Safety – Page 9 – MILESFORTIS

Random Thought of the Day

Anti-gun people spend a lot of time telling others how afraid of being shot they are for themselves and “the children”. In other words, they spend a lot of time thinking about dying by gunshot. They project that fear onto gun people saying, “What are you so afraid of that you need a gun?”

That is markedly different than my thought patterns. I think about protecting myself and other innocent people by being proficient with a gun. I almost never have a fear of being a victim of a criminal attack.

Antigun people think about dying by gun. Gun people think about protecting life by gun.

Frequently Debunked Crackpots Claim the AR-15 is Worthless for Self-Defense

When the young paste-eaters at Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun propaganda factory, known as the Trace, team up with the stodgy window-lickers at the Gun Violence Archive to produce a story about the utility of the AR-15 platform as a modern self-defense tool, it’s hard not to get too excited.

It’s like watching two freight trains headed toward each other on the same track. You know the results are going to be cataclysmic. None of these halfwits have ever heard a shot fired, much less one fired in anger, or especially one fired to good effect. They know less about what makes a reliable home defense weapon than I do about man-buns, skinny jeans, or avocado toast.

We have debunked the Trace and the Gun Violence Archive so often it’s getting old. The kids at the Trace masquerade as legitimate journalists when, in fact, they’re nothing more than highly paid anti-gun activists. The GVA purports to track gun crimes and maintain a list of mass shootings, but their data is collected from media, and even social media sources, and their stats are so inflated they’d have you believe a mass shooting occurs nearly every time someone draws from a holster. When the two anti-gun nonprofits combine for a story, it’s bound to be something as bereft of facts as it is poorly written, and to that standard their most recent collaboration does not disappoint.

A story published Tuesday asks: “How Often Are AR-Style Rifles Used for Self-Defense? Supporters of AR-15s, often used in mass shootings and racist attacks, say they’re important for self-defense. Our analysis of Gun Violence Archive data suggests otherwise.”

The story was written by one of the Trace’s senior fabulists, Jennifer Mascia, who is “currently the lead writer of the Ask The Trace series and tracks news developments on the gun beat.” Mascia has also led the Trace’s hilarious we’re journalists, not activists, propaganda campaign on social media.

Mascia claims her story was a response to a reader’s question: “Many gun owners claim to buy assault-style rifles for defense. So how many documented cases are out there where someone actually defended themselves with an assault-style rifle?”

Mascia reportedly searched the GVA’s data for “assault weapon,” which she said the GVA defines as “AR-15, AK-47, and all variants defined by law enforcement.” Of course, there’s no mention of whether the weapons were capable of select-fire and, therefore, actual assault weapons. She started with 190 incidents, which she whittled down for various reasons. The results: “That left 51 incidents over a nine-and-a-half-year span in which legal gun owners brandished or used an AR-style rifle to defend life or property. That averages out to around five per year.”

To be clear, I trust Mascia’s findings about as much as I trust the GVA data that produced the results. The whole story is GIGO – garbage in, garbage out.

It is noteworthy that the firearms “expert” whom Mascia found to further beclown herself – who wrote in a CNN story that the AR is the last gun he’d recommend for self-defense – is none other than former Washington D.C. police officer Michael Fanone. He’s the officer who cried a lot before the January 6 Commission – the one with the beard who cried a lot, if that helps jog your memory.

“I’m more familiar with the gun than most people: I own one. And one thing I know for sure is that this weapon doesn’t belong in the hands of the average civilian,” Fanone wrote of the AR platform in the CNN story.

The network must have liked the cut of his jib. Fanone is now a CNN contributor and hawking a new book: “Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop’s Battle for America’s Soul.” (Nancy Pelosi highly recommended it.)

Since he’s so afraid of the AR platform, I can’t help but wonder what weapon Fanone, or for that matter, Mascia, would recommend for home defense. If I had to guess, it probably has two barrels, a wooden stock and exposed hammers.

I’m somewhat familiar with the AR myself, which is why I trust it to defend my hearth and home. It’s light, accurate, and deadly, which is exactly the point, and something we should stop making allowances for.

Despite the exhortations of Bloomberg’s activists or crybaby ex-cops, an AR-15 is exactly what I want when The Bad Man comes a-calling.

BLUF
“The numbers indicate if we didn’t have gun-free zones, we would have more people stopping these attacks,”

Over 60% of ‘active shooters’ stopped by ‘good guy with a gun’

A large percentage of “active shooter” incidents are thwarted by armed citizens who sometimes don’t even fire their weapons, but those cases are no longer counted under President Joe Biden’s pro-gun control policies.

According to just-released data from the Crime Prevention Research Center, 41% of active shooting incidents were stopped by armed civilians.

Outside of so-called gun-free zones, which bar the legal carrying of firearms, over 63% of active shooting cases were ended by an armed civilian, according to the center.

The new data from John R. Lott Jr., the former Justice Department senior adviser for research and statistics, are his latest to challenge undercounting and bias in government reports on shootings and back up efforts by Second Amendment and police groups to encourage people to carry firearms.

Continue reading “”

Frequently debunked crackpots claim the AR is worthless for self-defense
The Trace teams up with the Gun Violence Archive and hilarity ensues.

