 My talk is entitled the need for action and For those of us who've been fighting this issue for a long time or for those of us who've been just recently to the issue Propelled by what happened in Connecticut or whatever It's very frustrating to see what happens in state capitals Frustrating obviously to see what doesn't happen in Washington But I believe there is a road that we need to get on and that can produce Significant action Let me posit a question to all of you Heidi Hyde camp was a Democratic senator elected in the 2012 election and She was one of the six Democrats who voted against Universal background checks she voted against universal background checks notwithstanding the fact that the poll by the largest newspaper in North Dakota found 93% of North Dakotans in favor of Universal background checks including almost seven out of ten NRA members Kelly Ayotte is a moderate Republican senator from New Hampshire She voted against universal background checks even though a poll by the Manchester Guardian found that 90% of New Hampshire including 65 no, I'm sorry 75% of Republicans Favored universal background checks now why in Lord's name would two Relatively sane relatively intelligent senators vote against the wishes of over nine out of ten of their constituents Because The NRA and the people who follow the NRA's dictates are single issue voters They vote on one issue and that is how you if you're a legislator or governor what your stance was on efforts to curb gun violence And they can target individuals and make a difference the reason that it seems ludicrous to me to cast these votes and The reason it would seem ludicrous to you doesn't seem ludicrous to them because they know that And and most politicians are visceral so on an issue like this my guess is that Kelly Ayotte and Heidi Heidkamp received well over a thousand emails and Well over two or three thousand phone calls to their office in the days leading up to the vote from Second Amendment rights people My guess is they received less than 20% of that from people who wanted them to vote aye on the bill We tend to be the people who believe that we should have rational gun safety laws we tend not to be single issue voters and The call for action or the need for action is very simple We've got to become single issue voters as much as that might hurt We've got to become single issue voters Mayor Bloomberg was criticized roundly by progressives and Democrats when he called for New Yorkers To boycott fundraisers for the six Democrats who voted against universal background checks and Literally people were saying well Mayor Bloomberg's gonna try to turn his actions will help turn the Senate over to conservative Republican leadership and I said maybe But Mayor Bloomberg's message is the right message There have to be consequences Heidi I can't believe she can do what she did and suffer no consequences from all of the supporters of Democrats and progressive causes But she knows that there will be consequences if in fact She voted the other way same thing with Kelly out and We've got to become single issue voters know if sands and butts about it This has to be the issue that drives us it can't be an amalgam of issues Until we become single issue voters and strike the same fear into elected officials that they exist when the NRA opposes them Nothing is going to change Either that or we need to get it the law change so there can be secret ballots If there was a secret ballot on universal background checks, it would have gotten over 80 votes in the Senate but our senators are scared There are a bunch of wooses when it comes to taking difficult action and we've got to change that Plain and simple as that You know if sands and butts about it it has to happen secondly We've got to try to talk some degree of rationality into the Legislators both in state legislatures had in Washington the NRA is not as powerful as they think Most of you think that the NRA gives out a whole boatload of money in Washington, right? The NRA in the 2012 cycle gave out less than two million dollars There were a hundred and forty seven groups that gave out more money than the NRA but they give it in targeted ways and Again, it strikes up that fear factor I was a strong gun control advocate when I was mayor of Philadelphia when I was district attorney of Philadelphia And when I ran for governor in 19 and excuse me in 2002, I ran in the Democratic primary against Bob Casey The NRA strongly supported Bob Casey set out direct mail did radio ads When I ran for I won the primary when I ran for Governor in the general election they supported the Republican candidate when I ran for reelection as governor They supported the Republican candidate Pennsylvania is not a blue state if you're from out of Pennsylvania And you think about recent presidential elections. You say well, Pennsylvania is becoming a blue state Not true only in presidential elections when there's a mass turnout in other elections Well as we meet here today, Pennsylvania has a Republican governor Republican State Senate a Republican State House and one Republican senator It's very much a purple state and yet I was reelected over the vociferous and strong Opposition of the NRA I won the primary by 12 percentage points I won the general first general election by 10 percentage points I won the second general election by 21 percentage points in spite of the strong opposition to the NRA in the state That has the second highest NRA membership in the Union only second to Pennsylvania So what does that tell you about the NRA? First of all a lot of NRA members don't follow the political Line of the NRA as you can tell from the polls on universal background checks a lot of NRA members Do it because they want the magazine and they want the discounts. That's why they join Simple as that. They aren't apostles of the NRA philosophy Plus the fact is they see the NRA philosophy change with the wind They were for universal background checks not very long ago, but that totally changed after Newtown so we've got to convince our Worst politicians to not be afraid that they're not as powerful as you think But we've got to become single-issue voters. That's the start and the finish of it and we've got to push our own legislative agenda, I thought that the Democrats and the president gave up on Other parts of the legislation Too easily The only thing they push was universal background checks I would have liked to have seen them push for the Reinstate a reinstatement of the ban on high-capacity magazines that was in the assault weapons bill One reason was because we can prove it works, you know, the NRA is always saying well All these people in these mass murders they the guns are acquired legally So none of this stuff would make a difference in Newtown the mother purchased the gun She had every right to purchase the gun universal background checks wouldn't have stopped that at all Well, let's take a look at high-capacity magazine You all remember the incident in Tucson where 12 people were injured seven were killed Among the people killed was the nine-year-old girl whose soul mistake was she her hero was not an actress or a Sports star her hero was congressman Gabby Giffords and she wanted to meet her congressman So she went out to the shopping center and she was shot dead Gabby Giffords was almost killed and The fact situation in that case was to Jared Loeffner had a 33 bullet magazine in his gun when he opened up and hit 19 people 14 shots missed he then Took out the magazine that was spent and was reaching for a second magazine took it out of his back pocket another 33-shot magazine when a courageous older woman Belted his arm with her pocketbook dislodging the magazine and allowing two guys that were standing nearby to jump him and disarm him and and Immobilize him till he was taken into custody Assume that the assault weapons man was still in effect and assume the first magazine that Loeffner put into his gun was 10 bullets, which