Saturday, October 5, 2013

Home-Based FFL Dealers

Home Based FFL by the Numbers


Ammoland

Why would anyone want a FFL?  If you asked every FFL holder why they applied, we suspect the answer would be to buy firearms at wholesale prices.  ATF won’t approve 100% personal usage, so you will need to be willing to help others with transfers and maybe help a few friends get some great deals!

Normally the gun hobby turns into applying for an FFL and then as time evolves you can expand and grow as you see fit or let expire after three years when time to renew!

New poll: Starbucks is Right to Request No Guns in Stores

New poll: Starbucks is right to request no guns in stores
In this Wednesday, March 20, 2013, file photo, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz speaks at the company's annual shareholders meeting,in Seattle.

Komo News

Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz has made it clear he doesn't want customers bringing guns into his coffee shops. Now a new poll reveals Americans agree with him by a two to one margin. 

 Quinnipiac University in Connecticut found 66% of registered voters say the Seattle-based coffee chain's no-gun request is a good idea. Twenty-three percent call it a bad idea. 

 Quinnipiac polls are known for their thoroughness, with results regularly featured in the New York Times.

This one makes me laugh at the gun-rights fanatics who, like children whistling in the dark, keep telling us most people agree with them.

Vermont Governor Wants Abusers' Guns Stored

Law enforcement officials should be able to charge for storage of firearms belonging to people subject to protection from abuse orders, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said Thursday.
Those subject to relief-from-abuse orders usually are required not to possess firearms, which Shumlin called an important safeguard when emotions are running high, and the legislation Shumlin is backing would lighten the burden on authorities trying to make sure those weapons are secure.
‘‘The goal is to give law enforcement and professional (gun) dealers the means to take control of the storage of firearms while protection orders are in effect, instead of letting abusers hand them over to a friend or family member or, worse, hold on to them,’’ the governor said.
Under the legislation, sheriffs would be allowed to charge a fee for the storage of weapons and could sell them if the fee were not paid. A $75,000 fund would be set up to support building and maintaining storage facilities, with the aim that the fund would be replenished by the fees.
Shumlin said current gun laws —Vermont is among the most favorable states in the country toward gun ownership rights — would not change. What would change would be the ability of law enforcement to take and store firearms when a judge issues an order that a domestic violence perpetrator not possess weapons.
Tronsgard-Scott said national research showed that the ‘‘presence of a gun in domestic violence situations increases the risk of homicide for women by 500 percent.’’

More Fun with Maps - Most Popular Media Outlets

Business InsiderMedia map bitly

Minnesota Carpenter Survives Nail Gun Shot to the Heart



Yahoo News reports

Minnesota carpenter Eugene Rakow has a second shot at life after he literally took a shot to the heart. Rakow of St. Bonifacius, Minn., is recovering from accidentally shooting a 3.5-inch nail into his chest that came within 2 millimeters of his coronary artery.
The harrowing incident unfolded Friday while the 58-year-old man was repairing his neighbor's deck when his nail gun kicked back, firing the spike through his chest and piercing his heart.
I couldn't help but wonder if this guy owns any real guns.

The Washington Chase and Shooting

A woman with a 1-year-old girl in her car was fatally shot by police near the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, after a chase through the heart of Washington that brought a new jolt of fear to a city already rattled by the recent Navy Yard shooting and the federal shutdown.
The car was registered to Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., law enforcement officials said, adding that they believed Carey was the driver.D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said that the driver tried to breach two Washington landmarks and that the incident was not an accident. But officials also said it did not appear to be part of any larger or organized terrorist plot.
The chase began at about 2:15 p.m. at a White House security checkpoint, where the woman struck a barrier and a Secret Service officer with her black Infiniti. The woman then sped away from that fortified icon and headed straight for another: the Capitol.
During the chase, police officers opened fire twice, both times in areas busy with tourists and office workers. The Capitol itself was locked down, as a bitter debate over the government shutdown was interrupted by echoes of shots, officers with guns and an urgent order to “shelter in place.”
The end came outside the Hart Senate Office Building, at Maryland Avenue and Second Street NE. The woman’s car got stuck. Officers fired another volley. Then, moments later, an officer emerged with the girl and carried the toddler quickly away as new waves of officers arrived.
Authorities said the woman was not armed, and although the incident was first reported as a shooting at the Capitol, the only shots were fired by officers.

