Questions for people like Judge Andrew Napolitano who say the Second Amendment means that people can assassinate tyrannical politicians

Questions for people like Judge Andrew Napolitano who say the Second Amendment means that people can assassinate tyrannical politicians:

"Then, was John Wilkes Booth within his right to have assassinated Lincoln given that he said "sic semper tyrannus"? In other words, Lincoln was a tyrant in Booth's opinion--was that legal justification enough to have placed the Assassination within his Second Amendment right?

Furthermore, does that make assassination a part of the Second Amendment right? So that when anyone believes a politician to be a "tyrant", they are justified in assassinating them?

How does that fit into a scheme of establishing justice as well as promoting domestic tranquility and the general Welfare?"

The Lynching Map

Slate

(click to enlarge)   This map, compiled using data gathered by the Tuskegee Institute, represents the geographic distribution of lynchings during some of the years when the crime was most widespread in the United States. Tuskegee began keeping lynching records under the direction of Booker T. Washington, who was the institute's founding leader. In 1959, Tuskegee defined its parameters for pronouncing a murder a “lynching”: “There must be legal evidence that a person was killed. That person must have met death illegally. A group of three or more persons must have participated in the killing. The group must have acted under the pretext of service to justice, race or tradition.” In 1900-1931, Georgia led the lynching tally, with Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas rounding out the top seven worst offenders.

Although I'm feeling a bit better about Tennessee since they revoked James Yeager's carry permit, I hold onto my natural prejudice against some of the other Southern havens of enlightenment.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Tennessee Revokes James Yeager's Carry Permit

Local news reports via democommie

Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has suspended the handgun carry permit of a local man who threatened to "start killing people" to protect his Second Amendment right. 

In a statement released Friday officials said they had suspended the handgun carry permit of James Yeager, CEO of Tactical Response based on "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public".

On Thursday, a video of Yeager angrily claiming he would "start killing people" if President Barack Obama moved forward with gun control measures began to go viral on the internet. 

"The number one priority for our department is to ensure the public's safety. Mr. Yeager's comments were irresponsible, dangerous, and deserved our immediate attention. Due to our concern, as well as that of law enforcement, his handgun permit was suspended immediately. We have notified Mr. Yeager about the suspension today via e-mail. He will receive an official notification of his suspension through the mail," Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.

Maybe I'm gonna just have to rethink my less than positive opinion of the Great State of Tennessee.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

James Yeager - True Patriot

Digital Journal

Now They Want to Try Diane Feinstein for Treason

From the Trenches World Report

A petition to try California Senator Dianne Feinstein for treason as a response to her efforts to pass draconian gun control legislation has surpassed the required number of signatures that now mandates a White House response.

The petition, which was filed with the We The People website on December 27, has already obtained over 29,000 signatures weeks before the deadline of January 26.

“Senator Dianne Feinstein has made it clear she does not believe in the Constitution or the inalienable rights of Americans to keep and bear arms. She is actively working to destroy the 2nd amendment with her 2013 assault weapons ban. For this reason we the people of the United States petition for her to be tried in Federal Court for treason to the Constitution,” states the petition.

Are these guys a riot, or what?

The Pendulum is Swinging Towards Gun Control

Politico

A powerful anti-illegal-guns group has attracted more than 400,000 new members since the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn., a spokeswoman told POLITICO Thursday, swinging back several hours after the National Rifle Association also claimed big membership gains.

“Since Newtown we’ve had more than 400k people join Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” said Erika Soto Lamb, the communications director for the organization, in an email. “Our Demand A Plan petition now has more than 900,000 petition signers.”

Lawful 78-Year-old Gun Owner Acting Badly

Local  news reports

A 78-year-old Decatur man was arrested for allegedly shooting through a window at a state child welfare employee while she was at home because he was upset that she didn’t remove a child from a neighbor’s home.

James E. Hilliard was arrested Wednesday (Jan. 9) on preliminary charges that include aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and criminal damage to property. He is being held in the Macon County Jail on $250,000 bond, pending his arraignment.

Hilliard allegedly followed the Department of Children and Family Services caseworker from the home of his neighbor in the 900 block of East Main Street after the worker visited the home and did not remove the child.

When the caseworker left the child’s home to return to her own home, Hilliard followed in his car.

The mother of the child, who was acquainted with Hilliard and had received an unwanted marriage proposal from him, told police she saw Hilliard following the caseworker in his car. She told police Hilliard had told her he owned two firearms.

According to police, while the caseworker and her husband were at home, Hilliard “fired one round from a small-caliber firearm from his vehicle, which was on the public street as he drove in front of (the caseworker’s) residence. "

I'm tired of being told that the vast majority of gun owners is responsible. I'm also tired of being accused of painting with too broad a brush when I point out that SOME gun owners are not safe and responsible.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Jack-Booted Thugs

Every true freedom-loving, second-amendment-supporting, patriotic American gun owner's worst nightmare.

