Police Officer Poll Confirms that Anti-Gun Legislation in Congress Will Do Nothing to Prevent Gun Crime

The Police Officer Gun Control Survey posted at PoliceOne.com is an amazing confirmation that the Democrat-push gun control legislation will do little to no good in combating gun crime, starting with the Democrat demand of banning high capacity magazines.

Virtually all respondents (95 percent) say that a federal ban on manufacture and sale of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds would not reduce violent crime.

- PoliceOne.com

The high capacity ban that the Democrats are pushing is stupid for a number of reasons.

• There are literally millions of them in existence already.
• It takes but a second to change out magazines
• Banning high capacity magazines does nothing to prevent shootings. Are Democrats saying that it is not so bad if a shooter manages to shoot up to ten people as opposed to shooting more?

And let's not forget the idiotic and completely unenforceable law in New York State forbidding you to put more than 7 rounds in your magazine. Of course there is plenty of opportunity for police to catch law-abiding people breaking this law. They can also catch criminals breaking this law, but they will already have them for criminal use of a firearm. A crime they are likely to punish them lightly.

Of course, the cornerstone of current anti-gun legislation is the goal of banning 'assault weapons'. The police polled, logically noted that this is not very useful legislation. One reason of course is that rifles and handguns that are not classified as assault weapons function identically to the targetted weapons and are equally lethal.

2.) The majority of respondents — 71 percent — say a federal ban on the manufacture and sale of some semi-automatics would have no effect on reducing violent crime. However, more than 20 percent say any ban would actually have a negative effect on reducing violent crime. Just over 7 percent took the opposite stance, saying they believe a ban would have a moderate to significant effect.

- PoliceOne.com

The two issues above are the biggest gun control legislative goals of Congressional Democrats. As far as America's police are concerned, these measures are useless at best and worse potentially harmful.

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Infographic - 'Gun Facts You Need To Know'

Here is a great infographic on Gun Facts.

Gun Facts You Need To Know | Infographics

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Idiot Politician of the Day - Virginia Democratic State Delegate Joseph Morrissey

This idiot, Democratic Delegate Joseph Morrissey, thought it would be great to pull out a rifle in the Virginia Legislature. As the picture below shows, he fails gun safety 101 by having a finger, his thumb, on the trigger of his rifle. All this stunt does is prove that he should not be in possession of a rifle.

However, like many good Democrat stunts, this one too backfires, in that it now seems that all Democrat Delegate Morrissey managed to do was highlight his criminal past.

A Virginia lawmaker who drew gasps from his colleagues when he brandished a borrowed AK-47 during an anti-gun speech Thursday was found guilty in 2002 of committing a vicious 1999 assault, was sanctioned for legal misconduct while prosecuting a rape case, spent six months in jail for contempt of a federal court, and saw his law license revoked in 2003. - Daily Caller

He represents an area just north of Richmond including a part of the city. He is a perfect example of part of the problem the US has with its Government. We have too many people who have no business being in politics representing us. How did such a person get to be a state delegate? Perhaps it is because he was not good at anything else.

Delegate Morrissey's stunt was part of an attempt to push gun control in Virginia. If anything, Virginia needs to ensure that the names of all persons who are ineligible to obtain a firearm are in the FBI background check database as well as ensuring that criminals (using guns or not) are sent to jail for their 'fair share' of prison time. Virginia executed the DC sniper. Maryland could not even bring itself to try the DC sniper with a possibility of him facing the death penalty. This despite their plea to try the sniper first that they would push for the death penalty. A promise that was later proven to be a lie.

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Idiot Politician of the Day - New York Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck)

Today New York State pass new laws against lawful gun owners, pretending that they will prevent some kind of mass shooting. Idiot Politician of the Day, New York Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) made this bold statement:

“Make no mistake about it, everyone. I repeat, make no mistake about it, the number of gun deaths in New York State will decrease because of the bold actions we take today," - CBS News

Lets see about that. It's not like New York State outlawed murder with this law. The last time I checked, it was already illegal for criminals to even touch a gun. But as I noted before, the Government has been looking the other way when they actually have evidence of a criminal violating existing gun laws, leaving them out loose on the streets, until they get caught committing other crimes. It seems that Assemblywoman Schimel has nothing to say about that unfortunate statistic. 

