Thursday, January 24, California Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013. Before 10 assault weapons, the Senator delineated some 150 firearms to be prohibited from sale, transfer, import and manufacture for their, ‘dangerous, military-style’ nature. The ban does provide exemptions for thousands of hunting and sporting rifles as well as guns operated manually by bolt, pump, lever and slide-action.

It also provides exemption for weapons used by government officials, law enforcement and retired law enforcement.

Senator Feinstein defended her assault on automatic and semi-automatic weapons by invoking the December 14 Elementary School massacre at Sandy Hook. “The future of the nation is at stake,” stated the Senator, magnifying the bill as a package to stop mass-murders by stemming the deadly tide of their weapons of choice.

The same day of Senator Feinstein’s presentation, the conservative Breitbart News reported at least two stories where the assault rifle AR-15 Bushmaster deterred home invasions by its supremacy over concealed arms used by would-be robbers.

The AR-15 was the weapon used by Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook to senselessly massacre small school children.

To Senator Feinstein’s credit, her bill does not seem to discriminate between concealed weapons and rifles, targeting at least 30 automatic pistols. Indeed, Senator Feinstein’s 2013 Assault Weapons Ban prohibits magazines carrying more than 10 bullets, hoping to belittle the god-complex of dangerous sociopaths that enjoy dealing death at random.

However, what will an assault weapons ban really accomplish? Besides further stigmatizing guns and those that use them, it reframes usage as a criminal activity rather than an American right.

Chicago, for example, boasts some of the strictest gun laws and saw record gun-related homicides this year upwards of 500.

Famously, Major Rudy Giuliani combated the New York crime wave by placing more guns on the street by prioritizing policing and the NYPD. He went on to be voted the second most popular Major in the history of New York.

Senator Feinstein’s home state of California faces precinct closures and record gun sales as citizens seek to comfort their nerves by replacing an active police force with a paranoid home defense. Interestingly enough, cash strapped California continues to pay top dollar to psychiatrists, hoping that preventative medicine might cope with the scourge of criminalism.

But tax funded million dollar salaries to penitentiary psychiatrists and preventative gun bans cannot hope to replace the heart and soul of a humble and dedicated armed police force facing a large armed citizenry sending gun sales nation-wide to record heights.

Gun sales rose in 48 out of 50 states in 2012, and the December statistics for background checks rose in every single state of the Union. Last December, sales numbers tell the story of a scared constituency; the top 5 states recorded 60% growth in the wake of Sandy Hook.

As the country mourned, Massachusetts alone saw a 36% rise in gun permits. Shop keepers noted that women increasingly purchase guns, accounting for a third of customers now where once they were seldom seen.

The FBI also noted the rising popularity of guns post Sandy Hook by reporting 39% rise in background checks to set a new monthly record.

Directly following the Sandy Hood tragedy, the Pew Research Center for People and Press conducted a poll where still only half the polled believed the gun control superseded the American right to bear arms.

Pew did note the 65% of respondents believed that assault weapon ownership made the nation more dangerous – not safer. The typical concealed pistol, however, now, by and large, classifies as assault due to its automatic capabilities.

So while the liberal media played shock journalism and pointed fingers at conservatives during the Presidential decree to join the residents and victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in grief, the nation continued to arm itself.

David Gregory, in a December 23 broadcast of ‘Meet the Press,’ illegally brandished an automatic magazine banned from the District of Columbia to shock his viewership into appeasing liberals who wish to criminalize guns and their culture.

Ironically, as police investigated his brazen behavior, the President of the United States paid a surprise visit to boost ratings of the flagging show and talk about his take of the Fiscal Cliff talks.

Perhaps there is a cognitive dissonance in the media.

President Obama himself, in a pre-taped discussion with Barbara Walters on ‘Nightline’, December 26, joked that he ran for President so that his daughters could hang out with ‘men with guns.’ Both the President and Chicago Major Rahm Emanuel send their children to schools with an armed guard.

And yet the liberal media cries foul when the NRA concluded its Sandy Hook silence to propose a Federal mandate to arm all schools such that the misbegotten can not so hideously waltz into institutions of learning and commit murder.

So Thurday, January 3, the Sandy Hook Elementary School reopened under armed guard. A concerned police presence identified grown-ups and insured the students that they went to the most secure school in America.

