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1. Volunteers needed for Louisa AG Fair booth
2. Volunteers needed for Dale City gun show on August 4 - 5
3. The right to shoot back: Another "gun-free-zone" fail
4. Colorado shooting a reminder that psychiatry, not gun laws, needs fixing
5. Defense: Aurora shooting suspect saw psychiatrist
6. Concealed weapons save lives
7. Obama calls for strengthening gun rules, Reid says no time for debate
8. Video: Feinstein, Johnson debate stricter gun control
9. Romney says stricter gun laws wouldn't have prevented Aurora shootings
10. Video: George Will vs. Joe Klein on gun control
11. Victim's brother To MSNBC: Families not here to talk about gun control
12. Video: Philly Mayor Nutter, actor Will Smith speak on Colorado tragedy
13. The problem For Democrats is the gun lobby is the majority of Americans
14. ACTION ITEM: Democratic senators offer gun control amendment for cyber security bill
15. Video: How the gun control argument has shifted
16. Bloomberg: Police should consider strike until public demands gun control
17. Maryland gets a stay from 4th Circuit on going to "shall issue" CHPs
18. Video: Bill O'Reilly on "assault weapons"
19. Is it easier to buy a gun online?
20. The active shooter and you
21. Video: Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving an active shooter event
22. Tell us more about the mass killer himself and less about his tools
23. Miller: Dispelling gun myths
24. Virginia 1 of 43 states with no assault weapons ban
25. Guns on campus bills fail in 12 states this year
26. Instead of a "Yes we can" picnic...
27. Does Obama think U.S. soldiers use AK-47's?
28. Who needs a gun at a medical facility?
29. Chicago: The deadliest global city
30. Ex-NYPD officer accused in gun-running sting sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison
31. SAS hero jailed: Sergeant sentenced to two years after gun found in his garage
32. A final thought on the Aurora shooting
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1. Volunteers needed for Louisa AG Fair booth
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VCDL will have a booth at Louisa County Fair August 3rd and 4th. Help needed!
EM Brandy Polanowski has arranged for VCDL to have a table at this year's annual Louisa County Agricultural Fair taking place August 3rd and 4th (hours Friday 10am-6:30pm and Saturday 9am-8pm) at the Louisa Volunteer Firemen's Fairgrounds.
Assistance is needed to help cover the booth over the course of this event.
Entrance to the fair is $5/day for adults and $2 for children under 12 and seniors, but VCDL will reimburse shift volunteers.
This is a large county event, with lots of foot traffic over the course of the 2 days as local organizations, businesses, political groups and more have their information and/or wares displayed.
If you can help with this event, please contact Brandy with day(s) and time (ie. morning, afternoon, evening, all day) availability.
brandy.polanowski@vcdl.org
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2. Volunteers needed for Dale City gun show on August 4 - 5
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Richard Kroh, our new gun show coordinator for Dale City, is in DESPERATE need of help. He only has only ONE volunteer so far for both days. If you can work the gun show either day, please contact Richard ASAP!
Saturday, August 4 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 5 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Please contact Richard Kroh at NOVAgunshows@vcdl.org to help in Dale City.
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3. The right to shoot back: Another "gun-free-zone" fail
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Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
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From Investors.com: http://tinyurl.com/cjdsnq8
July 23, 2012
Gun Control: Colorado is a concealed-carry state, as a noted film critic points out, but so was Virginia when a college campus there was racked by violence. Like the school, the theater chain was also "gun-free."
In December 2007, two church members were shot to death and three others injured after a gunman opened fire outside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs as Sunday services were wrapping up.
That tragedy could have been much worse, but the gunman was shot by a church security officer and was found dead when police arrived at the scene.
On April 22 of this year a just-released felon went to the New Destiny Christian Church in Aurora, Colo., and killed the mother of Pastor Delano Strahan before being killed himself by a congregant carrying a gun.
Unlike the tragedies at Columbine High School and the movie theatre in Aurora, there was someone at these venues willing and able to shoot back.
Other than the shooter, there was nobody armed in or at the Century 16 theater complex where 12 were killed and another 59 wounded, unable to exercise their right to self-defense.
Colorado is a concealed-carry state, as was Virginia at the time of the Virginia Tech shootings. But like Virginia Tech, according to World Net Daily, the Century 16 theater's parent, Cinemark Holdings Inc., has a strict "gun-free" policy at all of its 459 theaters, even for those who have concealed carry permits.
Film critic Roger Ebert opined in the New York Times that Colorado's concealed-carry laws didn't protect moviegoers, overlooking the theater owner's gun-free policy as will the media in coming days.
As Warner Todd Houston reported at Breitbart.com in 2009, an Alaska-based member of a gun owner's message board reported that he tried to enter a Cinemark-owned theater with his open-carry weapon but was turned away because the chain was a "gun-free zone," the manager said. No one in that Aurora theater was allowed to defend himself.
The similarities between Aurora and the Virginia Tech massacre are eerie and maddening. In 2006, a Virginia Tech student was disciplined for carrying a gun on campus, despite having a permit. School officials were quick to note their school was a "gun-free zone."
On April 16, 2007, there was no one able to shoot back when Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people to death on a Virginia Tech campus. Had one or two students or teachers been armed, it could have been stopped.
One wonders if Cho would have even walked on campus with a gun if he knew his victims would be able to defend themselves. Or how the story would have been different had Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor who lost his life barricading a classroom door so his students could escape, had been able to fire back.
Few Americans are aware that in an October 1997 shooting spree at a Pearl, Miss., high school that left two students dead, assistant principal Joel Myrick retrieved a gun from his car and immobilized the shooter until police arrived, preventing further killings.
Or, in another school shooting in January 2002 at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia, a disgruntled former student killed Law Dean L. Anthony Sutin, associate professor Thomas Blackwell and a student. Two of the three Virginia law students who overpowered the gunman were armed, preventing further deaths.
In February 2007, at a Salt Lake City mall, armed off-duty police officer Ken Hammond killed a young Muslim named Sulejman Talovic after he had killed five people, preventing an even larger massacre.
Yet liberals will insist the answer to criminal violence is more "gun-free" zones and the disarming of more potential victims.
It remains to be seen whether Aurora, Colo., will be used to push the U.N.'s global gun grab in the form of the Arms Trade Treaty. After all, in this administration's view a crisis or tragedy is a terrible thing to waste.
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4. Colorado shooting a reminder that psychiatry, not gun laws, needs fixing
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There continues to be more and more evidence that many drugs used to treat psychiatric problems are linked to mass shootings. Over and over again, be it Columbine or Virginia Tech or Aurora, the criminal was on drugs to treat a mental health issue.
People have had mental health issues for as long as there have been people. But it wasn't until the 60s, when these psychiatric drugs started being used, that mass shootings increased dramatically. It is usually a person in their teens or early twenties on these drugs.
Bill Watkins emailed me this:
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Philip, this is an excellent op-Ed perspective. Bill
From FOX News: http://tinyurl.com/bm6d8j2
By Dr. Keith Ablow
July 25, 2012
The case of James Holmes, the man who killed 12 people in Aurora, Colo., and injured dozens more, has absolutely nothing to do with the availability of guns. Such individuals -- twisted or hobbled by disorders of the mind -- can always find ways to turn the demons that haunt them inside-out, projecting their terrors on the world around them.
If Holmes hadn't shot people with an assault rifle, he would have blown them up with makeshift bombs or sprayed gallons of acid into the faces of children or ignited an inferno in a hotel.
I lost a friend to murder several years ago. He was run down by a mentally ill doctor who accelerated to 60 mph, aimed straight for my buddy, who was jogging in a park at the time, and plowed his car into him, crushing his skull. He had no gun. The two men had never met.
The case of James Holmes has everything, however, to do with the fractured, fragmented, anemic state of psychiatry in America and our unwillingness to educate the public how to recognize symptoms of mental illness and what to do when those symptoms are identified.
Because, in the end, it will become clear that more than one person -- and probably several, including family, friends, neighbors, classmates, health care personnel or educators -- knew or should have known that James Holmes was confused, losing sight of reality, experiencing severe mood swings, withdrawing from the world around him, experiencing violent fantasies or all of the above.
Most people -- even high school guidance counselors, college educators and family physicians -- remain mystified what to do if a person is acting bizarrely, has expressed thoughts of being violent or is voicing paranoid ideas or responding to voices commanding them to wreck havoc on others. They don't know that they can call 911 or that they can call their local police. They don't know that they can petition a district court to commit a loved one to a psychiatric facility. Many have no idea that their communities are covered by mental health centers with crisis teams that are duty bound to respond to such matters by at least considering the possible risks or evaluating the individual in question.
People who wouldn't hesitate an instant to intervene on behalf of someone who has a seizure or experiences chest pain, seem paralyzed to intervene on behalf of those who are mentally ill and experiencing even the most severe symptoms.