Mastercard or Visa?

Friday, October 4, 2013

A Libertarian changes his mind on gun control

Michael Shermer,  a monthly columnist for Scientific American, writes about when science conflicts with beliefs:

My libertarian beliefs have not always served me well. Like most people who hold strong ideological convictions, I find that, too often, my beliefs trump the scientific facts. This is called motivated reasoning, in which our brain reasons our way to supporting what we want to be true. Knowing about the existence of motivated reasoning, however, can help us overcome it when it is at odds with evidence.
 Take gun control. I always accepted the libertarian position of minimum regulation in the sale and use of firearms because I placed guns under the beneficial rubric of minimal restrictions on individuals. Then I read the science on guns and homicides, suicides and accidental shootings (summarized in my May column) and realized that the freedom for me to swing my arms ends at your nose. The libertarian belief in the rule of law and a potent police and military to protect our rights won’t work if the citizens of a nation are better armed but have no training and few restraints. Although the data to convince me that we need some gun-control measures were there all along, I had ignored them because they didn’t fit my creed. In several recent debates with economist John R. Lott, Jr., author of More Guns, Less Crime, I saw a reflection of my former self in the cherry picking and data mining of studies to suit ideological convictions. We all do it, and when the science is complicated, the confirmation bias (a type of motivated reasoning) that directs the mind to seek and find confirming facts and ignore disconfirming evidence kicks in.
His experience of trying to talk reason to the unreasonable:
The clash between scientific facts and ideologies was on display at the 2013 FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas—the largest gathering of libertarians in the world—where I participated in two debates, one on gun control and the other on climate change. I love FreedomFest because it supercharges my belief engine. But this year I was so discouraged by the rampant denial of science that I wanted to turn in my libertarian membership card. At the gun-control debate (as in my debates with Lott around the country), proposing even modest measures that would have almost no effect on freedom—such as background checks—brought on opprobrium as if I had burned a copy of the U.S. Constitution on stage. In the climate debate, when I showed that between 90 and 98 percent of climate scientists accept anthropogenic global warming, someone shouted, “LIAR!” and stormed out of the room.

The funny thing is that Libertarians would like to see themselves as being reasonable, but they are unwilling to accept facts, even when given to them complete with citations.   That makes it hard to argue with someone who parrots off a slogan thinking he has made a valid point, but they haven't really said much of anything of value.

more here

Chicago's Secret West Side Gun Stash: Where Firearms Go to Die

Gun vault
Michael Mealer, commander of evidence recoverey for the Chicago police department holding a firearm at their seized gun vault on the west side of Chicago which stores 80,000 firearms on September 30, 2013. ( Lenny Gilmore/ RedEye ) (lenny gilmore / September 29, 2013)

Chicago Tribune

For evidence of the scope of Chicago’s illegal gun problem, look no further than a nondescript warehouse on the city’s far West Side, not far from some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods. There, the Chicago Police Department has packed 80,000 illegal firearms into row after row of shelves, meticulously labeled and guarded by police officers who wait for the green light to destroy them.

The gun manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank.  They know that a certain percentage of their legal product ends up in places like this.  In cities all over America guns used in crime end up in police evidence lockers. And the gun makers are simultaneously churning out more product to replace them.

This obscene travesty of proper commerce is the fault of the gun-rights movement and all its adherents and proponents. They are the ones responsible for the lax gun laws that ensure a healthy and continual gun flow from the lawful to the criminal.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Fatal Shooting in Manchester Not the First Incident of its Kind for State Trooper

The Concord Monitor reports about more madness in Vermont further to Laci's excellent post.

The 45-year-old woman who died Monday in Manchester following a chaotic police chase was killed by a decorated state trooper with eight years of service who has taken part in two other officer-involved shootings in the past three years, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the incident.

Though state officials have yet to publicly identify the shooter, others have confirmed it was Trooper Chad Lavoie of Troop B who opened fire on Wendy Lawrence shortly before 7 p.m.

Lawrence, who had been on the run after fleeing the scene of a traffic stop on Interstate 89 in Bow, was transported to a nearby hospital and was later pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed she had been struck four times, including once fatally in the chest.

