Saturday, September 13, 2014

National Firearms Confiscation Day is coming

I'm surprised TS hasn't mentioned this yet, it's the type of thing he goes for
:
Although, pro-Gun Stickers have long been a welcome sign for criminals knowing that there were easy pickins and lots of money to be made stealing and selling those guns people buy to protect their families and homes.  So, having a pro-Gun sticker of any kind is the something criminals and gun grabbers love seeing.

Just remember:

They're only your kids, besides you can always have some more. Although, cleaning up the bloody mess is a pain.

The police have been issued with special ammunition:


Just remember:

Jesus Wrote The Second Amendment Now Obama Wants Your Guns

"Guns are so much important to being a christian today because there is no other way to show people that you are filled with the love of lord Jesus other than having a big gun collection" - Rev. Billy Ray Smallcock

OK, this may be satire too, but you can never tell these days.



Ever think you may be taken for a ride while all these people who are telling you Bullshit are having a laugh at your exepense?  Then again, I know someone who loves for us to have a laugh at his expense since he keeps posting comments.

Proper Gun Control Laws (not exhaustive, a work in progress)

Reposted by popular demand
1. Licensing of all gun owners which would include a penal background check, a mental health background check, an eye exam, a written and practical test and approval by the local authorities (may-issue licensing).

2. Registration of all newly bought firearms which would need to be renewed after three months and yearly thereafter by presenting the paperwork and the weapon to the police.

3. Background checks on all purchases including private ones. This can be done at the local FFL dealer for a nominal fee.

4. Three day waiting period for all first purchases. (to be removed as unnecessary after rule 1)

5. "May Issue" policy for concealed carry permits managed federally - same rules in every state.

6. Assault Weapons Ban using the California model which would include restrictions on extended magazines.
7. Safe Storage of Firearms when not in use - guns must be kept in a gun safe.
8. All negligent discharges should be considered criminal.

The Famous 50% (Lawful Gun Owners Who Should Be Disarmed)

Re-posted on the Jon Swift Memorial Roundup

A few years ago I wrote a post called The Famous 10%. It became one of my most popular, arousing much animosity from the gun-rights fanatics and frequently quoted and referred to by gun control advocates.  I reposted it here.

Almost immediately it became clear that I had been much too generous in the assigning of percentages. Soon I was talking about 35% and not long after that 50%

If you spent as much time as I do reading about gun violence, I think you'd agree with me, unless, of course, you had a personal agenda to protect.

Here's how it breaks down.

Divided into the approximately 65 million gun owners (see the latest Pew Poll) we have the following amounts.

Alcohol abuse is difficult to define, but let's take a study that found that 30% of Americans abuse alcohol. That translates straight across the board to gun owners. Please note that we're not including the regular, normal drinkers, whom some believe should be disqualified as well.  These are the binge drinkers and the out-and-out alcoholics. That's  30% of gun owners who need to be disarmed for alcohol abuse.

Drug abuse is also difficult to define, let's take a survey that says 10% of Americans abuse illicit drugs.
That's another 10% of gun owners who need to be disarmed for drug abuse.

Mental disorders afflict many Americans.  One conservative estimate says 22% are sufferers.  It may sound harsh, but if you have a mental condition that requires medication for you to function in society, you cannot be trusted with guns. That's another 22% of gun owners that need to be disarmed for mental illness.

Rage and anger affects many people. Estimates say 7% of adults suffer from Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED).  That's another 7% of gun owners that need to be disarmed for their anger problems.

FBI Crime Stats show us that about 500,000 crimes are committed with a gun each year.  Let's say most are committed by criminals and only a small percentage by folks like this guy who had no previous felony convictions. Let's call it 1%.  That's 1% of gun owners who need to be disarmed for turning bad.

Stupidity and clumsiness affects many people. We frequently read stories like this one representing stupidity, and this one representing clumsiness. Let's be generous and say another 1% only.  That's 1% of gun owners who need to be disarmed for stupidity or clumsiness.

Obviously some of the marijuana and cocaine users also could be binge drinkers, and some of the rage guys are fueled by alcohol, so we will have some overlap.

Let's round it down to a nice even 50%.  That's 50% of lawful gun owners who need to be disarmed.

Now, before you attack me for being so anti-gun, please take note of the fact that I believe in the rights of the other 50%.  I don't think the 2nd Amendment has anything to do with it, being an obsolete, meaningless and antiquated piece of writing, but I do believe that the other 50% has every right to own and operate guns.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Quote of the day

Comes from John Ball, who along with Wat Tyler were the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.


When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bondmen from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bond, and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.

When you go about talking about Socialism and Collectivism, remember that it has earlier roots in Christian theology.  Here's some 14th Century Collectivism for you.

'Ah, ye good people, the matters goeth not well to pass in England, nor shall not do till everything be common, and that there be no villains nor gentlemen, but that we may be all united together, and that the lords be no greater masters than we be. What have we deserved, or why should we be kept thus in servage? We be all come from one father and one mother, Adam and Eve: whereby can they say or shew that they be greater lords than we be, saving by that they cause us to win and labour for that they dispend? They are clothed in velvet and camlet furred with grise, and we be vestured with poor cloth: they have their wines, spices and good bread, and we have the drawing out of the chaff and drink water: they dwell in fair houses, and we have the pain and travail, rain and wind in the fields; and by that that cometh of our labours they keep and maintain their estates: we be called their bondmen, and without we do readily them service, we be beaten; and we have no sovereign to whom we may complain, nor that will hear us nor do us right.'