Deploying a national public information campaign, perhaps titled "MY BROTHER'S KEEPER," about what to do when someone appears to be in the grip of mental illness -- and unwilling or unable to get help -- would go a long way toward preventing tragedies like the one in Colorado.
Still, the campaign would have to be married to a tandem and very aggressive project to close the gaping holes in the safety net that keeps the mentally disordered from falling too far -- sometimes with tragic consequences. Because many police officers remain unclear how much discretion they have to convey troubled people -- even people with violent thoughts or intentions -- to emergency rooms. Many teachers wrongly believe that they have no right to approach students and their families with concerns about violent writings or art. And, believe it or not, many mental health personnel see the mental health care system as so complex, and so stretched, that they are loathe to deploy even the meager resources that exist within the courts and our gutted state and private psychiatric hospital system.
Some of what should be done seems obvious. The fact that the University of Texas at Austin; Columbine; Virginia Tech I; Virginia Tech II and, now, Colorado, involved assailants who were students or were recently students argues for strategies to identify the mentally ill on campus. Students in grade school are required to show evidence of immunizations. Would it be too much to expect high school students to sit for tests designed to identify severe psychopathology? If we care whether our kids are exposed to tuberculosis, shouldn't we care if they are exposed to people struggling with voices, visions or paranoia?
If students show up at university health services for physical examinations and medical histories and there is no evidence that they were screened for psychiatric symptoms, and tragedy ensues, shouldn't colleges be liable for the fallout?
My professional life as a psychiatrist has been spent gaining more and more respect for the power of psychiatry to heal people, while watching the profession itself become a shadow of itself, partly due to the ineffective, misguided leadership of the American Psychiatric Association and other bodies that we entrusted to deploy our resources to the public good.
Now, it is time to do so in a strategic, sensitive, comprehensive way that can reduce psychiatric suffering and psychiatric stigma, while safeguarding the public from the worst symptoms of psychiatric disorders.
Now. because for dozens of people in Aurora, Colo. -- and hundreds of their family members and friends -- it is already too late.
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5. Defense: Aurora shooting suspect saw psychiatrist
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Dave Hicks emailed me this:
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This is beginning to sound eerily reminiscent of the VT break-down in a school's responsibility and/or mental health reporting and record keeping.
From CBS News: http://tinyurl.com/d4jtacq
July 27, 2012
(CBS/AP) DENVER - The former graduate student accused in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting was being treated by a psychiatrist at the university where he studied, a revelation that adds to suspicions that his life was in turmoil in the year before the rampage.
Attorneys for James Holmes, 24, made the disclosure in a court motion Friday as they sought to discover the source of leaks to some media outlets that he sent the psychiatrist a package containing a notebook with descriptions of an attack.
The motion said the leak jeopardized Holmes' right to a fair trial and violated a judge's gag order.
The lawyers added that the package contained communications between Holmes and his psychiatrist that should be shielded from public view. The document describes Holmes as a "psychiatric patient" of Dr. Lynne Fenton.
A group of 21 news organizations, including CBS News, is asking a judge to reverse his order sealing court records in the case.
The motion did not reveal when Holmes began seeing Fenton or whether he was being treated for a mental illness. Legal analysts expect Holmes' attorneys to use an insanity defense at trial. Holmes is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Calls to Holmes' lawyer and the state public defender's office were not immediately returned, as was a message left with Fenton's office. The University of Colorado's website identifies her as the medical director of the school's Student Mental Health Services.
A spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County prosecutor's office declined comment.
In the week since the attack, few details have emerged about Holmes' life since June 2011, when he enrolled in a prestigious doctoral program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado-Denver Anschutz medical campus. He left without explanation in June. University officials have refused to disclose much more about Holmes, citing an order from the judge barring it from releasing information that would "impede an ongoing investigation." Staff, professors and classmates have been mum about his life at the school.
Previously, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that U.S. postal inspectors had been searching through the mailboxes near Holmes' home looking for letters and packages he might have sent out. They didn't find any, but that's because the package had already been sent before the shooting.
On Monday afternoon, investigators scoured the mailroom at the University of Colorado-Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus and found what they'd been searching for: a piece of mail from the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 at a midnight screening of the new Batman film last week.
Before opening it, the sheriff's bomb squad handled it with a robot and took an X-ray, just in case there were explosives inside.
Sources told Miller the letter was from a pent-up Holmes to one of his professors. In it, he talked about shooting people and even included crude drawings of a gunman and his victims.
It's unclear if it was sent before the attack at the July 20 midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" that left 12 dead and dozens of others injured.
Holmes' appearance at his first court hearing on Monday stunned the victims' families and fueled speculation about the state of his mental health. His hair dyed a shocking comic-book shade of orange-red, he looked sleepy and, at times, inattentive.
Prosecutors said they didn't know if he was being medicated.
The motion Friday, however, was the first confirmation from the defense that Holmes was seeing a psychiatrist and that he had sent a package to the doctor.
Authorities said Holmes legally purchased four guns before the attack at Denver-area sporting goods stores ˘ a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and two pistols. To buy the guns, Holmes had to pass background checks that can take as little as 20 minutes in Colorado.
Federal law bars from purchasing firearms people who have been found mentally defective by a judge or who have been committed to a mental health institution, said Benjamin Van Houten of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
States can impose additional restrictions, but Colorado does not.
"That is why it's important for states to look at going beyond federal law in this area," Van Houten said.
Holmes spent a year in the university's intimate, competitive neuroscience program before dropping out three days after taking a year-end final, university officials have said.
At a press conference earlier this week, they acknowledged that students in the program are carefully monitored. They said a graduate student experiencing problems would normally be referred to student support services.
Holmes' pivotal year at the university has been shrouded in secrecy. District Court Judge William Blair Sylvester on Monday ruled that the university cannot release records on Holmes' time under the state's open records law.
Meanwhile, authorities also are investigating whether Holmes practiced shooting in the remote mountains northwest of Denver.
The owner of C&M Guns in the town of Hot Sulphur Springs said local authorities, as well as agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have asked him whether Holmes came into his shop, which is near a public shooting range. Clark Branstetter said he didn't remember seeing Holmes.
KUSA-TV in Denver first reported the visit to that shop and another unnamed one in the area.
The public shooting range is owned by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. A spokesman wouldn't comment on whether Holmes used the range.
It's not an easy thing to determine. The range isn't staffed and no records are kept of who uses it. In late June, Holmes tried to join a private gun range east of Aurora but he never showed up.
Earlier Friday, funerals were held for 3 of the shooting victims, including 18-year-old and recent high school graduate A.J. Boik.
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6. Concealed weapons save lives
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From NY Daily News: http://tinyurl.com/c75fbzt
By John Lott
July 25, 2012
Friday's horrible shooting in Colorado occurred in yet another place where guns are banned. And that's consistent with a trend: With a single exception, every multiple-victim public shooting in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed since at least 1950 has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry their own firearms.
The Cinemark movie theater in Aurora, like others run by the chain around the country, displayed warning signs that it was illegal to carry guns into the theater.
This applied to all nonlaw enforcement personnel, including individuals with concealed handgun permits. In other words, despite more than 4% of the adult population of Colorado having concealed handgun permits, a gunman intent on killing a lot of people could be confident that law-abiding citizens there would be sitting ducks.
If one of the hundreds of people at the theater had a concealed handgun, possibly the attack would have ended like the shooting at the mega New Life Church in Colorado Springs in December 2007.
In that assault, the church's minister had given Jeanne Assam permission to carry her concealed handgun. The gunman killed two people in the parking lot - but when he entered the church, Assam fired 10 shots, severely wounding him. At that point, the gunman committed suicide.
Similar stories are available from across the country. They include shootings at schools that were stopped before police arrived in such places as Pearl, Miss., and Edinboro, Pa., and at colleges like the Appalachian Law School in Virginia. Or attacks in busy downtowns such as Memphis; at a mall in Salt Lake City, or at an apartment building in Oklahoma.
The ban against nonpolice carrying guns usually rests on the false notion that almost anyone can suddenly go crazy and start misusing their weapon or that any crossfire with a killer would be worse than the crime itself. But in state after state, permit holders are extremely law-abiding. They can lose their permits for any type of firearms-related violation.
Nor have I found a single example on record of a multiple-victim public shooting in which a permit holder accidentally shot a bystander.
And I haven't even touched upon the pure deterrent effect of a potential mass murderer having to worry that one of his targets might be armed.
The police response in Aurora could hardly have been quicker, with police arriving within a couple of minutes of the first 911 call. And it's true that the gunman, wearing protective body armor, would have been tough for a civilian to stop.
But the first 911 call was not made until nine minutes after the shooting had started. Even a few minutes can be an eternity for those helplessly cowering unprotected before an armed killer.
In the wake of this crime, gun control advocates have wasted no time offering up more gun control regulations as the way to prevent future tragedies. But aggressive gun control hasn't prevented multiple-victim public shootings in Europe.
