News & Politics - Right to Bear Arms Discussion #4 - Page 8

**sunnykerr** · 03-19-2014, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Canadian owners of reclassified rifles get 2-year amnesty

Owners of two lines of rifles that the RCMP recently reclassified as prohibited will be shielded from criminal sanction for possessing them under an amnesty that took effect late last week and that will last for two years.

Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, whose office has maintained that he was not consulted on the decision to reclassify the guns, has also vowed to introduce longer-term measures in coming weeks that will protect gun owners from any future “retroactive and unpredictable decisions.”

The Conservative government, which brands itself as a champion of gun owners’ rights, has faced a barrage of criticism from gun enthusiasts after the RCMP firearms program quietly changed the status of a family of Swiss Arms-brand rifles, as well as certain Czech-made CZ-858 rifles, to prohibited from non-restricted or restricted.

So far, the RCMP has remained silent on its decision to reclassify the guns. But according to the RCMP website, officials may change their opinions about a firearms’ status if they determine that information initially provided by the importer was wrong or incomplete or if they feel a firearm can too easily be modified or converted from semi-automatic to full-automatic.

The temporary amnesty announced by Blaney was made through an order in council, which is expected to be published on the Privy Council Office website in the coming days.

“Recent decisions made by the Canadian Firearms Program have had the effect of exposing thousands of law-abiding Canadians to potential criminal sanctions. Owners of the affected firearms can rest assured that they will face no sanctions as a result of the continued possession of their private property,” Blaney said in a statement released Friday.

Blaney said the amnesty was intended as a short-term measure until a “permanent fix” is in place.

“It is our intention to bring forward measures in the coming weeks to protect all law-abiding firearms owners from these types of retroactive and unpredictable decisions,” he said.

The National Firearms Association has been encouraging gun owners to write to the prime minister to replace the Firearms Act and end the “arbitrary” reclassification of firearms.

“Gun owners should not have to worry about being made a paper criminal by bureaucratic fiat or whim,” according to a proposed letter posted on the association’s website.

See, I think a temporary amnesty is a sensible way to approach this situation.

If you'd seen that those guns look like, I think it's obvious no law-abiding citizen needs to own one. They look like something out of an '80s action movie.

But, since the RCMP is doing the right thing here, it's also understandable that people who own such weapons should have a reasonable amount of time to get rid of them before facing legal action.

**sunnykerr** · 03-22-2014, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Boy, 14, charged with shooting dead bystander on New York City bus

A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after allegedly firing a gun on a New York City bus in a suspected gang dispute, killing an innocent bystander.

Angel Rojas, 39, reportedly a Dominican immigrant and married father of two, was shot in the head.

Authorities have not located the intended target of the shooting, but have detained a teenager and the weapon he allegedly used.

New York City's homicide rate fell to a record low last year.

The shooting occurred on a bus in Brooklyn on Thursday evening.

Woodlyn Fenelus, a volunteer ambulance worker, told CBS News: "There was a lot of blood everywhere, and I saw the patient leaning against the window of the bus, holding his neck because of the injury. He was still alive."

As passengers fled, the suspect got off the bus, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district, and fired five more shots at a person running away.

Mr Rojas was taken to hospital, but died a short time later.

The New York Daily News reports that Mr Rojas' wife fell to her knees and wept when she was told of his death, at their apartment in Brownsville, east Brooklyn.

The gun violence rate may be going down, but obviously there is still work to be done when 14-year-olds can do this.

**sunnykerr** · 03-26-2014, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Firearms, grenades seized in cross-border smuggling investigation

Toronto police have arrested a man and woman in connection with a cross-border trafficking investigation.

On March 16, the Canada Border Services Agency stopped a couple and their two children as they crossed into Canada via the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Toronto police said in a statement Monday.

A search of the family's van resulted in the seizure of six concealed handguns, and a seventh was found on the man's body, police said.

Officers said they also found in the vehicle two inert hand grenades, ammunition, overcapacity magazines and knives.

Toronto police said that 34 firearms, including 20 handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, were found in a subsequent search of the couple's home.

According to the statement, a subsequent investigation also found that five firearms allegedly smuggled into Canada by the couple have been recovered at crime scenes in Toronto and Peel Region, including one used in an attempted murder.

Donald Earl Hare, 44, and Amanda Brent, 43, of Proton Station, Ont. have been charged with 73 firearm and firearm-trafficking charges.

Both are scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall on Tuesday.

Well, a good job on this arrest. That's an insane amount of weapons to try and sneak into Canada.

Where gun laws still exist. I hope.

