We were proud to speak alongside them because we need someone who will stand up to the Washington gun lobby that works to protect a shameful status quo.
We can save lives by doing more to keep guns out of the wrong hands. We spoke in support of Hillary Clinton, because we know that as president she’ll do what is right for our nation. She will leave our kids and grandkids a country with less gun violence.
But it's also clear that Donald Trump will do everything he can to halt our progress.
We are going to do everything we can to elect a Congress and a president that will work to make our communities safer, but we can’t do it alone … we need you with us in this fight. Can we count on you to make a $3 contribution to Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC to help us elect a president and Congress who will work to make our communities safer from gun violence?
We know that the gun lobby is going to spend millions of dollars to defeat us in November. They want to elect Donald Trump and a Congress that will stop our progress. We can't let that happen. Thank you for standing with us in this fight.
| Hillary Clinton took a stand against gun violence and the gun lobby on the national stage. |
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| Please sign your name and thank Hillary for making gun violence prevention a priority. |
According to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, 10,000 assault weapons were sold in the state last year. Gun manufacturers and vendors avoided the ban by making minuscule adjustments, such as removing a telescoping stock or flash suppressor.
Healey announced in a press conference that this practice will no longer be tolerated. “We put gun manufacturers and gun dealers on notice that we’re cracking down on the sale of illegal assault weapons,” she said. Notices have already been sent to more than 300 gun dealers.
The proliferation of assault weapons presents a danger to citizens across the country, as evidenced by the ForceChange petition. Sign the petition to thank the attorney general for enforcing the ban and protecting the people of Massachusetts.
| Cat Healing From Gunshot Wounds Finds Best Friend in Little Girl |
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| Kasper Knight: rapper shoots himself in the face on camera for music video and lives |
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| Hero Cop: bodycam video shows cops rescuing wife and children from husband who shot her |
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The Fight for Gun Safety Legislation in New Jersey. I want to update you on important legislative action I'm taking in the U.S. House of Representatives for constituents of South Jersey and the United States.
Demanding Action on Gun Safety
Congressional colleagues demanding that common sense gun safety legislation be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote. The legislation includes enhanced background checks for those purchasing firearms, and the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, which would ban those on the nation's 'no fly' list from purchasing weapons.
The House leadership has repeatedly refused requests to vote on these measures and Congress has a responsibility to act. So, I joined other Members of the House in an effort to persuade them to finally take action. Unfortunately, they chose to shut down Congress for the next week and leave Washington rather than address this critical issue. However, my commitment to take meaningful steps to reduce gun violence in America is unwavering.
Rep. Norcross is joined on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with other Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, demanding a vote on gun safety legislation.
Taking a Stand
I'm taking this stand because a majority of Americans is demanding Congress take action on gun safety. More than 30,000 people are killed by gun violence annually. After the massacre at an Orlando nightclub by a killer armed with an assault rifle, many constituents echoed their calls for change. I strongly support the ban on assault rifles that was on the books in the 1990s, but has since expired.
This isn't about the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. I believe in responsible, legal gun ownership. But, the assault rifle used in the Orlando nightclub terror attack and other high profile mass murders, is a weapon of war. It doesn't belong on the streets of America.
It's Time to Change
Congress owes it to America to vote on these urgent matters of U.S. national security. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I get classified briefings on the threats to the U.S. and those who wish to harm us. Those threats are real. Congress needs to stand together for the safety of America. I'm committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in achieving a safer country now and for generations to come.
In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history in Orlando, we asked you to thank the gun sense champions in Congress who are taking on the NRA -- and thousands of Americans like you across the country answered the call.
Earlier this month, we delivered those messages of thanks to the offices of Senator Chris Murphy, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and the other politicians who put America's safety ahead of the NRA's agenda. And Moms Demand Action volunteers held more than 50 events across the country to thank gun sense champions for speaking out and to show them we have their backs in this fight.
Moms Demand Action volunteers deliver tens of thousands of petition signatures to Sen. Chris Murphy's office to thank him and other champions for standing up to the NRA.
Volunteers from the Kentucky's Moms Demand Action chapter thank Congressman John Yarmuth for fighting to pass common sense gun safety laws.
Our efforts are weakening the NRA's stranglehold on our politicians -- never before have so many in Congress fought so hard to make gun violence prevention a top issue.
Still, despite record numbers of Americans demanding action to prevent gun violence, the NRA's extremist allies helped block every recent attempt to pass gun safety legislation.
Don, it couldn't be clearer: we need a majority, and if elected leaders won't listen to us and stand up to the NRA, we need to elect leaders who will. That's why we need top supporters like you to join the fight to elect gun sense politicians.