In last year's shooting near Oslo, 69 people were killed and an additional 110 injured. Germany, a country with some of the strictest gun control in the world - it requires not only extensive psychological screening but also a year's wait to get a gun - has been the site of three of the worst five multiple-victim K-12 public school shootings in the world, all in the past decade. There are more examples of attacks in countries with strict gun control, like in Austria, Britain, France, Finland and Italy.
The guns used for the attacks in Germany and Norway were obtained illegally. When individuals plan these attacks months or even years in advance, it is virtually impossible to stop them from getting whatever weapons they need.
In the Colorado attack, the killer apparently spent at least four months preparing for the massacre, and had he not been able to purchase the weapons legally, no doubt he would have obtained them illegally. In any case, his 30 homemade grenades might well have caused even more carnage if he had used them in the attack.
Some suggest having metal detectors and searches for everyone entering sporting events, cinemas, public transportation and other public facilities. Beyond the incredible cost, it just wouldn't work.
There are simply too many possible ways to get into different buildings, as the killer at the Batman movie showed by bringing his weapons through the locked emergency door at the back of the theater.
To reduce future carnage, the key is to get someone with a gun quickly at the scene. Quick responses not only limit the number of casualties, but reduce the attention these killers garner from committing their crimes. We can't get rid of gun-free zones soon enough.
Lott is a former chief economist at the United States Sentencing Commission. He is also the author of the expanded third edition of "More Guns, Less Crime."
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7. Obama calls for strengthening gun rules, Reid says no time for debate
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It is believed by many that Obama will really push for gun control if he is elected for a second term. Indeed, Obama has been signaling that to be the case a lot lately. He seems confused about whether U.S. soldiers carry AK-47s or not and is mixing up the fully automatic military version with the semi-automatic version that U.S. citizens have.
Richard Nascak emailed me this:
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From FOX News: http://tinyurl.com/co5m6q2
July 26, 2012
As President Obama added his voice to the push for stricter gun rules in the wake of the Colorado movie theater massacre, the suggestion made a prompt thud on Capitol Hill when the top Senate Democrat said he can't fit the gun control debate in the schedule.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asked Thursday about Obama's remarks on gun control the night before, said the Senate's packed schedule precludes any action on firearms legislation. Asked if the Senate might debate the issue next year, Reid said, "Nice try."
The president was vague in what specific measures he'd like to see enacted when he touched on the issue Wednesday evening in a speech to the National Urban League. He affirmed his belief in Americans' right to own guns, but he singled out assault rifles as better suited for the battlefield.
"I believe the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms," Obama said. "But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not on the streets of our cities."
He called for stepped-up background checks for people who want to purchase guns and said he would also seek a national consensus on combating violence.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney clarified Thursday that the president is not necessarily talking about new laws.
"He believes that we can enhance the enforcement of existing laws by making it more difficult for those who should not have weapons under existing laws ... to obtain weapons," Carney said.
He noted that Obama supports the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban which expired in 2004, but said he wants to focus on strengthening background checks "given the stalemate in Congress."
The president, in making the comments Wednesday, still went further than he typically does in suggesting Washington open a new debate on gun control. It's a topic he has handled lightly in the past, but his remarks Wednesday night follow statements from vocal gun control advocates like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg calling for new restrictions.
Republicans, though, have largely said new laws are not the answer. Mitt Romney, pressed on the gun control issue in an NBC News interview during a visit to London, said changing laws won't "make all bad things go away."
"I don't happen to believe that America needs new gun laws. A lot of what this ... young man did was clearly against the law. But the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening," he said.
James Holmes, a 24-year-old grad school dropout, is accused of opening fire in a midnight showing of the new Batman movie in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 and injuring dozens. Police say he used a shotgun, semi-automatic rifle and handgun in the shooting, and another handgun was found in his car -- all purchased legally, as was 6,000 rounds of ammunition.
Some political and media figures have argued that stricter gun laws would make it tougher for would-be gunman to carry out similar attacks, but others have accused gun control advocates of seeking to politicize the massacre.
Obama steered clear of gun policy matters in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and it isn't clear whether he intends to push for such legislation any time soon, especially at the height of his re-election campaign.
The president, however, suggested Wednesday that it "shouldn't be controversial" to make the case that a "mentally unbalanced" person shouldn't be able to get a gun so easily.
But he also added: "We must also understand that when a child opens fire on other children, there's a hole in his heart that no government can fill."
He said responsibility for curtailing bloodshed also rests with parents, neighbors and teachers to ensure that young people "do not have that void inside them."
In 1994, Congress approved a 10-year ban on 19 types of military-style assault weapons. Some Democrats quickly came to believe the legislation contributed to their loss of the House a few months later.
Five years later, Vice President Al Gore cast a tie-breaking Senate vote on legislation to restrict sales at gun shows.
The two events turned out to be the high-water mark of recent Democratic drives to enact federal legislation aimed at reducing gun violence, and some Republicans said they could see the shift coming.
By 2004, when the assault weapon ban lapsed, congressional Democrats made no serious attempt to pass an extension. President George W. Bush was content to let it fade into history.
Public sentiment had swung.
According to a Gallup poll in 1990, 78 percent of those surveyed said laws covering the sale of firearms should be stricter, while 19 percent said they should remain the same or be loosened.
By the fall of 2004 support for tougher laws had dropped to 54 percent. In last year's sounding, 43 percent said they should be stricter, and 55 percent said they should stay the same or be made more lenient.
Even so, the call for federal lawmakers to tighten gun laws has intensified following the mass shooting in Colorado.
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8. Video: Feinstein, Johnson debate stricter gun control
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Talk about standing your ground! How do we get Senator Johnson to leave Wisconsin and be one of our Senators here in Virginia?
From FOX News: http://tinyurl.com/buywyjj
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9. Romney says stricter gun laws wouldn't have prevented Aurora shootings
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Monty Oakes emailed me this:
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From The Hill: http://tinyurl.com/d2b39ah
By Jonathan Easley
July 23, 2012
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that more stringent gun-control laws would not have prevented Friday's mass shooting in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater.
"I still believe that the Second Amendment is the right course to preserve and defend and don't believe that new laws are going to make a difference in this type of tragedy," Romney said Monday on CNBC's The Kudlow Report.
"There are - were, of course, very stringent laws which existed in Aurora, Colorado. Our challenge is not the laws, our challenge is people who, obviously, are distracted from reality and do unthinkable, unimaginable, inexplicable things," he added.
The late-night shooting at a crowded premier for the new Batman film that left 12 dead and dozens wounded has rekindled calls by some on the left to push for stricter gun laws.
Reports say the alleged shooter, 24 year-old James Holmes, was able to purchase 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the internet. Holmes was armed with two handguns, a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle for the attack.
The semi-automatic rifle, an AR-15, was illegal under federal law until a ban on it was lifted in 2004.
Romney added that with emotions running so high in the wake of the tragedy, lawmakers should step back and not rush into changing gun control policy.
"I'm a firm believer in the Second Amendment and I also believe that this is - with emotions so high right now, this is really not a time to be talking about the politics associated with what happened in Aurora," he continued. "This is really a time, I think, for people to reach out to others in their community that need help or a comforting hand. Let's do that for now and then we can get on to policy down the road."
Romney's statements in the aftermath of the Colorado shooting mirror the White House response. On Sunday, en route to Aurora, to meet with victims, Obama press secretary Jay Carney said the president was committed to preventing gun crime through "existing law."
In 2004, as governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed legislation permanently banning the sale of assault weapons. On Monday, Romney also defended that decision, saying that the law included provisions that were supported by Second Amendment activists.
"Actually the law that we signed in Massachusetts was a combination of efforts both on the part of those that were for additional gun rights and those that opposed gun rights, and they came together and made some changes that provided, I think, a better environment for both," Romney said. "And that's why both sides came to celebrate the signing of the bill. Where there are opportunities for people of reasonable minds to come together and find common ground, that's the kind of legislation I like."
President Obama and Romney took an unofficial break from campaigning over the weekend and pulled their ads in Colorado as the nation struggled to deal with one of the worst mass killings in its history.
Obama traveled to Aurora on Sunday to meet with victims, a move that Romney lauded as "the right thing to do."
On Monday, Romney said the campaign was back on.
"I think we are," he said. "But we're starting also with a level of thoughtfulness and seriousness that I think is appropriate in the aftermath of a tragedy of this nature. Obviously, the campaigns are under way. We're talking about our respective views and at the same time, our hearts are heavy as we think about the funerals that'll be held this week and the families that have been so tragically altered by virtue of the loss of life."
[Video]
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10. Video: George Will vs. Joe Klein on gun control
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Monty Oakes emailed me this:
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From Real Clear Politics: http://tinyurl.com/czdswqg
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11. Victim's brother To MSNBC: Families not here to talk about gun control
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Hats off big-time to Jordan Ghawi for putting MSNBC Host Eric Dyson in his proper place! I'll bet Dyson has nightmares about the moment he asked Ghawi about gun control on live TV! ;-)
Walter Jackson emailed me this:
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From Real Clear Politics: http://tinyurl.com/c4hfgbm
July 23, 2012
Michael Eric Dyson, guest host on MSNBC's Ed Show: Do you think that there should be a push for tighter gun laws given the horror that you just endured and how it has impacted you personally? Do you feel compelled to push for tighter gun laws?