Lavoie was one of five officers who shot and killed an armed suspect in Pelham on Oct. 22, 2011. The 21-year-old victim in that case had been on the run from Massachusetts, where he was wanted for physical assault, according to a state investigation into the incident. After being rammed by a police cruiser on Hobbs Road, the suspect exited his vehicle, held a handgun to his head and began pleading with several officers to shoot him. They told him to put the weapon down. He refused.

Lavoie and the other officers opened fire on the man after he turned the gun on some of them and began approaching, the investigation found. Lavoie later told authorities he thought he’d shot at the suspect five or six times.

The attorney general’s office concluded in a report later that year that the officers’ actions had been justified, stating they “reasonably believed that they or others were in danger of death or serious bodily injury.”

Poll: 9 in 10 Americans STILL Support Gun Background Checks

People listen to a prayer during a rally on Capitol Hill Sept. 19, 2013, in Washington, DC.  Members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns held the rally to support enacting background check reforms to firearms sales laws. (Photo by Brednen Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
People listen to a prayer during a rally on Capitol Hill Sept. 19, 2013, in Washington, DC. Members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns held the rally to support enacting background check reforms to firearms sales laws. (Photo by Brednen Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
The vast majority of Americans remain in overwhelming support of universal background checks on all gun purchases even several months after Republicans stymied new gun control legislation in Congress.
Nearly 90% of Americans support background checks, a number basically unchanged from polls taken in the aftermath of last year’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday. Support for background checks among voters in gun-owning households also remained high, with 88% in favor of the checks.
More generally, 54% of those polled support stricter gun control laws.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

So much for peaceful Vermont

Nothing like a road rage incident gone overboard to change a peaceful state to a war zone. 

In this case, the chain of events began with a dispute between Matthew Webster and his wife, then escalated after Webster ran a red light and nearly collided with Anna Alger's car. Alger pursued and then confronted Webster, who responded by killing her.

I guess that's what you get if you don't dial 911.

On the other hand, who carries a gun in a civilised society?

Matthew webster did: a Ruger 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and a Keltec .380 pistol, along with three magazines, including the emptied one, and five loose bullets, according to court papers.

Anyway, Webster told investigators that Alger charged "like a six-point buck coming over a hill" and fired a shot at her thinking that would stop her.

He emptied the magazine on her when it didn't.

Anyway, a witness described the incident this way:
I saw the man and the woman standing outside of their cars and they seemed to be arguing. He started toward her and she put her hands up and said something along the lines of 'No, don't.' I had been driving by at this time, and when I went past, I heard a shot.
When I looked back she was on the ground and he had taken off. So extremely scary, especially with my two kids in the car.
Maybe this is the point where we reveal that Webster is being treated for depression and chronic anxiety among "so many other things,"  Not to mention that he has also admitted abusing prescription medication including oxycodone and methadone in the past and Klonopin, a medicine to treat anxiety.   Medical experts say that possible side-effects of Klonopin include mood or behavior changes, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

But, we can't have cops second guessing who should be able to carry a gun, should we?

More here

6 Risky Gun Storage Products Sold by the NRA



Mother Jones


NRA Amendment II Peacemaker Wooden BoxWith decorations "reminiscent of 19th century Western designs," this pine, birch, and poplar box features images of an American flag, three Peacemaker revolver, and the full text of the Second Amendment on a removable lid covering enough space for a real Peacemaker. The box is recommended for storing a flag, jewelry, documents, or "other items in need of old fashionedAmerican protection" (hint, hint).


No wonder they oppose safe storage legislation. It would negatively impact upon the sales of these specialty items.

Connecticut Gun Shop Worker Sentenced in Records Case

A worker at a gun shop where the Newtown, Conn., school shooter's mother bought a rifle has been sentenced to probation for violating federal law in an unrelated sale.
Krystopher DiBella pleaded guilty in June to failing to have a buyer answer a citizenship question on a form. He was sentenced Monday in Bridgeport federal court to three years' probation and fined $250.
DiBella worked at Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, 60 miles northeast of Newtown. Nancy Lanza legally bought from Riverview a Bushmaster rifle used by her son, who in December killed her at home and then killed 26 people and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Riverview lost its federal firearms license after the shooting because of what authorities said were hundreds of violations over several years.
I wonder if some of the other violations were a bit more substantial than that?
What do you think?