The Ridiculous Hitler Comparisons

Salon

This week, people were shocked when the Drudge Report posted a giant picture of Hitler over a headline speculating that the White House will proceed with executive orders to limit access to firearms. The proposed orders are exceedingly tame, but Drudge’s reaction is actually a common conservative response to any invocation of gun control.

Unfortunately for LaPierre et al., the notion that Hitler confiscated everyone’s guns is mostly bogus. And the ancillary claim that Jews could have stopped the Holocaust with more guns doesn’t make any sense at all if you think about it for more than a minute.

Proponents of the theory sometimes point to the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as evidence that, as Fox News’ Judge Andrew Napolitano put it, “those able to hold onto their arms and their basic right to self-defense were much more successful in resisting the Nazi genocide.” But as the Tablet’s Michael Moynihan points out, Napolitano’s history (curiously based on a citation of work by French Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson) is a bit off. In reality, only about 20 Germans were killed, while some 13,000 Jews were massacred. The remaining 50,000 who survived were promptly sent off to concentration camps.

Is the Slippery Slope Argument Valid?

Washington DC - -(Ammoland.com)- During his State of the State speech on Jan. 9, Gov. Andrew Cuomo went beyond demonizing 30 round magazines. He said he doesn’t see why anyone needs 10 rounds.
Just think: it hasn’t even been a full month since the crime at Sandy Hook Elementary, yet some prominent liberals – like Cuomo – have already moved from banning 30 round magazines to banning 10 round mags (and the guns that use them) as well.
He approached it this way:  ”No one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer and too many people have died already.”
This is incredible. Cuomo is making an argument for banning guns and magazines that hold 10 rounds “because too many have died already.” Yet NYC, the biggest population center in his state — in the country for that matter — is recording the lowest homicide and shooting rate in 50 years.

Here’s the problem — the slope IS SLIPPERY.

Once they ban 30 rounds magazines, they will only be satisfied until a crime is committed with a 10 or even a 5 round magazine, then they’ll want to ban them too.
Soon, thereafter, someone like Cuomo will stand up with a straight face and tell us why we don’t need anything that holds more than one shot.

I'm not sure about the slippery slope argument, they may have a point. But the continual reference to crime going down is definitely bogus.

If they mean it proves that more guns equals less crime, they're wrong because of the correlation - causation thing.  If they mean since crime is down we don't need to do anything to lower it even more, they're just plain wrong in that self-serving gun-owner way.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

The NRA is Under Siege

 Man With a Muck Rake

It must be terribly troubling these days to be a government conspiracy theorist- sleepless nights, worrisome days- wondering when that dreaded knock on the door will come or when the sound of those black helicopters will be heard overhead! “The government is coming to take my gun away!”

After the shooting at Sandy Hook, the general public, often asleep, has stirred and has begun to demand a stop to the wanton wholesaling of military assaultweapons on our streets and in our neighborhood. The NRA is nervous because finally The People are not backing. You can hear fear in their inane rhetoric. The once-impenetrable fortress is under siege.

An interesting discussion ensued in the comment section including this video as proof of the craziness.


What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Message from Ladd Everitt

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

"The era of no accountability is over."

That's what I told Rachel Maddow last night when interviewed on her show.  Politicians who shill for the NRA, disrespect victims and survivors of gun violence, and put our families in harm's way will now have to answer to us.

During the segment, Rachel Maddow highlighted hard-hitting ads the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) ran this week criticizing Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) for calling the White House's efforts to reform our gun laws "extreme."  The ads were signed by four parents who lost their children in mass shootings and focused on three simple words, "SHAME ON YOU." Americans were urged to call Senator Heitkamp's office to express their disgust over her remarks. And they did just that.

Almost immediately after the ads started running, Heitkamp completely changed her position, declaring, "We have a responsibility to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill."

The political landscape on the gun issue is changing. As Maddow told her audience last night, supporters of gun laws have never been so "organized and ambitious." Our message is clear:  If you put our loved ones in the line of fire, you will confront an energized grassroots base that will overwhelm you with phone calls, emails and face-to-face contacts.

Let's the keep the heat on. Call your Members of Congress at (202) 224-3121 and tell them you want to see immediate action to strengthen our gun laws.

I believe we are headed to a brighter day, a more peaceful America. And I thank you for working with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence to bring us there.

Ladd Everitt

Director of Communications

Captain Beefheart Festival 2012 - 2013 - The 26th Night of the Living Van Vliet

Willie the Pimp from the incredible Frank Zappa album called Hot Rats.

Captain Beefheart on vocals; Frank Zappa on lead guitar.


Here's the explanation of the origin and the dates.

Thanks to Microdot for the title of the Festival.

Larry Ward, NRA Shill, Is Not Very Bright

Larry Ward runs a DC-based rightwing marketing group.  Among other things, he's organizing "Gun Appreciation Day" which gives you a hint that he's not the brightest bulb out there.  Another hint that his IQ may not reach room temperatures is that he's a self-described protege of Dick Morris.

