Are warrior cops the new. . ."Brown Shirts"?

 

By: John Stossel - 8/21/2013
We need police to catch murderers, thieves and con men, and so we give them special power  the power to use force on others. Sadly, today's police use that power to invade people�s homes over accusations of trivial, nonviolent offenses  and often do it with tanks, battering rams and armor you'd expect on b attlefields.

In his book "Rise of the Warrior Cop", Radley Balko recounts the rise of police SWAT teams (SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics) armed with heavy military equipment. SWAT raids began as rarely used methods of dealing with violent situations, like hostage-takings.

But government always grows.

In the 1970s, there were about 300 SWAT raids per year. As of 2005, says Balko, 100 to 150 per day.

US: Dad defends gun rights after child fatally shot

 

By George Mathis

There are people that love children and people that love guns.

Some people love both, and will admit as much even in the throes of tragedy.

A 3-year-old Michigan boy, Damon Holbrook, died from a gunshot wound Sunday after finding a loaded gun in a bedroom closet.

Counterfeit shooting products: Be wary of what you buy

By Richard L. Johnson - 8/18/2013

Smart consumers will frequently shop around before making a major purchase. With the advent of e-commerce, gun owners have an unprecedented ability to compare prices and services online.

Unfortunately, there are also an unprecedented number of people looking to make a quick buck by selling you a counterfeit product that looks like the real deal. Some consumers might unknowingly buy a knock-off thinking it is the genuine article. Others might know it is counterfeit, but can't resist the low price.

Lets take a look at some of the problems associated with counterfeit products.

US: Mayor of Seattle, WA asking businesses to go gun free

 

By Seattle Times (WA) - 8/19/2013

Shirts and shoes required, and guns prohibited?

Mayor Mike McGinn plans to unveil a program Monday to encourage Seattle businesses to go "gun free" by not allowing customers to carry firearms inside their establishments.

About a dozen businesses have already signed up for a "Gun Free Zone" decal, including Cafe Racer, where a customer shot and killed four others last year. Other participants include Neumos, Oddfellows Cafe & Bar, Sweatbox Yoga and Cupcake Royale, with more expected in the coming days.

"This is something businesses can do to be on the front lines of preventing gun violence," said Ralph Fascitelli, board president of Washington CeaseFire, a gun-control group that approached McGinn three months ago with the idea and has since been recruiting participants. "It's a good incremental step."

Wife protects husband from robbers at restaurant

 

By KPRC - 8/8/2013

 

A woman and her family were dining at a Denny’s in Houston, Texas when a group of six men armed with guns attempted to rob her husband while she was in the restroom. When the woman exited the restroom and spotted the hold-up, she drew a pistol and exchanged gunfire with the criminals, causing them to flee.

 

Following the incident, a local media outlet spoke with the victim’s brother who noted that his brother’s wife is a Right-to-Carry permit holder. The brother went on to add, “Self-defense saved my brother’s life.”

More Fast and Furious guns surface at crimes in Mexico

By Sharyl Attkisson - 8/14/2013
CBS News
Three more weapons from Fast and Furious have turned up at crime scenes in Mexico, CBS News has learned, as the toll from the controversial federal operation grows.

According to Justice Department tracing documents obtained by CBS News, all three guns are WASR-10 762-caliber Romanian rifles. Two were purchased by Fast and Furious suspect Uriel Patino in May and July of 2010. Sean Steward, who was convicted on gun charges in July 2012, purchased a third. The rifles were traced yesterday to the Lone Wolf gun shop in Glendale, Ariz.

During Fast and Furious and similar operations, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) encouraged the Lone Wolf and other gun stores to sell massive amounts of weapons to questionable purchasers who allegedly trafficked them Mexican drug cartels.

Self-Defense Is a Human Right

By Chris Cox

It deserves bipartisan protection at every level of government

Your right to defend your life and the lives of your loved ones when faced with a deadly threat is not bestowed on you by government. Indeed, self-defense is the most fundamental of all human rights, and it's the duty of our elected officials to preserve it.

That is why the 5 million men and women of the National Rifle Association will not allow self-defense to be used as a scapegoat so that President Obama and his administration can continue to exploit tragedies to push their political agenda. We will continue to defend the right of every law-abiding American regardless of race, color and creed to defend themselves and one another.

Attorney General Eric Holder shockingly claimed that pro-self-defense laws "sow conflict." Last week, President Obama demonstrated that he, too, does not recognize that your right to save your own life is a fundamental human right.

US: NY Firearms Maker Blames New NY Law for Move to Pa.

 

By Jim Fitzgerald - 8/7/2013
(AP)Associated Press
A firearms manufacturer in New York, partially blaming the state's new gun control law, said Wednesday it's moving its corporate offices  and its plans for expansion to Pennsylvania.

Kahr Firearms Group of Pearl River is the first gunmaker to announce it's leaving because of the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, which was put into law after closed-door negotiations in January. It was the first law in the nation prompted by the killing of 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., in December.

As 3D-printed rifles get real, are changes to gun-control laws coming?

 

By Jeremy A. Kaplan - 8/8/2013
FoxNews.com
Reports of a Canadian man successfully firing 14 single rounds from a rifle manufactured by a 3D rinter has the weapon's American designer wondering whether the apparent breakthrough will force the U.S. government to rethink its ban on posting his plans online.

While early models based on firearms designer Cody Wilson's plans backfired or fired only once before breaking, the latest test appears to prove that homemade plastic guns are viable -- and that the Internet may have dramatically changed how we look at regulating the trade in arms.