Democrats Now Have Nine Point Lead in the Generic Ballot



The early results are in and it is clear this government shutdown fight is doing significant damage to the Republican Party. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Democrats now have taken a massive nine point lead in the generic ballot.

If the election were held today 43 percent would vote for the Democrat in their district and only 34 percent would vote for the Republican. This is by far the biggest lead for the Democrats this year.

The problem for the Republican brand is that their current strategy is deeply unpopular. Only 22 percent support shutting down the government to try to stop the new health care law, while 72 percent oppose it.

Arkansas Gun Owners Are Concerned about One Thing

Missouri Supreme Court Reverses in Gun Case

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a trial judge’s dismissal of charges against a man accused of violating the state’s prohibition on gun possession by convicted felons.
Arthel Ford Harris pleaded guilty in 2001 to a felony for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. He was arrested in 2011 for unlawfully possessing a .38-caliber revolver, and a St. Louis grand jury returned an indictment against him in 2012. But Missouri in 2001 only banned gun possession by people convicted of dangerous felonies, which did not include Harris’s conviction. The law was broadened in 2008 to cover all felonies. Possessing a gun as a felon is a felony that carries a prison sentence of up to seven years.
A trial judge in St. Louis dismissed the gun case against Harris, concluding it amounts to an ex post facto law when applied to him. A unanimous Missouri Supreme Court reversed the dismissal and sent the case back to the trial court.
"ALL felonies" seems a bit excessive. I would exclude non-violent white collar crimes but include drug dealing convictions.

What do you think?

Moorhead City, North Carolina Police Officer Injured in Accidental Shooting

Officer medivacked
Rescue crews from Morehead City Fire and EMS Department and Vidant Medical Center helicopter crews prepare to load onto an awaiting helicopter the Morehead City Police Officer who sustained a gunshot wound during an accidental shooting in an early morning training exercise being conducted at the police department Wednesday. (Helen Outland photo)


A city police officer suffered a gunshot wound Wednesday morning during a training exercise.
The incident, which Mayor Jerry Jones called “a tragic” accident as he spoke during a news conference at the department, is under investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation. Police Chief Wrenn Johnson said that was protocol.
The mayor said the department has the city’s support and the incident was an accident.
“This is very tragic,” the mayor said. “We are very supportive of the police department. We are a big family. They (officers) train hard, but accidents can happen. We learn and improve. Both these officers are in our hearts.”

Police say the officer has a gunshot wound sustained in the accident in the rear parking lot of the police department about 8 a.m. and was transferred by helicopter from Carteret General Hospital to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.
Now, wait a minute. Was the injury sustained during training or in the back parking lot? 
One thing is clear, the mayor and the police are all one big family.  They cover up each other's negligence every chance they get.
What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Colorado Springs Man Shoots Himself and His Friend with one Shot

Two people were hurt in an accidental shooting Tuesday evening, according to Colorado Springs police. Both were injured with the same shot.
It happened at about 6:30 p.m., in the 3700 block of Rebecca Lane at the Newport Square Apartments, near the intersection of Academy Boulevard and Austin Bluffs Parkway.
According to police, 24-year-old Joseph Gunderson was handling a newly-purchased 9mm handgun when it went off. It struck him in the left palm. The bullet then excited his left hand and hit his roommate in the right arm and left side.
Both were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Gunderson was charged with Prohibited Use of Weapons, police said.
What kind of a charge is that? Is that like when a lawful gun owner fires his weapon in a residential area.  Or when a concealed carry permit holder shoots someone by accident? Is this part of Colorado's enhanced gun control regimen?
One thing for sure, like many gun owners, Mr. Gunderson was absolutely unfit and incapable of handling a gun safely.

Former Lompoc prison guard Timothy McNally Gets a Second Trial


Former Lompoc prison guard Timothy McNally stands as the jury enters into a Santa Maria court room Monday. McNally stands trial a second time for the allegedly murdering of a friend after a night of drinking and ingesting bath salts.

Santa Maria Times

Prior to surrendering to police outside his father’s west Pine Avenue home, a Lompoc man accused of killing his friend earlier that evening made statements about committing suicide and told his father the shooting was accidental. 

 Timothy McNally, a former prison guard, also told his father the alleged shooting that left one man dead was nothing but a bad dream from which he was going to wake up.

