Hard Choices chat: Gail Neely, NC Against Gun Violence

EDITOR'S NOTE: Gail Neely, executive director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, says her group supports current proposals to place more restrictions on assault-style rifles and on gun sales, not armed guards. Neely says there's no need for anyone to be able to buy a rifle with a high-capacity magazine capable of killing dozens of people very quickly.

This is an archive of a live chat held Jan. 28, 2013.

Hard Choices chat: Gail Neely, NC Against Gun Violence

(01/28/2013)

  

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12:55

WRAL:  Welcome to our chat about the hard choices posed by the conflict between gun violence and gun rights. Please submit your questions or comments below for Gail Neely, executive director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence. Monday January 28, 2013 12:55 WRAL

12:58

[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  Gail, do you have a personal story that led you to this cause? Monday January 28, 2013 12:58 Guest

12:59

[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  Have you ever fired a gun? Monday January 28, 2013 12:59 Guest

1:00	Gail Neely:  My first husband was murdered with a handgun. Monday January 28, 2013 1:00 Gail Neely

1:00	Gail Neely:  Yes, I have fired a gun before and I am quite a good shot. Monday January 28, 2013 1:00 Gail Neely

1:02	[Comment From LeeLee: ]  do you seriously think anyone is proposing putting M-16's in schools? Monday January 28, 2013 1:02 Lee

1:02	[Comment From WarrenWarren: ]  Do you know the statistics on deaths with guns vs all other deaths? Monday January 28, 2013 1:02 Warren

1:02	Gail Neely:  I don't think M-16 were proposed for schools. But just having a gun of any kind in schools unless a trained law enforcement officer is a danger. Monday January 28, 2013 1:02 Gail Neely

1:03	Do you or does anyone in your household own a gun? Yes  ( 86% ) No  ( 14% ) Used to but not any more  ( 0% ) Monday January 28, 2013 1:03

1:03	Gail Neely:  I know that in 2011 there were over 31,000 gun deaths in the US. I do not know how many total deaths there were. Monday January 28, 2013 1:03 Gail Neely

1:03	[Comment From Martha BrockMartha Brock: ]  Do you think all persons with a history of mental illness should be barred from gun ownership? If so, why? Monday January 28, 2013 1:03 Martha Brock

1:04	[Comment From LeeLee: ]  have you read the complete school shield proposal from the nra? Monday January 28, 2013 1:04 Lee

1:06

Gail Neely:  I do not think that everyone with a history of mental illness should be barred from gun ownership. Most people who suffer from a mental illness are not violent. There needs to be a lot of public education around this aspect of the issue. The public should be more supportive of people who need help and the mental health community needs to do more education on how the public can be more helpful to those individuals. Monday January 28, 2013 1:06 Gail Neely

1:06	[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  Gail, Gun reform only seems possible if the issue can be less polarizing. How the gun control-supporting majority in the US effect change? Monday January 28, 2013 1:06 Guest

1:09	[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  What kinds of activities and specific weapons would NC Against Gun Violence ban? And how would you justify that to responsible gun owners? Monday January 28, 2013 1:09 Guest

1:11

Gail Neely:  NCGV supports background checks on all gun purchases. We support the ban on high capacity ammunition magazines and do not think that military style assault weapons that are made to accept those magazines are useful to the general public. NCGV takes a very public health approach to gun violence prevention and we want to lower the firearm death and injury rate. Monday January 28, 2013 1:11 Gail Neely

1:11	[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  Gail, what would you consider your highest priority? What type of societal or legislative change would make you say "My work is complete"? Monday January 28, 2013 1:11 Guest

1:11

[Comment From LeeLee: ]  Gail, A lot of gun owners feel that they are responsible for their own protection if/when a violent situation occurs instead of waiting several minutes for law inforcement to arrive to protect them. How do you feel about someone being able to protect themselves instead of relying on somone else? Monday January 28, 2013 1:11 Lee

1:13

Gail Neely:  There will be work to be done as long as people are dying and being injured by firearms. There is not one legislative piece or action that I could say would get us there. It is a very large comprehensive plan. I think President Obama is on the right track. Monday January 28, 2013 1:13 Gail Neely

