The Senate is ready for a showdown on President Obama’s pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives in a battle that carries echoes of this year’s gun control fight.
Tag Archives: gun control
Bloomberg gun-control group facing internal backlash amid growing profile
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is losing part of his arsenal of local leaders as more and more long-time members of his gun-control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns say they aren’t happy with the coalition’s trajectory and want out.
Man Faces Charge For Taking Biden’s Advice
Though he has somehow held an elected office through much of his adult life, Joe Biden’s greatest achievement has not been any sweeping legislation or principled filibuster, but a never-ending supply of gaffes.
The majority of his verbal misfires are good for a laugh but cause no real damage. One of his comments, though, might translate to legal woes for one Washington state man.
When 52-year-old Jeffery Barton saw what he believed to be a group of individuals breaking into his vehicles, he recalled the advice of the vice-president.
Offering input into the debate over gun control, Biden suggested that Americans “get a double-barreled shotgun” for protection. He advised his wife to “fire two blasts outside the house” should she sense trouble.
Barton heeded those words at his own peril. He has since been charged with one count of illegally aiming or disgcharging a firearm, to which he pleaded not guilty.
“I did what Joe Biden told me to do,” he said in his defense. “I went outside and fired my shotgun in the air.”
Clark County sheriff’s deputies, however, dispute the politician’s sage advice, saying that the law doesn’t allow Barton to fire a weapon in the absence of a life-threatening event.
At the very least, this defendant will be able to present a unique argument during upcoming court appearances. Maybe Biden himself will receive a subpoena to appear as an expert witness.
Click here to get B. Christopher Agee’s latest book for less than $5! Like his Facebook page for engaging, relevant conservative content daily.
Aurora, Newtown survivors honor theater victims
Survivors of mass shootings in Colorado and Connecticut are gathering to honor those killed in the massacre at an Aurora movie theater a year after that attack.
Participants will read a list of names of gun violence victims from across the U.S. at the event at a park in Aurora, Colo.
The names will be read until 12:38 a.m. on Saturday, the moment that the shootings began in the theater last year.
Meanwhile, a Colorado gun rights group is holding its own rally nearby.
The Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Association says Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a sponsor of Friday’s remembrance, is politicizing the Aurora massacre to promote gun control.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Colorado judge refuses to block recall elections over gun control votes
Denver District Court Robert Hyatt made the decision Thursday afternoon.
Video: #BroChoice – Support Abortion For Casual Sex
By NewsEditor
Do pro-choice leftists really support abortion “on-demand” because their sex life is at stake? Well, the #BroChoice movement does.
(PS: the guy in this video, Caleb Bonham, is a conservative.)
At court, groups gather to await Zimmerman verdict
As jurors deliberated for a second day in George Zimmerman’s murder trial, there was little understanding between two camps assembled outside the Seminole County Courthouse to await a verdict.
“He deserves some respect and appreciation,” Casey David Kole Sr., 66, shouted about the former neighborhood watch leader. “It’s a tragedy.”
Patricia Dalton, 60, yelled back: “It’s a tragedy that could have been avoided!”
Dalton, like most of the 100 or so people at the suburban Orlando courthouse, says she’s there in support of the family of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old black teen from Miami who Zimmerman fatally shot last year.
Prosecutors and Trayvon Martin’s family say Zimmerman profiled Martin because of the teen’s race. Those allegations, and a 44-day delay before police arrested Zimmerman, sparked nationwide protests involving leading national civil rights leaders and spurred emotional debates about gun control, self-defense laws, race, and equal justice under the law.
In Saturday’s strong Florida sun, some people at the courthouse wore hoodies, as Martin had when he died. One woman lay in the grass, her arms spread, in a re-creation of Martin’s death. Those in the smaller pro-Zimmerman camp held small signs, saying things like “We love you George” and “George got hit you must acquit.”
