These
are the Official SE MN Alliance of Peacemakers Handouts
Campaign to Post Guns are
Banned Signs
We are currently asking local
Rochester businesses to post signs that ban concealed
weapons on their premises. You can contact us
for more information. (our
letter to local businesses)
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Official Rally Speeches
- Text of
Chuck Handlon's speech.
- Audio of
Chuck Handlon's speech. (2MB)
- Audio of
Sheriff Borchardt (5MB).
- Audio of Century High School student Marissa
Knodel.
- Text of Century High School student Marissa
Knodel.
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Highlighted Websites
Interesting Quote
 "The nonviolence path
holds no guarantees of success. But then neither
does
violence. Nonviolence guarantees only one thing.
You do not spend the rest of your life asking
that most agonizing question: Did I do the right
thing
when I pulled the trigger? Instead, you tell
yourself with assurance that you did what you could
to break
the cycle of violence. The more the forces of
violence repress you, the more certain it is that
you are
breaking that cycle." source
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Culture of Firearms - Former Chief Constable John Alderson
Discusses the "Impossibility" of Disarmanent
John
Alderson
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"I was a soldier before I
was a policeman and if you are walking around
with a gun on you
it gives you a feeling of omnipotence almost
- that you can get away with stuff that you couldn't
get away with if you didn't have a gun. In
other words, a gun affects your mentality and that
would
have to be guarded against in my view. The
police
themselves would have to be trained about the
whole question of the culture of firearms."
"Once you have done it I don't think you
would ever undo it. I don't imagine disarming the
police would ever be an easy task once they have
been armed - the police wouldn't like it perhaps
and the public may feel secure - to me, it is a
very, very important decision," he says.
source |
Post Bulletin Letter:
"New gun law should be repealed"
New gun law should be repealed
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
 I thought that Olmsted County
Sheriff Borchardt provided constructive comments
at the "conceal
and carry" rally.
As part of his job, he makes sure his law-enforcement
officials prevent violence when they can and react
to violence appropriately when they must.
With regards to the Barrett shooting, Sheriff
Borchardt commented that his deputy pulled out
his gun after he was shot three times. He implied
that it was unfair for anybody to suggest Barrett
was a victim of law enforcement.
In response, the crowd applauded loudly and enthusiastically.
The most misunderstood word
at the forum seemed to be the word "victim." To some, Barrett
was a victim of this society. Michael Moore's movie, "Bowling
for Columbine," addresses this point. In his
movie, Moore goes to K-mart to return the bullets
that were used in the Columbine shooting. The management
of K-mart was so moved by his stunt that they stopped
selling handgun ammunition. In Moore's movie, Chris
Rock exclaimed that "if bullets weren't so
cheap, then people couldn't afford to use them." Bullets
should be as regulated as cocaine.
I want to ask my community
to support Southeast Minnesota's Alliance of
Peacemaker's (www.semnpeacemakers.com)
efforts to repeal the new "conceal and carry" law.
We need a handgun law that requires prospective
handgun toters to document why they need a permit.
Michael Schweisguth
Rochester |
'Guns not welcome' signs to go
up in Duluth (note: The SE MN Alliance of Peacemakers
is about to ask Rochester, MN to follow this example)
>From the Star Tribune:
'Guns not welcome' signs to go up in Duluth
Published June 8, 2003
Guns
Not Welcome |
DULUTH -- Signs saying "Guns not welcome
here" will be posted all over Duluth in
response to the state's new carry-permit law.
Mayor Gary Doty approved the creation of the signs
for all city buildings and recreation sites. The
placards will be signed by the mayor.
"I wanted to make a statement," Doty
said.
Duluth was one of several cities considering antigun
signs to discourage people from bringing guns on
city property. Other cities considering the signs
include Mankato, Mendota Heights and Minnetonka.
The new law makes it much easier to obtain a permit
to carry a weapon and prevents most local governments
from banning weapons in public buildings.
Duluth's signs "don't say you can't bring
them. It just says they are not welcome," Doty
said.
They also venture into unknown legal ground, said
Bryan Brown, a city attorney.
The law says a city can't ban weapons, but the
law is silent on whether communities can state
a preference, Brown said. "The question is,
what does the silence mean?"
Duluth Police Chief Roger Waller agrees with the
mayor's stand. "Although the state law does
not address city buildings, the mayor strongly
believes -- and I support that belief as police
chief -- that guns should not be in city buildings," Waller
said.
Associated Press |
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Help Repeal Conceal & Carry
You can download the
petition here.
The address where you return it is at the bottom
of the flyer.
