Illinois Concealed Carry Fails to Reenact "Tombstone"

In January 2014, Illinois finally became the 50th state to issue concealed carry licenses to law abiding people living within its borders.  Predictably, hoplophobes predicted that Chicago's streets would run red with blood, as crazed concealed carry permit holders reenacted the shootout at the O.K. Corral. 

Source: IMDB

Sadly, for bloody-shirt-waving hoplophobes, but fortunately for everyone else, the hoplophobes' fantasies failed to materialize.  Again. 

Opponents of the concealed carry law in Illinois — which State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) said passed with "overwhelming support" — feared that it would increase rather than decrease crime, putting more guns into the streets that could fall into the wrong hands.

They always do.

In the year of concealed carry permits in Illinois, there have only been a couple incidents involving legal gun owners that have created headlines. In July, a concealed-carry permit holder in Crestwood tried shooting at a fleeing armed robber, hurting no one but forcing a police officer to duck for cover. In Chicago a member of the military who had a concealed carry permit shot and wounded an armed man who fired into a crowd on Chicago's Far South Side. 

Nevertheless, Hayes said he stopped opposing the concealed carry law when he realized that the past year has not resulted in the level of violence some anticipated. 

In fact, just the opposite happened.

Since Illinois started granting concealed carry permits this year, the number of robberies that have led to arrests in Chicago has declined 20 percent from last year, according to police department statistics. Reports of burglary and motor vehicle theft are down 20 percent and 26 percent, respectively. In the first quarter, the city’s homicide rate was at a 56-year low.  

Those of us who've been paying attention are not the least bit surprised.  After all, we've seen the same trend throughout the United States since 1993.  But those facts don't matter to hoplophobes.

But Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office has not changed its overall stance against the concealed carry law and its implementation, which as the Chicago Tribune reported recently, requires applicants to be vetted by a controversial state licensing board. 

"Sheriff Dart has been very vocal about his opposition," said Ben Breit, Dart's spokesman, adding that "it's a tough spot," because "the courts have spoken" to legalize concealed carry. 

"Gun violence is gun violence, whether it's in the suburbs or the city of Chicago," said Cara Smith, a Dart spokeswoman, acknowledging that the Sheriff's officers help police many of the county's suburbs.

Sheriff Dart and his fellow hoplophobes opposed concealed carry - supposedly - because they believed it would result in more crime.  The facts demonstrate that the opposite happened.  Crime rates dropped with concealed carry, just as they did throughout the US, yet Sheriff Dart and his fellow hoplophobes obstinately continue to oppose concealed carry.  Why?  Because Sheriff Dart and his fellow hoplophobes fear law abiding armed citizens more than they fear criminals.  Thus the term hoplophobe.

The next time a city or state considers relaxing gun laws, hoplophobes will again predict blood in the streets, because no matter how many times their prediction fails, it's the only trick they have.  Don't fall for it.

By the way, Tombstone still rocks, especially Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday.

The Best Defense Against Two Bad Guys With No Guns...

... is a good guy with a gun.  Even if that good "guy" is an 11-year-old girl. 

An 11-year-old girl used the shotgun she normally keeps to go hunting with her father to scare off a robber in her home, police said. 

The girl was alone at her North Branch Township home on Five Lakes Road about 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 30 when police said she surprised burglars who had broken into the house.
The girl hid in a bathroom closet, where she grabbed her shotgun that police said she stores in a gun safe. 

When one of the burglars opened the closet door, police said the girl -- whose parents were due home from work a short time later -- pointed the shotgun at him and he ran off. 

The accused

"The 12-gauge shotgun is her weapon," said Lapeer County Sheriff Detective Sgt. Jason Parks. "She and her father are into hunting and avid sportsmen. She was familiar with that weapon." 

Parks praised the girl's responsibility, poise and composure. 

"She is fully capable of staying there by herself as we can clearly see based on this situation," he said. "She was able to defend herself from an intruder and be able to resolve an event even most adults would be taken aback by." 

Added Parks, "She is fully capable of making sound, good decisions," he said. "And be a protector of her home."

First, I echo Detective Parks' praise of the young lady.  She behaved prudently and courageously in a possible life-or-death situation.  I'll also praise the girl's father for teaching his daughter to shoot safely.

It's also necessary to point out that the only reason an 11-year-old girl was able to defend herself from two criminals is that she was armed with a gun.  No other tool can give such a small person the power to defend him/herself from multiple assailants who are bigger, heavier and stronger than their intended victim.

