guns and bombs

There were a couple gun violence prevention events in Albuquerque last Saturday.  One was sponsored by congresswoman Deb Haaland.  The other was a town hall at the downtown Methodist Church under the direction of three city councilors who were encouraging the State to pass a Red Flag law.  We opted to go to the church event to hear what our rep, Ike Benton, had to say about the Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Act which he hoped the State legislature could be persuaded to adopt.  The panel of speakers included three city councilors, six state legislators and an Albuquerque Public Schools board member.

After the panel presentations, the group of a hundred or so attendees broke out into three discussion groups.  At that point we were informed that a bomb threat had been received.  We were told to stay in place while a police team swept the area.  No one gave much credence to the threat, but it was reassuring to see the quick law enforcement response.

Our discussion group included activists from several local groups and a lot of good ideas, mixed in with a large dose of frustration over the halting pace of reform efforts.  I contributed the thought that the ban on CDC research into gun violence did not mean that such research and information dissemination could not be conducted by other local entities including UNM and city government.

A thorough sorting out of fundamentals is essential to ensure that proposed remedies are based on a solid understanding of underlying psychological and political realities.  I said it seemed important to me to recognize that gun possession is often folded into identity formation which helps to explain the often irrational response to common sense firearms regulation by gun owners.  There are a lot of gun owners who clearly are not a threat to themselves or others, but who at the same time present a challenge to sensible gun control measures because of paranoid fears stoked by National Rifle Association propaganda.

Councilor Benton said that the NRA was planning to send a contingent of supporters to dominate the public comments at the upcoming City Council meeting.  He expressed the hope that some of us would also show up to challenge the NRA effort to stop city endorsement of the ERPO Act.  I decided to take a shot at getting on the public comment list on Monday.