Saturday, December 19, 2015

It's Getting Harder To Deny That Strong Laws Have An Effect On Gun Violence



Huffington Post

The Law Center then looked at the rate of gun deaths in each state, tallying homicides, suicides and other accidental shootings from the Centers for Disease Control's 2013 Fatal Injury Report, the latest year for which data is available. The report found that the gun death rate tends to get higher as firearms laws get weaker. In fact, the average gun death rate in states with failing grades was more than twice as high as it was in those with A grades.

America’s gun problem has everything to do with America’s masculinity problem

Quartz

Over the past few years, far more women have favored banning semi-automatic weapons. A full two-thirds of women favor a ban compared to only 48% of men, according to a 2013 Pew study. Indeed, women tend to prioritize gun restrictions over gun rights generally, unlike their male counterparts. Couple this with the fact that the vast majority of mass shooters are also men, and a pattern emerges. America’s gun problem can’t be distilled down to one single issue, of course, but it’s clear that on top of crime and fears of terrorism and insufficient mental health resources and the Second Amendment, America’s gun problem has something to do with America’s masculinity problem.

As Alankaar Sharma, a social worker and researcher, tells Quartz, “Possessing a gun is considered by many men, if not most, as a straightforward way of subscribing to dominant masculinity.” In his view, the patriarchal system, which privileges a certain set of masculine behaviors, values, and practices, provides men with “a clear and justifiable reason to own guns.” It cements their identity as masculine men.

And for many men today, it’s an identity in particular need of cementing. In this May 2015 op-ed for The Los Angeles Times, sociologist Jennifer Carlson argues that men are clinging to guns as a way to address a broad range of social insecurities. Author of a book on the social practice of gun-carrying in America, Carlson found that gun owners often characterized their fathers’ generation as an era when men had important roles to play as providers and breadwinners.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Myth: “The Second Amendment is to Overthrow the Government.”

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The Progressive Press

In the debate about gun control, many gun enthusiasts argue that the Second Amendment to the Constitution was written, not for the purposes of hunting or even self-defense, but specifically to give people the ability to rise up against the government when they no longer support that government.
These gun enthusiasts further hold the reference to the word militia in the Second Amendment refers to the armed populace in general. As such, this militia has the right to own the type of weapons that would be required to overthrow the government if need be.
Let’s take a look at exactly what the Founding Fathers put in the Constitution and other laws about the Militia:
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution lists among the powers of Congress:  To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
Article II, Section 2:  The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;
Amendment 2:  A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
 Amendment 5:  No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger;
That is every reference to the Militia in the Constitution. The description of the Militia in Article I sounds very much like our country’s National Guard. It is supposed to be well-organized with officers and training.
Not only does the Constitution not say anything about bearing arms to use against the government, it specifically says the Militia can be called upon by the President to suppress insurrections against our government.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Gun Safety Instructor Accidentally Shoots Pastor During Class


Gun instructor Phillip Rushing

Huffington Post

A California pastor was accidentally shot during a gun safety class earlier this month. 
Instructor Phillip Rushing of the Personal Protection Institute in Modesto had just replaced his rubber training gun with a real pistol at the end of class when someone asked about how to handle an attacker with a knife, the Modesto Bee reported.

Tom Smith, a family pastor at The House Modesto who also helps with church security, volunteered to act as the attacker. During the roleplaying scenario, Rushing pulled out his weapon and shot Smith in the waist, above the hip, the paper said. 


Tuesday, December 15, 2015

SCOTUS Rejects Challenge to Semi-Auto and Magazine Ban

Supreme Court

Ammoland

Finally showing its hand on a case that’s been relisted time and again over the past several weeks, the Supreme Court today announced it will not hear Friedman v Highland Park, a challenge to a Chicago suburb’s ordinance against the possession, sale and purchase of politically incorrect semiautomatic firearms and standard capacity magazines.

