Continuing the Citizens/Journalist's Guide to Firearms meme I am happy to pass along this slightly modified by Robb version :
from Sharp as A Marble - original post Sebastian
Here's my email to Bob Behanian at WMBF who wrote this a couple of weeks ago. (Hey-I've been on vacation alright?)
Mr. Behanian - I write in reference to your article "Criminals travel to SC to buy guns" - http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=10861386
This is a particularly good example of bad reporting. Did you actually air this?
I ask because the only number you site is "5th" from the Brady campaign report from last month. Who are all of these "Criminals (who) travel to SC to buy guns". Do you have a specific example of any criminal purchasing a firearm (any firearm) legally in SC and then committing a crime? Are you aware that criminals also purchase knives and baseball bats and may use those to commit crimes in SC too?
If you're going to just use generalizations, why not say something like "Criminals commit crimes with weapons from a variety of sources" which is nearly as lame as the teaser-friendly "Guns are falling into the hands of those who shouldn't have them."
Who are the "some" who "argue South Carolina's laws aren't strict enough"? The Brady Campaign? You can do better than this.
Thank you.Brian
anothergunguy@gmail.com
http://anothergunguy.blogspot.com/
twitter @another_gun_guy
Iowahawk has a guide for identifying Town Hall Astroturf Agitators. Hysterical.
Remain strong, citizen, for the day of their comeuppance is near! Patriotic spontaneous volunteers from MoveOn.org, Organizing For America, HCAN, SEIU, AFSCME, ACORN, NPR, and MSNBC have all pledged independent grassroots efforts to spread the word about the health-hating tricksters and their transparent astroturf agitation campaign!
In local news, U.S. Congressman John Spratt (D-SC 5th) - a CapNTrader - is surprising precisely ZERO of his constituents by not planning to hold any Town Hall meetings to discuss ObamaCare (another link here). Which is a pity as I'd love to go see some of the people that keep electing him, as I've never met anyone who voted for him.
Of course, I mostly hang out in gun shops.
Online donations through PayPal are a huge part of our fundraising. They shut down our entire account-not just the raffle button—for twelve hours right in the middle of an email fundraising push. Looking at the Terms of Use, we couldn’t understand where we’d gone wrong, but we had to immediately remove the raffle so we could get back online ASAP. This just breaks our hearts because we were so excited about the tremendous fundraising impact the Gun Blogger Rendezvous raffle was already having.
From Foxnews:
The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to approve Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice.
The committee voted 13-6 Tuesday morning to send Sotomayor's nomination to the full Senate, where she's expected to be confirmed easily next week.
Just one Republican, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, joined Democrats in voting for President Barack Obama's first high court nominee. The panel's chairman, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, called Sotomayor a restrained, fair and impartial judge who has not favored any one group of people over another. But the top Republican, Alabama's Jeff Sessions, said her speeches and some rulings revealed beliefs that conflict with the idea of blind justice and fidelity to the law.
I hope SC voters are paying attention.
Wet pants happiness from our friend Josh Sugarmann at the VPC... we'll get the 2 votes next time pal.
To Violence Policy Center Action Network Members:
Thank you!
Earlier today, the U.S. Senate defeated a National Rifle Association-backed measure sponsored by South Dakota Senator John Thune that would have created a nationalized concealed handgun permitting system--and your calls helped make the difference!
Below, please find the press release issued by the VPC following this important victory.
Click here to see how your Senators voted:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00237
Thank you again for helping make this victory possible.
Sincerely,
Josh Sugarmann
Executive Director
***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Violence Policy Center Statement on Defeat of Thune Amendment Creating National Concealed Handgun System
Washington, DC--Following today's Senate vote defeating the Thune Amendment, which would have created a nationalized concealed handgun permitting system, the Violence Policy Center issued the following statement by VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand:
"Today's Senate vote is a victory for those who support a sane national gun policy.
"Concealed carry permit holders have already killed police officers, murdered innocent citizens, and committed mass shootings.
"The Thune Amendment would have nullified laws in states such as New York and California that have tough standards for the issuance of concealed handgun permits. Those states would have been forced to allow the carrying of concealed handguns within their borders by people with permits issued by states with the lowest standards, such as Idaho and Florida. The amendment would have also undermined state assault weapons bans because it would have allowed permit holders to carry concealed assault weapons into the seven states that currently ban these guns.
"The danger of the Thune amendment is demonstrated by the fact that proponents of a nationalized concealed carry system argue that lax concealed handgun laws are the answer to mass shootings, but the hard facts are that concealed handgun permit holders do not prevent mass shootings, they perpetrate them."
