tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55866679517948544152024-03-13T11:25:18.972-04:00Ordinary PeopleOrdinary People examines the gun lobby’s frequent claim that gun owners—and concealed carry permit holders in particular—are the most law-abiding citizens in our country. We grant this is probably true in many cases, but argue that gun owners are human beings—subject to the same issues of stress, depression, substance abuse and mental illness; which can sometimes lead to criminal behavior and tragedy.stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-30645245326624302852013-07-16T15:25:00.002-04:002013-07-16T15:25:10.441-04:00We've Moved!<p class="MsoNormal"><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Ordinary People</b> has moved!<br><br>
We’ve recently relaunched our website (<a href="http://www.csgv.org">www.csgv.org</a>) and <b>Ordinary People</b> will now be integrated into our main site.<br><br>
Please add <a href="http://csgv.org/blog/">http://csgv.org/blog/</a> to your Favorites and/or RSS Feeds to keep up with all our new (and old) postings.<br><br>
Best regards,<br><br>
The Staff of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence</p>
</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-6275550583636826222012-11-20T09:46:00.000-05:002012-11-20T09:51:29.699-05:00"I'm starting to see why plp go on killin sprees"<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUPkFf9MzgOcZhM1Een5OjMh995phQTkFyD7U7kBBZuw9NJDwv9hgaIfi33ksc-Ahr7YUMaKSHcSC5oWxCxrphwBo9HTsRnIYjWaKcjH6brI9YpqpXw5Us2WpefnjUepCfOCAv1lCgBNf/s1600/Pathmark+In+Memory+Of.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="237" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUPkFf9MzgOcZhM1Een5OjMh995phQTkFyD7U7kBBZuw9NJDwv9hgaIfi33ksc-Ahr7YUMaKSHcSC5oWxCxrphwBo9HTsRnIYjWaKcjH6brI9YpqpXw5Us2WpefnjUepCfOCAv1lCgBNf/s320/Pathmark+In+Memory+Of.jpg" /></a>On August 31, 2012, 23-year-old Terence Tyler checked in for the overnight shift at the Pathmark Super Center in Old Bridge, New Jersey. His co-workers noticed that he was acting "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/911-calls-released-from-pathmark-shooting_n_1882090.html">very angry</a>," and before long, he simply walked out and left work altogether.<br><br>
But he would come back shortly, armed with three firearms. Tyler then opened fire, killing two of his co-workers, Cristina LoBrutto, age 18, and Bryan Breen, age 24, before taking his own life with a gunshot.<br><br>
Between June 2010 and November 2011, Tyler purchased the weapons used in the shooting legally: a shotgun, a .45-caliber handgun, and a WASR-10, which is similar to an AK-47 assault weapon. Those purchases likely occurred in California, before Tyler moved to New Jersey.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIaRwHx0GVeEEOeCMaSjIn87ujeYZB9sNUZbKWMK5voKI_iRn5sYLF1ORatJO6BGsC7yAS9PT3Ers6IOnbAKFO-1jxlXUtSmMDpHf4v325tB-le86SduY3vUhkFfn2IRFqUlC2Zvbdjj7/s1600/WASR-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="117" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIaRwHx0GVeEEOeCMaSjIn87ujeYZB9sNUZbKWMK5voKI_iRn5sYLF1ORatJO6BGsC7yAS9PT3Ers6IOnbAKFO-1jxlXUtSmMDpHf4v325tB-le86SduY3vUhkFfn2IRFqUlC2Zvbdjj7/s320/WASR-10.jpg" /></a>Sometimes after gruesome shootings, profilers of the killers in question will suggest that "no one could have seen it coming." But that certainly wasn't the case with Terence Tyler.<br><br>
Tyler had served in the U.S. Marines for four years before being honorably discharged in 2010 for medical reasons. That reason was "<a href="http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2012/09/di_ionno_sister_of_gunman_in_n.html">major depression</a>." This depression was well known to Tyler's family, and began after the death of his mother in 2007.<br><br>
And then there was Tyler's Twitter account, through which he posted the following public messages (most recent at top, going chronologically backwards as you scroll down):<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7BdnDjDCZmCrXFoq4_8zisJxCoFwEhXGd7mmOfgDqYRCyZHHlIAa7VoGOs-pnpi9z9rfxVlL-Q9QDBaZ94vCY66z-IhgkNqmYWw3IHROu_N2rVVV61tAn7B_-DJJSzAryGmcNfA51XAyH/s1600/Terence+Tyler+Tweet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="251" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7BdnDjDCZmCrXFoq4_8zisJxCoFwEhXGd7mmOfgDqYRCyZHHlIAa7VoGOs-pnpi9z9rfxVlL-Q9QDBaZ94vCY66z-IhgkNqmYWw3IHROu_N2rVVV61tAn7B_-DJJSzAryGmcNfA51XAyH/s400/Terence+Tyler+Tweet.jpg" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzoro-7rCnuuvB6OtBphwZExo96KXv8bUoNStUzYQHFqZ-bbVL8_NDw6x6hoXl0WXufdWAu1DJADsS572Bd3qY1yu6xoQf8ZGLsdNdqbjKp3OU9QIA4gPtlL5zshNBxYSdX43wAhcDmg2/s1600/Terence+Tyler+Tweet+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="218" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzoro-7rCnuuvB6OtBphwZExo96KXv8bUoNStUzYQHFqZ-bbVL8_NDw6x6hoXl0WXufdWAu1DJADsS572Bd3qY1yu6xoQf8ZGLsdNdqbjKp3OU9QIA4gPtlL5zshNBxYSdX43wAhcDmg2/s400/Terence+Tyler+Tweet+2.jpg" /></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHarMOv6R_VGr53h1mq5G33-HUpZimr6N90NGXvZAgaGsnNf_yLOpEA9-EdZI701NPn9skfXWszCoT8TQmSsjyrZ3tOFVa0GdJzhGr64t6IMzbxfcEy_xwNHv6Tly4ifJSiaZ4k0esAUAn/s1600/Terence+Tyler+Tweet+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="157" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHarMOv6R_VGr53h1mq5G33-HUpZimr6N90NGXvZAgaGsnNf_yLOpEA9-EdZI701NPn9skfXWszCoT8TQmSsjyrZ3tOFVa0GdJzhGr64t6IMzbxfcEy_xwNHv6Tly4ifJSiaZ4k0esAUAn/s400/Terence+Tyler+Tweet+15.jpg" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8SwUBZ3efphbMloBMrzPhWG_9Lz6TFUeaQTYKQjEwXtGmlTaoCG9K1LbY4O_2VAWzDlNA1Rv5rJH8Gmh6m3w4Fp4skHBsv2nFQ8P4KsSe_m9C5YtTnjNCf22pwvtH8dhV1Suxg4nFcnI3/s1600/Terence+Tyler+Tweet+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="168" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8SwUBZ3efphbMloBMrzPhWG_9Lz6TFUeaQTYKQjEwXtGmlTaoCG9K1LbY4O_2VAWzDlNA1Rv5rJH8Gmh6m3w4Fp4skHBsv2nFQ8P4KsSe_m9C5YtTnjNCf22pwvtH8dhV1Suxg4nFcnI3/s400/Terence+Tyler+Tweet+16.jpg" /></a></p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-23893723445265327002012-06-07T09:30:00.000-04:002012-06-07T09:30:56.578-04:00"It's no surprise to me this happened. We could see this coming."<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJNOyuE2uJWUd9ZqWDiwJR2M8FLRZaDzcyDrIxoBX4b9ydhE0j7roNDmrh3jHHF1k9cXvgTH0yCRqaq-jQRm1mxZZwAk8oT2hKZzDTQy3d8VRbOQ5l_qIAt76JRsLyVeXeklxtO9Va9pM/s1600/Stawicki+Shooting+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="174" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJNOyuE2uJWUd9ZqWDiwJR2M8FLRZaDzcyDrIxoBX4b9ydhE0j7roNDmrh3jHHF1k9cXvgTH0yCRqaq-jQRm1mxZZwAk8oT2hKZzDTQy3d8VRbOQ5l_qIAt76JRsLyVeXeklxtO9Va9pM/s320/Stawicki+Shooting+2.jpg" /></a><p class="MsoNormal">On May 30, 2012, Ian Stawicki walked into Cafe Racer in Seattle, Washington at approximately 11:00 AM. The staff there recognized him immediately. They had kicked him out of the establishment on several previous occasions "<a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Police-Seattle-shootings-were-like-an-execution-3599900.php">for being drunk and picking fights with bar musicians</a>." "<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018328041_stawicki01m.html">He was a real loud mouth. Just super negative. Swearing and cussing real loud ... He was consistently not all there</a>," remembered the owner of Cafe Racer. This time, they asked him to leave again. Stawicki, 40, began to walk toward the door, but suddenly pulled out one of two handguns he was concealing, shooting his first victim in the back of the head. He then approached the bar and began to shoot other patrons, execution-style. A deputy chief with the Seattle Police, who reviewed store video of the shootings, said he'd "<a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Police-Seattle-shootings-were-like-an-execution-3599900.php">never seen [anything] more horrific, callous and cold</a>." Stawicki would shoot five people before taking a hat off one of his victims and leaving. Four of them died: <a href="http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2012/05/30/news/shooting-victims-were-members-folk-band-god%E2%80%99s-fav">Joe Albanese</a>, 52; <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/father-seattle-gunman-im-16469817?page=3">Drew Keriakedes</a>, 49; <a href="http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2012/jun/02/kimberly-layfield/">Kimberly Layfield</a>, 38; and <a href="http://edmonds.patch.com/articles/memorial-fund-for-shorecrest-caf-racer-shooting-victim">Donald Largen</a>, 57. Only <a href="http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Long-road-to-recovery-for--156105665.html">Leonard Meuse</a>, 46, would survive his injuries.<br><br>
But Stawicki wasn't done. Fleeing the cafe, he confronted <a href="http://redmond.patch.com/articles/memorial-service-tuesday-for-bellevue-mom-killed-in-seattle-shootings">Gloria Leonidas</a>, a 52-year-old married mother of two, and beat her physically before shooting her in the head, killing her. He then stole her SUV and, according to a 911 caller, <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Police-Seattle-shootings-were-like-an-execution-3599900.php">ran over her with it</a>. As he sped away, he gave the finger to those who came to Leonidas' aid.<br><br>
Shortly after 4:00 PM, police finally found Stawicki on the street in West Seattle. As they approached him, Stawicki knelt on the ground and shot himself in the head. He was dead. It was over.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UGjtC0dgZf5_rMlCnvb0mpj3nEPXaeKxA7u9Sbl-Iky7wMSROMHq3S-H1ftOeu-UIH1gy8T2n3IUffp4wamh0hugeyJUYUEVsauKliSypGIoiFBbRajb07av07Lfj4hiADeb5kd4fhFh/s1600/Stawicki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UGjtC0dgZf5_rMlCnvb0mpj3nEPXaeKxA7u9Sbl-Iky7wMSROMHq3S-H1ftOeu-UIH1gy8T2n3IUffp4wamh0hugeyJUYUEVsauKliSypGIoiFBbRajb07av07Lfj4hiADeb5kd4fhFh/s320/Stawicki.jpg" /></a><b>Shortly after the shooting it was revealed that Stawicki had obtained a concealed handgun permit in the state of Washington in August 2010 and legally purchased at least six handguns</b>. This was despite a lengthy history of violence that included the following:<br><br>
* A 2010 arrest for fourth-degree assault after he told his brother he "<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018328041_stawicki01m.html">was blind</a>" because of him and then began punching him in front of their mother. Andrew Stawicki would stop talking to Ian after the incident, but prosecutors dropped the charges after the family showed little interest in moving forward with the case.<br><br>
* A 2008 arrest for domestic violence interference when he followed his girlfriend home from work and became enraged that she stopped off to visit a female friend instead of proceeding straight home. Stawicki returned to the home they shared and "<a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/31/former-girlfriend-on-ian-stawicki-its-either-nothing-or-really-bad">destroyed every single thing in the home</a>" that belonged to his girlfriend. When she returned home and tried to call the police, he punched her in the face and took her phone. When she retrieved her phone and escaped outside to her vehicle, Stawicki hid from police in the bushes outside the home and buried his .45-caliber handgun in a hole to hide it. An officer at the scene found a Miller Beer can among the debris in the home "<a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/31/former-girlfriend-on-ian-stawicki-its-either-nothing-or-really-bad">with a small, neat, round hole through it</a>." Stawicki was issued a no-contact order that prevented him from coming within 500 feet of his girlfriend. The felony charges, however, were dismissed after his girlfriend suddenly recanted her story two months later.<br><br>
* A 1989 arrest for unlawfully carrying a weapon (a switchblade knife) in public.<br><br>
In addition, Stawicki's family made it clear that he had long suffered from mental illness. Walter Stawicki said of his son, "<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018328041_stawicki01m.html">I recognized the patterns. I saw him as being manic-depressive</a>." "<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018316552_roosevelt31m.html">He was really angry toward everything</a>," his brother said. Ian Stawicki also suffered from delusions. He told his girlfriend he was married and the father of six. He told others he was a member of a CIA death squad. But the family never pushed to have him committed because they never heard him threaten to hurt himself.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLo4rhLRYSK3P0nfvAjbLfBmyAwrnphdmiJ04oc8rBSslfemA0FkP5W4EEkXYi0erhmm3luebUDb_5OutKb1xCzTNxIdU759nefhfHW2BvCFynNMw3SraYCfGh_A-IJzOOMOeIQiENEvs/s1600/Cafe+Racer+Memorial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="213" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLo4rhLRYSK3P0nfvAjbLfBmyAwrnphdmiJ04oc8rBSslfemA0FkP5W4EEkXYi0erhmm3luebUDb_5OutKb1xCzTNxIdU759nefhfHW2BvCFynNMw3SraYCfGh_A-IJzOOMOeIQiENEvs/s320/Cafe+Racer+Memorial.jpg" /></a>The family <i>did</i>, however, attempt to have Stawicki's concealed handgun permit revoked. When they contacted law enforcement, however, "<a href="http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Family-Seattle-killer-had-a-concealed-weapon-permit-155978205.html">the response to [them] was, there's nothing we can do, he's not a threat to himself or others, or we haven't had a report of it, or we haven't had to pick him up—call us when it's worse</a>."<br><br>
Law enforcement wasn't simply being indifferent to the family's plight. They were powerless to act. The "Shall Issue" permitting law in Washington, written by the National Rifle Association (NRA), prevents the state from denying a concealed handgun permit to anyone who meets a basic set of criteria. And because Ian Stawicki had never been involuntarily committed nor convicted of a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, he met those criteria. After the shooting, Stawicki's brother would say, "<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018316552_roosevelt31m.html">It's no surprise to me this happened. We could see this coming</a>." But it didn't matter. The discretion that law enforcement <i>should</i> have had to protect public safety in such clear cases had been stripped by the NRA and their allies in the Washington state legislature.<br><br>
Stawicki now becomes <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/seattle-mass-shooting-lat_b_1563392.html">at least the 20th</a> concealed handgun permit holder to have committed a mass shooting since May 2007. Meanwhile, the NRA pushes to weaken laws governing the carrying of guns in public even further. Their new preferred method is to do away with permitting, screening and training requirements for gun carriers altogether. Four states have adopted this approach so far (Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming) and the results were seen when another severely mentally ill mass shooter, Jared Loughner, freely carried a gun to a supermarket parking lot to meet his Congresswoman in January 2011.<br><br>
Meanwhile, the survivors of gun violence are left behind to pick up the pieces. "<a href="http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Anti-gun-advocates-seek-one-word-change-in-WA-law-156510375.html">There are some people who should not own a gun</a>," said Nina Schumacher, the niece of one of the victims killed by Stawicki. "<a href="http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Anti-gun-advocates-seek-one-word-change-in-WA-law-156510375.html">It can be a devastating thing</a>." Linda Albanese, whose brother was gunned down in Cafe Racer, was even more blunt. "<a href="http://www.king5.com/news/cities/seattle/Anti-gun-advocates-seek-one-word-change-in-WA-law-156510375.html">This maniac had possession of guns and killed my brother. It's wrong</a>," she said.
</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-78263953170595741122012-04-03T15:51:00.001-04:002012-04-04T16:21:04.493-04:00“Landon was one of the good guys.”<p class="MsoNormal">When talking about the role of guns in our society, pro-gun activists frequently like to categorize themselves and other Americans into two neat little groups: “good guys” and “bad guys.” They see themselves as “sheep herders,” protecting the unarmed and ignorant “sheep” (that would be us) from the “wolves” out there (meaning criminals and other dangerous individuals). The problem is that real life isn’t so black and white, as a recent case involving one of their own so gruesomely demonstrates.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgwu4HGhgii-Jl0W3i6Ca79valcNXFImEafD4zqyKXa71ce5raYssHcXl9RxhvvyMDcFMR0XaYDVjOEQI3l4ucut2TqGNa_le6Ghyphenhyphenq6qXGOLqSLUTPRntI56qzJCxCV55J-gJnIHWvLNV/s1600/jorgensen+victims+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="186" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgwu4HGhgii-Jl0W3i6Ca79valcNXFImEafD4zqyKXa71ce5raYssHcXl9RxhvvyMDcFMR0XaYDVjOEQI3l4ucut2TqGNa_le6Ghyphenhyphenq6qXGOLqSLUTPRntI56qzJCxCV55J-gJnIHWvLNV/s320/jorgensen+victims+1.jpg" /></a>On March 21, 2012, NRA certified firearms instructor/concealed handgun permit holder/former <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Cliffs-Rifle-Pistol-Association/301025843271895">Red Cliff Rifle Club</a> president/former Marine Landon Jorgensen <a href="http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=960&sid=19701954">shot and killed</a> his 25-year-old girlfriend, Adria Jordan Parker, and her five-year-old daughter, Eliza Kate Parker, in cold blood in Central, Utah. He then took his own life. One neighbor stated he often heard yelling and screaming coming from the house, but police never visited the home before the murders.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr6bAFc0-2ejuWRLJtKPrv25hbXxeqY61yRQIJekNBu5OrlK5JHnFh9txp6_Rw1l3nNZIRiBwOih9vf3ka4XOOkFyZ50GqxGENdYi75UDTeA-y6lu64vX9IhyphenhyphenL2o8ZVi5NahhtzB1T4QEy/s1600/nathan+conspiracy+theory+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="41" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr6bAFc0-2ejuWRLJtKPrv25hbXxeqY61yRQIJekNBu5OrlK5JHnFh9txp6_Rw1l3nNZIRiBwOih9vf3ka4XOOkFyZ50GqxGENdYi75UDTeA-y6lu64vX9IhyphenhyphenL2o8ZVi5NahhtzB1T4QEy/s200/nathan+conspiracy+theory+1.jpg" /></a>Members of the <a href="http://concealedcarryforum.com/">ConcealedCarryForum.com message board</a> that Jorgensen had frequented were in utter shock that the 24-year-old would murder a woman and a child. Forum owner Nathan Collier wrote, “i want need to see the case file on the incident with landon. with so much assumption pointing to guilt, i just cannot accept that landon would be capable of doing these things based on what i knew of him. i dont trust a small police department with no real forensic capability to get to the bottom of this.” He went on to suggest that Jorgensen’s girlfriend was responsible for the murders, claiming, “at the risk of starting a bunch of conspiracy theories, im more inclined to believe that landon walked in on something...perhaps the young girls father was there trying to take her and thats why landon was driving so fast to get home. perhaps it got ugly and the man shot everybody and made it look like landon did it. perhaps it was the girlfriend <b>who landon told me had stopped taking her medication for depression about a month ago</b>.” After a few days of reflection, Collier would scrub his website of these “theories” and simply state, “<a href="http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=960&sid=19701954">Prior to this incident Landon was one of the good guys</a>.”<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPykXhQXTtjKaxvdUnWIwtZvelrkdOsCAez63WeBnfO2eKdR5BLQpsLxBpoqk4hU1y01wwaJT2xpQ5Auk10nPKmSH-LTcqw9YK-fdq25yoINBB9uHQCet0I5tQuWAK1KyjH9H0NPESkZg/s1600/nathan+conspiracy+theory+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="48" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPykXhQXTtjKaxvdUnWIwtZvelrkdOsCAez63WeBnfO2eKdR5BLQpsLxBpoqk4hU1y01wwaJT2xpQ5Auk10nPKmSH-LTcqw9YK-fdq25yoINBB9uHQCet0I5tQuWAK1KyjH9H0NPESkZg/s200/nathan+conspiracy+theory+2.jpg" /></a><br><br>
On the one hand, you could see how Collier might feel that way. At his <a href="http://gunsfreedompolitics.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-06-19T14:56:00-07:00&max-results=1&start=1&by-date=false">blog</a>, “Guns, Freedom, and Politics: One Young Man’s Perspective,” Jorgensen pitched himself as an all-American boy, writing. “I'm a regular guy in my own right. I love this country and I want to get it back to the way it was when our founding fathers were alive. I am a USMC veteran and was medically discharged for my back issues. When I was discharged I immediately got into being a firearms instructor. My passion is to teach people the correct way to use firearms so that they can be both safe and fun. My goal in life is to own a gun store with shooting range attached.” And just two years earlier, Jorgensen had been posting messages to ConcealedCarryForum.com about <i>protecting</i> women from violence, such as: “If I were the father of a girl, regardless of age (unless she's way too young) I'd for damn sure be training them on how to defend themselves. The only thing that restraining orders are good for is the prosecuting attorney in a murder case, such as this. It's a shame that women like [a female murder victim] don't realize what a handgun and some good training can do for them.”<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0v0Mh6SjTjSMQxrERZYiZ4QjoVZRmQIOYa90VTN2RiAdKTz_P_FC6_o6DE8yHr3Z0Y918s_3pGHqAytpQzNeoGLbQ7PF02W5lBaNTqj2rVYmWc3_Zjv22lG4g01wb2DdARhay9Imk8G9/s1600/landon+trains+women+to+protect+themselves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="60" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0v0Mh6SjTjSMQxrERZYiZ4QjoVZRmQIOYa90VTN2RiAdKTz_P_FC6_o6DE8yHr3Z0Y918s_3pGHqAytpQzNeoGLbQ7PF02W5lBaNTqj2rVYmWc3_Zjv22lG4g01wb2DdARhay9Imk8G9/s200/landon+trains+women+to+protect+themselves.jpg" /></a><br><br>
On the other hand, Collier and other contributors at ConcealedCarryForum.com were willfully ignorant of a litany of disturbing and violent comments that Jorgensen had posted on the site in the years leading up to the murder-suicide.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjblopfls8L06JtW44HzdEus3Msi1eU1ODWZ-UW_8UZM9wLADmZEnPDe4woaBaioFBms-jeTcO3FcxAP-H9hLUqGniQsUBgHdlHzZQvA8f-kaWDTnlrYiF8d1uIWPQb6rru1HDtaPowtZU2/s1600/landon+mysognyjeff+cooper+quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="86" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjblopfls8L06JtW44HzdEus3Msi1eU1ODWZ-UW_8UZM9wLADmZEnPDe4woaBaioFBms-jeTcO3FcxAP-H9hLUqGniQsUBgHdlHzZQvA8f-kaWDTnlrYiF8d1uIWPQb6rru1HDtaPowtZU2/s200/landon+mysognyjeff+cooper+quote.jpg" /></a>For example, less than a month before the shooting, Jorgensen referenced Adria on the forum, writing, “you show me a woman not on meds, and ill show you a woman that needs to be.” On other occasions his misogyny was more prominent. When one forum user asked about carrying a concealed handgun on a date, he posted, “If it's a military girl I'd be more worried about STDs and pregnancy than what she thinks about your ccw habits. I know a lot of female marines that were either contagious with something nasty or they were pregnant, or they were lesbians. Either way just let her know that you carry off base and if she isn't cool with that then tell her to pound sand.”<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQGRKNgSe7N_cZgd3WpriA3x6_2_LngzzzrK22Kf1-tF8HANcrP4kbambXmrNPbEgBLh8FNXkpJsoE8BazokiXbEF1y9I1HI-_lOtkXXooIyBxvfGTNlccN6-zKIFpmoKW4c5TP-bwKqS/s1600/landon+female+marines+have+stds+or+are+lesbians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="57" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQGRKNgSe7N_cZgd3WpriA3x6_2_LngzzzrK22Kf1-tF8HANcrP4kbambXmrNPbEgBLh8FNXkpJsoE8BazokiXbEF1y9I1HI-_lOtkXXooIyBxvfGTNlccN6-zKIFpmoKW4c5TP-bwKqS/s200/landon+female+marines+have+stds+or+are+lesbians.jpg" /></a> In a May 2010 post discussing how he inherited the two firearms that his father used to commit suicide, Jorgensen called his mother “psychotic.” At his <a href="http://gunsfreedompolitics.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-06-19T14:56:00-07:00&max-results=1&start=1&by-date=false">blog</a>, he wrote, “My soon to be ex-mother-in-law, a strong democrat, (whom has no sense of what our forefathers did for us) has said some of the most outrageous things that I've ever heard in my life. When the health care bill was passed earlier this year I was talking to her about it because of the 'unconstitutionality' of it. I simply said ‘this can't ever go into effect because of how unconstitutional it is’ to which her reply was ‘throw the constitution out of this. We have to figure out a way to fix our health care system.’ At that point I told her that since she wants to throw the constitution out of it, that I was going to seize her First Amendment rights to the freedom of speech. It shut her up real quick, to say the least.” While he frequently used the forum to <a href="http://concealedcarryforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20407">accuse</a> gun violence prevention activists of being advocates for rape, it was clear that Jorgensen himself harbored a tremendous amount of anger towards the women in his life.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEyBHUrVbRpvHdVflFFj3ZECcn8Rc2bixKgNMONnCm-54oqB10epSv8MXsezyY3qi7wqh7z-tXrLRmOOcV96PMrpW4W2PkTkvvJGynfYgnJ7V_pQMNvuZWtfNt9CzhfWlslh8glLl1Uc5/s1600/landon+pyschotic+mother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="51" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEyBHUrVbRpvHdVflFFj3ZECcn8Rc2bixKgNMONnCm-54oqB10epSv8MXsezyY3qi7wqh7z-tXrLRmOOcV96PMrpW4W2PkTkvvJGynfYgnJ7V_pQMNvuZWtfNt9CzhfWlslh8glLl1Uc5/s200/landon+pyschotic+mother.jpg" /></a><br><br>