When the young paste-eaters at Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun propaganda factory, known as the Trace, team up with the stodgy window-lickers at the Gun Violence Archive to produce a story about the utility of the AR platform as a modern self-defense tool, it’s hard not to get too excited.

It’s like watching two freight trains headed toward each other on the same track. You know the results are going to be cataclysmic. None of these halfwits have ever heard a shot fired, much less one fired in anger, or especially one fired to good effect. They know less about what makes a reliable home-defense weapon than I do about man-buns, skinny jeans or avocado toast.

We have debunked the Trace and the Gun Violence Archive so often it’s getting old. The kids at the Trace masquerade as legitimate journalists when in fact they’re nothing more than highly paid anti-gun activists. The GVA purports to track gun crimes and maintain a list of mass shootings, but their data is collected from media and even social media sources, and their stats are so inflated they’d have you believe a mass shooting occurs nearly every time someone draws from a holster. When the two anti-gun nonprofits combine for a story, it’s bound to be something as bereft of facts as it is poorly written, and to that standard their most recent collaboration does not disappoint.

The story was written by one of the Trace’s senior fabulists, Jennifer Mascia, who is “currently the lead writer of the Ask the Trace series and tracks news developments on the gun beat.” Mascia has also led the Trace’s hilarious we’re journalists, not activists, propaganda campaign on social media.

Mascia claims her story was a response to a reader’s question: “Many gun owners claim to buy assault-style rifles for defense. So how many documented cases are out there where someone actually defended themselves with an assault-style rifle?”

Mascia reportedly searched the GVA’s data for “assault weapon,” which she said the GVA defines as “AR-15, AK-47, and all variants defined by law enforcement.” Of course, there’s no mention whether the weapons were capable of select-fire and therefore actual assault weapons. She started with 190 incidents, which she whittled down for various reasons. The results: “That left 51 incidents over a nine-and-a-half-year span in which legal gun owners brandished or used an AR-style rifle to defend life or property. That averages out to around five per year.”

To be clear, I trust Mascia’s findings about as much as I trust the GVA data that produced the results. The whole story is GIGO — garbage in, garbage out.

It is noteworthy that the firearms “expert” whom Mascia found to further beclown herself — who wrote in a CNN story that the AR is the last gun he’d recommend for self-defense — is none other than former Washington D.C. police officer Michael Fanone. He’s the officer who cried a lot before the January 6 Commission — the one with the beard who cried a lot, if that helps jog your memory.

“I’m more familiar with the gun than most people: I own one. And one thing I know for sure is that this weapon doesn’t belong in the hands of the average civilian,” Fanone wrote of the AR platform in the CNN story.

I’m somewhat familiar with the AR myself, which is why I trust it to defend my hearth and home. It’s light, accurate and deadly, which is exactly the point, and something we should stop making allowances for.

Despite the exhortations of Bloomberg’s activists or crybaby ex-cops, an AR is exactly what I want when The Bad Man comes a-calling.

The judge declined to adopt the plaintiffs' view that the Constitution includes a fundamental right to feel safe: pic.twitter.com/URDDxrtbWi

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) September 1, 2023

Violent Crime! Our Personal Safety Depends Upon Ourselves

The “deterrent value” of law enforcement is at an all-time low!

Less than half of crimes of violence in the USA are never “solved.” Of the ones that are “solved” or “cleared,” few arrests and successful prosecutions ever result.

Less than twenty percent of property crimes are ever “solved.”

Owing to the foregoing, the majority of felonies, even forcible felonies, are never reported (what’s the point?) and thus never show up on any statistics. Thus, as dismal as the crime statistics we actually have, real figures are vastly worse!

Low arrest rates are a direct result of “passionless policing” by critically under-staffed, non-supported police departments, combined with unenthusiastic prosecution by liberal, pro-criminal prosecutors, as well as mayors and city council members.

Accordingly, among VCAs (violent criminal actors) in most metro areas, there is scant risk associated with physically victimizing others, at least risk represented by law enforcement. The real risk to VCAs (particularly drug traffickers) is from the violence visited upon them by other VCAs during territorial disputes.

And, of course, there is always the risk of running into an armed “victim,” as frightened Americans continue to buy guns at increasing rates every month.

There is scant reason to believe that the violent crime situation in this country will improve under the current Administration.

As citizens, our personal safety depends almost exclusively upon ourselves. We are no longer “protected” by police in the way we used to be, and may never be again!

Lifestyles need to be tweaked accordingly….

Gun Free Zones are murder magnets.
Arm yourself because no one else will save you

Jacksonville update: Assailant avoided not one, but TWO secure targets before going to the third

A few days ago, we learned how the assailant in the white supremacist attack on the Dollar General store in Jacksonville, FL avoided a hard target and went for an undefended one instead. From the previous article:

Jacksonville assailant found a soft target after security scared him away from the first

Prior to the shooting, the gunman had been turned away from the campus of a nearby historically Black university, Edward Waters University. There, he refused to identify himself to an on-campus security officer and was asked to leave, the university stated in a news release.

“The individual returned to their car and left campus without incident. The encounter was reported to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office by EWU security,” the school said.

It was obvious why the assailant ran away from there. An armed on-campus security officer arrived. That would have meant an immediate confrontation, which the assailant did not want. He wanted to take his own sweet time ending the lives of innocent, unarmed victims.

