Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Number Two Fantasy of Gun-Rights Extremists


Everyone knows number 1.

Doesn't it seem that our gun-loving friends live in a fantasy world. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Straw Purchasing Made Easy in PA

Lehigh Valley Live has the report.

Basically the story is this. A prohibited person got his girlfriend to buy a gun for him. He ended up killing a cop with it and got killed himself. The girlfriend plea bargained her sentence down to house arrest and probation.

Is that fair or not? The little poll they have indicates that 76% say she deserves jail time.

Here's the part that interested me.

According to prosecutors, Gross initially tried to purchase a gun in New Jersey, where she lived, and was told she’d have to wait six months; she then changed her address to Autenrieth’s and bought a gun in Pennsylvania that day.
Do you think maybe there's a little bit of a problem with the Pennsylvania laws that make straw purchasing so easy? I do.

Please leave a comment.

The Gun-Rights Winning Attitude




A state senator from the North Side — and husband of a newly elected Chicago alderman — called on a Downstate gun-rights group to apologize for using a gold Star of David, like the ones Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany, in an effort to compare the plight of gun-owners to that of victims of the Holocaust.

State Sen. Ira Silverstein on Thursday criticized the group, Guns Save Life, for publishing an article comparing the treatment of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust with that of Illinois gun owners battling to keep their names private in an open-records dispute involving Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the Illinois State Police.
I wish these guys would make up their damn minds. Are they winning or losing, are they victors or victims?

The response of the pro-gun guys:
John Boch, president of the gun-rights group that has erected pro-gun signs along Downstate interstates, was unrepentant about the reference made on the front page of his group’s newspaper.

“That image on the front of GunNews says a whole lot. The FOID card information that could be made public is identifying Illinois gun owners. It’s the first step toward what happened in Germany in the 1930s,” he said.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

NY Cops Shoot Man With Toy Gun


I think I'm starting to get it. It's OK for us to allow our young children to play with guns, but when they get a little older they should stop. Is that about it?

Investigators say they've recovered a fake pistol from the scene of a police-involved shooting in the Bronx early Friday morning.The New York City Police Department says the incident began at around 3 a.m. when officers went to check out a fight near the intersection of Grant Highway and Jerome Avenue in Highbridge.

Upon their arrival, officers saw a man pointing what appeared to be a 9-millimeter hand gun at a crowd of people outside the Cocoa House club.

Police say the man, identified as Mamadou Balde, 21, was shot when he refused to drop the weapon.

He was hit three times. The gun was later found to be a fake.
Here's a question. Does anyone really believe the cops told him to put the gun down? Wouldn't pointing a gun at a crowd of people be enough reason to shoot him without first giving him the chance to change his mind? Wouldn't time be of the essence in a case like that?

I think they blew his ass away, or at least tried to, at the first possible moment. Then, being so adept at covering up their wrong actions with lies, they added that part about his refusing to put the gun down. Don't forget, in other cases it's "reaching into the waistband" or "raising the gun" that is the determining factor in lethal threat. What, in this case he was pointing the gun at people and they tried to negotiate with him?

Here's the only hope I see, since no one wants to ban toy guns and the trigger-happy cops are inveterate. In another year or so they'll come out with a new technology. It'll look like the night-vision goggles but be equipped with that Terminator-type computer scanner. This equipment will tell the cops if they're dealing with a toy gun or a real one. Then there will be no more excuses.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

College Students Against Guns on Campus




At Texas, There are politicians that want guns on campus.
Put a bullet into our pockets and call us safe.
What do you think?
In a world, where school shootings stem up from empty-barrel gardens, should we water the pot with gasoline and gun-powder?
Wrap the second amendment around our textbooks and call us bulletproof.
What’s the point in putting a finger in front of every trigger when you can’t even handle one loose cannon? Virginia Tech still closes their eyes Every time they hear a boom.
Do you really want to find out if we bleed orange?
Might as well paint a bulls-eye over the Tower so you know what we’re aiming at.
I’d rather prevent fear then invent more ways to feel it.
With all these budget cuts, what are you going to do when someone loses it and their license to kill has the University seal stamped on top of it?
Tombstones are not cheap If we can’t cheat on tests, how do you expect us to cheat death when the state of Texas is telling us to put our guns up.
This is not Texas tech.
There is a fundamental difference between promoting safety and stopping the violence.
When the sixth floor of the Perry-Castaneda Library 21-gun saluted Colton Tooley back into his mother’s arms, did you feel the bullet get a piece of you too?
Do you really want our campus turned into a dead-zone, where students shape shift into Zombies and stale skeletons shoot up every time a gun goes off?
My god, how high caliber of a campus do you want?
This isn’t about civil rights, it’s about placing constitutional liberties into the hands of students who haven’t even taken their first government class yet.
How do you expect to protect the student body when our bodies are at stake?
One slip of the trigger is all it takes to break fifty-thousand hearts.
My biggest fear is losing my best friend to a State-Approved bullet.
What would you do if it was you who had to break the news to a mother or a father that when they speak of their child from now on it will have to be in the past tense?
If this bill is passed you are a-okaying the past to re-create itself
1966 still sticks to our history books like a bloody thumbprint we don’t want credit for.
Since when did we become so full of fear and build guard rails around our bodies?
Sometimes you have to believe in people blindly there is still good inside of our guts, but we sacrifice all of our grace when we replace our faith with firearms.
What starts here changes the world, but you can’t see the world clearly when you are looking through a crosshair.
When you cross-pollinate fear and panic with a thumbs-up trigger you give the go-ahead to those who resolve their conflict with more chaos.
Wait.
Since when is a solution the same thing as a contradiction?
It’s contradictive, a conflict of interest not with our best interests at heart.
The only problem need fixing is finding those people who have run out of reasons to resolve their problems peacefully and peacefully point them in the right direction.
Until then, may you Rest in Peace, to my peaceful state of mind.
To the 82nd legislator, the bulls-eyes of Texas is upon you.

