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th W
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O pinion
July 21.2010
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the
Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and
story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com.
Gun Rights and Public Safety
Look to the root cause of gun violence
J udge G reg M athis
S eco n d A m e n d m e n t w as
T h e U .S . S u p r e m e
n o t in te n d e d ju s t fo r m ili­
C o u rt re c e n tly ru le d th a t
tia s an d d id , in fact, e x ­
sta te an d lo cal g o v e rn ­
te n d to in d iv id u a ls.
m e n ts can no lo n g e r re ­
W h ile
th e
r u li n g
stric t an in d iv id u a l’s rig h t
d o e s n ’t g u a ra n te e c itie s
to o w n a firearm . H o w ­
w ill m o d ify th e ir g u n ban
e v er, the C o u r t’s d e c is io n an d law s, it d o e s o p en th e d o o r for
su p p o rtin g a rg u m e n ts left ro o m r e s id e n ts to le g a lly c h a lle n g e
fo r la w m a k e rs to im p o se so m e re ­ th o se law s an d w in.
stric tio n s on o w n e rsh ip and p re ­
O ffic ia ls in th e se c itie s, w h e re
v en t e asy a c c e ss to g u n s w h ile th e re are h ig h ra te s o f g u n c rim e,
still p ro te c tin g th is b a sic rig h t.
are u p se t an d fe a r th e c o u r t’s d e ­
In h a n d in g d o w n its d e c isio n , c isio n w ill in terfere w ith th e ir a b il­
th e c o u rt fo c u sed its a tte n tio n on ity to c ra ft g u n law s th a t re d u c e
a c ase th a t c h a lle n g e d a 2 8 -y e a r- crim e. T h at fear, h o w e v er, m ay be
o ld C h ic a g o b an on h an d g u n s. u n fo u n d e d .
T h e d e c isio n is an e x te n s io n o f
T h e c o u rt m ad e c e rta in to n o te
the c o u rt’s 2 0 0 8 ru lin g th a t the th a t th e rig h t to o w n a firea rm is
by
C u ttin g c itiz e n s o f f from g uns
d o es little to h elp re d u c e c rim e s
w hen w o u ld -b e crim in als buy their
g u n s on th e b la c k m ark et.
T h e re is n o t m u ch d a ta th at
sh o w s g u n b an s in A m e ric a re ­
d u c e g u n d e a th s b u t th e re is e x ­
te n siv e re se a rc h on the k ey ro le
c o m m u n ity c e n te rs, jo b c re a tio n
a n d n e ig h b o r h o o d a n d p o lic e
p a rtn e rs h ip s p la y in k e e p in g c iti­
z en s safe.
I f o fficia ls in C h icag o an d o th er
c itie s are s e rio u s a b o u t gu n v io ­
le n ce p re v e n tio n , th e y w o u ld , in ­
stea d o f lo o k in g fo r w o rk a ro u n d
to th e C o u rt’s ru lin g , b e g in to
th in k o f n ew w a y s to re d u c e gun
crim es.
n o t th e sam e as the rig h t to p o s ­
sess an d c a rry a firea rm in any
m a n n e r fo r w h a te v e r p u rp o se . To
th a t en d , th e c o u rt d o e s su p p o rt
re stric tin g firea rm o w n e rsh ip fo r
fe lo n s an d th e m e n ta lly ill and
e n c o u ra g e s state an d lo cal effo rts
to c lo se lo o p h o le s th a t a llo w in d i­
v id u a ls to p u rc h a se g u n s w ith o u t
a b a c k g ro u n d ch eck .
W h at w e ’re left w ith is a h y b rid
s itu a tio n - o n e th a t p ro te c ts an
A m e ric a n ’s b asic rig h ts w h ile still
le av in g ro o m fo r lo cal g o v e rn ­
m e n ts to c ra ft th e law s th a t w ill
k e ep th e ir s tre e ts safe. T h e se la w ­
m a k e rs, e sp e c ia lly th o se in u rb an
Greg Mathis is a retired Michi­
a re a s, sh o u ld a lso lo o k at th e ro o t gan District Court Judge and syn­
c a u se s o f c rim e an d g u n v io le n c e. dicated television judge.
Keep the Internet Open for All
Big companies want to manipulate access
by
J oseph T orres
P erh ap s
the
greatest freedom in
a democracy is free­
dom o f sp eech .
T h ro u g h o u t o u r
n a tio n 's h isto ry ,
people have died fighting not
only for our right to speak, but
for our right to be heard.
The Internet is the greatest
com m unications netw ork ever
created because it allow s us to
speak for ourselves w ithout
first asking perm ission from
co rp o rate g atek eep ers. The
Internet's im portance as a fo­
rum for speech is the result o f
the principle called net neu­
tra lity , w h ich p re v e n ts the
phone and cable com panies
that provide Internet service
from d iscrim in atin g against
content online or interfering
with the free flow o f Internet
traffic.
But net neutrality and the open
Internet may be in serious
trouble. Julius Genachowski,
the chairman o f the Federal
Communications Commission,
has been holding closed-door
meetings with Verizon, AT&T,
Comcast, and Google that could
pave the way for a corporate
takeover o f the Internet. The big
phone and cable companies want
to kill net neutrality so they can
control and manipulate the con­
tent you can access on the
Internet. Those who can pay
will have their websites sped up;
those who can't may have their
sites slow ed dow n or even
blocked.
Guess who'll be able to pay
that extra cost? The big corpo­
rations. Meanwhile, the small or
startup business or the new non­
profit organization will be pushed
to the digital margins. •
The FCC, our nation's com­
munications watchdog agency,
is currently trying to modernize
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C reative D irector : P aul N e u feld t
W eb E ditor : Jake Thomas
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oppose.
The Sunlight Foundation re­
ported that 72 percent o f the
lo b b y ists h ire d by A T & T ,
Comcast, Time W arner Cable,
Verizon, the National Cable &
Telecommunications A ssocia­
tion, and the U.S. Telecom As­
sociation—the leading opponents
o f net neutrality—have previous
government experience. This fig­
ure includes 18 former lawmak­
ers and 48 former Hill staffers
who worked for the House and
Senate commerce committees
that provide congressional over­
sight o f the FCC.
The FCC has the power to do
the right thing. What the Ameri­
can people want is someone to
stand up and fight for them
against corporate corruption—
w h e th e r from B P, A IG or
Comcast. It needs to protect the
Internet from a corporate take­
over.
its Internet policy framework.
Unless it succeeds, the phone
and cable companies will be free
to censor us online, block the
websites we want to see, and
track the websites we visit with-
outdisclosingtheirpractices. The
agency is under immense pres­
sure from the lobbyists to take
control o f the Internet away from
Internet users and turn it over to
corporations.
The Center for Responsive
Politics reports that these com­
panies spent more than $20 mil­
lion lobbying the federal govern­
ment during the first quarter o f
2010 alone. Many o f these lob­
byists enjoy a direct line to deci­
sion-makers in Congress and at
the FCC. Glance at a list o f the
top staffers working on telecom­
munications just a few years
ago, and you'll find name after
name now representing indus­
Joseph Torres is a senior
try, unconcerned about advo­ adviser fo r government and
cating for positions they used to external affairs at Free Press.
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