A CIVIL DISCUSSION OF GUNS, GUN SHOWS, POLITICS, AND VOTING
• I AM, AN AMERICAN, SHOOTING ENTHUSIAST and a VOICE
Years ago, I forget exactly, maybe late 80’s at an NRA rally in Tampa, I addressed with several other speakers, the mostly adult crowd at the Tampa police Range, now closed, some with cute children in matching camos and cowboy boots, when some restrictions on firearms (big magazines and auto firearms) were being discussed in Congress. The crowd was pretty well charged up. My turn to speak and I defended our rights under the second amendment and basic Republican Principles, I promoted the NRA, and then:
- Asked them to raise their hands and show their membership card if they supported the NRA”, hands went up.
- I asked them to hold up their drivers license’s, most raised their hands.
- I asked them if they had a credit card, yes, hands went up.
- Then I asked them to hold up their Voter Registration cards… and it was pathetic.
Those who fervently defended their right to bear arms were not voters. This is wrong. And voting is the answer to gun control. We vote hopefully to put those with our interests in place to make wrongs right. We have serious issues in this country, and most of it being caused by whom we elect.
• VOTERS
Most voting decisions are made in the curtained voter both usually based on a previous decision by what TV Channel you watch or name recognition. This is wrong. Many votes are simply unthought of, unchallenged, unqualified and unsupported, pick a name and lets see what happens. Lately seven of ten are bad choices.
And year after year, those same politicians will do nothing, respond to nothing, repair nothing, but cheerfully accept huge donations from groups that fuel the gun lobby, mainly the National Rifle Association with the complete knowledge of the usual propaganda and mis-truths. Though a majority of members voted for more stringent gun controls, it went unheard by the NRA hierarchy Money trumps almost anything.
In any other industry this would be called “bribery”. In other countries, they might get shot. But this not the whole or real picture. This is wrong and it has gone on too long. The NRA recently stands for “ Nothing Real America” and has become in a sense its own militia.
The NRA is a company that talks about rights and freedoms and lies through its teeth to its constituents and members, ignoring their wishes and altering the progress needed to bring forward safety for all in the country. This is wrong. The truth is the position of the good members of the NRA is being ignored when a substantial percentage of 80% plus want to change the gun registration laws, with common sense approaches and enforce the established laws which are ignored. New leadership is needed.
• THE NRA LEADERSHIP
Wayne LaPierre, regularly describes America as a kind of place where only the armed can survive. As he wrote in a 2013 article, “Hurricanes, Tornados. Riots, Terrorists, Gangs, Lone criminals. You need a gun. The NRA and the gun manufacturers are in a symbiotic relationship, where they both benefit whenever guns become a political issue. He has created the maniacal enterprise of fear, retribution, a touch of insanity and the weak in our society have succumbed. Four of the last shooters were not sane enough to be near a firearm.
For the NRA, it’s about members and money. Follow the money, for the gun manufacturers, it’s about sales and protection from legal liability. And as long as gun owners are kept agitated, angry, and afraid, they both win.
In the US, there are now somewhere between 270 million and 310 million guns, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s almost one gun for every person in the nation. Judges and legislators across the political spectrum recognize the constitutional right to bear arms. And gun and ammunition sales to private citizens are a significant part of a roughly $15 billion industry that’s seeing plenty of growth.
What makes the gun industry so controversial, of course, is the ever-shifting debate about how to reconcile gun rights and public safety. Each year in this country, more than 31,000 people are killed by firearms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate — roughly 85 people per day. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of civilian gun ownership and one of the highest rates of firearm-related deaths per capita across developed countries around the world.
The NRA gets tens of millions of dollars from gun manufacturers, through a variety of channels, not just checks but advertising in NRA publications and special promotions the manufacturers run. For instance, every time someone buys a Ruger, the company donates $2 to the NRA. Buy one from Taurus, and they’ll pay for a year's membership in the NRA.
What do you call the frightened, paranoid, insecure guy having a midlife crisis who prepares for the inevitable breakdown of society and shakes his fist and shows disrespect at the President? You call him a customer. He's the one who responds to every "urgent" appeal from the NRA to donate a few more dollars and go buy another rifle or handgun or two, while the manufacturers watch their profits rise and their stock prices soar. He’s money in the bank.
What’s more, a growing body of research suggests that simply owning a gun is correlated with an increased likelihood that you’ll be a victim of violence. A study published in 2014 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that people who live in homes with firearms are over three times as likely to die from suicide and two times as likely to be a victim of homicide as those who don’t have access to firearms. The study analyzed the results of 16 other studies and found that in all but one, access to guns was linked to a higher probability of murder or suicide.
Mr. Wayne Lapierre, head of the NRA, its grand mufti, fueler or is it fuehrer of the party, grand chancellor of misinformation lies and social media guru is not in my opinion, a truth teller. He is a publicity head with a million dollar a year paycheck and it shows me this has nothing to do with anything other than follow the money and the money is huge in this industry. With most products in the industry starting at about 200.00 dollars and the sky is the limit, it relates to millions, most likely billions of dollars. This is wrong.
• BIG CLAIMS WITH NO AUTHENTICITY
We have all witnessed their convoluted rhetoric time after time. The claims of jackbooted foreign soldiers on American Soil getting ready to take over the country.
