Category: Crime

Does Gun Control Save Lives or Cost Lives?

The world is violent. Lots of people think that we should pass more laws to make the world safer and less violent. It sounds obvious that we could reduce the number of criminals who use weapons by passing more gun-control laws. We’re not the first ones to think of that. We have thousands of gun-control regulations on the books already. I’ve been looking at the subject of gun-control and personal safety for a decade. I think gun-control laws put us at risk. The reasons are complex and not necessarily obvious.

Let’s be clear what is not under discussion here. We’re not talking about rights. Some people say they have a right to “be safe”. Some people say they have a right to “self-defense”. What you have a right to do may not have anything to do with how laws actually work in practice. Let’s look at what we already know.

We know that criminals commit violent crimes with a firearm about 510 times a day. That data is from 2019. That is the last year where the FBI has data from all 50 states.

Isn’t it obvious that we need more laws to stop those criminals? Shouldn’t we pass another law even if it only stopped a single crime? Isn’t that the least we should do?

I like that you obey the law and you think other people obey the law too. The problem of violent crime is more complex. There is more violent crime, much more than I’ve mentioned so far.  There are also lots of gun-control laws. Last, and certainly not least, honest citizens stop a lot of violent crimes because the intended victim had a gun of their own. Each of those factors has a vital influence on what gun-control laws can actually accomplish.

While it is true that criminals use guns to commit crimes, criminals also commit crimes without using a gun. In fact, that’s closer to the rule than the exception. Only one-out-of six violent criminals used a firearm (15 percent). That means that taking guns from every criminal would still leave us with a lot of non-gun crime. The remaining five-out-of-six violent criminals would still commit their acts of violence. And that assumes the currently-armed criminal will suddenly become peaceful if we took away his gun. That isn’t very realistic. Taking the gun away from a violent criminal doesn’t turn him into a nice person who obeys the law.

But we have to do something. We can’t just let armed criminals hurt people. Why shouldn’t we pass more laws?

Those are good questions, but what makes you think we haven’t “done something” already? We have over 23-thousand firearms regulations on the books today. And anti-gun politicians pass more gun-control laws every week. We should certainly be safe by now if ink-on-paper was all it took to stop crime. We’ve tried that approach tens-of-thousands of times.

OK, maybe those gun-control laws didn’t work.  We just need to write ones that will.

Let’s think this through a little more before we propose more laws. Life is more complex than what we see on the news. Bad guys are not the only ones who use guns. Good guys use guns too, a lot. Honest citizens legally use their firearms between 1.6 and 2.5-million times a year to stop violent crime or to prevent great bodily injury. That is over 4,500-times-a-day that honest citizens use a gun to save lives in the United States. Four-out-of-ten households have a gun today. One-out-of-a-dozen citizens are legally carrying a concealed firearm in public every day.

That is hard to believe. Why don’t I know that? How do I know you’re telling me the truth if the news didn’t show those stories?

Those are good questions. Those are brilliant questions. The answer will take more than a minute.

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Study: 27 of the 30 Cities with Highest Murder Rate Are Democrat Run

A study published by the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Judicial and Legal Studies shows that 27 of the 30 cities with the highest murder rates are controlled by Democrats.

FOX News noted that the study indicates “27….[of the 30 cities] have Democratic mayors. Within those cities, there are at least 14 “rogue prosecutors” either backed or inspired by billionaire Democrat supporter George Soros.”

The Daily Signal reported that the authors of the study–Charles Stimson, Zack Smith, and Kevin D. Dayaratna–noted, “Those on the Left know that their soft-on-crime policies have wreaked havoc in the cities where they have implemented those policies.”

Stimson, Smith, and Dayaratna added:

It is not hard to understand why ‘reforms’ such as ending cash bail, defunding the police, refusing to prosecute entire categories of crimes, letting thousands of convicted felons out of prison early, significantly cutting the prison population, and other ‘progressive’ ideas have led to massive spikes in crime—particularly violent crime, including murder—in the communities where those on the Left have implemented them.

The study undercuts Hillary Clinton’s claim that Republicans’ emphasis on crime and violence in Democrat-run cities was not valid.

On November 3, 2022, CNN quoted Clinton suggesting Republicans were “just trying to gin up all kinds of fear and anxiety in people.”

She added, “[The Republicans] are not dealing with it. They are not trying to tackle it. So I view it as an effort to scare voters.”

The bungler was armed with a hammer.

