Politics & Government
Gun-Violence Prevention Advocates Plan March Today at City Hall
Grassroots group will walk from Mountain View Caltrain station to city offices hoping to get the Mountain View mayor onboard.
A Silicon Valley chapter of Organizing for Action plans to march at 6 p.m. today from the Mountain View Caltrain Station to City Hall Plaza to show support for measures to prevent gun violence and to encourage the mayor to join the cause.
"We collaborate with a coalition of gun violence prevention groups that recruited mayors from Palo Alto and Sunnyvale to join Mayors Against Illegal Guns," said chapter-lead organizer Josh Wolf.
"The Mountain View mayor has refused our request to join the coalition, so we are rallying (today) to demonstrate broad support for commonsense measures to prevent gun violence."
Mayor John Inks was away from city offices and could not be reached for comment. Inks' opinion on the planned march and the organization will be added when available.
In the past, Wolf said, Inks declined joining the coalition as the mayor questioned whether it would truly stem violence and perhaps was more of an "anti-gun" agenda.
And to that charge, Wolf takes exception.
"We are working for gun violence prevention, not against gun ownership," he said. "We are advocating for commonsense measures to prevent gun violence that are widely popular."
"Expanding background checks to close the gun show loophole is supported by 92 percent of Americans and 74 percent of NRA members, who know that background checks keep guns out of criminals' hands without infringing on the rights of law abiding citizens."
Organizing for Action (OFA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization committed to "tipping the scales of power back to the American people instead of special interests in Washington" by addressing job creation, strengthening the middle class, gun-violence prevention, immigration reform and climate change.
The group held a rally in August in Palo Alto where some 50 volunteers thanked Mayor Gregory Scharff for aligning with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Wolf said.
"We are working to hold elected officials accountable for failing to take action to prevent gun violence," he summed.
According to the Mayors Against Illegal Guns website, the group has the backing of 1,000 mayors from 46 states and 1.5 million supporters nationwide.
For more information on Organizing for Action, click here.