Anyway, the NRA has hired this not-so-bright shill-for-hire.  Ward immediately demonstrated his acumen for failure by arguing on a CNN newcast:

I think Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me if he were alive today that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country’s founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history.

Wow. This comment reaches Jonathan Clark Sullivan-levels of idiocy.  Of course, Ward is just a tad tone deaf in that he doesn't seem to recall the circumstances of the tragedy that befell Martin Luther King, Jr.  Nor does he seem to understand King's message was one of non-violence.

But Ward's misguided attempts to channel King aside, what of the  guns and slavery issue?  Well, this bit of 'logic' fails like most gunloon arguments as well.  One could just as easily argue that without guns, there wouldn't have been slaveholders or slavetraders. 

But as the link shows, there were armed slave revolts and they always failed.  As history has demonstrated, time after time, tyranny, genocide, enslavement has nothing to do with gun ownership.  It has everything to do  with the access--or lack thereof--to public institutions and laws.

White House Says Piers Morgan can Stay

NY Mag reports via End the NRA

White House press secretary Jay Carney was diplomatic in the official response to the petition to deport Piers Morgan, but he was firm: No, the Obama administration is not going to move to deport somebody because he's in favor of gun control, even if 109,334 people want that to happen.

Florida 18-Year-old Shoots Himself in the Head

Local news reports

Alexander Xavier Shaw died Wednesday as he was showing the weapon to family and friends, police said.

Witness told officers that Shaw, his uncle, grandparents and some friends were on the back patio talking when he showed them a .38-caliber revolver, police said.

Shaw told them that he kept one round out of the firing chamber to prevent an accidental shooting. Witnesses then said Shaw tried to prove the gun was safe by placing it to his head and pulling the trigger, which is when the gun fired, fatally wounding him, police said.

If only this were a rare isolated case. Unfortunately the ranks of lawful gun owners include all kinds. 

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Kansas City 4-Year-old Shot - No One Charged

Local news reports

Kansas City police are investigating how a 4-year-old girl was shot and critically wounded Thursday, apparently in an accident.

Police said the woman had left four children alone in a room. She heard a gunshot, ran back into the room and saw the girl had suffered a gunshot wound in her head. Police believe the girl found the gun sitting on a chair and fired it.

An investigator said the ages of the children inside the home were between 4 and 6.  A neighbor said she was the grandmother. 

Investigators were trying to determine who left the gun on the chair and how long it had been there.

Granny should be in the hoosegow. If someone else owned the gun, they should join her.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

The Gun Debate on Alex Wagner

Now with Alex Wagner

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In Colorado Marijuana is More Popular than Obama

Young Turks

Piers Morgan Interviews Ben Shapiro

via TTAG


My comment:

Are you really saying Shapiro did a smack down to Piers Morgan? I didn’t see it that way. I thought it was a very evenly matched debate with neither guy overwhelming the other but the main points were won by Piers. The part about left vs. right, using Ronald Reagan as an example, made Shapiro look stupid. And the final minutes in which Piers got Shapiro to repeat his ridiculous and paranoid justification for owning an AR-15.
“People aren’t stupid, they can make up their own minds.”

Taft High School Shooting in California

Yahoo reports with video

I get the feeling the whole country is very skittish right now. Normally a minor shooting like this is hardly noticed.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

The NRA Reaction to Vice-President Biden's Efforts

Yahoo News reports

Not that there was ever much doubt, but the National Rifle Association bluntly declared on Thursday that it would not cooperate with any White House drive for gun control in the aftermath of the elementary school slaughter in Newtown, Conn.

“We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment,” the powerful lobbying group said in a statement after talks with Vice President Joe Biden.

"While claiming that no policy proposals would be 'prejudged,' this task force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners—honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans," the NRA said. 

"We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen," the organization said.

There's a built-in lie in the NRA position. They refuse to acknowledge that those "lawful firearms owners - honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans" are the source of nearly all the guns used in crime.

There are four major ways in which guns are diverted into the criminal world.  The recent Newtown CT incident is an example of theft. It makes perfect sense that gun restrictions must be aimed at the folks who own guns legally.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Profile of a Lawful Gun Owner

The Denver Post reports via One Fly

A 45-year-old father in Black Forest was firing a gun at his son's friend, but instead hit his son twice, the El Paso County Sheriff's Department reports.

He faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault.

The Sheriff's Department explained the circumstances as a friendship turned sour, then violent. The DeCarlos were both friends with 24-year-old Matthew Fancher. Fancher had been the younger DeCarlo's roommate at the home Glenn DeCarlo owned.

The elder DeCarlo kicked Fancher out, according to the Sheriff's Department. When Fancher came back to the home to get his things, things got our of hand.

"As he was picking up those items, Glenn fired multiple rounds at Matthew but struck Anthony by mistake." 