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Capitol Police, FBI and San Francisco Police Launch Joint Investigation Into Pelosi Home Break-in

The United States Capitol Police (USCP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the San Francisco Police are launching a “joint investigation into a break-in” at the California home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to a U.S. Capitol Police statement distributed by the speaker’s office.

“During the California break-in, the Speaker’s husband [Paul Pelosi] was assaulted, but he is now recovering. The San Francisco Police Department has the suspect in custody. The motivation for the attack is still under investigation,” read the statement released on Friday.

“Special Agents with the USCP’s California Field Office quickly arrived on scene, while a team of investigators from the Department’s Threat Assessment Section was simultaneously dispatched from the East Coast to assist the FBI and the San Francisco Police with a joint investigation,” the statement also read.

Pelosi’s office said the speaker was not in California when the assault occurred.

Now, we’ve all heard from those people who don’t even want armed, in uniform, police resource officers in schools. These people are pro-criminal.
Of course, even if you do have armed security in a school, they have to have the fortitude to use their arms, not just stand around.

Good Guys with Guns End Monday Morning Attack at St. Louis School

A shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School (CVPA) Monday morning shortly after nine was “quickly stopped” by police inside the school.

Fox2Now points out that “an adult female” and a teenager were killed in the shooting. The shooting suspect is deceased as well.

Police indicate there were seven active officers on the campus and there was “an exchange of gunfire” between the suspect and police. KMOV reports that the shooting suspect had a long gun and was “a man around 20 years old.”

At 9:47 a.m. St. Louis Public Schools tweeted: “Police are on site at Central Visual and Performing Arts this morning following reports of an active shooter and both CVPA and Collegiate are on lockdown. The shooter was quickly stopped by police inside CVPA. We have reports of 2 students injured and on the way to the hospital.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes,  “David Williams, a math teacher at the school, said the school principal came over the loudspeaker around 9 a.m. and said the code word that indicates a school shooter is in the building.”

Williams said he then heard gunshots outside of his classroom.

Just because you carry a gun, and even if you’ve had training, doesn’t mean that you’re going to outshoot the badguys.

66-Year-Old Chicago Liquor Store Owner Dies In Shootout

A Chicago liquor store owner got shot and killed Monday night while defending himself against an armed robber.

Police said a man entered J&K Food and Liquors and pulled a handgun. He demanded money from 66-year-old Salim Khamo, the owner working behind the counter. They do not know why the armed robber fired his gun, but police say the robber shot first, and Khamo fired back but missed his attacker. The assailant left the store on foot without taking any money or merchandise.

The Chicago Fire Department took the victim to the hospital, and although he was initially listed as critical, he ultimately died from his wounds. Khamo was a refugee from Iraq and opened the store 17 years ago. Family members said Khamo was just a few weeks from retirement.

WGN News released this statement from his family:

“My father was the most compassionate and hard-working man I know. He left Iraq as a refugee to escape persecution and to build a better life for his family. The store was a testament to his honest work, and he was so proud of all the risks he took to provide more for his family. He is survived by his wife, three children, and seven grandchildren, who he loved more than anything else in this world. Nothing brought him more joy than to watch his family continue to grow in the new life he had started here for them. His grandkids were his light and joy. They could brighten his smile every time they saw him. We would also like to say to whomever is responsible for this senseless act of violence, I hope you are brought to justice for taking the life of such a loved and honored man.”

The video that the Chicago Police Department released pauses before the actual shooting, but there may have been a brief period when someone could have gotten off a defensive shot. You can see the robber entering the store. He casually sticks his hand in his pocket when he walks up to the counter. He then produces what looks like a semi-auto handgun from his pocket, all while looking away from the store owner, who is behind the counter.

Many people that carry a gun for self-defense will look at this and say he should have shot his attacker immediately, but you never know how you will respond until you have been in a high-stress situation. It was long ago, but I still remember entering a house fire with a rookie. He had been through training, and nothing would have led anyone to believe the guy was not ready. When we went up the steps of the house, the real world set in, and he could not do it. The training was one thing, but once you feel the heat from the flames and smoke so thick you can not see your hand in front of your face, you never know what you will do.

You can have all the training in the world, but at the end of the day, your head has to be in the game, and you need to be psychologically ready for the fight. Physical skills will mean nothing if you have not thought everything through ahead of time and mentally prepared yourself.

We may never know if the store owner hesitated or maybe did not even have his gun close enough to get to it in time. He didn’t go down, though, without a fight, and hopefully, the criminal that did it will be found, and they toss away the key.