Finally, please note that this is yet another scenario that hoplophobes claim doesn't happen.  The criminals ran as soon as they saw the shotgun barrel pointed at them, which is how most defensive gun uses go.   There was no bloodshed precisely because the girl was armed.  And although the girl is a hunter and familiar with her shotgun, there is no reason to believe that she had any tactical training, which disproves the hoplophobes' assertion that one requires Navy SEAL training to effectively use a gun in self defense.  Again.

What would've happened to this young lady if the hoplophobes would've succeeded in disarming her, and/or rendering her ignorant of guns, shooting and hunting?  Fortunately, we'll never need to find out.

The Best Defense Against a Violent, "Unarmed" Bad Guy...

Is a good guy with a gun.

“This large gentleman just pounding on this lady, closed fist you know multiple times and heavy heavy elbows to the face and neck” says Kreag. 

Kreag has a license to carry a concealed handgun and he served in the U.S. Army for eight years. He worked as a private security contractor in Iraq and he’s a firearms instructor. 

“I was yelling commands at him to stop assaulting her, stop assaulting her.”

"He stopped attacking her and she was screaming, yelling for help and very much hysterical” says Kreag.

The man got out of the car but he was still very angry. 

“Then he turned his attention to the fire arm and was saying ‘don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me.’ I said I’m not going to shoot you, just stay still, don’t do anything crazy. The cops will be here any minute.”

The "large gentleman" (Mr Kreag is clearly being too kind) is MacMichael Nwaiwu.

By the way, is this an unfortunate coincidence?

I put "unarmed" in quotes in the title because the word seems to imply that the person is harmless, which is false.  According to the FBI's annual crime report, in 2012, murderers killed 678 Americans using only their hands and feet as weapons.  That same year, murderers killed 322 Americans using rifles - even those scary "assault rifles".  That's less than half.  Obviously, that doesn't mean that hands and feet are more dangerous than rifles, but it does mean that one should always assume that a violent person is capable of killing, even if that person possesses no weapon other than his/her own body.

It's fortunate that Mr Kreag had his gun at the time of the incident.  Without it, Mr Kreag may have chosen to not intervene.  We don't know how much damage Mr Nwaiwu inflicted on his victim, but it's clear that he would've inflicted much more damage had Mr Kreag not intervened.

If Mr Kreag had intervened without a gun, on the other hand, it seems clear that Mr Nwaiwu would have turned his wrath onto Mr Kreag.  We don't know what would've happened then, but real life isn't a Bruce Lee movie.  Good guys sometimes get curb-stomped.  A gun makes that far less likely.

That being said, good guys with their concealed weapons permits must always remember that a gun is no guarantee of safety either.  It's a tool, not a talisman.  And like every tool, it has limitations.

The Best Defense Against Three Bad Guys With Guns...

Is a good guy with a gun.  Even if he's 67 years old.  

According to witnesses, a man, his wife, and his 19-year-old granddaughter were home on Yedda Road in Lumberton when a black male knocked on their door and asked for water for his mechanical problems with his car. 

Two other people entered the home wearing black clothing, ski masks and gloves asking for money. All three suspects also had handguns, according to the release. 

The release states that the man and his wife were forced into the back of the house and advised to open the safe while the suspects attempted to rape the 19-year-old granddaughter. 

The man was then able to retrieve a weapon and several shots were fired between the man and the suspects in the house. The man was struck multiple times by gunshots and the suspects then fled the scene in his vehicle. 

Brandon Stephens (L), Jamar Hawkins (C) and Jamie Lee Faison (R): Source

The man was transported to Southeastern Regional Medical Center and later airlifted to another medical facility where he remains in serious condition, according to the release.
Officers later received a call from the McLeod Hospital in Dillon and discovered that Stephens and Hawkins had been shot. Both were airlifted to another medical facility for emergency surgery. 

Jamie Lee Faison, 20, was later found in the man's stolen vehicle deceased, where he had been shot, according to the release. 

During their first court appearances Friday, Stephens and Hawkins were each charged with first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, possession of a firearm by a felon, first-degree sexual offense, kidnapping, and two counts each of robbery with a firearm and felony conspiracy. Bond for each suspect was set at $1 million secured. 

Stephens, Hawkins, and Faison are possible persons of interest in other home invasions, according to the release.

