Napolitano Retains Power to (Try) Seizing Weapons

State senators failed by one vote Wednesday to override Gov. Janet Napolitano's veto of legislation to trim gubernatorial powers to seize weapons.

The 19-10 vote — one vote short of the necessary two-thirds margin — came even after Sen. Dean Martin, R-Phoenix, speculated that Napolitano vetoed the measure so she could use her emergency powers to take weapons away from members of the Minuteman Project patrolling the Mexican border.

Why this is even debatable is beyond me. Special contempt goes to Rebecca Rios, who fled like a coward from taking a stand, and Robert Cannell, who's "not willing to override the governor" on the Bill of Rights.

Gun Crime Soars

GUN crime in Islington has soared by more than 80 per cent in the last year.

Maybe Mayor Bloomberg & Co. can achieve the same results in this country--just like they have in their violent crime-infested cities.

Senior Disarmament

THE son of a wealthy retired businessman who died of three shotgun wounds claims the tragedy could have been avoided...

Company director Angus Ashton, 56, said his father, who suffered from dementia, had his driving licence taken off him by the DVLA on advice from a doctor. But he still held a licence for three shotguns.

"The bottom line was that my father could not legally drive a car but he could own and shoot a gun," he said.

So naturally the solution is to disarm the elderly--probably the most law-abiding and least violent demographic on the planet--and leave them vulnerable to physically stronger predators.

"I Think Police Need Total Control"

An Oklahoma legislator said he hopes to make some changes to a new law that makes it illegal for authorities to confiscate weapons during a state of emergency.

State Rep. Mike Shelton said House Bill 2696 has placed the power of the law into the wrong hands.

"During states of emergency, I think police need total control. They don't need to worry who has guns and who doesn't. If the governor calls for Oklahomans to relinquish their guns, the public needs to do so," Shelton said.

Some people are hell-bent on making peaceful coexistence impossible.

Make sure you take the survey.

[Via Jason M]

We're the Only Ones Connected Enough

A gun belonging to an Orange County Sheriff's Department reserve deputy was found at the home of a Swedish businessman accused of crashing a rare Ferrari on a coastal highway, authorities said Tuesday...

Records also show Davis was issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon by the Orange County Sheriff's Department in 2002 for self-protection. The professional services reserve deputies are made up of business executives who have no police powers but receive badges and sheriff's identification cards.

They offer technical advice to Sheriff Mike Carona, whose reserve deputy program came under criticism last year following reports that he deputized dozens of political allies without conducting background checks.

Carona has been better than most at issuing "permissions" (if you consider that "better") but you still need to prove a need to his satisfaction. And we've discussed this business of deputizing cronies before.

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

On Knowing One's Place

The trade association representing the firearms industry yesterday asked to be included in the "gun summit" being held today at Gracie Mansion for more than a dozen mayors from around the nation.

"Our industry has developed programs that are working to reduce criminal misuse of firearms," Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, wrote the mayor.

"We would welcome the opportunity to educate mayors about these programs."

He didn't get very far.

"Are they mayors?" asked Stu Loeser, Bloomberg's press secretary, dismissing the request out of hand.

You tell 'em, Stu Loser.

What's the matter, Mr. Keane? Did you think that your fawning (NSSF...applauds your...national summit on illegal guns) and pledging to abet the facists ("I will serve the master of the Precious. Good master, good Smeagol, gollum, gollum!") would make them respect you and treat you like an equal?

Did you actually believe the lie that these tyants were interested in "open lines of communications"?

Consult with you? You've been told your place in no uncertain terms. You're not a mayor. That means they rule, you obey. Got it?

And if you don't like it, just try lifting a finger against their enforcers.

Go ahead. Make their day.

We're the Only Ones Choked Up Enough

A disgraced patrolman convicted in one of the most notorious abuse cases in city history — the 1994 chokehold death of an unarmed Bronx man who was tossing a football in the street — has chosen a new career path: motivational speaker and self-defense trainer.

Per his website:

Francis X. Livoti was a New York City Police Officer for fifteen years and a union official in the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for the last nine of those years.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association? Oh yeah, the guys whose president, Patrick T. Lynch advocates:

"We need to make it clear that if someone lifts even a finger against a police officer, their life could be on the line."

It's so refreshing these days to find people who mean exactly what they say.

And as for Livoti?

"I served my time. I have a right to make a living."

Uh, not quite.

Livoti was first tried in a non-jury trial in the Bronx on a charge of criminally negligent homicide. A judge ruled prosecutors didn't make their case, despite testimony by the medical examiner that Baez died of asphyxia caused by choking...The officer was kicked off the force in 1997 when police officials ruled he used an illegal choke hold. A year later, a federal jury convicted him of violating Baez's civil rights. The city later paid the Baez family $3 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

What do you think the chances are for a judge to fix criminal charges and the city to pay the civil settlement if a non-LEO had done this to one of NYC's finest?

Oh, that's right--lifting a finger is a death sentence. Never mind.

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

We're the Only Ones Parental Enough

The seven-year-old son of a Leominster police officer accidentally fires his father's gun while inside the city's police station...

The officer was reportedly showing someone a demonstration model of a holster for his semiautomatic gun.

At some point, he put the gun down while reloading an ammunition magazine.

That's when his son picked it up and fired the shot.

And naturally, the chief "would not identify" the officer...

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Open Lines of Communication Focus of Gun Summit

God forbid the right of the people to keep and bear arms should be the focus...but then, we're dealing with people who view themselves as overlords, not public servants.

Here's a nice bit of unsubstantiated propaganda presented by CBS 11 as fact:

It's estimated 20 percent of gun industry profits come from the sales of illegal guns.

