Lessons from Overseas gun laws

Great article here. . . .

Tells us all about how the gun control laws in the UK and Australia have been working out. . . . turns out not so good for the citizens but great for the criminals. . .

Chicago has their 500th Murder of 2012

CNN says that 500 murders in a year is the highest in four years for Chicago. . . .

IN CHICAGO!  where guns are all but illegal and you can't legally carry them. . .  this is gun control central folks and they had 500 MURDERS THIS YEAR!

Still think gun control works?

No New Gun Laws, No More Talk

OK, our friend Sen. Feinstein has put out her new gun ban bill.

And they wonder why we don't talk to them or trust them. . . . They call this a reasonable gun law - reasonable people call this a gun ban. . .

No, the time to talk is obviously over.  They have shown they don't want to talk they just want our guns and I don't want to know what they plan to do after they get them. . . . we are done folks.  Looks like this is all or nothing, freedom or slavery for us all.

Dear Senator. . . .

Dear Senator

With the end of the holiday break I wanted to write you again and ask again that you do not support Sen. Feinsteins insane new idea at gun bans.  The gun is not the problem, the problem is the gun free zone.  Pushing for more gun laws that most Americans don’t back is not helping but further dividing our country.  We don’t need that right now.  We have enough division in America as it is, don’t fan the flames.

I don’t want to arm the teachers by force. I don’t care if none of them carry.  But if we want to fix this mess then lets at least admit the facts.  All but one mass shooting since 1950 was in a gun free zone.  We need to get rid of them.  Gun Free zones don’t make us any safer, and they do tell the bad guy or the mad man where he can go to kill people and that no one there can fight back.  Take that away from him.  Make him wonder if anyone will be armed.  Make him think about it.

Prohibitions don’t work and we have seen that over and over.  It only leads to a black market for the prohibited item and adds violence and criminals to the mix.  Look at the Alcohol Prohibition era, look at our war on drugs.   Did either work?  Did folks stop drinking?  Can folks get drugs now?  Did /do either do anything to stop violent crime?

We need to stop blaming the tool.  Lets’ remember the biggest mass killing in a school was in the Bath school BOMBing in 1927 and the most famous of our time in Columbine was during the first assault weapon ban.

Gun laws are not the fix.  We need to look at how and why these folks snap and kill people.  We need to address the mentally ill and getting them identified and helped before they go this far.

Please don’t pass more gun laws,  Don’t further divide our country and please PLEASE don’t punish millions of law abiding citizens for the acts of one madman.

Thank You

Back in the Good Ol' Days

Folks keep taking about how things are worse now and how we never had all these mass shootings way back when. . . and I often hear that from the gun control side as they say we need more restriction on guns because things have changed and folks get guns too easy now. . . .

Before you get excited about that you should know the basic facts.

Up until 1934 anyone who wanted to could go buy a fully automatic machine gun.  Thompson sub machine guns use to be sold to farmers for pest control in the fields. . .

Then we had Prohibition and outlawed alcohol. . . which did not stop folks from getting it and created a great demand and black market for it. . .  this led to gangs fighting over it and eventually using machine guns on each other.   Instead of fixing the problem by repeal of Prohibition we outlawed machine guns. . .  which fixed nothing and eventually we woke up and repealed Prohibition.  You could still make and buy a machine gun but now you had to pay a tax to do it.

Fast forward to the Sixties. . .

Drugs are in fashion, hippies are trying to take over and we have general social change going on.  We start pushing the war on drugs and civil rights start to make great progress. . . and two people get shot. . .  MKK and JFK.  Next thing you know we have the gun control act of 1968 which gave us prohibited persons and what could be imported.  This is when you start to see the misunderstanding of the law and sporting purposes thrown around.  This also got us FFLs and lots of regulations

The Second Amendment is part of our countries checks and balances folks, it has nothing to do with sporting purposes.

1986 gave us the Firearm Owners Protection Act which banned new machine guns from being sold to civilians

1989 we get the  7 day waiting period and some semi autos band from import to the US.  Good luck women if you need a gun to defend yourself from a stalker or such.  Maybe if you ask nicely they will wait 7 days so you can defend yourself. . maybe not

The 1990s saw the introduction of gun free zones and the first assault weapons ban in 1994 (ended in 2004)

So what do we see here?  More and more gun control pushed on to the American people and we still have mass shootings.  They have never been that common, still aren’t folks that is why they make the news.  But please, look at the facts.  We did not have these problems way back when, we also did not have all the rules and regulations we do now. . . . What does that tell you about how effective these rules and regs are? 

Did you know in years gone by schools use to have shooting teams?  Heck some even had gun ranges in the school.  High school kids normally brought guns to school to go hunting after class and there were no problems. . .

Gun control is a failed experiment we need to get rid of and move on.  Guns are not the problem if they were then we should be seeing either a huge reduction in crime due to the control or a huge increase in crime due to the large number of guns in civilian hands.

What we actually see is that where there are huge numbers of guns and less gun control crime is down.  Overall crime is down all over the USA  but in areas of very tight gun control like DC, Chicago and other major cities gun control is tight we have higher crime, and more violent crime.

We also see the news folks ignore the fact that most gun crime is criminal on criminal as the fight over turf and drugs. . .

Lets move past this, end gun control and start to fix our country.  We need to address the murderer, not the tool used

Here is a web site with more info on guns in the USA

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/516676/posts

Gun er, Knife control in the UK

Borepatch has it. . .

Story here on how the UK is still sinking

Gun links and MORE info gun control don't work

Here are a number of interesting links I ran across today:

1- NBC is better than you and me. . . they don't think the law applies to them

2 - And from Chicago we can quickly see that gun control don't work. . . 440+ kids shot in their schools this year and 60 or so killed. . . nothing on the news eh?

3- Assault Weapon buy back by force?  in NY?  not likely, they can't afford it there are too many out there.

