Union Tribune Man 94 Takes to Sky Again
Charles and Mary Leigh Blek of Trabuco Canyon have a nice photo. You may have seen it in The Times final calendar week, the Bleks grin as they stood next to a paper-thin cutout of Rep. Mimi Walters in Irvine.
Walters was a no-show at a "town hall" attended by hundreds who wanted to talk to her. Many of them were in a fever nigh support by Walters and other Republicans for the repeal of
These pitchfork rallies accept been happening all over the country, with ticked-off voters speaking up about clearing and environmental policy too. On healthcare, Trump recently took bows for a one-half-baked Business firm bill that bulldozed some of his ofttimes-repeated promises about better and cheaper healthcare for all.
And Democrats — who happen to be having their own nationally televised identity crisis — see that every bit an opportunity to bounciness Republicans in next yr'south midterm elections.
These Reagan Republicans feel left behind
But it turns out the Bleks, who were wearing
They're moderates, and their party of choice is currently led by a grenade launcher whose army of supporters felt forgotten, so they enlisted with the first guy who told them what they wanted to hear.
I similar revolution as much as the side by side guy, but we're learning now that knowledge, maturity and a plan are of import qualities in a leader. And information technology seems to me that any the political party, there ought to be room in the tent for those who aren't trying to set it on fire.
Ronald Reagan probably wouldn't stand a take a chance in a presidential primary today, said Mr. Blek, because he was too moderate. Mrs. Blek said she has non left the GOP but feels as if it has left her.
"I believe there are a lot of Republicans who feel as I do, that we need to protect public safety and be answerable and responsible." But public safe will always exist at risk, she said, "as long as the gun vestibule is calling the shots and Republicans are drinking the Kool-Aid."
The Bleks accept stiff opinions on the healthcare beak that was kicked over to the Senate — a bill that analysts say would leave millions uninsured, slap older Americans with higher costs and make it harder for those with preexisting atmospheric condition to become coverage.
"You don't throw out the baby with the bathroom water," said Mrs. Blek, who felt the flaws in Obamacare could have been fixed.
She's a former schoolhouse nurse who now runs the Laguna Hills office where Mr. Blek is an estate planning lawyer.
"Inside my practice we talk to a lot of parents and grandparents who are extremely concerned about keeping the preexisting condition clause … and insurance for those 26 and under," Mr. Blek said. "A number of them take said that, but for Covered California, they would have no coverage at all."
It was non Trump, all the same, or healthcare, that drew the Bleks to the town hall meeting in Irvine. Information technology was the issue of gun policy, which is why they wore those T-shirts. James Brady, Reagan'south press guy, became a gun command champion after being shot in 1981 in the assassination attempt on the president.
"Our son was shot in 1994 by 3 15-year-olds," said Mrs. Blek, speaking with traces, still, of atheism as well as resolve.
Fighting for their son
Matthew Blek had been a high school wrestler who played guitar and violin. He studied math and physics at Fresno Country and traveled to New York the summer earlier his senior twelvemonth. He was walking back from a date when he was shot and killed in an credible robbery by teens who had killed a 37-yr-former man 90 minutes before.
The gun was a cheap weapon known as a Saturday nighttime special, Mr. Blek said. At the time, Mr. Blek would learn, 80% of the Sat night specials produced in the United States were fabricated in a 50-mile radius of their Orangish County home.
Mrs. Blek wrote a letter of the alphabet to the incarcerated teen who killed her son and asked where he got the gun. She said he wrote dorsum, saying they were available by the truckload.
The Bleks became activists. Mrs. Blek started the Orangish County Citizens for the Prevention of Gun Violence, and she and her married man have lobbied for strict gun laws ever since. Mrs. Blek'due south electric current focus is speakforsafety.org, a campaign to offer family members and others a civil court procedure for a temporary restraining gild, and so that someone in crisis is unauthorized to possess or buy guns or ammo.
As members of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Bleks went to the "town hall" in Orange County to speak up nigh Rep. Walters' co-sponsorship of House bill H.R. 38, which would allow gun owners to deport concealed weapons in whatever land. Mr. Blek explained that if you get a gun in a state that has lax or nonexistent groundwork checks, preparation requirements and standards for issuance, y'all can comport that gun into a state with stricter regulations, such as California.
Getting that legislation passed is a major goal of the
If the Bleks are discouraged past such developments, or by the difficulty of enacting assault weapons bans, or past the likes of radio barker Alex Jones — the Trump buddy who promoted a theory that the
In xx years of strict gun command policy in California, Mr. Blek said, "our gun mortality rate has decreased 57%, which is 27% greater than the national average."
We are not by nature more vehement than people in other countries, Mrs. Blek said. "We merely take easier access to firearms," and the result is a public rubber epidemic.
In 2014, 33,700 people in the U.S. died of gunshot wounds and 81,000 were treated for nonfatal gunshot wounds. It costs at least $730 million a year to pay for the intendance of victims, co-ordinate to a study by the American Journal of Public Health, and taxpayers covered 41% of the tab in the cases of uninsured patients and those on
'It was a badge of honor'
Mrs. Blek said she was a soft-spoken, shy woman of 48 when her son was killed, but she found her vocalization. After 23 years of speaking upward, she is non washed honoring his memory or trying to protect others.
"I remember very vividly being called an activist, and I thought that was a dingy discussion at get-go," she said. "Then I learned it was a badge of honor."
Become more of Steve Lopez'south work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez
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UPDATES:
May 17, 2017, 4:45 p.m: An earlier version of this story had several paragraphs out of order.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-blek-republicans-05172017-htmlstory.html
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