Jordan Ghawi, brother of victim Jessica Ghawi: Here's the thing, we can try to politicize this and make some sort of polarizing debate and make this a tenet of the election, but that's not what we're here to do right now. We're here to celebrate the lives of the victims that have been lost.
If somebody wants to do harm to somebody, they're going to find a way to do it. Whether it be with a weapon, such as a rifle or whether it be with any sort of means we should actually start to think about why people are doing this. And the reason why they're doing this is because they want their names out there.
[Video]
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12. Video: Philly Mayor Nutter, actor Will Smith speak on Colorado tragedy
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Brad Clemmons emailed me this:
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Actually with all of the anti's doing their expected blood dance rituals, we did have a refreshing and unexpected statement from a HOLLYWOOD A-List actor. It's short and to the point and he doesn't spend much time on the issue.
Will Smith's response on the CO theater shooting. You almost never see these kind of responses from any of the Hollywood types. Not exactly a well worded response, but he got the point across. His initial response was to the effect of "A gun sitting on a table ain't never killed nobody".
From CBS Philly: http://tinyurl.com/cqfr7vr
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13. The problem For Democrats is the gun lobby is the majority of Americans
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The "evil" gun lobby is nothing more than the American People themselves.
Walter Jackson emailed me this:
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From Real Clear Politics: http://tinyurl.com/cj2j7g6
By Charles Krauthammer
July 23, 2012
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The problem for [Joe] Lieberman is the gun lobby is the majority of the American people. It's not a lobby that is stopping all of this. The reason that the lobby is strong is because it represents overwhelming opinion in the United States. How do we know that? The president of the United States, who had this tremendous opening if he wanted to push the use of guns after a tragedy of this magnitude could easily have done it and he has assiduously stayed away because he knows it's a losing political proposition.
Liberals in the country want gun control, Democrats don't. They normally overlap, but not on this. Democrats will not go near it because of the experience as we heard earlier about 1994, and they don't want to repeat that again. We're at the height of an election and they won't go near it. You're going to have discussion on talk shows and none in Congress and nothing will happen in terms of legislation.
[Video]
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14. ACTION ITEM: Democratic senators offer gun control amendment for cyber security bill
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Seven anti-liberty Democrats are pushing an amendment to a cyber security bill that would outlaw higher capacity magazines.
Let's contact Senators Warner and Webb and urge them to NOT support Senate Amendment 2575!
Senator Webb's webmail address:
http://www.webb.senate.gov/contact.cfm
For "Subject" choose "Crime/Law Enforcement"
Senator Warner's webmail address:
http://www.warner.senate.gov/public//index.cfm?p=ContactPage
For "Topic" choose "Second Amendment RIghts"
Suggested subject: "Please OPPOSE S.A. 2575!"
Suggested text: "Please oppose S.A. 2575 and any other gun control amendments to S. 3414"
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From The Hill: http://tinyurl.com/ctjuyca
By Ramsey Cox
July 26, 2012
Democratic senators have offered an amendment to the cybersecurity bill that would limit the purchase of high capacity gun magazines for some consumers.
Shortly after the Cybersecurity Act gained Senate approval to proceed to filing proposed amendments and a vote next week, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a sponsor of the gun control amendment, came to the floor to defend the idea of implementing some "reasonable" gun control measures.
The amendment was sponsored by Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Schumer and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.). S.A. 2575 would make it illegal to transfer or possess large capacity feeding devices such as gun magazines, belts, feed stripes and drums of more than 10 rounds of ammunition with the exception of .22 caliber rim fire ammunition.
The amendment is identical to a separate bill sponsored by Lautenberg. Feinstein was the sponsor of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.
The proposed amendment would only affect sales and transfers after the law took effect.
Schumer defended the Brady law and assault weapons ban on the floor Thursday evening, perhaps in preparation for the coming fight with Republicans and gun rights activists.
Schumer suggested that both the left and right find common ground.
"Maybe we could come together on guns if each side gave some," Schumer said.
He suggested that Democrats make it clear that their goal is not to repeal the Second Amendment.
"The basic complaint is that the Chuck Schumers of the world want to take away your guns," Schumer said of the argument made by gun lobbies. "I think it would be smart for those of us who want rational gun control to make it know that that's not true at all."
Schumer also pointed out that it would be reasonable for the right to recognize that background checks on those buying guns is necessary - as called for in the Brady law. He also said average Americans don't need an assault weapon to go hunting or protect themselves.
"We can debate where to draw the line of reasonableness, but we might be able to come to an agreement in the middle," Schumer said. "Maybe, maybe, maybe we can pass some laws that might, might, might stop some of the unnecessary casualties ... maybe there's a way we can some together and try to break through the log jam and make sure the country is a better place."
Next week the Senate is expected to debate and vote on proposed amendments to the cybersecurity bill.
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15. Video: How the gun control argument has shifted
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The racial overtones (shhhh!) of gun control also work into the conversation towards the end.
Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
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From MSNBC: http://tinyurl.com/c5tghsm
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16. Bloomberg: Police should consider strike until public demands gun control
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HAHAHAHAHA! In an effort to scare people away from guns, Bloomberg suggested that police go on strike until the country has more gun control. Oh, yeah - nobody's going to want to have a gun when all the police are on strike!
I have a better idea. Why doesn't Bloomberg leave the U.S. for, say, Shri Lanka, and stay there in protest until the U.S. does away with the Second Amendment? Put some action where your mouth is, Mr. Mayor!
Another idea: How about the Mayor's entire security detail going on strike until the U.S. gets more gun control? Perhaps throw in New York City PD, as well... That'll show those pesky gun owners that they need to snap to attention when Bloomberg speaks!
I"m sorry - I'm having waaaay too much fun with this. I just keep picturing Moe Howard of the Three Stooges running New York CIty.
Monty Oakes emailed me this:
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From The Daily Caller: http://tinyurl.com/clk2l7e
By Jeff Poor
July 24, 2012
On CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" on Monday, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said that law enforcement officers should consider going on strike until new gun control regulations are passed.
"I don't understand," Bloomberg told his fellow gun control advocate and host Piers Morgan, "why the police officers across this country don't stand up collectively and say, 'We're going to go on strike. We're not going to protect you unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what's required to keep us safe.'"
"After all, police officers want to go home to their families. And we're doing everything we can to make their job more difficult but, more importantly, more dangerous, by leaving guns in the hands of people who shouldn't have them, and letting people who have those guns buy things like armor-piercing bullets."
"The only reason to have an armor-piercing bullet is to go through a bullet-resistant vest," Bloomberg continued. "The only people that wear bullet-resistant vest are our police officers. And that's true across this whole country. So we should - at some point we have to understand this as our children or our grandchildren or us. But for the police officers, it's much more immediate. Because when you or I hear shots, we run away. They run towards it."
Bloomberg, who has long advocated stricter gun control laws, was one of the first and loudest voices to call for more regulations on firearms in the wake of Friday's massacre in Aurora, Co. Since then he has been roundly criticized by conservatives who say feel his comments helped politicize the tragedy.
UPDATE: New York Magazine's Dan Amira points out that Bloomberg's comments may have come close to violating the Taylor Law, which forbids public employees from encouraging strikes.
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17. Maryland gets a stay from 4th Circuit on going to "shall issue" CHPs
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Not a surprising temporary setback, but Maryland going "shall issue" continues to move forward.
From Maryland Shall Issue:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Grants the Stay
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (CA4) has granted Maryland's motion for a stay pending the outcome of appeal of the Woollard case. This overrules the lower court's order that would have lifted the stay effective August 7th and takes us back to where we stood just a few weeks prior. While this is certainly disheartening, the much bigger issue remains the appeal of the case itself. Oral arguments will be scheduled at some point between October 23-26. A ruling on the case is likely to come at some point in early 2013.
In the meantime, permit applications submitted to MSP can still be denied if you do not have a "good and substantial reason," so please bear that in mind if you had planned on submitting an application.
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18. Video: Bill O'Reilly on "assault weapons"
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Marc Chu emailed me this:
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The biggest problems we face in opposing a new "assault weapons" ban is the fact that the general public simply doesn't understand the difference between a fully automatic rifle and a semi-automatic, or their respective restrictions. O'Reilly exemplifies that in this video, despite the attempts of the Congressman to correct him throughout. Therefore, when the average person hears that it's perfectly legal to buy an "assault weapon," they see no problem in trying to institute a "reasonable" restriction on what they perceive to be fully automatic weapons. It's quite easy to override the logical part of the brain with these semantic tricks.
I'm not so sure this wasn't intentional on O'Reilly's part, since I've never known him to be a particular friend of the 2nd Amendment. He'll forever pontificate on the maximum amount of firepower that a citizen might need so that he might go hunting. He needs to be bombarded mercilessly for the amount of misinformation that he spews in this video piece.