**sunnykerr** · 03-31-2014, 05:58 PM

I had Newtown flashbacks when I saw the news today:

Quote:

Lockdown After Shots Fired Near School

A Delaware County high school was put on lockdown for more than half an hour this morning after the report of shots fired near the school.

The shots were fired near Chester High School in Chester, Pa. around 8 a.m. Monday, according to Chester Police Commissioner Joseph Bail.

Chester Upland School District superintendent Gregory Shannon said the hooting was reported about a block away at W 9th and Barclay Streets.

Bail said that police put the school on lockdown as officers investigated.

Shannon said the shooting wasn't "school related" and didn't appear to involve any students. No high schoolers were hurt.

As SkyForce10 hovered overhead, police vehicles and officers on foot could be seen in the area of the school.

The lockdown was lifted around 8:40 a.m. after police didn't find any shooting victim.

Fortunately, of course, there does not seem to have been any victim.

**sunnykerr** · 04-02-2014, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Japan to relax arms export ban

Japan is to ease its self-imposed arms export ban for the first time in almost 50 years.

In the past all military sales have effectively been banned, although there has been technology transfer to the US.

The new conditions would allow Japan to jointly develop arms with allies and give its defence industry access to new markets and technology.

The move is likely to be viewed with suspicion in China, which has accused Japan of increasing militarism.

Japan adopted a pacifist constitution after World War Two which prohibits going to war except in cases of self-defence.

It has for decades observed the "three principles" of not exporting arms to countries that are communist, subject to UN arms embargos and involved or likely to be involved in international conflicts.

These principles were adopted in 1967 and later evolved into a full self-imposed ban.

But Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to bolster national security and also normalise some of the restrictions Japan placed on itself after World War Two.

'Joint development'

Under the policy, the restrictions on exports to countries involved in conflicts or subject to UN embargos would remain.

Exports will be allowed in cases where they contributed to global peace and served Japan's security interests, Kyodo news agency reported.

Japan would impose strict screening on exports and would be transparent about the process, it said. Japan would also not allow its exports to be sold on to third parties.

"Under the new principles, we have made the procedure for transfer of defence equipment more transparent," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

"That will contribute to peace and international co-operation from the standpoint of proactive pacifism."

"And we will participate in joint development and production of defence equipment," he added.

Earlier this year, China warned against the move.

"Against the backdrop of an intensifying swing to the right for Japanese politics, the intention behind and effect of massively loosening restrictions on the export of weapons really worries people," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in February.

Late last year, Japan's cabinet approved a new national security strategy and increased defence spending in a move widely seen as aimed at China.

Over the next five years, Japan will buy hardware including drones, stealth aircraft and amphibious vehicles.

Well, I think this is a sad development.

Japan had an admirable model in terms of peace-keeping and weaponry.

And it remains one of the world's stronger economies, despite the nuclear meltdown and despite any prior sales of military arms.

So, you know, they didn't need to do this.

Logan · 04-02-2014, 10:22 PM

Another US military base with a shooting that so far is killed 3 + shooter took his own life .
16 others ibjured , three in critical condition.
FT Hood Texas , he had been in Itaq for 4 months in 2011, hr was undergoing process to see if he had PTSD.

In 2009 at Fort Hood a Gunman opened fire killing 16 ...

FT Hood is the largest Military base in the US . Over 150,000 military personnel...

**sunnykerr** · 04-03-2014, 07:13 PM

Thanks for that, Matt.

Hope you don't mind if I moved it to this thread.

There's been an update on the story:

Quote:

Fort Hood gunman Ivan Lopez 'may have snapped after row'

The US Army says there is a "strong possibility" a gunman who killed three people at a base in Texas was involved in an argument before the shooting.

Lt Gen Mark Milley formally identified the attacker as Specialist Ivan Lopez, 34, who later shot himself.

He told reporters there was "very strong evidence" that Lopez, originally from Puerto Rico, had an unstable psychological condition.

Sixteen others were wounded in the attack.

Officials have said that Lopez had served in Iraq and was being assessed for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"There may have been a verbal altercation with another soldier or soldiers," Gen Milley said.

"And there's a strong possibility that that in fact immediately preceded the shooting, but we do not have that definitively at this point, but we do have strong indications of that."

Gen Milley also told reporters: "We have very strong evidence that he had a medical history that indicates an unstable psychiatric or psychological condition… we believe that to be a fundamental, underlying causal factor."

He also confirmed that the pistol used in the attack was bought from the same store, Guns Galore in nearby Killeen, where the soldier behind the 2009 gun rampage at Fort Hood purchased his.

