Hales: 'Gun violence is not acceptable. We need action now'
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Watch Mayor Hales' press conference on gun control efforts now on KATU TV and on KATU.com.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Mayor Charlie Hales joined hundreds of other mayors who are calling on President Barack Obama and Congress to act now against illegal gun use.
“We have to get angry. And we have to stay angry,” said Hales in a news release Sunday. “Gun violence is not acceptable. We need action now.”
Hales called a press conference at City Hall on Monday morning to address gun violence. Monday is the one-month anniversary of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
The group Mayors Against Illegal Guns is calling on congress to require criminal background checks for all gun sales, ban military-style assault weapons and make gun trafficking a federal crime. Notable mayors in the group include Eugene, Ore. Mayor Kitty Piercy and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
At his public swearing-in, Hales said he planned to address “the access to high-powered firearms and big magazines, which we've seen tragically go against the better interest of the people in this country.”
Then on Thursday, Hales posted on Facebook: “Big announcement coming Monday regarding gun violence throughout the nation. Stay tuned.”
Monday’s news conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Mayor’s Office.
You have to love the PR campaign spin. "Mayors against illegal guns" notice the use of the word illegal so you have to defend yourself if you are against them. It should read "mayors against guns" that is more appropriate.
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Would be nice if they just came out and said what they really believe in instead of employing all this PR garbage.
Unfortunately none of the emotionalism Chuck is playing on solves the real issue. Nothing they are suggesting would have prevented these recent shootings. I guess you only need 2-digit IQ to be a Portland Mayor.
I wonder if they plan to murder democracy here in Oregon like they just did in New York. Introduce the bill late, vote on it instantly. No public comment period, no committee readings. Just back room deals.
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Illinois showed that democracy works, so I guess they had to make sure to do something about that.
From reading online comments, it looks like this new mayor may have bit off more then he can chew..I think he just stepped in a nice batch of Cow Pies.
Portland I feel sorry for you, for the guy you voted in is More Heinous the last guy you had..I think there will be a lot of angry citizens in Portland.
 @lee986321 I can't wait for him to take up the cause of renaming Powell to Che Gueverra Blvd. Somehow I don't think the fine citizens of Portlandia will argue too much over it though. After all, we must show everyone how much we are just crawling inside our own skin.
Just remember, if the 2nd Amendment can be shredded, the other parts of the Bill of Rights can be in jeopardy to also be shredded.
 @Saltire ah but there are copies and there are back ups. everything is backed up now a days, be it shredded or not, there are data systems and hoarders that still would have that information. Not to mention, Film, Digital video, and a great deal of other things.
 @lee986321 I'm not talking about that kind of shredding.
 @Saltire "If I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand".  =)
Would Jesus have been a gun owner?
 @Solipsist01 No, but Simon Peter had a sword and used it to try and keep Jesus from being arrested. Jesus told him to sheath it, though, since He knew God had appointed this the time for Jesus' trial.
 @Solipsist01 Sure, if the Romans had guns. Crucifiction self defense.
 @TimBurr  @Solipsist01 If Jesus being the son of God, and it was God that Created the heavens and the earth, a gun, would be nothing to him but a small noise maker.
Maybe if we offered a straight across trade....turn in your AR-15 and get an XBox 360 and copies of every Rockstar game release including the forthcoming GTA5.
Then tell Odummber to quit giving assault weapons to Mexico!Â
One sure-fire way to end commenting is to pull the story and make it impossible to find. Â Interesting. Â
@Sundowner....I wonder how many comments get circulated around the office at KATU....you know...for laughs....they might even have a wall of shame for all the complete whack jobs. I may be a candidate but there are many on here that far exceed any insanity I can bring to the table.
 @Solipsist01 I'm sure you're right.....shizzz and giggles at KATU. Â
mayors office-503-823-4120
@poodlem....Here's President Obama's number too!
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202-456-1111
 @Solipsist01 The power of Google and public information.
@poodlem .....DUDE!!!.....How'd you get that???!!
Portland Police don't obey laws or their own policies. Someone needs to apprise Mayor Hales of all of that. Or is Hales intent on making Ronald Frashour the next Police Chief of our tanked city?Â
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But what does Charlie Hales cares - he has a communist agenda to pursue post haste. Apparently. Because Obama says so...
 @englishdaisy Thanks for spreading the love to the commies. The Nazi analogies are getting boring.
 @englishdaisy http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/communism.  May want to find a different term since "communism" doesn't describe what you espouse.
 @Sundowner  @englishdaisy More closer to Dictatorship. Communism often gets the bad wrap as Does Socialism.
Only law abiding people obey the laws in the first place. The criminals (who these laws are written for) don't care. Do we talk about outlawing cars because so many people die in drunk driving accidents?
