IS GUN VIOLENCE A PUBLIC HEALTH EPIDEMIC YET? 6 DEAD IN MICHIGAN Jason Dalton, the suspect in 6 killings this weekend outside an apartment complex, a car dealership and a restaurant in Kalamazoo Michigan, joins most other mass shooters who were so-called "law-abiding citizens" who passed their background checks. The gun lobby says "these things happen"--gun massacres are preferable to laws that would infringe on "gun rights" and are just the price of "liberty." But these things "don't happen" in other developed countries with sane gun laws which still have liberty. In fact, US gun policy is like giving toddlers matches and being surprised when things "happen." When gunmen stage massacres and mass shootings--which happen almost every month in the US--the gun lobby rolls out its cache of lies that should offend every American sickened with the gun violence it drives and profits from—especially those of us whose loved ones have been murdered by guns. CRIMINALS DON'T OBEY LAWS SO NO LAWS WOULD STOP THESE MURDERERS The last 18 mass shooters obeyed gun laws and passed their background checks. Several killed within a day or two or buying their murder weapons--even waiting periods would matter. Criminals do obey gun laws because gun laws are criminal-friendly. A law banning guns being carried outside of homes (except for hunters going hunting) in urban areas (such as Kalamazoo) would be a powerful deterrent to stop these random gun murders. THE REAL PROBLEM IS MENTAL ILLNESS The entire world has mental illness but other developed countries do not have Virginia Techs, Sandy Hooks and Auroras. Other countries also have violent video games, poverty, racial tensions and gangs—but not US-style gun massacres. CRIMINALS WILL USE OTHER WEAPONS IF THEY CAN'T GET GUNS A hammer of knife could not injure 70 people in seconds. Knife attacks, common in the rest of the world, are never as deadly. On the same day as the Newtown massacre, a man in China stabbed an equal number of children and none died. Kalamazoo is in southwestern Michigan. The city is home to about 75,000 people. There were 7 homicides in the county in 2014 and now 6 in one evening in 2016. NO LAWS WOULD STOP THESE GUN MURDERS In most cases of mass gun murders, family and coworkers saw the deeds coming. Some of the murderers even posted their intentions on social media. Interviews with prospective gun buyers and their associates, as done in Britain, would save lives. So would gun orders of protection as instituted in California after the Santa Barbara murders. THE REAL PROBLEM IS GUN-FREE ZONES This is an insult to victims and those who love them. Diners, shoppers and people in the public space should not have to arm themselves against the bad guys the gun lobby arms. This is a direct loss of personal liberty— the exact opposite of what the gun lobby and gun extremists give as the reason for people needing to carry guns at all times. NRA HEADQUARTERS IS A GUN-FREE ZONE as are the corporate headquarters of all major corporations in the US. Do they want their senior people and CEO’S killed? Do they want them put in danger? Or, do they know guns in an environment make that environment dangerous and so they have gun-free zone's to eliminate the danger. TUCSON WHERE GABBY GIFFORDS WAS SHOT WAS NOT A GUN-FREE ZONE. CHATTANOOGA WAS NOT A GUN-FREE ZONE--two service members were armed and fired back! Why did an obvious terrorist pass his background check and kill our troops? And why does the gun lobby defend the "right" of people on the Terror Watch List to buy guns? FORGET EMERGENCY ORDERS—PRESIDENT OBAMA NEEDS TO DECLARE A NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY REGARDING THE GUN VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC Emergency orders are obstructed by Congress (think immigration reform, coal burning plant reform, recent gun safety reform). Declaring a National State of Emergency is the only way to stop this epidemic. President Obama declared a swine flu outbreak in 2009 and last year's California fires states of emergencies. He has acted on the Zika virus. Yet he has yet to declare the ultimate National State of Emergency—gun violence which takes 30,000 US lives a year. Besides having signed the petition for Obama to halt the Gun Violence Epidemic, invite your friends, family, neighbors and work associates to sign it (see link below). Elliot Fineman CEO - Founder National Gun Victims Action Council www.gunvictimsaction.org/donate www.gunvictimsaction.org https://www.change.org/p/president-obama-halt-the-gun-violence-epidemic-today-by-declaring-a-national-state-of-emergency