Category: Crime

Parkland HS Gunman Pleading Guilty — ’17 Counts of First-Degree Murder

The alleged gunman behind the February 14, 2018, attack that killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School plans to plead guilty to “17 Counts of First-Degree Murder,” according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported that the 23-year-old suspect’s attorneys spoke on October 15, 2021, stating that the suspect will plead guilty on Wednesday.

The AP noted the admission of guilt “will come with no conditions and prosecutors still plan to seek the death penalty.”

The trial of the suspect has been delayed to this point due to the coronavirus and back and forth between prosecutors and defense attorney regarding evidence that was or was not admissible.

ABC News spoke with Manuel Oliver, father of 17-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, who said, “I think it’s time to put some — speed it up a little bit. Every day is a new day that we suffer.”

The shooting suspect allegedly used an AR-15 rifle in the attack and the Sun-Sentinel reported the suspect acquired the firearm via a background check.

In late 2018 the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission noted that the armed suspect had time on his side once he entered the school and was able to reload five times during this attack.

On November 21, 2018, Breitbart News observed that Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, head of the Commission investigating the shooting, made clear that armed teachers are a necessity when it comes to taking away the advantages the shooting suspect enjoyed.

The Associated Press quoted Gualtieri saying, “People need to keep an open mind to it as the reality is that if someone else in that school had a gun it could have saved kids’ lives.”

Here’s the part that is seen so often
It’s like it’s not a bug, but a feature.
Kongsberg: Bow and arrow suspect known to Norway police

A man arrested over a deadly bow and arrow attack in Norway had converted to Islam and there were fears he had been radicalised, police say.

The 37-year-old Danish citizen is accused of killing four women and a man on Wednesday night in the southern town of Kongsberg.

Police were in contact with the man last year over their concerns.

The suspect has not been identified, and police are working to establish whether it was a terror attack.

Meanwhile, flags were flown at half-mast on Thursday while flowers and other memorials were placed in Kongsberg’s main square.

The victims were all aged between 50 and 70, regional police chief Ole Bredrup Saeverud told reporters.

Residents have told local media that the close-knit community has been deeply shaken by the violence.

Police confronted the man six minutes after the attack began at 18:12 (16:12 GMT) on Wednesday, but he shot several arrows at the officers and escaped. He was caught at 18:47 – 35 minutes after the attack started.

All five victims are believed to have been killed after the police first encountered the man. Officers fired warning shots before he was eventually arrested.

Man armed with bow and arrow kills five people in Norway attacks

OSLO, Oct 13 (Reuters) – A man armed with a bow and arrow killed five people and wounded two others in a series of attacks in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg on Wednesday, local police said.

The suspect was in custody, police added.

“The man used a bow and arrow … for some of the attacks,” police chief Oeyvind Aas told reporters. The police were investigating whether other weapons had also been used, he said.

“The man has been apprehended … from the information we now have, this person carried out these actions alone,” Aas added.

One of the wounded people was an off-duty police officer.

Newspaper VG showed images of an arrow that appeared to be stuck in the wall of a wood-paneled building.

Continue reading “”

Watch how quickly this drops off the radar with the perp not fitting the gun-grabber narrative since he’s the in the wrong demographic subset.

Texas high school shooting injures multiple, suspect in custody, Arlington police say

The suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Timothy George Simpkins. Police say he likely fled the scene in a 2018 Silver Dodge Charger with license plate PFY-6260 and anyone who spots him should dial 911. 

A suspect who fled after opening fire inside a Dallas-area high school, which sent students and staff running for their lives, was taken into custody Wednesday after an hours-long manhunt, authorities said.

Arlington police say cell phone video obtained from a student shows that a fight broke out inside a classroom at Timberview High School around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday before 18-year-old Timothy George Simpkins drew a weapon. He fled the scene and was believed to be driving a 2018 Silver Dodge Charger.

Authorities said Simpkins was caught following a manhunt and is expected to be charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was being questioned by detectives Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

St. Louis New Murder Capital Of U.S.

When we talk about violent cities, I usually bring up Chicago. Sometimes, I’ll add in places like Baltimore. Both are famously violent cities, after all, so it makes sense to bring them up.

However, it seems someone else is the murder capital of the United States for 2020.

Homicides in the U.S. in 2020 increased nearly 30% over the previous year according to new FBI figures and St. Louis City is reportedly the U.S. city with the highest murder rate.

