Post navigation

Prev: (01/31/13) | Next: (02/01/13)

Candlelight march against gun violence to cross Capitol Hill — Plus, Town Hall forum

Next week brings two opportunities to get involved with changing the nation’s gun laws.

  • Town Hall hosts gun violence forum: SPD collected more than 700 guns during last weekend’s Seattle/King County gun buyback, but the discussion on gun violence is just beginning. With rifles, pistols, shotguns and even a missile launcher tube off Seattle streets, Sunday night’s Twilight Exit shooting is the most recent reminder that we have some problems to solve.

On Monday, join public and mental health experts as they discuss ways to prevent gun violence with a public-health approach, during a forum at Town Hall Seattle:

Gun Violence: A Public-Health Crisis

Monday, February 4, 2013, 7:30 – 9:00pm

Great Hall; enter on Eighth Avenue. $5.

Across the nation (and at the White House), Americans are taking a fresh look at gun violence in the aftermath of the Newtown shooting—and the Aurora shooting, and the Portland shooting, and the Seattle shooting. In seeking ways to prevent such tragedies, this forum lays out a public-health approach to gun violence—tracing the extent of the problem, exploring evidence-based solutions, considering mental-health aspects and new alternatives, discussing new policies in Seattle-King County and Washington state—and considering what each of us can do. After an introduction by Dr. Howard Frumkin, Dean of the University of Washington School of Public Health, panelists David Fleming, director of Public Health Seattle-King County; Dr. Frederick Rivara, UW Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology; Amnon Shoenfeld, director of King County’s Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division; Beth Ebel, Director of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center; and Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw offer local perspectives on a national crisis. The discussion is moderated by Steve Boyd, of MacDonald Boyd & Associates. Presented by the University of Washington School of Public Health and Town Hall.
 

Tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888/377-4510 and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Great Hall; enter on Eighth Avenue

  • Candlelight march against gun violence: The following Saturday, organizers are planning a march across Capitol Hill from St. Mark’s to St. James to bring attention to community calls for improved gun safety laws:

Cathedrals in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle will host a candlelight march to end gun violence on Feb. 9, 2013. The event begins with a 5:30 p.m. interfaith prayer vigil of lamentation at St. Mark’s Cathedral (1245 10th Ave. E.), will continue with a candlelight march down Broadway Avenue East, and will conclude with an interfaith prayer vigil for hope and justice at St. James Cathedral (804 Ninth Ave.). It is sponsored by a diverse coalition of faith and social justice groups and its purpose is to raise community awareness about gun violence and to call governmental leaders to action.

Since the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook shootings in Newtown, Conn., gun control advocates and faith community members have called on community leaders to take dramatic and effective steps to reduce gun violence.

“Following the Sandy Hook shootings, more than 1,100 people have died as a result of gun violence in America,” said Rev. Sanford Brown, senior pastor at First United Methodist. “While New York State has enacted gun responsibility legislation and while local citizens support tighter gun laws, Washington state leaders are not yet optimistic about its chances in our state. For this reason it is important for members of the community to stand up and be heard.”

Lear more at candlelightmarch.org.

  • If you would like to provide some direct benefit with your activism, march over to Twilight Exit on February 10th for the bar’s benefit to assist bouncer Greg McCormick with medical bills for injuries he sustained in last week’s shooting.

 

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

1 Comment
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Name
11 years ago

To be clear, Greg’s medical bills are being paid for by a victim’s fund and he will get wages, just not tips. Donated funds are going to replace tips he would have recieved.