Came across this online

And while guns in schools are no laughing matter - whether brought by an active shooter, a student showing off, or a teacher trying to protect - I have to admit this is kind of funny, unless you're a French teacher, perhaps. I do like that the librarian one has a silencer.

But seriously, arming teachers would be a nightmare in terms of insurance, safety, etc. Only people with sufficient training and ability should even handle a gun, ever. And we shouldn't make teachers some sort of warrior. They should stick to what is far more important - teaching, and in the meantime there are certainly other ways to keep guns out of schools and keep students and teachers safe.

There is something terribly wrong with the world

when something like this happens:

Boy, 11, charged with killing 8-year-old girl after argument about puppies

Each of the children had a puppy, the sheriff said. The 11-year-old “wanted to see the 8-year-old’s, and she said no, and then he went and retrieved a gun,” McCoig said.

The boy fired the 12-gauge shotgun from inside his house, striking the girl as she stood in her yard, the sheriff said. The gun, which was stored in a closet without locks, belongs to the boy’s father, McCoig said.

When first responders and police arrived at the scene Saturday night, they found the girl “lying on the ground with a gunshot to the chest,” McCoig said. She was taken to an area hospital, where she died from her wounds.

This, I thought, was very compelling

Mental illness and guns do not mix. We should be doing more as a country, both in treating and supporting the mentally ill, and reducing their access to guns.

And now something random I've posted before, but I love it

although I still can't quite wrap my head around a steer/bull with an udder. :)

We will fight for bovine freedom,
and hold our large heads high.
We will run free with the buffalo,
or die.
Cows with guns!

Okay, maybe it's just because I'm a pescetarian/vegetarian. I haven't eaten beef since 1991. :)

This would almost be funny, but it's not

Young hoodlums stealing popsicles from an ice cream truck--sounds like general mischief at first. Not so. Look at what was recovered. Items taken include seven guns. The kids do not 'meet the criteria for juvenile dentention' and have been released to their parents, who will hopefully have a come-to-Jesus meeting with them.

Four youths, ages 11 to 13, charged in Lexington burglaries, ice cream truck theft

Lexington police say they have arrested four juveniles, ages 11 to 13, who allegedly committed a series of burglaries and an ice cream truck theft in the Masterson Station-McConnell's Trace area.

Each was charged Monday with one count of second-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree burglary and two counts of second-degree burglary, police said Tuesday.

Police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said officers recovered a variety of missing items, including seven guns, three laptop computers and two computer gaming systems during their investigation. Additional charges are possible, Roberts said.

Wow

Dozens injured, nine dead in bloody holiday weekend in Chicago

The Fourth of July holiday weekend brought an explosion of gunfire to Chicago, with roughly 50 people shot and nine killed, authorities said on Monday.

The violence was so widespread in the nation's third-largest city during the period from Thursday through Sunday that police were still tallying the dead and wounded on Monday, but a Chicago Police Department spokesman said the current count was 49 shooting incidents with nine dead. The spokesman did not give details on the number of people shot.

At a news conference Monday morning, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy called the violence "unacceptable," blaming it in part on a "proliferation of firearms."

Police said five people were shot by officers, and at least two of them were killed.

In three of the incidents, the victims had pointed weapons at officers when they were shot, the Chicago Police Department said in a statement. A fourth man was shot and seriously wounded by police after he told them he had a weapon, police said. There were 21 shooting incidents alone on Sunday, police said.

The tallies vary, some including those shot by the police, including two teenagers who apparently refused to put down guns. But it's not just Chicago. Here in Lexington, shootings have seemed to be happening almost daily as of late.

Woman killed at Lexington house is city's 11th homicide

She is Lexington's 11th homicide victim of the year.

The woman was shot just before 3 p.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Race Street, and police found her lying on the porch of a small frame house.

She had been shot multiple times, according to initial reports.

She was the fourth person to die in Lexington in a series of shootings in various parts of town since late June. At least 12 people have been wounded by gunfire during that time.

Lexington recently beefed up its robbery-homicide squad to deal with several open murder cases and is looking into ways to combat the violence. We have very weak gun laws in Kentucky (you are required to have a concealed carry licence to do so, but I don't think guns must be otherwise registered or gun owners licensed. Now, Chicago's population is nearly 10 times ours--2,718,782 estimated in 2013 to our 308,428 in the same year. But it seems like both cities are starting to feel like violence is out of control.