Gun-Rights Movement Not Winning

via the CSGV

Something wonderful is happening down south.

Following the November 2010 elections, in which the Republican Party took control of state legislatures and governorships across the country, the National Rifle Association (NRA) was convinced it had an opportunity to enact the most extreme elements of its agenda. What better time to force colleges and universities to allow loaded guns on campus? The media agreed. After four years of failure following the Virginia Tech tragedy, this time it was a done deal, they said. The first two dominoes, we were told, would be Arizona and Texas.

They didn't reckon with the determined opposition of students, faculty and law enforcement in the two states, however, and the conventional wisdom has now gone out the window. A watered-down version of the Arizona guns on campus bill was recently vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer and a Texas Senator now finds himself lacking the votes to move the legislation forward in the Lone Star State.
What's your opinion? Is this the beginning of the end for the blustering, bullying gun-rights movement? We'll see.

Please leave a comment.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Another Brutal Gun Murder in Florida

Seth Tyler Jackson,
photo from CBS News /
48 hours mystery

Six arrested in brutal murder of Fla. boy

Six people, including a 15-year-old girl and three other teens, were arrested Tuesday in the murder of 15-year-old Florida boy Seath Tyler Jackson, who was lured to his murder and whose remains were hidden in paint cans, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Detectives said Seath was attacked and shot Sunday after being lured to a home in Summerfield, about 60 miles north of Orlando, reports CBS affiliate WKMG.
 
Those arrested are: Michael Bargo, 18, who is charged with first-degree murder; Charlie Kay Ely, 18, of Summerfield, who is charged with first-degree murder. Amber E. Wright, 15, who is charged with first-degree murder; Justin Soto, 20, of Summerfield, who is charged with first-degree murder; James Havens III, 37, of Summerfield, who is charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder; Kyle Hooper, 16, of Summerfield, who is charged with first-degree murder.
 
Deputies said Hooper, Wright, Ely, Soto and Bargo were involved in the planning and luring of Seath to the home. On Tuesday, a woman told deputies her 16-year-old son had witnessed Seath's slaying in a house in Summerfield, near Ocala. 
 
Authorities said the 16-year-old, who is not being identified because of his age, told investigators the group plotted the slaying because Bargo hated Seath. Authorities say Jackson was lured to the house by a text message. According to deputies, Jackson was hit in the head with a wooden object by Ely and Bargo, then shot multiple times by Bargo.
 
When Seath tried to escape, Soto held him down while Bargo continued to shoot him, authorities said. Then, according to the report, Bargo broke the teen's knees and group members hog-tied him and put his body in a sleeping bag, which was placed in a fire pit in the back yard and burned.
At that point, the sheriff's office said, the group used bleach to clean the house and shoveled Jackson's remains into 5-gallon paint cans. Investigators are still searching for a .22-caliber revolver used in the slaying. The Sheriff's Office said a dive team found three 5-gallon paint buckets Wednesday afternoon in a lime rock pit. The contents of the cans are being tested to determine if they contain Jackson's remains.
Maybe I simply lack imaginatin (I doubt it) but I see nothing godly, god loving, or god given in guns, which are used like this, or in any other way.  A right, perhaps, but only a limited right.  Leave God out of it.

Pastor Terry Back in the News



You know what I was thinking, maybe Ann Barnhardt will try this next.

"Yeah, I always, always have the safety on."

Banksters - The Real Gangsters

And guess who's in bed with them - EVERYBODY. No wonder the gun control issue can't get the traction it deserves, this is what's really going on.

And We in Minnesota Live in One of the Safer States......

Girl Accidentally Shot by Father Remains in Critical Condition

Doctors are keeping a close eye on an 11-year-old girl in critical condition Friday morning after she was accidentally shot in the head when her father's gun went off.
Pine County Sheriff Robin Cole says the incident happened in Braham around 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
According to Cole, Jesse Montanye was doing target practice with a .22 caliber pistol outside his home when the gun jammed.
Montanye brought the gun inside the house and was trying to fix it when it went off, shooting his daughter, Maddy, in the head from across the room. Montanye had been in the living room; his daughter seated at the kitchen table.
The girl was conscious when sheriff's deputies arrived, but her condition worsened and she was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center.
The girl's grandmother tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reporter Robert Moses that she is currently in a medically induced coma.
Cole says other family members were present at the time of the incident.

THIS is not a 'god given right'.  This is a wrong.

