All Hail the Second Amendment

[Minimalist]

I said it was sad that someone couldn't have stopped him after he had a gun,

Let's examine this one for a moment. So many states have made it legal to walk around packing heat that the sight has become common. That said, are you going to start shooting everyone else you see with a gun on the theory that they might be planning something nefarious instead of merely being gun nuts parading around because of their fucking rights? What will you do if they start shooting back? What will the cops do if they drive up to an active exchange between two "armed citizens?"

So you would need actual knowledge of an intent to commit a crime and, if you had that, why not simply call the cops instead of taking the law into your own hands?

[Brakeman]

I said it was sad that someone couldn't have stopped him after he had a gun,

Let's examine this one for a moment. So many states have made it legal to walk around packing heat that the sight has become common. That said, are you going to start shooting everyone else you see with a gun on the theory that they might be planning something nefarious instead of merely being gun nuts parading around because of their fucking rights? What will you do if they start shooting back? What will the cops do if they drive up to an active exchange between two "armed citizens?"

So you would need actual knowledge of an intent to commit a crime and, if you had that, why not simply call the cops instead of taking the law into your own hands?

Good point. However I was actually referring to a cop with a gun, not a casual bystander.

Maybe mandatory fast draw training in kindergarten is the way to go..
Just kidding of course. But once the gun is in the wrong hands, how do you ever pry them out and not incur the wrath of law abiding, non-loco gun owners?

[Minimalist]

As is the point in the Fucking Cops thread...too many shoot first and never bother to ask questions.

[Minimalist]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013...nniversary

At Least 194 Children Have Been Shot to Death Since Newtown
The NRA says arming more adults will protect kids—but most are killed at home, our investigation shows, often with unsecured guns.

You've heard this story before, the one that played out again the week of Thanksgiving—this time in Lakeland, Florida—where 2-year-old Taj Ayesh got his little hands on his father's loaded pistol, pulled the trigger, and crumpled to the ground. You may have heard about 9-year-old Daniel Wiley, who was playing outside his house in Harrisburg, Texas, when a 13-year-old mishandled an unsecured shotgun, blasting Wiley in the face. You may also have heard about 2-year-old Camryn Shultz of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, whose embittered father put a bullet in her head before turning the gun on himself. Maybe you didn't hear about the case in which a child shot others and then committed suicide, but that also happened this year. Twice.

[Minimalist]

This week's installment of Gun Follies...brought to you by the NRA and the shitheads who think guns are toys.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/18...tail=email

Ah, yeah... the responsible gun owners.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, 12/07/13: RTV 6 reports that a 3 year old is dead after being shot in the head yesterday evening at his family's home on the 1800 block of East 68th Street. Police responded to the scene after 6 p.m. where they found the boy inside the home suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. The child was then rushed to Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition and later died of his injuries. Investigators have indicated that they believe the child accidentally shot himself in the head after he pulled the gun off a kitchen counter. A neighbor to the family said "I've known they had guns; they've carried them in public on their side, they've got permits for them and I just thought they always were a little bit more responsible than that."

1 of 44 incidents reported.

[Minimalist]

More responsible gun owners....right up until that one time........


http://www.azfamily.com/outbound-feeds/y...81431.html

SAHUARITA, Ariz. -- A 3-year-old boy died after shooting himself in the face with his parents' gun Friday night, police said.

[Minimalist]

The latest installment of GunFail.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/24...nFAIL-XLIX

Another typical week. Unless you're one of the people who got shot, of course. Statistics-wise, this compilation records five cops as accidentally discharging their weapons, three neat freaks discharging guns they couldn't wait to clean, three generous patriots who shared Freedom Ingots with their neighbors (plus two more who kept it in-house, so to speak), two hunters who became the hunted, and two target shooters who became the targets.

Plenty of responsible gun owners shooting themselves or others, here.

This one sounds particularly fishy.

An 18-year-old man hog hunting with two close friends accidentally shot them when he mistook them for the hogs he sought, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Lonnie Greco said. The shots from the shotgun of Willie Evans struck and killed 18-year-old Galen Scott and injured 17-year-old Cody Jones.

Just part of the weekly toll in 'murrica.

[Minimalist]

Isn't this a charming story!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/us/whe...l?src=recg

When the Right to Bear Arms Includes the Mentally Ill
By MICHAEL LUO and MIKE McINTIRE

Last April, workers at Middlesex Hospital in Connecticut called the police to report that a psychiatric patient named Mark Russo had threatened to shoot his mother if officers tried to take the 18 rifles and shotguns he kept at her house. Mr. Russo, who was off his medication for paranoid schizophrenia, also talked about the recent elementary school massacre in Newtown and told a nurse that he “could take a chair and kill you or bash your head in between the eyes,” court records show.

