There are over 330,000 Washington state residents with concealed handgun licenses. The state population is about 6.7 million. That means that almost 1 in every 20 people have a concealed handgun license.
As Dave Workman points out Washington Ceasefire only has about 7,000 members. For every Washington Ceasefire member there are nearly 50 people with a conceal handgun license.
It’s no wonder we are winning.
Steven L. Roberts, 43, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Roberts was sentenced as an armed career criminal due to his prior felony convictions for crimes of violence.
On Feb. 8, 2011, Roberts pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition. Roberts admitted that he was in possession of one round of 9mm ammunition. Roberts was arrested on Aug. 8, 2009, after a short foot chase by Kansas City police officers. When Roberts was searched, officers found the ammunition in his pants pocket. Officers also found a Makarov 9mm semi–automatic pistol, a small amount of methamphetamine and some marijuana when they canvassed the area through which Roberts ran.
That seems a bit harsh to me. Where is the victim?
But that’s the point isn’t it? To make gun ownership extremely risky.
I recently correlated Black homicide rates from the CDC with Brady Campaign report cards 2001-2007. Brady evaluated states on how well they implemented gun control laws. The result shows that more gun control correlates with higher Black homicide rates and lower Caucasian homicide rates.
Most of Brady’s reports graded states on “A” to “F”, though that’s recently been replaced with stars. In any case, it conveniently divided states into quintiles. When comparing Quintile 1 (most gun control) with Quintile 5 (least gun control), Blacks averaged 20.7% higher homicide rates in states with the most gun control, while Caucasian rates averaged 64.1% lower.
Gun control still benefits Caucasians and harms Blacks, just like it did before and after the Civil War.
Garry McCarthy just happens to be Caucasian (picture here). For that matter, so’s Brady president Paul Helmke.
Just a curious coincidence, no doubt.
Howard Nemerov
June 24, 2011
Chicago’s top cop: ‘Federal gun laws are racist’
[See also this QOTD.—Joe]
If I had a list of engineering “accomplishments” that were projects that failed to achieve their goals I wouldn’t be in the engineering profession for very long. But somehow the Brady Campaign doesn’t see it that way (or at least publically doesn’t want to admit it) when it comes to the failures of Paul Helmke. Their list of “accomplishments” strike me as failures or irrelevancies:
As reported by AntiTango, LInoge, and Sebastian Joan Peterson has outlined what facts she will and will not allow in the comments to her blog. She would do well to remember what Gandhi had to say on the topic.
I wish you were right about the timing being appropriate for banning and impounding guns in the USA.
Unfortunately, the gun nuts are claiming that if there had been another person with a gun handy at the Gifford shooting he or she would have saved the lives of those killed and prevented Giffords from being almost killed.
These people are mad and there will never be a good time. It just has to be done when someone has the guts to do it.
The argument used by the NRA types that guns are needed for self-defense is farcical. There is almost never a gun-related death reported in which a gun was used by a person defending themselves. The vast majority occur in the home among family members or various criminal shootings.
I cannot think of a single good reason for anyone in the USA to have or carry weapons.
SantaMoniker
June 24, 2011
Comment to Time to target gun control
[SantaMoniker must have blinders on or have a severe inability to think because I can think of millions and millions of reasons. And that doesn’t even include possession by the police and the military.—Joe]
Former three-term Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke said Thursday he’ll step down July 10 as president of the Brady Campaign and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Angela Mapes Turner
June 23, 2011
Helmke to leave Brady Center–Former mayor undecided about next step
[I have been wondering why he continued to stay on when we have them outnumbered, outsmarted, out financed, and of course (literally) outgunned. It turns out he gave them a five year commitment when he signed on. July 10th is the end of that commitment.
They are going to find it difficult to get someone to replace him with the current political climate. I think they should just close up shop and say, “I’m sorry, we were wrong.”—Joe]
In a letter to the editor in The Columbus Dispatch Greg Ward whines:
Thursday’s Dispatch carried the news that state lawmakers have passed legislation allowing concealed-carry permit holders to carry guns in bars, restaurants and some stadiums, as well as making it easier for weapons to be carried in a vehicle.