Agreeing With Wayne La Pierre


The chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association said in a talk here today he worries about the future of gun rights if President Obama is re elected and makes more nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I believe that the Second Amendment hangs by one vote, and this 2012 election could break the back of it one way or the other," said Wayne LaPierre, the association's CEO and executive vice president, in a packed room at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.
Isn't it funny that a natural human right, god-given to man as his inalienable inheritance, can hang by one vote "and this 2012 election could break the back of it one way or the other?"

I agree about the "hanging by one vote," but that would mean that the "inalienable, god-given and natural human" part is bullshit. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Responding to a Perceived Threat

 NECN.com reports

"Overreacting to a perceived threat can be just as costly as not reacting to a real threat."



I think this issue has implications for individual gun owners. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Debate over the Arizona State Gun



The Arizona House of Representatives has narrowly voted to make the Colt Single Action Army Revolver the official gun of the Grand Canyon State.

If approved and sent to Gov. Jan Brewer, the legislation would make Arizona the second state with an official firearm. Last month, Utah designated the Browning M1911 semiautomatic pistol as its state gun.

The Colt evoked sentiment among some lawmakers in Phoenix.

“Anytime you see a Western movie, the revolver in John Wayne’s hand is a Colt single action: This is an historic firearm and it fits well with the story of Arizona,” Republican State Sen. Ron Gould told Reuters.

But Democratic State Sen. Albert Hale, a former president of the Navajo Nation, said that “the gun symbolized the extinction, the extermination of those Indians who were there.”
I suppose if the reason people like this idea is the historical role the gun played then it's fair to object to it for the same reason. I was thinking about the terrible legacy the role of guns in American history has left with us. Rather than the sins against the Native Americans of 150 years ago, I was thinking more of the sins against our own kids.

What's your opinion? Will this kooky idea fly, even though the gov has been in a vetoing mood lately.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Luckiest Guy in the World

(JILL TOYOSHIBA/Kansas City Star)


Justin Ray Heller (right) smiled for the media after surrendering to police in Kansas City. Heller is suspected in a spree that started in Cameron and featured two car chases, a foot pursuit, a trooper’s stolen gun and a standoff.
The Kansas City Star has the full story and a video.

Kennebunk Maine Police Shooting

The Portland Press Herald reports.

The Maine Attorney General's Office was called to Kennebunk after the shooting, which occurred about 9 p.m. Sunday.

Police say Officers Joshua Morneau and Sgt. Juliet Gilmansay were responding to a complaint of a disturbance at 16 Nottingham Court where 39-year-old Katherine Paulson confronted them "with deadly force."

She was then shot and killed by Officer Joshua Morneau.
Let's flesh that out a little bit, shall we. Do you think cops in Maine are learning something from their trigger-happy colleagues in the rest of the country? Instead of "we thought she had a gun but it turned out to be a cell phone," or "she had a knife and started to lunge," or any one of the common variations thereof, these guys say simply she acted "with deadly force."

I'm sure the AG will want to know exactly what that means. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The Columbine High School Shooting Anniversary

Yesterday, April 20, 2011, there was a pipe bomb found not far from Columbine High School, scene of this shooting.  It is currently presumed to be a current case of domestic terrorism. I found it interesting that a pipe bomb was part of the Columbine massacre as well.

I think it is fair to characterize the two shooters in the Columbine shooting as gun nuts.  Which is NOT to say that all gun nuts are like this; they are not.   In case any of you are wondering, the Virginia Tech massacre took place within a few days of the anniversary of Columbine, on April 16th, 2007.


April 20, 1999.









What is Gun Control?

 This is part of a little discussion over at Common Gunsense.
Bryan Strawser said...
So a shooting in California and a shooting in Illinois, two states where we have some of the "tougher" gun control laws in the country. What does this say about the effectiveness of gun control? Bryan

my response:

Bryan says what he's heard other pro-gun folks say. Chicago has tough gun control laws and lots of gun crime.  That proves gun control doesn't work.

That is the most unthinking argument you guys have.  But, you keep repeating it and repeating it.

Here's the thing. We DON'T have gun control in the US, period. We do have lots of gun laws, but they are so uninforceable and easily circumvented that the end result is NO GUN CONTROL, or very little anyway.

Use a tiny bit of common sense. On the federal level let's say we have the following rules 1. all gun owners must be licensed. 2. every gun must be registered to a licenced owner. 3. no transfers of guns without a background check. 4. safe storage standards will be enforced. 5. any violation, any accident or negligent discharge results in permanent loss of gun rights.

That would be gun control. And that would work.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Guns are Bad News for Women - and Their Secret Lovers

Nothing unusual about this story. In Kentucky that's just the way things go.

A man shot his purported girlfriend and a man with her after finding them in an SUV parked in a wooded area in Knox County, state police said.

Police were searching for the alleged assailant, James Bargo, 57, of Knox County, on Tuesday.

Police identified the victims as Harold Croley, 60, of Corbin, and Charity Carter, 30, of Woodbine.

Both were taken by helicopter to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital with life-threatening injuries, said Trooper Walt Meachum, spokesman for the state police post that covers Knox County.

Meachum said Bargo found Carter and Croley in a Chevrolet S-10 Blazer parked off a cemetery road in the Woodbine community, shot Carter and Croley each multiple times and fled.
What's your opinion? Do you think there just might be too many domestic abusers with guns?

Please leave a comment.