Assemblywoman Schimel however, had no problem in voting into law something that will turn tens of thousands of up to now law abiding New York State residents into criminals. Among other things, this law bans all magazines capable of holding more than 7 rounds of ammunition. That is basically all of them outside of those for the 1911 45 pistol.Personally I'm shocked they didn't pick 6 to F them as well. That will probably come next year after they pick up a criminal with one.

Restrict ammunition magazines to seven bullets, from the current national standard of 10. Current owners of higher-capacity magazines would have a year to sell them out of state. Someone caught with eight or more bullets in a magazine could face a misdemeanor charge. - CBS News

I suspect that this single part of the law will be the most widely ignored. Unfortunately, if the police want to get you for anything, they now have an easy excuse to arrest you.It is pretty convenient really to have all of the citizens criminals. Anyone can be arrested for anything.

Thank goodness that the Democrats taught us how to ignore laws. Laws against illegal drugs. Immigration laws. Tax evasion, campaign funding laws, and even enforcement of existing gun laws.

Too bad it is not supposed to work this way. And it is all thanks to crap politicians like New York Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck). Don't expect her to eat her words when her statement is proven wrong. It is not her fault. It's never their fault. Just like communism. There was nothing wrong with communism itself a supporter once told me. It was the people who failed to make it work...

congratulations to New York Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) on earning her useful idiot points for today.

P.S.

I am all for reforming our laws to improve them to keep weapons out of the hands of those who should not have them as well as punishing criminals who break our gun laws. This law will actually hurt the chances of any real reform as it is being pushed as such. As I covered in a previous post, Democrats are our Gun Crime Problem, Democrats in the New York Assembly actually opposed increasing penalties for real gun criminals.

Assembly Democrats back the most severe restrictions but, sources said, have repeatedly refused to agree to sharp increases in penalties for illegal gun possession or for the use of guns in violent crimes. - NY Post

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Proscecution of Gun Crime Goes Down Under Democrat Presidents

It is interesting to note that Democrats are calling for new gun laws but at the same time they are refusing to enforce existing gun laws. Take the national background check for purchasing a firearm. Thousands of people who are not allowed to purchase a firearm are stopped each year during the background check process. Many of these people caught lying on their applications in an attempt to illegally purchase a firearm. Almost none of these cases are prosecuted. This was highlighted in a recent post. Even the (mostly) distasteful Mayor of New York, Mayor Bloomberg, finds this a truly inexcusable act of neglegence o behalf of the Government.

Some, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are also pressing the Justice Department (DOJ) to get more aggressive in going after those convicted of trying to buy firearms by filing fraudulent background information. Citing 2009 figures, Bloomberg hammered the DOJ recently for prosecuting only 77 of 71,000 cases where people were found to have lied on their background checks. "These are gun criminals trying to buy guns illegally – and the federal government is just letting them walk," Bloomberg said during a speech in December. - The Hill

The Sandy Hook shooter tried to buy a gun a couple days before his attack. How many other dangerous people have tried and simply been turned away with no follow-up by the Federal Government? Do we have to wait until they too start shooting people? 

This kind of inaction is nothing new. Under President Clinton, there were complaints that his Administration was not serious in going after gun criminals. Worse, the then Administration actually hailed the law as working simply because they stopped and turned away criminal gun purchases. This would be like catching a bank robber, taking the money that he stole and then sending him on his way and calling it a success. this is sheer insanity.

President Clinton, Al Gore and their Congressional anti-gun allies continue to hold up the Brady Act as an effective crime-fighting tool, but they can`t explain why the 500,000 felons, drug dealers, stalkers and fugitives who walked into federally licensed dealers to purchase guns illegally were simply turned away. They committed multiple federal felonies, crimes punishable with 10-year prison terms. But these felons, drug dealers, stalkers and fugitives were not arrested. They were not prosecuted. They didn`t go to prison, and no community was made safer. - NRA ILA (17 October 2000!)