4 - So armed police in schools is a bad idea???  they loved it back in 2000 when Clinton asked for it. . . then Obama de-funded it. . . . Thank you Obama

5 - Some reflections on what we need to learn after Newtown. . .

6 - So you can't use an AR to hunt with?  This guy and his dinner may disagree.

7 - and some stats from the Fed on Violent crime and how it has been going down as gun sales go up. . . and hey guess what that school shooting in Columbine shooting was in 1999. . . in the middle of the last Assault Weapons ban. . . guess that didn't help

Cops in Schools. . . What a mess in Boston

Comment seen on Facebook – Name removed to protect the foolish-

 Question, should we have armed cops in school

 you can’t have an armed school police officer in a school with kids above 10 or so, the kids in a large group can easily jump the officer and take his gun. My father was a captain of the school police in Boston for 30 years, and he told me of the risks not talking about 5-6 yr olds....Older kids, kids are pretty big these days, especially kids in the 6th grade for the 2nd time...u can’t have a sole person carrying a gun, kids could easily jump him and take the weapon. high school is out of the question for these reasons...better techniques of keeping the school contained and unable to be breached and infiltrated until police etc can respond is the best way to go.....the radio dispatch and poor working tools and conditions is unacceptable, I worked within the school police main office at BLA as a high school student volunteering, and it was sad to see the archaic equipment they had to use. it took me WEEKS just to seal up and mail out sexual offender notices to schools and neighborhoods, computer systems etc were ancient, and this was 2004.

All I can say is WHAT THE FUCK?  Because we have out of control kids you won’t put security in the schools because the kids will take their guns????

Folks if we have kids in school that the teachers fear, and that will take on a cop to get his weapon then we have much bigger issues than simple gun control on the school grounds.  What is this kid doing in our school?  Anyone that violent belongs in special schools that can be locked down and secured for the safety of the rest of us.

When will we start to face the fact that we let kids get away with way too much these days.  Kids need to learn limits and how to act in proper society.  When you prove you cannot do that we will put you in a place that will prevent you from hurting yourself or others . . . 

Of course this person is talking about kids in Boston. . .you know that nice blue state, the home of the liberal.  Nobody is to blame here, no kid will be held accountable for his actions.  Heck, no adults are either.  Just look at the number of repeat drunk driver we have and you can see that.  Then look at the Speaker of the House here . . . last three ended their terms going to jail. . .

We just don’t seem to get it.  Kids are not supposed to be the ones making the rules folks.  Grownups are supposed to teach them how to act in our society and how to fit into it properly.  We need to stop giving them every last thing they want and teaching them they have a right to feel good and no one keeps score.  The real world doesn't work that way and the sooner they learn that the better for us all.

Violent Crime stats from the DOJ

HERE is the facts on violent crime in the USA folks. . .

We don't need new gun laws and here is the data to back it.

Sorry gun grabbers but we have much more important things to deal with these days

Data from DOJ before you go saying it is rigged. . . .

Gun Confiscation vs Fiscal Cliff smoke screen

Folks it is time for some common sense in DC.

Shut up and get to work on the fiscal cliff.

Gun Confiscation is a very dangerous idea which most likely would lead to a civil war in this country or at least massive civil unrest.  No one wants that.  Enough of the over reaction, enough talk of taking our rights away.  Although if you are looking to drive more and more folks to the pro gun side then keep it up.  Americans love the idea of Government taking their property. . . always sells well with voters right?

You are in DC because you work for US. Now stop acting like spoiled children and focus on the real issues.  guns save lives, guns are protected by our Constitution as a check against government, and mass shootings are so rare they make news. . . . And you all know you will be voted out in mass if you try it,  Look at 1994 and the result if you doubt it.

Now you need to fix the broken budget, our entitlement issues, and stop this run away country that is trying hard to make Grease look fiscally conservative.  This fiscal cliff will hurt us all, and probably send us into a rescission again or a depression this time.  You really want that?

Guns are nothing more than a smoke screen to hide your lack of action on the budget and our taxes. . .  more and more of us are seeing through that.  WAKE UP AND FIX THE DAMN BUDGET AND FISCAL CLIFF CRAP.  all else is BS and we all know it.

Thanks

The night before Christmas - a soldier story

Have to pass this Christmas story on. . .


Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone 

  In a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone 
  I had come down the chimney with presents to give 
  And to see just who in this home did live 
  
  I looked all about, a strange sight I did see 
  No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree 
  No stocking by mantle, just boots filled with sand 
  On the wall hung pictures of far distant lands 
  
  With medals and badges, awards of all kinds 
  A sober thought did come through my mind 
  For this house was different, it was dark and dreary 
  I found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly 
  
  The soldier lay sleeping, silent and alone 
  Curled up on the floor in this one bedroom home 
  The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder 
  Not how I pictured a United States soldier 
  
  Was this the hero of whom I'd just read? 
  Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed? 
  I realized the families that I saw this night 
  Owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight 
  
  Soon round the world, the children would play 
  And grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas day 
  They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year 
  Because of the soldiers, like the one lying here 
  
  I couldn't help wonder how many lay alone 
  On a cold Christmas eve in a land far from home 
  The very thought brought a tear to my eye 
  I dropped to my knees and started to cry 
  
  The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice 
  Santa don't cry, this life is my choice 
  I fight for freedom, I don't ask for more 
  My life is my God, my Country, my Corps 
  
  The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep 
  I couldn't control it, I continued to weep 
  I kept watch for hours, so silent and still 
  And we both shivered from the cold nights chill 
  
  I didn't want to leave on that cold, dark, night 
  This guardian of honor so willing to fight 
  Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure 
  Whispered Carry on Santa, all is secure 
  
  One look at my watch and I knew he was right 
  Merry Christmas, my friend, and to all a good night 
  
  By:  Major Bruce Lovely, adopted from a similar poem 
  by Anonymous.

