect roadside bombs—and used long range acoustic devices that emit deafening high pitch sounds to disperse peaceful crowds.4 Fully militarized SWAT raids are now routinely used to issue search warrants, terrorizing people in their homes and neighborhoods.5 American neighborhoods are not combat zones, and law enforcement officials shouldn’t be using the weaponry or tactics of armed combat to fight crime. But by providing local law enforcement officials with military-style equipment, the Obama administration is fueling a dangerous trend that puts the civil liberties and livelihoods of Americans, especially African-Americans and Latinos, at risk. Instead of considering rolling back the limits he’s already put in place, President Obama should be moving to end the 1033 Program entirely. That’s why we’re joining our friends at Color Of Change to speak out now. Can you help make sure President Obama does everything he can to keep weapons of war out of the hands of local law enforcement? Tell President Obama: Local police departments don’t need military grade weapons. End the 1033 Program entirely. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/ban_police_militarization?t=6&akid=20000.6785281.meII5b Thank you for speaking out to stop police militarization CREDO Action from Working Assets. Add your name: References:
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