Violence Policy Center
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The Violence Policy Center (VPC) is a national 501(c)(3) educational organization working to reduce violence in America. Founded in 1988 and based in Washington, DC, the VPC approaches violence, and firearms violence in particular, as a broad based public health, as opposed to solely a crime, issue. The overarching framework of the VPC’s research, policy, public education, and advocacy work is the need for comprehensive health and safety regulation of the firearms industry, holding the gun industry’s products to the same health and safety standards as other consumer products.
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[edit] History
The organization was originally founded in 1988 as Firearms Policy Project of the New Right Watch by Josh Sugarmann.
Numerous US gun control organizations have used VPC reports and terminology to further local gun control initiatives.
[edit] Publications
The VPC has issued numerous publications on firearms violence, the firearms industry, and firearms regulation.[citation needed]
[edit] Funding
Between 1996 and 2006, the Violence Policy Center received U.S. $4,154,970 in funding from the Joyce Foundation, a non-profit foundation based in the Great Lakes region of the US that funds and maintains several gun control organizations.
[edit] Criticism of the VPC
Gun rights advocates have been critical of the accuracy and scientific validity of VPC's reports, charging that the conclusions have already been decided regardless of the statistics. They charge that the VPC has a track record of making allegations for which there is no proof with regards to the case of Ronnie Barrett.
Criticism has also come from other gun control advocates who believe that the Violence Policy Center takes an approach that is not politically feasible.
Other gun control organizations advocate a gradual approach toward their goals while the Violence Policy Center believes guns are a public health issue and that specific categories, such as handguns, assault weapons, and 50 caliber sniper rifles should be banned.
[edit] The VPC vs. 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles
In 2001, the VPC issued a study that detailed "the 50 caliber's threat as an ideal tool for assassination and terrorism, including its ability to attack and cripple key elements of the nation's critical infrastructure—including aircraft and other transportation, electrical power grids, pipeline networks, chemical plants, and other hazardous industrial facilities."[1] The study also reported that at least 25 Barrett Firearms Company50 caliber sniper rifles were sold to the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Barrett denied these charges and a subsequent visit to the company by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) turned up no evidence to support the accusations.
In January 2005, the VPC was featured on the CBS news and current affairs program 60 Minutes, which ran a segment on the subject of .50 Caliber rifles and the alleged threat to public safety that these weapons posed.[2] The 60 Minutes report drew heavily from the VPC's reports on the .50 BMG cartridge and conducted interviews with both Barrett Firearms' Ronnie Barrett and the VPC's Tom Diaz. Many in the gun rights movement found the story to be biased in the VPC's favor, and made the oft-repeated claim that a 50 Caliber rifle been never used in the commission of a crime. In response to these claims, the VPC has issued a backgrounder detailing criminal use and criminal possession of 50 caliber sniper rifles.[3] In September 2004, California became the first state to ban 50 caliber sniper rifles.
[edit] The VPC vs. Eddie Eagle
The VPC disparaged the gun safety cartoon character Eddie Eagle calling the program "Joe Camel with Feathers".The NRA shot back, calling the attack 'scurrilous',and asking the question "What kind of person would put a political agenda before a child's safety?"
[edit] The Hacking Incident
The Violence Policy Center made headlines on June 19, 2000 when it issued a press release stating that its website was the victim of a hacking attack that wiped out their data. Certain gun rights advocates accused the VPC of staging the incident although nothing has come out as of the identity of the alleged hacker.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Voting From the Rooftops: How the Gun Industry Armed Osama bin Laden, Other Foreign and Domestic Terrorists, and Common Criminals With 50 Caliber Sniper Rifles
- ^ [1]
- ^ backgrounder