St. Louis City had 263 homicides in 2020 with a homicide rate of 87 per 100,000 people.

The murder rate hit a 50-year high for the city but fell short of its all-time record of total homicides of 267 in 1993. The city’s population has declined since 1993 so the homicide rate was higher in 2020.

It’s not just murders, nationwide violent crimes in 2020 went up by a more moderate 5.6% over the previous year. In St. Louis, the increase was less than the national average at 3.8%.

Dr. Richard Rosenfeld, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri- St. Louis, points out that while the homicide and violent crime rate are up, those crimes are rare. He stressed it is important to note the rate of other, more common crimes dropped.

The FBI data shows property crimes continued a nearly two-decade decline, falling 7.8% between 2019 and 2020. St. Louis saw a 6.3% drop in those types of crimes as well.

Dr. Roenfeld actually makes a perfectly valid point.

Few people deal with homicide in their lifetimes at all, but most will be the victim of some form of theft and those rates are declining, so that’s a very good thing.

Yet people don’t rest easy because they no longer need to be concerned if their lawnmower is going to get stolen. They get jumpy about things like murders and violent crime in general, and those rates are going up.

Some will likely use this to point out that due to preemption laws in Missouri, the city of St. Louis can’t really do anything about violent crime. That, of course, is a cop-out. After all, if the lack of local gun control were the problem, every city in Missouri would be damn near as bad as St. Louis. It’s not.

What happens is that you congregate a lot of people in a fairly small amount of space and they’re going to find excuses to clear out the competition for resources. I suspect it’s something bred into our evolution to some degree as a way to prevent resources from being stripped from an area too quickly or something, though I have absolutely zero evidence for that.

Regardless, stuff like this is an issue in larger urban areas, not rural parts of the state, which tells me there’s something about the cities that’s the issue.

It’s not the lack of gun control, it’s the cities themselves that appear to be the problem.

Besides, I’m sure next year it’ll be Chicago or Baltimore again and St. Louis will be down the list a notch or two, all without any changes in the laws.

Unfortunately, this blind focus on gun control means no one is interested in looking a little deeper so as to find out the truth of these things.

FBI: Over 3.5x More Killed with Knives than Rifles of Any Kind

FBI data released Monday in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) show over three and a half times as many people were stabbed to death in 2020 than were killed with all kinds of rifles combined.

The UCR shows that 454 people were shot and killed with rifles in 2020 while 1,732 were stabbed or hacked to death with “knives or cutting instruments.”

Breitbart News reported that the previous UCR release showed over four times as many people were stabbed to death in 2019 than were killed with rifles of all kinds.

The exact figures for 2019 were 375 killed with rifles while 1,525 were stabbed to death with “knives or cutting instruments.”

On September 30, 2019, Breitbart News reported that the FBI’s UCR for 2018 showed a similar finding, with over five times as many people stabbed to death with “knives or cutting instruments” as were killed with rifles of any kind.

The broad categorization of “rifles” includes a broad swath of firearms, from bolt action rifles to lever action, pump action, breech action, and beyond. It also includes semiautomatic rifles that take a detachable magazine, which the left often classifies as “assault weapons.” Yet three and a half times more people were stabbed to death in 2020 than were killed with all of these various rifle types combined.

Remember this?:
Blinken Admits Most Afghans Were Not Vetted Before Boarding US Evacuation Planes

Assault on female US service member by male Afghan refugees at Fort Bliss under FBI investigation

An investigation is underway into an alleged attack of a female U.S. military service member by several male Afghan evacuees being housed at Fort Bliss.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed to Fox News it is investigating a referral from a Fort Bliss Afghan refugee housing complex in New Mexico alleging that a woman, whose name and age are unknown at this time, was assaulted on Sept. 19 by a “small group of male evacuees.”

“We received the referral from Fort Bliss and our office is investigating the allegation,” FBI Public Affairs Officer Special Agent Jeanette Harper told Fox News.

Officials at Fort Bliss confirmed the report of the assault to Fox News.

“We can confirm a female service member supporting Operation Allies Welcome reported being assaulted on Sept. 19 by a small group of male evacuees at the Doña Ana Complex in New Mexico,” the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss Public Affairs said in an emailed statement. “We take the allegation seriously and appropriately referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The safety and well-being of our service members, as well as all of those on our installations, is paramount.”

The statement added that counseling and support has been provided to the service member.