The so-called the New World Order which had nothing to do with guns, it involves financial worldly growth of the new players in commerce and finance like the BRIC countries which are Brazil, Russia, India and China, nothing more. The phrase goes back to Roman times and has been used many times in the US by politicians and especially President Bush 41.
And more claims of spotting Black Helicopters. There were no black helicopters swooping down on your back forty other than mosquito control boys which will be in abundance this year because of ZIKA. And they are not all black.
And the one shot deal the 2ND AMENDMENT - There is no assault on the second amendment. The unsubstantiated rhetoric “Soon they’ll be taking your guns away”. The NRA cries that no matter what’s going on in the political world, it portends an imminent massive gun confiscation with President Obama wanting more background checks?
This claim — prominent among gun-rights advocates — implies that the Second Amendment establishes not just a right to own guns, but a right that the government cannot legally limit. None of our rights work this way. "The Supreme Court has said repeatedly that no right under the Constitution is absolute," says Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA and the author of "Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America. “ In general, where the government has very strong reasons to restrict a right, it can.”
"We already restrict access to firearms in many ways. We prohibit people from owning machine guns. We prohibit people from owning shoulder-launched missiles and hand grenades. We prohibit felons and the mentally ill from possessing firearms. We prevent children from owning firearms.”
The Supreme Court declined to review local laws that prohibit certain kinds of weapons like semiautomatic guns. “We see a lot more absolutist rhetoric today than we did in the past,” Winkler says, "partly because we have over the last 40 years seen the rise of a rather extreme pro-gun movement, led by the NRA."
And the excuse about 2nd amendment rights and denial of service for those on federal lists such as no-fly and terrorist who might be denied a weapon or concealed carry permit don’t carry easily with me. We can afford to affront someone once in a while, but we can’t afford another San Bernardino. Thats a weak excuse and it’s about time a few in Congress step up since their party is turning in a bad direction anyway.
Strange today with fewer Americans living in rural areas and hunting no longer as popular a recreational activity as it once was, far fewer Americans own sporting guns today than a generation or two ago according to data from the General Social Survey. And their numbers tell the story of a gun culture, for hunting purpose often a rifle and a shotgun has changed to a culture of mostly handguns and assault weapons.
Less than one week ago South Dakota passed a bill allowing teachers in both primary and secondary grades to be armed with guns. The proposal for such a measure started shortly after Sandy Hook and marketing toward this goal stated popping up on various NRA supported sites.
The good news is that there appears to be a grassroots movement against this “grassroots movement” that is now funded by the weapons industry. The NRA is growing increasingly out of touch with its original goals and even with its own membership. It is estimated that as many as 83% of NRA members are okay with background checks at a time when the organization is trying to remove all barriers. You see, members also have family they would like to keep safe.
• IS THE GUN SHOW PART OF THE PROBLEM
June 4-5, 2016 - My buddy from our Military Support Organization called me and he had discount coupons in hand, a nice lunch for us in the offing and offered to drive, to the Tampa Fairgrounds huge GUN SHOW. Somewhat of a big deal here amongst the congruent. As someone put it Mecca for Morons.
I have been around weapons from my 13th birthday, well trained, staying current, former military and competitive shooter in all disciplines and thats over sixty years. I have owned my fair share of rifles and shotguns assault weapons and plinkers and attended many gun shows, in the hundreds in fact and even during my competition days I tried to sell software for matches, target and statistical counts there.
We paid for the parking and entry. Inside it felt different, the rhetoric and attitude of those handling those weapons. And the effect it has on the public who appeared not trained to question but blindly following some made up propaganda that they don’t question. I’m not calling the participants anything like stupid, or dangerous, just susceptible and plenty of bad scenarios, more than a fair amount, promoting the over the cliff lemming effect. All promulgated by fear and potential danger emanating from the lips of the buyer and the sellers repeated from what they read or heard.
Years ago I used to frequent the gun shows every couple of months as a competition shooter and hunter, always looking for ammo bargains, a scope, loading equipment, bullets in bulk to support my competition, till I had to give up three gun matches and sporting clay shooting for health issues.
The show was graced with the usual normal everyday citizens looking for self defense, protection, curiosity, killing an afternoon, male bonding, showing siblings the sport as a means of tribal acceptance, and preservation, sort of like macho land. A few self proclaimed super patriots, defenders of the faith, some elaborately decorated basic nobodies, playing their role, complete with their look, attitudes, tough, imaging, lots of tattoos, lies and prejudices talking their usual trash about Black Presidents and Helicopters painted black and why they are going to support T-RUMP, their extensive training as SEALS other special forces and military expertise.
With an able body of listeners soaking it all in, it struck me as very similar to the crowd at an awards dinner given at the annual Hatfield and McCoy Family Hour event. The finale is when the topics turned to, “ Who did what to who first” and hopefully just rhetoric, the spiel began. Many directors of misinformation, you would not believe the crap spelled out as gospel, and I just listened and observed. A few times I didn’t know whether to intervene, and was smart enough not to because some of these people were beyond normalcy.
• GO GRAND and SHOWTIME NRA STYLE
Pushing personnel protection , you should have lots of guns, maybe a golf bag full so you can select the right one because you never know when the government is going to send their Jackbooted thugs in Black Helicopters to invade your home because you forgot to pay that fine for not mowing your lawn or watering on the wrong day. This is wrong and stupid.
