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Showing posts with label GunFreeZone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GunFreeZone. Show all posts
Colorado governor on gun control and shooting

Colorado governor on gun control and shooting

This is good, but I wish that he would understand that gun control with gun-free zones caused the problem.  From MSNBC:

On Sunday's Meet the Press, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper expressed skepticism that tougher gun laws could have prevented Friday's massacre in Aurora, Colorado. 
"I think that [gun control] debate's going to happen, it has already started. But you look at this person, again, almost a creature, if he couldn't have gotten access to guns, what kind of bomb he would have manufactured. We're at a time an information age where there's access to all kinds of information," he said. "I think he was almost a terrorist that wanted to take away not just from the people here, but from the country, our ability to enjoy life, to go to a movie theater. Which for most of us is a refuge where we can get away from the pressures of life. It's a human issue. How are we not able to identify someone like this who is so deeply, deeply disturbed?"  
The Hill notes that Hickenlooper also seemed to dismiss calls for tougher gun controlduring an interview on CNN's State of the Union. "This person, if there were no assault weapons available, if there were no this or no that, this guy's going to find something. Right? He's going to know how to create a bomb," he said.

No guns policy at Cinemark Theaters?

The movie theatre was not a statutory gun-free zone. The exception for secure “public” buildings applies to buildings owned or managed by a public entity, not to all buildings accessible by the general public. Private business owners who invite the public onto their own premises can set their own policies: “Nothing in this part 2 [establishing the scope and limits of a Colorado concealed carry permit] shall be construed to limit, restrict, or prohibit in any manner the existing rights of a private property owner, private tenant, private employer, or private business entity.” Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 18-12-214(5).

The attack did occur at a Cinemark theater. Here are pictures taken by Ray Hickman from another Cinemark theater in Ft. Collins, CO. Cinemark Fort Collins, 4721 South Timberline Rd Fort Collins, CO 80525

Here is a picture of this theater from the Cinemark website.

J. Neil Shulman has this post:

My sister, who lives in Colorado and has a license to carry a concealed handgun, tells me every Cinemark movie theater she’s gone to has the same sign the Cinemark Century 16 Theater displayed to its customers: No Firearms Allowed. This sign informed James Holmes that the management was guaranteeing nobody would be shooting back. . . .
Here is a post at The Truth About Guns.

Concealed handgun saves man's life in National park

Concealed handgun saves man's life in National park

Remember the claims that there was no reason for people to carry handguns with them when they are in national parks?  From Arizona Central:

. . . A Tempe man who was attacked by a bear in his tent near Payson was in surgery Sunday afternoon at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn with severe but not life-threatening injuries.
The unidentified 30-year-old man was sleeping at 5 a.m. when the black bear attacked him at Ponderosa Campground in the Tonto National Forest just off Arizona 260 about 12 miles northeast of Payson.
"He was bitten in the head and the left arm," said Jim Paxon, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
"The bear drug him around the tent, but he did not receive skull-crushing or neck-crushing injuries to his brain stem, so that's a marvelous thing."
As soon as the bear attacked, the man's fiancee, in the tent also, screamed and escaped from the tent with her small child.
The bear went to a nearby campsite, where a camper shot the animal several times with a 9mm handgun, and the bear disappeared. . . . .
Florida Governor Rick Scott shots down Tampa's mayor request to ban guns at Republican Convention

Florida Governor Rick Scott shots down Tampa's mayor request to ban guns at Republican Convention

Well, if the city has already banned water guns from being near the Republican convention, I would think that would have taken care of any potential problems.  From Reuters:


. . . Citing Second Amendment protections in the U.S. Constitution, Scott told Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn that conventions and guns have co-existed since the nation's birth and would continue to do so during the four-day event beginning August 27.
"It is unclear how disarming law abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law," the Republican governor said in a letter on Tuesday.
Local officials need Scott's permission to enact the temporary restrictions . . .
Florida has some of the most lenient gun laws in the United States and by some counts leads the nation in gun ownership, with about 6.5 percent of all adults licensed to carry a concealed weapon, state records show.
New applications for concealed gun permits have quadrupled since 1998.
In a letter to Scott, Buckhorn said the Tampa City Council had banned a host of items from the area surrounding the convention facility, a list that includes water guns . . . .
A sign of the times changing: DC politician goes to shooting range

A sign of the times changing: DC politician goes to shooting range

From the Washington Times:


