This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Guns

  • 2012 FBI Data Says: More BS from the Brady Bunch

    In a previous article, I published an analysis of the apparent linkage between a state’s Brady Score on that state’s overall and firearms murder rates.   Essentially, that analysis showed that BS is indeed an apt abbreviation for the Brady Score – at least regarding the thesis that a higher Brady Score leads to lower murder rates.

    The modern-day “Brady Bunch” (AKA the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence) has released a new version of it’s Brady Score metric (2011).  The FBI has released 2012 crime data.  So it seems to me that it’s time for a re-look.

    Obligatory warning:  the article’s a bit longish.  And yeah, there’s math involved.  (smile)

    (more…)

  • NRA News; Colion Noir

    The folks at NRA News send us the latest video from Colion Noir;

    Colion exposes the gun control movement’s hypocrisy by asking why some mass shootings seem more important than others.

    Tune in to www.NRANews.com/Commentators for episodes every Monday and Thursday.

  • Who’s Watching the Watchmen?

    From Fox News comes a story about a private citizen trying to exercise his 1st amendment rights in support of his 2nd amendment rights. It seems that someone didn’t like his sign…

    Jon Gibson, of rural Lake Lincolndale, about 50 miles north of New York City, told FoxNews.com he set up a hunting field camera near the sign, which reads “Protect the Second Amendment,” and features the silhouette of an assault rifle, after two mysteriously vanished.

    Imagine his surprise when his trail cam had these images….

    MOULTRIE DIGITAL GAME CAMERA

    MOULTRIE DIGITAL GAME CAMERA

    Yep, the local Constabulary was taking his signs

    “It was pure shock to see,” Gibson said to FoxNews.com about first seeing the video recorded on Monday. “He had a huge smile on his face as he’s kicking down the sign

    Now, to be sure, he is having his property re-surveyed to make sure he wasn’t violating any ordinances regarding how close to the right of way he could have a sign but wouldn’t you think the officer would walk up to the house, drop off the sign and let the property owner know why he was taking it down? After taking 3 signs, shouldn’t he be issuing a citation to the perpetrator of such deviant criminal behavior?

    Anecdotally, all of the LEO’s that I know are supporters of the 2nd amendment AND support concealed carry laws so I certainly wouldn’t paint all police as gun control advocates but WTH?

  • Pennsylvania clears man who shot burglar

    Siggurdsson sends us a link to the Pittsburgh Gazette which reports that a man was cleared of charges after he shot a former Marine who was acting as a look out for his accomplice in a burglary of the man’s detached garage where he kept his 1977 Mustang;

    [John] Rozgonyi left his house and went onto Victor Way, an alley that runs by his fenced-in garage. He he encountered Andrew E. Stevens, a 23-year-old Marine veteran from Munhall, and told him police were on the way.

    Mr. Stevens, armed with a handgun, fired at shot and Mr. Rozgonyi returned fire with his pistol, the district attorney said. Each man fired six shots; two struck Mr. Stevens, who died in the alley.

    “It has changed this gentleman’s life,” [District Attorney Stephen A.] Zappala said of Mr. Rozgonyi. “The deceased forced his hand. He wasn’t looking for trouble. This is classic self-defense, classic Castle Doctrine.”

    The article says that Stevens was a warehouse worker in the Marine Corps which explains his poor marksmanship skills. Stevens accomplice was also arrested and now he’ll face the murder charges for Steven’s death.

  • Starbucks & guns

    The other day, Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, asked his customers to refrain from bringing their guns into his shops, and of course, a furor immediately started. I respect Mr Schultz’ property rights and admit that it’s his prerogative whether he wants to let armed people into his places of business or not. The same way I respect Denny’s gun ban – I just don’t go to Denny’s anymore. But, you know that us pro-gun people share some of the blame for Schultz’ decision. While it was fine to support their open-carry policy before this week, some pro-gun people would use Starbucks as a rally point for our cause, and I’m sure that wasn’t especially good for business. And I could hardly keep up with whether I was supposed to support or boycott Starbucks on a given day because conservatives attacked Schultz when he said he supported gay marriage recently.

    I’m not a big fan of open carry, anyway – yeah, I know it’s your constitutional right to carry your gun outside your pants for the world to see, but it’s also my right to feel uncomfortable around someone who hasn’t bothered to go through the background checks for a concealed weapons permit. And mostly, anymore, people who open carry are just trying to make a political statement, and it has nothing to do with personal protection.

    To his credit, Mr Schultz just asked customers to stop, so he could remove his business from the center of the controversy. I respect that. I mean, I don’t know how much my respect will impact his decisions or his business since the nearest Starbucks is 60 miles from my house, and I have, you know, a coffeepot in my kitchen. But, I don’t fault him for the decision at all.

    The extremes of both sides of the gun discussion can be equally assholish. If you have a CCW permit, no one is going to know whether you have a gun or not – you know, if your intention is really protection.