Really?

Who did the estimating? What methodology did they use? Have the findings been published? Who reviewed them to make sure that statement isn't pure agenda-driven hysteria? If provable, how many "gun industry" executives have been charged, prosecuted and convicted for selling "illegal guns," which is...umm...illegal?

And, if true, what does that say about GCA 68 and the Brady background check?

Don't look for these questions to be raised--the "open lines of communication" aren't open to dissent.

We're the Only Ones Wasted Enough

A BAG of drugs being used in the training of police sniffer dogs has gone missing.

The bag of drugs has gone missing? All by its own self? Is that anything like the gun went off?

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Something in the Way She Moves...

Dr Dimitrios Makris, computing lecturer at Kingston University, who is part of the development team, said: "The team at Loughborough will identify these patterns and involuntary activity exhibited by people carrying concealed weapons.

"This will be passed to us at Kingston, where we will use it to develop the identification software.

Tell me, Dimitri, does your role in the developing global police state ever bother you?

No, I didn't think so.

Seems to me that, despite the best laid plans of these amoral eggheads, once people learn what the system's looking for, they could have all kinds of fun intentionally triggering off false positives...

We're the Only Ones Avuncular Enough

A 5-year-old boy was recovering Sunday after accidentally shooting himself with a gun he that belonged to his uncle, who is also a San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputy, police said.

Just "the deputy" or "the uncle"?

Why is it that when non-LEOs are involved in such negligence, the papers have no problem telling us their names?

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Suspects Take Off When Homeowner Gets His Gun

Police said the teenagers forced their way into Bob Martin's apartment on Adriel Lane on Sunday and pointed a gun at him. But when the retired Air Force sergeant noticed it was a BB or pellet gun, he got his own real gun out and the teenagers took off.

Yet another violent gun owner exercised his license to murder...

[More from the "License to Murder" files]

"Buyback "Results Pathetic Despite Media Support

The Justice Resource Center bought 18 more guns Saturday in its effort to decrease violence and crime, the Rev. Louis Coleman said yesterday.

Hey, it's not like the Louisville Courier-Journal isn't doing it's part with free advertising...

Operation Tripod Fails To Disarm NY

With a big-city summit set for Tuesday, Mayor Bloomberg's war on traffickers is bringing results, but weapons keep flowing into his city as fast as police can seize them...In the bitter pre-dawn cold of a Sunday morning in February in the borough of Queens, members of New York's Operation Tripod pounced as gun traffickers from Ohio sought to close the type of big-money deal that keeps the so-called Iron Pipeline humming.

Maybe if they can't stop the flow of guns they ought to see what they're doing over in India...?

Never mind.

Here's a bit I found interesting:

Thomas King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, the National Rifle Association affiliate in the state, says legal gun owners are being harassed because of the actions of criminals.

Although he says he backs Bloomberg's plans to clean New York's streets of illegal weapons, he insists the key to accomplishing that is better enforcement of existing laws, not new regulations on the books.

Really, Mr. King?

Assuming the reporter hasn't misquoted you, you're saying enforce the Sullivan Laws? You're saying keep Big Apple citizens disarmed under force of law and punish those who defy such edicts?

I'd love to know what you actually said to the press, Mr. King, and the rationale behind it. Consider this an open invitation to clarify any misunderstanding this report may have created in the minds of gun owners.

We're the Only Ones Judgment-Impaired Enough

"These officers were talking and joking when Capt. McLaughlin for no apparent reason took out his weapon (made sure the magazine was full and seated properly) and put his handgun to the back of officer Fryslin's head. All present were upset and visibly shaken."

Haha. Funny prank. And this after one of their own killed another in an "accident" seven months earlier.

Note how the cops tried to keep a lid on things--with the lame excuse they're not required to volunteer their reports to the media. They were trying to keep it under wraps and hoped no one would notice, plain and simple. And the excuse that the "victim" didn't wish to press charges sounds like bunk. Someone with knowledge of PA law correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is, once a crime has been committed--particularly in front of witnesses--it is prosecuted under the auspices of "People vs..." The affected cop may forego civil charges, but he does not have the authority to suspend state law.

I love the mouthpiece who complains they're damned if they do or don't treat cops like ordinary citizens: like it would be an option for you or me not to be prosecuted for putting a gun to a cop's head--and as if our "punishment" would be to do nothing on the people's dime to the tune of over $40K per year for life.

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Indian Government Powerless as Gun Laws Ignored

"Delhi has a total of around 60,000 licensed revolvers, but the number of people keeping illegal revolvers would be at least 10 times more," says former CBI chief Joginder Singh.

He says, "weapon gives a sense of power to a person, much more than his physical power."

You sound like you're speaking from personal experience, Joggy old sport. So what you're saying is, if enough people disobey your stupid laws, you're essentially helpless to stop it?

Citizen noncompliance with disarmament edicts...where have I heard that recommended before...?

I love the way they characterize "the majority of gun criminals" as murderers with conflict resolution issues. Seems to me if that was the case, and based on their own numbers, India would have millions of murders each year. It couldn't be that the vast majority of those violating India's gun edicts just wish to protect themselves...?

Monica Blows Down Under

What?

Homeowner Fires Gun at Invaders

The two men, whose names were not known, and a third man, broke into a house on Cleveland Street around 10 a.m. Saturday and used force on an occupant, Danbury Det. Capt. Mitch Weston said.

The home's occupant managed to grab a hand gun and fired several shots.

Why couldn't the homeowner just dial 911 or run away instead of exercising a license to murder?

Why the Need?

Free Constitution provides graphic answers in yesterday's "Second Amendment Saturday" post...