VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 6/11/15

[OakRidgeStars]

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Not yet a VCDL member? Join VCDL at: http://www.vcdl.org/join
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VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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1. Help needed for VCDL booth at Dale City gun show this weekend
2. Gun control is dangerous: woman murdered while waiting for NJ gun permit
3. More thoughts on dealing with an aggressive dog
4. If guns are useless in stopping crimes, why the armed bodyguard, Geraldo?
5. Harbor Freight Tools clarifies that carry is permitted in their stores
6. Toys R Us - a high-risk business
7. More women are becoming new gun owners
8. On VA Tech anniversary, Kaine takes aim at NRA
9. Holder's list of citizens banned from gun ownership mostly hurts veterans
10. Ted Cruz gets the 2nd amendment [VIDEO]
11. Trump: We must maintain 2nd amendment 'in its strongest form'
12. Why the gun lobby is winning
13. The disconnect between crime rates and support for gun rights
14. Gun owners face much higher murder risks, researchers said [AUDIO]
15. Two women with bonafide pro-gun credentials laughed at this question
16. Wal-Mart beats NY church on gun sales issue
17. Catholic University students vote for right to carry guns [VIDEO]
18. [WA] Open carrier stops baseball bat attack in Walmart
19. [AL] Invade someone’s house and get shot

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1. Help needed for VCDL booth at Dale City gun show this weekend
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Richard Kroh, the Dale City gun show coordinator, needs volunteers THIS WEEKEND:

2 for Saturday morning,
1 for Saturday afternoon,
3 for Sunday morning, and
2 for Sunday afternoon.

Please help him if you can.

Contact Richard at richard.kroh@vcdl.org or gunshows.dalecity@vcdl.org.


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2. Gun control is dangerous: woman murdered while waiting for NJ gun permit
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Yet another person who didn’t have to die, but was murdered while she dutifully waited for her permission slip from New Jersey to purchase a firearm. Don’t expect the antis to acknowledge the role that gun control played in this lady’s death. She was stabbed to death in her own driveway.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/06 ... 15%20FINAL

or

http://tinyurl.com/pszpuhf

Ex-boyfriend sought in woman's slaying

Jim Walsh, @jimwalsh_cp 3:44 p.m. EDT June 5, 2015

When Carol Bowne felt the threat of domestic violence, the petite hairdresser took steps to protect herself.

The Berlin Township woman got a restraining order against a former boyfriend, installed security cameras and an alarm system to her home and began the months-long process of obtaining a handgun, friends said.

But it wasn't enough.

Bowne, 39, was stabbed to death in the driveway of her Patton Avenue home on Wednesday night.

Her former boyfriend, 45-year-old Michael Eitel, was charged with her murder. Eitel, a convicted felon, was a fugitive Thursday, being sought by a U.S. Marshals Service task force.

Bowne's death shocked her friends and neighbors, who described her as a bubbly, well-liked person. But her slaying also embittered some, who felt the system had failed to protect a woman in danger.

"She did absolutely everything she was supposed to," said Denise Lovallo, a fellow hairdresser at O'Hara and Co. in Somerdale.

"Do they have enough now to get him?" she asked of Bowne's attacker.

The White Horse Pike salon closed Thursday, as workers sobbed, embraced and held hands in a small reception area.

"We're family," said Linda O'Hara, the salon's owner and Bowne's employer for 20 years.

Co-workers had planned to hold a party in the salon Thursday to mark Bowne's pending 40th birthday. They said Bowne, who had no children, also planned to celebrate by traveling with friends to Punta Cana, a resort in the Dominican Republican.

"She was a great employee, a great person," said O'Hara, as the phone rang steadily with calls from distraught customers.

"She cared about everybody who walked through that door, and every client was her friend," said O'Hara. "She was invited to every wedding, every baby shower, everything."

Salon employees said Bowne was meticulous about her appearance, but had struggled recently with problems in her personal life.

"She got a restraining order about a month ago, and right after that her car windows were broken," said O'Hara.

Court records show Eitel pleaded guilty to a weapons offense in 2008 after being indicted in 2006 on a charge of aggravated assault with bodily injury. He received a five-year sentence for that offense, which neighbors said was related to an assault on a former girlfriend.

Berlin Township Police Chief Leonard Check said Bowne applied for a gun license on April 21, and that she had inquired Monday about her request.

The application process typically takes two months or more as police collect information on the applicant, including fingerprints and reference checks. "We did not get the fingerprint information yet," said Check.

On Thursday morning, Bowne's silver SUV – with the license plate LITTLE 1 – sat outside her home on the 100 block of Patton Avenue. A memorial decal carried the name of her late husband Roy, who died in a motorcycle accident three years ago this Sunday.

Lights still burned in her two-story beige Colonial home, which has a carefully tended garden against the front porch.

Police went to the home around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, when they found Bowne lying in the driveway with multiple stab wounds. Bowne was taken to Virtua Hospital in Berlin, where she was pronounced dead at 11:22 p.m.

"Everybody is in shock," said a neighbor who spoke anonymously due to fear of Bowne's attacker. "I saw her lying in the driveway."

"I'm terrified," said another, also speaking anonymously. "I can't believe she's dead.”

[PVC: Update - the murderer took his own life before the police could catch him.]


