A Twisted Imagination

Imagine a bullet fired from a semiautomatic pistol, moving through the night darkness faster than the speed of sound—more than 1,200 feet per second or four football fields end to end. Now imagine that bullet slamming into the body of a child like a brick through a picture window.

I-ma-gin-na-a-a-tion...

We've explored your kind of diseased imagination before, Marian Wright Edelman, and it always,without exception, proves to be a nightmare.

That's why you need to avoid a critical examination of real-world results, and rely on emotion and misleading your readers to set up your thesis.

Let's examine some of your dishonest technique:

First, you present the readers with the "Leave it to Beaver" empathy ploy--your initial examples are exclusively confined to young children, as opposed to unsympathetic adolescent and young adult gangbangers with violent criminal histories.

While I was unsuccessful at finding news accounts of the child in Chicago who you say accidentally shot himself, it cannot go unchallenged that handguns are banned in that city--at least ones not registered in 1982 and every year thereafter (unless you're an alderman). Do you think it's safe to make some assumptions about the household involved, particularly one that would leave a loaded gun in reach of a 5-year-old?

And what makes me think two men "playing with a gun" in the Bronx indicates compliance with the myriad of NYC "gun control" edicts? Ditto, news for the Grand Rapids child is also impossible to verify without more information, but it should be noted your topic is "Child and Teen Deaths," so throwing injuries into the mix seems like padding--kind of like mixing "accidents" involving young children, which are rare, with shootings resulting from intent, including those involving young adults. And likewise, without fleshing it out, we can't know the circumstances of the Durham shooting.

But funny-- a little bit of poking around makes me wonder why you didn't share more of the Long Island story with your readers. You didn't think it relevant to tell them the boy's father attacked two men with a machete, or that 15 fighting dogs with open bite wounds were taken from the property?

Somehow it's not relevant to bring that to your readers' attention?

So when you ask "Is any child in America safe from gun violence?" you don't think it fair to examine if the circumstances you avoid discussing to make your case are representative of the general population?

You don't think that's unethical journalism, Marian?

And you don't think you represent the type of political advocacy that enables and ensures more, not less violence of all kinds?

You've already proven that we can't interpret what you say without peeling back the surface and examining what you haven't said. So when you go blathering about "common sense gun safety measures," why would anyone not believe you're holding back on critical facts necessary to make an informed evaluation?

Intentionally distorting reality? That's more twisted than your imagination, Marian.

We've seen the results of your kind of "thinking," Marian. And we see where it has the potential to lead us.

Why are some of us not surprised your delusions will lead to nothing but more misery?

An Open Letter to the Gun Control Crowd

Mike Vanderboegh shares some thoughts on the upcoming power shift.

Giving Them What They Want

Over many torturous hours, she had been repeatedly raped, sodomized and forced to perform oral sex, a prosecutor told a jury on Thursday. The accused, Robert A. Williams, 31, had doused the woman’s face and body with boiling water and bleach, forced her to swallow handfuls of pills and to chase them with beer, sealed her mouth with glue, and bound her wrists and legs with shoelaces, cords and duct tape, said the prosecutor, Ann P. Prunty. And now, Ms. Prunty said, he was asking the woman to gouge out her own eyes with a pair of scissors.

Fortunately for the victim, she lived in Bloomberg Paradise. Otherwise, her assialant might have taken her gun away and used it against her.

She did the right thing by obeying the law and giving him what he wanted, don't you agree?

We're the Only Ones Not Under Siege Enough

"The city in fact is not under siege," Paysinger told reporters at an afternoon news conference.

He's right, you know. A siege is when the enemies are outside your gates.

I'd tend to view the Bloods, the Crips, the Sureños, the Asian gangs, and the 18th Street Gang as competing occupying barbarian armies.

And sorry if you think you might need to take steps to protect yourself on the street during the latest "blip"...the answer is "No." In LA, we reserve that privilege for "The Only Ones."

And here's a cheery thought:

And it is everywhere. According to the Department of Justice, today America has at least 30,000 gangs, with 800,000 members, in 2,500 communities across the United States. (Gang experts at the University of Southern California claim the number of American jurisdictions with gang problems has reached 4,000.) Federal, state and local law enforcement across the country agree that street gangs connected to or mimicking the L.A. model have become a national epidemic.

All enabled and made possible by the very government policies we as a nation seem inclined to provide more of, which I guess is what they mean by "Hope" and "Change."

Gosh, I hope I'm not sounding overly alarmist. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

God Didn't Make the Little Green Apples...

...and Marines don't train in Indianapolis
in the summertime...

So they're just training for the Middle East, right? It would be tinfoil hat ridiculous to speculate on training for domestic deployments, wouldn't it?

I look at America's urban areas as tinderboxes ready to erupt. I look at the drive to disarm as many people in the cities as they can, I factor in things like rising energy costs and potential blackouts, the prospects of a long, hot summer, talk of food supply disruptions, anger, crime, racism, gang members in the tens of thousands, and even unexpected developments in the presidential race...and I'd be surprised if there aren't those in government assessing the same factors, plus ones we don't know about. In this environment, there are untold catalysts that could trigger a very bad sequence of events.

I'd be surprised if the one thing that doesn't scare the rulers more than anything is what will happen if they actually shoot any rioters--less than lethal tools won't stop armed mobs, and if multiple rioters are shot and killed, I believe rioting will spread to other cities...Or perhaps I am hopelessly naive, and there are some who would benefit from that...

That's the kind of thing that can lead to martial law--and I doubt Katrina-style disarmament bans will be covered under those circumstances.

Here's hoping this is just baseless hysteria, conspiracy kookiness, a misreading of signals, and that we can all look forward to a summer of love as our Hope prepares us for Change.

[Via Cornet Joyce II]

First Person Shooter

Property owner Billy Jackson shot and killed two men who he said were trying to rob him.

And in spite of the fact that the police said it was self-defense, Mr. Jackson would do well to zip it and let a lawyer do his talking for him.

Honest people have a tendency to be open and candid because that's just the code for living life and dealing with others. I hope for his sake this is not used against him, because I see several things here (that I won't point out) that could be more than problematic.

If you ever need to defend yourself, get a lawyer and let him be the one to tell your story. I hope this man does not end up injured because he does not know this.

[Via Matt L]

Red's Looking Forward

Horsley said...he looks forward to being open by Aug. 1, in time for hunting season.

This Day in History: June 10

As companies sprang up throughout the province, the Northampton Committee of Correspondence urged all freemen to “provide themselves immediately with all necessary arms and ammunition, and muster as often as possible to make themselves expert in the military art.”75

75. PA. EVENING POST, June 10, 1775, at 242.

The quote is good. But the review as a whole has some problems...