NORTHERN IRELAND SHOWS THE WAY FOR BRITAIN

That's where Protestants and Catholics are always shooting one-another, Right? Maybe. But note this:

"A United Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest. The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults. Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi".

Source

So what's going on? We know that Scotland lives under very draconian gun bans. What about Northern Ireland? Why is its crime-rate so LOW despite the religious tensions? Answer: Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that is generally armed, or at least where you cannot assume that any given person is not armed. So it's that good old deterrent effect at work again. As in the USA, the more guns, the less crime.





Wichita, Kan. Teen kills mother: A Salina woman who died after a car crash had been shot in the heart minutes earlier with a pellet gun that her 14-year-old son had gotten as a Christmas gift from his grandfather, police said Wednesday. Police said the teen was protecting the grandfather when he fired the air rifle Tuesday afternoon at his mother, Elizabeth White, who had a history of drug problems and run-ins with the law. The death has been ruled a justifiable homicide, Capt. Randy Landen of the Wichita Police Department said during a news conference.... White, 40, had spent the weekend in Wichita after she was invited to spend Christmas at the house where her 73-year-old father and her 68-year-old mother were raising her children. Police said the altercation happened after White returned to the home Tuesday. Armed with scissors, White threatened to kill her father, who had only a cane to defend himself. His wife grabbed a kitchen knife. When the argument moved into the front yard, Landen said the teen's grandfather tripped over a planter. As his mother - still armed with scissors - moved toward her fallen dad, police said the teenager stepped onto the front porch and aimed. He fired only one shot from about 20 feet away, striking his mother in the heart.... State correctional and court records show that White has spent more time in prison than out over the past 16 years. White, who got out of prison for the last time a little more than a year ago, has convictions for drug offenses, prostitution, writing bad checks and making threats".

Pennsylvania wackiness: House of Reps guards armed but not Senate guards! "Uniformed officers who patrol the offices of the state House of Representatives will be armed with handguns in a move that House officials say has to do with terrorism prevention, not public outrage over the now-repealed pay raise. Acting on a request by the security officers, House legislative leaders decided in November to allow them to carry .357-caliber handguns, The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported Wednesday. The 25 guards will begin carrying the weapons next month.... The security officers primarily monitor access to the House chamber and offices and provide security if requested by House members. In case of a problem, they are told to contact Capitol Police, an armed security force that monitors the entrances and grounds of state office buildings and whose officers are certified to file criminal charges in courts. The state Senate's security officers will remain unarmed".


Yugoslav guns coming: "Montenegro-Serbia's only arms factory, Zastava, will produce 24,000 weapons for U.S.-based Remington Arms Company, Inc., next year, the factory manager said Monday. Dragoljub Grujovic said that the production is part of a US$3.2 million (�2.7 million) deal with America's oldest gunmaker. The first shipment of 3,000 carbine rifles and small-caliber guns is ready to go in January, Grujovic said. Another is planned for February and six more for later in 2006. Cooperation between U.S. and Serbian companies became possible after the 2000 ouster of former President Slobodan Milosevic by a pro-Western coalition. The agreement between Remington and Zastava will help revive the Serbian factory, which had suffered huge losses during years of U.S. and other international sanctions imposed on Serbia as a punishment for Milosevic's warmongering policies".

Another success for gun control: "TORONTO � A city that prides itself as one of the safest in North America is bewildered by a surge in violence that has produced a record number of shooting deaths this year, the latest a 15-year-old girl on a street filled with holiday shoppers. Canada's prime minister and Toronto's mayor blame weapons smuggled in illegally from the United States, but others point to a growing gang problem. Whatever the cause, Canadians recoiled Tuesday after a gunbattle the previous day in Toronto left the teenage bystander lying dead and six other people wounded in a street near a popular shopping mall. It was the 52nd death inflicted by a firearm this year in Canada's biggest city, which is nearly twice as many as last year and raised the overall homicide toll to 78 � not far below the record 88 homicides of 1991. In 1995, there were only 12 shootings out of a total of 60 homicides".



Alabama: Man kills brother in DeKalb shooting : "A DeKalb County man was killed and his brother and sister-in-law were hurt in a gun battle Friday morning in Collinsville, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman said. Gary Kenneth Craig, 57, died after being shot once or twice during a gunfight with his brother, James Earl Craig, 62, said investigator Rhonda Jackson. The brothers were neighbors in Collinsville. .... Jackson said an alcohol-related dispute led to James Craig removing his brother from his home. Gary Craig then got a rifle from his pickup truck and fired through his brother's front door, striking his brother and sister-in-law. James Craig returned fire, killing his brother, Jackson said."

South Africa: Firearm saved us from hijackers : "I recently took delivery of a new BMW X5 and soon afterwards the hyenas tried to take it away from me on the road leading to my house .... The hyenas pulled up behind my car and the driver proceeded to fire at me where I had taken cover behind my car. The driver pointed his semi-automatic over the roof of his car in my direction. He fired nine shots and I returned fire with shots through the windscreen, but he managed to reverse. .... After phoning, two cars from the security companies arrived within minutes. Two hours later three members of the police arrived. They asked me in a disinterested manner to explain what had happened, meanwhile trampling the crime scene forensic evidence into the ground that the security guys had carefully circled and flagged."



Australia: Murder trial for woman who shot violent robber : "The security guard Karen Brown will stand trial for murdering a man who bashed and robbed her outside the Moorebank Hotel in July last year. A magistrate ruled on Friday that although it could be said she had a strong defence for killing William Aquilina, there was a reasonable prospect that a jury would reject her defence and convict her of murder."

Canada: Liberal gun ban fuels buying binge: "Paul Martin's plan to ban handguns may have backfired. As soon as the Liberals unveiled their promise to ban the weapons earlier this month, Vancouver gun shop owners saw a jump in handgun sales. 'Some customer came in that day and said Paul Martin told him to buy a handgun,' Lever Arms owner Kin Chung told 24 hours yesterday. 'It was meant as a joke but ... the day after he announced it, handgun sales tripled. Normally we sell about two a day. That day we sold eight.' And while he says sales have levelled off since, the store is still selling above average numbers of handguns daily."


South Africa: Gun owners welcome respite: "Firearm owners' associations and opposition parties have welcomed the extension granted for relicensing legal firearms, but have warned that the three months merely delays the crisis created by the new Firearms Control Act. Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula announced last Thursday that the December 31 deadline for renewals for gun owners whose birthdays fall between January and March would be extended to March next year. Crucially, he also announced that all licences would be valid until June 30 2009. This means there will be no prospect of legal action against gun owners who do not reapply until that date. There were mounting fears, based on threats by some police officers, that people who did not meet the December 31 deadline would face prosecution in the new year."

Indiana: Shooting spotlights self-defense law : "Laws allowing people to use deadly force to stop someone from unlawfully entering their dwellings are being highlighted by this week's fatal shooting of a burglary suspect by an off-duty state police trooper. Police said Trooper Joel D. Wilson, 39, was alone inside his east-side Indianapolis home Monday when he fired two shots through the front door, striking Theodore E. Hixenbaugh at least once. Wilson told authorities that Hixenbaugh had first knocked on the door and, when Wilson didn't answer, Hixenbaugh tried to kick the door down. ... Information on whether Hixenbaugh was armed wasn't available. Indiana University law professor Henry Karlson said state law says citizens can use deadly force to stop even an unarmed person's unlawful entry into their dwellings. 'If there are people in the residence, (burglars) are putting them at risk, and that's why Indiana law allows a reasonable person to use deadly force to prevent that,' Karlson said. Karlson said the law allows people to defend themselves from burglars without first exposing themselves."


