Saturday, March 29, 2014

Piers Morgan's Extremely Eloquent Final Comments on Gun Control

Indiana Governor Signs Pro-gun Bill into Law, Protects Guns in School Parking Lots

Gov. Mike Pence (R) expanded gun rights in Indiana this week by signing SB229 into law (Photo Credit: Indiana Courier Journal)
Gov. Mike Pence (R) expanded gun rights in Indiana this week by signing SB229 into law (Photo Credit: Indiana Courier Journal)

Guns dot com

On Wednesday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed SB229 into law, which changes the way gun laws are enforced in school parking lots.
The new law comes from Senate Bill 229, which allows otherwise legal gun owners to have a firearm on school property, parking lots specifically, so long as it’s locked inside their vehicle.
This protects the Second Amendment rights of parents and attendees at school functions, such as sporting events.
“Governor Pence believes in the right to keep and bear arms and that this is a common sense reform of the law that accomplishes the goal of keeping parents and law-abiding citizens from being charged with a felony when they pick their kids up at school or go to cheer on the local basketball team,” said a statement from the governor’s office.
Authored by state Senators James Tomes, (R-D49), Brent Steele, (R-D44), and Johnny Nugent, (R-D43),SB229, removes from Indiana law the provision which makes possession of firearms on school property is a felony.
Moving forward, legal gun owners will be able to bring firearms onto school property so long as they are secured and out of plain sight inside vehicles.

Silencer

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Letter: Prospective Gun Safety Thwarted by NRA

Letter to the editor of the Topeka Capitol-Journal

Equipping autos with technology that makes them safer to use has greatly reduced the number of Americans killed in automobile accidents. Yet, if gun owners want to take similar precautions with their firearms, they might find themselves thwarted by some gun rights advocates.
Such was the case recently when Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., dropped its plans to sell a .22 caliber pistol with smart gun technology because of the opposition of gun rights advocates. A “smart gun” is one that cannot be fired by anyone other than the gun owner. (One criticism is that the technology is unreliable “because anything mechanical can fail.”)
It’s regrettable enough that, although 74 percent of the National Rifle Association’s members support requiring universal background checks prior to purchasing firearms (John Hopkins poll, January 2013), the NRA leadership opposes background checks and lobbies against such safeguards.
But if gun owners want to protect young family members from accidents in the home by electing to avail themselves of such technology, they should have the right to do so. I hope gun retailers in Topeka won’t be intimidated by those whose politics and policies are out of step with the majority of Americans.

Connecticut Man Who Shot Himself, Wife During Domestic Dispute Takes Plea Deal


Charles Garcia is facing five years in prison in the accidental shooting of himself and his wife during a domestic dispute. Photo Credit: Wilton Police


A former Wilton man who accidentally shot himself and his wife during domestic disturbance in their home in November 2012 has accepted a plea deal, according to The Hour. 
Charles Garcia, 48, who appeared in court Thursday, will be sentenced April 21 after pleading guilty to first-degree assault, the Hour said. The maximum sentence that Garcia can receive is five years in prison and five years of probation, the Hour said. 
Garcia was initially charged with unlawful restraint and first-degree assault with extreme indifference to life.
At the time of his arrest, Wilton police said Garcia and his wife Michele, 39, were involved in a struggle over a hunting rifle on the morning of Nov. 26, 2012, while in the upstairs bedroom of their home. Both suffered injuries when it fired, police said.
In 2012, Wilton Police Capt. John Lynch said Charles Garcia was trying to keep his wife in the home and pointed the rifle at her. Michele Garcia grabbed at the weapon in self-defense when the firearm went off, he said.
Garcia spent several weeks at Yale-New Haven Hospital recovering from facial injuries. 
Read the full story here at The Hour. 
Read more about his arrest here at the Daily Voice. 