Glenn DeCarlo has an arrest record that includes assault, fighting in public and obstructing a highway in 2006 in El Paso County, though all of the charges were later dismissed.

He was cited for driving under the influence in El Paso County in 1993 and 2008, and a charge of violating a restraining order in 1993, another charge that was later dropped, records indicate.

Gun-rights advocates like to pretend guys like this don't exist or that they're so rare it doesn't matter. That doesn't seem to be the case.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Living by the Sword

Dog Gone wrote an interesting piece, Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

As much as I strive to avoid biblical references, this one is perfectly appropriate.  She ties in the famous American Journal of Epidemiology study with two incidents in the news, one recent and one old but famous.

Geraldo with Larry Pratt and Dan Gross

Eight Smart Gun Bills and Two Stupid Ones

Think Progress

The 113th Congress is officially in session, and legislators kicked off the new year, and new term, yesterday with several pieces of gun-related legislation, their response to December’s tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary.
In total — between the Democrats’ proposed gun safety laws and the Republicans’ plans for expanded gun access — ten bills are being introduced today. Here they are:

1. Banning high-capacity ammunition. HR 138. This bill from Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) would ban anyone in the US from owning, buying, or trading high-capacity ammunition clips, like the kinds that are often used in mass shootings. Such clips allow a gunman to fire off as many as 100 rounds without stopping to reload. McCarthy’s connection to gun safety laws is personal: Her husband was killed and son critically injured during a mass shooting.
2. Closing the ‘gun show loophole.’ HR 141. Another measure from McCarthy requires that all gun purchasers undergo a full background check. As-is, the private sales of firearms, and the sale of guns at gun shows, are exempt from the background check requirements that are mandatory for other gun sales. That loophole is currently an easy way for criminals or the mentally ill to access a gun undetected.
3. Making the database of who cannot buy guns effective. HR 137. Currently, states do a terrible job of entering names — of felons or the mentally ill — into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This measure also from McCarthy is called the Fix Gun Checks Act, and has been introduced in previous legislative sessions. It would create incentives and penalties to encourage the efficient entry of names into NICS. It would also close the gun show loophole.

4. Regulating where and how ammunition is purchased. HR 142. McCarthy’s fourth and final bill would make it mandatory for all ammunition dealers to have a license to sell. It would also require anyone purchasing ammunition to do so in person, face-to-face with a seller. All bulk purchases of ammunition would need to be reported under McCarthy’s law. This bill responds to the criticisms that the internet is an open market for the unlimited sale of ammunition.
5. Requiring handguns to be registered. HR 117. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) crafted this national law based on his state’s requirements for handgun purchasing. It would require every single handgun sold in the United States to be licensed and registered, without any exceptions or loopholes, and for that registry to be easily accessible.
6. Regulating how gun licenses are issued. HR 34. Like Holt, Rep. Bobby Rush’s (D-IL) bill aims to create a unified system of gun licensing procedures — for both handguns and semi-automatic weapons. Rush’s legislation, a reintroduction of “Blair’s Bill,” named after a murdered Chicago teen, would also require gun safety training for firearm owners.
7. Raising the age of legal handgun ownership to 21. HR 65. In a move that seems pointed toward combating youth street violence, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) proposed this bill that would make it illegal to own a handgun before the age of 21. Some states have such laws in place, but Jackson Lee’s measure would make the law national.
8. Requiring the reporting of stolen guns. HR 21. This bill, which Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has introduced to Congress previously and is reintroducing to the new Congress, would also close the ‘gun show loophole’ by requiring all gun-owners to undergo background checks. Additionally, it would make sure that gun owners are required to report stolen guns — a measure that could help law enforcement track illegal guns.
9. & 10. Eliminating ‘gun free zones’ in schools. HR 35 and HR 133. Following the lead of the National Rifle Association, Reps. Steve Stockman (R-TX) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) are both proposing more guns in schools. They want to eliminate “gun free school zones.” In a press statement, Stockman used this highly flawed logic as the reasoning for his bill: “In the 22 years before enactment of ‘gun free school zones’ there were two mass school shootings. In the 22 years since enactment of ‘gun free schools’ there have been 10 mass school shootings.”

Gun Control to Gun Rights

The Method Behind Wayne La Pierre's Madness

Mother Jones via Dog Gone of Penigma

At a no-questions press conference in late December following the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre announced a bold new multibillion-dollar proposal to end school shootings: Put an armed security guard or police officer in every school in the country. LaPierre commissioned a special task force to develop the plan, and deputized Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas and director of the Drug Enforcement Agency under President George W. Bush, to head the effort.

But there's something the LaPierre didn't mention: Hutchinson sits on the board of directors of Pinkerton Government Services, a subsidiary of one of the nation's largest private security contractors, Securitas. And if the NRA's—and Hutchinson's—proposals are enacted into law, Securitas, a firm Hutchinson once lobbied for in Washington, could stand to score big.