“Task Force-Bliss is also implementing additional security measures to include increased health and safety patrols, additional lighting, and enforcement of the buddy system at the Dona Ana Complex,” the statement continued. “We will cooperate fully with the FBI and will continue to ensure the service member reporting this assault is fully supported.”

Rep. Yvette Herrell, a Republican congresswoman who represents New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district, called the news a “vetting failure.”

“My prayers are with the courageous soldier and her family. This is yet another tragic failure in the vetting process for Afghan nationals,” Herrell tweeted. “The American people deserve answers.”

The alleged attack comes on the heels of two Afghan refugees housed at Wisconsin’s Fort McCoy being indicted for federal crimes including sexual assault on a minor and domestic assault.

Bahrullah Noori, a 20-year-old Afghan evacuee, is being charged with attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor using force against that person, along with three other counts of engaging in a sex act with a minor, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. Additionally, 32-year-old Mohammad Haroon Imaad is being charged with assaulting his wife by choking and suffocating her on September 17.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have reacted to the news of violence carried out by Afghan refugees being housed in the United States with demands for answers from the Biden administration.

On Thursday night, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford and four other Republican senators sent a letter to the Biden administration seeking more details on the way Afghan refugees are being vetted.

“How many Afghan nationals are waiting on background checks at a transit site? How many Afghan nationals have been paroled into the United States?” the Republican senators asked. “What specific categories, classes, or criteria constitute the Administration’s definition of ‘vulnerable Afghans’? How many individuals who have been paroled into the United States fall under each category, class, or criteria?”

Earlier this month, an official with the Biden administration categorically denied anyone “of concern” had made it into the country, saying there is a “second layer” of screening once a refugee gets to a U.S. entry point.

“No one has gotten into the United States or entered that is of concern,” the official said. “The administration is working with urgency and with care to enhance the screening and vetting operations to make them more efficient without compromising U.S. national security.”

Turns Out Psaki Was Wrong About Vetted Afghans. Two Were Just Indicted.

Three weeks ago, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reassured Americans that Afghan refugees, who were sloppily and chaotically put onto flights out of the country while interpreters with Special Immigrant Visa holders were left behind, were fully and properly vetted.

“I can absolutely assure you that no one is coming into the United States of America who has not been through a thorough screening and background check process,” Psaki said during the daily briefing on September 1. “There are many individuals who have not gone through that process and they have gone to lily pad countries as that process has been completed. It doesn’t mean there is a flag, it means they haven’t completed their paperwork.”

But yesterday, two Afghan men were indicted on a series of federal charges, including domestic violence and sex with a minor.

“In unrelated cases, two individuals have been charged with crimes while at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. Bahrullah Noori, 20, is charged with attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor using force against that person, and with three counts of engaging in a sexual act with a minor, with one count alleging the use of force. The indictment alleges that the victims had not attained the age of 16 years and were at least four years younger than the defendant,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin released Wednesday evening. “Mohammad Haroon Imaad, 32, is charged with assaulting his spouse by strangling and suffocating her.  The indictment alleges that the assault occurred on September 7, 2021.”

Continue reading “”

Another Russian Attack on America’s Food Supply—Because Nobody Takes Biden Seriously

Despite repeated warnings from Presidentish Joe Biden against ransomware attacks coming from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, somehow another proscribed target just got hit by the Russians.

The “somehow” was facetious, I assure you.

This time Russian hacker group BlackMatter targeted an Iowa grain co-op, demanding nearly six million dollars or else they’d leak the company’s proprietary business data.

The co-op, New Cooperative, manages “supply chains and feeding schedules on track for millions of chickens, hogs and cattle,” according to the Washington Post.

The cooperative took its computer network offline to isolate the incursion, the person said, and shuttered its soil-mapping software — a master-control system that optimizes irrigation and fertilization — as a precaution.

The whole mess has yet to be ironed out, and it remains to be seen whether or how this impacts U.S. food production at a time of supply chain troubles and rising inflation.

Continue reading “”

Chicago To Refund Police After Defunding Leads To Disaster

Last year, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the ensuing riots and unrest lead cities all across the country to cut police funding. It seems local police were to blame for the error of a single officer in a completely different community. It never made sense to me, but it happened nonetheless. One of those cities was Chicago.

As with so many other cities, Mayor Lori Lightfoot used the opportunity to grandstand by cutting funding to the police. It…did not go well.

