The gun violence prevention movement was thrown into utter turmoil this week after survivors and advocates learned that Everytown for Gun Safety has sponsored the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) conference for two out of the past three years (2015 and 2017).
Everytown volunteers like me are now leaving the organization in droves, disgusted that our leadership would partner with an organization that has been a steadfast ally of the National Rifle Association and defender of racially-motivated police brutality.
Source: As A Gun Violence Survivor, I Feel Betrayed By Everytown | HuffPost
This. article is chock-full of nice confirmations about the inner works of a Gun Control organization
I have been stating for a long time now that Moms Demand has accepted the Anti-LEO principle as a new core value. They have allied with Black Lives Matter and only bring cops to the mix when one is killed by a criminal because, like any ghoul, they simply cannot resist the political taste of a dead body.
What else is in the article?
“Over the years, however, I began to see signs that suggested I was not as empowered as I thought. For example, I was once coached to avoid authenticity in telling my personal story in order to “stay on message.”
In other words, she was told to lie. And not only to lie but to do so about something that transformed her and sent her to seek a “resolution” with the same people they are no asking her to be untruthful. By the way, does that mean we should treat your public statements as less-than-truthful?
“I also saw that survivors who were in the national media got preferential treatment over survivors who were unknown to the public.”
And your case was purely local and not well publicized, even in Broward county. My search only provided one TV station covering the attack and only the Sun Sentinel made but a couple of articles about you and the trial. You were not “sexy” enough for the National Media and other than a case to fill their general wall of stories, you did not rate their P.R. efforts and money.
Or the time I was harassed and threatened by an online pro-gun activist and told by Everytown staff that there was nothing they could do to help me.
Now, unfortunately there are assholes in every side and I will take your word (even after your previous admission) that somebody was being an asshole to you. Again, you are not “P.R. sexy” enough to waste resources, specially since you only had to click a couple of check-marks to silence the abusing asshole.
I could not believe it. For the past 20 years, the Fraternal Order of Police has supported virtually every NRA campaign to weaken our nation’s gun laws.
But Shannon Watts keeps telling us that Law Enforcement is in favor of more Gun Control!
The FOP’s record on the issue of racially-motivated gun violence committed by police is equally deplorable. There are many people of color in the Everytown Survivor Network.
Nice to have more confirmation of the Anti-LEO, pro-BLM bias.
In 2015, Pasco wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch requesting millions in taxpayer funding for the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s controversial “Project ChildSafe” program. NSSF is the Newtown-based gun industry trade group that has opposed every gun reform proposal introduced in Congress since Sandy Hook (while supporting a slew of bills that would further gut our gun laws).
Wait, I thought you guys liked to be called a “Gun Safety” group? How come your group was suddenly against the free distribution of free gun locks? Maybe because Gun Control ghouls consider children’s bodies a delicacy for propaganda and fund-raising?
When advocates and survivors learned about Everytown’s support of the FOP conference, many of us reached out immediately to their leadership and asked them to rescind their decision to sponsor a table at the event. At that point we were told that we were using “inflammatory language” and should wait for Everytown to issue a statement on the matter.
Got taken to the wood shed, weren’t you?
Thousands of dollars could do so much good for survivors in the Everytown Survivor Network. It could provide us with additional training where we get to do self-care and be around each other in a healing space. It could establish a grant program for gun violence survivors out of work due to PTSD and trauma (been there myself). The possibilities are endless.
Wait, if your organization not only will not put up any kind of money for gun locks that cost $5 and under but actively seeks that nobody does, do you expect them to give any money to you and fellow sufferers? That is not how Michael Bloomberg makes his billions or Shannon buys a mansion in the Rockies.
On Thursday, I resigned as an Everytown Survivor Fellow after being blocked by the Survivor Network Facebook page for voicing my concerns about the sponsorship. My conclusion is that dissenting voices have no place in these organizations. You toe the line or you’re out.
Schadenfreude anyone? Did you complain when Shannon and company refused to engage in debate and blocked anybody from the Gun Rights side from their Social Media? Did you even ask why Shannon Watts still refuses to debate Dana Loesch on Gun Control?
I feel betrayed by an organization that I’ve given myself and my story to over and over again. I don’t think they understand how difficult it is for gun violence survivors to put themselves out there so soon after these shootings — and even years later. The people who work for them have every right to be upset, and they should be apologizing and allowing for a conversation about how we got to this point, minus the corporate speak.
You answered yourself in the previous paragraph: “You toe the line or you’re out.” They do not work for you or care for your feelings or the worker’s feelings. Everytown and Moms Demand are now a Political Action Group to get Shannon (Hillary 2.0) Watts elected to office.
Maybe this is for the best, though. Many survivors and advocates are now looking at other alternatives.
Good luck. Many of them are either getting money from Bloomberg or are afraid of him or simply do not count.
Authenticity is the future of the gun violence prevention grassroots, not top-down bureaucracy.
If Gun Control groups ever use the truth, they would disappear within six months.
I hate to repeat myself but:
If your cause is righteous, why lie?
Hat Tip Dan Roberts
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