PAX Centurion - January / February 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • January/February 2013 • Page 15 President Nee helps lead panel on gun violence O n Thursday, December 20, BPPA President Thomas Nee helped lead a panel of distinguished law enforcement professionals at aWhite House meeting convened by President Barack Obama and chaired byVice President Joe Biden. Attorney General Eric Holder also helped lead the meeting. The immediate impetus for the meeting was the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut the week before. But even prior to this most recent incident, the BPPA and NAPO have been recognized as two of the nation’s leaders in the comprehensive effort to make both officers’ and citizens’ lives andWhite House staff regarding response to, and prevention of, these incidents. As President Nee emphasized at the White House meeting, NAPO and the BPPA urges four related and coordinated public policy responses: 1. Keeping weapons out of the wrong hands. 2. Changing the culture of violence so prevalent inAmerican media, entertainment and society today. 3. Providing much easier, and less stigmatizing, access to mental health care, and, 4. Hardening potential targets of mass violence, including age- appropriate education for students and all citizens, young and old, on how to respond when the unthinkable happens. The BPPA and NAPO urges all people of good will to come together to address these critical issues, for the sake of our communities, our nation, and especially our young people. (Reprinted from the Washington Report, NAPO, December 28, 2012.) BPPAPresidentThomas Nee (center) alongwithAttorneyGeneral EricHolder (left) andVice President Joe Biden (right) help lead a panel of distinguished law enforcement officials at theWhiteHouse to discuss the rising trouble of gun violence following the shootings at the SandyHookElementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. safer. For example, when the administration first spoke about the terribleAurora, Colorado theater shooting last July, it was Vice President Biden who chose the annual NAPO convention to address the issue. Prior to theWhite House Summit, NAPO Executive Director Bill Johnson held discussions with bothVice Presidential