Assorted Links On Guns

In no special order. Here's Tbogg:

We’re tired of lunatics bursting into schools and slaughtering screaming 6-year-olds with assault weapons.

We’re tired of weekend warriors strutting around Home Depot looking for toilet plungers while dressed like they’re setting out on a midnight raid to capture Osama bin Laden; AR15 at the ready in case someone jumps the line at the self-check out.

We’re tired of heavily-armed home-schooled Constitutional scholars who steal or occupy property belonging to all Americans because… freedom. They’re not patriots, they’re gun-packing thieves — and not very bright ones at that.

But mainly we’re tired of dying from gunshot wounds.

Tom had the deaths at my next link at 157. It's at 205 when I just looked. It'll pretty much rise by the minute though, so look fast. Another link from that piece contains a wealth of studies refuting the stupidity of ho so much. 

Lots of good stuff there, but just to point out two stories: 

Despite the astronomical odds against being killed, this fear of home invasion often drives people like Becca Campbell of Ferguson, Missouri, to gun ownership. This past November, Campbell was riding home in a car with her boyfriend after purchasing a gun, preparing for the unrest expected to follow the grand jury decision about whether to pursue criminal charges against the policeman who killed Michael Brown. She joked that “we’re ready for Ferguson,” waving the gun. Distracted, the boyfriend ran into the car ahead of them, and the gun fired, killing Campbell.

And:

In light of the overwhelming evidence that guns are a public health threat, gun advocates often retreat to an “it could never happen to me” mentality. This worldview is tragically mistaken. Consider the case of Veronica Dunnachie. She was, by many gun advocates’ definition, a good gal with a gun. A strident voice for gun rights, she was an open carry advocate, dedicated to expanding the unlicensed open carrying of firearms. In Texas, open carry is currently restricted to long guns; she pushed to include handguns. She frequently attended rallies and protests organized by Open Carry Tarrant County (an offshoot of Open Carry Texas). In a domestic dispute on Dec. 10, she allegedly shot and killed her husband and stepdaughter.Horrified, Dunnachie called a friend, telling him she “had just done something bad” and, at his urging, checked herself into a nearby mental health clinic.

To just end on a light note:

Black Op Arms owner Mark Limoges showed up for his interview with CNN sporting a special edition AR-15 like one that the company had recently presented to Trump.

“This is an exact replica of the gun we gave Mr. Trump,” he explained. “It has our Black Ops Arms symbol on it with our Black Ops Arms symbol on the handrail. And the other side, we have the ‘Live Free or Die’ with the American flag on the handrail.”

For the remainder of the five minute interview, Limoges continued to hold the weapon across his chest, pointing it upwards.

He's going to make them pry it from his cold, dead fingers.

“Most of the people that come in [to the gun store] are real nervous about what Mr. Obama is going to do to limit their chances of getting weapons,” he said.

That's because they're nuts who listen to propagandists. 

Link to a piece on Chris Gibson, gun fetishist for governor. Shout to Kathleen Parker: 

It is one thing to be in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. It is another to do nothing and then assume a superior posture of purposeful neglect, as though do-nothingness were a policy and smug intransigence a philosophy.

That's beautiful. I'm going to definitely steal that. 

It's Like Woodstock for Wingnuts

Please arrest them and charge them with anything you can think of. They got away with their bullshit at the Bundy Ranch. If we are to be nation of laws, they must be dealt with.

A group of militants broke into and seized the federally owned headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, The Portland Oregonian reports.

They can't be allowed to continue. 

Ammon Bundy once helped his father repulse the government in an armed showdown on a Nevada desert. He was Tasered for his effort.

Ryan Payne, an electrician from Montana, joined that same standoff and boasted of organizing civilians into sniper squads that drew a bead on federal agents.

And not long ago, Jon Ritzheimer worried the FBI with his threatening rants against Muslims in Arizona and elsewhere, according to press reports.

