Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
10 Hollywood Gun Slingers Who Hate Guns
Matt Damon may seem comfortable with a gun on set, but the star of the Bourne series says that he actually hates guns because they freak him out (photo from ksl.com).
The Daily Caller with slide show.
Famous funnyman Jim Carrey went on a Twitter rant Sunday against his upcoming ultra-violent, superhero flick “Kick-Ass 2.”
“I did Kick-Ass 2 a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” Carrey tweeted. ”My apologies to others involve[d] with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
Though Carrey is not particularly known for his violent movie roles, Hollywood is full of actors who have publicly decried gun ownership and yet continue to act in films with guns galore.
There's nothing Jim Carrey can say that will endear him to the gun nuts, not after that video he produced. I suppose his presentation of all the traditional jokes and stereotypes hit too close to home for many. I don't think a single pro-gun person admitted it was pretty funny.
But what do they think about his "change of heart?" That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
On the other hand, aren't the pro-gun, pro-rights folks among the most vocal about the 1st Amendment rights of movie-makers to portray violence without in any way being responsible for real-life violence? Aren't the gun-rights folks the ones who keep saying there is no shared responsibility, that only those who commit violence are responsible for their actions?
Why then do they make such a big deal out of this, even calling actors hypocrites for supporting gun control? First they say, movies don't cause people to act violently, then they denounce actors as hypecrites for disagreeing with their politics. I think that makes them hypocrites.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
One word about Jason Bourne. In those wonderful films, the Matt Damon character often avoided using a gun. Being the CIA's "$30 million dollar killing machine," he was able to inflict incredible violence with his bare hands. Wouldn't that spare him of the hypocrite label?
Please leave a comment.
George Zimmerman Trial - Day 3
Yahoo News reports
Lawyers prosecuting the Trayvon Martin shooting case will have an opportunity to sketch a portrait of defendant George Zimmerman, now that the trial judge has decided the jury can hear five of Mr. Zimmerman's nonemergency 911 calls to police. The calls could help shape jurors' impressions of Zimmerman, who is on trial in Florida for second-degree murder, as either a seething vigilante or a stand-up community organizer.
The judge has previously ruled that the jury won’t be able to consider social media interactions by Trayvon that describe pot-smoking, guns, and a fascination with martial arts fighting. The defense had said that, similarly, the 911 recordings of Zimmerman are immaterial because they don’t pertain to the moments before Trayvon was shot.
But prosecutors say the 911 calls show what they characterize as Zimmerman’s zealous, angry mind-set and “ill will.” The calls “show the context in which [Zimmerman] sought out his encounter with Trayvon Martin,” prosecutor Richard Mantel told the judge before her ruling.
I can just hear all the pro-gun Zimmerman-defenders whining about how unfair it is to consider Zimmerman's past and not Martin's.
The difference is obvious, except to the extremely biased. As the judge ruled, the 911 tapes will show the mentality of the neighborhood watchman immediately prior to the killing. Martin's alleged pot smoking has nothing to do with it.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
North Carolina Man Charged with Manslaughter in Accidental Shooting
Local news reports
Brandon Leigh Switzer, 22, of East Union Street, told police his thumb slipped off the hammer on his 9mm handgun that discharged a round striking Zachary Williams, 23, in the head inside 32 N. Sherman St. just before 4 p.m.
Williams was pronounced dead at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township.
City police and Luzerne County detectives charged Switzer with the manslaughter charge Tuesday night. Switzer was arraigned by District Judge Rick Cronauer and released after posting $250,000 bail.
Switzer told police in a statement that Williams asked to see his .9mm handgun. Switzer ejected the magazine and began to hand it to Williams when he realized he had chambered a round, according to the criminal complaint.
Williams grabbed the firearm’s muzzle when Switzer said his thumb slipped off the hammer, causing it to discharge a round that struck Williams in the head, the complaint says.
Brandon Leigh Switzer, 22, of East Union Street, told police his thumb slipped off the hammer on his 9mm handgun that discharged a round striking Zachary Williams, 23, in the head inside 32 N. Sherman St. just before 4 p.m.
Williams was pronounced dead at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township.
City police and Luzerne County detectives charged Switzer with the manslaughter charge Tuesday night. Switzer was arraigned by District Judge Rick Cronauer and released after posting $250,000 bail.
Switzer told police in a statement that Williams asked to see his .9mm handgun. Switzer ejected the magazine and began to hand it to Williams when he realized he had chambered a round, according to the criminal complaint.
Williams grabbed the firearm’s muzzle when Switzer said his thumb slipped off the hammer, causing it to discharge a round that struck Williams in the head, the complaint says.
Another Maine Cop has a Negligent Discharge
Local news reports
The city's new police chief was cleaning his newly issued weapon Monday afternoon and apparently shot himself in the hand, according to a press release issued by a city official Tuesday.
Chief Mark Hathaway, a 25-year veteran officer who was selected as the city's chief in April, and other officers had just returned from training with their new guns in Brewer when the shooting took place.
A Maine State Police lieutenant accidentally discharged his weapon in February at a staff meeting, when he shifted in his seat and his holstered weapon went off. An investigation concluded in May by a division of the Maine State Police was unable to determine why his firearm accidentally discharged during the computer training session.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Las Vegas Murders Up 50% from Last Year
Huffington Post
The city's homicide rate for the first quarter of this year is up 50 percent from the same period in 2012 In February, for example, a fatal shooting on the Strip only a couple of blocks from our hotel led to a car crash that also killed a cab driver and his passenger, for a total of three deaths, and just two weeks before we arrived, two died and two were injured in a gun-related, double murder-attempted suicide.