Jorgensen's hatred for women also surfaced during his performances as an aspiring stand-up comedian. A November 2011 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iHsBT_Wbko">video</a> reveals that Jorgensen's "humor" came entirely at the expense of women. During his act, he said, “I’ve been dating a lot lately. Yay for dating. If I’m gonna spend $40 bucks I might as well go down to Vegas and get a whore. At least you’re guaranteed sex.” Turning to his job he said, “They kicked me out of the security department because when I was working the graveyard at the hospital this big girl—I mean I’m big, she’s huge—she comes in at midnight and she is like ‘Is there where I go to get a rape kit done?’ and I was like ‘Who would rape you?’” He continued, “I did get a girl pregnant about three weeks ago. And she lets me know, she’s like ‘But I also need to let you know that I have cancer and I am going to die in six months,’ and I’m like, ‘There’s another $400 I just saved.’” Jorgensen then talked about playing with the six-year-old son of a woman he was dating. He said, “We were playing one day and he was like, ‘I can’t believe you’re losing to a six-year-old,’ and I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m f---ing your mom. Shut up. Call your real dad.’” Describing how he dances with women, he stated, “I go up behind a girl that’s dancing all sexy. I’ll be like ‘What’s up’ you know. You just don’t really say anything, you’re like having sex with this person with clothes on and you’re not saying anything. It’s kinda weird. So you’re like ‘What’s up’ you know. Three or four songs go by and you want to go up to kiss her and she’s like ‘I don’t kiss’ and I’m like ‘Bitch I just had sex with you for 20 minutes and you’re not going to kiss me on the mouth, what are you a prostitute?’” He concluded, “That Ludacris song, it’s like ‘Shake what your mommy gave you.’ I’m pretty sure she didn’t f---ing give you three baby daddies and four STDs.”<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqRCkPhMdqZZYyqa16bAjQTYDpJGVrtVLLiS7u0Djkeq7TzTKxtguLKUKuuvf_NasGxkr3mAtLkvsWgwlShUXa65xvb5lIjeY0dM1ssrDqJPPCMKShS86wiVhM2L7bKnP4yV0ajJDzoTE/s1600/landon+muslims.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="66" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqRCkPhMdqZZYyqa16bAjQTYDpJGVrtVLLiS7u0Djkeq7TzTKxtguLKUKuuvf_NasGxkr3mAtLkvsWgwlShUXa65xvb5lIjeY0dM1ssrDqJPPCMKShS86wiVhM2L7bKnP4yV0ajJDzoTE/s200/landon+muslims.jpg" /></a>Nor were women the sole target of his anger. He listed his <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/06753400871352598841">favorite book</a> as “Arguing With Idiots” by conservative radio host Glenn Beck. Complaining about the high cost of a gun, Jorgensen wrote, “Really stinks like muslim's [excrement] and there's nothing that you can do about it.” <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZngaU7Iv_uv3takyFsw4BfnFKyQw2NfbdvdmR4U67ji_vQVnbp3nXAQASkIRoRpXnsjfd26hgkg55no_HntU4WBsMtqtUwJtaoDPYVW4kTNE6PS2i_5lHJR9clsxZWZY_WDPwrFgUwmY8/s1600/landon+wants+to+kill+gay+serial+rapist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="71" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZngaU7Iv_uv3takyFsw4BfnFKyQw2NfbdvdmR4U67ji_vQVnbp3nXAQASkIRoRpXnsjfd26hgkg55no_HntU4WBsMtqtUwJtaoDPYVW4kTNE6PS2i_5lHJR9clsxZWZY_WDPwrFgUwmY8/s200/landon+wants+to+kill+gay+serial+rapist.jpg" /></a>Like other members of the forum, Jorgensen also enjoyed playing out violent self-defense fantasies. In one, he imagined “killing the gay serial rapist that broke into your home.” In another, he stated, “I would not hesitate to pull the trigger on someone that was the size of an adult, but even if it was a 12 year old that was only 4’11’’ and 90 lbs soaking wet, if he’s a threat, then he’s a threat, and will be eliminated.”<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0Vt97fqF-m6Wk2EcrHhzfcqYj4BLXJz0brjdIIvwEfrOodEfi0lyCWx1AKhUNmbXHbEFeIzKCACWOxFasFpwH-Gt8Jr_EFdkRjW6ANdW1Aq2i6jZVJCLwvH2bfeNYzUTW3Z0Uvo-ROY3/s1600/landon+talks+about+shooting+a+12+year+old.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="57" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0Vt97fqF-m6Wk2EcrHhzfcqYj4BLXJz0brjdIIvwEfrOodEfi0lyCWx1AKhUNmbXHbEFeIzKCACWOxFasFpwH-Gt8Jr_EFdkRjW6ANdW1Aq2i6jZVJCLwvH2bfeNYzUTW3Z0Uvo-ROY3/s200/landon+talks+about+shooting+a+12+year+old.jpg" /></a><br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhO-ksXTKmXIPNr2Ivm_kXvf9M6OBLI2SzHwvMcp7aS_QbSeNmAXvtJ2sVVe8SHrOO4zW_R99o0eT5ylT68mI-L9tui9u8scluyy3DUnRTxY1gn0kAXyHrIcD6us0JhL9uV45uAaMluwkX/s1600/landon+talks+about+killing+brady+campaign+members.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="59" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhO-ksXTKmXIPNr2Ivm_kXvf9M6OBLI2SzHwvMcp7aS_QbSeNmAXvtJ2sVVe8SHrOO4zW_R99o0eT5ylT68mI-L9tui9u8scluyy3DUnRTxY1gn0kAXyHrIcD6us0JhL9uV45uAaMluwkX/s200/landon+talks+about+killing+brady+campaign+members.jpg" /></a>Jorgensen also fantasized about murder. In one threatening comment about the the staff of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, he wrote, “I've always said that someone should attack members of the Brady Campaign with a knife, a baseball bat, and a tire iron so that they can forget about guns being banned and focus on the real weapons that are available almost anywhere you go.” <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCx0j5O8kAOEZWmt4tmf73w2iKnVki9X8oV4gf7xsm627Hf-THg9ZXgEONAjxW4oEz7tzoeZ5LuPThXp4oP9k4gaZY7Wf32fmI7wMqbY7EKnU_lQEHzYsY3bGgc3J64ibUnqP-OiZWR6yO/s1600/landon+wishes+for+mass+shooting+at+brady+event.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="57" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCx0j5O8kAOEZWmt4tmf73w2iKnVki9X8oV4gf7xsm627Hf-THg9ZXgEONAjxW4oEz7tzoeZ5LuPThXp4oP9k4gaZY7Wf32fmI7wMqbY7EKnU_lQEHzYsY3bGgc3J64ibUnqP-OiZWR6yO/s200/landon+wishes+for+mass+shooting+at+brady+event.jpg" /></a> Discussing a Brady Center event where journalist Helen Thomas presented an award, he added, “The only good that could've came from that is if she croaked right there behind the podium. Actually, the only thing that would've been better is if a mass shooter came in and opened up on all those sheep.” In a separate thread, he mentioned Colin Goddard, a Brady Campaign employee and survivor of the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, stating, “I could care less if he was shot four times. Maybe he should've been armed and stopped the threat.” <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTZJe1wThgfIY6BLApUqA7r3A_vMZ69lOGe8xRQYxOFvYt8Ui2xoenOiE9K_YKhtr67_GOwKxAsDNkWLvLrNacBpKQjCf1B_hvuA724L8u7IAvpiXkP-8MbeM4pOBeU-XSnTrM9sInR6W/s1600/landon+colin+goddard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="63" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTZJe1wThgfIY6BLApUqA7r3A_vMZ69lOGe8xRQYxOFvYt8Ui2xoenOiE9K_YKhtr67_GOwKxAsDNkWLvLrNacBpKQjCf1B_hvuA724L8u7IAvpiXkP-8MbeM4pOBeU-XSnTrM9sInR6W/s200/landon+colin+goddard.jpg" /></a>
<br><br>
This was one of their “good guys”?<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsxMry2Tt-HYUWanRB1XLm5ofIpCLyUUGVp8RXgJYshuE4hkaEKKVTOCg5AFbHWR8a_Px6ly3Gc_qz8hr-Qp2EWh2JiGuPRR9mSLk1iGb3T1WdDr1lKzG6oFmtZJ_HYEKGRjrBppY3BRG/s1600/landon+always+use+handicap+stall+in+public.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="71" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsxMry2Tt-HYUWanRB1XLm5ofIpCLyUUGVp8RXgJYshuE4hkaEKKVTOCg5AFbHWR8a_Px6ly3Gc_qz8hr-Qp2EWh2JiGuPRR9mSLk1iGb3T1WdDr1lKzG6oFmtZJ_HYEKGRjrBppY3BRG/s200/landon+always+use+handicap+stall+in+public.jpg" /></a>At other times, Jorgensen’s paranoia was on full display. He was a proponent of carrying a gun at all times, even while inside his own home. Some of the places he wrote about carrying included the gym and the public high school that he graduated from. Jorgensen also wrote that he only used handicapped stalls in public restrooms so that no one could reach over and grab his gun. Responding to a shooting at a federal courthouse, he wrote, “Too bad that we can't carry at federal buildings. I guarantee this would've ended in a lot less than 43 shots if a civilian sheepdog were present. Thanks for disarming the good guys Uncle Sam.” When forum members mentioned locations where guns are prohibited, Jorgensen became enraged. One user wrote that carrying a weapon is prohibited in banks in North Carolina, leading Jorgensen to respond, “That’s because NC is full of faggots.” When another poster wrote about private businesses in Utah posting signs prohibiting the carrying of firearms, Jorgensen advocated violating their policy, writing, “if you remain concealed anyway, how will they ever know?” Jorgensen even refused to go to gun shows because of the requirement for attendees to unload their firearms before entering.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtIWQgIKCtPKN4orYbPOCpEnGhXXk0ITWCOjd2MGddKm5FrefQNPgAAnCo6M_ttmNiUbzArmS3Ts9AhXCJ2cWknDeqF3CBr6qGGbdrv0tZjqptufWZvYUuvJikPSk7454LwpgUNfQutc6A/s1600/landon+NC+full+of+faggots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="70" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtIWQgIKCtPKN4orYbPOCpEnGhXXk0ITWCOjd2MGddKm5FrefQNPgAAnCo6M_ttmNiUbzArmS3Ts9AhXCJ2cWknDeqF3CBr6qGGbdrv0tZjqptufWZvYUuvJikPSk7454LwpgUNfQutc6A/s200/landon+NC+full+of+faggots.jpg" /></a><br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Wywkw5K7lEYiy-nDwQOfHCxa2o5vtfv_LA8RWpDAmaYlvMpmh43TB8SU5W9nBbj8XJzVLAYeeEPfTPCOxA7K0qkyA8YPbgXaMjuI0MbnOQ-mZgdsl5efWzfUK8OaXEAtEw2EFX4itCgy/s1600/landon+nra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="64" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Wywkw5K7lEYiy-nDwQOfHCxa2o5vtfv_LA8RWpDAmaYlvMpmh43TB8SU5W9nBbj8XJzVLAYeeEPfTPCOxA7K0qkyA8YPbgXaMjuI0MbnOQ-mZgdsl5efWzfUK8OaXEAtEw2EFX4itCgy/s200/landon+nra.jpg" /></a>Finally, Jorgensen was a big fan of the organization that made sure he could legally purchase firearms and carry them in public despite his mental health issues: “While many of you may not agree with what the NRA does as a whole, many fail to understand the importance of what they have done for us,” he wrote at his <a href="http://gunsfreedompolitics.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-06-19T14:56:00-07:00&max-results=1&start=1&by-date=false">blog</a>. “Since 1871 they have been the leaders in securing our Second Amendment freedoms.” Jorgensen was a proud Life Member of the NRA.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCJWiKt-XeMh8zoqfjka0O2pvCIZwx_0twznLEEXogxNqY6dnGC6NiMO4Orq79SIJrfX32aeFsU7meWS1pq8fZtKQbm8ZaPhVMHnIAAxjltJTOs5Q4KLtAChMhRA3943ln3zkQoWOBBEs/s1600/Jorgensen+Shooting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="214" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCJWiKt-XeMh8zoqfjka0O2pvCIZwx_0twznLEEXogxNqY6dnGC6NiMO4Orq79SIJrfX32aeFsU7meWS1pq8fZtKQbm8ZaPhVMHnIAAxjltJTOs5Q4KLtAChMhRA3943ln3zkQoWOBBEs/s320/Jorgensen+Shooting.jpg" /></a>Jorgensen spent his whole life ensuring that he would have a gun ready when he encountered a “bad guy”. But in the end, it was the violence-obsessed Jorgensen who became the “bad guy. This “wolf” was not an intruder or someone committing a random act of violence in public. Adria and Eliza Parker were brutally killed at the hands of someone they knew, as is the case in <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl10.xls">two-thirds of all homicides</a> in the U.S.<br><br>
One wonders if the pro-gun activists at ConcealedCarryForum.com understand this fact. And if they appreciate the damage that can be done by engaging in violent fantasies about crudely stereotyped “enemies.” Certainly the forum’s contributors have the firepower to turn bouts of depression or mental illness into bloodbaths. We can only hope that caution and restraint will govern their rhetoric in the wake of this tragedy.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-90387894000154240252012-03-22T14:35:00.001-04:002012-03-22T14:54:50.541-04:00"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the law."<p class="MsoNormal"><i>"</i><a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203200009"><i>We saw a parade of hypotheticals by those who opposed this ... What's important is the message it sends, and that's, 'Don't attack me.'</a>" - NRA Florida lobbyist Marion Hammer, March 12, 2005</i><br><br>
With the entire nation outraged about the February 26, 2012 murder of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman, 28, the gun lobby is finally breaking its silence on the tragedy. It has been <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-horwitz/arming-zimmerman_b_1367648.html">well chronicled</a> that the National Rifle Association's "Stand Your Ground" law in Florida has played a central role in the controversial decisions made by the Sanford Police Department in the case.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzW6Q_e0CYov_amvgkDI5oVTY0J_hBXLGMSmVAs9qmYi9DqP2TjdDdBAJQ9hub44IGDya6HpphCxLRB386yvvhi-u7h30E23AKJOqtOmhGykKvjyp9K_tKgbFws7dfZfpvv3_J_eRXZMcX/s1600/Welcome+to+Florida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzW6Q_e0CYov_amvgkDI5oVTY0J_hBXLGMSmVAs9qmYi9DqP2TjdDdBAJQ9hub44IGDya6HpphCxLRB386yvvhi-u7h30E23AKJOqtOmhGykKvjyp9K_tKgbFws7dfZfpvv3_J_eRXZMcX/s200/Welcome+to+Florida.jpg" /></a>The "Stand Your Ground" law eliminates the longstanding common law duty to retreat from a conflict if one can do so safely. It also allows an individual to meet force with <i>lethal</i> force—thereby escalating a simple fistfight into a firefight. Finally, it grants immunity from both criminal prosecution and civil action to those deemed to have acted in "self-defense" under its liberal terms. Protected by these provisions, Zimmerman has yet to be arrested and still has both his handgun and his concealed handgun permit in hand. And it took nearly a month, a petition with more than a half-million signatures, national media attention, and Department of Justice intervention for the State Attorney's office to convene a grand jury in Seminole County to investigate the case.<br><br>
Those responsible for the law, however, fail to see a problem.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIecJqwyYk9C5G4VTG49CvYrCdP6Rdvvv2pGqr3KlwfUkTtDkEfp9psVSwawUIRax7PPQLq3zkbqy9cdzNeHYdtOYk9Wyyc8fgL5r7h39-jrsoOvCHvS3lPm0N3DXIH4gbp5BOE-_J_R_4/s1600/Marion+Hammer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIecJqwyYk9C5G4VTG49CvYrCdP6Rdvvv2pGqr3KlwfUkTtDkEfp9psVSwawUIRax7PPQLq3zkbqy9cdzNeHYdtOYk9Wyyc8fgL5r7h39-jrsoOvCHvS3lPm0N3DXIH4gbp5BOE-_J_R_4/s200/Marion+Hammer.jpg" /></a>The NRA's Marion Hammer, who was the primary lobbyist for the "Stand Your Ground" bill in Florida, told the <i>Palm Beach Post</i> that calls for the arrest of George Zimmerman are premature, stating, "<a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/stand-your-ground-self-defense-gun-law-draws-2250337.html">For law enforcement to rush to judgment just because they are being stampeded by emotionalism would be a violation of law. This law is not about one incident. It's about protecting the right of law-abiding people to protect themselves when they are attacked. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the law</a>." Responding to comments by Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott, who said, "If there's something wrong with the law that's in place, I think it's important we address it," Hammer added, "<a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/stand-your-ground-self-defense-gun-law-draws-2250337.html">If the governor wants to waste time looking at it he can knock himself out</a>."<br><br>
She was right about one thing. It's not about one incident. The Stand Your Ground defense has been used in <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1128317.ece">at least 93 cases</a> in the past five years in Florida (these are just the confrontations that made the newspapers). In 57 of them, those who used force were either not charged with a crime or the charges were dropped by prosecutors or dismissed by a judge before trial. Seven other defendants were acquitted.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUM7SPpZ4xfEmcEQnvEbAKSxwaSy_6UrUF5n4ffJCNo7mJ_fTOh07aYIqigE2DdVZ_udMqVpZR5tXzo7OHm0dNY8MoGp9a9drpZwywbfJmfYwZRYBw1kwnZWqf-nzW4BJXHkI1vN8W-jes/s1600/Marion+Hammer+Jeb+Bush.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="171" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUM7SPpZ4xfEmcEQnvEbAKSxwaSy_6UrUF5n4ffJCNo7mJ_fTOh07aYIqigE2DdVZ_udMqVpZR5tXzo7OHm0dNY8MoGp9a9drpZwywbfJmfYwZRYBw1kwnZWqf-nzW4BJXHkI1vN8W-jes/s320/Marion+Hammer+Jeb+Bush.jpg" /></a>All in all, Hammer's comments were not surprising given that she justified the law years earlier by stating, "<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hd.net%2Fui%2Finc%2Fshow_transcripts.php%3Fami%3DA5849%26t%3DDan_Rather_Reports%26en%3D405&rct=j&q=dan%20rather%20reports%20episode%20number%20405&ei=hOOVTs34IsuDtgf_4_X0Bg&usg=AFQjCNFP7kb6IEInAxhSTYl1E6JzOubjOg&sig2=MW7Tg_bMdxY7jRv8ibB3ow&cad=rja">Through time, in this country, what I like to call bleeding heart criminal coddlers want you to give a criminal an even break, so that when you're attacked, you're supposed to turn around and run, rather than standing your ground and protecting yourself and your family and your property</a>."<br><br>
<b>Concerned citizens with different opinions about the "Stand Your Ground" law can contact Marion Hammer at her office at (850) 222-9518.</b><br><br>
The legislator who sponsored the "Stand Your Ground" bill for the NRA in the state legislature has also weighed in on the Trayvon Martin tragedy. While admitting that his law "<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/21/trayvon-martins-alleged-attacker-not-covered-under-law-wrote/">has been used by [George Zimmerman] to pardon his actions</a>," Republican Florida Rep. Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala) vigorously defended the law in a March 21st <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/21/trayvon-martins-alleged-attacker-not-covered-under-law-wrote/">editorial</a> for FoxNews.com, arguing that it "<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/21/trayvon-martins-alleged-attacker-not-covered-under-law-wrote/">does not seem to be applicable to the tragedy that happened in Sanford</a>." In doing so, he stated that "there is no duty to retreat when an individual is attacked on their property," but failed to acknowledge that this duty is removed in public as well.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih9lP3NmpF31mGL6tacIcBqypBZ_ga2dA2oM-VmDYcfzFToPCwYIZ2u5Aei17935MIMvbxePXL13NzPRUr5oGCZOqCvqPKROZ_P-qm9jBecpQJrdGtbCTUs9konzzhWy9iJN-OnOF6bzLU/s1600/Dennix+Baxley+and+Marion+Hammer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="198" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih9lP3NmpF31mGL6tacIcBqypBZ_ga2dA2oM-VmDYcfzFToPCwYIZ2u5Aei17935MIMvbxePXL13NzPRUr5oGCZOqCvqPKROZ_P-qm9jBecpQJrdGtbCTUs9konzzhWy9iJN-OnOF6bzLU/s320/Dennix+Baxley+and+Marion+Hammer.jpg" /></a>Explaining why he sponsored the law in the first place, Baxley said the "catalytic event" was an incident in which a Panhandle man shot and killed a man breaking into his RV. But not only was this man not convicted of any crime, prosecutors didn't even bring charges against him.<br><br>
Outside of his editorial piece, Baxley's tone has been decidedly different. He told the <i>Palm Beach Post</i>, "<a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/stand-your-ground-self-defense-gun-law-draws-2250337.html">Invariably when there's any adverse incident, it's open season for anti-gun factions to disseminate this idea that there's something wrong with 'Stand Your Ground.' There's nothing in 'Stand Your Ground' that authorizes anyone to pursue and confront an individual. That's the problem in this case. Let them do a bill about that</a>." To Baxley, the law continues to be "<a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-19/news/os-trayvon-martin-law-beth-kassab-032012-20120319_1_castle-doctrine-unarmed-man-law-enforcement">good public policy</a>."<br><br>
<b>Rep. Baxley can be contacted at (352) 732-1313 or (850) 488-0335. His Twitter account is <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/dennisbaxley">@dennisbaxley</a>.</b><br><br>
Meanwhile, the NRA continues to push and promote "Stand Your Ground" laws across the country. As Media Matters recently chronicled, since Trayvon Martin's death the NRA has continued to actively lobby for "Stand Your Ground" laws in Iowa, Alaska, and Minnesota, among other states.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDN3dohEM10jT6R_kUXqv_hRH11PgcSSawEge4pZtYP3-A9gOs8kxmoEYpBbwlwL7szX6-mZ5kVcqI8wwXGDmLna9bTi8D6IfXuUIC81Yi-HMFZ5JYz2i0oNBvm7TPh-e-bl-dN912SL6X/s1600/Harlon+Carter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDN3dohEM10jT6R_kUXqv_hRH11PgcSSawEge4pZtYP3-A9gOs8kxmoEYpBbwlwL7szX6-mZ5kVcqI8wwXGDmLna9bTi8D6IfXuUIC81Yi-HMFZ5JYz2i0oNBvm7TPh-e-bl-dN912SL6X/s320/Harlon+Carter.jpg" /></a>In truth, the NRA has long experience with unnecessary "self-defense" shootings, including ones in which minority youth are the victims. The man who seized control of the NRA during the 1977 "Cincinnati Revolution," <a href="http://www.meetthenra.org/nra-member/Harlon%20Carter">Harlon Carter</a>, and turned it into a no-compromise, far right wing organization focused on rolling back existing gun laws, was involved in such an incident.<br><br>
On March 3, 1931, Carter, who was 17, shot and killed 15-year-old Ramón Casiano. After returning home from school that day, Carter was told by his mother that there were three Hispanic youths loitering near their family’s property. Carter left his house, shotgun in tow, to confront the alleged loiterers. After finding Casiano and his two companions, Carter pointed his shotgun at them and ordered them to come with him. Casiano refused and pulled out a knife and asked Carter if he would like to fight. Carter then pointed the shotgun at Casiano’s chest. Casiano pushed the gun aside and asked Carter not to shoot while taking a step back. He was then shot and killed. Carter claimed self-defense, but the presiding judge instructed the jury, “There is no evidence that defendant had any lawful authority to require deceased to go to his house for questioning, and if defendant was trying to make deceased go there for that purpose at the time of the killing, he was acting without authority of law, and the law of self-defense does not apply.” Carter was convicted of murder without malice aforethought (a crime similar to second-degree murder) and sentenced to three years in prison. Subsequently, Carter successfully appealed his conviction with the appeals court, holding that the trial court failed “to submit to the jury appropriate instructions upon the law of self-defense.” When the shooting incident was reported in media in 1981, Carter initially denied that he had killed Casiano before falsely claiming that the shooting took place on his property.<br><br>
Sadly, all these years later, the NRA has made sure the Harlon Carters of America are still getting away with it far too often.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-51552587846072903582012-03-14T11:58:00.002-04:002012-04-04T10:10:46.106-04:00“These a**holes... They always get away.”<p class="MsoNormal">On February 26th, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was an invited guest staying with his stepmother in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. During halftime of the NBA all-star game that evening, Martin walked to a local convenience store to get some snacks. Little did he know he was being followed by George Zimmerman, 28, the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/family-of-trayvon-martin-_n_1332756.html#s766198">self-appointed “captain” of the neighborhood watch program</a>. Zimmerman, who is white, had been tailing the young African-American in his car because he felt Martin was “a suspicious person.” At some point, Zimmerman called 911. He told a dispatcher, "<a href="http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/17/10732812-family-911-calls-show-shooting-of-black-teen-was-not-self-defense">This guy looks like he is up to no good. He is on drugs or something</a>," and said that he was going to detain Martin because “<a href="http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/17/10732812-family-911-calls-show-shooting-of-black-teen-was-not-self-defense">These a**holes... They always get away</a>.” The dispatcher told Zimmerman that a unit was being dispatched to the scene and asked Zimmerman <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/family-of-trayvon-martin-_n_1332756.html#s766198">to refrain from approaching Martin</a>.<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplc3CZhxPZNjLbdYIIUmZ-VBceQYlryHW8KGiIuqfglaCZJfL_6GlHEhKWhdJAsc1tN81KWCsMFmxgkzo-nWrXiLYJvYG9V1XUMwz1hyZ0SledUCD24lUsiZPgyBKq48kkIG360gna67N/s1600/Trayvon+Martin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="174" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplc3CZhxPZNjLbdYIIUmZ-VBceQYlryHW8KGiIuqfglaCZJfL_6GlHEhKWhdJAsc1tN81KWCsMFmxgkzo-nWrXiLYJvYG9V1XUMwz1hyZ0SledUCD24lUsiZPgyBKq48kkIG360gna67N/s320/Trayvon+Martin.jpg" /></a>Zimmerman ignored this direction. He got out of his car and pursued Martin between two rows of townhouses. <a href="http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/seminole_news/022712-man-shot-and-killed-in-neighborhood-altercation">A fistfight broke out</a>. When police arrived on the scene minutes later, they found Martin dying face down in the grass. In his hands were a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. He had been shot in the chest by Zimmerman, a concealed handgun permit holder who was armed that night, with a 9mm pistol.<br><br>
If Zimmerman saw anything “suspicious” that night beyond an African-American walking through a gated community in a hooded sweatshirt, he never said. He was detained by the police, but after he claimed he acted in self-defense in killing the unarmed Martin (who he <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/neighborhood-watch-shooting-trayvon-martin-probe-reveals-questionable/story?id=15907136#.T2CsUHk0zKd">outweighed by 20 pounds</a>), Zimmerman was released without charge. Martin’s family and their attorney were told by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee that Zimmerman avoided arrest because he had a “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin_n_1335984.html">squeaky clean</a>” criminal record.<br><br>
That statement was fraudulent. It has since been revealed that Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin_n_1335984.html">resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer</a>. The case was <a href="http://www.wesh.com/r/30661664/detail.html">dismissed</a> after Zimmerman attended a pre-trial diversion program and a deal was made with his attorney to get the case dropped. In addition, police have fielded complaints from members of Zimmerman’s gated community about <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/12/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin_n_1340358.html">his aggressive conduct</a> in the neighborhood. According to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin_n_1335984.html">[The Sanford Police Department] just lied to the family. They just couldn’t see why [Zimmerman] would do anything wrong or be violent. But not only do you know the guy killed this kid, because he admitted to it, you knew that he has a propensity for violence because of his past record</a>.”<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOx8wrWaenTlg0XY5zNcr_EXpDhass-dJJCTTP2GgHSx0AC4813MySbmc099gcfKst9gC1gJ3W2EyDleWPl8f-Uk6WKG0leQWvNMqNwVd1HL47pRTzmmQTqfzgvm0DPWWaAtb-WWtonbBM/s1600/George+Zimmerman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOx8wrWaenTlg0XY5zNcr_EXpDhass-dJJCTTP2GgHSx0AC4813MySbmc099gcfKst9gC1gJ3W2EyDleWPl8f-Uk6WKG0leQWvNMqNwVd1HL47pRTzmmQTqfzgvm0DPWWaAtb-WWtonbBM/s320/George+Zimmerman.jpg" /></a>Martin, on the other hand, <i>was</i> squeaky clean. An avid sports fan and horseback rider, he dreamed of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. His family still recalls the boy’s heroics at age nine, when he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/family-of-trayvon-martin-_n_1332756.html#s766198">dragged his father from a burning kitchen</a>. After the shooting, his father described his son as “<a href="http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Family-Demands-Answers-in-Miami-Teens-Shooting-142307275.html">a dear friend</a>.”<br><br>