Monday, December 14, 2015

‘Libtard’-hating ex-police chief accused of pointing gun at woman who passed his Hummer

Mark Kessler (YouTube)

Raw Story

A former Pennsylvania police chief infamous for his profane video rants — punctuated by gunfire — against “libtards” has been arrested on harassment and terrorist threat charges.
Mark Kessler was charged last week on one misdemeanor count of harassment in connection with an Aug. 19 confrontation with a Frackville borough councilman at a supermarket checkout, reported the Standard Speaker.
Kessler accused the other man, William Creasy, of talking about his daughter, and he said the former Gilberton police chief shoved him in the chest and wagged a finger in his face, police said.
“You better watch your back, I know where you live,” Kessler allegedly told the man.
Creasy said the former officer also pestered him with slanderous emails, and he worried that Kessler might harm him or his family.
Prosecutors charged Kessler with misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats, harassment and disorderly conduct in connection with an Aug. 22 confrontation outside a drug store.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Florida-based gun dealer known for supporting NRA is linked to weapon used in Paris terror attacks

NY Daily News

One of the guns used by ISIS terrorists to slaughter 130 people in Paris was once owned by a Florida-based online firearms dealer with close ties to the NRA.
The M92 semiautomatic pistol — made by a Serbian arms factory — was imported into the U.S. by Century Arms, a Delray Beach-based company in 2013, the head of a Serbian arms factory revealed Friday to The Associated Press.
It remained unclear how the weapon made its way back across the Atlantic — and into the hands of Islamic militants.
Marc Adler, president of Allan Adler, a Boca Raton consulting firm that specializes in firearms, said legally taking a handgun out of the country involves reams of paperwork and approval by numerous federal agencies.
“The export of firearms is very heavily regulated,” Adler, who questions how the gun could have legally left the country, told the Palm Beach Post.

"How MikeB Grabbed the Guns" - A Poem by TS

"In a effort to bring some holiday cheer to the blog, I wrote you a poem."


How MikeB Grabbed the Guns

-By TS

Every person down in Boomville liked guns a lot...
But MikeB, who lived just north of Rome, Did NOT!
MikeB hated guns, and the whole hunting season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shorts were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that his brain was two sizes too small.
Whatever the reason, His brain or his Fruit-of-the-Looms,
He stood there on NRA Convention Eve, hating those gunloons,
Staring down from his pedestal with a sour, statist frown,
At the blued and nickeled steel below in their town.
For he knew every gun owner down in Boomville below,
Was busy now, hand-loading nine-millimeter ammo.
"And they're loading their clips!" he snarled with a sneer,
"Tomorrow is the convention! It's practically here!"
Then he growled, as he nervously devised his tactics,
"I MUST find some way to disarm these filthy lying fanatics!"
For Tomorrow, he knew, all the gun girls and boys,
Would wake bright and early. They'd rush for their “toys”!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise!
Noise! Noise! Noise!   
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE!
NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
Then the gun owners, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they'd feast! And they'd feast! And they'd FEAST!
FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would feast on their hunted animals, and rare-cooked roast beast.
Which was something this plant-eater couldn't stand in the least!
And THEN they'd do something he liked least of all!
Every gun owner down in Boomville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with goggles and ear muffs for muting.
They'd stand guns-in-hand. And the gun owners would start shooting!
They'd shoot! And they'd shoot! And they'd SHOOT!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
And the more MikeB thought of these freedom lovers having their fun
The more MikeB thought, "I must take away every gun!"
"Why, for sixty-one years I've put up with it now!"
"I MUST stop these dangerous lawful gun owners! But HOW?"
Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
MIKEB GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
"I know just what to do!" MikeB laughed in his throat.
And he put on a ski mask and a black coat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, "These nuts make gun theft too easy!"
"I’ll snatch the unsecured guns from their night stands- easy peasy!"

"All I need is some help..." MikeB looked around.

But since antis are scarce, there was none to be found.

Did that stop the old grump Mike?  No!  MikeB simply said,

"If I can't find someone reasonable, I'll get Jadegold instead!"