The police seized the firearms, as well as seven high-capacity magazines, but Mr. Russo, 55, was eventually allowed to return to the trailer in Middletown where he lives alone. In an interview there recently, he denied that he had schizophrenia but said he was taking his medication now — though only “the smallest dose,” because he is forced to. His hospitalization, he explained, stemmed from a misunderstanding: Seeking a message from God on whether to dissociate himself from his family, he had stabbed a basketball and waited for it to reinflate itself. When it did, he told relatives they would not be seeing him again, prompting them to call the police.

As for his guns, Mr. Russo is scheduled to get them back in the spring, as mandated by Connecticut law.

“I don’t think they ever should have been taken out of my house,” he said. “I plan to get all my guns and ammo and knives back in April.”

[Minimalist]

And this week's carnage report from GunFail...

just ordinary 'murricans doing what they do and shooting themselves more often than not. Sometimes amusing....sometimes not.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/29...-GunFAIL-L

QUICK, WV, 12/21/13: A ten-year-old girl accidentally shot during target practice is now undergoing surgery. It happened about 5:30 p.m. Sunday on Pentacre Road near Quick, W.Va. Sheriff's deputies say the girl and a nine-year-old boy were target practicing with a shotgun near a creek when the shooting happened. The girl's arm and chest were injured. She was taken to CAMC General where she was taken into surgery. There's no word on her name or condition at this time. UPDATE: Her name was Payton Thomas. And she didn't make it.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, 12/23/13: Colorado Springs police are now telling FOX21 News that the 14 year old girl shot this morning has died. According to police, the girls stepfather shot her, thinking it was a home invasion. Police say she may have been sneaking back into her house. The incident happened about 5:57 Monday morning on the city's northeast side, near Peterson Road and North Carefree Circle. It was not clear how many shots were fired.

[Minimalist]

New Year's in Gun Nut Land....lots of celebratory gunfire by people who can't understand that what goes up must come down!

Sometimes, it even hits a person.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/08...GunFAIL-LI

New Year's Eve, of course, is in a class all by itself. As near as I could tell from available reports, five people were shot by random, celebratory gunfire in Los Angeles, CA; San Antonio, TX; Hebbronville, TX; Newport News, VA; and Gadsden, AL. New Year's Eve revelers also blasted into at least 15 homes this week and two cars (not including four more homes fired into under other circumstances), in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia. Three people involved in celebratory gunfire incidents accidentally shot themselves, and two were accidentally shot at parties.

And what would a week in America's gun culture be without a little thinning of the herd?

SUSSEX CO., VA, 12/30/13: Between Waverly and Wakefield on a 40-acre plot of land, a hunt club frequently uses dogs to scare deer out of the dense brush. Monday, a club member was shot in the head during that exercise. Police say a 61-year-old man was shot in the head during what’s called running the dogs, a hunting method where dogs are released to chase deer out of dense brush. “A group of men conducting an organized hunt on the property were running deer with chasing dogs,” said Sgt. Tim Worrell. “Another hunter was shot.” Game and Inland Fisheries tells CBS-6, 19 hunting accidents have been reported statewide since the beginning of hunting season in September. In eight of those, hunters were shot accidentally.

RIO RANCHO, NM, 12/31/13: A 22-year-old Rio Rancho man was fatally shot at a New Year’s Eve party in North Hills after he reportedly told a friend to pull the trigger. According to Rio Rancho Police, officers were called to 1629 Evelyn Drive about 10:40 p.m. when a 911 caller said someone had been shot. Police found Carlos Rueda, a resident there, with severe head trauma. Rueda was immediately taken to the hospital, but pronounced dead there. Investigation led police to arrest 20-year-old Ryan Wathen of Rio Rancho on a charge of second-degree murder about two hours after the 911 call. He was booked into Sandoval County Detention Center without incident. When police spoke to Wathen’s father and a woman at his house, they said Wathen arrived hysterical and told them he accidentally shot his friend. According to the complaint, Wathen said Rueda told him to check out the pistol lying next to the computer were Wathen was sitting. Rueda insisted the gun wasn’t loaded and asked Wathen, “Don’t you trust me?” Wathen said Rueda then told Wathen to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger because it wasn’t loaded. According to the complaint, Wathen told Rueda he trusted him and pulled the trigger. The gun went off, and Wathen dropped it and ran out of the house because he was scared, according to the complaint.