Between The Lines - Marty Isaac: In Newtown Massacre Aftermath, Grassroots Movement Campaigns to Strengthen Connecticut Gun Laws (Week Ending Feb. 22, 2013)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

In Newtown Massacre Aftermath, Grassroots Movement Campaigns to Strengthen Connecticut Gun Laws

RealAudio MP3

Posted Feb. 13, 2013

Interview with Marty Isaac, president of Connecticut Against Gun Violence Education Fund, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

The Dec. 14 massacre of 20 young children and 6 educators at Newtown, Conn.’s Sandy Hook Elementary School has provoked a national debate and soul-searching about how best to stop America’s epidemic of gun violence, but nowhere more than in the state where the tragedy occurred. Since the Newtown mass shooting, Connecticut legislators have convened several task forces to reconsider the state’s gun laws, the availability of mental health treatment, school safety, and have introduced dozens of bills to address those issues.

Large numbers of people from across the state have participated in vigils for the dead, attended rallies, meetings and public hearings. A recent public forum, held at an inner-city library branch in New Haven, featured a panel that included the director of a youth coalition, the leader of a national organization of African American police officers, a criminal justice reform advocate and Marty Isaac, president of the group, Connecticut Against Gun Violence Education Fund. The 20-year-old organization has focused its attention on gun violence in the state's inner cities, where, for example, 34 people in New Haven were murdered in 2011.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Isaac after the forum. Here, he explains how long-time gun safety advocates have welcomed new, mostly suburban activists to the cause in the wake of the Newtown shootings and changes to firearms laws that CT Against Gun Violence is advocating for in the state legislature.

MARTY ISAAC: What I've seen time and again is the people who have entered recently are just shocked when they learn of the violence that's happening through the country. Maybe they got involved because they weren't aware before, and all these babies were killed, and it's so horrendous. But when they begin to hear the numbers – 12,000 murders in this country, so much in the inner city – they're against. They didn't know it. And many people, they're almost ashamed that they weren't in this fight earlier, and we welcome them; it's time to join. I do see the inner city, the urban communities, I see suburban folks coming on board because everyone is so upset at gun violence in this country. It's not about that you can't own a gun – you can own a gun, but you need to do it in a responsible manner.

BETWEEN THE LINES: People are talking about – here, too, and federally – background checks for ammunition, talking about taxing ammunition, and they're also talking about having insurance they don't have now.

MARTY ISAAC: I see where there's common ground, and I'm talking gun owner, non-gun owner. Where there's common ground is on this universal background check. It doesn't make any sense you can buy a weapon, even in a private sale, without being certain they're eligible to have a weapon. Where I'm seeing common ground is where people are saying you need to have a permit to have any type of firearm. You need to have a permit to purchase ammunition. Why shouldn't you? And there's a fringe that certainly isn't in agreement with this, but when I say common ground – from the hunters, from the sportsmen – the traditional gun owners. They don't see any reason why you should have a high capacity ammunition magazine – it doesn't make any sense to them. They don't see any reason why you need to have what I call assault-style weapons; they don't see any reason that these should be in civilian hands. The legislative effort, the agenda that we're putting forward for CAGV is accepted by most people in Connecticut. There's been polls that have come out recently, it's almost as if our legislative agenda was polled. We didn't do that poll; it was done independently, and they ran it in the (Hartford) Courant yesterday, and the overwhelming majority of people are saying yes, we need these common sense changes to our gun laws.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So, reiterate what your asks are.

MARTY ISAAC: Well, there's around eight of them, but first and foremost, it's ban these assault-style weapons. Ban these high capacity ammunition magazines. And when I talk about banning, we're saying not just future sales. We're saying remove them from the state. And it's important, because if all you do is ban future sales, you're saying that Connecticut of Dec. 14 is acceptable. It's not acceptable; we don't want to live like this. We're saying, no, you need to find a solution to get these out of the state. We're talking about a permit for ammunition, about universal background checks for any gun sold, whether it's done from a formal dealer or a private sale. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about a registration system for firearms. You can have as many firearms as you want, but affirm that you have these firearms. We have to stop this trafficking. How can it be these guns are legally purchased initially and they end up in these violent situations? There's two crimes at these crime scenes – the crime that's done and where did they get this gun? A registration system could go a long way toward solving these issues.

BETWEEN THE LINES: The number of guns that have been purchased, well, since Obama first took office and especially since Newtown, it's like a record number of background checks requested every week, and now they're running out of guns to sell is what I heard today. So are you talking about taking back either guns or ammunition clips or ammunition?

MARTY ISAAC: We're talking about the urgency for the legislative groups to act and get these laws changed because you're right, every single day more of these weapons are being sold. But yes, we're talking about...and there's going to be a lot to be worked out. What is the right way to implement this? My point is if you're simply banning future sales, you're saying that the Connecticut of December 14 is okay for Connecticut. And I think the uproar you've seen throughout the state and really, the country, are saying that's not an acceptable solution. It's better than doing nothing, to stop future sale, but that's not a satisfactory solution to where we stand today.

BETWEEN THE LINES: But do you think there's any chance at all, like even a one percent chance, that any law would be passed that would allow law enforcers, if people didn't turn in those things, for people to go in and get them? That's what they did in Australia; they made it illegal to own the weapons and people turned them in and were paid for them, but they made it illegal to own them.

MARTY ISAAC: I think there are a number of solutions in how you could work this out, and I'll leave it to the lawmakers to decide the best way of making this work. But the point is, people are demanding a change to where we stand today in Connecticut, and if we don't do that, we're really not acting in a significant fashion.

Find links to more commentary from CT Against Gun Violence Education Fund, as well as the debate on gun laws in Connecticut and the nation at www.cagv.org. CT Against Gun Violence is a major sponsor of March for Change at the state Capitol in Hartford at 11 a.m. on Feb. 14, which is the second month anniversary of the Newtown, Sandy Hook school shootings.