Okay, update on the Raleigh massacre.
Why the type of gun wasn’t mentioned?
Nailed it: Shotgun. And that doesn’t fit the gun banner’s narrative, so this will be shoved down the memory hole by Monday. And all SloJoe could do is replay he want’s to ban ‘assault weapons’.

Raleigh Active Shooter VIDEO: Multiple Dead

A 15-year-old active shooter, wearing camouflage and wielding a shotgun, randomly shot and killed five people near a trail in Raleigh, North Carolina. Video emerged from the scene, showing a massive law enforcement response.

Alright. so this was something personal and then the kid decides to go out in a blaze of hate.
Also, since no one is commenting on the gun used, we can be pretty confident, it’s not an AR, but a shotgun or rifle the kid stole from his parents.

Raleigh shooting suspect identified as younger brother of slain victim, law enforcement source says

The suspected gunman in Thursday’s deadly mass shooting in Raleigh, North Carolina, has been identified as the younger brother of one of the five people killed in the rampage, a law enforcement source confirmed to CBS News. The suspect, who was identified as a 15-year-old boy, is the brother of 16-year-old James Roger Thompson, CBS News’ Pat Milton reports.

CBS News is not naming the suspect due to his age.

Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the suspect is in critical condition. According to the law enforcement source, the suspect suffered an apparent self-inflicted wound.

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Suspect, 15, taken into custody after 5 shot dead, 2 injured in Raleigh neighborhood, North Carolina officials say

A 15-year-old suspect was taken into custody after a “long standoff” with police in connection with a shooting that killed five people and left two others injured Thursday evening in Raleigh, North Carolina, officials said.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called the shooting spree, “the nightmare of every community.”

The shooting unfolded in a neighborhood northeast of central Raleigh and prompted warnings for residents to stay inside. One of the fatally wounded was an off-duty police officer, Mayor Mary-Anne Baldwin said.

In a news conference Friday morning, Raleigh police chief Estella D. Patterson said the suspect was taken into custody after an effort by a coalition of local safety agencies, and he is in critical condition.

He was not identified.

Raleigh shooting spree suspect in critical condition

Patterson said the victims who were killed ranged in age from 16 to 52.

They were identified as: Nicole Connors, 52, Susan Karnatz, 49, Mary Marshall, 35, off-duty Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres who was on his way to work, 29, and a 16-year-old white male. NBC affiliate WRAL of Raleigh reported the teen victim was James Roger Thompson.

In addition to the deceased, two people were injured in the shooting: Raleigh Police Officer Casey Clark, 33, who was treated and since released from the hospital, and Marcille Gardner, 59, who remains in critical condition.

An off-duty officer was killed as police responded to a shooting in an east Raleigh, N.C., neighborhood Thursday afternoon.WRAL

“Tonight terror has reached our doorstep,” Cooper told reporters Thursday evening. “The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed.”

Baldwin said: “We have to end this mindless gun violence that is happening across our country. There are too many victims. We have to wake up.”

Patterson said Friday morning the crime scene was “expansive” and stretched over two miles.

Police responded to a call about a person shot shortly after 5 p.m. in the 6000 block of Osprey Cove Drive. Patterson said the shootings unfolded in the streets of the neighborhood, then the suspect fled towards the Neuse River Greenway, where more victims were shot.

The police department advised residents in the leafy neighborhood known as Hedingham to remain indoors. Aerial video from NBC affiliate WRAL showed a large police presence.

A witness named Robert Anderson told NBC’s “TODAY” that he saw the gunman from his back deck.

“He had a camouflage shirt, camouflage pants, black boots, he also had a backpack that looked like it was filled to the brim,” he said in an interview aired Friday.

“He was walking, and when I tell you he was walking, it was like nothing had happened,” Anderson explained. “He was just walking looking straight forward, he had his gun on his side and it was pointed downwards and he was just walking.”

Another witness who spotted the apparent gunman told WRAL that she saw neighbors trying to help the off-duty officer, who was inside a car bleeding.

The witness told the station that she saw the gunman run from the scene and disappear into a nearby park. He was wearing black boots and appeared to be a teenager, she said.

“He looked like a baby,” she told WRAL, adding: “I just don’t even have the words to explain. This is not OK.”

Police: Two People Dead, Six More Wounded in Stabbing Attack on the Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Two people are dead and six more are hospitalized after a mass stabbing on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday morning.