  • 13 shot in Chicago

    Andy sends us a link to a Fox News article about how 13 people were shot in Chicago at about 10 pm last night. One victim was a three-year-old boy. I guess the most obvious question, beyond the gun control issue, is; why was there a three-year-old out on the streets of Chicago at 10 o’clock at night?

    A witness, Julian Harris, told the Chicago Sun-Times that dreadlocked men fired at him from a gray sedan before turning toward Cornell Square Park and firing at people in the area. He said his 3-year-old nephew was wounded in the cheek.

    “They hit the light pole next to me, but I ducked down and ran into the house,” he said. “They’ve been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night, just gang-banging stuff. It’s what they do.”

    Police spokesman Ron Gaines says victims are being interviewed to determine the circumstances of the shooting, adding no one had been taken into custody.

    Since Chicago’s aim was to criminalize guns, I guess they got their wish – all of the criminals have guns.

    From the Chicago Sun Times;

    The 3-year-old’s uncle, Jerome “J Money” Wood, a rapper who was affiliated with Def Jam artist Durk “Lil Durk” Banks, was shot in the head and died on Sept. 2 in the 6600 block of South Rhodes in the Woodlawn neighborhood.

    Corey Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church on the South Side presided over Wood’s funeral. He said he was called early Friday to again comfort the family at the hospital.

    “They’re frustrated, upset and hurt and disappointed that this is just happening over and over and over in our community,” Brooks said.

    But, yeah, what we need is better background checks to keep guns out of the hands of these criminals who will, of course, go to a Federal Firearms Licensed dealer before they transfer ownership of their weapons.

  • Emily Miller: NYT got it wrong

    I made the mistake of quoting a New York Times article yesterday in regards to Aaron Alexis’ inability to purchase an AR-style rifle in Virginia because of his residency. But our buddy, Emily Miller of the Washington Times sets us straight;

    “Virginia law does not prohibit the sale of assault rifles to out-of-state citizens who have proper identification,” Dan Peterson, a Virginia firearms attorney, told me Tuesday night. The required identification is proof of residency in another state and of U.S. citizenship, which can be items like a passport, birth certificate or voter identification card.

    The Commonwealth defines “assault firearm” as any semiautomatic centerfire rifle or pistol with a magazine which will hold more than 20 rounds or can accommodate a silencer or is equipped with a folding stock.

    John Frazer, also a firearms attorney in the Commonwealth, told me that, “State law in Virginia — like most states — allows purchase of rifles or shotguns by residents of other states. Virginia simply requires some additional forms of identification.”

    […]

    Perhaps they were confused with the federal law on handguns, which can only be sold or transferred through dealers in the same state as the buyer.

    Miller goes on to say that Alexis passed the required background checks in order to purchase the shotgun, a Remington 870 pump-action, recommended by certain members of the Obama Administration as an acceptable means of defending your home when discharged randomly into the atmosphere periodically. So, the problem isn’t the gun, it’s law enforcement’s inability to update the NICS system in a timely manner.

    Thanks for straightening us out, Ms. Miller, we still love you.

  • Those crazy vets

    DrewM at Ace sent us this Tweet last night from a Washington Post headline

    DrewM Crazy vet

    The Post changed the headline after Drew captured it, but they’re back at it again this morning;

    One Navy official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Alexis was discharged in January 2011 for “a pattern of misconduct” and that the 2010 gun incident in Texas played a role in his departure.

    Another Navy official said Alexis was given a “general discharge,” a classification often used to designate a blemished performance record. In some cases, a general discharge can make it difficult to land a civilian job.

    But Alexis, 34, had no such trouble. He moved from Fort Worth to Washington about a month ago, friends said, and was hired as an hourly tech employee for The Experts, a Hewlett-Packard subcontractor that is updating computer systems at Navy and Marine Corps installations worldwide. He was scheduled to begin work at the Washington Navy Yard this month.

    The problem isn’t the military or Alexis’ training. He had an incident in 2004 before he joined the military in which he fired three shots into a tire of some construction workers who he thought were mocking him – that was before he joined the military. The problem is that he wasn’t prosecuted on either incident, so he wouldn’t appear as a risk in the NICS criminal background check. In fact, after the 2004 incident, it took nearly month from the shooting until police finally arrested Alexis.

    I’m having similar problems with our current situation. Apparently, not answering your door when the police knock is one way to avoid jail. And if you don’t answer your phone, the police won’t bother to take you into custody or get an arrest warrant from the prosecutor, in some places.

    Seattle’s excuse;

    He was arrested but not charged, Seattle police said. The paperwork apparently was lost.

    “That report never got to the Seattle city attorney’s office,” said Kimberly Mills, a spokeswoman for the city attorney. “Consequently, we never filed charges.”

    So, there you go. Yes, there are plenty of gun laws in place, but if the police and prosecutors aren’t willing to use them, they’re useless.

    Not reported in the news this morning; Millions of veterans who legally own guns didn’t go on a rampage yesterday.

    Oh, yeah, good job, CNN;

    AR15 shotgun