Events and Other Resources
Our 2023 Annual Dinner
We’d like to thank everyone who helped make our annual dinner in Sacramento on the evening of Saturday, October 21, a great success, including, of course, our keynote speaker, Dr. Michael North of Scotland, and our co-host organization, the Sacramento Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.Â
Dr. Michael North, center, PSR/Sacramento president, Dr. Harry Wang, to Dr. North’s right, Americans Against Gun Violence president Dr. Bill Durston, to Dr. North’s left, and some of the many Clinica Tepati and Paul Home Clinic volunteers who attended the dinner
Dr. North’s keynote address on the topic, “Gun Control in Great Britain after the 1996 Dunblane Primary School Mass Shooting: A Model for the United States,” is available for online viewing, and the full text of his keynote address is available in PDF format.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Links to Other Resources
For more information about the Second Amendment, the Heller Decision, and the public health consequences of Heller and its progeny:
Judicial Commentary Concerning the Second Amendment in Supreme Court and Federal Appeals Court Cases
Excerpts from important federal court decisions concerning the scope of the Second Amendment from 1876 to the present
A Death Sentence, Wrongly Decided: A discussion of some of the more egregious flaws in the Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision and its progeny and the devastating public health repercussions of these decisions
An essay by Americans Against Gun Violence President Dr. Bill Durston
The Relationship Between the Second Amendment, Slavery, and the Decimation of the Native American Population
An essay by Americans Against Gun Violence President Dr. Bill Durston
Amicus curiae (friend of the court) Briefs Filed by Americans Against Gun Violence in Important Second Amendment Cases:
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. New York City (Supreme Court, 2019)
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen  (Supreme Court, 2022)
United States v. Rahimi  (Supreme Court, 2023 – decision pending)
Duncan v. Becerra (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2021)
For more information about the differences between gun control laws in the United States and laws in other high income democratic countries:
Key Components of Federal Gun Control Laws in the United States and Five Other High Income Democratic Countries: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, and New Zealand
(Note: This document also includes an introduction concerning the distinction between “permissive” and “restrictive” guiding policies; an explanation of the difference between automatic, semi-automatic, and manual (or “traditional”) firearms and the ambiguity of the term, “assault weapons;” and a graph comparing rates of private gun ownership, overall rates of gun related deaths, and rates of gun homicides in the above named countries
Other Organizations
International Organizations
The International Action Network on Small Arms
The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is an international coalition of organizations and individuals working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons.* IANSA supports efforts to make people safer by reducing demand for such weapons, improving firearm regulation and strengthening controls on arms transfers. Through research, advocacy and campaigning, IANSA members are promoting local, national, regional and global measures to strengthen human security. Americans Against Gun Violence is an active member of IANSA.
Read more about IANSA and its relationship to Americans Against Gun Violence
GunPolicy.org, which is hosted by the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, is an excellent source of information for comparing rates of gun violence, rates of gun ownership, and firearm regulations between different countries. These comparisons demonstrate the extraordinarily high rate of gun violence in the USA as compared with all other high income democratic countries and the association between lax gun control laws, high rates of gun ownership, and high rates of gun violence. (Note: In January of 2024, GunPolicy.org reported that it was shutting down its website due to a lack of funding. We’ve been in touch with the director of this organization in an effort to help get this invaluable website up and running again.)
National Organizations
The Violence Policy Center
The Violence Policy Center (VPC) is an excellent source of information about guns and gun violence in the United States. Americans Against Gun Violence often refers to studies done by VPC, particularly on issues such as the risks of concealed weapons, the myth of “guns for protection,” and the uniquely American problem of mass shootings.
Read more about the VPC, its executive director, Joshua Sugarmann.
Local Organizations
The Sacramento Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility
The Sacramento Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has been actively involved in gun violence prevention since the chapter was restarted in 2003. Americans Against Gun Violence grew, in part, out of the work that PSR/Sacramento was doing at the local level. PSR/Sacramento fully supports the position of Americans Against Gun Violence concerning the need for the adoption of stringent gun control regulations in the United States comparable to the regulations that have long been in effect in every other high income democratic country of the world. In addition to working on preventing gun violence, PSR/Sacramento also works on reducing the threat of nuclear weapons, protecting the environment, ensuring universal access to necessary medical care, and promoting social justice. PSR/Sacramento welcomes all progressive activists, not just physicians, to become involved in chapter activities.
If you know of other organizations that you believe should be listed on this page, please let us know about them through the Contact Us link on our website.
