If you are anti-guns, or afraid of guns, or just don't like them and don't want them in your house, then this blog is for you.
(It might just change your mind)

Thursday, September 29, 2011

‘Chicks with Guns’: Some 15 million US women pack heat

By Laura T. Coffey


Pop quiz: Name one accessory that grandmothers, moms, girls, wealthy socialites, middle-class females and low-income women might be likely to own — and cherish — all across America. 

If you answered “a gun,” you’d be correct.

Based on polling research and gun-sale statistics, an estimated 15 million to 20 million women in the United States own their own firearms. Dozens of those heat-packing women are documented in “Chicks with Guns,” a new book by photographer Lindsay McCrum that is sure to challenge almost anyone’s assumptions about gun ownership.

“Their numbers are really high but their profile is actually really low,” said McCrum, who spent three and a half years capturing artistic and arresting portraits of women with their weapons of choice.

“I was so surprised by the variety and breadth and diversity of these women,” McCrum said. “There are so many stereotypes about guns, mostly derived from popular culture, but the reality is so much more complex and varied than you can imagine.”

“Chicks with Guns” reveals just how true that is. The book features nearly 80 portraits and captions in which women describe the role of guns in their lives in their own words. It quickly becomes apparent that rich women, poor women, young women, old women, athletic women, sedentary women and a fair number of confident girls possess guns for reasons that are peculiarly their own.

“I learned two main lessons while working on this book,” said McCrum, who divides her time between New York City and California when she isn’t traveling for work. “One is that on the subject of guns, nobody is neutral. And the other is that when you get outside of the blue-state cities, everybody has a gun.”

Gun crime continues to decrease, despite increase in gun sales

By C.J. Ciaramella

Despite increases in gun sales, gun crimes continued to decrease in the United States for the fourth straight year in 2010, according to the FBI.

The FBI recently released its Crime in The United States statistics for 2010. Overall, murders in the U.S. have decreased steadily since 2006, dropping from 15,087 to 12,996. Firearms murders — which made up 67 percent of all murders in the U.S. in 2010 — have followed this trend, decreasing by 14 percent.
At the same time that firearms murders were dropping, gun sales were surging. In 2009, FBI background checks for guns increased by 30 percent over the previous year, while firearms sales in large retail outlets increased by almost 40 percent. The number of applications for concealed carry permits jumped across the country as well.

Pro-Second Amendment advocacy groups have used the decrease in gun crime, and crime in general, as a counter to gun control advocates’ claims that more firearms lead to more gun violence. They also point to the statistics as evidence of the ineffectiveness of gun control laws. (RELATED: Widow of ‘Whitey’ Bulger victim suggests foul play in payment of $2.1 million FBI reward)


Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Do you know what scary is? Not being able to fight back...

by Zee



My kids were watching two movies recently.  One was a G rated "Hello Kitty" monster movie cartoon.  The other was a PG monster movie with some fighting.  Afterwards, they remarked "how scary the movie was." 

Trying to comfort them, I picked up the second movie case and told them that is wasn't real.  To my surprise, they responded "not that movie, the Hello Kitty one!"  Intrigued, I asked why.  "In the other one, they were fighting the monster back.  Hello Kitty could only run away".

Apparently, the thought of a monster coming after you is scarier when you can't fight back.  Come to think of it, that's pretty true in real life too.  Violence isn't pretty.  In fact it's kinda scary in and of itself.  But not being able to fight back is even more scary.

I thought that translated pretty well to gun control.  Guns can be kind of scary to someone who has never been around them.  But the thought of some rapist/mugger/serial killer monster having any physical advantage over us is even more scary.

Maybe people who fear guns may just need to own one themselves.  Get trained.   Own a little peice of confidence.  Know that you have a little control over your own fate, and face one fear so that you have some control over the other.

So if this post leads you to be a little more open minded, take a chance and take some steps to protect yourself and your family... then you can thank my kids!


Teen in ‘Grave’ Condition After Being Shot In The Eye Through Front Door Peephole

Three men were arrested after a 16-year-old boy was reportedly shot in the eye while looking through the peephole of his front door, leaving him fighting for life.

The teen is the latest target of senseless violence in Cleveland, and CBS affiliate WOIO in Cleveland reports it seems like it’s another case of retaliation and payback.