Three of the victims are in critical condition, said Capt. Dori Koren with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

This, after police were called to a casino in the 3100 block of Las Vegas Boulevard at 11:41 a.m. on reports of a stabbing with multiple victims.

The suspect was taken into custody in front of the Venetian, reportedly with a significant amount of blood “on his sleeves.” Police said multiple victims were transported to area hospitals with “unknown extent of injuries.”

Five of the patients were taken to University Medical Center’s trauma center for treatment, a hospital spokesperson confirmed:

“One patient is in critical condition and one patient has passed away. Two of the patients are in serious condition and one is in fair condition. Our team members at the UMC Trauma Center continue to work tirelessly to provide these patients with the highest level of care available.”

Witnesses at the scene tell 13 Action News reporter Joe Moeller the stabbings occurred in multiple locations and some of the victims involved may have been showgirls, who take photos with tourists on the Strip.

Moeller spoke to one woman who said the injured showgirls are her employees. She tells KTNV the suspect told the women he was a chef and asked to pose for a photo with them while holding a knife. When the women declined his offer, he stabbed them, she said.

One witness from Canada shared a photo with 13 Action News of a showgirl being taken away from the scene on a stretcher.

Another witness, Pierre Fandrich of Montreal, Canada, spoke to KTNV through a translator. He says he was walking along the strip when he thought he heard “three or four showgirls laughing,” though it turned out to be screaming. Fandrich says he saw “a lot of blood” as one woman ran across the bridge, one was on the ground and another — with an apparent stab wound on her back — tried to help the woman on the ground. Another person approached them and attempted to help the woman on the ground by doing CPR until the police arrived, Fandrich says.

At first, Fandrich says he “thought a girl fell from the bridge because there was a lot of blood on the ground.” Fandrich did not see the suspect in the aftermath because “everything happened so fast.”

Another witness shared a video of one of the victims, which has been blurred due to its graphic nature.

A witness visiting Las Vegas from Los Angeles recalls seeing one victim “laying on the ground near the shops” and being attended to by one of the security guards. The witness said they were in the Wynn at the time of the attack but came upon the scene after leaving the resort.

Traffic along Spring Mountain at Las Vegas Boulevard will remain shut down while an investigation into the incident is conducted by LVMPD.

Clark County issued the following statement regarding the incident:

The Clark County Coroner identified two victims of the stabbing as Brent Allan Hallett, 47, of Las Vegas, and Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, of Las Vegas.

BLM Rioter Who Murdered Retired St. Louis Police Captain Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole

The 26-year-old man convicted of killing retired St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday.

Stephan Cannon’s sentencing comes after a jury convicted him in July of fatally shooting Dorn in June 2020. The 77-year-old was responding to a burglary alarm at a friend’s pawn shop during a night of Black Lives Matter rioting when Cannon shot him.

Cannon was convicted in July on all of felony charges he faced, including first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, stealing $750 or more, unlawful possession of a firearm, and three counts of armed criminal action…..

Update: Man Who Ran Over Republican Teen in North Dakota Now Charged With Felony Murder

Charges have been upgraded for Shannon Brandt, the suspect who allegedly ran over 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson on September 18 for being a Republican in McHenry, North Dakota.

According to local news, Foster County State’s Attorney Kara Brinster filed new criminal charges against Brandt including Murder, which is a Class AA Felony, and Duty in Accident Involving Death or Injury, a Class B Felony. The charges of vehicular homicide were dropped in lieu of the upgrade.

Early on the morning of Sunday, September 18, Brandt is accused of running down Ellingson, of Grace City, North Dakota, after a street dance held at a local bar. Brandt told State Radio that the young man was part of a “Republican extremist group” and that his targeting of Ellingson was politically motivated.

There is “no evidence” Ellingson was part of any such group, according to North Dakota police. Witnesses have said that the two did not engage in a verbal dispute.

New details emerged from the new filings, as Brandt called 911 and spoke with dispatcher, or State Radio, and said, “I just wanna ask you a question, am I going to go to prison?”

Brandt also said “he [Ellingson] wasn’t going to let me go, I hit him” and “he’s subdued.”

“He can’t do anything to me now,” Brandt told the dispatcher.

An autopsy showed that there were no acceleration marks or skid marks near the location of the 18-year-old victim’s body, indicating no rushed or threatened vehicle acceleration.

Further, the autopsy indicates that Ellingson’s primary injuries were caused from the SUV running over him, not from an initial impact.