The reluctance of the Sanford Police Department to arrest Zimmerman probably has something to do with Florida’s outrageous “Stand Your Ground” law. The law removes the duty of individuals to retreat from a confrontation and allows them to use deadly force if they <a href="http://csgv2.blogspot.com/2009/12/thats-not-civilized-society.html">reasonably</a> believe that it is necessary to prevent death or “great bodily harm.” “Stand Your Ground” legislation was enacted in 2005 after being championed in the Florida state legislature by <a href="http://meetthenra.org/nra-member/Marion P. Hammer">National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer</a>. In support of the law, Hammer said, “<a href="http://meetthenra.org/nra-member/Marion P. Hammer">Through time, in this country, what I like to call bleeding heart criminal coddlers want you to give a criminal an even break, so that when you're attacked, you're supposed to turn around and run, rather than standing your ground and protecting yourself and your family and your property</a>.” But critics in Florida’s legal community dubbed it the “Shoot First” law and said that it “<a href="http://meetthenra.org/nra-member/Marion P. Hammer">encourages people to stand their ground ... when they could just as easily walk away</a>.” It has also been pointed out that the law “<a href="http://meetthenra.org/nra-member/Marion P. Hammer">give[s] citizens more rights to use deadly force than we give police officers, and with less review</a>.” A report by the <i>South Florida Sun Sentinel</i> vindicated these complaints, concluding, “<a href="http://meetthenra.org/nra-member/Marion P. Hammer">several...accused murderers have successfully used [Florida’s] 2005 ‘Stand Your Ground’ law to prove they were the real victims</a>.”<br><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgr_J-neSQDCtRMVVl4Q-7P02U4GmEqYipWb7Qy3uS2uxnfVOoeoTLz910MDKiV86KFWEaQnc4ysobrqclxgNXCtsYagZcsox04Q3RMSuGTf_Z9zvCaDByVGYI_7TSYJGq9lBnQ5cPWFl3/s1600/Trayvon+Martin+Memorial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgr_J-neSQDCtRMVVl4Q-7P02U4GmEqYipWb7Qy3uS2uxnfVOoeoTLz910MDKiV86KFWEaQnc4ysobrqclxgNXCtsYagZcsox04Q3RMSuGTf_Z9zvCaDByVGYI_7TSYJGq9lBnQ5cPWFl3/s320/Trayvon+Martin+Memorial.jpg" /></a>Three things are obvious to everyone: 1) Trayvon Martin was not a criminal; 2) George Zimmerman was not protecting either his property or family on the evening of February 26th, and; 3) Not only could Zimmerman have walked away that night; he <i>actively sought out this conflict</i> when told <u>not</u> to do so by law enforcement. No civilian gun-toter has a right to stand above the rule of law and serve as another human being’s judge, jury and executioner.<br><br>
As of today, George Zimmerman remains a free man, with carte blanche to carry a loaded gun in public. Meanwhile, Trayvon’s family continues to mourn. "<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/neighborhood-watch-shooting-trayvon-martin-probe-reveals-questionable/story?id=15907136#.T1-ex3k0zKd">That was my baby, my youngest son</a>," his mother Sybrina Fulton told ABC News. "<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/neighborhood-watch-shooting-trayvon-martin-probe-reveals-questionable/story?id=15907136#.T1-ex3k0zKd">He meant a lot to me, I don't think the police department really understands that ... I need justice for my family, I just want justice for my son</a>."<br><br>
If you’d like to help the Martin family, please do so by signing this online <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-17-year-old-trayvon-martin">petition</a> that calls on Florida’s 18th District State's Attorney to prosecute George Zimmerman for this murder.<br><br>
[Audio clips of 911 calls made on the night of the murder can be heard <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/trayvon-martin-911-audio-_n_1354909.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3&pLid=144372">here</a>.]</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-34533050571909498542011-08-01T09:27:00.007-04:002012-03-15T12:06:32.367-04:00Michigan's Rubber Stamp<p class="MsoNormal">Ten years after Michigan made it easier for residents to obtain concealed handgun permits, an investigation by the Center for Statistical Consultation and Research (CSCAR) has revealed numerous problems regarding the implementation of the law. Of particular concern is the inconsistent manner in which permit applicants and permit holders are screened for public safety.<br /><br />Michigan’s “Shall-Issue” concealed carry <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/1999-2000/publicact/htm/2000-PA-0381.htm">law</a> went into effect on July 1, 2001. It established “gun boards” in each of Michigan’s 83 counties “<a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/1999-2000/publicact/htm/2000-PA-0381.htm">to issue, deny, revoke, or suspend a license to carry a concealed pistol</a>.” The boards are required to issue a concealed handgun permit to any applicant who is at least 21 years of age, completes an eight-hour safety course (with three hours on the firing range), and meets a <a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/michigan.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">basic set of criteria</a> in terms of criminal and mental health background.<br /><br />Michigan residents are having few problems in meeting these criteria. The CSCAR investigation found that “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/special_report_concealed_gun_l.html">the number of permit holders [in Michigan] is skyrocketing</a>,” with more than 270,000 Michiganders holding permits today—twice as many as just five years ago.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwox0nzCiuRw9HATXcFF1rSoEbSTsysRkW0jEcmCwyVII7xITuPchMLZ51OPtJBBS8I4Cko3hwbWyeGPpePutL19G21ej6dcJPwU14nUgvlh1l3YyW1oQRuYSjUqAh3s4NLPJiDhIFFzi_/s1600/Michael+Alan+Hettinger.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 317px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwox0nzCiuRw9HATXcFF1rSoEbSTsysRkW0jEcmCwyVII7xITuPchMLZ51OPtJBBS8I4Cko3hwbWyeGPpePutL19G21ej6dcJPwU14nUgvlh1l3YyW1oQRuYSjUqAh3s4NLPJiDhIFFzi_/s320/Michael+Alan+Hettinger.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5635882099912720482" /></a>The problems lie in the oversight of the permitting system. Each year, gun boards are supposed to submit a report to state police detailing permit applications (issued, pending and denied) and detailing any criminal charges against existing permit holders. But since the law was enacted, <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/the_stars_came_together_lawmak.html">43 of Michigan’s 83 counties have yet to file a single report</a>. This has prohibited the Michigan State Police from discharging their duty to provide a <i>complete</i> annual report with these statistics to the state legislature. For example, during one recent year in Genessee County, the following incidents went unreported to the State Police: “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/no_penalty_no_problem_counties.html">a fatal shooting, a federal drug indictment, reckless use of a firearm and 61 other crimes</a>.”<br /><br />Other serious problems with the permitting system have been identified. <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/special_report_concealed_gun_l.html">Permits are given to applicants before criminal and/or mental health disqualifications expire; permit holders are mistakenly given exemptions to carry handguns in sensitive gun-free zones; and permits that have been properly denied are suddenly approved without any clear reason</a>.<br /><br />The CSCAR investigation has revealed several alarming cases in which concealed handgun permit holders committed horrific acts of gun violence:<br /><br /><ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1">Jamar Pickney Sr., a 39-year-old from Detroit, was “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/no_penalty_no_problem_counties.html">convicted for killing his son with a bullet to the head in November 2009…after the teen told him he had sex with his 3-year-old half-sister</a>.” <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Wayne County clerk, however, never filed a report with the State Police.<br /> <br /></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1">In May 2010, Edward Bell, a 66-year-old man from Detroit, “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/no_penalty_no_problem_counties.html">fired a .45-caliber handgun at an alleged carjacker</a>.” <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But a stray bullet from his gun found its way into Geraldine Jackson’s apartment, killing the 69 year-old woman. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Once again, because the gun board did not notify State Police, “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/no_penalty_no_problem_counties.html">the state’s public data does not reflect a concealed pistol license holder was charged with manslaughter</a>.” <br /> <br /></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/06/nothing_to_hide_muskegon_count.html">Michael Alan Hettiger, now 53, fatally shot his son, Matthew Alan Hettiger, 28, in 2009.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The shooting occurred after a fight between the victim and one of his brothers, while the victim was high on cocaine and drunk</a>.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"></span> Michael Hettiger was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and felony firearm use.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>His concealed handgun permit was suspended several days after his arrest, but as of the end of last month, “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/06/nothing_to_hide_muskegon_count.html">the imprisoned Hettiger’s long-suspended license hadn’t been permanently revoked</a>.”</li></ul> <br /><p class="MsoNormal">This blatant abuse of the law should have lawmakers worried. But when former state Senator Mike Green (R-Mayville)—the original sponsor of Michigan’s “Shall-Issue” law—was told <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/the_stars_came_together_lawmak.html">some of the non-reporting counties are from his area</a>, he responded, “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/the_stars_came_together_lawmak.html">I’m glad you told me that. I know those guys</a>,” and laughed.<br /> <br />Prosecutors in Michigan have taken a different tone. Juris Kaps, a prosecutor in Van Buren County, refused to sit on his gun board, saying, “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/why_the_concealed_gun_law_allo.html">I have a lot of things to do and I’ve got better things to do than be a rubber stamp</a>.” Kaps expressed concern about “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/why_the_concealed_gun_law_allo.html">the absence of a true check on [an applicant’s] mental health</a>” and didn’t want to “<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/why_the_concealed_gun_law_allo.html">get into a situation where [his] stamp of approval is on someone who is mentally deranged</a>.”<br /><br />We are constantly told by the National Rifle Association and its gun lobby partners that concealed handgun permit holders are the most “law-abiding citizens” in America. It’s now abundantly clear that such a guarantee holds little or no weight in Michigan.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-81668725320359905552011-05-09T10:22:00.003-04:002012-03-15T12:06:50.908-04:00Portrait of a "Responsible Citizen"<p class="MsoNormal">By now, most Americans are familiar with the extreme controversy that surrounds fundamentalist Christian pastor Terry Jones. What few realized until very recently is that Jones has been authorized to carry a loaded gun in 35 states across the country.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB-XAi_u18jf2JmFFDr_eYSctLUzgoRPkcZV-uNWG7RCEbcIOEfWogRMnpXwhZyQSG2H-PSVXYBCdK2KOFZP8cniFkpjhC5IRaCwy3a4PhuxjgxuU2RLTNJwLjD5TGEwYu5NkJqLIQ6_Mn/s1600/Terry+Jones.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB-XAi_u18jf2JmFFDr_eYSctLUzgoRPkcZV-uNWG7RCEbcIOEfWogRMnpXwhZyQSG2H-PSVXYBCdK2KOFZP8cniFkpjhC5IRaCwy3a4PhuxjgxuU2RLTNJwLjD5TGEwYu5NkJqLIQ6_Mn/s320/Terry+Jones.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604723998101155282" /></a>Rev. Jones runs the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida. He first made national headlines in July 2010 when he announced plans to burn 200 copies of the Quran—the Muslim holy book—on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-09-07/terry-jones-pastor-who-want-to-burn-qurans/">We must send a send a clear message to radical Islam</a>,” Jones explained. “<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-09-07/terry-jones-pastor-who-want-to-burn-qurans/">We will not be controlled by their fear, we will not be dominated. We feel it is time for America to be America</a>.” He punctuated this message by posting signs along the church’s property that shouted, “ISLAM IS OF THE DEVIL.”<br /><br />Jones was aware of how offensive the book burning would be. "<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/07/world/main6842302.shtml">We are definitely probably insulting all Muslims</a>," he stated. "<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/07/world/main6842302.shtml">The fact that we offend them is the lesser of two evils</a>."<br /><br />It wasn’t long before a massive public outcry erupted that cut across party and ideological lines. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin called Jones’ plans “<a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/quran-burning-public-outcry-grows-pastor-a/679420/">mean-spirited religious intolerance</a>” and an “<a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/quran-burning-public-outcry-grows-pastor-a/679420/">unnecessary provocation</a>.” More alarmingly, General David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO Commander in Afghanistan, warned that “<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/07/world/main6840913.shtml">images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan—and around the world—to inflame public opinion and incite violence</a>.”<br /><br />Jones, under intense pressure, cancelled his event, but only temporarily. On March 20, 2011, he supervised the burning of a single Quran at his Dove World Outreach Center following an “Islam trial.” In a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91UjR407jPI">video</a>, Jones can be heard commenting, “It actually burns very good."<br /><br />The burning did not go unnoticed in the Middle East. On April 1, approximately 2,000 protesters gathered outside the United Nations office in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-01/world/afghanistan.un.attack_1_dove-world-outreach-center-security-guards-quran?_s=PM:WORLD">Violence erupted</a> when protesters grabbed guns from UN guards and opened fire on them. The compound was stormed and when the smoke cleared 12 people lay dead, including seven UN workers.<br /><br />Jones was sanguine in response. “<a href="http://news.cotabatoexchange.com/terry-jones-action-provoked-muslim-community-killing-12_1813.html#ixzz1Kk5hEYom">We must hold these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities</a>,” he said. The Pentagon saw it differently, speaking of the “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/12-killed-in-attack-on-un-compound-in-northern-afghanistan/2011/04/01/AFrb5iHC_story.html">tragic, deadly consequences</a>” of Jones’ actions.<br /><br />Just three weeks later, on April 21, Jones was endangering lives again, this time in Southfield, Michigan. The fundamentalist pastor was in town to appear on the Detroit FOX channel’s "Let it Rip” show. After his interview, Jones was escorted by police to his vehicle with his assistant pastor, Wayne Sapp (it was Sapp who physically burned the Quran on March 20).<br /><br />When Jones got in the passenger seat of the car he <a href="http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/gun-belonging-to-pastor-jones-goes-off-outside-fox-2-studios">accidentally fired a .40-caliber handgun</a> into the floor of the vehicle. Officers who examined the car found another handgun belonging to Sapp under the driver’s seat. The two men were detained for a short period of time, during which the Southfield Police learned that both Jones and Sapp hold concealed handgun permits in Florida (because of a reciprocity agreement, Florida permit holders can carry their weapons in Michigan). But then, with little explanation, police returned both handguns to the men and allowed them to go on their way without filing any charges. This was despite the fact that, when asked about the discharge of the gun, Jones replied, “<a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/22/anti-muslim-pastor-accidentally-fires-gun-after-meeting-with-imam/">I have actually no explanation, no excuse</a>.”<br /><br />Jones was then free to proceed with a <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/TerryJones-Quran-GoodFriday-protest/2011/04/22/id/393809">publicly-announced</a> plan to arm himself and his followers during an upcoming Good Friday demonstration in the heavily Muslim Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan—an event which necessitated the involvement of <a href="http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2011/04/29/news/doc4dbb6fbc1fb30089420525.txt">riot police</a>.<br /> <br />Florida is a <a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/florida.asp#ConcealedWeaponsPermitting">“shall-issue” state</a>, meaning the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">must</i> issue a concealed handgun permit to any applicant who passes an instant computerized background check and takes a single, 3-hour training course. The permit is accepted in <a href="http://www.guntrustlawyer.com/2008/06/florida-concealed-weapons-perm.html">34 other states</a> and applicants are not required to be Florida residents in order to apply for one. <a href="http://beta2.tbo.com/news/news/2010/sep/23/denied-in-other-states-applicants-look-to-florida--ar-29186/">The Florida permit has become popular with individuals of questionable character who cannot obtain permits in their own homes states</a>. Plenty of unsavory characters in Florida are acquiring permits as well, whether it’s Rev. Jones, <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-04-15/news/os-gun-open-carry-dispute-florida-20110415_1_gun-owners-concealed-weapon-demings">outlaw motorcycle gang members</a> or individuals with <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2007-01-28/news/0701270316_1_gun-licensing-system">extensive criminal backgrounds</a>.<br /><br />In commenting about Florida’s concealed handgun permit holders, longtime National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer remarked, “<a href="http://www.ocshooters.com/newsletters/05/05.htm#fla">What other group has a better record of responsible citizenship</a>?”<br /><br />We can think of a few...</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-66041976508151658432011-04-04T13:38:00.002-04:002012-03-15T12:07:00.187-04:00Designated Shooters<p class="MsoNormal">The January shooting massacre in Tucson reminded America of how easy it is for mentally unstable individuals to legally purchase firearms. With states across the country beginning to liberalize their laws to allow the carrying of firearms in bars at the behest of the National Rifle Association (NRA), it is pertinent to ask who is hanging around in your neighborhood pub, as a recent incident from Ohio demonstrates. <br /><br />On March 16 at approximately 2:00 a.m., the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in Akron, Ohio got a strange 911 call. A local gas station employee reported a man who was claiming that he was being chased by an individual with a gun.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ukwHUcQB71W_E0eH3RYPlKGCS8xE_OEhLZWsHid-Ton7tpKiU6IfdR7Ry90L6YijRmM0TMsayHR5zIgZ5xtaxiL7uIz22QI3C8CH3CinmsJkX32Ugc6oVr-9AIcOiYOT0Wdl-zlaPkTR/s1600/Joseph+Deitch.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 256px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ukwHUcQB71W_E0eH3RYPlKGCS8xE_OEhLZWsHid-Ton7tpKiU6IfdR7Ry90L6YijRmM0TMsayHR5zIgZ5xtaxiL7uIz22QI3C8CH3CinmsJkX32Ugc6oVr-9AIcOiYOT0Wdl-zlaPkTR/s320/Joseph+Deitch.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591786862749782034" /></a>When officers arrived at the station, however, they discovered a different situation. The man in question, 25-year-old Joseph Deitch, was present, but no pursuer could be found. According to a report filed by sheriff’s deputies: “<a href="http://www.co.summit.oh.us/sheriff/pressreleases/03-16-11guns.htm">Deitch was found to have an empty holster in his waistband and ammunition on his person ... Deitch appeared unstable and it was determined that no other subject with a gun was involved. He indicated that he had given several guns to a friend earlier in the evening. Other guns and a large amount of ammunition were discovered in the parking lot inside Deitch’s vehicle</a>.”<br /><br />Deputies also discovered that <a href="http://www.cantonrep.com/news/x1777813118/Green-man-arrested-with-guns-after-threats-at-bar">Deitch has a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Ohio</a>.<br /><br />The Summit County Sheriff’s Office soon received a call from the friend that Deitch had referred to. It turns out the he and Deitch had been at Brubaker’s Pub (about three miles from the gas station) earlier in the evening, and the friend had witnessed Deitch “<a href="http://www.co.summit.oh.us/sheriff/pressreleases/03-16-11guns.htm">make threats to shoot patrons of the bar</a>.” Thankfully, Deitch left the bar before acting on these threats. His friend confirmed that he did indeed take possession of several of Deitch’s firearms as they departed the pub and went their separate ways.<br /><br />Deputies’ next stop was the house where Deitch lives with his mother. At this location, additional firearms were found. All told, “<a href="http://www.co.summit.oh.us/sheriff/pressreleases/03-16-11guns.htm">10 handguns, shotguns, and assault rifles</a>” were tagged and taken into evidence. At the conclusion of the investigation, Deitch was arrested on charges of <a href="http://scsojms.summitoh.net/matrixjms/PublicSearch/CaseSummary.aspx">aggravated menacing</a> and booked into the Summit County Jail. More charges could be pending as the investigation continues.<br /><br />Ohio is a “shall-issue” state where law enforcement has no discretion whatsoever in the issuance of concealed handgun permits. They <i style="">must</i> issue a permit to any individual who passes a computerized background check and undergoes the required 12 hours of training, including two hours shooting on a shooting range. Only permit holders who fail to renew their permits within six years need to retake this class—otherwise, it’s good for a lifetime.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the background check for permit holders offers little in the way of mental health screening. Applicants who have been <a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/ohio.asp#n15">adjudicated by a court as a mental incompetent or involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution</a> are disqualified from obtaining permits in Ohio. If Deitch fell under either of these two narrow categories (most individuals with mental health issues do not), his records were not found in any database.<br /><br />On a positive note, under current Ohio <a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/ohio.asp#FirearmsPublicPlaces">law</a> it is illegal for anyone to possess a firearm on the premises of a location that has a liquor license (it is unclear at this point if Deitch and his friend actually brought their guns inside Brubaker’s Pub). But that could change soon.<br /><br /><a href="http://e-lobbyist.com/gaits/view/246796">HB 45</a>, which would allow Ohio’s concealed handgun permit holders to bring loaded guns into bars, was passed by a state House committee on March 16, the same day that Joseph Deitch threatened the lives of patrons in Brubaker’s Pub. Those carrying firearms into bars would be restricted from drinking alcohol, although the legislation does not specify any enforcement mechanism for this provision. Theoretically, a bartender would have to ascertain whether a customer has a gun every time he/she serves a drink. HB 45 would also allow concealed handgun permit holders to transport loaded handguns in their vehicles without having them secured in a holster, case, bag, or box.<br /><br />Guns in bars legislation has not won any accolades with Ohio law enforcement. Cleveland Police Department Detective Stephen Loomis stated, “<a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/26/concealed-carry-expansion-bill-advances.html">I have spent a career dealing with problems in bars, nightclubs, entertainment-district restaurants and men's clubs, and I can tell you without doubt or hesitation the introduction of firearms...will result in the senseless loss of human life … We're going to go from bar fights with bottles and fists to someone who pulls a gun and starts shooting the place up</a>." <br /><br />Mark Drum of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio added that he is concerned that the idea of a “<a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/26/concealed-carry-expansion-bill-advances.htmll">designated driver would be replaced with a designated shooter</a>.”<br /><br />The Ohio House is likely to vote on HB 45 this week. The Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence has issued an <a href="https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5610/c/222/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5634">Action Alert</a> encouraging Ohio residents to contact their state representatives to tell them to vote ‘No.’ For those who aren’t eager to share a drink (or meal) with the likes of Joseph Deitch and similar “law-abiding citizens,” your call can’t come too soon.