How many other crimes did these half million criminals who were left on the streets commit during the time that they could have been behind bars. How many people did they kill as a result of failure of the Government to put them in jail? I am going to make a guess that it was more than one. As our current Vice President notes, action should be taken if it can save even just one life. So how about enforcing our existing laws. That should save many more than one life...

Biden talked also about taking responsible action. "As the president said, if you're actions result in only saving one life, they're worth taking. But I'm convinced we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm's way if we act responsibly."

Biden, as he himself noted, helped write the Brady bill. - The Weekly Standard

Well Mr. Vice President, how about pushing for the Brady Bill to be enforced...

Federal Prosecutions of Criminal Use of Guns
FY 1992-1998

You know that this is bad when even the NRA is complaining that the Government needs to do more to put gun criminals behind bars....

As I have said before, Democrats want gun criminals on the streets. Otherwise they loose a campaign issue. Gun crime victims mean little to Democrats other than votes on election day. If they really cared about the people they would push for putting gun criminals behind bars.

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Mayor Bloomberg - 'Let Them Eat Pain!'

Now lets keep in mind that State and Federal Governments have already been putting restrictions on these types of medicines, some of which need to be accounted for pill-by-pill. But since drug addicts are still finding ways to obtain these drugs, the Mayor's next plan to fight this kind of drug abuse is to take the drugs away from those who will legitimately benefit from them. This is not really a surprise given that this is the same solution he has for combating gun crime, basically targeting those who legally own and would like to legally own weapons.

Mayor Bloomberg's latest rant is that he is going to restrict the availability of painkillers to people who need them at NY area hospitals. His reasoning is that there are people in New York City who are addicted to them. This however will do nothing but punish responsible people who do not abuse these medications, leaving some in pain.

“Number one, there’s no evidence of that. Number two, supposing it is really true, so you didn’t get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit. The other side of the coin is people are dying and there’s nothing perfect … There’s nothing that you can possibly do where somebody isn’t going to suffer, and it’s always the same group [claiming], ‘Everybody is heartless.’ Come on, this is a very big problem.” - Politicker

So because people are dying from prescription medicine abuse, abuse that I have no control over, the Mayor's logic is that I must have less or even no pain killers because people who don't need it, are consuming too much. 

As for Mayor Bloomberg's comment that some people are just going to have to suffer a little bit, this is the same guy who can't suffer for a minute and wait for his car to cool down on a hot summer day and has his car cooled down by a custom-made air conditioner system. All this from the same guy who puts strict anti-idling laws in place and then breaks them.

Enough with the politicians who think they are better than the rest of us. If we are going to start openly treating people as part of distinct social classes, then lets do it all the way. This way we can stop treating the majority of the population like crap because of a tiny minority. Lets single out this tiny minority and give them the fair treatment that they have earned.

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Washington Examiner - 'Gun prosecutions under Obama down more than 45 percent'

The calls from Liberals for more Gun Control keep growing. Lets forget that basically none of the new proposals would have prevented the last gun crimes. Instead keep in mind that the Government is not even taking violations of existing gun laws very seriously. With that comes the news that 'Gun prosecutions under Obama down more than 45 percent'. From the Washington Examiner:

Despite his calls for greater gun control, including a new assault weapons ban that extends to handguns, President Obama's administration has turned away from enforcing gun laws, cutting weapons prosecutions some 40 percent since a high of about 11,000 under former President Bush.

