Gun Sense Speaker Scheduled in Cathedral City

CATHEDRAL CITY – Democrats of the Desert (DOD), the Coachella Valley’s largest Democratic club, will host Wendy Wheatcroft to discuss gun violence, gun sense, and gun-safety efforts at its April meeting.

Wheatcroft, a gun-violence survivor, is co-lead of the California Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and is running for San Diego City Council.

The free meeting is at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, at Date Palm Country Club, 36200 Date Palm Drive, Cathedral City.  The public is welcome to attend.

“In February we asked our members which issues concern them the most, and gun violence was No. 1,” DOD President Dori Smith, who lives in Palm Desert, said in a prepared statement.  “We used the list of 13 issues that resulted from a Gallup survey conducted in December 2018.”

Each day in America nearly 100 people lose their lives to gun violence and hundreds more are affected.

“California is a leader when it comes to gun violence prevention — we have some of the strongest gun laws in the country,” Smith said. “But there’s still so much work to be done, especially when it comes to addressing gun violence in cities and other communities that are disproportionately impacted by gun violence.”

Wheatcroft will discuss this year’s top legislative priority of the California Chapter of Moms Demand Action, which is to increase funding of the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant-block program from its current level of $9 million to $39 million.  California spends roughly $0.23 per capita annually on CalVIP, while Massachusetts spends about $2 per capita and New York spends about $1 per capita on their gun violence prevention grant programs are similar to CalVIP.

DOD is a community-based political organization, which studies local and national issues and makes recommendations to members and/or other individuals in the community.  On the basis of knowledge, verifiable information, and consensus, the Club seeks to influence decision-making and the electoral process by educating the electorate, and supporting qualified Democrats who wish to run for office.

For more information, send an email to democratsofthedesert@gmail.com.