Cactus Village Community

Random Gunfire

You CAN Stop Random Gunfire

You CAN stop random gunfire in your neighborhood this new years eve!

Random Gunfire is not a new problem to Phoenix. In 1996 the City created a Random Gun Fire Task Force to create solutions to this ongoing problem. The task force was made up of a broad spectrum of representatives from the community and was appointed by the Mayor and City Council.

Representatives included leaders from the Latino Community, the former president of the National Rifle Association and our webmaster Richard Donley Fox (then serving as president of the Phoenix Block Watch Advisory Board).

This task force met for many months and developed a strategy that all representatives were both comfortable with and felt would be effective in educating citizens about the danger of random gun fire.

Bob Corbin (former president of the National Rifle Association - NRA) represented the interests on the task force of gun rights advocates and regularly reported the feed back of our progress to the NRA.

The NRA consistently approved of our progress and eventually our recommendations which are outlined in an Arizona Republic Article at our site.

We hope that that the N.A.I.L.E.M. members who are also NRA members see the value in preventing random gun fire and recognizes the serious danger it poses to us all.

At our site you will find links to two flyers that you can print, copy and distribute in your neighborhood. These flyers and our Random Gunfire Program was developed by N.A.I.L.E.M. member, Harold Fox (no relation to Richard Fox).

The flyer was originally created, by Harold Fox, out of years of frustration.

"Every year the reckless random gunfire was the same as years before. The bullets would rain down zipping thru the trees, putting holes in roofs, bouncing off houses, denting cars, breaking windshields, thudding as they hit the ground and, occasionally, finding a human resting place", said Harold Fox.

The flyer alone does nothing to prevent random gunfire. The power you have is to communicate in a friendly way, letting everyone in your neighborhood know that they should call and turn in anyone participating in random gunfire. Keep in mind that all of your neighborhood will get the flyer. The majority of people who do not participate in random gunfire and those that do.

The ones that do not, now have a tool that may stop the ones that do. But much more importantly, the ones that do participate in random gunfire, now know their neighbors have the power to turn them in and they know their neighbors are all watching and listening. They also now know that (thanks to Shannon's Law) it is no longer simply a misdemeanor. random gunfire is now a felony offense.

The Phoenix Police department, for the 1999/2000 year celebration, received only half the gunshot complaint calls from those of previous years. This was undoubtedly the result of the wide distribution of these flyers coupled with the highly visible Random Gunfire public service ads featuring Phoenix Council Member Phil Gordon. You may also remember the debate over Shannon's law drew a great deal of attention to this issue last holiday season.

Below you will find several easy steps to follow to get the fliers distributed in your neighborhood.

Right now, we are all focused on the upcoming holidays, and may not have the extra time for one more project, however, your time now may save a life on new years eve.

Just ask the parents of Shannon Smith how important a few minutes of prevention now can potentially save a life later. And neighborhoods who took the time to implement this program last year reported zero random gunfire where in years past it sounded like a war zone. This system works!

And this is the way it works:

The week before Christmas, go to all businesses that sell ammunition in or near your home, walk in and ask to speak to the manager. Ask the manager what they are willing to do to save lives in your neighborhood? Are they willing to not sell ammunition the night before and/or the night of new years eve? The week between Christmas and new years eve, are they willing to hand out one of the flyers to everyone who purchases ammunition? And we mean all stores that sell ammunition, not just gun shops, but also stores like Wal-Mart, etc.

The Monday after Christmas, get out and place a flyer at every home in your neighborhood.

The day of New Years Eve, again, place a flyer at every home in your neighborhood.

We also call on everyone that lives outside Phoenix to forward this e-mail to your mayor, council member and police chief or sheriff. Tell them you need their help in saving lives in your community. Ask them to create a flyer for you and your neighborhood that is more specific to your community. Tell them they are also welcome to copy the image from our site and change it in any way to better reflect the needs of your community.

Remember, Shannon's law makes it a felony to recklessly discharge a firearm into the air all over Arizona, not just in Phoenix.

Beginning early next week, you will find a whole new section at our site devoted to information about the dangers of reckless random gunfire.

This system works, the power is yours, use it or lose it!

http://www.nailem.org