"If you are not going to enforce the laws on the books, then don't start talking about a whole new wave of new laws," said a gun rights advocate. - Washington Examiner

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Government is barely going after any criminals who violate gun purchasing laws. It's almost as if they want criminals to be out and about committing crime. Unfortunately, all this means is that the Government creates more victims. It seems that the best defense is having a gun and shooting criminals yourself as it appears more and more that the Government is no longer in the business of punishing criminals, other than those who cheat on their taxes and other economic criminals. Take this from 'Project Exile' which was intended to go after gun criminals by using Federal gun laws:

From the left, Project Exile was condemned, as racist, by Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and opposed by several members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the grounds that in targeting its enforcement at inner city communities such as in Richmond and Atlanta, and the disproportionate effects the federal gun laws' "prohibited possessor" categories have on African-Americans. - Wiki

Of course these laws would have a disproportionate effect on African Americans but you can bet that African Americans are also disproportionately effected by gun crimes and end up as victims at a disproportionate rate. And when you look at it that way, it is proportionate. However, since the criminals happen to be black, going after them is racist, so we can't do it. And it is the greater black community that mostly pays for voting soft on crime Democrats into Congress.

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Democrats Are Our Gun Crime Problem

Democrats are very quick to call for more gun control. But these calls are always aimed at reducing the availability of guns to law-abiding Americans. Personally, I think that Democrat politicians intentionally resist going after actual gun crime and criminals simply because without gun crime they lose one of their campaign rallying cries.

Take this example as highlighted at the Ace of Spades blog, noting that out of the 4,000 firearm purchase background checks per year that are deemed a violation of Federal and/or state law and referred for prosecution, that under 200 of them are actually prosecuted. These are the very people who the Government has decided should not have a gun and one would think that 'gun control' Democrats would be in favor of ensuring don't get a gun. But for some reason, the Government has no interest in punishing for violating existing gun laws. From a 2009 Government-funded Brady Gun Law report:

ATF and U.S. Attorneys have developed referral criteria for all 94 judicial districts that reflect the types of cases most likely to merit prosecution. Cases involving restraining orders, domestic violence misdemeanors, non-immigrant aliens, violent felonies, warrants, and indictments are most often included in referral criteria. - Report link in PDF 2009 report here

So here we have actual gun crime where the main response from the US Government is to look the other way. (And just how many illegal aliens do you think the Government goes after for trying to purchase a gun.....)

And what about those Democrat calls for increasing gun control? Just as long as you don't try to punish the actual gun criminals. Take for instance the New York Democrat politician calls to simply confiscate guns from New York. Take them from the law-abiding citizens, but don't you dare increase sentences for actual gun criminals:

Efforts by Cuomo to reach an agreement with the Legislature on a package of gun-control laws has, so far, gone nowhere.

Senate Republicans, who will retain enormous power in January, have made it clear they don’t support confiscation of assault weapons or any new severe restrictions on their ownership.

Assembly Democrats back the most severe restrictions but, sources said, have repeatedly refused to agree to sharp increases in penalties for illegal gun possession or for the use of guns in violent crimes. - NY Post

Democrats do not want tougher penalties for gun crime and criminals simply because they depend on this as a wedge issue. After all, if they let the Republicans put the criminals behind bars, then what use are they? Take Senator Diane Feinstein's new attempt to bring back the assault weapon ban. The original ban was so useless that is did nothing to remove assault weapons or even high capacity magazines from the market. Not for anything, but it is still legal to purchase and own currently registered fully automatic weapons. A new assault weapons ban will not change availability either. Although I have to admit that the threat of regulations has managed to enact one form of gun control, by selling out the market as a result of panic buying.

Back to the proposed assault weapons ban, here are some comments via Forbes's article titled ''Assault Weapon' Is Just A PR Stunt Meant To Fool The Gullible':

Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has announced that she will be introducing legislation to reenact the ban on so-called assault weapons that she authored in 1994. The evidence is in on the effect of her previous assault weapons ban: zero, zilch, nada, as the saying goes. The ban made no perceptible difference in the gun violence statistics when it went into effect, and no perceptible difference when it was allowed to expire 10 years later, in 2003.

That is because the term “assault weapon” is just a PR stunt that fools the gullible and easily deluded. It is defined in legislation by cosmetic features that frighten white bread suburbanites, but do not involve any functionality of any gun. We tried it, conservatives said it wouldn’t work, and it didn’t work. Yet, it is the liberal answer to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn.