Friday, March 28, 2014

Parody about Fred Phelps' death

OK, you don't really need to know Russian to get this is actually about a marijuana plantation in Canada that was guarded by 13 black bears (note words: "Canada Press", "Marijuana" and "Plantatio" and the word "smert"="death" is absent), but this is funny.

Don't Pay attention to the Russian--read the subtitles:



BTW, you don't need to be a Russian scholar to know that смерть (smert) is death. If you are a James Bond fan, you would remember that Smersh meant "smert shpionem", or "death to spies".

Florida Man Shoots Suspected Female Intruder, Self-defense or Homicide?

Latresse Monroe, 26, was shot and killed early Wednesday morning.
Latresse Monroe, 26, was shot and killed early Wednesday morning. (Photo credit: Facebook)

Guns dot com

A Florida man shot and killed a suspected female intruder early Wednesday morning, raising questions about whether the fatal shooting was self-defense or homicide.
Joseph McGuire, 64, of Archer, Florida, fatally shot 26-year-old Latreese Monroe on Wednesday around 2 a.m. after Monroe had kicked in the man’s front door, according to an Alachua County Sheriff’s Office report.
Following the shooting, McGuire called 911 to report the incident.
When police arrived on the scene, they discovered Monroe on the ground with a gunshot wound to her torso. She was partially in the home near the busted door, according to the report.

California Democrat And Gun Control Advocate Charged With Arms Trafficking

State Senator Leland Yee (D-CA), an anti-gun anti-violent video game legislator was arrested on charges he trafficked in firearms and violated corruption laws.
State Senator Leland Yee (D-CA), an anti-gun anti-violent video game legislator was arrested on charges he trafficked in firearms and violated corruption laws.

Forbes

Yee is charged with “conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms” as well as six counts of honest services fraud.  Each corruption charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, while the gun-trafficking charge is punishable by up to five years and $250,000.
The firearms laws Yee is alleged to have specifically violated make it unlawful for any person:
except a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer, to engage in the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing in firearms, or in the course of such business to ship, transport, or receive any firearm in interstate or foreign commerce
and make it unlawful for any person:
to transport or ship in interstate or foreign commerce, any stolen firearm or stolen ammunition, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the firearm or ammunition was stolen.

What Is a Liberal?

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South Dakota 7-Year-old Killed by his 9-Year-old Brother - No Charges

Local news reports

Authorities say a 7-year-old boy was killed when he was accidentally shot by his 9-year-old brother at a home in the southeastern South Dakota city of Freeman. 

Hutchinson County State’s Attorney Glenn Roth says that the older boy told investigators he and his brother were playing with a handgun Tuesday when he pulled the trigger, thinking the gun was not loaded. 

Roth declined to immediately release the names of the boys, citing the need to first notify family members. 

No charges were immediately filed. Local and state authorities are continuing to investigate. 

Georgia Accidental Shooting: 2-year-old Injures Mom

Local news reports

Hinesville police say a woman was shot and wounded by her 2-year-old son early Wednesday morning.

An incident report filed by Hinesville Police Officer Scott Mercer says he and several officers responded to a call of an accidental shooting in the 100 block of Deann Drive.  When Mercer arrived he says he found 23-year-old Joanne Winding sitting on the front doorway, crying for help.  
Two handguns were found in the woman's bedroom on a night stand, two children were also found inside the home.

The woman told the officers she thought she had seen a person outside of the home and that is why she had loaded one of the guns.  The report says she then went to lay down and that is when she was shot once in her right arm, by her 2-year-old son. 
The children are currently in the custody of a family friend.
The woman was transported to Liberty Regional Medical Center in Hinesville but was later transported to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah for treatment. 
The case remains under investigation.
Yeah, the case remains under investigation, wink wink nudge nudge.