Marlboro, New Jersey followed similar protocols, posting an armed and uniformed officer at each of the eight elementary schools and middle schools.

Since 2007, the Harrods, Texas school board has allowed for teachers to carry concealed weapons to ensure a minimal level of protection in the face of a stringent budget that does not provide for an armed guard.

Spokespeople for Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnestota, South Dakota and Oregon have all stated that they will consider similar methods.

Indeed, the Fontana, California school district just bought 14 AR-15s to police itself.

President Clinton, in 2000, on the one year anniversary of the ignominious Columbine School shooting, announced $120 million in federal grants to promote his ‘COPS in Schools,’ program.

Certainly it is too soon for the rabid liberal media to admit that good-guys with guns stop bad-guys with guns.

Perhaps we will have to witness the Democratic machine stall in a contested political atmosphere before the sober minded remind the nation of the now bi-partisan wish to dedicate as much fire-power in the protection of our school children as we do to foreign wars.

Image Courtesy :  paljoakim

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Firearms have always been a part of this country’s existence. Without them, the United States of America might not exist at all. They are a tool that has been used throughout history in order for people to protect themselves and the things that they own. But there are days like this past Friday, when 26 people, 20 of which were children, were killed in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, which shine light on a gun control debate that has been going on in the United States almost as long as firearms have been in existence.

Sadly, incidents such as the one that happened in Connecticut are far too common in our country. From the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007 to the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999, we have seen plenty of incidents when the wrong people get their hands on firearms and use them to commit terrible crimes. But should we be worried about our state laws that allow these types of weapons to be purchased with ease? Or should we be working on a way to get those who are mentally unstable the help that they need in order to live a happy life?

Rules and regulations on how to obtain a firearm vary from state to state. In the state of New York, a handgun can be purchased by someone who is 21 years of age or older and has a valid registration and license. However, you can be 18 years old and purchase a shotgun or rifle; and neither firearm requires registration or a license in order to be purchased. A background check is performed at the time of purchase in order to make sure there are no outstanding warrants or past crimes which can prevent the person from owning a firearm. New York has the most strict gun control policies in the country.

In states like Alaska and Connecticut, neither shotguns nor rifles require a permit in order to be purchased. Handguns are the only firearm in Connecticut that requires a state permit. Alaska even allows anyone to openly carry a firearm without any form of documentation.

But what about the people that commit these crimes? Of course, background checks are performed, but many of the people that would perform such a terrible act on innocent people were never diagnosed with any mental illnesses. After the deinstitutionalization of mental institutions in the 20th century, many people are not being diagnosed for their problems, and are not receiving the help that they need in order to live a normal life. The transition from government-run mental hospitals to community-based alternatives are also preventing many people from receiving the amount of medical attention that they need.

President Obama has been trying to renew a ban on assault weapons in the United States. And after the massacre in Connecticut, it seems as though we will succeed in removing unnecessary firepower from free distribution. In the end, we need to take a step back and look at our country’s firearm laws to make sure they are as strong as possible for preventing weapons from getting in the hands of the wrong people. We also need to look at those who would do such a terrible thing, and make sure that they are receiving the help they deserve.

Hopefully, in our lifetime, we come to a conclusion that takes unnecessary weaponry off the streets, and also helps those who are in need of proper treatment.

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During a midnight screening of the film, ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ a mass shooting occurred at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, located at the Town Center of the Aurora shopping mall, on July 20, 2012. Seventy people were shot, and twelve were killed. In terms of the number of people injured, the shooting is one of the worst in the contemporary United States and the deadliest in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. The sole suspect, James Eagan Holmes, was arrested outside the cinema a few minutes after the shooting.

Following the mass shooting in Aurora, another mass shooting occurred on August 5, 2012, and took place at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The 40-year-old ex-army gunman, Wade Michael Page, killed six people and wounded four others. After being shot in the stomach by an officer, Page shot himself in the head. The investigation was handed over to the FBI, and they investigated possible ties to white supremacist groups because of Page’s previous involvement with neo-Nazi groups, being a member of the Hammerskins.

