A beer-spitting, tequila-swilling Framingham detective faces criminal charges and may be bounced from the force for allegedly waving a loaded pistol at two fellow officers."Paid leave"?
The “extremely” drunk 35-year-old cop is also accused of pointing his pistol out of a car the same night as his buddies were trying to drive him home...
Doherty has been on paid leave since Oct. 10...
In their response to our supporter, the NRA spokesperson, on behalf of Sandra Froman, president of the NRA, made several statements that are contrary to what JPFO believes gun rights organizations should support.JPFO's response letter is here. It addresses many points very well, but in my opinion, since NRA placed such emphasis on Project Exile in their letter, an opportunity to further expose that program for the fraudulent failure it is was missed."...we support certain federal laws relative to firearms..."
"The Association does not object to many of the federal laws..."
"...greater emphasis should be placed on enforcing existing laws..."
"...NRA did not object to the increase in funding to BATF..."
Police also plan to ask home owners at times for consent to search their homes without a probable-cause warrant, District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said Monday.Or I'll huff, and I'll puff and I'll blow your door in, and you with it.
A widow who lives alone in a Wiltshire farmhouse has taken to sleeping with a Smith & Wesson Saturday Night Special under her pillow. It belonged to her husband and is more than capable of stopping an intruder, of which she has had three in the last two years...Defend yourself with a weapon. You'll see a police car soon enough.
Owning a weapon is becoming a habit for rural homeowners who feel unprotected now that so many police stations have closed.
I have never seen a police car in my village and violent crime in the county, of course, is up.
On this day in 1787, Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 46 to 23. Pennsylvania was the first large state to ratify, as well as the first state to endure a serious Anti-Federalist challenge to ratification.
A thief made off with a Detroit police officer's gun and private car at a Southfield gas station Sunday morning, the latest embarrassing episode for a department reeling from a week punctuated by prisoner escapes and gun thefts...That's OK. After they've been used in a few stick-ups and homicides, the Detroit PD can always hold another "gun buyback" to retrieve them.
The theft marks the third time in less than a week that criminals have stolen guns from Detroit police officers or reserve officers.
To believe his claim that the amendment only protects the National Guard, one would have to believe that "the people" in the amendment somehow refers to the federal government (since the Guard can be federalized with one stroke of the presidential pen) while "the people" in other amendments references an individual right.Not just one, but SIX opinion pieces promoting the individual rights meaning of the Second Amendment have made it to the editorial page of The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Sick Christmas cards being sold in a republican shop were condemned by a leading church man last night.
The cards depicting Santa Claus with an AK-47 rifle were branded " abhorrent" by Rev David McIlveen.
A deadly year continued in the city of Philadelphia as four men were killed in weekend shootings. The latest violence puts the city at 384 homicides for the year.But...but...but...we were promised Project Exile would put a stop to this...
Police have lost track of thousands of registered handguns because there's no system in place to keep tabs on the weapons of state pistol permit holders who die, The Journal News has found.Uh-oh, time for a new law...
The guns are a symptom of a larger administrative black hole brought on by outdated records and reliance on an "honor system'' requiring families to turn in weapons on their own after a licensed gun owner has died.
On this day in 1777, General George Washington begins marching 12,000 soldiers of his Continental Army from Whitemarsh to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, for the winter. As Washington’s men began crossing the Schuylkill River, they were surprised by a regiment of several thousand British troops led by General Charles Cornwallis. Cornwallis came across the continental forces by chance as he followed General William Howe’s orders to forage for supplies in the hills outside Philadelphia.
I was going through some old files and found the following letters, written and sent respectively to Bill Clinton and Janet Reno during the Elian Gonzalez dispute.
I thought I'd resurrect them here, not because they're timely, but just because.
Dear Mr. President, The answer is so simple. We all know it, and have for years. We learned about it long ago, and it's part of our common heritage. The answer is in that Bible you carry around in public. Remember Solomon? Remember the two women who claimed a child was theirs? You should order the INS to cut Elian in half! Send the left half to Castro. The Miami Cubans get to keep the right. Talk about a metaphor! 'Course if somebody blinks first, and cedes him to the other side, well, that's who gets to keep him. What a legacy for someone who is looking for exactly that. The wisdom of Solomon! And if nobody blinks and you actually have to go through with it? Well, all those dead kids at Waco didn't hurt your poll numbers any. And if things get too hot, you can just order another bomb strike somewhere. That always seems to work.