John Ball, in J Froissart, Froissart's Chronicles (1385) translated by GC Macaulay (1895) 251-252

So, the next time you talk of being "freemen" and not subjects or serf, you are actually talking the language of collectivism.

BTW, why is the version of the quote above appropriate for this post?

Gun Rights Hero George Zimmerman Back in the News

 GEORGE ZIMMERMAN

Huffington Post

George Zimmerman is in legal trouble again.

WSVN reports that his latest brush with the law came on Tuesday when Zimmerman allegedly threatened to kill a man during a road rage incident in Lake Mary, Florida.

The man, whose name has not been reported, also told police Zimmerman was waiting for him at his work.

Zimmerman allegedly admitted to police that he had an altercation with the man, but he won't face legal action because the man has declined to press charges.

That's exactly how Zimmerman escaped his last two legal battles.

In December, Zimmerman's girlfriend declined to press charges after she initially claimed he pointed a shotgun at her face during an argument last November.

In September of last year, Zimmerman's ex-wife also declined to proceed with a case against her former husband after she claimed he threatened her and her father with a gun.

In July of 2013, Zimmerman was found not guilty in the killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Most Mass Shootings Happen in Private Homes



Missouri Mainly Republican Legislators Vote to Expand Gun Rights



 
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon

Yahoo
 
Missouri lawmakers expanded the potential for teachers to bring guns to schools and for residents to openly carry firearms, in a vote Thursday that capped a two-year effort by the Republican-led Legislature to expand gun rights over the objection of the Democratic governor.

The new law will allow specially trained school employees to carry concealed guns on campuses. It also allows anyone with a concealed weapons permit to carry guns openly, even in cities or towns with bans against the open carrying of firearms. The age to obtain a concealed weapons permit also will drop from 21 to 19.

A more far-reaching measure that sought to nullify federal gun control laws had died in the final hours of the legislative session in May. Gov. Jay Nixon had vetoed a similar bill last year that could have subjected federal officers to state criminal charges and lawsuits for attempting to enforce federal gun control laws.

The new regulations, which this time garnered the two-thirds majority needed to override Nixon's veto, take effect in about a month.

Oscar Pistorius Gets Away with Murder



The Week

Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of culpable homicide, after yesterday being cleared of murdering Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. Reading from her written judgment, Judge Thokozile Masipa told the court that there was not enough evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the athlete was guilty of premeditated murder or murder. He was also found guilty on one firearms charge, but acquitted on two others. Pistorius could face up to 15 years in jail on the culpable homicide charge, but he will not be sentenced until next month.

Masipa recaps the four counts against Pistorius and her findings. She repeats again that the state did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Pistorius was guilty of premeditated murder or murder. Today, she is giving a detailed legal explanation of why she acquitted Pistorius of murder dolus eventualis – a decision which received some criticism from legal experts yesterday. Finally, Masipa asks Pistorius to stand and announces:
  • Count one: not guilty of murdering Reeva Steenkamp, but guilty of culpable homicide
  • Count two: not guilty of firearms charge relating to sunroof incident
  • Count three: guilty of negligence in regards to firearms charge relating to Tashas restaurant
  • Count four: not guilty of firearms charge relating to possession of illegal ammunition


The second firearms charge faced by Pistorius relates to an incident in January, before Steenkamp's death, when a Glock pistol went off while in his possession in a Johannesburg restaurant called Tashas. Masipa says Pistorius may not have intended to fire the gun, but this "does not absolve" him from the crime of negligence. Masipa says she accepts in full the evidence of state witness Kevin Lerena. Pistorius was trained in firearms, she says. "He should not have asked for a firearm in a restaurant full of patrons." The state has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is guilty on this count, says the judge.

Like so many gun nuts in the United States, Oscar should have been disarmed long ago.  A simple one strike you're out policy would have seen to that. Any one of his several gun incidents or domestic abuse incidents should have seen to it.

But, also in typical form, he was not only not disarmed when he should have been, right up to the very end he was given the benefit of the every doubt, and then some. "Not enough evidence" to prove murder, sorta like O.J.  He "may not have intended to fire the gun" in Tashas restaurant. As for "firing a gun out of an open car sunroof in September 2012," no problem since Darren Fresco was "not an impressive witness at all."

A travesty of justice took place on the world stage. Another unfit and dangerous gun owner, whining and crying with self-pity was not held properly accountable for the death of another.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment





How can you run a public policy based upon fiction?

In this case, a bogus quote from George Washington:

I guess not basing arguments on actual facts is part of Conservativism 101.