This is one of the most despicable tricks I've seen yet.  It's bad enough that La Pierre set the entire pro-gun world on fire with the idea that arming more good guys is the answer INSTEAD of doing something about gun availability to the unfit and dangerous, but now this. The method behind his madness was nothing more lofty than filthy lucre, when what's in the balance is the continuing gun violence epidemic in the US. I have no words for that level of political opportunism.  It's despicable and reprehensible.

There should be a mass exodus from the membership roles of the NRA over this. The legacy of Papa Bush should inspire all thinking members. 

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment-

Georgia Mom Shoots Intruder

CBS Reports

In a 10-minute 911 recording released by the Walton County Sheriff's Office, Donnie Herman calmly explained what was happening to a dispatcher. His part of the conversation with his wife was also recorded. "Is he in the house, Melinda? Are you sure? How do you know? You can hear him in the house?" Donnie Herman said. His wife told him the intruder was coming closer.

"He's in the bedroom? Shh, shh, relax. Just remember everything that I showed you, everything that I taught you, all right?" Donnie Herman told his wife, explaining later to the dispatcher that he had recently taken her to a gun range.

After Donnie Herman told his wife police were on the way, he started shouting: "She shot him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him. She's shootin' him."  "OK," the dispatcher responded.

"Shoot him again! Shoot him!" Donnie Herman yelled. He told the dispatcher he heard a lot of screaming, but he seems to get increasingly worried when he doesn't hear anything from his wife.

Melinda Herman told police she started shooting the man when he opened the door to the crawl space. The man pleaded with her to stop, but she kept firing until she had emptied her rounds, she told police. She then fled to a neighbor's house with her children.

The man drove away in his SUV. Police found the SUV on another subdivision street and discovered a man bleeding from his face and body in a nearby wooded area. Police identified the suspect as 32-year-old Paul Slater of Atlanta.

She fired until the gun was empty and they guy was still able to drive away? And she kept firing even when they guy was down and begging her to stop?

These questions make me wonder about the story. What do you think?  Isn't there a better way to handle it when you see someone intent on breaking into your home?  Most burglars are not intent on rape and murder.  I would think if they knew there was armed resistance awaiting their entry they'd just go away.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

New York to Lead the Nation in Gun Control

The New York Times

Mr. Cuomo’s aides said the proposed legislation in New York would expand the definition of what is considered an assault weapon to match California’s law, currently the most restrictive in the nation. But the overall package would go further, they said, by limiting detachable ammunition magazines to 7 rounds from the current 10, and requiring background checks for purchases of ammunition, not just weapons. 

Limiting magazines to seven rounds would give New York the toughest restrictions in the nation. Only around half a dozen states currently limit the size of magazines, and most of them allow magazines that contain up to 10 rounds, according to a survey by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates gun control. The New York law would also close a loophole that has thwarted enforcement of limits on the size of magazines.

Background checks on everything including ammo sounds good to me.  But, I can't help but notice that reduction of magazine capacity is exactly what many pro-gun folks predicted. They said if we agree to a certain number, the gun control side will then want to lower it further.  But, whether that means it's a bad thing, I don't know.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Alabama 12-Year-old Dead - No Charges - It Was Just an Accident

Local news reports on another case of treating a fatal gun accident with disgraceful nonchalance.

Jon Stewart on the Gun Control Debate

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Closing the Gun Show Loophole in Virginia

Local news reports

It’s a loophole in the law that should have been closed years ago. Virginia lawmakers will get another chance to make the state safer by closing the loophole and requiring the background check for buyers from private sellers. State Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax, has said she will introduce such a bill in the Assembly session that begins today.

Why is closing the loophole even important? Because the gun shows provide access to weapons for convicted felons and those with a history of mental illness. Further, the gun show loophole makes a mockery of the background check law that prohibits the sale of guns by licensed dealers to people who should not be buying guns.

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a national legal nonprofit that compiles information on gun laws and advocates for “smart gun laws,” has given Virginia regulations a “D.”

While everybody is focused on Feinstein's Assault Weapons Ban, many states are enacting sensible gun laws like this one.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Police Officer Richard Takach, One of Trenton's Finest

From NBC News via Penigma

Keith Ratliff, Youtube Gun Promoter, Murdered

ajc reports

 

Diane Sawyer with Gabby Giffords

via Fuck Conservatives 

Pro-Gun Reaction to the Piers Morgan - Alex Jones Debate

via From the Trenches World Report 

Piers Morgan Discussing the Alex Jones Interview

Media Matters

More on Schaeffer Cox

No one could describe it better than Jadegold.

Gryphen promises updates based on inside sources.

We've discussed Schaeffer before, here and here.

Piers Morgan Describes the Situation Perfectly

Politico

 

Bill Moyers on the Gun Debate

via HuffPo

Why Did Holmes Choose That Particular Theater?

ABC reports with video 

Accused Aurora movie theater gunman James Holmes bought his movie ticket 12 days before the shooting, it was revealed in court today during the emotional first day of a preliminary hearing.