The shooting happened Monday night as police were responding to a call about men with guns on Denison and W. 95th Streets. The officers and witnesses reportedly heard the gunfire, and authorities said it came from the 16-year-old being shot in the head. Sources told WOIO he was shot through the eye through the peephole of the front door to his house.

Sources also told WOIO that the home has been burglarized before. Someone from the house reportedly fired shots at the people that they suspected of trying to break in. Later in the day the house was on the receiving end of more bullets.

Police confirmed that three men in their 20s were arrested in connection to the shooting. Security video from the bar across the street, Andy’s Hot Spot, may have helped the police put the pieces together quickly.

Condition of the shooting victim was considered grave when he was transported to the MetroHealth center.

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2011/09/27/teen-grave-after-being-shot-in-the-eye-through-front-door-peephole/

Man accused of robbing couple at North Star Mall at gunpoint

By Eva Ruth Moravec

San Antonio police arrested a man suspected of trying to rob a couple at gunpoint and shooting one victim in a parking garage at North Star Mall.

Derrick Woolridge, 29, is being held in Bexar County Jail on one count of aggravated robbery. A judge set bail at $75,000.

An arrest warrant affidavit states police working surveillance at a VIA bus stop near the mall Saturday spotted Woolridge, who was still wearing Mardi Gras beads, a blue bracelet and a pair of sandals, and recognized him from footage of the robbery.

Police believe Woolridge approached a couple who had just returned to their parked vehicle outside of North Star Mall, in the 7400 block of San Pedro Avenue, on Friday. The couple told police a man opened the passenger door, demanded everything they had at gunpoint, and when the passenger tried to push the shotgun away, a shot was fired and struck the passenger's foot.

Woolridge reportedly then fled, but was arrested when he returned to the mall the next day.


http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Man-accused-of-robbing-couple-at-North-Star-Mall-2134862.php#ixzz1Vm8gMktF

Monday, September 26, 2011

'Fast and Furious,' documents show US government culpability

U.S. Government Bought and Sold Weapons During 'Fast and Furious,' Documents Show



Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel -- the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared. 

This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the Department of Justice's previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a "botched" operation where agents simply "lost track" of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another. Instead, it heightens the culpability of the federal government as Mexico, according to sources, has opened two criminal investigations into the operation that flooded their country with illegal weapons. 
 
According to documents obtained by Fox News, Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy four semi-automatic Draco pistols from the Lone Wolf gun store in Peoria, Ariz. An unusual sale, Dodson was sent to the store with a letter of approval from David Voth, an ATF group supervisor. 

Dodson then sold the weapons to known illegal buyers, while fellow agents watched from their cars nearby. 

This was not a "buy-bust" or a sting operation, where police sell to a buyer and then arrest them immediately afterward. In this case, agents were "ordered" to let the sale go through and follow the weapons to a stash house. 
According to sources directly involved in the case, Dodson felt strongly that the weapons should not be abandoned and the stash house should remain under 24-hour surveillance. However, Voth disagreed and ordered the surveillance team to return to the office. Dodson refused, and for six days in the desert heat kept the house under watch, defying direct orders from Voth. 

A week later, a second vehicle showed up to transfer the weapons. Dodson called for an interdiction team to move in, make the arrest and seize the weapons. Voth refused and the guns disappeared with no surveillance. 

Friday, September 16, 2011

If defensive gun uses are illegal, that's indictment of law, not of self-defense

 By Kurt Hofmann

While concealed carry laws are not the sole reason for the reduction in violent crime in America, they have played a critical role in that result, affording protection to individuals and deterring criminals. The police do not keep track of defensive uses of a gun, but some fifteen national polls, including one by the Los Angeles Times, found between 700,000 and 3.6 million defensive uses of guns annually. Studies have shown that some 98% of the time an armed citizen merely has to brandish his or her gun to stop an attack.
Media Matters counters by citing a study conducted by, among others, rabidly anti-gun Dr. David Hemenway, which casually dismisses these hundreds of thousands (or millions) of defensive gun uses--and in a rather surprising manner:
A majority of the reported self defense gun uses were rated as probably illegal by a majority of judges. This was so even under the assumption that the respondent had a permit to own and carry the gun, and that the respondent had described the event honestly.
We are to believe that self-defense gun uses were "probably illegal"--a majority of them.
A government that makes self-defense a crime is a government that is on the side of those who would kill you and yours.  It is, indeed, a government that does not deserve to be allowed to continue to exist.



http://armedandsafe.blogspot.com/2011/09/if-defensive-gun-uses-are-illegal-thats.html

Bloomberg again whining for more gun control

By Bob Barr

New York City’s rabidly anti-Second Amendment mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is once again pushing for ill-conceived gun laws in the wake of an abnormally violent Labor Day weekend.