The words are part of a well-worn favorite conservative passage known as the "Liberty Teeth" quote. It reads in its entirety:
Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. The church, the plow, the prairie wagon, and citizen's firearms are indelibly related. From the moment the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable. Every corner of this land knows firearms, and more than 99 99/100 percent of them by their silence indicate they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference; they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. When firearms go, all goes; we need them every hour.
The quote is a hoax, and a well-known one. As Extra! pointed out ("The Right's Library of Fake Quotes," 4/10). It has been widely debunked, including in Playboy magazine, where it had been quoted (12/95) and subsequently become the subject of a lengthy correction  (12/95), after the editor of the Papers of George Washington project at the University of Virginia called it "either a complete fabrication or a case of misattribution.

The "liberty teeth" quote is so well known as a fraud that the pro-gun Second Amendment Foundation, in inveighing against the use of bogus quotes as "counterproductive," to the cause, cites it as the prime example, and "perhaps the most infamous bogus saying attributed to a Founding Father."

Knowing how to source check is a research basic!

Myth: Assault rifle/weapon is a term made up by gun grabbers


Just remember StG-44 means SturmGewehr, or assault rifle, 44.

Friday, September 12, 2014

"For every victim."

"For every victim." Really? Every victim, Beretta? Let that sink in a moment...

Quote of the Day

Debating guns with conservatives often presents obstacles not encountered in normal, fact-based discussions.
Source

Preventing Suicides at Gun Ranges

Delmarva Now

The Target Sports Range in Royal Oak, Michigan, after experiencing 12 suicide attempts in as many years, instituted a policy preventing individuals from obtaining a gun if they are not known by range instructors. A list of those denied access to a firearm is maintained; those individuals will be turned away in the future.

City Commissioner Peggy Goodwin praised the proactive response. “If these were homicides, something would have been done after the first one. Because it’s suicide no one wants to even talk about it. I want to talk about preventing it.”

It isn’t just in Michigan. The Orange County Register, using data from coroners’ reports, documented 64 suicides at public ranges in three California counties in the 12-year period studied. The common denominator is easy, unregulated access to a firearm.

The Daily Times headline was: “Should firing ranges be age-restricted?” What we know about brain development and function tells us clearly the answer is “yes.” The last segment of the brain to be fully developed and integrated into the rest of the brain’s functions is the prefrontal area. This is where we learn to assess the long-term implications of actions, control impulses and make basic value judgments.

In some cases this development is not complete until age 25. In the Arizona case, clearly accidental and not a failure of judgment, brain maturation was probably not at fault. But with range-related suicides of young people, it is.

Should we put deadly weapons into the hands of young people at all? Is the wise solution, as Arie Klapholz suggested, to “teach young persons to properly use and respect guns and rifles?” One common reaction to the suicide of a young person in a gun-owning household is “I don’t understand it — he was trained to use guns safely.”

In the work we do at the Worcester County Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program, we have learned this the hard way.

With rates of youth homicide and gun-related accidental deaths and youth suicide on the rise, it is undeniably in society’s best interests to keep guns out of the hands of young people.

Honolulu Cop Commits Unintentional Discharge in a Target Bathroom

Huffington Post report

Open Carry Texas Spokesman Arrested



California Vice-principal Charged with a Gun On Campus - Then Charges Dropped

from ssgmarkcr

    I came upon this a few days ago and I sat on it a few days to get a chance to throw some questions about it to a long time friend who recently retired as a state investigator in California. 

"Kent Williams, the vice principal of Tevis Junior High School, was arrested on Aug. 28 when he brought his handgun on to the Bakersfield, California, campus. An unidentified school employee told district officials that Williams had a gun in his backpack. Williams claimed that he carried the gun to protect himself and students from possible danger (video below). Williams, who has a concealed carry firearms permit, has filed a claim (the first step to filing a lawsuit) against the City of Bakersfield and the Bakersfield Police Department (BPD) for false arrest."

"According to the BPD, officers thought that Williams may have violated the California Gun Free Zone Act. However, Williams' case was dropped by the Bakersfield district attorney's office."

"[The police] tell [Williams], he has a concealed weapons permit, everything seems in order and the higher up said, arrest him anyway," Rodriguez told ABC 23. "Was it just sloppiness, indifference, laziness? I don't know. What I do know, is that you cannot have probable cause, if you have a mistake," stated Rodriguez."


    I got hold of my friend in California and asked how it was that the charges ended up being dropped and he pointed me to this apparent exception to the gun free school law,

"(l) This section does not apply to a duly appointed peace officer
as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of
Part 2, a full-time paid peace officer of another state or the
federal government who is carrying out official duties while in
California, any person summoned by any of these officers to assist in
making arrests or preserving the peace while he or she is actually
engaged in assisting the officer, a member of the military forces of
this state or of the United States who is engaged in the performance
of his or her duties, a person holding a valid license to carry the
firearm pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 26150) of
Division 5 of Title 4 of Part 6, or an armored vehicle guard, engaged
in the performance of his or her duties, as defined in subdivision
(e) of Section 7521 of the Business and Professions Code."