The overly defensive gun-rights fanatics have been insisting that James Holmes specifically chose the theater of his shooting because it was the only one which prohibited guns. First of all, I seriously doubt that, in spite of the many repeated tellings. Secondly, and most obvioulsy, being a complete lunatic, he could have chosen the venue of his massacre for any number of reasons.  Maybe he liked the popcorn best at this one.

The first day of trial produced a plausible explanation.  He had already bought the ticket.  Perhaps he had bought the ticket even before he planned the shooting.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

The Golden Gun

From MSN via Penigma

Break out your "Man With the Golden Gun" references. A gold-plated AK-47 assault rifle — encrusted with jewels, intricately tooled, signed by its designer and complete with two silver magazines — has been seized along with a cache of other weapons and ammunition in a police raid on a ranch in Honduras. Authorities believe the glinty gun, valued at $50,000, may belong to traffickers associated with the Malverde drug gang. But the weapon's provenance apparently isn't keeping the local police chief from expressing his aesthetic appreciation: "It's an exclusive design and a fine carving," he told the BBC.

NRA Hero, Schaeffer Cox Gets 26 Years

Remember the pride of the NRA, Schaeffer Cox?

Well, seems Cox will be taking a well-deserved hiatus from talkin' tough 'bout guns and the occasional wife-choking.

Some choice excerpts from the link:

Before he was sentenced, Cox broke down several times, grabbing tissues and fighting back tears.
"I put myself here, with my own words," he said before pausing. "And I feel horrible about that."
Cox came to the attention of the FBI in late 2009 after speeches in Montana that claimed the Fairbanks militia had 3,500 members and was armed with mines and other military weapons. But the group only had about a dozen members and, as Bryan noted, never trained for military duty.

Fighting back tears?  Grabbing for tissues?  Yep, sounds like a gunloon.

 A psychological exam ordered by Cox's new attorney, Peter Camiel of Seattle, after he was convicted showed Cox suffered from several paranoid disorders."I put a lot of people in fear by the things that I said," Cox told the court Tuesday. "Some of the crazy stuff that was coming out of my mouth, I see that, and I sounded horrible.
"I couldn't have sounded any worse if I tried," he said. "The more scared I got, the crazier the stuff. I wasn't thinking, I was panicking."

Paranoid. Check.  Scared.  Check.  Gunloon. Check.

At the end of the trial in June, Bryan said he wrote down observations about Cox, which included: paranoia, grandiosity, narcissism, egocentricity and pathological lying.

Hmmm...sounds like just about every gunloon.

Go to any gunloon blog or message board and you'll find no shortage of internet tough guys talking about how they're going to take on the US military, law enforcement and Govt officials.  But when the rubber meets the road, they'll be sobbing and asking for tissues.

Captain Beefheart Festival 2012-2013 - The 23rd Night of the Living Van Vliet

Here's the explanation of the origin and the dates.

Thanks to Microdot for the title of the Festival.

Trust Me from Strictly Personal

 
the path is the mask of love a way a way
the flow is the task above today
there is no other way [2x]
you gotta trust us
when you need a friend
to find us you gotta look within
you gotta trust us [2x]
before you turn to dust [2x]
you gotta see before you see
you gotta be before you be
you gotta trust us
you gotta hear without fear
you gotta feel to reveal
you gotta touch without take
such it is and hate us ain't [2x]
we're for you
love you
with you
love you
just a few
we love you
we tell you
true, we love you
the path is youth
let the dying die
the path is life
let the lying lie
let the dying die
[repeating of parts]

If Only Lincoln Had a Gun

Piers Morgan Interviews Alex Jones

via Fuck Conservatives

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on the Gun Control Debate

Kansas 4-Year-old Shot by Mom's Boyfirend - He's Locked Up

Local news reports

A spokesman for the Ottawa Police Department tells FOX 4 on Friday afternoon officers went to the house and discovered a 4-year-old boy had been accidentally shot in his upper left leg.

Prosecutors have charged 39-year-old Brian Bruno, the boyfriend of the child’s mother, with aggravated battery, aggravated endangerment of a child and criminal discharge of a firearm.

Investigators say Bruno was showing the handgun to a friend in the family’s living room when the gun fired once.

Police say Bruno apparently thought the weapon was unloaded.

I guess he was another lawful gun owner right up until the moment he shot a kid. But, it was only an accident.  Why all the fuss?

Please leave a comment.

The Gun Show Loophole in Action

The Portland Press Herald

One of the biggest breaks in the case came when a forensic examination showed that the .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol that Daudoit Butsitsi used to murder Serge Mulongo on Feb. 10, 2010, was the gun that had been used to shoot Richardson a month earlier.

Butsitsi, who is serving a 38-year prison term, has refused to say where he got the gun.

Portland detectives worked with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track down the manufacturer, the distributor and the gun shop that sold the gun.