Dear Ms. Attorney General, Reliable reports document the grandmother of Elian Gonzales biting his tongue and unzipping his pants because she wanted to see if his "little private parts" had grown. Recalling that the catalyst for the massacre of the Branch Davidian children was your concern that they were being sexually abused, your duty, and the precedent for defining it, seem clear. Call in the Hostage Rescue Team. Elian must die.[Graphic originally posted at GunTruths.com]
A veteran Toronto cop once named officer of the month for "superior investigative skills" has been charged with possession of an unregistered handgun at his Oakville residence...The gun, a Glock automatic, allegedly came to the attention of police as a result of a domestic incident a few weeks ago.Note to "The Only Ones": The net you help to draw can catch you up just as easily, and eventually will.
A woman staying at a northeast Georgia motel this week shot herself while trying to light a cigarette -- with a loaded pistol."Fighting at a Waffle House..."
Fine Gael's Justice Spokesman Jim O'Keeffe has called on the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, to provide gardaí with extra resources to tackle what he called the apparently all-pervasive gun culture in the country."All-pervasive" is it now?
A futuristic, wicked four-bladed weapon that was used in a Thanksgiving Day assault in Grand Blanc Township should be outlawed, said Genesee County Prosecutor David S. Leyton...Uh, yeah, Dave, that's kind'a what a weapon is for:
"The only purpose of a weapon like this is to maim and kill," Leyton said.
something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroyBut it's not the only purpose. First, it could be used for defense--would you mug someone holding one? Plus, there are plenty (millions?) of fantasy knife collectors who have never harmed a soul. I've never caught that bug, but to each his own. And besides, you and Capt. Rariden were reported as saying "the use of the knife in this case was the first time [you] had heard of it."
I found your press release over at your website (you're really milking this for all the ink you can get, aren't you?), and noticed the picture of you and one of "The Only Ones," who I presume can be trusted with such a fearsome implement due to his superior morals, training, judgment, intelligence, etc., while us mere citizens would instantly turn into homicidal automatons. I know you agree that cops enjoy a special status over citizens, because you also think they are the Only Ones who should be immune from prosecution for theft "of video games and movies seized from suspected drug houses..."
What the hell is wrong with the citizens of Genessee County, giving an opportunistic political fraud like you power over their lives? But seeing as how you'll exploit whatever sensationalist angle you can to advance your quest for power over others, here's another deadly weapon you might be able to advance your career by going after.The Virginia Citizens Defense League is gearing up to boycott and perhaps picket Cole's Gun Shop, saying owner Mark Cole put their privacy in jeopardy when he agreed to let a court-appointed officer scrutinize his gun sales for the next three years.Yeah, no doubt it was a tough choice, and I say that with no sarcasm.
Attorney Michael Cole, who represented his brother's shop in the settlement, says it was purely an economic decision.
"Was it going to eat into our profits and ability to make a living more to defend this case or to settle it under the terms that we were offered?" he said. "It's a no-brainer."
On this day in 1778, John Jay, the former chief justice of the New York Supreme Court, is elected president of the Continental Congress. Jay, who graduated from King's College (now Columbia University) at the age of 19, was a prominent figure in New York state politics from an early age. While Jay opposed British interference in the colonies, he was against complete independence from Great Britain.
Gun owners have demonstrated their importance and effectiveness on the campaign trail, and have learned that the only way to be taken seriously is to make sure pro-gun candidates run on both sides of the aisle in every race.Sorry, but all gun owners have demonstrated--repeatedly--is the cynical reality of the adage misattributed to PT Barnum.
Carrying a cache of weapons into a bustling downtown office, a gunman chained a law firm’s doors closed and fatally shot three people before a police sniper killed him as held a hostage at gunpoint, authorities said.And, of course, had any of the office workers exercised their right to keep and bear arms in defense of their lives, Mayor Daley's Community Death Squad would have taken them out, too.
It's called the electron gun, or simply the "e-gun."So defending the country is considered the ideological opposite of saving lives...?
When it's being developed by a company best-known for its defense work, thoughts of Star Wars and death rays are inevitable.
But this e-gun, which creates electrons and shoots them at high speed toward a target, could just as easily be used to save lives as to defend the country...