    My first thought is that this is heavy stuff, so far, it appears that the only potential sanction he might get will be getting fired.  At first glance, this seems to put California's gun free school law on par with Minnesota's carry permit law regarding carry in post secondary schools, only it applies to ALL schools.
    In Minnesota, carry in post secondary schools is legal for permit holders, however, the schools are allowed to ban carry by students and employees.  So while they couldn't be charged criminally, they could be fired or expelled for breaking school rules.
    I'm sure that currently someone is likely burning the midnight oil feverishly trying to find something to charge this guy with.  Especially with a potential false arrest suit in the works.  And he has apparently been armed in school since he got his permit which if I remember from another article was in 2010. 
    All that being said, there is one aspect of this event which makes me want to whack this guy upside the head to reset his thinking.  Lets see if anyone notices it.  I'm betting/hoping its someone who carries who answers first.  I'll let Mike call the winner since he can likely see who replies first.  I've emailed Mike the answer that has been kept in a #2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's back porch since noon today.
    And no, its something besides the kneejerk answer of him having a gun in school.

Answer to the question to follow

Ohio School Shooter T.J. Lane Escapes from Prison



Local news reports

The convicted killer of three Ohio students at a high school cafeteria escaped from a prison Thursday night and a search was underway in northwest Ohio, police said.

Nineteen-year-old T.J. Lane escaped along with two other inmates from a prison in Lima, about 80 miles south of Toledo, and one of the inmates was captured, Lima police Sgt. Andy Green said.
A search was underway in woods and a residential area near the prison, Green said, and the two escapees are considered dangerous.

Lane, then 18, pleaded guilty last year to shooting three students in February 2012 at Chardon High School, east of Cleveland. He said he didn't know why he did. At his sentencing, he unbuttoned his dress shirt to reveal his T-shirt reading "killer"; he cursed and gestured obscenely as he was given three life sentences.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Maybe I need to draw a picture part 2

After looking at the clueless comments on the first post, it seems that something a little bit more to the point is necessary:



And I never said the Mayberry post was REAL, you are too clueless to get that at one time people didn't see guns as being the sacred symbols they have become in recent years. I know some concepts are complex for you, but try to get your heads around that one.

Shotgun Weddings at the Gun Store in Las Vegas

Keep this in mind the next time you watch a WWII film.

Most of the early resistance came from the left: in particular Socialist and Communist groups.

In Germany,  Gestapo records reveal that approximately 800,000 Germans in a population of more than 66 million were jailed for active resistance during the Reich's 12-year reign. Indeed, the first concentration camps, notably Dachau, built near Munich in 1933, were meant for left-wing dissidents. In 1936, a typical year, 11,687 Germans were arrested for illegal socialist activity,
For your honor and conscience! Against Bolshevism the Waffen SS calls you.
according to Peter Hoffmann's standard 1977 study, ''The History of the German Resistance, 1933-1945.''

A. J. P. Taylor, the respected British historian,  declared in the 1960's that German resistance to the Nazis was a myth, his was a widely held view. Even today many people in Germany and elsewhere believe there was little internal opposition to Hitler.  Archives from Eastern European state security agencies which have been disproving this belief.

France during occupation was in the words of Charles Maurras, the theorist of reactionary France, the 'triumph of the true France' over Socialists, Communists, Jews, Freemasons and all parliamentary, democratic traditions which were roundly accused not just of precipitating defeat but of leading France to decadence and catastrophe.

Initially almost all Resistance was urban-based: it was there that the German presence was strongest; it was there that printing facilities were available for tracts and newspapers, and it was there that the traditions of working-class solidarity, revolutionary politics, and the educational liberalisms of lycees and universities were most pronounced. 

The movement was originally driven by an ideological opposition to Nazism and Fascism, which brought individual Communists, Socialists and left-wing Catholics and Protestants into the ranks of the 'dissidents', as Resisters were initially known. They all felt they had to do something, however small or impractical, to mark their opposition to the inertia of Petainism which advised the French to return to their private lives and leave the big decisions to Petain and Laval.

The cold war left out the role of the Socialists and Communists in the fight against Fascism, but recent scholarship is beginning to put it back in its rightful place in the study of World War II resistance movements.

At Last, Recognition and Praise for the Resistance in Nazi Germany - New York Times
The Resistance in France | History Today

Maybe I need to draw a picture

I've been pointing this out for a while, but someone made a meme of it.


Of course, it leaves out the dueling culture aspect of this piece of trash, but you can't have everything.

Got it?  This comes from a sci-fi novel and has no basis in reality.

Iowa Lawful Gun Owner Loses it Over Property Taxes - Loses His Life


Larry Koos, left, and Francis Glaser.


Local news reports

An Iowa man angry about his property taxes was fatally shot during a public meeting Tuesday after he pulled a gun from a briefcase and pointed it at the county assessor, law enforcement officials said.

Francis Glaser, a former Maquoketa city manager, had become agitated and vocal about his property taxes going up during a weekly meeting of Jackson County's board of supervisors in Maquoketa, a town about 30 miles south of Dubuque.

Larry Koos, a county supervisor, struggled with the gunman before the fatal shot. Jackson County Sheriff Russ Kettmann said Koos "probably saved a life."

Authorities didn't know whether the fatal shot was self-inflicted.

Lawyers and judges have pointed out inadequate security at Iowa courthouses for years, and Thursday's shooting is the second high-profile incident at an Iowa courthouse this year involving a firearm.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

A simple explanation

I really don't like memes, but this one on collectivism v. individualism is too good to pass up.