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3. More thoughts on dealing with an aggressive dog
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Member Joe DeStefano sent me this comment on dealing with a dangerous, aggressive canine:

I have an additional tactic for dealing with an aggressive dog that I have used on occasion and it seems to work. When confronted by the dog stand your ground and reach down and pickup anything or even nothing (just pretend) and take a posture as if to throw or hit with the object. Most dogs who have been around people for any length of time will be scared or at least wary as they have seen this gesture before and associate it with pain.


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4. If guns are useless in stopping crimes, why the armed bodyguard, Geraldo?
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More hypocrisy from Geraldo Rivera. From one side of his mouth he says guns in the hands of citizens don’t stop crime, then from the other side he accepts the protection of an armed bodyguard while covering the riots in Baltimore.

Turns out that bodyguard didn’t have a Maryland CHP and is now behind bars.

That doesn’t exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy about the Baltimore police. They let rioters burn buildings, beat people, and generally run rampant, but throw the book hard at a bodyguard who threatened no one, harmed no one, but just didn’t have a permission slip to carry a gun in Maryland. t is always easier to disarm good people than go after dangerous criminals.

Pretty damned sad, Baltimore.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... er-arrest/

or

http://tinyurl.com/poyc2ux

Geraldo’s Armed Guard In Baltimore Lacked Maryland Carry Permit, Still in Jail
by AWR Hawkins, 9 Jun 2015


The armed guard who protected Geraldo Rivera as he covered the Baltimore riots has been under arrest since May 1 due to the fact that he did not have a license to carry a gun in Maryland.

According to the The Baltimore Sun’s Kevin Rector, the guard “has been in jail since May 1 for carrying guns around Baltimore protest w/o an MD carry permit.”

The Sun reports that Baltimore Officer John Potts “spotted a man holding handcuffs and an ammunition box” on May 1. He kept watching and saw Donald F. Scott allegedly “open the rear hatch of a Chevy Suburban and pull a Glock handgun from his waistband.”

Officer Potts then “signaled to other officers after spotting the Glock and Scott was detained. The Glock had one bullet in the chamber. Officers then found a loaded Cobra revolver in a second holster on Scott’s waist.”

Scott was arrested. He is being held on $350,000 bond and is facing “two gun charges.”

He was part of the security “Fox provided… to accompany reporters and personalities, including Geraldo Rivera.”

Breitbart News previously reported that on August 28 Rivera described the Second Amendment as “blind and stupid.”

His entire statement:

Like I’ve always said, the Second Amendment, the provision that gives every American the right to keep and bear arms, is blind and stupid. In its relentless pimping for the gun industry, the NRA has unleashed an avalanche of deadly weapons on this gun-crazy country. Just as [it] protects access to weapons for cops and hunters, it also protects access to weapons for domestic abusers, mental patients, jerk-offs on the no-fly list, all-around dim bulbs, and now little children.

Yet he had an armed security guard while in Baltimore.


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5. Harbor Freight Tools clarifies that carry is permitted in their stores
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Harbor Freight Tools came under the pro-Second Amendment spotlight when one of its managers told a open carrier that he had to leave his gun in his vehicle.

The uproar cause Harbor Freight Tools to post this on their Facebook page, settling the issue (thanks to member Rick Evans for bringing this to my attention):

"In light of recent concerns, Harbor Freight Tools would like to clarify its position on ‘open carry’ (openly carrying a firearm in public).

We understand that there are a wide range of views on ‘open carry’ and other policies concerning firearms. We believe these policies should be addressed by the appropriate government agencies—not by Harbor Freight Tools. As a company, it’s not our policy to take a position on these issues other than to respect federal, state and local laws currently in effect.

Accordingly, we permit ‘open carry’ for our customers in jurisdictions where allowed, provided the firearms are carried in compliance with all applicable laws. We also ask our customers to be responsible and respectful of each other and our store associates.”

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/harbor.f.tools ... =1&theater

or

http://tinyurl.com/pl4jtws


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6. Toys R Us - a high-risk business
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Toys R Us has been put on VCDL’s High-Risk Business list due to their policy of banning the lawful carry of firearms in their stores.

Member Jeff Shepherd sent me a photo of the sign on the door of the Toys R Us on 400 Military Highway in Norfolk.


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7. More women are becoming new gun owners
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A local report here in Virginia.

EM John Wilburn emailed me this:


From wdbj7.com: http://tinyurl.com/ld8wmth
http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/more-wo ... y/32370618


More women are becoming new gun owners, a national trend reflected locally
The National Shooting Sports Foundation reports women gun owners are on the rise across the country.
by Justin Ward
April 14, 2015

DUBLIN, Va. - Sandra Henegar and her friend had a girl's night out in Dublin on Tuesday night. This outing was different. They took a course to get their concealed carry permit.

"I don't know that much. And I need to feel comfortable," Henegar said.

This is her first gun safety course. She's shot a gun before but now wants to know more.

"I'm by myself some. We lived in Raleigh and we had a lot of crime and I always wanted to take a class just so I would feel comfortable," Henegar said.

She is part of a changing culture in America. Now more women are becoming more interested in guns.