Earlier this week, the VPC released a new study (http://www.vpc.org/studies/ccw2009.pdf) showing that concealed handgun permit holders killed at least seven police officers and 44 private citizens in 31 incidents during the period May 2007 through April 2009. Among the study's findings--
o Over the two-year period May 2007 through April 2009, concealed handgun permit holders have slain seven law enforcement officers resulting in criminal charges or the suicide of the shooter. All of the killings were committed with guns. An additional three law enforcement officers were injured in these incidents.
o Over the two-year period May 2007 through April 2009, concealed handgun permit holders have slain at least 44 private citizens resulting in criminal charges or the suicide of the shooter. All but one of the killings were committed with guns. An additional six private citizens were injured in these incidents.
o In six of the 31 incidents (19 percent), the concealed handgun permit holder killed himself, bringing the total fatality count to 57.
o Five of the incidents were mass shootings resulting in the deaths of 23 victims.
***
The Violence Policy Center (www.vpc.org) is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury.
--END-
***
If you no longer wish to receive Action Network e-mails from the VPC, please reply to this e-mail with the word "unsubcribe" in the subject line.
For more information on the VPC, please visit www.vpc.org.
For laughs, I guess. What a ridiculous headline.
To Violence Policy Center Action Network Members:
TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on an amendment sponsored by South Dakota Senator John Thune to the defense reathorization bill (S. 1390) that would force our communities to allow dangerous individuals from other states to carry loaded, hidden handguns in public.
ACTION STEP
Call your two U.S. Senators today! Call 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senators' offices.
Tell your U.S. Senators to vote NO on the Thune gun amendment.
A new VPC study (http://www.vpc.org/studies/ccw2009.pdf) released yesterday and cited in a New York Times editorial (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/opinion/21tue2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion) today shows that in a recent two-year period in only 31 incidents, concealed handgun permit holders killed at least seven law enforcement officers and 44 private citizens. These incidents include five mass shootings resulting in the deaths of 23 victims. Because of the secretive nature of state concealed carry systems, the VPC was forced to rely on news clippings for its research. The actual number of unjustified killings by concealed handgun permit holders is most likely far, far higher.
States currently have the authority to make their own rules about who can carry a concealed weapon (CCW). But the gun lobby's friends in Congress want to dramatically undermine each state's authority to determine who can possess handguns by allowing individuals with concealed carry permits issued by virtually any other state to cross state lines with their deadly weapons and carry loaded guns in public--a policy that will also increase gun trafficking, as well as gun deaths and injuries. This proposal is particularly dangerous for states like California that have tough permitting standards.
o The Thune amendment would dramatically increase the number of individuals carrying concealed handguns in public in your state.
o The Thune amendment would require states to recognize concealed carry permits that are issued by other states. The practical effect of this change would be to establish the lowest common denominator as the general rule for carrying a concealed handgun.
Call your senators NOW and tell them to vote NO on the Thune amendment.
Thank you, as always, for your time and energy to help stop gun violence.
Sincerely,
Josh Sugarmann
Executive Director
Dear Friend of the Violence Policy Center:
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Columbine shooting. During the past decade, hundreds of thousands of additional lives have been lost to gun violence--in suicides, homicides, and unintentional shootings.
At the same time, horrifying events like Columbine--attacks carried out against fellow students, families, co-workers, worshippers, and complete strangers--have become so familiar to us that they have their own generic name: rampage shootings.
Such shootings are the direct result of the increasing firepower readily available to civilians in the U.S. The reality is that firepower--in the form of semiautomatic assault weapons, 50 caliber sniper rifles, armor-piercing handguns, and high-capacity ammunition magazines--has become the primary product line produced by today's gun industry. The harsh truth is that such carnage can be prevented only when we take steps to control the gun industry. We ask you for your support to help us stop the flood of high-powered guns flooding our neighborhoods. Only then will America begin to gain relief from the relentless onslaught of rampage shootings.
Below please find a Huffington Post blog link to an op-ed I wrote that was published yesterday in the Washington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/mass-shooting-template--r_b_189054.html
The point of the piece is simple. As a nation we must move beyond decrying the predictable end-result of our lax gun laws and begin to take action: demanding more of our elected officials and of those who should be in this battle with us--but who have not yet joined.
As a supporter of the VPC you know this. I ask that you please send this e-mail forward to those who don't--and urge them to join us in our efforts to stop gun violence.
Sincerely,
Josh Sugarmann
Executive Director
***
To contribute to the VPC and help support our important work, please visit https://www.vpc.org/donate.asp.
Visit www.vpc.org to learn more about the VPC's most recent activities.
To remove yourself from this list, please reply to this e-mail with the word "remove" in the subject line.
In other words, the guy who just stabbed the nation in the gut is the only surgeon who can stop the bleeding.What a mess. I wouldn't be surprised if AIG ends up being ground-zero to The Whole Thing Falling Apart (my new acronym TWTFA - I am not expecting that to catch on or anything).