'Tragic'

Wednesday's shooting took place at two buildings on the base at about 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT).

The gunman walked into one of the buildings and opened fire with a .45-calibre semi-automatic pistol.

He then got into a vehicle and continued firing before entering another building and opening fire again.

It was here that Lopez was eventually stopped by military police, shooting himself in the head when confronted by a female officer in the car park.

The shooting incident lasted between 15 and 20 minutes.

Nine of those injured are reported to be in intensive care, with three in critical condition.

The shooting has shocked America's political and military community.

President Barack Obama said: "To see this unspeakable, senseless violence happen in a place where they're supposed to feel safe - home base - is tragic."

Fort Hood was the scene of a gun rampage in 2009 that left 13 soldiers dead and 32 wounded.

Maj Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death last September for that attack.

It was the deadliest attack on a domestic military installation in US history.

Hasan said he opened fire to protect Taliban insurgents from US troops who were about to deploy to Afghanistan.

The building where the attack took place has only recently been demolished to make way for a place of remembrance.

Another US soldier, Naser Jason Abdo, was jailed for life for plotting to blow up a restaurant full of troops near Fort Hood in 2011.

The Texas native and Muslim convert said he had been inspired by Hasan.

Seems to me like Fort Hood is failing in properly assessing and monitoring its staff.

Obviously, hindsight's 20-20 and all that, but it's two incidents in under five years.

And they even bought their firearms at the same store!!!

At some point, it becomes about more than "well, he snapped" or Islamic insurgents.

Something's off.

**sunnykerr** · 04-06-2014, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Two-year-old picks up gun, fatally shoots sister: Philadelphia police

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police say a 2-year-old got hold of a loaded gun and fatally shot his 11-year-old sister.

Police say the fatal bullet struck the girl's shoulder and then traveled to her chest.

Lt. John Walker says the mother was home Saturday morning with four children in a master bedroom. Police say the shooting occurred when she left the room at about 10 a.m.

The girl was rushed to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, but died a short time later.

Police believe a male friend had brought the gun to the house that day.

Prosecutors are investigating to determine if any charges will be filed.

The shooting occurred in the city's Mantua section.

Nothing new here, unfortunately.

I have my opinions, of course. They're not new either.

**sunnykerr** · 04-09-2014, 04:57 PM

Quote:

LA police station gunman 'had AK-47 in his car'

A gunman who opened fire inside a Los Angeles police station, wounding an officer, left a powerful assault rifle in his car outside, police have said.

Daniel Yealu, 29, entered the lobby on Monday night, said he had a complaint, then began shooting, police said.

He hit one officer several times before he was wounded in the ensuing shootout, police said.

The suspected gunman is in critical condition in hospital while the wounded officer is expected to recover.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Mr Yealu had left an AK-47 rifle in his vehicle parked outside the station.

"By the grace of God, the suspect did not come in with the assault weapons that he has had access to, one of which I believe was in his vehicle," Mr Beck said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Officials also found ammunition and several weapons including two assault-style rifles, a shotgun and two handguns at Mr Yealu's home.

Records showed he had been licensed to work as a security guard since 2005 and to carry a firearm since 2007.

Police say the shooting began shortly after 20:00 local time on Monday (03:00 GMT Tuesday), when a gunman entered the station's small lobby and approached its front desk.

The gunman said "I have a complaint", before he began shooting at the officers, Cdr Andrew Smith said.

Despite one of them being wounded, both were able to return fire, hitting the suspect several times.

No-one else was injured in the shooting and police say they know of no motive yet for the attack.

And this is why the notion that any Tom, Dick and Harry can purchase an AK-47 chills me to the bone.

I know, I know. There are more responsible gun owners out there than there are criminals.

Obviously, I know that.

But why a civilian, even a responsible gun owner, should ever have the need to own an AK-47 is quite beyond me, I'm afraid.

**sunnykerr** · 04-13-2014, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Three dead in Kansas City shootings

At least three people have been shot dead in attacks at a Jewish community site and a retirement home in Kansas City in the US Midwest.

Police said a suspect, a bearded white man in his 70s, was in custody.

The shootings occurred at the Jewish Community Campus at Overland Park and a nearby assisted living centre, Village Shalom, local media said.

A local hospital said it was treating a teenage boy for a gunshot wound and that he was in a critical condition.

Two people were shot dead in the car park of the Jewish Community Campus, the Jewish Community Centre of Kansas said on its Facebook page.

Another person was shot dead at Village Shalom, a retirement home several streets away from the community centre.

Local TV stations broadcast footage of police arresting a suspect at the scene.