More random deaths happen on our open roads than by gun crime.
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Additionally, the US Statistics for homicide include; police shootings, suicide, self-defense shootings, shootings among belligerent parties/criminal on criminal shootings, etc. If these other shootings were eliminated and only accidental shootings, criminal shootings of non-criminal targets, and rampage shootings then the statistics would be exceptionally low.Â
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In short, the statistics are skewed by the politicians and media to build the hype/hysteria against guns and include the numbers for shootings that the average citizen considers "justified".Â
It will be interesting to see how consistent he is with police homicides....he's already been pretty weak by rolling-over on Frashouer .
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 @Icarus Oh, he's a peach of a hypocrite - that Charlie Hales.Â
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A long hard ride it will be - his term in office - with this piece of closeted hypocrite and closeted extremist progressive - MISleading all of us - day in and day out. Lying to us all. Lying to us all about Frashour - most of all. And now he takes on Obama's dictates? Come on, Mayor Hales. Come on.....
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Charlie Hales loves on Ronald Frashour - his new best friend indeed. Frashour and Kyle Nice - the police state FACE of cruel Charlie Hales's mayoral office.Â
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 @englishdaisy  @Icarus Like I said, be carefull who you vote for for the one who is bad will be proceeded by one who is 10x worse. Forget the pretty speeches, its all lies and propaganda. soon, I think you guys will need a real life Bat Man or real life ROBO COP to root out crime.
 @englishdaisy   (laughing)  You definitely get today's prize for Snarkiest Comment!
 @englishdaisy  @Umhal It's a fine line between lying and not telling the truth.  Kinda like the difference between being found not guilty and being found innocent (no such thing).
 @Umhal Telling it like it is. And I am not lying.Â
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A long list, but worth seeing.
From the World Health Organization:Â
The latest Murder Statistics for the world:
Murders per 100,000 citizens
Honduras 91.6
El Salvador 69.2
Cote d'lvoire 56.9
Jamaica 52.2
Venezuela 45.1
Belize 41.4
US Virgin Islands 39.2
Guatemala 38.5
Saint Kits and Nevis 38.2
Zambia 38.0
Uganda 36.3
Malawi 36.0
Lesotho 35.2
Trinidad and Tobago 35.2
Colombia 33.4
South Africa 31.8
Congo 30.8
Central African Republic 29.3
Bahamas 27.4
Puerto Rico 26.2
Saint Lucia 25.2
Dominican Republic 25.0
Tanzania 24.5
Sudan 24.2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 22.9
Ethiopia 22.5
Guinea 22.5
Dominica 22.1
Burundi 21.7
Democratic Republic of the Congo 21.7
Panama 21.6
Brazil 21.0
Equatorial Guinea 20.7
Guinea-Bissau 20.2
Kenya 20.1
Kyrgyzstan 20.1
Cameroon 19.7
Montserrat 19.7
Greenland 19.2
Angola 19.0
Guyana 18.6
Burkina Faso 18.0
Eritrea 17.8
Namibia 17.2
Rwanda 17.1
Mexico 16.9
Chad 15.8
Ghana 15.7
Ecuador 15.2
North Korea 15.2
Benin 15.1
Sierra Leone 14.9
Mauritania 14.7
Botswana 14.5
Zimbabwe 14.3
Gabon 13.8
Nicaragua 13.6
French Guiana 13.3
Papua New Guinea 13.0
Swaziland 12.9
Bermuda 12.3
Comoros 12.2
Nigeria 12.2
Cape Verde 11.6
Grenada 11.5
Paraguay 11.5
Barbados 11.3
Togo 10.9
Gambia 10.8
Peru 10.8
Myanmar 10.2
Russia 10.2
Liberia 10.1
Costa Rica 10.0
Nauru 9.8
Bolivia 8.9
Mozambique 8.8
Kazakhstan 8.8
Senegal 8.7
Turks and Caicos Islands 8.7
Mongolia 8.7
British Virgin Islands 8.6
Cayman Islands 8.4
Seychelles 8.3
Madagascar 8.1
Indonesia 8.1
Mali 8.0
Pakistan 7.8
Moldova 7.5
Kiribati 7.3
Guadeloupe 7.0
Haiti 6.9
Timor-Leste 6.9
Anguilla 6.8
Antigua and Barbuda 6.8
Lithuania 6.6
Uruguay 5.9
Philippines 5.4
Ukraine 5.2
Estonia 5.2
Cuba 5.0
Belarus 4.9
Thailand 4.8
Suriname 4.6
Laos 4.6
Georgia 4.3
Martinique 4.2
And
The United States 4.2
ALL the countries above America have 100% gun bans
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 @last boyscout Hmm you forgot to mention that there is a part in the new "Homeland Security Act that is refering to chipping people.