When one of the District of Columbia’s top political leaders is willing to spend a day at the shooting range with a new gun owner, it’s a sign the capital city may be ready to put aside the past. For 30 years, Washington banned handguns, only to face a Supreme Court rebuke in 2008. Now the city is about to make it easier for law-abiding residents to legally own a firearm.
On Tuesday, the D.C. Council is expected to pass the Firearms Amendment Act of 2012 under expedited procedures so it can take effect this summer. The ordinance will do away with many of the expensive and time-consuming hurdles to registering a gun in the District that were put in place after the court’s decision.
D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown, who will vote for the bill, has made a 180 on gun rights. Last fall, when I began my series “Emily Gets Her Gun,” about the process of getting a legal handgun in the District, I asked Mr. Brown if he thought the city was adhering to the high court’s decision that the gun ban was unconstitutional.
He didn’t answer directly. “The real question is how do we reduce crime, how do we get people back to work,” Mr. Brown said. “When you do that, so you can reduce crime, so it reduces the fear of crime.” I pointed out that higher gun ownership always leads to less crime. . . .
One newspaper in Eastern Michigan comes out in favor of allowing concealed weapons on campus

One newspaper in Eastern Michigan comes out in favor of allowing concealed weapons on campus

With a bill before the Michigan state legislature that will allow carrying on campus, the Eastern Echo in Michigan has this well-written piece (available here).
Concealed weapons should be allowed on campus. There, I said it. After years of believing weapons should not be allowed on university property, I have flipped my position. I can no longer find a valid reason as to why law-abiding citizens who attend and work at Eastern Michigan University or any university campus should be left defenseless. Last week, the group Students for Concealed Carry protested the ban on carrying concealed weapons on campus. It coincided with a bill passed in the Michigan Senate that will lift the ban and allow citizens to legally carry concealed weapons at universities. Last week was also one in which seven people were killed at Oikos University in Oakland by a former student. According to the LA Times, the alleged gunman lined his victims up in a classroom before shooting them. The police arrived as soon as they possibly could, but for seven people it was not soon enough. . . .
Michigan moves to get rid of gun-free zones for concealed carry

Michigan moves to get rid of gun-free zones for concealed carry

Concealed carry permit holders are currently allowed to openly carry their guns in "gun-free zones," so these gun-free zones are actually misnamed. Presumably few people are willing to carry openly in churches and schools, and few people seem to be aware of the law on this point. Right now at least 6 hours of training is required to get a concealed carry permit. To carry in these "safe" zones, another six hours will be required. My guess is that very few people will go through this additional training. From CBS in Detroit:

A State Senate committee on Thursday approved changes to Michigan’s concealed weapons law that include allowing people to carry concealed guns in churches, schools and sports arenas.

The legislation now goes to a vote in the full Senate.

Under the new law citizens would be allowed to carry their weapons into churches, schools and sports arenas — places they currently aren’t allowed to be packing heat. The proposal would also eliminate the state’s 83 county gun boards and transfer the power to issue CCW permits to local sheriff’s departments.

“Basically it’s a pretty huge rewrite of the concealed weapons permit law,” said WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick.

Under the amended law “highly trained” permit holders would be able to carry in the gun-free zones – which would require extra hours of training and more rounds fired at the range beyond the current basic requirements. . . .
Parking lot bill passes in Maine

Parking lot bill passes in Maine

The parking lot bill will make it a lot easier for people to have a gun for protections at places between their home and work. From the Bangor Daily News:

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage has signed into law three bills expanding the rights of concealed weapons permit holders . . .

One of the bills, signed Tuesday, would bar businesses from prohibiting employees who have concealed firearms permits from keeping a firearm in their vehicle, as long as the vehicle is locked and the firearm is not visible.

Another bill allows a law enforcement officer from another state to carry a concealed firearm in Maine, provided the officer also has proper police identification.

The third bill will allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry weapons in state parks and historic sites. The bill was scaled back to eliminate other locations, including bars and the State House.


Here is a strange related article. A state legislator doesn't want to allow permitted concealed handguns in the state capitol unless security is improved. By my reasoning, the exact opposite should be the case.

“It’s wide open here,” he said. “I could carry a weapon unchecked every day and so could others. That’s not a safe environment.”

There are no metal detectors in use that would indicate if a State House visitor had a weapon, although that could change as early as next week, officials said.

Still, many lawmakers, Republicans included, are uncomfortable with the idea of bringing guns into the State House. Even Crafts said if security were improved, he likely would abandon his bill to allow concealed weapons inside the Capitol.

House Minority Leader Emily Cain, D-Orono, said the incident involving Wintle, who allegedly threatened a man with a loaded gun last weekend, brings extra emotion to legislation that already has evoked strong emotions. . . .


Further down in the article the relevant point is made.