According to The New York Post, 46 people were shot over the course of two days in several incidents. Bloomberg, who has long held anti-gun views and in 2006 co-founded the lobby group “Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” immediately and predictably cried out for more gun control. This tired refrain of pushing for more restrictions on private ownership of firearms every time there is a spike in violent crime in the Big Apple rings hollow coming from the chief execute of the city with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the free world.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that laws limiting the ability of average citizens to purchase or possess firearms do little, if anything, to prevent violence, Bloomberg said, “There are just too many guns on the streets and we have to do something about it.” Bloomberg invariably couples these vague but loud demands with calls for the federal government to “step up” action. Within the past three years, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down gun bans previously in effect in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Illinois. Notwithstanding these legal victories, sufficient wiggle room remains for anti-gunners like Bloomberg to continue to circumvent and thwart the right of the people to possess firearms for self-defense.

Congress, thankfully, continues to look for ways to stop such constitutionally challenged actions as Bloomberg’s. Legislation currently is pending in the House of Representatives that would permit a resident of a state that allows concealed carry to possess a firearm in a city considered hostile to the right to keep and bear arms. This bipartisan legislation simply recognizes that the Second Amendment reflects a right enjoyed by the citizens of all the states and the cities therein, not just those fortunate enough to be a constituent of elected officials who respect and understand the Constitution.

Although the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocal Act” already has nearly 250 co-sponsors, even were it to pass the Congress, the current occupant of the White House almost certainly would veto it. Congress, however, should move forward with such action nonetheless; it’s the right thing to do, it would enjoy great popular support and passage would perhaps move it closer to the front of the line for action in early 2013, when hopefully the resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will not be a close friend and supporter of Mr. Bloomberg.

Bob Barr represented Georgia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He provides regular commentary to Daily Caller readers.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/16/bob-barr-bloomberg-again-whining-for-more-gun-control/#ixzz1Y8P9nEu3

SF Gun Laws Under Scrutiny

By Rachel Gordon

San Francisco is a target of the gun-rights lobby, which, armed with a pair of U.S. Supreme Court rulings, hopes to eliminate gun-control laws passed by cities, counties and states.

The National Rifle Association and a longtime pro-gun lawyer in Sacramento have filed separate lawsuits in federal court that take aim at two San Francisco laws.

One law, approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2007, requires that handguns be kept in locked containers or disabled with a trigger lock.

The other, which has been on the books in various forms since 1994, prohibits the sale of hollow-point bullets and similar ammunition that fragments or explodes upon impact.

The plaintiffs argue that the San Francisco regulations are unconstitutional based on the Second Amendment. They point to the U.S. Supreme Court's Heller decision in 2008 that struck down a Washington, D.C., law and found that people have a constitutional right to keep guns at home for self-defense. Two years later, in the McDonald decision, the high court said that right applies to gun owners in local jurisdictions.

C.D. "Chuck" Michel, the lawyer who sued San Francisco on behalf of the National Rifle Association, said the regulations won't withstand constitutional scrutiny.

"These are the types of regulations that infringe on the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms," Michel said in a phone interview from his Southern California office. "What these laws are doing is stopping people from defending themselves adequately."

He estimated that there are more than two dozen substantive lawsuits filed by pro-gun interests across the country to test and expand the Heller and McDonald rulings.

Michel said San Francisco, a city with a long history of valuing personal liberty, "is hypocritical" when it comes to restraints involving guns.

But city officials say the restrictions have and will save lives and taxpayer money. Dr. Randi Smith, a trauma surgeon at the city-run San Francisco General Hospital, testified at Thursday's committee hearing that she has seen firsthand the damage wrought by hollow-point bullets, shredding organs like hamburger meat.

"Hollow-point bullets actually cause mass destruction that is irreparable," she said.

The lone licensed ammo dealer in the city, as a condition for the operating permit, does not sell hollow-point bullets, Kaiser said.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/15/BA5B1L57JN.DTL#ixzz1Y81134c8

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Verbal shots fired in Ruidoso gunfight

RUIDOSO, N.M. (KRQE) - There were powerful emotions and strong words at a city council meeting in Ruidoso, New Mexico Tuesday tonight.

