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Do Stabbings Mean We Need More Knife Control?
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Almost exactly one year ago, a carload of assailants took to the streets of Calgary and randomly slashed at five pedestrians, killing one of them.
A few months later, a crazed man in New York violently attacked an elderly dog-walker and a restaurant worker, "chopping" at them "like a sword" before being killed by police. Only days later, a Salt Lake City man also went on a stabbing spree.
On March 23, 2008, a Japanese man carrying two knives stabbed eight people in the city of Tsuchiura, simply because he "just wanted to kill anyone." And he did. At around the same time, an Alaska teenager butchered four people to death with a five-inch knife. |
IL: Guns don't make homes safer
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Mark A. Taff
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The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on guns was misguided.
The court's decision, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, overturned the strict ban on handguns in Washington.
Scalia called the handgun the overwhelming choice of Americans for self-defense. "It is easier to store in a location that is readily accessible in an emergency; it cannot easily be redirected or wrestled away by an attacker; it is easier to use for those without the upper-body strength to lift and aim a long gun; it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police," he wrote. |
NY: Judge rules state's gun laws prevail
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New York State Rifle & Pistol Association
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The recent historic handgun ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court should have no impact on gun control and licensing provisions in New York state, a local judge has concluded. Onondaga County Judge William Walsh ruled the June 26 Supreme Court ruling striking down the District of Columbia's strict handgun ban has no effect on the rights of individual states to establish their own firearm laws. Walsh made that finding in a written decision in which he reinstated a local man's pistol permit with limitations. |
Gun control in the U.S. is probably a lost cause
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Andy J
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A man asked me if I had any ideas about how to achieve a rational system of gun control in this country,
My answer surprised me.
"No," I told him. "I've given up on gun control. That battle is over. We've lost. I no longer think it's an achievable goal and if I were a politician I wouldn't lose an election over it."
The audience, a liberal group, was properly aghast. That answer was so unlike me.
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The Birth Of A Gun Nut
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Brent Greer
Website: http://www.thereadyline.blogspot.com
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As a child I had no interest in guns. I knew my father had some. I knew where he kept them. But strangely enough, I didn't have that insatiable curiosity that most children have, so I never covertly snuck into the bedroom to rummage through the closet to find the forbidden treasure. My father's firearms held no significance to me and ultimately I ended up regretting that....
All was quiet until 1997...then the son died and the daughter was faced with an extraordinary dilemma. There were guns. There were long guns and short guns and semi-automatic guns and revolvers and black powder guns, for you see not only did the father like things that went 'bang' but the son did as well. And guess what else there was....there was the Luger. |
IL: Can't fire cop who beat handcuffed wheelchair bound man
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Larry Blanco
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The Chicago Police Board made the correct decision in suspending — and not firing — an officer who was videotaped beating a 60-year-old man handcuffed and shackled to a wheelchair, a Cook County judge has ruled.
Officer William Cozzi still faces criminal charges in federal court in the beating of Randle Miles on Aug. 2, 2005 at Norwegian American Hospital in Humboldt Park.
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MN: No guns? Suicides will find some other way
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Americans often buy guns for self-defense, a purpose that now has Supreme Court validation. But according to advocates of gun control, those purchasers overlook the people who pose the greatest threat: themselves. Anyone who acquires a firearm, we are told, is inviting a bloody death by suicide.
So says Matthew Miller, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If you bought a gun today, I could tell you the risk of suicide to you and your family members is going to be two- to tenfold higher over the next 20 years," he told the Washington Post. Since the chance of a gun being used for suicide is so much higher than the chance of it being used to prevent a murder, we would all be better off with fewer firearms around. |
What The Great Minds Have Said About Gun Control
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Mark A. Taff
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The Court´s 5-4 decision read: "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home."
