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2015: The Year in Guns
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By the numbers.
13,013
Number of people killed by guns so far in 2015. Number of those who were children aged 0-11: 673. Number aged 12-17: 2,609. (Gun Violence Archive)
1.49
Percentage of gun deaths that are from mass shootings. (Vox.com)
965
Number of people shot dead by police this year. Of those, 719 were killed after committing violent crimes. 36 were black and unarmed. (Washington Post) |
TN: Time for a review of Tennessee gun permits
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Perhaps the most significant difference is that Tennessee allows permit holders from anywhere in the nation to pack heat in the Volunteer State.
The variations suggest that there are 25 states, including Tennessee, where some adjustments may be in order.
If Tennessee legislators expect to enjoy reciprocity with other states on this issue — a popular demand among gun owners — they should take another look at the state's gun laws and re-examine the question of who can be trusted to carry a gun in Tennessee. |
FL: Gun control laws not answer to prevention to shootings
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I am also nonplussed that the initial comments by the current resident of the White House and his camp following any "mass shooting" incident is an emotional appeal to further restrict the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. There is a total absence of rhetoric about how to disarm the criminal element or tighten security against radical Islam. |
The gun situation is not hopeless
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America’s mass murder crisis is a terrifying phenomenon. It’s gotten to the point at which the supposedly freest country in the world has become, in some horrifically depressing ways, a 300 million person prison.
When our schoolchildren and their teachers, mall and theater employees and government workers must, increasingly, prepare for the sudden appearance of heavily armed sociopaths bent on mass murder a regular part of their daily lives, something has gone tragically wrong in society. |
NJ: Gun control can lead to genocide
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Current New Jersey rules for the issue of a firearm carry permit require the applicant to prove a justifiable need. Failing to do so is cause for denial.
If a law or regulation was passed requiring us to “show a need” to exercise other rights such as to speak freely, to worship as we please or to publish or broadcast our opinions, we would be besieging the Statehouse in Trenton for the redress of that grievance. Yet to exercise the right recognized in the Second Amendment we are required to prove a need. What is it about “shall not be infringed” the state fails to understand? |
IL: With gun possession comes great responsibility
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As of Monday 142,274 concealed carry licenses had been granted in Illinois — in an adult population of some 9 million, give or take — with another 334 permits that have been pulled for various reasons. On the one hand, that could represent 334 potentially regrettable situations in the less than two years that concealed carry has been legally permissible in Illinois. On the other, it's a revocation rate of less than three-tenths of 1 percent. People with strong opinions on this issue likely will choose the perspective that best fits their previously held view. |
ME: Brave new world of people with guns everywhere
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Imagine a brave new world. A world in which the National Rifle Association’s desire to see every person carrying a weapon to protect themselves wherever they go is fulfilled.
In this brave new world, thousands of people, all carrying loaded guns are at a mass gathering — a ball game; a grand opening; a concert; a Veterans Day parade.
All of a sudden, a half-dozen radical crazies of any persuasion pull out pistols and start shooting strangers at random. Almost instantly, hundreds, if not thousands of “innocent” gun holders break out their weapons. Anyone they now see with a gun in their hand becomes a threat and they start shooting … each other. |
TX: Houston, Harris County officials prepare for open carry
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As the countdown to open carry in Texas draws near, county and city officials have begun hunkering down with employees to prepare them for interactions - at the tax office, pools, libraries, community centers and other public sites - with visibly armed civilians.
Most government spaces are required beginning Jan. 1 to allow visitors licensed to carry firearms to move about their premises with a handgun in a hip or shoulder holster.
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IA: Time to institute effective gun control
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Regardless of how Gov. Terry Branstad wishes to frame it, he has taken the right stance on keeping guns out of Iowa schools. Such arming in the presence of little ones teaches them that adults have given up on the civilization that nihilistic terrorists are attempting to frighten us into destroying by rending asunder the societal fabric that differs mankind from the beasts of prey that lurked the primeval jungle willingly killing its own kind. More guns and guns everywhere ensures that fear is but a trigger finger away and the promotion of such is what terrorism is all about. |
Congressman Payne Jr. Introduces Federal Gun Buyback Legislation
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Payne: No, actually we’ve identified through the ATF the 10 most used guns in street crimes. We have incentivized return of those guns by up to 25 percent over the market value of the gun. You would receive a debit card where once you turn in the gun. You get a debit card and that can be used for anything. You can’t get cash for it and you can’t use it to purchase guns. If they were tried to use in that manner there’s a possibility of a two year jail sentence, and that goes along with using it illegally. So, 25 percent over the retail cost of the gun and we think that is a great incentive in order to bring them back.
Ed.: So I can make a 25% return on investment just by buying a gun? |
TX: Galleria to ban guns despite new open carry law
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The Galleria is the latest business to announce they'll ban openly-carried guns.
Starting January 1st, a new state law takes effect allowing licensed gun owners to carry openly; but they won't be welcomed everywhere.
Bustling shoppers can find just about anything they want in the Galleria, except a gun.
The mall doesn't let anyone carry weapons on the property and its parent company, Simon, just announced that won't be changing when the new open carry law takes effect. |
Guns growing in popularity as Christmas gifts this year
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With fears over terrorism at home and abroad this holiday season, gun sales and guns as gifts are way up this year.
But authorities say you better check the list of gun laws and check it twice if you're giving a gun this holiday.
This year, many adults are following in the foot steps of little Ralphie from the movie "A Christmas Story," hoping Santa packs a little heat under their tree this year. |
RI: The rights of the people shall not be infringed
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Opponents of the Second Amendment would like us to believe that it only applies to a regulated militia. This misguided statement ignores this important phrase “the rights of the people."
So one must ask: If you can take away “the rights of the people” in the Second Amendment, then why can’t those rights in the First and Fourth Amendments also be taken away?
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NJ: Christie losing grip on gun control
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But the story comes with one more twist; all of these machinations may not produce the desired result for Christie. Some gun-rights advocates aren’t happy about it, including the head of the New Jersey Second Amendment Rights Society, who said he was “dumbfounded” that any Second Amendment supporter would consider Christie’s proposal a success.
New Jersey gets it on gun control in a way few other states do, no matter how often or loudly the gun advocates insist that the path to curbing gun violence is arming the populace to the teeth. Christie used to understand as well — he was first motivated to run for state office because he wanted to preserve a ban on assault weapons, even though he now claims to have forgotten all about it. |
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