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The Media Response to Mass Shootings
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Mark A. Taff
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The latest mass-casualty shooting spree — this one in Santa Barbara, Calif. — has touched off the usual debate about how to put a stop to these hideous spasms of murder. These random massacres have become, as I wrote in a previous column, an American psychosis.
Some, including the anguished father of one of the victims, point to guns and the NRA as the villains. Defenders of guns respond with the usual arguments — which I find persuasive. That much having been said, I wish people who defend the Second Amendment wouldn’t talk about their guns with such lascivious pleasure. Guns are necessary to self-defense. The right to own them is enshrined in the Constitution. |
We must act against gun violence now!
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Mark A. Taff
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Sadly, there is little reason to think his painful plea will produce reforms that will reduce the carnage. Previous, equally passionate ones by survivors of those murdered at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Fort Hood, the Washington Navy Yard, Binghamton or the many other modern American killing fields did not.
The two political sides continue to talk past each other while people continue to die. Surely there are some leaders who can claim the common ground and bridge the partisan divide to take us there. |
CT: 23 State AGs Support Appeal of Decision Upholding Connecticut’s New Gun Law
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Mark A. Taff
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Attorneys general in 23 states signed on last week to an appeal by state Second Amendment advocates of a federal court decision which upheld the constitutionality of Connecticut’s gun control law.
The appeal comes from gun rights supporters in Connecticut who unsuccessfully challenged the state’s post-Sandy Hook gun control law. In January, a federal court judge ruled that the law passes constitutional muster, even if it is a burden on gun owners. |
GA: Victory for the Second Amendment in Georgia Politics
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Mark A. Taff
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On Tuesday may 20th 2014, Georgia voters went to polls and sent a strong message to the anti-gun establishment in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Jody Hice finished first in the Georgia Republican Primary, receiving 33.5% of the vote. Now Dr. Hice and his campaign are gearing up for the Republican Runoff on Tuesday, July 22nd 2014.
This win is a huge step forward in making sure that Georgia’s 10th Congressional District remains home to a 100% pro-gun leader – and it’s a huge win for gun owners across the country. |
Remember Franklin’s comment on liberty
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Mark A. Taff
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In the end, the issue of gun control should shock America into seeing just how many liberties we have given up to get to the point of having a debate over the Second Amendment. Those who support the Second Amendment should also support taking back the liberties we have forfeited in the name of fighting terrorism. Remember what Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who forfeit liberty for security will receive neither.” |
Why California’s Shooting Won’t Add Anything to the Gun Control Debate
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Mark A. Taff
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When it comes to gun control, there’s a predictable pattern the United States appears to follow in the case of each successive shooting gaining national attention. I phrase it that way because there are many, many shootings that garner considerably less attention; they are worthy of note, but receive little discussion apart from U.S. statistics. The cycle begins with an event — such as Sandy Hook, or this latest Santa Barbara shooting — then followed by a fear of guns, demands for control, then fear from Second Amendment proponents of a loss of rights, and eventually a legislative push back against any anti-gun policies.
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Santa Barbara Shooting Sparks Talk of New Bill Linking Gun Crimes and the Mentally Ill
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On Sunday, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated that some agreement might be reached on a bill dealing with the mental health aspects of gun crimes. On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Blumenthal said he may try to “reconfigure” gun legislation that failed in the Senate last year to focus on mental health.
Blumenthal said Congress must act to “keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people who are severely troubled or deranged like this young man was, and provide resources.” |
TX: Republican John Ratcliff unseats the nation’s oldest Congressman
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Ratcliff, who served as mayor of Heath for two years. also served a year as a U.S. Attorney, and as Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Seurity for the Eastern District of Texas from 2004-2007.
His campaign has dealt largely with his stance on illegal immigration, Second Amendment rights, limited government and a balanced budget, but he has not avoided the issue of his opponent’s age. |
IL: Anti-Gunner ‘Wish List’ Legislation Introduced
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Last week, Senate Bill 3659, misleadingly named the “Illinois Public Safety Act,” was introduced by notorious Illinois anti-gun state Senator Dan Kotowski (D-28).
SB 3659 seeks to ban the possession, delivery, sale and purchase of many semi-automatic firearms and accessories, as well as .50 caliber rifles and cartridges unless the items have been previously owned and registered within an arbitrary period of time. SB 3659 would also amend the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act to require background checks for private transfers of firearms, except those between family members, and would restrict magazine limits to those with a capacity of 15 rounds and smaller. |
On open carry and Chipotle
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Mark A. Taff
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If the gun rights movement has a vanguard, it would be those who openly carry firearms.