From FOX News: http://tinyurl.com/cph2u6l
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19. Is it easier to buy a gun online?
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MSNBC, ever the anti-liberty network, sees even more restrictions on you and I selling our guns as a good thing.
From MSNBC: http://tinyurl.com/ceosyxz
By Leslie Meredith
July 24, 2012
Suspected Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes purchased more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet in the space of 60 days, according to police reports. He also purchased four guns, including a military-style AR-15 assault rifle, from local stores. All of his purchases ˘ both online and in-person ˘ were legal, authorities said.
"It's a wide-open marketplace," Tom Mauser, a gun-control advocate in Colorado whose son was killed in the 1999 Columbine shootings, told reporters. "The Internet has really changed things. You don't have to show your face. It's anything goes."
But is it? That depends in part on whether you buy from a store or an individual.
By federal law, when buying from a licensed dealer ˘ in-state or out-of-state, in-person or online ˘ you are subject to a background check. Purchasing from an online retailer triggers a face-to-face meeting with a licensed local gun dealer and a background check that can be completed over the phone.
If passed, the documentation is sent to the online seller who ships the order to the local dealer, where buyers pick up their purchases.
"Is it easier to buy a gun online than in-person?" DamnCheapGuns.com spokesperson "Tommy" said in his "How to Buy a Gun Online" YouTube tutorial. "Surprisingly, no. They both require a background check."
Conditions are far more lax when individuals sell guns to each other.
When a transaction takes place between individuals who live in the same state ˘ in-person or online such as through a classified ad ˘ the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968 does not require any recordkeeping, according to the Federal Government's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
But a handful of state laws do. California, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York have passed much stricter laws that include one or more of the following: requiring paperwork, banning private sales of guns, imposing a waiting period between purchase and receipt and outlawing fully automatic assault weapons.
In other states, handguns and assault rifles can be locally purchased from individuals within the state and without a background check as long as they are 21 years old or older.
For instance, KSL.com, the most popular online classifieds in Salt Lake City, Utah, shows more than 2,500 handguns and rifles for sale out of 6,352 listings for "Firearms and Hunting." The site publishes guidelines for buyers and sellers that are consistent with federal law.
Sellers are advised not to sell a firearm to a person that they know or have reason to believe is a fugitive, addicted to any controlled substance, has a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking or threatening a partner or has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, among others.
Federal law also prohibits the sale of guns to people who have been hospitalized for mental illness.
And here's where the ability to buy firearms online could make a difference. Online, a potential buyer could be just a name and an email. The seller would never see an incoherent, shaking buyer or otherwise suspicious behavior and have the opportunity to decline a sale.
Major online sites are cracking down of their own accord, however. Craigslist prohibits the sale of guns across its city-based sites, regardless of prevailing state laws. Ebay's policy conforms to California state law, viewed as the most restrictive in the country, including no sales of assault weapons, parts or directions on how to convert a semi-automatic weapon to a fully automatic one. No guns or ammunition are sold on Amazon.com.
In May, Google banned sales of guns, gun parts and ammunition from its shopping site and for years has not accepted advertising from gun sellers. "This appears to be a calculated political statement by Google," the National Rifle Association last month said in a statement. The NRA has been silent on both Facebook and Twitter since just before the shooting.
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20. The active shooter and you
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Sean Jackson emailed me this:
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From Prevail Training: http://tinyurl.com/bofgoqt
July 23, 2012
Things to Do When an Active Shooter Strikes
"Active shooters" are a regular, tragic occurrence in our times. The phenomenon is world wide and morphing: planned and executed attacks involving rifles, improvised explosives, body armor, and unconventional tactics (such as gas in the Aurora incident earlier this week) have been employed by perpetrators. Although often associated with schools and workplaces ("Going Postal" entering our lexicon at one point), these incidents have occurred at malls, health clubs, movie theaters, day care centers, youth camps and even residences; what form they may take tomorrow and in the future is limited only to the twisted imaginations of the killers.
Sometimes glossed in the reporting is that some of these incidents have been forestalled or ended quickly due to heroic actions on the part of citizens - including concealed carry permit holders, armed private security, and selfless acts on the part of unarmed people who refused to be victims, as in the case of wrestler Jacob Ryker tackling Kip Kinkel at Thurston High.
Other examples of active killers stopped by proactive action include:
1997, Pearl, Mississippi: An assistant principal heard the gunshots, retrieved a pistol from his vehicle and confronted the shooter;
1998, Edinboro, Pennsylvania: A restaurant owner confronted the shooter with a shotgun;
2002, Appalachian Law School: Two law students with law enforcement and military backgrounds retrieved handguns from their vehicles and stopped the rampage;
2005, Tyler, Texas: Citzen Mark Wilson intervenes in Courthouse domestic violence shooting with his handgun, and shoots the assailant. He is killed by return fire, but his actions disrupt the attack. Law enforcement later kills the shooter in a mobile gun fight.
2005, Tacoma Mall: A concealed carry permit holder intervenes gives a verbal warning but does not shoot. He is shot and receives a spinal injury that leaves him paralyzed, however, the shooter retreated into a store taking hostages after being confronted. The shooter is later taken into custody.
2007, New Life Church, Colorado: Volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam shoots an active killer as he enters her church. This resulted in the shooter killing himself.
2008, Israel: Student Yitzhak Dadon draws his gun and engages the shooter, wounding him, after Police officers refuse to enter. Part-time student and Israeli Army officer David Shapira blows past the cops, taking one of their hats to identify himself as a "good guy" and not the assailant, and kills the spree shooter.
2009, Houston, Texas: A woman enters her father's workplace and shoots one man with a bow and arrow and points a pellet gun at others. Two employees, both concealed handgun permit holders, shoot her. She points the pellet gun at arriving police who also shoot her and take her into custody.
There are more...the recent 2011 Gabby Giffords shooting was stopped by citizens tackling the gunman on a reload as well.
While in some cases, independent action by persons has complicated situations, there are more examples showing that a trained self defender or armed citizen may have a role, if not a responsibility, in an active shooter incident. Action on the part of a citizen, done smartly, has proven to be the key in ending more than one active shooter event, and has without a doubt saved many lives. As a practical matter, certain things should be kept in mind before, during, and in the aftermath of the incident should an armed and/or trained citizen happen to be on scene when a situation occurs.
* Carry Gear
The vast majority of circumstances will need to be addressed with what you are carrying or wearing. Thinking that you will be running out to the parking lot to get a long gun, plate carrier, extra magazines, and blow out kit from your truck is rare. By and large you should assume you will address the situation with what you carry in your day at the office, at the restaurant with the wife, or the mall or zoo with the kiddies. This will typically be a compact or otherwise easily concealed handgun with one reload (if that) and likely minimal additional gear.
A cell phone should go without saying. If you don't normally carry a cell phone daily, you should at least always carry one when armed.
* Weapons Proficiency
Be honest with yourself about your weapons skills. An active shooter will experience very little hesitation to engage, and in many incidents the shooters specifically trained with their weapons and prepared for what they might encounter (Cho at Virginia Tech actually practiced on a range with targets laid out on the ground). Long guns, body armor, and backup weapons are no longer a surprise with active shooters - they should be expected.
Practiced ability in shooting, weapons manipulation, reloads and malfunction clearances will increase confidence under stress - and therefore survivability - should you actually engage the suspect.
* Protect Your Own
Your first responsibility is to the security and safety of your own family. The police are not bound to protect you individually, and logistically they simply cannot. Police will show up and try to stop a suspect from shooting more people, but they won't be your personal bodyguard. They will also not stop to administer aid to you while the bad guy is still out there. Fire Departments typically have standing policies that prevent their rescuers from going into a shooting scene until it is confirmed safe, which could take hours.
Have the wherewithal and the common sense to get you and yours out of there. If you are not in the immediate vicinity of the shooter as it begins, you should cover your family's evacuation. Move AWAY from the sound of gunfire. Arm yourself, unobtrusively if possible. The police will be looking for a "person with a gun," and you running around with your gun exposed just became that person. Running with a gun in hand and a family in tow just became in some eyes "the shooter took hostages." Be aware that you do not know of officers on or off duty, armed citizens, or armed security that might be present and see you and possibly mistake you for the suspect. They may decide to save the day and be putting rounds toward you and your children while you are simply trying to escape. Keep your gun out of view if possible as you get the family out.
* Cover Other's Retreat
Post at an exit and provide cover for others' escape. Verbally indicate your location so that people know where to go. Lots of people will freeze and go to the ground and stay there - not knowing what to do, or waiting for "something" to happen or for someone else to save them or give them permission to flee. Such people may be frightened by the sight your gun, so reassure them and tell them to get away.
Call 911 on your cell phone and keep them on the phone, give them a description of yourself and if you are armed, and evacuating people from your location. That may become the staging point for the LE response, and it would cut down on the likelihood of friendly fire against you.