As if that weren’t, in itself, troubling news to the police, restaurant owners and employees and other people with common sense, there appears to be far worse news on the horizon: A Republican legislator has introduced a bill that would eliminate the need for gun permits “and allow anyone who ‘qualifies for a permit’ — but doesn’t have one — to carry a concealed weapon.”
The wording begs the question: How will our law-enforcement officials know if a person “qualifies” to carry a gun unless that person has had to submit his qualifications to be judged?
It’s really very, very simple. But apparently Ward has the mindset of “Unless specifically allowed it is forbidden.” I thought this mindset went out the door with the collapse of the USSR but apparently there are still people stuck in the past.
The individual does not have to get permission from a LEO and being “judged” before being “allowed” to carry a concealed firearm. It is probably beyond the capacity of Ward to view things from the constitutionally mandated view of “innocent until proven guilty” and “that which is not prohibited is allowed” but I’ll explain it for him anyway.
Law enforcement cannot search people to see if they have a concealed weapon unless there is probable cause to search them or there are special circumstances that require a search for the safety of the officer. Hence the LEO will do the background check after having doing a legal search and finding a concealed weapon. At that time the individual will provide their identity and the LEO will do the background check.
There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? I’m betting Ward still won’t be able to grasp it. It’s an alien mindset for far too many people.
Gunwalker’s objective was never intended to be a “legitimate law enforcement interest.” Instead, it appears that ATF Acting Director Ken Melson and Department of Justice senior executives specifically created an operation that was designed from the outset to arm Mexican narco-terrorists and increase violence substantially along both sides of the Southwest border.
Success was measured not by the number of criminals being incarcerated, but by the number of weapons transiting the border and the violence those weapons caused. An ATF manager was “delighted” when Gunwalker guns started showing up at drug busts. It would be entirely consistent with this theory if DOJ communications reflected the approval of the ATF senior officials they were colluding with — but as we know, Holder’s Department of Justice refuses to cooperate.
Bob Owens
June 20, 2011
Mega-Scandal: Was ‘Gunwalker’ a PR Op for Gun Control?
[This claim falls into the category, “Too Good To Be True” for me. I really want to believe it but it’s going to take a lot more data for me to be really convinced.
I hope investigators continue to dig and find the truth. If the claim above is true then I hope the perpetrators can and will be prosecuted.—Joe]
My hope is that the recent hearing will further expose the ATF’s and Attorney General Eric Holder’s assaults on law-abiding gun owners, and more people will start questioning the need for unconstitutional agencies like the ATF that exist solely to infringe on American citizens’ God-given right to keep and bear arms.
Ron Paul
June 21, 2011
Rep. Ron Paul slams Obama over gun scandal, Second Amendment
[This is a little weak. The words “right to keep and bear arms” should be replaced with “rights”.
At least that would be a good start. Calls for tar and feathers would gain further support from me.—Joe]
I often wonder how the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun organizations can be so ignorant about guns.
Then I find myself thankful that they are because it makes their arguments so much easier to refute.
cloneboy
June 17, 2011
[Well… most of the time they don’t really have an argument. They just demand that “something be done”. But their ignorance of the subject matter does make the task of slapping them down easier. I think their ignorance is willful. They literally don’t think it matters. They just “know”. They believe things and claim their opinions are just as valid as anyone else’s. This is not true but many of them are lacking the ability to determine truth from falsity so they don’t really understand when we attempt to correct their process errors. Furthermore they don’t care that they don’t know how to determine truth from falsity. This results in us having to live on the same planet but in essentially different universes.—Joe]
Does anybody not know that the most dangerous place in the world is a gun-free zone?