Will you join other supporters and sign up now to help elect more gun sense champions? An organizer will reach out with information on how you can get involved locally and fight for leaders who will work to keep us safe from gun violence.
RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS ARE A BIGGER THREAT TO AMERICA THAN ISIS
Thanks for continuing to stand with gun sense champions. Together, we're going to make America safer from gun violence. The North Florida Survival Group teaches “patriots” of all ages to handle weapons and survive in the wild. Its goal is to defend “our Constitution against all enemy threats.”
Demanding Action on Gun Safety
Congressional colleagues demanding that common sense gun safety legislation be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote. The legislation includes enhanced background checks for those purchasing firearms, and the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, which would ban those on the nation's 'no fly' list from purchasing weapons.
The House leadership has repeatedly refused requests to vote on these measures and Congress has a responsibility to act. So, I joined other Members of the House in an effort to persuade them to finally take action. Unfortunately, they chose to shut down Congress for the next week and leave Washington rather than address this critical issue. However, my commitment to take meaningful steps to reduce gun violence in America is unwavering.
Rep. Norcross is joined on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with other Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, demanding a vote on gun safety legislation.
Taking a Stand
I'm taking this stand because a majority of Americans is demanding Congress take action on gun safety. More than 30,000 people are killed by gun violence annually. After the massacre at an Orlando nightclub by a killer armed with an assault rifle, many constituents echoed their calls for change. I strongly support the ban on assault rifles that was on the books in the 1990s, but has since expired.
This isn't about the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. I believe in responsible, legal gun ownership. But, the assault rifle used in the Orlando nightclub terror attack and other high profile mass murders, is a weapon of war. It doesn't belong on the streets of America.
It's Time to Change
Congress owes it to America to vote on these urgent matters of U.S. national security. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I get classified briefings on the threats to the U.S. and those who wish to harm us. Those threats are real. Congress needs to stand together for the safety of America. I'm committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in achieving a safer country now and for generations to come.
In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history in Orlando, we asked you to thank the gun sense champions in Congress who are taking on the NRA -- and thousands of Americans like you across the country answered the call.
Earlier this month, we delivered those messages of thanks to the offices of Senator Chris Murphy, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and the other politicians who put America's safety ahead of the NRA's agenda. And Moms Demand Action volunteers held more than 50 events across the country to thank gun sense champions for speaking out and to show them we have their backs in this fight.
Our efforts are weakening the NRA's stranglehold on our politicians -- never before have so many in Congress fought so hard to make gun violence prevention a top issue.
Still, despite record numbers of Americans demanding action to prevent gun violence, the NRA's extremist allies helped block every recent attempt to pass gun safety legislation.
Don, it couldn't be clearer: we need a majority, and if elected leaders won't listen to us and stand up to the NRA, we need to elect leaders who will. That's why we need top supporters like you to join the fight to elect gun sense politicians.
Will you join other supporters and sign up now to help elect more gun sense champions? An organizer will reach out with information on how you can get involved locally and fight for leaders who will work to keep us safe from gun violence.
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But there would be no attack. The purported accomplice at Ming’s Flavor restaurant in June 2012 was an FBI informant, and the discussion had been recorded. In the months that followed, another man joined the plot. Finally, in June 2013, with the conspirators hard at work on their ghastly weapon, armed FBI agents swooped in, storming a warehouse in Schaghticoke and arresting them. Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week Their names were Glen and Eric.
Clearly, these were not the typical “Islamic terrorists” described in the boogeyman stories of American politicians who exploit fear for votes. Glendon Crawford, the industrial mechanic who conceived the plan, has all the panache of a Macy’s shoe salesman; Eric Feight, a software engineer who helped build the device, looks like a less impish version of Kurt Vonnegut. But their harmless appearance belies their beliefs—Crawford was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and the plot he hatched with Feight involved killing scores of Muslims, as well as officials at the governor’s mansion in Albany, New York and at the White House.They and untold thousands like them are the extremists who hide among us, the right-wing militants who, since 2002, have killed more people in the United States than jihadis have. In that time, according to New America, a Washington think tank, Islamists launched nine attacks that murdered 45, while the right-wing extremists struck 18 times, leaving 48 dead. These Americans thrive on hate and conspiracy theories, many fed to them by politicians and commentators who blithely blather about government concentration camps and impending martial law and plans to seize guns and other dystopian gibberish, apparently unaware there are people listening who don’t know it’s all lies. These extremists turn to violence—against minorities, non-Christians, abortion providers, government officials—in what they believe is a fight to save America. And that potential for violence is escalating every day.“Law enforcement agencies in the United States consider anti-government violent extremists, not radicalized Muslims, to be the most severe threat of political violence that they face,” the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security reported this past June, based on surveys of 382 law enforcement groups.