At the show, there were ten lanes filled with every kind of weapon imaginable. Im guessing 90% or better were either Military style AR’s and combat shotguns, high capacity pistols with little purpose other than offense or claimed defense and all kinds of accessories.
At one time the two most popular military weapons sold were the venerable Colt 1911 pistol and the Colt AR-15, duplicate of the M-16 except for the sear converting it from semi-auto to full auto. With no patent protection, the Colt AR-15 variants today include those by more than enough major manufacturers like Ruger, Smith and Wesson, and specific custom shops like Rock River, Bushmaster, Remington, DPS, STAG, and about six others.
On a large amount of tables there were the DIY components handily parked and organized so you could build your own. Only the receiver has to be registered and you are off and running with the weapon custom tailored for your needs. The 1911 handgun, my favorite of all time has about thirty companies both factory on line and custom grades available in every imaginable configuration bought with a credit card and a clean background.
What was not present were hunting rifles and sporting shotguns! Even the legacy collectors looking for that elusive Remington or Colt .45 Single Action revolver owned by General Custer were not in attendance.
You had every kind of barker there selling telescopic sights, laser beams, belly, plastic, leather, custom molded, and ankle holsters, really low-end Chinese made range bags from cheap to real garbage, ammunition from third world countries, licenses for concealed carry and... my favorite homemade beef jerky, and the best gizmo at the show was Fire Starter Model three as seen once on Naked and Afraid since the bow drills didn’t work well this wet season.
This was not the show for the Sportsman Organization for Sportsmen as I knew as the NRA years ago. Sports had nothing to do with this show. This was a paranoia convention of media whipped citizens. Fear prevailed, some of the folks looked scary, dressed for the occasion and when speaking appeared to have graduated magna-cum-loudmouth with degree from the six grade.
Scary folks carrying or shouldering elaborate versions of the M-16 tricked with an auto sear or AR-15 civilian sear or semiautomatic with a SLIDE STOCK option that turns it into a FULL BLOWN Assault rifle. In some cases faster. And it’s sold with an accompanying 100 round magazine.
Knives galore filling tables in every color of the rainbow for sale. Some of the more aggressive looking participants wore big knives on their belt and one dork carried a Samurai sword knockoff cross back fashion. I termed him the Ninja Schmuck. The knife guys were in full force selling you cheap slave labor India junk as “collectables” as one person told me retail for under ten and sometimes under five dollars and their net cost is about $1.60 each, yes the decimal point is in the right place. Your finger might not be.
• THE GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE
Add the backdoor gun deals at gun shows, which I have witnessed enough times and nothing being done about it and you wonder whether the government is doing anything. The non FFL “Buyers” are standing at the front door trying to buy guns even before those coming to the show to trade or buy components can get inside, it’s been right out in the open. Cash on the spot, no hassle , no paperwork, and six months later you too can get a call from the ATF since your registered weapon or fingerprints on it were just used in a shooting.
Obviously there is not enough funding, voted down in the GOP house nor enough policing of the industry at these gun shows all promulgated by the public relations department of the NRA. A gang banger in Chicago or elsewhere will pay three times what the gun is worth because it is not registered, no paperwork, cash and I don’t know you.
Not the same group of people today as their was in the past. The economy, the media has fanned the flames. I do not like more laws as much as you do. But compromise is a good word and a few small controls worded correctly would both satisfy both sides. There are loopholes, there are procedures that need to be in place. I see violations all the time at gun shows from those working the dark side. I saw four deals just at this one show and I didn’t even get down one row.
• PERSONAL EXPERIENCE - BE AWARE - THE SAFE WAY - READ ME -
At another show, before I retired, I had my AR-15 shorty with me, not a heavy kicker, looking I was looking for one of those recoil absorber rear ends because of my TMJ condition. It was a fools errand and did not work. And I got hit five times from the parking lot to the front door if I was willing to sell for cash on the spot. One idiot waving 800 dollars in my face. A local gun shop took my AR in trade for a nice Sig.
If you are contemplating selling your legal registered Pistol, Revolver, AR or AK-47 AKM, or Abrams tank, better get it documented with a notary or verifiable witness and plenty of identification from the new owner.
Here is why. At the show none of the touters were legal FFL dealers, at least ten more inside the arena touting quietly asking “Are you looking to sell”. No trail, no paperwork, cash in pocket, and if I had sold, my name would be first on the list if it was ever used maliciously. It’s not always the unregistered dealer in arms, sometimes its someone not thinking of consequence if it was a weapon registered to them.
You don’t want a knock on the door, right or wrong. The ATF is the friend of the good guy. Recently a very valuable Colt .45 single action was recovered that was stolen 35 years ago and returned to it’s rightful owner.
They are the enemy of the bad guy. They will come to see you, they will make inquires to the various lists and credit exchanges which record those inquires. You don’t need that notoriety. If I sold my guns to my brother, I would have that form since I can’t guarantee it wouldn’t be stolen from him.
By capitulation with unregistered weapons, a simple solution to stop this traffic would simply credit the first buyer with the same, less or more financial penalty as the bad guy who got the gun and used it. Overnight there would be a scramble. It would instantly stop the no registration program. The cell phone of you and your “selfie” gun friend is another valuable tool.