was the law at the time He couldn't have hit 19 people if you assume his accuracy would have been the same he would have hit six people So some who were killed would have survived some who were injured would have not been hit at all It would have made a dramatic difference. Maybe that nine-year-old girl would still be alive today Because obviously the same fact pattern would have happened when he's Finished with the 10 shots. He would have tried to reload the woman would have done the same thing And the guys would have done the same thing once it the second magazine fell to the ground It makes a difference and what we need to do is start putting pressure on moderate Democrats and conservative moderate Republicans there are some left and Conservative Democrats we need to force a vote Now with the Republicans in control of the house you say and the speaker Decides which bills go to the floor. How can we do that? We might have heard talk in about immigration about it something called a discharge petition We need to send around a discharge petition Every Democrat should sign the discharge petition and then it should be taken to the Republicans and by the way if a majority of Members of the house sign a discharge petition the bill goes immediately to the floor and has voted on without amendment so We have four So-called moderate Republican congressman in this area a congressman Gerlach in Montgomery County Congressman Fitzpatrick in Bucks County congressman me and in Delaware County and congressman Den in the Lehigh Valley They all were able to say Yes, we we support universal background checks. They said that in a letter to the newspaper But they never had to really put up or shut up Discharge petition they would have either had to go against their own speaker go against their own caucus or Sign it if they sign it we get it to the floor and we get a vote and I believe if that Bill went to the floor it would pass If they don't sign it then we've got them for what they are Too scared to buck the NRA too scared to buck their own party and then we have a shot to remove them in the next election We've got to be aggressive. We've got to be creative. We've got to be aggressive and we've got to be single issue voters Again, there's no other pathway. It has to be all our war We've been fighting this battle with one and maybe one and a half of our arms tied behind our back We've got to use every arrow in our quiver if we really want to make a dent and the stakes are I heard the last speaker talk about the difference in The Beretta executives attitude and about saving lives the stakes are real. I Mean when I spoke out at Villanova at its operations ceasefire I sure asked me to speak at Villanova and the good news was it was in December I thought we'd have 15 20 people there We had 200 people at every seat in the auditorium was packed But there was a traveling exhibit that was on display upstairs It was a portrait that this incredible portrait painter had done of every one of the children Who were killed at Newtown and the portraits were incredible? They look like photographs and They were up on the wall all next to each other About two-thirds of the screen it was about as big as two-thirds of the screen You see that portrait and you know what the stakes are We can't hesitate It's war and it's a war that we've got to win and I believe it's a war that we can win because the American people are Behind us in so many different ways the American people want it to stop Unfortunately, you know, it's likely that there'll be another new town or there'll be another Tucson or there'll be another Aurora And then what happens? You know, we've become great at the aftermath of these mass killings the President or the governor comes out and there's a ceremony a ceremony of remembrance and everyone talks about how great the first responders were Everyone talks about the bravery of the teachers and or the people who were involved in trying to help and the president gives a great speech and We all engage in prayer and nothing changes until the next incident and Then we have another ceremony. I Don't know about you, but I'm sick of it. Thank you Go into a gun store and if you pass your background check you leave with the gun. There's no license. There's no registration There's no training. There's no waiting period. There's no limit on what you can buy or how much you can buy ammunition It's virtually unregulated Except for Philadelphia, which is a little bit of a special case. We are an open carry state Concealed carry with a permit that you can get either from The county sheriff or if you live in Philadelphia from the Philadelphia police department We have had some progress in the year since new town Pennsylvania went from being among the worst states in the nation in terms of getting our mental health records into the national database To one of the best that happened just over a year ago with little fanfare from the state police and governor's office that made it happen But too much attention from organizations like mine and many of the ones up here We knew that was a big deal for Pennsylvania to go and share 642,000 men missing mental health records Also last year our new attorney general Kathleen Cain made it clear that if you want to carry a concealed weapon in Pennsylvania And you are a Pennsylvania resident you need to get a permit here You cannot go to Florida go online to Florida or Virginia or somewhere else and get one That's another big step and also and Governor Rindell spent a lot of time talking about this Both of Pennsylvania senators supported The background check bill and not only did they support it But senator to me put his name on it that is a tremendously huge deal here in Pennsylvania Not something that would have been expected to happen. So we've had some progress We are not one of the states that has been passing bad laws since new town nor have we passed our agenda Which is a broad agenda to expand background checks and close our private cellar loophole Which applies to long guns here to get a statewide lost or stolen reporting requirement to have a limit on capacity high capacity magazines And to fight the restrictive preemption laws that harness what state towns and municipalities can do So we have a lot to do but we also have Things to be hopeful for and as the governor mentioned he talked about the federal elections But we have a lot of people right now who would like to be your new governor Who would like to be your new representative in Harrisburg or Washington and you should be asking them where they stand on this Ceasefire PA is doing some of that and we'll soon be issuing a report about the government the candidate is running for governor But we encourage you to be sending those emails sending those letters earlier this week We sent and many of you got it an email asking you to write again to your legislator About expanding background checks and hundreds of you already have so we need to keep up that pressure We know that we are a majority we have been silent for too long, but we know that's changing too So that's a little bit of overview of what's happening in Pennsylvania I'm going to go down and ask each of the panelists to talk and then hopefully we'll get to talk to each other I'm going to start with deputy commissioner Bethel from the Philadelphia police department And can you tell us so there's some good news in Philadelphia, right? It's all good news all good news Good evening. Well early evening. So just to give you an overview. I mean Philadelphia We've really had a successful year despite the the issues that we have with the the gun laws and how we wish they would be We were real confident that our strategies and our efforts into a beat the violence is working Knowledge my boss commissioner Ross is in the back. And so he's in the back there with me I'm so last year we had probably one of our best years that we've had since 1967 We had 247 Homicides and on many you may say wow 247 