Joseph Uy of Longwood was among an even smaller group: the few who said they had no opinion on whether Zimmerman was guilty. He said he came because he was “just curious.”
“I’m neutral,” he said, while cradling his three tiny Chihuahuas in his arms.
By mid-afternoon, people rallied in the heat and chanted slogans as a looming thundercloud threatened a downpour.
“Justice for Trayvon,” some shouted. Others yelled, “Convict George Zimmerman.”
Over three weeks, the jury has heard dueling portraits of the neighborhood watch captain: a cop wannabe who took the law into his own hands or a well-meaning volunteer who shot Martin because he feared for his life.
Zimmerman, 29, has claimed self-defense in the February 2012 confrontation in a gated community where Martin was visiting his father and father’s fiancee.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Should Fireworks be banned or controlled more?
As many of you I am sure have heard the Boston bombers used fireworks to make their bombs if you haven’t heard that here is a link to a video from CBS News Boston bombers may have used gunpowder from fireworks – CBS News Video . This is rather disturbing to me and given the fact that young children and even adults are injured every year by fireworks while not using them in a criminal way is it time they be banned or controlled more?
I personally like seeing the fireworks on New Years and the Fourth of July but personally think that maybe there should at least be more controls on fireworks than there are now. Maybe a mandatory criminal background check and instructions at least being required like they already do with guns. Or better yet only allow professionals to use fireworks. I wouldn’t want to spoil anyone’s fun but at the same time can’t see fireworks being so easily sold over the counter.
To me this is entirely different than gun control issues and most laws in each state are good enough for me concerning guns. Also guns even in the wrong hands can only kill one person at a time but fireworks in the wrong hands can kill many at one time.
Source: DoItYourself.com
How About An Assault Pressure Cooker Ban?
Here’s an idea.
How about an assault pressure cooker ban?
In view of last week’s events in Boston, it makes more sense than an assault rifle ban. (Keep in mind that Obamacare probably will not pay for the surgical removal of my tongue from my cheek.)
It’s now well known that a cheap pressure cooker (Wal Mart has them as low as $42.87 for a T-Fal model) can be turned into an IED, which can kill or maim a lot faster than a Bushmaster 223 with a 30 round magazine. Ask the folks who were gathered near the finish line of the Boston Marathon last week.
Where are the “if we can just save one life” folks on this one?
I’m pretty sure that the Second Amendment does not cover pressure cookers, so why not ban them in addition to ball bearings and printed circuit boards that can receive radio signals and switch something on?
A more reasonable question to ask, of course, would be if those folks in the Boston area, who were ordered back into their houses during the manhunt for the two Chechnyan punks who apparently set off the IEDs at the Boston Marathon, would have felt more comfortable with a handgun or an assault rifle to protect themselves and their families?
I know that if this had happened in Northern Nevada, there would have been a whole lot of weapons being loaded and cocked and kept handy until the manhunt was over.
At the risk of being accused of politicizing a tragedy, this is the exact reason we do not and should not ban guns in this country. You have a guaranteed constitutional right to defend yourself from nutjobs like these clowns and, for that matter, anybody else who would do your family and yourself any harm.
Understand that you are not required to do so. But you have the right to do so. And, should you wish to be pro-active in a situation such as this, the nanny staters should not be standing in your way.
One such nanny stater is our own Harry Reid (D-Washington DC Ritz Carleton), who has now completed his transition from a one-time blue dog Democrat who understood exactly the nature of the state he represented to a Barney Frank limousine liberal who could care less about who actually sent him to Washington because he’s above all that.
In last week’s Senate votes on the President’s gun control bill, Reid actually voted FOR an assault weapons ban.
That’s right, Dirty Harry voted to stop me from owning my M1 Carbine, the assault rifle that won World War Two. The rifle we made six and a half million of and sold surplus to citizens’ marksmanship groups in the 50s and 60s for around $21.
He lost by a good 20 votes because even in a Senate run by Harry Reid, there’s enough good sense to realize such a bill was going nowhere.