I hope it is in simple enough language for you to understand:

More on Natural and Civil rights and firearms in the US.

Let's start off with the founders were very familiar with the work of Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes reasoned that this world of chaos created by unlimited rights was highly undesirable, since it would cause human life to be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". As such, if humans wish to live peacefully they must give up most of their natural rights and create moral obligations in order to establish political and civil society. This is one of the earliest formulations of the theory of government known as the social contract.

In short, too many rights can create chaos.  The founders did not want anarchy (or what they would call "democracy").  In fact, they saw republican systems as being somewhat more restrained, although the French revolution would prove that to be a fallacious belief.

On the other hand, one of the things tied in with natural rights is a right to life, which unlike the current one which ends at birth, this one BEGINS with birth.  Natural rights begin with existence. The Declaration of Independence says that:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

John Locke stated the right to life as being that everyone has a right to life once created. The fundamental law of nature is that human life, as much as possible, should be preserved.   We could have a longer discussion of Locke, but his ideas are not supportive of a belief that natural law or natural rights would allow for the ownership of weapons.  In fact, I would assert they seriously contradict that belief.

Contemporary statements at the time of the US's nascence show that the doctrine of self-defence required that force was used as a last resort and only allowed for as much force as was reasonably necessary to stop any threat.  If one exceeded that level of force, then the person who was attacked became the aggressor [1]

The Constitution provides the right not to "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law".  While one can argue that acts of "self-defence" are not governmental actions, the way that the government addresses the use of that doctrine ARE.

The real issue when one claims a right, is what authority backs up that assertion?  In the case of life, there are many international treaties that say killing without extraordinary justification is wrong.  Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the US is a signatory, states "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."

Recently, the United Nations human rights committees overseeing the United States' obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as well as the International Convention to End all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) meeting in Geneva Switzerland both cited rampant gun violence in the United States as a violation of our government’s duty to effectively protect the right to life. Women, children and minorities were cited as disproportionately affected groups. Both treaties have been ratified by the U.S. Senate binding the US government to act.

Both committees recommended expanded background checks covering all private firearm transfers. Both also expressed concern about the proliferation of Stand Your Ground laws stating that these laws are used to “circumvent the limits of legitimate self-defense in violation of [the U.S. government's] duty to protect life”, and requested review of those laws “to remove far-reaching immunity and ensure strict adherence to the principles of necessity and proportionality when deadly force is used for self-defense.”

Albert Camus said "bloodthirsty laws, make bloodthirsty customs."  While he was speaking specifically about state-sponsored executions, the tendency goes like this: once the citizens of the state allow their government to discipline its citizens by killing them, then killing citizens becomes a custom; the punishment becomes, then, customary, in Camus' sense of the word. The laws rise from the consent of the governed, and once in place, they start to do their job: determine the culture of the country. The state's custom then becomes a little more bloodthirsty because the state's laws allow us to slake our thirst for blood.

The real issue here is that rather than "gun rights", any proper appeal to natural law or fundamental law would more likely hold that the right to life is far more important than someone's need to own a gun.  In fact, US law in recent times has perverted many concepts held in civilised nations regarding self-defence, right to life, and even the rule of law.

[1]  Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book the Third, Chapter the First: Of the Redress of Private Wrongs by the Mere Act of Parties p.3

Officer's Widow Sues Philadelphia-area Gun Dealer

Officer's widow sues Philadelphia-area gun dealer

Local news reports

The widow of a suburban Philadelphia police officer fatally shot with a gun bought by a straw purchaser filed a lawsuit Monday against the gun dealer that sold the weapon two years ago.

The lawsuit filed by Lynsay Fox alleges that In Site Firearms and Law Enforcement Supplies knew or should have known that Michael Henry, the man who bought the gun that killed Bradley Fox, was purchasing the gun for someone else and that there was an "unreasonable and foreseeable risk" that the handgun would be used to cause harm.

Bradley Fox, a Plymouth Township police officer and Iraq War veteran, was killed in September 2012 after a man he was pursuing shot him four times. The shooter, Andrew Thomas, then fatally shot himself with a gun purchased by Henry.

Henry was sentenced to 20 to 66 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to buying Thomas nine guns, six of which came from In Site, according to the lawsuit.

"I wish the man who murdered my husband never had access to a gun," she said. "And I wish the gun store against whom I have brought my lawsuit never sold to a straw purchaser the gun used to kill my husband. But that gun store did sell that gun. And that sale led to my husband's murder."

The straw purchases were paid for in cash, and Henry gave Thomas the guns in In Site's parking lot, according to the lawsuit.

Green States - Legalized Marijuana

infographic world

Green States Infographic

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

The mole...

I'm sure you know about the mole (or moles) who have infiltrated your "closed" or "secret" groups. 

Given my opinion for reading your comments and the fact that you THINK I have no idea of what your arguments against gun control might be.

Wouldn't it be a lark to find out I'm actually the mole: spewing the rubbish that you believe at you knowing all the time that it is sheer bollocks. 

Got that:

SHEER BOLLOCKS




You're thinking you're so smart, while I'm having a laugh at you chasing your tails and proving what I have been saying all along: you're a bunch of idiots who couldn't tell your arses from a hole in the ground.