I kid you not. this could also go into play for even gun control.
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/GuidanceDocuments/ucm072141.htm#4d
The above link is based on fact and is not from some dweeb of a site, this is a real and true government Document, rather you wish to read it or not is up to you. Chipping you could be the mother of all coffin in the nail for all complaints with regards to Medical, Weapons, and other things.
Good Luck, I wish you well Posters of KATU. Who will have the last Laugh? If you don't think this will not happen, then why is it written, and why is it proceeding?
 @last boyscout While I'm sure you double-checked all of this, you made a mistake with Greenland and Guatemala - you can own guns in those countries with a license. And in Greenland, the 2006 homicide rate was 19.2% which translates into 10 homicides and attempted homicides.
@Max Quinn @last boyscout....what do expect? they live in Greenland for Christ's sake. I bet their suicide rate is through the roof too.
@last boyscout....that's an impressive list of underdeveloped and politically chaotic nations...what about places like Japan or Great Britain, both of which have very strict gun laws and both of which have on average under 40 gun related deaths each year?
 @Solipsist01  @last While that may be partially true, you should not omit the facts about those countries violent crime rates. Bad people are still bad people. When the guns were taken away they went to knifes, gangs and hammers. Stop cherry picking your "facts".Â
 @Solipsist01 Shhh....don't bring facts like Japan or Great Britain into the debate.  What were you thinking?
 @Umhal  @Solipsist01 Them's fightin' words, buddy.  Leave my girl parts alone.
 @Solipsist01 That's absolutely right, Solipsist... because once the guns are gone, the Vaginas are next!
@Sundowner....what's funny is that the pro-gun crowd always wants to turn the debate into one about a complete ban on guns when NO ONE is suggesting that as a solution. All anyone is talking about is a ban on assault rifles and high capacity magazines....a harder position for the NRA to defend so they make it about ALL guns because then it becomes a matter of Constitutional rights.
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They paint the slippery slope picture to scare everyone....first it's the assault rifles....then they're stealing you daughters and wifes to sell in the sex slave trade.
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But the NRA has to keep it simple in order for their followers to jump on the band wagon...they ain't much into critical thinkin'
 @last boyscout Live in RUSSIA? That might be Barack Obama's closeted communist dream for us all - but not me. No how. No way. How about posting some statistics about how the world - country by country fails to treat, mistreats, ignores and demeans the needs of one in four all around the world who are chronically mentally infirm and their daily suffering, last boyscout. Or doesn't THAT translate to the spielmeisters with progresssive agendas over at the WHO?
 @englishdaisy One can understand why they keep ignoring you.
Let me say it again - who in the h-e-double hockey sticks does this newly minted leader of ours think he is? Has he polled his constituents. Held a town hall. Asked his staff members to do any neighborhood town meetings.Â
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Does he care about being measured, mature, inclusive and truthful about this discussion or any other. Or are we seeing a coward of a progressive - empowered by his desire to act like and behave like and intone progressive rhetoric just like our current president.Â
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Hey Mr. Hales - what about the ailing state of your city and Multnomah County's mentally infirm. Don't you care to be transparent about a damned thing. Or conscientious, sir? Who in the h-e-double hockey sticks is this newly minted JOKE of ours?Â
@englishdaisy He doesn't need to do any of that stuff. Just fluff to him. After all he's a liberal and they always know what's best for us!
Why was it needed to point out that one of the people speaking today is a Republican and a registered gun owner? There are many Democrats that are registered gun owners! But they are rarely singled out! The News is so left sided!
Mayor stupid fix the pot holes-Fix the high water bills-fix the garbage problem. Get ppd  in line. That is what you were voted to do fix portland problems..We did not vote for you to take rights away from people. DO YOUR JOB>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 @poodlem As mayor, isn't part of his job trying to make Portland a safer place for all citizens?  Many may not agree with how he's dealing with the issue of violence, but I don't believe his job is merely to make sure the trash gets picked up and pot holes get filled.
 @Sundowner His job as mayor is not to take away rights of citizens. Funny he told nobody about this when he was running for office. It is his job to fix the roads and fix the water bills that city hall took all the money for their pet projects. He lied to get into office and had this on his agenda. Maybe he should do more for the mentally ill besides have the police kill them.....
 @Sundowner Wow he sure fooled the people of portland  did he not? He took the whole of portland for stupid. He needs to do his job or be RECALLED.........................
 @poodlem *Maybe* he didn't mention it when running for office because the shootings at Clackamas Town Center hadn't taken place?  Or the butchering of 20 innocent children in their school?  Things changed pretty rapidly since those events.  Maybe you've noticed?  And I absolutely agree that the mentally ill should be treated differently by police than shooting them dead.