Category Archives: Gary

D.C. councilmember David Grosso suggests disarming city police, says officers ‘shouldn’t have guns’ | WJLA.com

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Grosso said his staff has urged him not to express the opinion, but nonetheless, he said, “I think we ought to get rid of guns in the city and that police shouldn’t have guns.”

via D.C. councilmember David Grosso suggests disarming city police, says officers ‘shouldn’t have guns’ | WJLA.com.

 

Crazy as it sounds, I’m all for disarming the entire District of Columbia. But don’t stop at the local metro cops…Take them all. No feds. No Secret Service. No Park Police. Nobody. Especially David Grosso. Then quarantine the place at “the beltway,” and let’s see how long it takes for the President, mayor, and their local police chief to beg for a gun. It would likely be similar to the movie, “The Purge.” The result might actually be a good thing for the nation. They might finally understand that the 2nd Amendment they so readily dismiss is one of the reasons they can survive on stupidity alone.

-GM

MSNBC blames the NRA for making Ebola crisis worse

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Thanks to Senate dysfunction and NRA opposition, we don’t have a surgeon general right now. In fact, we haven’t had a surgeon general for more than a year now — even though the president nominated the eminently qualified Dr. Vivek Murthy back in November 2013.

via How the NRA is making the Ebola crisis worse | MSNBC.

 

Thought I was making that up didn’t you? No, MSNBC really did say the Ebola crisis in the US has been made worse by the NRA. More specifically, Krystal Ball (no, I didn’t make that name up either) and Anne Thompson wrote the literary screed that makes this claim. I was planning to write up a response but, “I got nothin’.” I really don’t know how to respond to this level of stupid.

Don’t get me wrong, I personally don’t question Murthy’s knowledge or background with respect to medicine. And if he’d restricted his comments to medicine, I doubt anyone, including the NRA, would object to him being the Surgeon General. However, the man made it clear he planned to use that position to effect policy to restrict the freedoms of law abiding citizens rather than address actual medical issues. And unfortunately, the Obama administration is just the kind of government that would let him do it. Folks, the only time a gun becomes a medical issue is when it is used, lawfully or unlawfully, to poke a hole in a human being. But it is not the Surgeon General’s job to decide whether or not one has a right to own or use a gun or otherwise influence the government on that issue. When Murthy made it clear he wanted to do just that, he all but guaranteed opposition to his appointment.

Now, MSNBC’s ridiculous premise is that because the NRA opposed Murthy’s appointment,that no one is around to “educate the American public about the actual level of risk…” or serve as “a public health expert and whose job it was to help us understand what we really need to worry about and what precautions we should take.” Well damn. I guess there’s only one doctor in the country and none of the thousands of other folks who have gone to medical school and work with infectious diseases have any clue what they are talking about. If only Murthy had been appointed. Then all would be right with the world. Folks, if you’re dumb enough to believe in anything MSNBC has to say going forward, you really, really, need to draw a bath and get a razor…We don’t need you in this world anymore.

-GM

Michael Dunn found guilty of 1st Degree Murder

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Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) — Jurors found Michael Dunn guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

via Michael Dunn found guilty of murder in loud-music trial – CNN.com.

 

Some of you may remember this case. Michael Dunn was charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of murder in the first degree after shooting at a group of teens he confronted over loud music at a Florida gas station in 2012. Dunn was convicted earlier this year for the three counts of attempted murder but, the jury deadlocked on the 1st degree murder charge and the judge declared a mistrial.

With all the other goings on of the world, no one noticed Dunn was retried for 1st degree murder. As of yesterday, Dunn was convicted on that charge for the shooting death of Jordan Davis, an adolescent male that Dunn claimed was getting out of the car and producing a weapon when Dunn opened fire. One of the things that led to Dunn’s conviction for the original attempted murder charges is the fact he continued shooting at a vehicle that by all accounts, was trying to get away from him by the time he fired his last four rounds. There was no articulable threat at that point and Dunn exhibited post offense behavior that made his self-defense claims a little difficult to swallow. Specifically, he went home before police arrived and made no effort to contact police before they knocked on his door to arrest him.