We need new Role Models

While sitting in lodge the other night our speaker talked of George Washington and how much he had done.  He also brought up how we don’t have role models anymore and asked if this was the problem with our country today. . . .

That got me thinking on this a bit.  Look at who our kids have to look up to these days. . . rap stars, thugs, drunk Hollywood stars like Lindsay Lohan and company etc. . . .

What do kids have for a role model for our kids?  They watch TV like Survivor where folks stab each other in the back every week to win.  We have sports stars driven drunk and killing team members.  We have sports starts running dog fights. . . .

Lets not even start talking about the number of celebrities we see drunk, on drugs, and living the proverbial train wreck of a life.  2 month marriages, quick divorces for almost any reasons.  No one wants to work at anything anymore.

I am beginning to think he was right.  Our kids and our society don’t have any good roll models any more.  And we need one.   We should be looking back on our founders to see how they risked their lives to give us this country.  We should be looking at folks throughout our history who have put the country first and made thing happen to make the world a better place.

Why won’t the news folks cover these things?  Why won’t we teach history any more on what our founders and forefathers have gone through to create this great nation.

We are so busy downing the USA and our history and our founders.  We need to take a hard look at what that had gotten us.

Our kids are brats, self centered and we look to the government to do all for us.  We have folks that won’t lift a finger to do anything.  We have welfare and families on it for generations and proud of that. . . .

Now we have folks shooting up schools and politicians dancing in the carnage to push for more power and more government and less freedom as if that is the answer.  We have lost our way at all levels.

No, I think the answer is we need to take a very long look at what we are putting forward to our kids as role models, who we look at ourselves as role models.  We need to look at how we act around our kids too that reinforces these actions.  We have gotten the society we let the government give us.  We can therefore change it.

It is time to bring back role models and some old fashion ideas.  We need to start teaching our kids to respect adults, to respect each other, that they will not always win or get their way and that is not a bad thing.  Life does keep a score and sometimes it does not go your way.  We need to teach kids to look up to folks that make hard choices and do what needs to be done not for the glory but because it needed to be done.  We should be teaching them about our vets in all wars who have paid the ultimate price to keep us free.  We should hold Medal of Honor winners up as role models.  We should be holding up our founding fathers as role models too.  Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King. . . there are many we could use.

We need to stop letting our kids look to communists, socialists, criminals, gangsters and drunks as role models.  These people should be mocked and shows for the failures they are. 

We are creating a generation of powder puffs who want and expect things to be handed to them. . . we can’t survive that way. 

We need a generation that looks for the work to be done, says “We Can” and does it.  We need kids that grow up on the history of explorers, scientists, risk takers that helped expand our world and make it a better place.  People like George Washington, Lewis and Clark, Harriet Tubman. . . there are too many to name.

People with honor, respect for our Constitution, respect for each other and our country.  Maybe then our kids and us with them will get back on the right path and this country will have a lot less problems.

Gun Facts in MA. . .

I got this idea from Caleb at Gun Nuts Media

For all you folks that think we need more gun control in Massachusetts I have some basic facts you should know first. .. . . . .

Disclaimer, I am not a lawyer and your mileage may very. .  I have lived in MA my whole life and had permits and owned guns for about 30 years now.

§  In MA we still have an Assault Weapons Ban in place and cannot buy NEW magazines that hold over 10 rounds

§  An “assault weapon “ in MA is a gun with more than one of the following -  a pistol grip, collapsible stock, flash suppressor, or a bayonet lug.  It has nothing to do with machine guns which are covered by Federal Law and very hard if not impossible to get in MA and require special licenses

§  In MA you need a license just to own a gun or ammo.  Even if it lives in your house and never gets used.  Every gun you buy is registered with the state.

§  In MA we have competing lists of pistols you are permitted to purchase.  You can not buy many new models of pistols because they will not OK them in MA for safety reasons ( of course the police can anyway)

§  Permits are at the discretion of the local police who can deny a pistol permit for any reason they want. 

§  We have multiple levels of permits.  Class A for carry (CCW and large cap pistols),  Class B for non large cap pistols and large cap rifles – Target and hunting only,  Class C for low cap rifles – this is a shall issue permit if you have a clean record, and class D for pepper spray ( only state you need a permit for spray)

§  You pay $100 for all permits which are good for six years./  Renewal of a permit currently takes from a few months to almost a year.  You are a criminal 90 days after your permit expires if you have not received you new one yet and still own guns. . . . or ammo

§  Technically if you have a spent brass case stuck in your shoe tread you better have a gun permit or you face a year in jail.  So if you take a friend shooting and they are not licensed and they keep a piece of spent brass they are now a criminal.

§  Some towns ask for more than the law permits such as a doctors note or a psychiatrists note before issue of any permit.

§  To get a carry permit you need a reason that the Police agree with.  That it is your right is not a good reason in many places.  You have to show you are under a threat or need it for work and if they agree you get to carry. . . if not you don’t.

§  Some towns will not issue anyone a CCW Class A permit no matter what your background is and they can legally do that.

§ Some people who have had permits for 30 or 40 years are being denied renewals because of issues on their record like a fight back in high school 50 + years ago.

§  Every had a restraining order pulled against you?  Even by an ex just doing it to piss you off and make life miserable for you?  No permit for you

In the end it is not easy to get a permit in MA, and darn near impossible in the cities.  You can have your permit pulled for many reasons that have nothing to do with the law.  If the Police decide they don't think you are a fit person (not defined by law) they can deny or pull your permit.  

Then we also have all the Fed rules that we also must meet to be issue the permit.

And lets not forget safe storage laws so all guns must be locked up. . . not much help if your home gets invaded but then again the state don't care much about our safety.  

