Tag: Gun Issues

  • Fast and Furious Killed 14 Teenagers

    “Near midnight, the assassins, later identified as hired guns for the Mexican cartel La Linea, broke into a one-story house and opened fire on a gathering of nearly 60 teenagers. Outside, lookouts gunned down a screaming neighbor and several students who had managed to escape. Fourteen young men and women were killed, and 12 more were wounded before the hit men finally fled.”

    Citing a Mexican Army document it obtained and published, Univision reported that “[t]hree of the high caliber weapons fired that night in Villas de Salvarcar were linked to a gun tracing operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).”

    via The Daily Caller.

    This blood on Eric Holder’s hands.

    Fast and Furious started as a way for the Obama administration to “prove” Hillary Clinton’s lie that three-quarters of guns found in Mexico were from U.S. Southern states.  The intention was to use this “proof” to force Congress to pass tougher gun laws.

    But instead it blew-up in their face.  Now they’re all scrambling to pretend it never happened.

  • Painkillers Kill More Than Heroin And Cocaine Combined

    Prescription opioid painkillers are responsible for more fatal overdoses in the U.S. than heroin and cocaine combined, according to a new study out of Brandeis University.

    via Business Insider.

    I’m fascinated by statistics about how we die.  In Chicago gun crimes get all the media attention however heroin, and now I guess narcotic overdoses actually kill more.  In any given year it is likely that more die in automobile accidents as well; the media doesn’t really cover those either.  This is all media bias against guns.

    Where is the 60 mins story on prescription narcotics?  Where are the interviews with the parents of the dead teenager, crying, screaming into the camera?  Why is Mayor Bloomberg silent on this?  Why isn’t there a call for more regulation of these drugs?  Isn’t there a single politician who will stand up and say that it’s all for the children?

  • Two Stabbed Outside Near North Bars

    Two men were stabbed, another badly beaten and a fourth arrested early Sunday morning after a fight on Division Street spilled over onto State Street, according to police.

    An officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries that didn’t require hospitalization while trying to make the arrest on a 24-year-old man, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Four people injured by one crazed lunatic with a knife.  When is this town going to get tough on crime and demand common sense knife laws?

    Hey Rahm!!  On No one’s talking about banning knives.  But shouldn’t we have a knife registry?  What we need is a CKOC (Chicago Knife Owners Card) to make sure that only people who’d paid their fee are able to buy and carry knives.  We clearly need more common sense knife laws in order to prevent another tragedy like this one.

    BTW — Kudos to the police for not just shooting this idiot and sending his to his eternal rest.  CPD shows incredible restraint under tough circumstances.

  • For Self-Defense a .22 beats .45

    An excellent video (ok, it’s a tad annoying) about why a .22 beats higher caliber handguns when it comes to self defense.

    via WND.

    Bottom line is you can’t stop what you can’t hit.

  • Several Stabbed At NYC Subway Station

    NYC Subway Stabbing
    NYC Subway Stabbing

    Three people were injured in a stabbing on the escalator of a subway station in Queens Wednesday morning.

    An MTA spokesman said that Dina Saint-Fleur, 25, slashed at least two people after getting into a dispute on a J train around 8:45 a.m. Earlier reports indicated as many as seven people stabbed.

    via CBS New York.

    Mayor Bloomberg and his organization Mayors Against Handguns have so far been silent on this event.  New York, much like Chicago, has extremely onerous gun control laws.  However most criminals don’t appear to worry about obeying the law.  And then we have those that maybe can’t afford a gun yet.  So they carry knives.

    Over 500 people get stabbed each year in Chicago.  No word on the knife control policy of Mayors Bloomberg and Rahm.

  • Thoughts on Colorado – Freedom vs. Safety

    This is was written as a comment on this NYT piece.  I’ve made it much longer here because the NYT limits space.

    Restricting access to firearms will never stop these kinds of attacks.  As a society we need to resolve ourselves that some people are crazy and will drive cars into crowds, shoot other people en mass, and otherwise engage in spree killings.

    Many believe it’s as simple as restricting access a/k/a gun control.  But what happens when a police officer’s gun is stolen?  What should we do with the 5+ million firearms already owned? What about hunters?  People who think that food comes from a store don’t have decent solutions that play nationally.

    Vermont has nearly no restrictions on firearm ownership or concealed carry.  One never hears of people shooting-up a Home Depot in Vermont.  Why should Vermont be required to change their laws – which appear to work and the citizens clearly want – because of actions in New York or Colorado?

    In Chicago (where I live) we have the most restrictive gun laws in the country.  It’s not working.  In addition to gangs using guns to solve problems they routinely use knives.  In Chicago over 500 people are stabbed each year.  Should we outlaw knives?

    Chicago has also been the city where three times in as many years we’ve made national news because people have been beaten with baseball bats or a 2×4.  One Irish girl is still in a coma as a result of a beating; another H.S. student is dead.  Dozens of others have been seriously injured.  Should Chicago ban baseball bats and lumber?

    Additionally, at least 4 kids have drowned at local pools and the lake this year.  Should we close them too?

    Of course the last example are accidents.  I recently read a story about “who’s to blame” for the recent drownings.  The story quoted one dead child’s uncle who asked where the lifeguards were.  I wondered where we was.  It is not patently irresponsible for a parent to send a child to a pool if they cannot adequately swim?  While the parents may be negligent, they surely did not intend for their children to drown.  That’s a very very different situation from Colorado — that is recognized.

