Press Releases

For Release:  Tuesday, October 30, 2001 African-American Women Three Times More Likely To Be Murdered Than White Women WASHINGTON, DC – The Violence Policy Center (VPC) has released When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 1999 Homicide Data, an annual report detailing female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The report provides a state-by-state ranking of these female homicide rates and reveals that African American women are murdered at a rate more than three…

For Release:   Tuesday, October 30, 2001 Hispanic Women Suffer from a Higher Female Homicide Rate than the National Average WASHINGTON, DC – The Violence Policy Center (VPC) has released When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 1999 Homicide Data, an annual report detailing female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The report provides a state-by-state ranking of these female homicide rates. Although complete national homicide information analyzed by ethnicity is rarely available, the Violence…

For Release:  Wednesday, October 17, 2001 Nevada Ranks #1 in Rate of Women Murdered by Men WASHINGTON, DC—The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 1999 Homicide Data, an annual report detailing female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The report provides a state-by-state ranking of these female homicide rates. Nevada ranked first in the rate of women killed by men. “The attempts by some members…

For Release:  Tuesday, October 16, 2001 NRA-Endorsed Suit Would Have Allowed Domestic Abusers To Keep Their Guns  WASHINGTON, DC – The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today applauded the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Emerson. In reversing a lower district court ruling, the judges rejected the argument that the Second Amendment guarantees domestic abusers an individual right to keep and bear arms and that the plaintiff, Timothy Joe Emerson,…

For Release:  Sunday, October 7, 2001 “Super Guns” Can Down Helicopters, Defeat Armored Limousines, Destroy Aircraft at Terminals, Ignite Fuel Tanks, All From 1,800 yards  Violence Policy Center Report Documents Sale, Details Terror Potential  WASHINGTON, DC  The U.S. gun industry sold at least twenty-five 50 caliber sniper rifles to Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden’s terror network, a study released by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) today reports. The study, Voting From the Rooftops, details the tremendous power…

For Release:  Thursday, September 6, 2001 WASHINGTON, DC – The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today was saddened by the Wednesday’s tragic shooting in Simi Valley, California. Reynoldo Herrera Rodriguez allegedly opened fire with a handgun, killing a grandmother and two children and injuring three others. The suspected gunman was believed to be the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims. In May, FBI statistics showed Simi Valley to be the safest city in the nation among communities with…

For Release:  Wednesday, September 5, 2001 WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, the Violence Policy Center (VPC), a national non-profit educational organization working to stop gun death and injury in America, joined by Legal Community Against Violence and Physicians for Social Responsibility, submitted formal comments to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opposing Attorney General John Ashcroft’s proposed rule which would dramatically impair the Brady Law’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by requiring virtually immediate destruction of…

For Release:   Thursday, August 9, 2001 DOJ Remains Silent on Introduction of Ashcroft NRA Letter in Case – Opposes Introduction of VPC Analysis of Ashcroft NRA Letter WASHINGTON, DC -The Violence Policy Center (VPC) learned this week that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is opposing an effort by law professors David Yassky and Carl T. Bogus – who are friends-of-the-court in U.S. v. Emerson – to have the recent VPC study, Shot Full of Holes: Deconstructing John Ashcroft’s Second Amendment, considered…

For Release:   Thursday, August 2, 2001 WASHINGTON, DC – The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for all documents related to the Department’s 180-degree shift in its position on the Second Amendment. The FOIA request seeks to shed light on how this extreme shift in which DOJ now states that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms came about. This…

For Release:  Thursday, July 26, 2001 Kennedy-Schumer 90-Day Retention Legislation Would Stop Erosion of Gun Policy by Ashcroft Justice Department  Washington, DC  The Violence Policy Center (VPC) applauded the introduction today of a bill sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) that would require the retention for a 90-day period of approved firearm purchase records generated by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The retained records are used to audit the…