We don't need more gun laws in MA, we have plenty to cover us thanks.  It would be nice if we sorted through and actually enforced what is on the books before we get excited about passing new ones. . . . 

The AWB and you - a view from a gun owner on the left

HERE is a great write up from someone on the LEFT who says the AWB is no good and does not do what you think it does.  they did their homework.

Thanks to Kathy for the heads up on this

Here is a sample but go read the whole thing:

10 Years Later
When the ban expired in 2004, everyone was anxious to study the results. Had it reduced crime?

How could it have?

The National Institute of Justice found that the ban hadn’t reduced gun crime or crime involving “high capacity” magazines, and that the effects of renewing the ban were “likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.” It then added: “Assault weapons were rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban.”^[9]

The Center for Disease Control released a study of gun control legislation, including the assault weapons ban and found “insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws reviewed for preventing violence.”^[10]

The National Research Council noted that all of the studies they had looked at “did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence” and noted “due to the fact that the relative rarity with which the banned guns were used in crime before the ban … the maximum potential effect of the ban on gun violence outcomes would be very small…”^[11]

Why we can't let emotions make our laws!

As a pro gun and pro civil rights supporter I have posted numerous times on why gun control has failed.  I have posted facts and numbers to show this. . . .  Others have also posted on this and added more info on how up to two million times a year guns are used to save lives.  Guns allow people to defend their kids from home invaders.  Guns let that 100 lbs woman stop that 250 lb rapists from having his way.  Guns let minorities (black, brown, gay, whatever) protect themselves from the angry mob.  Guns protected people in the LA riots as madness swept the city.  Guns are a tool, it is the user that is good or bad and it is the user we need to address with the law, not the tool.

Now that I have seen the NRA conference where they suggested the same answer the Clinton's did in 2000 but now the same people who supported it then hate it now. . . Showing that they don’t want to talk or even look at any ideas that come from the pro rights side.  

I have an idea.  I watched as protesters who say they want a discussion on gun laws interrupt that very discussion to yell, scream and act like children blaming the NRA for the acts of a madman.  Since the gun control folks seem to run on emotion instead of facts I thought what would the call for less gun control would look like if we did that too?. . .

Now let me say right up front I think emotions are THE WORST way to make laws.  I do not in any way want us making any more bad laws (see Patriot Act, Gun Control, TSA and many more) laws based on emotion.  Laws need to be based on real facts to be valid.  Emotions do not belong in the legal process if you want a fair law.

So lets take a spin through the emotional side. . . ..

Senator Feinstein, you, the Brady Campaign, and the gun control crowd have the blood of the victims of the mass shooting on your hands.  It is a direct result of your “Gun Free Zones” which are more accurately called Victim Disarmament Zones that these people are dead.  All but one mass shooting where three or more folks were killed since 1950 has been in a gun free zone!

Your gun control crowd has forced us to put our children and loved ones in harm’s way by forcing them into areas that they cannot defend themselves.  You have then advertised this so that every madman in the world knows where these places are and who is there.  You have set up our children as bait for these madmen to come with bombs to blow them up, gas to burn down the buildings, and guns to kill them.

And when the inevitable happens you and the news media dance in joy over the news.  The media turns the madman into a hero overnight.  The madman who is usually a nobody who had done nothing of note in his/her life is a household name overnight.  You give him the fame he/she wanted in killing these people yet you forget the names of the victims.  You take his name and use it to create more laws and controls on law abiding folks to make it easier for the next madman to kill more of us.   Your friends in the news media rally around the story and let us all know where the killer rates on their scorecard of mass murder. . . he made number 4 isn’t that great!  You all pump the killer up encouraging the next one to try to do better and kill more.

It is starting to look like these mass murders are not by accident but part of your plan. . . .

No folks, the blood is not on the NRA’s hands.  The blood is on the hands of every one of you that has called for gun control and ignored the real problem. 

And that you want to double down on your error makes me sick.  You folks really need to look at the facts for a change and stop letting the emotions run your life.  You can’t say you want a reasonable discussion on gun control when you shout down everyone else’s ideas but your own even when the data shows your idea does not work.

Gun control has failed.  A gun is just the tool used this time.  They have used bombs, gas, airplanes to kill us but you don’t look a those items.  No you fixate on the gun. . . . We need to start a real conversation on how we deal with mental health issues in this country and how we deal with the mentally ill.  One more law will do nothing.  One more law passed because of emotion instead of data does even less.

An Open Letter to our Leaders in America

Dear American Leaders

The reason I am contacting you is in regards to the terrible events of last Friday in Connecticut.   Any death of a child is tragic, and to have a madman kill 26 people is unthinkable but it happened. 

The problem we now face is what to do about it.  We can get emotional and pass another law but that will not fix the problem.   We need to take a hard look at how we deal with mental health issues in this country. 

It is time to take a hard look at FACTS and admit that gun control has not worked.  We have placed our most precious gift – our kids (I have 3) in schools that are gun free zones.  Why?  How can we not protect our kids?  We all but advertise they are defenseless and wonder why crazed killers go there. . .  what are we thinking?

Over and over again these gun free zones have been where the madman goes to kill people.  All of the mass shootings (more than three killed) since 1950 have been in gun free zones with the exception of the Gifford shooting.  This is not by accident.  People know where folks will be disarmed and cannot fight back.  This attracts these sick people as we have see over and over. 

The other thing we have see over and over is that when a civilian is there to stand up to them right away things end with far fewer deaths.  It has been shown that when there is a lawful gun owner on site to react the death toll is just over 2- when people have to wait for the police to get there the average death toll goes over 14.  That is the hard facts of gun control – it does not make us safer, it puts us in more danger.

