2nd Anniversary- Be Smart

[sarisataka]

This Mother's Day Week is the second anniversary of Bloomberg's Mom's Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety launch of the Be SMART for Kids campaign. http://besmartforkids.org/

I noted and promoted this in 2015, https://www.democraticunderground.com/1172166981 , as a noble effort with a very worthy goal; reduce child gun related deaths. It seemed to be something everyone could support without reservation.

Now two years in, the saying "Talk is cheap" come to mind. The program claims 1000 "presenters" on their facebook page yet a google search of Be SMART events or presentations returns comes up with very sad results. A handful of churches seem to had announced upcoming presentations for 2016 and one (1) for 2017 so far. The Group's facebook page leads one to believe they may attend an event once or twice a month nationally. I have tried to contact them about becoming a presenter and promoting their programs in my firearms classes but they are hard to reach. The contact via the website demands you enter a zip code however there is no box to enter such. Facebook messages have gone unanswered.

Besmart also claims to distribute free gun locks. The quiz page claims 25,274 locks; unless you refresh then it may say 24,855 locks. These numbers haven't changed in six months- go ahead, check now> http://besmartforkids.org/take-the-quiz/
I have done an extensive online and can find more evidence that bigfoot, Santa Claus and unicorns exist than the existence and distribution of one of these locks.

Both Everytown and MDA also seem to have forgotten about this program as the anniversary of this program, launched with much fanfare, has gone unnoted. Apparently Bloomberg's $50million donation didn't include a line item to buy some locks which could save kids lives... Sad.


>For anyone interested in obtaining a free lock for their gun, go to Project ChildSafe http://www.projectchildsafe.org/ developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and supported by the firearms industry and government grants. In 2016 they distributed 334,800 free gun locks http://www.projectchildsafe.org/sites/default/files/PCS_2016Annual%20Review_FINAL.pdf .
(Ironically gun control organizations opposed a $2.4 million government grant to Project ChildSafe in 2015. The purpose of the grant was to purchase and distribute more locks and educate gun owners on the importance of keeping guns from children's hands. The grant was given)

[pablo_marmol]

1. All about virtue posturing.

Good onya for tracking this nonsense.

[sarisataka]

3. I like to watch

For any initiatives which would actually be practical, save lives and appeal to both sides. History has taught me to always go in with low expectations however gun control groups consistently fall short of even those.

A cynical person would ask why do they not follow through on a simple and effective method which could prevent child death but I like to think that people value children more than an agenda. Maybe I am overly optimistic

[pablo_marmol]

5. So much evidence that concern for gun violence victims is not what moves them.

If they were actually as compassionate as they signal, they'd be able to define what an "assault weapon" is.

They'd be aware that gun violence is HALF of what it was in '93, and would be intensely interested in investigating WHY.

They would have googled on "gun show loophole" and discovered what horseshit it is

They wouldn't poison the discussion with phrases like "Guns everywhere for everyone"

They'd come to realize that you can't buy "anything you want without a background check over the internet"

They'd be as concerned about the many young men killed in Chicago every week as they are in those killed in mass murders -- and they'd be aware that mass murders make up only a small fraction of the total of killings

They'd check their egos once they discovered that there have been a number of bona-fide liberal criminologists and scholars who refuse to sign off on Democratic Party "solutions"

But no. The party regressives are too arrogant to admit that they haven't done enough homework to speak with any authority on the gun violence issue. "Media education" is sufficient.

[jmg257]

2. Yes - PLEASE be smart. This tragic incident involved an extended family member's 4 yr old...

http://nbc4i.com/2017/05/16/4-year-old-dies-after-shooting-self-at-childcare-providers-virginia-house/

Lock 'em up, people!

[sarisataka]

4. The message is a good one

Follow-up action is somewhat lacking ( by lacking I mean non-existent)

[pablo_marmol]

6. I agree completely, while reminding honest interested parties that.......

......gun-related accidents, like all gun violence, has declined greatly since the early 90's.......and this while the number of guns in the country has increased.