The lead singer of Megadeth, Dave Mustaine, recently made an accusation against President Barack Obama during the band’s live concert at Fort Canning in Singapore. The 50-year-old rocker claimed that President Obama was the mastermind behind the mass shooting in Aurora last July. According to Mustaine, Barack Obama is staging mass shootings in order to legislate gun control laws. Specifically, he suggested that President Obama had almost twenty people killed (12 in Aurora and 6 in Wisconsin).

“Back in my country, my president (makes puking sign with his finger in his mouth), he’s trying to pass a gun ban, so he’s staging all of these murders, like the ‘Fast And Furious’ thing down the border… Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there… and now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple,” he said.

“I was talking to our promoter here tonight,” he continued. “What a great guy. I was saying, ‘I don’t know where I’m gonna live if America keeps going the way it’s going because it looks like it’s turning Nazi America.’ And he said, ‘Move down here to Singapore.’”

Mustaine also told Infowars: “Nobody can deny that there were criminal rogues within the administration, and CBS News got the memos. Congress has the information, and basically, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, who is a highly respected person, said that if they would stage ‘Fast and Furious,’ they’d be capable of staging anything, and it was all done to blame the second amendment.”

It is not a secret that the Megadeth’s frontman was never an Obama fan. He previously questioned the President’s birth certificate and disapproved his tax policy. “I’m disgusted with this guy,” he said. “He is my President; I respect the office of the presidency, but I think as a person and the things that he says, I’ve never heard anything this offensive ever come out of the mouth of a president, and I’m 50. I’ve heard a lot of presidents talk in my life.”

Because of the ‘Fast and Furious’ operation, it is a fact that many people believe the U.S. government should not be trusted, but the accusation against Barack Obama seems unstable, since there is no proof to support it. Many of Mustaine’s fans believe that the 50-year-old singer should not mix music with politics, but of course, there are also those who think it is time for celebrities to express their opinions since they influence such a large number of people.

Image Courtesy of  Megadeth

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Washington, U.S.A. — The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, an alliance of nine major national police leadership organizations, announced its call for background checks for all firearms purchasers and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines on July 27 at a news conference in Washington, DC. The group has been working with state law enforcement associations and leaders this summer in key states, pressing for expanded background checks for firearms purchasers and other public safety measures. But the Aurora theater shooting has intensified their calls for timely action.

“The nation is waiting for lawmakers to move beyond hand-wringing and shoulder-shrugging in response to these mass catastrophes,” said Hubert Williams, Chair of the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence and President of the Police Foundation. “These mass murders are neither acceptable, nor inevitable. There are numerous public safety initiatives – that are backed by the public and law enforcement – that will reduce the frequency and severity of this type of carnage. Our nation must establish as a top priority addressing this horrific gun violence that shatters our safety and security.”

The Partnership’s policy agenda includes background checks for all firearms purchasers and a limit on large-capacity ammunition magazines. The background check measure would complement the existing Brady Law, enacted in 1994, which established background checks for gun purchases at federally licensed gun dealers. But an estimated 40% of firearm transactions occur through non-dealers sales – leaving nearly half the firearm sales in the United States unregulated.

“Knowingly permitting four out of ten firearm sales to occur completely unregulated is irresponsible and counterproductive to public safety,” said James Johnson, incoming Chair, National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, and Chief of Police in Baltimore County, MD. “Police do our jobs everyday patrolling the streets and protecting the public while putting their own lives on the line. Law enforcement needs the support of our lawmakers to enact policies that will keep officers and the public safer.”

While the Aurora shooting suspect reportedly passed background checks in obtaining his firearms, Williams emphasized the importance and effectiveness of background checks in keeping guns from other dangerous people, stressing that nearly 2 million prohibited purchases were stopped between 1994 and 2009. He noted that background checks will help reduce gun violence that touches dozens of Americans every day.

“Gun violence is impacting us all,” Williams said. “In 2011, gunfire was the leading cause of death for police killed in the line of duty, surpassing motor vehicles for the first time in 14 years. Gun violence occurs day in and day out, claiming 34 Americans every single day.”

Background checks are overwhelmingly supported by the public – and gun owners themselves: 86% nationally, including 81% of gun owners, support background checks for all firearms purchasers, regardless of seller or venue.