And the deaths in this country keep mounting by guns with no registration. Your dues do not support the industry, they are bribes to our political officials. And other information spread, literally endorsed by and put forth by the NRA throws fuel on the fire, stirs up the fringe idiots to taking things into their own hands.
The NRA of today is not your friend, they are helping to kill people...
• M-16 TO THE COLT SPORTER - A WEAPON OF CHOICE
I am a shooter and over six decades spent a lot of time in the NRA and other shooting clubs and organizations. I am for the sports and recreation, competition end of shooting, and my time being on the front line ended when they went from “ Of the People” to “Of the Political Money”.
Lately the Colt Sporter or AR-15 has unfortunately made the news, again and again. It rose in popularity just as the GLOCK plastic shelled guns took gun lovers by storm, the Sporter became the next phenom.
It shared some basics with the GLOCK, which offered less weight, higher capacity, low profile, reliable, low maintenance, and available in many calibers.
The sporter is lighter, shoots faster than most battlefield rifles, very high up to 100rd. capacity, non rusting components, highly reliable, tons of accessories to make you look like a badass, and accurate plus available in several calibers. Years ago I got to test fire and evaluate the prototype being evaluated for our Special Forces. Because of work I have done for the Military, I have been on occasion invited to certain functions not normally do civilians get invited to. I am a contractor though and competent to fire the weapon.
I was test firing the “shorty” version during trials with bells and whistles, a compact version of the M-16. Being evaluated by the Military for its special assignment troops, it was, lighter, faster, smaller, and more powerful due to ammo improvements. I found it easy to handle, worked great strong side, weak side and slighter built or female soldiers were very comfortable with. It easily could fit anyone and for a short barrel, with it’s unique twist, I was hitting anything I could see. When asked “How did I like It?, “I replied, I want one”.
It was being certified before initial issuance to special forces, designated Prototype M-17 at that time and the new number became the M4A1. At the special demonstration shown above at MacDill AFB, I had the prototype (I believe adapted or modified built by Knight Arms) that had the Mil-Spec three shot burst (Auto) lever to single shot (Semi-Auto) and Safe plus a forward grip and a whole bunch of optical attachments on the picatinny rails. The forward vertical grip allows more toys to be attached to the rails and a varied positional hold for certain conditions. I was still using a conventional forward hold.
After approval it was the first builds of the shorties went to the Air Force security personnel as they had the oldest weaponry of the services some dating real far back like WWII. I could relate to that. While on flight status several decades and wars ago, I was issued a S&W Model 10 .38 Caliber handgun as a survival weapon in this ugly WWI rotten leather holster had we gone down somewhere near Russia. The real reason we got the junk guns was if we did go down in arctic water we were dead in twenty minutes anyway and the two rounds were for you and your buddy if you went that way.
It might hit something in Russia had I aimed it at the Ukraine. Barns were safe, this weapon could not hit them broadside, upside, downside, nor backside. At the base range, I determined throwing it at the enemy assured better odds and safer since it was spitting lead horribly. I got permission to complain from the Aircraft Commander (Chain of Command) and two months later they issued me a .45 I called the rattler. It was so old and loose it rattled. It could shoot a four inch group if you were four inches from the target. I actually purchased the barrel retainer from a gun store and that actually tightened it a bit, now I had a 3 inch group at 4 inches.
Back to the trials: The compact M-16 was a dream, my hair was still black then, and I was 25 lbs. lighter. Now before any critics want to comment on my lack of hearing and eye protection, bug off. I have custom deep ear protection form fitted deep with noise abatement, in my ears with tiny velcro sponge overs and my glasses are my prescription shooting glasses (Oversize Orange Lexan) for sporting clays. I fell in love with sporting clays, trap and skeet till TMJ stopped long gun shooting for me.
• THE COLT AR-15 “SPORTER”
One common denominator behind these and other high-casualty mass shootings in recent years is the use of assault style rifles, capable of firing many rounds of ammunition in a relatively short period of time, with high accuracy. And their use in these types of shooting is becoming more common: The customer favorite for mass killing is now the AR-15/M-16 series. This year it has surpassed the AK-47 because it is more accurate, lighter, faster, and does carnage better.
There have been eight high-profile public mass shootings since July of last year, according to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine. Assault-style rifles were used in seven of those. All AR-15’s because of the availability and the fact its a money maker for gun dealers practically killing the market for any other venue sales of firearms. And money is the driver of the weapons market. the problems is the more there is the more the body count rises.
• Since this Saturday Night / Sunday AM 147 incidents involving shooting have occurred and 57 killed across the nation.
• June 12, 2016 Orlando, a man armed with an assault-style rifle killed at least 49 people plus the shooter and wounded 53 others in a crowded nightclub.
• Six months ago, in San Bernardino, Calif., a man and woman armed with assault-style rifles killed 14 people and wounded 20 others at a holiday party.
• In 2012, in Aurora, Colo., a man armed with an assault-style rifle killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a crowded movie theater.
• Also in 2012, in Newtown Conn., a man armed with an assault-style rifle killed 28 people (20 of them children) and wounded 2 others at an elementary school.
M16/AR-15 - IT WAS DESIGNED FOR THE MILITARY AND FOR KILLING PEOPLE
The M16 rifle, officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16, is a United States military adaptation of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle. The original M16 was a select-fire, 5.56×45mm rifle with a 20-round magazine.