California Senator Dianne Feinstein poo
Mad Video Game Science
You wouldn’t know it from watching the news, but instances of violence in American society have fallen precipitously over the past decade. At the same time, more Americans than ever are playing video games. Yet, a bipartisan group of members of Congress continue to insist that video games might be responsible for random acts of violence, despite overwhelming evidence and facts showing they are wrong.
Vice-President Joe Biden, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IW) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) are among the leading proponents of the belief that there is a link between violence and video games. And they believe that taxpayer dollars should foot the bill for studies to attempt to prove it. But trying to prove causation is folly.
A few months ago, Congressman Wolf, an Appropriations Committee cardinal responsible for doling out billions of taxpayer dollars to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and hundreds of other government agencies, demanded that the National Science Foundation (of which he oversees funding) conduct a study proving his point. The Foundation hired Communication Professor Brad J. Bushman of Ohio State University to do the study. Bushman was the obvious choice; for he once did a study that concluded that the Bible could be used to incite violence. If the Bible induces violence, perhaps so does Grand Theft Auto. Low and behold, the professor found the link! The professor concluded that there are theoretical reasons to believe that violent video games are even more harmful than violent TV programs or films. Rep. Wolf was happy, as were the bureaucrats who want more funding from Mr. Wolf. A Washington win-win, as they say, except for the taxpayers.
There is just one problem — the facts. More Americans play video games today than ever before. While the sales of video games have expanded exponentially, violence in the United States has fallen. Youth violence has fallen. Incidents of bullying have fallen. Even violent crimes by juveniles have fallen. In short, the taxpayers are left holding the bill for a theoretical study with no basis in reality.
But in Washington, one study is never enough. Sen. Charles Grassley wants his own study. Even the National Rifle Association (NRA) is happy to blame the video game industry to shift attention away from gun control. There have been over 130 studies on video games over the past decade, with most finding no link.
Chris Ferguson, a psychologist at Texas A&M International University, has conducted similar experiments and finds studies linking video games and violence to be trivial. “You know most of the debate now is really on to these minor acts of aggressiveness,” he said. “You know we’re talking about little children sticking their tongues out at each other and that sort of thing.” Ferguson says it’s easy to think that senseless video game violence can lead to senseless violence in the real world. But he says that’s mixing up two separate things. “Many of the games do have morally objectionable material, and I think that is where
6 dead in shooting in southwest Russia
Authorities say a man opened fire in a southwestern town, killing at least six people before fleeing.
Officials at the city hall in Belgorod said Monday that the man opened fire outside a department store, killing five people immediately, including a girl in her early teens. Another victim died in hospital.
The RIA Novosti news agency cited local investigators as saying that the man opened fire while he tried to rob a gun store.
Police locked down the entire neighborhood as they searched for the man, whom they believe to be a former convict. Police have not released the suspect’s name.
With gun control stricter than in many countries, such multiple killings are rare in Russia.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/dWnPyzIrBDs/
Newtown families vow to keep fighting for gun laws
Disappointment. Disgust. Grossly unfair — That’s how some families who lost loved ones in December’s massacre at a Connecticut elementary school view the Senate’s defeat earlier this week of the most far-reaching gun control legislation in two decades, as they pledged to keep fighting for measures to prevent gun violence.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/wi_TZr51pRg/
Boston services held to honor victims and first responders
Four glowing white pillar candles illuminated photographs of each of the people lost in bombing-connected violence in the Boston area last week as the city held religious services on the first Sunday after the blasts shattered the community and plunged it into days of chaos.
The photographs showing the faces of 8-year-old Martin Richard, 23-year-old Lu Lingzi, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell and 26-year-old Sean Collier, a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were propped up on the altar at Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, where Roman Catholic Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley spoke about the city’s pain and looked ahead to its spiritual recovery.