The framers of the constitution understood the necessity for American citizens to keep and bear arms. Unfortunately, our society has been so influenced by those on the left, that many of us now believe that we should give up that right...Thus leaving ourselves, our homes, and even our loved-ones at the mercy of the criminals. You see, gun laws only affect the law-abiding. |
DC: DC to vote on gun bill prompted by court ruling
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Mark A. Taff
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The District of Columbia Council planned to vote Tuesday on emergency legislation to allow handguns if they are used only for self-defense in the home and carry fewer than 12 rounds of ammunition.
The legislation announced Monday comes as officials scramble to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month striking down the city's 32-year-old ban.
The proposal, which maintains some of the city's strict gun ownership rules and adds more regulations, was immediately criticized by gun rights advocates threatening more legal action. |
TX: Women warn of 'nightmare' traffic stops in Irving
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Those driving down the road without an insurance card o driver's license with a correct address may find themselves in jail if they get pulled over by Irving police.
In fact, it happened to two women who were pulled over by the same two Irving cops last weekend. Both women said their traffic stops turned into a nightmare.
Mikki Stokes said she was headed to the store for some sour cream when she was stopped by two Irving police officers.
"And I was like, 'Is this something that someone with no criminal record would get arrested for, that's never been in trouble for anything?" she said. "I've never been in trouble before. Why are you arresting me for this? And they were like, 'We can arrest you for anything.'" |
TX: Free speech, voting, other rights reinstated for ex-felons; after Heller, why not gun ownership?
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If gun ownership is an individual right on par with free speech, the right to counsel, and the right to be secure from unreasonable searches, on what possible basis can a million plus Texans be excluded from that "right" because of a felony?
Bad guys who want to hurt somebody don't abide by gun laws, anyway, so these statutes by definition only influence the behavior of the law abiding. Why not make restoration of gun rights simultaneous with the restoration of other constitutional rights when an offender's sentence is complete? Wouldn't treating restoration of felon gun rights more like restoration of voting and other substantive rights be in keeping the with Supreme Court ruling in Heller?
H/T to Grits for Breakfast |
Ex-DOJ Prosecutor flagged by US terror watch list
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The Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor says the government's terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled.
Former Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson would know: he's one of them.
"It's a pain in the neck, and significantly interferes with my travel arrangements," said Robinson, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division during the Clinton administration. |
TN: Man Arrested For Unlawful Photography
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Rick Schwartz
Website: http://hubpages.com/hub/Christians-and-Self-Defense
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Nearly everyone carries a cell phone and it’s hard to find one without that camera feature. It’s convenient when you want to take that impromptu photo, but a Tri-Cities area man ended up behind bars after snapping a shot of a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop.
The cell phone photographer says the arrest was intimidation, but the deputy says he feared for his life.
“Here’s a guy who takes me out of the car and arrests me in front of my kids. For what? To take a picture of a police officer?” said Scott Conover.
A Johnson County sheriff’s deputy arrested Conover for unlawful photography.
“He says you took a picture of me. It’s illegal to take a picture of a law enforcement officer,” said Conover.
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TX: Woman dies; boyfriend claims self-defense
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Gloria Charles Ruth Alexander, 56, died Monday from injuries she received during an early-morning confrontation with her boyfriend on June 28.
Her boyfriend, David Lee Jones, 54, hasn’t been charged with any crime.
When police arrived to the couple’s home, 3315 Ave. M 1/2, they saw Jones carrying an 8- to 10-inch knife by the blade that he claimed Alexander threatened to kill him with, police reports say.
Alexander was shot at least four times with a rifle, said John Florence, a spokesman for the Galveston County Medical Examiner. |
DC: Wanna Load Your D.C. Handgun? Better Be a "Reasonably Perceived Threat of Immediate Harm"
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Mark A. Taff
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Local gun enthusiasts, note these words: “reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm.”
That there, laid out in a law likely to be passed tomorrow by the D.C. Council, lays out exactly when you’ll be allowed to actually load a gun in the District of Columbia for self-defense purposes.