Britain's gun control folly: "A former Texas police officer is causing a stir in jolly Old England. After leaving his job in Garland, Texas, and moving with his British wife and their three children to Reading, Ben Johnson took a job as a British bobby -- and had the audacity to suggest that he might want to carry a gun while on the job. 'We should value the lives of police officers enough to properly equip them and train them to do their job,' Garland told the Washington Post, 'even if that means getting rid of some old-fashioned notions.' The 'old-fashioned' notion Johnson is talking about is the very intense -- and irrational -- belief held by virtually all British people that guns are bad -- period."

California: Would-be robber shot and killed: "Police say a man who was shot fatally in Paramount Monday evening was a would-be robber. The would-be robber entered a mini-mart on the 7000 block of Somerset Boulevard around 5:30 last night armed with a handgun and confronted the employee behind the cash register, said Los Angles County sheriff's Sgt. Don Manumaleuna. After demanding money, the man slowly backed away toward the door when another employee came from the back of the store, Manumaleuna said. As the man turned to look at the other employee, the one behind the register grabbed a gun and shot the intruder, who stumbled out into the parking lot before collapsing, Manumaleuna said."


Colorado: A case of life or self-defense: "When Gary Lee Hill stood on the porch with a loaded rifle, he was afraid the people outside his home would attack him again, the jury in his murder trial was told. That left them no choice, the jury foreman said in an e-mail defending last week's harshly criticized verdict .... 'The fact that the group was not leaving and continued to engage Mr. Hill,' the foreman wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette, 'led us to determine that it was reasonable for Mr. Hill to believe that the group of assailants might use physical force against him.' Hill, 24, was found not guilty in a Colorado Springs courtroom Dec. 14 of first-degree murder in the shooting death of John David Knott, 19. Knott was shot in the back while sitting in a car outside Hill's home. "

UK: Support grows for British farmer : "Support was mounting yesterday for a Norfolk farmer who fired a shotgun at burglars on his land. Michael Human was questioned by police over the incident on Friday but released without charge. The 58-year-old had let off a single cartridge at two hooded intruders who had been breaking into one of his outbuildings. North-West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham said Mr Human was 'quite entitled' to use the gun and backed calls to give greater power to homeowners. 'It is a fact of life that many burglars do come out armed and high on drugs and could be very, very dangerous indeed,' he said. 'If he hadn't taken a gun and had been killed, every-one would have said he was mad not to have it with him. I think Mr Human was quite entitled to do what he did and I am pleased he hasn't been charged by the police and hope he won't be.'"


Mississippi: Teen shot in home invasion: "A Jackson teen has been hospitalized after being shot during an apparent break-in attempt at a neighbor's house. The teen was with three other juveniles at the time, and was shot by the homeowner. ... During any other week, they'd probably be inside a classroom, but because there's no school, and they got into some trouble, two teens stand handcuffed, outside a crime scene. Precint [sic] Three Commander Ron Sampson says, 'About 10:45 we received a call of a house burglary in progress. The homeowner happened to be at home, two subjects made entry into the home, the homeowner fired a shot and hit the suspect in the right leg.'"

Mississippi: Suspected burglar fatally shot : "A man, who police say was attempting to rob a Jackson business, was shot and killed Saturday night. Jackson police were called to Livingston Towing and Recovery at 3228 Medger Evers Boulevard at 11:38 p.m. There they found 35 year old Timothy Darby of Jackson fatally shot in the rear of the business. J.P.D. spokesman Detective Brendan Bell said Darby allegedly attempted to burglarize a vehicle on the company lot when the business owners interrupted him. Bell said the owners struggled with the suspect over the owner's gun. During the struggle Darby was shot once in the left shoulder. "


Tennessee: Police say homeowner shot one, others scattered: "Police in Collierville say a homeowner shot and killed one of several people who broke into his house over the weekend. Police Lieutenant Greg Flint says homeowner Brian Harper was awakened by his burglar alarm early Saturday and fired at the intruders with a .45-caliber handgun, striking one of them. Flint says the others scattered and Harper doesn't know if the several other shots he fired hit anyone else."

Review of The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong by John Lott: "Following up on his controversial study More Guns, Less Crime, economist Lott argues that widespread gun ownership prevents crime. He cites survey data and news reports to argue that the fear that victims might be armed strongly deters criminals, and that guns are used in self-defense or to ward off criminal threats about 2.3 million times a year. Because they impede law-abiding citizens' access to guns, even mild gun-control regulations-assault weapons bans, "one-gun-a-month" laws-actually increase crime, according to Lott, while right-to-carry laws lower crime and help prevent (or violently terminate) terrorist attacks and "rampage" shootings. Even measures to keep guns away from children, like "gun-free school zones" and "safe storage" laws that require guns to be locked away, are misguided because children need guns for self-defense (he cites news reports of kids as young as 11 gunning down criminals). The benefits of untrammeled gun availability are clear, Lott insists, and only the anti-gun bias and selective reporting by the media and government officials have kept this fact out of public consciousness. Lott supports his bold claims with elaborate statistical analyses that tease sometimes small effects out of the welter of factors that influence crime rates; there are lots of graphs and tables, and much space is devoted to scholarly discussions of statistical methodologies. Many readers will find these sections rough going, but Lott's provocative thesis is sure to stir interest among second-amendment stalwarts and gun-control supporters alike"


N.Y.: Silly Shelly Silver: "Gun dealers could be held liable if they sell weapons that are later used to commit a crime under an Assembly proposal that's under fire by gun-rights proponents. The proposal, drafted late last week, merges Republican proposals that would stiffen penalties against illegal gun sellers with Democratic proposals to increase restrictions on legitimate dealers. The Assembly bill calls for dealers to carry at least $1 million in liability insurance, affix new and lengthy warning labels to all guns, and cancel a sale if there is a "reasonable suspicion" the gun could be resold to criminals. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, the bill's architect, has been under political and media fire since the recent shooting deaths of two New York City cops. "They're trying to hold gun dealers liable for criminal misuse of firearms," but that's prohibited by federal law, said Jacob Rieper, legislative director of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. "They're just doing it as harassment.""

South Africa: Ready to bite the bullet to get a firearm licence: "No more. It appears that the Chinese torture of applying for a licence renewal and certificate of competency is successfully disarming an innocent populace without a single shot being fired. ... I took myself off to an authorised firearms dealer in order to obtain a proficiency certificate for a pistol I had owned for 26 years without incident. ... Time passed slowly on the hard wooden benches, not because of a lack of manpower assigned to the task. ... I have no doubt there are some really nasty people out there with guns. None of them appeared to have chosen that morning to queue up. I believe it costs the hopeful applicant about R400 and more than four hours of his/her personal time to apply to be legal. I suspect that it will consume at least two hours per applicant for the total processing (including home visits) by the constabulary. At the end of this are we all better off? Are the good people of this land safer? Has the vast amount of money and time involved by the applicants and the police been well spent? Or have the majority of my law-abiding friends simply been disarmed because they did not have the stamina to see the process through, while the bad guys laugh all the way to the nearest cash-in-transit van?"