I'll admit it: I don't like guns. I've shot rifles and shotguns in 4-H, but have never owned a gun. I grew up with a gun in the house (every military person has a service pistol, as far as I know, or at least had one at the time I was growing up, and I grew up on military bases). I never bothered it, knew not to. But I wouldn't have one in the house with children, even locked both cabinet-wise or the gun itself. I am much more likely to get hurt by having a gun than not, and I know it. I don't think the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to own personal handguns, although if you're into muskets and joining militias, I think you're covered. I see no reason to own a fully automatic rifle, as it is only good for killing people and perhaps an unsporting kill when hunting (real deer hunting, as far as I'm concerned, is done with bows). But I live in a gun-rich country with many, many people who are ready to have their guns pried away from their cold, dead fingers. I also, unfortunately, live in a society where people can shoot unarmed black teenagers because they fear for their lives and get off entirely. I believe that's terribly wrong. I recognise that other people feel differently and have a right to their opinion. But I think they're wrong, and I'm not particularly interested in arguing with them, because that usually degenerates into a free for all where neither side is going to budge, with a lot of emotion that undermines any reason.

And the shootings go on, and it's tragic--so many families touched by violence, and I seriously doubt that anyone with the power to do anything will. Sigh.

Does anyone else think this is a bad idea?

Iowa grants permits for blind residents to carry guns in public: Sheriffs and advocates are divided on whether that's a good idea

Don’t expect Iowa to revoke gun permits for the blind. It’s not even the only state that offers them

No offence meant to the visually-impaired, but we do, after all, prohibit people under a certain threshold of sight from driving cars because, well, that's dangerous. Isn't letting someone who can't see have a gun kind of, well, dangerous?

Thanks to YKWIA for sharing this story with me.

This woman took couponing a bit too seriously

Florida woman pulls gun after Walmart refuses coupon

Let's ignore the fact that Wal-Mart is the evil empire just now. Just because you have a gun, shouldn't mean that you wave it around at poor shop employees just because you're upset.

Food for thought

A mother's anger: Stop linking autism to violence

I've just listened to NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre suggest we need guns in our schools because "our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters."

I cringed.

After his further suggestion that the United States create a nationwide database for the mentally ill, I got angry. Leaving aside the issue of medical privacy laws, I found it ironic that an organization so vehemently opposed to gun registration would propose such a measure.

I suspect Brits love stories of Americans like this

Defecating dog sparks US shootout

Two neighbours in the US state of Mississippi drew weapons and fired at each other as an argument over a defecating dog ran out of control.

I once filed assault 4th degree charges against a particularly unpleasant man who threatened to poison my dogs because he thought (erroneously) that one had urinated on his bush. I wanted a paper trail in case anything came of it. But drawing guns...well, that's even crazier.

YKWIA showed us this some time ago--it's so wrong, really...

but it wound up in my recommended videos and I enjoyed it all over again. I can't remember if I've posted it before here or not. Years of Cthulhu playing have taught me that while large tentacled monsters don't respond well to conventional weapons, you can often cut down an evil sorceror with a gun before he can utter a curse or complete an invocation--and most magic users in roleplaying games have puny hit points.



'Honestly, Ron, just pull the trigger!'

Good lord!

Bomb squad called after librarian unearths huge arms cache in her allotment
She just wanted to do a spot of gardening, but when librarian Joanne Radley started digging, she found a gun, and then the police got involved, and well, she basically found an arms and ammunition cache. The person who had let her use the allotment had asked her not to dig too deep because his dog was buried there.

Via Bibliofuture at LISNews.

The strangest video I have seen on YouTube so far...

via Steven of Library Stuff:



I do not want to meet this lady in a dark alley.

WHY?

Grieving father says he gave son, 8, permission to fire Uzi
I sometimes wonder if fully (or even semi-) automatic weapons belong in the hands of the average person (generally I'd say no, certainly it's not necessary for hunting, after all, since that's better done with standard rifles, shotguns, and bows), but on the other hand, they are legal in many places and as far as I am concerned, if you have obtained them legally, know how to use them (even taken classes on them), are duly licensed, and are an adult with your full faculties, then I say, fine, go to the local shooting range and use your weapon in as safe an environment as can be made.

I've even shot guns myself, and at the age of 8 or 9--at 4-H camp, both rifles and shotguns (but neither automatics).

But why would anyone put an automatic UZI, with a decent recoil, in the hands of an 8-year-old, even if it met all the other parameters I stated above (legal gun, permits obtained, in a shooting range, under certified instructors' supervision--and in the state of Massachusetts, which has long been touted as a 'tough' state in gun laws)? What adults thought this was a good idea? Because although a fair amount of children shot such weapons this weekend at a gun expo in Westfield, Massachusetts, one little boy didn't come out alive. He lost control of the gun during the recoil and accidentally shot himself in the head. It's a miracle no one else was injured, either. And a lot of people are asking why.

The father says he gave permission because it was a small gun, with lower recoil than many, and his son already had experience in firing weapons. He doesn't think the instructor was holding the gun with his son, but doesn't see it as particularly relevant, according to the story. Oh, and his father's job? He's the medical director of the emergency department at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, Connecticut--which you'd think would give him a perspective on the fact that kids and guns don't really mix well.