is a lot and my friend to the left would tell you that definitely that is a lot But considering how in the 90s and early 90s 1990 we had 500 homicides I was just talking to Brian earlier, you know in 1960 it was 125 130 So we've made some significant strides since the commissioner Ramsey and commissioner Rawson and the team has really put forth a lot of Effort to reduce the level of violence that we see in the city Just to give you a kind of overview of what the city looks like we have 21 patrol districts six divisions and each one of those Areas and we have 12 districts that experience a significant level of violence gun violence in particular And of those 12 six of those districts run Probably over 50% of our violence occurs in there and so gun violence is the premium focus Where we spent a lot of our time and energy unfortunately trying to address these these various pockets of violence Across the city, but again, we emphasize that we've had a amount of success last year We had our lowest number of shooting victims that we've had since we've been recording that number But we also still with a lot of gun violence is relates to confiscations last year We confiscate over 3,800 guns in the city of Philadelphia, and that's one of our lowest years So you see the sheer volume of guns that comes into the city isn't enormous But we've also been success across our violent crime overall and we've seen the reductions in our robberies of 26% And I'm comparing that to 2007 you know in 2008. Mr. Ramsey came on board Burgheries have been downed vehicle thefts 47% and we use again a myriad of strategies to do that You know working Brian. We work together. He's no longer at the DA's office and a program down in South Philadelphia Using a David Kennedy model and focusing in that area on the gang violence We use a number of footbeat deployments or some old-school Deployment that goes back, but we're working with Temple University and studying our analysis of that We've really worked hard to use that as strategy. We focus on around 38 targeted areas So when I talk to you about violence, we've have 38 areas that we target specifically Because of their increased level of violence and we put a lot of manpower and time into those pockets And we work with a number of our support groups out there mothers-in-chars I see down to my left and we work a lot together and I'll give her Her props here as we sit here because the all too often the groups that you'll talk about in the groups We see on the ground of their numbers are not counted But we definitely believe that the work and the success we've had in those reductions have come from their efforts on the ground doing the stuff up in the prisons talking to these young men and Trying to get them to to lessen their level of violence and get rid of the guns But the gun violence continues to be a significant process for us But we feel we have a very strong strategy on the direction of Commissioner Ramsey And his position has always been that you know, and I think Governor Brindell touched on that the banning of the military style assault weapons The limiting of those guns the high capacity magazines are closing the gun show loopholes All those things are relevant. I mean we're getting guns on the street now that are six five and six years old So we're not even getting the new guns So even if we were to stop today and say you can no longer have a gun to be taken a number of years before those guns Whatever began to flush out of the system. So you see what we're able to do with just our efforts I can only imagine if we had the gun laws You know people talk about New York and things that are going on around this if we have those stricter gun laws I could only imagine where we would be born and raised in the city of Philadelphia. I'm 50 years old I've lived here my whole life. I've been I've grown up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city and seen so much violence It's it's a and myself and Commissioner Ross will tell you we take a lot of pride and be able to see the number We see but that number is still too great And we want often times wonder what would the policies were in place and and people to sat down and really really understood the dynamics that we deal With on a daily basis Where those gun laws and what those restrictions would do and we are working for the DA's office And we're doing a much better job of keeping these individuals who do carry the guns in custody But that's a temporary fix and all too often These guys come back out or to get other people to take on that process But you know I could only imagine and hopefully in my career that we would find an ability to be able to marriage up our Strategies which we think are a strong strategy with the gun laws that would help us to have an effective strategy overall and globally That we really really make a difference in this city So so I applaud the efforts that are underway and I also applaud the panelists are here who are working to in that effort Thank you and and last year and maybe John Lowe remembers We run a panel together with commissioner Ramsey and he was asked about lost or stolen reporting And and I always like to quote him because he said just report the damn gun missing it helps So, you know, we have a great partnership with the police department and I want to turn it over to Brian lens Who's who's next to deputy commissioner? He's a former chief of the Philadelphia regional gun down gun violence task force Yeah, I want to emphasize former I see I'm being identified that way I don't want to get arrested for impersonating at law enforcement But now I did have the distinct honor of working with commissioner Bethel and commissioner Ross and what they have done In the recent past, but also over their careers is nothing short of miraculous And with the folks deterrence, but also just their their overall strategic vision and an execution of policing where they're under resourced and Really are hindered by what you heard about the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania gun laws. I Spent a short stint in the Pennsylvania legislature and any time a gun issue would come up After they said no the next thing the NRA would say is you just have to enforce the laws on the books And that for people like commissioner Bethel and commissioner Ross who spent their careers, you know chasing bad guys down dark alleys Is pretty infuriating when you think about it because they spend their days 24 seven enforcing the laws that exist So the NRA as to the police had no leg to stand on when they said enforce the laws that they exist They did have a leg to stand on in the courtroom because for many years in Pennsylvania and in Philadelphia carrying a gun illegally was a misdemeanor offense which Like in most states of misdemeanor offense is the second lowest offense When I began as a prosecutor in 1993 it was a misdemeanor. It was handled by the municipal court, which is a our local misdemeanor court in the city of Philadelphia and if you were if you were successful in getting a conviction for someone carrying a gun and Then you pounded the table and talked about what a terrible person they were and the judge sent some to prison They had an automatic right to appeal to the court of common police So they got a new trial so Judges had no incentive After convicting someone to give them jail time because it would just mean a new trial They would go to the common police level and they would get probation and that was the situation During the time as commissioner Bethel referenced when there were 500 murders in the city of Philadelphia 500 murders, but if you got caught carrying a legal gun You got out on bail and went when and if you got convicted in 99% of the cases you got probation and that's Talk about tying the police's hands behind their back that awful situation continued up until I think 1997 they changed it to a felony, but when they changed carrying a gun to a felony They didn't change