Tough Hispanics: "A Milwaukee father and son said they thought it was a joke when two men with guns entered their home on Friday night. But once guns were at their heads, they fought back, reported WISN-TV. Police said two armed men walked up the stairs, knocked on the door and planned to rob the home of Alfredo Hernandez and his son. "I saw the pistol ... to my son's head," Hernandez said. "If they were going to shoot anybody, they were going to shoot me." While one of the men attempted to make off with his son's recording equipment, Hernandez said he wrestled the other man to get the gun away from his son's head. Hernandez's son also didn't give into the robbery. "He clenched onto my arm and I just kept punching him till finally I ripped my arm out," said the son, who didn't want his name publicized. "Then we got him down, then I kicked him a couple times." The man who nabbed the valuables was able to get away, while Hernandez sat on the other robber, trapping him. By the time police arrived on the scene, Hernandez told WISN-TV, they had injured the man so badly that an ambulance had to come to the home. Hernandez said he stabbed the man three times in the leg with a cheese knife and his son hit the man in the head with a snow shovel, which authorities took for evidence. According to Hernandez, the man was screaming for help, begging not be arrested by police. Hernandez also said the crooks pointed the loaded guns at his daughter and his 3-year-old granddaughter. With his family in peril, Hernandez said he did what he had to do. "Oh yeah, I messed him up," Hernandez said. "He came in walking and left in a stretcher."

Choosing our own ground to defend hunting & firearms

Below is just an excerpt from an excellent article

Isn't it time we stopped letting our enemies set the agenda and choose the grounds for battle? After all, the gun and hunting prohibitionists include the media and the governing and intellectual elites, so are far too powerful and devious to resist with mere facts and truth. As well, we need to adopt the techniques developed and proven by this century's successful dissident and protest movements.

Two of these techniques are especially powerful, yet we make little use of them. The first is to develop a simple, coherent and attractive story that bundles your claims in populist form so that they can be marketed as being both Truth and essential to the welfare of society. The second of course is to seize control of the terms of debate and this is what I will mostly be discussing.

For example, our opponents are allowed to claim all sorts of imagined social and ethical advantages for banning guns, hunting and much of our culture while manoeuvring us into only being allowed to argue our case on grounds of strict utility. In other words, we have allowed ourselves to be restricted to the single argument that a law will cause no reduction at all in the rate of death by firearm.

Even then we are denied a fair hearing and the argument that it is pointless to stop death by one means if it then simply occurs by another is dismissed as irrelevant. Yet there is so much more that should be considered. For a beginning, I suggest we force recognition of three facts.

1. Restrictive and discriminative laws have harmful side effects.

They harm both society and individuals and they are harming us. As there are many of us a lot of harm is being caused. That restrictive and discriminative laws are harmful and wrong is now so well acknowledged that it needs no further argument. Only the most willful and selective blindness allows our persecutors to pretend that somehow this doesn't count in our case.

2. Firearms and hunting are an ancient part of the Western European Dreaming and indeed of many cultures.

Weapons, hunting and the like are, after all, deep and ancient parts of human nature, though of course how this is expressed, in fact, if it is expressed, varies widely between individuals, the sexes and ethnic groups. Firearms and hunting with firearms in particular are an especially characteristic and ancient part of the Western European Dreaming and part of that group's multicultural rights. Hunting is one of the primary ways we have always bound ourselves to nature, both a practical resource gathering activity and a sacrament that allows humans to enter into the great web of life. Likewise, being able to trust ordinary citizens with weapons is a good marker of a healthy and fairy free society. This is also of necessity generally a society in which the rulers have agreed to forgo the grosser excesses of power.

It is useful to remember that over much of the world, especially Europe and those areas that came under European control, wildlife survived largely because influential classes and individuals liked to hunt. And yes, they also liked having the non-game species and non-timber trees around as well, but they were able to justify setting aside and managing large, near natural areas because of the hunting and timber they provided.

Doubt this, then check areas of the world where the influential classes weren't so universally keen on hunting, shooting and fishing. Horizon to horizon peasants, or sterile, commercial farms on the good lands and the marginal lands that should more properly have been left to forestry and hunting flogged back to bare rocky hillside or desert.

The mistake even hunters and shooters make is to think of what they are doing as a sport; it isn't, it's more of the nature of a cultural tradition or a religious sacrament. In fact, I've always thought that describing hunting as a sport was rather inappropriate, demeaning of nature and the animals we take. Target shooting maybe, hunting no. So when you see a bunch of guys heading out to the range or a duck hunt, some with sons (and yes, even daughters) in tow, just think of a bunch of blokes in funny leather shorts off to folk dancing, or a crowd of Catholics off to Sunday Mass and you'll get the right idea.

We too have rights to our own culture and we too are part of the Multicultural. To seek to destroy our culture is no different from attempting to destroy any other minority culture. Worse in fact for ours is no mere cultural tradition or minor religion, ours is more ancient than humanity itself, was one of the very forces that molded us into what we are.

3. We have been hurt and our health, wellbeing and connections with society damaged by being attacked and having hatred incited against us.

When we are persecuted, lied about and attacked in terms that would be unacceptable if we were a more fashionable minority group it does real damage, both to us and to society. When a hostile, unified government and media ignores our views and needs and worse, whips up public hysteria against us, they subject us to real discrimination and cause us the kind of harm that other persecuted minorities suffer. We too are victims.

Notice how even partial public acceptance of these points would totally change the terms of argument. The whole debate would be moved to ground much more favorable to us.




Georgia: Macon homeowner fatally shoots burglar: "Macon police say a 75-year-old man shot and killed a 21-year-old who was burglarizing the older man's home this afternoon in the Peach Orchard neighborhood. ... The older man entered his Irwin Avenue home and saw two men inside at about 2:15 p.m., Fletcher said. One man jumped out a window. Fletcher said Baker, the other man, was shot in the head."

Florida: Homeowner not charged in shooting: "Criminal charges will not be filed against a Gulf Breeze man who shot and killed a teenager found hiding in a spare bedroom closet in the man's house. Eduard Richardson, 17, a Gulf Breeze High School senior, died at the scene. The incident occurred early Sept. 7 in Allen Ambrose's house, in the 3400 block of Tibet Drive in the Tiger Point subdivision, just down the road from Tiger Point Golf and Country Club. Richardson resided next door to Ambrose. ... Assistant State Attorney Harmon Massey said Tuesday he has reviewed the case, and it does not warrant criminal prosecution. 'It's an unfortunate taking of someone else's life but justifiable under the circumstances,' Massey said. State law permits the use of deadly force against a person who has illegally entered a home and poses a reasonable threat of death or great bodily harm, Massey said."



Texas: Homeowner confronts, shoots burglar: "Police say a Dallas homeowner took the law into his own hands when he shot an alleged burglar. Investigators said the homeowner saw a man peering into his window on the 3700 block of Crown Shore Drive on Sunday afternoon. The man told police he got a gun and went outside. Investigators said the man reported seeing two men leaving his home carrying boxes. He followed them into the driveway and confronted them. The man shot one of the men while the other fled, police said. So far, no charges have been filed against the homeowner."

South Carolina: Man killed in road rage incident: "Shehan was driving a Chevrolet Suburban. He stated a Suzuki Sidekick had run into the back of the trailer towed by Shehan's Suburban just beyond the I-20 overpass. Shehan reported he stopped in the curb lane to assess the damage and the Suzuki pulled up parallel to his driver window. Shehan acknowledged they both exchanged verbal comments. He said the other subject accelerated away from the scene of the accident. According to Shehan's statement, he then began to follow the Suzuki while trying to call 911 on his cell phone to report the incident. The Suzuki reportedly stopped abruptly in front of Shehan's Suburban near the intersection of Knobcone and Martintown. The driver of the Suzuki allegedly exited the vehicle, quickly approached Shehan's door and immediately initiated a physical confrontation with Shehan. During the struggle, Shehan was able to reach his .45 caliber pistol from the glove box and fire a single shot, fatally wounding the subject."