The 18-year-old called his mother as Brandt chased him in his SUV to ask if she knew Brandt. She told her son she was on her way to get him directly before Brandt allegedly murdered the young man by running him down.

Liberal Networks Avoid North Dakota Teen Killed by Man Who Dubbed Victim a ‘Republican Extremist’

The liberal media has long decried the threat of violent right-wing extremism, but when the violence allegedly targets the right, news organizations largely turn a blind eye.

Eighteen-year-old North Dakotan Cayler Ellingson was allegedly targeted and killed by drunken 41-year-old motorist Shannon Brandt following a “political argument,” according to court documents that revealed Brandt’s account of what transpired.

Brandt, who initially fled the scene after hitting the teen with his SUV, told police that Ellingson had belonged to a “Republican extremist group.” Brandt was released on $50,000 bond.

None of the five major news networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC — have offered any on-air coverage to the attack on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Grabien transcripts………

North Dakota Official Says ‘No Evidence’ Supports Suspect’s Claim

A North Dakota official said that there’s “no evidence” supporting Shannon Brandt’s claim that 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson was part of a “Republican extremist group” before he allegedly used his car to hit the teenager, who later died.

Brandt, 41, is being charged with criminal vehicular homicide, as well as leaving the scene of a crash involving a death after the incident in the early Sunday morning hours. He was held in the Stutsman County Jail until Tuesday, when he posted a $50,000 bond and was released.

The incident happened after a “street dance” in McHenry, North Dakota and Brandt told state first responders’ radio that he struck the pedestrian with an SUV because the pedestrian was threatening him,” a probable-cause affidavit states. The document also states that Brandt fled the scene, but later returned and called 911.

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“Crisis of Crimes”: New Orleans Becomes Murder Capital of America

Progressives in top city leadership positions have helped transform New Orleans into the murder capital of America.

WSJ reported the Louisiana city on the Mississippi River, near the Gulf of Mexico, recorded the highest homicide rate of any major city so far this year, with 41 homicides per 100,000 residents.

Metropolitan Crime Commission Inc., a nonprofit that works on crime-reducing strategies in the city, said the homicide rate is up 141% compared with the same period in 2019. It pointed out carjackings are up 210%, shootings 100%, and armed robberies up 25%.

“The homicide rate is on pace to surpass last year’s rate, which was the worst since Hurricane Katrina in 2005,” WSJ noted. 

The city’s alarming spike in the homicide rate comes at the same time as “progressive prosecutor” Jason Williams became the district attorney of the metro area in early 2021. He promised a “more selective” approach to prosecutions that goes “beyond punishment.”

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Demand for private security is booming in Minneapolis.

In June 2020, the Minneapolis city council famously vowed to defund the police department. Though their plans fell through, the fully funded MPD is nonetheless struggling. More than 250 officers have resigned or retired since then. Earlier this year, the Minneapolis supreme court ruled that the city has a duty to staff the MPD with a minimum of 731 sworn officers, but the department is at least 100 officers short of that target. Meantime, crime has spiked, with 96 homicides in 2021—doubling the number in 2019 and tying a 1995 record.

Private security has stepped into the breach. The number of licenses approved for new private providers rose from 14 in 2019 to 27 in 2021, according to data from Minnesota’s Board of Private Detective and Protective Agent Services. Demand is exploding as businesses increasingly opt for private guards over off-duty cops.

Christopher Forest started his private security firm, Unparalleled Security, after the rioting of 2020. Today, he has 175 employees. Forest did not set out to start a private security firm, having previously worked as CEO of Minnesota’s largest valet-parking company. But after June 2020, his clients began approaching him with requests for security guards. These clients had once hired off-duty police officers for their security needs, but the MPD’s image after the George Floyd killing made that more difficult.

“I think it just had to do with the temperature in the room when you have a police officer in a venue versus an unarmed security guard,” Forest says.

Michael MacDonald, who runs a smaller private security firm called JomsVikings Protection and Security, agrees. “Stores do not want cops out in front because of the negative attention it can bring to their facilities,” says MacDonald. His license to operate was issued July 31, 2020. Today, he has 18 full-time and ten part-time employees.

High crime means that new clients, such as movie theaters, are entering the market for private security, says Richard Hodson, the chairman of Minnesota’s Board of Private Detective and Protective Agent Services. Hodson says he knows of a retired police officer who recently got a license to run his own private security firm but has had to turn down contracts because he cannot hire enough guards to staff them. Demand exceeds supply.

