Doctor Shoots Armed Patient in Philly Hospital Gun Free Zone

Richard Plotts

CSM

A mental-health caseworker is dead and a doctor and his patient wounded after a bizarre gunfight at a gun-free-zoned hospital in Yeadon, Pa., near Philadelphia, Thursday. As police prepare murder charges against the wounded patient, focus is shifting to the gun-toting psychiatrist who stopped the mayhem, likely saving other lives.

Prosecutors say Dr. Lee Silverman opened fire on Richard Plotts, after Mr. Plotts shot his caseworker and barged his way toward Dr. Silverman’s office desk after gaining access to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital. Silverman crouched down behind his desk and fetched his gun, which he then fired at Mr. Plotts, wounding him several times before he was subdued.

In the gunfight, Silverman was grazed in the temple by a bullet. The caseworker allegedly shot by Plotts, Theresa Hunt, died from her wounds, police said. She was transporting Plotts to the hospital for treatment. One of Silverman’s colleagues told the Monitor Friday that he was “surprised” that the Mercy Fitzgerald psychiatrist was armed.

Thomas Hobbes and the Twisted Genius of Open Carry

An interesting blog post that ties together a bunch of things I've mentioned here:

Open Carry is a stalking horse for a kind of DIY Governance whose goal is to systematically erode and ultimately destroy public trust in government — to return America to what the conservative movement imagines is its “pure,” pre-federal government state of nature

When the Founders looked for inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, they found it in the works of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and the Baron de Montesquieu — the so-called “Social Contract” theorists. These men argued that humans existed in a State of Nature where every man was his own judge and jury and where, therefore, little good was ever accomplished.  It was stable government — or, as they called it, “Commonwealth” — that provided the basis for economic, political, or social progress.

What the gun nuts and Second Amendment absolutists are determined to do, in alliance with the Tenth Amendment fetishists, is to fundamentally undermine America’s social contract and the government upon which it depends – devolution to Hobbes’ description of life without government, a “war of all against all:”

…a time or war where every man is enemy to every man…wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Which is just the way the Gun Lobby likes it. Because nothing pumps up gun sales like continual fear and danger of violent death.

The whole thing is well worth a read

Quote of the Day--Who said it????

“I don’t know why any individual should have a right to have a revolver in his house, The kids usually kill themselves with it and so forth....why “can’t we go after handguns, period?”
“I know the rifle association will be against it, the gun makers will be against it.” But “people should not have handguns.”

Who said that?  Was it:

1. Barack Obama
2. Joe Biden
3. Richard M. Nixon
4. Al Gore

The Poorest Counties in the US Are All Rich in Guns

Man with a Muckrake

No surprise there. Red state legislators seem to be happy to keep their people poor and ignorant. That way the legislators can keep their cushy jobs election after election.

Texas, 17; Kentucky, 16; Mississippi, 14; South Dakota, 10; Louisiana, 5; Alabama, 4; Georgia, 4; Montana, 4; New Mexico, 4; North Dakota, 3; Arizona, 2; Idaho, 2; Nebraska, 2; Tennessee, 2; West Virginia, 2; Alaska, 1; Arkansas, 1; Colorado, 1; Florida, 1; Missouri, 1; Oklahoma, 1; South Carolina, 1; Utah, 1; Wisconsin, 1.

The almost perfect overlap with gun availability and loose gun laws is unmistakable.

Montana Man Charged with Shooting His Girlfriend Accidentally

 
Christopher Ryan Gross


Local news reports

A man arrested on suspicion of accidentally shooting his girlfriend in the chin made an initial court appearance Thursday on a charge of criminal endangerment.

Yellowstone County sheriff’s deputies arrested 27-year-old Christopher Ryan Gross Wednesday night after responding to a call in Lockwood of an accidental shooting, according to Sheriff Mike Linder.

He later told the deputy he is a disabled veteran and was very upset at the government. Gross went on to say that he called a local television station to talk about his experience in the military and, in order to make a statement to his girlfriend, grabbed a handgun from the kitchen, according to charging documents.

He didn't check to see if the gun was loaded, and while sitting on a couch and swinging the gun up and down, it went off with a round hitting his girlfriend, the affidavit states.

A preliminary breath test also revealed that Gross had a blood-alcohol level of 0.220 percent, according to charging documents.

Idaho 5-Year-old Dead - Lengthy Investigation Continues - So Far No One Responsible - It Was Just a Tragic Accident

Local news reports

"No animosity?"  What's wrong with these people?  How can there be no animosity, no outrage? They must be fanatical 2nd Amendment Believers themselves. Imagine your belief in guns everywhere being so important that you're capable of accepting the unnecessary and preventable death of your own kid.

The owner of the gun which the other 5-year-old used to kill little Noelle should already be in the slammer. 

Chicago Sings The Delta Blues As Guns Flow North

Local news reports