Boston: Students want weapon screenings : "Student leaders are pushing Boston public schools to force high schools to better screen students for weapons, given last week's gunfire in a high school and the recent spike in youth violence in the city. The school district requires 15 of the city's 38 high schools to screen every student daily with walk-through metal detectors, but according to its own police chief only half of the schools with detectors check every teenager daily. And several use the detectors only on randomly picked days. Members of the Boston Student Advisory Council, a group of 50 students representing high schools across the city, say they will submit a proposal to the Boston School Committee by March and focus their recommendations on setting stricter search policies in schools with metal detectors. They want high schools to use the detectors consistently and follow the district's rule of checking every student."

Florida: "Do not come in! I have a gun! Leave!" : "In Needham's case, it came on a business trip to Florida, where she had checked into a hotel room, chained the door and set her pistol on the bedside. 'I was relaxing for a moment when somebody suddenly opened the door,' Needham said. 'They were coming into the room. The chain stopped them. I grabbed my pistol and racked a round so they could hear the action and know I had a gun.' Needham remembers shouting: 'Stop! Do not come in! Who are you?' The guy yelled back, deep and menacing, 'I'm coming in,' Needham recalled. 'Do not come in!' she shouted back. 'I have a gun! Leave!' The intruder wedged his arm past the door and wrestled to try to unhook the safety chain. The arm was 'huge and hairy and it scared me,' Needham said. Her training kicked in. She positioned herself around a corner, pointing her .45 Colt semi-automatic pistol at point-blank range and again shouted a warning: 'Do not come in. I have a gun. If you come in, I will shoot you.' For the intruder, logic apparently set in -- and the man ran off down the hall. Needham said hotel security did not find him."



Canada: What's wrong with this picture? : "If you eliminate all the hype and emotion from both sides of this issue, what this handgun ban really comes down to is paying $150 million, over five years, to collectors and/or target shooters to buy back their registered and licensed pistols. That's all, nothing more, nothing less. So, the Liberal solution to the violent crime in the black community, crime surely driven by economic and social hardships experienced within that community, is to pay out 150 million tax dollars to mostly white, middle and upper-middle class pistol target shooters and collectors. What's wrong with this picture?"

GLASGOW STILL VIOLENT DESPITE GUN BAN

Scotland's reputation for casual, drink-fuelled violence was once again underlined last night when official figures showed that the homicide rate for 2004-05 was the highest in almost a decade. There were 137 victims of homicides - including murders and culpable homicides but excluding death by dangerous driving - in Scotland, 29 more than in 2003-04 and the highest annual total since 1995-96.

In almost three-quarters of the cases, the main accused was known to the victim. As in previous years, a knife or other sharp instrument was the commonest weapon used, accounting for 72 victims, again the highest figure for 10 years. In the 127 cases where the physical and mental state of the alleged killer was known, 45 per cent were drunk, 15 per cent were both drunk and on drugs, and 10 per cent were on drugs.

The figures show that Glasgow remains the murder capital of Scotland, with 55 victims per million of population compared with 22 for the whole of Scotland.....

Nearly half of the homicides took place at the weekend where the victim and the accused were both male, aged between 16 and 49, and where the main motive was a fight or quarrel. More than 50 per cent of those accused were acquaintances of the victims and nearly 20 per cent were a partner or relative....

Kenny MacAskill, the SNP's Shadow Justice Minister, said that what was staggering was that Glasgow's homicide rate was higher than Belfast's and more than double the Scotland-wide rate. "The underlying causes of crime need targeted, but there must be no mercy shown to those who use guns, knives or other weapons randomly or indiscriminately," he said.

In September, a controversial report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) claimed that Scotland had the second highest murder rate in Western Europe. According to the study, Scots were more than three times as likely to be killed as people living in England and Wales and 1� times more likely than people in Northern Ireland. Only Finland had a worse murder rate, the report claimed. Another study, this time from the United Nations, said that Scotland was the most violent country in the developed world. It stated that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official figure, and that Scots were three times more likely to be the victims of violent assault than Americans. That report was criticised by police over its methodology.

The WHO study showed that the murder rate north of the border was 2.33 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 0.7 in England and Wales, 1.02 in Spain and 0.96 in Italy. France and Norway made it into the top three safest places with murder rates of 0.85 and 0.73. Germany had the lowest murder rate on record, of 0.68.

More here




Canada: Martin a 'jackass': "Prime Minister Paul Martin is a "jackass" if he thinks that banning handguns will "choke off" the deadly weaponry of Toronto street gangs, says a man whose son was slain. "For this so-called prime minister of ours to come into the low-income areas of this city and make a statement banning guns ... I look at him as a jackass ... and I'll never vote Liberal again as long as I live," said Theodore Huxtable, whose eldest son Jason, 18, was killed on Aug. 30.And Huxtable gave a stern warning that if justice is not served in his son's death, he will seek his own vengeance."I'll be part of your news ... I've told police the same thing ... they say 'Mr. Huxtable, you shouldn't make these statements' ... they can't say I didn't warn them," he said. "

Texas: What one woman wants for Christmas: a returned gun : "Susan Gaylord Buxton wants her gun back. She could have a long wait, given how slowly the wheels of justice can grind. Buxton, known from hither to yon as the gun-toting granny, is confused about why Arlington police seized her handgun after she shot an intruder Nov. 9. It's not as if the circumstances under which Buxton used the Smith & Wesson .38-caliber featherweight are in question. The 66-year-old Buxton shot Christopher Lessner, 22, as he lunged at her from inside her hall closet. He'd broken into the house after fleeing from Arlington police at a traffic stop. The story became fodder for late-night TV jokes, radio talk shows -- even a song parody. Buxton, who's got spunk to spare, doesn't mind the jesting but she's serious as a stroke about getting her gun back. .... Buxton, who has not been criminally charged, understands that the officers who responded to her 28-year-old granddaughter's 911 call needed to secure the premises. She willingly handed over her gun -- actually, she dropped it to the ground when directed to do so by an officer who was pointing his sidearm at her. Why police confiscated the gun is what has her baffled. "What does it have to do with the case against Lessner?" Buxton asked. "It's not like he's charged with getting himself shot.'"


North Carolina: Charlotte man, 70, shoots intruder: "Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say a 70-year-old man confronted two intruders who had broken into the tool shed of his southwest Charlotte home Monday morning, shooting one at least three times. The incident occurred on Sleepy Hollow Road. According to police reports, the homeowner confronted three men in his driveway shortly after 10 a.m. as they carried power tools and fishing rods out of his shed. As the men jumped into a sport-utility vehicle, Bailey shot at the driver with a handgun, police reports said. The men drove away but later crashed near the 5000 block of South Tryon Street, according to police records."

More Illinois idiocy: "Retired Chicago Police officers will be getting letters in the mail soon saying the city won't certify them to carry guns -- a move that angers the head of the local Fraternal Order of Police. Congress passed the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 to allow retired and off-duty officers across the country to carry concealed weapons. But the city is worried about the liability of allowing retired cops to carry guns when they haven't gone through refresher training or undergone mental and physical fitness evaluations. The city also is concerned about the lack of a national database of retired officers authorized to carry guns. Sheri Mecklenburg, general counsel to police Supt. Phil Cline, said the federal law does not define how a department should determine an officer had retired "in good standing. We would want some federal legislation to protect us from liability and some national database of people authorized to carry a gun," she said. Mecklenburg said she did not know how many of the city's 9,000 retired cops have asked to be certified to carry a gun. The letter to retired Chicago cops says "until these areas of concern are addressed by federal legislation, the Department has declined to adopt new procedures for qualifying retired officers to carry a firearm." "They have no right to do this," responded Mark Donahue, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.