Businesses still fear negative publicity from taking an aggressive enforcement stance. Forest says retail clients instruct his guards not to confront shoplifters. “Retail is in a place where they do not want you to even address the person,” he says. “You are not to talk to them. You are not to approach them. You are not to ask to see the items in their bag. If they are purchasing something, you are asked to not look at the receipt. You are 100 percent visual deterrent, and that is all.”

That approach isn’t universal. MacDonald says that his guards sometimes confront shoplifters, but never aggressively. “When we zone in on the individual who is stealing, we go over there and we say, ‘Hey, man, we know you stole. Can you just put it back and then leave?’ We start with that approach. We don’t go right to the top,” he says. “I will only take a contract for a store if there is a clear understanding that we are strictly there for employee safety. We are not loss prevention.”

Should guards call police to stop crimes in progress? MacDonald’s personnel tend not to do so for shoplifting. Forest says that some of his guards who work for hotels do intervene if guests are engaging in illegal activities; in theory, they should call the police, but they usually don’t. “If it is not a life threatening situation, the police do not show up,” Forest says. “They let my guards de-escalate on their own.”

Even a nonconfrontational approach can escalate. MacDonald describes an incident that occurred in July: “A guy stole a bag of chips and shoved it down his pants. Our guy made an approach and was like, ‘You can keep the chips, but you still got to go.’ Well, the guy brandished a firearm out of his bag. So our guy pulled his firearm. And then the guy took off running. But our employee had the level of training to remember that he could still re-holster it, and he does not have to engage any further.” That incident merited a rare call to the MPD. “If it gets higher than a theft, like what happened with my employee, then the cops will actually come, because otherwise they are not coming,” says MacDonald.

Some Minneapolis residents still prefer to hire off-duty cops, whom the department makes available through what it calls the “buyback program.” The upscale Lowry neighborhood established the Minneapolis Safety Initiative for off-duty police to conduct patrols. Residents are trying to raise $210,000, suggesting a recurring contribution from their neighbors of $220/month for at least six months. The Minneapolis Safety Initiative attracted significant coverage, including criticism from some who argue that wealthier neighborhoods are purchasing scarce police hours.

Nevertheless, demand for private security is growing. MacDonald and Forest expect to see significant expansion in the year ahead. High crime and police shortages are changing the public-safety landscape in Minneapolis.

Say Her Name

fletcher

Some victims are more equal than others.

If I were a real MAGA extremist, I’d be able to tell you about a specific murder trend happening in America right now, but I don’t want to get on the FBI terror watch list.

What I can tell you is this: we are living in a real-life version of The Purge. Murders are up at least 44 percent in two years.

For over two years, we heard a long list of murder victims shouted on TV every day. I know by heart the names and murder circumstances of Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbury, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and many others.

This new trend is a little different. In fact, I couldn’t help noticing that some particularly gruesome recent killings have been met with a strangely subdued reaction by the mainstream media. Which is weird, because silence is violence.

Crime itself is nothing new. Like many of you, I’ve already been a victim of lots of crimes. Multiple cars broken into overnight, wallets pickpocketed at bars, that sort of thing.

I have also been the victim of a few much scarier crimes. Once, I was robbed at gunpoint. I was alone, walking home just after dusk on a prestigious East Coast college campus. The robber demanded my wallet as he jabbed his handgun into me. He snatched the $20 I gave him and ran away.

Last year, I arrived at a public park to retrieve one of my children from sports practice. As I pulled into the lot, I noticed a group of men hanging around a parked car. My inner systemic racist noticed that they were young, black, dressed like gangbangers, and smoking weed. My inner white privilege told me I should find a different place to park, immediately.

But I convinced myself that there was no way anything bad could happen here, in full daylight, in view of a playground full of kids, so I dismissed my inner “racist” and pulled into the lot.

I called my husband and told him, “I think I just interrupted a gang meetup. These guys look like they have guns.”

He told me to ignore my inner racist. “It’s broad daylight, you’ll be fine.”

Thirty seconds after hanging up with him, I heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire close by. At first I thought I was dreaming. How could my inner racist have been so right? And then I thought, oh no, I was correct in my assumption that these guys were sketchy, and now I’m going to die a “racist.”

The shots were very loud, because they were being fired three feet behind my car. The shooter was crouched down and aiming at the guys who had been standing around the parking lot and were now running for their lives. I watched him shoot one man in the stomach. The victim clutched his guts, screaming, and fell to the ground.