Any bets on whether one of these babies will ever make it to the civilian market?
The country doesn't necessarily need new laws to limit handguns, but it should enforce the laws it has and resist efforts to weaken them, one of the nation's top handgun control advocates said Thursday.--Paul Helmke, President, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
"Until you provide 100% enforcement of the existing laws, (criminals are) going to laugh at you, and ... go about their business."--Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President, National Rifle Association
Buying a handgun in Buffalo, community activist Arlee Daniels Jr. said, "is as easy as going to the supermarket to buy a loaf of bread."
Erie County Probation Commissioner George Alexander used a slightly different analogy. The message is the same:
"Getting a gun on the street is so easy," he said. "They can get one quicker than they can get their school books. It's a travesty."
...In response to Tuesday's shooting of Officers Patricia A. Parete and Carl E. Andolina, [Mayor Byron "What Can Brown Do to You?"] Brown said the city plans a gun buyback program to get illegal guns off the street.
Personal responsibility- exactly! And yet they’re only trying to allow judges to carry guns in court. What about the personal responsibility of jurors and others attending court? I guess they aren't considered to be members of the privileged classes.Cryptic Subterranean touches on a subject many of us non-"Only Ones" have direct experience with.
A city police officer was arrested yesterday for the third time since 2004 after failing to appear for his trial on charges of assaulting an ex-girlfriend and carrying a firearm while intoxicated.And naturally, his professional record can't be discussed with the potential victim pool that employs him. After all, he's an "Only One."
The Virginia and North Carolina militias defeat 800 slaves and 200 redcoats serving John Murray, earl of Dunmore and governor of Virginia, at Great Bridge outside Norfolk, ending British royal control of Virginia. The Tory survivors retreated first to Norfolk then to Dunmore’s ship, the Otter, where the majority died of smallpox.
New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey has fired one of three deputies who have been on paid leave in connection with the shooting death of 18-year-old Peyton Strickland.As Alice observed, "Curiouser and curiouser."
“Christopher M. Long was dismissed from employment with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office today,” Causey said in a terse news release faxed to the Star-News at 4:49 p.m.
The reason for Long’s dismissal was not explained in the release. But it did state that “a criminal investigation is being conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the District Attorney,” apparently a reference to the ongoing investigation into the Dec. 1 shooting.
In the passenger seat, Whitehead trembled and stuttered when Hires asked for his identification and ordered him out of the truck. He screamed when Hires threw him against the truck, beat him with a police-issued flashlight -- and then tased him while he ran back to the woman's house, the records say...Where do you think Whitehead would be right now if he had resisted--with the appropriate level of force?
Whitehead, 27, wound up in the hospital so doctors could remove the Taser prongs from his arm. Then he was booked into Lake County Jail, arrested on suspicion of resisting a police officer with violence.
It was Fabian Sheats' third felony drug arrest in four months. But on the afternoon of Nov. 21, according to a police report, he was looking to curry favor, so he told officers they could find a kilogram of cocaine in a house at 933 Neal Street N.W.Rely on the neighborhood Gollum and use that as justification to raid an innocent woman's home. That's some police work.
That encounter led police to the home of Kathryn Johnston, an elderly woman who lived alone behind burglar bars and kept a rusty revolver. When officers burst into the house just three hours after talking to Sheats, a shootout ensued that left the woman dead and three officers wounded. No cocaine was found.
Two of the three deputies involved in Friday's deadly shooting of a Wilmington teenager have been the focus of prior investigations for use of excessive force.I agree with Tomato 7:
It keeps getting better.[More on Peyton Strickland]
Wayne may be contacted via U.S. Mail at:I just pasted copies of every WarOnGuns post about his case into a Word document and am mailing it to him today, just to let him know he hasn't been forgotten, especially knowing how agonizing it must be to be separated from those you love at this time of year.
Hollis Wayne Fincher
c/o Sebastian County Jail
801 South A Street
Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901
Goshen — The Orange County Sheriff's Office is investigating whether a member of its command staff misused his position to sell privately owned guns that the agency was holding for safekeeping or destruction.Land o' Goshen, imagine that! (Sorry, couldn't resist. Some day, I hope to have cause to use "Jumping Jehosaphat!")
[T]his is my local sheriff's office...where I had to be interviewed by an investigator to determine if I was worthy to receive a New York State pistol permit...[More from "The Only Ones" files...]