the sentencing guidelines to call for prison. So now it was a felony So now you they didn't get that two bites of the apple. They went right to the common police court But at the end of the day when the when you stood in front of the judge And if it was the first offense and they were carrying an illegal gun the guidelines the sentencing guidelines suggested probation So now you hit one step for a forward You'd gotten the the more serious offense, but still the officer risking his life pursuing the armed Offender was not getting a jail sentence or in most cases any jail time because they were making bail Then finally in 2005 they changed the guidelines to call for 12 months in prison if you get caught carrying an illegal gun but that Typically was not being enforced and so one of the initiatives that was started with the help of ceasefire Pennsylvania was the court watch program where the Sentencing in a possession only case not a robbery not a shooting not a homicide But the sentencing a possession only case was treated as seriously as a sentencing in those other types of cases and That meant having ceasefire Represented but also having ceasefire recruit people from the community to come to the courtroom a Reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer Karen Heller wrote about one of the sentencing that she described that a gun Possession sentencing was typically like a wedding where the groom had no guests and the bride had a full a full You know eight rows of guests the groom was the prosecutor And the and the bride was the defendant so the prosecutor would stand up and say had an illegal gun And you know he's a danger and police officer was put at risk and then the you know the minister the The coach the teacher the mother The cousin etc would get up and cry and say he's a good boy Let him go home and you would get probation so the point of the court watch program was to was to switch that dynamic so after Not only did you have the Vic the defendant represented there? You had someone standing up and saying look I wasn't robbed I wasn't shot but I live in the community My children can't play on the street because they're gunfire after dark I have to have metal on my porch because I'm worried about stray bullets My we live in fear because of guns This guy was carrying a gun illegally in our community in the city of Philadelphia And that is something that legally the judge has to consider the judge has to consider the the interest of the public and sentencing and we found that That had an impact on the sentences we were getting The that in conjunction with getting higher bail for a gun arrest Led to more people spending time in jail as a result of getting caught with a gun And I think has had some some positive impact if for no other reasons had a maybe a good impact for the morale of the Police officers so that when they again risk their lives to arrest someone carrying a gun that person's not back out on a corner 24 hours later whether it's 30 days 60 days or a year it creates a deterrent that did not exist before in the city of Philadelphia for carrying a gun and That's been a huge program that ceasefire has done And brought the community into a partnership with the with the district attorney's office and the police in getting those better results and Getting back to the beginning it gives us a something to throw back at The NRA when they say we don't need any of the laws just to enforce the ones we are enforcing the ones that exist And it is not enough And there are plenty of common-sense ideas that would make it better So take that argument off the table about enforce the ones that exist Great. Thank you. I Wanted Brian to be here to talk about how there can be this private public partnership that we can work together Not just on policy, but on on ways to take a stand and power the community and have an effect if you're interested in ceasefire Let us know we brought it to Allegheny County. We'd love to bring it to other counties It really does give people a chance to kind of take back their neighborhoods to let judges and defense counsel and defendants And other people in the community know that it is no joke to carry a gun anymore in the city of Philadelphia Brian Miller is Has been a leader in the movement for a long time. He is a predecessor of mine. It sees fire PA He was at ceasefire in New Jersey and now he is the executive director of Heating God's Call and he's going to talk to us about partnership with the faith community and I think as you'll hear as we go through that that this is a Joint coalition effort and we're all you know, so glad to be working together indeed Hi folks I've been doing this for a long time Almost 20 years my brother was killed in 94 as an FBI agent working at a desk in DC police headquarters When again man walked in with an assault pistol Opened the door and open fire and killed three law enforcement officers and Mike was the first to die I've been doing this for 20 years and I'm tired of coming to these forums and Educating folks which is important, but I think we need to do more than we've done and Governor Rendell said that earlier, but I actually think we need to do more than Governor Rendell says I think we need a national social movement for change All the people so many people in this country want change about guns They've begun to understand that we have it different in the United's differently in the United States than the rest of the world And we're tired of it And we've been been depending upon politicians to change things and they've refused to do it I think just as we change slavery and civil rights and so many other things We need to bond together and force change in a major way And we at heating God's call you might have noticed it sounds like a faith-based group and it is We believe that the faith community can lead that change as it has and almost every other social movement in the United States So that we're trying at heating God's call and perhaps a small way in the beginning to spark that change to bring people Out of the churches out of the synagogues out of the mosques and into the street for action for activism for demanding change and we do it by focusing local effort and That's where the people are. That's where we need to bring them out We started by focusing our attention on gun shops You've heard a lot today about illegal guns. The fact is the first time a gun is sold in the United States It's sold by a gun retailer Most of them are and you heard John Lowe. We mentioned this the bulk of them are good people They see two people come in together to make a straw purchase because that's typically how it's done a Trafficker comes in with his straw buyer Usually a man and a woman and they're gonna buy guns to put on the street Most gun dealers see that coming up and they're gonna say nope. I'm not selling you a gun and I'm not in Pennsylvania I'm not selling you the 10 guns you want to buy But some of them are willing to do it Some of them are willing to take blood money to do it and what we do at heating God's call is we go talk to Those gun dealers we try to persuade them to adopt a code of conduct that mayors against illegal guns developed and We seek to get them to act as good citizens and stop Stop selling and stop making blood money the first place we went not far from here on Spring Garden Street Colosimo's gun center worst gun shop in in Philadelphia counted for 20% of guns recovered from crime You heard the commissioner talk about how many guns that are recovered in the city It's an amazing number of guns and this one gun dealer was doing that We talked to mr. Colosimo try to convince him to adopt the code and he said no So we started doing once a week what we call witnesses in front of the gun shop Sometimes we had 75 people there sometimes we had five people there, but we're there for an hour during drive time Talking to people there's a stoplight right there So we had plenty of opportunities to talk to people