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Grassroots Groups Kick Off Campaign Against Illegal Guns From New York...

In press conferences, gun violence prevention advocates across the country are kicking off a campaign this week to educate the public about the devastation caused by illegal guns and to announce initiatives to disrupt the illegal gun business. These advocates are state organization members of States United to Prevent Gun Violence and Million Mom March Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.



Unlike drugs, almost all guns start as a legal product made by a licensed gun manufacturer which is then sent through a distributor to a gun store. There then exists a well documented process that often moves these legal guns into sales to prohibited buyers, making them illegal guns. Guns are obtained in three main ways by gun traffickers who then sell them on the street to prohibited buyers. Guns are bought in bulk at gun stores by straw buyers who are paid by gun traffickers, guns go out the back door to traffickers through inventory "lost" by gun stores, and guns are purchased in sales at gun shows where private sellers are not required to do background checks or account for large sales.



Thom Mannard, President of States United to Prevent Gun Violence states, "Criminal entrepreneurs, gun traffickers, take advantage of weak federal and state gun laws to build illegal distribution networks and sell guns on street corners to thugs, across kitchen tables to drug dealers and on playgrounds to violent teens. These are the guns that end up being used to wound, maim and kill in our communities."



Some of the press events which have and will highlight this illegal gun problem include:



May13thIn the Bronx in a neighborhood plagued by illegal guns, the aunt of a 10 year-old caught in the cross fire and killed organized a march of 200 people with the help of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.



May 15th    
Virginians Against Handgun Violence are holding a press conference with Congressman Jim Moran and Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign on illegal gun trafficking and the need for good trace data on trafficking.



May 16thAt the Hayward Police Department, the California Million Mom March Chapters of the Brady Campaign will hold a press conference with Attorney General Bill Lockyer on new ways to enforce California laws against illegal gun trafficking.



May17th In West Milwaukee, in front of a gun store known for selling large numbers of guns traced to crime, representatives of States United to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Campaign, as well as the local state organization WAVE and the Milwaukee MMM chapter will discuss the problem of bulk purchases by straw buyers from gun stores.



May 17thIn Boston, there will be a press conference in the Peace Garden followed by a round table for media on the issue of illegal guns organized by Massachusetts MMM chapters. In Minnesota Citizens for Safer Minnesota will hold a press conference as will the PATH Coalition in Pennsylvania which is working for a one handgun a month state law to prevent bulk purchasing of handguns by traffickers. Groups not conducting press conferences will be handing cups out to media with the logo - "Where did the gun come from" to remind them of this illegal gun business.



May 18th In Los Angeles, Woman Against Gun Violence and LA Mayor Villariagosa will discuss steps to end illegal gun trafficking.



Barbara Hohlt, Executive Director of States United, says, "There is much that can be done to prevent the flood of illegal guns on our streets and into the hands of criminals, teens and violence persons. These illegal guns cause the tragic shooting of children and the elderly caught in the cross fire, the injuring and killing of crime victims and the killing of teens by other teens. Our communities can be made safer by focusing on the ways guns become illegal and disrupting the deadly business of illegal gun trafficking."



Contacts: Thom Mannard, President - 312-341-0939

Barbara Hohlt, Executive Director - 646-594-8956

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