Iowa Supporters to Push ‘Constitutional Carry’ Measure

Local news reports

An Iowa House member hopes to force action Wednesday on legislation to do away with the requirement that Iowans get a permit from their sheriff to carry a weapon.
Rep. Tom Shaw, R-Laurens, plans to use a procedural move to bring House File 2284 out of the Judiciary Committee to the House floor. The bill was never acted on by the committee and without representatives voting to suspend their rules it is not eligible for debate.
HF 2284 strikes a portion of the Iowa Code that requires a person to have a valid permit in order to carry certain weapons, such as handguns.
“We don’t think you should have to beg the government to get a permit to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights,” Shaw said Tuesday.
Yeah, you know, the way we all have to beg the government for permission to drive cars.
I think they should call this the Jared Loughner Bill. He's the most famous Constitutional Carrier.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Southern Beale's Tennessee Gun Report

Southern Beale

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court says a federal law barring people convicted of minor domestic violence offenses from possessing guns can be enforced even in states where no proof of physical force is required to support the domestic violence charge.
The justices on Wednesday reinstated charges against a Tennessee man who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault in 2001. He was then charged in 2009 with illegal possession of a firearm. Lower courts threw out the gun charge because Tennessee law doesn’t require physical, or violent, force to have been used in misdemeanor domestic assault.
The Supreme Court reversed that decision in an opinion by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The Obama administration argued that the lower courts’ reading of the law would render it unenforceable in many states.
————————————————————
The gun-rights fanatics love to throw statistics around and come up with ridiculously low percentages of everything from accidental shootings to outright murders.  Anything to protect their precious guns from disparagement. 
Meanwhile, Southern Beale publishes the misuses of guns in Tennessee every week.  I think it's safe to say she chronicles between five and ten incidents every week. Over the course of a year that comes to 250 to 500 documented incidents of gun misuse IN TENNESSEE ALONE. Let's assume she's getting only a part of what's actually going on in every hick town and rural back water. That makes thousands of incidents in The Volunteer State alone.
I realize the FBI and the CDC stats are unimpeachable, but something doesn't add up. There's a lot more gun misuse going on than our friends the gun-rights fanatics are getting credit for. That's what I think.

Court Backs San Francisco's Gun Storage Law, Hollow-point Bullet Ban

A federal appeals court refused Tuesday to halt the enforcement of San Francisco laws that require handgun owners to keep their weapons locked when stored at home and ban bullets that expand or splinter on contact, saying they do not interfere with the right to use firearms in self-defense.
One ordinance, passed in 2007, requires residents to keep handguns in locked containers or to use trigger locks when they are not carrying the weapons. The other law dates from 1994 and prohibits local sales of hollow-point bullets, designed to inflict more damage to the human body than conventional ammunition.
Gun owners challenged both ordinances after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the Constitution guarantees the right to possess guns at home for self-defense, then ruled in 2010 that state and local laws that substantially burdened that right were invalid. Gun groups are also relying on those rulings to challenge California's licensing requirements for concealed weapons, and ordinances in San Francisco and Sunnyvale that ban the possession of high-capacity gun magazines.
In Tuesday's ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said neither the San Francisco gun storage law nor the ban on hollow-point bullets seriously hampers a gun owner's ability to use a weapon for self-defense.
Because trigger locks and modern gun safes can be opened quickly, a stored or locked handgun "may be readily accessed in case of an emergency," Judge Sandra Ikuta said in the 3-0 ruling. "Provided San Franciscans comply with the storage requirement, they are free to use handguns to defend their home while carrying them on their persons."

Indiana Responsible Gun Owner Finally Charged in Boy's Death

Local news reports further to our earlier post in which we reported no charges yet.

The father of a Greensburg boy who died earlier this month in an accidental shooting at his home, will face two felony charges.

The Greensburg Daily News reports this morning that 34-year-old Jason Forshee was arrested and charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Class A felony, and dangerous control of a child, a Class C felony.

13-year-old Craig Roberts was shot to death by a younger sibling on March 11 in their home. Police accuse Forshee of leaving an M4 rifle unattended while he was cleaning it, according to the newspaper. He told police that he had removed the magazine, but didn't realize there was a round still in the chamber. Forshee said he had left the room to talk with Craig's mother when he heard the shot.