1:14	WRAL:  NCGV is aligned with the majority of public opinion on the issue of background checks. See the rest of the poll WRAL commissioned about gun rights here: http://www.wral.com/wral-poll-north-carolinians-favor-background-checks-for-guns/11987403/ Monday January 28, 2013 1:14 WRAL

1:15

[Comment From Martha BrockMartha Brock: ]  I find it amazing that in the past week or so there have been several accidental shootings at gun shows. Would you support some kind of mandatory gun education or gun training for all gun owners? Something like what is required to get a driver's permit before licensing? Monday January 28, 2013 1:15 Martha Brock

1:16

[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  A military style assault weapon is a fully automatic weapon. Those have been illegal since 1934. What kind of weapons are you talking about making illegal? The only difference between a semi automatic hunting rifle and what you refer to as an assault rifle is that one looks scary. Other than that they are exactly the same. So again, What gun are you looking at making illegal? Monday January 28, 2013 1:16 Guest

1:17

Gail Neely:  Everyone has the right to defend themselves in their home. The majority of gun owners are responsible. There are however many that are not. We see those news reports every day where someone else was injured because someone did not use proper gun handling safety while they were out and about and someone else pays the price. Monday January 28, 2013 1:17 Gail Neely

1:19	[Comment From KevinKevin: ]  How would making more laws help to keep us safe? There are plenty of firearms laws on the books that criminals ignore. Should we maybe focus on enforcing laws that are already in place before making more laws? Monday January 28, 2013 1:19 Kevin

1:20	Gail Neely:  Semantics. There should be several classes of weapons with different levels of restriction. Fully automatic machine guns are still available but they are highly regulated and licensed. Monday January 28, 2013 1:20 Gail Neely

1:20	[Comment From LeeLee: ]  You say you would like to ban high capacity magazines, but how many rounds would someone need to defent themselves in a home invasion? Should they be limited to the rounds they can use to defend themselves? Monday January 28, 2013 1:20 Lee

1:20	[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  How do we break through the perception that NO gun control is tolerable? How do we enlist the gun-owning and gun control-supporting majority in the US to effect positive change? Monday January 28, 2013 1:20 Guest

1:22	[Comment From WarrenWarren: ]  A few years ago homicides were 15th in deaths based on gov. records. Then homicides were around 5 percent. Not much news by all of the media about the other causes of deaths. I guess those don't matter. Monday January 28, 2013 1:22 Warren

1:23	[Comment From LeeLee: ]  in every mass shooting, several laws were broken. So what law can we possibly pass that will stop criminals from breaking the law? Monday January 28, 2013 1:23 Lee

1:24	[Comment From GuestGuest: ]  Do you have issue with the founder's reasoning for the second amendment, namely to fight government tyranny? Is there any point that you feel that the average citizen should have the right to protect themselves from the government? Monday January 28, 2013 1:24 Guest

1:25	Gail Neely:  Crime is down all over the country. Gun deaths continue to rise. There are nine states that now have more gun deaths than automobile deaths. Monday January 28, 2013 1:25 Gail Neely

1:25	[Comment From LeeLee: ]  you cited gun handling safety in an earlier comment, so do you support programs like the nra Monday January 28, 2013 1:25 Lee

1:25	Gail Neely:  The second amendment was not to fight against our own government. It was in place to guard against insurrection. Monday January 28, 2013 1:25 Gail Neely

1:27	Gail Neely:  I support any safety training for anyone who is going to own a gun. I think it should be a part of the requirement for owning one. Monday January 28, 2013 1:27 Gail Neely

1:28	WRAL:  Gail, Thank you so much for your time today. It has added to our understanding. Thanks everyone for joining the chat. Monday January 28, 2013 1:28 WRAL

1:28	Gail Neely:  Thank you. Monday January 28, 2013 1:28 Gail Neely

1:28

 

 

This story is part of WRAL's prime time special "Soft Targets, Hard Choices." We welcome your comments and questions. Send email to hardchoices@wral.com or use #hardchoices on Twitter.