A movement that aims to provide firearms to homeless people is gathering force in the US. Activists from the Phoenix Arizona branch of the organization distribue free, legal firearms, and run training workshops on firearm safety. The handouts - technically a series of transfers between private citizens - are completely legal under Arizona's loose gun laws (Arm the Homeless requires all firearm recipients to sign a form stating they are not convicted felons).
Pete Whippit, 33, a Marine Recon combat veteran and the founder of Arm the Homeless, is a passionate supporter of the second amendment. “I wanted to make a statement to really let people know that the Second Amendment is not just for rich people in this country,” he said. “Homeless people live in the most dangerous areas of America, and they need sidearms and shotguns the most. They have to be able to protect themselves, and they have no means to do it.”
Whippit says Arm the Homeless accumulated its stockpile of weapons through numerous, scattered purchases at Valley area "cash and carry" gun shows, where private, small volume dealers are not required to register sales, and handgun buyers can avoid the background checks mandated by the 1993 Brady Bill.
Arm the Homeless spent more than $25,000 on the guns, not including the SKS, Mac-10 and three Tec-9s, which ATH members donated from private collections.
Arm the Homeless, which is a 501c4 tax-exempt organization, has also received more than $10,000 in direct cash donations from Second Amendment fanatics--much of that generated through the group's Web site: www.armthehomless.com.
"All the weapons we're giving away are used weapons, but they're good used weapons," said Honey Hawk, the gun group's "minister of information". The giveaways are promoted solely though word of mouth, on a "classified, need-to-know basis." "There's not a Saturday Night Special in the lot."
Arm the Homeless could have provided each gun recipient with more than one box of ammo, she said, but "we didn't want them selling bullets for booze."
Also, Hawk said, two days before the giveaway, Arm the Homeless mailed a letter to every address listed under "Pawnbrokers" in the yellow pages. The communique informed pawn shop owners of the group's action, and asked them not to purchase any weapons from homeless people.
"We thought this thing through," Hawk said. "We didn't just come down here and start handing out guns. This is not some haphazard distribution of dangerous weaponry. This is a well-organized political and social service action."
Posted by Fionnaigh at April 1, 2005 11:22 AM | TrackBack