I'm expecting some interesting decisions from the State Department soon regarding the legal status of the disclosures of the plans, Wilson told FoxNews.com Thursday.

A liberal's view of guns: Real and Imagined

By Sun Journal (Lewiston, ME) - 8/7/2013

We can't imagine why a 20-year-old man was carrying around a toy gun Thursday night in Farmington, but he must have had his reasons.

Instead of a night on the town with his toy pistol, John Cushman ended up at the Franklin County Detention Center charged with terrorizing.

Cushman "made lots of people nervous," according to Deputy Chief Shane Cote of the Farmington Police Department, as he strolled around the downtown.

Indeed.

US: One more example of "More Guns. . .Less Crime"

By Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) - 8/5/2013

Gun-related violent crime continues to drop in Virginia as the sales of firearms continue to soar, a pattern that one local criminologist finds interesting "given the current rhetoric about strengthening gun laws."

Major gun crime collectively dropped for a fourth consecutive year statewide, while firearms sales climbed to a new record in 2012 with 490,119 guns purchased in 444,844 transactions -- a 16 percent rise over 2011, according to federally licensed gun dealer sales estimates obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The proliferation of guns occurred as the total number of major reported crimes committed with all types of firearms in Virginia dropped 5 percent, from 4,618 offenses in 2011 to 4,378 last year, according to Virginia State Police data.

Looking back over seven years, total firearm sales in Virginia have risen a staggering 101 percent from 2006 to 2012, while gun-related crime has dropped 28 percent during that period.

Stockholm Syndrome, Newtown, and the WW II Liberator Pistol

 

By Jack Baruthon - 12/26/2012

Two days ago, a man whom I've known and respected for over a decade launched into a more than slightly incoherent Facebook rant in which he explicitly blamed the NRA and law-abiding civilian shooters for the Newtown killings. Those children died, he wrote, so you could have your toys without any reasonable restrictions. I didn't know how to respond to the post.

After all, none of the reasonable restrictions now being proposed would have prevented Adam Lanza's affluent, well-educated mother from purchasing a gun. I tried pointing that out to my friend, only to have him dismiss me as a gun nut. Although he's normally a reasonable fellow, since Newtown happened he's clearly decided to let emotion take the wheel, at least for now. He's not the only intelligent person I've seen swept away towards irrationality in the past two weeks. Again and again, I've heard that reasonable gun control is now necessary, even inevitable. In my struggles to understand this, I thought back to World War II and the failure of what was perhaps the first-ever government-sponsored zip gun . . .The FP-45 Liberator.

US: Calif. Senator proposes ban on ARs in attempt to trash Second Amendment rights

By Robert A. Dahlquist

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is proposing an AR-style rifle ban while ignoring school security to save our children. Yet on this 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, she doesnt mention the 54 million abortions conducted in this country nor show remorse for this disrespect for human life.

Speeches at every Democratic National Convention reference abortion or a pro-choice platform to huge cheers from the rabid convention hall audience. Mother Teresa identified abortion as the greatest destroyer of peace today because it is a war against children, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. If a mother can kill her own child and then tell young people not to kill one another, it is the ultimate hypocrisy in the eyes of the young.

Right-to-Carry permit holder defends himself and friend from violent attack

By The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio - 7/29/2013


Timothy Peak and a female companion were getting inside a car in his driveway in Cleveland, Ohio when a pair of armed and masked men confronted them. After one of the criminals pistol-whipped Peak, the homeowner and Right-to-Carry permit holder retrieved a handgun from his car and fired at his attacker multiple times, killing him. The deceased criminal's accomplice managed to escape the scene with Peak's companion's purse.

Following the incident, Cleveland Councilman Mike Polensek showed support for Peak's actions, stating As far as I'm concerned, [the criminal] got exactly what he deserved lead poisoning. Polensek went on to say of the homeowner, If he hadn't had that gun, we'd be reading about him in a two paragraph story in the paper as another innocent victim of violent criminals looking to prey on him like jackals. [the criminal] picked on the wrong man this time.

US: "Silencers" are now legal for hunting in North Carolina

By McClatchy-TribuneWinston-Salem Journal - 7/30/20

Gun suppressors are now legal for hunting in North Carolina.

For decades, the closest most people got to a gun suppressor those metal cylinders that reduce a gun's bang  was seeing one on a movie screen in the hands of an assassin or gangster.

But sweeping gun legislation has made suppressors, also known as silencers, legal for hunting in North Carolina. Law enforcement authorities are now trying to figure out how to shape polices to implement the new law.

Last week, the N.C. legislature passed a far-reaching bill that expands the places where permit holders can legally carry concealed weapons, including bars, restaurants and parks. But the legislation also deleted a provision that prohibited hunters from using suppressors.

Israel Gun reform: Psychological exam, physical now required for permit

Internal Security Minister Aharonovich announces reform to reduce number of available weapons in Israel from 290,000 amid wave of murders, suicides

By Omri Efraim - 7/31/2013
Israel News
This year, 11 individuals were murdered and five committed suicide in Israel using privately owned weapons, said Internal Security Minister Yizhak Aharonovich Wednesday.

At a meeting of the the Internal Affairs Committee on reducing weapons, headed by MK Miri Regev, Aharonovich stated that as part of the gun reform in Israel, anyone who wishes to receive a gun permit will be required to undergo a medical and psychological examination. "If they won't pass the psychologist's test, they'll have to see a psychiatrist," he said.

The minister announced that a new police order will be introduced under which an individual who has not renewed his license in over six months will be subject to criminal investigation. Aharonovich said that over 290,000 guns are in the hands of private individuals and security guards, and that he strives to lower that number.