To take the emotion out of it look at it this way:  We have outlawed drugs. . . but now we have the war on drugs and still almost any high school kid in the US can tell you how to get drugs.  Our war on drugs has not stopped the supply and has increased the violence involved as gangs and dealers fight for control.  Innocents are injured and killed in their crossfire and neighborhoods ripped apart.

Prohibition in the 1920s was supposed to end alcohol in the USA.  What we got were stronger gangs and people still got their booze.  The laws did nothing to stop it and increased the violence in our country to the point we repealed the amendment and I hope learned from it.  I admit our War on Drugs gives me doubts we learned a thing.

I am asking that you do not support any NEW gun control laws.  We have plenty on the books now and they have done nothing to protect us.  This shooter killed his own mother, stole her guns, took them to a gun free zone, and then killed 26 people.  He broke at least 30 laws.  Do you think one more will change things?  We need to have a national discussion, but on Mental Health, not gun control.  Until these people get the help they need we will not change anything.  This time the tool was a gun.  In 1927 44 were killed when the madman used a bomb at the school instead.  Timothy McVeigh used a car bomb and killed 168 people in 1995.  In 1990 the Happy Land fire in NYC (Very strict gun control) killed 87 people – it was arson with gas, a very common item anyone can get.

Please support our rights.  Don’t punish the millions of law abiding gun owners for the act of a madman.  Don’t take away my ability to protect my children.  It is un-American to punish folks for acts they did not commit – why is this different.  It is time for our leadership to stand up and fix things.  Please push for help for the mentally ill.  Only then will we see the madness stop.

Thanks You 

An Open Letter To the Discovery Channel/Sons of Guns

Dear Discovery,

I would like to know when Sons of Guns will be back on the air?  I hope you will not allow the acts of a madman in Connecticut to make your decisions for you.  A TV show did not cause this horrendous act or drive this man to commit it.  Millions of law abiding people own guns.  Guns are used to prevent crime up to 2 million times a year.  Please do not discriminate against all of use based on a man who broke multiple laws to commit this horrid crime.  We cannot let the madman win.

If you look at the discussions on the net with each news report you can clearly see the vast majority of people realize this tragedy was a mental illness issue, the gun is just the tool picked this time.  Other madmen have used other tools such as cars, gas and airplanes to kill and we have not banned those or taken them off the air.

Guns are just a tool, and make our lives safer.  Gun sales have been up for years now and violent crime has been going down.  Blaming an inanimate object is foolish.  We need to take a hard look at how we address these issues.  It is time to start placing the blame for these tragic events on the person not the tool.  Would we feel any different if he use a bomb like the madman in 1927 did (and killed more people)?  We have a mental health issue in this county, not a gun issue.  

Please show us you also understand this and support our Constitution and our rights as Americans to not all be judged by the acts of one madman.  Millions of law abiding citizens who own guns should not be vilified for something they did not do.  Gun owners also grieve over this senseless loss of life and every one of us wishes we could change what happened.  We must keep working on finding the real cause of why this madman did this and why he did not get the help he needed.  Knee jerk reactions to attack gun owners will not help us or fix anything.  Please bring this show back.

I look forward to the return of Sons of Guns

Thank You

Gun Control

Had to pass this on 

Larry knows his stuff, go and read it

A taste to think about - So how often are guns actually used in self-defense in America?http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdguse.html

On the high side the estimate runs around 2.5 million defensive gun uses a year, which dwarfs our approximately 16,000 homicides in any recent year, only 10k of which are with guns.  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm Of those with guns, only a couple hundred are with rifles. So basically, the guns that the anti-gunners are the most spun up about only account for a tiny fraction of all our murders.

Why People Own Guns

This is a story you must read.

It shows how one person woke up and realized the need to own a gun.

Folks the government has no right to enact gun control.  the Second Amendment is clear.  Why we have let them is the question.  And look at what it cost us?

Time to stop the madness, stop the gun grabs, and remind the Pols they work for us and we want a real fix of the root cause . . . not another quick news bite as they strip us of our rights.

Guns are not the problem.  madmen are.  Good men need to be armed to deal with this.  End of story.

Gun Control Rant

Uncle Jay has a great post up. . GO READ IT

interesting bit at the end of how CT does not force the mentally ill to get help. . .  maybe we need to look at that if they are deemed a threat?  but for now we have to wait until they either do something or say they are about to do something. . .  just because a doctor thinks they are a danger does not mean we can force them to get help. . . . .

But don't worry, I am sure the Pols in DC won't even look at mental health issues. . . why deal with the root of the problem that is letting them grab power from us?

Gun Control

Dear CNN

Thank you for continuing to dance in the blood, putting up misinformation and in general ignoring the facts that all of the mass shootings where 3 or more folks were killed since 1950 with the exception of the Gabriel Gifford's one were in gun free zones.

Thank you for ignoring the fact that the UK answer of banning guns has not worked and pushing false info that it has helped.  Gun crime is up in the UK (35% last year - see here).  In the decade after they banned guns it went up 89%. . .

Thank you for ignoring the fact that Israel had a problem like this and armed their teachers. . . they have not had a school shooting since.

And I can't wait to see what Obama and Co. come up with for a plan.  They have kicked the can a month down the road.  Do they really want to fix things or just pass some more feel good laws that disarm us and strip us of our rights.  I think they will play politics with this and not offer anything for a real fix.  They will take the easy road of blaming the gun, further attack lawful gun owners, and hope they are out of office before the next one.

Time will tell but I will say this.  Good laws are not based on emotion.

US gun law facts from the UK

Some interesting gun facts from our friends in the UK. Data here

In 2011 - the latest year for which detailed statistics are available - there were 12,664 murders in the US. Of those, 8,583 were caused by firearms.

The FBI crime statistics are based on reports to FBI bureau and local law enforcement. The figures are not complete - there are no stats for Florida or Alabama on firearm murders. But even so it provides a detailed picture of attacks by state.

