A universal standard for weapons?

So, me and that "awalk" character* have been arguing this over, over at Marilyns;
Should we treat all weapons the same? He sais that because I "push guns like a dealer pushing crack cocaine", while at the same time supporting arms controls, I am flip flopping.

Arms controls? I don't know for sure what he means, but I suppose he means nuclear arms and the like.
Is there anybody here that honestly thinks we should treat handguns and nukes the exact same way? ... anyone? nobody at all? Oh wait, there's one, "a walk along mingo creek" apparently does, and if you don't, he'll call you a flip-flopper.

Me, I treat different items differently, because, there's not the same, they're different.
A kitchen knife is not the same as handgun, is not the same as a nuke.
Demanding the very same cotrols on all of them would be rediculous!

Can you imagine being required to be 21 years of age before being able to buy some cutlery? Or how about anybody without any felonies/domestic abuse charges (and some other minor things) to be able to purchase a multi-megaton nuclear warhead?

There's a lot of good and effective laws out there that regulate dangerous items. A lot of people use explosives for their profession. they can be licenced to purchase and use these explosives, storing them requires a mandated, safe storage facility. It strikes me as common sense that explosives must be stored differently from your forks, spoons and knifes, which likely rest very close to your stove, do they not?
Would you store explosives in that same spot?
Common sense dictates that each dangerous item should be assessed in a fitting manner. And while one item may be freely available to the general public, others aren't.

Dinner knives are ok, gravity knifes and switchblades? Illegal in many places.
Lye based drain cleaner? No problem! Methamine and acetic anhydride? Heavely controlled due to their use in the production of illicit drugs.

Guns? Ai, there's a rub.
It is very difficult to define what makes one gun dangerous, and other guns very dangerous ... or rather, what guns have high abuse potential/incidence and which ones don't.
Barrel length, muzzle energy, caliber ... none of these are positive factors by which to say: this must be banned.
The USDOJ's study "guns used in crime" lists a series of low-powered, small caliber handguns with tiny magazines as the weapons most often traced by the ATF (in 1995**), evil black "guns that look like assault weapons" aren't even mentioned in the top-10. While a third of the criminals question claims to have had a "military style, semi-automatic rifle in his poseesion at some time, no mention is made of anybody carrying one on a crime scene, or one being used to kill a policeman***.
I hardly think that mandating all guns have "12 or more rounds" magazines and increased power will cut down on firearms fatalities (nor am I inclined to see 10/22's get outlawed)

Dealing with violent crime is an important task that awaits, and while it is not the best way, regulating weapons in an effective way may be part of the solution. This may include new laws and restrictions, this may be the revocal of others. At any rate, the action taken must fit the situation we're dealing with.

In closing: when Walgreens cards you and records your name when buying a meth-precursor, but doesn't even blink when you pick up a bottle of aspirin ... are they flip-flopping, or just using some plain ole common sense?


* I don't know if he's a great troll, or if he acually believes/means the things he sais
**Anybody got recent figures?
***There is a listing for .22 rifles in the list of policemen getting killed, ranking sixth with 4.4% of the fatalities, no thoer mention is made of rifles in that line-up.

Too big for Vegas

A very interesting post by bitter:

If 15% of the NRA's members showed up (lowest estimate) for a convention in Vegas, and ALL of Vegas' hotel rooms were at their disposal, and they stayed with two people per room, not even then would there be enough room for just that 15% ...

911 dispatcher: I didn't do anything wrong.

An update on the girl who dialed 911 and was killed later.

Said dispatcher and the union reps claim that no protocal or policy was breached when the dispatcher failed to call the number back, as there were no audible signs of distress. They say that the only thing that can be heard is intermittent background noise.

Article
Video interview

Anybody know if the 911 call was released?

Two cops held the men down, while others kicked him

Police officers caught up with a car, to do a traffic stop.

• A half-dozen police officers kicked and beat three men pulled from a car during a traffic stop as a TV helicopter taped the confrontation.
• The tape shows about a dozen officers gathering around the vehicle. About a half-dozen officers hold two of the men on the ground. Both are kicked repeatedly, while one is seen being punched; one also appears to be struck with a baton.

Wir sind von das Gesetz, wir möchten dir nur hilfen. Stehe ruhich und befürchten sie nicht.

And they wonder why people shoot them ...

Cop shot in unpossible way.

A police officer was shot by someone with an armed robbery conviction.

Maybe I'm imagining this, but that's a felony right? And felons can't own guns! let alone shoot people with them!
Yes, it is possible for criminals to get guns, the current laws do not stop them from getting firearms.
Will more laws stop them, or might actually enforcing a significant amount of the laws that have already been passed do so?

No less than lethal

Tazers are not non-lethal.
One more fatality, a man who was handcuffed.

Aren't tazers supposed to be an alternative for guns? Would you shoot a man who's handcuffed? Should police officers be allowed to? I don't think so.

What they play.

Here's a little website I encountered just now: "what they play".

It is a site oriented at parents with information on contemporary video games. Warning them of extreme content, guiding them to a proper choice for a game for their children, as well as allowing the general public to write their own reviews aimed at informing parents.

I also spotted a nifty piece on how some children intend to circumvent the ratings of some games, and get a restricted game anyway. Answeres ran,ged from older friends or siblings (like alcohol), to a "dealing" doorman. Interesting stuff to say the least.

