By Clifford L. Williams

International civil rights leader, the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., urged Oakland residents to join him to “Stop the Violence” during an appearance in the Bay Area last week to promote a National Gun Protest Day, coordinated by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
    Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow/PUSH, announced that he is organizing the protest in 25 cities on August 28, 2007, to rally support for legislation to restrict gun sales. “We have the right to live safe and secure, no matter where we live in America,” Jackson said during the meeting at True Vine Ministries in West Oakland.
    Reverend Jackson said the nationwide rallies would represent a grassroots effort to press state and federal legislators into passing “common sense” legislation to stem the flow of handguns and military-style automatic weapons. The August 28th protests will take place on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic March on Washington. As part of the protest, Jackson has envisioned groups of 32 or more people lying down in front of gun shops across the nation. Thirtytwo represents the number of people who were killed at Virginia Tech earlier this year.
   Jackson launched his “Stop the Violence” campaign at Chuck’s Gun Shop in a Chicago suburb where he said the shop sells more guns than any other gun dealer in the nation. He said that in 2002 and 2003, when the Chicago Police Department recovered guns used to commit crimes, a total of 800 of them were traced back to Chuck’s Gun Shop. Last month, Jackson and others were arrested while leading their third protest at the gun shop.
    Periodically throughout the meeting, Jackson had the audience of nearly 100 repeat in unison, phases he used to drive a point home. “The people of faith…must use their faith…to fight back…and march…over mourning,”cited Jackson. “First class jails…second class students… people need to be protected from this.”
    Jackson talked about the senseless use of guns and how people must change their mindset when thinking about using a gun. He told the story of a young man he met who had planned on attending an event and was going to be packing his ‘heat’ just in case there may be trouble.
    Jackson asked the youth why he needed the firepower and the youth responded with “if something goes down, I want to be ready.” Jackson retorted with “why would you attend an event or put yourself in a situation where there could possibly be some criminal activity or gun violence?”
   “If you know there may be a problem at the event, don‘t even go there in the first place and avoid any possible violence or unnecessary bloodshed! “You can close the gun flow in Oakland… easy access to guns…is a regrettable killing.”
    “I encourage anyone running for the presidency to address this issue in their next debates,” Jackson said. He favors tighter restrictions on who is allowed to buy guns, better background checks, longer waiting periods for gun purchases, and restrictions on how many guns an individual may buy within a calendar period.
    The National Rifle Association, a powerful special-interest lobbying organization and chief proponent of lax rules for gun ownership, is promoting a federal bill that would, among other things, eliminate any limits on the quantities of guns an individual may purchase.
    Jackson said we should be outraged by the number of people being killed by guns and asked the audience, “Where is our conscience?” “If you’re wise…get out of the bushes…together.”
    The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition is a progressive, multi-issue, multi-cultural, international membership organization, whose mission is to defend, protect, and gain civil rights; to even the playing field in all aspects of American life and to secure peace in the world. To learn more about Rainbow/PUSH, visit www.rainbowpush.org, or telephone (773) 373-3366.