VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 2/16/15

[OakRidgeStars]

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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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1. We are working on a mass response to BATFE's attempt to ban SS-109 (M855) ammunition
2. Michael Bloomberg says minorities under 25 should not be allowed to own guns and then tries to cover it up!
3. R.I.P. Sandra Eisner
4. Senate democrats poised to make a big mistake
5. Medical doctors, organizing to restrict your freedom
6. How current events might play into America's shift in favor of gun rights [VIDEO]
7. Support for gun rights at highest point in two decades [VIDEO]
8. Gun control advocates are seriously losing public opinion
9. Law enforcement motivation [VIDEO]
10. Remington to replace triggers on popular rifles
11. Should real estate agents carry weapons?
12. Realtors with guns [VIDEO]
13. One in four male Realtors are packin' heat while on the job - report
14. [MD] Who needs a gun while delivering a pizza in gun-free Maryland?


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1. We are working on a mass response to BATFE's attempt to ban SS-109 (M855) ammunition
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As soon as we have the details on how to send in comments opposing BATFE's proposal to ban SS109 (5.56x45mm) ammunition, I will put together an action item for everyone to follow. Stay tuned!


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2. Michael Bloomberg says minorities under 25 should not be allowed to own guns and then tries to cover it up!
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Mr. Bloomberg is a real piece of, er, work. If he gets caught saying something bigotted, he just gets his public comments covered up like they never happened.

Well, almost covered up.

And I'll bet somebody out there has a personal video of the event.

http://www.summitdaily.com/news/1505212 ... ction=News

or

http://tinyurl.com/o6k25zb

Michael Bloomberg blocks footage of Aspen Institute appearance

Michael Bloomberg representatives have asked the Aspen Institute not to distribute footage of his recent appearance in Aspen, where the three-term New York City mayor made pointed comments concerning minorities and gun control.

Both the Institute and GrassRoots TV, the organization that filmed the event, confirmed Thursday that they will not broadcast the footage online or on television as planned.

“We basically honor the wishes of our speakers and Mayor Bloomberg preferred that we not use the video for broadcast,” the Institute’s chief external affairs officer Jim Spiegelman wrote in an email Friday. “He did not give a reason nor did we have any reason to ask for one. We often feature speakers who prefer that their presentations not be videotaped.”

Appearing before nearly 400 people in Aspen on Feb. 5, the billionaire founder of Bloomberg L.P. argued that in order to save lives, police should seize guns from male minorities between ages 15 and 25.

“These kids think they’re going to get killed anyway because all their friends are getting killed,” Bloomberg said Feb. 5. “So they just don’t have any long-term focus or anything. It’s a joke to have a gun. It’s a joke to pull a trigger.”

National media outlets latched on to that portion of the discussion, in which Bloomberg said one method to deal with the issue is to “throw them up against the wall and frisk them,” referring to the controversial stop-and-frisk tactics New York City implemented during Bloomberg’s tenure.

Neither Bloomberg nor his representatives could be reached for comment.

Bloomberg’s appearance in Aspen came shortly after New York began its 11-day streak without an investigated murder, a record for a city that saw its crime rate drop drastically during the mayor’s three terms. According to city statistics, the murder count was 649 in 2001, just before Bloomberg won his seat, and decreased to about 330 in 2013 when he left office.

“If you can stop them from getting murdered, I would argue everything else you do is less important,” Bloomberg said in Aspen.

Though GrassRoots executive director John Masters regarded Bloomberg’s decision to block the footage as “frustrating,” he said it’s fair for the Institute to respect its guest’s wishes. Of the thousands of events GrassRoots has filmed, Masters said he’s only come across this situation twice, most recently with actress Goldie Hawn in December, though the Institute has posted her appearance online.

“We’re not pleased about it,” Masters said Thursday. “We wish that people who could not make it (to the Institute) and could not afford to be there — they should be able to participate in that information also. ... It’s not very often that this happens. Occasionally somebody says something, and they just don’t want it out in public, and that’s a prerogative of whoever we’re collaborating with.”

Furthering his point in Aspen, Bloomberg said city governments need to fund law enforcement judiciously, dispatch more police and get them into minority neighborhoods. About 95 percent of murders are credited to young, male minorities, he claimed, adding that motives are usually associated with drugs or domestic disputes.

