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Is 2009 the Year of the Gun?
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According to some posters, pollsters, politicos and pundits, 2009 is shaping up to be the Year of the Gun. That's because of the challenge to laws, the level of gun violence and the fueling of suspicion and distrust of government worldwide.
America has challenges through the several states and is often considered to be the hotbed of controversy on the subject of guns. It isn't alone, of course, but perhaps discussion should start with a narration of its 2009 gun events. |
WV: Deer harvest in West Virginia
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Another related benefit of the deer hunting season is the state program known as Hunters Helping the Hungry. Started in 1992 in West Virginia, it has provided over 925,000 meals for needy families. Hunters who harvest an extra deer that they do not need are able to take the animal to one of the participating meat cutters, who butchers and prepares the meat for distribution.
West Virginians, who see hunting as part of the American way of life, also value their firearms, which are seen by many residents as tools, both for self defense as well as for recreation. The West Virginia state motto, “Mountaineers are always free”, reflects the very real attitude and life outlook of most citizens. |
LA: Marrero, LA robber shot by his would-be victim
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An armed robber was fatally shot after he and two accomplices tried to ambushed their would-be victims.
Police say that a Marrero, Louisiana couple was walking from their driveway to their house when a trio of armed robbers approached and brandished a gun. One of the would-be victims reportedly drew his own gun and shot one of the robbers. The robber's two accomplices are said to have fled, leaving the couple unharmed. The robber, whose name was not released pending notification of his relatives, died at a nearby hospital, according to police. |
US states adopt looser gun laws
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Academics are divided on the effects of liberalized handgun laws, and determining the impact is complicated by the move in several states to close handgun permit records. A Violence Policy Center project has mined news reports to find that more than 100 people have been killed by holders of handgun-carry permits since 2007, including nine law enforcement officers. The project originally intended to list all gun crimes by permit holders, but there were too many to keep track of, Rand said. "They shoot each other over parking spaces, at football games and at family events," Rand said. "The idea that you're making any place safer by injecting more guns is just completely contradicted by the facts." |
The Truth About Self-Protection: A book review
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Mark A. Taff
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Understanding what your rights and abilities are when it comes to self-protection is important, however, understanding your limitations is more so. Massad Ayoob places an entire lifetime of knowledge and understanding regarding self-protection into a 417-word book. This book was originally written in 1983 however, the truths and knowledge included in it still hold true today. |
OK: Terror Gap
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Ed.: Last story on page.
There are many people who are not allowed to buy firearms: convicted felons, domestic abusers and the seriously mentally ill, among others. Missing from that list are suspected terrorists.
There is bipartisan legislation making its way through Congress that would plug what is commonly called the "terror gap." The legislation was first introduced in 2007 and was supported by the Bush administration. President Obama also supports the measure.
This is not an infringement on the Second Amendment despite what the National Rifle Association claims as it opposes the bill. It is a matter of safety and common sense.
Ed.: The comments are instructive. |
GA: New Years gun rights resolution: Meet with your state representative
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Elected officials receive so many emails and telephone calls, that you are just one tick "for" or "against" a specific measure under consideration. This is not the way to get things done.
If you want to make an effective and significant difference, then meet your State Representative in person. The goal of the meeting should be to make a new friend. While it is ok to mention gun rights or a specific issue pertaining to the right to bear arms, especially if it is something that affects you personally, the object is not to argue with your Representative. Rather, the purpose of the meeting is to begin an actual relationship.
People do things for people they know and like. This is just a part of human nature. |
NY: NYC Mayor Bloomberg: "Too Many Guns"
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Ironically, in making his point against gun violence, the mayor brought up the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech: "If you think about all the publicity about the terrible tragedy of Virginia Tech, we have a Virginia Tech in this country every day. It’s just spread across 50 states.” Doesn't the mayor know that instead of "too many guns," there was a dearth of guns on the college campus and the victims who were killed by the lone gunman were defenseless? Not surprisingly, the AP story reporting the mayor's remarks failed to point out this obvious contradition in the mayor's "logic," reflecting the anti-gun bias of the reporters who wrote the story. |
MA: Goods for Guns comes close to last year's total in first day
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Organizers of the Goods for Guns program said they took in 122 unwanted firearms and gave out about $5,800 worth of Walmart gift certificates during yesterday's initial phase of the annual two-day event.
The program allows people to anonymously exchange working, unloaded firearms for gift certificates and has collected and destroyed 1,620 guns since 2002.