In 1964, the M16 entered American military service and following year was deployed for jungle warfare operations during the Vietnam War. In 1969, the M16A1 replaced the M14 rifle to become the U.S. military's standard service rifle. The M16A1 improvements include a bolt-assist, chrome plated bore and a new 30-round magazine.
In 1983, the USMC adopted the M16A2 rifle and the U.S. Army adopted it in 1986. The M16A2 fires the improved 5.56×45mm NATO (M855/SS109) cartridge and has a new adjustable rear sight, case deflector, heavy barrel, improved hand guard pistol grip and improved butt stock, as well as a semi-auto and three-round burst only fire selector. Adopted in 1998, the M16A4 is the fourth generation of the M16 series. It is equipped with a removable carrying handle and Picatinny rail for mounting optics and other ancillary devices.
The M16 has also been widely adopted by other militaries around the world. Total worldwide production of M16s has been approximately 8 million, making it the most-produced firearm of its 5.56 mm caliber. The US Army has largely replaced the M16 in combat units with the shorter and lighter M4 carbine, and the U.S. Marine Corps approved a similar change in October 2015. Placing an AR-15 side by side the average consumer will not be able to tell the difference from the M-16 tool of war and the AR-15 Colt “Sporter”. The third from the top shorty is the most popular version and it reflects in the civilian market as the various, probably close to twenty companies have a version looking quit similar.
The AR-15 is the civilian version of the M-16, rifle that has been produced in many different versions. The term AR-15 was chosen by Colt for the civilian models. AR-15 rifles are Semi-automatic lightweight gas-operated, magazine-fed, air-cooled, fire an intermediate size cartridge, and are manufactured with extensive use of aluminum alloys and synthetic materials.
There are literally tons of accessories you can fit to the AR-15 for your personal imaging though most are for intimidation, the deer or hog won’t know the difference. You can certainly impress your friends with some of these accessories and you might other friends will start to avoid you.
Semi-automatic AR-15s for sale to civilians are internally different from the full automatic M16, although nearly identical in external appearance. The hammer and trigger mechanisms are of a different design.
The bolt carrier and internal lower receiver of semi-automatic versions are milled differently, so that the firing mechanisms are not interchangeable. The design changes were done to satisfy United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requirements that civilian weapons may not be easily convertible to full-automatic. Even so, the full automatic M16 bolt carrier is now the most popular type, and is approved by ATF.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, items such as the "Drop In Auto Sear" or "lightning link," made conversion to full automatic straightforward. In some cases such conversion did require machining the lower receiver with use of a mill, as well as the substitution of a M16 bolt carrier group.
Such modifications, unless made using registered and transferable parts prior to May 19, 1986, are illegal. The Firearm Owners Protection Act in 1986 has redefined a machine gun to include individual components with which a semi-automatic firearm can be converted to full-automatic, based on a 1981 ATF ruling on machine gun parts.
Since 1993, the bolt carrier groups used in AR-15 type rifles for civilians have employed additional measures to prevent modification to full auto. Colt AR-15's use a metal alloy wall separating the fire control group from the sear, preventing use of full automatic parts.
• THE BULLET - SAN BERNARDINO
The .223 round is a maiming round, on impact it tumbles and rips flesh as it was designed to do. Even a poorly aimed hit can be dangerous and require the best in trauma room trained gunshot staff to treat. The doctors at the hospitals that serviced the dying and wounded at San Bernardino, and the staff at Orlando Regional Medical Center will testify to that.
San Bernardino clearly shows what two terrorists can do, and the .223 or 5.56 round they used killed 14 and sent 21 to the ER. It has at has no business being on the streets except for the police and military. It is not a home defense weapon, most likely you’ll do more harm than good as it can rip through drywall and into another room almost as lethal.
Its major role like the AK47 and clones is people count and wounding. In war a severely wounded soldier needs five stretcher corpsmen to get him to a MASH facility. That takes six to eight out of action. 35 innocents with less than 65-75 rounds fired. Imagine what they could of done had the police not stopped them. They had 1400 rounds with them and 5000 rounds total in their garage.
And let the police have the tools they need Mr. President. Don’t disarm the cops for political points, as was discussed after Ferguson, and let the bad guys get any more leverage. And San Bernardino proved the need for those “Bearcats” and protected “HUM VEES”.
• NOT - CONFIRMED - ONGOING INVESTIGATION
The two weapons, AR-15 that might have been modified were, retrieved from the deceased killers in San Bernardino were both (according to one source) illegally converted to full auto which basically is nothing more than a change of a few sear parts, or reworking the sear and against the laws by the ATF. If so, they were purchased in 2007/8 and possibly converted…
They are keeping quiet about this, nothing confirmed but the straw purchase by the buyer make have implications. Who sold them the sear parts or converted the parts. A good practiced shooter can use the semi-auto mode with deadly results. Regardless it is a severe felony based on classification. Auto’s are class three. But this is yet to be confirmed buy the FBI and if so who did it, was it a gunsmith, a hack job, and how much more was the buyer or the terrorists involved. Thats the real question.