If you are armed, you know police are still not on scene and everyone you can help has been helped, and you can guarantee your family will STAY safe, then by all means go hunting.
If you do, you must understand that in that moment you take responsibility for your own life. You could get dead, quick. The time to realize you "didn't sign up for this" isn't when the bullets are flying around you, or coming to rest inside of you. If you intentionally act against a perpetrator, you did sign up for it, and are a hero for doing so. But that means you must accept the consequences as well. It is nothing that our soldiers and police officers have not already done for their fellows.
* Individual Tactics
Standard police active shooter "Contact Cells" are showing to be too slow, even with trained LEOs who have practiced together. Any notion that you will form up with other armed citizens, with the security guards, or with responding LEOs, and work as a team to "Go Get the Bastard" will be fraught with problems (though back in the day this did happen, for example in the Texas Tower incident).
In general, once the cavalry has arrived leave engaging the suspect up to them and take over continued evacuation of others.
Certainly, study tactical movement and communicate with those around you, but events that are resolved quickly are done so by aggressively taking the fight to the shooter, putting rounds on his location and pinning him down until more guns get there to take him out.
Remember always to "get off the X," change your position and location regularly, making best use of cover so that a bad guy, or bad guys, cannot triangulate on you.
* Unarmed Response
Citizens that do not carry firearms may still be in a position to act. In any unarmed action taken against a subject armed with a firearm, the risk is always present that one may be shot in attempting to do so. Jacob Ryker, the wrestler mentioned above in the Kip Kinkel incident was shot. He survived.
It is always preferable to avoid engaging someone with a firearm while unarmed, by no means does taking a round, or even more than one, mean that one is out of the fight, particularly with a handgun. With a shooter armed with a rifle the risk of serious injury is much higher.
Be knowledgeable about firearms. The best way to achieve this is to seek out qualified and quality instruction in firearms handling and shooting. As well, to be truly prepared seek out practical instruction in firearms disarming from those with experience and realistic hand to hand combat training. Some schools offer unrealistic, rote techniques and other "commando" stylized training that is an almost comical approach to what is a deadly serious topic. The basic idea will be to move rapidly off line while controlling and averting the muzzle through a strong grip on the barrel or slide of the weapon.
Firearms do not have an endless supply of ammunition. Catch him on the reload... beware of a secondary weapon. At Virginia Tech, Cho carried multiple magazines for two handguns that he carried, a 9mm and a .22, and he used the latter to hold off potential defenders as he reloaded the 9. Also, car cam footage of bad guys in shooting situations shows that many do not know what to do when their weapon has malfunctioned. Knowledge of firearms may provide a clue as to when a shooter's weapon has a malfunction and won't fire, and this will present an opportunity to act.
Use environmental weapons such as objects that can be used as impact weapons, thrown at the attacker, or used to deflect incoming rounds. Some companies are making ballistic book bags and briefcases for use in an active shooter situation.
The harsh reality is that in choosing to act, one may be making a sacrifice to protect others, particularly if unarmed. Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, held a door closed against Mister Cho, allowing the escape of multiple students, but died after being shot through the door.
* Other Considerations
Assess the situation quickly if possible, time is critical but think as you act. If you are hearing rifle fire you may want to reassess your ability to engage the bad guy(s).
And are those other people really worth dying for? Unequivocally, sometimes they are; when it is a professional or moral obligation, or when it is your family or other innocents (children) who cannot protect themselves.
Otherwise, go back to Sun Tzu and don't choose a fight you can't win.
Consider not engaging but instead gathering intelligence for first responders, if you have at least some ability to defend yourself. Responders need to know exactly who you are, what you are wearing, what you look like, and that you are armed as you do this.
Remember secondary shooters. They are not always obvious, one may have deployed from a different location, or be laying in wait to ambush any identified resistance.
Explosive devices are frequently used during active shooter incidents. Think outside the box when visualizing what they may look like, what you may face and how you would deal with it.
* Obey Law Enforcement Commands
Finally, once officers have responded and contacted you, (and hopefully not overreacted and shot you), OBEY ALL COMMANDS they give you.
If you are armed, commands will most likely first be to drop the gun. Do so before you do anything else. Better yet, have it put away or safely put down before the police even contact you. Don't wave the gun around pointing at where the bad guy is, just drop the gun and then tell them where the shooter is. Don't get frustrated that they are concentrating on you and missing the bad guy - every cop in the region is either pulling up on scene or busting ass to get there, so there will be more cops flooding the place while the guys hooking you are up are doing their job.
Don't get so locked onto a threat that you miss the threat to you from armed law enforcement.
Last Word
With appropriate assessment and a measured response versus "gun store commando" fantasy, taking action during an active shooter incident may be the right thing to do - it may in fact save multiple lives, even your own. Sound judgment and a commitment to end the carnage will undoubtedly affect the outcome, and almost always for the positive.
No one can make the decision to act but the person right there, right then, with what he or she brings to the table. In taking action, they should do so in the knowledge that protecting others at the risk of one's life is indeed a high calling.
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21. Video: Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving an active shooter event
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In the beginning of this video, made with a Department of Homeland Security grant to Houston, a murderer walks right past a "no guns" sign (nah - that would never happen). He first kills the security guard in a surprise attack and then the building and its occupants, all disarmed by that stupid sign on the door, are his for the taking. (Actually, the guard wasn't armed, so he wasn't really much of a threat.)
While it doesn't mention that citizens should carry a gun and use it in such a situation to save not only their life, but everyone else's life, too, the video makes some good points. Fighting back with whatever you have, being one of those points. In Virginia Tech, Columbine, Aurora, and others, NO ONE FOUGHT BACK OR EVEN RUSHED THE SHOOTER! Doing so could have changed the dynamic. A rushed shooter, or one dodging incoming objects, is much more likely to miss than one who can just stand there and take his time picking off his victims.
David Custer emailed me this:
From Youtube: http://tinyurl.com/ckzculx
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22. Tell us more about the mass killer himself and less about his tools
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From Ann Coulter: http://tinyurl.com/cb2quxw
July 25, 2012
I feel awful about what happened in Colorado, but can we stop the hugging and the teddy bears? Just as society can become inured to violence, it can also become inured to sentiment. There is nothing so hackneyed in the world of photojournalism as pictures of the hugging and the shrines with candles and teddy bears after a tragedy, with a piano softly trilling in the background.
This accomplishes nothing. If you want to do something, please write a check to a good charity, a family financially harmed by the shooting, or send flowers to a specific person.
It is also not helpful to have politicians and television personalities pledging not to discuss the alleged shooter. Unlike most news, that information serves an actual purpose, such has helping us recognize warning signs in other potential mass murderers in the future.
Only people who are themselves obsessed with being famous could imagine that any kind of fame -- even infamy -- is some kind of a reward. Thus, President Barack Obama and MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, among others, have vowed to punish the suspect by not mentioning his name.
If only we had thought of that with Adolf Hitler! Apparently, it wasn't Hitler's twisted Darwinian "master race" philosophy that led to the Holocaust. He just wanted to get his name in the paper. Say anything you want about how much I hate Jews -- just spell my name right!
This is the apotheosis of the "Jersey Shore" mentality.
Similarly, why is it assumed that we honor the victims by endlessly dissecting their lives for public inspection? Maybe they were private people. The mad quest for fame is nearly as peculiar a phenomenon as the desire to commit murder. Not everyone has it.
It's especially strange to assume that fame was the motive of alleged Colorado shooter James Holmes, inasmuch as the murders occurred at the premiere of a Batman movie; Holmes told the police he was "the Joker," Batman's frequent antagonist; Holmes has Batman posters in his apartment; and he had dyed his hair bright red, attempting to resemble the Joker.
All that not only indicates that Holmes is off his rocker -- the opposite of calculatingly pursuing press clips -- but also suggests the possibility that a movie inspired his deadly fantasy.
But no one would dare raise Hollywood violence as a possible cause of this mass murder. Former U.S. senator Christopher Dodd, now head of the Motion Picture Association of America, instantly came out for gun restrictions in response to the Colorado shooting.
If I were Hollywood's chief lobbyist, I think I'd keep my yap shut after a mass shooting that was inspired, at least in part, by a Hollywood movie.
I don't blame Hollywood any more than I blame the gun. But the refusal to consider the possibility of a Hollywood connection proves that not talking about Holmes is pure grandstanding. If these self-righteous champions of the victims really cared about stopping the next mass murderer, shouldn't they consider all possible factors?
The copycat theory is only one of many, many theories about what inspires mass killings, but it's hardly airtight. There have been humans intent on murder since Cain -- and he didn't get the idea from watching an MSNBC special on Richard Speck. (Though I'm sure he would have loved MSNBC's prime-time programming!)
The Columbine murderers weren't inspired by an earlier school shooting: The killers originally planned to blow up their school, but couldn't get the bombs to work. Their other idea was to hijack a plane and fly it into buildings in New York -- and this was two years before the 9/11 terrorist attack.