McNally, 33, is accused of shooting his friend, Gary Bent, once in the left side of the neck on March 8, 2012, in a room at the Lompoc Embassy Suites, after the pair partied and ingested bath salts the night before. 

 He is facing one count of second-degree murder for Bent’s death, as well as an enhancement charge of using a gun during the commission of a deadly crime. 

 A second trial in the case started Monday, after jurors failed to reach an unanimous verdict at the conclusion of McNally’s first trial earlier this year. 

 On Tuesday, McNally’s father, Michael McNally, took the witness stand and told jurors his son was “emotionless” after the alleged shooting and he was worried the younger McNally may take his life.

“At the time, he said, ‘Shall I shoot myself,’” Michael McNally testified, adding at the time Timothy McNally made the statement he was repeatedly pointing a gun toward the base of his skull. “I told him, ‘No,’ I don’t need two deaths in the living room.”

In Arizona a Constitutional Carry Idiot Accidentally Kills his Girlfriend

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Laura Veirs - America

Everybody's packing heat In America

More on the Chicago Lie

The Propaganda Professor

But the gun culture wants to train its crosshairs only on those cities with strict gun regulations that have experienced an increase in violent crime.  Three years ago, Boston was all the rage, as 2010 saw a temporary (and relatively minor) jump in homicides for that city. But when levels returned to normal the following year, the gunsters turned their sights toward the Second City instead. But the focus is on only one particular year in Chicago — i.e., 2012. It’s not hard to figure out why if you take a look at the statistics for the few years leading up to that:


As even a casual glance makes clear, the city’s homicide tally had been on a rather steady downward slide for 20 years; thus, it appears that what happened last year was an anomaly rather than a trend. And this is borne out by the fact that the homicide rate for 2013 appears to have dived back down again, and has been on pace to be the lowest in about 40 years! No wonder you hear a lot more about 2012 than you do about 2013 or 2011. You also hear about isolated days or weekends of exceptional bloodshed much more than you hear about the overall trend (which is almost never).
This obsession with recent (though not too recent) crime statistics, and trying to tie them to “gun control” suggests that the gun lobby wants to give the impression that strict gun regulation is a recent development in Chicago. But far from it. Way back in 1982 the city passed one of the strictest of gun policies: an outright ban on handguns. And guess what? The streets haven’t become Armageddon Unlimited. In fact, at the time the ban went into effect, the city’s homicide rate had been on a steep escalator; but since then, it has dropped an average of 17 percent per year.
Homicide isn't the only story, of course; there are other crimes to consider. And how has the overall crime rate fared in the wake of the handgun ban? The short answer is down, down, down.  Every category of crime  has seen an overall decline in Chicago for at least 20 years or so. (Burglary has been holding steady for the past 10 years, but was on the decline in the preceding years just like everything else.)

Shooting of Louisiana Pastor Followed Rape Allegation

Woodrow Karey is shown in this Calcasieu Parish Jail photo released to Reuters on September 28, 2013.

Chicago Tribune and further to our post at the time of the shooting

A pastor shot to death last week at his church in Lake Charles, Louisiana, was accused of rape just days before by the wife of the man who was charged with his killing, authorities said on Monday.

Ronald Harris Sr. was shot as he preached to about 50 to 60 people at a service on Friday evening at the Tabernacle of Praise Worship Center, according to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office.

Woodrow Karey, 53, of Lake Charles is being held on a second degree murder charge in connection with the pastor's death.

On September 25, Karey's wife filed a rape complaint against Harris, according to a statement released on Monday by the sheriff's office.

Investigators are looking into the "possibility of a relationship" between Harris and the wife of Karey and whether that may have prompted the shooting, according to the sheriff's office.

1995-96 Government Shutdown

SUMMARY:

From November 14 through November 19, 1995 and from December 16, 1995 to January 6, 1996 the U.S. government was shut down as a result of a budgetary impasse between Congress and the White House. The shutdown was precipitated by a dispute between Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich over domestic spending cuts in the fiscal year 1996 budget and resulted in a bipartisan agreement to balance the budget in seven years' time.