It turns out, however, that this was not a one-off occurrence. The assailant had initially planned to attack a different Family Dollar store and ran away from there also because he saw the possibility of immediate armed resistance. CNN’s newer report states this (archived links):

The Jacksonville gunman’s dad called 911 after the deadly rampage started. Here’s what he said about his son

Authorities have released details from a 911 call made by the father of [***] – the gunman who killed three people in what authorities called a racially motivated rampage at a Dollar General store in Florida. […]

After the gunfire started, [***] texted his father and told him to go into his room, where the father found a will and a suicide note, Jacksonville’s sheriff said. […]

[***] had been getting psychiatric help and was on medication, but it looked like his son had stopped taking his medication because there was a full bottle that was filled on July 23, his father told the operator.

The father said he called the Clay County Sheriff’s Office a few years ago when his son threatened to kill himself.

[***] flunked out of college, then worked at Home Depot and was “pretty much been living in his room” after losing that job, his father told the operator.

The same factors – mental illness, self-isolation, unemployment – play out in a lot of these incidents. Clearly, this man was sick to begin with. At some point, he also went down the path of hate.

Investigators believe the gunman originally intended to attack a different dollar store – a Family Dollar he visited just minutes before driving to the university, Waters told CNN’s Abby Phillip on Monday night.

Waters believes the sight of a security vehicle arriving at the store and parking outside deterred the shooter.

“I don’t think he wanted to have any confrontation with someone that would create an issue for him or stop him from doing what he wanted to do,” Waters said.

“He had a goal in mind,” the sheriff said. “I think he wanted those stores – one of those stores. I don’t know why.”

So, the assailant first went to a Family Dollar store, saw a security vehicle, drove away to Edward Waters University. a Historically Black College/University (HBCU), again encountered security there, and finally ended up at the Dollar General where he committed his atrocity.

Duval County Sheriff T. K. Waters does not think that the assailant intended to attack the HBCU:

Surveillance footage shows two young African American men getting into the car next to the suspect’s as he was sitting in the lot, the sheriff noted. That bolsters Waters’ belief that the gunman didn’t intend to carry out an attack at the university, he said.

“He had the opportunity to do so, and he did not,” Waters told CNN on Monday.

The shooter immediately started to drive away after being approached by a security officer, and he was followed until he left campus, Edward Waters University President and CEO A. Zachary Faison Jr. said.

This is where I disagree with the Sheriff. We have seen enough assailants target universities and colleges. I am skeptical that this man parked by a HBCU just to prepare and drive two minutes down the street to a dollar store for his attack.

Assailants love target-rich environments with unarmed targets. They are on a kamikaze mission, and all they want to do is take as many people as possible with them. That’s why they avoid hard targets and go for softer ones instead. It’s not much different from a thief who encounters two bicycles, one securely locked and another poorly secured, and goes for the “low-hanging fruit.”

The lesson learned here is to harden targets and for the people to be prepared. Statistically, public mass shootings by a stranger are exceedingly rare. But if you are concerned about it, take steps to arm yourself, get trained, practice regularly, and be prepared to shoot back.

Mass Shootings Have ‘No Correlation to Gun Laws,’ says Report

U.S.A. — Washington, D.C.—a jurisdiction with some of the strictest gun control laws in the country—leads the nation with “the highest rate of mass shootings per capita,” according to a report in the Daily Mail, citing new research released this week by medical researchers in Colorado.

Here’s how the Daily Mail headlined its story: “America’s mass shooting hotspots revealed: First of its kind study breaks down thousands of massacres by state – and there’s NO correlation between gun control laws.”

The study is published in JAMA Network Open, and it relies on data from the Gun Violence Archive, a database often criticized by the firearms community. The work was done by researchers at the University of Colorado: Leslie M. Barnard, MPH, Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health; Erin Wright-Kelly, DrPH, MA, Injury and Violence Prevention Center, Colorado School of Public Health, and Marian E. Betz, MD, MPH, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora.

The report may cool some jets in the gun control community, which has maintained that states with the most guns and “lax” laws have the highest number of shootings. But here’s what the report says:

“The rate of mass shootings per 1,000,000 people was highest in the District of Columbia (10.4 shootings), followed by much lower rates in Louisiana (4.2 mass shootings) and Illinois (3.6 mass shootings), the states with the next 2 highest rates (Table).”

Translation: Gun laws do not appear to have an impact, since the District of Columbia and the state of Illinois have restrictive laws, while Louisiana is far less restrictive.

Continue reading “”

Despite Democrats’ Fearmongering On Firearms, A Majority Of Americans Own Guns Or Want To Own Guns

A majority of Americans are happy or prospective gun owners who keep firearms around to protect themselves, Pew Research found in its latest poll.

The poll, which surveyed 5,115 U.S. adults in June, found that, contrary to Democrats’ anti-gun rhetoric, Americans across all demographics enjoy exercising their Second Amendment rights by personally owning guns or living with someone who does.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans either already live in a household with a gun or have expressed interest in buying a gun in the future. Considering the U.S. is experiencing the highest personal gun ownership uptick since 2011, even those who aren’t firearm owners yet could be soon.