With the recent GTA:IV bonanza, I tought it might be interesting.
While I personally do not believe there is a link between violent video games and (increased) violent behavior, I will leave such judgement up to you when dealing with your children.

Current events in the UK

It's sunday, you know the drill ...

Recently elected major Johnson has vowed to finally do something about the crime rate that was allowed to flourish under labour .
What crime would that be then?

Starting off with knife crime today; one man was found with multiple stab wounds he'll likely live, another man was stabbed to death. There's been a slash attack, and a robbery by men armed with a machete.
One villain used a knife to attack and rape several women, another man raped a teenage girl in an alley.

Coming after sex crimes and knife attacks this week, the mysteries:
A pair of children was found dead in a car, cause of dead undisclosed/not determined, but police think the situation is suspicious. Following a disturbance involving nigh a dozen of people, one man was found dead and two other in serious condition. The nature of their "condition" has not been discolsed, police are holding their statements concerning the deceased while awaiting his post-mortem examination.

There's been firearm offences too, one man was shot to death in a barber shop, as well as two cases of arson, an apartement building and a school were the target of arsonists.

Police managed to confiscate (over) two million dollars worth of amphetamines, the ones that weren't driving drunk that is. Two peelers are on suspension with full pay after being found driving while intoxicated, twice (the both of them).

All of this from just the sunday edition from the BBC website ... I'll say, Johnson has got his work cut out for him!

Students suspended over "T"

No, not Earl grey or Cleyon, not the sign of technology over religion from one of the greatest novels ever.

A "T" letter, simulated with their hands landed a pair of students a suspension, accused of making a reference to drug culture ... rather than the "Techno city" theme of the prom party they were at when the picture was taken ...

school PSH, not just about guns.

There are better ways to protect our security than giving away our freedoms

Nifty phrase don't you think?

For those of you who do not know, The UK labour party got it's ass properly kicked out of command, the UK conservative party has assumed control of the London majors office, as well as havong secured the highest amount of counsilers, all of this after winning the local election of England and Wales as well!

Does this bid well for the denizens of Oceania?

Well, labours not gone, but no longer will they be able to push their failing policies on their subjects. Violent crime pretty much doubled, firearm offences went up. Trust in the police has been falling, drug use and alcohol abuse by minors is rampant ... now it's time for a new policy.

Where does that title come from? This article by the conservative party.

Let us all hope for change!

Dial 911 and die

Redux:

1. College student calls 911
   
2. Dispatcher does not send help
   
3. Dispatcher is flooded with other work and ...
   
4. forgets to call back (breech of policy!)
   
5. ...
   
6. Student is found dead

Read the full story here.

Calling 911 is a good idea, being able to survive until help arrives is a better idea.

Rooftop voter?

Channel 9 news has released a letter, a written threat to the Orlando police departement by a somebody who is upset over the way Orlando law enforcement handeled, or rather, did not handle the incident where officer Fernando Trinidad pushed somebody down a flight of stairs, as seen in this video:



I do not endorse threaths or assasinations. I have faith in the legal system, and I wish that policemen who commit acts of police brutality be threated no different from other criminals. Send them off to maximum security prisons, put them in general population, and release an interview with them a month later to act as a deterrent to other policemen who might be inclined to brutality.

Violence by proxy ... not sure if I can live with that, or have issues with. What was that orwell quote about sleeping peacefully because men are ready to commit violence in your place?

Their "truth" about guns in America

And another one bites the dust, "Gun ownership: a right or a privilege?" announced that their blogging will be discontinued.

• Well this video will mark the end of my gun-control blogging career. I had a good run, an illustrious run, a memorable run. My commenters will be missed.

He/she is ending his blogrun with a video concerning assault weapons. It contains a certain amount of false information. According to the video, Bush supposedly voted on the AWB renuwal, the AWB banned certain guns and magazines, and it's supposedly a good thing for the count of NON-lethal gun-incidents to go down.

So here's that viddie:



And here's a better viddie.

95 year old lady in a wheelchair fights off burglar.

That's right, a 95 year old woman ... in a wheelchair ... with a screwdriver!

The burglar was Robert R Horsley, a 45 year old man who's seen his share of court proceedings. He'd broken a window, but as he reached in to unlock the door, the li'l old lady stabbed him in the arm/hand with a screwdriver. So the burglar does the reasonable thing, he waits a couple of seconds and then reaches in again, and the lady stabs him again ...

This went on untill Horsley passed out on the porch due to blood loss, and a sizeable portion of the internet was giggling like abunch of Fench schoolgirls.
She sais she'll have the screwdriver gold-plated now.


I do hope she realizes that any criminal who isn't a complete moron might have just kicked the door in ... that's where plan B should come into play: the use of force adequate to stop the attacker.

Hat tip to the temples "I found it on the web"

Cynical?

• Having a job in an Atlanta morgue is job security at its best.

This comes from a text written by a person who preforms autopsies on people, often people who hae been shot to death.
It includes a profound explaination on calibers and their relative "effectiveness".

In my opinion: before anything, use a weapon you can and will use when the cards are on the table. Don't use a .40 snubby if you can't handle the kick, don't carry a gun if you don't have it in you to pull the trigger.
In that latter case, carry a stun gun or chemical propellent (if those are legal in your AO)

Hat tip to the real gun guys.