Battleships to go? "Capitol Hill lawmakers are considering whether to retire the Navy's last two battleships, the Iowa and the Wisconsin, and turn them into museums. Critics warn that the move could leave Marines vulnerable in future battles. The Navy expects that most such battles will be in or near coastal waters, and that it will need ships that can deliver huge amounts of gunfire to support land operations. Cruisers and destroyers serve that purpose now, and the Navy expects the new DD(X) destroyer to take over the job when it goes into service in 2014. A small group of critics doubts the capabilities of the DD(X) and says the Navy can't afford to wait until the next decade. "At present the Navy's active fleet has no effective (naval fire support) capability," says a statement by the U.S. Naval Fire Support Association, a group that supports reactivating the two battleships. "The Navy's attempt to rectify this serious deficiency by developing long-range 5-inch and 6.1-inch 155-mm gun systems and medium-range missiles is not adequate." The Navy currently uses 5-inch guns on its destroyers and cruisers to support land operations. The battleship supporters say only battleships can provide accurate and high-volume fire in all weather and conditions."

A good cop to the end: "A New York policeman was shot dead yesterday as he tried to stop a former Sopranos actor and an accomplice from allegedly breaking into a house in a search for drugs. Lillo Brancato Jr 29, who played Matt Bevilacqua, a doomed small-time mobster in the 1999-2000 season of the mafia television drama, is the latest in a line of Sopranos stars to have had real-life and violent run-ins with the law. The police officer, Daniel Enchautegui, was shot in the chest allegedly by Mr Brancato's accomplice, Steven Armento. But as he lay dying in his driveway he shot and seriously wounded both men. Mr Brancato, who got his acting break in the 1993 Robert De Niro film A Bronx Tale, was last night critically ill in hospital after being shot twice by Mr Enchautegui. Mr Armento was shot four times and was in a serious condition. In 2002, Robert Iler, who plays Tony Sopranos's son AJ, pleaded guilty to taking part in a mugging. Richard "Richie Blue Eyes" Maldone, who played Albert Barese, a mafia boss, was arrested in 2003 and charged with buying drugs".


Chinese goons reined in: "Four days after Chinese police opened fire on villagers protesting against the appropriation of their land, the Government announced that several were killed and the commander who gave the order to fire had been detained. Amnesty International, the human rights group, said that it was the first time Chinese police had fired on protesters since the crushing of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989, when hundreds died in the heart of Beijing. The Government placed the death toll at three. Residents put the number of dead at anywhere from two to twenty. The violence erupted on Tuesday in the village of Dongzhou in southern Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong. Armed police opened fire when villagers gathered to demand more compensation after their land was seized to make way for a wind farm.... The Government defended the shootings, saying police opened fire after protesters with knives, spears and dynamite attacked a power plant and then turned on authorities. But, within hours, the authorities announced that the commander who ordered his men to shoot had been detained. The commander was to blame for the deaths, the provincial government said. "The commander's wrong actions caused deaths and injuries," the Government said"

NRA's newest convert: Even a hippie needs a gun: "About two weeks ago, a male approximately 5 foot 9, 150 pounds broke and entered my house. (SIDE NOTE: This is funny because it is true.) ... I peek in my front room. If anyone's there, they are not in eyeshot of the doorway. Then I see the shadowed reflection of a man in the double glass doors leading to the dining room. ... (SIDE NOTE: I am a pretty liberal hippie when it comes to life, a make-love-not-war type of girl. But I know enough about anatomy to know a butcher knife doesn't protect from a bullet. I have been an anti-hand gun person for years, mainly because they serve one purpose: to kill people. However, this has become a matter of self-defense. Damn it, this is Texas, and I'm gettin' a gun.)"


Activate the citizen militia: "The best way to deter not only terrorists, but also rogue governments and ordinary criminals is by activating the citizen militia. Law-abiding adults should be able to receive tactical training from the U.S. government and should be allowed to carry arms as needed to keep our nation secure. If you think this sounds far-fetched, keep in mind that the military and the police force are comprised of average Americans who join on a daily basis."

Virginia: Police say family feud leads to arrest: "A man shot his son in the wrist Saturday after the son attacked him with a knife during a fight, police said. 'We have an old saying, 'You don't bring a knife to a gunfight,'' Washington County Sheriff Fred Newman said. John Jefferson Tuggle, 22, faces an attempted first-degree murder charge after police said he threatened to kill his father, 44-year-old Jefferson Lem Tuggle, and attacked him at the home they share .... Police don't plan to file any charges against the father, who apparently acted in self-defense, the sheriff said.."


California again: Amazing official arrogance "To the dismay of gun owners, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is now charging $54 to return firearms seized during arrests or searches - even if the gun was legally owned and not used in a crime. The Los Angeles County Supervisors recently approved the fee, which they say would help recover $27,000 the county spends each year storing guns. People recovering stolen firearms, however, would not have to pay, according to county officials. Sam Paredes, executive director of the Gun Owners of California, said Los Angeles County was "taking full advantage of state law in order to screw the public." Paredes was referring to Assembly Bill 2431, passed in September 2004, which requires police to catalog guns and store them for at least one year before the agency is allowed to destroy them. It also allows agencies to charge a storage fee. Paredes said no other city or county in California was charging the storage fee. In a report to county supervisors, Sheriff's officials say it costs them about $54 to conduct background checks and to store and process guns. "It's the same thing as impounding a vehicle," said Lt. Dan Cruz. About 500 guns would be returned each year, according to the report.

Arizona: Tenant fatally shoots intruder: "Police say a Tempe resident shot and killed a man who broke into his apartment early Monday while he and his wife were sleeping. The man, who lives at Elliot's Crossing Apartments at 7250 S. Kyrene Road, woke up at about 3:40 a.m. after hearing a man beating down his third-floor apartment door, police say. The apartment resident, armed with a handgun, struggled with the assailant, who had used his shoulder to force the door open. The resident then fatally shot the suspect, according to police. "


Indiana: Merchants up in arms over robbery spree: "With robberies on the rise in Indianapolis this year, some merchants and store clerks are working at their cash registers with growing trepidation -- and taking steps to better protect themselves. Roger Dean, who owns and operates Mr. Dee's Tobacco and Variety on the city's Westside, is considering strapping his pistol to his hip. 'A cop come in a week or so after C-Daddy's funeral,' said Dean, 'and he says, real nicely, 'Lemme give you a little advice: Put your gun on for your own protection.' 'C-Daddy' was Clarence Williams, a close friend of Dean's who was killed in October in his Westside restaurant during a robbery. Williams' was one of four robbery-related deaths this fall. Publicly, police take a hands-off approach on the question of arming clerks. 'I'd advise them they have the right to bear arms,' said Capt. Phil Burton of the Marion County Sheriff's Department, 'but it's a decision they'd have to make. I'd not advise them either way.'"

San Francisco: Citizen fear for safety if victim disarmament stands: "For a long time, Margaret Hurst lived in fear. Gangs control turf just a few blocks from her Mission District apartment in San Francisco, and she's sure a neighbor across the street deals drugs. Her building was broken into four times in one year. She saw teenagers on her street display a gun. And while she was stopped at a red light one day, a man tried to punch in her car window in a case of road rage. So she bought a handgun. Now Hurst is no longer scared. 'I'll tell you one thing. If I'm going down, I'm taking them with me,' said 49-year-old Hurst, who is about as un-Charlton Heston as any woman with a British accent, braided bun and long flowing skirt could be. After a heated campaign brought the national debate over gun control to San Francisco, the city's famously liberal [sic] voters passed a law last month banning the sale, manufacture and distribution of firearms and ammunition within city limits. The measure, which takes effect Jan. 1, also makes it illegal for residents to possess handguns. And as that date approaches, handgun owners like Hurst are becoming increasingly fearful of the consequences."