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-69021253222550900182011-02-21T10:15:00.005-05:002012-03-15T12:09:20.374-04:00“How do you shoot someone eight times in self-defense?”<p class="MsoNormal">On February 10, National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C. and declared, “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg_uy9_2a1U">Throughout history, one simple truth rings as loud and clear as a bell—the presence of a gun in the hand of a good person makes us all safer</a>.” But a recent tragedy from Florida suggest that perhaps an earlier LaPierre quote—“<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqAWQ-TMF3I">The guys with the guns make the rules</a>”—more accurately reflects the reality of contemporary America, in a “might makes right” kind of way.<br /><br />On November 24, 2010, Thomas Baker, a 28-year-old resident of Town ‘n’ Country, Florida, decided to go for a jog. It wasn’t your typical run, however. Baker headed out at approximately 1:00 AM with <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/jogger-wont-be-charged-in-fatal-town-n-country-shooting/1144768">$950 in cash and a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqa7rhtzIDEoGajk4QyyL02PNpnGc9zQDlNXqF-0BBRpsFMv8zql3v6SXPPWa-yUK3sqXUvz5DpuOXsmgeB6ai4M9scJp0AkpOBjTrWxP9veYiOsifrnhfT4kXs1l2_a_0pL2U0q00uZkK/s1600/Carlos+Mustelier.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqa7rhtzIDEoGajk4QyyL02PNpnGc9zQDlNXqF-0BBRpsFMv8zql3v6SXPPWa-yUK3sqXUvz5DpuOXsmgeB6ai4M9scJp0AkpOBjTrWxP9veYiOsifrnhfT4kXs1l2_a_0pL2U0q00uZkK/s320/Carlos+Mustelier.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576163091161138082" /></a>18-year-old Carlos Mustelier and his 16-year-old friend saw Baker as they headed to a Beverage King in the neighborhood. Mustelier told his friend he was going to rob Baker. After leaving the store, which was closed, they saw Baker passing them again. “<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346574/Jogger-Thomas-Baker-shot-dead-unarmed-mugger-released-charge.html">I'm going to bam him. I'm gonna knock him out</a>,” Mustelier announced.<br /><br />The two teens, clad in dark-hooded sweatshirts, confronted Baker. Mustelier closed in and punched Baker in the face, cutting his lip. "<a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/jogger-wont-be-charged-in-fatal-town-n-country-shooting/1144768">You wanna play games? You wanna play games?</a>" Baker said to Mustelier. He immediately pulled out his handgun, centered his laser sight on Mustelier’s chest, and fired eight hollow-point bullets at point-blank range at the unarmed teen. Four bullets hit Mustelier: one in the chest, one in the buttocks, and two in the back. He was dead by the time paramedics arrived (Mustelier’s friend John Martinez rushed to the scene but was unable to revive him). Mustelier’s 16-year-old friend ran for his life, returning later when police arrived. Authorities searched both teens and found no weapons of any kind. Both had clean criminal records.<br /><br />Detectives interviewed Baker and asked him, "When you go running at night in the neighborhood, do you normally arm yourself with a firearm?" "<a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/jogger-wont-be-charged-in-fatal-town-n-country-shooting/1144768">I always have it on me, unless I'm going to the courthouse</a>,” Baker replied. As for the $950, Baker told detectives he was unemployed and made money fixing friends’ cars. He had just done some work for a friend and that’s why he had that amount of money in his pocket, he claimed. Finally, Baker said he shot Mustelier in self-defense because he thought the teen had a gun on him.<br /><br />The story worked. Florida prosecutors determined that no charges will be filed against Baker.<br /><br />The reason for that is Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” (aka “Shoot First”) law, which was drafted by the NRA and enacted in 2005. The law eliminates the common law duty to use every reasonable means available to retreat prior to using deadly force, which the Florida Supreme Court had legitimized by explaining, “<a href="http://www.law.miami.edu/studentorg/miami_law_review/issue_archive/pdf/vol63no1/MIA102.pdf">Human life is precious, and deadly combat should be avoided if at all possible when imminent danger to oneself can be avoided</a>.” The “Stand Your Ground” law states that any individual who is in a place where he/she has a legal right to be, and who is “not engaged in an unlawful activity...has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” Individuals using lethal force in this manner are immune from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jANQUQT6JSjyhpD2ofdtLUBlorBg_M3EmBvdbYu3qDEVxQ76V1kYK0OZ2L0MP-mNgEZ6peUmBpBeh8XYsa_2Isab5RhYa5cz7kk3gXNOgUdwumOTrp1E2nXPIxOV_3dkaViki79bS5gc/s1600/Jogger+Shooting.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 135px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jANQUQT6JSjyhpD2ofdtLUBlorBg_M3EmBvdbYu3qDEVxQ76V1kYK0OZ2L0MP-mNgEZ6peUmBpBeh8XYsa_2Isab5RhYa5cz7kk3gXNOgUdwumOTrp1E2nXPIxOV_3dkaViki79bS5gc/s200/Jogger+Shooting.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576164291161813986" /></a>The law has been invoked in at least 93 cases in Florida involving 65 deaths, a recent <i>St. Petersburg Times </i><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1128317.ece">review</a> found. "<a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1128317.ece">Whether it's trick-or-treaters or kids playing in the yard of someone who doesn't want them there or some drunk guy stumbling into the wrong house, you're encouraging people to possibly use deadly physical force where it shouldn't be used</a>,” says Miami Police Chief John Timoney. The numbers bear that out—“Justifiable homicides” in Florida have increased from 43 the year the law was enacted to 105 in 2009.<br /><br />The NRA couldn’t be happier with the results, calling its law “<a href="http://www.nraila.org/Issues/factsheets/read.aspx?ID=188">common-sense</a>.” To the NRA, Thomas Baker was another “Armed Citizen” to be celebrated, and that is exactly what the lobby did, proudly <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/NRANews/status/25235232357617665">announcing</a> on the NRA News Twitter feed: “Florida: Jogger won't be charged in fatal Town 'N Country shooting.”<br /><br />The family and friends who loved Carlos Mustelier feel differently. Vasilisa Akishina, a classmate and friend of Mustelier, laid flowers at the intersection where he was killed and reminisced about how, "<a href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/11/112201/no-charges-for-jogger-in-town-n-country-fatal-shoo/">he always made everybody smile</a>." “<a href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/11/112201/no-charges-for-jogger-in-town-n-country-fatal-shoo/">He was just so generous with everything</a>,” she recalled. Some speculated that there might have been <a href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/11/112201/no-charges-for-jogger-in-town-n-country-fatal-shoo/">an ulterior motive</a> in the shooting, and referred to an earlier altercation Mustelier had with Baker's younger brother. But perhaps Dianela Gonzaez, Mustelier’s sister, summed up the absurdity of the incident best: "<a href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/11/112201/no-charges-for-jogger-in-town-n-country-fatal-shoo/">I know that he thought my brother had a gun. But I mean, it was eight shots fired. How do you shoot someone eight times in self-defense? That makes no sense</a>."<br /><br />No one should paint Carlos Mustelier as a hero in this incident—he was wrong to confront and attack Baker that night. On the flip side, Baker is no hero either. It’s hard to pinpoint the definition of “Looking for Trouble,” but leaving one’s house after midnight with $950 in cash and a loaded handgun must be close. And to fire repeatedly on an unarmed teenager—including three times in the back after he had turned to flee—is murder plain and simple, no matter what the NRA-drafted law in Florida now calls it.<br /><br />What should have been a fistfight became a tragedy. A young man with his entire life ahead of him has been taken from his loved ones prematurely and unnecessarily. To the NRA, this is “<a href="http://www.nraila.org/Issues/factsheets/read.aspx?ID=188">good law</a>” and “<a href="http://www.nraila.org/Issues/factsheets/read.aspx?ID=188">good order</a>.” To those of us with a conscience who believe in the notion of a civilized society, it is anathema, and we must stand against it.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-54716064287614250712011-01-31T21:32:00.005-05:002012-03-15T12:09:35.113-04:00Colorado's Criminal Betrayer<p class="MsoNormal">In the wake of the tragic shooting in Tucson, the National Rifle Association (NRA) continues to claim that those who carry concealed handguns in our communities are among most responsible and law-abiding Americans to be found. A recent story from Colorado, however, illustrates the disturbing actions of a high-profile permit holder who has shown little respect for his peers, his community, the philosophy of nonviolence, and the law.<br /><br />Brett Reese, a Greeley-Evans School District 6 Board of Education member and owner of KELS Radio, has been in the media spotlight—both in Colorado and nationally—since the beginning of 2011. The attention he has been receiving, however, has not made for a positive start to his New Year.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSu6vAK0SdyIJ_o_quhccl44HC949HCGPea5BjKLwnGHBEWLTVrvk3WNlAOy3chvDSVdViTzY8Nkp7iaG7HeSWD21vmAM2_80nfDigjEdw2zMHCT-pchwvfLr4WgCFO07ypFUW1J7DN2v/s1600/commie-school.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 245px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSu6vAK0SdyIJ_o_quhccl44HC949HCGPea5BjKLwnGHBEWLTVrvk3WNlAOy3chvDSVdViTzY8Nkp7iaG7HeSWD21vmAM2_80nfDigjEdw2zMHCT-pchwvfLr4WgCFO07ypFUW1J7DN2v/s320/commie-school.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568545364486006994" /></a>On his radio program, “<a href="http://www.pirate1047.com/">Pirate Radio</a>,” Reese ran a segment at least twice per day from early January until Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 17. In the segment, Reese read comments on air about Dr. King from an “anonymous letter” he received three years ago. Reese called King a “<a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26529686/detail.html">plastic god</a>,” a “<a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26529686/detail.html">sexual degenerate</a>,” and an “<a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26529686/detail.html">America hating communist</a>” and said that he was “<a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26406818/detail.html">a criminal betrayer of even the interest of his own people</a>.” Internet browsers soon found the “anonymous letter” that Reese was reading from on the website <a href="http://www.martinlutherking.org/thebeast.html">martinlutherking.org</a>, which is hosted by the white supremacist/neo-Nazi Internet forum <a href="http://www.stormfront.org/forum/">Stormfront</a>. When Reese was confronted about the fact that <a href="http://www.martinlutherking.org/thebeast.html">martinlutherking.org</a> was designed by a <a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110114/NEWS/701149948">white supremacist who pled guilty to a count of possessing child pornography in 2008</a>, he stated, “<a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110114/NEWS/701149948">I’m trying to explain the truth. Facts are facts, and truth is truth, whether it came from a white supremacist website or a Black Panther website</a>.”<br /><br />Meanwhile, Reese’s behavior took an even more bizarre turn on January 12. At a Greeley-Evans School District 6 board meeting, Reese told his fellow board members that he needed to carry his .45 caliber Kimber handgun on him at all times to protect himself because of “<a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110112/NEWS/701129957&parentprofile=search">serious</a>” threats he received over his <a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110107/MISC/701079972&parentprofile=search">continued radio broadcasts</a> attacking the moral character and legacy of Dr. King. When asked if he would comply with a policy that prevents board members from carrying loaded handguns to the board’s meetings, Reese replied, “<a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110112/NEWS/701129957&parentprofile=search">No, I won’t. I will protect myself</a>.” The other board members were unanimous in their view that there were alternate steps that could be taken to ensure Reese’s well-being. The board then voted to hold future meetings at local schools. Colorado law specifically prohibits the carrying of firearms in elementary, middle, and high school buildings.<br /><br />Reese’s odd behavior during the meeting was captured by the <i style="">Greeley Tribute</i>: “<a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110112/NEWS/701129957&parentprofile=search">Reese was fidgety and nervous throughout the meeting, constantly checking the door. Before the meeting started, he questioned whether people were watching the entrances to the school. John Gates, director of safety and security for the district, told Reese that the only door open was the front door and anyone coming into the meeting room could only come through a door Gates was watching</a>.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZLhZ7uyui4emyYc1C1lxKdVQTUsxPYNxU5dc6QLuEfRswGgjqRILceGZ5kyMPlJJd3vk3YkUsvEw54zw2mqQ5ad2LAFeFxBqiEkqnG5-0Gl4cTfGJ0M043FeJz3USCu-Yjrf2VmCYqTn/s1600/brett+reese+nervous.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZLhZ7uyui4emyYc1C1lxKdVQTUsxPYNxU5dc6QLuEfRswGgjqRILceGZ5kyMPlJJd3vk3YkUsvEw54zw2mqQ5ad2LAFeFxBqiEkqnG5-0Gl4cTfGJ0M043FeJz3USCu-Yjrf2VmCYqTn/s320/brett+reese+nervous.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568545299776572130" /></a>But Reese wasn’t done yet. On January 21, Justin Sasso, a rival radio station owner, was granted a permanent restraining order against Reese. The order was issued in response to threatening voicemails that Reese left Sasso, in which he complained about sales representatives from Sasso’s KFKA contacting advertisers on KELS. Reese threatened a “<a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26481224/detail.html">shootout</a>” to resolve the matter.<br /><br />Sasso was asked if he would have taken the threat seriously if Reese wasn’t surrounded in controversy. “<a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110121/NEWS/701219917">I couldn’t say if I would or would not have</a>,” Sasso said. “<a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110121/NEWS/701219917"> But we just came off the [shooting in Arizona of a United States Congresswoman], so to threaten a shootout not once, but twice, and never retract it or define it ... It immediately instilled fear in me</a>.”<br /><br />Under state law, anyone with an active restraining order is prohibited from carrying a concealed weapon in Colorado. Reese’s concealed handgun permit was initially suspended and then <a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26578528/detail.html">permanently revoked</a> on January 21. The judge who revoked the permit, Charles S. Unfug, decided, “<a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110121/NEWS/701219917&parentprofile=search">Shootout is a loaded word ... When someone says there will be a shootout, it is an implied threat of violence. There is going to be ongoing competition between the two men. I believe [Reese] would continue to commit acts unless restrained</a>.”<br /><br />Weld Sheriff's Deputy Bureau Chief Steve Reams has informed Reese that he can still continue to carry his loaded handgun in public, but only if he carries it openly. Reese has now changed his tune, however, saying that <a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110113/NEWS/110119979">he will not carry his gun at all without a permit</a>.<br /><br />If the NRA and other gun rights advocates would have us believe that concealed handgun permit holders are well-vetted and among the most responsible gun owners in America, how do they explain the moral turpitude of Brett Reese?</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-42607023743670245832010-08-16T15:36:00.005-04:002012-03-15T12:09:50.971-04:00Cold as Ice<p class="MsoNormal">In 2009, <a href="http://www.csgv.org/issues-and-campaigns/concerns-about-concealed-carry/mass-shootings-by-concealed-handgun-permit-holders-in-2009">there were six confirmed <i style="">mass</i> shootings by concealed handgun permit holders in the United States</a> (mass shootings are shootings that involve three or more deaths). 2010 has seen this disturbing trend continue, with deranged and dangerous individuals gaining easy access to firearms and carry permits. In a recent tragedy, a Connecticut gun owner who was supposed to be an upstanding, law-abiding citizen revealed himself to be a soulless, cold-blooded killer. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymegNcUmv5mRJ5sq6ogkaleYT4Ek2K8zXBzOELynom0b_bcEqyXR_-d9K4ygwi6g_P2Hm6ulv4SaBU8pPI04-fAE9puL3qPFat08YHlQ-d8bMC4jsVdT_p7dNcxc_rfIQD1ajvrHHMXsy/s1600/Hartford+Distributors+Shooting.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymegNcUmv5mRJ5sq6ogkaleYT4Ek2K8zXBzOELynom0b_bcEqyXR_-d9K4ygwi6g_P2Hm6ulv4SaBU8pPI04-fAE9puL3qPFat08YHlQ-d8bMC4jsVdT_p7dNcxc_rfIQD1ajvrHHMXsy/s320/Hartford+Distributors+Shooting.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506097716636452594" /></a>According to his girlfriend, Omar Thornton went to work at Hartford Distributors on August 3 as if it was any other day. When he was called into his supervisors’ office he seemed calm and collected. After his bosses showed him and a union official a video of Thornton stealing more than <a href="http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/U/US_BEER_DISTRIBUTOR_SHOOTINGS?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-08-04-07-56-52">$400 worth of beer and empty kegs</a> from a truck he was driving for the company, he was given the choice of being fired or resigning. Thornton quietly signed his letter of resignation.<br /><br />While being escorted out of the room, Thornton asked for a drink of water. Seconds later, he <a href="http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/04/witnesses-connecticut-killer-was-calm-before-shootings/">retrieved a handgun from a lunch bag and shot his two escorts</a>, initiating a deadly rampage. Company Vice President Steve Hollander recalled that, “<a href="http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2010/08/03/news/doc4c58db736d894522786543.txt">[Thornton] didn't yell. He was cold as ice. He didn't protest when we were meeting with him to show him the video of him stealing. He didn't contest it. He didn't complain. He didn't argue. He didn't admit or deny anything. He just agreed to resign. And then he just unexplainably pulled out his gun and started blasting</a>.”<br /><br />It was 7:00 AM—<a href="http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/04/witnesses-connecticut-killer-was-calm-before-shootings/">shift change time</a>—when <a href="http://www.ksat.com/news/24493773/detail.html">50-70</a> employees were entering and exiting the building. Thornton walked through the building methodically, firing on his co-workers. He killed eight and wounded two before taking his own life.<br /><br />911 dispatchers received a phone call from Thornton just before he committed suicide. “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGNchir48x8">This is a racist place</a>,” he said. “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGNchir48x8">They treat me bad over here. <span style=""> </span>They treat all other black employees bad over here, too ... I wish I could’ve gotten more of the people</a>.” Secretary/Treasurer of Teamsters Local 1035 Chris Roos reported that, “<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/04/connecticut.business.shootings/index.html">There is nothing on record of any complaints from Omar [regarding racism at Hartford Distributors] and there had been no disciplinary actions with him prior to this</a>.” No formal complaints have ever been made against Hartford employees or management for being racist.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hWIF6grb8O_1Gx6fCCx5KUndhbsx0rynNE7M7EOkSZlBLvRGJKxuLaNmQ1imiI_Fll4wX6MSvY954C3A3lLmCq-NltsAbIsiFZbY2C-VGlxB1-H3SZ2wsVBzhBOgajujd6BYx83Cu-Iw/s1600/Omar+Thornton.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hWIF6grb8O_1Gx6fCCx5KUndhbsx0rynNE7M7EOkSZlBLvRGJKxuLaNmQ1imiI_Fll4wX6MSvY954C3A3lLmCq-NltsAbIsiFZbY2C-VGlxB1-H3SZ2wsVBzhBOgajujd6BYx83Cu-Iw/s200/Omar+Thornton.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506098357622347170" /></a>Police reported that Thornton brought two 9mm handguns to work that day in his lunch bag, including a SR9 Ruger semiautomatic handgun, which he told dispatchers was one of his “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGNchir48x8">favorites</a>.” Police also found a shotgun in Thornton’s car in the company parking lot. The handguns were registered (along with three other handguns that Thornton had at home) and all the firearms were legally purchased.<span style=""> </span>According to Thornton’s girlfriend’s mother, Joanne Hannah, <a href="http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/omar_thornton_cold_as_ice_on_s.html">Thornton possessed a concealed handgun permit in Connecticut</a> and was planning to teach her daughter how to use a handgun. Thornton listed <a href="http://www.hoffgun.com/">Hoffman’s Gun Center & Indoor Range in Newington, Connecticut</a>, as one of his Likes on his Facebook page.<br /><br />Almost immediately after the shooting, commenters at the Connecticut Gun Talk Forum were blaming the tragedy on a “gun-free zone.” “<a href="http://www.ctguntalk.com/testforum/YaBB.pl?num=1280839750/0">You know someone had to say this, but if someone there [at Hartford Distributors] had been carrying there would probably have been fewer people shot</a>,” said “Gun Techie.” He failed to note that Omar Thornton himself held a valid concealed handgun permit under <a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/connecticut.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">Connecticut’s “May-Issue” law</a>, and would have been one of the individuals authorized to bring a gun to work to “defend” his co-workers under such a plan.<br /><br />“Rich_B” went even further than “Gun Techie,” placing the blaming directly on Hartford Distributors: “<a href="http://www.ctguntalk.com/testforum/YaBB.pl?num=1280839750/30">It should be illegal to make a workplace a 'gun free zone' (otherwise known as a 'victim rich zone') for employees unless the company is willing to take on the burden and liability of providing an adequate defense against bad things happening to its employees while they are on the premises</a>.” He then suggested that the concealed handgun permitting process be eliminated altogether in Connecticut because, “<a href="http://www.ctguntalk.com/testforum/YaBB.pl?num=1280839750/30">All it does is make a hurdle for people to exercise their right to defend themselves</a>.”<br /><br />Then “Rich_B” added something truly interesting. “<a href="http://www.ctguntalk.com/testforum/YaBB.pl?num=1280839750/30">You cannot prevent bad people from getting a permit or a gun because bad people haven't always been caught or shown signs of being bad yet</a>,” he pointed out.<br /><br />No clear distinctions between “good guys” and “bad guys”? It makes one wonder how arming <i style="">more </i>people under our current laws could possibly make our society safer...</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-31673621966165367302010-08-09T09:39:00.017-04:002012-03-15T12:10:04.434-04:00"A Coarsening of Society"<p class="MsoNormal">A fascinating story was featured this month on the cover of <i style="">Harper’s</i> <i style="">Magazine</i>. Entitled “<a href="http://harpers.org/archive/2010/08/0083063">Happiness is a Worn Gun: My Concealed Weapon and Me</a>,” the article was written by author <a href="http://web.me.com/danbaum/Nine_Lives/About_Dan_Baum.html">Dan Baum</a>, a “fairly typical liberal Democrat” who recently obtained a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Colorado. Baum’s article provides a balanced and insightful perspective on the culture that surrounds the gun rights community.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDLlPzxXL5yHFIA_QFVo6x9yZkSdTvuXgMao2Aumhe3gOTM-ku4qKPH-pzCSC14stsdXAmf4VRUByxLXYE5X_lv3WG8NPr8Y0VEAXm3sdYtjYN1ahSTDEyWZbBsvBUw8fuH143BBrmBeWU/s1600/Happiness+is+a+Worn+Gun.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 192px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDLlPzxXL5yHFIA_QFVo6x9yZkSdTvuXgMao2Aumhe3gOTM-ku4qKPH-pzCSC14stsdXAmf4VRUByxLXYE5X_lv3WG8NPr8Y0VEAXm3sdYtjYN1ahSTDEyWZbBsvBUw8fuH143BBrmBeWU/s320/Happiness+is+a+Worn+Gun.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503407242149938130" /></a>In the piece, Baum traces his 49-year love affair with firearms, which dates back to the summers he spent at camp firing a .22 caliber rifle as an overweight child. As an adult gun owner, Baum readily admits that, “The sensual pleasure of handling guns is a big part of the habit ... They are deeply satisfying to manipulate, even without shooting.” After deciding that hunting and range-shooting was not allowing him to be close enough to his firearms (Baum wanted to “live the gun life”), he decided to apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in his home state of Colorado.<br /><br /><b>A Right to Instant Gratification</b><br />In Colorado, just as in 37 other “Shall-Issue” states, the state <i>must</i> issue a permit to carry a concealed handgun to any citizen that passes an instant computer background check and meets a basic set of requirements. One of those requirements is to complete just three hours of training through an approved handgun safety course. This course need be taken only once—no additional training is required when a permit holder renews his/her permit every five years.<br /><br />Baum, to his credit, went beyond the required three hours of training and took two separate handgun safety courses over the course of five days. He hoped to receive serious instruction as he took on the weighty and dangerous responsibility of carrying a weapon in public. In practice however, Baum found that his two classes “taught [him] almost nothing about how to defend [himself] with a gun” and “were less about self-defense than about recruiting [applicants] into a culture animated by fear of violent crime.”