North Carolina Man Arrested for Drugs After Accidental Shooting

John Matthew Scruton
Police late Monday arrested John Matthew Scruton on charges of possessing drugs they found last Friday after being called to Scruton’s home because a housemate had been shot in the jaw.
Scruton, 27, was charged with having 14 grams of psilocybin mushrooms and possession with intent to distribute 70 grams of marijuana.
About 3 a.m. Friday, Officer M.P. Brown said in a search-warrant request that he had seen drugs when he was checking the house for other people after finding Colin Patrick Ayers, who had turned 28 on Thursday, apparently had shot himself and severely damaged his jaw.
Another roommate, Jacob Fields, told police that Ayers had “shot himself on accident while attempting to clear his firearm” and “was heavily intoxicated at the time.”
Brown told a magistrate that he believed “all weapons should be seized from the possession of Colin Ayers until his mental state can be evaluated.”
Searching the house, police seized the marijuana Brown had seen and discovered the mushrooms, 12 glass vials that held a liquid they suspected was a steroid drug, 23 glass bottles for drugs, 255 syringes, three conventional rifles, two shotguns and a .50-caliber, muzzle-loading, black-powder rifle.




Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/25/3731382/accidental-shooting-at-raleigh.html?sp=/99/102/110/113/#storylink=cpy

Why do the Gun Nuts Hate Gun Buy Back Programs So Much?


The Natural Truth

 So Mayor Marty can say over and over again “we’re not looking for your grandpa’s shotgun from over the door,” but those are the guns he’s going to get. Everybody knows it. 

 Everybody knows there will be just as many shootings in the next 12 months with or without the “Piece for Peace” program. We’ll just be out $100,000.

In typical lying pro-gun form the authors of this article claim things that are false or that they could not possibly know.  The fact is gun buy back programs do not receive ONLY junk guns. And no one could possibly know that "there will be just as many shootings in the next 12 months."

The people who run these programs obviously believe they save lives.  I believe that.

Florida Woman Fired for Carrying a Gun at Work In Violation of Company Policy

Ivette Ros

Market Watch
Ivette Ros carries her 9-millimeter handgun almost everywhere, saying it makes her feel safe. Then she brought it to her job at Wells Fargo, where she worked as a branch manager, and it got her fired.
So Ros is suing the bank, saying it violated her constitutional rights and other protections afforded under Florida law. The bank, which bans employees from carrying guns on company premises, replied in a court filing that only the government, not a private employer, can be sued over alleged constitutional violations. The case in Florida is unfolding as part of a bigger debate on how far the rights of gun owners extend into the workplace.
Wells Fargo & Co. bans employees from bringing guns into work except in very limited cases, such as when employees are granted permission by a chief security officer at the bank. Says the bank: “Possessing firearms and weapons on company premises or at company-sponsored events is dangerous to team members and is strictly prohibited.”

Things started to unravel around July. Wells Fargo’s corporate security received a complaint that Ros was bringing a gun to work. So corporate security came to her branch and asked her if she had a gun in her car and if she’d ever brought it inside the building. She said yes. The following week, she was fired.

A Case of American Blind Justice as Arlo Guthrie Would Say‏

via ssgmarkcr

 I wanted to send this to you because its a case of pushing the envelope so far, it would be comical if it didn't have such a negative effect on an entire family.  During the course of a full up raid on the home of Mark Witaschek.

"After entering the house, the police immediately went upstairs, pointed guns at the heads of Mr. Witaschek and his girlfriend, Bonnie Harris, and demanded they surrender, facedown and be handcuffed."

"His 16-year-old son was in the shower when the police arrived. “They used a battering ram to bash down the bathroom door and pull him out of the shower, naked,” said his father. “The police put all the children together in a room, while we were handcuffed upstairs. I could hear them crying, not knowing what was happening.”