Restricting a person’s right to carry a concealed weapon only hurts innocent citizens, they claimed. . . .
Tennessee Woman who accidentally carried permitted concealed handgun where it is ban gets misdemeanor

Tennessee Woman who accidentally carried permitted concealed handgun where it is ban gets misdemeanor

From the New York Post:

A registered nurse and fourth-year med student got a no-jail, misdemeanor deal today for the Tennessee-registered gun she tried to check at the 9/11 Memorial in December.
Manhattan prosecutors this morning dropped the felony gun possession charges Meredith Graves had originally been slammed with -- charges carrying a mandatory minimum of 3 1/2 years prison.
Graves pleaded guilty instead to a misdemeanor weapons possession charge, a move that she hopes will save both her gun license and pending medical license, said her lawyer, Daniel Horwitz.
"We're hoping that wherever she ends up practicing, this is the kind of disposition where licensing boards have a lot of discretion," Horwitz said. . . .
It was all just an innocent mistake, the lawyer said. Graves had come to New York on a job interview, and realized she had her small, .22-cal. handgun on her once she stopped by the memorial to pay her respects. . . .
School shooting in France

School shooting in France

Four dead
UPDATE: From the WSJ:

A French police official says the gun used to kill four people at a Jewish school Monday was the same gun used in attacks on three French paratroopers last week.
Police had been investigating a connection between the attacks after a gunman opened fire outside Ozar Hatorah school in the southwestern French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two sons and one other child, according to the prosecutor's office.
Prosecutor Michel Valet said a 30-year-old rabbi and his 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons were killed in the attack just before classes started at the Ozar Hatorah school.
Another child, the 8-year-old daughter of the school principal, was also killed, school officials said. Valet said a 17-year-old boy was also seriously wounded and in the operating ward of a city hospital.
"The drama occurred a bit before 8 a.m. A man arrived in front of the school on a motorcycle or scooter," Valet said, adding that the man got off his scooter outside the school and opened fire.
"He shot at everything he had in front of him, children and adults," he said. "The children were chased inside the school." . . .


This after two different public shootings in France last week:

A gunman on a motorbike opened fire on three French paratroopers at a bank machine Thursday in southern France, killing two and critically wounding one, officials said. It was the second such attack in a week targeting French soldiers. . . .
On Sunday, a 30-year-old paratrooper was fatally shot near a gymnasium in the southern city of Toulouse by an unidentified attacker. . . . .


UPDATE: This is an interesting new twist on the case. From the WSJ:

The man who gunned down four people at a school in this southern French city apparently filmed his attack, further convincing authorities that they are searching for a merciless killer who meticulously planned the shooting that has sparked horror and outrage across the country.

Investigators said Tuesday they fear the shooter, who may be connected to two recent attacks in the area that left three soldiers dead, could strike again.

Prosecutors say they have dispatched more than 200 specialized investigators, from anti-terrorist police to profilers to Internet experts, to Toulouse to help identify the shooter, who opened fire Monday at a private Jewish school, killing a father and his two young sons as well as an 8-year-old girl.

Prosecutors have said gunpowder was found on the heads of all the victims, suggesting they were shot at point-blank range. Interior Minister Claude Guéant, who is helping coordinate the hunt for the killer from Toulouse, said all the witnesses to the shootings at the school said the man "was cold and determined and showed great cruelty." . . .
New study for guns on college campuses

New study for guns on college campuses

Jeffrey A. Bouffard, Matt R. Nobles, William Wells, and Michael R. Cavanaugh have a new paper entitled: "How Many More Guns?
Estimating the Effect of Allowing Licensed Concealed Handguns on a College Campus." An abstract is available here:

Among other arguments, advocates for lifting bans on carrying concealed handguns on campus propose that this would increase the prevalence of legitimately carried handguns, which might then deter crimes or be used to intervene in campus shooting incidents like the one that took place at Virginia Tech in 2007. Opponents suggest that increased prevalence of concealed handguns would lead to increases in other negative consequences, such as accidental shootings. Little empirical research has examined the potential outcomes of such a policy change, nor has existing research examined the prerequisite issue of whether lifting these bans would result in substantial increases in the prevalence of concealed handguns among students. Using a sample of undergraduate classrooms selected from five academic buildings at a public university in Texas, this study examines the potential impact of lifting the concealed handgun ban on the likelihood that a given classroom would contain at least one legally carried handgun. Results reveal that the impact of potential policy changes in this area vary based on the building under consideration and the measure of potential handgun prevalence. Limitations of the study and implications for future research on the issue of concealed handgun carrying on college campuses are discussed.
Washington State Supreme Court strikes down Seattle gun ban for parks

Washington State Supreme Court strikes down Seattle gun ban for parks

It took four years to get this problem fixed. From KOMONews.com:

The Washington State Supreme Court put an end Thursday to the city of Seattle's efforts to impose a gun ban at city parks.