Two of the most famous mass murderers in history are Hitler and Charles Manson, and they do not seem to have inspired copycats. Nor have any terrorists attempted to hijack any airplanes since 9/11, though there are other factors at work there, such as George W. Bush killing them first.
The strongest case for media coverage of mass murders producing copycats was made by Clayton Cramer in his award-winning article, "Ethical Problems of Mass Murder Coverage in the Mass Media."
But on close examination, Cramer mostly proves that the methods of mass murder are copied by other psychopaths who are already intent on engaging in the crime. Media coverage doesn't create the desire to commit an infamous crime simply for publicity's sake.
Thus, Cramer demonstrates that a few months after Time and Newsweek gave massive coverage to Patrick Purdy's 1989 massacre at an elementary school in Stockton, Calif. -- with particular emphasis on the guns -- a mental patient, Joseph Wesbecker, shot up his workplace with the same type of guns Purdy had used.
A subsequent search of Wesbecker's home revealed a marked-up copy of the Feb. 6 Time magazine, opened to the cover story on mass murderers, which was heavily underlined. The magazine's cover was a picture of two crossed automatic weapons over a human skull shaped like the United States with the title, "Armed America."
Time magazine didn't put the idea of mass murder in Wesbecker's head. Years earlier he had discussed killing people with his psychiatrist -- specifically people at work.
But Time's cover story blaming the guns did prompt Wesbecker to purchase those types of guns, which he began to do right after the article appeared. Perhaps it also convinced him, as Time's editors were convinced, that it would not be his fault, but the gun's fault -- an argument that is strangely compelling to mental patients.
The eternally fascinating question about mass murder is never the means. It is the psychosis behind the desire to do it. We don't need to know details about the guns, booby traps, bombs or fire starters. There will always be a way to commit mass murder. We want to know why.
But that is precisely the information these grandstanders in the media seek to withhold from the public with the pompous justification that they don't want to give the presumed killer attention. For once, the media could deliver information that is both fascinating and potentially useful: What created James Holmes?
But many in the media have taken it on themselves to censor the news as their personal act of retaliation. Not making James Holmes famous -- even famously evil -- is what people who make their living on TV see as the cruelest punishment they can inflict.
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23. Miller: Dispelling gun myths
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Monty Oakes emailed me this:
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From The Washington Times: http://tinyurl.com/cgy8uo6
By Emily Miller
July 23, 2012
There is evil in the world, and the face of it was seen Monday when James Holmes made his first court appearance since he allegedly killed 12 innocent people at a showing of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo. As he sat with demonic-looking dyed-orange hair and bizarre facial expressions, it was hard to conceive of any law that could thwart such a maniac intent on mass murder.
That hasn't stopped those on the left from seizing this tragedy to call for more gun-control laws. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, author of the expired assault-weapons ban, said on Fox News Sunday that firearms like the AR-15 the Colorado shooter used are "weapons of war" that "are only going to be used to kill people in close combat. That's the purpose of that weapon."
Though it is one of the most popular rifles sold to civilians, the AR-15 is rarely used in crimes, presumably because it's not readily concealed. The most recent FBI figures show just 358 of the 8,775 murders by firearm in 2010 involved rifles of any type. By comparison, 745 people were beaten to death with only hands that year, but no one has called for outlawing fists.
Mrs. Feinstein joins notorious gun-grabbers like New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in seeking to vilify guns based on their appearance, not their performance. The AR-15 series was designed to look like the military's M-16, but it is semi-automatic. That means it fires only one round when the trigger is pulled, and that round is no more powerful than any shot by an ordinary hunting rifle.
The left applies the scary term "assault weapons" to play on emotional responses, but it isn't working anymore. More Americans oppose banning so-called "assault rifles" (53 percent) than favor it (43 percent), according to a Gallup poll from October 2011. The poll also showed the lowest level of support for new gun laws in history.
In other words, the public has realized those laws don't work. Gun-free zones, like the Aurora movie theater, leave criminals armed and unchallenged. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin pointed out on Fox News Sunday that if "a responsible individual had been carrying a weapon, maybe -- maybe -- they could have prevented the death and injuries."
This is what happened in another Aurora shooting in April. A gunman opened fire at a church, killing the pastor's mother. An off-duty police officer who was attending the service stopped further rampage by fatally shooting the killer.
It is natural to look for easy solutions to this problem, but the unpleasant truth is a free society can't do much when it comes to this kind of evil. "Even if you didn't have access to guns, this guy was diabolical," said Colorado's Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "He would have found explosives. He would have found something else -- some sort of poisonous gas. He would have done something to create this horror." The public is not well served by those who would use half-truths to take away our Second Amendment rights.
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24. Virginia 1 of 43 states with no assault weapons ban
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From NBC29: http://tinyurl.com/d7ofutb
July 23, 2012
Friday's shooting at a Colorado movie theater has reopened the debate about whether stiffer gun control laws are needed, particularly as it relates to assault weapons.
Police say the suspect, who opened fire on a theater full of people, killing 12 and injuring 58 others, bought his semi-automatic military-style assault rifle legally. Colorado has no assault weapons ban and neither does Virginia. That's also the case in 41 other states.
Virginia House of Delegates Minority Leader David Toscano says an assault weapons ban would be hard to pass in Virginia's conservative leaning legislature, but he says it's a good idea.
"It's a reasonable restriction. We shouldn't have assault weapons being carried around neighborhoods or in a way criminals can get access to them," he stated.
A federal ban on assault weapons expired in 2004. Back then, the United States Department of Justice sponsored a report on the effects of potentially keeping the ban in place. It concluded a ban might reduce gunshot victimizations by an amount so small it may not even be measurable. Studies like that, are why gun rights advocates say gun control doesn't work.
"There [are] enough laws right now on the books to pretty well curtail the bad guys legally getting guns," said Michael Brookman, the owner of Albemarle County Firearms.
Brookman says existing laws - like those requiring a person looking to purchase a gun go through a background check - keep most people who shouldn't own a gun from getting one. He says more laws aren't the answer.
"Statistically, the FBI calls it random acts of violence. There's no real way to protect yourself against it," Brookman said.
However, Toscano says the General Assembly has made some progress, in his opinion, specifically in keeping guns away from people with mental disorders following the Virginia Tech tragedy. But, this year lawmakers also repealed Virginia's 20-year-old one handgun a month law. Toscano calls that disappointing.
[Video]
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25. Guns on campus bills fail in 12 states this year
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Perhaps, but we are not giving up on the right of students, faculty, staff, and guests to be able to protect themselves. We will continue the fight until we win.
Paul Burgener emailed me this:
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From The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus: http://tinyurl.com/c7nnjja
July 19, 2012
(NY, NY, July 19, 2012) As most state legislatures' sessions draw to a close, an important plank of the gun lobby's extremist agenda - forcing hidden and loaded handguns onto college campuses failed miserably in 2012, as guns on campus bills were defeated in 12 states. All told, fourteen states introduced some form of legislation that would have forced colleges and universities to allow students and/or faculty to carry guns on campus. (Legislation is still pending in two states - Michigan and Ohio.)
The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus continued to build its list of schools and advocacy network and helped defeat guns on campus legislation in places like Arizona, Georgia and Kansas. In 2012, twelve states rejected guns on campus bills: Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
"College administrators, faculty, students, parents, and concerned citizens continue to join the fight by rejecting the notion that more guns make us safer," said Andy Pelosi, director of The Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus. "The results from the above states demonstrate that colleges and universities can win on this issue, but they have to be willing to fight.
Since the Campaign was launched in late 2008, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and more than 345 colleges and universities in 39 states have signed onto a resolution opposing legislation that would take away an educational institution's right to prohibit or adopt policies to regulate possession of firearms on campus. View the list of supporting institutions: http://www.keepgunsoffcampus.org/list.html
Added Pelosi, "Allowing guns on college campuses also reduces a school's competitive position. The best administrators, faculty, staff, and students have choices about where they work or go to school. Forcing guns on college campuses will make it more difficult for colleges and universities to attract the best faculty, staff and students."
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26. Instead of a "Yes we can" picnic...
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Referring to VCDL's recent picnic protest in Roanoke County, John Wilburn emailed me this link and comment, "It should have been a 'Glad we did' picnic."
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From The Roanoke Times: http://tinyurl.com/c47gaam
By Matt Chittum
July 23, 2012
Suspect charged after Sunday night fight, gunfire reported in Salem's Longwood Park
A fight and gunshots Sunday evening in Salem's Longwood Park led to the arrest of a Roanoke County man early today.
Salem police were called to the park on East Main Street after reports of a fight and gunshots in the park, according to a Salem police news release. An adult male there told police he'd been assaulted by two other men who then fled in a vehicle.
The man told police that during the fight, one of the men fired a gun at a building in the park, and that the men had also damaged his vehicle, the release said.