Seriously, you can't handle a computer--what makes you think you can handle a gun?

Then again, if I were a superhacker: I'd turn your pages into Teletubby fan sites with a heavy emphasis on Tinky-Winky.

Now, go play with your purple purses and stop pouting.

Scalia realises that Heller decision was a mistake

upon encounter with open carry idiot:

The truth

YOUR children aren't as important as Their guns:


Given the studies out there that say a gun in the home is more likely to cause risk to someone in the home, they also don't really care about their children either.

The Gun owner to Black Civil rights movement analogy has gone a bit too far...

It seems that someone glommed onto this section of the US Code,  18 U.S. Code §241, with the idea that it would apply to "the Second Amendment Right".

As if events post-Heller-McDonald haven't shown it was a bad idea to skirt the constitution and reinterpret the Second Amendment so that something which is the subject and deemed "necessary to the security of the free state" is no longer considered to be of any significance.

But, anyway, 10 minutes in a law library with enough legal research skills would show using this provision, 18 U.S. Code §241, to be silly.  After all, it's in a section titled:

18 U.S. Code Chapter 13 - CIVIL RIGHTS


The federal rights which 18 U.S.C. § 241 aims to protect are the following:
  • the right of an arrested person to a trial to resolve the question of his/her guilt;
  • the right of a person charged with a crime to a trial to resolve the question of his/her guilt;
  • the right to testify at a trial;
  • the right to be free from unlawful violence committed under color of state law;
  • the right to travel freely within any of the states of the United States;
  • the right to be provided service in a restaurant or other places of public accommodation without considering the person’s race; the right to worship as a person pleases;
  • the right to vote; and
  • the right to inform federal officials when there has been a violation of federal law.
Note that owning a gun is not part of this list.

Some people found this on findlaw, but didn't bother with looking at the notes, authorities, or caselaw.  With the caselaw putting this seriously in the camp of the black civil rights movement:  United States v. Johnson, 390 U.S. 563 (1968).

Anyway, you are better off going with Cornell's Legal Information Institute's version of this than Findlaw's text since LII gives more useful information for someone who has no idea of what they are doing.  It cites to this under the authorities:
24 CFR - Housing and Urban Development
24 CFR Part 573 - LOAN GUARANTEE RECOVERY FUND
Another mistake people who have no idea of how the law works make is to assume that because something SOUNDS like it may be applicable--it is applicable.

No.  One needs to actually read the law and look at how it is applied before making an uneducated legal opinion.

But, seeing that this comes from Adam Kokesh and Alex Jones.  I'll leave you with Andrew Neil's comment about Jones ("We have an idiot on the programme"):


Right-Wing Navy SEAL Arrested For Lying That a Black Mob Shot Him

Fortress America via Southern Beale who promised a post of her own about this.

One thing's for sure: On the evening of March 31, 2014, Chris Heben—former Navy SEAL, American patriot, and purveyor of motivational workout videos and t-shirts—drove himself to a fire station with a gunshot to his abdomen. Everything else, though, is bullshit.

Heben, a 44-year-old vet with a passing resemblance to Hugh Jackman, had told police that he was shot by three racist black men after an altercation in the parking lot of a grocery store near his home in Bath, Ohio. The men's car had almost hit him, and he shouted at them about it before heading into the store, he'd said.
That's when his account turned into a cipher for racial politics, and a mythical tale about his willpower. Via Raw Story:
Heben claimed that he went into the Mustard Seed grocery store, but returned to his car because he forgot his wallet.
That's when one of the men in the same car yelled, "You got a big mouth white boy. You need to learn some f*cking respect," and then shot him in the abdomen.
According to Heben's story, he plugged the bullet hole, and tried to chase the men down in his car until he began to lose consciousness. So, he stopped at a fire station for help.
Heben quickly recovered, but there were immediate questions about why he hadn't called the police after his shooting. "I wanted to keep it on the down low," he told one local news station. "At that point in time, I did an immediate physical assessment and I was still functioning. Plus, I wanted to chase after these guys. I'm aggressive."

Right-Wing Navy SEAL Arrested For Lying That a Black Mob Shot Him

Heben became a cause celebre. He got extra exposure for the local auto dealer that had made him a paid spokesman. He went on radio and TV, including the interview above, to describe his ordeal. And he continued to market himself online.
But whatever promise any of his multiple careers held, they were halted last week when police said they had "overwhelming evidence" that Heben had made up his story of the shooting, and now faced criminal charges himself:
Heben, 44, has been charged with misdemeanor counts of falsification and obstruction of justice.
"We have overwhelming evidence based upon video, cell phone records and interviews that the shooting did not occur in the West Market Plaza and that Mr. Heben made false allegations to us," said Bath Township Police Chief Mike McNeely.
Another local station also discovered that the all-American Heben—a medical professional, and a crusader for integrity and strength in government and all things martial—had three previous convictions for forging drug prescriptions.

Texas Man Claims Killing Was an Accident

John Hyon Dust
John Hyon Dust
 
Local news report 


A Killeen man charged with fatally shooting another man outside his home Friday is claiming the shooting was accidental.