Attorneys for the city had asked the high court to overturn a lower court ruling that the gun ban violated state law. But the Supreme Court justices declined to even look at the case, reaffirming that the gun ban is illegal.

The National Rifle Association cheered the ruling, saying that it represents a "final victory" for Seattle gun owners.

"The Washington Supreme Court made the right decision in recognizing that the city violated state law," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. . . .

Crime down after Supreme Court overturns city gun bans



What about the claim that accidental gun injuries are rising? Despite the claim, I think that it is very hard for anyone to say that accidental gun injuries have been rising. Indeed, the general trend has been clearly downward.














Well, gun injuries are not very well tracked, but accidental gun deaths are falling.






Just a note on the claim that 30,000 people die each year from guns.

Latest numbers
8,775 firearms 2010
554 accidents 2009
18,735 suicides 2009
Total: 28,064

percent suicides: 67%

Even those few studies that say that gun bans reduce gun suicides don't find that they change total suicides.

Some nutty comments on the Fox News piece by Media Matters. Media Matters doesn't seem to understand that you can get some benefit from loosening gun control laws and still want to loosen them even more to get more benefits. I know that it is a deep concept for Media Matters. One big benefit from the Supreme Court decision is that over 70,000 DC residents who have registered long guns could now use them for self defense.
Colorado State Supreme Court rules that permit holders can carry concealed handguns on public university campuses

Colorado State Supreme Court rules that permit holders can carry concealed handguns on public university campuses

From Colorado's Boulder Camera newspaper:

The Colorado Supreme Court today ruled that University of Colorado students and employees with concealed carry permits are able to carry their weapons on campus.

Colorado's highest court sided with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a gun-rights group that sued CU and argued that a 1994 university policy banning concealed weapons from its campuses violates state gun laws.

"It's a great victory for gun rights, and civil rights in general," said James Manley, the attorney with Mountain States Legal Foundation who represented the gun-rights group. "CU will now have to fall in line and follow the state law." . . .


A copy of the decision is available here.

The article contains a brief note on the history of guns at the University of Colorado campus.

The CU Board of Regents banned weapons in 1970 and, in 1994, strengthened the policy requiring that students be expelled and employees be fired if found guilty of using a weapon to "intimidate, harass, injure or otherwise interfere with the learning and working environment of the university." . . .

This gun-free zone sign will really work for Mexico



From CBS Houston:

President Felipe Calderon on Thursday unveiled a “No More Weapons!” billboard made with crushed firearms and placed near the U.S. border. He urged the United States to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico.

The billboard, which is in English and weighs 3 tons, was placed near an international bridge in Ciudad Juarez and can be seen from the United States.

Calderon said the billboard’s letters were made with weapons seized by local, state and federal authorities.

“Dear friends of the United States, Mexico needs your help to stop this terrible violence that we’re suffering,” Calderon said in English during the unveiling ceremony. . . .
Wisconsin "Republican Assembly leader carries concealed weapon while in session"

Wisconsin "Republican Assembly leader carries concealed weapon while in session"

It isn't just whether there is danger on the Assembly floor. If you can't carry a gun with you on the Assembly floor, you can't carry it with you going to or from the Assembly. If you can't keep it with you on Assembly grounds, you couldn't keep it with you when you leave home to go to the Assembly. From the Badger Herald:

A Republican leader in the state Assembly, in charge of maintaining order during legislative sessions, has carried a concealed gun during sessions in the Wisconsin Legislature.

Assembly Leader Pro Tempore Bill Kramer, R-Waukesha, told the Associated Press Friday he has carried a concealed Glock 26, a subcompact semi-automatic gun, on the Assembly floor.

Kramer said he received a concealed carry permit before Thanksgiving and needs it because of the atmosphere in the Capitol. He said he has received threatening emails, including one calling for Jesus to return and stab him with a flaming sword.

“Have you been in the Capitol lately?” Kramer asked the Associated Press. “The saying is you don’t need a gun until you need it. I hope to go to my grave having never fired it at anything but a paper target.”

He added he is not the only legislator who carries a concealed gun in the chamber. . . .

He pointed to the assault of Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, who a protestor doused with beer. He also said Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, has received insults from protesters, especially against his wife, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, even in front of their children. . . .

“I really can’t imagine why a member of the Assembly feels the need to have a gun on the floor, especially at a time when people are being taken out of the Assembly chambers for silently holding signs with pictures of the apple pie and copies of the Constitution silently,” Roys said. . . .
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