The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
“In the wake of these kind of incidents, the trick is to move quickly,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, one of the gun control groups working with McCarthy’s office.
Never let a crisis go to waste. These people are unbelievable.
SayUncle reports on this Reason article that shows GOA’s Larry Pratt backpedaling on his statement to Fox that indicated he did not support gun rights for permanent legal residents. He’s claiming he position was misstated. Except in the first comment over at Uncle’s, we have a response that indicates that was not the case.
This looks like a case of Pratt not expecting quite the backlash he did, and backpedaling.
Apparently pumping your own gas, which is unlawful in New Jersey, can be used as a reason to stop someone and search them. Sadly for this guy, when they searched him, they found a loaded gun.
That act, which followed an attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life, requires that background checks be conducted on individuals before they can buy a firearm from a federally licensed dealer, manufacturer or importer, unless an exception applies.
Despite his obvious troubles, Loughner didn’t have a criminal record, so he was easily able to get a gun. And what a gun: He used a Glock 9mm pistol, modified with a high-capacity magazine that fires 33 rounds. These types of high-capacity magazines were outlawed by the 1994 assault-weapons ban. That ban expired in 2004.
THAT ALLOWED HIM to convert his rage from a single shot that might have missed his target into a deadly bloodbath whose victims included a 9-year-old girl.
Again, the assault weapons ban didn’t ban anything. It banned manufacture, and exempted police agencies. I got plenty of 30 round magazines legally during the ban. The Glock 19 is probably one of the most common handguns around today. Certainly it is very common among police agencies. There’s nothing odd or particularly deadly about it that’s not true of most other firearms. Then you have the lawmakers and anti-gun folks:
Robyn Thomas, executive director of Legal Community Against Violence, which was formed after the 101 California St. killings, said such weapons have “absolutely no legitimate sporting purpose or self-defense purpose.”
OK then, so your bill isn’t going to have an exemption for police officers then, right? If this is true, I see no reason for the police to have them either.
So Verizon made the iPhone official today. I can’t wait. I don’t plan to upgrade from my first generation Droid since I’m perfectly happy with my phone. However, Sebastian will likely make the switch as soon as possible. He purposefully did not get the iPhone 4 so he wouldn’t be trapped in a 2-year contract with AT&T. Instead, he got an iPad. Now he can upgrade and have a carrier who can, you know, actually handle phone calls.
I’ve been a Verizon customer since my early days of college. I avoid the stores at all costs, but their phone customer service has been nothing but wonderful. They don’t make doing business with them a pain in the butt, and I’m a fan of such simplicity. More importantly, I can make phone calls.* :) Continue reading “The Other Big Weekend News”
At this point, most people are tired of extreme partisans trying to blame the Arizona shootings on talk radio, dissenting opinions, and politicians they don’t like. Why are they tired of it? Because it’s all utter BS at this point. This was a highly disturbed man, and some reports from neighbors who have talked to his parents, they just never noticed he had issues. Which is odd since apparently his father was a stay-at-home dad for decades and the shooter lived at home.
One of the worst offenders in this case is the Pima County Sheriff. And the local press is taking notice:
The world’s eyes, once again, focused on Arizona for the worst of reasons. And Dupnik stood before the cameras interpreting the shootings as politically motivated, despite an increasing weight of evidence depicting the shooting suspect, Jared Loughner, as a mentally ill young man who rambled incoherently about pervasive bad grammar and other apolitical obsessions. Even Dupnik has observed that Loughner had made death threats against others and that they had been investigated by police.
Still, Dupnik used the opportunities to blame Arizona’s lax, new gun laws and, again, the angry “rhetoric” of talk radio. The shootings were spurred, he suggested, by “the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates.”
Dupnik took up his cause again on Monday. And, in response, we have to say at last . . . enough. Enough attacks, sheriff. Enough vitriol. It is well past time for the sheriff of Pima County to get a grip on his emotions and remember his duty. …
Dupnik needs to recall that he is elected to be a lawman. With each additional comment, the Democratic sheriff of Pima County is revealing his agenda as partisan, and, as such, every bit as recklessly antagonistic as the talk-show hosts and politicians he chooses to decry. (Emphasis added.)
Pot, Kettle, I think you two know each other.
Thanks to Todd Vandermyde for pointing this out, but it would seem our friends at the Brady Campaign have used violent target images themselves:
Remember, this is the same organization who’s President just said, “Sarah Palin used gun “target” metaphors encouraging voters to defeat Rep. Giffords and others.” Pot, meet Kettle.
Hat tip to Carl from Chicago for helping put together this post.
UPDATE: You can find the full Brady mailing here.
Looks like there was someone there:
After all, when he realized there was an incident occurring at the Tucson Safeway supermarket Saturday where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was holding a constituent event, Mr. Zamudio thought he could help, since he was legally carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic.
“If I’d gone down there sooner, maybe I could have shot him myself,” Mr. Zamudio, age 24, said in a phone interview Sunday night.
Mr. Zamudio, who works at a Tucson art gallery, was at a nearby Walgreen’s buying cigarettes when he heard the shots and immediately turned and ran toward the commotion. “In that moment, I didn’t think about it. I just reacted.”
He saw the blank face of the suspected shooter—”almost a smirk.”
By the time Mr. Zamudio was in close range, others had wrestled the suspect to the ground. Mr. Zamudio helped hold him down.
Didn’t quite get there in time. No doubt our opponents would say this was a dangerous individual trying to be a hero, and only would have racked up more bodies in his incompetence, but if one wants to be a hero by shooting someone who is actively murdering a crowd of people, including children, go right ahead.
My Google Alerts are on fire with a steady stream of stupidity from the media:
So why didn’t Arizona’s gun-toting populace and the push for more and deadlier guns protect anyone during Saturday’s rampage?
“Part of the problem is that police officers get extensive training,†begins Algonquin Police Chief Russell Laine. Before they are handed their guns, police officers undergo thorough background checks and psychological evaluations, unlike gun buyers in Arizona, Laine points out. Then cops get lots and lots of gun training.
Maybe the problem was there wasn’t anyone there with a gun? You know, just like the police can’t be everywhere at once. I don’t think anyone has suggested that an armed population is some kind of guarantee. But it makes the odds that someone will be around with a tool handy to deal with the situation more likely than zero.
I know my dad reads this blog occasionally, and no doubt Bitter will see this. If I ever lose my marbles to the point that I’m constructing satanic skull shrines on the veranda in the backyard, you have my full permission to have me committed to the loony bin, and keep me away from sharp and dangerous objects.
I say this now, being of sound mind and body. That is all.