I'm not sure what I think about this story is particularly printable. I'm sure there are those out there who say, but you just don't like guns and want to keep them away from everybody. No, I don't like guns, although every now and then I consider buying one not for defence but for shooting at a range, increasing a skill. No, I question why a kid that age was given a weapon that more correctly would be in the hands of soldier than a child. I question why a gun club would advertise an event with discounts for children, lots of child activities, and drawing them in as just plain family fun. Does no one teach children about the dangers of guns anymore? Before I was allowed near one, I had to complete a hunter safety course in 4-H. And I KNEW not to go near the handgun my dad had (as a military person he had one in the home) at all, because that was made clear. I knew what guns could do without having to see if first hand. And then when I was older, I had a younger cousin killed by a gun when he was 18, which has been described as a freak accident but I suspect someone was clowning around with it. Guns aren't toys. Kids need to learn that early on. I knew the cap guns I played with as a child weren't real. I knew that real guns were deadly. And so should all of the adults and children at that expo.

An arms race with too many bystanders

AK-47s Are Turning Up More in US

and a different use for guns

Ricker melts guns, turns metal into art

I meant to post about this earlier

I'm at odds with at least one friend of mine. I heard this story whilst he was watching TV on Tuesday. There are some mitigating circumstances that are in this article that I didn't hear then, but on the other hand, I still believe this was murder--cold-blooded, possibly racially-motivated, murder. It reads like a 'bubba' bagging him some (fill in whatever racial epithet bubbas might use here).


Shootings Test Limits of New Self-Defense Law

And I quote the 911 operator in the case: 'Ain’t no property worth shooting somebody over, O.K.?'

Okay, so the two men were illegal immigrants from Colombia here under forged documents. They were certainly burglars--they had a pillowcase full of over $2,000 in Mr Horn's neighbours' property. These were obviously not 'Good Men'. But they were also apparently shot in the back running away from him--and were unarmed. In any other state in the Union I suspect that it's considered murder once no one is in imminent danger. But this happened to be Texas, and that's a whole other ballgame.

A grand jury's going to have to sort out, for example, whether you can act with deadly force to protect a neighbour's property like you can your own. And then there's the race issue.

Mr Horn identified them on the line as black. He offered to get his shotgun and then told the operator, who was trying to convince him to stay in his house, that he was going out there and kill them--not stop them: kill them.

In another twist, a plainclothes detective had just arrived on the scene and witnessed the shooting but did not have enough time to announced his position and in fact may have ducked to avoid Mr Horn, thinking he might think he was their driver.

Because of this there have been protests both for and against, and at least one death threat. The city is moving to ban protests in the residential area, which may be for the best, since I'm sure it's causing havoc--and certainly the death threat is wrong and should be pursued. But there's lots of other ways to express First Amendment rights, and people are entitled to their opinions. Many hail Mr Horn as a hero. I'm not one of them. I think there's something wrong with eagerly grabbing your firearm to 'help out' the police and shooting people in the back. I think anyone in a moment of adrenaline can think they're in danger, but he was safe in his house and made that clear to the operator. It didn't sound like he thought his neighbours were in danger--just their property. Property can be replaced--lives can't. And vigilantes don't make us any safer--especially 'helpful' vigilantes with guns.

Don't try this at home

Man hurt as he uses shotgun to remove lug nut

Okay, so I was the one who stabbed myself with a letter opener trying to open up a stapler cartridge. But even I wouldn't try to use a shotgun as a lug wrench. Just so you know. :)

Four lives are lost apparently due to the meeting of mental instability and a trivial trigger

An Ex-Marine Was Shooter of Two Officers

Motive unknown in New York City shooting rampage

David Garvin shot a Greenwich Village pizzeria employee, Alfredo Romero Morales, in the back fifteen times, then shot two police auxiliary officers--Yevgeniy Marshalik and Nicholas Pekearo, who were unarmed volunteers on patrol--before being gunned down by the regular police. Authorities believe that he plotted revenge for a friend's firing from the pizzeria. An ex-Marine less than honourably discharged from the service, Garvin had, according to a family member, displayed paranoid ideation over the last few years. He had nearly 100 rounds of ammunition on him. Scary.

The two officers who were killed will be given full police honours although technically it is not required for the auxiliaries. Also, there have been calls for changes that could make things safer for the auxiliary police force, such as uniforms that are markedly different from the regular police.

What a waste, and a shame, because it really looks like mental illness was involved.

Interesting

Women may have invented weapons

Scientists have found that not only do chimpanzees use tools to hunt other primates, the ones who tend to do this are largely female and occasionally immature males--the ones that, being smaller, cannot kill as easily with their bare hands.

There's been a tendency to believe that men, who historically are associated with weapons, must have been the originators of the tools. But this study suggests that women may, indeed, have created tools for hunting and war.

Which bears out my theory that big guys who think they're invulnerable just need one bullet in them from a small woman to equalise things. (Not that I'm advocating it; I just remember one of my former friends who was 6'5", really big, and who thought no one would mess with him because of his size--which would be good, as I rather doubt he'd do well in a fight size or no--but I pointed out that all it would take is a gun and his theory would go out the window. He couldn't really argue with that.)