It can be argued that Dunn is suffering a from biases in the wake of the Zimmerman case but, unlike the Zimmerman case, there were witnesses to the original incident. Zimmerman also did not leave the scene of the shooting. There was also little evidence that alcohol might have been a factor in George Zimmerman’s decision to shoot Trayvon Martin.

With this conviction, Dunn now faces life in prison. Much like the Marissa Alexander case, the use of a firearm means there’s a minimum sentence of 25 years because a firearm was involved. Surely there will be a request for an appeal but, it may be a tough sell among potential jurors in Florida.

-GM

As Holder Resigns, one has to wonder…Why? Now what?

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“I hope I’ve done a good job,” he said. “I’ve certainly tried to do as good a job as I can. There are sacrifices that I’ve had to make, that my family has had to make.”

via Attorney General Eric Holder to Resign – ABC News.

Eric Holder’s resignation seems sudden to those of us who don’t mingle in political circles, myself included. But in the days leading up to this announcement, I did notice one headline that spins the rusty little hamster wheel in my head.  We’re all familiar with the Fast and Furious controversy. Well, it seems that Holder had sought to delay documents required by a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by JudicialWatch.org.  He wanted to delay the release until just days before the upcoming mid-term elections. That request was just denied on Tuesday, September 23.  Just two days later, Holder has announced his resignation.

Now, it is entirely possible this is just a coincidence. There were rumors that Holder would leave just after the 2012 election. But the Fast and Furious documents are thought by many to prove Holder’s knowledge and direction of the events of that case, including the illegal transfer of firearms that were ultimately used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Holder has long denied any knowledge of the specifics of Fast and Furious and the Obama Administration has tried its best to hang the entire operation on the Bush Administration by saying the program started under Bush. While true in the most basic sense, it was under the Obama Administration that the program expanded and became the Fast and Furious hot potato we all know today, With this seemingly sudden and coincidental resignation, one has to wonder if there’s something in those documents that really does tie Holder to something so egregious that it was impossible to stay in that post.

Holder’s departure is certainly welcome news to the firearms community but, it means we are going from the known to the unknown for the remainder of the current administration. If you were thinking it couldn’t possibly get worse than Holder, you’re wrong. It’s somewhat telling no one seems to know who might replace Holder. Rest assured though, anyone nominated by the Obama administration is unlikely to be friendly to gun owners or have any respect for the 2nd Amendment as an individual right. I’d put money on Kamala Harris, Attorney General of California, or possibly James Cole, currently Holder’s right-hand-man at the Department of Justice.  I’m sure there are others but, the people that jump to mind without thinking too hard.  Either way, there will be a fight for Congressional approval. It seems doubtful the conflict would endure through the end of Obama’s presidency but, time will tell.

-GM

Trooper charged after shooting man in traffic stop

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I watched this video after a friend posted it. Sadly, I could almost see this coming. I’ve heard (and it is just hearsay) this is not this officer’s first rodeo. And it seems his agency may recognize a pattern of behavior…so they are cutting him lose. Victim is alive by luck alone.

When you ask why places why Sanford and Ferguson erupt the way they did, it is because, right or wrong, there is a perception that incidents like this are the rule rather than the exception. I know that perception well because some part of me has it. I grew up hearing of officer involved shootings on a nearly daily basis and being warned to walk the straight and narrow to avoid the same fate. Only problem was, sometimes straight and narrow isn’t good enough to avoid contact. Without passing judgment, the fact is good people still occasionally get shot because they innocently made the wrong move at the wrong time.

The words “furtive movement” were all but drilled into my head. I learned to move only as directed and, in the kindest terms, demand that the officer tell me what he expects. If something requires me to reach into my pocket or into my vehicle, I tell the officer but, I often wear my ID in a wallet around my neck to avoid the need. I’ve gotten into the habit of having my ID handy BEFORE the officer can ask for it. Again, trying to avoid being a “furtive movement” victim.

In this case, I’m sure the issue is partly a training issue with respect to the officer. The guy was doing as told by the officer but didn’t react or move in a manner the officer expected. In turn, the officer has a pavlovian response influenced in no small part by hundreds of training videos officers see every year that start the same way but, end with a dead cop. The result, cop operates as trained because he wants to go home at the end of his shift.

-GM