The problem is getting worse, although few outside of law enforcement know it. Multiple confidential sources notified the FBI last year that militia members have been conducting surveillance on Muslim schools, community centers and mosques in nine states for what one informant described as “operational purposes.” Informants also notified federal law enforcement that Mississippi militia extremists discussed kidnapping and beheading a Muslim, then posting a video of the decapitation on the Internet. The FBI also learned that right-wing extremists have created bogus law enforcement and diplomatic identifications, not because these radicals want to pretend to be police and ambassadors, but because they believe they hold those positions in a government they have created within the United States.The unusual—and often daffy—world view of some right-wing extremists was on daily display during the January armed takeover of federal facilities at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Expressing dismay that two ranchers convicted of arson were ordered to serve out the remainder of their mandatory minimum prison sentences, members of various militia groups occupied a building at the wildlife refuge, declaring their willingness to fight the government and, if necessary, die for their cause. They proclaimed that the federal government was tyrannical, that the Constitution is under siege.
The Malheur occupiers were belittled on late night talk shows and social media as “y’all-Qaeda” and “yee-haw-dists,” but what was unfolding in Oregon wasn’t funny—it was frightening. These people speak of martyrdom, bloodbaths and killings, sentiments that can be heard on any Islamist recruitment video. And when law enforcement finally took action on January 26 in a mass arrest, one of the militia members, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum—who had proclaimed he would rather die than go to jail—was shot dead.
And while those right-wing militia members were occupying federal land, other extremists around the country were hard at work. Fliers seeking recruits for the KKK appeared on lawns and doors in Alabama, California, Georgia, New Jersey and Oklahoma. In Johannesburg, California, police discovered bombs and booby traps in the home of a man who threatened to blow up the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other federal buildings. In Colorado Springs, a white supremacist suspected of being connected to the 2013 murder of Colorado’s prison chief was shot and wounded in a firefight with police. In Lafayette, Louisiana, officials released the diary of the man who killed two people at a movie theater this past summer—it was filled with rage against the federal government and praise for a racist killer. In Oakdale, California, two honey farmers were charged with fraud involving a scheme by extremists who declare they are not bound by the laws of any government. And the day after the first arrests of the Malheur occupiers, a New Hampshire man who told an FBI informant he was part of a group that wanted to bring back “the original Constitution,” and had as much as $200,000 on hand for explosives and rockets, was taken into custody after he illegally purchased hand grenades.Who are these right-wing militants? And what makes them believe Americans have to engage in armed combat with their own government rather than vote, kill their fellow citizens rather than tolerate differences, blow up buildings rather than just get a job? Billions of words have been written and spoken on violent Islamic extremists. The time has come to do the same for the good old-fashioned Americans who may pose the greatest threat to us all.A Fairy Tale of ViolenceThey aren’t all like Timothy McVeigh.McVeigh, the infamous anti-government extremist, murdered 168 people in 1995 when he detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. But not all of these violent right-wing radicals agree with McVeigh’s beliefs or have the capability to execute such a devastating attack. In fact, these militants are a surprisingly diverse lot. Experts say there are three distinct groups, including some factions that despise one another.
According to Arie Perliger, director of terrorism studies at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, the three ideologies within the violent American far-right are racist, anti-federalist and fundamentalist. Each has subgroups—the racists include white supremacy groups such as the KKK, neo-Nazis and skinheads, which can differ in subtle ways. The anti-federalists include militias, self-defined “patriot” groups and what are so-called “sovereign citizens,’’ who hold that they are legally bound only by their personal interpretation of common law and are otherwise not subject to federal, state or local laws. The fundamentalists are primarily Christian identity groups that believe the biblical war of good vs. evil is between descendants of Anglo-Saxon nations and all other ethnic groups. Tangential to the fundamentalists are the anti-abortion attackers, who also invoke religion as a foundational motive for their violence. These disparate groups of people—violent and nonviolent—pine for different versions of a highly idealized past.The granddaddy of the three in the United States is the racist movement, the modern iteration of which is usually traced to the formation of the KKK in 1865. The Christian Identity movement began a few decades later, with the emergence of believers who subscribed to the theology of John Wilson, a British man who argued that the lost tribes of Israel had settled in northern Europe. The anti-federalists are much younger, exploding onto the scene in the early 1990s with prominent groups such as the Militia of Montana and the Michigan Militia; many experts maintain that the movement was a product of the financial crisis for farms in the 1980s, rapid economic and cultural change, and the adoption of gun control and environmental protection laws. In recent years, an explosion in the number of militias has been linked by experts to the beginning of the Great Recession in December 2007 and the election of Barack Obama months later. In 2008, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were 42 militia groups; today, there are 276.And although they are frequently dismissed as people with crazy beliefs, right-wing extremists often seem like the guy next door. While experts say many of these individuals are paranoid and narcissistic, with strong anti-democratic tendencies, “the most common trait among terrorists is normalcy,” says Perliger of West Point.What drives them, according to studies, is not so much ideology as their social network. When friends and associates all proclaim that the government is destroying freedom, or that all Muslims are terrorists, or that minorities are dragging down the country, the social pressure to conform with that opinion is intense.
