Who Will Speak for the Guns?

Jim Hull will in a letter to the Post Star today. Thanks, Jim. You mentioned something I've been meaning to mention.

Cars are plowing into crowds killing and injuring, ban cars? Far more are killed and maimed by drunken drivers than legal gun owners; put alcohol interlocks in all cars? More according to the FBI were killed in New York by hands and fists than guns, amputate citizens?

I get this argument a lot, "cars kill people and we don't ban cars." First, the obvious point is that most people who are calling for gun control are not calling for banning guns. When I say most, I mean all of them. They are calling for things like background checks to prevent firearms from being in the wrong hands. The second point is that drivers of cars are required to pass a written and practical driver's test before getting a license, have the vehicle registered and inspected, have insurance, follow laws and such. These are all things that the most extreme gun owners would have a conniption over. 

Just want to mention that there are no organizations around calling for the promotion of drunk driving. That is the equivalent of what the NRA and others like the Gun Owners of America do. In fairness, the NRA was not always what they are now. At one time they did promote hunter safety and were not merely a mouthpiece for the gun industry. 

Letter to a Texas Concern Troll

So, if the State of New York eliminates its income tax and all gun control laws, this guy will deign to once again live among us.

Yet another decade passes and still I hesitate moving back to my beloved southern Adirondacks. Why? I'm retired now so I certainly could go. The problems lie in the overbearing control that the state government exerts on its citizens. Your taxes are astronomical. Texas has no income tax. Your gun laws are horrifying. I buy and keep as many guns as I want in Texas including the dreaded AR-15. My Adirondacks will remain a distant memory and Texas my adopted home.

My response:

   

    In response to Scott Graves from El Paso: I'd like to say that your love for the Adirondacks must be very shallow if being required to pay a bit in taxes and follow some restrictions on your guns keeps you from living here. If you're retired, it doesn't even seem that your income tax bill would be that high. I know there are people here who own guns and hunt. Don't believe they use AR-15s, though. Unlike Texans, New Yorkers don't make a practice of going, en masse, into restaurants bearing assault rifles. We don't have that level of insecurity.

     Of course, recently a lot of folks in Texas were convinced that they were going to be invaded by the U.S. military. No, I don't get it either, but that's what they thought. So, they may have anxiety problems that are only relieved by their guns. And you know what; Governor Abbott, Senator Cruz and other Texas politicians did nothing to dissuade their citizenry of that notion. The governor even sent out the National Guard to keep an eye on the federal troops.

     The same Texas government fought the Affordable Care Act fervently while New York was working with the federal government to implement it here. The difference shows now, too. So, I'll take the "overbearing" government that works to ensure its citizens have health insurance over the one that doesn't, and is willing to allow its people to believe conspiracy theories. I'm retired, as well. I do love New York and I'm willing to pay taxes in order to live in a sane and civilized society.   

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate wingnuts in my morning paper? 

Good For You, Virginia, Santa is on His Way

The state of Virginia earned a stocking full of goodies.

Beginning Feb. 1, Virginia will no longer recognize concealed handgun permits from more than two dozen states.

The move follows an audit conducted by the attorney general’s office and the Virginia State Police pursuant to the state criminal code, which requires both agencies to determine whether reciprocating states “meet the requirements and qualifications” for recognition of their concealed handgun permits.

The Brady campaign gives them a solid "D." Trying to get on the Nice List?

Last Link for Monday

So, here's another piece from the Daily News. This is on the disparity in spending between gun research and other causes of death in the US.

Yes, I am thinking of changing the name of my blog to Fuck the Guns. Trying to stay semi PG, tho. 

Keeping the NRA on the Run

The Daily News had an editorial up on Sunday blasting away some more at the mouthpiece for the gun industry. It's worth reading all of it so I'm not going to pick and choose. Wanted to point to a couple of things I was not aware of.

One is the Tiahrt Amendment.

