Gun Safety Gala Tonight in New York City

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It’s a fund-raiser held three times every year, in Manhattan tonight at the New York Historical Society at 6pm; for a last-minute ticket, try calling the Brady Center. Newark mayor Cory Booker will be there as an honored guest, as will Carole Stiller, president of the New Jersey Million Mom March chapters. Tickets ranged from $250 for an individual to $25,000 for a table of 10.

I spoke briefly today to Paul Helmke, the Brady Center’s president for the past three years, as he rode the train from D.C. to New York:

“Things are down a little from last year, but we still have a good strong, turnout, about 140 people. New people are coming and this shows us that people still care about gun violence in this country. People are sensing that the other side is pushing further and further all the time. Now they want guns on trains, in public parks, at presidential events, in bars.”

Speaking to me from an Amtrak car, what does he think of guns on trains?

“We’re very skeptical of the wisdom on this. The rules were initially put into place after 9/11 when there was a lot of fear about potential terrorist attacks on trains, and then there were the attacks on trains in Madrid. But if they’re going to change the rules, they need to go through some hearings and decide how to do it. The difference between carrying a gun on airplane and on a train is that the luggage on a train is not kept as separately as on a plane. At this stage, we think the best approach to that decision is — don’t change it.”

I met Paul at a Brady Center event in July and admire his ideas, his energy and his candor. Fighting gun violence remains complex, difficult and essential.

A Loaded Subject: Guns, and What to Do About Them

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There are few subjects more divisive in the U.S. than the millions of guns owned privately — they’re found in about 30 percent of American homes — and how to quell or reduce the annual toll this exacts, about 30,000 deaths a year, 55 percent of those suicide.

There are millions of people whose firearms will never injure or kill anyone, and others whose gun or guns, sometimes without their knowledge or permission, will cause mayhem and havoc, whether stolen, re-sold to a criminal, used in the commission of another crime. Given the incredibly wide range of experiences Americans have of guns — your child is shot in a drive-by, your husband commits suicide, your daughter thrives in her 4H shooting program, your son attends college on an NCAA riflery scholarship, your family relies for meat on the deer or game you shoot, you’ve only seen one on a cop’s hip or in a movie — it can feel as though any sort of productive dialogue on reducing suicide and homicide is futile. Some hunters wonder why this is their problem. Traumatized victims of urban gun violence wonder why it’s not.

On Monday, I visited a Manhattan apartment where I met about 20 men and women who support the work of the president and CEO of the Brady Campaign, Paul Helmke, who spoke to them about what he’s doing, the challenges he faces and the progress he feels the group has made.