Why do the hard work of actually making a difference, when with no work at all you can perform a meaningless and irrelevant gesture that won’t make any difference? A Connecticut state law already banned assault weapons. The difference that made in stopping the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary: zero, zilch, nada, as the saying goes. - Forbes

Deciding that some guns are more dangerous than others is ridiculous. Take the Walther P22. It is a 22 target pistol and as far as I know would not be effected under any sort of assault weapons ban, unless some variations get banned simply due to how they are colored. The gun comes with a 10 round magazine, which is not considered a high capacity magazine. Despite this, a Finnish mass murderer used one of these pistols to kill ten people, in the process shooting over 200 rounds, 10 at a time.

The trick here is to deny access to guns from those who would misuse them, prosecute those who illegally try to purchase them, jail those who use them in a crime, regardless of whether legally obtained of not. If you do these things, you should still be able to guarantee access to those who legally are entitled to them as recognized in our Bill of Rights.

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Here Is Your Gun Problem - Probation For Illegal Gun Possession In DC

Here is a perfect example of what is wrong with how the Government, especially Democrat-controlled Government, fights gun crime. In this case you have a 'kid' caught doing illegal behavior, who gets a break with only being charged with illegal possession of a firearm and then gets a second break by not getting jail time. It is only now, years later that police they are finally considering putting him in jail, basically for ignoring the trivial punishment he did get, probation.

D.C. police arrested Vaughn in June 2009 after stopping a group of men selling drugs near the McGogney Elementary School in Southeast Washington. Vaughn fled as members of the vice squad swooped in on the group, and one of the officers saw him throw a black handgun onto the roof of the school.

"This kid has little regard for the public if he is willing to just throw [a gun] away where anyone could pick it up and potentially hurt themselves or someone else," said Matt Burke, supervisory inspector with the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. "It's time for him to take responsibility for this actions."

Police climbed the roof of the school and recovered a black Jimenez Arms .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Vaughn pleaded guilty to a felony charge of carrying a pistol and ammunition without a license, but he failed to appear before a D.C. judge after authorities claimed he had violated his probation. A warrant was issued for his arrest in October, and authorities said he has been on the run since. - Read More at Washington Examiner

Here is his sentence from DC Court Records:

Sentence
Sentence for Charge # 1, Carry Pistol W/O Lic -Outside Home/Business
Sentence Date: 09/25/2009
Confinement Type: YRA
Time: 0 years, 6 months, 0 days.
Time Suspended: 0 years, 6 months, 0 days.
Amount To Serve: 0 years, 0 months, 0 days.
Supervised Release: 0 years, 6 months, 0 days, Suspended.
VVCA Amount: 100.00, Due: 09/28/2010
Probation Type: YRASUP, Start Date: , End Date:
Probation Time: 1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Probation Conditions: Mental Health Screening/Evaluation--Mental Health Counseling
Probation Conditions: Maintain or Seek Employment
Probation Conditions: Vocational Assessment--Job Training
Sentencing Comments: credit for time served. (DC Courts link)

So he got 6 months of jail time, all of which was suspended.

I just don't get it. They complain that gun crime is a big problem in DC. They when they are confronted with it, they give the criminals a free pass. And this guy's crime was not simple gun possession. He was up to worse. He only got charged with the gun crime.

The people being most punished by DC's lax illegal gun enforcement are those looking to own legal handguns and the community at-large who are forced to live with criminals like Vaughn roaming around.

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Virginia's 11th Congressional District - Fimian over Connolly

First, I am not a Tea Partier. That said, I wish that the Tea Party paid a little more attention to Virginia's 11th Congressional District race. I say this because I would like to actually be excited about who I am voting for more so than I am about voting out my current Congressman. Then again, there is lots to like about voting against the current guy.

For starters, given that I can't stand having Pelosi in charge of the House of Representatives, there is no way that I am going to vote for the Democrat, Connolly. Since I can't vote directly against Nancy Pelosi, I have to do it through her local proxy, which is Congressman Gerry Connolly. He voted for the 'Stimulus' Bill as well as for ObamaCare. So he needs to go.

This leaves the Republican challenger, Keith Fimian.