At marches, rallies or a walk down city streets to a fishing pier, these “open carriers” have done much to educate the public and local law enforcement about Second Amendment rights.
They’ve replaced protest signs with rifles. Holstered pistols have become free speech.
At times they’ve been harassed, arrested and jailed, until police or prosecutors realized the gun owner was acting well within their rights to carry a gun in public. |
NM: Police: Apodaca Park shooter acted in self defense; 2 others charged
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Police say last week's shooting at Apodaca Park was an act of self-defense, and two men, including a man shot in the neck, have been arrested for their alleged role in the afternoon incident.
Giovanni Melero, 27, turned himself in to Las Cruces police Tuesday afternoon, three days after being released from an El Paso hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the neck, according to and LCPD news release. |
CO: Gun owner gets last laugh for illegal arrest
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A Colorado man is $25,000 richer after the city of Thornton compensated him for his arrest by police officers for legally carrying a gun.
That’s right. Legally.
It happened during the social hurricane energized by Second Amendment opponents in the immediate aftermath of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting by James Holmes in which 12 people were killed and five dozen wounded.
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Joe the Plumber: "Your Dead Kids Don’t Trump My Constitutional Rights"
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Joe, whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher, inexplicably became famous as the moron who "stood up" to candidate Barack Obama in 2008, and he's since made some money as a failed Tea Party congressional candidate and talk-radio ranter. Continuing his tradition of providing answers to questions no one fucking asked him, Joe decided to post an open letter to the families of victims killed in Elliot Rodger's murder-suicide rampage over the weekend. Just the victims who were shot, though; not the ones who were stabbed. |
Barack Obama and His Urban Parasites Declare War on the Constitution
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Mark A. Taff
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Of course, Wyoming has the same Senate representation as California specifically to prevent individuals like Barack Obama, and his constituency of urban parasites, from imposing their will on the less populous states. This "Great Compromise" of 1787 was a condition of these states' willingness to join the United States in the first place.
This is also why each state gets no fewer than three electoral votes, regardless of population. Hillary Clinton dislikes this arrangement, because it gives her constituency less leverage in presidential elections. |
GA: New gun law worries Macon-Bibb commission
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"We've had people come to these meetings with bags, with bottles with liquid in it, and it's frightened us," Commissioner Elaine Lucas said.
To restrict guns here at Macon-Bibb's government center and other county offices, certified officers would have to screen each person who comes in, says assistant county attorney Crystal Jones.
"We've got another state-mandated law with nothing in place to help us control it. The cost, $250,000 is just an estimate to make a building secure, and that's just one building!" Shepherd said. |
UK: California congressional candidate ran pro-gun robocall hours after UCSB mass-shooting
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Mark A. Taff
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Tony Strickland, a former California state senator aiming for a seat in the House of Representatives, robocalled constituents with a gun-rights message on Saturday near the congressional district where a crazed murderer shot and killed three people, and stabbed three others to death, a day earlier.
'Protect our gun rights! Vote for Tony Strickland for Congress!' the Republican's call script says. 'Tony Strickland has a history of protecting our Second Amendment rights and will do the same in Congress.' |
IL: Did Rahm Emanuel just launch new anti-gun effort?
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The Chicago Sun-Times reported this morning that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed “a far-reaching ordinance” that would require any gun shops in the city to videotape every sale, and now one might wonder whether this was the backdoor launch of a new gun control scheme that will somehow be twisted to promise a reduction in violent crime.
This comes after a weekend filled with news about the multiple slayings in Isla Vista, where suspected killer Elliot Rodger stabbed three men fatally in his apartment, then went on a rampage around the community, near the University of California, Santa Barbara. |
Anti-gunners trying to out-exploit one another over Isla Vista
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Mark A. Taff
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Gun prohibitionists at the Brady Campaign and Moms Demand Action appear to be trying to out-do one another today in exploiting the Santa Barbara murder spree, with one blaming the “corporate gun lobby” and the other suggesting that the answer to Isla Vista is a domestic violence law co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and this after a Washington Post movie critic on Sunday blamed white male Hollywood fantasies.
Meanwhile, today in the Seattle area, the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility (WAGR) hasn’t gotten round to exploiting the shooting, but they are begging for contributions in preparation for their upcoming June 2 “campaign kick-off,” the latest in several such media events. |
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