John Hyon Dust, 40, was charged with manslaughter after police said he shot 41-year-old Danny Mac Carruthers of Harker Heights in the face Friday afternoon. The shooting occurred outside Dust’s home while Carruthers was sitting in a vehicle in the driveway in the 600 block of Turkey Trot Road in Killeen.
 
According to an arrest affidavit, Dust told police he saw Carruthers in his driveway and “didn’t want him there.” Dust said he grabbed his pistol, went outside and told Carruthers to leave his driveway.
Dust said he was pointing the gun at Carruthers and “trying to scare him” when the gun went off. Dust also said he knew the gun was loaded and he fired a warning shot in front of the car immediately before Carruthers was shot, according to the affidavit.

Dust told police he called 911 immediately after Carruthers was shot.

Killeen police responded to the scene to find Carruthers bleeding heavily from a wound to the face, but still breathing. He was taken to Scott & White Hospital in Temple, where he died early Saturday morning.

Dust told police Carruthers never left his vehicle, and the entire incident lasted about 15 seconds.
Dust was arraigned on a second-degree felony charge of manslaughter by Justice of the Peace Garland Potvin on Saturday. Jail records showed he was still in custody in Bell County Jail on $1 million bail as of Monday afternoon.

Both Dust and Carruthers had previous run-ins with the law.

Dust, identified as a bartender for Whiskey Creek Saloon in Harker Heights and co-founder of a local food truck business on social media, was arrested in March after Killeen police said they found about 9 ounces of marijuana in his possession during a routine traffic stop. Court records showed Dust was indicted on a state jail felony drug possession charge in connection with the arrest, and the case appeared to be ongoing at the time of the shooting.

Panera Asks Customers Not To Bring Guns Into Its Restaurants

PANERA BREAD

Huffington Post

On Monday, Panera Bread became the latest U.S. company to ask customers to leave their guns at home.

The bakery-cafe chain joins Starbucks, Chipotle, Target and a handful of other restaurants and retailers in making such a request, which comes amid an increasingly heated debate over the role of guns in public places. 

“Within our company, we strive to create Panera Warmth," the company said in a statement released Monday. "This warmth means bakery-cafes where customers and associates feel comfortable and welcome. To this end, we ask that guns not be brought into this environment unless carried by an authorized law enforcement officer. Panera respects the rights of gun owners, but asks our customers to help preserve the environment we are working to create for our guests and associates.”

Monday, September 8, 2014

Not even they know

I guess Joe Public needs to wait until the shooting starts to figure out if the person carrying a gun is really a good guy or a bad guy.


Which gets us back to the question:

If the shooter ends the spree by killing himself, does that make him a good guy with a gun since good guys with guns stop shooters?

Florida Child Hurt After Deputy's Gun Discharges

Local news reports

A Clay County deputy's gun accidentally discharged Thursday, injuring his child.

Deputies said the boy was reaching into the deputy's pants to get a snack while they were at Wendy's at 2530 Blanding Blvd. when he jostled the gun, causing it to discharge.

The child was slightly injured by a fragment that ricocheted off the floor and cut his legs and foot, deputies said.

A Wendy's employee also had minor injuries from the fragments but declined medical treatment.
They said it was the deputy's private handgun, not a service weapon.

There was no affect on his work status, according to the Clay County Sheriff's Office.

Of course it will have no affect on his status. What's a little gun irresponsibility between Florida gun nuts and the cops.

What should happen is a lifetime ban on the owning and using of guns for this bumbling idiot of a gun owner. Chances are it's not his first offense and thanks to the nonchalance with which these incidents are met in Florida it won't be his last.

Black Career Criminal Sentenced to 15 Years for Gun Possession - The GOA is Completely Silent and Nowhere to be Found

(Photo: Oxford County)
Guns dot com

A Massachusetts man with a record of criminal history was sentenced to 15 years in prison on gun possession charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

Jermaine “Sin” Whindleton, 28, was convicted on April 9 following a two-day jury trial where evidence of prior convictions was heard. Because of his record, Whindleton received the enhanced minimum sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

Investigators from the Maine State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives looked at Whindleton’s case and presented the his rap sheet to the court, which included felony drug and assault charges in Massachusetts and New York. In 2012, Whindleton assaulted a drug associate Porter, Maine, by striking him on the back of the head with the butt of a Mossberg 16 gauge pump-action shotgun, the Justice Department said.

Whindleton sold cocaine to the victim, who complained of the drug’s quality before he was assaulted, The Sun Journal reported.

The reference is to this story in which the GOA went to bat for a white Neo-Nazi.

Gun Friendly Texas Jury Acquits Open Carry Fanatic of Disorderly Conduct

Michael Keoughan, right, after reclaiming his firearms following his acquittal on charges of disorderly conduct in Andrews, Texas. (Photo: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204539325305375&set=a.1756139225535.103073.1300607671&type=1&theater )
Michael Keoughan, right, after reclaiming his firearms following his acquittal on charges of disorderly conduct in Andrews, Texas. (Photo: Facebook ) 

Guns dot com

Army veteran Michael Keoughan, arrested in January while open carrying in Andrews, Texas, was found not guilty by a six-member jury this week.

