Lawful CA Gun Owner Decides to Shoot Up the Neighborhood

Local news reports

According to Woodland police Sgt. Brett Hancock, Woodland resident Steven Ray James, 57, had gone to another residence on Johnston Street near Depot Street and fired a number of shots into a residence and a Chevrolet. No one was hurt.

Upon further investigation, it was learned the shooting occurred as a result of an ongoing civil dispute over the Chevrolet, Hancock said.

James was later transported and booked at the Yolo County Jail for the felony discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, the felony discharge of a firearm at an inhabited dwelling and for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Simply put, this is yet another so-called lawful gun owner who showed his true colors.  A guy like this, before being caught acting out, could best be called a "hidden criminal." Gun owners who drink too much, who settle disputes with guns, cannot rightly be called law-abiding even if they'd not yet been convicted of anything.

The gun-rights folks want us to maintain an attitude of "innocent until proven guilty," which is fair enough.  But they should not insist that all who have not yet been proven guilty are truly innocent.  That's why we have that middle category called "hidden criminals."

Next comes the question of how big is this category.  When forced to admit its existence, the next ploy used by the pro-gun crowd is to minimize the numbers.  Insignificant, they say, negligible even.

I don't agree.  What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting Death in the Bronx - A Cop Did It

NBC News reports

A Bronx bodega worker was accidentally shot and killed by a police officer responding to an armed robbery inside the store early Friday morning, according to law enforcement officials.

Police say a gunman wearing a ski mask and two other men entered the bodega at 631 East 169th Street at 2 a.m. Friday and ordered the store's night manager and another employee to lie on the floor. The gunman also struck the night manager in the back of the head. The gun was not loaded, police said.

A passerby who witnessed the robbery in progress called 911. As police arrived, two of the suspects fled to the back of the store and basement. At that point, Felix Mora, the night manager, and Reynaldo Cuevas, the other employee, ran out of the store

19-year-old Cuevas followed Mora and was accidentally shot dead by an officer as he exited the store. In surveillance footage shared by police at a press conference Friday afternoon, Cuevas is seen colliding with the officer as he runs out of the store.

The New York Police are having a bad couple of weeks. I can't help but thinking inadequate training is at fault. The possibility of accidentally shooting someone, whether it's collateral damage like at the Empire State Bldg. or shooting someone who suddenly runs into you, could be greatly diminished with more frequent training. This should be expected of gun owners.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Connecticut Gun Owners Acting Badly

Local Connecticut news reports

Matthew L. Renzullo was charged with illegal discharge of a firearm, second-degree breach of peace, carrying a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit first-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree false statement after allegedly lying to Torrington Police about his involvement with firing a gun early Thursday morning.

Renzullo, 23, told police he had met up with his friend, the two men started drinking and playing cards. Renzullo’s accomplice, later identified as 23-year-old Roger Hunt of Douglas, Mass., reportedly had a 9 mm Ruger pistol in his apartment, which he told police seemed enticing to Renzullo.

The two men walked outside the apartment and down the street, where Renzullo looked at Hunt and said, “What do you think of this n---er?”, then fired off “four or five rounds,” according to police. According to Hunt, he and Renzullo — both white males — devised a plan that “if the cops showed up, we’d blame it on two Puerto Ricans.”

Renzullo told police he wouldn’t have fired the weapon if he hadn’t been drinking.

Police charged Hunt, who lied to authorities about his identity, with carrying a firearm while intoxicated, conspiracy to commit first-degree reckless endangerment and conspiracy to commit unlawful discharge of a firearm.

You know, to hear the gun-rights folks tell it, you'd think that racism was a thing of the past.They never tire of insisting that they and their gun owning friends are not racists. Everyone knows that's just not true, as this story illustrates.

Another thing they insist upon is that guys who drink too much and do stupid shit with guns are so rare that we could just write them off as anomalies. That's another misrepresentation which this story highlights.

Gun owners are just like everybody else.  They suffer from all the ills that people in general suffer from.  That's why we need stricter gun control laws.  That's why it's a mistake to treat gun ownership like a right that everyone is entitled to. 

People should have to be highly qualified to own guns.  Infractions should be treated very seriously. 