When Pew measured Americans’ attitudes towards guns in 2017, only 67 percent of firearm owners said they had guns for protection. After years of soaring gun sales due to rising crime and the summer 2020 riots, 72 percent of American gun owners now say protection is the primary reason they keep firearms around.Overall, 81 percent of gun owners say owning a firearm makes them feel safer. A majority of non-gun owners, 57 percent, say they also feel safer if someone in their household owns a gun.

“Gun owners express overwhelmingly positive sentiments about owning a gun, with sizable majorities saying it makes them feel safer and that they enjoy having a gun,” Pew noted.

Safety is likely one of the reasons gun ownership among women specifically has climbed in recent years. In 2017, only 22 percent of women said they personally owned a gun. Now, 25 percent of females have a firearm of their own.

Gun ownership, Pew found, is still higher among rural, Republican voters than among urbanites and Democrats. The latter groups, however, saw increases in gun ownership in the last five years. Between 2017 and now, firearm ownership among urban dwellers jumped 1 percent.

Approximately 4 percent more blue voters say they have guns now than they did in 2017. Six percent more Democrats have guns in their household in 2023 than they did in 2017.

Pew tried to overshadow their robust gun ownership report by highlighting that 61 percent of Americans think it is too easy to get a gun in the U.S. What the poll did not specify is exactly how law-abiding Americans feel about leftist-led legislation that seeks to restrict their Second Amendment rights.

Despite the fact that deadly mass shootings increased during Congress’ 1994 ban on “assault weapons,” Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, desperately want another ban on the most popular semi-automatic rifles on the market.

“The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick,” Biden said in November 2022. “It has no socially redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.”

There are a myriad of problems with blue politicians’ unconstitutional gun-grab policies. One such problem is that if Democrats pass a federal ban on AR-15s, they would be depriving Americans of the ability to protect themselves in the they choose.

Seems like 10mm has something going for it. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of it being used successfully.

Men kill grizzly in self-defense near Whitefish

WHITEFISH, Mont. — Two men from Whitefish killed a grizzly bear in self-defense in the Whitefish Range.

One of the men was injured in an accidental shooting during the encounter with the grizzly bear, he was taken to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

“The two men were scouting for hunting season near Smokey Range Trailhead off Canyon Creek Road on the Flathead National Forest on the afternoon of Aug. 26 when they encountered a female grizzly bear with a cub. The men were walking through a thick section of forest when they surprised the bears inside of 15 feet. The adult bear charged the individuals, and both men shot and killed the bear. One of the men was shot in the back shoulder during the incident,” according to Montana FWP.

The following was sent out by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks:

A pair of Whitefish men killed a grizzly bear in self-defense last weekend in the Whitefish Range north of Whitefish.

One of the individuals was injured in an accidental shooting during the encounter. The man was taken to the hospital and treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

The two men were scouting for hunting season near Smokey Range Trailhead off Canyon Creek Road on the Flathead National Forest on the afternoon of Aug. 26 when they encountered a female grizzly bear with a cub. The men were walking through a thick section of forest when they surprised the bears inside of 15 feet. The adult bear charged the individuals, and both men shot and killed the bear. One of the men was shot in the back shoulder during the incident.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks game wardens and members of the Wildlife Human Attack Response Team responded and investigated the incident. The bear’s behavior appeared to be defensive in the surprise, close encounter with the two men. FWP shared the initial findings with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement, and the USFWS concurred it was a self-defense situation. The grizzly bear did not have a history of conflict and was previously tagged for population monitoring work in 2009. The bear was approximately 25 years old. FWP continues to monitor the site for the cub.

Be bear aware

Montana is bear country. Avoiding conflicts with bears is easier than dealing with conflicts. Here are some precautions to help residents, recreationists and people who work outdoors avoid negative bear encounters:

Carry bear spray and be prepared to use it immediately.

Travel in groups whenever possible and make casual noise, which can help alert bears to your presence.

Stay away from animal carcasses, which often attract bears.

Follow food storage orders from the applicable land management agency.

If you encounter a bear, never approach it. Leave the area when it is safe to do so.

Keep garbage, bird feeders, pet food and other attractants put away in a secure building. Keep garbage in a secure building until the day it is collected. Certified bear-resistant garbage containers are available in many areas.

Never feed wildlife. Bears that become food conditioned lose their natural foraging behavior and pose threats to human safety. It is illegal to feed bears in Montana.

Hunting in places that have or may have grizzly bears — which includes northwest Montana — requires special precautions:

Carry bear spray and be prepared to use it immediately.

Look for bear sign and be cautious around creeks and areas with limited visibility and where any noises you might make do not carry well.

Hunt with a group of people. Making localized noise can alert bears to your presence.

Be aware that elk calls and cover scents can attract bears.

Bring the equipment and people needed to help field dress game and remove the meat from the kill site as soon as possible.

If you need to leave part of the meat in the field during processing, hang it at least 10 feet off the ground and at least 150 yards from the gut pile. Leave it where it can be observed from a distance of at least 200 yards.

Upon your return, observe the meat with binoculars. If it has been disturbed or if a bear is in the area, leave and call FWP.

How Big Are Our Virtues?

