When Washington dithers and children die, local sovereignty is not a request for permission but a fundamental right from resisting federal occupations to enacting common-sense gun reform.
Mary, this is a brilliant piece, and perhaps your most important ever, because you are waking your readers up to the dystopia we have become numb to and taken for granted. Minneapolis, Chicago and Philly may be showing us the way out of this tyranny, but framing it as you have done as "community rights" opens up veiled eyes and lazy minds to what is, and should be, possible in America. Thank you.
Whew. What a piece. Thank you for articulating with so much eloquence the thought I’ve been groping toward. Sharing with the Coos County LWV as inspiration in their ongoing battles over the Port’s pie-in-the-sky development boondoggles.
YES!!! Our communities must do more to ensure the safety and rights of its citizens. We do not have to wait for a stagnant congress to tell us over and over they're working on laws to protect us or worse yet pleading for donations that are supposed to help them pass bills. The previous plans are not working. "Community Rights" , please step forward!
It feels like the readers/commentators are just waking up to gun violence, or the idea that gun violence is stoppable. Starting with Brady to Bloomberg to Giffords, organizations have been raising money and... what do they do? They do what all activists organizations do: they go to statehouses and "lobby" state legislators, most of whom are on their side. (Those opposed to gun laws will never meet with those activists, btw.) In Washington, even when a bill gets pushed to the forefront of the House, and sometimes even passed in the House, it dies in the Senate, or vice versa. Sure, starting in the local municipalities is a great idea but like Virginia to New York, guns have their own transportation systems. In the history of federal gun laws, the fit hit the shan in the 1970/80s as the NRA created their separate gun lobby and legal arm. And they have ruined political careers and shot down common sense gun laws for 40 years. They are insipid and they deserve to be shamed on the daily. I mean big posters of the faces of the NRA along with the names and faces of the children who have died or are in wheelchairs or using colostomy bags for the rest of their because of shootings. Laws and activism are the way but in the meantime, a little shame goes a long way. Start with the NRA and then hang pictures of Mitch McConnell et al who are singularly responsible for the death of children through their actions and inactions.
True, Mary, but federal laws will trump state and local laws. We need federal action. I am happy to see your idea and it would be great to get a municipality to be a test case (for the laws not the violence) and see if those local laws could withstand federal inaction. New York State has tough gun laws and low gun violence but those guns keep a'coming from the south straight into the big city. Chicago has a terrible gun problem with the same tough laws and the same type of pipeline. Also, a million guns are stolen each year (a small percentage of guns in America) and those become illegal guns. Federal gun laws about smart guns, gun storage and guns in houses with children, felons, etc are all necessary.
You’re right that federal laws would have the most reach, but history shows that federal action never comes first. It always follows community resistance from below. Abolition started with towns and churches refusing to cooperate with slavery. Women’s suffrage began with local ordinances and municipal votes before the 19th Amendment was even a dream. The labor movement forced Congress to act by organizing strikes and passing local protections that courts tried to squash. Even civil rights legislation in the 1960s only came after cities and communities defied “legal” segregation and dared to govern themselves differently.
Gun reform will be no different. If we wait for Congress, nothing changes. But if municipalities start passing rights-based ordinances to protect children, and defend those laws all the way up the courts, eventually federal inaction becomes untenable. Federal recognition always follows community courage.
Find that community. Find it in a blood red state, not some blue enclave up here in the Northeast. Reach out to Brady, Bloomberg and Giffords. Let those powerful (in their own right) organizations find a town/county that is scarred and sick of gun violence. Let those people lead the way. I hope there are mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers who are sick of gun violence, who have been affected by it and who will, perhaps at the risk of their own safety, develop a plan and pass ordinances to keep guns out of their town. As an anti-gun violence advocate and teacher, I have watched exactly nothing get done in the past 40 years. Nothing. Nothing. Oh except more dead people,. And dead children and grieving parents and siblings.
Very good. I moved to Coos Bay just a few months after a mass shooting at a grocery store in my former community. I baffles me how gun rights could be deemed more important than the life, liberty and public safety of communities. What happened to the well regulated militia part of that amendment? As far as what you said about fighting an industrial development here, was that Jordan Cove LNG? We were against it when we were at the other end of the pipes in Colorado downwind from the fracking fields. Now we are concerned about this industrial cargo port idea.
This is excellent. One thing you didn't mention about the children gunned down during mass: Practicing their religion is protected by the Constitution. The 2nd Amendment does not trump the 1st Amendment. Apparently, it's necessary to restrict access to guns to ensure that people's 1st Amendment rights are protected.
Great stuff! Although all firearm deaths are terrible, I think that we need to distinguish between homicides and suicides. USA- about 20,000 firearm homicides, Australia – about 30. While I think that all firearms should be kept under lock and key, Australia and many other countries have a large number of firearms, but they are rarely used against people. One can only attribute the USA statistics to “culture”.
Such an interesting article. We seem to be going about getting the changes made to make our lives better the wrong way. I hope communities start exercising those rights, but I also feel if constitutional decisions have to be made by the Supreme Court we are screwed.
Well said Mary. As an Australian it beggars belief that US kids have to have drills for a gunman - we never have that problem in Australian schools. No kids should be scared in school!
If the way forward is wrapped up in the 2026 election, this concept - start with our community, our neighborhood - can start laying plans now. A lot of referendums can go on that 2026 ballot.
Mary, this is a brilliant piece, and perhaps your most important ever, because you are waking your readers up to the dystopia we have become numb to and taken for granted. Minneapolis, Chicago and Philly may be showing us the way out of this tyranny, but framing it as you have done as "community rights" opens up veiled eyes and lazy minds to what is, and should be, possible in America. Thank you.