A recent study by the National Shooting Sports Foundation found gun sales to woman in the last 15 years have increased dramatically nationwide. More than half of women who participated plan to buy a firearm within the next year. (Click here to see the study.)

The study, conducted in 2014, focused on women ages 18 to 65 who owned at least one firearm.

Nearly three quarters of women reported having taken at least one gun safety course like this one.

"We don't cater to women specifically, we cater to everybody. But I'm finding that the percentage is at least 50/50, women and men," said Joey Williams, the instructor.

More than half of his students Tuesday night were women. Williams, the security supervisor for New River Community College, teaches a two-part class on gun safety.

"They're taking more responsibility for their personal safety, more personal responsibility for what's going on with them and how to better protect themselves," Williams said.

His students like Sandra noticed this trend too and aren't surprised.

"I've got so many friends that are into guns or want the take the class or taken classes. No it doesn't surprise me," Henegar said.

Businesses are also catching on to this trend. More gun stores are selling more women-friendly holsters and purses with room for extra bullets.

The most commonly-owned firearm by women in the study is a semiautomatic pistol.


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8. On VA Tech anniversary, Kaine takes aim at NRA
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To show you Senator Kaine’s mentality (or perhaps, lack thereof), he thinks we need more background checks to prevent another massacre ala Virginia Tech. Cho passed TWO background checks and still murdered all those people! Clearly, based on Kaine’s nonsensical take on Virginia Tech and background checks, Kaine likes the “control” in “gun control” and will use dead bodies, if necessary, as stepping stones to achieve such control.

Member Walter Jackson emailed me this:


From hamptonroads.com: http://tinyurl.com/ld5touk
http://hamptonroads.com/2015/04/va-tech ... es-aim-nra


On Va. Tech anniversary, Kaine takes aim at NRA
By Bill Bartel, The Virginian-Pilot
April 17, 2015

On the eighth anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine blasted the National Rifle Association for working to block state and federal efforts to adopt stricter background checks for gun purchases.

Kaine said in a Senate floor speech he's come to believe the NRA doesn't care about gun owners and is focused on protecting gun manufacturers' ability to sell as many firearms as possible.

The Virginia Democrat was governor in 2007 when a gunman killed 32 students and educators in Blacksburg. He has long pressed for more stringent background checks on gun purchases to prevent felons or people with mental health problems from buying weapons.

"It's estimated that 40 percent of all guns that are sold in the United States occur with no background records check," he said.

The Tech gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, who killed himself after the attack, was able to acquire weapons from a licensed federal firearm dealer because records about his mental health history weren't shared with the federal background system.

Kaine said he's figured out why the NRA would resist changes to enforce existing gun laws and keep firearms away from people who should not have them.

"I have come to the conclusion that there is only one answer.... The NRA does not really speak for or represent American gun owners," he said. "Instead, they speak for, represent and - most importantly - receive funding from gun manufacturers. And if you make guns, it is in your financial interest to sell as many guns as you can, to whomever you can, whenever you can and wherever you can."

Kaine was critical of federal lawmakers as well.

"I would argue that Congress is equally beholden to the gun manufacturers," he said.

Kaine pointed to a 2005 law approved by Congress and President George W. Bush that specifically prohibits state or federal lawsuits against gun manufacturers for negligent use of firearms. Kaine, a former civil rights lawyer, said the gun industry may be the only private concern that has such protection for its product.

The NRA did not respond Thursday to a request for comment.

Kaine's speech marks the second time he's addressed Congress on the anniversary of the mass shooting.

As he did in a 2013 Senate address, Kaine on Thursday read the names of those killed at Virginia Tech. He spoke about conversations with survivors and first responders who he said remain emotionally scarred by the tragedy. In addition to those who died, 17 people were wounded by gunfire, and six were injured leaping out classroom windows to escape.

He referred to April 16, 2007, "as one of the worse days of my life.” [PVC: Kaine sure recovered quickly. In no time he jumped on his hobby-horse pushing more gun control.]


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9. Holder's list of citizens banned from gun ownership mostly hurts veterans
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Member Billy Huckleberry emailed me this:


From washingtontimes.com: http://tinyurl.com/pse73kd
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... stly-vete/


Eric Holder’s list of citizens banned from gun ownership mostly hurts veterans
Chuck Grassley wants explanation of why Justice keeps VA’s names on background-check list
By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times
April 15, 2015

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee wants Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to explain why a Department of Justice gun ban list has a “mental defective” category consisting almost entirely of names belonging to military veterans and their dependents.

“It’s disturbing to think that the men and women who dedicated themselves to defending our freedom and values face undue threats to their fundamental Second Amendment rights from the very agency established to serve them,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, said in a statement Wednesday. “A veteran or dependent shouldn’t lose their constitutional rights because they need help with bookkeeping.”

Mr. Grassley outlined his concerns about the list to Mr. Holder in a letter dated this week. It included various failures by the Department of Justice — including the inconsistent application of standards and weak due process protections — that have led to the Department of Veterans Affairs adding “a disproportionate number of names” to the federal gun ban list.

All federal agencies are required to report names of individuals who are dangers to themselves or others to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System’s “mental defective” category — a status that prevents them from owning or possessing guns.

That means that veterans “are particularly singled out,” Mr. Grassley said. Those veterans should not be required by the Department of Veterans Affairs “to prove that they have the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” he said.