“One of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana. They’re all minorities,’” Bloomberg said. “Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in the minority neighborhoods. Yes that’s true. Why do you do it? Because that’s where all the crime is.”

When addressing his stop-and-frisk policies, Bloomberg relayed a story about a Baptist minister in Harlem who invited him to speak.

“While I’m sitting there waiting for him to introduce me, he said to his congregation, ‘You know, if every one of you stopped and frisked your kid before they went out at night, the mayor wouldn’t have to do it,’” Bloomberg said. “And so I knew I was going to be okay with that audience.”

During the event, Bloomberg also discussed education, climate change and Colorado’s marijuana industry with moderator Jennifer Bradley, director of the Center for Urban Innovation at the Institute.

In May, Bloomberg told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he would consider a 2016 presidential run if he thought he could win, though he described an Independent victory as “not possible.” Bloomberg has identified as Republican, Democrat and Independent at separate times in his career. [PVC: ROFLMAO! No one wants him as a member of their group!]


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3. R.I.P. Sandra Eisner
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It's with great sadness that I have to announce that long time member and gun show volunteer, Sandra Eisner, passed away last week.

Those of you in Tidewater might remember Sandy as a regular in the VCDL booth. She was a tough fighter for liberty and was also the Virginia coordinator for the Second Amendment Sisters for a while.

Some years ago Sandy had an operation that went wrong, leaving her in an almost constant state of pain and causing her to have to withdraw from the gun-rights efforts she enjoyed so much.

Even through the pain, Sandy would still work a VCDL booth from time to time.

Her pain is now over and she will be missed.

Our condolences to her husband, Richard, her son, Rick, and the rest of her family.


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4. Senate democrats poised to make a big mistake
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Member James Durso emailed me this:


From dailycaller.com: http://tinyurl.com/my4mgkh
http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/10/senat ... g-mistake/


Senate Democrats Poised To Make A Big Mistake
By Larry Keane, National Shooting Sports Foundation
December 10, 2014

Senate Democrats really want to go out with a bang. Considering that they are about to lose their majority in the U.S. Senate, one would think they would attempt to pass some meaningful legislation that would preserve their legacy before the Republicans take over in January. However, some news outlets are reporting that Majority Leader Reid is instead going to make a last ditch effort to confirm President Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy.

A Yale-educated internist, the 36-year-old physician is also a professor at Harvard Medical School. However, he has become more well-known for his political credentials than his medical expertise, even serving as the president and founder of Doctors for America, an advocacy group offshoot of Obama’s Organizing for America, which has since been renamed “Organizing for Action.” Murthy’s group of course marches in lockstep with the White House’s agenda on a sweeping array of issues that have nothing to do with public health.

Dr. Murthy’s nomination has been in limbo for over a year after certain Senators raised serious concerns about his qualifications for the position. And, in light of recent public health crises plaguing the country such as Ebola, they have good reason to second guess Dr. Murthy, for fear that he will simply be another political appointee to advance President Obama’s agenda. That the acting Surgeon General, a career civil servant, is superbly qualified for the position can hardly be questioned.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has opposed Dr. Murthy’s nomination because his past activism demonstrates that he would likely misuse the office of Surgeon General to advance President Obama’s political views. Murthy’s record as a gun control activist is clear, once saying “guns are a health care issue.”

His fervent but incorrect assertion that access to guns is a public health issue is clear evidence that he is not the right person for the job. In October, a national poll commissioned by NSSF found that eight out of ten Americans believe that “gun violence” is a criminal justice issue, not a public health one. Should he be confirmed as Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy will no doubt commit himself to wasting taxpayer resources in pursuing an agenda that is completely out of sync with the American people.

Senate Democrats are looking to do something big before they leave office. However, forcing through Murthy’s nomination is simply a big mistake.


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5. Medical doctors, organizing to restrict your freedom
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Member James Durso emailed me this:


From dailycaller.com: http://tinyurl.com/n3swrf6
http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/09/medic ... r-freedom/


Medical Doctors, Organizing To Restrict Your Freedom
By Mike Sweeney, Gun Owners Action League
December 9, 2014

Going back over the last two to three years we have often encountered groups of medical doctors who are organizing, crafting a message, and implementing protocols which will enable them to strip a law abiding citizen of their Second Amendment rights.