Mr. G Guy on Debbie Wasserman

Our friend the Mr. G Guy is up to his old conservative tricks again.

Conniving witch, Debbie Wasserman Schultz seems to think we don’t already have enough gun control laws on the books. Licensed gun dealers are already required to do a background check before selling a gun to a prospective buyer.
Under current law, licensed gun dealers are required to do background checks to ensure that prospective buyers are legally eligible to own firearms. Felons, illegal immigrants and the severely mentally ill, for instance, are barred from owning guns. Licensed dealers must perform these screenings in all venues – including gun shows – but unlicensed dealers are under no obligation to follow them anywhere. Critics of the policy discrepancy call it the “gun-show loophole.
There’s a discrepancy in this statement. You cannot sell guns at a gun show unless you have a license to do so. And some states already prohibit private sales of hand guns without a licensed intermediary.
As far as I’m concerned, the Second Amendment is my gun permit.
Now, calling the lady a "witch" seems a bit over the top. Is that basically because she's a Democrat or a Liberal and sees things differently? Is it simply because she thinks the current plethora of gun control laws are ineffectual and easily circumvented?

What do you think he means by, "You cannot sell guns at a gun show unless you have a license to do so?" That doesn't seem consistent with the gun shows we often talk about. And isn't it true that although some states do prohibit private sales of guns without a background check, most don't?  Isn't that a misleading statement which adds nothing to the discussion of what Ms. Wasserman is calling for?

And finally, what do you make of that last remark about the 2nd Amendment?  Wouldn't someone who really believes that end up in jail? Does the 2nd Amendment permit people to do whatever they want with guns? That's what some extremists say.  "Shall not be infringed," means exactly that, no restrictions.  Do you think that's what Mr. G Guy means, or is it just the usual bluff and bluster we've come to expect from our pro-gun right-wing conservative friends?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Guns are Bad News for Women - With a Twist

Mercury news reports on a different version of the famous old scene.

A man is in surgery and a woman is in custody after she shot him and then surrendered at a West Oakland church, police said. 

The names of the victim and the suspect were not released. 

The man was undergoing surgery late Tuesday after being shot three times, police said. Police said he is expected to live. 

The shooting happened about 7 p.m. in the parking lot of a convenience store at 889 Grand Ave. in West Oakland. A short time after the shooting, which drew a crowd large enough that extra officers were called for crowd control, the woman surrendered at a Athens Street church, police said. 

The motive in the shooting was a domestic dispute, police said. The woman was reportedly heard yelling at the man about alleged physical abuse before the shooting.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Still Winning

Gunloons took great offense that I sagely suggested they hadn't "won" squat since the Heller and McDonald decisions.

Typical comments demanded that I show where gun control advocates "won" something or another.  My reply was easy--if you claim something, it's really up to you to make your case, not me.

Though I'm always right (it's a gift), it's not difficult to show guloons haven't "won" anything. From the American Bar Association:
Proponents hailed Heller and McDonald as setbacks for gun control advocates. They predicted a shift in gun policy throughout the country.
But so far it hasn’t happened that way. While there have been challenges throughout the country to local, state and federal gun laws, few have been successful.
In fact, critics of the decisions say the cases have failed to provide a concrete framework to help lower courts determine the constitutionality of challenged gun control laws.
“It’s a huge change in our understanding of the amendment, but not necessarily a huge change in what kinds of gun control laws are constitutional,” says Duke University assistant law professor Joseph Blocher.

JadeGold "Splains All

Via Daisy's Dead Air:
Houston Police Dept probing how kindergartner brought gun to school
Five-year-old Jarneshia Broussard was eating her lunch, a hot dog and beans, with her kindergarten class Tuesday when she heard a loud "pop" in the Ross Elementary School cafeteria.

The little girl at first thought a light blew out. Then she recognized the sound.

"I knew it was a gun because a gun goes 'pow,' " she said. "I got really scared."

A loaded pistol had dropped from the pants pocket of a 6-year-old male classmate and discharged, slightly injuring him and two other pupils in the legs or feet, officials said.
Really?  The Houston PD is "probing" how this happened? 

Let ol' Jade tell you how this happened.  It happened 'cause gunloon parents with the mental capacity of commercially-raised poultry had their NRA, God-given guns lying around the house.

Please send $5000 consulting fee to jadegold2000@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Jack Nicholson - You Can't Handle the Truth


Close the Private Sale Loophole


Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), who was recently selected to head the Democratic National Committee, wants to close this glaring loophole in the gun laws. She is introducing a bill which would require a background check on all gun sales, whether commercial or private. Private gun sellers would have to go to a licensed gun dealer or a law enforcement office and get a background check done before selling any gun to anyone.

This law would not restrict the right of any citizen to lawfully own a firearm, but I'm sure it will probably be opposed by the NRA (since they oppose all gun laws and regulations, whether they would infringe on gun owner's rights or not). But recent polls have shown that most Americans, including most gun owners, would approve of this kind of law. I hope it is able to get past the Republican obstructionists in the House of Representatives.
You know what I say? Let's not stop there. That's only half-way to where we need to be. In addition to background checks on every single gun transfer, no exceptions, we need to license all gun owners and register all guns.

That would be proper gun control. What's your opinion?

Please leave a comment.