Another story from the Robesonian states that the grandfather is 67-year-old Kenneth Byrd.  Mr Byrd is still in serious condition after surgery, but is expected to recover.  "Recover", in this case, is a relative term.  I know several men who were shot in combat.  None of them ever fully recovered their health, and they were all young men when they were shot.

Mr Byrd is a hero.  He successfully defended his wife and granddaughter at the cost of his health, if not his life.  And, as the Robesonian points out, he was able to do so because he was armed.

We would never advise folks on how to protect themselves, but we think it’s fair to say that Kenneth Byrd and his loved ones are alive today because he had a weapon in the home and knew how to use it.

Thieves typically break into empty houses because doing so minimizes their probability of getting caught.  A criminal who invades a house he knows is occupied probably wants more than money.  A group of criminals who force their way into a house they know is occupied, beat up an elderly woman and attempt to rape a teenage girl probably want to eliminate witnesses, and that means murder.

Mr Byrd was able to prevent that because he was armed.  Suppose that, by some miracle, the confiscation crowd could make every gun on earth disappear and prevent anyone from making any more guns.  Imagine if the three criminals that invaded Mr Byrd's house had done so wielding knives and/or clubs, and Mr Byrd had no gun with which to defend his family.  How would a 67-year-old man defend his family against three much younger, stronger attackers?

He couldn't.  It's that simple.  Guns make it possible for the older, weaker and less numerous to defend themselves from the younger, stronger and more numerous, even when the attackers themselves have guns.

The Best Defense Against a Bad Guy With a Gun...

Is a good guy with a gun.  Even in Canada. 

By all accounts, the white-haired grandfather, a decorated veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, kept cool amid the chaos as dozens of bullets flew in the corridors, went to his office, retrieved his weapon and with a firm hand and a steely eye shot a killer before he could kill again. Vickers, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall, then walked away, gun-in hand, having “taken care of business,” as one news outlet put it. 

And then he called his mother to say he was safe.

The National has a pretty good breakdown of the shootout.



This is the man himself.

Doesn't quite look like the stereotypical Hollywood hero, does he?  That's okay.  Most heroes don't.  Anyway, this is my favorite online tribute to Mr Vickers.

@evansolomoncbc The name is Vickers, Kevin Vickers. What an awesome hero #cdnpoli #ottawa #OttawaShooting pic.twitter.com/l133md4u2K
— Brent Kelly (@bklly) October 23, 2014

Hell yeah!

Philippine Marine Scout Sniper Test

I don't trust anyone this much.

1000 Yard Shot With a 9mm Revolver

I could do that... with a sniper rifle.  (probably not)

    

A Tale of Three Restaurants (and Guns)

The Pit Authentic Barbecue restaurant in Durham, NC posted a sign that read...

no weapons, no concealed firearms 

Shockingly, three criminals paid the sign no heed.

Authorities said just before 9 p.m. Sunday, three men wearing hoodies entered the restaurant through the back doors with pistols, and forced several staff members on the floor. 

Maybe that was the problem.  The criminals must have missed the sign because it was posted at the front of the restaurant and they busted in through the back.

Officials said the suspects assaulted two employees during the crime, but they were not seriously injured. 

That's a relief, but that outcome depended 100% on the restraint the criminals exercised over themselves.  Does depending on a violent criminal's self-restraint seem wise to you?

Owner Greg Hatem also said there were a few patrons in the dining room while the robbery was happening in the kitchen area. Workers were able to ask them to leave, and got them out safely through the front door. 

“We’re offering $2,000 for the arrest and conviction of these guys,” Hatem said. “We take this very seriously. We want to make sure our guests and our staff are taken care of.” 

By rendering them defenseless against armed, violent criminals?

That event inspired another restaurant owner to do the opposite.

Gun control is a hot topic across the country, and one East Tennessee restaurant owner is making her opinion very clear by posting a 'Guns are Welcome' sign on the front door of her family-friendly establishment.

...

Floyd said she posted the signs about a month ago after reading a story out of North Carolina. 

"They had put up a sign that said 'No Weapons Allowed' and they were robbed at gunpoint two days later. The convenience store manager was shot," said Floyd. "And that got me thinking. I lost a whole group of motorcyclists because they thought I didn't allow weapons. But I believe it's ok to carry as long as you have a permit." 

The restaurant does not sell liquor, and Floyd said she asks anyone who orders a beer if they are carrying.

That story reminded me of a previous one from Spokane.

Employees at a coffee shop in Spokane, Wash., are taking matters into their own hands after their store was robbed three times in less than a month. 