singing praying holding up our signs educating people about Gun trafficking and how it works and how it's a it's very easy to understand if you hear about it And after nine months of doing that and mr. Colosimo claiming he would never sell to it to a straw buyer Federal authorities then shuttered that gun shop, and it's not been open since now. It's a bike shop. I really like that So we're two other gun shops in northeast Philadelphia We're at a gun shop right outside of Washington DC no gun shops in DC So this one you can actually in Maryland you can actually see the DC border from the gun shop And we have we worked through volunteer chapters We have volunteer chapters five of them in the DC or excuse me in the Philadelphia area We just started a new one in Chester a city. That's totally devastated by gun violence and Earlier this week. We had a group of people out in front of that gun shop. He closed because he knew we were going to be there We're not trying to close these people down We just want them to be good citizens But he's not selling any guns this past Tuesday that are ending up on the streets of Chester So I don't feel so bad about it But those activities bring people out People that get involved and these are people that can begin to work towards the national for a movement for change in their communities And eventually larger than that We also do what we call murder site witnesses. They're exactly what they sound like We we on Sunday afternoons We come to a place where there's been a gun murder and we have an interface service last about 45 minutes We pray we sing we and we people walking by Stop and say what's going on here and more often than not they join with us And when we start with a crowd of 25 or 30 by the end of it We have 65 or 75 all people now Understanding gun trafficking and willing to do something about it and we just this year started a new thing We call memorial the memorial to the lost We started at a church out in Chestnut Hill We put PVC pipe in the ground and Make teas with them and hang t-shirts on them with the names The date that they died in the age of all two hundred and eighty eight Philadelphians who died in 2012 288 and seems like a high number I'm sure you agree, but when it's on a page or I'm saying it. It's nothing like walking through 288 t-shirts lined up in it like a graveyard and we get people who just are driving by and stop Turn around come back and walk through through our memorial We move it around this the city. It's been in five different locations at churches and in the city park and everywhere It goes it creates inspiration and interest and commitment for change so what I believe is We don't it would be great if we all became single-issue voters as Governor Rendell said, but I find that hard to believe But I do believe that we can work together the faith community can lead But it takes every other constituency to join in but that's how national social movements begin and how they're sustained And I think we can begin it here in Philadelphia. Thank you Thanks, Brian. I want to introduce Dorothy Johnson spite who's the director and founder of mothers-in-charge And I'd like y'all to know that for those of you who think that your work isn't making a difference On January 1st It was announced by the Philadelphia Enquirer that Dorothy was the inquiries citizen of the year for her work in gun violence prevention and with Advocacy for victims and survivors and she's been a great partner, but we are making a difference people are noticing So Dorothy tells what you're doing. Sure. Good afternoon, everyone How many are moms and dads? Okay, quite a few of you. I am the mother of colleague to bar Johnson. He was 24 years old my firstborn and my only son colleague was shot to death over parking space In December of 2001 Since that day I have committed my life to making a difference on the issue of gun violence He was a graduate of University of Maryland. He's ensured doing all the right things with his life Find young man and ran into a very angry out-of-control person who had a gun illegally In May of 2003 in fact this may will be 11 years. I'm tired to Brian 11 years I started mothers-in-charge With the group of courageous women who had lost children to violence and Decided that they wanted to be the voice for their children who speak no more So for 11 years now we have been on the front lines every single day Working to address the issue of violence. We've had the pleasure of working with she or a good man We go to Harris Burke with her. I remember the first time going to Harris Burke thinking like why am I here? Why am I asking someone to? Put in place legislation if a gun is lost or so when you report it I mean that's to me was just common sense, you know, why wouldn't you report a gun if it's lost or stolen? But we're still on that fight We're still fighting for those kinds of common sense gun laws every single day And I'm proud to be a partner with her on this fight and as Kevin Deputy Commissioner Kevin Bethel mentioned every single day we're working with the Philadelphia police and deputy commissioner Ross in the back We have a commissioner that is very open to involving the community working closely with the community and these courageous women that I work with every single day are Proud to be a part of this effort because as I said it gives our voice to our children who speak no more But it also empowers us that we can survive the pain of having to bury a son or daughter a loved one because someone Took a gun and took their life. It's a pain that never goes away. It's a pain that you wake up with It's a pain that you go to bed with and every single day at our office at 1415 North Broad But our phones ring off the hook for family members who've lost loved ones to senseless violence and We do everything with those families. We support them in ways that I guess maybe only another Person who's lost a loved one can do but there are also women and folks that are part of our organization Who haven't lost a loved one and don't want to and that's why they support our work every single day I have a quick video. Do I? Okay, I'd like to introduce you to Mothers in Charge. It's very short. It's a piece that was done by the early show They came from New York and interviewed Mothers in Charge about the work that we're doing and have been doing for the last 11 years This is Mothers in Charge From CBS News, it's the early show With Erica Hill and Chris Wreck Just ahead this morning women who have lost children to unspeakable violence are determined now to help others avoid it We're going to visit the group called Mothers in Charge when the early show comes back right here on CBS Well this week we're looking at the people in communities that help to find the American spirit in this morning We profile a group of women in Philadelphia who suffered the greatest loss a mother can face in a city where 85% of homicides are committed with a gun and More than 80% of them by African-Americans between the ages of 15 and 34 These mothers are doing their best to make a difference channeling their grief into community action Why haven't you valentines what we learned last week? At this Philadelphia area foster home concerned compassionate moms are reaching out We want you guys to really learn life on life terms Teaching these kids about the consequences of violence If you look at the numbers, it's the youth that's killing other youth So I think it's important for us to go on speaking to them because we know firsthand What is like for somebody to take something from you and always keep them alive Dorothy Johnson spied is the founder of Mothers in Charge a Philadelphia based advocacy and support group for families who've lost loved ones to violent crime What prompted you to start this organization were the the families that are left behind and their struggle each day To live after a tragedy like that. I think it's really making a difference in 10 years ago Dorothy's son colic