Agreed! I wonder if the Supreme Court knows all this?
Whew. What a piece. Thank you for articulating with so much eloquence the thought I’ve been groping toward. Sharing with the Coos County LWV as inspiration in their ongoing battles over the Port’s pie-in-the-sky development boondoggles.
YES!!! Our communities must do more to ensure the safety and rights of its citizens. We do not have to wait for a stagnant congress to tell us over and over they're working on laws to protect us or worse yet pleading for donations that are supposed to help them pass bills. The previous plans are not working. "Community Rights" , please step forward!
Great post!
Excellent response to the madness, well written, concise, and compassionate. Thank you.
So So true!! Thanks Mary!
It feels like the readers/commentators are just waking up to gun violence, or the idea that gun violence is stoppable. Starting with Brady to Bloomberg to Giffords, organizations have been raising money and... what do they do? They do what all activists organizations do: they go to statehouses and "lobby" state legislators, most of whom are on their side. (Those opposed to gun laws will never meet with those activists, btw.) In Washington, even when a bill gets pushed to the forefront of the House, and sometimes even passed in the House, it dies in the Senate, or vice versa. Sure, starting in the local municipalities is a great idea but like Virginia to New York, guns have their own transportation systems. In the history of federal gun laws, the fit hit the shan in the 1970/80s as the NRA created their separate gun lobby and legal arm. And they have ruined political careers and shot down common sense gun laws for 40 years. They are insipid and they deserve to be shamed on the daily. I mean big posters of the faces of the NRA along with the names and faces of the children who have died or are in wheelchairs or using colostomy bags for the rest of their because of shootings. Laws and activism are the way but in the meantime, a little shame goes a long way. Start with the NRA and then hang pictures of Mitch McConnell et al who are singularly responsible for the death of children through their actions and inactions.
This is why the people must take matters into their own hands and enact rights based ordinances to protect their children from gun violence
True, Mary, but federal laws will trump state and local laws. We need federal action. I am happy to see your idea and it would be great to get a municipality to be a test case (for the laws not the violence) and see if those local laws could withstand federal inaction. New York State has tough gun laws and low gun violence but those guns keep a'coming from the south straight into the big city. Chicago has a terrible gun problem with the same tough laws and the same type of pipeline. Also, a million guns are stolen each year (a small percentage of guns in America) and those become illegal guns. Federal gun laws about smart guns, gun storage and guns in houses with children, felons, etc are all necessary.
You’re right that federal laws would have the most reach, but history shows that federal action never comes first. It always follows community resistance from below. Abolition started with towns and churches refusing to cooperate with slavery. Women’s suffrage began with local ordinances and municipal votes before the 19th Amendment was even a dream. The labor movement forced Congress to act by organizing strikes and passing local protections that courts tried to squash. Even civil rights legislation in the 1960s only came after cities and communities defied “legal” segregation and dared to govern themselves differently.
Gun reform will be no different. If we wait for Congress, nothing changes. But if municipalities start passing rights-based ordinances to protect children, and defend those laws all the way up the courts, eventually federal inaction becomes untenable. Federal recognition always follows community courage.
Find that community. Find it in a blood red state, not some blue enclave up here in the Northeast. Reach out to Brady, Bloomberg and Giffords. Let those powerful (in their own right) organizations find a town/county that is scarred and sick of gun violence. Let those people lead the way. I hope there are mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers who are sick of gun violence, who have been affected by it and who will, perhaps at the risk of their own safety, develop a plan and pass ordinances to keep guns out of their town. As an anti-gun violence advocate and teacher, I have watched exactly nothing get done in the past 40 years. Nothing. Nothing. Oh except more dead people,. And dead children and grieving parents and siblings.
Very good. I moved to Coos Bay just a few months after a mass shooting at a grocery store in my former community. I baffles me how gun rights could be deemed more important than the life, liberty and public safety of communities. What happened to the well regulated militia part of that amendment? As far as what you said about fighting an industrial development here, was that Jordan Cove LNG? We were against it when we were at the other end of the pipes in Colorado downwind from the fracking fields. Now we are concerned about this industrial cargo port idea.
Yes, it was Jordan Cove
I love your powerful ideas, and feel a little hope for our future. Thank you.
This is excellent. One thing you didn't mention about the children gunned down during mass: Practicing their religion is protected by the Constitution. The 2nd Amendment does not trump the 1st Amendment. Apparently, it's necessary to restrict access to guns to ensure that people's 1st Amendment rights are protected.
Great stuff! Although all firearm deaths are terrible, I think that we need to distinguish between homicides and suicides. USA- about 20,000 firearm homicides, Australia – about 30. While I think that all firearms should be kept under lock and key, Australia and many other countries have a large number of firearms, but they are rarely used against people. One can only attribute the USA statistics to “culture”.
Such an interesting article. We seem to be going about getting the changes made to make our lives better the wrong way. I hope communities start exercising those rights, but I also feel if constitutional decisions have to be made by the Supreme Court we are screwed.
Well said Mary. As an Australian it beggars belief that US kids have to have drills for a gunman - we never have that problem in Australian schools. No kids should be scared in school!
I agree with all the comments. I got excited and chills while reading your newsletter because this path you detail is clearly the answer.
Great piece. As usual.
If the way forward is wrapped up in the 2026 election, this concept - start with our community, our neighborhood - can start laying plans now. A lot of referendums can go on that 2026 ballot.