Cars vs. Guns

Inspired by Farago's recent post pushing the famous false nonsense of how much more dangerous cars are than guns, I wrote the following summary of the situation.

All right here's the deal with car comparisons.  Cars kill 40,000 a year even though they have licensing of drivers, registration of cars and insurance requirements.  Without those restrictions the death toll would be 100,000.

Guns kill 30,000 a year and do not have licensing of gun owners, registration of guns and insurance requirements.  If guns and gun owners enjoyed the same restriction as cars, the death toll would be 5,000 a year.

100,000 for cars, 5,000 for guns. That's more or less what we're looking at.

What do you think, make sense?

Cenk's Take on the "Stand Your Ground" Law

via Fuck Conservatives

Indiana's Cop-Killing Law

via Mad Mike's America

The new law reverses a state Supreme Court ruling that homeowners do not have the right to use force against law enforcement officials who they believe are illegally entering their homes. According to the Evansville Courier Press, an Evansville resident fought a police officer who followed him into his house during a domestic dispute call. “The state Supreme Court found that officers sometimes enter homes without warrants for reasons protected by the law, such as pursuing suspects or preventing the destruction of evidence. In these situations, we find it unwise to allow a homeowner to adjudge the legality of police conduct in the heat of the moment,” the court said. “As we decline to recognize a right to resist unlawful police entry into a home, we decline to recognize a right to batter a police officer as a part of that resistance.”

But Governor Daniels is merely attempting to put political spin on a bad bill. Indeed, Daniels admits that he nearly vetoed it precisely because the bill could be grossly misinterpreted and could lead to killings of police and citizens. This law is basically a loophole for citizens to kill police officers and claim self-defense. There are many people out there who think no police officers have the right to enter homes or property, even if there is a warrant.

What do you think? Should the governor have gone with his first instinct and vetoed it? Do you think the instances of police entering one's home with the intention of committing murder are sufficient to warrant this nonsense? Do you think this law will lead to the kinds of things we've had with the "stand your ground" laws, unnecessary killings and people getting away with murder?

Please leave a comment.

Gun Control - Alien Style

via NotionsCapital

from the classic film, The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Montana Gun Owner Arrested at Airport with Several Guns

USA Today reports

Harold Waller, 45, was arrested Thursday afternoon after Transportation Security Administration officials found a gun in one of his carry-on bags, said Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos.

When TSA screeners conducted a more thorough check, they found Waller was carrying a loaded gun, and had two other semi-automatic weapons packed in his carry-on bags, Ramos said.

After Waller was arrested, deputies searched his car and said they found eight more guns, some of which were loaded.

Waller, from Circle, Mont., was trying to board a US Airways flight to Phoenix.

Now, what could the pro-gun crowd possibly use to excuse this guy? Did he just forget? No, that doesn't seem likely. Was he worried about his safety in the Phoenix area and simply wanted to exercise his 2nd Amendment rights? Did he think the TSA was so busy frisking little kids and disabled old ladies that he'd get through?

No, nothing seems to explain why this lawful gun owner did what he did. I wonder if he had a concealed carry permit. I guess he could have, so many gun owners do these days.

I suppose some of the real gun-rights extremists long for the day when no checks were made and if a guy like Waller got on a plane armed to the teeth, at least they'd have a gun or two to protect themselves and others. Does that attitude make sense to you?

I'll go out on a limb here and tell you what I think, in spite of my inability to read the guy's mind. He had bad intentions and the TSA did a splendid job disarming and arresting him.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting of Idaho Man - No Charges

Local News reports

One man is in the hospital after a shooting Saturday afternoon.

The victim, a 27-old-male, was taken to St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center where he was stabilized. He was then flown to St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise.

Practically no details, no information released by the police, and especially, no charges expected.

In Idaho, that's just the way things go.

Gun Flow Explained

via The Stamford Advocate

But it is the incredibly permissive gun laws in this country that put those guns there. It is the incredibly permissive gun laws in this country that allow millions of new guns to be purchased in the United States each year. And it is the incredibly permissive gun laws in this country that abet the illegal flow of many of those guns into American cities that do not want them, that are trying to keep them out.

It is the legal gun trade that supplies the illegal gun trade. Until we place some sensible limits on the first, ones in keeping with the spirit of a "well regulated militia," we will never begin to get a handle on the second. And law-abiding citizens' best defense against bullets flying into their homes and into their bodies will continue to be sheer luck.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.