Joan Peterson: Modern Don Quixote

Of course Don Quixote jousted with windmills he thought were giants, that fantasy is maybe too scary for her. Instead she debates with straw men she thinks are gun owners!

What is the logic in laws that allow people who shouldn’t get guns to get them anyway? What is the logic in making assault weapons seem like just any old gun used by hunters and recreational shooters? What kind of logic is it when laws are passed to let someone with a gun shoot someone when “feeling threatened” without being held responsible for the shooting? Do the rights of gun owners trump the rights of the public to be safe from senseless shootings? Shouldn’t laws be passed to protect the public instead of protecting the gun industry, the gun lobby and gun carriers?

Nobody is saying violent felons, and people involuntarily committed for mental illness should get guns, we’re talking about banning private sale, but more on that later. So-Called “Assault Weapons” ARE just “any old gun”, and they are used frequently by hunters and recreational shooters. Also nobody who shoots another person is held without responsibility in America PERIOD…again more on that later. And yeah we do need laws protecting gun owners because gun owners ARE THE PUBLIC!

“Common Sense” has become a JOKE in the gun-rights debate because you are so illogical and closed-minded Joan!

Let’s take conceal and carry laws for an example of the reasoning of the NRA. If we just but let anyone who doesn’t have a felony record get a gun permit, we will all be better off and safer and people will be able to protect themselves in public from some mythical threat. The facts don’t show anything of the kind. The facts, in fact, show the opposite. The Violence Policy Center is keeping track of conceal and carry permit holders who have killed people. The numbers are increasing and should be of concern. I refer often to the Ohh Shoot blog that highlights the number of accidental discharges of guns by law abiding gun owners all over America. It is not a pretty picture. Facts also show that there are few instances of permit holders using guns in public places to defend themselves against an actual threat. What we have seen instead are the increasingly numerous instances of permit holders purposely shooting people in public places.

Of course carry permits are at an all-time high, and agencies who issue permits are totally swamped with work…oh and violent crime in this nation is at a record low. But who are you going to trust, the FBI, the CDC, and the ATF, or the five people who work for the Joyce foundation running websites filled with errors and inconsistencies?

” Thompson said Ambrose wouldn’t have received a permit under the old discretionary process.” Indeed. That is a problem with the laws that took discretion out of the process of granting gun permits to people. Clearly this was a man who should not have been able to get a gun permit but he got one anyway thanks to the NRA and its push for “shall issue” conceal and carry laws in almost every state. Before this young man was shot to death by law enforcement, he endangered the lives of the public by brandishing his gun. Another tragedy was avoided. But what other young men who get their permits because everyone is doing it will cause the next public shooting? Who knows?

Here Joan is blabbing about a man who plead guilty to a minor possession charge and got two days in jail. TWO DAYS! And with this she wants it to be a yardstick for blanket denial of rights. Oh BTW when this particular bad apple acted up, he got killed for his behavior. Problem solved. Still Joan ignores that Police “Discretionary Processes” use no discretion at all. In all cases “May Issue” is simply “Shall Issue” or “No Issue” across the board. Police don’t have time to interview EVERY DAMN PERSON on the planet who asks for a permit who has a clean background. Instead they interview only the people who make a huge stink on crappy laws and injustice…and sometimes tell THOSE people to fly a kite! Sounds good to Joan! The only reason why she likes “May Issue” laws is because it at least denies SOME lawful citizens their rights….she’d prefer ALL, but that’ll come later!

The private sale loophole in our gun laws is illogical. Traveling Americans expect that they will be safer because everyone is treated the same when going through airport security. There are very good reasons for the security that has tightened since the attacks of 9-11. Everyone is treated the same at airport security lines. There are also very good reasons for requiring background checks on all gun sales. All gun sales should require the same background checks as are required by federally license firearms dealers. The incident linked above is proof positive.

Ok so first the “Terror Watch List” is bullshit, and mostly non-terrorists, as well as free of many KNOWN terrorists, and of course its fully outside the due-process of law. (Remember, anti-rights, not anti-gun!), but then there’s the whole ban on Private Sale that Joan wants. We talked about it recently here where the whole national system went down several times on black Friday due to large call volumes. The whole country! This of course is also not noting the fact that some gun shops charge HUGE fees for transfers, like DC where it costs $150 for the one shop in town to run a background check, or the simple logistics, like if two people live 100 miles from the nearest shop, and want to exchange a gun. There’s some logic for you, Joan. I expect you’ll continue to ignore it!

