Mikeb302000

Accidental Shooting in Alabama - Man Mistaken for Wild Hog - No Charges

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:52:00 +0000

Authorities say a man shot in the groin at an Alabama hunting camp may have been mistaken for wild game.

Tuscaloosa County sheriff's homicide unit is investigating the shooting early Saturday, which sent a 26-year-old man to a hospital for surgery.

Investigators say the victim was shot by a 36-year-old old man who was hunting wild hogs, and they suspect the hunter believed he was firing his gun at an animal. Authorities said both men had permission to be at the hunting camp on Clements Road.

Investigators released the suspect without charging him, but say they're still investigating. They say no foul play is suspected.

I guess it depends on how you define "foul play." In my bood, violating two or three of The 4 Rule sof Gun Safety is foul play.

What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Gun Control Works

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:39:00 +0000

In 1934, The National Firearms Act was passed which was aimed at regulating machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, silencers, and other firearms used by criminals. The NFA required that all machine guns were to be registered. Additionally, all people who wanted to own these items were to be fingerprinted and submitted to an extensive and time-consuming—this was long before the Internet— background check; and local Law Enforcement was also required to give permission for ownership.

The NFA is relevant to the current debate because it is a strong and comprehensive gun-control law. But the NRA continually argues that gun-control laws are ineffective. This loudly declared claim has also given rise to their widely proclaimed slogan: WHEN GUNS ARE OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS...

But here are the numbers. Machine gun use in crimes now is negligible. ATF data from 1994 reveals that machine guns accounted for less than 0.1 percent of all guns traced to crime in that year. In 2000, forty-six cities conducted a comprehensive tracing of their crime guns, and they found in only twelve cities that machine guns constituted 0.1 percent of their crime guns. In Las Vegas alone the number was higher; there, machine guns made up 0.5 percent of all crime guns.

Even the "pro-gun" side concedes that these laws have been effective.

RED ALERT ~ Adam Kokesh armed march on Washington SCAM

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:58:00 +0000

I have to admit some curiosity about what might be the motive for Adam Kokesh's March on Washington, DC. It seems he was once a War Protestor who managed to get a spot on Russia Today, but was too weird for even RT.

And then I found this:

Anyway, this find comes on top of reading this blog post.

"Oh, that Mr. Hitler couldn't mean all the things he says in Mein Kampf about the Jews. Anyway, what could he do? Try and kill us all?"

I guess we can add to that line of thinking: "Well, we have guns this time".

As N. A. Browne said in The Myth of Nazi Gun Control:

A more farfetched question is the hypothetical proposition of armed Jewish resistance. First, they were not commonly armed even prior to the 1928 Law. Second, Jews had seen pogroms before and had survived them, though not without suffering. They would expect that this one would, as had the past ones, eventually subside and permit a return to normalcy. Many considered themselves “patriotic Germans” for their service in the first World War. These simply were not people prepared to stage violent resistance. Nor were they alone in this mode of appeasement. The defiance of “never again” is not so much a warning to potential oppressors as it is a challenge to Jews to reject the passive response to pogrom. Third, it hardly seems conceivable that armed resistance by Jews (or any other target group) would have led to any weakening of Nazi rule, let alone a full scale popular rebellion; on the contrary, it seems more likely it would have strengthened the support the Nazis already had. Their foul lies about Jewish perfidy would have been given a grain of substance. To project backward and speculate thus is to fail to learn the lesson history has so painfully provided.

in short, those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.

You have a problem if Barack Obama is a Muslim.

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:54:00 +0000

Not a question, but a statement since the Constitution that some people claim to respect and all that says (Article VI):

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Repeat that last part just to make it clear to you who don't get that the US is a SECULAR Society (like it or not):

no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

That means it doesn't matter what religion Barack Obama (or Mitt Romney or anybody else for that matter) happens to be.

You might have missed that bit since that paragraph comes right after:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

And if you don't think the founders would support this: guess again:

"Both House and Ground were vested in Trustees, expressly for the Use of any Preacher of any religious Persuasion who might desire to say something to the People of Philadelphia, the Design [purpose] in building not being to accommodate any particular Sect, but the Inhabitants in general, so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a Missionary to preach Mahometanism [Islam] to us, he would find a Pulpit at his Service. "

As I said, you have a problem because the Constitution isn't on your side if you are trying to make someone's religion an issue in US politics. In fact, religion would not intrude in US politics given the US's being a secular state--I only wish more people would be disgusted by this trend.