I tried to make myself as small as I could. I learned that you can’t get down very far when you’re stuck in the front seat of a minivan. The shooter kept blasting away, and I called my husband back, this time to say goodbye. He was an hour away, totally unable to help me, and I just managed to tell him what was happening. Then I braced myself in case a stray bullet came through my car, and like the racist that I am, I prayed and waited for death.

When the shooting stopped, there was absolute silence. That was the moment I was most afraid, since I assumed the shooter would be searching for a getaway car, and I was the perfect carjacking prospect, since I’d been the only other person dumb enough to park in the lot. Take another car, I silently begged. Please don’t take this one, with the toddler car seats in it. Do you know how expensive those are?

I heard sirens in the distance. I waited on the floor of my car until a cop tapped on my window. As he took my witness statement he told me, “This parking lot is a gang hangout for the Bloods. What in the world are you doing here?” “Trying not to be racist!” I almost said.

Ah, the Bloods, of course. That would explain why the guys running away had been wearing red, and why the shooter wore a blue baseball cap. (The Bloods are one of the two big L.A. gangs; the other is the Crips. In the 1980s, even white kids from the westside couldn’t go out wearing red or blue, since the Bloods wear red, and Crips wear blue. It is as stupid as it sounds, and if you don’t believe me, go watch the Sean Penn movie Colors.)

My “racism” had tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen. The cop then beckoned for me to get out and look at something behind my car. There were bullet casings all around my car, inches from my tires. “Your car is in the crime scene so we can’t let you leave,” he told me, as another cop strung yellow investigation tape around my parking spot.

My son emerged from the gym with his team. I stared at him and realized that if they had walked out five minutes earlier, it might have been a bloodbath. Rounds had gone through at least two nearby cars, including one containing the parent of a boy on the team, but by some miracle no other innocent people were hurt.

The cop, a Latino guy, advised me to stay away from the park, since it’s near the projects that “the gang controls.” He was telling me to listen to my inner racist! What if I’d pulled up to the parking lot, taken a look at the group of men, and decided not to go in? Would that have been the right thing to do—or the racist thing to do?

As the police officer talked to me, furious people from the neighborhood stood on the other side of the police tape and yelled things like, “Fuck you! Get the fuck out, this is our neighborhood!” Looking back, I probably should have apologized to the polite young man who screamed “white bitch,” since my “racism” is certainly what drew the police to his park that afternoon—it may have even instigated the shooting.

Common Sense is “Racism”

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Court Effectively Says ATF Can Continue Covering for Hunter Biden on Gun Buy

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “[T]he Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 8),” Judge Rudolph Contreras of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia concluded in David Codrea v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. “An order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion is separately and contemporaneously issued.”

The order ends a legal effort that started in August of 2021 and grants ATF its wish that the case involving Hunter Biden is dropped.

Attorney Stephen Stamboulieh, who filed the complaint on my behalf “for injunctive and other appropriate relief and seeking the disclosure and release of agency records” related to its investigation into Hunter Biden and a handgun reportedly belonging to him, advises that no appeal will be filed due to the unlikelihood that it would succeed.

Seriously, what did we expect? We were never under any illusion that we had a magic bullet. But we had to try for no reason other than to once more expose how the most in-your-face outrages, get a pass when people have the right connections.

As per Judge Contreras’ decision, disregarding that Hunter Biden could not have legally purchased a handgun in Delaware without illegally denying documented controlled substance abuse on the Form 4473 Transfer Record, which is a felony, his privacy interests are officially deemed to outweigh any public interest.

“Mr. Codrea cites a news article stating that an FBI-seized laptop shows that Hunter Biden allegedly sent text messages discussing the handgun incident and a police investigation,” Contreras elaborates. “The Court is skeptical that one’s private texts can so easily be repurposed into public acknowledgment of a criminal investigation.”

On top of that, “Mr. Codrea did not provide a signed privacy waiver [from Hunter Biden] . . . that might authorize the release of information. Thus, the Court will examine Hunter Biden’s privacy interests on the merits.”

Right, and what were the odds of getting that?