Ted Nugent
May 2, 2011
We must turn up the heat against ‘America hating’ Obama and the gun control lobby, says Ted Nugent
[I will admit there are some places that could be considered “gun-free zones” that are safe compared to some places where guns are allowed. But if you are talking statistical means rather than overlapping tails of particular bell curves then Nugent’s presumption is correct. And the answer is most people, including most anti-gun politicians know this. The reason the politicians continue to be anti-gun vary but none of the answers are acceptable in a free society.—Joe]
The more I see on this scandal with the BATFE, the more it stinks. Here are several issues I have, in no particular order. To me they’re obvious quirks in the story that aren’t being discussed. If someone knows of these being brought up and addressed, please do share;
The Old Media are actually covering this to some extent. They don’t cover anything unless it in some way promotes the leftist cause. They’re actually being critical of the BATFE, but wait. The “problem” is being spun as one of too few restrictions. BATFE is bad, not because they’re idiots or self-serving thugs looking for more funding, or outright criminals or tyrants, but because they didn’t stop gun purchases. Keep an eye on this.
Very large purchases of guns were supposedly “allowed” to take place. We’re being asked to believe that Mexican criminals purchased up to dozens of guns at a time, on several occasions. First; if these were real straw purchases wherein there was a genuine worry about secrecy, they’d take place in dibs and dabs, so as not to attract attention. Second; why would powerful Mexican cartels with international influence be interested in paying hundreds of dollars more, per gun, in the U.S. compared to getting them at global street prices? Even the cartels would know about our background check system at gun stores, yet these purchases supposedly took place at gun dealerships, where they would know that such large purchases would attract immediate attention. But they did it anyway? Too many stinky points. I say the purchases were engineered, either by, or in close cooperation with, BATFE, and not simply “allowed”, as we’re being asked to believe.
We’re told that hundreds of these guns were found at crime scenes (I think I heard the number 800 dropped the other night). What? Really? Hundreds? That’s an awful lot of clumsy, absent-minded, criminals, isn’t it? Leaving their guns, so painstakingly straw-purchased at inflated prices at U.S. retail dealerships, behind at crime scenes to be found in very short order by our super heroes? Stinky, stinky, stinky.
A big government operation, not to shut down Mexican cartels, not to investigate corruption in Mexico that’s threatening people in the U.S., not to revisit the effects of our War On Drugs, but instead to draw attention to how our evil gun rights in the U.S. lead to death and destruction in other countries.
These issues aren’t being brought up in the press or by the Congressional “investigations”. Nope. Instead it’s all about; “You bastards! Why didn’t you guys stop gun sales?” All this after Obama promised anti gun rights groups he’d be doing something for them “…under the radar“.
I think the indignation we’re hearing from the press and from Congress is all feigned. Good Cop, Bad Cop.
My younger brother and I put together a list of socialist tenets many years ago. It’s been lost to computer upgrades and internet evolution, but one of those tenets was; “When restrictions on freedom produce disastrous results, freedom is to blame and the solution is more restrictions.” Look for it in this case. It’ll happen, I guarantee. It’s in the DNA of it.
I ask the acceptance, by your son, of a keep-sake from me. It is an article of the tackle of a gun-man, offering the convenience of carrying the powder & shot together. I presume he is a gun-man, as I am sure he ought to be, and every American who wishes to protect his farm from the ravages of quadrupeds & his country from those of biped invaders.
Thomas Jefferson
August 15, 1816
Letter to Payne Todd.
[Every American ought to be a gun-man.
Update that to include women and it’s “case closed”.—Joe]
Firearms are only as good or evil, or as decisive, as the one brandishing them. Yet, every week, federal, state, and city lawmakers and politicians propose a Rubik’s cube of laws diminishing the Second Amendment–laws impinge on the God-given right and responsibility of every human to self-preservation.
It’s our responsibility to remember the purity and simplicity of The Constitution. That it’s a document intended for eons based on simple truths, and though can be added to, cannot, must never, be modified to meet the whims and agendas of political fancy.
To do so is not only counter to the vision of the founders of the United States of America, it also risks our sliding further down the slope of corruption and elitism that infests the governments of Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Cork Graham
June 14, 2011
Third Culture Kid Learns Respect for the Second Amendment
Cork Graham is a former CIA paramilitary operations officer and combat photographer, who wrote the international best-selling Vietnam prison/treasure hunt memoir The Bamboo Chest.