There had better be a good explanation for the actions taken by this “law abiding” gun collector. In Florida, of course, there is a Stand Your Ground Law now made famous by the Trayvon Martin shooting where George Zimmerman killed an unarmed teen ager over his fear that Martin was doing something wrong by walking around in a gated community.

Umm No! Well first George Zimmerman was arrested THAT NIGHT and investigated for murder, and released. He was later charged with murder for political reasons, and will likely be acquitted. Why? Well because your “logic” is a LIE Joan! George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin only AFTER Martin was ON TOP OF HIM AND BEATING HIS HEAD INTO THE PAVEMENT! We call that “Attempted Murder”, why is it your “Logic” wants to overlook violent criminal actions? Where’s the “Common Sense” there? Oh yeah it isn’t about that, its about guns!

Hey but its scarier if you say “Stand your ground repeals the laws for murder!” It isn’t true, but its scarier! That’s her idea of “Logic”.

I’ll leave this link in her comment section. Watch to see if it appears. You see Joan’s idea of a “Debate” is to barricade herself into a room and talk to the walls!

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Podcast, Safety, Self Defense | 13 Comments

In a “Gun Free Zone” This is News

In NYC for a little over one day NO shootings, or stabbings!

It may be a small — or, rather, nonexistent — number, but it’s a heartening statistic: there were no shootings, stabbings, slashings, or murders in New York City between around 10:30 p.m. Sunday night and 11:20 a.m. Tuesday morning, the NYPD said, according to NY1. Police can’t remember the last time that happened.

Now compare this with places where there are gun shops on every corner, a gun show every weekend, and the “Cousin Humping” “Rednecks” are so “Paranoid” that they pack “High Capacity Bullet Hoses” wherever they go. NYPD are baffled by this phenomenon, while gun-packers simply call this “Tuesday”.

We should point out that Monday wasn’t entirely free from gunshots. Per the New York Daily News, a teen accidentally shot himself in the thigh Monday.

Well kinda!

The murder rate has been so low this year that the 2012 murder count for New York will likely end up hovering around 400. Last year 515 people were deemed homicide victims, according to the NYPD, and that number included 27 people who either weren’t assaulted in that year or whose deaths weren’t deemed homicides until that year.

All of this in a legally “Gun Free Zone”! How about that “If it saves just one life!”? and “One murder is too many!”? Ever noticed that in their little hand-built Utopias the antis don’t wring their hands so much?

They have never cared about human life, only about their agenda!

h/t Erin

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Politics, Safety, Self Defense | 5 Comments

“Gun Death” Stripper Fight

You never know

A woman struck a man in the eye with a high-heeled shoe amid a large melee in a strip club dressing room Friday night, according to an arrest affidavit.

That woman, Victoria Perez, is in Travis County jail Sunday afternoon on $50,000 bail, charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony.

Could have turned deadly! Of course all my shoes are “Sporting” flat-soles. No need for spiked or stiletto “Assault Heels”!

We need “common sense” shoe control!

h/t Whipped Creme Difficulties

Posted in Gun Death? | 1 Comment

Pocket Pistols of the Old West

Great video here.

I really like seeing the Cowboy Action guys shooting Double-Action guns. I’m a Double-Action revolver guy, I see fanning the hammer as a crutch for shooters with bad trigger pulls.

Posted in Guns | 7 Comments

“Gun Death” Counselor

I thought this deserved a separate spot on the “Gun Death?” Files:

A suspected drunken motorist accused of driving more than two miles with a dying man on her hood was a former addict who seemingly had turned her life around and was a respected drug and alcohol counselor, her boss said.

We were discussing over Thanksgiving dinner about how many Therapists and counselors we knew suffered from many of the problems they help treat. Honestly I don’t judge on that, or cast any wide nets. There are many cancer activists who are survivors or who have lost loved ones, many sexual abuse advocates who were sexually abused. Hell I became a hardcore gun-rights advocate when I went through the process of buying my first gun in Massachusetts and discovered how convoluted the laws against me were.

Still in this case the counselor didn’t have it under control, and a man is dead.

Hey but no gun, right? No “Gun Death”.

Posted in Biology, Gun Death? | Leave a comment

CDC Going After Booze

Because it makes us fat….kinda

The most comprehensive source I’ve come across (and referred to recently here) for uncovering what Americans are eating and drinking—including alcohol—is the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, last updated in 2010. And if this CDC alcohol study doesn’t appear so new, perhaps it’s because the “new” study cites the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans in nearly half (43 percent) of its footnotes.

