Hundreds walk to end gun violence in East Goshen in a tribute to Bianca Roberson

by Bill Rettew, Daily Local News, 8/5/18

EAST GOSHEN>>About 250 walkers laced up their running shoes on Sunday while remembering Bianca Nikol Roberson who was killed during a June 2017 road rage shooting.

The inaugural rally and 2.5 kilometer walk, “Walk for Me,” was held in East Goshen Park. Participants in the fundraiser walked to end gun violence.

Roberson, 18, had just graduated Rustin High School and was headed for Jacksonville University when a 10-second argument during a highway merge on the Route 100 Bypass turned deadly.

Delaware County resident David Desper sits behind bars while awaiting a September murder trial….

read more at Daily Local News

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THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM

The Chester County (Pennsylvania) Democratic Committee believes in Freedom, Fairness, and Opportunity for all Americans, regardless of what they believe, who they are, and where they came from. Join CCDC in making Chester County a better place for all!

We have a chance to fundamentally shape the future of our country.
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Every four years, the Democratic Party puts together our party platform, the ideas and beliefs that govern our party as a whole.

What follows is our 2016 platform — our most progressive platform in our party’s history and a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.

This party platform was voted on and passed by our membership at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. The platform will be updated and re-approved at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

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Platform Contents

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Preamble

Raise Incomes and Restore Economic Security for the Middle Class

Create Good-Paying Jobs

Fight for Economic Fairness and Against Inequality

Bring Americans Together and Remove Barriers to Opportunities

Protect Voting Rights, Fix Our Campaign Finance System, and Restore Our Democracy

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Just Do It — Today

from GunSense Chester County

On Monday we awoke to news of yet another tragic mass murder. How many times do we go through this before we demand our elected officials change gun laws?

While Gun Sense Chester County is not “anti gun” we are for common sense gun regulation. The permissiveness of gun purchase and carry regulations has gone well beyond the bounds of common sense.

And as we sit here absorbing yet another mass gun murder…

Today, the National Rifle Association is working to pass Federal law making it easier to purchase gun silencers. (House of Representatives Bill 3668)

Today, the NRA is working to overturn a Maryland regulation banning the sale of semi-automatic rifles.

And, today, you are…?

I am sure the words sad, upset, frustrated and more may come to mind. The truth is, those words without action are not going to change anything.

If you think we need to find a different path forward — call and tell your elected officials. Do it TODAY.

And then, watch how they vote on gun related issues.

If you give us your email, we’ll be happy to keep you informed. (gunsensecc@gmail.com)

Join us at our meeting Tuesday, Oct 3 at 7:15 p.m. at 10 W. Pleasant Grove Rd., West Chester 19382 (Westminster Presbyterian Church) if you’d like to share your thoughts about this tragedy and learn more about about gun violence and gun regulation issues.

The meeting is free and open to all.

On Congress and division

from our special correspondent

The shooting in northern Virginia is horrifying. But not because the targets were lawmakers, but because they were human beings.

It was only one of three mass shootings that day in the United States – and this is the shocking norm.

Now is not the time to point fingers or claim that partisan politics are to blame. Millions of angry or disappointed Americans cannot understand the gross governmental dysfunction, or why their elected representatives are not laboring to make life better in the United States but rather only serve special interests.

Congress must drop the partisan rhetoric, the divisive language. A society that promotes the gulf between haves and have nots, those who are entitled and those who are disenfranchised; those who are white and those who are of color, is a tinderbox.

Will we continue toward a police state or a republic?

Disarm Hate Act background / June 23 rally

from Concerned Constituent Action Group, hosts of event “Calling on Costello – West Chester: Prevent Gun Violence”, Friday June 23 at 11:30 AM – 1 PM, 21 W Market St, West Chester

According to Everytown Research, 93 Americans are killed with guns on an average day. Common-sense gun control laws could prevent many of these deaths. Under current laws, domestic abusers, the mentally ill, and suspected terrorists—such as the shooter at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, who killed 49 and wounded 53 members of the LGBTQ community—are all allowed to possess guns. In addition, convicted criminals can buy guns online or at gun shows because unlicensed private sellers aren’t required to perform background checks.

The gun lobby has spent tens of millions of dollars (including more than 30 million on the Trump campaign) to gain power in Washington DC. In February, Trump and the GOP-led Congress overturned an Obama-era rule that prohibited certain mentally ill people from buying guns. The NRA and gun manufacturers are now pushing Congress to pass the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which would allow gun owners from states with loose (or no) restrictions on concealed carry permits to bring their concealed weapons into all other states, in effect overriding state laws that require safety courses or live-fire training for permit-seekers.

America is a great nation, but a gun homicide rate that is twenty-five times higher than the average of all other developed countries is not something to be proud of. Research has shown that gun violence most frequently afflicts the most vulnerable groups among us, such as low-income people and minorities (National Crime Victimization Survey). One step in the right direction is the Disarm Hate Act (S. 1324 / H.R. 2841), a bill that would prevent anyone previously convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes from purchasing a gun. Closing this loophole in current laws will keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and prevent more acts of heinous violence”. (5calls.org)

Toomey: Gun control moderate with an NRA A rating?

Letter sent to the Phila Inquirer 10/31/16

Pat Toomey on gun control is as phony as a 3 dollar bill (Inquirer, 10/31). Even as he writes legislation to provide more background checks, Toomey cut the budget of the FBI and ATF, to provide the criminal background database, that would make such background checks more accurate and complete. Toomey has fooled a lot of people with such phony “moderation.” Gabby Giffords has endorsed both Toomey and Mike Fitzpatrick with such shennanigans. The true thermometer of gun control was Toomey’s Grade-A rating by the NRA, which Toomey bragged about in paid ads until 3 weeks ago. It was only when critics proved the lie of Toomey’s moderation with his A-rating, that the NRA recently lowered his grade to a C+. Would you have thought the NRA would have noticed before now? This most effective of lobbies? Follow the money.

Ben Burrows