Running count of gun deaths goes on tour

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NEW YORK | Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:22pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A truck carrying a billboard with a running tally of the number of Americans killed by gun violence since the January 8 massacre in Tucson departed New York City on Wednesday for a two month tour of 25 U.S. states.

The Arizona shootings left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others wounded, and six dead.

As the billboard left Times Square the tally of those killed in gun violence since the Tucson incident was given as 1,300, with another 24 added by mid-morning.

The truck is the idea of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns -- a group of more than 500 leaders of U.S. cities who want the U.S. Congress to pass laws requiring stiffer background checks for gun buyers.

"It is time for Washington to listen to the 250,000 Americans that have signed our petition and take action; since the Tucson shooting more than 1,300 people have been killed with guns in the United States and that number continues to grow," Bloomberg said in a statement.

The group's online petition can be found at www.fixgunchecks.org.

The National Rifle Association, the country's best-known gun rights group, was not immediately available for comment.

Among the drivers of the truck is Omar Sheeha, whose sister Reema was killed in the April 16, 2007, massacre at Virginia Tech in which a gunman shot dead 32 people.

In January, Bloomberg caused a stir after announcing New York City investigators had performed an undercover sting in Arizona in which they said they bought guns like the one used in the Tucson rampage without a legally required background check.

(Reporting by Bernd Debusmann Jr., editing by Mark Egan)
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Comments (3)
1776Federalist wrote:
Listen to a measly 250,000 instead of the millions who oppose it? Statistics can be made to lie and misrepresent facts. These are unverifiable figures and will include justifiable shootings like cops protecting themselves and the community, or self defense by citizens.

Feb 16, 2011 3:05pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Evo1 wrote:
“It is time for Washington to listen to the 250,000 Americans that have signed our petition and take action”

Why should the representatives of the other 345,750,000 Americans pay attention to a group that makes up far less than 1 tenth of 1 percent of the population? Oh, and by the way, it’s “Americans WHO have signed”, not “that have signed”. You never refer to people as “that”. Maybe he should replace the billboard with one that tallies the number of kids in New York who don’t get a good education this year under his administration. Of course, the counter would have be capable of going an awful lot higher than the one for gun deaths in order to fit that number on there.

Feb 16, 2011 6:41pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Eviltool wrote:
The last sentence of the article reads: “…they bought guns like the one used in the Tucson rampage without a legally required background check.”

However, a background check is NOT legally required for person to person sales of firearms in Arizona. That sentence is at the very least misleading if not just factually incorrect.

Feb 17, 2011 2:03am EST  --  Report as abuse
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