A veteran police officer was arrested Thursday for investigation of assaulting a handcuffed boy, 16, in a videotaped attack...The police chief says Meade assaulted a youth who had been arrested about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday in Chinatown for a curfew violation. He said the teenager was in a juvenile holding cell at Central Station and did not provoke the attack.I've been looking around to see if any "authorized journalists" have posted the tape--so far, nothing. I'll keep an eye out, and if anyone else runs across it, please let me know.
Two Rhode Island police officers are in hot water from their superiors as they've been accused of using their authority to cut into a long line of people waiting to buy a launch day PlayStation 3.Maybe they were just trying to keep dangerous game controllers out of the hands of potential arrestees.
Beginning on this day in 1775, Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery lead an American force in the siege of Quebec. The Americans hoped to capture the British-occupied city and with it win support for the American cause in Canada.
On the Supreme Court'’s color-coded master calendar, which was distributed months before the term began on the first Monday in October, Dec. 6 is marked in red to signify a day when the justices are scheduled to be on the bench, hearing arguments.If they really have all that free time, I can think of something to fill it.
The courtroom, however, was empty on Wednesday, and for a simple reason: The court was out of cases. The question is, where have all the cases gone?
Essentially because enough people are stupid, uninformed, predisposed to bias and ignorantly opinionated... I know this test was conducted on middle school students, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a majority of their voting parents buying into it as well, which explains why the populace can be sold a bill of goods on just about any government or media manipulation imaginable.HERE'S a really good idea: take a washed-up TV hero, a rehab-hopping son of a reality rock icon, Wacko Jacko's sister and a cast member of Jackass and give them all guns. Real guns.Just when you thought "The Only Ones" couldn't possibly get any more ridiculous...
Just when you though reality TV couldn't get any dumber, we hear CBS is working on Armed And Famous, which follows celebrities as they enforce the laws alongside city police officers.
Concealed Carry, Inc. Closes Doors For Good...Yes, the "other side is better funded, but that's really not so much a reflection of enthusiasm and commitment by the antis as it is apathy and resignation by gun owners.
The latest in the persecution of KT Ordnance (and by implication, the rest of us who would exercise an uninfringed right to keep and bear arms) by the "pro-gun Bush administration's" Department of "Justice."On this day in 1787, Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution, doing so by a unanimous vote.It was also, of course the "date which will live in infamy."
Law enforcement officers may have fired through a front door Friday night as sheriff's deputies and University of North Carolina Wilmington police officers attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Peyton Strickland in connection with the Nov. 17 robbery of two PlayStation 3 game stations from a UNCW student...[Via Unit Structures]
"Some of the bullets went through intervening targets, probably the door," Garrett said. Both bullets that struck Strickland passed through him into the house, he added.
According to Abraham, there are 100 million illegal guns floating around the city, most of them stolen.According to Cousin G, who sent me this link, "With a population of just under 1.6 million, there are therefore almost 63 illegal guns for every resident of the city..."
The City Council is looking to pass an ordinance that would prohibit anyone but police and fire marshals from bringing guns onto city property.Because we have proven time and again here at WarOnGuns that only "The Only Ones" are professional enough...
The friend of a college student killed by New Hanover County sheriff's deputies posed with guns in photos on the Internet.A picture of a "friend" is all the pretext they need.
That made authorities think they would be at high risk when they entered the Wilmington home shared by four people.
...unofficial word is that Richard Celeta has had criminal charges filed by the state of Montana against him...
General George Washington’s battered forces manage to outsmart British General William Howe’s year-end attempt to drive the Americans from the hills in what is now Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia.
Three more Chicago police officers were charged Monday with corruption, only three months after four rogue officers faced charges of using their badges to break into homes and rob them...Thank goodness Chicago has such aggressive citizen disarmament in place. Otherwise, someone could get hurt and it would be their gun's fault.
Prosecutors say the officers abused their authority to terrorize and steal from people. They say the men allegedly forced their way into homes of drug dealers and ordinary citizens. The officers allegedly took everything from drugs to guns and in come cases thousands of dollars in cash.
A teenager accused of robbing a student of two new Playstation 3s on the day the popular game consoles were introduced was shot to death by police sent to arrest him...Sounds like a proportionate response. Anybody get the feeling there's...I dunno... a war going on?