South Africa: Licence deadline looms for gun owners: "Gun owners who have their birthdays in the first three months of the year will not face prosecution if they apply to renew their licences by the end of this month, but do not receive their new licences by then.Safety and security ministry spokesperson Trevor Bloem said all that was required was that these gun owners apply by the December 31 deadline.The police are phasing in the renewal of licences, with gun owners born in January, February and March given until the end of the year to apply for theirs, in terms of the new Firearms Control Act regulations."

California: Shooting may have been in self-defense : "A man shot to death on a local road Thursday may have been killed in self-defense, according to a report from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Troy Allen Creek, 41, from Inyokern, was identified Friday by the sheriff's department as the man law enforcement officials found lying on Harvard Road south of Bedford Road with a gunshot wound to the chest Thursday morning. Creek was pronounced dead by California Highway Patrol officers who had arrived at the scene by helicopter.Shortly after law enforcement arrived, Eugene Ross Morris, 66, of Newberry Springs came to the crime scene. According to the sheriff's department, Morris had previously found Creek's disabled car on Harvard Road, full of property. Morris stopped to investigate, concerned that Creek might have burgled a nearby home. Creek then ran towards Morris, yelling and threatening his life, according to the sheriff's department report. Morris said he saw Creek reach into his jacket and thought he was reaching for a weapon. Morris was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and fired one round into Creek's chest, according to the report. Morris was detained by deputies at the scene and the shotgun was later seized from Morris' house."


Gun crime in Boston? Just blame northern New England: "Shootings in Boston are up 28 percent over last year, The Boston Globe reported last week. One culprit the Globe singled out: New Hampshire gun laws. The paper noted that police have traced some guns to 'New Hampshire and Vermont, where firearms laws are less strict and easy for criminals to manipulate.' Or, to put it another way, they have traced guns to New Hampshire and Vermont, where firearms laws are less strict and citizens have an easier time obtaining guns for self-defense. If our firearms laws are the cause of high gun crime, then why is most of the crime in Boston?"

The NRA and Gun Owner versus the Brady Campaign and Gun Opponents: Who Serves America Better?

Which group has contributed more to America and our way of life? Who has contributed more to our overall well-being? Is it the National Rifle Association and the gun owners throughout America or the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and those who believe that gun ownership is dangerous for Americans?

The National Rifle Association

The National Rifle Association was formed in 1871 by two Union officers who were astounded at the poor marksmanship demonstrated by the Union troops. Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate were granted a charter by the state of New York on November 17th, 1871 and General Ambrose Burnside, former Governor of Rhode Island became the first president of the NRA. They obtained funding help from New York, and bought the Creed Farm on Long Island. The new firing range was named Creedmoor. It was not long before opposition began to form and in 1892 the range was moved from Creedmoor to Sea Girt, New Jersey. In 1903 the NRA Secretary, Albert S. Jones urged the establishment of rifle clubs at all major colleges, universities and military academies and began promoting shooting sports for youths, inspiring a new generation of Americans who would be able to defend our nation in the event of war. Repeated attacks on our Second Amendment rights led the NRA to form the Legislative Affairs Division in 1934. The NRA did not lobby directly at this time; rather it mailed out legislative facts and analyses to members so they could take action on their own. Its main mission remained training of citizens in marksmanship and gun safety.

Serving America During Wartime

During World War Two, the NRA allowed the government to use its ranges and developed training materials in the use and care of firearms for the military. NRA members were encouraged to volunteer as plant and home guard members. The Association also developed training materials for industrial security and even reloaded ammunition for those guarding war plants. Internationally, the NRA recognized the desperate circumstances Britain had put itself in by effectively disarming itself through well intentioned but poorly considered gun laws enacted between WWI and WWII. The NRA collected and sent to Britain more than 7,000 firearms for their defense against potential invasion by Germany [in spite of this unprecedented generosity of a civilian group to a foreign nation, Britain remained such a staunch opponent of private gun ownership that instead of expressing their appreciation to the NRA members and returning those firearms, they were unceremoniously dumped into the ocean at wars end]. Currently members of the NRA are providing supplemental weapons training to our troops in preparation for their deployment in Iraq.

Serving America During Peacetime

Through the years, the NRA has provided firearms training to tens of thousands of policemen throughout America. The NRA estimates that there are more than 10,000 NRA certified police and security instructors in America today. Hundreds of thousands of police, sheriffs, state troopers, federal marshals, FBI, Treasury Agents, and various security agents owe their proficiency at arms either directly or indirectly to the efforts of the NRA. There are over 50,000 Certified Instructors in the civilian population and according to the NRA these instructors train over 750,000 private gun owners each year. They are provided training in how to use and maintain rifles, shotguns, and pistols as well as providing concealed carry training in those states which offer licensing. Instruction in personal defense and competitions shooting are offered. They also provide safety instruction to hunters of all ages. One of the most successful programs has been the �Eddie Eagle� program which educates children from pre-kindergarten to the sixth grade in how to behave when they come upon a firearm in an unsupervised situation. They are taught quite simply �STOP. DON�T TOUCH. LEAVE THE AREA. TELL AN ADULT. So far more than 18,000,000 children have been given this training. The sad thing is that far more children could have received this training had not the hate mongers in the anti-gun organizations lied about the intentions of the NRA.

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

The Brady Campaign began life as the National Council to Control Handguns, established in 1974 by Dr. Mark Borinsky, �a victim of gun violence.� The Next year, following the murder of his son, DuPont executive Nelson "Pete" Shields takes a leave of absence from his job to work for NCCH and in 1978 became the organizations chairman. In 1980 NCCH was renamed HCI, Handgun Control, Inc. In 1983, The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence (CPHV), an educational outreach organization dedicated to reducing gun violence, is founded as a sister organization to HCI. In 1985, four years after her husband Jim Brady, Ronald Reagan�s press secretary, was wounded in the assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. Sarah Brady joined the anti-gun movement and in 1989 became the chair Handgun Control, Inc. Later in 1991 she also became chair of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. On June 14th, 2001 HCI was renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the CPHV was renamed Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, both in honor of Jim and Sarah�s commitment to make America safer from gun violence.

Legislative Achievements of the Brady Campaign

With the high profile Sarah Brady at the head of their campaign, between 1985 and 1991 the HCI/CPHV had a number of legislative successes. They successfully lobbied Congress to ban Teflon coated armor-piercing, "cop-killer" bullets that can puncture bullet-proof vests worn by police officers and in Maryland they were able to pass a ban on the sale of so-called Saturday Night Specials. Problem is, there were no �cop-killer� bullets. The Teflon coating is common to most ammunition, because it causes less wear on the barrel, reduces ricochets from hard surfaces, and reduces air contamination from lead particles being shed from bullets in flight. As to �Saturday Night Special,� there has never been any evidence that these inexpensive guns are in anyway more dangerous to the user, or that they are used any more frequently in committing a crime than any other firearm. The two organizations managed to get Congress to pass a bill to ban handguns that cannot be detected by airport x-ray machines ("plastic" handguns). The only problem with these laws is that they were so-called feel good laws, which protected no one. There have never been any �plastic� handguns. The guns which so terrified the CPHV and HCI (the Glock) are now the most commonly used firearms by police in the nation. The Glock was never �plastic� and was never �undetectable� by airport x-ray machines, being 80% metal as they are. The Glock was the victim, as are so many weapon systems, of hyperventilating by these Left-wing organizations. The same, identical Glock, unchanged in any way, is still being marketed in the United States, and is one of the most popular firearms sold because of their inherent safety and reliability.