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Free Signs!
Want to ban handguns
from your property? Get two free “[Identity
of Operator] Bans Guns in these Premises” signs
at www.nogunshere.com.
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State Representatives from Minnesota
Want To Repeal Conceal & Carry
State Representative
Nora Slawik and Senator Wes Skoglund are sponsoring
a PETITION DRIVE to collect signatures of people
who want the new handgun permit law to be repealed.
They
have introduced legislation to repeal the law
which can't be considered until the next legislative
session. Copies of the petition to circulate are
available online at www.endgunviolence.com and
Semnpeacemakers
For more information, contact: Twin Cities Million
Mom March (612-202-8177) or email us. |
Get the "Carries No Gun Shirt"
Send an e-mail to SE
MN Alliance of Peacemakers to order your shirt.
They are $10.00.
They come in yellow, gray or white
and in sizes medium, large and extra-large.
The shirts can be picked up at a
SE MN Alliance of Peacemakers meeting or Chuck can
ship them to you for an addtional fee.
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By Popular Demand!
| By popular demand,
an original photo
essay of Chuck Handlon wearing his "Carries
No Gun" t-shirt is now on-line! |
Olmsted County DFL Wants
an End to Proliferation of Handgun Violence
The Olmsted
County DFL's "Repeal
Carry & Carry" announcement said:
"Stop the proliferation
of handgun violence! Attend a rally promoting
nonviolence..."
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 |
The DFL's platform includes "Reasonable gun
control that promotes public safety and crime
prevention." and "Reducing
the military budget and using the savings to fund
social, scientific and environmental programs and
research and development." |
Statistics Show That More Guns
Equals More Violence
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=420842
According to Aaron Karp, co-author of the report: "Citizens of most European
countries are more heavily armed than they realise, with an average of 17.4
guns per 100 people in the 15 EU countries alone." While that falls a
long way behind the US, which is "fast approaching a statistical level
of one gun per person", Germans are buying almost as many new firearms
per capita as Americans.
Finland, with its strong hunting tradition,
has the most legally registered guns in the EU
at 39 per 100 people, the UK has 10 - one third
of the German
and French figures - and the Netherlands has two. Gun laws are tightest
in the UK, the Netherlands and Poland, while France
has more legal handguns
than the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland,
England, Wales and Scotland combined. HOW THEY COMPARE
Firearm-related deaths (in 2000)
| United States |
30,419 |
11.30 |
per 100,000 |
| England and Wales |
159 |
0.30 |
per 100,000 |
| Germany |
1,201 |
1.50 |
per 100 000 |
| France |
2,964 |
5.00 |
per 100,000 |
Gun ownership
per 100 inhabitants
| United States |
83-96 |
| European Union |
17.4 |
| United Kingdom |
10 |
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Chuck Handlon Responds to the Post Bulletin's coverage
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As a primary speaker
at the May 27th Rally for Nonviolence I would like
to explain the circumstances that caused Sheriff
Steve Borchardt to criticize the rally.
When the rally began I spoke
from a prepared text but failed to read it "verbatim." What
follows is what I had said with the line I wrote
but missed saying in parentheses.
"We are not here to condemn
or condone Mr. Barrett's action. Calvin Barret
is a victim of gun
violence. (Not so much from the deputy who acted
in the way he was trained.) Calvin is a victim of
the myth that guns can solve anything or are the
answer to our difficulties."
I was thrown off by Sheriff Borchardt's comments
and failed to mention that the Southeast Minnesota
Alliance of Peacemakers did send Deputy Christensen
a card while he was in the hospital. In this card
I expressed sadness about the tragedy and sentiments
for a speedy and full recovery. I also stated that
the Alliance is working to prevent future tragedies
like this from reoccurring.
However, I am disappointed the Post Bulletin chose
to report Borchardt's comments as worthy enough
of a separate article with its own headline and
missed mentioning other speakers. Century High School
student Marissa Knodel spoke very eloquently. Rochester
councilwoman Sandra Means also made comments.
I now find myself expending
energy explaining actions rather than working
to fight the real "enemy"-
violence in our community. If you are interested
in helping in this effort I suggest you look over
the SE MN Alliance of Peacemakers website (www.semnpeacemakers.org)
In closing here are some comments from my prepared
text which I know I did say:
"Wouldn't it be great to wake up one day and
then in the evening's Post Bulletin see a headline
which reads: "NO VIOLENCE OCCURRED TODAY !" Is
it possible - maybe. Is it worth working for? Definitely.
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06-29-2003
Rally in Eagan (Press
Release)
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