Sara Chapel, who owns Jitterz Java, is encouraging her employees to start carrying guns while on the job in order to protect themselves... 

“A couple of them bring handguns every day, no matter what shift it is. There is always a gun here now,” she said. “I would rather have it and need it, than need it and not have it.”

It's encouraging that in both cases in which the restaurants that supported the human right to self defense received mostly positive feedback from customers.

The coffee shop has so far received a flood of support on social media. 

“As long as the employees are well-trained in the use of firearms, I agree. Potential robbers will think twice before approaching them again,” Facebook user Mary Ann Gillispie Rohner wrote. 

“Citizens are the first responders in situations. I’m proud these ladies are prepared to protect themselves, like me!!” wrote Kelly Walker-Wincentsen.

The ladies of Jitterz Java also helped prove that armed self defense works.

On Sunday, a man aggressively tried to open a window at Jitterz Java and appeared to have a gun. The barista kept the window locked, grabbed her gun and called police. The man took off before police arrived.

To be clear, the owners of these establishments have the right to decide whether or not to allow guns on their property.  And potential customers have the right to decide whether or not to spend their money at those businesses for that - or any other - reason.

Murder Rates Decrease as Concealed Carry Increases

As I pointed out before, violent crime in the US decreased from its peak in 1993...

Source: Pew Research

...even as gun ownership increased.

Click to enlarge.  Source: NSSF

That doesn't prove that more guns = less crime, but it does prove "Liberals'" assertion that more guns = more crime false.  Now, the Crime Prevention Center published a study that demonstrates that murder rates in the US decreased as the rate of Concealed Carry Permit holders increased.

The study also breaks down the rate of Concealed Carry Permit holders in each state.  The states with the highest rate of Concealed Carry Permit holders are...

South Dakota   12.03% 

Indiana            10.79% 

Alabama          10.21% 

Utah                9.75% 

Tennessee        9.35% 

Pennsylvania    8.67% 

Iowa                8.53% 

Washington      8.49% 

Florida             8.23%  

Georgia            8.00%

Alaska, Arizona, most of Montana, Vermont and Wyoming do not require permits for concealed carry within the state.  Residents of those states that obtain CCPs do so in order to carry their guns legally when they travel to other states.  This is called reciprocity.  I mention all that because, although none of the states that allow Concealed Carry without a permit (often referred to as Constitutional Carry) are in the top ten, the proportion of people that carry in those states could very well be higher than any of the top ten states.  We can't know the actual proportion in those states because their residents can carry concealed firearms legally without a permit.

Every time the issue of Concealed Carry comes up, "Liberals" claim that CC leads to more violent crime, more accidental shootings, etc.  The argument I keep hearing and reading is that Concealed Carry results in wild west shootouts and blood running in the streets.

Obviously, the data prove those fever dreams false.  

Source: WaPo

All 50 states now have some form of Concealed Carry - every single one.  And yet, not only have dystopian "Liberal" fantasies about wild west shootouts and blood in the streets failed to materialize, homicides committed with guns, non-fatal crimes committed with guns and unintentional firearm-related fatalities decreased.

In other words, this doesn't necessarily prove that Concealed Carry results in less crime and fewer firearm-related accidental deaths, but it definitely proves "Liberals" wrong when they claim that Concealed Carry results in more crime and more firearm-related accidental deaths.

So, if Concealed Carry does not result in more crime or more firearm-related accidental deaths, why do "Liberals" continue to oppose Concealed Carry?  Because "gun control" ins't about guns, or crime or safety.  It's a bout expanding government control over law-abiding individuals.

Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant Supports "Gun Control"

Totalitarian regimes of all stripes have many things in common.  The one feature they share most ardently is a pathological obsession with restricting their subjects' behavior.  In that spirit, the terrorist organization currently taking over Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, AKA the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham; ISIS), released a set of rules they imposed on the people of Mosul (Nineveh) in northern Iraq. 

Firstly it tells "anyone who is asking," who its members are and what it is about: "We are soldiers of Islam and we've taken on our responsibility to bring back glory of the Islamic Caliphate."

Obviously, they understand the utility of a mission statement.

It confirms that it seized up to half a billion dollars from the Mosul branch of the Bank of Iraq but states it can be trusted with the funds.

"Comrades, turn in your arms!"

Stealing coupled with assurances of moral purity - another common feature of totalitarian regimes.  Here's the best part.

