For decades we have witnessed senseless, mass killings and injuries of our fellow Americans because the gun lobbies and the people they incite have impeded efforts to prevent reasonable firearms controls from being implemented. Now that the Virginia General Assembly has a majority of members with the will and numbers to make warranted changes, an orchestrated series of protests seeks to intimidate legislators to maintain the status quo. We, the electoral majority in this commonwealth, will not stand silent. We call upon you to carry out our mandate.

This book is necessary tool for Men and young Men to deal with modern American life and society and personal growth.

Target’s weekly ad on the Sunday after Thanksgiving featured a Nerf gun called a “Fortnite AR-E blaster.”(1) This toy gun looks like an AR-15, the weapon of choice for mass shootings—including the school shootings at Margery Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, FL and Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. In these times of horrific gun violence, family-friendly Target should not be selling toys modeled on AR-15s or other assault-style weapons. The US now has mass shootings on a near-daily basis. Children routinely participate in active shooting drills at schools due to the threat of gun violence. Many have seen news reports from shootings, including images of children crying outside their schools while police address the aftermath of a school shooting. Some have been directly affected by gun violence. Imagine those children seeing toy guns at Target that look like the assault-style weapons that are regularly used in mass shootings, packaged in boxes with pictures of smiling children holding the guns. What kind of message does it send to children who fear or have suffered from gun violence to see these “toys” for sale? Imagine a child who comes across a real gun at home or while visiting a friend or relative, which happens with alarming frequency. (2) Will that child who has seen toy guns at Target think the gun is a toy, perhaps leading to an accidental shooting? Imagine a troubled teen who has considered using a gun to injure himself or others? Will seeing the toy guns at Target encourage him or make him think that a real gun is not harmful? Imagine a child playing with one of these toy guns in the yard or a park. Might the police or someone else mistake it for a real gun (especially if the orange tip has been removed) and shoot the child? (3) There may have been a time when most people didn’t think twice about toy guns. But now that mass shootings and school shootings have become routine, no responsible retailer should sell "toys" that look like the deadly assault-style weapons used in those shootings. Guns are not toys. Target holds itself out as a responsible corporation that helps communities. The Target website proclaims: “We’re putting the needs of people, communities and the planet at the heart of how we work today, to help build a better tomorrow.”(4) Target also says it wants “to help all families discover the joy of everyday life.”(5) Selling toy guns that look like assault weapons does not help communities or families; it hurts them. Sign this petition and tell Target: Stop selling toy guns that look like assault-style weapons. 1. https://weeklyad.target.com/promotions?code=Target-20191201&page=14. 2. A recent study estimated that 4.6 million children live in a home with a gun that is loaded and unlocked. Deborah Azrael, et al., “Firearm Storage in Gun-owning Households with Children: Results of a 2015 National Survey.” Journal of Urban Health (2018) 1-10. Approximately 40% of gun owners report that there is always a loaded gun within easy reach when they’re at home. Kim Parker, et al., “America’s Complex Relationship with Guns,” Pew Research Center (June 22, 2017) 9, http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/06/06151541/Guns-Report-FOR-WEBSITE-PDF-6-21.pdf. 3. Katy Steinmetz, “Toy Guns Create Deadly Problems for Police,” Time (Nov. 25, 2014), https://time.com/3603087/tamir-rice-shooting-toy-gun/. The night before Target ran its ad featuring the assault-style Nerf gun, an intoxicated man shot a child who was playing with a Nerf gun. Kashmira Gander, “Florida Man Drunk On Whiskey And Beer Shot Child Playing With Nerf Gun After Telling Him He Had A Real Gun, Police Say,” Newsweek (Dec. 3, 2019), https://www.newsweek.com/florida-man-drunk-whiskey-beer-shot-child-nerf-gun-real-gun-police-1475186. 4. https://corporate.target.com/about/. 5. https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility.