“If this boy would’ve come to the door, opened the door, we probably wouldn’t be talking,” the sheriff said Sunday.
Roommate Mike Rhoton said Strickland was unarmed, but may have been holding a video game controller when he went to the door as it was bashed in by officers...
Strickland’s dog, a German shepherd, also was shot to death...
A top Dallas County sheriff's commander who was demoted for keeping an unregistered Thompson submachine gun in his office locker for about five years wasn't the only high-ranking officer who knew about the weapon, according to an internal affairs investigation.So if I keep an unregistered Tommy gun for five years, BATFU will be satisfied if my employer demotes me? How about if Wayne Fincher does? Or is that only an option for "The Only Ones"?
Larry Locke was demoted from assistant chief deputy to captain in July by Sheriff Lupe Valdez for not properly securing the 1940s-era "Tommy gun" in the department's property room as required by policy.
...Locke failed to tell him the gun was not properly documented and was not registered with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives...
The Tommy gun has since been registered and placed in the property room.
How else do you explain why Jack Byrnes Jr. is still in charge of the village police department, despite not having been seen in town for more than three months?Sounds like you could do a lot worse than to have this guy absent for 3 months...
...Byrnes himself has been the target of lawsuits, the center of controversy and the subject of much, oft-times unpleasant, speculation. He was overseeing the department in 1999 when 5,000 rounds of ammo disappeared and again when his officers were accused of faking hours they worked and double-billing both the village and the sheriff's department mere months later...
People said Byrnes never faced the music in town — indeed, he received a hefty raise after the 2001 incident — because his father, Jack Byrnes Sr., sat on the police commission for years. No conflict there, right?
On this day in Williamsburg, Virginia, a group of five students at the College of William and Mary gather at Raleigh’s Tavern to found a new fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa. Intended to follow strictly American principles as opposed to those of “England or Germany,” the new society engaged in the fervent political debate typical of student life at Thomas Jefferson’s beloved college in Virginia’s capital. The fluent scholars of Greek and Latin who gathered to found the society, which was destined to count presidents and poets of the newly declared republic among its ranks, could not have differed more greatly from their Patriot fellows suffering as prisoners of the crown in British-occupied New York.Jefferson? Wasn't he the fellow who advised:
Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body, and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks.I guess. Just so you don't try that at his "beloved" William and Mary.
Every month this magazine presents on its Web site (www.gunsmagazine.com) a complete issue from the corresponding month of half a century ago. It’s like opening a time capsule and getting not just a glimpse, but a real understanding of what a different time that was. It’s proven to be one of the more popular features I link to on my own website, both for old-timers and especially for younger readers.These links have proven to be one of the more appreciated features here at WarOnGuns in terms of site visits and comments, and we have a new one just below this post. "Blast from the Past," my Rights Watch column for the Dec. 2006 issue of GUNS Magazine, is now online.
Veteran vs. Sullivan LawThis was written 50 years ago.
The articles published, month after month in GUNS have been so consistently imaginative, exciting, authoritative, and well, just excellent in every way that they will eventually lead me to an advanced stage of frustration. You see, I am a die-hard pistol enthusiast who is unable to get his hands on even an air-pistol, much less the real product. Why?
Because local and state laws prohibit the average citizen to possess pistols and revolvers, And I'm average...
The U. S. Government spent a great deal of time and money to teach me to shoot a pistol effectively. In fact, it even went to great lengths to provide me with the proper live moving targets: mostly North Koreans. Now I hate like blazes to lose this hard earned talent because of some silly and non-effective gun laws. The morning papers prove every single day that there is no shortage of weapons among the underworld citizenry of the city. In fact, even the younger elements seem well heeled. No doubt, with little effort, I too could get my hands on one of these "hot rods," but since I enjoy the status of an honest lawful citizen this method is and always will be out. Frankly, I'm up against it.
I sincerely hope that this letter will be published for it may help arouse the sleeping pen hands of other weaponless pistol enthusiasts. Perhaps if we make enough noise the sleeping councilmen down at city hall may take another look at our gun laws.
Ray Zanon
New York City
Through worship, rap and the spoken word the conference, held at Philadelphia Mennonite School, delivered a Christian message of peace, urging participants to 'pack the peace of Christ', instead of a gun.I don't care if they dance through life with eyes closed and arms upraised singing "Kumbaya," but they then go on to advocate a host of citizen disarmament edicts, that is, imposing their "religion" on the rest of us--under force of state arms.
