AIUSA Group 342 meeting
21 May 2025 (hybrid)In attendance: Barbara, Bob, Dorothee, Struan, Marsha
GREETINGS AND CHECK-IN
MEETING SCHEDULE MOVING FORWARD
- Barbara had a recent conversation with Frank about the frequency of our group meetings. They discussed the possibility of moving to monthly meetings (except for July and August), keeping them at 7:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month.
LOBBYING DAY
- Barbara contacted the two PA senators (Fetterman and McCormick) as well as Representative Chrissie Houlahan
GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION (Bob)
- Local level: The Trace is the only news organization that covers gun issues in detail.
- It has local reports on Philly; one of their staff writers, Mensah Dean, was formerly with The Inquirer.
- They maintain the Gun Violence Data Hub as a repository for data that researchers and analysts use.
- State level: CeasefirePA has its annual advocacy day in Harrisburg on April 18. (Bob has been participating in this for over fifteen years.)
- Participants asked lawmakers to sign a "Dear Colleague" e-mail in support of $100m in the budget for gun violence prevention.
- CeasefirePA is working on proposed laws (reintroduced from the last legislative session): ERPO (Extreme Risk Protection Orders), universal background checks, and a ban on ghost guns.
- Participants visited various state representatives/senators. The only one they meet with was Chris Piell. They tried to see Craig Williams and John Lawrence but were only able to speak with their administrative assistants.
- National level
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to uphold the Biden regulation requiring ghost guns to have serial numbers. (There is concern that in response to this the Trump administration will tell the AFT to get rid of this law. Therefore we need state laws on these issues!)
- U.S. Supreme Court will hear challenge to Minnesota law that prohibits concealed carry permits for people under age 18.
- Local police departments sell their old guns when they get new sones
- At least 52,500 former police guns have turned up at crime scenes since 2006
- Agencies that destroy guns lose the trade-in value for the guns and have to pay to have them destroyed
- Bob will team up with Tom Buglio to ask local police departments what they do with their old guns
IMMIGRANTS' STATUS AND RIGHTS
- Barb would like a Group 342 member to report on this issue for each meeting. (This is especially important now with changes in ICE politics and actions, and more arrests and deportations in the news.)
- Struan says he will start this in September.
CASE FILE: DO WE WANT A NEW ONE?
- Itai Dzamara, Zimbabwean journalist and human rights activist, was forcibly disappeared in March 2015, and there has been no news from him since them. The London AI office thinks he is deceased and suggests we get a new case file.
- Dorothee wants to be the point person for this effort. Barb will work with Dorothee to complete the online form to request a new case file.
STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD
- Report issues in April 2025
- Barb reviewed highlights of human rights cases in the USA.
URGENT ACTIONS
GOOD NEWS
- Idris Hasan, Uyghur activist, has been released from a Moroccan prison after 43 months of detention. He has resettled in the USA.
PAUL O'BRIEN, executive director of AIUSA
- Barb recommends the interview he did on the podcast More to Her Story on April 30, 2024 (link
Next Meeting: Wednesday, 18 June, 7:30 p.m. @ United Way in Exton (or via Zoom)
(Several members will be traveling than and unable to attend, so this meeting might be canceled.)
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