DESCRIPTION:

Upon gaining the speakership of the House following the 1994 midterm elections Newt Gingrich strove to implement policies contained in the Republican Party's 1994 Contract with America, a campaign document that promised to slash funding for congressional committee staff and introduce a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, among other things. Most of the proposals failed to pass the Democratically-controlled Senate, however, and the Republican focus shifted to limiting President Bill Clinton's ability to govern. In response to Clinton's refusal to accede to Republican demands for steep cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and other non-defense spending for the fiscal year 1996 budget, Gingrich threatened to prevent a vote on increasing the federal government's debt ceiling, which would have forced the U.S. into the unprecedented position of defaulting on its outstanding debt. A continuing resolution bill allowed the government to keep running. Nevertheless, the Clinton White House and Republican congressmen failed to reach agreement on the budget, and as a result the expiration of the continuing resolution on November 13, 1995 led to the closing of all non-essential government services. The shutdown lasted until November 19, when the President and Congress agreed to try to balance the budget in seven years. There was little agreement about how exactly this would be accomplished, however, and negotiations over the budget quickly dissolved. When the new continuing resolution that had been agreed to in November expired on December 15, the government shut down again. Over the following twenty-two days White House and Congressional negotiators struggled to hammer out an agreement over the budget, with the end result that, by January 1996 the President and Congress agreed to a seven year balanced budget plan that included modest spending cuts and tax increases.

Politically speaking, President Clinton got the better of the 1995-96 government shutdown. Whereas Gingrich expected the public to side with the Republican Party during the dispute, opinion polls showed that a majority of Americans felt that the impasse had been the result of Republican obstinacy. However, the 1995-96 government shutdown demonstrated the costs of divided government and, more importantly, shifted the political discourse to the right. Although the budget deal restored many of the Republican's proposed cuts in domestic spending, Clinton adopted a more centrist position for the remainder of his presidency. Clinton's move to the right was exemplified in his State of the Union Address of January 27, 1996, in which he declared that "the era of big government is over."

Jon Stewart on the Republican Orchestrated Government Shutdown

Second Amendment Coin ~ 2013 Series ~ 1 oz .999 SILVER

Buy it now on eBay

Hidalgo County Texas SWAT Deputy Injured in Accidental Shooting

Hidalgo County Sheriff’s have come forward about an accidental shooting involving SWAT Deputies on Friday.
In a statement from Sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño, 32-year-old SWAT member, Angel Gonzalez was accidentally shot in the arm by K-9 Sgt., Javier Solis, during a training exercise at  a building near Highway 281 and El Cibolo Road.
Deputy Gonzalez underwent surgery and is in stable condition. Sgt. Solis is on administrative leave pending ongoing investigations.

Mother of Rochester 6-Year-old Arrested

Konica Campbell
Konica Campbell / Provided by RPD


Local news reports further to our post at the time of the incident

The mother of a 6-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself is now facing criminal charges. 

Konica Campbell, 23, of Rugraff Street is charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanors. 

According to the Rochester Police Department the child was shot in the lower part of his torso after he had found a loaded pistol and started playing with it. 

Campbell was home at the time and called 911 about 6:50 p.m. Sunday. He was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he is currently in satisfactory condition, police said. 

Campbell was arrested Monday and arraigned Tuesday morning.

Well that didn't take long. Usually with your white hillbilly criminal gun owners it takes about a month for the investigation to result in charges. Not for this Rochester, New York mom.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.


Three Charged in Texas Case in Which a 3-Year-old Lost a Lung

3 arrested in accidental child shooting
Toby Patterson



Three Horseshoe Bay residents were charged in relation to the accidental shooting of a three-year-old last month, including the parents of the child.

Toby Dewayne Patterson, 48, was charged with injury to a child, a second degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third degree felony. His wife Dee Ann Davenport Patterson, 38, was charged with tampering with evidence and unlawful possession of a fire arm, a third degree felony. A third individual, Brian Christopher Evans, was charged with tampering with evidence.

Horseshoe Bay Police arrested Evans on Saturday morning after patrol officers spotted him inside a convenience store. He was then transported to Llano County Jail. Toby and Dee Ann Patterson turned themselves in to the Horseshoe Bay Police on Saturday night and were transported to Burnet County Jail.

North Dakota State University Police Officer Shoots Himself While Drunk - Resigns from Job - But is not Charged with a Crime

In Forum

A North Dakota State University police officer resigned Monday after accidentally shooting himself in the arm last month as he conducted a close-quarters shooting exercise in his apartment.

