The National Rifle Association is “making a profit over our slain community members,” the director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence told N.C. State students Thursday.
“It’s sick,” Gail Neely told students at the Raleigh Presbyterian Campus Ministry Pease Lunch Forum. “It’s really sick. It has got to change.”
Neely visited campus Thursday to convince students to support her group’s efforts to end gun violence in North Carolina and the country.
Her comments coincide with the renewed national debate on gun control, but Neely, who owns a gun, focused her talk on reducing gun violence, not banning guns. North Carolinians Against Gun Violence advocates for gun education, the distribution of locks on firearms and laws that limit reckless behavior, she said.
“We are all about prevention,” Neely said. “Thirty-two people are murdered every day in the U.S., and though it’s going to be a tough road ahead, we’re going to keep plugging away.”
North Carolina and the nation stand at a frightening crossroads in gun control, she said. Since the massacre of students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., Neely and other members of her organization have been disgusted with the National Rifle Association and its vice president, Wayne LaPierre.
LaPierre gained global attention when he said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Neely’s organization lobbies for changing policy locally. But the N.C. General Assembly has regressed on public safety and gun control, with five pending bills that would “ineffectively control violence.”
Three hundred gun-rights activists outfitted in empty holsters rallied in front of the General Assembly Tuesday to support several proposals:
Granting of “open-carry privileges,” or the right to wear holstered handguns in public.
A proposed amendment to allow people to “personally resist” police from confiscating their weapons, according to N.C. Rep. Larry Pittman, R-Cabarrus.
House Bill 111 that would all gun-permit holders to carry hidden, loaded guns in family restaurants and bars.
Neely’s group opposes “laws that don’t promote safety.”
“We’ve been fighting for an end to gun violence for 20 years, and we have to reverse the statistics,” she said.
Neely encouraged students to organize and advocate for an end to violence, and North Carolinians Against Gun Violence stands ready to help any student organization.
“We’re all in this together,” she said.
But a recent Pack Poll, conducted by an on-campus polling group, found students, like American in general, don’t agree on what to do with guns. Fifty-seven percent of students oppose concealed-carry of weapons on campus, but a hefty minority – 41 percent – support concealed-carry laws.
Students appeared to tilt toward gun rights when responding to the idea of a national ban on semi-automatic weapons. 57 percent of students oppose the ban, while 41 percent would support it.
The nation’s – and N.C. State students’ – inability to reach a consensus on guns fuels her mission to educate North Carolinians about using guns safely, Neely said.
“Last year, a man was shot in a dispute while grilling with a friend when they were arguing whether the meat they were cooking was a pork chop or a pork steak,” she said. “We need to advocate for more responsibility and sensibility, and we will keep at as long as we can.”