The Vegas police department has above average success arresting the perpetrators -- 75 percent against the national rate of 65 percent -- but oddly, as columnist J. Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sun reports, "In nonlethal shootings, when the victim survives, the criminal is more than 90 percent likely to get away with the crime... In 2012, for instance, there were 313 nonlethal assaults with firearms. Just 20 of the cases led to an arrest."
And the day before we arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada's Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed a bill authorizing universal background checks for gun purchases in the state. According to the website ThinkProgress,"The bill, passed by Nevada's Democratically controlled state legislature, would have required a background check prior to all gun sales and would have increased reporting of mental illness data. The National Rifle Association's lobbying arm called the proposal 'misguided gun control legislation being forced on law-abiding citizens of Nevada.'"
In fact, an April poll found that 87 percent of Nevada voters favored the background check, but "Sandoval said his decision was in part due to the loud voices of that small minority that does not believe criminal background checks should be required prior to gun purchases. He told a local TV station that he'd received 28,000 calls from opponents, and only about 7,000 from supporters."
There's the real power of the NRA and the gun lobby for you. Not just the money they throw at media buys and at officeholders and candidates -- in fact, last year only three of the sixteen U.S. Senate candidates endorsed by the NRA won. No, it's the sheer stridency and lungpower of their opposition to any perceived threat to gun ownership.
The city's homicide rate for the first quarter of this year is up 50 percent from the same period in 2012 In February, for example, a fatal shooting on the Strip only a couple of blocks from our hotel led to a car crash that also killed a cab driver and his passenger, for a total of three deaths, and just two weeks before we arrived, two died and two were injured in a gun-related, double murder-attempted suicide.
The Vegas police department has above average success arresting the perpetrators -- 75 percent against the national rate of 65 percent -- but oddly, as columnist J. Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sun reports, "In nonlethal shootings, when the victim survives, the criminal is more than 90 percent likely to get away with the crime... In 2012, for instance, there were 313 nonlethal assaults with firearms. Just 20 of the cases led to an arrest."
And the day before we arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada's Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed a bill authorizing universal background checks for gun purchases in the state. According to the website ThinkProgress,"The bill, passed by Nevada's Democratically controlled state legislature, would have required a background check prior to all gun sales and would have increased reporting of mental illness data. The National Rifle Association's lobbying arm called the proposal 'misguided gun control legislation being forced on law-abiding citizens of Nevada.'"
In fact, an April poll found that 87 percent of Nevada voters favored the background check, but "Sandoval said his decision was in part due to the loud voices of that small minority that does not believe criminal background checks should be required prior to gun purchases. He told a local TV station that he'd received 28,000 calls from opponents, and only about 7,000 from supporters."
There's the real power of the NRA and the gun lobby for you. Not just the money they throw at media buys and at officeholders and candidates -- in fact, last year only three of the sixteen U.S. Senate candidates endorsed by the NRA won. No, it's the sheer stridency and lungpower of their opposition to any perceived threat to gun ownership.
NRA Clashes with Other Gun Groups over Florida Mental Health Gun Bill
Guns.com
It’s not very often that one witnesses infighting within the gun community, but the National Rifle Association is embroiled in a battle with fellow pro-gun organizations, the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) and Gun Owners of America (GOA), over a controversial Florida Bill – House Bill 1355 — that would prohibit individuals who voluntarily seek mental health treatment upon being deemed a ‘threat to themselves or others’ from purchasing a firearm.
Under current law, only people who are involuntarily committed are banned from buying a gun, those who willingly seek treatment after being detained as part of the state’s Baker Act – which allows judges, law enforcement, physicians and mental health professionals to call for the involuntary examination of an individual — can still purchase a firearm.
Critics of HB 1355 argue that the bill skirts due process and has the potential to erode the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
In response to this grassroots activism in opposition to this NRA-backed bill, Marion Hammer, the NRA’s point person in the Sunshine State, has lashed out against GOA and NAGR and gone to great lengths to educate gun owners about the bill in an attempt to refute what she called “patently false” criticism and information.
“These are not organizations that are here on the ground, working the issue,” said Hammer in an interview with the Miami Herald. “They are full of disinformation designed to inflame and upset people and help them raise money.”
Hammer rejected the notion that the bill poses a risk to responsible gun owners.
It’s not very often that one witnesses infighting within the gun community, but the National Rifle Association is embroiled in a battle with fellow pro-gun organizations, the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) and Gun Owners of America (GOA), over a controversial Florida Bill – House Bill 1355 — that would prohibit individuals who voluntarily seek mental health treatment upon being deemed a ‘threat to themselves or others’ from purchasing a firearm.
Under current law, only people who are involuntarily committed are banned from buying a gun, those who willingly seek treatment after being detained as part of the state’s Baker Act – which allows judges, law enforcement, physicians and mental health professionals to call for the involuntary examination of an individual — can still purchase a firearm.
Critics of HB 1355 argue that the bill skirts due process and has the potential to erode the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
In response to this grassroots activism in opposition to this NRA-backed bill, Marion Hammer, the NRA’s point person in the Sunshine State, has lashed out against GOA and NAGR and gone to great lengths to educate gun owners about the bill in an attempt to refute what she called “patently false” criticism and information.
“These are not organizations that are here on the ground, working the issue,” said Hammer in an interview with the Miami Herald. “They are full of disinformation designed to inflame and upset people and help them raise money.”
Hammer rejected the notion that the bill poses a risk to responsible gun owners.
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