Patrick Thomas submitted his resignation Monday just as a meeting was getting underway between Thomas and campus officials, according to a statement released Tuesday by Ray Boyer, director of the university police and safety office.

According to Fargo police, the incident happened just before midnight on Sept. 13 in an apartment.

Fargo police Lt. Joel Vettel said the investigation into the shooting has been completed and no charges will be filed in what police have deemed an accidental shooting.

Police reports indicate Thomas told investigators he consumed two or three beers the night of the incident and at the time of the shooting was watching an instructional video on his computer having to do with close-quarters shooting with a handgun.

According to the report, Thomas told authorities he was doing an exercise that involved dry firing his gun while holding the muzzle against his forearm.

Having done that several times, Thomas told police he absent-mindedly inserted an ammunition clip into the gun, which he said went off the next time he attempted to dry fire it against his arm.

The police report said the bullet went through Thomas’s arm and the modem of his computer before becoming lodged in one of the walls of his apartment.

I love the old "two or three beers" line. Everyone knows what that means. 

The people who were sleeping in the apartment next door were pretty lucky.  I wonder how they feel about his not being charged and continuing to own guns. As soon as he gets another modem, he'll be able to do those midnight practicing sessions again.

You think he has a concealed carry permit? Sure he did, given his former work. And since he wasn't charged with a crime, he gets to keep being one of the guys who are more responsible and safer than regular folks.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting in Portland, Oregon - 2 Injured - No Arrests

Accidental shooting injures 2 in SE Portland


Two people were injured during an accidental shooting in Southeast Portland Tuesday.
Officers responded to the report of a shooting around 1 p.m. in the 8700 block of Southeast Ellis Street, according to Sgt. Pete Simpson of the Portland police.
They found a man and woman suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, Simpson said. Both were transported to Portland hospitals for treatment.
An initial investigation found that the man was handling a gun and accidental pulled the trigger, injuring both himself and the woman.
Officers seized the gun and said there was no risk to the neighborhood.
"No risk to the neighborhood," that's a good one.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Do you really think they care about your "gun rights", suckers?

The right wants to use gun rights as a wedge issue to get you to vote against your self interests, yet
their shut down could prevent people from exercising their "Second Amendment Rights":

One of the more controversial effects of a government shutdown is a halt on concealed carry permits for gun owners. The clerk of court issues these permits in each locality, but the software they use to perform background checks on applicants goes through the federal government.
OK, maybe the government will see things your way and this is covered under the "law enforcement exception". 

Then again, maybe not!

Of course, part of the reason the US is in this mess is because politicians have been courting the fringe elements of US politics:  The people who are single issue voters (e.g., "right to life", "gun rights", taxes).

Unfortunately, one lesson any democracy should know is choose good leaders, or you will be stuck with bad ones.

And the US has picked some really bad ones.

Maj. Nidal Hasan is Sentenced to Death by Military Court



From he Trenches

A military jury on Wednesday sentenced Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, handing the Army psychiatrist the ultimate punishment after a trial in which he seemed to be courting martyrdom by making almost no effort to defend himself.

The rare military death sentence came nearly four years after the attack that stunned even an Army hardened by more than a decade of constant war. Hasan walked into a medical building where soldiers were getting medical checkups, shouted “Allahu akbar” _ Arabic for “God is great!” _ and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. Thirteen people were killed.

 Hasan, who said he acted to protect Islamic insurgents abroad from American aggression, had no visible reaction when the sentence was announced, staring first at the jury forewoman and then at the judge. Some victims’ relatives were in the courtroom but none showed any reaction, which the judge had warned against. 

The American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent acted as his own attorney and never denied his actions at the huge Texas Army post. In opening statements, he told jurors that evidence would show he was the shooter and described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.” The same jurors who convicted Hasan last week deliberated the sentence for about two hours. They needed to agree unanimously on the death penalty. The only alternative was life in prison without parole.

For Gun Violence, The US is Always on Yellow Alert

Divine Intervention

Pennsylvania Family Shooting: Josephine Ruckinger And Husband Jeffrey Murder Mother, Son Before Father Kills Couple

IBT

A two-decade family feud came to a bloody and deadly end Friday when estranged daughter Josephine Ruckinger and her husband murdered her mother and brother before her father killed the couple, not knowing it was his daughter who committed the crimes.

