Gun Violence Awareness Day + New ProQuest Congressional Social Media Feature

A number of organizations have declared June 2 National Gun Violence Awareness Day, encouraging supporters to wear orange to symbolize the value of human life.

Media Matters (a partner in the campaign) reports on the National Rifle Association's reaction to the campaign:

The NRA's online magazine, America's 1st Freedom, lashed out at the campaign, calling it pointless in a May 30 post. On June 2, it encouraged readers to mark the day by buying a gun, saying, "If you see any friends or neighbors wearing orange, consider the possibility that they: a) don't support your right to self-defense; and b) have a rather naïve view of what constitutes real activism."

The ABA's Governmental Affairs office announced in this month's ABA Journal ABA joins medical organizations in advocating steps to curb gun violence. That position paper (joined by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of
Emergency Physicians, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeons, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Public Health Association) was released Feb. 27.  Also in February, the ABA's Standing Committee on Gun Violence issued Gun Violence Laws and the Second Amendment: A Report of the American Bar Association.

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Here's a research tip that you can use for any national topic in the news. ProQuest Congressional—a licensed online service you can use to locate hearings, reports, bills, and other federal legislative history materials—recently added the ability to search government social media.

Choose the Search Type "Political News and Social Media."

ProQuest Congressional Search Types menu

Then you'll see a search form to fill out. I tried searching for "gun violence awareness" since May 25, 2015, in any government social media.

ProQuest Congressional social media search template

I found 21 items: one blog post, and a number of Facebook status updates and tweets on Twitter.

Search results

Noticing that a number of the entries used the hashtag #WearingOrange, I tried another search with that and found 25 records. Most were duplicates, but there were a few I hadn't seen before.

I also tried searching for "NRA" in the last six months, to see a different sampling of congressional opinion. For example Sen. Johnny Isaacson (R-Ga.) posted on Facebook in March:

As an NRA "A" rated senator and staunch defender of the Second Amendment, I’m glad to see Obama's proposed ammunition ban withdrawn. But that doesn’t mean this administration won’t find more ways to undermine our right to bear arms. Join me in the fight to protect our Second Amendment —> http://johnnyisakson.com/support-the-2nd-amendment/

This is a convenient way to tap into congressional messaging (assuming you aren't already Facebook friends with all 535 members of the House and the Senate—and maybe even if you are!).

You can get to ProQuest Congressional from the law library's homepage or from the University Libraries' list of Articles & Research Databases.