On the surface he sounds like a good choice. He is both against illegal immigration and for appealing ObamaCare. As it is, one of his promises is to introduce legislation to repeal it if he is elected:

The Pelosi-Connolly Healthcare Plan is Wrong for America

What is for certain is that government-run healthcare bill Democrats rammed through Congress will reduce the quality of care, increase costs, stifle innovation and create yet another unresponsive government bureaucracy that views Americans as statistics and not as individuals.

The plan is based on cutting $200 billion out of Medicare, raiding social security, and may threaten the healthcare benefits our nation’s veterans have earned.

The American people do not want this legislation. That is why Democrats used procedural maneuvers pass it. We can address each real problem with our system with stand alone legislation, not another massive bureaucracy and 2,300 page health care bill whose proponents have yet to even read it.

I will introduce legislation in Congress to repeal it. - Keith Fimian for Congress

The Washington Examiner also comes out with an endorsement for Fimian:

Incumbent Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly exemplifies the fading political fortunes of the freshman tax-and-spenders who rode President Obama’s coattails into Congress two years ago. The former chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and president of the 2008 congressional class, Connolly loyally cast votes for the president’s $814 billion stimulus bill, bank bailouts, cap and trade and Obamacare. RealClearPolitics rates this year’s rematch of Connolly and businessman Keith Fimian as a “toss up.”

Connolly’s inflammatory campaign ads paint Fimian as an “extremist” and himself as a fiscal conservative. Both claims are false. Voters should disregard these distractions from Connolly’s record in Congress and send him back to Fairfax. Fimian, a William & Mary football captain and CPA who built a nationwide home inspection business, has a vision for reviving the national economy. This requires removing the paralyzing uncertainty now facing small business created by the same legislation Connolly voted for. One less career politician — and one more job creator — is what Congress needs and Fimian will be. - Washington Examiner

The NRA has come out for Fimian while at the same time slamming Connolly for what is basically a lack of respect for rights that were guaranteed to Americans in the Bill of Rights.

VOTE FREEDOM FIRST - VOTE KEITH FIMIAN FOR CONGRESS

Dear Virginia NRA Member: October 13,2010

The NRA-PVF (www.NRAPVF.org) has endorsed Keith Fimian for Congress. It is critical that you vote for Keith Fimian for Congress, and urge your family and friends to do the same. We need to bolster our ranks in Congress to keep this White House from pursuing an anti-gun agenda after the 2010 elections.

That's why it's more important than ever that we elect Keith Fimian to Congress to firewall around our Second Amendment rights. Keith Fimian is rated an "AQ" by the NRA-PVF for his pro-gun responses to our federal candidate questionnaire, and he is committed to opposing federal gun control and support pro-gun reforms.

By contrast, his opponent - Congressman Gerry Connolly - has earned an “F” rating for his extreme anti-gun positions, and for accepting campaign contributions from national gun ban groups like the Brady Campaign. Connolly was one of the few congressmen who signed the anti-gun “friend of the court” brief in the landmark McDonald case arguing that the Second Amendment is NOT a fundamental right guaranteed to all Americans and supporting the Chicago gun ban. Connolly also has cosponsored federal legislation to regulate gun shows - like the one held quarterly at the Dulles Expo Center - out of business. Connolly voted last year against allowing carry permit holders to carry and transport firearms for self-defense in national parks and wildlife refuges. Finally, Connolly refused to answer our federal candidate questionnaire this year - a clear indication of indifference, if not outright hostility, to the rights of gun owners and sportsmen.

The choice is clear! All gun owners and sportsmen in Virginia's eleventh congressional district should support Keith Fimian on Election Day. If you can volunteer to help, please contact his campaign at www.KeithFimian.com and703-621-7169. Also spread the word to your family, friends, and fellow gun owners. And on November 2, Vote Freedom First - Vote Keith Fimian for Congress!

Sincerely Chris W. Cox - NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION

I think the choice is clear and easy. As far as my neighbors go, I am not aware of any of them who are not voting for him, other than the family with 'LIBERAL' license plates. And even then I am not sure because I have not talked with them.