was gunned down over a parking space He's kind of the wind beneath my wings that gets me going to think He would want me to try to save another mother and going through what we're going through It's a sentiment and an inspiration Shared by many of these mothers who also share the unthinkable pain of losing a child to violence No one knows the attachment of a mother, but a mother. I Carried my son for nine months, but I gave him to me for 30 years Out of their shared grief has grown a sisterhood of support and an increasingly important voice in the community I'm some of the murders that we see in the city Have a lot to do with retaliation So oftentimes we get calls from mothers who Give us information, you know, or we'll talk to us about a particular crime or something that's going on We're concerned they have an air community in the hopes that you'll pass it on in the hopes that we'll pass it on or Come out and get involved. We do that Which includes bringing inspiration to an unlikely place At this Philadelphia prison inmates are graduating from a program that teaches the virtues of good parenting I am changing and I'm going to get my life together again If we can teach these women how to change the way they think they could change their behavior thus reducing their Their recidivism in and out of prison because if they're in prison then who's raising their children now? We have another child who's angry another child who's gonna be violent as a child I was gonna pick up. Thank God it can be a tough Part of the city their efforts have been recognized by law enforcement and by the city They're doing work that quite frankly the city government is really not necessarily in a position to do and they do it with authority Because of who they are because of their success in the community Mothers in charge are now working with students at Villanova University to develop a national Educational curriculum. It's not just the Philadelphia problem with the violence It's a problem across the country but for all of the strength They find in one another and in their shared mission to end the senseless violence that took their children The pain will never be far away. Is there ever a day when you wake up and you think, you know, I just I'm not sure I can do this today. It's just it's too hard for me without Khalid I just don't know if I can many days Many days But by the same token Here's what gets me up in the morning and he gets me through It's just an amazing group of women led by Dorothy there as soon as they hear about a homicide They immediately send a card trying to reach out to the family to bring them in because it does do so much for these families to know That they're not alone And a lot of the women were very generous in sharing their stories Yeah, show their stories with us and we have a number of them at our website at early show that CBS news calm So powerful but so good to see them continuing to to go on and do these work do this work It's a quote that it's kind of it stayed with me through many years I heard years ago Dwight Eisenhower once said there's no tragedy in life like the loss of a child things can never go back to the way They were and it's good to see them moving on the best they can stay with us. We'll be right back We are on the front lines every day working to make a difference. There are far too many guns in our communities across this country We have chapters of mothers in charge in San Francisco, LA, Kansas City Mexico, New Jersey and Delaware We're organizing across the country because it's not just a Philadelphia problem We've got to all come together. I never thought I'd have to bury my son And I just want to say that I don't think any one of us are safe until we're all safe So we've got to all work together. We really do it's not just a black problem or a white problem or anything like that We've got to find ways to come together and address this issue of census violence that is tearing up communities across this country Thank you Well, I think the ABA should be very pleased because I'm catching up time But I'm gonna take a couple more of our minutes So I'd like to I know that I know many of the folks in the audience and I'm glad to see you But I know the one question that they would have for each of the panelists is what's one thing I can go home and do today So Dorothy, what would you ask? What would you ask the audience to do today? Think of a way that you can get involved I think we all have gifts and talents that we have that we can lend to this effort to this movement Whether you're a teacher or educator or social work or just someone who has time who's maybe retired You have time that you can get involved. There are things that they can do by getting involved with ceasefire You know legislatively there are things that you can do writing letters There's also mentoring of children that we need to help children know that they're loved and not and help them with their Anger and things like that the children that we have that are at risk oftentimes are victims and perpetrators of violence So we just got to find ways to get involved wherever we are and it's something that each and every one of us can do Brian same question. I'd say that any people of faith in the audience to Take the message that you heard today and take it back to your church or your synagogue or your mosque Every one of them or almost every one of them has some sort of witness mission Social action, whatever committee those are perfect opportunities to get people involved in this issue There are little groups that that do actually do activism and get them to push it up through The church or the whatever the community of faith and then beyond that to the regional body of Whatever faith that is as a way to get the faith community really involves in activism to prevent gun violence violence Yeah, I would say one one thing that I would recommend is to get Really smart about guns. I think one of the the biggest Mistakes we make on this side of the argument is we don't Learn the fundamental facts about the different types of guns how they work Not asking you to be you know go to a range or become a gun nut But when you're going to have these debates one of the big big things that I observed in the legislate At least in the legislative debate is that oftentimes the people that are advocating for limits and restrictions Don't have a complete understanding of the different types of guns the different mechanisms And it helps to be able to push back against the myths and the and the falsehoods that the NRA pushes if you're if you Educate yourself on that I'll piggyback with with Dorothy miss Dorothy said is this get involved You know, I was when I was a commander of the 17 district in South Philly I met a young man in a fourth grade class and went to talk to him about the Guns that we had a kid who had shot himself and they asked me to come in and talk to him and in that conversation I this kid got up out of room and walked away and was crying Couldn't didn't understand why I followed him into the bear from later on and and he talked about how two of his brothers were killed And so I walked away from that environment saying well and went back to the office and I said wow I got to do something here. I know I'm in a policing business But what can I do as a man for a young man who seemed to be in so much pain? And so I called back to the school and seven years later You know, I don't have a son. I got three daughters. Yeah, I mean, but I have a young man who's he was almost there He's a 11th grade. He's a stellar student. He's a man of faith He believes that you know what he needs to be doing. He goes on vacation every imagine taking a 12-year-old on vacation With you would never been to the ocean Imagine that you know, I sat there sometimes watching through the lens of a young man who sitting there running in the sand And in the water who had never really been to the ocean And so you start to realize the impact