It seems that when police resources are cut, they’re less able to do their jobs. It was a complete disaster that absolutely no one could have predicted…except everyone who wasn’t a complete Black Lives Matters shill. Even many on the left saw this as a trainwreck in the making.

Now, the Windy City is having to rethink this whole fiasco.

Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot appears to have reversed course on her failed “defund the police” efforts as soaring violent crime continues to rock the city.

What are the details?

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Lightfoot unveiled a $16.7 billion spending plan Monday that boosts funding for police, relies on federal money to help fill the city’s budget hole and funds a host of new community programs as she seeks to move Chicago past the ongoing pandemic and to address rampant gun violence.”

The proposal suggests lifting the Chicago Police Department’s annual budget to $1.9 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 2021, the news outlet reported.

Fox News added that the proposal followed “a bloody weekend that saw nine homicides across the city, 56 people shot, and an alderman attacked.”

The shocking violence is more of the same for Chicago. Since the start of 2020, the prominent Midwestern city has experienced violent crime at levels not seen in decades. And despite the city’s attempts to combat crime through alternative measures, so far in 2021, things have only gotten worse.

So now, Lightfoot wants to increase funding for the police department.

For once, it’s the right thing to do.

Continue reading “”

Austin Hits All-Time Homicide High.

“Higher crime rates in Austin are a direct results of a homeless policy that lured more transients to Austin, of police budgets that were cut so more taxpayer money could be diverted to leftwing activists, and of a Soros-backed county DA that has installed a revolving door to put dangerous criminals back on Austin’s streets without prosecuting them.”

Yeah, all those gun control laws in Illinois and Chicago sure kept this convicted felon from getting a gun.
And my guess is that the family of the murdered victim is going to own that business after their lawsuit is settled for them hiring that convict as a security guard.

Security Guard Says He Shot Unmasked Customer In Self-Defense

When can you legally act in self-defense? Laws vary from state to state, but generally, you are only legally authorized to use lethal force in self-defense if there is an immediate threat of great bodily injury or death to you or to another person. Still, it’s not uncommon for people to claim they were acting in self-defense even if the circumstances don’t fit the legal requirements.

That would appear to be the case for a security guard in Chicago charged with attempted murder and other charges after he shot a customer three times. 42-year old Chester Holmes claims he was acting in self-defense…  because the customer wasn’t wearing a mask and he was afraid of catching COVID-19.

The argument did not sway cook County Judge Mary Marubio.

“The victim fled the store, fell outside, followed by the defendant [who], according to the surveillance video, shot a second time. The defendant then paces back and forth and shot a third time,” Marubio said before ordering 42-year-old Chester Holmes held without bail.

Holmes, who is barred from possessing a weapon because he is a four-time convicted felon and registered child sex offender, was working as an armed security guard at the store on the 6000 block of South Racine when a 28-year-old man walked in without a COVID mask around 9:53 am. Monday, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Darryl Auguste.

Holmes and the victim argued about the mask policy and the victim eventually left. He then turned around and walked back in. When he did, Holmes met him with a drawn handgun and shot him, Auguste said.

After he was shot the victim fled the store, only to collapse on the ground outside. Prosecutors say Holmes then walked outside the store and shot the victim two more times before he himself fled the scene.

According to CWB Chicago, Holmes is a four-time felon who’s previously been convicted of sexually assaulting a 6-year old girl and sexually abusing a 15-year old. Holmes also served two stints in prison for failing to register as a sex offender for those crimes, yet somehow Holmes was hired as an armed guard for the store despite being prohibited by state and federal law from lawfully possessing a firearm.

Now, it is possible to legally act in armed self-defense even as a prohibited person, but if a gun is used you’re still going to be facing felon in possession charges. Still, Holmes’ attorney is apparently trying to make the best of a really weak case by arguing that his client was acting to protect himself when he shot the returning customer.

Continue reading “”

Strict laws absolutely will not stop someone bent on mayhe

Man Kills 5, Himself in UK’s First Mass Shooting in Decade

LONDON (AP) — A young man who killed five people, including his mother, and then took his own life in Britain’s first mass shooting in over a decade had complained online about difficulties meeting women and being “beaten down” by life.

Police said Friday the motive for the shootings was unclear but there were no immediate signs that the crime was an act of terrorism or the 22-year-old gunman had connections to extremist groups.

They identified the shooter as Jake Davison, 22, and said he had a gun license, but revealed few other details. Witnesses reported that he used a pump-action shotgun, police said, though they wouldn’t confirm what type of weapon it was and whether it was the one Davison was licensed to use.

