Op/Ed: ACTION to Sponsor Talk by National Gun Victims

YOUNGSTOWN –In the wake of recent high-profile tragedies involving firearms, the faith-based community organizing group, ACTION, will sponsor a talk by representatives of the National Gun Victims Action Council (NGAC), on Tuesday, Jan. 25, at 6 p.m., at Reuben McMillan Public Library.  The one-hour presentation, titled “An Economic Strategy to Reduce Gun Homicide and Violence in Our Community Now,” will lay out a strategy for changing America’s lax gun laws by harnessing the economic power of concerned citizens.  The presentation will be held in the conference room of the library, which is located at 305 Wick Ave.

NGAC is a non-profit national network of gun victims, survivors, their supporters, faith communities—including the National Council of Churches, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism—and others who intend to leverage their power as consumers to reduce gun violence.  “NGAC will introduce a different kind of strategy,” said NGAC President and CEO Elliot Fineman, who will be co-presenter at Tuesday’s event.  “To get sane gun laws, we will harness the buying power of nine million victims and their supporters, five million gun assault survivors and their supporters, and many of the 100 million Americans who—as polls consistently show—want sane gun laws.”

Fineman said legislative efforts to pass gun laws that protect public safety, while also protecting the Second Amendment rights of legal gun owners, have failed because of the “enormous imbalance” between the two primary competitors: the National Rifle Association (with an annual budget of $250 million) and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (with an annual budget of $7 million).  The NGAC contends that, under such circumstances, meaningful progress can be achieved only through targeted boycotts of major U.S. corporations that “either support pro-gun policies, or have not taken a position in favor of sane gun laws.”

Fineman, a Chicago resident who worked for many years as a strategic marketing advisor to Fortune 500 companies, was personally affected by gun violence.  In 2006, his adult son was fatally shot in a San Diego restaurant by a paranoid schizophrenic who legally obtained the gun used in the incident.  Fineman, who established the NGAC last year, will be joined by NGAC Vice Chairman Lori A. O’Neill, a Chagrin Falls-based marketing specialist who has worked as a gun violence prevention advocate since 1994.

For further information, please call ACTION Executive Director Min. Rose Carter at 330-782-7433. ACTION (Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods) is a faith-based community organizing group that focuses on a range of social issues, including crime prevention, education, immigration, and health and wellness.