We first encountered the doctors at public forums, which were supposedly organized to be group discussions about “gun violence.” For the most part these forums were nothing but networking for propagandists, the sharing of ideas on how to restrict the rights of the law abiding.

In all reality the meetings should have been called “Straw Men, Blame, Spin and Distortion, Best Methods For Disarming Law Abiding Americans.”

As always with those who seek freedom restriction, they are sneaky, underhanded liars who take advantage of a complicit media to broadcast their message.

Their message? “Gun violence is killing millions, guns are bad, guns kill people – this is a public health crisis, we must DO SOMETHING.” Without fail they distort numbers and repeat the lie, over and over and over.

Recently a new group of these doctors assembled in Waltham to “discuss” what they can do. As always, they had a sympathetic media covering their event, let’s take a look at a story that appeared online today.

As always it started with a gross and spectacular distortion of statistics – “Since 1960, more than 1.3 million Americans have died in firearm suicides, homicides and unintentional injuries. In 2010 alone, more than 31,000 Americans died by gunfire.”

Now that sounds pretty sensational doesn’t it? What the author isn’t telling you though is this: In 2009 our murder rate dropped to 5.0 per 100K people, an all time low, not seen since…. 1960, when it was 5.1 per 100K. In addition to that, the murder rate has dropped every year since 2009. The rate in 2013 was 4.7.

So, where exactly is the epidemic?

Simply put, there isn’t one. Regardless of that, they compile numbers; spray them around as facts and viola instant crisis.

Of course, they don’t stand pat on just one flat out lie, they add another, and the article continues – “Public health research has shown that firearms violence is directly related to firearms availability and density.”

Let’s take a look at that one for a second; according to the doctors “firearms availability and density” leads to more gun violence. Well, we already showed that we are at an all time low for murder per capita. Is it possible that the doctors are unaware of the incredible surge in gun sales during the last decade plus? We doubt it, surely this is just another fact that they disregard and or sidestep, as it doesn’t fit their agenda of deceit.

Americans own more guns per person than any country in the world, by a lot. Yet, our murder rates are relatively low, so, once again, where is the epidemic?

The article continues with a textbook example of lie repetition –

“Gun violence is a public health issue; that’s nothing new,” Gross said. “Violence is a public health issue; gun violence is like other diseased processes that threaten our life.”

He said gun violence has become so commonplace that many people seem immune to it whether they view it on a television program or on the news.

“Gun violence is a threat to all of us,” Gross continued. “It affects our society, most often those at the young end of the spectrum, and takes the lives of those with promise and the chance to be productive.”

I have to give it to the reporter; she managed to cram the words “gun violence” into three consecutive sentences, four times! Boy, that journalism degree is sure paying off. This is a textbook example of repeating the lie.

To make thing even more ridiculous, the doctors are trying to paint the non-issue as a “public health crisis.” Some are going as far as comparing it to AIDS or Ebola. The doctors are including “gun injuries” in their data, then tallying up the number and estimating the medical cost of taking care of those injuries.

You know that saying about people living in glass houses not throwing stones? Let’s take a quick look and compare M.D.’s to gun owners.

The top three causes of death in the United States, in order, are tobacco, alcohol and medical malpractice. According to JAMA, doctors kill more people than auto accidents and guns.

Here’s the numbers, these are on average and verified on multiple websites:

-There are approximately 700,000 physicians in the United States.
-There are approximately 120,000 accidental deaths in the United States caused by physicians every year.

An article published in the Wall Street Journal in 2012, written by Marty Makary shed even more light on the amount of doctor deaths and other gross mistakes; “Medical mistakes kill enough people each week to fill four jumbo jets.” He continues; “The same preventable mistakes are made over and over again, and patients are left in the dark about which hospitals have significantly better (or worse) safety records than their peers.” How’s that for a scary thought? Not only are doctors killing people at an alarming rate, we as consumers can’t access information on “good” or “bad” hospitals, and they’re going after law abiding gun owners?

It gets worse though; “The problem is vast. U.S. surgeons operate on the wrong body part as often as 40 times a week. Roughly a quarter of all hospitalized patients will be harmed by a medical error of some kind. If medical errors were a disease, they would be the sixth leading cause of death in America—just behind accidents and ahead of Alzheimer’s. The human toll aside, medical errors cost the U.S. health-care system tens of billions a year”

“Tens of billions a year” meanwhile they’re organizing, trying to call the ever decreasing amount of gun fatalities an “epidemic.” Could they be more ridiculous?