No public gathering other than those organised by ISIS will be allowed at any stage. No guns will be allowed outside of its ranks. 

From Lenin, to Hitler, to Stalin, to Mao, to Castro - and now ISIL/ISIS - totalitarians agree.  Oppressing people is much easier after you've disarmed them.

Ironically, the Iraqi government, impotent against ISIL/ISIS' advance, asked Iraqi civilians to fight the terrorists in its stead.

Iraq’s embattled government urged the terrified residents of Mosul to set up armed vigilante groups and fight Islamic militants who have taken over  the city, the country’s second-largest and in Nineveh province. 

In a meeting in Baghdad presided by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, members of the Nineveh Crisis Team said the city vigilantes should help the Iraqi police and security forces in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which stormed into Mosul on Sunday, after about 24 hours of clashes with the police and army.

It's ironic because the Iraqi government already did a great deal of ISIL/ISIS' job for them.

Dhia al-Wakil, spokesman for the office of the armed forces commander-in-chief, suggested that the firearm registration scheme made sense for "organisational and statistical" reasons. 

“It is designed to limit the numbers of arms owned by civilians, and hence it’s in the interests of people's safety and security," Wakil said. 

Officials at the interior ministry, whose police will issue the gun licenses, said the process would be properly conducted. 

"The people who get gun licenses will undergo checks," deputy interior minister Ahmed al-Khafaji said. "The decision permits possession of a firearm inside houses, not outside them, and just one per home – no more.” 

By limiting gun ownership to one gun per household, the Iraqi government made it impossible for law abiding Iraqis to defend their communities against ISIL/ISIS.  And by forcing law-abiding Iraqis to register their guns, they made it easier for ISIL/ISIS to finish disarming decent Iraqis.  All the terrorists have to do is go to each local police station (most of which are abandoned anyway), take the list of registered weapons owners, then go house-to-house confiscating their guns.  With only one gun per house, there's no way a family could defend themselves against a group of armed, battle-hardened men.  An entire neighborhood, with only one gun per house, would be unlikely to defend themselves.

How do mostly-disarmed people defend themselves against this?

That's One Way to Test Body Armor

I've never been shot, but I've heard from people who have that - even while wearing body armor - it's painful.  This fellow, however, appears no worse for wear.


Is there an Italian version of OSHA?

Buying a Car Like Buying a Gun

What if buying a car was like buying a gun?  The Truth About Guns answers the question, at least for Californians. 

With the national debate of gun control again rearing its head, let’s do a quick comparison. Since vehicles kill or injure roughly three times more people a year than guns, let’s suppose we applied the same standards to vehicle operation that we do to guns. We will use California for example. Let’s start with purchasing a vehicle. You need a full background check, must be a citizen or legal resident and have no prohibiting factors in your history. Now you’re going wait 10 days to pick up your vehicle. If you’re buying used, you and the individual selling the vehicle must both go to the dealer for the transfer. Don’t forget the dealer’s fees; after all he has to make money too . . .

This is easy so far, inconvenient but easy. Your 10 days is up, time to pick up your vehicle and drive off. WRONG! Now you must have your vehicle transported to your home in an enclosed and locked trailer and stored in a locked garage. Your 10 gallon fuel tank must be EMPTY during transport, and you better make sure all your garage entrances are childproofed. Keep in mind you have now legally purchased a vehicle and stored a vehicle, your rights are not infringed at all.

That's just the beginning.  There's more.  A lot more.  Read the whole thing.

No politician would ever dream of proposing such onerous regulations for car ownership, because their constituents would never let them get away with it.  Americans love their cars.

But here's the irony.  Driving on public roads is not a right.  It's a privilege.  It's certainly not explicitly protected by the Constitution.

Gun ownership, and the carrying of said guns, is a right explicitly codified in, and protected by, the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution.

Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed 

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines "infringe" as follows:

in·fringe (verb) \in-ˈfrinj\
: to do something that does not obey or follow (a rule, law, etc.) ( chiefly US )
: to wrongly limit or restrict (something, such as another person's rights)

California's gun laws clearly do not obey or follow the highest law in the land - the US Constitution - and they wrongly limit or restrict Californian's Second Amendment Rights.  California's gun laws, then, infringe the right of the people of California to keep and bear Arms.

California's politicians proposed and passed those laws with the support of the majority of Californians.  That means that a majority of Californians would fight tooth and nail to keep their non-Constitutional privilege to drive, but paid politicians handsomely (politicians like the gun-trafficking Leland Yee) to violate their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

The same is true of voters from other states that similarly infringe on Second Amendment rights.