Stolen Guns in Iowa


Thieves are grabbing guns during daytime burglaries in southern Iowa, authorities said.

Union County Sheriff Rick Piel said Monday that homes in his county had been hit. Deputies in Ringgold and Clarke counties are also looking into a string of gun thefts during the past few weeks.

Authorities said more than 50 guns have been stolen. The thieves are apparently taking only guns.
How about if we do it like this? The idea that only the thief is responsible is out. We recognize that in certain circumstances, the gun owner can be guilty of making the theft too easy. In those cases, the negligent gun owner pays a stiff fine, forfeits the rest of his guns and loses his right to own them in the future.

How's that sound.

Please leave a comment.

Jon Stewart on the 2012 Republican Candidates

Oklahoma City Shooting - 1 Dead, 3 Wounded

News OK has the report. We know someone from Oklahoma City, don't we? I wonder if he's ever had any guns stolen or contributed to the gun flow in any other way?

Kalamazoo Cop Shot and Killed - Suspect Commits Suicide



This guy is another disturbed young gun owner. It matters not one single bit if he was already a convicted felon and disqualified from owning the gun or if he'd had a concealed carry permit. The gun is what ties them all together. The gun started out legally owned either by him or someone else from whom he got it. Our efforts need to be aimed at the last lawful owner of these guns used in crime. Only that way can we hope to improve the situation.

But, as long as the gun-rights extremists insist on shirking their responsibility in this vicious cycle, it'll continue unabated.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Daddy's DGU

New Mexico:

HOBBS, N.M. (KRQE) - A Hobbs father accused of threatening his young sons with a firearm turned himself in to police Tuesday morning.

Randolph Breckon, 44, was arrested on two counts of felony child abuse and held under a $20,000 bond.

On Friday school officials notified police that Breckon's 8- and 12-sons has said a parent threatened them with a gun at home.

NRA's New Spokesman



Say...isn't Jonathan Sullivan a teabagger?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

What Do Gun Owners Fear?

Robert Farago came up with a very thought-provoking question for his readers.
"What’s Your Greatest Gun-Related Fear?"

Several of the guys said it's having to use their gun, or having to shoot someone. I like that.

The one's that I most enjoyed, though, were the several who recounted detailed dreams or nightmares. I found it fascinating. Here's my comment.

Don’t you see how bad guns are for you guys? See how many of you have actual nightmares about them. Your paranoia, which prompted you to get guns in the first place, has seeped into your subconscious. Even if you never have a gun stolen or a negligent discharge, or god-forbid, have to kill someone, you’ve diminished the quality of your lives. I don’t envy you.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Donald Trump Defending the Birther Movement




"People. love. this. issue, especially in the Republican party." Yeah, especially if they're racist Obama-haters.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Ayn Rand - Heartless, Fanatic Philosopher Behind Today's Republican Party


Seattle Castle Doctrine at the Workplace

Link provided by one of our anonymous commenters who, I suppose, is saying it's OK to kill burglars regardless of the level threat.



What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

NRA on the Brady Campaign's Ad


The group’s new ad shows a young male shooter on a range, shooting a pistol at silhouette targets first depicting a young girl, then a series of other innocent citizens.

The imagery is meant to support the Brady assertion that, “large capacity ammunition magazines are designed to enable shooting mass numbers of people quickly and efficiently without reloading.” But in truth, the ad insults not just the intelligence of viewers, but also the good name of the millions of honest Americans who own such firearms and magazines. 

I'm not sure what they mean by, "they promote it with a despicable twist."

What's despicable about pointing out the fact that mass shooters like Loughner target innocent people? Isn't that the problem? Why would the NRA want to cover that up? What's "tasteless" about facing the hard facts and looking the truth right in the eye?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Rick Ector - Champion of Gun Rights Awareness


This is the guy GoTimothy was talking about.

A gun rights group says it's planning an "open carry" dinner at a Detroit restaurant, with dozens of people expected to wear holstered weapons in plain sight.

Event organizer Rick Ector is a firearms instructor and runs the blog "Legally Armed In Detroit."

The event is being held at a new location and different date after an owner of the restaurant originally planning to host it had second thoughts because of the publicity.

Ector says the event will be Monday evening at the BluePointe Restaurant on Detroit's east side.

Ector says he's seeking to raise awareness of people's legal right in Michigan to carry a licensed weapon in the open.
What's your opinion? Isn't it kind of immature for a bunch of grown men to insist on doing something just because they CAN? Is there any redeeming value to the open carry movement at all? Doesn't it say something that even some gun-rights folks are opposed to this and feel it does more harm than good to their goals?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

South Carolina Lawful Gun Owner Shoots and Kills One and Wounds Another

GoUpstate.c reports
Investigators with the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office who are looking into the Saturday shooting death of a woman and wounding of another man in Woodruff believe the incident was the result of an argument between acquaintances that suddenly took a violent turn.

In gun friendly South Carolina that's just the way things go.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

GA Man Shoots Stepson


The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. at a home in the 2500 block of Amelia Drive near Decatur, according to a news release from DeKalb police.

Police said the 47-year-old victim, whose name has not been released, got into a verbal and physical altercation with his mother, and the man's stepfather intervened, producing a handgun and shooting his stepson in the chest.