For Release:  Wednesday, July 25, 2001 Violence Policy Center Releases New Study Shot Full of Holes: Deconstructing John Ashcroft’s Second Amendment  WASHINGTON, DC  The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released Shot Full of Holes: Deconstructing John Ashcroft’s Second Amendment at a Capitol Hill news conference. Scheduled to join the VPC were Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), House Judiciary Committee member and former…

For Release:  Wednesday, July 18, 2001 With Defeat of Moran 90-Day Retention Amendment Criminals Win Big  Washington, DC – The defeat today of Congressman Jim Moran’s (D-VA) amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations bill that would have required the retention of approved firearm purchase records generated by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for a 90-day period is a death certificate for the Brady Law, the Violence Policy Center (VPC)…

For Release:   Friday, June 29, 2001 Legislation Needed to Enable Law Enforcement to Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals  WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Violence Policy Center (VPC) endorsed a proposal by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) to require the Justice Department to keep records on approved gun purchases for a minimum of 90 days. Senator Schumer’s proposal is in response to Attorney General Ashcroft’s announcement of a 180-degree shift in Justice Department policy on…

For Release: Thursday, June 28, 2001 AG Chooses NRA Over FBI  NRA Wish-List Item Is Death Certificate For Brady Law  Washington, DC – The call today by Attorney General and National Rifle Association Life Member John Ashcroft for the virtually immediate destruction of all records of approved purchasers retained for the audit log of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a death certificate for the Brady law, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) warned…

For Release:   Monday, June 25, 2001 Supreme Court Action Strengthens Recent Violence Policy Center (VPC) Lawsuit Against Attorney General Ashcroft Amended Complaint Filed Today  WASHINGTON, DC – Today the U.S. Supreme Court handed a major defeat to the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the organization’s ongoing attack on the federal Brady Law. The Supreme Court declined to hear the NRA’s appeal of a decision by the federal court of appeals in the District of Columbia…

For Release:  Tuesday, June 12, 2001 Letter Sent to Senate Today Includes Groups Representing: Consumers, Children, Civil Rights, Doctors, Police, and Women  WASHINGTON A group of 50 organizations today sent a letter opposing the McCain-Lieberman gun show bill [S. 890] to every member of the U.S. Senate [letter attached]. Warning that the bill would open more loopholes than it would close, the groups – including Consumer Federation of America, Violence Policy Center, NAACP, Children’s Defense Fund,…

For Release:  Wednesday, June 6, 2001 Letter to NRA on Second Amendment, Delay of NICS Regulation, Signal Dramatic Shift in DOJ Policy House Judiciary Committee Hearing Today on Ashcroft Activities Comes on Heels of Violence Policy Center Suit Against Attorney General  WASHINGTON, DC The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today charged that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s 180-degree shift in Department of Justice (DOJ) gun policy sends a clear message: while he is reinforcing his relationship…

For Release:  Monday June 4, 2001 VPC Challenges Illegal Delay of Justice Department Rule to Prevent Abuse of Background Check System for Gun Sales  WASHINGTON, DC – In the first lawsuit challenging the Bush Administration’s unlawful rollback of final regulations issued by the Clinton Administration, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) today filed suit in federal court in the District of Columbia against Attorney General John Ashcroft. The suit alleges that Ashcroft has illegally suspended a final Justice…

For Release: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 VPC Launches New Website, ashcroftgunwatch.org, Detailing Ashcroft’s Pro-Gun, Anti-Enforcement Activities WASHINGTON, DC U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has sent National Rifle Association (NRA) chief lobbyist James Jay Baker a letter touting Ashcroft’s pro-gun views on the Second Amendment for distribution during the NRA’s annual convention. In his letter, NRA member Ashcroft explicitly described a position on the Second Amendment which is in direct conflict with longstanding legal precedent, historical research,…

For Release:   Tuesday, May 15, 2001 Bill Undermines and Weakens Federal Brady Law  Washington, DC – The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released the following statement by Public Policy Director Joe Sudbay in opposition to the McCain-Lieberman Gun Show Loophole Closing and Gun Law Enforcement Act of 2001, introduced today by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT): The goal of closing the gun show loophole is to ensure that felons, domestic abusers, and…