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Emily Miller, Stooge for the NRA, Predicts Trouble for Gun Owners

Washington Times op-ed by Emily Miller

You didn’t hear the word “guns” voluntarily pass the lips of any Democratic speaker at this week’s convention in Charlotte, N.C. Liberals may be smart enough to avoid alienating the almost half of all Americans who have guns in their homes, but the same can’t be said for their party platform.

The Democratic policy statement approved this week calls for enacting “common-sense improvements — like reinstating the assault-weapons ban and closing the gun-show loophole.” The so-called “assault-weapons ban” in the 1990s banned scary-looking guns and magazines that held over 10 rounds. The platform does toss in a line that claims to recognize the right to bear arms, but it is “subject to reasonable regulation.” The left wants “an honest, open national conversation about firearms.”

I asked many Democratic leaders about the party’s position on firearms at the convention, but almost all claimed not to have read that section of the platform. Jesse Jackson was one of the few willing to come out and say he wants to ban all guns except bolt-action rifles, shotguns and revolvers.

“You have the right to have a gun in your castle to protect your house. You have the right to have a gun to hunt,” the reverend said in an interview in Charlotte. “Semi-automatic weapons — military-style weapons — are beyond the zone of reasonableness.” The civil-rights leader asserted, “These mass killings in Aurora and Milwaukee … we must end easy access and ban these assault weapons.” He added, “Twenty-five percent of all police are killed by assault weapons, and they cannot defend themselves from that.”

Her claim that, since the Democrats are not saying a thing about gun control, there's trouble brewing is right out of the Wayne La Pierre play book. It's contrived nonsense for the express purpose of driving gun sales and resisting gun control initiatives.

And it's working. Many gun owners are susceptible to this transparent manipulation.  They're buying more and more guns and ammunition. The gun-rights fanatics are extremely vocal and well-financed.

Honesty and truthfulness is not required when one is defending the sacred 2nd Amendment.  Take this example, her explanation why the word "guns" is not even mentioned by Democrats.

"Liberals may be smart enough to avoid alienating the almost half of all Americans who have guns in their homes,..."

The fact is, the "almost half" of Americans who have guns in their home includes many who are in agreement with the gun control side.  Many more are apathetic and couldn't care less. 

To claim allegiance from every person who owns a gun is misleading to put it mildly.  I'd say it goes far beyond that into the realm of blatant dishonesty. But, it's what we've come to expect from gun-rights advocates, isn't it?

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting in TN Leads to Long Overdue Arrest for Child Abuse

Local news reports


There are a lot of small-time losers out there who own guns legally even though they have pages of arrests. That's why we need stricter gun control laws, higher standards for who may own guns including a "may-issue" policy for gun ownership.

Guys like Daniel Guggan, who may still qualify for gun ownership under the current lax system, would be disarmed and everyone would benefit.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting - Florida 13-year-old Gets the Book Thrown at Her

Local news reports

A 13-year-old girl was charged with aggravated child abuse and grand theft in the accidental shooting last month of a Clearwater teenager.

Clearwater police say Taylor Alexa Compton and other juveniles, who were playing with a gun they had stolen, did not know it was loaded when she intended to scare Ryan Greenlee but shot him accidentally on Aug. 2.

The Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun had been stolen from an unlocked vehicle in the 1200 block of Highland Avenue, police said. Detectives said Compton and Justin Tyler Hemphill, 15, were responsible for the armed vehicle burglary as well as other vehicle burglaries.

Compton and Hemphill are charged with armed burglary (vehicle), grand theft of a firearm and dealing in stolen property - all felonies.

Police said the adults in the home had no knowledge of the gun or involvement in the shooting.

I have a few problems with this story.

1. Aggravated child abuse is the wrong charge when one child harms another. A conviction on a charge like that carries an unfair stigma. 

2. Armed vehicle burglary is misleading when applied to taking something out of an unlocked car.

3. The irresponsible gun owner who made the theft of the gun so easy by not even locking the care should be charged with reckless endangerment or failure to safely store a firearm or something.

4. The adults in the home who had no knowledge of what was going on should be charged with negligence. Parental supervision is essential.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

What Obama Did