“According to the Congressional Research Service, as of June 1, 2012, 99.3% of all names reported to the NICS list’s ‘mental defective’ category were provided by the Veterans Administration (VA) even though reporting requirements apply to all federal agencies,” Mr. Grassley’s letter said.

The senator said he wanted Mr. Holder to explain what review process the Justice Department has in place to ensure that names are properly on the NICS list, among other things.

Mr. Grassley also noted that the VA’s listings are too loose for the federal background-check law’s standard — whether a person poses a threat to himself or others.

“Instead VA reports individuals to the gun ban list if an individual merely needs financial assistance managing VA benefits. Although the VA process is not designed to regulate firearm ownership, it results in veterans and their loved ones being barred from exercising their fundamental, Constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights,” he wrote.

The letter shows that Mr. Grassley expects a response from Mr. Holder regarding his concerns about the list by April 30.


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10. Ted Cruz gets the 2nd amendment [VIDEO]
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From youtube.com: https://tinyurl.com/l944u82
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNRc9mJ ... e=youtu.be


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11. Trump: We must maintain 2nd amendment 'in its strongest form'
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Member Walter Jackson emailed me this:


From breitbart.com: http://tinyurl.com/mpftckj
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... gest-form/


EXCLUSIVE–DONALD TRUMP: WE MUST MAINTAIN 2ND AMENDMENT ‘IN ITS STRONGEST FORM’
by AWR Hawkins
April 11, 2015

On April 11 Breitbart News talked with GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump about guns and gun rights.

When asked why it is important to defend the Second Amendment, Trump said:

It is so important that we maintain the Second Amendment and that we maintain it strongly. And one of the main reasons is because the good people, the upstanding people, follow laws and norms but the bad ones don’t. So if the Second Amendment weren’t there to protect our rights and someone tampered with them, the good people would be affected but the bad people wouldn’t care–they couldn’t care less.

It is absolutely imperative that we maintain the Second Amendment in its strongest form.

When we asked Trump if he might explain the benefit of being armed, whether he sees a difference between people who can be armed and who cannot, he responded:

You look at our country, and you look at certain areas like Chicago, and New York, and various other places, the areas with the most restrictive gun laws are the ones with the most crime. It’s a very interesting phenomenon. Chicago probably has the most restrictive gun laws in the United States and they have massive amounts of shootings and killings.

It just seems that when you look at what’s going on, the areas that are most heavily restricted have the most crime. This is something people should notice and look at very strongly.

We asked Trump how he responds to people for whom gun control in the US is the solution to terror attacks overseas, as in Paris and Copenhagen, he explained:

Paris has virtually the most restrictive laws that exist anywhere, and you look at the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo, and that’s what it was–it was a slaughter in which the people never had a chance. And I made the statement then that if people had guns in that room the outcome would have been a hell-of-a-lot better than it ended up being, where they were just slaughtered at will.

Many people agreed with what I said and some people disagreed. But you have to understand the bad ones had weapons and the good ones did not and were absolutely unable to defend themselves.

On January 8 Breitbart News reported Trump said the Paris attack proved, “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”


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12. Why the gun lobby is winning
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Caution - illogical, phony, emotional blather in this article. Might cause you to want to run to the nearest restroom to throw up. My comments embedded below.

Member James Durso emailed me this:


From economist.com: http://tinyurl.com/mb4v3fx
http://www.economist.com/news/united-st ... by-winning


Why the gun lobby is winning
To prevent gun deaths, politicians offer—more guns
From the print edition
April 4, 2015

WHEN a young man walked into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012 and murdered 20 small children and six staff with a Bushmaster rifle from his mother’s gun collection, some wondered if a tipping-point had been reached. Surely America would now enact laws to keep lethal weapons out of the wrong hands? [PVC: How do you keep guns out of the hands of someone who is willing to murder their own mother in cold blood and steal her firearms in order to murder little children?]

No chance. Bids to curb sales of the most powerful guns and largest-capacity magazines failed. Congress even refused to expand the number of gun-buyers checked for histories of crime or severe mental illness—though 90% of Americans support such checks. In March this year federal regulators dropped a bid to ban a type of bullet that can pierce body armour, of the sort that police often wear, after 285 Republican and seven Democratic members of Congress objected. [PVC: Nice recital of all the top items on the gun-grabber’s wish list.]

The gun lobby’s winning record has done little to make its members less angry. [PVC: It’s not gun owners who have the vicious tempers. Gun-banners have that title all sewn up.] The National Rifle Association (NRA), a deep-pocketed group with 5m members, accuses Barack Obama’s administration of a “relentless assault” on the constitutional right of citizens to keep and bear arms. Actual evidence of federal tyranny is a bit meagre—in part because the NRA is so good at whipping Washington politicians into line. No matter. A current “trending” alert from the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action sounds the alarm about a rule tweak for hunters taking guns on overseas trips, who—rather than filling out a form at home—may now have to wait at the airport while a customs officer enters their details into a computer. This, the NRA asserts, raises alarming questions about hunters’ information being stored by the feds, and is part of a “pattern of abuse” suggesting that Mr Obama’s final years in office may be the “most challenging” in the history of American gun-ownership.