Now a company by the name of Slide Fire has a stock a ten year old can fit to an AR-15, and AK-47s, Ruger’s and others which automatically converts the weapon to firepower equalling maybe surpassing a Full Auto Weapon. Very impressive and totally legal so far. If the shooter in the following paragraphs had access to it, it is possible he could have killed a lot more. Especially with the 100 round drum.
• 6-12-2016 DEADLIEST SHOOTING IN US HISTORY
The original report did not disclose a body count, the crime scene was still active, then later approximately 49 people have died and 52 wounded in an attack on a LGBT gay nightclub called Pulse in Downtown Orlando. A very popular place and it was themed Latin night, a common event quite popular with the LGBT community which is very well accepted in the Orlando area. The shooting started at the door 2:02 AM when 320 people were having a good time either at the bar, the tables or the dance floor. It suddenly turned to horror when shots rang out , police say the suspect took hostages for three hours and died in a gunfight with SWAT officers after they breached the building with a Bearcat. The Bearcat, the do-gooders don’t want the police to have. This one estimated saved thirty lives and was a giant leap of faith by the police chief to breach the wall.
The shooter was armed with an assault rifle, now confirmed and described as an SIG SAUER MCX a derivative greatly upgraded from the AR-15 and a Glock handgun, and had some “type of device” which was negligible, and the FBI says shooting is ‘act of terrorism’. There are suggestions suspect had leanings towards radical Islam, FBI says more will be forthcoming.
Days later six are still critical the 5.56 (.223) round the AER-15 shoots is a military round and goes haywire after impact. It actually can and did take off legs causing the wounded literally to bleed to death.
The man being investigated for the gun attack at the Orlando nightclub is 29-year-old Omar Mateen. It is believed the US citizen was not on the terrorism watch list, though he was currently being investigated for a previous unrelated act the FBI deemed insignificant, no proof.
It is also unclear why he was investigated by the FBI for hate crimes (verbal) and dropped in rating. Now it turns out others came forward including an ex-wife about his demeanor. He was equipped with an AR-15, and a Glock handgun purchased a two weeks prior and he passed the background test since he was a security guard and had a permit.
• WHEN CHILDREN DIE
I am a political junkie, and consumer advocate in the Tampa Bay area. I write a lot and there are no sacred cows. Wrongs need to be brought to the surface and that includes those by greedy corrupt politicians, fake religious God partners, bad restaurants, corporate scamming and other lowlife’s. But nothing hurts me more than to hear of accidents that could have been avoided and are mortal to our children. In every instance below an ADULT, usually a family member contributed to the death of their own sibling.
Idiots behind the wheel
It’s a social issue, the guns are not the problems, as the expression goes, it’s the idiot behind the wheel, the finger on the trigger, and gross neglect. Weapons don’t have brains, children don't know consequence, and neither do some of the parents. They don’t “go off” of their own accord.
When children die from a gunshot there is one commonality
That child did not walk into a Firearms Dealer or Store, present his Mickey Mouse Club Membership card and purchase a weapon with marbles. Someone had a hand in ending this child’s life or his siblings life due to neglectful actions by an adult. Blame it on ….
Parental Stupidity
Ignorance of gun safety , placement, under lock and key, access to children etc. Some people have acquired guns with no training, nor a knowledge of laws pertaining to their weapon.
Another problem is Genetics
Parents who want children to be just like Dad, only Dads never truly embraced safety. Mentions it once goes to the range, and forgets everything. Most likely he is the same party teaching his children guns are macho, manly and so forth.
A real culprit is the Media, Television, Computer Games, and Real War
Another problem is the media exposure. The news media doesn’t do enough to promote gun safety, the TV has entertainment shows are mostly shooting and violence and lets face it we live in a country with 340 million people and about two guns for everyone. Having an ongoing war for 13 years certainly qualifies as one of the main endorsers of violence.
And number one on my hit list are computer games
Where you reboot and re-life certainly sends a bad message. Dead kids don’t get up for another round. Thats an 8 year old at the NRA show.
• DON’T BLAME THE GUNS
MAY 2016
My paper tells me this week alone two children in separate accidents under the age of six managed to find loaded guns in their home left unlocked, unguarded and the children killed themselves. One was four and one was five. Parents at fault.
APRIL 2016
Another unsecured loaded gun found it’s way into the hands of a five year old boy who shot his 4 year old sister to death. State laws will dictate trial of the parent under neglect and the accessible gun laws. Regardless it won’t bring back the child. Parents at fault.
NOVEMBER 2013
A nine year old was arrested by local police in my town in the Tampa Bay area when the bus driver saw a gun in this kids pocket and radioed law enforcement. It was a two shot Derringer in a 45 plus caliber, a common back up pocket weapon commonly carried in bear country. Had he fired it the results would have been devastating. The kid went to juvenile hall and under Florida law the parent(s) will be charged. By rights the child can even be taken away from the parents.
This article contains information gleaned from the front pages of the newspapers, some research on my behalf and a desire to get the truth out because those with interests (people who make money from this endeavor) try to lighten or assimilate the tragedy. the NRA will tell you these are isolated incidents.
THE NRA WOMAN OF THE YEAR - APRIL 2016
Three months ago, the very pretty and not so bright Jamie Gilt, 31, a mother, self adored model, actress, story teller high-profile pro-gun activist, whatever, self made celebrity and no-brainer was shot in the back by her four year old boy after grandstanding probably looking for some publicity from the NRA. A real gun advocate, almost a loudmouth Palin clone, she bragged about she’s teaching her 4 year old how to shoot. It appears she never graduated the four year old course on being a good mother.