Thank God for this.

The Hammonds don't want to be part of the outsiders' cause, and neither do many in Harney County.

Doolittle link.

Charles Pierce link.

Link from Ray Cranston at Shaw's place. Hungry, hungry terrorists. 

The New Year's Looking Better Than the Old

First, in ringing out 2015.

 A father and heavy drinker fatally shot his wife and two others after an argument over the washing machine on New Year's Eve in the Los Angeles suburbs.

The son, Christopher Morey, wrestled the gun away from his father and fatally shot him. He has been arrested for murder and is being held on $1 million bail. While such domestic shootings are particularly difficult to predict, they are declining nationally, as are felony crimes.

I saw the story a few days ago, but not the wrinkle about the dispute over the washing machine. It's nice to see that this type of shooting is declining. We takes our good news where we can find it. 

Wilfred Calzadilla, brother to victim Ernesto Calzadilla, said his brother was a friend of the family, but he had generally stopped going to the house because of worries about the father, who drank heavily and owned a large collection of guns. Local law authorities had visited the house to investigate dozens of times, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

"Mixing alcohol and guns never ends good," Wilfred Calzadilla told the Associated Press.

Words to live by, Mr. Calzadilla. 

I don't see prayer as a long range solution to gun deaths, but it's worth a try when that's all you've got. 

Pitting prayers against bullets, an armed intrusion at a church on New Year’s Eve ended in peace.

At a eastern North Carolina congregation Thursday night, an emotionally distraught man walked in with a rifle in one hand and ammunition in the other. But it did not turn into a scene of terror. Instead, hugs and prayers ensued, and the man stayed for the rest of the service before being taken into custody by police.

I'm definitely feeling more optimistic about 2016 now. 

Jerry Seinfeld With the Coolest of Presidents

I like Seinfeld's advice on handling hecklers. "You seem upset. I'm so sorry. Let's talk." Wingnuts hate when you respond to them politely. They're looking for you to get as unraveled as they are. 

Who Do You Root For?

It's Trump against the Union Leader. Is there a way they can both lose?

On Monday, the Union Leader — which has endorsed Chris Christie in the primary — published a front-page editorial written by its publisher, Joseph McQuaid, in which he criticized Trump for some of his rhetorical excesses and compared him to Biff from “Back to the Future,” a stereotypical bully. 

And here's Trump on McQuaid:

“I’ve watched this guy and, honestly, he’s a loser,” Trump said.

He really needs a thesaurus. Stock up on popcorn for when this starts to happen.

New Hampshire is absolutely critical to Trump’s campaign. Even if his support is not as fragile as many people have assumed, there is one thing that could crack it. It’s not his voters realizing that Trump isn’t a reliable conservative, or that he understands nothing about policy, or that he’s a jerk. The one thing that could really hurt Trump is if people start to see him as a loser. 

You think he's unhinged now?

It’s hard to overestimate just how central the idea that Trump is a winner is to his candidacy. (It’s also quite obviously central to his own self-image and psychology, which is part of why he’s constantly accusing people he doesn’t like of being losers.)

Where does he go from there if he loses badly in this campaign? He's gonna have that big "L" on his forehead forever, the biggest of 2016 losers.  

Etc?

It's the last day of the year and I don't want to work hard for a post, so why not a Post Star letter. This one from Chuck Sharrow has some stuff I like. And some that I don't.

I have to wonder if you have fallen victim to the rhetoric of people like Cuomo, Tingley, Doolittle, etc.

I've written three letters recently to the paper on guns and all I am is etc.? I'd like to think he writes in response to H.P. Oswald because he can't cope with my sterling rhetoric. Gonna go with that.

When the Second Amendment was adopted, it is true that only muzzle-loading firearms were available to the citizenry. However, that is all that was available to the government as well. Even-steven. Follow me? 

No. Not really. Are you saying the government of Britain or the U.S.?