<br /><br />At his first training class in Boulder, Baum’s instructor “packed about twenty minutes of useful instruction into four long evenings of platitudes, Obama jokes, and belligerent posturing.” He also openly admitted to breaking the law, saying he refused to get a carry permit because “I don’t think I have to get the government’s permission to exercise my right to bear arms.” A police officer taught the class a “legal implications” segment and encouraged the applicants to lie to police if stopped while wearing their guns. He then told the class that even though it is illegal to shoot a fleeing criminal, “If your aim is good enough, you have time to get your story straight before I get there.” The class was shown “lurid films of men in ski masks breaking into homes occupied by terrified women” and spent time examining pictures of a man that had been “slashed open with a knife.” In the course of four evenings, the applicants only handled their firearms once—shooting about 50 rounds at targets approximately 15 feet away.<br /><br />Baum’s second class was at the Tanner gun show in Denver (<a href="http://csgv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/point-of-no-return.html">the same place where Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold obtained their firearms</a>). Baum described it as a “fifteen-minute recruiting pitch for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a long-winded, paranoid fantasy about home invasion ... ‘They know where your bedroom is, and they’re there to kill you.’” The irony in this, as Baum states, is that <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_12.html">only 87 Americans were murdered during home burglaries in 2008</a>: “Statistically, you had a better chance of being killed by bees.”<br /><br />While Baum asserts that American citizens should be able to carry concealed weapons in public, he was deeply disturbed by his experience with the permitting process in Colorado, stating that, “It’s a scandal...that people can get a license to carry on the basis of a three hour ‘course’ given at a gun show. State requirements vary, but some don’t even ask students to fire a weapon before getting a carry permit.” Baum recommends that state governments “enforce high standards for instruction, including extensive live firing, role-playing, and serious examination of the legal issues ... States should [also] require a refresher course, the way Texas does, before renewing a carry permit.” Furthermore, “Since people can carry guns state to state, standards should be uniform.” As Baum notes, “The Second Amendment confers a right to keep and bear arms. It does not confer a right to instant gratification.”<br /><br /><b>A Different Mentality</b><br />An obsession with violent crime (“At class, it was hard to discern the line between preparing for something awful to happen and praying for something awful to happen”) is just one element of a gun culture that Baum found himself immersed in once he decided to carry a handgun in public. In Baum’s words, “Anyone who tells you he has no fantasy life constructed around his gun either has been packing it for as long as he’s been watching television or is flat-out lying.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvgs0myzOskQLH6RpUNHa47xW7LAujQlcQL667l2ihc7Db2A_qbE51MKijvFAqEEWwrMt4ezCA357QN1z3uLSRLe6NPT20f2sgGCPlnACrB6SW2M2BUak5Fqch-yDdKmmdoX4KcHSzo9A/s1600/Baum+and+Gun.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvgs0myzOskQLH6RpUNHa47xW7LAujQlcQL667l2ihc7Db2A_qbE51MKijvFAqEEWwrMt4ezCA357QN1z3uLSRLe6NPT20f2sgGCPlnACrB6SW2M2BUak5Fqch-yDdKmmdoX4KcHSzo9A/s320/Baum+and+Gun.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503407800854135938" /></a>Another element is paranoia that national “gun confiscation is nigh.” Baum recalled a man selling Yugoslav AK-47s at the Tanner gun show and yelling, “Buy it now! Tomorrow they may not let you!” “You don’t think [Obama’s] waiting for his second term to come and get them?” he asked Baum. “You’re dreaming.” To Baum, such fears seem wildly exaggerated: “For as long as I’ve been voting, I’ve reflexively supported waiting periods, background checks, the assault-rifle ban, and other gun control measures. None interfered with my enjoyment of firearms, and none seemed to me to be the first step toward tyranny.”<br /><br />Baum recalled another gun show dealer yelling to potential customers, “Liberals want to take away your gun and your McDonald’s both.” Baum discovered a “class-based resentment that permeates modern gun culture,” citing an editorial in the NRA’s <i style="">America’s First Freedom </i>magazine that characterized their opposition as “those who sip tea and nibble biscuits while musing about how to restrict the rest of us.” <br /><br />Then there are the color-coded “<a href="http://www.teddytactical.com/SharpenBladeArticle/4_States%20of%20Awareness.htm">conditions of readiness</a>” that concealed handgun permit holders govern themselves by. Condition White is “total oblivion to one’s surroundings—sleeping, being drunk or stoned, losing oneself in conversation while walking in city streets, texting while listening to an iPod.” Condition Yellow is “being aware of, and taking an interest in, one’s surroundings—essentially, the mental state we are encouraged to achieve when we are driving.” It requires “being mentally prepared to kill.” Condition Orange is being aware of a possible threat and Condition Red is responding to danger.<br /><br />Baum notes that “contempt for Condition White unifies the gun-carrying community almost as much as does fealty to the Second Amendment.” He was told by one of his Boulder instructors that “when you’re in Condition White you’re a sheep.” The American Tactical Shooting Association notes that the only time you should be in Condition White is “when in your own home, with the doors locked, the alarm system on, and your dog at your feet.” Gun carriers are instructed to be in Condition Yellow at all times.<br /><br />After experiencing Condition Yellow for months, however, Baum found it to be “<a href="http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuer/news.newsmain/article/184/0/1678024/RadioWest/72110.Happiness.is.a.Worn.Gun">kind of exhausting</a>.” He missed Condition White. “Condition White may make us sheep, but it’s also where art happens,” Baum says. “It’s where we daydream, reminisce and hear music in our heads. Hardcore gun carriers want no part of that.”<br /><br /><b style="">Drinking the Kool-Aid</b><br />Despite being critical about several aspects of the gun culture, Baum simultaneously seems to endorse some of its most well-worn talking points. In a recent <a href="http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuer/news.newsmain/article/184/0/1678024/RadioWest/72110.Happiness.is.a.Worn.Gun">radio interview</a>, he argues that guns laws are “not going to keep guns out of the hands of the people that you don’t want to have them” and therefore “only really apply to the law-abiding.” He also suggests that “Shall-Issue” laws have had no negative effect on public safety. In making these claims, Baum examines long-term trends in violent crime rates in the U.S., but curiously fails to comment on gun death rates or compare America to other industrialized democracies. Gun violence prevention organizations do not argue that guns <i style="">cause</i> crime, but rather that the presence of guns makes attempted crimes, attempted suicides, and arguments/confrontations of all kinds more lethal.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0a6qpYggoX0uI9FRPE8i8E89trkSgVnjpoUDU4RnBCU1wZRkxoFSUbh5nuo_MtGAXbayBMxDgdeN8-pskL0IYTK_wM7FgJnTNuwkIXXCBLregpkYWsOawNkRtl6jxDa7r-i1hf7-jwk4/s1600/I+Love+Justifiable+Homicide.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 101px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0a6qpYggoX0uI9FRPE8i8E89trkSgVnjpoUDU4RnBCU1wZRkxoFSUbh5nuo_MtGAXbayBMxDgdeN8-pskL0IYTK_wM7FgJnTNuwkIXXCBLregpkYWsOawNkRtl6jxDa7r-i1hf7-jwk4/s320/I+Love+Justifiable+Homicide.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503408923304835394" /></a>One recent <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20571454">study</a> found that U.S. homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than rates in 23 other high-income countries, driven by firearm homicide rates that were 19.5 times higher. These 23 nations uniformly have fewer guns per capita than the United States and far tougher gun laws. An examination of <a href="http://www.vpc.org/fadeathchart10.htm">gun death rates within the United States</a> finds that states with tough gun laws (including “May-Issue” concealed carry laws) like Hawaii, New York and New Jersey have the lowest gun death rates. States with weak laws (and “Shall-Issue” concealed carry laws) like Louisiana, Alaska and Nevada have the highest. This data provides little support for the notion that “an armed society is a polite society.”<br /><br />Baum also erroneously states, “Young black urban men killing each other—<i style="">that </i>is the gun problem [in the U.S.] right now.” In reality, the claim that gun violence is a “black problem" hardly makes sense when one considers that <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/">out of the 31,446 gun deaths that occurred in America in 2005, 21,958 of the victims were whites</a>, and <a href="http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm">from 1976 to 2005, 86% of white murder victims were killed by whites</a>. Additionally, <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_12.html">in 2008 the FBI reported 14,180 gun deaths, only 844 of which were gang related</a>. <a href="http://www.vpc.org/fadeathchart10.htm">The ten states with the highest rates of gun death per capita in the U.S. in 2007 were Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Alabama, Nevada, Arkansas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arizona and West Virginia</a>—predominantly rural states. <br /><br />Finally, while acknowledging that “a lot of gun rights people are like the Taliban, if you don’t agree with them on absolutely everything you’re a friend of tyranny and a monster,” Baum does not fully grasp the political consequences of the gun rights movement’s agenda. He fails to perceive the “Insurrectionist Idea” that animates the movement—namely, the belief that the Second Amendment gives <i style="">individuals</i> the right to confront “tyrannical” government with force of arms. Insurrectionists will naturally oppose <i style="">any </i>laws that allow government oversight of firearms ownership because they want to remain anonymous should they one day decide to wage war against our government. As Cato Institute analyst David Kopel puts it, “<a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=975">The tools of political dissent should be privately owned and unregistered</a>.” <br /><br />Insurrectionism is a far-right-wing ideology that opposes a strong, activist government in nearly all of its forms and, as such, presents a threat to the broader progressive agenda that Baum claims to support. Baum recently got the cold shoulder when his <i>Harper's</i> article was featured at "The Truth About Guns" blog. Author Robert Farago and commenters at the blog called Baum into question over "<a href=http://thetruthaboutguns.com/2010/07/robert-farago/harpers-cover-story-liberal-gun-owners/>the obvious conflict of interest between his liberal upbringing and the consequences of his acceptance of gun ownership</a>," with one reader comparing the current Democratic Leadership in Congress to Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Heinrich Himmler.<br /><br /><b style="">Not a Prop</b><br />Baum has decided that he will probably stop carrying his handgun in public. “It’s uncomfortable, distracting, and freaks out my friends; it’s not worth it,” he says. Baum felt that carrying his gun had “militarized [his] life” and brought out impulses in him that he disliked, including “social pessimism” and “irrational fear” (“You don’t want to contribute to a coarsening of society by preparing to kill at a moment’s notice”). Ultimately, he had to remind himself that his gun “is not a prop, a political statement, or a rhetorical device, but an instrument designed to blow a ragged channel through a human being.” </p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-18825471993429913502010-08-02T10:03:00.004-04:002012-03-15T12:11:16.853-04:00Shooting Buddies<p class="MsoNormal">The National Rifle Association has long perpetuated the <a href="http://www.nraila.org/issues/articles/read.aspx?id=117">myth</a> that Americans are under grave danger from hardened criminals who want to steal their property and exterminate their families. Whether it’s ridiculous pronouncements like, “<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/images/NR-F8_PERILFINAL.pdf">America, by its free and independent nature, is a breeding ground and safe haven for violent, illegal immigrant criminal gangs</a>,” or morbid declarations such as, “<a href=http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/253/>I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em</a>," the NRA rarely misses an opportunity to stoke the paranoia of the gun industry’s customer base.<br /><br />The truth is, however, that Americans are far more likely to be harmed by people they know in their everyday lives than faceless criminals. Far too often, perpetrators of homicide are family members, friends, significant others, co-workers, and acquaintances of their victims…and even fellow gun owners, as a recent story from Ohio tragically reveals.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLe9g-1eLwZ2EsTpSfl57If6IVvz5qn8T6uttGxjMHBYyGbU5D7C0nBkVx8dFF-LDqyT2ZtP1sgFKVGFBu6qTAqX4udUfj3u3pJipNreWOdH6hcFG4aAo8p9No8U8WpK4AxmtMse4x6yD/s1600/Valentino.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLe9g-1eLwZ2EsTpSfl57If6IVvz5qn8T6uttGxjMHBYyGbU5D7C0nBkVx8dFF-LDqyT2ZtP1sgFKVGFBu6qTAqX4udUfj3u3pJipNreWOdH6hcFG4aAo8p9No8U8WpK4AxmtMse4x6yD/s320/Valentino.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500814762685988626" /></a><a href="http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20100708/NEWS01/7080331/1002/rss01">On July 5, Mark Valentino was arrested and charged for the murder of his cousin and friend Hershell “Louis” Roberts in Licking County</a>. Valentino admitted to shooting Roberts as well as stealing firearms and money from his home.<br /><br />Sherriff Randy Thorp stated that Valentino and Roberts shared a love of target practice and often fired guns on a range in Roberts’ backyard. Roberts’ son-in-law, Jake Morgan, said that Valentino often took advantage of Roberts’ hospitality and generosity—Valentino would stay at his home for weeks at a time. Roberts was apparently either unaware of, or unconcerned about, Valentino’s Indiana criminal record, which included probation violations, bad checks, and even domestic violence.<br /><br />When Roberts was found dead at his home, his 20 year-old son told investigators that Valentino had a long-standing interest in his father’s missing gun collection. Allegedly, Valentino shot Roberts after a dispute regarding two guns that Valentino sought for their value. “<a href="http://www.newarkadvocate.com/section/videonetwork?bctid=111002598001">He needed the money that bad</a>,” Morgan said. “<a href="http://www.newarkadvocate.com/section/videonetwork?bctid=111002598001">[Roberts] would have given it to him, if [he] had it</a>.”<span style=""> </span>Morgan described Valentino as a man “<a href="http://www.newarkadvocate.com/section/videonetwork?bctid=111002598001#/Newark+News/10TV%3A+Homicide+victim%27s+family+speaks+out/49906925001/49924216001/111002598001">with no conscience</a>.”<br /><br />Police arrested Valentino after a 15-mile pursuit that concluded when Valentino lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a ditch. According to Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt, Roberts’ firearms and the suspected murder weapon were found in the vehicle in the resulting search. <br /><br />Valentino’s story bears eerie similarity to that of another individual “with no conscience” who preyed on a fellow gun enthusiast: Timothy McVeigh.<br /><br />McVeigh bombed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, an act of terrorism which claimed 168 lives and injured more than 680 people. Well before the bombing, McVeigh was a regular on the gun show circuit, where he sold firearms through unregulated private sales (no background checks, no records of sale). While working at gun shows, <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3vQ0n664sOgJ:intelwire.egoplex.com/nichols022004.html+terry+nichols+stole+guns+from+roger+moore+at+gun+point&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us">McVeigh befriended an Arkansas gun dealer named Roger Moore</a>. Moore testified that McVeigh stayed in his home from time to time as he traveled around the country. According to police, in order to fund the Oklahoma City bombing, McVeigh and Terry Nichols—his co-conspirator in the bombing—robbed Moore of his<a href="http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/mcveigh/turner_7.html"> gun collection while holding him at gunpoint</a>. Moore claims that he lost <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/03/us/stolen-guns-linked-to-oklahoma-bombing.html">$60,000 worth of guns, jewels, silver bars and gold coins</a> in the robbery.<br /><br />According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_12.html">only 87 Americans</a> were murdered during burglaries in 2008, despite the fact that <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/gunownership.pdf">only one out of every three American households now has a firearm</a>. As one author recently noted, “<a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/08/0083063">Statistically, you had a better chance of being killed by bees</a>.” <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_10.html">There were 7,912 homicides in 2008 for which the FBI could establish a relationship between the murderer and the victim. 78% (6,170) of these victims knew their murderer—only 22% (1,742) were murdered by a stranger</a>. Not only do 78% of victims know their murderer—<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_11.html">43% of homicides are caused by simple arguments over money, property and other mundane matters</a>. In comparison, <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_11.html">only 9% of murders are gang-related</a>.<br /><br />The NRA’s scare tactics regarding the “criminal element” are an effective sales pitch and certainly better the gun industry. If an American is convinced that their family is under overwhelming threat from unknown outsiders, a gun purchase will seem like a wonderful idea, and he/she will certainly underestimate the harm that that gun could cause <i style="">within</i> their home while in the hands of someone they know and/or love.<br /><br />Stories like that of Mark Valentino and Louis Roberts betray the NRA’s version of “reality,” depicting common scenarios where the “home invader” is someone you’ve welcomed in countless times, and where your firepower makes you a potential target and not someone to be avoided.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-426992891834867892010-07-13T09:53:00.001-04:002012-03-15T12:11:30.958-04:00Children in the Line of Fire<p class="MsoNormal">The United States, with its weak gun laws, remains an exceptionally dangerous place for children. Approximately nine children and teenagers die every day from gun violence in America. <a href="http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/protect-children-not-guns-report-2009.html">In any given year, the U.S. loses more than 3,000 children and teens to gun violence</a>; a number greater than the number of Americans that were killed in the 9/11 attacks. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American children age 14 and below are sixteen times more likely than children in other industrialized nations to be murdered with a gun, eleven times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from firearms accidents.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV7djOgGTwe5skoPv2zCSck7RsFFPpGJAqUPevCj_z-o4LJ4GkF6tcBUYgMZSPKAQidNDcoQKewuqKbHLJYPFQnwjR3dthR1Xe2ms7E2cjYF0d24ftkCnPwhAG-2Fi0fZCxYJYqWXc8W4r/s1600/Kid+With+Gun.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV7djOgGTwe5skoPv2zCSck7RsFFPpGJAqUPevCj_z-o4LJ4GkF6tcBUYgMZSPKAQidNDcoQKewuqKbHLJYPFQnwjR3dthR1Xe2ms7E2cjYF0d24ftkCnPwhAG-2Fi0fZCxYJYqWXc8W4r/s320/Kid+With+Gun.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493394493619887794" /></a>A spate of recent tragedies reminds us that children remain vulnerable even when their parents are among the most highly qualified gun owners in America—concealed handgun permit holders. For years, the gun lobby has told us that permit holders are some of the most law-abiding and responsible citizens in the country. The problem is that in approximately 40 states, little is done in terms of screening or training requirements to assure that this is the case.<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">On January 8, <a href="http://articles.mcall.com/2010-04-01/news/all-backpack-court-040110_1_granitz-allentown-police-backpack">Jaritza Alvarado’s eight year-old son Jose found her 9mm handgun and tragically shot himself in the chest</a>. Alvarado, a resident of Allentown, held a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Pennsylvania. The boy’s father told police that the previous night he had seen the gun on the dresser in the couple’s bedroom. Just before going to bed, he grabbed the weapon, loaded it, racked a round into the chamber, and placed it in a backpack on the floor of the room. That backpack belonged to Jose, who stored his video games inside it. The following morning, as his parents slept, Jose opened the backpack to find the handgun sitting on top of his games. He fatally shot himself, waking them up immediately. After searching the home, police found an extra gun magazine in a kitchen cabinet, next to a two-liter bottle of soda that had a hidden compartment used to store cocaine.<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--></p><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Marine Sergeant Colton Lumon was at home with his wife and two daughters on February 21. As nine month-old Makenna sat in her high chair eating fruit, Colton practiced drawing and “dry firing” his handgun at candles across the room. During one draw he applied too much pressure to the weapon and it accidentally discharged, striking Makenna in the hand and head. She was pronounced dead two hours later. <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2010/02/chesapeake-police-charge-father-shooting-death-9monthold">Colton had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Virginia</a> and told police he kept his weapon loaded with a bullet in the chamber at all times.<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--></p><li class="MsoNormal" style="">On February 27, <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-02-28/news/fl-deerfield-shooting-folo-20100228_1_brother-holster-console">11 year-old Randy Reddick, Jr. was accidentally shot and killed in front of his home in Deerfield Beach, Florida</a>. Earlier that day, his father, Randy Reddick, Sr.—a concealed handgun permit holder—had removed his 40-caliber Glock pistol and placed it in the center console of his truck before entering the post office. When the family returned home later that day, Randy Sr. sent Randy Jr. and his 10 year-old son outside to get his coat from the truck. The 10 year-old found the gun, which had been left in the truck, and accidentally shot his brother in the head, killing him instantly.</ul><br /><p class="MsoNormal">None of the three states in which these tragedies occurred—Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida—require any real training for concealed handgun permit holders. Pennsylvania requires no training whatsoever. Virginia requires applicants to take a one-hour online test (applicants watch a 1/2-hour video and then answer a 20-question multiple-choice test at the website). Florida requires three hours of classroom instruction. Once satisfied a single time, the Virginia and Florida requirements are good for life. Additionally, <b style="">none of these states have any mandatory safe storage requirements for firearms kept in homes where minors are present</b>.<br /><br />The results, sadly, are predictable: Unnecessary and heartbreaking tragedies that claim the most precious and vulnerable members of our society. We could—and should—be doing a lot more to protect children like Jose Alvarado, Makenna Lumon and Randy Rennick, Jr. It is a stain on our nation’s conscience that we are not.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-46719106198190751582010-07-06T09:50:00.001-04:002012-03-15T12:11:56.643-04:00Terrorists' Right to Carry<p class="MsoNormal">Political violence is not an abstract concept in America, as <a href="http://www.csgv.org/issues-and-campaigns/guns-democracy-and-freedom/insurrection-timeline">a series of incidents this year has dramatized</a>. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/041609_extremism.pdf">The Department of Homeland Security has warned the nation that a dramatic increase in right-wing extremism since the election of President Obama increases the potential for domestic terrorism</a>. <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0329/Hutaree-militia-arrests-point-to-tripling-of-militias-since-2008">The number of armed militias in America has increased a staggering 200% since 2008</a>. <br /> <br />Recently, the U.S. Congress looked at why <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/05/AR2010050505211.html">those on the FBI’s “Terrorist Watch List” can be prevented from boarding a plane, but not from purchasing firearms</a>. Indeed, experience has shown that terrorists have little or no problems acquiring virtual arsenals of firearms in America, often legally. Something that has flown beneath the public radar, however, is how easy it is for terrorists to obtain permits to carry concealed handguns.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdmyQkoRvglfzmrw9BiCViyPigaUuMbgaH0MlLFoZk3-GxUCTYC4PZnuQtGe83JLFtAkF2h2OwQr62uLdKVl-5_V-KFXMOK5p8dBPuhVRbOztr158NjH3LCe0OOkor0EezLQBY5iW4vnT8/s1600/Sickles.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdmyQkoRvglfzmrw9BiCViyPigaUuMbgaH0MlLFoZk3-GxUCTYC4PZnuQtGe83JLFtAkF2h2OwQr62uLdKVl-5_V-KFXMOK5p8dBPuhVRbOztr158NjH3LCe0OOkor0EezLQBY5iW4vnT8/s320/Sickles.