Jamie posts about firearms on her social media accounts while driving through Putnam County, Jacksonville, Florida, on Tuesday. She was shot in the back by her four-year-old son after he found her pistol lying on the back seat of her truck just 24 hours after she boasted about his shooting skills online. This true, he hit the target at almost two feet.
“Even my 4 year old gets jacked up to target shoot with the .22". She reportedly believes she has the right to shoot anyone who threatens her family - and plans to teach her offspring the same mentality.
I can see it now “The Terror of the Kindergarten” on the HBO channel. Watch a five year old settle disputes over who gets the sandbox!
She placed the youth in a carrier in the backseat with a loaded gun accessible to him…he shot her in the back. Mom might see some time when she recovers. Had the bullet struck the spine, she might never recover, she is very lucky. Lucky but stupid and I don’t believe she stands a chance at the Mother of the Year awards.
Jamie is expected to face a misdemeanor charge of allowing a minor access to a firearm, authorities said Tuesday. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday filed an affidavit with local prosecutors asking that Gilt be charged with the second-degree misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to 180 days in jail, Capt. Gator DeLoach told reporters.
And not to say she’s an angel… In 2013, Jamie Gilt, 30, was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff's Department on April 4, 2013 after she was detained by security guards at Dillard's department store in the town. The prominent gun rights activist was spotted stuffing children’s clothes into her purse and hiding the bag in the child's stroller. She was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department and charged with a felony count Grand Theft Retail. Officers released her on a bond of $2,503 pending a court hearing.
‘The suspect was detained by loss protection personnel and the property, totaling $455 was recovered. 'The suspect was arrested on the above charge and transported to the Duval County Jail.' Had she been convicted of a felony grand theft and had a felony arrest record she would not have access to guns.
APRIL 27, 2016 MORE TRADGEDY
One day after Patrice Price was accidentally shot to death by her 2-year-old son while driving, her friends and family gathered to remember her as a woman who loved her children. "She loved shopping, she loved dancing, she loved her kids. She loved looking fabulous," said her sister, Cherneice Stewart.
The 26-year-old Milwaukee woman was driving her boyfriend's car when a gun slid out from under the driver's seat and her 2-year-old son picked it up and fired it from the back seat. The bullet went through the driver's seat and hit Price in the back as she drove south on Highway 175 near W. Vliet St. about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Adding to the tragedy was the fact Price had borrowed a car from her boyfriend, a security guard, because hers had been stolen four days earlier. When her car was stolen, the car seats for her sons — the 2-year-old and a 1-year-old — were also stolen, said Stewart.
MAY 2013
Ms. Saylor Martine, of Oklahoma, fifteen, died after she was shot in the head while toying with a firearm. She was with her sister. The culprit, according to the police, a semi-auto owned by her parents. It was purchased by Mom for her own protection. So the story goes, she and her sister had been handling the gun when they placed it down on a counter, where it discharged.
I call her the girl with angel eyes, how tragic.
No one believes the gun went off by itself, and fifty years in this game and I haven’t seen one go off by itself except in a fire. But I’m sure there is enough grief to go around, and the Sheriff is hesitant is doing anything about it. He spoke and thought it was a gun defect. Obviously there is more to this. An accident means no one is charged, especially the only one who knows the truth. The sister or possibly the mother, but a child is dead and someone was negligent. The mother should be charged, and the child will have to live with it.
OCTOBER 2008 Christopher Bizilj
A family man goes to a gun show in his small New England town of Westfield, MA with his son and a camera. It was co-sponsored by the local traffic ticketing Sheriff who had a financial consideration (sponsor and partner) in the show. See picture of this A-Hole below.
With an “Instructor” watching, (determined to be uncertified, not old enough, the son of one of the sponsors, recently recruited, 14 year old) the 8-year-old boy at the gun fair aimed a full auto Uzi submachine gun at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera. The 14 year old “Instructor” had told the father he didn’t think this was safe.
It was his first time shooting a fully automatic gun, and anyone who has ever fired an UZI or Scorpion or Scepter know these things have the muzzle rise of an ATLAS rocket for the untrained.
It was too much for the 8-year old boy, simply the weapon had too much muzzle rise for him and literally shot his head off with Dad in the beginning proudly filming this important event in his child’s life. No one got charged.
Now gun safety experts — and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the shooting happened — are wondering why such a young child was allowed, permitted, in the same range, in the same field, at the same gun range to fire a full auto weapon used in war.
Simple, follow the money. Money, a gun show, lots of vendors showing their wares, you don’t have to be an idiot to figure that one out. And the sheriff put it together. Local, state and federal authorities are also investigating whether everyone involved had proper licenses or if anyone committed a criminal act. Well there’s the hangup. Most prosecutors are elected or appointed officials and the lobbies are very powerful. We predict nothing will come of it.
More on this story and the conclusion: Http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/massachusetts.gun.show.verdict/index.html
During the gun show, was firing the micro Uzi when he accidentally shot himself in the head. He died instantly. At the trial, upon hearing the verdict, Fleury broke into tears. He later hugged his wife and spoke to reporters outside the courtroom, offering his condolences to the Bizilj family.
