Yesterday was Gun Violence Awareness Day and the 12th year of the Wear Orange movement. It was the start of a month dedicated to remembering the millions of Americans touched every year by gun violence.
The day traces back to a group of Chicago teenagers who lost their 15-year-old friend, Hadiya Pendleton, to a stray bullet just days after she performed at President Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. They asked their classmates to wear orange in her honor, choosing the color because hunters wear it to signal “don’t shoot.” That act of grief became a national movement. Yesterday would have been Hadiya’s 29th birthday.
At 97Percent, we believe gun violence awareness must include every American, both non-gun owners and gun owners alike. Because we know that gun owners too often get written out of the conversation—when they are, in fact, a big part of the solution. The will is there. What’s been missing is the political courage to act and the bridge-builders willing to show that reducing gun deaths isn’t a partisan cause. It’s a human one.
So this month, wear your orange if you’ve got it. But more than that: please share this newsletter with a gun owner you know. Push back on the narrative that nothing can change. It can change. Victims like Hadiya Pendleton and the grieving loved ones they leave behind deserve more than a day of acknowledgement or a moment of silence. They deserve progress.
In the Capitol, one rule among a package of 32 regulatory changes recently proposed by the ATF is drawing concern from gun owners.
The new rule would add an item to ATF forms asking respondents to report their biological sex, leading to speculation that the agency might be trying to block transgender individuals from owning firearms.
Critics say the rule puts trans and non-binary people at risk of being accused of perjury when what’s listed on their state ID is different from their sex assigned at birth.
ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider strongly denies that the agency is trying to bar these individuals from gun ownership, but observers still worry that it will “cause a ton of confusion” and lead to unfair disqualifications and charges.
Another recent change that’s causing confusion is the Justice Department’s reclassification of medical marijuana to a Schedule 3 controlled substance.
Under the previous classification, marijuana users are barred from owning a firearm—the ban behind the Supreme Court’s current deliberation of whether drug users should have guns.
However, Schedule 3 drugs have a recognized medical purpose, and use for this purpose generally doesn’t come with a restriction of gun rights.
It looks like users of medical marijuana might soon be able to own guns, too, once the SCOTUS makes its ruling later this month.
In other news, President Trump said on Wednesday that he will nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the DOJ’s top job.
A tenacious 2nd Amendment advocate, Blanche presided over the recent announcement of ATF rule changes and has expressed support for federal deregulation of firearms.
He also pushed back against suggestions of tightening gun laws following the White House Correspondent’s Dinner shooting in April.
The appointment solidifies the Trump Administration’s deregulatory agenda on firearms and foreshadows further changes to come.
Do you have a comment about any of these critical issues? Do you have a story to share? We’d love to hear from you. Please include your first name and state, and we may publish it in a future issue. Thank you for reading!
For more information about 97Percent, please visit our website at 97Percent.us.
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