The stepson was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Charges are pending against the 58-year-old stepfather, whose name has also not been released.
I admit it's hard to tell from those scant details if the shooting could have been justified, unless you think of it like this. A fight between son and mother gets violent. The disrespectful son starts pushing the mother around, maybe calls her names, perhaps even hits her. Stepdad comes into the action blasting away.

I'd use the same criterion as for any supposed DGU. Was there lethal threat or not. In this case I doubt it, as I suppose the local authorities do. But I'm sure that won't stop some of our pro-gun apologists from coming to the man's defense.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

A new report issued by the CSGV has some interesting suggestions to stop the gun flow.

The following are examples of procedures that have been successful in deterring straw purchases and “off the books” sales by FFLs:

• All firearms sales are videotaped and these videos are maintained for an extended period of time.
• A computerized log of crime gun traces relating to the retailer is maintained in-house. When a customer who has a prior trace at that retailer attempts to purchase a firearm, the sale is electronically flagged. The dealer has the discretion to stop the sale.
• The dealer posts clearly visible signage to alert customers of their legal responsibilities at the point of sale.
• Customers are prohibited from making in-store calls on their cell phones.
• The dealer requires criminal background checks for all employees that sell or handle firearms in the store.
• The dealer conducts daily and quarterly audits to make sure no firearms are missing.
• The dealer prohibits all sales based on “default proceeds,” which are permitted by law when a background check has not returned an approve/deny result within three days.
• The dealer keeps all firearms in customer-accessible areas in locked cases or secured to gun racks.
Unfortunately, self-regulation remains voluntary, and there is no indication that the gun industry will take such sensible steps. Given the difficulty of passing legislation to force manufacturers to regulate themselves, there is a need for a new approach.
What's your opinion? Wouldn't mandatory videotaping of all gun sales be useful? What about the other ideas?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

In Which Andrew Snyder Takes Me To Task

Snyder is a supervisor at work and often recommends comic books.
Apparently, Andrew Snyder was incensed by post about Gunloons and Winning.

He makes several rebuttals; apparently he is married to Scarlett Johansson and his mistress is Angelina Jolie.  Mila Kunis is stalking him.

He's richer than everyone; Warren Buffett does landscaping work for him. The Sultan of Brunei walks his dogs.

Andy points up that gunloons can't be losers because collecting an arsenal of guns is expensive.  The logic is undeniable: to be a gunloon is to be successful because guns are expensive and only super-successful people can afford such an arsenal.  He's right--there's photographic evidence:

Monday, April 18, 2011

Guns - Open Carry - The Constitution




Well, actually that video was just chock full of thought-provoking ideas. One good one is that when someone thinks they're life is being threatened they have the right to defend themselves with lethal force. I admit this guy didn't sound like a brain surgeon, but if you think about it he made a really good point in an ironical way. It's not the non-gun owners who do this with their cars like he was saying. It's you gun owners. It's you guys as well as the cops who do this every single day. Bogus DGUs and murder disguised is what it is, in many cases where you only thought your life was in jeopardy.

Another good point is the more superficial one about open carry guys. There's something wrong with guys who want to do that and they can easily be presumed to be criminals. In places where it becomes popular, criminals could imitate them and go undetected.

But, best of all, he made a wonderful presentation for the fact that all guns in criminal hands come from you law-abiding gun owners. This is the irrefutable fact that ties you together with the criminal gun owners like first cousins.

There's more, but that'll do for now. Thanks for a wonderful fascinating video, Robert.

Another Police Murder for Disobedience - Toy Gun Involved



"During this attempted dialogue, Mr. Krummi produced a handgun and would not comply with commands from officers to drop the gun," Powell said.

The gun looked like a Taurus Millennium handgun, and officers "feared for their lives," he said.
The officers would later discover that it was an Airsoft gun. But Powell said that was unknown at the time.

"It's an exact replica," he said of the pellet gun. "They are almost identical."

Krummi did not obey officers' orders to drop the weapon. Powell did not immediately know Wednesday if Krummi said anything to the officers or remained quiet and noncompliant during the confrontation.

Two of the three officers fired their weapons. Krummi was transported by medical helicopter to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.
There has to be a reasonable fear of lethal threat. Short of that, the cops saying afterwards that they feared for their lives, is just a bullshit justification.

Look at the lies and the spinning.

Powell called it a "very difficult and life-threatening situation" at the time for the officers and said they didn't have time to determine whether the gun Krummi was holding was real or not.
It was nothing of the kind. The fact that the weapon turned out to be a toy means it never was a "life-threatening situation."

My solution: ban replica guns and fire cops who murder people for disobedience.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Punt Guns



Punt guns were enormous shotguns used to hunt waterfowl in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. They were so heavy that they were normally attached to small boats called punts and the boats were then pointed as birds resting on the water’s surface:

Punt guns were usually custom-designed and so varied widely, but could have bore diameters exceeding 2 inches (51 mm) and fire over a pound (0.5 kilos) of shot at a time.

A single shot could kill over 50 waterfowl resting on the water’s surface. They were too big to hold and the recoil so large that they were mounted directly on the punts used for hunting, hence their name. Hunters would maneuver their punts quietly into line and range of the flock using poles or oars to avoid startling them.