But, maybe some of you aren't the strong supporters of the Constitution that you claim to be.

Or, maybe you just need to brush up on what exactly it is that you are supposed to be defending.

The US is a secular nation: understand that fact.

Well, my dog HAS been to court more times than some Law Professors...

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:28:00 +0000

It's amusing that you lot have missed the comment about my dog that she's "gone to court more than Michelle Bachmann and most US Law School professors ever have." No wonder you don't get the point about the blog being named after my dog.

Anyway...

You can take the test here.

"Good Guys with Guns" does not Seem to be Working Out as Planned

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sun, 19 May 2013 07:26:00 +0000

New Trajectory

March 6, 2013: A recently-started armed resource officer program at schools in Highland, New York, was suspended after one of the security guards unintentionally fired his weapon in school. Children were present, but luckily no one was injured.
March 1, 2013: During a conceal carry training class, on school grounds, which was part of a new program to arm school staff, a school maintenance worker who was a student in the class unintentionally fired his weapon, wounding himself in the leg.
January 17, 2013: A charter school in Lapeer, Michigan, decided to start having an armed guard on campus. Three days after hiring a guard, the man left his weapon in a school bathroom where kids could have found it.
October 8, 2012: A man with a concealed handgun visited an elementary school classroom in Moore, Oklahoma, to help the teacher with her computer. His gun fell out and he left without it, only realizing it was missing after the media reported it. Small children were present in the room at the time.
September 12, 2011: An armed security guard, patrolling schools at night in Salem, Oregon, unintentionally lost his loaded firearm somewhere during his rounds. The gun was never found.

About the IRS "Scandal"

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:52:00 +0000

Guest host Mark Thompson, author David Cay Johnston, “The War Room” contributor Brett Erlich, Ana Kasparian and Jayar Jackson discuss whether there’s any validity to comparisons between President Obama and former President Nixon in the wake of recent White House scandals involving the Internal Revenue Service and the Associated Press. Johnston says, “The Republicans aren’t interested in running a good government. They want to destroy President Obama.”

Nucla Colorado - Another Place with Mandatory Gun Ownership

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:35:00 +0000

Mercury News

The tiny Colorado town of Nucla has passed an ordinance making gun ownership mandatory.

The Nucla Town Board last week voted to require that residents own firearms, but it has exceptions for heads of households who don't want to participate or who cannot legally possess a gun.

Nucla's ordinance passed by a 5-1 vote. It was inspired by the Family Protection Ordinance passed by the town of Nelson, Ga.

The Colorado town of less than 1,000 people becomes the latest of a handful of communities nationwide to pass such a rule. The measures are widely considered unenforceable.

"The main reason is to protect Second Amendment rights, especially with the government talking about abolishing them," said Nucla Town Board member Joshua Newingham. "Out here, we hunt, we do sports shooting. It's a way of life."

How many times have we heard the pro-gun lament that they don't tell us what to do, so we shouldn't tell them. Well, I guess in places like Nucla CO and Nelson GA we've got exceptions to that.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Chicago: 11 Shot, 3 Fatally

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sun, 19 May 2013 06:22:00 +0000

Local news reports

A teenaged boy and two men were shot and killed in three separate shootings Friday night and Saturday morning, according to authorities.

At least eight others were also shot overnight on the South and West Sides.

The gun-rights fanatics keep pretending they have nothing to do with this. But the fact is, the lax gun laws in places like Indiana and Ohio and even Illinois itself are allowing a continual flow of guns into Chicago's inner city. Those gang members and drug dealers certainly aren't manufacturing their own weapons.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Man Shot to Death inside Alhambra Police Station

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sun, 19 May 2013 05:47:00 +0000

LA Times with video

The man killed in the lobby of Alhambra police headquarters Friday brandished a knife before officers fatally shot him, said L.A. County sheriff's officials.

The man walked into the lobby about 7:30 a.m. carrying a black backpack, but when officers tried to speak to him in several different languages, he was unresponsive and incoherent, said officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The suspect eventually pulled out a large knife from his backpack and three of the five officers standing in the lobby shot the man, authorities said.