Meanwhile children keep getting shot at school, sometimes by other children. In the first two years after Newtown there were at least 95 shootings at American schools and colleges, resulting in 45 deaths, according to a tally by Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control campaign. [PVC: Look whose statistics are being quoted. Everytown’s “statistics" have been debunked by Politfact here: http://tinyurl.com/p5ybqms] After Newtown a few states moved to curb sales of the deadliest weapons. Since 2012 five states have expanded background checks on gun buyers, closing loopholes left by Congress (a bill proposed on March 26th would make Oregon the sixth). But many more states have relaxed firearms laws.

Gun-advocates do not win all their fights in the states, but 2015 still looks like a banner year for them. Republicans enjoyed sweeping wins at the state level in elections last November, allowing the party’s representatives to advance cherished goals during the short, intense legislative sessions under way in state capitals. In lots of places, those goals involve more guns.

Often, gun-lovers hew to a familiar conservative line: that crime is deterred when upstanding citizens pack heat. Florida is debating a “school safety” bill allowing superintendents to choose staff or volunteers with police or military backgrounds to serve as armed school guards. Iowa is pondering a law that would let children younger than 14 use pistols and revolvers (with adult supervision, legislators hasten to add). Republicans in Arkansas want to allow armed judges in courtrooms. Bills were proposed this year in 16 states to overturn gun bans on college campuses, and remain under debate in a dozen states.

Some argue that arming female students will deter rapists. As Michele Fiore, a Republican assemblywoman in Nevada, said to the New York Times: “If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them?” Others retort that arming potential rapists might be less helpful. William McRaven, the new chancellor of the University of Texas System, declared that concealed handguns would make his 210,000 students less safe. As a former navy Seal, Admiral McRaven is hard to portray as a hand-wringing squish, and “campus carry” may well not pass the Texas legislature. To soothe activists for whom gun rights are a test of conservative purity, Republican leaders seem likely to embrace the once-arcane issue of “open carry”, allowing the roughly 825,000 Texans with concealed-handgun licences to carry pistols and revolvers visibly (Texans already carry rifles without restriction).

Some would like to go much further. The fieriest arguments of 2015 involve “constitutional carry”—the claim that the constitution’s second amendment is the only permit Americans need, allowing citizens to carry a concealed or visible gun without any licence, checks or training. Such laws already exist in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Vermont and Wyoming. Legislators in Kansas just approved a version. So did lawmakers in West Virginia and Montana. The governor of West Virginia, a Democrat in his final term, vetoed a bill (though, like several rural states, West Virginia allows open carry without a permit). Montana’s governor, a Democrat, vetoed a bill too, though his state allows permit-less guns outside cities. Maine is weighing a constitutional carry bill.

Lethal force for all
The NRA can never declare victory, for then what would be the point of it? After each concession, it demands more. Some day, perhaps, it will ask for something so outrageous that it sparks a backlash. But for now it strikes a chord. For the first time in two decades a new poll by the Pew Research Centre found more Americans supporting gun rights than gun controls. How can this be so, when such a huge majority favour background checks? [PVC: In a poll, a question can be asked in such a way as to get any answer a person wants - that’s why the discrepancy.] The answer is that background checks are tools of the state and trust in the state has plunged in the past decade, notably on the right where it blends with loathing for Mr Obama. Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s charismatic frontman, told a conservative crowd in February that when criminals attack, or wives, sisters and daughters face assault through “a kicked-down door”, “laws can’t protect you…You’re on your own.” That is the authentic voice of the gun lobby in 2015. Fear smothers rational debate. It is meant to. [PVC: Actually the gun-grabbers have been using political correctness as a shield to kill debate dead in its tracks for years. Most often, though, gun-grabbers simply refuse to debate or allow disagreeing comments to appear on their web sites or Facebook page. Instead they prefer to carefully control their messages and allow no dissension, because their ideas turn to mush under scrutiny.]


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13. The disconnect between crime rates and support for gun rights
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And the beat goes on, as more and more Americans see the value in having a firearm for self-defense. For all of Bloomberg’s money, he’s hardly winning the hearts and minds of thinking Americans.

Member James Durso emailed me this:


From blogs.wsj.com: http://tinyurl.com/mg8nhtr
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/04/1 ... un-rights/


The Disconnect Between Crime Rates and Support for Gun Rights
by Andrew Kohut
April 17, 2015

For most of the 1990s and the subsequent decade, a substantial majority of Americans believed it was more important to control gun ownership than to protect gun owners’ rights. But in December 2014, the balance of opinion flipped: For the first time, more Americans said that protecting gun rights is more important than controlling gun ownership, 52% to 46%.

Why has public opinion shifted about gun control? As my colleagues at Pew Research Center have documented elsewhere, some of this is related to politics. Republicans have become far more supportive of gun rights during the Obama years. The rise in support for gun rights has also spanned many other regional and demographic groups.

But there may be another factor behind this shift. Over the past 25 years or so, there has been a divergence between American perceptions about crime and actual crime rates. Those who worried about crime had favored stricter gun control; now, they tend to desire keeping the laws as they are or loosening gun control. In short, we are at a moment when most Americans believe crime rates are rising and when most believe gun ownership–not gun control–makes people safer.