The Partnership has been collaborating with law enforcement leadership organizations in key states to educate U.S. Senate candidates and the public, building bipartisan support to expand background checks to gun sales beyond licensed dealers. In Virginia and Wisconsin law enforcement leaders recently met with U.S. Senate candidates in private sessions specifically focused on gun violence, emphasizing the need for strengthened background checks.

The meetings were strictly educational in nature and candidates participated despite being told that there would be no endorsements made. The police leaders also held major press conferences in each state to publicize their calls for action.

Williams dismissed those saying action is impossible on gun issues, noting, that there were naysayers in the 80s and 90s when, “Law enforcement was pivotal in passing a string of federal gun laws:  the ban on cop-killer bullets; the ban on undetectable plastic guns; and the Brady Law requiring background checks for guns purchased through licensed dealers. We know that common sense can prevail.”

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“A promise of false hope to the people of Roseland” is how the ISRA is characterizing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s carefully-staged announcement of his latest gun control scheme.  During a Thursday press conference in Chicago’s war torn Roseland neighborhood, Emanuel announced his support for a state-wide handgun tax and registration package.

This latest attack on law-abiding firearm owners features a $65 per handgun tax along with a host of oppressive regulations designed to discourage private firearm ownership.  In his address, Emanuel tried to dupe Roseland residents into believing that taxing and regulating law-abiding firearm owners was the key to solving the growing problem of criminal violence in their neighborhood.

The ISRA believes that Emanuel’s scheme is unnecessary, divisive, and unenforceable.  Currently, there are dozens of federal and state laws that prohibit criminals from owning and transferring firearms.  As with other gun control proposals, Emanuel’s scheme pits the interests of law-abiding citizens against one another while ignoring criminal enterprises and the terror they spawn.

And, of course, nowhere in this proposal is there any suggestion as to how the government would extract the $65 fee from gang bangers and street thugs.  All in all, Emanuel’s proposal is a bad idea that comes at a bad time for the law-abiding citizens of Illinois.  If this measure reaches the General Assembly, the ISRA will vigorously oppose it and defeat it.

“Rahm Emanuel offered nothing to the people of Roseland,” commented ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson.  “If he really cared about protecting the good citizens of Chicago, he’d be announcing his support for concealed carry and not telling citizens about plans for disempowering them further.  Just like his predecessor, Rahm Emanuel is long on media fluff and short on real solutions to real problems faced by real people every day.”

“I did find it interesting that Emanuel was flanked by Garry McCarthy and Mike Pfleger during his rail against law-abiding gun owners,” continued Pearson.  “McCarthy, of course, is Emanuel’s police superintendent and the guy responsible for suppressing reports of last summer’s flash mob attacks on the Mag Mile.

And, we all know Pfleger as the renegade priest who called for the murder of gun shop owners and legislators who vote against gun control bills.  Thus, Emanuel’s credibility on the issue of violent crime is no better than that of the joker that preceded him.”

The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership.  For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowademocrats/

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Texas State Senators are moving ahead with a controversial bill that would allow students to carry concealed handguns on the state’s college campuses. The bill, SB 354, if passed, would make Texas the second state after Utah to allow the carrying of concealed weapons on public postsecondary campuses.  Nine other states, including Arizona, have introduced bills to allow guns on college campuses this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Survivors of campus violence offered emotional pleas during their testimony before the Texas state senate’s committee on criminal justice.  Survivors of the 1966 University of Texas shooting were joined with John Woods, who was a student at Virginia Tech during the 2007 massacre that left 33 dead including Woods’ girlfriend.  “My feeling is we have a Second Amendment in this country for a reason, but as the Supreme Court has said very clearly, that doesn’t mean that you can take your gun with you anywhere you want,” Woods testified.

Proponents of the legislation, however, say students should be the ones to decide. “We don’t understand why people lose this option for personal protection when they step onto a college campus,” Daniel Crocker of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus told The Texas Tribune.   Supporters of the bill also note that in the majority of cases, a person must be 21 or older to carry a concealed weapon meaning only upper classmen, faculty, and staff would be able to bring a gun on campus.  But, there is an ongoing lawsuit in Texas, supported by the National Rifle Association, that seeks to reduce the license age minimum to 18.

The legislation would grant private universities discretion as to whether they allow guns on campus, but Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat, has said he will try to amend the legislation to give public university officials the same choice.  A majority of lawmakers in the Texas House favor the measure, and the bill, in some form is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry, according to officials.  The legislation comes only months after a shooting scare at the University of Texas, in which a student brought an assault rifle to campus and eventually killed himself.