UPDATE: OK, my blog is running anti-Fimian ads despite my attempts to filter them out. Whatever, go and see that the Democrats have against Fimian. It does not effect the reasons stated above. this election is more than about the candidates above, it is about which party controls Congress. If you want Pelosi to ram through more crap legislation, then pull the Democrat lever. If not, than you need to pull for the Republican candidate. Simple as that.

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Ammunition - "A year's worth of inventory was sold in two months"

I was talking with an ammunition manufacturer at the Nation's Gun Show over this past weekend. I was looking for some ammo for my M1 Carbine and figured that I would just pick some up at the show instead of ordering it over the internet.

Short story, they did not have any ammo and they didn't know when they would be able to make more. He then clarified that they don't know when they will have more .30 cal. carbine ammo because they cannot source the parts to make more. He said that there are all sorts of shortages because a year's supply of ammunition was sold in a period of two months. This caught the industry by surprise and they have been unable to adjust fast enough to meet the increased demand.

Seems that I need to do an inventory of what I have.
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Bank Inside European Parliament Building Robbed at Gunpoint

You just have to love how bold the person who did this was, especially considering that he got away with it. I would think that this would be like robbing someone inside the US Capital Building:

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A lone robber attacked a bank located inside the European Parliament building in Brussels on Thursday (12 February) afternoon, causing major disruption.

The attack occurred at around 4pm local time at a branch of the ING bank inside the parliament's Paul Henri Spaak (PHS) building in the heart of the European quarter.

"The man showed a gun, or something that like looked like a gun, the staff were afraid so they gave him the cash in the drawer and he escaped," European Parliament head spokesman Jaume Duch told this website. - EUobserver

He managed to rob the bank with something that looks like a gun? I guess when you disarm the population, anything that remotely looks like a gun is all you're going to need to pull off your robbery.

"It is not known whether the gun involved was real or fake," said the parliament spokesman. "Of course if it was a fake, it would be very difficult to prevent this sort of thing." - EUobserver

What, security doesn't look for fake guns? In the end it would not have mattered if it was real or fake, because in this incident all he needed was a fake gun. As a bonus, if he got caught, a fake gun probably would earn him gun crime charges as well. This is a good example of why the acts need to be punished not the gun. Guess they will have to outlaw fake guns as well. Maybe they should make robbing banks illegal as well...

How long before we see fake gun copycat crimes across the EU?

UPDATE (13 Feb): "European Parliament robber got €50,000"

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The bank heist at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday scooped €50,000, with police still looking for the robber on Friday. - Link

Not bad for a couple minutes work.

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Another Concealed Handgun Used in Defense in DC

It is illegal for most people to carry a concealed handgun in Washington, DC. It is not however illegal for everyone. Off duty and retired police can carry a concealed weapon. Back in December I covered the story of a criminal in DC who had the back look of trying to rob an armed retired DC policeman:

Shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday, a retired police officer was walking his dog in the 5900 block of 13th Street in Northwest when two men approached him with a gun and tried to rob him, police said.

The officer pulled out his gun and the robbers shot at him. The officer then returned fire, police said. - NBC4, washington, DC

Now comes news of an off-duty DC Detective who shot his concealed handgun in defense during a daytime attack:

Off-duty D.C. detective shoots man during struggle: An off-duty D.C. detective shot and wounded a man during a struggle in the 1600 block of Kalorama Road NW, according to police.

Just before noon Tuesday, the detective got out of his vehicle when he was attacked and nearly beaten unconscious by a man whom police described as deranged. The detective drew his weapon and fired, striking the suspect once in the abdomen.

The detective, whose name is being withheld, is a 20-year veteran assigned to the drug squad. He was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

The identity of the suspect, who appears to be emotionally disturbed, has not yet been determined. He was transported to an area hospital in police custody on a charge of aggravated assault and admitted in stable condition. - DC Examiner

So it is possible to carry a concealed weapon in DC, for a selected few. Of interest though is how they keep finding a need to fire their weapon in self defense. Too bad the rest of the residents of Washington, DC are denied their right to do so as well, seeing how dangerous the city is, even for people who have concealed weapons!

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