    After searching the home for two hours, this is what they found,
"The police found no guns in the house, but did write on the warrant that four items were discovered: “One live round of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition,” which was an inoperable shell that misfired during a hunt years earlier. Mr. Witaschek had kept it as a souvenir. “One handgun holster” was found, which is perfectly legal.
“One expended round of .270 caliber ammunition,” which was a spent brass casing. The police uncovered “one box of Knight bullets for reloading.” These are actually not for reloading, but are used in antique-replica, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifles."


    Fast forward six months and,

"In a surprising twist at the end of a long trial, a District of Columbia judge found Mark Witaschek guilty of “attempted possession of unlawful ammunition” for antique replica muzzleloader bullets.
Judge Robert Morin sentenced Mr. Witaschek to time served, a $50 fine and required him to enroll with the Metropolitan Police Department’s firearm offenders’ registry within 48 hours."


    What makes this all the more strange is that apparently he was convicted of possessing ammunition for a firearm which doesn't even have to be registered in DC, namely a black powder muzzleloading rifle.  His attorney says they will be appealing the conviction, though I'm still trying to figure out how it even made it to trial.
    What immediately came to mind was Alice's Resteraunt Massacre and the 27 8x10 color glossy photos and the judge with the seeing eye dog. 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

John Lott: No More Sitting Ducks — We Must Arm Our Soldiers on their Bases



Trib Live 


We need to trust soldiers to carry weapons on bases. That would provide another line of defense against any attacks and not leave our soldiers as sitting ducks.

That's how John Lott concluded his op-ed. As usual, when lamenting the practice of gun-free zones and blaming them for mass shootings, John is conveniently overlooking a few things.

When Jared Loughner did his thing in Tuscon a few years ago, his venue was not a gun free zone.  Being Arizona which enjoys Constitutional Carry, there were armed citizens all over the place but not one of them was able to intervene in time. In addition, several of the other highly publicized mass shootings took place where armed guards were on the scene.  So, the presence of armed good guys has proven to be an ineffective response to mass shootings.

Another rather humorous and ironical aspect of his argument is that many times gun-rights folks, and probably John himself, insist that mass shootings are extremely rare. Now all of a sudden, we need to arm soldiers on bases and eliminate gun free zones to combat them. 

The biggest problem with his proposal is that most of the mass shooters are lawful gun owners. It stands to reason that if lawful gun owners are committing mass shootings every once in a while, if we arm more of them, there will be more shootings.

Bill Maher Discusses the Dr. Vivek Murthy Nomination

Michigan Man Dead in Supposed Accidental Shooting - Shooter Not Arrested

Police say 27 year old Nicole Rachell Mitchell of Traverse City made the call at about 11:30 pm.
Emergency responders arrived at the home on Black Bear Lane in Long Lake Township and located 29 year-old Roger Rex Howard, from Traverse City. Howard had a single gun shot wound to the upper chest. He received medical attention at the scene and was transported to Munson Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased.
According to police, Howard and Mitchell knew each other before the incident occurred. They say Howard had called Mitchell earlier in the evening and asked to come over. She went to his apartment in Garfield Township, picked him up and brought him to her house.
Police say after Howard arrived, the two got into an argument in the garage. According to police, Mitchell told Howard he was not welcome and demanded he leave. Mitchell stated she went inside her residence after the argument.
She also told police that she went upstairs to check on the three children in the house. Mitchell than heard Howard enter the residence and come upstairs. Mitchell stated she then went to the gun safe that was in the bedroom she was in and removed a semi-automatic pistol.
Mitchell states she did this because she was fearful that Howard was going to hurt her or the children.
She informed Deputies that upon entering the bedroom Howard stated that he would rather die than leave. Howard then reportedly walked toward her and grabbed the pistol.
Mitchell stated that she then heard the gun discharge and saw Howard walk out of the bedroom. She says howard walked into the hallway where he collapsed. She checked Howard and saw that he had been shot in the chest. Mitchell then called 911.
The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately make any arrests or make a determination if charges will be sought in the case.