Generally the gun was fixed to the punt; thus the hunter would maneuver the entire boat in order to aim the gun. The guns were sufficiently powerful, and the punts themselves sufficiently small, that firing the gun often propelled the punt backwards several inches or more. To improve efficiency, hunters could work in fleets of up to around ten punts.

The practice faded as wild waterfowl stocks were depleted. It was eventually banned in the United States, though I gather it is still legal in the United Kingdom.

The NRA's Corporate Partners

via CommonDreams.org

These people (the NRA I'm talking about) haven't even a nodding acquaintance with honesty and integrity.

Despite the NRA's historical claims that it is not financially allied with the gun industry, including the current disclaimer on its website that it “is not affiliated with any firearm or ammunition manufacturers or with any businesses that deal in guns and ammunition,” NRA "corporate partners" include many of the world's best known gunmakers as well as such companies as Xe, the new name of the now infamous Blackwater Worldwide--known for its abuses in the Iraq war--which alone contributed between $500,000 and $999,999 to the NRA since 2005.

In a recent promotional brochure, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre promises that the “National Rifle Association’s newly expanded Corporate Partners Program is an opportunity for corporations to partner with the NRA....This program is geared toward your company’s corporate interests.”

Among the NRA’s “corporate partners” who gave $25,000 or more to the organization are 22 that manufacture firearms, including such well-known gunmakers as: Arsenal, Inc.; Benelli; Beretta USA Corporation; Browning; DPMS Panther Arms; FNH USA; Glock, Inc.; H&R 1871, LLC; Marlin Firearms; Remington Arms Co., Inc.; SIGARMS, Inc.; Smith & Wesson Corporation; Springfield Armory; and, Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. Of the 22 gunmakers, 12 manufacture assault weapons. Also among the NRA’s “corporate partners” are numerous high-capacity ammunition magazine manufacturers or vendors.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Holly Hill Shooting - 1 Dead 3 Wounded

Guess where Holly Hill is.  You got it, Florida, the proud bearer of the crown.

Police said two people in a stolen black SUV came to the hotel where the men were outside of an open hotel room. After a short discussion, gunfire erupted and two or three people took off in the SUV.

Four people were shot.  One of them ran across the street to a neighboring hotel where he collapsed.

One of those shot, 19-year-old Donnell Ellis was later pronounced dead at Halifax Medical Center.

Of the three surviving victims, one is recovering from surgery, the other two are listed in critical condition after their surgeries.

They are Darshawn Broadwater, 19, Leroy Gadson, 19, and Jamie Evans, 20.

The police chief called it very disturbing that a shooting like this would happen in the middle of a Saturday afternoon on the city's busiest street. 

It was a scary thought for Deirdre Robinson and her daughter who live nearby.  
Now, the first thing I want to know is this. In Florida, which is one of the most gun friendly states in the US of A, how come no one intervened? Where were all the legitimate gun owners who carry guns for the very purpose of protecting us from stuff like this?

I'll tell you where they were. They were nowhere. The ones who very well may have been within reach of the action, which took place in broad day light, by the way, you know the hotel owner, the neighbor across the street, the casual passerby, were all frightened into inaction. They were either paralyzed with fear, after all it's fear plain and simple that prompted them to get guns in the first place, or they hesitated just long enough for the action to play itself out and then decided to ignore the whole thing. They certainly wouldn't want to admit that they could have done something and didn't.

Meanwhile, the lax gun laws in Florida, which those same gun owners demand as their god-given right, ensure that weapons are always available to criminals. Through easy theft, through straw purchases from FFL guys known to turn a blind eye, through private sales at gun shows or in the want-ads, Florida is a gun-buying haven for criminals.
 
This fascinating and symbiotic relationship between the law-abiding gun owners and criminals makes one wonder where do you draw the line? Where do the good guys end and the bad guys begin?

I say they're all guilty and they're all responsible for the trouble, each in their own way.  The only exceptions will be those few gun owners who actually agree with the gun control folks.  There are some, unfortunately in the minority, who are not so self-centered and not so afraid of inconvenience that they agree with us on the major issues.  To those I offer a tip of my hat and all my respect.  To the others I say, "shame on you, you're a bunch o' bums."


What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Are Gunloons Winning?

Gunloons like to claim they're winning on the issue of gun policy.   Andy Johnston, Jonathan Clark Sullivan, Mike Walther, Keith Milligan, Roy Kubicek, Jay Grazio and the usual cast of losers, mouthbreathers, and the terminally stoopid have all written posts and comments to the effect that they have "won" the gun issue.

Well, let's look at this, shall we?

If, as claimed, the gun issue has been "won," why do gunloons feel the need to spend virtually all their time writing blog posts attacking those they disagree with?  Why do they post anonymous comments anywhere and everywhere with their views on gunloonery?

There are two distinct--but similar--answers to these questions.  Both are quite possible.  The first answer may be: they have to idea what "winning" means.  This is highly likely.  After all, "winning" is a concept gunloons may have never experienced.  Gunloona are gunloons precisely because they are losers; they've lost in the professional careers and in their social lives.