Woods doesn’t believe that having more guns on campus would have prevented the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  “She was one of the brightest, most energetic, good-hearted people I’ve ever met,” Woods said of girlfriend Maxine Turner, who he had been dating for six months before she was killed. “I loved her, and I never told her that, so I’m putting it on the record here today.”

A vote was not taken following the testimony but is expected this week.

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The Obama administration is investigating ways to change the nation’s gun laws by circumventing Congress and using executive action.  The current Congress, led by Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), has been adamantly pro-guns and dismiss any suggestions of limited an individual’s gun rights.

The Department of Justice held a meeting with a group of stakeholders in the ongoing gun-policy debates in March. Administration officials suggested that part of the discussion was expected to center around the White House’s options for changing gun control policy on its own or through its agencies and departments.  The administration has proposed changes on far-reaching issues ranging from beefing up background checks to encouraging better data-sharing between agencies.

Officials admit that executive orders are one of many options that the President and his advisors are considering.  “The purpose of these discussions is to be a productive exchange of good ideas from folks across the spectrum,” one official said. “We think that’s a good place to start.”

House Democrats, in the meantime, have introduced legislation that would make essential changes to the nation’s background check for gun purchases.  At a press conference announcing the legislation, the bill’s sponsor Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) joined with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to drum up support for the measure.  “Too often, any serious discussion about guns devolves into ideological arguments that have nothing to do with the real problem,” Bloomberg, a co-founder of the coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns, told reporters at a press event outside the Capitol. “Our coalition strongly believes in the Second Amendment. We also know from experience that we can keep guns away from dangerous people without imposing burdens on law-abiding gun owners.”

President Obama began the gun debate earlier in the month when he wrote an op-ed column for the Arizona Daily Star. In his piece, Obama outlined his ideas for gun control reform, including stronger state-to-state coordination, expedited background checks and greater enforcement of the laws already on the books.  Not surprisingly, the National Rifle Association immediately responded to Obama’s article with criticism.  Past administrations and lawmakers have always acted out of fear of the powerful lobbying group.  Even suggesting in the wake of the Arizona shooting that firearm access should be restricted was met with a quick and harsh response from the NRA.

The Obama administration is now acting and trying to change the ridiculous laws still on the books that allow citizens nearly as much firepower as the military, despite the protests from the NRA.  The meeting today is the first of a series of meetings about possible options to reverse lax gun laws.

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Last year’s shooting in Tucson, Arizona that killed six people and left 13 others injured briefly sparked a new debate on gun control in America.  The shooter, an allegedly mentally unstable 22 year old, was able to purchase a semi-automatic handgun legally and carry it legally.  He was also able to purchase an extended magazine that holds 33 rounds legally.

There is a myth that more guns equal a safer nation.  But, there are plenty of numbers that disprove that fact.  The United States is the most heavily armed nation on the planet.  But, we are by no means the safest nation in the world.  In one year, there were 9,484 people killed by guns in the United States.  That same year, 200 died in our neighboring country Canada.  Guns murdered 17 people in Finland, 35 in Australia, 39 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, and 194 in Germany in the same year.  So, clearly we are not any safer.  More guns equal more gun deaths.  It has been found that higher household gun ownership correlates with higher rates of homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings.  Gun advocates contend that if guns were made illegal, it would only affect the people who aren’t going to use the gun in a criminal act because criminals will still get their guns illegally.  This may be true, but at least it would be a bit more difficult.  Loughner purchased his gun legally.  The student responsible for the VA Tech massacre purchased his gun legally.  There are countless examples of mass shootings involving a legally bought firearm.

Having a gun for protection is increasingly sounding like an oxymoron.  I know of personal examples where having a gun in the house only ended up with someone in the household dead or injured.  Having a firearm easily accessible means that when people behave impulsively, someone could end up dead.  How many of us have been so angry that, if there was a gun around, we might have brandished it?  Add alcohol, drugs, or mental illness into the mix and it is a recipe for disaster.  There is no reason we need personal guns any longer.  We should leave the protecting to the police and the military because clearly average Americans are not doing a good job protecting themselves.

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