Tennessee 18-Year-old Dead - No Charges

According to police, 18-year-old William Blackwell was visiting a home on the 2300 block of Woodridge Drive when the shooting happened on March 17.
Witnesses told police Blackwell was holding a .25-caliber pistol that belonged to 18-year-old Robert Goodner when Goodner told Blackwell the safety was off and asked for the gun back.
Goodner told police he mishandled the gun after it was given back to him and it went off, hitting Blackwell in the neck.
The two have been best friends since they were young children, and police say by all accounts the shooting was a terrible accident.
  • William Blackwell, 18, of Nashville, passed away Sunday after he was shot by a friend last week. No charges have been filed against 18-year-old Robert Goodner, the best friend police said was holding the gun when it went off.
  • Tuesday, March 25, 2014

    Washington Lawful and Responsible Gun Owner Who Killed an Unarmed Drunk Acted in Self Defense


     Guns dot com

    A Pasco, Washington, homeowner who fatally shot a drunken wanderer last month will not face charges because he acted in self-defense, Franklin County prosecutor Shawn Sant announced last Wednesday.
    With his 9mm pistol, Rudy Ontiveros Jr. shot Stephan S. Aceves four times in the hand, chest and head while the 28 year old was apparently trying to force his way into the man’s home at 2:30 in the morning on Feb. 14, the prosecutor explained at the press conference.
    According to lab tests, Aceves had a blood alcohol content level of .35 percent, more than four times the level in which one would be considered impaired under state law (.08), when he began making his way into Ontiveros’s home.
    “This is a tragic incident and a reminder that alcohol is a drug and can have horrific consequences, especially at elevated levels,” Sant said.
    A pathetic drunk stumbling around does not pose a lethal threat, but the gun owner claims he thought exactly that. 
    The way I see it there are only two possible explanations. One, the home owner is lying about having been in fear for his life and was really so outraged at the audacity of someone entering his home that the home owner executed him on the spot knowing that the permissive castle doctrine defense would get him off.  Or two, he mistook the harmless drunk man for a true threat. 
    Either way the shooter was WRONG. 

    Gun "Researcher" John Lott Pushes Sham Statistics In The Wall Street Journal


    After a thorough discrediting of John Lott, which we're all familiar with, an interesting survey is cited. The gun nuts, following Lott's lead always start out with the lying proposition that cops generally favor gun rights, but when confronted with facts, they fall back on the equally dishonest explanation that police chiefs don't count because their more like politicians. Of course nothing could be further from the truth.  Police chiefs generally come up through the ranks and are therefore eminently qualified to render opinions which should be taken seriously. Here they are:

    The 2006 mail survey, which appeared in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, was conducted by actual academics who put measures in place to ensure the internal validity of their survey. Among the findings:
    • 93.5% of police chiefs supported requiring a background check to purchase a handgun.
    • 73.4% of police chiefs were in favor of child access laws.
    • 69.4% of police chiefs supported mandatory handgun registration.
    • 58.4% of police chiefs believed civilians should not carry firearms in public places.

    When Kids Shoot Other Kids

    Fascinating Numbers about Guns in Airports

    video link

    "It strains credibility when 40 to 50 people a week show up with guns at the security checkpoint and then say 'I forgot.' They didn't forget their ticket. They didn't forget their pants. They've been on notice for over 12 years that guns are not permitted and it's time they be held responsible for violating the law."

    Monday, March 24, 2014

    Virginia Man Shot by Accident - Shooter May Get a Slap on the Wrist

    Local news reports

    A 22-year-old man in Colonial Heights suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach after an acquaintance accidentally discharged his firearm inside of a residence, according to the Colonial Heights Police Department.