In the 1990s, the rate of violent crimes plummeted by more than half nationwide. Public perceptions tracked right along, with the share saying there was more crime in the U.S. over the past year fell from 87% in 1993 to 41% by 2001.

In the new century, however, there’s been a disconnect. A majority of Americans (63%) said in a Gallup survey last year that crime was on the rise, despite crime statistics holding near 20-year lows.

Why public views on crime have grown more dire is unclear, though many blame it on the nature of news coverage, reality TV, and political rhetoric. Whatever the cause, this trend is not without consequence. Today, those who say that crime is rising are the most opposed to gun control: Just 45% want to see gun laws made more strict, compared with 53% of those who see crime rates as unchanged or dropping.

That’s not the way people thought 25 years ago. Not only was support for stricter gun regulation far higher overall in 1990, but it was also somewhat higher among those who felt crime was on the rise. People who thought crime rates were increasing were nine percentage points more likely than those who saw crime rates as stable or decreasing to support stricter gun control laws. Today, they are eight points less likely to support stricter gun control laws.

And when we analyze the numbers, this trend is especially pronounced among whites. Support for gun control has dropped most dramatically among whites who see crime on the rise – just 37% of those who now say crime is increasing say they favor stricter gun control, compared with 78% who said the same in 1990.

Among whites who do not see crime growing, that decline has been much more modest, from 68% supporting stricter gun laws to 52% today. While Gallup’s survey sample among non-whites was not large enough to provide a comparison, generally non-whites have remained more supportive of gun control.

Other recent data confirm this pattern. A 2013 Pew Research survey showed that protection is now the top reason gun owners offer for why they choose to own a gun (in 1999, hunting was the top reason). And among the public at large, the latest Gallup survey finds that 63% of Americans now say having a gun in the home makes it a safer place, vs. 30% who say it makes a home more dangerous. Fifteen years ago, more said the presence of a gun made a home more dangerous (51%) than safer (35%).


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14. Gun owners face much higher murder risks, researchers said [AUDIO]
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There is a reason the CDC lost funding years ago for doing research into violence perpetrated using firearms. Firearms are not a disease and they also don’t make people commit suicide. The CDC “research” was nothing more than a political tool to be used by gun-grabbers to justify whatever it is they want to do.

Member Mark Shinn emailed me this:


From pri.org: http://tinyurl.com/qabhkrv
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-12/g ... enced-them


Gun owners face much higher murder risks, researchers said. Then the NRA silenced them.
edited by T.J. Raphael
April 12, 2015

Back in the early 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control provided funding for studies on gun violence. The NRA was not pleased.

“[Our research] underwent peer review and was thought to be very solid and worthwhile research,” says Dr. Fred Rivara, who was part of the team that researched gun violence. “The CDC stood by our research — they had funded it and they stood by it. Unfortunately, it raised the attention of the National Rifle Association, who then worked with pro-gun members of Congress to essentially stop funding firearm research.”

Rivara, a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Washington at Seattle Children's Hospital, discovered that having a gun in the home is associated with a threefold increase in the risk of a homicide.

“The most common reason that people have a gun is because they have it for home protection,” he says. “Unfortunately, the data indicates that having a gun is associated with both an increased risk of homicide, but even more importantly, an increased risk of suicide. We know that, for example, if there’s a gun in the home, the risk of suicide among adolescents and young adults increases tenfold.”

Back in 1993, Rivara and his colleagues released this information in a series of articles that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most highly respected medical journals in the world. The NRA quickly went after the research — as well as Rivara and his colleagues.

Rivara says 10 pro-gun senators worked to get the ear of Arlen Specter, then a senator from Pennsylvania and chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee.

“[Specter] approached the Centers for Disease and Control and discussed the idea that this research was biased,” says Rivara. Congress “ended up cutting the CDC budget by the exact amount of money that was used to fund the gun research. They had first threatened to cut all of the funding for injury research at the CDC. They didn’t do that, but they ended up cutting it by the exact amount that was spent on gun research.”

And that wasn't all. “More importantly, however, was that they put a clause for the appropriations of the CDC that essentially blocked all gun research for the next two decades," Rivara says.

The CDC budget cuts all but ended federal gun research. Dr. Arthur Kellerman, who also worked on the 1993 study, stated in a December 2012 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that “no federal employee was willing to risk his or her career or the agency's funding to find out” if any gun research could be done. "Support for firearm injury prevention research quickly dried up.”

The NRA also wrote to the National Institutes of Health to request that the Office of Scientific Integrity review the research published Rivara, Kellerman and their colleagues.

“That’s a big deal,” says Rivara. “There’s only two or three of these that are done each year, and it’s basically questioning our credentials as scientists and saying that we had lied or falsified our research. Fortunately, the NIH did not find any basis for that and the CDC backed us up. But it was really chilling in terms of our ability to conduct research on this very important problem.”

But while Rivara calls that period "a frightening time," he does admit it had a silver lining: “It was also good because it told us that were doing important work."

This story is based on an interview from PRI's The Takeaway, a public radio program that invites you to be part of the American conversation.


