Pew Research released today: While the issue of gun control remains divisive, there are clear areas of agreement when it comes to a number of gun policy proposals. Fully 85% of Americans favor making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks, with comparable support from Republicans, Democrats and independents. Similarly, 80% support laws to prevent mentally ill … Read More
Breaking: Thomas Speaks!
Justice Clarence Thomas did something at a Supreme Court argument today for the first time in nearly seven years — he spoke. Thomas hasn't asked a question in court since February 22, 2006. Unfortunately, it's not clear what he said. A joke of some sort. UPDATE: Relevant portion of transcript….
How Crazy Is The Gun-Crazy Right?
Pretty crazy. After all, how fringe do you have to be to criticize Justice Scalia's views on gun control? Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said Sunday that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was wrong to assume that the government had the right to place limits on the Second Amendment. "He was not speaking from a constitutional perspective," Pratt … Read More
Meet The Sandy Hook Truthers
From Salon: Yes, there really are Newtown truthers. But in the crazy world of Sandy Hook conspiracy theories, this one may be the worst yet. (Maybe you’ve already heard some of the others, like the one about fantasy ties between the gunman’s family and the LIBOR banking scandal and a related theory about the Aurora shooting and the “Dark Knight … Read More
YouTube Gun Celebrities — Where Are They Now?
(1) Keith Ratliff, who insisted everyone has the right to an assault weapon under the Second Amendment, who hosted a popular YouTube channel devoted to guns, including videos like “Top Three Weapons to Survive the Apocalypse”, met his end violently on January 3, single shot in the head in his office, where he stored his many guns and rifles. Police are treating it as … Read More
Martin Luther King On Gun Control
You know you're barking up the wrong tree when you have to dig up Martin Luther King, put words in his mouth, and then say, "See??? Dr. King agrees with me!" That's practically what Larry Ward did. Larry Ward, chairman of Gun Appreciation Day, appeared on CNN on Friday to defend his event. When confronted with the fact that Gun … Read More
Threats Are Made
An employee with Tactical Response, the Tennessee firearms training company making headlines this week thanks to a video posted by CEO James Yeager, told TPM Thursday the company is going to leave it up to Yeager to respond to questions about the clip. Yeager posted a video online where he said "I'm gonna start killing people" if the White House goes ahead … Read More
School Shooting Du Jour
California: Sheriff's officials say two people have been shot at Taft High School. We are also told someone has been taken into custody. Kern County Fire officials say one victim received only minor injuries and refused treatment at the scene, the other person was airlifted to Kern Medical Center with unknown injuries. The reports started coming in at 9:00 a.m. Deputies are now … Read More
Guns In School and NRA: How They Lookin’ To Us?
Not good: PPP's newest national poll finds that the NRA's image has declined over the last three weeks following Wayne LaPierre's controversial press conference the week before Christmas. The NRA now has a negative favorability rating, with 42% of voters seeing it positively while 45% have an unfavorable view. That represents a 10 point net decline in the NRA's favorability … Read More
Drudge Goes Godwin*
A screen grab of the Drudge Report on Wednesday afternoon. The feature links to a Weekly Standard story on Vice President Joe Biden's statement that President Obama may use an executive order to reform gun laws. The argument that commonsense gun violence prevention measures will lead to a dictatorship are common in right-wing media, with conservative guests on Fox News and CNN making similar comparisons this week. * Godwin's Law: "As an … Read More
“Gun Rights” Doesn’t Mean That Guns Have Rights
Thanks to the Second Amendment and some recent (bad) Supreme Court decisions, it is the state of the law that gun ownership is a constitutionally-protected right (albeit with some as-yet-defined limitations). But some NRA members don't get that: Todd Rathner, an Arizona lobbyist and national board member of the National Rifle Association, has threatened to sue over the city of … Read More
Blame Pb
Violent crime has dropped significantly since the mid-90's. In New York, it's down 75 percent. Dallas' has fallen 70 percent. Newark: 74 percent. Los Angeles: 78 percent. Washington DC: 58 percent. Why? Conventional wisdom is that crime rates drop when the economy gets better. Therefore, violent crime rates drop with the overall decrease in all crimes. But that doesn't seem to … Read More
You Don’t Need A Gun (Unless You Have Gun Fantasies)
I'm not here to convince you that we need gun control, because over the next few months there are going to be huge choruses of people calling for that. Instead I'm here to convince you — meaning you personally — that you don't need a gun. You won't even really want a gun if you spend some time on the facts. Though … Read More