    At 8:30 on Tuesday evening, authorities responded to a call that someone had been shot within an apartment on the 1100 block of Lakeview Avenue, said Sgt. Rob Ruxer, with the Colonial Heights Police Department.

    When police arrived on the scene, the victim was discovered to have been shot in the abdomen with a .40-caliber handgun, which had gone off while a man he was with was disassembling the firearm, according to the police.

    Originally transported to the Southside Regional Medical Center for treatment, the victim suffered non-life threatening injuries and is expected to make a full recovery, Ruxer said.

    Authorities would not release any names while the investigation is still pending, but said that the shooter faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless handling of a firearm.

    Both the victim and the shooter were reported to be in possession of a firearm, Ruxer said. 

    Gun Violence Archive

    Gun Violence Archive

    Photo: Weekend Wrap-up March 23 GVA Data

    The only problem I have is with the Defensive Use - it seems a bit high.

    Georgia Legislature Passes "The Guns Everywhere" Bill - Governor Expexcted to Sign

    WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather

    New Jersey to Punish Gun Theft More Severely

    Those convicted of stealing guns in New Jersey would be more likely to face prison time under bipartisan legislation that was introduced Thursday.

    Under New Jersey law, third-and fourth-degree crimes, which includes the theft of items under $75,000, carry a “presumption of non-imprisonment” for first-time offenders. The bill (A2916) would strip away that presumption for someone convicted of stealing a firearm.
    “When you take that out, there’s a presumption that there would be incarceration,” said state Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), a sponsor.

    Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union), another sponsor, said stolen guns are often used in violent crimes.

    “This act is more serious than stealing property. This bill sends a message to criminals that they will face severe consequences for stealing a firearm,” Bramnick said. “This is a necessary step to help curb the incidence of violent crime.”

    “I think this is a gun right-left alliance on gun control,” Gusciora said. “We want guns off the streets and they want guns off the streets.”

    Is that true?  Is that something both sides can agree upon - even the hyper-contentious gun-control fanatics who comment around here?

    How about the problem of gun owners who do not secure their guns and thereby make gun theft easier?  Even New Jersey, known for its strict gun control has some weak-ass type of safe storage law. It should go much further.

    Sunday, March 23, 2014

    The Three Major Reasons I Don't Live in the US

    1. Obesity.

    My own observations recently were chronicled in this post. I believe the condition is actually contagious. When so many people are obese in your daily comings and goings, it's that much easier to accept a bit of overweight in yourself. Over time, this leads to ever more cases. It's a terrible spiral going down with no indication of letting up any time soon. 

    The real problem, I suppose, is the fast food industry, and the hormones and additives they put in processed food. More recently there's the controversy of genetically modified foods.  The portions in restaurants and diners are incredible large.  The waste is awful.

    Everything is geared towards more and more obesity. 


     2. Prescription drugs

    The drug addiction among young adults and teenagers seems to be worse than ever. Several documentaries I watched explained how the new synthetic heroin-like painkillers are so prevalent that entire new demographic groups are being affected. When the prescriptions run out, buying the pills on the street is extremely expensive.  Many turn to heroin which a 10 times cheaper.

    We already knew about the when assigning The Crown to Florida, partly because it is the hub of this deadly business, but on my recent visit I saw the devastation with my own eyes.

      
     3. Gun availability

    The dreaded phone call from school that there's been a shooting is about 100 times more likely in the US than it is in Italy, for example. Easy access to guns makes life there a little bit more risky than it should be. 

    In one thing I agree with the gun-rights folks.  It's the violence of the people that's the real problem. When walking down the street in the US towards a group of young men, the potential for violence is there. This has nothing to do with guns.  But, to use that as an excuse for making guns easily available is insanity.  Guns make whatever violence is already there that much worse. What could be more obvious than that.

    One of the funny things about the gun control argument is that most of the vocal gun-rights guys are jingoistic rah-rah Americans, yet they embody these problems, in some cases all three.