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490794604226420994" /></a>In March, nine members of the “Hutaree,” a Michigan-based militia group, were arrested for allegedly <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/TheLaw/michigan-christian-militia-hutaree-targeted-law-enforcement/story?id=10228716">plotting to kill a law enforcement officer</a> and then ambush police at the subsequent funeral with guns and explosives. <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/new_weapons_charges_filed_against_hutaree.php#more">Federal agents found</a> a cache of firearms (including fully-automatic machine guns and unregistered short-barreled rifles), a variety of explosives, and more than 148,000 rounds of ammunition at just one of the homes they searched. Additionally, according to public records made available by the Ohio Sheriff’s office, at least two of the Hutaree members charged—Kristopher T. Sickles and Jacob J. Ward—had legally obtained concealed handgun permits in Ohio (most of the other charged members live in Michigan where the public is prohibited from accessing such records). Judge Victoria A. Roberts ordered the militia’s members to surrender their concealed handgun permits to authorities in a <a href="http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C415696453.PDF">decision delivered</a> on May 3.<br /><br />Self-proclaimed “<a href="http://www.hutaree.com/About%20Us.html">Christian warrior</a>” Kristopher Sickles had openly shared his <a href="http://www.infowars.com/the-strange-case-of-kristopher-sickles-and-the-hutaree-militia/">desire to initiate a Holy War against the government</a>. He gained national attention in 2008 with a sequence of YouTube videos under the alias of “Pale Horse.” The videos display Sickles dressed in military fatigues, wearing a camouflaged balaclava over his face, cradling a firearm, and using a voice modulator. In one video he calls on Americans to arm themselves against their government. Sickles also produced <a href="http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2010/03/29/pale-horse-sickles-built-christian-fantasy-of-serial-killing/">two short films</a>. The first, "<a href=http://www.myspace.com/dementincarnate>Dement Incarnate</a>," features a serial killer who is depicted reveling in the slaughter of a young child. The second film, "<a href=http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/2010/03/29/violent-video-clip-may-give-insight-into-hutaree-mindset.html>American Jihad</a>," depicts a Michigan-based military group that brutally tortures and beheads a businessman. These videos and films were widely viewed online and <a href="http://vodpod.com/watch/2068927-pale-horse-on-alex-jones-tv-44is-pale-horse-real-you-be-the-judge">“Pale Horse” even appeared on Alex Jones’ radio show</a>.<br /><br />The Hutaree are not the first members of a terrorist cell to acquire permits to carry concealed handguns in their communities. On September 25,<sup> </sup>2009, authorities arrested and charged seven men for <a href="http://mensnewsdaily.com/sexandmetro/2010/06/20/terrorists-plotted-attack-on-u-s-marines-in-quantico/">plotting an attack against the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico</a>, as well as conspiring to provide material support to terrorists abroad. Three of the terrorists charged—<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/04/carolina.terror.suspects/index.html">Dylan Alexander Boyd, Daniel Patrick Boyd</a> and <a href="http://csgv3.blogspot.com/2009/10/tale-of-two-terrorists_26.html">Anes Subasic</a>—were legally issued concealed handgun permits in the state of North Carolina. <a href="http://csgv3.blogspot.com/2009/10/tale-of-two-terrorists_26.html">Subasic obtained his permit despite numerous outstanding international warrants for his arrest in Serbia</a>. “<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=8207993">Homegrown jihadi</a>” Daniel Boyd also had an international criminal record. Boyd moved to Pakistan in 1989 and became involved with the Afghan militant group Hezb-e-Islami. In 1991 an Islamic Court tried Daniel for a suspected bank robbery where he allegedly stole $3,200, fired a handgun at bank officials, and fled. The sentence was eventually overturned on appeal after Boyd served several months of incarceration and hard labor.<br /><br />Why these men—with their connections to terrorist groups and violent histories—were able to obtain permits to carry concealed handguns in public remains unknown. A simple Google search could have turned up much, or all, of the evidence documented above.<br /><br />What <i style="">is</i> clear is that a majority of states in the U.S. make it far too easy for dangerous individuals to obtain concealed handgun permits. <a href="http://www.nraila.org/Issues/factsheets/read.aspx?ID=18">37 states</a> (including North Carolina, Michigan and Ohio) are “Shall-Issue” states that require a resident to undergo an instant computer background check and take a one-day safety and training class (if there is any training requirement at all) to obtain a permit. Law enforcement officials in these states are given no discretion to deny a permit if an applicant satisfies these basic criteria, even if they uncover additional disturbing background information about him/her. Three states (Alaska, Arizona, and Vermont) require no permit whatsoever to carry a concealed handgun.<br /><br />The featured speaker at this year’s National Rifle Association (NRA) convention, Fox News host Glenn Beck, demonstrated the organization’s (misplaced) fears about terrorism when he stated, “<a href="http://www.watchglennbeck.com/video/appearances/Glenn-Beck-2010-NRA-Speech/">God forbid, there's another Timothy McVeigh, and God forbid, that guy has in his wallet an NRA card</a>.” Beck might have added, “And God forbid he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon,” given the NRA’s overwhelming support for liberal carry laws. Not to mention that the NRA has also vigorously opposed efforts to prohibit individuals on the Terrorist Watch List from buying guns. <i style="">Washington Post</i> writer Dana Milbank recently noted that if the standard is “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/05/AR2010050505211.html?sid=ST2010050503674">Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists</a>,” then “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/05/AR2010050505211.html?sid=ST2010050503674">NRA chief Wayne LaPierre should be just a few frequent-flier miles short of a free ticket to Gitmo right about now</a>.”</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-8231349002620221802010-06-21T10:48:00.001-04:002012-03-15T12:12:09.708-04:00Pure Fantasy<p class="MsoNormal">For years, studies have shown that a gun in the home is far more likely to kill or injure a family member or loved one than an intruder. That data, however, has not deterred some Americans from arming up and fantasizing about the chance to take out a “bad guy.” At the 2005 National Rifle Association (NRA) convention, NRA Board Member Ted Nugent famously proclaimed, “<a href="http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Ted-Nugent">I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want ‘em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot ‘em</a>.” While that rhetoric might provide good material for a movie (think “Dirty Harry” or “Death Wish”), the reality of hyper-macho gun ownership is often far different in practice.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2BHftT3oSUKiPggVDvbncKQpIp_lduBLewEZHZJhDqn1-wSr4WnArI8Z2yxZfGxyXwGzIbXAHy67nb0rA7uNOppEtA5pKg-mNU8G2y8CkOFNJf7Mxi-6FDuPCgYeEK4hbd4C9xzJvf5w/s1600/I+Love+Justifiable+Homicide.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2BHftT3oSUKiPggVDvbncKQpIp_lduBLewEZHZJhDqn1-wSr4WnArI8Z2yxZfGxyXwGzIbXAHy67nb0rA7uNOppEtA5pKg-mNU8G2y8CkOFNJf7Mxi-6FDuPCgYeEK4hbd4C9xzJvf5w/s400/I+Love+Justifiable+Homicide.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485240478652430242" /></a>On June 15, Tyler Smith and Tyler Baker (both age 26) were hanging out together at a friend’s house in Portland, Oregon. The pair had been drinking earlier that night when Smith decided to demonstrate to Baker how he would use his handgun if a criminal attempted to break into his home. <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2010/06/court_documents_say_gresham_ma.html">During this demonstration, Smith discharged his loaded .380 caliber handgun into Baker’s chest, killing him</a>. Smith claimed it was an accident and has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. In an affidavit to the police, he admitted to having at least four drinks that evening.<br /><br />Both Smith and Baker had concealed handgun permits. The one-time, three-hour training course required to obtain a permit in Oregon, however, was not sufficient to prevent the June 15<sup>th</sup> tragedy (no separate training is required to simply purchase or own a handgun in Oregon). Smith apparently felt he could mix guns and alcohol without adverse consequences.<br /><br />Studies show that guns kept in the home are <a href="http://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Abstract/1998/08000/Injuries_and_Deaths_Due_to_Firearms_in_the_Home.10.aspx">22 times more likely to be used in unintentional shootings, murders, assaults, and suicide attempts than in any act of self-defense. A 12-month study done in Memphis <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnZuuWec8u5mEX2wQ8i13W6IpzcIg_CNaW9Z2FPouI5hzoCHe1lUeEFfr9l73afR3J0ZLhXn3xwz4LDCoVNmQCg5NYzYnITPZ0KM5p_ZcSywViqy4B5jZ2x5qdq3PAy7FkKfNZZ5hV7Zx/s1600/Tyler+Smith.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnZuuWec8u5mEX2wQ8i13W6IpzcIg_CNaW9Z2FPouI5hzoCHe1lUeEFfr9l73afR3J0ZLhXn3xwz4LDCoVNmQCg5NYzYnITPZ0KM5p_ZcSywViqy4B5jZ2x5qdq3PAy7FkKfNZZ5hV7Zx/s200/Tyler+Smith.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485240673900799058" /></a>and an 18-month study in Seattle and Galveston found a total of 626 shootings that occurred in or around residences. Only 13 of them were deemed legally justifiable</a>. <br /><br />For all the fantasies that Ted Nugent and other pro-gun activists have about “taking out bad guys” and being heroes, the reality is that such scenarios are highly unlikely to happen. High-profile, testosterone-fueled grandiosity might even serve to exacerbate the reckless behavior of some gun owners, increasing the inherent risk of keeping a gun in the home. Finally, the menial training requirements that most states have instituted for gun owners and gun-toters offer little hope of crowding out the gun lobby’s “Shoot First” message.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-80026283678384055732010-05-03T09:49:00.000-04:002012-03-15T12:12:21.598-04:00Cutthroat Politics<p class="MsoNormal">It has been widely reported that President Barack Obama has been receiving an enormous number of threats during his 15 months in office—<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5967942/Barack-Obama-faces-30-death-threats-a-day-stretching-US-Secret-Service.html">a 400% increase over the number received by President George W. Bush</a>. Commentators have also decried the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/health/policy/25health.html">death threats received by Members of Congress who voted for health care reform in March</a>.<br /><br />Less frequently reported, however, is the number of such threats coming from individuals who hold concealed handgun permits. This blog looks at three such cases that are particularly disturbing.<br /><br />On March 27, Norman Leboon, 38, of Philadelphia was arrested and charged with threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and his family. Leboon had posted a video on YouTube in which he warned, “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/29/AR2010032903815.html">Remember Eric...our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given. You are a liar, you're a pig...you're an abomination. You receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer's abominations</a>.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqOezgnzauw8qidcht_4pGtggvA5a4lJOKJ9JCy0bKkFRXCdiZUxSQK5PkMu4JrC5gMV0Uc9yOEiY3qgvDp9Ip5ps2wM-g0hlxjUyxUn9W6IxPsYHV8WlszqC-shLAAgXd1TiYCoLbq3G/s1600/Norman+Leboon.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqOezgnzauw8qidcht_4pGtggvA5a4lJOKJ9JCy0bKkFRXCdiZUxSQK5PkMu4JrC5gMV0Uc9yOEiY3qgvDp9Ip5ps2wM-g0hlxjUyxUn9W6IxPsYHV8WlszqC-shLAAgXd1TiYCoLbq3G/s320/Norman+Leboon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467042544392728194" /></a>Rep. Cantor was not the only public figure that Leboon had threatened. Leboon had posted thousands of videos on YouTube which were “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/norman-leboon-arrested-th_n_517246.html">bizarre [and] sometimes threatening</a>. In one of these videos, he commented, “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/norman-leboon-arrested-th_n_517246.html">Yes, President Obama, you and Vice President Biden and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and your security council say very bad things about me. Your punishment is coming, the swine, it will be severe, and you will beg for mercy to your God. It will be severe</a>.”<br /><br />According to Philadelphia court records, Norman Leboon was arrested by city police on June 14, 2009, after threatening to kill his live-in partner John Hopkins. Neither Leboon nor Hopkins showed up at the ensuing July 28 hearing. Peter Leboon tried to have his brother committed to a mental institution on numerous occasions, most recently before Christmas 2009.<br /><br />These issues did not prohibit Leboon from obtaining a concealed handgun permit in Pennsylvania, however. Peter Leboon recalls: “<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/89400167.html">The last time I tried to get him help we searched the whole house, six or seven of us, we couldn't find [his] gun. I found the permit, though, and destroyed it</a>.”<br /><br />In another case, Mark Anthony Rattenni, 37, was questioned by U.S. Secret Service agents on April 7 “<a href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/apr/08/man-questioned-threat-obama-arrested-gun-charge/">in reference to a threat against the president of the United States</a>.” When Secret Service found Rattenni in possession of a 9mm firearm, they called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy checked the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and found that Rattenni had been convicted of felony forgery in 1999 and felony assault in 2003 in New York, which made it illegal for him to own a firearm. He was subsequently arrested.<br /><br />Despite these convictions, Rattenni had been <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/palm-harbor-felon-investigated-in-threat-against-obama-arrested-on-gun/1086004">issued a permit to carry a concealed handgun in July 2007</a> by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The department had sent Ratteni a letter on December 19, 2007, stating that his permit was to be revoked because of the convictions, but the Pinellas County deputy’s check on April 7 found that the permit was still valid.<br /><br />The Yonkers District Attorney’s office in New York discovered on April 9 that Rattenni’s felony charges were eventually reduced to misdemeanors. Pinellas Chief Assistance State Attorney Bruce Bartlett has said, however, <a href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/apr/09/mans-arrest-gun-charge-may-not-be-valid-officials-/">that Rattenni still shouldn’t have passed a background check</a> to buy a handgun or obtain a concealed handgun permit.<br /><br />In the most recent event, Joseph Sean McVey, an Ohio resident, was arrested on April 26 at the Asheville Regional Airport just after Air Force One departed with the President and First Lady. McVey, 23, exited his vehicle, which was parked in a rental car return parking lot, with a loaded handgun and told a police officer that he wanted to see the president. Police searched McVey’s car and found a variety of law enforcement equipment, including a siren box, a mounted digital camera, LED strobe lights, and four large antennas. In the car’s cup holder were rifle scope formulas, which help a shooter adjust for distance when firing at a target. McVey was charged with going armed in terror of the public.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IYtHj55fxyChyphenhyphenVrhfmnyjEH2os23OKpzeXHHaSH9N7dQtvpgtLy6TeNYgadqbtuuztwk338vnxEko0Kse5pEx1kRj1N7wZYW5Zn6rYQaCcjicQKpvpi2QATwTvNilWHtSCr4_k7x1vMk/s1600/Joseph+McVey.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IYtHj55fxyChyphenhyphenVrhfmnyjEH2os23OKpzeXHHaSH9N7dQtvpgtLy6TeNYgadqbtuuztwk338vnxEko0Kse5pEx1kRj1N7wZYW5Zn6rYQaCcjicQKpvpi2QATwTvNilWHtSCr4_k7x1vMk/s200/Joseph+McVey.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467043247556269826" /></a>McVey was a concealed handgun permit holder and a member of the local Coshocton County Radio Emergency Association Citizen Team in Ohio. The citizen team is a volunteer organization that assists the sheriff’s department with traffic control at emergency scenes, which may explain why McVey had a police scanner and radio. County Police had a run-in with him in January, when McVey stopped on the highway to see if a couple who had pulled to the side of the road needed help. When he did not receive a response, he went back to his car, retrieved and holstered his handgun, and went back to the couple, at which point the man “<a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/ohio-sheriff-suspends-concealed-weapons-permit-of-armed-ohio-man-who-wanted-to-see-obama-in-nc-92195694.html">swore at [him] and came towards [him]</a>.” After being instructed by a dispatcher to leave the scene, McVey was pulled over at gunpoint and “<a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/ohio-sheriff-suspends-concealed-weapons-permit-of-armed-ohio-man-who-wanted-to-see-obama-in-nc-92195694.html">lectured on the proper way to handle a gun</a>” by police. <br /><br />After McVey’s arrest in North Carolina, Coshocton County Sheriff Tim Rogers revoked his permit to carry a concealed handgun.<br /><br />Leboon, Rattenni and McVey all obtained concealed handgun permits in “Shall-Issue” states that give local law enforcement no discretion in issuing them. Applicants who meet a basic set of criteria <i style="">must </i>be given a permit and there is limited screening for criminal and mental health history (all of which is conducted through an instant computer check). In light of increased threats to our elected officials, policy makers now have another reason to assess whether such a process adequately assures public safety.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-6136474448057503822010-04-05T09:09:00.000-04:002012-03-15T12:12:36.346-04:00A Tale of Two Neighbors<p class="MsoNormal">Much of the National Rifle Association’s current agenda in federal and state legislatures is aimed at expanding Americans’ ability to employ lethal force with a firearm in self-defense, which they assert is a “<a href="http://www.nraila.org/heller/">fundamental, God-given right</a>.” This agenda includes <a href="http://www.lcav.org/content/factsheets/Weakening_Concealed_Carry_Schemes_Factsheet.03.26.10.pdf">weakening the requirements to obtain a concealed handgun permit</a>, expanding the number of places (public and private) where concealed handguns can be carried, and enacting “Shoot First” laws that remove an individual’s duty to retreat from potentially violent confrontations. “<a href="http://texan2driver.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/why-gun-control-does-not-work-when-seconds-count-the-police-are-only-minutes-away/">When seconds count, the police are minutes away</a>,” is the mantra frequently heard from self-defense proponents in the gun “rights” community.<br /><br />When you allow and encourage untrained individuals to make unilateral decisions in heated situations involving firearms, however, the rule of law is weakened and there is a heightened potential for accidents and unnecessary violence. Last summer, two would-be vigilantes in Utah learned this lesson the hard way, and the result was a tragedy that has devastated two families and divided a community.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO94yFPWeWKMdLWgciIAiKBQtanE7oFfNWiSTpVJNupO-jTjOF5eUoDvSFyjtQOxq58S9eZAYRRIYYkCWJaoxDlD-76tJ8sjUxdb3lNgMXHFSo7fZ9tr9oyOhOlo8Pk0TSDRRcZKa-of4B/s1600/Reginald+Campos.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO94yFPWeWKMdLWgciIAiKBQtanE7oFfNWiSTpVJNupO-jTjOF5eUoDvSFyjtQOxq58S9eZAYRRIYYkCWJaoxDlD-76tJ8sjUxdb3lNgMXHFSo7fZ9tr9oyOhOlo8Pk0TSDRRcZKa-of4B/s320/Reginald+Campos.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456644330605739986" /></a>During the summer of 2009, there had been a string of car burglaries and mailbox thefts in the Bluffdale, Utah community of Parry Farms near Salt Lake City. Reginald Campos, 43, and his family had been the victims of several mail thefts. In addition, late at night, someone had broken into his garage, forced open three cars, and stole some of the family’s credit cards. The police were contacted.<br /><br />Another resident in the community, David Serbeck, 37, had warned neighbors of the thefts and organized a community watch group. On July 21, 2009, Serbeck, a former army sniper, and Troy Peterson, president of the local homeowners’ association, drove through the neighborhood looking for criminal activity after being given photos of suspicious cars by a friend in the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department. Serbeck, who holds a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Utah, brought a loaded handgun with him.<br /><br />At one point in the night, the men almost hit two girls walking in the street and stopped them to ask some questions. The girls continued on to a friend’s house, picked up two others friends, and started driving to one of their houses. When they saw Serbeck’s SUV again, they thought they were being followed. In reality, they were—their car matched one of the photos Serbeck and Peterson had.<br /><br />One of the girls was the daughter of Reginald Campos. She called her father and he got in his car to find the girls. After locating them, he escorted them back to his house. Then Campos and his daughter went back out to find the SUV Serbeck was driving. Campos brought a loaded handgun with him. Although Campos does not have a permit to carry a concealed handgun, <a href="http://publicsafety.utah.gov/bci/FirearmLaws.html#Carrying">Utah law</a> allows anyone age 18 or over to legally carry a handgun in their car without any formal safety training.<br /><br />According to Serbeck, Campos sped his own SUV in front of Serbeck’s vehicle and “<a href="http://media.bonnint.net/slc/1308/130854/13085423.pdf">slammed on [the] brakes, forcing him to stop</a>.” Campos then exited his vehicle with his handgun drawn and ordered Serbeck to put his hands up. Serbeck states he got out of his SUV holding his handgun upside down, by the barrel.<span style=""> </span>He then placed the gun on the ground and kicked it away. Campos then fired two shots at Serbeck, striking him once and damaging his spinal cord. Peterson, who remained in Serbeck’s car, corroborated this account. Detective Paul Nielson of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported that, “<a href="http://media.bonnint.net/slc/1308/130854/13085423.pdf">Serbeck’s firearm was on the ground when officers arrived [at the scene], and…had the safety lock on</a>.”<br /><br />Serbeck is now paralyzed from the chest down and Campos has been charged with attempted murder. He is claiming self-defense, despite Serbeck and Peterson’s statements. Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Alicia Cook sees things Serbeck’s way. “<a href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7313785">We determined that there was no reason to use deadly force in this situation</a>,” she said. “<a href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7313785">There is just simply not a justification for that shooting</a>.”<br /><br />Campos’ attorney, Greg Skordas, blamed a gun culture run amok in Utah. “<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/20/nation/la-na-utah-shooting20-2010mar20/4">If you and I jumped out of our cars [unarmed], we shove each other, maybe walk away embarrassed. But they had to make a decision</a>,” he stated.<br /><br />Levi Hughes, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Deputy, agreed that the presence of firearms turned what should have been at worst a fistfight into a tragedy. “<a href="http://www.ksl.com/?sid=7259059&nid=148">If you have a gun, sometimes people will feel more empowered. Problem is they don’t have the training, knowledge or experience to handle a confrontation that would require a gun</a>,” he said. The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office stopped sponsoring mobile patrol programs about ten years ago after patrol members were involved in a similar incident involving a car chase and shooting.<br /><br />The Sheriff’s Office does, however, sponsor neighborhood watches. “<a href="http://www.ksl.com/?sid=7259059&nid=148">We come to [residents’] homes. We talk to them about the things they need to watch out for, things they need to do to protect themselves</a>.” But residents are not encouraged to become vigilantes. Officers tell them, "<a href="http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story/Gun-experts-examine-possible-mistakes-behind/xRsM38RsGUOVAdjfAk0dcA.cspx">Don't take firearms with you and don't get involved. You don't stop people and interview them, don't question people you think might be involved in a crime. Leave that to law enforcement</a>.” <br /> <br />To Hughes, the Bluffdale shooting should be a clear warning to other would-be vigilantes: “<a href="http://www.ksl.com/?sid=7259059&nid=148">This is an example of what’s happened before and could happen to you if you take the law into your own hands</a>.”<br /><br />In one final tragic irony, federal authorities are close to indicting four suspects for the thefts at Parry Farms. Authorities credited the information given to them before the shooting by Reginald Campos with helping them crack the case.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-50364333160392768702010-03-29T14:22:00.000-04:002012-03-15T12:13:01.479-04:00Open Carry Nightmare<p class="MsoNormal">Starbucks has made national headlines in recent weeks because of <a href="http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/gunlobbybacked/opencarryguns">its policy allowing individuals to openly carry loaded firearms into the chain’s coffeehouses</a>. In cities and towns across America, patrons quietly drinking a cup of coffee have been alarmed by the sight of customers with handguns holstered on their waists. Starbucks has claimed they are only following local and state law—regrettably, 47 states allow "Open Carry" in public, and only 12 of them require residents to obtain permits. But the truth is Starbucks has every right to set its own rules for conduct and behavior in it stores.