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15. Two women with bonafide pro-gun credentials laughed at this question
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Member James Durso emailed me this:


From theblaze.com: http://tinyurl.com/occk4pd
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/04 ... -campuses/


Two Women With Bonafide Pro-Gun Credentials Actually Laughed When We Asked This Question
by Jason Howerton
April 14, 2015

Women on college campuses should have the right to “take personal responsibility” for their own safety — and that means being able to arm themselves to defend against the threat of sexual assault and other crimes, according to Cristy Crawford, chief operations officer of Shoot Like A Girl.

Crawford and Karen Butler, founder and president of the company, agreed to sit down and talk guns with TheBlaze at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Nashville over the weekend. Neither were shy about sharing their pro-gun views, both endorsing law-abiding Americans’ “constitutional right” to carry a firearm anywhere they see fit — and they actually laughed when we asked a question based on a measure supported by anti-gun advocates.

“You’re taking personal responsibility for your own safety,” Crawford said, referring specifically to her position on concealed carry on college campuses. “College campuses do everything that they can…but they can’t be everywhere. So, when you say that someone who has gone through the training, gone above and beyond to be proficient with their firearm, saying they can’t take personal responsibility for their own safety is wrong. That’s essentially leaving people defenseless.”

When asked if banning gun on college campuses will prevent criminals from carrying firearms on campuses, Crawford and Butler both immediately laughed.

“Does having guns banned in Chicago help? Or New York City?” Butler asked. “It’s the most ridiculous argument that you can hear. People that are opposed to guns have no understanding what a capable, responsible gun owner is capable of. And the statistics do not lie. Criminals are criminals. They are not going to follow any laws.”

Butler said she’s “disappointed” that gun laws aren’t focusing on targeting criminals and holding them accountable for their actions, rather than passing laws that impact law-abiding gun owners.

Shoot Like A Girl, founded in 2008, has a simple goal: “to grow the number of women who participate in shooting sports by empowering them with confidence.” The company travels across the country in decked out trailer with archery equipment and an awesome shooting simulator in an effort to get more women interested in the craft.


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16. Wal-Mart beats NY church on gun sales issue
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Another fail by the gun controllers.

From examiner.com: http://tinyurl.com/o32nfvc
http://www.examiner.com/article/wal-mar ... ales-issue


Wal-Mart beats New York church on gun sales issue
by Dave Workman
April 15, 2015

[SNIP]
A federal appeals court in Philadelphia yesterday ruled that Wal-Mart may exclude a shareholder proposal requiring board oversight on products the retail giant sells, including firearms with large-capacity magazines, according to several published reports.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit reversed an earlier decision by a District Court judge in Delaware that the proposal, by Trinity Wall Street Church in New York, should have been included in the 2014 proxy statement. The Circuit Court’s ruling will allow Wal-Mart to exclude the proposal from this year’s proxy statement.

Trinity Wall Street is an Episcopal church that had wanted shareholders to decide whether the big box store’s board of directors “should oversee the formulation of policies and standards on selling products considered especially dangerous or harmful to Wal-Mart’s reputation,” according to Fox Business. While anti-gunners may see some problem, it is just as likely that Wal-Mart’s reputation just went up several notches among firearms enthusiasts who see the Trinity effort as one more strategy by gun prohibitionists.


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17. Catholic University students vote for right to carry guns [VIDEO]
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Member Mark Shinn emailed me this:


From wtop.com: http://tinyurl.com/p2qrac8
http://wtop.com/dc/2015/04/catholic-uni ... arry-guns/


Catholic University students vote for right to carry guns
By Dennis Foley
April 17, 2015

WASHINGTON — Some students at the Catholic University of America say it’s time to allow guns to be carried on campus.

But the college located in Northeast D.C. says it will not be changing its gun policy, despite a 16 to 11 vote by the Student Government General Assembly to approve a measure that would allow students with D.C. gun permits to carry on campus.

“We don’t have any plans to change or to consider changing the Code of Student Conduct to accommodate students who might wish to have firearmes on campus,” says Victor Nakas, as university spokesman.

Students supporting the effort have expressed concerns about on campus safety, and while they don’t expect the school administration to carry out the student body’s wishes, they hope it starts the conversation about improving school safety.

Opponents of guns on campus say campus security is excellent and guns do not need to be carried on campus.

The issue of carrying guns is one that’s been debated on campuses since the mass shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people eight years ago.


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18. [WA] Open carrier stops baseball bat attack in Walmart
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While there is no way to know for sure why the lucky-to-be-alive lunatic attacked the gun owner, I will offer two alternative conjectures to the gun owner’s guess that the attack was to take his openly carried handgun:

1. The lunatic didn’t see the openly-carried handgun. This is extremely common. The fact that the lunatic complied with orders to get on the ground, once the gun was aimed at him, seems to back this theory.

2. The lunatic, being mentally unstable, simply didn’t recognize the threat that attacking an armed citizen posed to his health.


From bearingarms.com: https://tinyurl.com/m2kzgbl
http://bearingarms.com/man-attacked-wal ... pen-carry/


Man Attacked In Walmart Won’t Open Carry Again
by Bob Owens
April 16, 2015

I’m going to probably shock those who have bought into certain stereotypes of gun owners, but I’m a firm believer in the idea that the best defensive gun uses are those where the law-abiding citizens isn’t forced to pull the trigger of his weapon. Being forced to shoot means that your situational awareness has failed, your defensive measures have failed, and you have no good options left.