"This was meant to be an educational event for people and unfortunately this terrible accident happened," Fleury said, his voice heavy with emotion. "And I do want to express my heartfelt sympathy to the Bizilj family and their friends for this terrible accident.” Christopher's father, Charles Bizilj, was present at the time of the shooting and videotaped the entire incident. Parts of that tape were shown to the jury, which also heard emotional testimony from the father. The trial lasted 10 days.
"I ran over to him. His eyes were open and I saw no reason for him to be on the ground. And I tried to talk to him and he didn't respond. I put my hand behind his head to try to pick him up and there was a large portion of his cranium missing. And I put my hand against the back of his head," Charles Bizilj told members of the Hampden County jury.
Fleury faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter and up to 10 years for each count of furnishing a machine gun to a minor. His lawyer, Rosemary Scapicchio, had argued that while Fleury helped organize the show, he wasn't directly responsible and hadn't actually given guns to the children there.
Carl Giuffre and Domenico Spano have also been charged in connection with the incident. The two were in charge of the show's shooting range and are accused of having provided the Uzi that killed Christopher Bizilj. Prosecutor William Bennett said he will decide next week whether to proceed with the case against them, given Fleury's acquittal.
AUGUST 2014 Charles Vacca, 39
PHOENIX — The 9-year-old girl who accidentally shot and killed a firing range instructor with an Uzi last week told her mother immediately afterward that the gun was too powerful for her and that it had hurt her shoulder, according to a Mohave County Sheriff’s Office report released Tuesday.
The family huddled around the girl, fearing she was injured, and did not realize that instructor Charles Vacca, 39, was wounded until another employee ran over, according to the report. After realizing what had occurred, the girl's parents immediately removed her and their other two children from the property and brought them to the nearby restaurant so they wouldn't see what happened, the report states.
The New Jersey family had been vacationing in Las Vegas and on Aug. 25 was shuttled to Bullets and Burgers, the firing range at Last Chance property in White Hills, Ariz. The family had taken a ride on a monster truck before heading to the shooting range, according to the report.
The girl's father was the first to fire the weapon, a mini Uzi 9mm, and then the girl took her turn. With the girl's mother recording, Vacca showed the 9-year-old how to stand and shoot the gun, allowing her to fire a few rounds.
At this point Vacca switched the gun into its automatic setting, according to a deputy who would later view the mother's video. "(The father) said all of a sudden he heard a lot of rounds fire and saw (his daughter) drop the gun to the ground," the report states.
Range instructor Ross Miller witnessed the incident, and told deputies that he saw the girl start to shoot the weapon, and the recoil sent it straight up into the air and "crossed the path where Charles had his head," the report stated. Employees immediately started applying pressure to Vacca's head wound and called 911.
Medical personnel arrived and stabilized Vacca before transporting him to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas via helicopter. Vacca passed away shortly thereafter, according to the report.
The girl's parents did not permit investigators to talk to their children because they were "going through a lot," the report states. The man said his family was in shock and they wanted to leave the area and return to Las Vegas, according to the report. The girl's mother allowed investigators to access the video on her cellphone.
Investigators collected evidence from the scene, including the firearm, the magazine and four live rounds. Deputies were instructed to retrieve copies of the release waivers signed by the family, but were told by employees that the waivers had blown away after the incident. But prosecutors are not filing charges in the case. Because the mistake was made by the instructor who is dead.
MORE FROM THE FILES
• In Kentucky, a five year old, just given a rifle, a sort of rite of passage in some families, left out in the open in a corner of the room, loaded and he proceeded to shoot his sister who was four.
• 3 year old Had Speights, accidentally shot and killed himself last month with his uncle’s handgun, which he found in a backpack.
• Jarvis Jackson (1) was accidentally shot and killed by a boy (4) last month after their baby sitter brought a handgun to the house for personal protection and then fell asleep after leaving the gun loaded and unsecured on the kitchen table.
• 4-year-old Cody Ryan Hall, who accidentally shot and killed himself in April with a family owned handgun he found in an unlocked gun case.
• A six-year-old Toms River New Jersey boy accidentally shot by Brandon Holt, 4-year-old neighbor on Monday night, has died. Police said Holt was shot in the head by his friend after the younger boy went into his home on McCormick Avenue and somehow got his hands on a .22-caliber rifle. The boy found the rifle under a bed. Police said the 4-year-old then went outside and accidentally shot the 6-year-old, who was sitting in a quad nearby.
• The boy’s father, Anthony Senatore, was arrested and charged. Five counts of second-degree child endangerment one count of third-degree child endangerment. Each second-degree count could potentially bring 5 to 10 years in prison, which means that if Senatore is convicted, he could theoretically face up to 50 years in prison.
• Texas: Johnson County Austin McCord, “Forgot he had a loaded magazine in the AK-47” when he pulled the trigger, shooting the girl in the stomach, on her 13th birthday, in a gun-cleaning accident, this imbecile must not watch much news.
• I guess the Dallas man who rushed his bloody grandson to the hospital pays more attention. He is fortunate as his 4-year-old grandson, who was visiting his home Wednesday, found a loaded handgun beneath a pillow. The little boy shot himself in the shoulder — but he’ll recover.