Crazy, isn't it?

Miss America Promotes Self Defense, "Feminists" Explode

Nia Sanchez (Nevada), the new Miss USA, just gave "Feminists" a whole new reason to hate pageants. 

Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez, a fourth-degree black belt in the Korean martial art of

Source: NYP

taekwondo, was crowned Miss USA 2014 on Sunday night.

...

Judge Rumer Willis, the 25-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, said 19 percent of U.S. undergraduate women are victims of sexual assault and asked Sanchez why she thinks this is being swept under the rug and what should be done about it.

Sanchez said bringing awareness to the issue was important, as well as women taking it upon themselves to learn how to defend themselves.

Naturally, "Feminists" - who claim that women are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing - took to Twitter to vent their rage at the idea that women are capable of learning to defend themselves.

Let's apply to other crimes - and to men - the "logic" that "Feminists'" applied to sexual assault and to women.

I'm sorry, but women shouldn't need to take self defense classes to protect themselves from rape #MissUSA—
Peter Simon (@PeterSimon12) June 09, 2014

I'm sorry, but men shouldn't need to take self defense classes to protect themselves from aggravated assault.

Miss Nevada was asked about rape at colleges and answered that women need to learn to defend themselves... OR MEN COULD JUST NOT RAPE.
Anna Garcia (@a_mariagaria) 8 Jun 2014

Miss Nevada was asked about murder in Chicago and answered that men need to learn to defend themselves... OR MURDERERS COULD JUST NOT MURDER.

Miss Nevada described how individuals need to protect themselves from rape, instead of teaching others not to rape. Stop the victim blaming.—
Haley Ploucha (@hallepalouka) June 09, 2014

Miss Nevada described how men need to protect themselves from armed robbery, instead of teaching others not to rob at gunpoint.  Stop the victim blaming.

Women shouldn't need to learn to protect themselves against rape #missnevada  educate and respect yourself as a woman #rapeculture
Anna Beth West (@annabethwest) 8 Jun 2014

Men shouldn't need to learn to protect themselves against home invasions educate and respect yourself as a man (home invasion culture).

Yes, I refuse to use hash tags in my writing.

Sexual assault is a crime.  All crimes are violations of an individual's rights to life, liberty and/or property.  Evil people who violate others' rights have always existed and always will.  Therefore, the need for individuals to defend themselves from evil people has always existed and always will.

It's why we lock our doors.  It's why we buy security systems for our houses and cars.  It's why we avoid high crime areas.  Advising people to take practical precautions to avoid being a victim is not victim-blaming.  That remains true even if the crime is sexual in nature.

It's also why our Bill of Rights includes the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment protects the individual's right to own the most effective self defense tools available - firearms - so that the individual may defend him/herself from those who would violate his/her rights - whether the violators are ordinary criminals or criminal governments.

In fact, the worst thing I can say about Nia Sanchez's response is that she failed to mention using a gun in self defense.  Nobody's perfect.

But the vast majority of "Feminists" abhor the Second Amendment.

I guess the idea of a woman having the power to effectively defend herself against her attacker(s) is just too empowering for the average "Feminist" to consider.

Gun Trafficking Democrat Honored By The Brady Campaign

Just yesterday I wrote about California State Senator Yee (D - San Francisco), who was arrested for corruption, bribery and gun trafficking.  Yee was famous for his anti-2nd-Amendment activism.  Now it turns out the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence honored Yee for his efforts.

For his commitment to ending gun violence, Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/Daly City) has been named to the Gun Violence Prevention Honor Roll by the Brady Campaign. The Brady Campaign will honor Yee and other state legislators from throughout the country who earned an A+ for working against gun violence at a reception during the National Conference of State Legislators in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, August 16, 2006.

That has to be embarrassing.

Gun Grabbing CA Democrat Charged With Gun Trafficking

As I've stated before, gun grabbing politicians desire "gun control" because they project their own lawlessness onto the rest of us. 

State Sen. Leland Yee has been charged with conspiring to traffic in firearms and public corruption as part of a major FBI operation spanning the Bay Area, casting yet another cloud of corruption over the Democratic establishment in the Legislature and torpedoing Yee's aspirations for statewide office. 

Yee and an intermediary allegedly met repeatedly with an undercover FBI agent, soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for setting up a deal with international arms dealers. 

