February 26, 2013

Pastor Stanley Wilkinson Pleads Guilty - He Mistakenly Shot his Granddaughter

Local news reports

61-year-old Stanley Wilkinson was charged in January with one count of dangerous weapons – intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety. He pled guilty today in Olmsted County District Court to the charge. The charge stems from an incident on December 10th.

At the time, Wilkinson told police that he heard a noise outside his home and grabbed his pistol. He fired two rounds after he saw someone trying to open the door. The person turned out to be his granddaughter who was struck in the neck. She was hospitalized after the shooting. Wilkinson will be sentenced on April 15 at 1:30.

As we mentioned at the time of the incident, guns do more harm than good. The fear-driven and foolish decision to have a gun in the house turned into a tragedy for this man and his family.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

January 25, 2013

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Still Pretending to Not Understand What The Gun Show Loophole Is

The Washington Post

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said Sunday that the “gun show loophole” doesn’t exist, pushing back against gun control advocates’ call for background checks in all guns sales.

“You know, there actually isn’t the so-called ‘gun show loophole,’” Cruz, a gun-rights advocate, said on NBC News’s “Meet The Press.” “That doesn’t exist. Any licensed firearm dealer who sells at a gun show has to have a background check. It’s a requirement that applies to every licensed firearm dealer. What it doesn’t apply to is personal sales one on one. And that’s true whether it’s at a gun show or not.”

President Obama unveiled a sweeping slate of gun control proposals last week, including a call for Congress to pass a law requiring universal background checks for gun sales, including those between private citizens that don’t involve licensed gun dealers, which are currently not subject to checks.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a leading gun control advocate, said on the same program that the proposal to require universal background checks “is the sweet spot in terms of actually making us safer and having a good chance of passing.”

If I were a gun-rights fanatic, I'd fight against this tooth and nail too. I might even pretend to not understand what the gun show loophole actually means and thereby render the discussion as tedious as possible.The alternative is to admit that once we have universal background checks, licensing and registration are right around the corner. Nothing short of a comprehensive and complete approach to gun control will have the desired effect.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

November 18, 2012

Lawful Gun Owner Plans Aurora-Type Attack - Arrested

The Ottawa Citizen reports

A 20-year-old man is in jail in southwest Missouri on Friday on charges he planned a mass shooting at a theatre during the showing Sunday of the new movie Twilight.

Blaec Lammers told police in Bolivar, Mo., that he bought two assault rifles and 400 rounds of ammunition with the intent of carrying out a shooting that would be similar to one that killed 12 people and wounded 58 during a Batman movie premier in Aurora, Colorado, last July.

Police announced Lammers’ arrest on Friday. He was arrested Thursday and charged in state court with making a terrorist threat, armed criminal action and first degree assault, records show. He is being held on $500,000 bond.

Lammers’ mother alerted police on Thursday that her son and bought weapons similar to those suspect James Holmes allegedly used in the Aurora shooting, Bolivar police detective Dustin Ross said in a sworn statement to the court.

The biased spin doctors over at TTAG are all excited about the fantasy that young Mr. Lammars was heading to the theater BECAUSE it was a gun free zone and he'd be able to kill people like sitting ducks.

Nothing could be further from the truth. He himself admitted the reason, it was to imitate the Aurora Colorado shooter, [link:http://mikeb302000.blogspot.it/2012/07/the-amazing-james-holmes-lawful-gun.html|James Holmes.
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The real story here is that someone as sick as this guy was able to legally buy guns. He was a lawful gun owner, as was Holmes, who was so unfit to own them safely that the most basic examination into his mental health might have been able to raise red flags.

Licensing of gun owners, which would include an exhaustive mental health background check combined with a "may issue" policy, is the only way to weed out these dangerous characters. We can't depend on their mothers dropping a dime.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

November 12, 2012

Alabama Woman Shot Accidentally by her Husband - No Arrest

Local news reports

A woman was flown to the hospital with injuries after an accidental shooting on County Road 179 in DeKalb County.

Sheriff's deputies said a man was holstering his weapon around 11:30 p.m. Saturday when the gun went off and hit his wife in the side.

