A Statistical Certainty - Packing More Heat Will Result in More Killings

Huffington Post

Only one thing is predictable with statistical certainty. If there are more guns in the schools, streets, offices, military bases, and homes. more of them will be fired and more people will be killed.

If we arm all the teachers and security guards, the most likely school mass murderers will be teachers or guards who flip out and turn their guns in the wrong direction.This is not a case where we can fight fire with more fire.

What does our favorite math guru have to say about that, I wonder? It seems pretty simple and straightforward to me.

Oklahoma Pro-gun Lawmaker Admits to Accidental Shooting at Hunting Reserve

State Rep. Steve Vaughan

News OK

A state representative who has authored pro-gun legislation is taking the blame for the accidental shooting of a hunter a month ago in northern Oklahoma.

“I just felt horrible about it. I just was sick,” said Rep. Steve Vaughan, who was shooting at a pheasant with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Another hunter, Drew Ihrig, was hit in the side of the head by a single shotgun pellet about the size of a BB.

“I was shot but it was a minor injury. I’m fine. It’s no big deal,” said Ihrig, an attorney with offices in Bartlesville and Blackwell. “This was a pure accident. It could have happened to anybody on any given day. I hold no ill will at all.”

The pheasant hunt was at the Bluestem Hunting Reserve north of Perry.

“We’ve been doing this for 15 years. We’ve had over 4,000 people come through. First time anybody has been injured,” the reserve owner said.

Vaughan, R-Ponca City, was elected in 2010. He is 55.

The conservative lawmaker authored legislation in 2011 patterned after Oklahoma’s Make My Day law. The legislation expanded the right to business owners, managers and employees to use deadly force when they have a reasonable fear they face death or great bodily harm.

He also was the House author in 2011 of legislation that created an official annual “Second Amendment Day” in Oklahoma. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of the people to keep and bear arms.

Even though the victim of the negligence said it was no big deal, it was. Anytime a gun owner violates the safety rules and someone is injured, that gun owner should be held accountable. It doesn't matter if the injury is single shotgun pellet in the face or the loss of life; the negligent behavior is the same and should be taken very seriously.

Of course, the irresponsible gun handling was not the only offense.  So-called hunters who go to reserves to shoot animals are the lowest of the low. That's not hunting at all.

Malloy Issues ACA Challenge to NRA

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy

CT Post

Commemorating Connecticut's first anniversary of tougher gun laws, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy didn't mince words on Thursday, loudly challenging the National Rifle Association to support the federal Affordable Care Act and help expand opportunities for mental-health treatment.

Speaking in the same spot in an ornate Capitol meeting room where on April 4 of last year he signed gun restrictions in response to the Newtown School massacre, Malloy said that while the NRA professes to support enhanced mental-health opportunities, in reality it doesn't.

"There are those who will say this is not a gun problem, it's a mental-health problem, and today I want to challenge that," he said. "If it's a mental-health problem, NRA, why aren't you advocating for the ACA? Why aren't you criticizing governors who will not allow Medicaid to be delivered to their citizens, with its mental-health component? NRA, if you're serious about making America safer, you would join Connecticut, as we have had one of the most successful rollouts of the ACA, bringing mental-health treatment to tens of thousands of people who might not otherwise have it."

This very interesting article brings up a real problem.  When gun-rights extremism meets racist Obama-hate, things get bogged down. This is a perfect example.

Colonel Jack Jacobs vs. Professor John Lott

I must admit, John Lott came off better than the Colonel.

Jack Jacobs was indeed guilty of hyperbole.  No one is talking about arming everyone on base or even every soldier. I'm afraid the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient took a winning argument and blew it.

The point is very simple.  Arming people on military bases would increase the incidents of this type. And John Lott's suggestion that the shooter took advantage of the gun-free zone is false.  This guy Ivan Lopez, like so many of them, went to the place of his grievance, unconcerned with the gun-free status of that place. Reports have been coming out that he'd been arguing with someone prior to the shooting.

Bumbling Florida Gun Owner Forgets There's One in the Chamber and Shoots Himself in the Hand - No Charges

Local news reports

An accidental shooting sent a Bradenton man to the hospital Wednesday for treatment of a self-inflicted wound.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office reported a 49-year-old man living in the 4500 block of Dover Street Circle East was home alone at 4:30 p.m. replacing the grip of his pistol when he accidentally pulled the trigger and shot himself on the hand.

The victim was treated at a local hospital and released, according to the news release.

mber
Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/04/02/5082437/bradenton-man-shot-in-hand-during.html#storylink=cpy

Nassau County Policeman Nikolas Budimlic Won't Face Charges in Fatal Shooting of Andrea Rebello

Andrea Rebello

Chicago Tribune

A police officer who accidentally shot dead a student at a suburban New York university, while responding to an armed robbery at her apartment, has been cleared of all wrongdoing, authorities said.

Nassau County policeman Nikolas Budimlic was justified in shooting at an armed robber who was using Hofstra University student Andrea Rebello as a shield, a report by the county district attorney said on Wednesday.

The fact that Budimlic accidentally shot and killed Rebello, 21, did not change his justification, the report found.

"While her death is tragic, the law regarding justification is clear: A justification defense is applicable to any use of force, even if that use has unintended consequences," the report said.

Police headed to the apartment in Uniondale, east of New York City, early on May 17, 2013, after getting a call about an armed robber holding people hostage. When they arrived, suspected robber Dalton Smith, 30, grabbed Rebello in a headlock to shield his body while pointing a 9mm gun at her head.

"Smith ignored numerous commands shouted by Officer Budimlic for Smith to drop his weapon," the report said. "Smith, alternately pointing his gun at Andrea Rebello and Officer Budimlic, threatened to kill both of them."

For a moment during the tense standoff, Smith lost his balance and loosened his grip on Rebello when she turned her body away from him. When Smith wobbled, Budimlic fired eight rounds at him. Seven bullets hit Smith, but one struck Rebello in the head.

Rebello was transported to the Nassau University Medical Center, where she died.

Bob Costa's bet.

We may not agree on what is football, but this man is pretty bang on when it comes to the issue of gun control. 

He has issued the following challenge to those who advocate a "pro-gun" position:

“Here’s what I would say to anybody who any time they hear the word guns automatically goes off, like, ‘Oh, they’re going to repeal the Second Amendment,’” Costas said. “Let’s make a bet, you and me. Let’s say over the next five years we’ll do a Google search. We’ll have an independent party monitor it. You keep track of how many good and constructive things are associated with athletes having a gun, and I’ll keep track of all the tragedies and criminality and folly. And let’s see who comes out ahead or behind as the case may be.”

Costas can name incidents where sports personalities have demonstrated a less than responsible attitude toward firearms.

And, as a prior post I did pointed out, positive uses of guns are newsworthy, but rare.

Face it: the truth is against you.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/bob-costas-gun-control-105339.htm