Senate Appropriations Vote on Protecting Gun Dealers

7/9/2007 -- Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, issued the following statement today concerning the upcoming vote in the House Appropriations Committee hearing on gun control scheduled for vote this week.

SAN FRANCISCO – (July 9, 2007) - Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 19-10 to demonstrate their allegiance to the NRA and the gun lobby over the safety and security of communities across the nation, and in direct opposition to the appeals of the country’s police and local officials.

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While gun violence is causing 30,000 deaths a year and occurring daily in communities around the nation, the Committee has voted to protect gun traffickers by restoring a provision that prevents communities from knowing the truth about the flow and activity of corrupt gun dealers and illegal guns. The Senate has protected gun dealers when they voted to criminalize police who release information about gun usage. We must go another way and urge the House to oppose the Tiarht Amendment when they vote this week.

While the Bush administration seeks to stop the flow of guns and put gun suppliers out of business in Iraq, they are protecting the gun suppliers right at home. 1% of gun dealers sell about 57% of guns ultimately used in crimes. These corrupt gun traffickers are domestic terrorists and must be tracked and stopped – and mayors like Mayor Bloomberg in New York have effectively tracked these rouge gun traffickers, sued them and stopped them from continuing to terrorize communities. Now the NRA is using its political muscle to lobby Congress to protect the illegal gun traffickers – that's a moral and political disgrace.

We must have a consistent policy to protect and provide security for our communities in Oakland, Detroit, Chicago, New York and cities across the land. It's time to stop the excess and abuses.

Source: Rainbow PUSH Coalition