Many of us have watched while on the state and the national stage public discourse has devolved into very public attacks against any individuals who cross Trump's path or oppose him or his followers. The state of New Hampshire has a sad history of harassment, especially from the right and within the walls of the state legislature. The current national climate has only given license to those parties who engage in harassing women, people of color and others who do not fit the "conservative" social narrative. We have noticed in particular, in the state house, a particular vitriol reserved for women members of the state legislature. From the current harassment and belittlement (calling her princess, telling her she is stupid, weak, receiving death threats, harassment directed at her being a woman, etc.) of Debra Stevens, to the the constant harassment and demands for censure of Representative Sherry Frost (Strafford, 18) that have occurred during her terms. The type of vicious harassment that women experience resembles the type of harassment many women experienced thirty years ago when they entered non-traditional employment. Today, nearly every place of employment has a sexual harassment policy in place. Today, nearly all workers and professionals everywhere have no problem working with women as colleagues and professional partners. The number of women in the state legislature has increased profoundly this past session, reflecting the increased participation across the board of women in public life. Yet only this session was a sexual harassment policy finally put in place; after solid repeated resistance when the House was GOP controlled. Those same members who voted against a sexual harassment policy now not only associate with those who regularly harass female members of the house, but these same members make a plea to Steve Shurtleff, claiming they feel harassed and misrepresented when a member shares her a story about the behavior of anti-gun control activists. They make this plea after they all deliberately assembled on Representative Steven's Facebook political page with the sole purpose of harassing her. They make this plea after the first vote of the Democratic controlled house which banned handguns on the state house floor caused a few state representatives to call a press conference claiming that they feel unsafe at the state house without a gun by their side. Yet they have had no problem associating with those who issue death threats, harass, cajole, bully and abuse their opponents, in particular women. Women who do not carry guns anywhere and yet have plenty of reason to feel unsafe everyday; just for their duty as state representatives and representing the issues the way the majority of their constituents who sent them there wish them to do. We feel that speaking up to these bullies is important and Steven Shurtleff showing leadership on this issue is absolutely essential. No state legislator or American citizen should ever feel their life might be in danger or their dignity or social good standing be jeopardized, simply for having a certain point of view. In particular, we ask that Speaker Shurtleff speak specifically as well to the harassment that the women on the Democratic side of the aisle have received for speaking their minds.

We need new and effective ways to immediately curtail the epidemic of school shootings in our nation.

We live in the richest, most powerful country on the planet, but for years I have been going to bed hungry. My hunger was not for food, but another basic need, similarly essential for my life and well being. My hunger was for the shooting to stop. America has had more mass shootings than there have been days this year. That means, more likely than not, before you sit down to dinner with your family tonight another mass shooting will occur. And as I send my students to the cafeteria for lunch tomorrow, another one. More innocent, unsuspecting lives lost, for nothing. Or more accurately, because the Republican-led Senate has chosen to ignore their constituents’ basic human need for safety. The failure of our Federal government to fulfill its duty to its citizens led me to compound my hunger. That is why I began this hunger strike. One hundred people die every day in America because of gun violence, and my love for those 100 people that are going to die tomorrow, outweighs my desire for a burger today. Originally my focus was on mass shootings. They are so random and get so much media coverage the result can only be terror. But truth be told, as horrific as they are, mass shootings are only a small fraction of the gun violence that is plaguing our nation. Suicides, homicides, domestic violence, accidental shootings are all largely preventable with Common Sense gun legislation. Any good faith movement by the Federal Government on gun violence prevention bills passed by the House and waiting on a vote from the Senate, would be reason to celebrate. And in my case have a taco. But for now, I am following this path. My name is Shai Stephenson and I am Hungry4Change. Are you?

In the aftermath of the Gilroy mass shooting Mayor Sam Liccardo of San Jose observed, in a press release, that "[w]e require motorists to carry automobile insurance, and the insurance industry appropriately encourages and rewards safe driver behavior...[S]uccessful public health models inspire a similar 'harm reduction' approach for firearms." See http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/86243. Mayor Liccardo proposed a firearms regulation ordinance for the City of San Jose, CA, based on the “harm reduction” model. This approach to firearms regulation should be applied to the entire state of California so that: *All firearms owners in the state will carry liability insurance, or will pay a fee, by which the state will defray the public costs of firearm violence in the state. *There will be a state sales tax on gun and ammunition sales, which will help fund gun safety classes, gun violence prevention programs, and victim assistance services for survivors of gun violence in California. *The State of California will explore a consent-to-search program for juveniles, which would allow parents to consent to have local law enforcement search a juvenile’s person or their property. *The State of California will create a program that would offer cash rewards to anyone who reports someone who possesses unlawfully-obtained guns or weapons.

Because people are dying and no one is getting anything done.

In the thirty-one days between today and when the Senate is scheduled to come back into session on September 9th, approximately 3,286 people will die from gunshots in the United States. That's 309 more than died on 9/11. Then we started two wars, created an entire cabinet-level department, and completely changed national security apparatus. We have about thirteen 9/11 death tolls every year from gun violence, and #MassacreMitch won't come back from vacation to act. We intend to hold him accountable.

Because it's the right thing to do.

Sign up to march on Washington. Puerto Rico as our guide. Millions must march to stop these racist hateful white supremacist climate deniers. They are destroying the world.

My extended family was gunned down in a mass shooting attack in 2015 (six members). Since then, domestic terrorism has risen dramatically, fueled by white supremacist radicalization. We need to call it what it is: terrorism.