We’ve very fortunate that the overwhelming majority of gun owners who have been forced to pull a firearm in self-defense have not had to fire a shot.

A Bearing Arms reader in Yakima, Washington, had such a “good” defensive gun use in the sporting goods aisle of the local Walmart in front of his children in a story that we mentioned yesterday.

A 32-year-old man who was shopping with at least three children at a Yakima Wal-Mart was the victim of an unprovoked assault when a stranger picked up a metal tee-ball bat and struck him, according to Yakima police.

The victim was not injured, but he did have a concealed weapons permit, which he immediately put to use, police said.

A store security officer reported hearing a man in the sporting goods department yelling “Get on the ground!” and found one man pointing a pistol at another, who was lying on the floor.

Police arrived a short time later and arrested the 30-year-old suspect, who remains in Yakima County jail in lieu of $30,000 bail set Monday.

We talked with Mr. Walker just a short time ago.

Mr. Walker typically conceals his full-size carry pistols, but decided to leave his jacket in the trunk on what he expected to be a quick trip with his three older boys for a batting helmet, some baseballs to toss around the yard, and a few other items. As he was helping his sons find a batting helmet that fit, he noticed a disheveled man come down the aisle and made eye contact with him several times.

The man picked up a bat from the bat rack, and without warning, drew back and swung it at Mr. Walker’s head with full force.

Unlike most people who would have frozen due to the unexpected nature of the attack, or who would have reflexively recoiled away, Mr. Walker stepped forward into the swing and turned his shoulder into his attacker. His reaction both reduced the force of the blow, and kept his assailant from making a potentially deadly strike to his head.

Mr Walker then stepped back to create distance and drew his open-carried Sig Sauer P226 in .357 Sig, racked the slide the chamber a round (he carries it on an empty chamber), and ordered his attacker to the ground.

Walmart’s loss prevention manager and another employee were just two aisles over and ran to the sound of the commotion, and helped contain the attacker until six Yakima police officers—a lieutenant, a sergeant, and four patrol officers—arrived to take the suspect into custody in a matter of minutes.

The officers never felt compelled to draw their own weapons, treated Mr. Walker with respect, and told him that he did everything right, and showed considerable restraint.

His attacker, known only as “Trevor,” said next to nothing before, during, or after the attack only other than to note that he’d been arrested before for assault, and that he wanted to exercise his Miranda rights.

I asked Mr. Walker what he took away from this experience in a phone call a few minutes ago.

His first comment was that his practice issuing commands as part of his normal range routine paid off. Since he practiced it, it was easier to give commands for the suspect to comply with, reducing the possibility that he would have to discharge his weapon.

The other take-away from this situation is that he may have made a mistake in not opting to grab his jacket out of the trunk of his car, which he normally wears and would have concealed his handgun.

While “Trevor” never stated specifically why he attacked, the only thing that made sense to Mr. Walker was that Trevor wanted his gun.

From now on, Mr. Walker will carry concealed, and already has just the sidearm picked out for the summer months ahead. The only time he’ll open carry from now on is at the range.

As for the suspect, “Trevor” his is in jail and facing a charge of second degree assault, a felony with the potential for ten years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

A short time ago one of the suspect’s friends contacted Mr. Walker via Facebook, and thanked him for showing restraint. According to her Trevor has long had a history of mental illness, and has never gotten the help that he needs.

Perhaps he’ll get the therapy he needs behind bars.


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19. [AL] Invade someone’s house and get shot
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Member Walter Jackson emailed me this:


From myfoxal.com: http://tinyurl.com/qxh4bnt
http://www.myfoxal.com/story/28798881/t ... e-invasion


Police: Teen shot dead after involvement in home invasion
By WBRC Staff
April 14, 2015

GADSDEN, AL (WBRC) - Gadsden police say a home invasion led to a teenager being shot dead by a homeowner.

Police say a 17-year-old boy was one of three suspects who broke into a woman's home at about 3 a.m. Monday, April 13.

The woman told police the teenager held a gun to her head and raped her while the others ransacked her home.

She said two of the men eventually left her home, but the teen stayed behind, beat her in the head with his gun and demanded money from her.

The victim told police they ended up at a neighbor's home after she told the attacker her neighbor had her money.

Police say the neighbor called 911 when the woman and her attacker arrived outside his front door.

The attacker reportedly demanded the neighbor get off the phone, fired two shots into the air, and pointed the gun at the neighbor.

The neighbor, who was armed, fired a bullet into the teenager's chest, killing him.

Police say they questioned the neighbor at police headquarters but released him. The female victim was treated at a hospital.

Officials with the Etowah County DA's office said they are reviewing the case and determine if any charges will be filed against him.

We spoke with Gene Handy who lives up the street from the crime scene.

He says he did not know the incident happened until his mother read it on Facebook. He also said he did not know the victim.

However he sees the situation as a wake up call.

"It's a blessing the guy was at home where the lady could get his attention and maybe this will get our neighbors to look out and help each other," Handy said.

In a brief conversation with 17-year-old's mother, she told FOX6 that everything was being unfairly pinned on her son and that his name was being dragged through the mud.

However, Gadsden Police have not released the names of any of the parties involved in this situation.




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(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/]