This issue becomes more troubling when we look at how our government has taken control of our healthcare. The many pieces coming together could create a “perfect storm” for law abiding gun owners. We’ve already seen the pieces come together in New York where we recently read of physicians reporting patients to the government, and then checking their names against the new gun registry (thanks to the SAFE Act), the police then respond and forcibly disarm the patient.

It’s pretty clear that this inquisition and the doctors who are organizing to go after our Second Amendment rights are getting guidance from above, for if they were truly interested in saving lives, they would be taking a long, hard look within their own ranks.

When doctors with an agenda enable themselves to become the arbiter of our rights it sets forth a very slippery slope. Lets be ever vigilant regarding this issue to ensure that this scheme of rights infringement does not come to fruition.


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6. How current events might play into America's shift in favor of gun rights [VIDEO]
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Member James Durso emailed me this:


From csmonitor.com: http://tinyurl.com/o52wctu
http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2014 ... ghts-video


How current events might play into America's shift in favor of gun rights (+video)
For the first time, a Pew survey found more support for gun ownership than gun control among Americans. Current events like the Michael Brown case may be accelerating the trend, a gun control advocate says.
By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer
December 11, 2014

A dramatic swing in public opinion when it comes to guns and gun control may be driven by current events – particularly high-profile police killings in Staten Island, N.Y., and Ferguson, Mo., a gun control advocate says.

In 2012, 48 percent of Americans in a Pew survey said guns do more to protect people than place them at risk. According to a survey released Wednesday, that number has increased to 57 percent.

The shift was even more substantial among African-Americans, going from 29 percent in early 2013 to 54 percent now (though with a margin of error of almost 10 percent due to a small sample size).

In addition, Pew said that for the first time, it found more support for gun ownership than gun control in more than two decades of conducting the surveys.

The shift in views makes for grim reading for gun control advocates, who, according to Pew, have lost support among every demographic except Hispanics and liberal Democrats. City-dwellers, women, and blacks moved particularly hard toward a view put forth by pro-gun rights researcher John Lott: that an armed society is a polite society.

The new figures also come at a time when experts say high-profile police shootings have raised questions, especially in minority communities, about whether government and its agents can be trusted to protect individuals.

“Those of us inside [the gun control movement] sometimes focus too much on what’s important to us, and [the Pew survey suggests] that we need to get out of that box and think more about, ‘What’s the average person thinking in terms of whether they should buy a gun?’” says Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, in Washington.

That includes the realization, he says, that changes in attitudes about gun ownership may be tied to “a number of factors at play in the current news cycle that suggests a diminishing confidence in law enforcement, and lessening of faith in government … to protect them.”

In The Washington Post’s The Fix, Aaron Blake writes that polls have long shown a trend toward gun rights among Americans. The one exception was in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings in December 2012.

“It's a lesson to be learned as we all confront what's going to happen after the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in Staten Island at the hands of police officers,” Blake writes.

The new study was pegged as a “substantial shift in attitudes” by Pew, but some gun rights proponents say the findings should come as no surprise, given the steady march over the past two decades by the courts, interest groups, and individual Americans toward a more generous view toward firearms, even in an age that seems to many beset by needless gun violence.

“The turnaround on this over the past 20 years has been astonishing, and should serve as a lesson to people who think we can’t see a sea-change on a civil rights issue, even when the media is overwhelmingly opposed,” writes University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds on his popular Instapundit blog. “In truth, after a few decades of ’60s induced hysteria, America is simply returning to its traditionally liberal attitudes toward guns, and weapons in general.”

As the anniversary of Newtown approaches on Dec. 14, groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety have pointed at findings that show there have been nearly 100 school-related shootings in the US in the two years since Adam Lanza killed 26 elementary school students and teachers in the deadliest mass shooting at a public school in US history.

And not every one is convinced of the accuracy of the study. Critics suggest Pew made a false equivalency by framing the question as a tradeoff between more personal freedom and more government restrictions. They point to other polls that have found large majorities of Americans support so-called “common sense” proposals that limit ownership for people with questionable backgrounds.

“Pew’s question presents one side emphasizing the protection of individual rights versus restricting gun ownership,” said Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, in a statement. “The question’s implicit and incorrect assumption is that regulations of gun sales infringe on gun owners’ rights and control their ability to own guns.”