This is as serious as it gets. It is scandalous when millions of us are put at risk by bad government policy. Likewise, it is vitally important to recognize when we’re doing the right thing and saving thousands of lives every day. This is hard to understand because some of the problem is political, but some of the difficulty is simply the size of our virtue. How can we begin to understand that millions of us prevented serious injury and saved a huge number of lives every year?

Ordinary citizens like us legally use a firearm in self-defense about 2.8-million times a year. Sure, that is a number, but how big is that really?

This is a matter of life and death and society takes it very seriously. In the simplest terms, we are not allowed to use a firearm, or even threaten to use a firearm, unless an innocent victim faces the most serious threats. We are expected to use less violent tools when we face less dangerous threats. We’re only allowed to defend ourselves with a gun when it is the safest thing to do, yet we were forced to use a firearm in self-defense over 76-hundred times a day. That says a lot about how often ordinary citizens were thrown into very dangerous situations.

As background information, the FBI said violent criminals committed these 1.2 million crimes in 2019-

Aggravated assaults- 821,182
Robberies- 267,988
Rapes- 139,815
Murders- 16,425

Continue reading “”

BLUF:
Leftists will always blame the gun, not the shooters, because the end goal is to get your gat.

KDJ’s ‘Gun Myth’ Fact Check: Liberals vs. Americans, Part 2: Mass Shootings.

As the United Police States of America continues to shred the Constitution into confetti, I thought I’d continue with analysis of more of the applesauce the left is spewing as “gun myths” as they try to dismantle our Second Amendment rights.

A certain brilliant radio talk show host posits that Democrats keep criminals on the streets for two reasons:

Crime causes chaos, which communism needs to successfully spread across the country.
Higher gun-related crime statistics are used to justify saying, “We need to abolish guns.”

In other words, leftists encourage criminals to break the law and then use the crime stats as a means of taking guns from We the People. Mass shootings are especially tasty crimes for gun grabbers.

FACT-O-RAMA! A mass shooting is defined as four or more people shot, not including the shooter(s), in a fluid situation. Meaning, If I blaze up a Denny’s and shoot three people, go home, take a nap, catch the 3:10 showing of “Barbie,” and shoot three more in the theatre, this is not a mass shooting.

Let’s take a look at what the leftoids at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) are saying about mass shootings:

MYTH: IN MOST MASS SHOOTINGS, PERPETRATORS DO NOT KNOW THE PEOPLE THEY KILL.

FACT: Nearly 70% of mass shootings involve domestic violence, Lisa Geller, MPH, state affairs advisor for the Center, told 12 News in Arizona.

In a study published in 2021, Geller and colleagues found that in over 68% of mass shootings, the perpetrator killed at least one partner or family member and had a history of domestic violence.

The JHU crowd conveniently changed an “or” to an “and” to create a lie.

JHU wrote (emphasis added): “Geller and colleagues found that in over 68% of mass shootings, the perpetrator killed at least one partner or family member and had a history of domestic violence.” But when I looked at their source, I found this: “We found that 59.1% of mass shootings between 2014 and 2019 were DV (domestic violence)-related and in 68.2% of mass shootings, the perpetrator either killed at least one partner or family member or had a history of DV.”

Yes, it’s safe to assume that a wacko who perforates his own family probably has a history of domestic violence.

Also, the research JHU is using involves “Fatal mass shootings, defined as four or more people killed by gunfire, excluding the perpetrator,” whereas the aforementioned myth refers to mass shootings. What’s the difference between a mass shooting and a “fatal” mass shooting?” Four (or more) dead people.

Continue reading “”

This is correct, but what doesn’t help is when the fumble butter-fingered idjits of FedEx drop the car rifle safe – that took 7 weeks to make and deliver as apparently they construct each order from scratch – off the back of the truck and bend a flange so much the safe is now useless and everyone involved is slow walking taking care of the problem.

Pro Tip: Your Car is NOT a Gun Safe

A little reminder courtesy of the Columbus, Ohio Police Department . . .

“We are absolutely alarmed by the number of guns that are taken from cars that are parked and unoccupied,” said Sergeant James Fuqua of the Columbus Division of Police.

“If you leave your gun in a car whether it’s locked or not and your car is broken into, you have contributed to the possibility of a criminal going out to commit a heinous act against someone else in the City of Columbus,” Fuqua said.

The lesson here: don’t make thieves’ job easier . . .

Buckeye Firearms, a pro-gun lobby said, “Criminals don’t try to break into every car. They profile vehicles just like they profile potential victims on the street. They’re looking for an obvious and easy target. NRA decals on the window or gun-related bumper stickers are a clue that guns may be in the vehicle. Firearm accessories or hunting gear visible through the windows are also a tipoff. Where you park also matters. Don’t park on the street if you can, park in a garage or a secure lot. If you must park outside, park in a well-lit area. If you’re parking overnight, take all your valuables with you,” said Dean Rieck, Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms. Let me break it down for you: your car is not a gun safe. And as the holiday season ramps up, cases of car windows being smashed and valuables being stolen are just going to keep rising. It’s easy to to break a window in your car, truck or SUV and take whatever a thief wants. And if you’ve left your gun in there, congratulations, you just armed a criminal.

Yeah, you’re also out a chunk of money for the gun itself, but personally I’d be more concerned about the firearm that’s now in the hands of someone who thinks crime is the way to fund their lifestyle.