    But accidents deserve to be included in the analysis because of how society reacts to the event.  And also because how society deals with “means” vs. “ends”.  The end result is the same, people are dead.  We as a society accept that while tragic, we should not close down pools and beaches because they take hundreds of lives each year.  We believe those losses are tragic but the risk / reward (pleasure) ratio is acceptable.

    This is similar to driving.  Traffic accidents kill over 40,000 people each year.  We believe that the risk of being injured or dying in a traffic accident is acceptable given the benefit we receive by not having to walk everywhere (or take a horse which is probably more dangerous.)

    As a society we do our best to reduce the risks.  At pools and beaches we employ lifeguards.  In Chicago lifeguards are paid for by the taxpayer who may or may not utilize them.  On the roads we have laws against drunk driving; we don’t let 12 year-olds drive either.  We, through our government, demand that cars have seat belts and air bags.  It appears that society in general is content with the risk / reward balance.  But of course we could do more.

    It would be very easy for the government to mandate that every vehicle be equipped with a sobriety tester.  It would prevent drunks from driving.

    We, through our government, could also mandate a speed control device on all cars so that they’re limited to the speed limit.  It would prevent high speed crashes not to mention high speed police chases.

    Why do we not have these existing technologies in our cars already?  Because society does not want them.  We’re happy with the balance of risk / reward that is involved with driving.  We value our freedom to drive drunk and fast more than we demand additional safety.

    And that is how we need to address gun control.  Do we wish to give up more freedom in order to provide more safety?  And would we in fact be safer with less freedoms?  Those are two different questions.

    There is no doubt that lifeguards and air bags save lives.

    There is a lot of doubt as to banning guns would save any lives.

    The facts are clear that More Guns Equal Less Crime.

    So however tragic the recent events in Colorado may be, further restrictions on our freedom will not result in additional safety.

    We morn those who we’ve lost.  We pray for their families.  We struggle to find answers to unanswerable questions.

    But most importantly, we get on with our lives recognizing that evil is present in the world and that bad things happen to good people.  In the end we also know that we cannot prevent these events from happening by passing additional laws.

  • Give a Lamb a Gun

    Herman Cain has a new website complete with video.  My first as so far favorite video is entitled Give a Lamb a Gun.

    It’s a priceless quote from Benjamin Franklin.

    The video is under 2 minutes… go check it out.

  • Obama Must Speak Out on Chicago Carnage

    Headline:

    Obama Must Speak Out on Chicago Carnage That Kills Too Many Kids

    via The Daily Beast.

    The story in generally not worth reading.

    But my comment is:

    1. Chicago has the most restrictive gun control laws in the country. What’s needed is not any new laws but enforcement of the current laws. Find me one — any one single — murder committed in Chicago with a legally held firearm. You can’t!! Enforce the laws already on the books and violence will decrease.

    2. Chicago has not elected a single Republican in over 40 years. There is no way that the NRA or the GOP is in any way responsible for the gun violence in Chicago. The violence in Chicago is the direct result of 60 years of unchecked modern liberalism. First Detroit, then Chicago, then Oakland, then … 


    The people voted for Chicago politics in Obama. They got what they voted for.

  • Emanuel Plans Changes to City’s Gun Law

    A few days ago…

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to rewrite Chicago’s firearm ordinance in response to a ruling by a federal judge who struck down a section of the city’s law he called vague and unconstitutional.  …

    Last week, U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan called that regulation “indiscriminate and arbitrary.””There is something incongruent about a nonviolent person, who is not a felon but who is convicted of a misdemeanor offense of simple possession of a firearm, being forever barred from exercising his constitutional right to defend himself in his own home in Chicago against felons or violent criminals,” Der-Yeghiayan wrote.  …

    Having strong gun laws is part of the city’s overall approach to stemming violent crime, Emanuel said at an unrelated news conference.”Sensible, smart, targeted gun laws keep guns out of the hands of gangbangers and drug dealers,” Emanuel said, calling such laws “key to a strategy of reducing violence.”

    via chicagotribune.com.

    How’s that again Rahm?  You have the nation’s most restrictive gun law.  It’s failing miserably by any standard.  You have failed to ‘keep guns out of the hands of gangbangers and drug dealers.’  You have also failed to create any ‘strategy of reducing violence.’

    Rahm:  You should start by enforcing the existing state and federal laws already on the books.  First show that they are somehow inadequate before creating a whole new system of bureaucracy to harass law abiding citizens.

    Get a real Cook County State’s Attorney.  Get a real Illinois Attorney General.  If these prosecutors would charge crimes already on the books (e.g. felons with guns do federal time) you would not need any new laws to lock-up gangbangers and drug dealers.

  • Gun Ownership Up, Crime Down

    Gun-control advocates are noticeably silent when crime rates decline. Their multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts are designed to manufacture mass anxiety that every gun owner is a potential killer. The statistics show otherwise.

    Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that violent crime decreased 4 percent in 2011. The number of murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults all went down, continuing a pattern.

    “This is not a one-year anomaly, but a steady decline in the FBI’s violent-crime rates,” said Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. “It would be disingenuous for anyone to not credit increased self-defense laws to account for this decline.”

    via Washington Times.

    Well right thinking people have known this for years.  However looks like many in the media still have their head in the sand.

    What’s also interesting is that:

    Mr. Arulanandam pointed out that only a handful of states had concealed-carry programs 25 years ago, when the violent-crime rate peaked. Today, 41 states either allow carrying without a permit or have “shall issue” laws that make it easy for just about any noncriminal to get a permit. Illinois and Washington, D.C., are the only places that refuse to recognize the right to bear arms. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence did not respond to requests for comment.

    I guess when the facts don’t fit the Brady Campaign’s preconceived notion of crime they have nothing to say.