<br /><br />The issue is broader than Starbucks, however. In recent years, gun owners have staged “Open Carry events” in a variety of public places and private establishments with the intent of “normalizing” this behavior. In the words of OpenCarry.org founder John Pierce, “<a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-3253-Minneapolis-Gun-Rights-Examiner%7Ey2009m11d6-You-dont-hide-apple-pie">Open Carry forces those you meet, be they friends, relatives or neighbors, to reconcile their preconceived notions and prejudices regarding firearms with the fact that you are exercising this right in a safe and responsible manner</a>.” <br /><br />It is important to note, however, that not all open carriers are safe, responsible, “law-abiding” citizens simply exercising their “Second Amendment rights.” This blog highlights six individuals who you would not want to see armed in your neighborhood under any circumstances:<br /><br /><b style="">1) William Kostric</b>. On August 11, 2009, William Kostric openly carried a loaded handgun at a protest outside a town hall meeting hosted by President Barack Obama at Portsmouth High School in New Hampshire. Kostric, a New Hampshire resident, is a former member of the <a href="http://www.givemeliberty.org/user/congress/region.aspx?state=az">We The People Arizona Chapter</a>. We The People is a “Patriot” group that espouses “<a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/spring/active-patriot-groups-in-the-united-s">extreme antigovernment doctrines</a>.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0C48hg2x3QQlApS5RDPDjO2Jd-LQLPzwLfBrbxI02uQzQGjET9EKtYtoRREjuDSX-KeNEUKoQhYccgYLW2oOYHK7muhixYTcyEn5xCsCBRvx3eEpqhQ3qlUgBtxhs5t80VHCOFW6Ti5x/s1600/William+Kostric.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 136px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0C48hg2x3QQlApS5RDPDjO2Jd-LQLPzwLfBrbxI02uQzQGjET9EKtYtoRREjuDSX-KeNEUKoQhYccgYLW2oOYHK7muhixYTcyEn5xCsCBRvx3eEpqhQ3qlUgBtxhs5t80VHCOFW6Ti5x/s200/William+Kostric.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454425346011902834" /></a>During the protest, Kostric held a sign that read, “<a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-18527-Broward-County-Liberal-Examiner%7Ey2009m8d12-Protestor-brings-gun-to-Obama-town-hall">It's Time to Water the Tree of Liberty!</a>” The sign referred to the following quote by Thomas Jefferson: “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-horwitz/thomas-jefferson-and-the_b_273800.html">The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants</a>.” <br /> <br />Statements by Kostric were soon identified that shed further light on his sign’s message. On <a href="http://www.myspace.com/keysersoce">his MySpace page</a>, Kostric lists Bob Schultz, the anti-tax radical and founder of the We The People Foundation; and Randy Weaver, the anti-government radical and white supremacist; as some of his “<a href="http://www.myspace.com/keysersoce">heroes</a>.” A comment left by Kostric was also found at the <i style="">Reason Magazine</i> website. Posted on April 17, 2008, in response to an article about two Georgia men who fired guns at police as they conducted a no-knock drug raid, Kostric wrote, “<a href="http://reason.com/blog/2008/04/17/do-drug-offenders-have-the-rig">It looks the cops ran into the first amendment while violating the fourth. That's the way it's supposed to work. If people can't wake up and see why it's immoral to trespass and destroy someones property, kidnap and lock them in a cage for growing a plant in their backyard then perhaps a body count is what's required for change. I personally feel zero sympathy for those cops. I reserve my sympathy for the victims of the nonsense they initiate</a>.”<br /><br /><b style="">2) Chris Broughton</b>. On August 16, 2009, about a dozen people were noted by police to be openly carrying firearms at a health care rally across the street from a Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention at the Phoenix Convention Center, where President Barack Obama was giving an address. One of the armed protesters at the rally was Chris Broughton, a 28 year-old resident of Phoenix and <a href="http://www.givemeliberty.org/user/congress/region.aspx?state=az">Team Member of We The People's Arizona Chapter</a>. Broughton openly carried a loaded AR-15 rifle, slung on his back, as well as a loaded handgun in a holster.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKI5VsMuwul9IYojYRXt5dDFksiDmpPhmxDLaErVbySkznfwxhEH-PUJbGRxc1vZ4GOPqH5FEJ7XlYKM8qN8Kzrjh6os6s9afSt_VLHyAcVgci3QlTvDlxwzSh1T3BB2oaQUYqZAuTymP/s1600/AZ+Townhall+Gunman.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKI5VsMuwul9IYojYRXt5dDFksiDmpPhmxDLaErVbySkznfwxhEH-PUJbGRxc1vZ4GOPqH5FEJ7XlYKM8qN8Kzrjh6os6s9afSt_VLHyAcVgci3QlTvDlxwzSh1T3BB2oaQUYqZAuTymP/s200/AZ+Townhall+Gunman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454425756789368434" /></a>In an interview videotaped that day, Broughton stated that his AR-15 “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63GiXzpfGhA">aids [him] in [his] resistance efforts</a>.” He went on to say, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63GiXzpfGhA">“What do you think we did in the revolution, in the American Revolution? The British weren't stealing money from us for health care. They weren't taxing us the way they are now back then. And what did we do? We forcefully kicked them out of our country, and we will forcefully resist people imposing their will on us through the strength of the majority with a vote</a>.”<br /><br />Broughton is a congregant of fundamentalist pastor Steven Anderson at the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona. The night before President Obama's speech in Phoenix, Anderson gave a sermon where he said of the president, “<a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/1801/%E2%80%9C%5Bi%5D_pray_for_barack_obama_to_die_and_go_to_hell%E2%80%9D:_the_story_the_media_missed_">I’m not gonna pray for his good. I’m going to pray that he dies and goes to hell</a>.” Broughton, asked about the sermon in an interview outside the church, said, “<a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gun_toter_i_like_my_pastor_want_obama_to_die.php">I concur. I think we'd be better off if God would send him where he's going now instead of later. He is destroying our country</a>.” When a reporter then asked, “<a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gun_toter_i_like_my_pastor_want_obama_to_die.php">You're not advocating violence against the president?</a>” Broughton replied, “<a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gun_toter_i_like_my_pastor_want_obama_to_die.php">I'm not going to answer that question directly</a>.”<br /><br /><b style="">3) Leonard Embody</b>. On December 20, 2009, “The Radnor Lake Rambo,” <a href="http://csgv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/these-second-amendment-rights-need-to.html">Leonard Embody</a>, was detained for openly carrying a loaded AK-47 pistol into Radnor Lake State Park in Tennessee. He was apparently testing a new state law allowing those with concealed carry permits to bring their handguns into state parks. One park visitor who encountered Embody reported, “<a href="http://www.wsmv.com/news/22041597/detail.html">He was wearing military boots and a black skull cap. He didn’t look like the friendliest of guys. It was scary</a>.” Park rangers were notified and Embody was questioned, but subsequently released.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PO9vrvl6Tn5KxF0F7D_mjcRDUWppyId7Q-wWMpL7SngH3XXfyFyO0dMzogJK8siExv_aaOmDNO6wHM2KqRRGbt22vNeJ6oBylCrC_tjFSh1Nx5sngqgYgGQNK9WXdL79FTSOOXnDL5U9/s1600/Embody's+AK-47.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 103px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PO9vrvl6Tn5KxF0F7D_mjcRDUWppyId7Q-wWMpL7SngH3XXfyFyO0dMzogJK8siExv_aaOmDNO6wHM2KqRRGbt22vNeJ6oBylCrC_tjFSh1Nx5sngqgYgGQNK9WXdL79FTSOOXnDL5U9/s200/Embody's+AK-47.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454426240147135026" /></a>On January 20 of this year, Embody was questioned by law enforcement again after he was found openly carrying a pistol on Belle Meade Boulevard. He carried his 1851 Model Navy black powder pistol “<a href="http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2010/03/funny-how-things-work-out.html">in an unsafe manner, in an unsafe location and in an unsafe condition</a>.”<br /><br />Thomas Sexton, the Criminal Investigator for the Belle Meade Police Department, sent a letter to the Tennessee Department of Safety on February 26, stating, “<a href="http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2010/03/funny-how-things-work-out.html">[Embody’s] actions clearly are for his own benefit and do not represent the actions of a responsible citizen wishing to safely carry a handgun for legitimate purposes</a>.” On March 12, Embody received a letter from the Department of Safety informing him that his concealed carry permit had been revoked. According to Embody, the letter said, “<a href="http://www.wsmv.com/news/22834140/detail.html">There was a material likelihood that [he] was a risk to the public</a>.”<br /><br /><b style="">4) Unidentified Alamogordo Protester</b>. On January 2, 2010, approximately 300 people attended a <a href="http://csgv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/these-second-amendment-rights-need-to.html">rally in Alamogordo, New Mexico</a>, organized by the local Otero Tea Party Patriots and <a href="http://www.mylibertyzone.com/index.html">Second Amendment Task Force</a>. The purpose of the rally was to protest health care reform and the Obama administration, and many of the rally's participants openly carried handguns and/or rifles. Alamogordo Department of Public Safety officers and the New Mexico State Police drove by “<a href="http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_14113406">at no less than five-minute intervals during the two-hour event</a>.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rvYPP57n_epaD8QJ7RbnWYApTD5L4g4B47qILVFcZVmUYI2fjTTko4YOq-oCZHT9Bcbhs2C7HiIN44hcMByg0nT4YcO2yclW9dJuoKoAJE3t6P04q32z8GbLe-XJOWHKe68LMlTE0g9G/s1600/New+Mexico+Rally+Mao+Quoter.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rvYPP57n_epaD8QJ7RbnWYApTD5L4g4B47qILVFcZVmUYI2fjTTko4YOq-oCZHT9Bcbhs2C7HiIN44hcMByg0nT4YcO2yclW9dJuoKoAJE3t6P04q32z8GbLe-XJOWHKe68LMlTE0g9G/s200/New+Mexico+Rally+Mao+Quoter.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454426680459405778" /></a>In a videotaped interview with a reporter from the <i style="">New Mexico Independent</i>, one protester stated that his handgun was a “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqjVWifq4Kc">very open threat</a>” to the “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqjVWifq4Kc">Socialist Communists</a>” in the Obama administration. “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqjVWifq4Kc">The government fears the people, and a disarmed people are slaves</a>,” he said. “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqjVWifq4Kc">Political power comes from the barrel of a gun ... They’re pushing us to our limits</a>.”<br /><br />Ron Browne of Alamogordo, a bystander at the rally, saw things differently. “<a href="http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_14113406">I see this as the seeds of terrorism being born</a>,” he said. “<a href="http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_14113406">You have the guns. Eventually, you'll have the hate, then someone will actually take it one step further and try to hurt the president. Hate has to start somewhere and grow. This is it, right here. You're looking at it. If this keeps expanding, we're going to have a civil war</a>.”<br /><br /><b style="">5) Christian George Gonzales</b>. Just after midnight on February 12, 2010, Christian George Gonzales, 29, walked out of a 7-Eleven in San Bruno, California, with a .40 caliber handgun on his belt. He approached two police <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeO_8n9zIWl5ynPLXWzMpazAMMv9QHnMSKqrlFST2vUEAVsQfREmvO51bWM8U8tPdDtGf1P6wHX3HyLOCOitEQ17H9KbVvF2y9d33DYgZnFXLOYDKzKME-uXvYHzfsZpeD-yRUl9xYzFXp/s1600/Christian+Gonzales.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeO_8n9zIWl5ynPLXWzMpazAMMv9QHnMSKqrlFST2vUEAVsQfREmvO51bWM8U8tPdDtGf1P6wHX3HyLOCOitEQ17H9KbVvF2y9d33DYgZnFXLOYDKzKME-uXvYHzfsZpeD-yRUl9xYzFXp/s200/Christian+Gonzales.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454427715582135458" /></a>officers in the parking lot, asking Officer Jack Boland, “<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?entry_id=59166">Want to check me</a>?” California law requires those who carry guns openly to keep them unloaded (although ammunition magazines can be openly carried as well, allowing for instant loading)—and Gonzales was apparently trying to make some kind of point with the officers.<br /><br />The gun was indeed unloaded, but the officers promptly arrested Gonzales for being drunk in public. Gonzalez was so inebriated he "<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?entry_id=59166">stumbled backwards and fell into the [officers’] patrol car</a>." According to Steve Wagstaffe, San Mateo County’s chief deputy district attorney, Boland has known Gonzales for years because of his “<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?entry_id=59166">predilection for alcohol</a>.”<br /><br /><b>6) Mike Vanderboegh</b>. In a March 19, 2010 blog posting entitled, “<a href="http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2010/03/to-all-modern-sons-of-liberty-this-is.html">To all modern Sons of Liberty: THIS is your time. Break their windows. Break them NOW</a>,” Mike Vanderboegh incited all those unhappy with health care reform legislation to action. When incidents of vandalism were reported hours later at Democratic offices throughout the country, Vanderboegh was quick to take credit (several U.S. Representatives who voted for health care reform also received death threats).<br /><br />Vanderboegh is the <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/22/1830379/democratic-offices-vandalized.html">former leader</a> of the <a href="http://www.constitution.org/mil/al/mil_usal.htm">Alabama Constitutional Militia</a> and the author of the <a href="http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/">Sipsey Street Irregulars</a> blog. The blog refers to “The Three Percent,” meaning the percentage of American gun owners who “<a href="http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/">will not disarm, will not compromise and will no longer back up at the passage of the next gun control act</a>.” “<a href="http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/">We are the people that the collectivists who now control the government should leave alone if they wish to continue unfettered oxygen consumption</a>,” Vanderboegh warns.<br /><br />In his March 19 posting, Vanderboegh expanded on this idea and aired his frustration with health care reform:<br /><br /><blockquote>When the law becomes a deadly tool of tyranny, it is no longer a good thing to be obedient and “law-abiding.” It is, in fact, suicidal ... This is the message that modern Sons of Liberty should get across to the Royalists of today. Now. Before we have to resort to rifles to resist their ‘well intentioned’ tyranny ... It is, after all, more humane than shooting them in self defense. And if we do a proper job, if we break the windows of hundreds, thousands, of Democrat party headquarters across this country, we might just wake up enough of them to make defending ourselves at the muzzle of a rifle unnecessary.</blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDDdAccnv0EvuDLXtHPYtLV3JjONvWaYoOas58gM7mVmiqXj14wy9dffDnh9yWIo7D-NbPsiwyNo9E8CFF45f-d1KScIFaxhmYlMyz_8e7mgWMkrXhxpv82HZ3TQgnh7xZpgOGH7hZYoY/s1600/Vanderboegh.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 141px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDDdAccnv0EvuDLXtHPYtLV3JjONvWaYoOas58gM7mVmiqXj14wy9dffDnh9yWIo7D-NbPsiwyNo9E8CFF45f-d1KScIFaxhmYlMyz_8e7mgWMkrXhxpv82HZ3TQgnh7xZpgOGH7hZYoY/s200/Vanderboegh.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454431588800977298" /></a><p class="MsoNormal">Vanderboegh’s violent call to action has made him a darling of the Open Carry movement. He will be a <a href="http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2010/02/restore-constitution-open-carry-rally.html">featured speaker</a> at the “<a href="http://westernrifleshooters.blogspot.com/2010/02/restore-constitution-open-carry-rally.html">Restore the Constitution Open Carry Rally</a>” on April 19 in Fort Hunt National Park, Virginia. According to the organizers, the site was chosen because it is the closest attendees can get to Washington, D.C. and still legally carry guns in public. The date is significant because it recognizes three anniversaries: The Battle of Lexington/Concord in 1775, during which the opening shots in the American revolution were fired; the burning of the Branch Davidian compound in 1993 during federal law enforcement’s siege in Waco, Texas; and the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 by Timothy McVeigh.<br /><br />When these Open Carry activists began to make headlines last year, even some ardent gun rights activists began to express reservations about the practice. Alan Gottlieb, founder of the far-right-wing <a href="http://www.saf.org/">Second Amendment Foundation</a>, said, “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/us/08guns.html">I’m all for open carry laws, but I don’t think flaunting it is very productive for our cause. It just scares people</a>.” Clayton Cramer, gun rights advocate and author of <i>Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie</i>, opined, “<a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/openly-carrying-guns-can-be-unwise-even-when-its-legal/">gun owners should think long and hard about whether it serves our best interests to offend, disturb, or concern people</a>” by openly carrying firearms. <br /><br />John Pierce of OpenCarry.org claims that if gun owners “<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92126421">made it very clear to…people that they meet every day that gun ownership is a wholesome and responsible activity, we would see many of the negative stereotypes go away</a>.” The problem is that open carriers, in many cases, are not living up to Pierce’s standards. Until they do, such negative stereotypes will remain rooted in reality.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-35844241407998349522010-03-15T10:14:00.000-04:002012-03-15T12:13:15.034-04:00Hit and Gun<p class="MsoNormal">Concealed carry advocates frequently talk about their imminent need to be armed in public, saying things like, “When seconds count, the police are minutes away.” Unfortunately, what some concealed handgun permit holders consider to be self-defense can rightfully be deemed aggression by others. Additionally, permit holders sometimes display little interest in the assistance of law enforcement even when they <i style="">are</i> seconds away, as <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6896633.html">a recent tragedy in Texas</a> reveals.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZlxtEEfaVmtWB2Rw6tgfVjRwDnx6kQd6OPpR7I4P0BEP4vN6beLmvGaHXSr-Lnf7oSAv6le8vF25Gen9oWWn0lYSCJ385E-etkZTxoOs-Bh9gZhTpMmGxMbdGRYuIbsrm_22gfr5lUv0/s1600-h/Alexis+Wiley.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 145px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZlxtEEfaVmtWB2Rw6tgfVjRwDnx6kQd6OPpR7I4P0BEP4vN6beLmvGaHXSr-Lnf7oSAv6le8vF25Gen9oWWn0lYSCJ385E-etkZTxoOs-Bh9gZhTpMmGxMbdGRYuIbsrm_22gfr5lUv0/s320/Alexis+Wiley.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448864878984198658" /></a>On March 3, Sonya Randle and her 13-year old daughter Alexis Wiley were driving home from a high school basketball game in Houston, Texas, when Richard Calderon, 24, ran a stop sign and hit their car with his 1998 Cadillac. Before Randle could get out of her Nissan Altima to talk to Calderon, he sped off, leaving the scene of the accident. Randle followed Calderon and was able to get his license plate number. She then passed him to continue her drive home. At that point, Calderon began to chase Randle. After closing the distance between the two vehicles, he drew a 9 mm handgun and fired two rounds into the Altima’s rear windshield. Alexis, who was sitting in the back seat, was hit in the head by one of the bullets. She died from her injuries the next morning at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. <br /><br />Randle gave police the license plate number and they located Calderon at the address where the Cadillac was registered. Calderon had covered the vehicle with a tarp. He turned over his handgun and indicated he possessed a permit to carry a concealed handgun. Calderon claimed he had acted in “self-defense” when he saw a front-seat passenger in Randle’s car lean out of the window holding “<a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6896633.html">something shiny</a>.”<br /><br />Sgt. Brian Harris of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division doesn't buy it. He stated, “<a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6896633.html">Pursuing is not acting in self-defense. [Calderon] was able to clearly articulate there was no imminent threat to him—whatever threat he perceived had already passed</a>.” Sgt. Harris continued, “<a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6896633.html">His story doesn't match the ten other witnesses that we have—and that's the problem</a>.”<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOwhiQmPF1RENRppgYd6h8l5rmDiwEUZsnd6OlbkBOXqkGtB1nX27lrr-JANYnyrjNui8odr1nACywSxVOM9pH90iDoXH9WaoXZeWACNROcFA4fAe8t1PF9UWpShHoNOAB0hoFPXqAJQB/s1600-h/Richard+Calderon.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOwhiQmPF1RENRppgYd6h8l5rmDiwEUZsnd6OlbkBOXqkGtB1nX27lrr-JANYnyrjNui8odr1nACywSxVOM9pH90iDoXH9WaoXZeWACNROcFA4fAe8t1PF9UWpShHoNOAB0hoFPXqAJQB/s320/Richard+Calderon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448864933618083858" /></a>Calderon was charged with felony murder and made an initial court appearance on the morning of March 5, posting $50,000 bond. While he went free, family and friends of Alexis Wiley mourned her death. One of her classmates at Johnston Middle School said, “<a href="http://www.khou.com/home/Man-charged-in-shooting-death-of-13-year-old-girl-out-on-50K-bond-86650997.html">Everyone is walking around and they’re crying, even if they didn’t know her</a>.” <br /><br />Road rage is a common phenomenon in the United States, and this is not the first time Ordinary People has commented on stories about such incidents involving concealed handgun permit holders (including violent encounters in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020404554.html">Fairfax</a>, <a href="http://csgv2.blogspot.com/2009/09/few-volunteers-for-nra-agenda.html">Knoxville</a>, <a href="http://csgv3.blogspot.com/2009/02/ordinary-people-parking-violation_23.html">Memphis</a>, <a href="http://csgv3.blogspot.com/2009/03/ordinary-people-fake-cop_30.html">Port St. Lucie</a> and <a href="http://csgv3.blogspot.com/2008/09/ordinary-people-road-rage_29.html">Pembroke Pines</a>). According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, “<a href="http://www.aaafoundation.org/resources/index.cfm?button=agdrtext#1A">an average of at least 1,500 men, women, and children are injured or killed each year in the United States as a result of ‘aggressive driving</a>.’”<br /><br />Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_15.html">there were only 204 instances of justifiable homicide with a firearm by American citizens in all of 2008, according to the FBI</a>.<br /> <br />Had Calderon not been carrying a handgun on March 3, Alexis Wiley would probably still be alive. And Calderon, at worst, would be dealing with the consequences of leaving the scene of an accident where no one was injured. Instead he is facing murder charges, and as Sgt. Harris noted, “<a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6896633.html">you have two families’ lives that are destroyed</a>.”</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-84212983546607437482010-03-08T10:04:00.000-05:002012-03-15T12:18:17.769-04:00The Right Priorities<p class="MsoNormal">Two recent stories in California shed light on how the concealed handgun permitting process in the state works—and sometimes doesn’t work.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPUF3a2w3Bis6RSD4MJ6WhASBbBZpCgjZeg7KwShNEkd-yOcYm0JFxcQHaHW4GhmI3-91C07oqtmvBXtELQHX1LwFJ-Sq3-4VuVIeBIb3vLwcGm4fDDZi4zBGVCECDP-JkCmN6b264Xvw/s1600-h/Hutchens.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPUF3a2w3Bis6RSD4MJ6WhASBbBZpCgjZeg7KwShNEkd-yOcYm0JFxcQHaHW4GhmI3-91C07oqtmvBXtELQHX1LwFJ-Sq3-4VuVIeBIb3vLwcGm4fDDZi4zBGVCECDP-JkCmN6b264Xvw/s200/Hutchens.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446284165697201106" /></a>The first story involves a local sheriff in Orange County who is garnering criticism for placing public safety too high on her priority list. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens replaced Sheriff Mike Carona in 2008 after Carona was indicted on federal corruption charges. Carona had also come under scrutiny for his practice of providing friends and business associates with concealed handgun permits. “<a href="http://totalbuzz.freedomblogging.com/2010/02/24/hutchens-in-spotlight-over-concealed-weapons-permits/30745/">The policy under the previous administration was to freely give them out</a>,” Hutchens stated. “<a href="http://totalbuzz.freedomblogging.com/2010/02/24/hutchens-in-spotlight-over-concealed-weapons-permits/30745/">It comes down to whether you’re going to follow the law. The prior sheriff did not</a>.”<br /><br />Carona set up a program where those who donated over $1,000 to his campaign <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/news/hutchens-196783-carona-concealed.html">were granted concealed handgun permits and badges through a program called "Professional Service Responders."</a> An investigation revealed that the recipients of these permits gave at least $68,000 to Carona. One of these permit holders, Carona's former martial arts instructor, was <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/17/opinion/ed-sheriff17">sentenced to six months in prison after drawing his gun in a dispute on a golf course</a>. Others had prior criminal convictions before receiving a permit.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/california.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">California</a> is a “May-Issue” state, meaning that law enforcement officials have discretion in issuing concealed handgun permits. Applicants must provide a “<a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/california.