If you’re in a situation where leaving your handgun in your vehicle is the only option, get a real safe. Hornady’s RAPiD Vehicle Safe is a legit option (I own a couple myself). The RAPiD has a 14-gauge steel housing, internal hardened locking lugs, and a steel cable that can be attached to a seat frame. It can be opened using a four-to-six digit programmable security code, one of the RFID wristbands or key fobs it ships with, or one of a pair of barrel keys. Power comes from either four AAA batteries or a 12-volt car adapter.

Is this the perfect solution? No. There is no perfect solution, but it’s unlikely you’re going to run into a criminal doing a smash-and-grab while also carrying heavy-duty bolt cutters or some other tool that will give them access to the safe (assuming it’s properly installed).

That doesn’t mean you should leave a handgun in a gun safe in your car 24/7, either. The best place for your gun is in on your hip in a proper holster on your gun belt…so carry your gun. When it’s not being carried or when you have to go into a non-permissive area, store it securely.

If you’re at home, that’s going to be in your gun safe, not parked in your driveway in your car. Your car’s gun safe won’t do you much good if the entire car is stolen, will it?

Thus ends this friendly Your Car is Not a Gun Safe PSA.

¡Grupos de autodefensas Para Mi!

Should armed activists patrol Hartford streets?

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Community activists’ proposed solution to recent gun violence is a community-led patrol made up of legal gun owners.

There have been 28 homicides in Hartford this year, many in the north end of the city.

Cornell Lewis, a gun owner and community activist, has proposed the idea that legal gun owners should band together to defend their neighborhoods.

“We know what to do with our guns, when to do it and we know how to diffuse situations,” he said. “The thing we’re not going to allow is people to oppress the community.”

Lewis created the Self Defense Brigade, a group dedicated to protecting the community by using “appropriate means.” Over the past three years, the group has acted as security at Black Lives Matter protests, funerals and other community events.

“It is better to defend ourselves,” Lewis said. “We have the right to. The Second Amendment says we can carry weapons, and we carry our weapons legally.”

The Self Defense Brigade and other gun-rights groups are planning to be at a rally on Sept. 2 to talk about this idea and to gauge interest. Lewis said a number of Hartford residents and people in other towns have expressed an interest in being involved.

Jeremy Stein, the executive director of CT Against Gun Violence, said he understands that people want immediate solutions to violent crime. He believes an armed guard is not the safest option.

“Adding more guns to our communities will not do a thing to end gun violence, it’s actually quite the opposite. It’s going to create a powder keg of gun violence,” he said.

In a statement to News 8, Hartford’s Mayor Luke Bronin said:
I understand the frustration and anger, because I share that frustration and anger, and I feel the burden of responsibility personally and heavily, as do our police and everyone who does this work.
Our first priority right now is to get the people responsible for the most recent shootings off of our streets, and we are working with law enforcement partners at every level, from the FBI, ATF, and DEA to state police and regional partners.
We’ve seen a series of very different acts of violence in the past few weeks, some of which are intensely personal disputes, some of which appear to be spontaneous disputes that escalate quickly into gunfire, and some of which involve a specific group of very reckless and dangerous individuals that we are working hard with law enforcement at every level to apprehend.“

I don’t think this is working out how the gun grabbers wanted

Bill allowing more guns in Tennessee schools moves forward in special session

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — While many gun-related pieces of legislation are not moving forward in the Tennessee General Assembly’s special session on public safety, one firearm bill cleared its first hurdle in committee.

The bill, brought by Rep. Chris Todd (R—Madison County), would allow any law enforcement officer, whether on or off-duty, as well as any member of the armed forces—honorably discharged or not—and anyone with an enhanced handgun carry permit to carry on school grounds or any place used by a school where students would be present.

During discussion in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee, Todd and others argued the bill would help keep schools safer in the event of an emergency before first responders arrive on the scene, but critics and even the Tennessee Department of Safety pushed back, saying it would cause more harm than good.

Elizabeth Stroecker, with the Department of Safety, said the bill would “create a situation where you would have law enforcement potentially coming in not knowing who could be a bad guy or a good guy when someone has a firearm and it’s not clear that they may be a first responder.”

Todd took issue with Stroecker’s claims, arguing whether the department trusted the “trained and permitted individuals your own department has provided permits for.”

“We absolutely trust the people that we permit, but they are not trained or permitted to carry in a school and protect a school and be able to respond to a situation in a school. There is a very big difference in the eight-hour course they take to get the enhanced permit,” Stroecker said.

Todd became even angrier, snapping at Stroecker.

“We literally have administrators in schools and law enforcement that are about to retire or are already retired that are begging us for this legislation, so that they can protect the children that are around them every single day, and you sit here as a representative of our governor that is preventing that!” Todd said.

He was quieted by the committee chairman Rep. Lowell Russell (R—Vonore) before the vote, which saw the bill approved by voice vote. It now moves onto the full Civil Justice Committee.

Other bills, many by Democrats, were killed in multiple committees today by House members. On the Senate side, one committee killed 52 of 55 bills that were on the agenda. The three that survived were priority bills for Speaker Cameron Sexton (R—Crossville).