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Getting your hands on a gun is a trickier process; you can buy a gun in another state then have it transferred to a dealer in the District (for a fee)—last week, WTOP’s Mark Segraves found the one guy in town who’s willing to do that for you: one Charles Sykes, Jr.
Ed.: Lots of procedural details in this story. |
SC: Justices overturn murder conviction
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Mark A. Taff
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The state’s top court Monday reversed the murder conviction of a Pelion man accused of killing his girlfriend in 2001 in Lexington County and hiding her body in Alabama.
In a 4-1 ruling, the S.C. Supreme Court said the judge in Michael Light’s 2003 trial should have told jurors they could have considered whether Light acted in self-defense.
The majority of justices also said trial Judge Marc Westbrook, who died in a 2005 car wreck, made another serious error by not instructing jurors on a lesser involuntary manslaughter charge.
Chief Justice Jean Toal dissented, siding with an earlier state Court of Appeals decision upholding the conviction. |
DC: A New Gun Law
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Mark A. Taff
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There was both a triumphal and defeatist cast to the news conference that D.C. officials held yesterday to unveil new firearms legislation. The agreement by the District's sometimes-fractured political leadership on a course of action was worthy of celebration. But it was hard to stomach the need to promulgate rules allowing ownership of handguns -- something the city had forbidden for decades until the Supreme Court's recent decision. Nonetheless, the proposal strikes the right balance in allowing residents to exercise Second Amendment rights articulated in the court's landmark decision while aiming to keep guns out of the wrong hands and prevent their misuse. |
WA: Allowing concealed weapons in national parks is a dangerous idea
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Mark A. Taff
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We already have killing fields in, or adjoining, national parks.
Bob “Action” Jackson used to be backcountry ranger for the Thorofare region at the southeast corner of Yellowstone Park, a remote, gorgeous place.
Commercial outfitters have virtually taken over adjoining national forest wilderness areas, constructing elaborate camps and catering to wealthy hunters — promising an elk on three-day pack trips into the backcountry.
Before he was forced to retire, Jackson revealed that some outfitters were improperly building salt licks to lure elk. In turn, this attracted grizzly bears. Bear kills — supposedly in self-defense — soared around Thorofare. |
IL: Firing back at King Richard (in self-defense)
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Mark A. Taff
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Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has chosen to make the gun issue personal. Okay, I'll bite.
Daley's reaction to the Supreme Court's recent ruling (D.C. v. Heller) overturning the Washington, D.C. ban on gun ownership was as predictable as it was incoherent.
In one of his signature assaults on logic, Daley, a known enemy of modern contrivances like "facts," deftly managed to completely mischaracterize the Court's holding at the same time as embarrassing the faculty at DePaul University School of Law where he somehow obtained a law degree. |
LA: Young shooters learn firearms safety
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Mark A. Taff
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Some have fired shotguns while hunting with dad or grandpa, and the closest others have come to a real gun is seeing it on television.
But whether or not they are experienced shooters, children participating in the fifth annual Youth Firearms Education Camp are taught how to handle and shoot firearms the proper way.
"I personally think this is a good thing to do in case I have to use one in a very bad situation," 10-year-old Alexis Coleman said. "Then, I will know what to do." Coleman shot a bull's-eye with her .22-caliber rifle Monday. "The first time I fired it, it scared me. But I think I have the hang of it now." |
UT: Opinions vary on Court's Handgun Ruling
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Mark A. Taff
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The June 26 Supreme Court decision to rule in favor of an individual's right to own and carry a handgun has brought attention to firearm activist groups and students. The decision came after the Supreme Court ruled a Washington, D.C. handgun ban to be unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court decision doesn't extend unlimited rights to gun owners. Some limitations apply such as those laid out in the BYU honor code's firearms policy. According to the BYU policy and procedures handbook, the use or possession of any firearm, explosives, knives or other dangerous weapons is prohibited on or near campus. There are a few exceptions such as ROTC students and members of the BYUSA shooting club. |
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