Police hoped that by tracing the trail of ownership, they could get a lead on who Butsitsi got the gun from and who might have shot Richardson.

They found the legal owner of record but then hit a dead end. The owner told police that he sold the gun at a gun show and had no record of who bought it.

What do you think? Is that a good illustration of the problem?

Please leave a comment.

This Week in Responsible Gun Ownership

 From Jesus' General via democommie

The days leading up to and including the first week of 2013, once again, demonstrated America's well-regulated militia's commitment to responsible gun ownership. Here's a partial list of  incidents occurring over the last ten days or so:

• Patriot stands his ground against his own scary-looking arm, shoots it, then applies beer as analgesic to sooth the pain of his bicep's treachery.
• A patriotically liquored-up birthday boy shoots buzzkilling busy-body who attempts to infringe on god-given right to grope random women.

World Firearms Report

Laci sent me the link to this absolutely fascinating report. 

There are two primary markets for illicit arms –
those who need weapons for criminal purposes, and
those who need them for political ones.
 

To get a sense of the relative value of the market for
firearms compared to other forms of contraband, it
helps to look at some concrete examples. On 16
November 2009, the Nicaraguan Government
made what was hailed as “one of the largest seizures
of weaponry ever made by the Nicaraguan authorities”
6 – a consignment of arms for the local representatives
of the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. The
shipment comprised 59 assault rifles, two grenade
launchers and 10 grenades, eight kilos of TNT and
nearly 20,000 rounds of ammunition. While this
sounds impressive, the total value of this shipment
was likely less than US$200,000 at point-of-sale.
Three days later, the Nicaraguan navy seized 2.4
tons of cocaine off the Caribbean coast. The value
of this shipment was at least 400 times as much,
around US$80 million in US wholesale markets.
 
One area where criminal weapons flows could conceivably
provide attractive long-term profits for
organized groups is the movement of weapons from
the USA to Mexico, one of the two trafficking flows
discussed further below. Due to a constitutional
provision that asserts that the right to bear arms
must be protected in a free state, the United States
has the most heavily armed civilian population in
the world, and so opportunities for diversion by
theft are plentiful. But, as will be discussed, it
appears that most of the guns trafficked into Mexico
are actually purchased legally and then transported
clandestinely across the border.

More on Defensive Gun Use

The Propaganda Professor wrote a wonderful and lengthy followup to his other posts on the subject. Here are two small bits.

Gunsters often tout "studies" (i.e., surveys) that supposedly prove that there are hundreds of thousands, or even a few million, defensive guns uses (DGUs) every year. But not even all of these surveys support the "more guns, less crime" motif.   Two of the best known figures, both projected by the Dept. Of Justice, are 108,000 and 65,000 DGUs. Both of which fall far short of the documented 400,000-plus crimes committed with a gun annually. No wonder the gun culture has such a love affair with Dr. Kleck, who posits 2.5 million. He calculated this by interviewing just 222 individuals.

And here is where those surveys actually might be of some value. According to Kleck, 8 percent of the defenders wound or kill their assailants. This figure is certainly too low,  given Kleck's extremely loose standards for what constitutes a DGU. But even so, 8 percent of 2.5 million would mean it happens about 200,000 times per year. And yet only about one in 400 of these is reported in the news? Seriously? The National Crime Victimization Survey says it happens 3 percent of the time out of 108,000 DGUs per year.  That's 3240 in which the offender is wounded if not killed. And yet fewer than one in six is deemed newsworthy? Get real. One might argue that the media would have neither the capacity nor the interest to cover 200,000 such incidents per year. Perhaps not. but they would definitely have both the capacity and the interest to report 3240.

More Proof that DGU Claims are Exaggerated

Like approximately 30,000 other interested people, I read The Truth About Guns every day. I find it to be the single greatest source of information on gun rights and gun control issues, bar none. Recently the readership has topped 1 million unique visitors per month, which breaks down to over 30,000 a day.

Regular commenters must number about 100, maybe more, and one of their favorite topics is DGUs, defensive gun uses.  They have a lot at stake in pushing the exaggerated and inflated estimates of how many DGUs there are each year.  The most popular and most frequently repeated is the famous 2.5 million which Professors Kleck and Gertz came up with some years ago.  If this were true, gun control folks would be hard pressed to compete. Fortunately, many people in many ways have debunked this ridiculous claim, my favorite is The Propaganda Professor's.

Here's another one. If there are 100 million gun owners and 2.5 million DGUs per year, the percentage of gun owners who use their gun defensively each year is 2.5%.  Agreed?

If there are 30,000 unique daily readers of TTAG and 2.5% of them have personal defensive gun uses each year, we should see 750 first-hand reports each year.

I have seen none, not one single first hand report of a defensive gun use by a TTAG reader. Of course it's possible that I missed one or even ten, but there should have been 750, that's more then 2 each day.