Pew’s methodology did not change between 2012 and 2014.

To be sure, the NRA plays a role in massaging the public’s attitudes on weapons. The organization began last year to reach out to minorities and Millennials with new Internet campaigns featuring, for example, a black lawyer and YouTube provocateur named Colion Noir.

But the shift can’t be credited wholesale to the NRA’s advocacy. In fact, the new survey comes as gun control groups are flush with historic amounts of money amid support from former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

And with that new clout and public support, gun control groups have scored significant victories in the wake of Newtown, including several states passing tough gun control bills, and voters in Washington State in November agreeing by referendum to close the so-called “gun show loophole” that allowed private sales without background checks.

But those inside the gun rights movement suggest that the attitude shift among African-Americans reflected by Pew has less to do with current events and more with an intellectual movement that has been challenging antigun orthodoxy in the black community for nearly 20 years.

The Rev. Kenn Blanchard, author of “Black Man With a Gun: Reloaded,” argues that the Pew findings represent a generational shift in the black community, where “all the old heads say this [pro-gun] stuff is the devil, [but] the new guys are, like, ‘I don’t think so.’”

He adds: “There’s a racial divide, too, that the anti-gun people have been using to suggest that white people don’t want black people to have firearms. But what I see are my white brothers, the old geezers, who are saying to the younger black generation: ‘Here’s a gun, I’ll show you how to shoot it.’”

Pew also finds that its survey numbers are driven in large part by shifting perceptions in the population, suggesting that what's in pop culture can drive survey results. Example: While gun violence has trended steadily downward since 1993 (to nearly half the rate), 56 percent of respondents think gun violence is higher now than in 1993.

The extent to which such attitudes affected the Pew findings is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain.

But more generally, the survey had “valuable data … that we need to take very seriously,” says Mr. Everitt, whose organization was the only gun violence prevention group that waded into the debate over the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. “We have to understand that, as an organization that advocates for changes in the law, we need to be stewards of accountable, good government, and that’s hard when people see government not acting in the public’s best interest.”


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7. Support for gun rights at highest point in two decades [VIDEO]
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From washingtontimes.com: http://tinyurl.com/lt9sz3q
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... o-decades/


Support for gun rights at highest point in two decades
By David Sherfinski and Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
December 10, 2014

Support for gun rights is higher than it’s been in decades, according to the latest data from the Pew Research Center that signals a stunning turnaround in how Americans feel about the issue just two years after the Newtown school shooting.

Pew found that 52 percent of Americans say Second Amendment rights are more important than gun control — up 7 percentage points from just after the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 20 schoolchildren and six faculty dead.

That’s the highest approval rating in two decades, and it’s being driven in part by changing attitudes among black Americans, who are increasingly likely to view guns as good for public safety.

Pew found 54 percent of blacks now say firearms protect people from being victims of crimes, compared to 41 percent who say they are a public safety risk. Just two years ago, only 29 percent of blacks said guns were a public safety boon.

“Over the past two years, blacks’ views on this measure have changed dramatically,” Pew researchers said.

The changes are all the more stunning given the direction the debate appeared to be going two years ago, when 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother, then drove to the elementary school where he fatally shot 26 people, then turned the gun on himself to commit suicide.

President Obama called for major new restrictions on gun rights in the wake of the shooting, asking Congress to enact a bill to subject more gun purchases to background checks and to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines and military-style rifles. But gun rights supporters rallied, blocking those efforts in the Senate and leaving the matter stalled.

Some states acted in lieu of federal action, but Democrats on Capitol Hill said Wednesday they remain committed to imposing new restrictions.

“It is imperative that we act,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said at an event to commemorate the Newtown shooting. “We must stick with this.”

Gun control supporters said other polling still shows strong support for specific changes. Requiring universal background checks garners support of about 90 percent of Americans, while support for limits on rifles and ammunition magazines hovers just above 50 percent.

Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said Pew’s findings reflect a sharp partisan divide on the issue, but also said the wording of the survey might have influenced the results. The survey asked whether it was more important to “control gun ownership” or “protect the right of Americans to own guns.”

“The notion of having ‘rights’ is certainly going to be more appealing than the notion of being ‘controlled,’ no matter what topic you are asking respondents about,” he said in an email. “We’d be curious to see how the polling would look if Pew Research asked respondents if they believed they had ‘a right to be free from gun violence in their communities through the enactment of sensible gun legislation.’”