Making it worse is that many of these extremists base their views on falsehoods. At a 2009 speech in Hamilton, Montana, a militia leader told an assembled crowd, “You know how the Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism? ‘Government by intimidation.’ That is profound.” Not really, because it’s not true. Oxford defines terrorism as all other dictionaries do: “the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.” People setting off bombs to trigger a revolution meet this definition, while the government that clears the area after a blast does not. But those zealots in Hamilton were told a fairy tale and believed it.The rationales and “facts” cited by the sovereign citizens are often so convoluted that they would be funny if they didn’t get people killed. The radicals base their beliefs on variations of this conspiracy theory: Many years ago, some outside force infiltrated the federal government and replaced it with an illegitimate and tyrannical one. Then, that “illegitimate government” enslaved all Americans by using the 14th Amendment to create “citizens of the United States” who had no rights. The sovereign citizens believe Americans are tricked into accepting their designation as citizens of the United States by carrying driver’s licenses and Social Security cards, which are hidden contracts surrendering personal sovereignty to the government. Some of these sovereign citizens won’t use ZIP codes, because they think that might constitute a contract with the illegitimate federal government. Others insert punctuation, like commas or periods, to separate their first and middle names from their last name, which they consider to be their government-given name.And they can expound on the topic for hours on end, spinning words into a convoluted kaleidoscope of claptrap. “By metaphysical refinement, in examining one form of government, it might be correctly said that there is no such thing as a citizen of the United States,’’ wrote Richard MacDonald, one of the prominent ideologues of the movement. “But constant usage—arising from convenience, and perhaps necessity, and dating from the formation of the Confederacy—has given substantial existence to the idea which the term conveys. A citizen of any one of the States of the Union, is held to be, and called a citizen of the United States, although technically and abstractly there is no such thing.”Some gullible people listen to the endless flow of arguments, peppered with “freedom” and “tyranny,” and come away believing they do not have to pay taxes, or have money to cover the checks they write or otherwise obey the law. As a result, lots of sovereign citizens end up under criminal investigation, leading to trials in which judges rub their temples while listening to droning about some grand conspiracy. But in the worst cases, all that simpleminded gibberish drives believers to violence, particularly against law enforcement during traffic stops. The most famous of those cases: the two Arkansas police officers killed by sovereign citizen Joseph Kane in 2010 after they pulled him over. Kane mowed them down with a variant of an AK-47.Then there are the militia groups, whose pronounced fealty to the Constitution is exceeded only by their apparent refusal to read it. They too throw out a lot of sentences with “freedom” and “tyranny” (in fact, a decent portion of sovereign citizens are also militia members), then wave around their pocket version of the Constitution, but the Founding Fathers would be stunned to hear the mumbo jumbo mouthed by militia members about their greatest creation. Start with the obvious: The Constitution is not some philosophical tract composed with soaring words about freedom; it is the blueprint dictating how the American government is supposed to function, while the amendments are the enumeration of citizens’ rights. The recent flurries of militia madness, with camo-clad warriors spewing angrily about constitutional freedoms, run directly counter to the words of the document those people claim to cherish.Consider the Bundy standoff in 2014. It began when the government decided to finally take action against Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who had grazed his cattle on federal lands for two decades while refusing to pay the required fees—racking up a bill in excess of $1 million. When Bundy sent his cattle back onto protected lands for a snack, officials with the BLM began to round them up. Bundy spoke publicly about this “outrage” using the words of the sovereign citizen movement, which led anti-federalist groups such as the Oath Keepers, the White Mountain Militia and the Praetorian Guard to come running, guns drawn. In no time, Bundy the scofflaw was a hero of the militia movement, as he declared he did not recognize federal authority over the land. The Constitution and freedom were at stake, he averred.Except they weren’t. In fact, the issue beneath this battle of wills, with Bundy’s supporters proclaiming their willingness to murder federal agents if need be, is directly addressed in the Constitution. In Article 4, Section 3, Clause 2, the Constitution grants Congress full authority to make all rules and regulations for the management of federal lands. In the early 20th century, Congress used that power to direct the executive branch to handle the operations and planning for those lands. The Legislature, of course, still retains the constitutional authority to stop the president from playing any role in federal land management, but it has not. In other words, Bundy and his supporters, by proclaiming the federal government had no authority over federal land, were spitting on the Constitution.