In fact, gun crime, like all crime across the US (and the UK, for that matter), is going down - you can see how much in the graph above. And the vast majority invlove firearms.


The figures show that California had the highest number of gun murders last year - 1,790, which is 68% of all murders that year and equivalent to 3.25 per 100,000 people in the state. Big as that figure is, it's still down by 3% on the previous year. Other key findings include:

• While gun crime is down in the vast majority of states, it is up in Indiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, Louisiana and several of the smaller states
• If you look at the firearms murder rate per 100,000 people, District of Columbia comes out top - with 12 firearms murders per 100,000 men, women and children in the state. There were 77 firearms murders in DC in 2010, down 22% on 2009
• DC is followed by Louisiana (10.16) and Mississippi (7.46)
• DC is also top for firearms robberies per 100,000 people - with 242.56
• If you look at aggravated assaults involving a firearm, Tennessee (137.58) and South Carolina (127.88) come above Arkansas (100.56)

Folks more people are killed drunk driving. .  .On average, one person died every 48 minutes in 2009 due to an alcohol-impaired driver.  why don't we ban cars?  ( that is 10950 confirmed drunk driving deaths in 2009) And many of those murdered with guns are criminal on criminal crime - gangs and such.  Don't let pols off easy - gun control is not the answer.

Also please note that DC is still very hard to get a gun, use to be impossible and you can not carry one legally outside your home.  CA has the harshest gun laws in the union. . . and still has the most murders. . .  Gun laws don't work.

Should we ban Standard Capacity Magazines?

Poll is HERE

Looks like common sense is winning. . .

Yes to ban - 28.1%
No to ban - 71.9%

Folks are waking up that gun control and bans are not making us any safer. . . in fact they do the opposite and it looks like word is getting out despite the medias best effort. . .

Shooting Facts

This little inconvenient truth scares the hell out of me. . . .

Lott offers a final damning statistic: “With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.”

Mass Shooting Facts

Go read it all HERE

End result is that there are no more mass shootings now then in the past.  It is our news media that is pushing the hype and our pols who exploit these to get more power. . . .

Remember, if you are at a mass shooting and you have to call the cops on average 18 people will be killed.  If someone there has a gun to fight back on average only 2 people will be killed.

Think about it.

Gun laws

Repost with permission

PAGE NINE No. 118
The Uninvited Ombudsman Report, December 17, 2012
by Alan Korwin, Bloomfield Press

-- Tell your friends -- Permission to circulate granted --

Gun lobbyist ready to give up

Dear Editor,

A gun lobbyist, traumatized by the evil in Newton, Conn., under pressure by reporters for an interview, asked me desperately for help. What is he supposed to say? How can he respond to such slaughter, how can he defend guns in the light of this massacre? He is at his wit's end, ready to give up, throw in the towel. Help me please, he implores. What can he say in the face of such an abomination? There are no words. And there aren't any.

Why does the media only cover guns in the face of such tragedy? Why don't they discuss it when we can examine the subject coolly and rationally, and maybe get somewhere?

Because then we might learn something. Because then the public could become educated, and the media does not really want this to happen. Because then you might learn that guns have social utility, and are indispensable -- that guns serve good purposes -- instead of being pounded with the hopelessly false idea that arms are bad.

If the media covered guns without tragedy as a background, you would learn that guns save lives, which is why we want our police heavily armed, with high-capacity magazines, and high-powered rifles, and all the ammunition they can carry. You would learn that you need guns and ammo and full-capacity magazines -- for the exact same reason.

You would learn that your need is even greater, because YOU are the first responders, and police are always second. You face the criminals first, in every event. Police, with all their deadly bullets only show up later. Police are the second responders. Media stories are always wrong about that. That's what you say.

People would learn that guns are for stopping crime. Guns protect you. Guns are good. Guns keep you safe, and help you sleep quietly at night. Guns are why America is still free. And the media doesn't want that message to get out. That's why they only haul out the subject with horror as a backdrop. That's what you say.

Thirteen scholarly studies show that guns are used to prevent crimes and save lives between 700,000 and 2.5 million times each year (depending on study size, time frame and other factors). You could get the book entitled "Armed," by Kleck and Kates, and read the studies yourself. Why doesn't the media ferret out those stories and put them on the front page? That's what you say.

Even the FBI says justifiable homicide happens every day, and they're only counting the cases that go all the way through court. Most armed self defense is so clean it never even makes it to court -- or the gun isn't even fired. Why isn't that in the national news every day?

Because you, Mr. and Ms. Reporter, don't want the public educated about guns. Because you want the public ignorant, misinformed and terrified of guns, just like you are. Because you are pushing an agenda to vilify and ban fundamental rights we hold dear, that have helped make America great. Because you want people to have a lopsided unbalanced distorted view, and you're doing a great job of that.

That's what you say. And let them try to deny it.

Because so-called "news" media gun stories are not news, they are propaganda. Showing the image of a mass murderer 100 times a day isn't news, it is propaganda. Because staying on the same single event for a week or more isn't news -- even reporters would call it old news, or yesterday's news, or yellow journalism, if they were being honest -- a trait many have long since lost the ability to exercise. It is propaganda by every definition of that term.

It is designed to disgust, and cause revulsion, and motivate mob mentality. It serves no news purpose other than to induce fear and cause terror. In five minutes you have told the story, nothing new is added, yet it rolls on with images on endless loop. It promotes evil, encourages copycats,  with zero redeeming news value. It violates every rule of ethical news behavior there is. That's what you say.

Showing the grief and tears day after day as you are doing, dear reporter, is not news, it is manipulation of we the people. It is an effort to turn people against something you as a reporter personally detest, because you are as poorly educated on the subject as many of your viewers and readers. You are so poorly informed on this subject you need counseling.

That's what you say. Tell reporters they are acting like hoplophobes. Let them look it up.