and it hasn't caused me one die You know man, I don't I mean it doesn't cost me I don't have a son now who I love the deaf and who's made me more a better person And so I challenge folks who were in in in those positions You don't know what you can do if until you reach out and touch someone You mean it does not get counted in the nightly stats. You won't see that I mean, you know But what you do will get will will be somebody who you know You can sit back later on and tap you on the shoulder and say hey, you know, thank you You can sometimes you just can't find that and so I every time I see somebody and I'm challenging my office is down to To make those positive contexts. I mean you have to put a hand on someone You mean and you many of you have experience in here that goes well behind your years You know, I was a young man and my godfather was in a cleaning business I spent eight years in a cleaning business and he taught me the business and he and I couldn't understand why he Make me to show up after work and he would never drive me to work He'd make me walk and get me to my work and but he learned he taught me so many things so many life skills that I can never You know repay him yeah today And so I would challenge you that to push out there and really get involved and and really just take to take some Effort to really test someone that you know or some kid that you see out there who was struggling Because you could never never imagine the difference you could make in their lives Thank you At ceasefire PA. We're so proud to be partnering with all these groups And we also like to say that we'll meet anyone where they are if they want to host us at their church or synagogue or mosque We'll come if they want to have a small gathering at their house with their neighbors and start talking about it We'll be there if you are ready to come to Harrisburg with us We will be going back as soon as it gets a little warmer and I can guarantee that my buses will go We're gonna go send an email, but we're ready. Thank you to take those first steps with you We know that not everybody is going to be able to come up I can't do it what you know the public health folks did and and John Lowy and Julie We can't all be those experts, but you don't have to be you have something better You are a voter who lives in a district where somebody cares about it and you can call them on the phone and say I I live in this district and I want representative Jones to know that I'm sick of the gun violence and I want to change You know XYZ our background check laws. I don't want it to be so easy to get guns I want to know what you're doing about mental health And that's all you have to do and Brian can tell you as a former legislator that they write that down every call matters Everything matters. You do not have to be an expert. You do not have to know all the facts You it comes from in here like Darcy and Brian talked about and and I know you all have that and we At ceasefire PA at heating God's call and mothers in charge We want to meet you where you are and if I found not the right person I'll send you to one of them and they'll send you to me and we do programs together so that we can Make our members, you know fuller and broader participants in this We have a our second national conference coming up in May May 11th through the 14th at the Sheraton hotel It's called the cost of violence. There's some flyers out on the table. So when you're leaving grab one This is also a way that you can get involved by supporting our conference We have workshops and presenters and a lot of an vocation Educational presentations and forums that you learn more about how you can get involved to make a difference great Thank you. There's a couple audience questions This one is for Brian Lentz. It says I'm one of those people who are ignorant about guns Who might make a presentation to educate us? Are you suggesting that I just read where that's a good question Where where can somebody go to learn that and not be intimidated and get good basic information? That will help them be more effective. Well, I mean you You you can you can do it by reading obviously hands-on to really get an understanding of how guns Operate in the different, you know Revolver semi-automatic bold action, etc. Those are things that you need to I think be conversing it if you're going to be An advocate or arguing with the NRA You can go to a gun store and you know, they don't need to know that you're there for gun control They'll show you all the guns because they think you're a customer I'm sure Brian can tell you that they'll put anything out there You want to see you can go to a local rod and gun club same thing. They will they sometimes offer classes To people that they think are prospective members or if you have a friend or relative that Happens to be familiar with guns or as a gun owner you can you can do it that way Those are some of some of the ideas I suppose you could Go to the police department and ask them to give you a class Well, maybe we can and convince I know some of you might not want to go to the gun store or I've done it or to the range But maybe we can convince the police in different counties to do some programs with us that are more for people Who just want to learn not for people who want to get a concealed carry permit or have the safety training But who just want to learn a little bit about the laws and and about guns themselves and I'm happy to look into that Brian Miller, can you speak about the Sunday devoted for all churches to mention gun violence? I think it's about gun violence Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that before The weekend of two weekends from now as a matter of fact the weekend of the 15th and 16th is National gun violence prevention Sabbath weekend. This is the second year It's being organized and It's beginning to grow And it's a good thing. There's there's a website GVP. I think Sabbath is the website the organization the main organization that's behind it is called face united to prevent gun violence and What we seek to do in this is basically get as I said before get get communities of faith To focus on the issue of gun violence Every faith tradition has the same thing which is we are all responsible for our fellows and That's at heart where The effort the faith community effort to to prevent gun violence. That's where it begins so at that website there are all sorts of resources in For different religions and faith traditions including prayers hymns And so on sermons and so on so That's a good really good resource and we hope to build it each year so that it becomes a truly national Sabbath weekend in the future Thanks for that question. By the way, here's two questions about straw purchasers So I think probably Commissioner both Brian's one is why aren't more straw purchasers prosecuted and also? How do you identify the gun dealers who are more likely to be selling to straw purchasers? Sure Well, they're actually there is a entire unit in the Philadelphia DA slash attorney general's office devoted to prosecuting straw purchasers So they are being Prosecuted Brian can tell you from his experience with different gun shops How you can just sort of I think he would tell you from standing outside you can sort of see Whether a shop is really being strict and who they sell to and who not The in terms of guns that turn up in crime You can track, you know If one particular gun shop happens to be sort of a hotspot for having guns turn up in crime a short time after purchasing If you take the time to collect that data you you can tell that The main way that straw purchasing cases are prosecuted in Philadelphia are Actually from tips from gun stores that are cooperative So often times they're oftentimes retired law enforcement guys working the gun shops You know the the classic stereotypical story is that the the young lady who's four foot two comes in and request a 50 caliber Desert Eagle and when she's asked