Keoughan, 27, a member of a local gun rights group, Come and Take It, was stopped by police while surveying the planned route for an upcoming open carry walk in Andrews. Previously, a member of CATI had been arrested by Andrews Police the prior November while open carrying in town. The incident led CATI to open a dialog with local authorities and clear later events with APD Chief Bud Jones.

However, when Keoughan began his walk on Main Street with a shotgun slung over his back and a holstered black powder revolver in accordance with Texas open carry laws, he was soon stopped and, in a shock to him, arrested for “disorderly conduct for displaying a firearm in a manner to cause alarm.”

According to media reports at the time of his arrest, Keoughan’s walk attracted a number of phone calls to 911, and caused a nearby middle school put on lock-down.

“We didn’t know who he was, had no clue but we started getting a mass number of phone calls,” Chief Jones said in January. “By displaying the weapon, he caused undue alarm.”

Virginia 4-Year-old Dead from Accidental Pellet Gun Shot - No Charges - It Was Just an Accident

8NEWS - WRIC | News Where You Live

After extensive interviews and in consultation with the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, detectives have determined the shooting death of a 4 year old to be a tragic accident.

The investigation has determined that Geonna Bradley, 4, of the 1500 block of Mechanicsville Turnpike, was accidentally shot in the chest by another juvenile with a pellet rifle. Bradley was transported to the VCU Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

No charges will be filed in this case.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Brady Campaign Takes Aim at 'Bad Apple' Gun Dealers

 Town Hall

One of the largest U.S. gun control groups is launching a campaign against gun dealers who sell weapons to criminals which include protests and a slate of lawsuits. 

Officials with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence on Friday said the campaign will also include a code of conduct it will urge gun dealers nationwide to sign. The first protest will be on Saturday in front of a gun store in the suburbs of Chicago, which has been plagued with gun violence in recent years.

The group's president, Dan Gross, said 60 percent of guns used in crimes in the United States are sold by just 1 percent of gun dealers, which will be the targets of the group's efforts.

“They are the bad apples ... who skirt the strong and effective background check laws, turn off video surveillance equipment (in gun shops), and falsify sales records all to cover their tracks and improve their bottom line,” Gross said during a telephone press conference from Chicago. 

I'm all for this, except I wouldn't use the term "bad apples."  That seems to imply they are a tiny minority. The true percentage of FFL gun sellers which takes shortcuts or actually breaks the law is probably about the same as the percentage of lawful gun owners who are really unfit and unqualified, and for the same reasons.

Portraits of Gun Violence: Michael Hampson

If you've noticed one thing about this series: it should be that the death of the child has led to the mother becoming involved in the movement to end gun violence.

That is very true about Mari Bailey whose son, Michael Hampson was shot and killed in 2004.  Her son may have passed, but Mari keeps his memory alive.

Michael was shot and killed by someone who he thought was a friend.

Michael was attending culinary school that night — he dreamed of becoming a chef — and he was supposed to be in school until 10:30 p.m., but the teacher dismissed the class 30 minutes early. Michael drove to a friend’s house.

There were seven people at the house, including his friend’s mom. The mom wanted to buy a new TV, so Michael volunteered to take her to Wal-Mart since he was the only one with a car. While she was getting ready, her son — he was also Michael’s friend — became angry.

No one knows what set him off, but he pulled a gun and pointed it at everyone in the house. Eventually, the shooter aimed the gun at Michael’s chest. He was about a foot away when he pulled the trigger. The bullet went through my son’s chest and became lodged in a kitchen cabinet. Michael collapsed, but he wasn’t dead.

Unfortunately, everyone in the house panicked and instead of calling 911, they made up a story and decided to hide the gun. It was then that they finally called 911. I have no idea how long it took them to come up with the story and hide the gun, but as they sat there trying to cover up what had happened, Michael lay there, on a dirty kitchen floor, bleeding from his chest and mouth.

When they finally called 911, the caller said, very nonchalantly, “My homeboy’s been shot. Someone broke into the house and shot him.” Because it was a crime scene, the paramedics were not allowed in to help Michael. The police had to secure the scene.

Michael was taken to the trauma ICU at St. Joseph’s hospital where he was placed on life support. 
On the fourth day, the doctors started doing brain activity tests on Michael. He was pronounced brain dead at 3:13 p.m. on August 21, 2004. I worked with the Donor Network of Arizona to donate all of Michael’s organs, tissue, bones, corneas, skin — everything viable was donated to help save or improve the lives of more than 75 people.

Mari had to try and make sense of Michael’s death. She researched how to prevent gun violence and came across the National Million Mom March website. Mari wanted to stop another family from experiencing what She had experienced. Mari started the Greater Phoenix Million Mom March chapter a year after Michael was killed.
Anyone who knows Mari knows that she misses her son very much:
I miss hearing Michael’s voice. I miss his laughter. I miss his hugs and I miss his blue eyes. I miss him more than anything.

It definitely does not get easier. Though it has become easier to keep my feelings bottled up so I can, somehow, cope, day-in and day-out, the pain never goes away. Some days, the pain is so unbearable, you feel like it will kill you. If you are lucky — with a lot of time and grief work — the pain will become more gentle and that’s the best you can ever hope for.