I suppose this one doesn't count because the bad guy had a knife. But to me, it seems like another example of what the pro-gun fanatics often say never happens.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Louisiana Proves that More Guns Don't Make us Safer

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:53:00 +0000

MSNBC

For Louisiana, the stakes could not be higher: it has the worst gun murder rate in the nation, and the highest rate of children killed with guns. Overall, guns have been used to kill more people in Louisiana in recent years than in any other state, according to a new analysis.

Between 2001 and 2010, 4,519 people were killed by guns here, more than a thousand more losses than U.S. combat troops suffered during the Iraq War. More than 75% of those victims were African-American. Haunted by the losses, members of the Black Caucus try again and again to introduce some measure of gun control legislation.

But their efforts are always thwarted while a far more powerful group of Republicans and white Democrats stokes Louisiana’s love affair with guns.

Guns are everywhere. On Mother’s Day, a shooting broke out at a New Orleans parade and two children were among 20 people wounded by gunfire. People were injured during a shooting after the Martin Luther King Day parade, and at another just before Mardi Gras festivities.

Yet the pro-gun beat is only getting louder.

“In Louisiana, as we’ve seen for a few years now, they are introducing legislation to allow more people to carry more guns in more places,” said Brian Malte, director of policy and advocacy for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“If more guns mean a safer society, Louisiana would be the state with the lowest rates of gun violence. In fact, it has one of the highest because of a lack of gun violence prevention laws.”

Why is that? Why is Louisiana so much worse than the rest of the country if more guns make us safer?

Let me take a stab at that one? The "more guns make us safer" suggestion is a blatant lie propagated by the leaders of the gun-rights movement and repeated over and over again by the sheep-like followers who often don't even think for themselves. If they did, they'd immediately see the foolishness of such a position. Louisiana is proof.

Allow me to anticipate one of the common retorts we often hear. The above chart and its article is concerned with "gun" murders. When we remove the "gun" part, guess which state is still on top.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Jeffrey Nugent Says Little Brother Ted is Wrong on Background Checks

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:27:00 +0000

Courtesty of Jeffrey Nugent - Jeffrey Nugent, left, and Ted Nugent with a wild boar they killed in 2006.

Washington Post

And I agree with Ted that our constitutional right to bear arms should not be undermined. I want all those who are qualified to purchase a gun to be able to do so. But — and here is where I part ways with my brother — not everyone is qualified to own a gun, so expanded background checks should be a legislative priority.

I believe strongly that expanding and improving mandatory background checks will keep a lot of people who aren’t entitled to Second Amendment rights from having easy access to guns. As of today, a convicted felon can find a gun show or a private seller and buy a firearm without a background check. That loophole should be closed. Every gun transaction must include a thorough background check. Why would responsible gun owners want to protect people who threaten not only our safety but our gun rights?

The NRA has it wrong: Irresponsible gun owners are bad for everyone. If you shouldn’t have access to a gun, then there should be no way for you to access a gun! Can anyone argue with that?

No, of course no one could argue with that, not and maintain any credibility.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Utah Man Gets Prison for Shooting Neighbor over ‘Telepathic’ Rape

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:12:00 +0000

Melony Selleneit Courtesy Davis County Sheriff's Office

The Salt Lake City Tribune

To this day, Michael Selleneit believes his wife is in danger.

A year and a half after he shot his neighbor in Centerville — claiming self-defense because the neighbor had "telepathically" raped his wife — Selleneit’s attorney said he still hears voices telling him his wife is going to be killed or raped.

"He still to this day is very, very concerned about his wife’s safety," attorney Julie George told 2nd District Judge Thomas Kay during Selleneit’s sentencing Thursday.

In January, the 55-year-old Selleneit pleaded guilty — but mentally ill — to reduced charges of attempted manslaughter and use of a firearm by a restricted person, both second-degree felonies, for shooting 41-year-old Tony Pierce in October 2011.

On Thursday, Kay ordered Selleneit to serve two consecutive terms of one-to-15 years in the Utah State Prison. However, Kay said he could be confined at the Utah State Hospital until hospital officials determine he no longer needs treatment. At that time, he would be taken to the prison.

It makes you wonder how many crazy people own guns.

School Shooting Caller Turned Himself in to Psych Services

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sat, 18 May 2013 05:55:00 +0000

Students wait across the street from East LA City College after being evacuated because of a threat of violence against the school. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times / May 16, 2013)

LA Times

A 19-year-old Santa Monica College student who allegedly threatened to “shoot up” a local school Thursday turned himself in to psychological services, where police arrested him, authorities said.
The student, who authorities did not immediately identify, was arrested about 9:30 a.m. Thursday after police used his phone number to confirm that he was the person who called 911 hours earlier, said Santa Monica College Police Chief Albert Vasquez.