The man appeared to shout "Heil Hitler" from the back of a police car.

Police said the suspect was not from the area.

The attack took place just before the Jewish festival of Passover.

Something's really bizarrely wrong about this story.

I mean, we're all used to shootings in the U.S., but the weird Hitler/Jewish thing just screams crazypants grandpa.

Hard to say, of course.

Not a whole lot of details coming out as yet.

**sunnykerr** · 04-16-2014, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Michael Bloomberg in $50m gun law election push

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a $50m (£30m) election year push for stricter gun laws across the US.

In an interview with the New York Times, Mr Bloomberg said his new group Everytown for Gun Safety would focus on building grassroots support.

Gun control laws face a difficult path in the US Congress, which is packed with allies of the powerful gun lobby.

But Mr Bloomberg noted that some states have tightened gun laws on their own.

'Hearts and minds'

In a co-ordinated media push on Wednesday, Mr Bloomberg said the new spending would not focus on TV advertisements but on outreach and organising campaigns, mirroring efforts by the nation's largest gun rights lobby group, the National Rifle Association (NRA).

"This is not a battle of dollars," the former mayor told NBC News. "This is a battle for the hearts and minds of America."

An ultra-wealthy financial and media mogul who served as mayor of New York from 2002-14, Mr Bloomberg has made gun control one of his central issues. He has already spent significant amounts of his own money on his campaign and helped organise a gun control group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

He spent $13m last year on an advertising campaign in an attempt to convince key US senators to support stricter background checks on gun sales.

That legislation collapsed under unanimous opposition from the Republican Party and amid reluctance among vulnerable Democrats from conservative states to take on the well-organised gun lobby.

The NRA did not comment on Mr Bloomberg's announcement, but another gun lobbying group told the Times the mayor was free to waste his considerable personal fortune on the issue.

"Frankly, I think he's going to find out why his side keeps losing," Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said.

'Take my children'

Everytown will serve as an umbrella organisation for Mr Bloomberg's existing groups, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

The push will focus on women voters, specifically reaching out to mothers online to press politicians running for the US Congress in this November's midterm election.

"The gun lobby has done a good job over the last 30 years of making a vocal minority afraid people will take their guns away," Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, told NBC.

"As a mother, I'm afraid someone is going to take my children away, and I believe at the end of the day, that emotion will carry it."

Mr Bloomberg, who first ran as a Republican and then an independent, said he would bring both Republican and Democratic leaders on to Everytown's board, and rejected criticism he was making it more difficult for Democrats to retain the US Senate this year by criticising pro-gun Democrats.

"You can tell me all you want that the Republicans would be worse in the Senate than the Democrats," he told the Times. "Maybe they would. But that's not what we're talking about here"

You know, I've come around to the position that the problem isn't the absence of common-sense legislation when it comes to guns.

It's the absence of any sort of enforcement of whatever laws are already in place, such as they are.

Until that issue is fixed, it doesn't matter how many good laws are written, does it?

People are still going to believe that their desires are the only thing that matters when it comes to guns.

**sunnykerr** · 04-23-2014, 07:40 PM

As far as I'm concerned, this is a recipe for disaster:

Quote:

What Georgia’s expansive new pro-gun law does

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed into law Wednesday a pro-gun package that groups on both sides of the gun control debate describe as exceptional.

The National Rifle Association calls it ”the most comprehensive pro-gun bill in state history.” Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun control group founded by shooting victim and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), calls it ”the most extreme gun bill in America.”

In signing the package, Deal described it a little differently: The law, which goes into effect this July, protects the basic constitutional rights of the roughly 5 percent of Georgia residents who hold licenses to carry weapons, he said.

“This law gives added protections to those who have played by the rules – and who can protect themselves and others from those who don’t play by the rules,” he said in a statement announcing the bill’s signing. The bill passed both the House and Senate with sizable leads in mid-March. In each chamber, about twice as many legislators voted for the bill than against it.