This American doesn’t care.
I’m not safer driving to work vs taking the train but I’m still not taking the train. This notion of “safety” as a general state of being is an illusion that neurotic people obsess over. Being safe is a series of actions taken to mitigate unnecessary risk in an inherently dangerous environment or undertaking.

You can exercise gun safety by actions you take when handling a gun, you can take safety precautions when driving a car by being alert, using a seatbelt, etc but nobody on earth lives in a perpetual state of inherent safety. We never have and we never will.

This is a lie sold to people by the media and the powerful in order to accumulate more power at the expense of our rights and liberties and it needs to be called out.

Many Americans Still Wrongly Think Guns Make Us Safer

Large portions of the American public still believe false claims of all kinds about guns, the COVID-19 pandemic and reproductive health, a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows.

Though the poll found that percentages of Americans who believe that false claims are “definitely” true is small, the portion who think they are “probably” true is substantial. Overall, between half and three-quarters of the country belong to what KFF CEO Drew Altman called the “muddled middle,” saying that the false claims were “probably” either true or false.

Perhaps most striking of the poll’s findings is the incorrect belief, held by many Americans, that guns make them safer. Sixty percent of Americans believe it’s true that armed school police guards have been proved to prevent school shootings. Eighteen percent of respondents thought the claim was “definitely” true and 42% believed it “probably” true.

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KDJ’s ‘Gun Myth’ Fact-Check: Liberals Vs. Americans, Part 1

I was looking up gun statistics for my article “Liberties Under Assault: 2nd Amendment Edition,” and I tripped on two articles tackling “gun myths.” One was from the Bolshie-riffic prags at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and the other was by sane people at gunfacts.info. So I thought I’d dig into both and see which site actually knows the difference between an AR-15 and an “assault rifle.”

FACT-O-RAMA! An AR-15 is a semi-automatic firearm, and an assault rifle is a non-existent boogeyman boom-boom stick that haunts tree-huggers in their sleep and makes them wet their non-binary Underoos.

Before we get started, I just want to apologize for the phrase “fact-check” in the headline. I abhor the phrase “fact-check” because it is frequently used by commie websites that employ each other’s articles to verify or debunk alleged “facts.” Meaning, the pinko skanks at USA Today will post “Fact-Check: Did Biden Make Millions Selling Influence to our Enemies Across the Globe? The New York Times says ‘No.’” It’s akin to Stalin saying, “If you don’t believe me, ask Beria.”

However, I will be doing a real fact-check on gun myths. Let’s get this “myth” brawl underway.

In this corner, wearing rainbow trunks, weighing in at 51 kilograms, Johns Hopkins University.

MYTH: URBAN HOMICIDES FALSELY INFLATE STATISTICS ON U.S. GUN DEATHS.

FACT: “The common trope is that places like Baltimore or Detroit or Chicago are the reason we have so many gun deaths in this country,” Cass Crifasi, PhD ’14, MPH, the Center’s director of research and policy, told the Chicago Tribune. And yes, those places … have unacceptable rates of gun homicides. But the places with the highest rates of death are not Maryland, Michigan, and Illinois. They are Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Alabama. The places with weaker gun laws have higher rates of death. More people died from guns in Texas than Illinois, when suicide and accidental shootings are included.

Hold on, let’s look at that last phrase, “when suicide and accidental shootings are included.” That’s just a lefty pivot. Nice try, jackpuddings. We see how you are trying to manipulate the game.

Yes, roughly two-thirds of gun-related deaths are suicides, but that isn’t what this is about. The left needs to lie and squirm like the lizard people they are and add “suicides and accidental shootings” in order to “prove” that red-state dwellers, meaning conservatives, are more gun-happy than city folk, and as you’re about to see, that just ain’t true. But again, they’ll say what they must to confiscate your guns.

JHU claims that most shootings are taking place in red states. What it fails to mention is that they are happening in blue cities in red states. And since JHU mentioned my home state of Michigan, check out this map of shootings in the Great Lakes State.

If you take Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Detroit out of the picture, shootings drop significantly. And since JHU brought it up, I’ll add that the Yoopers in the Upper Peninsula (UP), of Michigan aren’t very violent. I suspect those snowbillies in da UP are not shooting people, accidentally or otherwise, just themselves, eh?

BLAST-O-RAMA! Out of a possible 100, with 100 being the safest cities in the U.S., the aforementioned Michigan cities scored the following: Detroit: 1, Lansing: 5, Grand Rapids: 7, Flint: 17 (don’t drink the water, and honestly, that score of 17 seems dubious). The mayors of Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids are Democrats. The mayor of Lansing has no party.

Hey look, I’m correct. Suicide in rural Michigan is a problem. But again, we are talking about guns used to kill people illegally. It’s nice of the Punchinellos to drag suicide into a “gun violence” debate and try to use depression to prove a point.

Let’s look at the other states mentioned:

The suicide rate in Wyoming is more than double the national average. This is where the “gun deaths” come from. Even the sitzpinklers at USA Today listed Wyoming as #43 in a list of the most dangerous states. Debunked.
Mississippi’s suicide rate clocks in at 27th in the nation, but the state ranks highest in murder rate. One-quarter of the murders take place in Jackson, which is run by a Democrat mayor. Democrats run five out of Mississippi’s ten most dangerous cities, (Republicans run four, and one is run by an Independent). Debunked.