Specific wording aside, Pew’s research suggested a shift over time. Support for gun control peaked at 66 percent in the late 1990s, or about the time of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and has dropped 20 percentage points since then.

The recent shift has also happened across nearly all demographic lines.

When posed a choice between supporting gun rights or gun controls, men and women, old and young, white and black and Republican and Democrat all saw their preference for Second Amendment rights increase over the last two years.

African-Americans’ support for gun rights rose from 24 percent to 34 percent, and whites’ backing rose from 53 percent to 61 percent. Only Hispanics saw a drop in their support for gun rights, slipping 2 percentage points to 25 percent, or lower than blacks’ level of support.

While Democrats still generally back gun controls, with just 28 percent supporting gun rights, majorities of both Republicans and independents say the Second Amendment trumps their desire for more controls.


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8. Gun control advocates are seriously losing public opinion
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Member Bob Greene emailed me this:

From www.washingtonpost.com: http://tinyurl.com/ncow5u8
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... c-opinion/


Gun-control advocates are seriously losing public opinion
By Emily Badger
December 10, 2014

For the first time since Pew began asking the question two decades ago, a majority of Americans now say that gun rights are more important than gun control — a striking shift in public opinion over both the last generation and just the last few years. As recently as December 2012, in the immediate aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., shooting, 51 percent of people surveyed by Pew said it was more important to control gun ownership than protect the rights of gun owners.

That consensus has since disappeared, confirming the fears of many gun-control advocates that outrage after Newtown wouldn't last long.

What's most striking in Pew's new data is that views have shifted more in favor of gun rights since then among nearly every demographic group, including women, blacks, city-dwellers, parents, college graduates, millennials and independents. The two groups that haven't budged? Hispanics and liberal Democrats.

These numbers may capture the short memory of many Americans. But the long-term trend is undeniably grim for gun-control advocates, who seem to be losing ground even among their strongest traditional sympathizers.


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9 Law enforcement motivation [VIDEO]
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As gun owners we stand in solidarity with the men and women in blue, who like many of us, are the sheepdogs of society. Sheepdogs do not give in to the wolves who would victimize innocents, but instead relegate the wolves to a life living in the shadows.

This video serves as a reminder of just how vicious those wolves can be and the price sometimes paid by the sheepdogs who stand up to evil.

CAUTION: strong language and some graphic videos.

From youtube.com: http://tinyurl.com/qdc4omy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zyhOW-8Zcc&sns=em


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10. Remington to replace triggers on popular rifles
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Member Clayton Rhoades emailed me this:


From casfpn.advisen.com: http://tinyurl.com/lucfhrc
http://casfpn.advisen.com/fpnHomepagep. ... 567107#top


Remington to replace triggers on popular rifles
by Associated Press
December 6, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) - U.S. gunmaker Remington Arms Co. and plaintiffs in two class-action lawsuits formalized a settlement agreement this week under which the company will replace the triggers on millions of guns, including its most popular bolt-action rifles.

Under the deal reached in July and filed Friday in federal court in Kansas City, Remington will replace X-Mark Pro triggers on its popular Model 700 and Model Seven rifles manufactured from May 1, 2006, through April 9, 2014. It also agreed to replace XMP triggers on a number of other models, but does not acknowledge any equipment defect.

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against Remington over the past three decades, several by people who claimed injury and death from guns that misfired. In a 1994 Texas case, a jury awarded $17 million to a man who lost his foot.

In 2010, Remington issued a statement saying its Model 700 had been "free of defect" since it was first produced. But in April the company issued a nationwide recall of both the Model 700 and Model Seven rifles.

The company claims in the settlement that excess bonding agent used in the assembly process could cause the rifles to discharge unintentionally. The assembly process has been reworked to avoid similar problems in the future, Remington said.

A media contact listed for Remington did not immediately return a call or email Saturday seeking comment.

On its website, Remington urges all owners of models identified in its recall to take the guns to an authorized repair center or ship them, with Remington picking up the cost. It encourages owners to immediately stop using their rifles until they have been inspected and repaired.

Also under the deal, Remington agreed to provide vouchers ranging from $10 to $12.50 each to owners of older models that can't be retrofitted with the new trigger mechanism.

