Gun Laws: California and the Nation – What Should Be Done?

Nancy Skinner, Member, California State Assembly
Benjamin Van Houten, Managing Attorney, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Sgt. Kelly Dunn, SFPD Special Victims and Psychiatric Liaison Units
John Diaz, Editorial Page Editor, San Francisco Chronicle - Moderator
Additional panelists TBA

Come hear a wide range of views and expert voices tackle one of the most polarizing issues vexing our nation. A spate of recent high-profile massacres, including the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, has sparked a vigorous national conversation about designing new laws - at the state and federal level - that protect all citizens, including the rights of responsible gun owners. More than 30,000 people die in American annually from gun violence, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Our panel will discuss the national issues and California’s role in the dialogue regarding proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, to pass stricter laws to buy and license guns and ammunition, to require gun vendors to do background checks on potential owners, and report sales so law enforcement can track guns and their owners.

Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in; 6 p.m. program
Price: $20 standard, $12 members, free for students (with valid ID)
Also Know: Photo by Flickr user ElCapitanBSC

Recent Acquisitions: Bay Area Museums Collect

Alexis Coe, Museums Blogger, SF Weekly
Susan Goldstein, City Archivist of San Francisco
Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell, Burton and Deedee McMurtry Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford
Julie M. Muñiz, Associate Curator of Crafts and Decorative Arts, Oakland Museum of California
Forrest McGill, Ph.D.; Chief Curator and Wattis Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Asian Art Museum

Join Coe for an exciting discussion about the most important, often wondrous, sometimes bizarre and occasionally downright vexing items that make up a museum’s special collections. She will be joined by a panel of curators from the Asian Art Museum, Stanford’s Cantor Center for the Arts, the Oakland Museum of California and the San Francisco History Center.

MLF: The Arts
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizer: Anne W. Smith

Arts Forum Planning Meeting

Please join other art enthusiasts in discussing future programming at The Commonwealth Club in the fine arts and performing arts. Programs, speakers, topics and artist exhibitions will be covered. Please bring your ideas, and your willingness to help in the production of art events in the coming year.

MLF: The Arts
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. planning meeting
Cost: FREE
Program Organizer: Lynn Curtis

Chinatown Walking Tour #10

Enjoy a Commonwealth Club Neighborhood Adventure. Join Rick Evans for a memorable midday walk and discover the history and mysteries of Chinatown. Explore colorful alleys and side streets. Visit a Taoist temple, an herbal store, the site of the first public school in the state, and the famous Fortune Cookie Factory. There is a short break for a tea sample during the tour.

Location:  Meet at corner of Grant and Bush, in front of Starbucks, near Chinatown Gate
Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–5 p.m. tour
Cost: $45 standard, $35 members
Also know: Temple visit requires walking up three flights of stairs. Limited to 12 people. Participants must pre-register. Tour operates rain or shine. Photo by H Sanchez/Flickr.

Humanities West Book Discussion: Bernini: His Life and His Rome

Join us to discuss Bernini: His Life and His Rome, by Franco Mormando. Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) was the last of the great universal Italian artistic geniuses: sculptor, architect, painter, playwright and scenographer. His artistic vision is still seen in the statues, fountains and buildings that transformed Rome into a Baroque paradise. Mormando leads us through Bernini’s many feuds and love affairs, scandals and sins, set against a vivid backdrop of popes and politicians, schemes and secrets. The discussion will be led by Lynn Harris.

MLF: Humanities
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. program
Cost: $5 standard, MEMBERS FREE
Program Organizer: George Hammond