When eighty people died that day, with their bloodied bodies strewn all over the place, they didn't care. When children were torn from their parents, and parents never came home, they didn't care. When people left home and said, "See you later honey," and were never heard from again, they didn't care, and I didn't care, and they never even mentioned it, because those people died in their cars.

Eighty people. Entire families. Moms and dads, infants, teenagers, all across this great land, not just in one town. That grief was every bit as tragic. And eighty more the next day. And today. And reporters didn't even mention it. Because reporters don't care about human tragedy. They just want to use their favorite tragedy, a maniac's evil, now [five] days old, to promote a terrible agenda they and their bosses and their political puppet masters want them to promote. And that's the abomination. They should be ashamed of themselves. They are a disgrace. That's what you say.

Even though cars are involved in virtually the same number of deaths as firearms, and typically used by all the murderers, we don't call for their elimination, because cars serve a purpose greater than the harm they cause. Doctors kill between ten- and one-hundred-thousand people every year through "medical misadventures," a sugarcoated term for mistakes (the actual number is hotly disputed). We don't call for doctors' elimination, because doctors serve a greater purpose than the harm they cause too.

Guns are precisely the same, but you wouldn't know it watching the so-called "news." Think of all the lives guns save and crimes they prevent. We should call for education and training -- and the pro-rights side does, constantly, to the media's deaf ears. Right now, schools and the media are a black hole of ignorance on the subject. Half of all American homes have guns -- how is it possible to get a high-school diploma without one-credit in gun safety and marksmanship? How can you honestly argue for ignorance instead of education and live with yourself? That's what you say.

The greater part of this great nation is on to you. We hold our rights dear. We hold the Bill of Rights in highest regard, while you spit on it with your unethical and vile effort to destroy it from your high and mighty seat. You believe you are protected by the very thing you would use to demolish it. Your use of propaganda, every time a tragedy occurs, to deny us our rights is the highest form of treason, a fifth-column effort, an enemy both foreign and domestic of which we are keenly aware. You will reap what you sow. That's what you say.

The media says it wants more laws but we already know that everything about every one of these tragedies is already a gross violation of every law on the books, many times over. You media types would outlaw all guns, as many of you are calling for. We all know it would be as effective as the cocaine ban -- a product many of you enjoy in the privacy of... Hollywood and Wall Street and Occupy rallies and your upscale parties and across America. And if you like the war on some drugs, you're going to love the war on guns. That's what you say.

And if you think the rule of law is the solution -- like for people on Prozac and Ritalin suddenly going berserk -- remember that, at least for tomorrow, if the man next to you is going to suddenly crack, you really do need a gun.

Ask yourself why people in greater numbers are suddenly cracking up and taking up the devil's cause, to speak metaphorically. So many reporters have obviously given up on religion and the morality it used to exert, the binding social effect it had on people. Are you a religious person? Ask them. People typically never ask the reporters questions. Reporters don't know how to handle that. Try it. That's what you say.

Do films like American Psycho, where scriptwriters invent characters who enjoy killing and go around gleefully murdering people, and financiers who put millions behind such projects, and which the entertainment industry put in our faces on a constant basis -- does that have any effect? Would you argue it has no effect? Hundreds of films like that, filling our TV's daily -- doesn't that do something to people? Dexter, a mass murderer disguised as a cop who is the hero of the series, does that shift people's thinking, their sense of balance? How do you justify supporting such things instead of shunning and casting such perverts and miscreants from the industry? That's what you say.

But here's the bottom line as far as I'm concerned. Here's the Pulitzer Prize, waiting for you if you want one. Should people who put scores of guns into the hands of drug lords get one-month sentences -- like we saw the very day before this massacre -- is that right? If you get the laws you're shouting for, would it matter if that's what the Justice Dept. does with them?

Why isn't THAT discussed? How did you let that skate by? Don't tell me you covered that story, if you simply reported the government handout, that Fast and Furious smugglers Avila and Carillo were sentenced. That's not reporting, that's reading.

That's the ugly underbelly of this "gun problem" we have. There are the laws for real crimes, and the feckless government role, letting slaughter continue unabated, even abetted. There's the solution you say you seek, squandered.

Were the hundreds murdered that way less important? Is it a racist thing -- because they were brown-skinned Mexicans and not little White children, is that it? How could Eric Holder's Justice Dept. -- and you -- let those perps off so easy? Why isn't that the headline? It was the biggest gun scandal in U.S. history -- your own words. One-month sentences? Not even a trial? And you bought into this? That's what you say.

The ring leaders in the biggest gun-running death-dealing high-powered so-called "assault-weapon" scandal in U.S. history were caught red-handed giving guns to murderers, but they got a plea deal from the administration, not even a trial, and the media had nothing to say.

The media that has so much to say about guns -- or so they would have us falsely believe -- are shills for the Justice Dept. that perpetrated this travesty, and now would use their bully pulpit to attack our rights, in the name of little children, day after day. Journalists have become a travesty, that's what you say.

More than 90 of these fearsome guns were delivered by our very government to the worst murderers on the planet. And now, thanks to double-jeopardy protection, we won't have a trial so we can't even find out who in our government gave the orders. And now we have nothing to say.

The event in a small Connecticut town has opened the gun issue again.

And that's what you say.

Alan Korwin, Publisher, Bloomfield Press
The Uninvited Ombudsman
GunLaws.com

How do we Fix our Country. . . Gun Control is not the answer

THIS is a great post with some real ideas on how to help the problems this country has with shootings.

Folks we have a gun control problem.  The problem is that we have gun contorl.  This shooting was in CT at a school. .  so right away we have the following facts in play:

CT has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country
You can't have a gun on school property (Gun Free Zone)
He killed (illegal) to take the guns from his mother who had them legally
He took them to the school (illegal)
He shot his way into school (illegal)
He killed people (illegal)x26

do you really think another law will help?  If so then please tell me how?

