DO WE NEED STRICTER GUN CONTROL? YES : NRA AIMS ITS EFFORTS AT KIDS; YOUTHFUL FIREARM CULTURE ENSURES MORE LITTLETONS.Byline: Josh Sugarmann Josh Sugarmann is the executive director and founder of the Violence Policy Center (VPC). Prior to founding the VPC, Sugarmann was a press officer in the national office of Amnesty International USA and was the communications director for the National Coalition to Ban Handguns. THE National Rifle Association National Rifle Association (NRA) Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. and America's gun industry are working to create a youth gun culture. The motivation to create a generation of pro-gun kids is twofold: to guarantee both future customers for the firearms industry and political foot soldiers for the gun lobby. Yet, the harsh reality Harsh Reality are a little-known, proto-prog band born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire out of the remnants of the Freightliner Blues Band (formerly the Revolution) in the early sixties. is that if one accepts a youth gun culture, as envisioned by the gun lobby, school shootings like those in Pearl, Miss.; Paducah, Ky.; Jonesboro, Ark.; Springfield, Ore.; and now Littleton, Colo.; are inevitable. At the NRA's 1996 annual meeting, then president Marion Hammer introduced her 10-year-old grandson Michael, stating, ``I know that when NRA NRA (National Rifle Association of America) organization that encourages sharpshooting and use of firearms for hunting. [Am. Pop. Culture: NCE, 1895] See : Hunting reaches out and takes the hand of a child, we are touching America's future.'' Hammer also outlined the NRA's agenda to ``invest'' in America's youth, with the goal of winning their hearts and minds. In the intervening years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time gun lobby has aggressively followed Hammer's investment strategy. The September 1997 cover of the NRA's American Rifleman American Rifleman is the official publication of the National Rifle Association (NRA). History Arthur Corbin Gould, an avid shooter and member of the Massachusetts Rifle Association, published The Rifle in 1885. magazine featured a grim-faced Charlton Heston surrounded by a multiethnic array of children against a dark background. The headline asked the question, ``Are Gun Rights Lost on Our Kids?'' Inside the magazine, Heston announced a $100 million campaign targeting America's youth. As detailed in the new Violence Policy Center report, ``Start 'Em Young - Recruitment of Kids to the Gun Culture,'' since the announcement of this children's campaign, the NRA has continued to focus on youth, as illustrated by the examples below. At the NRA 1998 annual meeting in Philadelphia, items for sale included NRA bibs and infant sleepwear, as well as a full line of products featuring its Eddie Eagle This article is about the NRA's safety program. For the British ski-jumper, see Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards. The Eddie Eagle program was developed by the National Rifle Association for children who are generally considered too young to be allowed to handle gun safety mascot, from children's backpacks to plush toys. The NRA markets guns directly to kids through its youth magazine Insights. The magazine routinely contains ads for firearms, including such weapons as the Harrington & Richardson 929 Sidekick revolver and the Savage Arms The Savage Arms Company is a firearms manufacturing company based in New York. The company makes a variety of rimfire and centerfire rifles, as well as marketing the Stevens single-shot rifles and shotguns. Predator, combination rifle and shotgun - even though the vast majority of Insight readers are far too young to buy these guns. A full-page ``I'm the NRA'' advertisement, featuring actor Tom Selleck, promises, ``Shooting teaches young people good things. Because all good rules for shooting are good rules for life . . . '' But while the NRA has promoted youth gun possession and use, in the wake of shootings like Littleton, it has been quick to blame virtually all aspects of American culture, except guns. In fact, after the 1998 Jonesboro massacre The Jonesboro school massacre occurred on Tuesday, March 24, 1998, in Craighead County, Arkansas, near northwestern Jonesboro. Four female students and a teacher were killed, and nine other students and a teacher were wounded, by two armed middle school boys: Mitchell Johnson, age , NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre Wayne LaPierre (born November 8, 1948) is a prominent gun rights advocate and author in the United States. Since 1991, he has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association, the largest American gun rights organization. promised, in the NRA's American Rifleman magazine, ``Jonesboro is an aberration.'' Following the Littleton shooting, NRA President Heston blamed the shooters' parents as well as the school for allowing students to wear black trench coats and not having an armed guard. (Contrary to Heston's assertions, the school did have an armed guard, who failed to stop the shooters.) And while most Americans would be offended and concerned to see a grade-schooler drinking a can of beer or smoking a cigarette, we should - according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the NRA - be pleased and filled with a sense of pride when we see that same child holding a gun. In the wake of Littleton, many gun-control advocates have unfortunately offered a small selection of limited half-measures - the majority of which would have had little effect on the Littleton shooters. The harsh reality is that until we remove the gun industry's most unique feature - its complete lack of health and safety regulations - we will make little progress in reducing gun death and injury in America. Such a measure was introduced last month by Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. The Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act would vest the Department of the Treasury with strong consumer protection authority to regulate the design, manufacture and distribution of firearms and ammunition. The agency would also be empowered to take the steps necessary to protect the public from unreasonable risk of injury resulting from the use of firearms and firearm products. Not surprisingly, measures like the Torricelli-Kennedy bill are the NRA and gun industry's worst nightmare. But for the rest of us (abuse) for The Rest Of Us - (From the Macintosh slogan "The computer for the rest of us") 1. Used to describe a spiffy product whose affordability shames other comparable products, or (more often) used sarcastically to describe spiffy but very overpriced products. 2. , it remains our best hope. CAPTION(S): Drawing Photo: (Color) no caption (Stricter gun control) Jorge Irribarren/Daily News |
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