Dan Gross, Brady President on the Colorado Guns-on-Campus Ruling

Opposing Views reports

Dan Gross, president of the Brady Center, issued the following statement today on the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that the University of Colorado became limited in its authority to bar guns on campus after the Colorado legislature passed a statewide concealed carry law.

The ruling does not immediately overturn the University’s guns on campus ban, but allows Students for Concealed Carry to proceed with their claim against the University.

“This is a dangerous ruling. Lives have the potential to be lost as  a result. We urge parents, students, and faculty to demand that the University do all it can to keep guns off campus and prevail on their elected officials to reverse this ruling.  The University of Oregon has reinstated its gun ban despite a similar court ruling. The Brady Center will help the University of Colorado work to keep young people safe from guns. As last week's tragedy in Ohio reminded us all, nothing is more important."

St. Gabriel Possenti Patron Saint of Handgunners

via Joe.My.God from the gunsaint site.

The St. Gabriel Possenti Society promotes the public recognition of St. Gabriel Possenti, including his Vatican designation as Patron Saint of Handgunners.

St. Gabriel Possenti was a Catholic seminarian whose marksmanship and proficiency with handguns single-handedly saved the village of Isola, Italy from a band of 20 terrorists in 1860.

The Possenti Society offers a variety of materials related to St. Gabriel Possenti and a biblical understanding of self-defense.

The Savior of Isola

In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.

Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone.

Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the soldiers came running in Possenti's direction, determined to overcome the rebellious monk.

At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola".

Guns on Campus in Florida

Local news reports

A teacher fired from a private school in Florida on Tuesday returned to the campus with a gun hidden in a guitar case and shot the headmistress to death before committing suicide while school was in session.

This story, although just one example, illustrates why allowing guns on campuses is a bad idea.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Gun 101

Matthew Bayan has some interesting observations about mystery writers. via Mulholland Books

Unless one has hands-on experience with firearms, it’s easy to make mistakes. At a mystery writers’ workshop, I asked the audience how many had used firearms in their mysteries or thrillers. Almost every hand went up. I then asked how many had ever shot a firearm. Less than half the hands went up. If we’re going to write in these genres, let’s know a little about the weapons our characters use.

And some good advice:

And try going to a pistol range for some hands-on experience.

What's your opinion? Don't you hate it when a movie or book makes obvious mistakes in the portrayal of guns? I don't mind too much when the hero has a seemingly inexhaustable magazine, but things like the continual racking of the slide bother me. What about you? What about the hero shaking off a bullet or two and continuing the fight? Do you find that unrealistic?

Please leave a comment.

Jon Stewart on The Kony Video

I often feel one could get all the news from Jon Stewart and be better off in the end.

James Madison on Federal vs. States Rights

via Radamisto

[T]he so-called "constitutional conservatives" insist upon States Rights as they claim the Founders understood them.  We can't speak for all or even a majority of the Founders but we do know that James Madison, during the debates on the Constitution during the framing convention in Philadelphia, could envision the individual states simple disappearing:

Were it practicable for the general government to extend its care to every requisite object without the coöperation of the state governments, the people would not be less free, as members of one great republic, than as members of thirteen small ones. A citizen of Delaware was not more free than a citizen of Virginia; nor would either be more free than a citizen of America. Supposing, therefore, a tendency in the general government to absorb the state governments, no fatal consequence could result.

Date: Thursday, June 21, 1787

This passage was brought to my attention by Irving Brant's wonderful biography of Madison, The Fourth President: A Life of James Madison (1970), page 162. This is an abridgement of Brant's monumental 6 volume biography.
I guess that means that Madison might have agreed with federal gun control laws that are binding on all the states.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Florida Neighborhood Watch Captain Kills Unarmed Teen

Raw Story reports

The parents of Florida teen are demanding that a neighborhood watch captain be arrested after their 17-year-old son was gunned down in February, possibly because his bag of Skittles was mistaken for a weapon.

The Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman had called police to report Trayvon Martin as a suspicious person, but by the time the police arrived the young man was already dead.

Neighborhood watch guys, like many concealed carry guys, are inadequately trained and unfit to manage their guns responsibly. When that's combined with the vigilante mentality, people get hurt or dead.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.