Gun crimes are rare in Britain, which has strict firearm control rules.

Police responded to multiple emergency calls at 6:11 p.m. Thursday arrived six minutes later at an address in Plymouth’s Keyham neighborhood, where Davison had shot and killed his mother, 51-year-old Maxine Davison, also known as Maxine Chapman.

According to police accounts, Davison left the house and immediately shot and killed a 3-year-old girl, Sophie Martyn, and her father, Lee Martyn, 43. He then shot and wounded two other people down the street whom police haven’t identified.

Police said Davison moved on to a park where he shot Stephen Washington, 59, who died at the scene, and then to a nearby street, where he shot Kate Shepherd, 66 on a nearby street. She died later in hospital.

Eyewitnesses reported that Davison shot himself before police arrived. He was licensed to use a gun last year and police are checking whether he had the license before then.

Shaun Sawyer, chief constable for Devon and Cornwall police, told reporters that investigators are not sure what Davison’s motive was and keeping open minds but do not think extremist ideology prompted the attack.

Continue reading “”

Triangle [Virginia} man shot and killed by Dale City homeowner in self defense tied to string of armed robberies

A 20-year-old Triangle man who was fatally shot last month by a Dale City woman in what police determined was a justified act of self-defense has been connected to five recent armed robberies at area 7-Eleven stores, police said Monday.

The man, identified as Azhar Laurent Smart, 20, of Triangle, was found by police suffering a gunshot wound at 12:25 a.m. on Thursday, July 22, outside a home in the 4100 block of Hoffman Drive, a residential area off Prince William Parkway near the Sheetz gas station, according to a news release issued at the time.

Smart was shot by a resident of the home who told police he approached her while she was outside walking her dog. Police later determined that Smart was wearing a face mask and was armed with a handgun when he was shot, according to the police news release.

Smart was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died from his wounds, the release said. The Dale City resident who shot Smart was not identified and was not injured, according to police.

On Monday, Aug. 2, police said a subsequent police investigation into the handgun Smart was carrying determined it matched a firearm that was discharged during a July 16 armed robbery at the 7-Eleven on Dale Boulevard in Woodbridge.

During that robbery, the lone suspect fired a round after taking money from the store. No injuries were reported. The shell casing collected at the scene was compared to the weapon recovered at the July 22 homicide and was determined to be a match, 1st Sgt. Jonathan Perok, Prince William County police spokesman, said in an Aug. 2 news release.

Detectives have been investigating the July 16 robbery in connection to four other robberies that occurred at 7-Eleven stores in Woodbridge and Dumfries since late June involving a suspect with the same description, clothing and behaviors observed in all five incidents, Perok said in the Aug. 2 release.

The other robberies occurred at 7-Eleven stores on Fraley Boulevard in Dumfries on July 5, where a shot was also fired, and locations on Cloverdale Road on July 3, Darbydale Avenue on June 29, and Minnieville Road on June 28, Perok said.

“Detectives became increasingly concerned over the robberies escalating after the suspect was found to have discharged a handgun during the two more recent incidents. Forensic examination of the shell casing recovered on July 5 is ongoing,” Perok said.

At the time of the July 22 homicide, the deceased was wearing clothing that was also observed in the reported robberies, Perok said.

“Following the investigations into this robbery series, all known evidence indicates the deceased was responsible for all five incidents,” Perok said.

Detectives are still looking into why Smart was at that particular house on Hoffman Drive on July 22, Perok said.

Federal law-enforcement officials from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives contributed to the investigation, Perok said.

Man Behaving Erratically Shot, Killed After Entering Pleasant Hill Home

PLEASANT HILL [California] — A man who was behaving erratically was shot and killed Tuesday evening after entering a home, according to Pleasant Hill police.

It happened at about 5:45 p.m. on Shadow Mountain Court near Camelback Road. Several 911 callers reported a suspect was vandalizing parked cars and trying to get inside homes, according to police.

Responding officers, along with the 911 dispatcher heard several gunshots and discovered a male intruder in the living room of a home suffering from a gunshot wound.

The victim was transported to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek where he succumbed to his injuries.

Authorities have not released the suspect’s name or identified the shooter.

Police said the residents of the home, along with witnesses were cooperating with the investigation. There are no other suspects at this time.

More information may be released later.