Gun owners from down the road and from around the country, packed council chambers to give the mayor an earful about his executive order banning guns from village government buildings and meetings.

They ignored the ban to prove their point. Guns were very visible but the only shots fired were verbal and they were directed at the mayor.

"You are just as a much a tyrant for requiring someone to surrender their civil rights to carry a firearm in order to participate in their government as you are in asking them to surrender their right to vote or anything else,” Bob Wright said.

Speakers were given three minutes to speak and they did not hold back ,most of them with their guns holstered by their sides.

"Almost all of the mass murders in our country have occurred in areas just like you're fixing to set up, in gun free zones,” Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, Larry Pratt, said.

Locals, activists from the NRA and the Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, who flew in from Virginia, took to the podium to take a stand.

In all more than 100 people filled the council chamber to capacity, dozens of them carrying guns, despite signs that say ‘no guns allowed.’

Police were on hand but they did not stop them.

Ruidoso Mayor Ray Alborn issued the executive order banning firearms from government property and meetings a month ago, after a citizen refused to give up his gun after taking the podium.

"The police chief took it away from him, he filed a suit. At that time I realized how unprotected we in the front of the room, there's 11 of us, plus all of our citizens and employees who were at the meeting, how unprotected we were,” Alborn said.

The executive order does not apply to law enforcement.

The mayor also says there is a lot of misinformation including a rumor that the ban means people need to give up their guns the second they step on Ruidoso soil.

Critics loudly proclaim he is violating their 2nd amendment rights and that he thinks the law's on his side.

Alborn says if village council shoots down his executive order he might step down.

“My responsibility is health, safety and welfare of our employees so if we're not going to be able to do these kinds of things I’m not sure I want to be sitting in this seat,” Alborn said.

Protesters called for the mayor and the village attorney to resign. However, in the end the village council put off the vote.

No word when they might vote on the executive order.

The mayor says two state laws give him the authority to ban firearms in village buildings But the National Rifle Association says a New Mexico Supreme Court decision forbids local authorities from making piecemeal changes to the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.




http://www.kasa.com/dpps/news/politics/verbal-shots-fired-in-ruidoso-gunfight_3941695

After 9/11, Middle Eastern male attempts to board US airways flight with loaded gun.

HOUSTON -- A passenger was arrested trying to board a flight with a loaded gun and extra ammunition, Local 2 Investigates reported Tuesday night.

Houston police officers involved with the arrest describe the passenger as a "Middle Eastern male" who was holding a US Airways ticket to Phoenix around 6:30 p.m.

Officers told Local 2 Investigates that Transportation Security Administration screeners noticed the gun as the man's carry-on luggage was being screened at a Terminal A checkpoint.

When his bag was opened, police said they found a loaded .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol, along with two extra magazines full of ammunition. Typically, magazines for .25-caliber pistols can hold between five and nine bullets each.

The arrested passenger told police he had forgotten about the gun, apparently having left it in the bag approximately one year ago.

"His story didn't wash," said one HPD officer involved in the arrest.

Officers said, despite the man's story, they found receipts and other indications that the gun and ammo had been placed in the bag recently.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/29175459/detail.html

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Popcorn!



Scouting offers kids the chance to be of service to others, build self-confidence & reinforce ethical standards. For nearly 30 years, Trail's End has been in partnership with the Boy Scouts of America, to help Scout packs, troops and councils raise the money needed to fund their programs and activities throughout the year.

Your purchase helps to pay for the activities Scouts do, for the camps they attend, and for the equipment they need, like canoes, tents and uniforms. 70% of your purchase goes back to the Scout, his troop or pack, and his council. Trail’s end offers the best-tasting, highest-quality snacks possible.

To order go

I set this URL up to redirect to the Trails-End web site with my Son's scout number 
so he gets credit for the sale.

Please make sure it says "supporting scout Ryan G" 

If not, then click “change” and type in scout number 7380810 

Or just go to:

Curveballs

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. With school, baseball, scouts, and Sunday school all starting up at once life has been a bit hectic. Then I got a hit with a curve-ball in the form of a job layoff. Blog posts will resume as soon as I stop scrambling in 7 directions. In the mean time, if you know of any Information Technology openings, please let me know. :)