At their first face-to-face meeting in January, "Senator Yee explained he has known the arms dealer for a number of years and has developed a close relationship with him," an FBI affidavit says, noting Yee told the agent the arms dealer "has things that you guys want." 

Yee, D-San Francisco, highlights a series of arrests Wednesday morning that included infamous Chinatown gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, whose past includes a variety of charges including racketeering and drug crimes. Targets of the early-morning raids appeared in federal court in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon. 

A 137-page criminal complaint charges 26 people -- including Yee and Chow -- with a panoply of crimes, including firearms trafficking, money laundering, murder-for-hire, drug distribution, trafficking in contraband cigarettes, and honest services fraud. 

Yee is charged with conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms, as well as six counts of scheming to defraud citizens of honest services. Each corruption count is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, while the gun-trafficking count is punishable by up to five years and $250,000. 

The charges are particularly shocking given that Yee has been among the state Senate's most outspoken advocates both of gun control and of good-government initiatives.

You can read the affidavit here.  In Yee's case, the motivation may be even more sinister than typical projection.  If Yee really is involved with a notorious Chinatown gangster and actually does know an international arms dealer, he may have desired to disarm law abiding people to protect his buddies.  After all, criminals prefer disarmed victims.

As disgusting as Yee and his fellow gun grabbing politicians are, at least we get to make fun of them.

15-Year-Old Boy Shoots Attempted Abductor

From K2 Radio in Wyoming:

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — Campbell County sheriff’s officials say a 15-year-old boy fatally shot a man who was trying to abduct a woman in Wright. 

The shooting happened Wednesday night. 

Sheriff’s officials said Friday they had responded to reports of an attempted abduction at a home in Wright. They arrived to find 48-year-old Sammy Michael Fears, of Casper, wounded in the driveway. Fears died on the way to the hospital. 

It’s not clear how the teen became involved. Sheriff’s Cpl. Gary Sams says the teenage shooter had no family relationship to either Fears or the woman.He says Fears and the woman had a history of domestic violence going back a few years. 

Gillette media is reporting that the teen has not been charged.

Wyoming probably has the least restrictive gun laws in the US.  Its laws - like the US constitution - restrict the state, not the citizens.  Article 1, Section 24 of the state constitution states that...

The right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the state shall not be denied.

According to the NRA...

Any person 21 years of age or older, who is not prohibited possessor, may carry a weapon openly or concealed without the need for a license. All non-residents must possess a permit issued by the state of their residence. A Wyoming resident may also apply for a concealed carry permit issued by this state in order to be able to carry concealed in those states requiring a permit.  

It seems like that's working pretty well for them.

One final thought: If this young man had shot up a school his picture would be on every front page, but because he committed an act of heroism with a gun, you'll never hear about him in the national media.  Does that seem right to you?

FBI Reports: Crime Drops As Gun Sales Soar

The FBI recently published their annual crime report for 2013, and it shows a drop in violent crime.

Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the nation reported a decrease of 5.4 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first 6 months of 2013 when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2012. 

In January, the FBI reported record breaking gun sales for 2013.

The FBI has released new statistics on NICS background checks showing 2013 gun sales hit a new record. The total number of background checks conducted for gun sales last year add up to 21,093,273, beating the previous 2012 record of 19,592,303 by 1,500,970. 

"Liberals" claim that more guns = more crime, and therefore we need to ban guns.  If we do, their "thinking" goes, our country will become a gun-free, crime-free utopia.  You know.  Like Russia.  If "Liberal" "logic" was accurate, crime would have increased, in 2013.  Was that an aberration?  Not even close.

Gun ownership has increased steadily in the US for years.

Source: The Truth About Guns

Violent crime steadily decreased in the US since it's peak in the early '90s.  Homicides in which the killer used a gun dropped by 49%.

At the same time, concealed carry laws improved to the point that, today, all 50 states have some form of concealed carry on the books.

By 2014, the percentage of people living in the Red states, with no possibility of even applying for a permit, has declined to zero. Illinois’ 2013 reforms ended the problem of states not even having a process theoretically available. (The problem persists in DC, but this chart is only for states.) 

As of January 2014, about 2/3 of the population lived in a Green state, with a Shall Issue licensing statute. 

Purple states (concealed carry is allowed without need for a permit) have increased from Vermont only in 1986 to several states comprising about 4% of the population. Currently, the Purple states are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Vermont, and Wyoming (residents only). 