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Isn’t extraordinarily odd that Plaxico would team up with the Brady Campaign? There are two basic reasons I have to conclude this:
I find this very much like a person of color married to a Caucasian getting a divorce and supporting a white separatist group after getting beat up by members of the KKK for their choice of marriage partners.
Could he have “made a deal with the devil” to get paroled early?
The long-gun registry is a massive Liberal policy failure and it needs to end. It makes no sense to force law-abiding individuals with firearms’ licences to register their long guns. It makes no sense to believe the registry will prevent a gun crime taking place.
Candice Hoeppner
Conservative MP
June 10, 2011
Gun registry Time to scrap it
[The problem is that liberals don’t judge their policies by the facts. They judge them by their intentions. It is as if intentions are all that matter. The “war on poverty” intended to improve the lives of the of the least “fortunate” in society but created many more “poverty stricken” people than it “lifted up”. Gun control was intended to prevent and/or fight violent crime but it enables more violent criminals to work in victim disarmament zones.
Because of their insistent on only considering intent and not results they report numbers that only reflect their views. One of the most blatant is their reporting of the “success” of the Brady Act requiring background checks. They report the total number of people prevented from purchasing a firearm. They do not report the number of people denied a firearm who should have been allowed. They do not report that violent crime rates did not improve as a result of the background checks.
As I have said before, they are either unwilling or unable to distinguish between their hypothesis and their conclusions. If Canada is able to undo the much hated long gun registry via the political process it will be something of a miracle. Outside of the U.S. it is extremely rare for repressive gun laws to be repealed without violence.—Joe]
Jim Kessler words things so carefully that it is clear he knows the subject matter well enough to tell the truth if he wanted to:
Since 1993, we’ve had two rules for gun sales. If you buy a gun at a store, you must submit to a criminal background check. If you buy a gun from an individual at a gun show, you are exempted from the background check.
…
There is a very simple solution to this problem: Require gun sales at gun shows to follow the same rules as gun sales at gun stores.
Kessler is Senior Vice President for Policy at Third Way. It is clear his policy is to deceive the public. Gun sales at gun shows do follow the same rules as gun sales at gun stores. If you buy a gun from an individual at a gun store (or gun show, or any other place) the Feds exempt you from a background check. So why the deception? The only reason I can come up with is that the truth yields results contrary to his desired outcome. Such people should acquaint themselves with 18 USC 241. They are treading a very fine line…
Since the Violence Policy Center says:
Civilian semiautomatic assault weapons incorporate all of the functional design features that make assault weapons so deadly. They are arguably more deadly than military versions, because most experts agree that semiautomatic fire is more accurate—and thus more lethal—than automatic fire.
And the Supreme Court says that guns in common use, such as the “assault weapons” demonized by the VPC, are constitutionally protected and cannot be banned then it follows that the VPC cannot have a logical objection to the full legalization of fully automatic firearms. Full autos are “less deadly” than the semi-autos, which are protected, so any substitution of full autos for semi-autos in the marketplace should be embraced by the VPC, right?
Michael Barnes’ stature and experience with important national and international political issues made him the inevitable choice to lead Handgun Control and the Center at this critical time. As we work towards the next generation of sensible gun laws, we need a leader with vision, with understanding and with the courage to take on the gun lobby. Michael Barnes is that leader, and I am overjoyed to welcome him to our crusade.
Sarah Brady
February 3, 2000
HANDGUN CONTROL, CENTER TO PREVENT HANDGUN VIOLENCE NAME FORMER CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL BARNES NEW CEO
[And how is that crusade working out for you Ms. Brady? And what would that “next generation of sensible gun laws” be?
I know what the pro-gun people were working on in 2000. We were working on advancing shall-issue concealed carry laws. We are almost done with that and now we are working on our “next generation of sensible gun laws”—Constitutional Carry.
My advice to the Brady Campaign is to give it up. The Constitution is on our side, the courts are on our side, and the people are on our side. Handgun Control Inc. is dead and no matter what you rename it the organization belongs in the disgraceful anti-freedom dustbin of history like the KKK, the Communist Workers Party, and American Nazi Party.—Joe]