The settlement caps the amount of attorneys' fees, costs and expenses Remington must pay at $12.5 million.

The deal still must be approved by a judge.


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11. Should real estate agents carry weapons?
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Cliff's Notes: YES

Executive member John Wilburn, who owns a real estate agency, emailed me this:

15% of male agents and 5% of female agent carry a gun, the article claims. I knew it was higher than the average of the general public, but I’ve never seen a number. 67% of our office has at least one CHP. The criminals better guess carefully!


From veteransunited.com: http://tinyurl.com/m9ojqgz
http://www.veteransunited.com/realestat ... y-weapons/


Should Real Estate Agents Carry Weapons?
by Jessi Hall

Yep, we’re dipping our toes into the gun debate.

How can we not? It’s tough to deny that real estate is a dangerous field. Real estate agents meet up with strangers in unfamiliar, confined locations on a regular basis. A self-defense strategy is an essential part of any real estate agent’s toolbox.

But is a gun really the best way to protect yourself as a real estate agent? Let’s look at five factors agents should consider when deciding whether to carry a weapon.

Factor 1: Is real estate really that dangerous?

The real estate, rental and leasing industry averaged 77 work-related deaths per year from 2008 to 2011. Of the 60 fatal injuries reported in the real estate industry in 2011, half of those deaths were homicides. Take a look at a few of those deaths:

-Ashley Okland, a 27-year-old real estate agent, was killed inside a West Des Moines, Iowa model home in 2011
-Ann Nelson, a 71-year-old real estate agent, was killed while showing a Wisconsin home in 2008.
-Andrew VonStein, a 51-year-old real estate agent, was shot dead by a disgruntled client in a “for sale” home.

In each of these situations, a real estate agent was meeting a client in an empty home. It’s what real estate agents do nearly every day.

And it’s the perfect setting for an attack: An empty home, isolated from onlookers. Yes, real estate really is that dangerous.

Factor 2: Does a weapon enhance real estate agent safety?

Those working in a dangerous field must prioritize safety. But do weapons actually make a person safer?

YES:
-A weapon could be an agent’s best line of defense. It’s lethal force, all right. Nearly 15 percent of male agents and 5 percent of female agents choose to carry guns on the job.
-Weapons make agents feel safer. A majority of Americans (51 percent) believe having a gun in the house makes it a safer place to be. Not a huge stretch to imagine those folks also believe carrying a weapon imputes safety.

NO:
-There is a risk of accidental gun injury. The large majority of accidental shooting deaths in the home are from guns kept in the home, says the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.
-Guns don’t deter crime. One study of programs that train citizens to use guns found that guns did not reduce crime.
-Guns may not be the best tool for self-defense. Yet another study finds that having a gun does not necessarily reduce the risk of being a victim of crime.

Factor 3: What do other folks in the industry say?

The gun debate is a hot one, and several real estate insiders aren’t afraid to voice opinions on the matter. Let’s take a look at a few of those:

“…supposing that a Realtor doesn’t have the time to devote herself to becoming a martial arts expert, in between showings, marketing, family, having a social life, and so on… why wouldn’t you advise her to get a gun?” –Rob Hahn, founder of real estate consulting firm 7DS Associates

“As time goes by, I meet more and more real estate agents who have also gone the extra steps of getting their concealed handgun licenses (CHL), and taking responsibility for their own self-protection.” Linda Walker, Ohio real estate agent

“Recently I was asked to do an open house at a foreclosed property. I didn’t like the look of the property when I arrived. I unlocked the door, peered inside, and then relocked the door and left. Would I have stayed if I’d had a gun? No. No matter how you feel about guns, they should not be used in lieu of common sense.” – Yvonne Aileen, Principal Broker, Portland, Ore.
real estate agent weapon

Factor 4: What weapons are available?

Concealed weapons are available to permit-holders in 49 states. Illinois, the last hold-out, has recently passed a concealed-carry bill through legislature, but at this writing, the bill hasn’t been signed into law by the Illinois governor. [PVC: Illinois has since had "shall issue" concealed carry signed into law and permits are now being issued.]

But maybe you’re not quite ready to pack heat. And that’s okay. Consider these other options:

-Mace or pepper spray: Some states restrict the amount of pepper spray/Mace a person can carry, but most don’t require a permit to carry defense spray.
-Taser: Tasers can be legally carried without a permit in 43 states, but are prohibited in the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, as well as in certain cities and counties.
-Knife: Nearly 10 percent of male agents and 2.2 percent of female agents say they carry a knife on the job.