The Yellow states (arbitrary permitting) were the national norm in 1986, but they are now outliers. Unless the 9th Circuits’ decision in Peruta is overturned, California and Hawaii will have to become Shall Issue states. 

This will leave Yellow states at less than 1/7 of the U.S. population.

I do not claim that more guns = less crime.  "Liberals" do claim, however, that more guns = more crime.  To logically make that claim, "Liberals" need to explain why crime in the US continues to decrease as gun ownership continues to increase.

I've never met one that can.

Mom Defends Her Children With an "Assault Rifle"

Nobody needs an "assault rifle".  Until they do.

Recalling the panic she felt, the mom says "I let them know I had a gun once they were in the house. They said no you don't so I shot off the first round. I wasn't feeling anything at the moment, I got scared afterwards."

In a follow-up, WXYZ Detroit reports:

Her husband is thankful she and the kids are safe.He gave her the weapon just two weeks ago and showed her how to use it."If I hadn't prepared my wife for this kind of situation, I could have came home to a family that was gone," he says. 

Let that be a lesson to you, gentlemen.  Fortunately, the Detroit police chief says "she did the right thing".

'Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms' - Instavision

'Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms' - Instavision

The role of the KKK and Jim Crow proponents disarming black people also doesn't get a lot of attention.  "Birth of a Nation", which was a film Woodrow Wilson praised, shows Klansmen disarming blacks, and at the same time there were armed blacks resisting the Klan. 

Woodrow Wilson, by the way, was a "Progressive" Democrat.

It's really simple.  The most basic human right is the right to live, because one cannot exercise any other right if one is dead.  If humans have the right to live, then by logical extension, we have the right to defend our right to live.

If, as "gun control" proponents believe, we have no right to defend our right to live, then by logical extension, we have no right to live.  And if we have no right to live, then we have no rights.  Period.

The KKK, of course, denies the humanity - and therefore the human rights - of blacks, so their desire to disarm blacks is logically consistent with their "values".

Think about that the next time a politician tells you that you have no right to use a gun to defend your right to live.

General Dynamics Long-Range Machine Gun | Kit Up!

GD Shows Off Long-Range Machine Gun | Kit Up!

GD’s Ordnance and Tactical Systems division was showing off the 23-pound LWMMG at Modern Day Marine 2013, touting it as the needed bridge between the M240 and the M2 .50 caliber machine guns. 

“We wanted a round that could provide capabilities to eliminate the gap between 7.62mm and .50 cal,” a GD official said. “We needed a round that could provide accurate, effective fire on target beyond 1,500 meters.” 

The LWMMG fires a 300 grain .338 caliber bullet and is capable of effective fire out to 1,700 meters, compared to the M240 round which is effective out to 1,100 meters. 

“It puts a lot of energy on the target; it doesn’t compare to the .50 cal which is a 650 grain bullet, but we are not trying to replace the .50 cal,” the GD official said. The LWMMG isn’t being marketed as a replacement for the M240 either even though it’s about 4 pounds lighter. The heavier, .338NM ammo weighs about 9 pounds for every 100-round box. One hundred rounds of 7.62mm weights about seven pounds. 

“You can mount this anywhere an M240 will mount,” he said. “You can put effective fire on targets at extended ranges, and that is why we chose that round; we built the weapon around the round.”

After 12 years of war, our Enemies in the AfPak theater know our weapons' capabilities pretty well.  Consequently, they prefer to initiate an ambush with an IED, then open fire with machine guns, RPGs and recoilless rifles (when available) from elevated positions out of range of our weapons.

Our .50 cal machine guns can reach them, but a dismounted patrol can't carry a .50 cal.  And a mounted patrol can't dismount the .50 cal from a truck and maneuver it to a more advantageous position if the enemy's fighting positions are too far up on the high ground (which they usually are).

This machine gun weighs roughly the same as an M-240, but with much greater range.  Carrying an M-240B in Afghan terrain is no joke, but our servicemen do it.  And this guns range is long enough that the enemy wouldn't be able to out-range them.

My first thought when I read the Kit Up headline was - why not .338 Lapua?  How does the .338 Norma compare to it?  I don't know the answer to those questions, but here's this from the article...

The plan was to build the LWMMG in the same round as U.S. Special Operations Command’s new Precision Sniper Rifle, which Remington is now building in .338 Lapua magnum, GD officials said. While the company is pleased with the performance of the shorter .338NM cartridge, it would not be difficult to convert it to .338 Lapua, GD officials maintain.

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