An investigation resulted in Roanoke County police arresting Jeffery Scott Ulrey Sr., 48, without incident. Ulrey is charged with assault and battery, use of a firearm while committing assault and battery, brandishing a firearm, reckless handling of a firearm, discharging a firearm win the city limits and felony property damage.
Ulrey was being held without bond at the Roanoke County/Salem Jail, the news release said. The investigation is ongoing, and additional arrests are pending.
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27. Does Obama think U.S. soldiers use AK-47's?
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Paul Mattson emailed me this:
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From Breitbart: http://tinyurl.com/ctw73nn
By Joel B. Pollak
July 25, 2012
President Barack Obama, speaking to the National Urban League on Wednesday evening, sounded a call for gun control--and revealed his apparent ignorance about the U.S. military in the process. Obama told the audience that "AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals." However, the U.S. military does not generally use the AK-47, a weapon originally developed in the Soviet Union that was subsequently adopted by many other communist states. The AK-47 also became the weapon of choice for guerilla armies and terrorist groups.
Today, AK-47s are typically to be found among enemy forces that U.S. troops encounter on the battlefield. Osama bin Laden was often filmed or photographed near his AK-47 rifle--and was killed by U.S. Navy Seals when he reached for it. (Update: Yes, bin Laden preferred a newer, updated version of the weapon, the AK-74.) The former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also released video footage of himself taking target practice with an AK-47. (Update: Other videos featured the AK-47; the target practice was with a recovered American M249 rifle.) Taliban forces in Afghanistan use the AK-47 in attacks on NATO forces. There are some allied forces that also use the AK-47, and the CIA once funneled AK-47s to "friendly" militias. Occasionally, members of specialized units may use the AK-47 in the field. Practically, however, as well as symbolically, the AK-47 is a weapon not typically associated with American soldiers.
The AK-47 is popular among private owners--as well as irregular armies in third world countries--because it is small, easily maintained, and relatively inexpensive. It is possible to obtain AK-47s on the black market in formerly war-torn countries such as Mozambique, for example, for as little as 10 U.S. dollars. Some argue that the U.S. should adopt the AK-47 (or a variant thereof) to replace the M-16 and M-4 rifles. For now, however, it is not typically supplied to, nor carried by, U.S. combat soldiers, as President Obama ought to know.
Though President Obama has cultivated an image of a strong and decisive commander-in-chief--partly through apparent White House leaks of military secrets--he has frequently demonstrated an elementary lack of familiarity with the basic facts about the forces he leads. At the National Prayer Breakfast in 2010, for example, he referred to U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsmen as "corpse-men," mispronouncing the word.
Whether the error of an errant speechwriter, or the choice of the president himself, the use of the AK-47 metaphor in Obama's speech reveals a lack of knowledge about the U.S. military--and a possible lingering romanticism about the guerilla forces often lionized by the radicals among whom Obama began his political career.
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28. Who needs a gun at a medical facility?
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Edward from Albermarle County emailed me this:
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From Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/cpanbww
By Frank Green
July 26, 2012
Man charged in VA Medical Center shooting death will not face death penalty
Authorities will not seek the death penalty in the case of a Blackstone man charged with the murder of a cancer patient at the McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
A trial date may be set at a hearing today in U.S. District Court for Cornelius I. Hayes, 55, charged with murder, attempted murder and three related firearms offenses, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Hayes, who was a housekeeping employee at the medical center, allegedly shot James "Stevie" Lee, 58, in the head and left eye Feb. 22 in a parking lot outside the hospital. Lee, also of Blackstone, was taken to VCU Medical Center, where he later died.
Federal prosecutors could have sought the death penalty in the case, but on July 2 filed a notice with the court that they will not.
Earlier, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer denied a government request for Hayes' medical records pertaining to substance-abuse treatment at McGuire. The records were sought by prosecutors to help determine Hayes' eligibility for the death penalty.
Hayes' lawyers responded that 7- to 8-year-old records have no relevance to the charges, and that producing the records would violate drug therapist-patient privilege.
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29. Chicago: The deadliest global city
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Chicago - the nation's shining bastion of gun control, where no one can carry a gun outside of their home and even owning a handgun is almost impossible, is the most dangerous city of its size. Anybody surprised? In the table below, note that New York City and Los Angeles are both "may issue," while Chicago is "no issue."
James Durso emailed me this:
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From NBC5 Chicago: http://tinyurl.com/c7z3gm3
By Edward McClelland
July 26, 2012
Chicago likes to compare itself to other world cities, so Ward Room thought it would find out how we rank in violence. It turns out no one can top us. Among what are considered Alpha world cities, Chicago has the highest murder rate -- higher even than the Third World metropolises of Mexico City and Sao Paolo. Here's how we rank in murders per 100,000 among cities we consider our peers, based on a projected murder total of 505 for this year.
Singapore 0.4
Tokyo 0.5
Hong Kong 0.6
Berlin 1.0
Sydney 1.0
London 1.4
Toronto 1.7
Amsterdam 1.8
Paris 4.4
New York 6.0
Los Angeles 7.5
Mexico City 8.0
Moscow 9.6
Sao Paolo 15.6
Chicago 19.4
We could be doing worse: Caracas, Venezuela has a murder rate of 130 per 100,000.
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30. Ex-NYPD officer accused in gun-running sting sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison
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Bloomberg's own police are gun running, but he's worried about Virginia's gun laws?
Shawn J emailed me this:
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From The Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/cxvgepf
July 20, 2012
NEW YORK - A ringleader of off-duty New York Police Department officers who were caught in a sting agreeing to smuggle illegal guns and stolen merchandise was sentenced on Friday to nearly five years in prison.
A judge imposed the 57-month sentence on William Masso in federal court in Manhattan after hearing the former patrolman weep openly and apologize for disgracing the department.
"I know it was stupid. I know it was wrong," Masso said. "I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for this."
The 18-year NYPD veteran had faced up to 71 months behind bars after pleading guilty earlier this year to conspiracy charges, accusing him of having a central role in a scheme that made a mockery of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's long-running campaign advocating stricter gun control. The mayor had called the accusations against Masso and 11 others - most active or or former police officers - "a disgraceful and deplorable betrayal of public trust."
The arrests stemmed from an FBI-NYPD internal affairs investigation that began in 2009 when a paid FBI informant tipped off authorities that Masso was interested in making money by transporting stolen goods. In the months that followed, the informant and an undercover investigator posing as the ringleader began supplying the defendants and others cigarettes - purportedly stolen out of state - for resale in New York, a criminal complaint said.
Masso, 48, recruited officers from his Brooklyn precinct, including a rookie he was supposed to train, to join the smuggling ring, authorities said. He instructed the men to carry their badges while transporting the stolen goods and, if they were stopped by police, to say they were doing legitimate off-duty work, authorities said.
Three of the officers and other defendants traveled to Virginia, where they received instructions from the informant and undercover on where to find $500,000 worth of cigarettes in trucks parked outside a warehouse, a criminal complaint said. Using a bolt cutter, they broke into the rigs and stole 200 boxes they later delivered to a location on Long Island, it said.
Masso and other defendants also agreed last month to transport 20 weapons from New Jersey to New York using rented mini-vans, the complaint said. The cache was composed of three assault rifles, a shotgun and 16 handguns with serial numbers that had been "obliterated or altered" so they couldn't be traced, it said.
Bloomberg has inserted himself into the national debate over gun control and heads a national coalition of mayors advocating stricter enforcement.
Eleven of the 12 people charged in the case have pleaded guilty.
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31. SAS hero jailed: Sergeant sentenced to two years after gun found in his garage
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Welcome to our future if we ever let the gun controllers win. A war hero in Britain gets serious jail time for the horrendous crime of owning a Glock and having some ammunition. But, hey, after he serves jail time, they'll let him go back in the military and fight for the same country that has stripped him of his right to protect himself and his family. How jolly good hearted of the British police state!
From Mirror UK: http://tinyurl.com/chsnoqf
By Chris Hughes
July 26, 2012
An SAS veteran has been locked up for two years after a gun and ammo was found in his garage at home.
The hero sergeant was pulled from secret operations in Helmand when armed police discovered the semi-automatic Glock pistol following a tip-off.
They also found 300 rounds of ammunition.
A specially convened court martial heard he had a distinguished record of bravery in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The soldier had been at the heart of some of the most fierce firefights against the Taliban and Saddam Hussein's forces.
But last night he was behind bars in Colchester Military Correction Centre after admitting illegally keeping a gun at his Hereford home.
A source said: "This is a terrible thing to happen to a normally very good soldier's career but justice has to be seen to be done.
"You can be sure he was not the first to take equipment home. It's a pity it was a pistol and ammunition as this cannot be tolerated."
The soldier may still be allowed to continue his service once released.
The Mirror has his name but has been asked not to identify him for security reasons.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said yesterday: "We do not comment on matters relating to special forces."
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32. A final thought on the Aurora shooting
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"Instead of gun control, has anyone thought about making mass shootings illegal?" -- humorist Frank J. Fleming
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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]
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