Remember that the most dangerous weapon is one used without proper knowledge. Should you decide to carry a weapon, take a safety training course and always practice safe handling methods.

Factor 5: What are your other options?

Carrying a weapon doesn’t make you invincible. Whether you carry a weapon or not, make sure to also follow these safety tips:

-Let at least one person in your office know where you are and when you’ll be back.
-Don’t agree to a private showing unless you’ve already met a client in your office.
-Bring a co-worker along whenever possible.
-Take a self-defense class.
-Read these additional safety tips.

The bottom line is that in real estate, we all need to prioritize our own safety. No one else is going to do it for us. Choose a safety protocol that fits you, and be vigilant.

Safety first, and safety last.


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12. Realtors with guns [VIDEO]
**************************************************

Executive member John Wilburn emailed me this. Beverly Carter is a realtor who was abducted and murdered while showing a home:

I’m finding a bunch of items in the wake of REALTOR® Beverly Carter being murdered. The ignorant, bigoted comments begin 1:48 into the video:

From nationalrealestatepost.com: http://tinyurl.com/nvz6ovy
http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/re ... with-guns/


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13. One in four male Realtors are packin' heat while on the job - report
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Executive member John Wilburn emailed me this:

This article claims one in four!


From agbeat.com: http://tinyurl.com/k9ujkgk
http://agbeat.com/housing-news/one-in-f ... ob-report/


One in four male Realtors are packin’ heat while on the job – report
by Lani Rosales
August 29, 2011

2011 safety report

In support of the National Association of Realtors Safety Month in September, AG supporter Moby has put together an extensive Safety Toolkit which features Moby’s 2011 Real Estate Safety Report, a real estate safety seminar, as well as a list of safety resources and tools.

Throughout Moby’s 2011 Real Estate Safety Report, it was immediately noticeable and not very surprising that there was a disparity between the attitudes of male Realtors versus female Realtors, and a drastic difference between their behaviors, chosen defense, and the attitudes of their loved ones. Male Realtors worry less about safety, yet are more likely to carry a weapon.

We were surprised by the fact that people use a dog as a safety device and were shocked that although almost all agents use a phone as a safety device, ten percent of men do not. Does this mean ten percent of male Realtors don’t have a mobile phone, much less a smartphone, or is it something left in the car during tours? The answer is unclear, but the point remains that almost all women Realtors carry their phones while one in ten male Realtors do not.

The above chart outlines Canadian and American answers and although we knew a small portion of real estate professionals would indicate carrying a gun, especially those practicing in the foreclosure or short sale markets, but despite a massive disparity between men and women regarding carrying a gun or knife on the job, it is extremely intriguing that one in four male Realtors indicate they carry a knife or gun while on the job. One in four women carry some form of pepper spray while only five percent of male Realtors do.

The major differences between the behaviors between male Realtors and female Realtors is highly intriguing, but it is most interesting that such a high number of men carry either a knife or gun while they are on the job.


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14. [MD] Who needs a gun while delivering a pizza in gun-free Maryland?
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Member Mark Shinn emailed me this:

In the Socialist Republic of Maryland, an ordinary citizen cannot obtain a concealed carry permit.


From wtop.com: http://tinyurl.com/khkzz8y
http://wtop.com/news/2014/12/man-arrest ... ivery-man/


Man arrested in death of pizza delivery man
By wtopstaff
December 7, 2014

WASHINGTON — Prince George’s County police officers have arrested a man in connection with a homicide that occurred Saturday in Lake Arbor.

In a press release, the department says it has arrested Brandon Timothy Stevens, a 26-year-old Lake Arbor resident. Officers suspect Stevens killed Louis William Jordan, a pizza delivery man from Landover.

Jordan was found dead at a condo complex along Beacon Ridge Drive in Lake Arbor Saturday afternoon, county police said. When they arrived, Jordan had multiple stab wounds inside Stevens’ condo and was pronounced dead at the scene.

An early investigation shows Jordan was making a delivery to Stevens’ home. Once he arrived, Stevens started an argument and attacked him.

Stevens is charged with first-degree murder and remains in custody at the Department of Corrections without bond.




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