Much More Ado About Nothing

After a schoolyard massacre in Stockton, California passes the first assault weapons ban in the nation, the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapon Act. This act would later lead to the Violent Crime and Control Act of 1994, which includes the first-ever federal Assault Weapons Ban, banning the future manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons. By admission of the authors of the bill, the criteria used in deciding whether or not a gun was included on the list were cosmetic. If a gun �looked� dangerous or bad, it was included on the list. Again, as is typical of Left-wing legislation, superficialities were the deciding factors. No effort was made to determine the functionality of firearms, so you could and did have cases in which one of two identically functioning guns which had different stocks or features would be on the ban and the other would be perfectly acceptable. In 1993, Virginia passed legislation limiting purchases of guns to "one per person per month," in response to claims by the anti-gun lobby that Virginia is a source state of crime guns trafficked up and down the East Coast. In spite of passing of this law, gun violence on the East Coast has shown no sign of lessening.

One of the few constructive and successful laws to come out of the Brady Campaign, is the instant background check. The Brady Bill, which requires a five-day waiting period and background checks on handgun purchases, was signed into law after a seven-year battle, and went into effect in the 32 states which had no background check system. The Brady Bill was sunsetted and while it was in effect, a system for instant background checks was set in place. As the Brady five-day law came to an end, the instant check system was implemented. In some states, there is now no waiting period. In most cases, this kind of success is absent. Most legislation lobbied for by the Anti-gun movement turns out to be ineffectual, superficial, and counter productive. A lot of the efforts of the Brady Campaign revolve around what sounds good rather than what is true. Much of the data supplied by the Brady campaign is apocryphal, assumed to be true with no supporting data, or just plane false presented as true using twisted data. Programs like Michael Moore�s Bowling for Columbine present a distorted view of gun owners, firearms manufacturers, and American culture. The anti-gun faction continue to mis-portray the NRA and its members as dangerous, supporting weapons systems which are dangerous for police and attempting to corrupt children through its Eddie Eagle Program. The truth is that the Eddie Eagle Program expresses no opinion as to whether guns are good or bad or whether gun ownership is good or bad. In contrast the anti-gun lobby continually represents guns as more dangerous to owners than the criminals they are meant to deter. Their STAR program does place the Campaigns own opinions on gun ownership in all of its literature. No attempt at objectivism is made.

The Results of the Comparison

The NRA continues to represent a positive influence in our society. It seeks to inform rather than sway. Allegations by the Brady Campaign that the NRA promotes weapon systems dangerous to police and other government enforcement agencies don�t match the evidence. It is ludicrous to make such assertions, when so much of the NRA�s efforts are directed at supporting our law enforcement officers, providing them with training and information to assist them in the execution of their duties. The NRA projects a positive image of the gun owner, and documents its claims with news reports from the very media sources which attempt to undermine the organization. Like most Liberal organizations, the Brady Campaign presents a negative image of gun owners and of guns in general. They appear to be more concerned with the safety of the criminal than they are the victim and are pre-occupied by their fear and hatred for firearms. Virtually all of their claims are base on assumptions which are not supported by facts. They have contributed little to protect the public let alone the Law enforcement agencies and their personnel. They have done nothing to support our troops in combat situations, or our police in their day to day duties. By vilifying firearms rather than perpetrators, they undermine our efforts to combat criminals. They distort or misconstrue the meaning of the Second Amendment to support their belief in the complete disarmament of American citizens. They embrace the kind of restrictive gun ownership laws which can be found in Great Britain. There is an utter failure to address the glaring problems in their argument in favor of gun control, such as why the Swiss, who have the most liberal gun laws in Europe, including the possession by every able bodied citizen of a fully automatic �assault weapon,� has the lowest crime rate in Europe, and Britain which has the most restrictive laws, while having a low death rate, has one of the highest violent crime rates in the world.

Ultimately, the comparison is ludicrous. The NRA has, since its inception, �moved mountains� in supporting American troops, in supporting our policemen, and in promoting and defending the freedoms of the American citizen. The anti-gun movement has sought to undermine one of our most basic freedoms and rights, the right to defend oneself, and has sought to impair, by indirect means, the ability of our nation to defend itself. The Brady campaign by vilifying millions of law abiding gun owners, by releasing propaganda based on faulty research, and by attempting to restrict access by law abiding citizens to firearms has lent its name to efforts to destroy or at least weaken our Constitution and Bill of Rights. It is organizations like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence that represent the real threat to Americans and their freedom.

Source

Nebraska: One robber dead, one injured: "With a gun pointed at his business partner's head, an owner of Benson Jewelry and Loan shot at two men attempting to rob the pawnshop Tuesday afternoon, the wife of one of the shop's owners said. The shooting left one of the men who entered the shop dead and another in extremely critical condition. The owners of the shop, Norm Sargent and Ken Blankenship, are fine, said Sargent's wife, Beth, when reached at home. Beth Sargent said her husband told her two men were robbing the store and one pointed a gun to her husband's head. She said her husband told her that Blankenship shot at the robbers."


New York: Guard kills would-be robber: "A guard shot it out with two would-be robbers today in front of a check cashing store, killing one and possibly injuring the second. ... Two female employees were entering the store as the security guard, 62 years old, watched from a pickup truck. One robber tried to push into the place behind one of the women. The guard stepped out of the truck, pulled a gun and exchanged fire with the would-be robbers. One fell dead; the other ran off. The guard and female employees were not injured."

Florida: No charges after man kills neighbor: "A South Patrick Shores man was legally defending himself when he shot and killed a man pounding on his front door in September, a state attorney has ruled. Volusia County State Attorney John Tanner has decided to drop a charge of manslaughter with a firearm against Gary Otto, 48. Otto faces no criminal charges in the nighttime shooting death of his Waterway Estates neighbor, Dan Twadell, 40, said Linda Pruitt, spokeswoman for Tanner's office. Otto was charged with manslaughter after shooting Twadell in the head at close range with a .357-caliber revolver. Otto and his 85-year-old father were sleeping when Twadell and three other men beat on the door and threatened to kill him, police reports show. ... In his ruling, Tanner wrote Florida's 'Castle Doctrine' law permitted Otto to use deadly force during 'what appeared to be a home invasion type of violent attack.'"


The hideous consequences of good intentions : "Is it not with the grandest of intentions that the advocates for greater gun control push so hard to restriction access to implements of self-defense? Is it not for our own safety that they plead a case that ignores the Second Amendment? Is it not for the children's safety that we must disarm ourselves? How could anything as well-meaning as legislation to enhance security possibly have bad consequences? How could any sane person argue with such good intentions? It would be insanity to let these dangerous circumstances go unnoticed, unaddressed, and unchallenged; for the consequences are quite severe. Sometimes far worse than an alternative we seek to avoid."

FEMA fruitcakes: "The Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted its suspension of the Phoenix Fire Department's urban search and rescue team two months after firefighters were sent home from hurricane relief efforts because they had armed police officers with them. Arizona Task Force 1 will be allowed to continue deploying Phoenix police deputized as U.S. marshals 'as long as they wear U.S. marshals' uniforms,' FEMA officials said. FEMA's decision to allow armed police, despite a rule against carrying firearms, applies only to Phoenix's team. But the agency left open the possibility that the city's model would be adopted on a broader scale."