Here’s (some of) what it does, according to an end-of-session analysis by the nonpartisan state Senate Research Office, obtained by the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

First, broadly speaking, the new law expands where people with a license can carry a gun, including:
- Bars and associated parking facilities
- Government buildings (except where entry is typically screened during business hours by security personnel)
- Places of worship (only with express approval)
- School grounds (again, only with approval)
The bill expands the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, a version of which rose to prominence in the legal debate over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Before, you couldn’t invoke that defense — which provides immunity from prosecution — if you used a banned firearm in self-defense. Now, you can: “this bill provides that a person will be immune from prosecution in using deadly force in self-defense or defense of others or property even if the person utilizes a weapon in violation of [the Georgia Firearms and Weapons Act],” the report finds.
Firearms dealers no longer need to maintain records of sales and purchases.
The governor loses his authority to suspend or limit the carrying or sale of guns.
Banning or restricting lawful firearm possession in public housing is now illegal.
As the AJC reported, the new law expands the pre-emption of local laws. Before, cities could not regulate “gun shows and dealers through zoning or by ordinance,” AJC’s Kristina Torres reported. Now, that applies to all weapons.
Lamar Norton, head of the Georgia Municipal Association, said the package “would impose unnecessary costs on Georgia’s cities and opens them and other local governments up to frivolous litigation.”
The fingerprinting requirement for licenses is now removed.
No one is allowed to maintain a database of information on license holders that spans multiple jurisdictions.

Guns in bars and schools.

Dealers no longer requited to keep records of sales and purchases. Heck, it's even prohibited to keep records of that information.

And, of course, an expansion of "Stand Your Ground."

These are firearms we're talking about here. Not candy.

I realize that I tend to be way more conservative than most in my approach to gun legislation. I believe the only people who should be allowed to carry firearms are police officers and soldiers, and even then only in their formal capacity.

I have nothing against hunters. In fact, I grew up surrounded by them. Our freezer was full of game.

So, I don't know. Maybe I'm the one living in fantasy land here because I think guns are somewhat connected to gun crimes and accidental gun deaths.

It just seems to me like Georgia doesn't have much interest in looking for a solution.

**sunnykerr** · 04-29-2014, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Atlanta-area FedEx shooting leaves 6 injured, 3 critically

KENNESAW, Ga. -- A FedEx employee wearing ammunition draped across his chest "like Rambo" opened fire Tuesday at a package-sorting centre outside Atlanta, wounding six people before apparently committing suicide, police and witnesses said.

In addition to a shotgun, the gunman also had an undisclosed number of Molotov cocktails, but he did not use them in the attack, police said.

The shooter, who was not publicly identified, was found dead inside. He worked as a package handler at the sprawling facility, Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce said.

Investigators have an idea of what his motive may have been, but they were not prepared to disclose it yet, Pierce said.

Three of the wounded were hospitalized in critical condition, including two who were in surgery with life-threatening injuries.

The gunman first shot a security guard at a shack outside the building before heading inside, Pierce said.

David Titus, a FedEx truck driver, said he was just coming to work around 6 a.m. when he saw a security guard get shot in the abdomen. He said he heard more gunfire later from inside the building.

"It was chaos," Titus said. "Everyone was running, ducking and hiding, trying to get out of there."

FedEx clerk Liza Aiken said she was working when she heard something drop, looked to her left and saw the gunman.

"He had bullets strapped across his chest like Rambo" and held a knife, Aiken said at the entrance to a parking lot where employees had gathered after the attack. Before she could continue, a woman wearing a FedEx jacket told Aiken to stop talking and led her away.

The two people in surgery were a 28-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman. The third critical victim was a 22-year-old man, said Dr. Michael Nitzken of Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.

Another man, 38, remained at the hospital but was stable. Two other victims -- a 42-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man -- were treated and released.

The FBI and other agencies were working to collect evidence at the package centre in Kennesaw.

The facility about 25 miles north of Atlanta sorts packages and loads them onto vehicles for delivery. It's next to the general-aviation airport for suburban Cobb County.

After the attack, police blocked roads leading to the FedEx centre. Dozens of workers were taken by car and bus to a skating-rink parking lot to call relatives for rides. Some family members got out of their cars and hugged the workers. Several employees said they had been told not to speak with reporters.

The company offered no details about the attack, saying only that it was "focused on the needs of our team members and co-operating with the law enforcement investigation of this tragedy."

The package centre was shut down and surrounded by crime-scene tape. The full investigation is expected to take a long time because authorities have to search every part of the 500,000-square-foot facility for evidence.

Later in the day, the man's car was towed from the scene and employees were allowed back to pick up their vehicles and go home for the day.

I don't really know what to say anymore.

Barstool Prophet · 04-29-2014, 10:53 PM

This is why I kind of say to myself.. do any citizens deserve the right to do this? I am sure a few nuts have spoiled it for others, but I still don't like people carrying guns.

**sunnykerr** · 04-30-2014, 05:17 PM

I don't think we have to choose is the thing.

If good, basic, common-sense rules were in place and actually implemented, I think you'd already have a much better situation.

Either way, I don't believe the choices are "it's the wild, wild west out there, so hang on to your guns" and "Big Brother is watching you."


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