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">good cause</a>” for wanting a permit and demonstrate “<a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/california.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">good moral character</a>.” They are interviewed and run though a computerized instant background check, and can be required to submit a medical clearance letter from a physician and/or undergo psychological or polygraph testing. Hutchens’ policy is to issue permits to “<a href="http://blog.ocsd.org/post/2008/08/11/New-Carry-Concealed-Weapons-Permit-Policy-Announced-by-Sheriff.aspx">persons of good and upstanding character who possess credible, significant, and substantiated cause to fear for their safety. [Permits] will not be issued for political, social or other reasons</a>.”<br /><br />Since coming into office, Hutchens has revoked 132 permits issued by Carona (individuals targeted for revocation were given the option of having their permits expire early so they would not have a “revoked” denotation on their record). Another 168 individuals permitted by Carona did not seek renewal. Of the applications for new permits and renewals evaluated by Hutchens, 564 out of 642 have been approved (90%). <br /><br />This is apparently not good enough for the National Rifle Association (NRA), gun rights activists, and certain county supervisors, who have accused Hutchens of launching a “<a href="http://www.sheriffhutchens.com/news/read/?id=1534">misguided jihad</a>.” One man who had his permit revoked by Hutchens stated, “<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/03/local/me-parsons3">It’s a telling sign of a public official who brings in a philosophy from Los Angeles that doesn’t belong in Orange County and imposes that philosophy against the will of the people and the board that hired her</a>.” The two men running against Hutchens in the November elections, Bill Hunt and Craig Hunter, have also harped on the issue.<br /><br />Another recent story from California, however, reinforces Hutchens’ wisdom in taking a close look at applicants for concealed handgun permits.<br /><br />On February 26, law enforcement officials went to the Minkler community home of Rick Liles with a warrant for arson and firearm violations. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1gCfCiKhlAoM_ha_EUVoGQX3oS5ijalkjfW2kqdeRP8WdwKKPsc8m_5puhcdxlIMc2pQ99hxzaXlPpBLCxet7YUudf05gx5lvFOevL0JOd96sNkHMYjvpVXdiRgEEyVJO69PJBqw6oSZ/s1600-h/Minkler+Shooting.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1gCfCiKhlAoM_ha_EUVoGQX3oS5ijalkjfW2kqdeRP8WdwKKPsc8m_5puhcdxlIMc2pQ99hxzaXlPpBLCxet7YUudf05gx5lvFOevL0JOd96sNkHMYjvpVXdiRgEEyVJO69PJBqw6oSZ/s320/Minkler+Shooting.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446282792098383570" /></a>When they attempted to arrest Liles, he responded with gunfire from an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. At least 150 officers from nearly a dozen agencies arrived on the scene to lay siege to the mobile home. After firing 400 rounds of ammunition into the trailer, authorities were finally able to suppress Liles’ fire. Tragically, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy Joel Wahlenmaier was shot dead and Reedley Police Department Officer Javier Bejar was critically wounded (another officer sustained minor gunshot wounds). Officer Bejar was taken off life support and died on March 1.<br /><br />When authorities finally entered Liles’ trailer hours later, they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His personal arsenal consisted of five handguns and five rifles.<br /><br />Liles had been issued a <a href="http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/7126256/">permit to carry a concealed handgun</a> by Fresno County in 2003. He renewed the permit on two occasions before it expired in the summer of 2009.<br /><br />This was despite Liles’ personal history, which indicated a propensity toward violence and mental instability. Neighbors and local residents had accused Liles of setting fires on their property and firing bullets into nearby homes, one of which “<a href="http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2010/03/02/1333336/wife-of-man-accused-of-shooting.html">caused minor injuries to a neighbor</a>.” Mary Novak, owner of the Minkler Cash Store, had been one of Liles’ targets. “<a href="http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/85772557.html?video=YHI&t=a">I don’t think it was focused towards me</a>,” she said. “<a href="http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/85772557.html?video=YHI&t=a">I think he was reaching out for something, maybe help</a>.” Liles’ wife Diane “<a href="http://dailyme.com/story/2010022700002850/minkler-suspect-planned-deadly-shootout-ricky.html">told police that [he] had been taking several medications, including Prozac</a>.” She also indicated he was becoming <a href="http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/85602087.html?video=YHI&t=a">increasingly paranoid with violent thoughts</a>. <a href="http://dailyme.com/story/2010022700002850/minkler-suspect-planned-deadly-shootout-ricky.html#ixzz0h8Bn2tWP">Liles told Diane several times in recent months that he intended to shoot officers and then take his own life rather than go to prison</a>.[Diane has a violent past of her own—<a href="http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=12072201">she was convicted in 2005 of threatening to kill a co-worker with a gun</a>.]<br /><br />Incidents like the one in Minkler demonstrate the importance of thoroughly screening concealed handgun applicants to ensure their mental stability and good character. If every sheriff in California embraced comprehensive and thorough screening procedures like Sandra Hutchens, it would be extremely difficult for dangerous individuals to obtain concealed handgun permits. In a state that loses over 3,300 of its residents to gun violence each year, citizens should lend their support to a sheriff who values public safety over the personal convenience of a small group of individuals.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-57021967439351915732010-02-01T09:44:00.000-05:002012-03-15T12:18:41.058-04:00"His mental state was in question."<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012005139.html">On January 19, Christopher Bryan Speight, 39, shot and killed eight people inside and around the home he shared with family members in Appomattox, Virginia</a>. His victims were Lauralee Sipe, 38, Speight's sister; Dwayne Sipe, 38, his brother-in-law; Morgan Dobyns, 15, Speight's niece; Joshua Sipe, 4, his nephew; Emily A. Quarles, 15, Morgan's friend; Karen Quarles, 43, Emily's mother; Jonathan L. Quarles, 43, Emily's father; and Ronald "Bo" Scruggs II, 16, Emily’s boyfriend.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8_a-sYQCiqlrHGawF2_ReMmG7MacMTWXMcW_GEhHdvJ_GR1Giw1erOnISowr61Pl_nJN4FFZXfXUFg4eFgZFxMYmHhxAaTxT1LKTu60KYy8KlTnnUtfTaJ2_FTdgHfvLxEj1ITswMwFG/s1600-h/Speight+House.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8_a-sYQCiqlrHGawF2_ReMmG7MacMTWXMcW_GEhHdvJ_GR1Giw1erOnISowr61Pl_nJN4FFZXfXUFg4eFgZFxMYmHhxAaTxT1LKTu60KYy8KlTnnUtfTaJ2_FTdgHfvLxEj1ITswMwFG/s320/Speight+House.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433288692168382498" /></a>More than 150 law enforcement officials arrived on the scene in response to the shootings and combed the nearby woods in search of Speight. During the siege, Speight took down a Virginia State Police helicopter by piercing its fuel tank with six rounds from a high-powered rifle (<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012005139.html?sid=ST2010012000922&sub=AR">Speight had participated in National Rifle Association rifle competitions, which he excelled in</a>). Eventually, Speight surrendered to authorities. He has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, with more charges likely coming.<br /><br />A search of Speight’s house uncovered<span class="articlefont"> 17 bombs, including seven homemade grenades, two improvised explosive devices “<a href="http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/update_court_records_detail_weapons_found_on_suspects_appomattox_property/23415/">with chemical irritant attached</a>,” two IED “<a href="http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/update_court_records_detail_weapons_found_on_suspects_appomattox_property/23415/">anti-personnel mines</a>,” two pipe bombs and four more IEDs</span>. Authorities also found more than a dozen firearms (including at least three AR-15 assault rifles and two Chinese-made Uzis) and “<a href="http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/article/attorney_dispute_over_house_may_have_led_to_appomattox_shootings/17312/">large amounts</a>” of ammunition. Night-vision equipment, body armor and a pair of homemade mortar tubes were also found inside the home.<br /><br />A search of Appomattox County court records has revealed that Speight held a concealed handgun permit, which was renewed on two occasions (in 2004 and 2009) despite his “<a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Virginia-Shooting-Suspect-Had-History-of-Mental-Breakdowns-82428037.html">history of mental breakdowns</a>,” which was well known to his family and their attorney. Speight also apparently legally purchased the guns used in the shootings, and <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201463-Man-is-charged-with-murder-in-8-Appomattox-shootings-He-said-he-had-a-zinging-in-his-ears-">bought and sold firearms through unregulated private transfers</a> (i.e., no background checks, no paperwork).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.csgv.org/issues-and-campaigns/concerns-about-concealed-carry/mass-shootings-by-concealed-handgun-permit-holders-in-2009">There were six confirmed mass shootings by concealed handgun permit holders in 2009</a>. Speight becomes the first in 2010.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtN032RGTDf4mMFdl_1l85jrG9dniPyYY8ZSgetOzPG0zkVMcERiAY0PP8bP_GKaErYX67G8qEQOZFrQTXF8LviXrpI1v5RXZK_mEAT67sX29H5DSpa8GUr2dgdJ9VWzi6KFhlDI9n-2_R/s1600-h/Speight.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtN032RGTDf4mMFdl_1l85jrG9dniPyYY8ZSgetOzPG0zkVMcERiAY0PP8bP_GKaErYX67G8qEQOZFrQTXF8LviXrpI1v5RXZK_mEAT67sX29H5DSpa8GUr2dgdJ9VWzi6KFhlDI9n-2_R/s320/Speight.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433288831516692674" /></a>Those who knew Speight say he may have become fixated on the notion that his sister wanted to oust him from the Appomattox County home passed down to them by their grandparents and mother. Speight was removed as a trustee of the property in 2007 “<a href="http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/article/attorney_dispute_over_house_may_have_led_to_appomattox_shootings/17312/">over concern for his stability</a>.” When family members met with him to discuss the matter, he “talked about booby-trapping his bedroom.” Speight also told friends he heard a “zinging” in his ears following the death of his mother in 2006. As the family attorney, Henry Devening, describes it, “<a href="http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/article/attorney_dispute_over_house_may_have_led_to_appomattox_shootings/17312/">his mental state was in question</a>.” <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012005139.html?hpid=moreheadlines">Speight was apparently seeing a therapist</a> to address these issues.<br /><br />Under Virginia law, individuals are disqualified from obtaining concealed handgun permits for reason of mental health under a narrow set of criteria, including the following: a) If they have been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution; b) If they have been adjudicated as “mentally incompetent,” and; c) If they have been acquitted by reason of insanity. Virginia makes no provision for people who do not fall under certain specific criteria but who are nonetheless seriously mentally ill.<br /><br />Additionally, no investigative authority exists to make sure these disqualifications are detected. The Virginia State Police conduct instant computer background checks to verify mental health information <a href="http://content.thirdway.org/publications/69/Third_Way_Report_-_Missing_Records_-_Holes_in_the_Background_Check_System_-_How_They_Allow_Illegal_Buyers_to_Get_Guns.pdf">through databases that are missing millions of disqualifying records</a>. This process failed to turn up any information about Speight’s mental health issues.<br /><br />In his most recent application to renew his concealed handgun permit, filed on January 6 of last year, Speight described himself in court papers as a dependable person who showed pride in his ability to "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012005139.html?sid=ST2010012000922&sub=AR">find ways to get out of problems without using force or violence</a>." The tragic irony of that statement is now apparent.<br /><br />As Alice Mountjoy, the Government Relations Coordinator of the <a href="http://www.vacps.org/">Virginia Center for Public Safety</a>, recently commented, “When an individual with as tortured a mental health history as Christopher Speight is able to get a concealed handgun permit, it confirms what we have been saying for years ... The screening process [for concealed carry applicants in Virginia] is broken and does little to assure that permit holders are both law-abiding and mentally fit to carry handguns around our families in public.”</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-45057754806131547842010-01-25T09:54:00.000-05:002010-01-25T10:14:43.047-05:00A Familiar Pattern<p class="MsoNormal">During the past decade, independent audits of concealed handgun permit holder rosters in states such as <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2007-01-28/news/MGUNS28_1_carry-a-gun-license-to-carry-concealed">Florida</a>, <a href="http://8.12.42.31/2000/oct/03/news/mn-30319">Texas</a> and <a href="http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/dec/09/tennessee-domestic-violence-cases-shoot-down-gun-p/?local">Tennessee</a> have revealed that violent individuals can—and frequently do—obtain carry permits. Last summer, the<i> Indianapolis Star</i>, conducted an in-depth, independent investigation of their own in their home state, examining more than 900,000 concealed carry permit applications, court records, and police reports.<br /><br /><i style="">The Star</i> uncovered “<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">a system that breaks down in numerous ways, enabling people with troubled and often violent pasts to legally keep a loaded gun in their waistbands and on their passenger seats</a>.” Specifically, 450 permit holders with “<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">dubious backgrounds</a>” were identified in Marion and Lake Counties. In many of these cases, “<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">local police recommended disapproval but the Indiana State Police granted the permit</a>.” Several of these individuals went on to commit additional acts of violence with the guns they had been legally permitted to carry.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx22NdEeHKeH2E93IVlYzQp-hp_BIG06-cNssb51HFKnr08VLhu2moNMxWl27B3D1LkDUHkL3ck9GUj-whqx31h2Ea4MQiTZF8_dZOBB8oc9uGCsu_pKOH2xlSYN3BJAq4uOLSu6IxoAib/s1600-h/Indianapolis+Skyline.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx22NdEeHKeH2E93IVlYzQp-hp_BIG06-cNssb51HFKnr08VLhu2moNMxWl27B3D1LkDUHkL3ck9GUj-whqx31h2Ea4MQiTZF8_dZOBB8oc9uGCsu_pKOH2xlSYN3BJAq4uOLSu6IxoAib/s320/Indianapolis+Skyline.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430694134299242338" /></a>Indiana is a <a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/indiana.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">“shall-issue” state</a>, which means that law enforcement authorities are required to issue a concealed carry permit after an applicant passes a computerized background check (which determines if the applicant is prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm). However, the state lays out additional requirements for applicants. They must be of “<a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/indiana.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">good character and reputation</a>” and a “<a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/indiana.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">proper person</a>.” The definition of “proper person” is detailed in the law—and defines additional behavior that would prohibit someone from obtaining a permit. Applicants who have “<a href="http://www.lcav.org/states/indiana.asp#carryingconcealedweapons">a propensity for violent or emotionally unstable conduct</a>” are specifically prohibited. What it means to be of “good character and reputation,” however, is left up to the discretion of law enforcement.<br /><br />There are approximately 300,000 active concealed handgun permits in Indiana. In 2008, State Police reviewed 77,429 applications, including renewals. Of those, only 1,278 (about 1.6%) were denied. For whatever reason, Indiana State Police have failed to deny a permit under the “good character” provision since the 1980s. Additionally, because the State Police frequently receive incomplete records from local officials, it can be difficult to confirm who is a “proper person.”<br /><br />Certainly more applicants <i style="">should </i>have been denied. Among the <a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">Indiana permit holders turned up by the <i style="">Star</i></a><i style=""> </i>were the following:<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Tony Thomas had five misdemeanor convictions before receiving his permit in 2006. Several months later, Thomas held his wife captive in their home for four days, threatening to shoot her and their four children.<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">William Gammon threatened to kill his girlfriend at gunpoint in 2008 and left “<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">a very noticeable round circle mark</a>” on her forehead. Gammon also had five misdemeanor convictions (one was a felony reduced to a misdemeanor) before receiving his permit in 2006.<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Brandon Kennedy had several misdemeanor convictions and two documented incidents of firing his handgun in the air in public before receiving his permit.</li></ul> <br /><p class="MsoNormal">Miguel Roa, an Indianapolis police officer who was on duty last year when Gammon threatened his life, said, “<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">You can have an extensive criminal history and still have a permit … At some point you should say enough is enough</a>.”<br /><br />The <i style="">Star </i>made several recommendations regarding how to address this problem:<br /><br /><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Create an administrative definition of “good character and reputation” to aid State Police in the application approval and denial process.<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">“<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">Reconsider alternative misdemeanor sentencing as it relates to gun permits</a>,” to allow State Police to deny applicants with multiple misdemeanor convictions but no felony convictions (or those with felony charges that were reduced to misdemeanors charges).<br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Improve the communication lines between State Police and local police. This could involve creating a centralized law enforcement information system “<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20091011/NEWS14/910110365">to provide more than just a list of charges and dispositions on an applicant</a>.”</li></ul> <br /><p class="MsoNormal">The Indiana state legislature, however, has decided to address the problem in a decidedly different way. After outrage was expressed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) at “<a href="http://www.nraila.org/legislation/read.aspx?id=5282">the irresponsible actions of Indiana newspapers</a>,” the Indiana House Natural Resources Committee voted 11-0 on January 14 to approve legislation that would prevent information about concealed handgun permit holders from being released to the public or the media.<br /><br />The argument for the legislation involves “privacy issues,” as well as concerns that criminals will use the database to target permit holders for gun thefts. “<a href="http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2010/01/02/4554791.htm">To protect the safety of gun owners and non-gun owners, it is better to have this information available only to law enforcement</a>,” said Rep. Mike Murphy (R). Neither the NRA nor anyone else has provided a single example of a criminal targeting an individual based on information from a permit holder database—in any state.<br /><br />Dennis Ryerson, Editor of the <i style="">Star</i>, pointed out that his paper <a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20100117/OPINION06/1170346/1040/OPINION06/Stick-to-the-facts-in-the-gun-permit-debate">never published individual information about any legal gun owner</a>. Furthermore, he pointed out that without access to Indiana’s concealed handgun permit holder database, “<a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20100115/NEWS05/1150362/Gun-issues-grab-House-spotlight">We would never have been able to show our readers how hundreds of bad guys were able to get concealed weapons permits over the objections of local police jurisdictions … We would never know how government is acting on these kinds of matters and, in the process, point to needed corrections in the system</a>.”<br /><br />Ryerson is undoubtedly aware that <a href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20100115/NEWS05/1150362/Gun-issues-grab-House-spotlight">the NRA has drafted and pushed through laws in 27 other states that prohibit the release of permit holder information</a>. The pattern is by now familiar: 1) An independent audit of concealed carry permit holders uncovers permit holders with violent histories; 2) The NRA reacts with indignation and demands that legislators ban such information from the public, and; 3) The legislature complies with the NRA’s demands and does nothing substantive to address the threat to public safety.<br /><br />For the sake of Hoosiers, let us hope that the final chapter in their own story has a different ending.</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586667951794854415.post-41230538909128233302009-12-07T10:13:00.000-05:002009-12-29T20:28:42.507-05:00Do as I Say, Not as I Do<p class="MsoNormal">Today we relate the stories of three more “ordinary people” who are not only concealed carry permit holders, but certified instructors paid to provide the safety and training classes required to obtain a permit in their states. If concealed carry permit holders are the most law-abiding citizens in our country, we would expect their trainers to be virtually infallible when it comes to respecting the rule of law. The truth, however, is somewhat less flattering… <br /><br /><a href=http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10371242>On the evening of May 13, police responded to a call regarding a deceased person in a private home in Palestine, Texas</a>. When they arrived, 62-year-old Ronnie Cook, a concealed handgun instructor in the state, opened fire on them from inside the house. The officers took cover and secured a perimeter. Two hours later, Cook called 911 and negotiated his surrender. He then walked out of his house in a pair of handcuffs he had placed on his own wrists. Police entered the home and discovered Cook’s wife, 62 year-old Frances Darlene Cook, dead in the bathroom from a single gunshot wound. Ronnie Cook now faces a murder charge for his wife’s slaying as well as attempted capital murder charges for firing at the police. <br /> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb9_vd2kD3vSjepds4bPbzsJw3o93f346Y1uT3MhXmVoWu3l5LX3ne7zp65E0FNG5QG1QueS0p7C0qzH1_H7s_CqSXvrGnwpSthZVhYpPIlEAaaqIIKSMTb72IxYwHSqblPVn4PSGduuoQ/s1600-h/Hernandez.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 137px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb9_vd2kD3vSjepds4bPbzsJw3o93f346Y1uT3MhXmVoWu3l5LX3ne7zp65E0FNG5QG1QueS0p7C0qzH1_H7s_CqSXvrGnwpSthZVhYpPIlEAaaqIIKSMTb72IxYwHSqblPVn4PSGduuoQ/s200/Hernandez.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412515834424958850" /></a>In August, handgun training instructor Jason Hernandez, 38, was arrested in Perrysburg Township, Ohio, on charges of selling falsified concealed carry permits. To acquire a permit in Ohio, residents are required to complete 12 hours of instruction. <a href="http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090804/NEWS02/908040358">More than 130 individuals allegedly bought training certificates from Hernandez, however, without attending any classes or receiving instruction</a>. Hernandez now faces charges of forgery and tampering with evidence. Wood County Detective Sergeant Scott Koch reported that applicants paid $150 to $300 for a falsified certificate despite the fact that actual training classes cost between $75 and $150. Falsified permits that were issued to individuals in Wood County have been suspended.<br /><br />On September 28, parents of students attending Saint Gregory School in Tyler, Texas, received an email from Principal Kathy Shieldes Harry informing them that the father of a four-year-old student had inadvertently left a loaded handgun in his daughter’s overnight bag. A teacher discovered the gun while the girl was rummaging through her backpack in class. Her father is a certified concealed handgun instructor in Texas. The child’s mother told the <i style="">Tyler Morning Telegraph</i> that the school did not inform her of the discovery and that she only learned of the gun when she went to take her daughter home: “<a href="http://tpstage.sx.atl.publicus.com/article/20090929/NEWS08/909299992">We were pulling out of the parking lot and I saw her father pulling in and I asked her if she knew why her dad was at the school, and she told me his gun was in her backpack</a>.” Don Martin, the Tyler Police Department public information officer, said that it is illegal to have a gun on the school’s campus and the girl’s parents could be charged with making a handgun accessible to a minor.<br /><br />These incidents suggest that certified concealed handgun instructors are vetted no more carefully than their charges in terms of assessing their potential threat to public safety. Perhaps even they are ordinary people after all...</p>stopgunviolencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11806648144323303424noreply@blogger.com