Thursday, November 10, 2016

Voters Strengthen Gun Control Measures in 3 States

Hand guns on display. (photo: AP)
Hand guns on display. (photo: AP)

Voters Strengthen Gun Control Measures in 3 States

By Josh Sanburn, Time
09 November 16

While Maine rejected universal background checks despite millions of dollars spent by gun control advocates

  Nevada, California and Washington all voted in favor of enhanced gun control on Tuesday, while Maine narrowly rejected universal background checks for private gun sales despite millions of dollars spent there by national gun control advocates.
Maine’s rejection of the gun control ballot measure, and the narrow support for a similar measure in Nevada, showed the limits of well-funded national organizations pushing for expanded background checks around the country. Voters in Maine defeated a measure that would’ve expanded background checks to private gun sales and transfers or loans to friends. Polls showed support for the referendum before the vote; the measure had strong backing from Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that spent more than $5 million in the state.

  David Trahan, director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, which opposed the measure, told Maine Public Radio that he believed many voters took issue with federal background checks on gun transfers, saying: “I think that had this been drafted differently you wouldn’t have seen that much opposition.”

  In Nevada, voters barely approved a similar measure to expand background checks to private gun sales and transfers, with just 50.45% voting in favor. That state also saw heavy spending from Everytown for Gun Safety, which spent $11 million in support of the referendum, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

  California approved a measure that outlaws possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, requires background checks for ammunition sales and strengthens a program that allows the state to remove firearms from people the state deems to be dangerous. Washington state also approved a measure that allows judges to issue orders enabling authorities to temporarily seize guns from people who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

C 2015 Reader Supported News

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Michael Moore: Morning-After To-Do List

By Michael Moore [1] / AlterNet [2]

November 9, 2016
41

1. Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably.

2. Fire all pundits, predictors, pollsters and anyone else in the media who had a narrative they wouldn't let go of and refused to listen to or acknowledge what was really going on. Those same bloviators will now tell us we must "heal the divide" and "come together." They will pull more hooey like that out of their *** in the days to come. Turn them off.

3. Any Democratic member of Congress who didn't wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that's about to begin.

4. Everyone must stop saying they are "stunned" and "shocked." What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren't paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all "You're fired!"

  Trump's victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.

5. You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: "HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!" The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don't. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he's president is because of an arcane, insane, 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we'll continue to have presidents we didn't elect and didn't want.
You live in a country where a majority of citizens have said they believe there's climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don't want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the "liberal" position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen (see: #1 above).

Let's try to get this all done by noon today. 

Michael Moore is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker and bestselling author.
        [4]


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Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/


"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

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