"He that suffers his life to be taken from him by one who has no authority for that purpose, when he might preserve it by defense, incurs the Guilt of self murder since God has enjoined him to seek the continuance of his life, and Nature itself teaches every creature to defend [it]self."These fools can self-murder all they want and I won't force my will on them--just leave me and mine out of the equation.
"The lion will lie down with the lamb, but the lamb won’t get much sleep."
State officials say there have been 19 bank robberies this year, more than any year in recent memory. They also say in almost all of them, the robbers showed a gun or claimed they had one.The answer is obvious. Maine banks need to modify their "No Guns Allowed" signs to include theoretical ones.
A force of Continental dragoons commanded by Colonel William Washington--General George Washington’s second cousin once removed--corners Loyalist Colonel Rowland Rugeley and his followers in Rugeley’s house and barn near Camden, South Carolina, on this day in 1780.
It is known in police parlance as "contagious shooting"-- gunfire that spreads among officers who believe that they, or their colleagues, are facing a threat. It spreads like germs, like laughter, or fear. An officer fires, so his colleagues do, too.In other words, give an "Only One" a gun and mob mentality takes over? I think until we can ensure that this phenomenon has been drilled out of them, there's only one responsible solution.
Sky Harbor International Airport here will test a new federal screening system that takes X-rays of passenger's bodies to detect concealed explosives and other weapons...The root of the problem is obvious -- guns...The root of the problem IS obvious. Ignorance and resulting fear.
Renacci knows he's caught in the middle as Warren's gunsmithing company -- Siara Arms, currently located in Coventry Plaza -- prepares to move into the building that formerly housed the Anshutz furniture store...
"With all the school shootings around the country, I think this brings the wrong message to the community and the kids...I'm not saying they can't open," Finneran said. "But what I am saying is that there has to be better locations in Wadsworth than next to the school.
"I just don't think it's appropriate with the current climate to have anything dealing with guns next to a school."
What do remote-control garage door openers have to do with national security? A lot, it seems.Strengthen your jamming signal, and I'll bet you can put a stop to all kinds of subversive or just plain pesky communications...
A secretive U.S. air force facility in Colorado Springs, Colo., tested a radio frequency this past week that it would use to communicate with first responders in the event of a homeland security threat.
But the frequency also controls an estimated 50 million garage door openers, and hundreds of residents in the surrounding area found their garage doors had suddenly stopped working.
In a letter dated December 3, 1776, General George Washington writes to Congress from his headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey, to report that he had transported much of the Continental Army’s stores and baggage across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania.
Six times a week during November, a television show produced by Tempe police aired on the city’s cable channel showing a white police officer telling two black men they could get out of a ticket if they performed a rap...
“You know I’m right. You know why you say I’m right?” Schoville jokes. “Because I’ve got a gun and a badge. I’m always right.”
U.S. mayors, who have pledged to reduce the criminal use of firearms, continue to ignore the firearm industry’s offer of assistance and cooperation. Instead, the leaders of the mayors’ effort seem more interested in media events than real progress, according to officials of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).Memo to Lawrence Keane:
David,
Thanks for the dialog. I'm writing about snowballs and such today, but I generally write an anti-gun column every year or two. Please look for them. I stuck my other gun column from 2006 at the end of this note. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Burt Constable
Etah Allah, 31, who grew up in West Oakland, summed it up nicely.I love it.
"I wouldn't give them a sling shot," he said. "In fact, given some of the things that (Axl) Rose has said about black folks, I think I should get a gun for just going to the concert," he said, bringing a laugh from his friends.
Toronto police locked down a northeast Toronto neighbourhood, including two elementary schools, after a man was seen with a gun Friday afternoon...
“Because we had information that there may be a gun in the area, we took all safety measures possible”...
The ordeal ended almost as quickly as it started when ETF officers fired tear gas...
“I’m not sure if it was an actual gun or an air weapon or something like that,” he said. “I don’t believe the weapon was ever pointed at anybody and he didn’t use it in any way shape or form.”