Police said the man was near East Los Angeles College when he called the California Highway Patrol sometime before 8 a.m. saying he had a gun and was going to shoot up a school.

Authorities immediately notified the local sheriff’s station and city police, who shut down nearly a dozen schools in the area.

The man also said he was going to shoot himself on campus.

The threats caused widespread chaos at numerous schools in Santa Monica and Monterey Park.

Jodi Arias - Life in Prison or the Death Penalty?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Sat, 18 May 2013 05:41:00 +0000

Jodi Arias reacts during the sentencing phase of her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP / The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Local news reports

Steven Alexander stood before the jury, looked up at a family picture and grimaced and cried as he ticked off the list of problems that have befallen him in the five years since his brother was murdered: ulcers, depression, a separation from his wife, nightmares.

The dreams consist of someone coming at him with a knife then going after his wife and daughter. Other times, he has nightmares about his brother, "curled up in a shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days, all alone." He feels like a child, unable to sleep alone in the dark.

"I don't want these nightmares anymore. I don't want to see my brother's murderer anymore," he said.

The gut-wrenching comments came as jurors began considering whether Jodi Arias should get a life sentence or be executed for the 2008 stabbing death of Travis Alexander. Jurors became visibly shaken as Steven Alexander and his sister spoke on deeply emotional levels in arguing for the death penalty. Arias sobbed throughout the hearing, with tears streaming down her face and landing on her black shirt.

Arias, 32, acknowledged killing Alexander at his suburban Phoenix home after a day of sex on June 4, 2008. She initially denied any involvement and later blamed the attack on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, Arias said she killed Alexander in self-defence.

The victim suffered nearly 30 knife wounds, had his throat slit from ear to ear and was shot in the forehead. Prosecutors say the attack was fueled by jealous rage after Alexander wanted to end his affair with Arias and prepared to take a trip to Mexico with another woman.

I blame Arizona. If only she didn't have such easy access to that gun, her boyfriend would be alive today.

Now tell me the truth. How many of you failed to recognize that as a joke? C'mon, I won't make fun of you for being stiff and humorless. How many?

The obvious point of the post is about the death penalty. The blood-thirsty relatives seem to think their nightmares will stop if she's sentenced to death. Often we hear this. They want closure or they want to move on with their lives.

I don't believe killing the guilty person provides those things. Do you?

It's beside the point, anyway. Capital punishment is state-sanctioned pre-meditated murder and as such should have no place in a civilized society.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

ABOUT TIME!

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:41:00 +0000

I saw one of these flags and thought it looked like a pile of dog shit. I couldn't help wonder when someone would come up with a parody.

Well, someone did!

I do wish the person had made the dog shit look more like the snake, but you can't have everything...

Why paying off the National Debt is a baaadddd idea.

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:53:00 +0000

It didn't work so well the last time it happened. You can listen to this.

And toss in that Andrew Jackson let the Second Bank of the United States' charter expire as well. That led to a period called the "Free Banking" Era.

At least I know my limitations

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:28:00 +0000

Well, I missed the questions on mechanics and algebra.

Algebra--I haven't thought about that in over 40 years. Although, the circuit diagram was something I should have caught as well, but that's been 30 years.

Before you call me dumb--what's you're score on this test?

Well, I would join the French Foreign Legion if I wanted to show how tough I was anyway.

The Constitution: Only Gold and Silver are Legal Tender

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:08:00 +0000

Interesting quote on the internet and Internet anonymity

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:08:00 +0000

Former Lulzsec hacker Jake Davis:

"It was my world, but it was a very limited world. You can see and hear it, but you can't touch the internet. It's a world devoid of empathy - and that shows on Twitter, and the mob mentality against politicians and public figures. There is no empathy.

So it was my world, and it was a very cynical world and I became a very cynical person."

So, pardon me if I spend my time offline.

Maryland Gun Rights Groups Splintered by New Gun Laws

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:53:00 +0000

Toms River Dad Responsible for Accidental Shooting Death Finally Arrested One Month Later

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:27:00 +0000

Brandon Holt (Photo: Provided to The Asbury Park, N.J., Press)

Local news reports further to our post at the time of the tradedy.