Gun Control Isn’t Needed, Criminal Control Is

It seems lately that so many publications with the word “Christian” in the name have been on a gun control push lately. It’s kind of creepy, actually, especially since so many evangelicals identify as pro-Second Amendment.

Frankly, there’s nothing particularly Christian about gun control. Even Christ himself told his followers to arm themselves, for crying out loud. Yet we keep seeing the anti-gun narrative expressed in Christian outlets.

I mention that because, well, it’s nice to see the other side presented.

Continue reading “”

The ‘epidemic’ is not that there are committees of vigilance roaming the streets – a blatant canard since, if true, would likely reduce crime – but that there are criminal street gangs roaming the streets of major metropolitan cities, shooting up each other’s members (as well as a lot of unintended targets) with the membership demographic causing the majority of this; black men, ages 14 to 35.

The ACLU Claims the Second Amendment Is Racist, But Gun Control Has the Real Record on Systemic Oppression
To date, black Americans are more likely than any other group to suffer the adverse impacts of gun control laws.

The ACLU fired shots on Twitter last month, claiming that the Second Amendment is “racist” alongside an article and podcast episode that posed the question “Do Black People Have the Right to Bear Arms?”

The article, written by Ines Santos, claimed that gun violence in America — which she labeled an “epidemic” caused by widespread “vigilante” firearm ownership — negatively impacts black people because of racially discriminatory policing. “What is absent in the intense debates on gun rights in America is the intrinsic anti-blackness of the unequal enforcement of gun laws,” she wrote.

Santos went on to say that racism determined the Second Amendment’s inclusion in the Bill of Rights.

These are hefty charges worth examining. Let’s break down the claims made here and review the history.

Continue reading “”

Just may be me, but I detect a pattern that’s the cause of the problem.
Can you spot it too?

ABC News Launches Weeklong Special on Crime Waves in Democrat-Run Cities

ABC News is running a weeklong special which examines the crime waves engulfing Democrat-run cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York.

Although the information is presented as national problem, the title is “One Nation Under Fire,” ABC News’ coverage began by mentioning shootings that occurred in Milwaukee during the celebration resulting from the Milwaukee Bucks wining the NBA finals.

Milwaukee is a Democrat-run city as are a host of others that are featured as exemplars requiring new, harsh gun control restrictions.

The evidence suggests otherwise:

ABC News noted they “dug” down and discovered “violence occurs disproportionately in poorer, urban areas — from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York City.”

Moreover, in looking at the gun violence that occurred around the nation last week, they noted “Illinois…topped the list for most people wounded from firearms at 124.”

Chicago is located in Illinois, and Breitbart News reported 13 were shot Thursday of last week in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago, and nearly 30 people were shot on Wednesday.

ABC News also noted in Philadelphia, “the gun-related death toll has already surpassed 300 this year.”  Philadelphia is another Democrat-run city.

ABC News also covered an accidental shooting “in a dark church parking lot in Utah” on the night of July 17/18. This and similar mentions of isolated incidents allowed them to talk of gun violence without isolating the Democrat-run cities.

Little-Known California Gun Control Law A Great Big Failure

One of the lesser known California gun control laws is its Armed and Prohibited Persons system; a statewide database of known prohibited persons who are believed to still have firearms in their possession. The law, which was put on the books about twenty years ago, is supposed to allow law enforcement to go out and take guns from those who aren’t allowed to have them. As the website CalMatters reports, however, that’s not what’s happening. Instead, the law appears to be an unmitigated disaster.

But what seemed at the time like a straight-forward approach to the enforcement of existing gun laws has instead become mired in chronic shortcomings, failing for years to make good on its potential. Successive administrations have vowed to fix the problems, but all have fallen short.

Today, the state is struggling to recover thousands of guns from people who have been ordered to surrender them. At the start of the year, the list compiled by the state Department of Justice had swelled to 24,000 individuals, the most ever. The pandemic only worsened the mounting backlog of cases when some state Justice Department agents were pulled from field enforcement.

“We are lucky to have a system that tells us this information,” said Julia Weber, a former supervising attorney for the state courts’ administration who now works on gun policy issues for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “But it’s disheartening. It’s a failure of the promise of the system.”

With all of the other failures of gun control, you’d think an anti-gun activist like Julia Weber would be used to the disappointment by now, but apparently not.

While the backlog of prohibited persons has grown to an all-time high, the failures of the system have been apparent for years. As California Rifle & Pistol Association President Chuck Michel outlined in 2019, under then-Attorney General Kamala Harris, the APPS program was plagued with issues.