Deputies are saying the incident was an accident.

When it comes to shootings, there's no such thing as an accident. It's either on purpose or else it's negligence. If it's negligence then one or more of the 4 Rules of Gun Safety were violated. If that's the case then one strike you're out should apply.

The reason this is important is that many of these negligent gun owners are not making their first mistake ever. And, thanks to the nonchalance with which these incidents are handled, they won't be their last.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

October 23, 2012

Legalized Marijuana and Gun Ownership in Washington State

The Examiner reports

If Evergreen State voters pass a ballot measure to legalize marijuana, as currently appears likely, that doesn’t mean pot smokers will be legally able to buy or possess firearms, Examiner has learned.

A source with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Washington, D.C. Friday confirmed what had been explained in a Sept., 21, 2011 letter from Arthur Herbert, assistant director for enforcement programs and services to firearms retailers regarding gun purchases by medical marijuana patients. This column discussed the issue then, and as the pot vote looms, Washington State gun owners need to know they cannot get stoned and head for the gun range or hunting camp if voters approve Initiative 502.

It's hard to imagine a more irresponsible activity for gun owners than smoking pot, well, other than drinking alcohol, that is. Getting loaded has no place in the life of the responsible gun owner. The gun-rights folks love to talk about situational awareness and perpetual readiness. How can getting high possibly fit into that?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

October 6, 2012

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) Explains the Second Amendment

Think Progress reports

When asked whether such a threat was legitimate in 2012, he said, “We don’t have that threat now because we have an armed populace, and we don’t have to worry about that because of an armed populace.” . . .

He went on to mention that he doesn't think the federal government is a threat, at least not right now. He was talking about invading armies like in Red Dawn.

My opinion is there's no more laughable position for the pro-gun guys to take than this one. According to their deluded megalomania, the reason we haven't been attacked in our own territory by invading armies is not because of the U.S. Marines or the Navy, it's not because of the Army, the National Guard or the Police forces both national and local, it's because of the ARMED CIVILIANS.

The record breaking defense spending OF the U.S., which in spite of the waste and corruption, provides us with the most sophisticated military defense systems on the planet is not the true deterrent, it's the INDIVIDUAL CIVILIAN GUN OWNERS.

And, it naturally follows, that we should have the loosest possible restrictions on gun ownership. Our survival depends upon it.

What's your opinion? What do you think about this embarrassing self-aggrandizing nonsense? Can we believe anything these people think, these people who live in the fantasy world of red-dawn type heroism.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

September 28, 2012

Lawful Florida Gun Owner Shoots Wrong Man in Road Rage Incident

The Florida Times-Journal reports

A pickup driver in Jacksonville was wounded by gunshot Thursday in what police and the man’s father-in-law described as an accidental shooting.

The man’s gun went off when another passenger in the truck grabbed it in a confrontation with another driver, said James Borum, whose son-in-law was taken to Shands Jacksonville hospital.

Let me break it down for you. Two idiots in pickup trucks left the gas station together and and got into some kind of ego contest. Both were raging maniacs who felt the other had a lot of nerve to dare such a challenge. At the light one of the idiot's imbecile friend grabbed a gun intending on using it on the driver of the other pickup, but instead shot his own driver.

These are the kinds of redneck, hillbillies that make Florida the Most Baneful State in the Union.

But, it's not just them. It's built right into the system down there.

No arrests have been reported by the Sheriff’s Office.

Don't you find it unbelievable that no one is arrested after a scene like that. You know they put other people in danger as well as themselves. And you also know they were lawful gun owners.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

September 16, 2012

Domestic Violence in Kansas City - She's Critical, He's Dead

ESPN news reports

A man shot and wounded a female parking lot employee Friday between the stadiums that are home to the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals before killing himself, police said.

Graves said the woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Officers found the man in a car, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot. Both were in their 40s and knew each other, but police did not elaborate on their relationship.

Witnesses said the man drove into the area in a silver Cadillac, several shots were fired and the man then turned the gun on himself in the car.

Often in these domestic shootings the guy kills the girl and only wounds himself. I don't know which is worse.

One thing for sure, when it comes to relationships, guns are bad news for women.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000