“Everyone has been profoundly affected by this wanton violence and destruction inflicted upon our community by two young men unknown to all of us. It’s very difficult to understand what was going on in their heads, what demons were operating, what ideologies or politics or the perversions of their religion,” he said.
“Our task is to keep this spirit of community alive going forward,” he said. “We must be people of reconciliation, not revenge. The crimes of two young men must not be the justification for prejudice against Muslims or against immigrants. “
Two Muslim brothers from Russia, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, are suspected in Monday’s bombings. Their motive remains unclear. The older brother was killed during a getaway attempt; the younger brother was captured Friday night after a gunfight with police and remains in a hospital.
The cardinal said the violent culture of video games and films has made Americans insensitive to suffering. He criticized Congress for failing to enact gun control legislation and cited abortion as evidence of this insensitivity.
The service at the cathedral also honored police, firefighters, EMTs and doctors who saved lives.
A Boston synagogue, Temple Israel, opened its doors to worshippers from Trinity Episcopal Church, which sits in the shadow of the marathon finish line and remains closed.
An interfaith service was also held Sunday near the finish line, where the bombs went off.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/BE8D6PJDhts/
Who Really Calls The Shots In Our Government?
By Floyd Brown
Congress has proven once again that it’s a special interest world – the rest of us are just living in it.
Earlier this week, the Senate voted against tighter restrictions on guns and gun owners, effectively ending the push that began in the wake of the Newtown, CT school shooting.
But the real story here isn’t the vote – it’s the NRA. You see, the NRA spends millions of dollars lobbying and giving contributions to members of the U.S. Senate. The Senate vote on gun control just proves how effective the NRA’s strategy really is.
And I want to talk about this strategy because it provides an excellent view into how Capitol Hill really works. Folks are always telling me they don’t understand why this or that happened on Capitol Hill. Well, it’s time to shed some light on it.
Now, as a matter of disclosure, I want to let you know that I’m a lifelong member of the NRA. I agree with the NRA’s position against restricting the ownership of firearms by law-abiding citizens.
But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.
I want to talk about process…
The White House is in Shock
Right now, the U.S. Senate is controlled by the Democrats. Yet since the Democrats “defected” to the NRA, the Senate just totally jammed their exalted leader.
Barack Obama’s scheme to add additional rules, restrictions, regulations, and limitations to gun ownership lost big. In a progression of votes on amendments, the truth became clear: No one, Democrats included, wants to mess with the Second Amendment.
Even Sen. Harry Reid, Obama’s supposed point man in the Senate, didn’t seem like he wanted to deliver.
Thus, the central proposal to expand background checks was voted down 54-46. Remember – in the Senate, such bills don’t just need a majority. They require 60 votes to get past a virtually guaranteed filibuster.
The White House had even set in motion an intensive, coast-to-coast lobbying campaign that featured gut-wrenching pleas from families of the Newtown school shooting victims.
But it didn’t help. And Obama administration officials were visibly angry after his agenda got shellacked. The anger level was so high that even Obama spoke out. “All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” he said of the vote, adding that the effort “is not over.”
But in reality, it’s likely all over.
The Power of the NRA
In a democracy, a president always gets his chance.
But one third of the Senate and the entire House have to face the voters in 18 months, and these members know that the NRA can sway elections. No amount of tears from the Newtown families is likely to trump electoral politics in Washington.
So how does the NRA have such massive influence on national politics? They’ve only got about five million members, compared to a country of over 300 million.
First, it’s important to note that the NRA political machine is truly bipartisan. The NRA will support anyone – liberal, conservative, whatever – as long as that congressman is good on one thing: guns.
It’s this laser focus that gives
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/who-really-calls-the-shots-in-our-government/
Foreign Policy And Gun Control In Boston
I wish to make two observations about the bombings in Boston, one relating to U.S. foreign policy and one relating to gun control.
Ever since the 9/11 attacks, many Americans simply have been unable to fathom that foreigners can get so angry over the U.S. government’s actions in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and elsewhere that they end up retaliating with terrorism against the United States.