The rest of the cited technicalities and arguments give legal cover for the judge’s order, but realistically, there was no real hope things would be decided differently. That’s in spite of all the original reporting presented on AmmoLand (and ignored by other media) culminating in compelling photographic evidence that Biden had also obtained at least one other gun, [possibly an airgun], presumably under the same felonious circumstances. That last one has also been ignored, with the exception of social media: Twitter put a warning on my tweet to Joe Biden about it, and Facebook was reportedly handing out “fact check” suspensions to anyone sharing it.

“That no media organizations are scrambling to be the ones to ‘break’ what appears to be a directed cover-up to the general public tells us much,” I noted in a report on how a black man was punished by the Justice Department over similar gun possession and substance abuse. “So will what Barack Obama-nominated Judge Contreras order.”

Here is what the Judge ordered:

If there is any outside coverage on this, don’t look for the focus of it to be on Hunter Biden getting away with “gun felonies,” with the full cognizance of ATF and the federal courts. That said, there’s nothing to stop any person from lecturing on what we should have said from stepping up and showing so call media how it’s done.

I mean, what other reason could there be that those with greater reach and resources wouldn’t want the truth known by all?

Full-auto switches popping up in gun-controlled Connecticut

Full-auto switches take a regular Glock semi-automatic pistol and converts them into a machine gun. I don’t mean that in the sense that bump stocks supposedly do, where they really just allow you to pull the trigger stupidly fast. No, they actually turn the pistols into full-auto weapons.

As a result, they’re illegal in the US. There’s no state in which they’re OK because they fall under federal law. They shouldn’t, but they do.

Anyway, they’ve been turning up more and more in different places. It seems gun-controlled Connecticut is having an issue with them.

A tiny device capable of transforming a handgun into a mini machine gun is showing up in Connecticut, according to police reports.

The device, known colloquially as Glock “switches” or “chips,” can be quickly attached to a handgun, converting the weapon from shooting just one bullet each time the trigger is squeezed to having the capability of firing until the trigger is lifted.

A handful of the devices have been recovered by police in Connecticut in recent years, according to police reports, though it’s unclear how many of the devices are present in the state. Advocates say they pose a danger to the public because they increase the risk of bystanders being shot, and because of the apparent ease criminals are able to obtain them.

Ease criminals are able to obtain these things? Seriously?

Nah, can’t be. Gun control works, we’re told, and these things are seriously illegal. Due to the date of manufacture on these, no one can legally have one except for a handful of exceptions. How can gun-controlled Connecticut have an issue with easy access to one of the most controlled devices out there?

The report goes on to discuss the ease with which these can be obtained, such as from China or via a 3D printer.

Now, there are only a few that have been recovered, but that’s all it takes to create a panic. However, in this case, there are lessons that can be learned despite the limited numbers recovered.

You see, you can’t keep bad guys from doing bad things. If they want full-auto switches, they’ll get them, especially in this day and age.

Thankfully, there’s no mention of Connecticut lawmakers trying to pass laws banning things that are already illegal. Yeah, I know, will wonders never cease and all that, but it’s still worth mentioning.

However, there was this bit I wanted to talk about:

“I’ve heard law enforcement officers in other parts of the country refer to this as … ‘the scariest thing that has hit the streets in a long time,’” said Jeremy Stein, executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, a group that supports stronger gun laws.

Stein said the device works by essentially “bypassing” the firearms trigger mechanism, similar to a bump-stock, a device designed to make a semi-automatic weapon mimic a fully automatic rate of fire.

“There’s no legitimate civilian purpose — there is no good reason to have one of these things,” he added.

Well, yeah, there is.

You see, when the bad guys can throw down a whole lot of fire, it might be warranted for law-abiding citizens to have the means to lay down a similar amount of fire.

As it stands, we’re on an unequal footing with our adversaries should we find ourselves up against a criminal armed with a gun possessing a full-auto switch. We simply don’t have the firepower to meet that kind of force.

So having a similar full-auto switch would be a “legitimate civilian purpose.”

Now, with that said, no law-abiding citizen is likely to have one of these. I mean, by definition, if you have one you’re not likely to be law-abiding, now are you?

However, this also shows that what we need isn’t more gun control laws. This is as tightly controlled as they come under the law, and yet for less than the price of a tank of gas–OK, bad example in this day and age, but bear with me–you can get something that will turn your standard Glock into a machine pistol.

Or, you can find the files and make them yourself with a 3D printer.

Look, while I know that Connecticut hasn’t gotten the memo, gun control is dead. It doesn’t work, is unconstitutional, and is just a general waste of time.

If you can’t keep a full-auto switch out of criminal hands, how are you going to keep guns out of them?