The chaotic scene started around 10 a.m. Friday, when Ruckinger and her husband, Jeffrey, both 43, rang the front door of the home of Josephine’s family in Allegheny Township, Pa., and opened fire. Josephine Ruckinger killed her mother, Roberta Frew, 64, while husband Jeffrey Ruckinger murdered her brother, 47-year-old John Frew, Jr. Josephine’s father, John Frew Sr., then shot and killed the Ruckingers.
The Pennsylvania State Police said their investigation discovered that the elder Frew did not realize it was his estranged daughter and her husband who killed his family until he killed the couple.
The Frews and Runkingers, poster families of the NRA.

Three Shot in Houston Car Wash - One Dead

Lawful Arkansas Gun Owner Fires 19 Shots at Fleeing Jehovah's Witnesses

 John Lee Baldwin, 35
John Lee Baldwin

Local Fox News

Police say a Centerton man fired multiple gunshots at Jehovah's witnesses after asking them to leave Saturday.

John Lee Baldwin, 35, now faces a felony charge of aggravated assault.

The three Jehovah's witnesses were in the process of leaving and heard Baldwin say from his front door, "Get me my 9," according to a probable cause report.

As they drove away that's when Baldwin allegedly started shooting.

In an interview with detectives, police say Baldwin admitted to firing about 19 rounds.

He was booked into the Benton County Jail and later bonded out on a $50,000 dollar bond with a court appearance pending.


What do you think that "19 rounds" means, that the maniac fired the gun until it was empty?

Is it just me, or does Arkansas seem to be in the gun news a lot lately?

What's going on there, Greg?

Rochester New York 6-Year-old Shoots Himself - No Adults Charged Yet

A 6-year-old Rochester boy accidentally shot himself Sunday evening while playing with a handgun, according to Rochester Police.
The child was shot in the lower body inside a house on Rugraff Street about 6:45 p.m. The boy was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital with minor injuries, said Rochester Police Sgt. Elena Correia. He was listed in satisfactory condition Monday morning, she said.
Officers interviewed several adults who were in the house at the time of the incident, said Rochester Police Lt. Jeremy Anzalone. No charges were filed in connection with the shooting, which remained under investigation.

New Jersey Man Shoots Himself in the Leg - No Charges

File photo

Jefferson Patch

Jefferson Police report a 73-year-old man apparently shot himself accidentally last weekend.

According to a department report, at about 11:40 p.m., Officer Rich Reina 
responded to Bear Drive for a report of a serious, but not life-threatening gunshot wound. Once there, Reina learned that resident Charles Johnson was handling his .45 caliber handgun when it accidentally discharged and hit him in the upper leg.

Milton First Aid Squad took Johnson to Morristown Memorial Hospital for treatment. 

Detectives determined that Johnson was trying to check the gun's condition. The man thought the weapon did not have a clip in it, and it didn't, but there was a bullet in the chamber and it accidentally  discharged. 

Police said that because the investigation was deemed accidental, no charges were expected to be filed.

I guess I can't blame this one on the lax attitudes towards guns and gun laws. I suppose it goes to show that even in places like NJ and CA, they don't treat gun negligence as they should.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Marissa Alexander, Who Was Sentenced to 20 Years for Firing a Warning Shot at her Abusive Husband Gets New Trial

An undated photo of Marissa Alexander

From the Trenches

After unsuccessfully invoking Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law, Marissa Alexander will now get a second chance to prove that she fired a warning shot at her husband because she felt threatened.

Although Duval County Judge James H. Daniel rejected the idea of using Stand Your Ground laws as a defense, he granted Alexander a new trial Thursday, allowing her to prove to the jury that the shot was indeed fired in self-defense.  
“We reject her contention that the trial court erred in declining to grant her immunity from prosecution under Florida’s SYG law, but we remand for a new trial because the jury instructions on self-defense were erroneous,” Daniel wrote, according to a report by ABC.
Alexander’s case, with the reference to SYG, was often paralleled with the Trayvon Martin shooting. However, when positioned next to each other details were often sparse and centered on race. For example, the Martin incident resulted in the acquittal of a white neighborhood watch volunteer who pursued and shot to death an unarmed black teen, whereas Alexander’s story resulted in her, a black female, getting 20 year in prison for firing a warning shot at her abusive, estranged husband.