FACT-O-RAMA! Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes once suggested that people throw, “bricks, rocks, and bottles” at police chasing black suspects.

Six out of Louisiana’s eight most dangerous cities are run by Democrats. One is run by a Republican and one by an Independent. Debunked.

Conclusion: We can see that the beta cucks at JHU had to twist their data in a pathetic and vain attempt to prove that conservatives and guns are “dangerous.” A vast majority of gun crimes committed in red states took place in blue cities.

FACT-O-RAMA! As of this writing, there have been 763 defensive shootings in 2023.

And in this corner, wearing red, white, and blue shorts, weighing in at 188 lbs, gunfacts.info.

Myth: Gun violence is widespread in America

Fact: Misuse of guns is highly centralized in major metro areas, within poor neighborhoods (typically street gang infested) and thus highly among young black males.

According to these maps from gunviolencearchives.com, we can clearly see that most shootings take place in the eastern third of the U.S. The shootings make a significant drop in eastern Texas (roughly San Antonio) and don’t pick up again until the west coast.

Check out this map. It’s interactive. You can zoom anywhere in the U.S. and see that most shootings take place in bigger towns and cities (derp).

Conclusion: Gunfacts.info knows what it’s talking about. Shootings aren’t happening everywhere. Most take place in bigger cities. Unlike the milquetoasts at JHU, gunfacts.info doesn’t need to twist data to support laughable narratives.

Winner, Round One: Gunfacts.info!

Check back for round two in a few days! Until then, keep yer powder dry.

Well, that is part of it.

For Most U.S. Gun Owners, Protection Is the Main Reason They Own a Gun
Nearly half of U.S. adults who do not currently own a gun say they could see themselves owning one in the future

Gun owners in the United States continue to cite protection far more than other factors, including hunting and sport shooting, as a major reason they own a gun.

And while a sizable majority of gun owners (71%) say they enjoy having a gun, an even larger share (81%) say they feel safer owning a gun.

A Pew Research Center survey, conducted June 5-11 among 5,115 members of the Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel, finds:

72% of U.S. gun owners say protection is a major reason they own a gun. That far surpasses the shares of gun owners who cite other reasons.

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The previous president loosened restrictive gun control laws and the ‘experts’ are puzzled

Homicides in Brazil at the lowest level in over a decade, report says

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian researchers say the number of violent deaths last year reached the lowest level in more than a decade, puzzling some experts because there has been an explosion of firearms circulating in the country in recent years.

About 47,500 people were slain in Latin America’s largest nation in 2022, said a report Thursday by the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, an independent group that tracks crimes. Its statistics are widely used as a benchmark because there are no official statistics on a national level.
While the number of killings in 2022 was down 2.4% from the previous year, it remained roughly even with levels recorded since 2019. The last time Brazil had less violent deaths was in 2011, with 47,215 killings.
The fall in homicides has left many public security experts somewhat puzzled, as it has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of firearms held by Brazilians. Some studies have suggested that more guns circulating among the population lead to more homicides.

During his 2019-2022 term, then President Jair Bolsonaro worked to loosen regulations on gun ownership. The number of firearms registered with the Federal Police reached 1.5 million in 2022, up 47.5% from 2019.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office in January, has sought to undo Bolsonaro’s pro-gun policies. Days after coming to power, Lula required gun owners to register their weapons with police, and the government has said it will present new legislation Friday.

Experts have come up with at least three reasons behind the dual trend.
Samira Bueno, executive director of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, said he feels the main factor is the relative truce among gangs since 2018. An explosion of violence in 2017, when his group registered 63,880 killings, was largely attributed to a rivalry between the First Capital Command gang and the Red Command gang.

Carolina Ricardo, director of the Instituto Sou da Paz, a non-profit group that monitors public security, said another factor is that more Brazilian states have implemented ambitious public security policies along with social measures such as working to keep children in school.
Brazil’s aging population could be a third factor, Ricardo said. “In general, who dies and kills are young people,” she said.
But Ricardo also expressed concern about the prevalence of homicides using firearms.

“Although homicides have not increased, the percentage of deaths by firearms in Brazil is still very high,” she said. According to Thursday’s report, firearms were responsible for 77% of all homicides last year. Ricardo said that is much higher than the world average of around 44%.

Addressing other areas of violence, the report said that while homicides declined, violence against women rose and there was a record number of rapes as defined by Brazilian law, affecting mostly children. Brazil’s legal definition of rape is broader than that of the U.S. and doesn’t necessarily require sexual penetration.

There were nearly 15,000 victims of rape in 2022, up 8.2% from the previous year. Nearly two-thirds of the victims were children aged 13 or younger, the report said. Feminicides went up 6%, with 1,437 killings.
In Rio de Janeiro, Roberto Camara has witnessed first hand the rise in violence against women, offering self-defence courses to women who have suffered domestic violence.
He started with a few students and now trains up to 60 women every month.

On Thursday, seven of them attended one of his classes in a small room in the center of Rio. Some came with their toddlers. The demand “keeps on growing,” Camara told the Associated Press. “I can’t attend everyone. We don’t have the structure to attend that many people.”