Legend has it that on the night of December 2, 1777, Philadelphia housewife and nurse Lydia Darragh single-handedly saves the lives of General George Washington and his Continental Army when she overhears the British planning a surprise attack on Washington’s army for the following day.
Dear David Codrea,Dear Burt Constable,
Thanks for the link to your blog. I've heard from a couple of your readers who sent me the link suggesting that I am sexually inadequate and want to take away the guns of my sexually superior brethren so that we can all be emasculated equals. And yes, I did hear from some less articulate gun owners who say that we need to have guns to keep black men from raping our womenfolk.
OK. So how did that old lady having a gun improve her situation? That is the only point I made about her situation. So tell me how she was better off because she had her .22.
It's irresponsible for me to keep a gun for home protection as I have children who should not be entrusted with life-and-death decisions. But if I did want to protect myself, I'd have a shotgun that would increase my odds of hitting an intruder and decrease my odds of killing some child in the apartment next door. And I certainly wouldn't mindlessly defend people who want military weapons that aren't good for hunting or home protection.
In the situation you mentioned, would you have been better off if more people had been carrying guns? Had I stumbled upon the scene and saw you brandishing a gun at some fleeing young people, would I have the right to assume you are a threat and pull out my gun. Might a call to 9-1-1 have had a similar effect?
The NRA is not about "rifles." It is a shill for the gun manufacturers who are willing to use fear as the fuel to market guns.
Thanks for the dialog.
Sincerely,
Burt Constable
A handgun is not some useful tool that offers its owner safety and piece of mindextrapolates a specific anecdote into a generality, and then you call in Joan Burbick to bolster that thesis at the national level. So try that sleight of mind on someone who's not watching.
Mommy won't let me.And if you really want to assert your prowess, you can promise to hit any home intruders with Joan Burbick's book.
Fairfax County police officials want to suspend for three weeks without pay the officer who accidentally shot and killed Salvatore J. Culosi, an unarmed optometrist being investigated for sports gambling, according to an internal affairs report.So if someone "accidentally" shot and killed one of your loved ones, Marshall, you'd be out there saying a three week suspension is "too harsh"?
The punishment recommended for Officer Deval V. Bullock in the shooting, which occurred in January, has outraged fellow officers, who said it is too harsh...
"The discipline is very disproportionate to prior [shooting] cases," said Officer Marshall Thielen, president of the Fairfax police officers union.
Baltimore city police are looking for four gunmen who posed as police officers to force their way into a home downtown.You might want to print this story out and stash it somewhere safe--just in case you ever need a legal defense for your response to a no-knock home invasion. It's perfectly reasonable to assume people entering your house violently intend to do violence, and this may help convince a jury that just because someone identifies themselves as an "Only One" doesn't make it so.
General George Washington’s army settles into a second season at Morristown, New Jersey, on this day in 1779. Washington’s personal circumstances improved dramatically as he moved into the Ford Mansion and was able to conduct his military business in the style of a proper 18th-century gentleman. However, the worst winter of the 1700s coupled with the collapse of the colonial economy ensured misery for Washington’s underfed, poorly clothed and unpaid troops as they struggled for the next two months to construct their 1,000-plus “log-house city” from 600 acres of New Jersey woodland.
Dear David Codrea,My reply:
Thanks for the link. I love the theory that I am sexually inadequate as a male and that is why I want to take away your gun. I'm just curious. What size gun did you determine that you need?
Sincerely,
Burt Constable
Two senior gardaí were sacked today following a drunken brawl while on armed protection at the United States Embassy in Dublin.So Paddy says to Mike "Not to me, but it happened to me sister..."
We're not talking about banning or confiscating guns that people buy and own for hunting, collecting, or personal protection.What guns are you talking about confiscating, you miserable traitor?
TWO policemen have not been prosecuted for shooting a dog after tying it to a tree...But police last night said the officers had been subjected only to "internal disciplinary action". The first officer fired at the family pet from close range but missed.It certainly sounds like these two thugs would recognize a vicious animal that should be put down when they see one. This brings me to an interesting question: would lethal force be morally justified to defend the life of a pet?
A shot from the second officer passed through the dog's neck - depriving it of the ability to bark - and cut the rope...
The incident happened after police in an unnamed "remote locality" went to a house to arrest a man's son on an outstanding warrant.
A struggle started and the family dog bit one of the officers. The police decided the dog was a "vicious animal" and should be put down.