Dr. Michael P. Hirsh, director of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Worcester and chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery & Trauma at UMass Memorial Medical Center, said 36 pistols and revolvers, 37 semiautomatic weapons and 49 long guns were turned in at the Worcester Police Department at Lincoln Square yesterday in exchange for gift certificates. |
MI: In record numbers, guns and ammo fly off shelves
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The continued high-volume sale of guns and ammunition nationwide in the last year will lead to a big increase in funds for wildlife habitat and management across the country, including Michigan.
A federal tax collected on firearms and ammunition sales is redistributed to wildlife and hunting programs in each state, and only three -- Alaska, Texas and Pennsylvania -- get more money than the $17 million Michigan is expecting this year: $6 million more than last year's record.
With budget cuts and the coming merger of the state's departments of natural resources and environmental quality, the extra bucks will come in handy. |
NRA Disputes Gun Poll, Says Bloomberg's Billions Buy Opinions
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Last week, anti-gun New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's anti-gun group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, released the findings of a poll conducted by a political consulting firm called "The Word Doctors," whose slogan is "It's not what you say, it's what people hear." Word Doctors' president is a pollster who has been reprimanded by the American Association for Public Opinion Research and censured by the National Council on Public Polls, and who says that the key to polling is "to ask a question in the way that you get the right answer."
Ed.: This is the NRA's full rebuttal. |
Carrying a gun is getting easier for Americans
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A nationwide review by The Associated Press found that over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions. Among other things, legislatures have allowed firearms to be carried in cars, made it illegal to ask job candidates whether they own a gun, and expanded agreements that make permits to carry handguns in one state valid in another.
The trend is attributed in large part to a push by the National Rifle Association. The NRA, which for years has blocked attempts in Washington to tighten firearms laws, has ramped up its efforts at the state level to chip away at gun restrictions.
Among the recent laws: (See article) |
The Regime's Heroic Border Guards in Action
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« Previous: Rescue Amazon Workers | LRC Home | LRC Blog | Next: Ron Paul to Co-Host CNBC’s Squawk Box »
December 11, 2009
The Regime’s Heroic Border Guards in Action
Posted by William Grigg on December 11, 2009 05:36 PM
Crossing the border of a totalitarian state — in either direction — is an experience fraught with visceral anxiety.
Finding himself in the unwanted company of humorless, heavily armed goons of dubious competence and abysmal intelligence, the traveler is vividly aware that he can be arrested, imprisoned, beaten, or even shot at whim.
The best thing to do in such circumstances, travelers are told, is to assume a posture of utter servility, meekly and quietly enduring whatever indignity inflicted on them until they are safely through the border checkpoint.
Judging by the recent behavior of the valiant cadres of the heroic Border Guards Directorate, it becomes clear that the U.S. is rapidly descending into undisguised totalitarianism.
Last Tuesday (December 8), Dr. Peter Watts, a Hugo-nominated science fiction author from Toronto, was severely beaten, pepper-sprayed, arrested, interrogated, and otherwise abused by Border Patrol agents.
“If you buy into the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics, there must be a parallel universe in which I crossed the US/Canadian border without incident last Tuesday,” writes Dr. Watts. “In some other dimension, I was not waved over by a cluster of border guards who swarmed my car like army ants for no apparent reason; or perhaps they did, and I simply kept my eyes downcast and refrained from asking questions.”
“Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on,” Dr. Watts continues: |
More police killed by gunfire in ’09 than ’08
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Across the nation, 2009 was a particularly perilous year for officers involved in gun disputes.
As of Saturday, 47 police officers have died nationwide this year after being shot while on duty, up from 38 for the same time in 2008, which was the lowest number of gunfire deaths since 1956, according to the data.
The availability of guns compounds the problem, criminologists say. But Pennsylvania, the state with the most gun-related officer deaths so far this year, has among the strictest gun laws in the country, according to a ranking by the pro-gun-control Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Other states, like Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky, have very little oversight and had few, if any, officer gun deaths this year. |
NY: Mike's new ammo in gun crusade
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The Times Square chaos stirred up by a thug using a stolen gun from out of state is another example why the nation needs tougher gun laws, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
"We've got to stop this," he said. "This is one of the great public health threats. And our police officers are clearly in danger."
We keep getting this lesson every day," Bloomberg said. "If you think of all the publicity about the terrible tragedy of Virginia Tech, we have a Virginia Tech in this country every day. It's just spread across 50 states."
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