Not surprisingly, the two studies’ conclusions about how many calories Americans consume from alcohol are also nearly identical. USDA data put the number at 106 calories from alcohol (see Table 2-2 on page 12). The CDC study’s total is similar but slightly lower—99 calories.

While the USDA study concludes that “alcoholic beverages are a major calorie source for adults,” the CDC calls them “a top contributor to caloric intake.”

One place where the studies diverge—and where the CDC authors don’t address what I see as a key issue—is the fact that the average alcohol consumption patterns their research reveal actually mirror longstanding USDA recommendations.

“If alcohol is consumed, it should be consumed in moderation—up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men—and only by adults of legal drinking age,” reports the USDA in the same Dietary Guidelines for Americans that the CDC researchers know so well. “Moderate evidence suggests that moderate drinking of alcoholic beverages is not associated with weight gain.”

They know better than you!

h/t Mrs. Weer’d

Posted in Biology, Food, Politics | 1 Comment

I Welcome The Robot Overlords!

Umm Yeah

It is, perhaps, the most common plot in science fiction books and movies. Robots and intelligent machines develop superior powers and overwhelm their creators. But, although these are just stories, a co-founder of Skype, a leading scientist and a professor of philosophy believe there is enough of a danger that the threat technological development poses to human existence should be studied seriously.

Frankly I see it as fruitless. Either we come up with a plan to stop the rampaging robots….but since we planned it using technology and the internet…they already know, and will counter it BEFORE they rise up…or we horribly stunt our technology growth because some people had a nightmare after watching The Terminator.

Still it was good for a chuckle. Thanks Les!

Posted in Random, Safety, Technology | 1 Comment

“Gun Death” NYC

Again NYC has more blood on its hands.

The Manhattan mother of two young children found fatally stabbed in their tony Upper West Side apartment maintained a blog of her children, detailing the “precious hours” she spent with them.

Not really sure who killed the kids from the story, but this is what gun control does. Ban guns, and the monsters will just stab you to death, doesn’t really matter if knives are also banned.

Bloomberg’s paradise!

Posted in Gun Death? | 1 Comment

Evening LOLz

Via Nerdist

LOLZ!

Posted in Random | 3 Comments

“Hip Firing”

This last post got me thinking about the anti-rights saw of “Hip Firing”.

VPC has one of their great “studies” showing us how amazing it is!

First up they need to argue that semi-auto guns can be easily converted to full-auto, and somehow this is happening with some sort of frequency. Then with that hurdle stumbled over they show a bunch of pictures from OLD military training manuals on how to “Shoot From The Hip”.

Note the OLD part. Hip firing was taught to military members for quick-full-auto fire. The gun was pointed towards the target and the trigger was pulled, and the shooter would watch where their bullets impacted and “Walk” the gun onto target. This is still done with belt-fed machine guns (tho not from the hip because they’re heavy and kick like a mule), but not taught with assault rifles or sub-machine guns. Why? Well because you have between 6 and 10 seconds before your magazine runs dry, and spending any of that time “Walking” your gun onto target is depleting your magazine in a non-trivial amount. Hell just look at modern training, and how often full-auto is used.

Look at that, Digital-Camo BDUs, M4 Carbines, ACOG M68 Close Combat Optic (Thanks McThag, I know crap about glass!) scopes. This is the modern military training for battle. What don’t you hear? The chatter of full-auto fire. Also those ACOGs are fucking expensive, so they’re making sure their soldiers look through the damn things while they shoot!

Last it somehow seems that an extended pistol grip on a rifle is designed for “hip shooting”. Odd given that the pistol grip supplies such a natural grip when shooting a rifle with an in-line stock from the shoulder using the sights, but when you drop the rifle down to low ready you have to cock your wrist.

If you look at traditional rifle stocks it seems that the really old “Straight” stocks with no grip added at all will work the best as you can just grip the wrist of the rifle like you would the handle of a hammer to hold it low.

Of course I don’t know of any full-auto guns, or even semi-auto guns with a straight stock. Maybe because the designers never intended this as a mode of fire, and instead it was dreamed up by the tactical-Tommies before the idea got shot down by real-world shooting.

Oh well, maybe somebody will believe them….

Posted in Guns, Politics, Safety | 13 Comments