Texas: Woman fatally mauled by dogs: "Seventy-six-year-old Lillian Stiles died a horrific death, attacked by six Pit Bull Rottweilers. Lillian had been riding the lawnmower in her front yard when she was attacked. A passer-by saw it, tried to help, but was bitten instead, so he ran into the house looking for Stiles' husband, Jack. 'He asked me, he said, 'Do you have a gun?' And I said, 'Yes.' I came in the house and got my 22 rifle, and as I went outside, one of the dogs was charging toward me, face-to-face, and that's when I shot that dog,' Jack said. Jack scared off the other five dogs, but it was too late. The dogs had already killed his wife of 55 years."

How absurd can you get?: "A steamroller in Medell�n, Colombia�s second biggest city, prepares to destroy hundreds of toy guns handed in by children as part of a local government programme to eradicate the weapons culture. Medell�n is often regarded as the drugs capital of the world, ruled by cocaine barons and their private armies. The Colombian Government is also running a national programme to haul in the real weapons of paramilitary groups financed by drug gangs."


Ohio: Clerk shoots back: "It all started around 1 p.m., that's when Chaudhary Najeeb says one of the men came inside and told him to get down on the ground and give him money from the drawer. He also asked for video surveillance tape. Once he thought it was safe, Najeeb got up and ran to the front doors, that's when he found himself between the robber and the exit. He says the robber fired first, and then he fired back. Nobody was hurt in the gunfire."

Texas: Suspect killed during alleged robbery: "An apparent armed robber was killed early Sunday while fighting with his victim at a north Houston apartment complex, police said. The victim was in his truck at the complex in the 100 block of Northpoint when he was approached about 3:30 a.m. by the assailant, who tried to rob him, Houston police said. Both men were shot during the struggle.The suspected robber was struck in the head and died at the scene. The victim was shot in the abdomen and groin area."


South Africa: Police steal, destroy thousands of firearms: "Kwazulu-Natal police have destroyed more than 7,000 illegal firearms as part of the haul of illegal guns seized and also those handed over voluntarily during the amnesty period. These weapons will never fall into the wrong hands again. Thousands of pistols, revolvers and even homemade guns were destroyed-amongst them, 47 AK 47 rifles-notorious amongst organized crime syndicates. The haul was part of a huge crackdown on violent crimes in the province. Twenty thousand other firearms have been confiscated around the province. Police say despite strict laws on the possession of illegal and unlicensed weapons, people are still taking chances. 'It seems our operations are working, we have made a dent in the collection of these illegal arms, but there has been an increase in the number of murders with criminals using knives,' says Bheki Cele, KwaZulu-Natal's safety and security MEC."

Proposition H: Mythology Instead of Criminology

San Francisco voters recently enacted Proposition H which confiscates all handguns and bans purchasing of all guns. Unfortunately this is based on the unfounded belief that the more guns in an area the more violence will occur. If that were true, the United States, with 280 million guns today, should have a far higher murder rate than after WWII when we had only 48 million guns. Instead, the murder rate is the same.

During the intervening decades, murder rates varied dramatically�but not because of rising gun ownership. In the last 30 years the number of guns owned by civilians more than doubled, yet murder declined by one third.

Accepting the mythology that guns cause murder, areas with high violence rates ban guns. But violence stems from basic social factors, not the mere availability of one among the innumerable deadly instruments in the world. In a study published last December, the National Academy of Sciences, having reviewed 43 government publications, 253 journal articles, 99 books, and its own research, could not identify even one example of gun control that reduced murder or violent crime.

Drastically increasing homicide led Washington, D.C., to ban handguns in the 1970s. So useless was this that D.C. soon had (and continues to have) some of the nation�s highest murder rates.

Anti-gun advocacy is built on decades of erroneous claims that the United States, with the world's highest gun ownership rate (true), has the highest murder rate (false). Russia�s recently disclosed murder rates since 1965 have consistently exceeded U.S. rates despite Russia� ban of handguns and strict control of long guns. Since the 1990s Russian murder rates have remained almost four times greater than American.

Anti-gun advocates used to compare the United States to England, Canada and Australia, nations specially selected because they once combined low violence rates with severe gun controls. But gun controls and initially low violence rates did not prevent their violent crime rates from steadily outpacing ours in recent decades. Although these nations banned and confiscated hundreds of thousands of guns in the 1990s, today their violence rates are among the highest in the world�more than twice ours.

If more guns mean more violence, nations with high gun-ownership rates should have high murder rates. But two international studies comparing gun ownership with murder rates in 36 and 21 nations (respectively) found �no significant correlations.�

Anti-gun advocates never mention these facts. Nor do they mention all the European nations with high gun ownership rates but very low murder. Norway, with the highest gun ownership rate in Western Europe, has the lowest murder rate�far below England's. The only European nation that bans all guns, Luxembourg, has the highest murder rate (except for Russia): 30 percent higher than the U.S. and ten times that of gun-dense Norway. Holland, with Western Europe's lowest rate of gun ownership, has a 50 percent higher murder rate than Norway. Greece has much higher gun ownership than the Czech Republic but much less murder. Finland has 14 times more gun ownership than neighboring Estonia but much lower murder rates.

These studies and facts have powerfully affected criminologists. In 1969, Professor Hans Toch of the State University of New York-Albany endorsed handgun prohibition. Thirty years of research later he recanted. �When used for protection firearms can seriously inhibit aggression and can provide a psychological buffer against the fear of crime,� he wrote. �Furthermore, the fact that national patterns show little violent crime where guns are most dense implies that guns do not elicit aggression in any meaningful way. Quite the contrary, these findings suggest that high saturations of guns in places, or something correlated with that condition, inhibit illegal aggression."

University of Massachusetts Professors James Wright and Peter Rossi also began their research believing guns cause murder. Years of research later they recanted because "there is no persuasive evidence that supports that view."

In 2004, Oxford University Press published Can Gun Control Work? by New York University criminologist James Jacobs who feels "The most unrealistic control policy for the United States is prohibition of private ownership of firearms or of just handguns� This �serves no useful purpose and only fans the flames of a culture war between gun owners and gun controllers, who in fighting with one another forget that the violent crime problem is the source of our concern."

About that problem Florida State criminologist Gary Kleck, another scholar who once believed guns cause murder, writes: "Fixating on guns seems to be, for many people, a fetish which allows them to ignore the more intransigent causes of American violence, including its dying cities, inequality, deteriorating family structure, and the all-pervasive economic and social consequences of a history of slavery and racism."

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Mississippi: Luck runs out for ex-con: "Jackson police found Marcus Rawls dead on the porch of a house at 464 Willaman St. at 4:36 a.m. Sunday. He died from a gunshot wound to the head, Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said. Detective Brendon Bell said Marcus Rawls likely was trying to break into the home because he was wearing a ski mask and gloves when he was found. Bell would not release the name of the man who shot Rawls, but said he was "an occupant" of the house who heard noises and shot through the door. But Tory Willis, 23, who identified himself Sunday night as the brother of Cedric Marshall, said Marshall told him that he thought two men were trying to break into his home at about 2 a.m. Sunday and shot through the door to scare the intruders away. Marshall never intended to kill anyone, Willis said. Attempts today to reach Marshall were unsuccessful. Police are investigating the shooting but have not filed charges against anyone, Bell said. The case will be presented to a county grand jury, which will decide whether the shooting of Marcus Rawls was a justifiable homicide, he said... Marcus Rawls had been working construction jobs after he was released from jail about a month ago, his mother said. She said she did not know why he had spent time in jail".