JoinTogether to stop gun violence? Only if the money flows…

Last week, after JoinTogether.org announced that it would soon cease its practice of publishing gun violence news (without explanation), OFCC offered a few tongue-in-cheek guesses as to what the reasons could have been:

“Did JTO decide to stop publishing gun violence news because they:
A) Finally realized publishing story after story about how criminals with guns were hurting people was actually promoting gun ownership among law-abiding citizens?

B) Realized far more people die as a result of accidents by doctors in hospitals than from accidents with firearms, and needed the space on their website to start publishing “doctor safety” advice?”

C) Lost their big money grants from subversive anti-gun foundations?

The answer came in the final gun control email from “Charlie Rosenberg for Join Together”. In a May 26 email, Rosenberg stated that “late last year, the funding for our gun violence publishing ended”, and said they continued with emails “until a replacement service was available.”

After a plug for the new service, Rosenberg continued:

“Over the eight years that we have worked on this issue, gun homicide deaths have declined significantly. Join Together is proud to have been a part of this important work. We look forward to renewing our focus on alcohol and other drug problems as we continue in our efforts.”

Aside from the humorous claim that this organization, which suffered legislative losses at nearly every turn over the past 8 years, had something to do with the decline in homicide rates, it is striking to note that while they’re proud of their anti-gun work, they’re only willing to keep doing it if they get paid.