Before anyone gets upset about my slanting the numbers, let's do this. Even many gun-rights fanatics admit the 2.5 million figure is too high.  They often say a million or so.  That would bring the 750 down to 300. And let's say there may be readers who are too shy to share their experience on the internet.  I find that hard to believe but let's go wild and say HALF of the folks who have saved lives with their guns and read TTAG every day chose to keep it to themselves.  Now we're down to 150.

I repeat, I have seen none.

The explanation is obvious.  Estimates that put the true figure of DGU down around 1,000 per year make for a percentage that looks like this: 0.00001%.  When you apply that percentage to the 30,000 TTAG readers it's easy to see why we don't regularly see reports of defensive gun use.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

The Very Best of the Gun Rights Movement

Triple Shooting at West Philadelphia Motorcycle Club

Local news reports

 

We're gonna need a new definition of "mass shooting." Too many of these are happening in non-gun-free zones lately. It make the pro-gun guys, like Bruce Krafft look bad for insisting that ONLY Loughner did his thing in a non-gun-free zone.

Fact #7: There have been 61 mass shootings in the U.S. since 1982. The killer used a legally obtained weapon in 49 of them.
And 60 of those 61 mass murders have occurred in supposedly “gun-free” zones.

Mother Jones put together a nice display from which we can glean several facts. Number one, they do not only happen at gun-free zones, and two, the shooters usually are lawful gun owners, and three, no armed good guys were able to stop them even if they were present.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Cops Shoot Elk in Boulder

Colorado Daily reports on the cops who shot the elk. Hunting animals is sick behavior and posing with dead animals for pictures is even sicker.

Draining the 2nd Amendment Swamp (Commentary)

SI Live

• President Barack Obama is going to confiscate your legally owned weapons.

He isn’t. He is so far from doing that it’s comical to believe otherwise. There’s no constitutional mechanism for him to do so. There’s no practical way for him to do so. And he has no motivation to do so, because he’s on record defending the rights of sportsmen, hunters and — this is crucial — people who believe in armed self-defense to own guns. As Vice President Joe Biden said during the 2008 campaign, “Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don’t buy that malarkey.”

He makes a number of interesting points. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

How Do Criminals Get Guns?

The Four Major Ways Criminals Get Guns

Everyone agrees criminals should not have guns. Yet, the reality seems to be that they have practically unlimited access to them. It would be better for everyone if somehow we could deny them access. But how?

First we need to identify the ways in which they currently do come into possession of weapons. We'll eliminate one common fallacy right away, that criminals get guns from other criminals.  This may be true as far as it goes, but it doesn't help us in our analysis.  We're interested in the original source of guns that are used in crime. If, for example, a gun is stolen during a burglary and passed from criminal to criminal before being used in a murder, that gun came from "Theft," which is one of our main categories.

The entire exercise is based on the presumption that nearly all guns start out as the lawful property of someone. The exceptions to this, home-made weapons and those imported from overseas, are insignificant in number.  Our interest is the exact point at which a gun passes from lawful ownership into criminal hands.

The four categories are these.

1. Straw purchases. Gun traffickers recruit people with clean records who, depending on the state in which they live, can buy numerous guns and turn them over immediately to their criminal bosses. Other straw purchasers are of the amateur kind, the one-off kind, but regardless of the type there is a solution.

2. Theft. Most of this is done in private homes one gun at a time, or if the thieves are lucky several guns. For this there is an obvious solution. Other theft is done at military armories, gun manufacturers and gun shops, all of which require some failure on the part of the lawful custodian of the weapons.

3. Private sales. This is the one often referred to as the "gun show loophole." The reality is that private sales of guns account for about 40% of all gun sales and do not require a background check.  The solution.


4. Lawful gun owners who turn bad. Many of these guys are what I call "hidden criminals."  These are the ones who engage in unlawful activity but have never sustained a disqualifying felony.  They buy and own guns legally just like your truly lawful gun owners.  Others are upstanding members of society right up until the point they lose it and either kill the wife with a gun or shoot up the work place.  We read about them every day. Some of them could be identified through drug testing, others by improved mental health background checks.

The four categories are listed in descending order, the most easily addressed to the most difficult. Straw purchasing could be practically eradicated with the solution I've outlined, while lawful gun owners who turn bad is much harder to address.

But, although gun-rights folks keep saying we have onerous gun control laws which infringe upon their rights, the truth is we have done very little to curtail the terrible problem of gun flow from the good guys to the bad guys.

This must change.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Former United States Marine Joshua Boston Speaks

Another Aurora CO Shooting

Mercury News reports with video on another mass shooting that did not take place in a gun-free zone.

In what police officers called "the worst-case scenario," four people were found shot dead at a townhome Saturday, including the gunman, who repeatedly fired at officers during a six-hour standoff. The incident happened in the same Colorado city where a shooter in a crowded theater fatally wounded 12 people six months ago.

Music Video: "Every School Needs an Armed Guard"

via New Trajectory 

The Gun Show Must Go On

ABC reports
 

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