I have never been able to understand that mindset.
The reaction to the Boston bombings provides a good way to analyze this phenomenon.
I’d venture to say that most Americans do not know any of the victims in the Boston bombings. Yet, there is an outpouring of sympathy for the victims. That’s not all. There is also deep anger and rage over the killings and maiming of the victims, including the children who were killed in the bombings.
Read more at The Future of Freedom Foundation. By Jacob G. Hornberger.
Photo credit: krazydad / jbum (Creative Commons)
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/foreign-policy-and-gun-control-in-boston/
Video: “Hitler Finds Out Gun Control Failed In The Senate”
By Avg Joe
Democrats voting in opposition to background checks. A Presidential temper tantrum on live TV. A Hitler parody video that sums it all up. Priceless!
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/hitler-finds-out-gun-control-failed-in-the-senate/
Upstarts: Hardware, Gun Control, Quantified Pets
This is your weekly roundup of the venture capital and startup world, as I see it. It includes policy in the form of gun control and immigration bills, as well as the standard mix of fundings and exits. And a pet story.
From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/04/19/upstarts-hardware-gun-control-quantified-pets/
Illinois Dems Revolt Against Gun Control Law
Democrats enjoy a supermajority in the Illinois House of Representatives, holding 71 seats to the GOP’s 47. On Wednesday, the same day the US Senate voted down gun control legislation, powerful Democrat Speaker Michael Madigan tried to push a restrictive gun control measure through his chamber. The result was an open revolt by downstate Democrats, with almost half the Democrat caucus joining the GOP to kill the measure. The bill went down 31-76, a rare defeat for the legendary Madigan.
Illinois is currently the only state in the country which doesn’t allow its citizens to have a concealed-carry gun permit. In December 2012, a federal appeals court struck down the state’s ban on concealed-carry permits, effectively ordering the state to enact the gun rights’ permit. The state is under a court-ordered deadline to pass the legislation.
On Wednesday, Dem leadership in the House moved legislation that would put severe restrictions on concealed-carry permits. It would provide that local law enforcement officials “may issue” permits, a provision that would allow local officials to effectively deny citizens in a particular jurisdiction a permit. “Must issue” permits, as long as certain criteria are met, conform more to our 2nd Amendment rights as local officials are not given the power to deny the permits.
Read More at breitbart.com . By Mike Flynn
From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/il-dems-revolt-against-gun-control-law/
Reid Pulls Weakened Gun Control Legislation
By John Johnson 
Given that the gun legislation moving through the Senate had been stripped of pretty much every reform advocates considered meaningful, Harry Reid today yanked what remained from consideration, reports the Hill . But he promised the Senate would revisit the proposal to tighten background checks after this indefinite “pause and freeze”…
From: http://www.newser.com/story/166477/reid-pulls-weakened-gun-control-legislation.html
If Deranged Sorority Emailer Wrote Obama’s Gun Control Speech Scolding Senate
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Earlier today an email leaked from a University of Maryland student and, due to its expletive-filled, fiery rhetoric worthy of David Mamet, it almost instantly went viral. The message, sent to the young woman’s sorority sisters, forcefully instructed them to represent the sorority better at events with their “matchup” frat.
While perhaps misguided, her language and, dare we say, her passion, was so effective, we couldn’t help but imagine her talents being directed at other subjects — such as, say, senators who blocked gun control legislation in yesterday’s vote. President Obama‘s speech chastising the lawmakers who voted against extending background checks certainly was Obama at his most visibly angry, but if he took this writer’s cue, he could have gone a lot further than “shameful.”
So, we took the liberty of aggregating her anger and recontextualizing its meaning, applying it instead to what Obama could have said on Wednesday. Obviously, some VERY NSFW language is used below, so if obscenity offends you, stop reading (and keep in mind, the writer’s anger is so universal, we had to change very little).
Read More…
More on Barack Obama