So he called his blog partner, Jade.  Then he took a red MDA shirt.

And it tied it around his neck, tight enough to hurt.

Then he loaded some bags and some sacks that were empty and old,

On a ramshackle sleigh and he hitched up Jadegold.

Then MikeB said, "Giddap!" and the sleigh started down,

Toward the homes where the gun owners lay asnooze in their town.

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the gun owners were all dreaming sweet dreams of gun care.
When he came to the first little house on the square.
"This is stop number one," the old liberal hissed,
And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist.
Then he slid down the chimney, as tight as could be.
But, if Santa could do it, then so could MikeB.
He got stuck only once, for a moment or two.
Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue.
Where the gun owner’s magazines all laid in a row.
"These high-capacity clips," he grinned, "are the first things to go!"
Then he slithered and slunk, so as not to cause an alarm,
Around the whole room, and he took every arm!
ARs and AKs! Shotguns! Rugers!
Sig Sauers! Blunderbusses! Scoped rifles! And Lugers!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then MikeB, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!
Then he slunk to the safe, and cracked it open too.
And emptied it out as he thought, “that was too easy to do!”
He cleaned out their fridge, leaving nothing to dine,
Why, MikeB even took their last bottle of Hoppe’s number nine!
Then he stuffed everything up the chimney without fault.
"And NOW!" grinned MikeB, "I will stuff up the vault!"
And MikeB grabbed the safe, and he started to shove,
When he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and he saw a small gun nut!
Little Cindy-Lou Boom, in front of her bedroom door- not shut.
MikeB had been caught by this tiny gun owner’s daughter,
who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared at MikeB and said, "You’re stealing our guns, why?”
"Why are you taking our protection? WHY?"
But, you know, that old hippie could con and was and so slick,
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
"Why, my sweet little tot," the gun grabber lied,
"Guns do more harm than good, since kids like you died."
"So I'm taking them for your own good, my dear."
"If you ever need help, the police will come here."
And his fib fooled the child. Then he patted her head,
And he said “I’ll call CPS if you’re not back in bed.”
And when Cindy-Lou Boom went to bed with her cup,
He went to the chimney and stuffed the safe up!
Then the last thing he took was a toy pop gun- anything that can fire!
Then he went up the chimney, himself, the old liar.
And for protection he left a sign saying “gun free zone”, hung by a wire.

Then he did the same thing to the other gun owners' houses
Leaving nothing that can protect them even from mouses!
It was quarter past dawn... All the gun owners, still a-bed,
All the gun owners, still asnooze when he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their guns! The barrel shrouds! The sliding stocks!
The ammo! And the holsters! The targets! The Glocks!
Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,
He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!
"PoohPooh to the gun owners!" with a mocking scoff.
"They're finding out now that they’ll be better off!"
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!"
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
Then the crybaby gun owners down in Boomville will all cry BooHoo!"
"That's a noise," grinned MikeB, "That I simply MUST hear!"
So he paused. And MikeB put his hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow.
It was the sound of government black helicopters swooping in!
Without arms to defend, there’s no chance the people could win.
He stared down at Boomville! MikeB popped his eyes!
Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every gun owner down in Boomville, the tall and the small,
Was mowed down by the law- one by one they started to fall!
The guns were stopping tyranny from coming! IT CAME!
Just like the gun owners said, it came just the same!
And MikeB, with his leftist-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood baffling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"
"They came without warning! They came without a warrant!"
"They came with guns, boxcars, even killed the compliant"
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then MikeB thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe guns," he thought, "do more than just gore."
"Maybe guns...perhaps...secure people quite a bit more!"
And what happened then? Well...in Boomville they say,
That MikeB's small brain grew three sizes and now loves the 2A!
And the minute his personality wasn’t uptight,
He loaded up some guns and armed himself right,
And he bought lots of guns as the truth was revealed,
And he, HE HIMSELF, MikeB, now even carries concealed!