The lawyer for the man whose 4-year-old son shot and killed a 6-year-old playmate in Toms River says his client is cooperating.

Robert Ebberup held a news conference this morning in which he criticized the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office for arresting his client in front of his family while they ate dinner.

The lawyer says Anthony Senatore would have voluntarily turned himself in to face charges of child endangerment and enabling access by a minor to a loaded firearm. He said Senatore and his family “are deeply sorrowed over the death of Brandon Holt.”

Authorities say Senatore's son took a loaded .22-caliber rifle from a bedroom on April 8 and fatally wounded neighbor Brandon Holt while they were playing outdoors.

Officials say four shotguns were found close to ammunition and accessible to Senatore's three young children in their Toms River home.

I can't get over the fact that it takes so long in certain cases for the actual arrest. I understand the need for an investigation and for due process, but ONE MONTH in a case like this seems excessive.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Jon Stewart on Rumsfeld and Cheney

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:28:00 +0000

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

Forbes Op-ed Utilizes Two Favorite Pro-gun Lies

noreply@blogger.com (Mike B) — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:05:00 +0000

Forbes op-ed

According to DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. gun-related homicides dropped 39 percent over the course of 18 years, from 18,253 during 1993, to 11,101 in 2011. During the same period, non-fatal firearm crimes decreased even more, a whopping 69 percent. The majority of those declines in both categories occurred during the first 10 years of that time frame. Firearm homicides declined from 1993 to 1999, rose through 2006, and then declined again through 2011. Non-fatal firearm violence declined from 1993 through 2004, then fluctuated in the mid-to-late 2000s.

And where did the bad people who did the shooting get most of their guns? Were those gun show “loopholes” responsible? Nope. According to surveys DOJ conducted of state prison inmates during 2004 (the most recent year of data available), only two percent who owned a gun at the time of their offense bought it at either a gun show or flea market. About 10 percent said they purchased their gun from a retail shop or pawnshop, 37 percent obtained it from family or friends, and another 40 percent obtained it from an illegal source.

It's so often repeated that it's gaining credibility, at least among the biased gun-rights fanatics who don't mind a bit of mendacity as long as it supports their pre-conceived notions. Firearms crime has decreased while gun ownership has increased. In order to make this comparison really work for their argument do you see what they did? They went back 18 years in order to maximize the decline in murders and suicides, even admitting that "The majority of those declines in both categories occurred during the first 10 years of that time frame."

The major increase in gun ownership, as everyone knows, began a mere 6 years ago with the advent of the first black president. To me, that's blatant dishonesty.

I suppose in an attempt to deliver the old one-two punch to their adversaries' argument, they went on to cite one of the most misleading studies ever, over 40% of criminals obtained guns from other criminals.

As I've explained before, "other criminals" is not one of the major sources of guns used in crime.

First we need to identify the ways in which they currently do come into possession of weapons. We'll eliminate one common fallacy right away, that criminals get guns from other criminals. This may be true as far as it goes, but it doesn't help us in our analysis. We're interested in the original source of guns that are used in crime. If, for example, a gun is stolen during a burglary and passed from criminal to criminal before being used in a murder, that gun came from "Theft," which is one of our main categories.

The question that keeps arising is this: if gun-rights folks have "right" on their side, why do they so often resort to dishonest means to make their points? The answer to me is obvious. They do not have "right" on their side. They are dead wrong and they know it.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

No surprises from Gov. Martin O'Malley

noreply@blogger.com (Laci The Dog) — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:59:00 +0000

I've mentioned that I know Martin O'Malley and my connections to him.

If you think I'm anti-gun: Martin makes me look like one of you lot!

Anyway, he has just signed into effect some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, which comes as no surprise to me. I'm not sure where Maryland fell in the gun law pile, but I thought they were somewhat strict.

Now, Gun magazines will be limited to 10 bullets, gun ownership by people who have been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility will be banned, and Maryland State Police will be able to suspend the licenses of gun dealers who fail to comply with recordkeeping obligations.

This says several things to me with the main one being that there is the political will to get stronger gun laws in place.

Martin is a politician (I'm too smart to be one). He wouldn't do something if it were going to cost him political points. And I think he wants to emulate the Kennedys and take a stab at the presidency.

Well, with some politicians seeing the blowback from failing to vote for background checks--he may have a point.

The real question is where will gun politics go in the US? Especially now that there may be an end to the Public Health research ban.