What model she looks at her phone and says? gloak and he says That usually tips them off that maybe she's not the actual buyer and what they'll sometimes do is they'll delay this sale Notify the agents so that the agents can actually in some cases actually be behind the counter when she comes back to pick the gun up And then they'll follow the purchaser to whoever the the felon who organized that purchase That's a typical fact pattern. Those are prosecuted, but they're not prosecuted in any huge numbers Because you only know about them a if you get that tip ahead of time or B if you recover the gun in a crime and there was some Way to link it back to the fact that it was straw purchased as Kevin said most of the guns recovered or five six years old If they were straw purchased it's almost impossible virtually impossible to recreate that they were straw purchased six years prior Because by the time they recovered they've been through two or three people and and there's no way to trace it back to that original purchase So let's um one final question for everybody is This is the end of a long day, you know, it's been a little bit up and down emotionally What's you know one thing you would say to keep people? Motivated energized that we will eventually have some success. Let's start with you. I often tell people that we sometimes We don't give ourselves enough credit And we have made success I mean the strides as you hear in the in the conversations I heard in the back and the effort is are being put forth I think sometimes we have to kind of take us take a step back and say the work that we're doing The work that we will be doing is the right place to be And and I get up every day ready to go and I'm sure most of you in this room do You know and I'm motivated by having living in the city and having three daughters and trying In my best to be in a position of a policymaker and deploying the assets across the city that we are making a difference And so I so I would again just continue that to tell you to keep pushing that we are making Strides so we continue have to chip away But I've seen how the city has evolved that I've seen you know center city evolved when it was for those You knew center city 27 years ago and to see where it's at You can see change can happen if people put their strengths and energies and directed in the right place Change can happen. I've seen the change that the DA's office You mean when they you know with different leadership and coming on and say we're going to be more engaged And what's going on and be more targeted driven and and I see the activities You know particularly with miss miss Dorothy and the work that they have done in the evolution of that program and the men and women And the women I've come to know through that program So I just say continue to stay dedicated continue to give accolades to yourself for the work You're doing with the understanding that you know if we drop the ball then who do we pass it on to? You I mean it has to be part of our legacy that you know someday sitting back in some corner somewhere You're going to say all that work and after you put forth did make a difference and I think we can we can make that happen Yeah, I would I would just echo what Kevin said, you know because of people like Kevin Or commissioner Bethel because of people like him and the leaders in law enforcement we're in sort of a golden age of law enforcement with many of the Most cutting-edge ideas about prevention and targeting and being data-driven Those are the reasons that that they're seeing the dramatic reductions that there's that they got in the past year So there's real good news in the law enforcement community and the and the Prevention community and the impact that they're having on saving lives on the legislative Agenda you need a little more of a pep talk Because certainly in Pennsylvania for the foreseeable future. It's pretty dim but again to echo what commissioner Bethel said we're right they're wrong and Sometimes it takes a long time for the right side to prevail But in most cases throughout our history eventually the right side prevails So I would say just keep making the arguments This is this is a generational thing when it comes to gun laws in the state of Pennsylvania, but we're we'll get there I'm confident as much as I'm tired of doing this work I'm actually very optimistic I'm optimistic and I'm optimistic in Pennsylvania even I think Just demographics is is one big reason When I was when my father was a was it was growing up It was very typical for fathers and sons to go hunting now I have no no difficulty with hunting and neither does eating God's call, but But it was creating the market for the National Rifle Association if you will When I was a kid my father took me hunting, but he hated it and I don't take my son hunting. I never would and My 27 year old son and his friends. They're not interested in hunting and we've seen the hunting community in the United States dropped dramatically and that's why the gun companies are Have started selling guns on making them look military to and matching them with With video games and so on But I think the NRA's market is is is shrinking Constantly and dramatically over time so that the people who support them become a smaller and smaller part of the part of the population And I know my 27 year old son and his friends they have no interest in guns and There that generation is is really Interested in gun violence prevention, I believe so when I talked about the national social movement It may sound a little dreamlike, but I don't think it is because I think that younger generation is In fact going to lead it in the near future and that's going to bring change completely across the country and in Pennsylvania itself I Think that finally, you know, Pennsylvania had no gun violence prevention organizations until very recently But now we do have organizations. We have organizations up here We have Delco United and many other local organizations that have did have sprung up And I think what we're going to see is they're going to work together to build campaigns and it's campaigns that change things electorally and Legislatively and I'm really excited that we're going to be part of that and I think we're going to bring major change in Pennsylvania not Not in 20 years, but far shorter than that. So I think it's a good time. I Agree Brian. I think that you've got to stand for the right thing and right will prevail It's difficult sometimes when we get the news report six o'clock in the evening You're watching the news, but I think we are a part of a movement that is going to change, you know the way that things are and I have a four-year-old grandson who's named after my son colleague and I Might not be around to see when he's 22 23 or 24, but I will know that I've made a difference You know, not only for him, but for your grandchildren as well or your children That maybe they'll be a lot safer in the city of Philadelphia and surrounding areas because of the work that we're doing Well, thank you, and I would just ask you all please, you know get involved stay involved stay heartened sign up for our emails Sign up with Dorothy and Brian come to something and if we're supposed to have a nice weekend this weekend So that means you know what that means it means politicians are going to be knocking on your doors because they need their petition signatures I've been hearing a lot of them complaining that they're behind ask them They're coming to ask you for something ask them. Where do you stand on this? What are you going to do? How are you going to break the log jam in Harrisburg that it's easy? It is your right. It's your first amendment, right? It's number one and the bill of rights, right? So please do that I want to thank the ABA president silkenot David Clark all the panelists. I think they're going to come back up But you've been a terrific audience. I'm so proud that we did this in Philadelphia. So thank you