https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/l-a-s-arms-race-of-the-affluent/

In Beverly Hills, even the purchase of a firearm comes with certain…expectations. The city’s only gun store, Beverly Hills Guns, is a “concierge service” by appointment only, for a largely affluent clientele. And business is booming.

Since opening in July 2020, the store has seen upscale residents from Santa Monica to the Hollywood Hills increasingly in a panic following several high-profile smash-and-grab and violent home invasion robberies. The apparent siege has brought in a daily stream of anxious business owners and prominent actors, real estate moguls and film execs, says owner Russell Stuart. Most are arming themselves for the first time.

“This morning I sold six shotguns in about an hour to people that say, ‘I want a home defense shotgun,’” says Stuart, whose store is discreetly located in a Beverly Hills office building, with no sign on the doors, down the hall from a diamond dealer. “Everyone has a general sense of constant fear, which is very sad. We’re used to this being like Mayberry.”

That fear has the wealthiest of local gentry contemplating every more elaborate security measures: armored luxury cars, safe rooms and bullet-proof glass in their homes. One client asked about creating the “Tony Stark-level” security of a half-dozen automated drones to hover over his house, says Stuart, whose gun store is part of his larger security company, Force Protective Agency. “If you want the Gucci package, it’s going to cost money.”

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/boynton-beach-protesters-officer-firing-stanley-davis-jr-fatal-attempted-dirt-bike-traffic-stop/

Demonstrators outside police headquarters in Boynton Beach, Florida, Tuesday night called for the firing of the officer involved in the death of a 13-year old boy on a dirt bike during an attempted traffic stop Sunday, CBS West Palm Beach affiliate WPEC-TV reports. They also pressed for transparency from the department about what happened during the incident.

Police say the boy was driving the dirt bike recklessly when he "went down" on North Federal Highway. The officer is on paid leave while the Florida Highway Patrol investigates.

Video WPEC obtained shows the boy, Stanley Davis Jr., also known as "SJ," pulling up at a Chevron gas station shortly before the incident. He goes inside to pay, wearing his helmet. Then he rides away and a police vehicle follows him down the street.

Davis rides out of frame, then circles back, with the police vehicle close behind.

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https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/what-impact-could-a-supreme-court-ruling-have-on-colorado-gun-laws/

A decision expected next year by the U.S. Supreme Court on a New York state law restricting who can carry a weapon, concealed or not, in public could reshape how some states enforce concealed carry laws and permitting processes.

The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, is a review of New York law that denies law-abiding citizens permission to carry a firearm unless they can demonstrate sufficient cause, which is determined by the state.

The New York law is restrictive compared with many other states’ laws on open and concealed firearm carrying, such as Colorado’s laws.

Cody Wisniewski, director of the Lakewood based Mountain States Legal Foundation’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms, served as counsel of record to the Supreme Court case.

Wisniewski said he thinks it is fairly unlikely the Supreme Court will rule in favor of New York. Even if it did, it wouldn’t immediately affect Colorado’s laws.

(Excerpt)

The story is of local interest to me, given that I live in Colorado. My guess is that the Supremes will rule against New York, resulting in “may issue” states being forced to become “shall issue”.

We’ll see what happens in a half a year.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/china-fires-up-giant-coal-power-plant-in-face-of-calls-for-cuts/ar-AAScrIi?ocid=msedgntp

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China, under fire for approving new coal power stations as other countries try to curb greenhouse gases, has completed the first 1,000-megawatt unit of the Shanghaimiao plant, the biggest of its kind under construction in the country.

Its operator, the Guodian Power Shanghaimiao Corporation, a subsidiary of the central government-run China Energy Investment Corporation, said on Tuesday that the plant's technology was the world's most efficient, with the lowest rates of coal and water consumption.

Located in Ordos in the coal-rich northwestern region of Inner Mongolia, the plant will eventually have four generating units, and is designed to deliver power to the eastern coastal Shandong province via a long-distance ultra-high voltage grid.

China is responsible for more than half of global coal-fired power generation and is expected to see a 9% year-on-year increase in 2021, an International Energy Agency report published this month said.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/26/west-side-story-is-officially-a-box-office-bomb.html

Despite rave reviews, Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” has failed to gain traction with audiences at the box office.

In its first three weeks in cinemas, the adaption of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical, has captured just $36.6 million in global ticket sales. Its production budget was around $100 million, not including marketing costs.

“Sounds like a write-off to me,” said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at MKM Partners. “The markets that have done the best have been New York and L.A. The film wasn’t able to grab middle America, and it didn’t seem to have that great of a penetration into the Latino community.”

“West Side Story” tells the tale of love-struck teenagers from two different social classes in New York City during the 1950s. Tony, a young white boy with ties to a gang called the Jets, and Maria, a young Puerto Rican girl with ties to the Sharks gang. The Sharks and the Jets are in the midst of a struggle for control of the Upper West Side of the city, making Tony and Maria’s love forbidden.

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I’m not speaking of this year specifically, mind you. To make the question more specific, is there any period a quarter century long ending no later than 1996 in which (on a worldwide basis) people typically lived better lives than from 1997 to 2021?

https://www.newsweek.com/madison-cawthorn-breaks-gun-safety-rules-shooting-range-ad-1663134

https://twitter.com/i/status/1474074603903463435

(There was a thread a few days ago about Cawthorn engaging shooting techniques that are normally against the rules at most shooting ranges.)

According to Shooters' World's own rules, several safety violations were apparent in the video. Customers must sign a waiver on the company website adhering to these regulations before coming to the range.

Throughout the ad, Cawthorn and other people can be seen shooting in rapid fire, a practice that is expressly forbidden in the range's rules. At one point, Cawthorn is filmed swiftly pulling a handgun out of a holster on his chest before shooting. According to Shooter's World, "Drawing from the holster is prohibited."

Later on, Cawthorn can be seen resting past the firing line as a woman shoots a rifle with some assistance, denoting that she is a novice. Shooter's World states that "No one is allowed in front of the firing line."

(excerpt)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/chicago.suntimes.com/platform/amp/crime/2021/12/23/22851976/kimberly-lightford-carjacking-husband-fired-shots-gun-concealed-carry-permit-broadview

Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford revealed Thursday that her husband fired shots at carjackers after a Mercedes SUV they were in was seized from them at gunpoint in the western suburbs.

Lightford and her husband Eric McKennie were in the Mercedes dropping off a friend Tuesday night in Broadview when three masked men in a Dodge Durango boxed in the SUV, police said.

“I begged them not to shoot my husband, not to shoot me,” Lightford told reporters Thursday morning at a Christmas present giveaway for children in Proviso Township. “They took everything off me that I had of value.”

Lightford said her husband gave the carjackers the keys to the car.

(Excerpt)

&ab_channel=PostmodernJukebox

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2021-12-21/gun-magazine-supreme-court

A federal appeals court has agreed to put on hold a law that makes it illegal to possess a gun magazine holding more than 10 bullets, to see if the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case.

An en banc panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in a 7-4 ruling on Nov. 30. However, gun rights advocates who sued the state over the law in San Diego federal court said they plan to petition the Supreme Court in the case.

The 9th Circuit agreed on Monday to the advocates’ request to stay the possession part of the law for 150 days to allow time for the writ of certiorari to be filed. If the petition is filed during that period, the stay will be extended until the high court makes a determination on whether it will consider the case.

The state Attorney General’s Office, which is defending the law in court, did not oppose the request.

(Excerpt)