Drugs are illegal in this country I think we will all agree right?  Coke, meth, heroin. . . .We have a very active drug war going on to keep them off the streets. . . .Do you think that is working?   Really?

If you do than please tell my why any high school kid can tell you where to get drugs or who to see to get some?

Folks we have issues here.  We have become a country that is so politically correct that we won't teach people to deal with life.  We tell them in school and sports that they will always win, here is a trophy for showing up.  It does not work that way in the real world.  We set our kids up for disappointment with these feel good rules.  Kids need to learn they will not always win, they will not always be the best at everything and you don't get points for just showing up. 

Add to this that we teach people they have a right to not be insulted and to feel good. . . where is that one written down?  Heck we tell them we will make laws based on their FEELING GOOD or SAFE because of the law but totally disregard the facts that the law may actually make things worse.  I am sorry if something happened in your life and you are now sad, or out of work, or feel insulted or let down.  That is too bad but that is also your problem that you need to deal with in a constructive way and you don't have any right to blame or take it out on anyone else.  GROW UP!

On top of all this we ignore mental issues totally.

To get to the point you will kill 20 small kids you have gone into a very dark and insane place.  We need to start asking why he was not seen and treated as having issues.  If the family turned a blind eye why did everyone else?  And why do we put such a stigma on mental health that folks don't even want to discuss it.  They know it will mark them for life even if it was a temporary thing triggered by a death in the family or other stressor that may be long over and past for them.  We make people avoid mental health care even when they know they many need it and want it. . .  but they rear the cost on the rest of their lives.

Folks our government does not even want to talk about it.  Obamacare won't address any of this.  Some of the scum we have in DC is even actively calling for exploitation of this event to push more gun control.  We know that won't work but we want more?  You want proof look to the UK - guns are all but illegal in civilian hands yet they admit to a 35% increase in gun crime last year alone and their violent crime rate has passed the USAs. . .  .

No, we don't want more, they want more.  More control over our lives that is what they want.

And none of this is new.  The Bath School bombing was in 1927 and he killed 46 people, would have been more but one bomb did not go off.  We have had more killed when one person used gas to light a nightclub on fire and trapped those inside by starting the fire at the entrance door.  In 1990.  Killing 87 people.

Folks taking away our rights is not the answer.  Putting more restrictions on the law abiding folks does not prevent crime, they are not the problem to begin with.  Evil exists in the world and to cover your eyes and pretend it will go away with one more law is insane, a fantasy that will never be.  The only way to deal with evil is to insure good people have the tools (and that may be a gun some days) to deal with it and stop it.  You want proof just look at Israel and how they fixed this problem.

You don't want to look that far?  Fine, look at the last mall shooting last week.  He ran and killed himself after spotting a legal gun owner had pulled his concealed weapons and was aiming at him.  The good guy did not shoot due to other in the line of fire but it was enough.  Bad guy ran into a service corridor and killed himself.  Game over

CT Shooting

Still trying to get my head around this whole thing.  Most of the facts are not out yet so I am going to try to just do my own brain dump here. . .

Looks like the school was secure, but he got in anyway

He was 20, too young to have the guns he stole from Mom

He used two pistols, yet the scum in DC wants an Assault Weapons ban out of this. . . no AW was used. . .

The scum in DC is also calling for the lawmakers to Exploit this event. . . makes me sick  Link HERE

I really want to know WHY like everyone else.  until we can answer this one question we will never know how to stop the next shooter

I am taking some comfort from reading the news articles and seeing most comments are not trying to ban guns.  Many even realize that a gun ban will not stop this.

Folks the gun was just the tool.  We need to find out why the mind snapped and he did this.  If not a gun then he could have used a knife, machete, car bomb, IED. . .  it is only the tool.

We need to find out how to stop these shooters.  They are sick and need help.  How do we find them first and  get them that help?  Here is how other countries deal with it and it works. . .

So many questions at this point an no answers. . . .

Another School shooting

This makes me SICK!

I will wait on the details on the shooter but let's look at the basic facts:

Schools are gun free zones
No law abiding folks will have a gun

The sickos know this and that is why they attack schools and other gun free zones.

GUN FREE ZONES DO NOT PROTECT YOU!

And next come the calls to outlaw guns.

Folks all I can say is let's fix the drug problems by outlawing drugs. . .. oh wait. . . .  .

Do you really think gun control works?  If you do you are a fool.

The only thing that has been proven to stop these nuts is a good guy or a cop already at the scene with his/her own gun to stop them. 

Good guys with guns save lives.  This is a fact.  They have stopped school shooters, mall shooters and church shooters.  Time to end the danger of gun free zones

Range Review

OK, finally got to the range with the new scope and my Remington 700. . . in .308

After a quick laser bore sight in the back yard I took it down to the range.  I had just added on to it a new scope, a Barska Huntmaster Pro.  I set it up at 10X and sighted it in at 100 yards. . .

The smaller shots are .22 for the other rifle I was sighting it . . . .

Anyway you can see from the center that even to start she was close. . . it took 15 rounds to get it sighted in.  The last shot was a test on the upper right . . . .

From here I went to the 200 yrd range and it hit the 12" plinking plate no problem 5 for 5 with about a 1" drop.

Overall I have to say I like the scope.  It is a 30/30 IR Cross with a center that can be illuminated.  It is a 3-12x50mm.  The field of view is good and  the picture was nice, bright  and clear at 10X where I set it. . . . I did find some problems with the illumination after shooting but it is working now.  I don't know if it was the cold or recoil.  I checked it out again tonight and all settings work again so it may be the battery.

I should try to get a photo through the sight.  I liked how bright it was and easy to see through.

So far so good.  I like it . . . now to do a bit more long range shooting and see how it holds up.  I also want to see what I can get for a group size at 200 yrd.