Dear IANSA Participants and Friends
An unusual event is taking place tomorrow Tuesday 12 Oct - I am engaging in
a televised debate against the chief of the US National Rifle Association
(NRA), Wayne LaPierre. This will be the first-ever direct confrontation
between IANSA and the global gun lobby, and it should be very lively!
The debate has been arranged by a US television company and can only be seen
on pay-per-view cable TV in the US (live on 12 October and then repeated
many times over the following week). However, IANSA will obtain tapes and we
will do our best to make them available afterwards to our members.
The NRA has been promoting the event very heavily on its website and on
Friday bought a full-page advertisement in the newspaper US Today, urging
the public to watch the TV show and to vote by internet on who won the
debate. (The estimated cost of an advertisement of that size is around US$
75,000.) We have reproduced the NRA's ad on our website at
http://www.iansa.org/action/nra_debate.htm. As you can see, the ad is full
of distortions - for example, it says that "Rebecca Peters... is now leader
of a powerful United Nations coalition seeking a global gun ban treaty by
2006." (I don't know if Mr Kofi Annan has been informed of my new status! )
However, this kind of wild claim suggests that even the NRA recognises
IANSA's growing stature and importance, thanks to the increasing visibility
of our members' activities and to the quality of the contribution we are
making to the global fight against gun violence. Congratulations to all
IANSA participants for making the powerful NRA nervous!
The TV company has a website for the debate at
www.thegundebate.com This
website also contains some mistakes - for example, it refers to a proposed
UN treaty to ban the private ownership of guns. As you know, neither the UN
Program of Action on small arms nor the Control Arms campaign include plans
to ban gun ownership. We have asked for these mistakes to be corrected but
really they are not very important compared with the debate itself.
Even though most IANSA members are outside the US and cannot watch the
debate, you can still vote on who won! The debate website allows anyone to
vote online until 20 October. The NRA has bombarded its members with emails
urging them to vote, and since there are 4 million NRA members we expect
that the online vote will be overwhelmingly for Wayne and against me. This
won't worry us - everyone knows that online voting can be easily distorted
by large, rich organisations. But if you would like to vote, go to
www.thegundebate.com
Thank you to those IANSA members who have been sending messages of support
and good wishes. I hope I can communicate effectively how important it is
for the world community to take action to stem the deadly flood of guns.
Regards
Rebecca Peters, Director
IANSA - International Action Network on Small Arms
[email protected]
www.iansa.org