 The Tiahrt Amendments require the FBI to destroy all approved gun purchaser records within 24 hours of approval, making it extremely difficult for ATF to retrieve firearms from prohibited persons who are mistakenly sold guns or from gun owners who become ineligible to possess guns. The destruction of gun purchaser records also limits ATF’s ability to quickly and efficiently trace crime guns.

Records of completed firearm sales are invaluable tools for law enforcement. These records are most useful when they are collected in a central database and retained permanently. In California, for example, handgun sales records are permanently retained in a California Department of Justice database. As a result, law enforcement agencies in the state are able to quickly trace the ownership of handguns recovered in crime. (Commencing January 1, 2014, long gun sales records also will be permanently retained by the California Department of Justice.)

Records regarding gun ownership also help protect law enforcement officers who must respond to emergency calls at private residences because they allow officers to determine if a person at a residence may own a firearm. In addition, firearm ownership records facilitate the relinquishment of firearms by persons who are convicted of a felony or otherwise become ineligible to possess guns.

Then there is the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005.

In 2005, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a federal statute which provides broad immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers in federal and state court. Generally speaking, the PLCAA prohibits “qualified civil liability actions,” which are defined as civil or administrative proceedings which “result[] from the criminal or lawful misuse” of firearms or ammunition. 

The editorial also mention a study by Johns Hopkins. There's too much to pick and choose from so I'm just linking to that as well. This is my method of bookmarking.

Since I believe what I linked to there is not what the Daily News was referring to I'm going to copy and paste from the editorial:

That requiring gun permits saves lives. After Missouri dropping its permit requirement, the state’s murder rate rose 16% and increased the body count by roughly 50 a year, according to a study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

That, over a recent multi-year period, the 14 states (like New York) with background checks for all handgun purchases had, compared to the other 36 states:

•  46% fewer domestic violence gun killings
•  48% fewer law enforcement officers shot dead
•  48% fewer gun suicides
•  52% fewer mass shootings

The NRA may be able to bully representatives in the halls of Congress, while Americans bury ever more bodies from gun violence. But they cannot be allowed to bury the truth.

Yes, what they said.

How Could This Have Been Worse?

The alternate post title would have been: Reasons to Shop Online. I feel OK joking about this because the "only" casualty was a guy getting shot in the leg. That feels like a victory nowadays.

Gunfire erupted during a dispute inside a large Wisconsin mall Saturday, leaving one man wounded in the leg and sending thousands of people scrambling for cover on one of the busiest shopping days before Christmas. 

I misspoke, another casualty was apparently a pair of chinos.

A worker at a mall kiosk was hit in the pant leg by a bullet ricochet but was not injured, DeSpain said.

Do you suppose this would have gone better if there had been 2, 3, 4 or more good guys with guns in that mall doing their Christmas shopping? Hard for me to believe it would have. As it was, one guy has a leg wound and the shooter has been taken into custody. With just the amount of gunfire that was involved:

"My understanding is it was a chaotic scene," he said, adding that thousands of people tried to flee the area.

Shopper Evan Flood said he saw a heated argument among about 15 people and a couple of punches were thrown. Within three or four seconds a gun went off, he said.

"Myself and a lot of other people just went into whatever store was nearest, and they did a real good job of putting the gate down and getting us into the back, where we waited until police showed up," Flood said.

"There were a lot of kids actually around ... and they were in tears and their parents were trying to get them to calm down, but they were crying the entire time," he said.

I had planned to blog on this story today, but because God loves me, he gave me this early Christmas gift courtesy of Charles Pierce. I had forgotten about this story what with so much other gunnuttery going on. 

This woman opened fire in a parking lot of a Home Depot. Intent, as Jack McCoy always reminds us, follows the bullet. She's lucky her intent didn't follow the bullets right into a busload of nuns. 

Yes, this was the woman who tried to shoot down the shoplifters in the Home Depot parking lot. The story mentions that she is a sharpshooter. Fortunately for the petty criminals involved not much of one. God knows what she did hit. Not the busload of nuns either because they also have God on their side. 

Steve Rosenfeld on Gun Dementia

Just putting up a link to this because it's all worthwhile.