“Black Friday” got a whole new meaning in Bibleburg today.
It’s certainly too early to speculate about motive, and probably too late to do anything about the shite job the Founders did on that Second Amendment, though we do have options in that regard.
But I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that for sure a whole bunch of folks got shot, again, and taking off our shoes at the airport, letting the NSA peek in our digital windows, and keeping Syrian refugees on the other side of the Big Water don’t seem to be keeping Americans safe from terrorism.
I bet a few people within rifle range of that Planned Parenthood center felt terrorized today. That’s one product we don’t need to import from overseas. Not even for Black Friday. We make it right here at home.
• Late update: The Dumbass is strong in this one. From The Gazette: “There was a moment this afternoon when a man walked up to the scene with a handgun strapped to his waist and ammunition vest around his chest. He appeared to be asking police if he could help. Officers told him to leave immediately because appearing at the scene while wearing firearms and that equipment was a bad idea.”
Mad Blog Media 
The people just get more lost and out of control.
I hesitate to assume anything based on the reports up till now. But, I will say that the gun store of today in no way resembles the one I worked at twice, once after the Army to support my shooting hobby, and later while in college to put new tires on the van. That store had beautiful rifles and shotguns stocked in walnut with polished blue steel, High Standard target pistols, Thompson Center muzzleloaders, and high end S&W and Colt revolvers and pistols. The local store here gives us plastic, dull steel, large magazines, space age high capacity pistols, combat shotguns, and a bunch of Rambo arm chair commandos hanging around. It is not welcoming at all. But, I am an older man who thinks single action revolvers are neat along with steel frame bicycles. I think that no one needs an AR-15 or other assault rifle, and universal background checks are not burdensome to the hobby shooter or hunter.
Damn. If you see one of those Hi Standard match pistols, give a holler. I made the mistake of giving mine to my former brother in law when I moved to Honolulu.
As Stevens says, there is nothing to prevent most of the stuff he suggests (background checks, modification of Federal law about black rifles, etc), even without amending the 2A, which in the present climate, has as much chance of happening as the Sun rising in the West. Takes 2/3 of each house of Congress and 3/4 of the states to do that and given the number of red states, that ain’t gonna happen.
I think guns, stupidity, and the lurid propaganda coming out of the Rethuglican Clown Car/FAUX news is a dangerous combination. I once made an analogy to the fire triangle. If you have two of the three apexes, best not to add the third. With guns in the hands of nitwits, you got all three corners. You can’t have an armed population that is ready to go off at any pretext, whether it is a drug deal gone bad, road rage in Albuquerque, or a Planned Parenthood in the neighborhood rumored to be trafficking in baby body parts. The whole idea of the Bill of Rights sorta depended on people not being stupid. Instead, we have what Larry’s wife says.
Like Pat O’Brien, I don’t really admire those black rifles. Sure, they are great if you are in Afghanistan or on a SWAT team. I hope to God never to live in a place where I think I need one too. Then again, my Mini-14 is the Clark Kent version. But I didn’t buy it because I was worried about a Zombie Apocolypse or anything. Just fun to shoot the goddamn thing once in a while and the guy who owned it was moving to New York State with its nasty SAFE Act.
I have three carbines — two Ruger autoloaders (one 10/22, one Mini-Thirty) and a .357 Magnum Marlin 1894CP lever-action saddle gun. All wooden stocks, two polished blue steel, fun to shoot.
The Mini-Thirty qualifies as an assault rifle, I suppose, sort of Son of M1 Garand, and as such I should probably get rid of it. But like Khal’s Mini-14 it’s the “Clark Kent” version, so I justify keeping it around.
The black plastic rifles give me The Fear, and I tend to look askance at those who fancy ’em. Call me biased, but I keep seeing fortified basements full of freeze-dried food, canned water and “Trump for President” posters.
The problem with getting rid of the Mini-30 is who would get it? Probably the guy with the freeze dried food in the basement who listens to Trump on TV and with his head wrapped in tinfoil. My kid brother wanted my 870 to make into an “assault shotgun”, whatever that is. I said to hell with that and threw it in a lock box and brought it here from Buffalo. That kid has mostly cleaned up his act, but that idea gave me The Fear.
Short of melting it down (which would please my better half), I trust myself with it more than I trust someone else. After all, my job requires more than your standard NICS check.
I’d never sell a gun in person except to someone I trusted. I would put it on consignment at one of the gun stores so they would do the Federal background check and wear the hair shirt if they fucked up.
These things are like genies. Once you let them out of the bottle (the gun store) you have them on your hands. It can end badly.
I’m with you on the trust issue. Either keep it, consign it or destroy it.
I like Khal’s fire analogy. Fuel, plus air, now all you need is a spark. Like NRA propaganda or Trump with his Bic and a gallon of gasoline. Throw in some of the folks Larry’s wife warns us about, and you got your basic homecoming bonfire, sometimes with diesel fuel and fertilizer mixed in. When will these political fear and anger mongers realize that their bullshit has consequences?
In the last few years what few guns I wanted to sell, I traded to a shop. That way who ever gets them has a background check. I only have two single actions left. One is a polished stainless Vaquero that makes you want to say, “I’m your huckleberry.” I know, that’s dumb.
KKTV says 3 dead, including a U of Colorado cop.
Patrick, does Colorado fry people or is this guy gonna be a guest of the state for life?
There is a death penalty, but it’s rarely invoked. The Aurora theater shooter didn’t get it. I’m ambivalent on the issue. But I do find it interesting that so many of the folks who favor a death penalty are “pro-life,” and so many of the same folks consider The State to be incompetent in all things save making sure it’s killing the right guy for the right reasons.
My main concern with capital punishment is that the judicial system is far from perfect on only convicting the guilty and once you throw the switch, its too late for “oops, wrong guy”.
A good friend of mine, a U of H law school prof, works the Innocence Project and has stories that would scare you half to death about wrongful convictions.
But if it is a slam dunk, I don’t have a major problem with it. Sure there are reasons to not take lives, but practically speaking, warehousing someone in a six by twelve foot box in Prison, LLC, till death does him part ain’t very kind, either. Only reason to keep some of them alive is to do brain research on what makes a person go so badly off the rails. Other than stupidity and FAUX News.
Yeah, that’s the thing. Once the DNA comes back “Oopsie,” it’s too late if you’ve gassed, hanged, poisoned, shot or otherwise disposed of your man. If he’s only been on death row for a couple decades, why, you have the opportunity to give him his life back.
This world of ours is something of a fixer-upper, innit?
Word.
Word, seconded. The old USA has a roof leak, and the ceiling drywall has that big, brown, growing stain right where it is starting to sag. Oops, sorry Khal.
I guess the real pisser about this is that we have had this conversation before.
Too many times.
Oh, for fuck sake. You knew it. Another middle aged white guy looking like he just had electroshock therapy. Robert Lewis Dear.
http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/Active-Shooter-Situation-At-Planned-Parenthood-356013081.html
You would expect him to be all polished up and smiling after his day. I’m sure and hope he was roughed up a bit in getting him to this point. I drove by the scene on my way to work today as it was just starting. Only a few cops and 2 fire truck. But coming up Filmore all the cops were coming up. One of my co-workers could not make it home last night.
Need a new organization in the Springs: Focus on the Fanatic.