Fast forward to 2015. Are you suggesting, sir, that the American citizen could mount an effective defense against an enemy, foreign or domestic, using muzzleloaders?

Sounds like it's the U.S. government. Could be wrong, but I think he's suggesting that he should have the same weaponry as the police and military. Guessing Santa did not bring him an MRAP. 

For that is what the Second Amendment is truly about. It is not about our hunting rifles. 

He has a militia? God, I hope not. It would make it a fairer fight, though. I still think this "fighting against a tyrannical government" stuff is just another way of saying suicide by cop. Want to thank all these brave volunteers for keeping me safe from my government whom I mostly voted for. 

Consider where you may be today if our forefathers had fought its government with an inferior weapon such as the bow and arrow. If you’re not sure, ask the American Indian and visit his reservation.

Is there any doubt that he's an Alex Jones fan? What happened to the foreign enemies? Fuck that. We got bigger ones here at home.

Look deeper into the Democratic agenda of bigger government with more citizen dependency and you will understand why they want to abolish the Second Amendment. After all, it’s their last hurdle in their march toward socialism!

I think I've used up my letters for the month to the paper and it's probably not worth responding to him anyway. There's likely no convincing him or anyone loony enough to listen to him that Andrew Hitler and Barack Stalin aren't coming for his precious guns. Or maybe they will.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce executive action expanding background checks on gun sales, media outlets reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with White House proposals and planning.

The changes, which could come as soon as next week, would include requiring more small-scale gun sellers to be licensed and to conduct a background check whenever selling a weapon, Politico reported.

Additional measures would impose tighter rules for reporting guns that are lost or stolen on their way to a buyer, the political news website said.

Background checks? Reporting lost or stolen guns? The horror. It's obviously the first step toward repeal of the second amendment. 

Jon Swift Memorial Round-up Link and, Surprise Gun Links

Why save the best for last? The Vagabond Scholar gives us a late Christmas present in compiling a list of wonderful blog posts from a wonderful collection of talented bloggers whom I am so in awe of. If I manage a good post this year, who knows?

A little pressed for time, but I should pass along some great news for the gun fetishists. Yes, you folks can take your perversion out in the open now. The shame and the need for concealed carry is no more. Whip it out proudly. 

As of Jan. 1, it’s a new world in Texas. Or a throwback to the past, depending on how you look at it.

For the first time in more than a century, licensed Texans will be free to walk the streets, or travel the state, openly wearing their holstered handguns.

It's a happy day for Scott Graves, I can assure you of that. 

Oh my beloved Adirondacks,

How I miss thee, 

Ne'er again will I,

Gaze upon your verdant hills.

Then again, maybe I'll stick to prose. 

This is a link to an article on this notion of "we'll just spend some money on mental health and that'll take care of the gun problems." Hoping to get back to this. Until then a letter to the Post Star about that very thing.

I'm just going to add this on to the end of this post. It's too sad to get one of its own.

Claude Campbell, Jr. placed a breathless 911 call late Tuesday evening as his step-daughter lay unconscious in his 10th Street home.

He tells the dispatcher that 27-year-old Ashley Doby has "passed out. She has a pacemaker. She has a heart problem," in a recording released by police.

But not once during the five-minute 911 call does Campbell, a veteran member of the St. Cloud Police Department, mention why Doby was struggling to breathe: a gunshot wound to the chest.

Campbell omitted that fact because he was asleep when his wife shot Doby, mistaking her for an intruder, police said on Wednesday. He didn't realize what happened until his wife — a 911 dispatcher with the Osceola County Sheriff's Office – explained it to him, according to authorities.

It was too late. Doby was taken to a local hospital, where she later died. Her death is being characterized by St. Cloud Police as an "accidental shooting," according to Sgt. Denise Roberts. Sherry Campbell, 45, fired one fatal shot. She has not been arrested on any criminal charges. 

May the New Year be a better one.