Redskins/NRA Event Announced Same Month That NRA's Magazine Attacks
D.C. Mayor Williams and Police Chief Ramsey
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Violence Policy Center, a
Washington, D.C.-based national non-profit organization working to reduce gun
death and injury, today sent Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder a
letter urging him to "end all participation" by the Washington Redskins in a
planned shooting event with the National Rifle Association on October 25,
2005, to benefit the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation (the text of
the letter is below and is available at http://www.vpc.org/vpcletter.pdf).
The letter notes that the National Rifle Association is currently lobbying
Congress to overturn Washington, D.C.'s gun laws. The bills to repeal the
District of Columbia's gun laws promoted by the NRA would: legalize handguns
as well as semiautomatic assault weapons and 50 caliber sniper rifles; allow
any person to carry, openly or concealed, loaded handguns and other
concealable firearms in houses, places of business, or other land "possessed
by that person"; and, severely weaken the District's ban on armor-piercing
handgun ammunition.
Citing the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation's dedication to the
"health and wellness" of youth, and the price exacted on D.C. children and
teens by gun violence, the letter urges the Redskins and the Washington
Redskins Charitable Foundation to end all participation in this event,
stating, "The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation's involvement with an
organization whose mission is to repeal Washington D.C.'s gun laws cannot be
reconciled with the mission of the foundation."
The NRA-backed legislation is vigorously opposed by Mayor Anthony
Williams, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles Ramsey, and D.C.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and also stands, according to the letter, "as
an outrageous attack by an outside special interest group on the home rule
rights of D.C. residents."
The September 19, 2005, announcement by the Redskins of the NRA shooting
event (see http://www.redskins.com/community/communitynews.jsp?id=494) comes
the same month that the cover of the NRA's America's 1st Freedom magazine
features "Washington's Newest Monument," an imagined "monument" consisting of
a giant tombstone marked "Washington, D.C., America's Murder Capital." The
tombstone is covered with skulls and faces of the dead. Inside, a two-page
photograph of Mayor Anthony Williams holding up his hands while making a point
has the headline and caption, "D.C. to Criminals: We Surrender! The mayor of
Washington, D.C., the Murder Capital of the U.S. for 14 of the last 15 years,
strikes a telling pose as he defends D.C.'s absurd gun laws." The article then
goes on to attack Mayor Williams and Chief Ramsey (see
http://www.vpc.org/nradcarticle.pdf for a copy of the article).
VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann states, "We hope that after
reviewing the facts surrounding the National Rifle Association's attempts to
undermine public safety in Washington, D.C., Mr. Snyder will do what is best
for the Redskins and their fans in the District of Columbia by ending all
participation by the team and its foundation in this event."
The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working
to stop gun death and injury in America. For more information, please visit
http://www.vpc.org.
SOURCE Violence Policy Center
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Related links:
http://www.vpc.org
CONTACT:
Marty Langley of the Violence Policy Center,
+1-202-822-8200, ext. 109
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