The second answer is apparent because it's solidly grounded in fact.  That is, they aren't winning.  Consider the evidence.  They spent $40M to defeat Barack Obama in 2008 because he's black supposedly the worst gungrabber in history.  They lost big time.  And, in 2012, they'll lose again because as it stands today, their champion will be Donald Trump (apparently Spongebob Squarepants had a previous commitment).  Chuckle.  Other facts: most NRA members don't agree with most of the stances of the NRA.  Still more facts: the Heller decision said gun control, including registration, was perfectly Constitutional.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Being a (White) Gunloon Means You Can Shoot People You Insult

Oklahoma City:
Rumors about one man talking about another man's wife lead to a fatal shooting in Midwest City late Saturday night, police said.

Mark Wilkinson, 32, was killed in the shooting at about 11 p.m. Saturday.

Investigators said Raymond Stauffer, 38, called 911 from his home in the 300 block of East Fairchild and told a dispatcher that he has just shot someone.

Apparently, Stauffer isn't under arrest or in custody.  The odds of this being the case if Stauffer were black is..well..about the same as Mike Walther having a date on Saturday.

Russian Roulette With a Semi-Automatic




The Pride of PA - Pigeon Shoots

centredaily.com reports on the ongoing 

More than 20 years ago, I witnessed what was then the country’s largest pigeon shoot, in Hegins, Pa. It was a macabre spectacle, unfit for eyes — unreal and yet so horribly real. I’ll never shake the revulsion I felt at seeing children, young boys, sent onto the fields to stomp wounded birds to death or to twist off the heads of the maimed. 

What kind of values were adults teaching? It seemed to me like a cruelty training camp, and it left me wondering if these kids would have all of their natural empathy for animals entirely drummed out of them.
Though the Hegins shoot was eventually shut down, other events continue here and there today at private gun clubs. 

Last year when we discussed this sick and uniquely Pennsylvanian activity, Sebastian did what the pro-gun guys do when cornered, he accused the critics of lying.

Yeah, they're legal in PA, and only in PA, according to the following video. I see Sebastian has given his carefully nuanced support of this ugly business too, with his usual qualifiers like "not a big supporter of, but..." He also says Pennsylvania is not the only state that allows this. "The animal rights folks are lying in order to embarrass us on that count." Well, I'll agree with the embarrassing part.

What's your opinion?  Is this a sick activity, or what?

Please leave a comment.

Wrong Guy Shot - 1st-Degree Murder Anyway



Does that sound right to you? These dopey criminals went to the wrong house. Can it still be murder in the 1st degree?

Where do you think they got their guns from? Of course they could have taken a drive up to Indianapolis, but I'll bet they knew other sources closer to home. The amazing part is that lawful gun owners try so hard to convince everyone that they have nothing to do with criminals like these, but the fact is they're all practically related. The gun flow from legitimate owners to the criminal world continues unabated.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Drunken Gun Owner Shoots at Son - Goes to Jail

It happened in Minnesota. Is it my imagination or has The [peaceful] Land of 10,000 Lakes been in the news a lot lately for gun violence?

A gun owner with lots of problems, not the least of which was alcohol and drug addiction, threatened to kill his son and shot at him while three teen-age friends hid in the closet.  He was extremely drunk.


After pleading guilty he was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison followed by 12 years of government supervision.

Does it sound like a fair sentence to you? Why do you think a man so obviously unstable was allowed to own a gun in the first place? Wouldn't stricter gun control disqualify people like this, of whom, I believe there are many?

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Gun-Rights Folks Defend Dangerous Unstable Gun Owners

via Fat White Man from the inimitable Winston Dorian, who, by the way, copied and pasted the entire post from someone else. He kindly provided four links to pro-gun sites who all had the same exact post, word-for-word. Nowhere was there a link to the original article. If the story itself weren't so bizarre, I'd think one of them made it up and the others began disseminating it like good worker bees. And, speaking of good worker bees, FWM left out the million rounds of ammo and the tunnel and made it sound like the poor guy was being persecuted for having 100 guns, which everyone knows is perfectly normal.

You may have heard on the news about a southern California man that was put under 72-hour psychiatric observation when it was found that he owned 100 guns and allegedly had (by rough estimate) 1 million rounds of ammunition stored in his home. The house also featured a secret escape tunnel.

My favorite quote from the dimwit television reporter: “Wow! He has …. about a million machine gun bullets.” The headline referred to it as a “massive weapons cache.” BTW, I am dubious about the pile of ammunition boxes and cans that they showed. It looked big enough to contain no more than about 100,000 rounds, unless there was a lot of .22 rimfire ammo.

My comment:

Now, Winston, we shouldn’t be editing the story to our own ends. They said a million rounds, you can’t change that to 100,000 in order to make a point. And the tunnel? C’mon, man, the guy was a lunatic. I’ll bet there were other indications of instability. You wanna bet?

Why do you defend any and all gun owners? You’re hurting your own cause.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Ever Notice?

Big "men" such as Jon C. Sullivan ('Linoge') and Sean D. Sullivan repeatedly attack women such as Joan Sullivan--but won't engage this blog?

My experience has been that gunloons will attack women relentlessly but will quickly retreat when men counter their lies.

Bad Day in Ohio for Wives and Kids

Here:
A small town in Ohio is in shock after a man allegedly told a 911 dispatcher that he shot his wife and three young children and then shot himself.
Authorities said that 31-year-old Alan Atwater had mentioned he was having marital problems with his wife, Dawn, in the days leading up to the brutal murder-suicide.