Continue reading “”

Gainesville Spree Shooter Used Stolen Guns

The media tells us mass shootings are on the rise, that such shootings are happening several times a day. We just can’t keep up with all of these shootings. This, we’re told, is evidence that we need more gun control. However, what about the number of these shooters using stolen guns?

See, I ask because I wrote about a shooting in Tucson over the weekend where the shooter was a felon and couldn’t legally own a firearm. That weapon was most likely a stolen firearm bought off the black market. We don’t know for certain about that yet.

We do know about a shooting in Gainesville, Florida, though.

Shortly after five teens were shot during a party at Gainesville’s American Legion hall June 24, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office recovered a gun used in the shooting.
It had been stolen in Alachua, yet another filched weapon to be used in the ongoing gun violence committed by teens or young adults.
“These kids can’t go into a gun dealer, put their ID on a table and say ‘I want to buy that gun.’ And felons cannot possess guns. Because of that, they have to get them illegitimately,” Gainesville Police Chief Tony Jones said. “We know several guns were used (in the American Legion shooting). They could be out on the street now.”……..…
Everytown For Gun Safety, a nonprofit gun control advocacy group, reports on its website that theft does play a sizable role. It cites several studies.
“Gun thefts often divert guns into an underground market where people with dangerous histories are easily able to obtain firearms without restriction,” Everytown states. “That is why stolen guns are often recovered at crime scenes, including at the scenes of homicides and other violent crimes.”
Gainesville attorney Robert Rush, who is representing one of the children wounded at the American Legion, said his experience shows that stolen guns are often used in crimes and often get resold or passed around to be used in other crimes — an observation backed up by police.
Rush said he has found data that a stolen gun will be used in a homicide within a year — which has been borne out in cases he has taken on.

In other words, even Everytown agrees that stolen guns represent the lion’s share of the problem. However, as I noted with the Tuscon story on Tuesday, the media uses statistics like those found at the Gun Violence Archive and presents those uncritically, as if they tell the whole story. However, many of those so-called mass shootings aren’t. They’re criminal shootings like this and they use stolen guns.

Meanwhile, some will try and use those statistics to justify more gun control when even Everytown admits that many of these firearms are stolen from lawful and law-abiding gun owners.

Remember that when the subject comes up.

The truth of the matter is that the majority of crimes are committed with firearms that were obtained illegally. That’s why so many of us are skeptical of the idea that gun control will somehow impact criminals rather than us, the law-abiding gun owners and gun buyers. After all, it never has before, so why would it now?

Even when talking about the supposed hundreds of mass shootings reported in the media, gun control didn’t stop many of those, as we can see here.

BLUF:
Gun control proponents may never admit the numerous failures under their policies. But sometimes actions speak louder than words

Cuomo’s Emergency Order on Gun Violence Reveals the Failure of Gun Control

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency over gun violence in the state.

The nation has seen a spike in crime in many places during the pandemic, but New York’s increase in violence has garnered heightened attention from viral videos of sudden sidewalk attacks, brutal subway abuse, and random gunfire in Times Square. New York’s increase in gun crimes does indeed outpace many other states. New York City experienced a 73 percent increase in shooting incidents between May of 2020 and May of 2021. In comparison, Washington DC, which also experienced a spike in gun crimes, reported a 23 percent increase during the first five months of 2021.

And yet, New York has long employed some of the strictest gun laws in the country. In the city, where most of the violence is concentrated, it is virtually impossible for anyone outside of law enforcement to obtain a gun permit—they often can’t even have them in their homes, much less on their person.

Commenting on his executive order, Cuomo said there are currently more people dying in New York by gun violence and crime than of COVID-19. “We went from one epidemic to another epidemic,” he said. “We went from Covid to the epidemic of gun violence and the fear and the death that goes along with it.”

The governor also picked up a familiar talking point that other leaders in strict gun control areas have relied on when facing rampant gun violence. He blamed neighboring states. According to Cuomo, many of the illegal guns in the state are purchased from outside of New York. “I have a vision of a border war because we wasted so much time and money in this nation fighting illegal immigration,” he said. “Illegal immigration is not killing Americans! Illegal guns are killing Americans.”

While not all of the policies under Cuomo’s new plan to combat violence focus on gun control, his executive order indicates these policies will get more than their fair share of resources.

Continue reading “”