I was walking through a big strip mall a few days ago in Houston, Texas. There's a large sporting goods store that I wanted to visit there, and it's set way back in the mall. To get there I had to pass by what was, until mid-2019, a big book store. That space sat empty until a month ago, and I did a double-take when I saw that it was now occupied by a gun store.
Bronze Samurai Warrior
CLICK TO ENLARGE
But it's not just any gun store. Collectors Firearms is a family-owned business. They were at the southeast corner of Fondren Road and Richmond Avenue for many years but had outgrown that space.
The new location is at 7626 Westheimer (at Voss). I'm not good at estimating square footage, but I would guess they have at least 20,000 square feet.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
When I walked through the front door, I gasped. Glass cases filled with antique handguns give this place a museum-like atmosphere. Antique military helmets fill other glass cases. Sheathed Japanese swords guard another.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Straight ahead of the entrance are two bronze statues of Japanese Meiji period bronze Samurai warriors from the mid-1800s. (The Meiji era of Japanese history went from October 1868 to July 1912.) These bronze pieces are magnificent.
They are quite special and rightfully stand at the very center of the store -- a place of honor. One of the managers, a gentleman named Mike, is an expert in Japanese swords. He's been selling and studying them for over 30 years, and he told me the story of the two samurai soldiers.
September 24, 2014 - Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are prone to bending and even cracking, according to numerous reports and experimentation.
"The latest ultra-slim iPhone 6 can be warped as some owners are finding out after carrying the sleek aluminum phones in their pants pockets. Apple reports selling 10 million new phones in the three days since the devices debuted last Friday," reports New York Daily News. "
It's not just a rumor, and #BendGate is a hot topic on Twitter.
"#Bendgate is the predictable term that has flooded social media over the last 24 hours," reports Forbes today. "It comes after a video from Unbox Therapy [left] went viral after demonstrating that it was relatively easy to
bend the iPhone 6 Plus. The video itself was a response to scattered
reports of the iPhone 6 Plus bending in owners’ front and back pockets."
"This started a flame war between Apple fans and haters," continued Forbes, "and a number of defences were written including ‘Duh: Of Course the iPhone 6 Plus Can Bend in Your Pocket’
on Wired. Unbox Therapy then poured petrol on these flames with a
second video (below) showing not only that trying to straighten a bent
iPhone 6 Plus can shatter the screen, but that under the same tests a
Galaxy Note 3 was fine."
Some, including Apple, have tried to blame tight jeans for the bending. Engadget points out that it's really "an issue
of building materials." Both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have an aluminum chassis
"spread over a wider area than any previous iPhone" and "with enough pressure and leverage, it's going to
bend, and some owners reported similar issues with the iPhone 5"
If your new iPhone 6 has already bent or cracked, you might want to just destroy it completely. Think of the emotional satisfaction you'll get. See "Videos Show How To Annihilate Your iPhone 6."
June 5, 2014 -- Parts of Moncton, New Brunswick were locked down following the shooting deaths on Wednesday night of three Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the wounding of two other officers, reports the CBC.
Police were searching for gunman Justin Bourque, 24, armed and dangerous. Police tweeted a photo of him wearing military camouflage and carrying guns (left).
UPDATE: Bourque surrendered to police at early on the morning of Friday, just after midnight. The Daily Mail (UK) reports that Bourque gave himself up in the front yard of Moncton resident Michelle Thibodeau. "He was in my backyard. I saw him arrested in front of my eyes. He is alive," Thibodeau tweeted. "The swat team arrived at my house and unloaded and started screaming in my backyard for him to surrender and he did. I watched it happen," according the the Daily Mail. "They had him sprawled on my front lawn for some time and then loaded him into the swat vehicle. They are now checking my yard for firearms."
While Bourque was still at large, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police asked residents to stay inside and lock their doors, turn on porch lights to assist police, and to not broadcast police operations over social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Moncton has a population of just over 60,000.
Police lead the suspected killer away
from the Brooklyn murder scene. Photo: Paul Martinka / New York Post
October 27, 2013 - Horror in New York, on Saturday night: A mother and four children were stabbed to death in an apartment on 57th Street near Ninth Avenue. A machete and scissors were taken from the apartment by police as evidence. "A crazed man turned a Sunset Park, Brooklyn, home into a slaughterhouse late Saturday, leaving a 37-year-old mom and her four young children stabbed to death," reports the New York Post. "A 25-year-old suspect - preliminarily identified as the children’s mentally troubled older cousin - was arrested after being subdued at the scene, his feet bare and soaked in blood."
"The toddler and two girls....were already dead from their wounds when paramedics arrived just after 11 p.m.," reports New York Daily News. The mother and [a] boy were taken to local hospitals, "but doctors were unable to save them, officials said."
Police released the five victims' names on Sunday: 37-year-old Qiao Zhen Li and her children, 9-year-old Linda Zhuo, 7-year-old Amy Zhuo, 5-year-old Kevin Zhuo, and 1-year-old William Zhuo.
Nobody has yet called for a national discussion about knife or blade control. There have been no calls in the past for tighter controls on how the mentally ill obtain sharp objects such as steak knives, machetes, ice picks and other potentially dangerous non-guns things.
HERO: Teacher Michael Landsberry
died while protecting students
October 21, 2013 - A teen aged gunman shot and killed a math teacher, wounded two 12-year old male students at Sparks Middle School in Nevada around 7:15 this morning. The "gunman," a 12-year old 7th grader at the school, then fatally shot himself with his 9-millimeter Ruger seminautomatic handgun.
Update: The teacher killed in the attack was Michael Landsberry, 45, a former US Marine and member of the Nevada Air National Guard. He is survived by his wife and two step-daughters. More...
Update, Oct. 25: The 12-year old shooter has been identified as Jose Reyes. Tthe city of Sparks released the 12-year-old boy’s name on Thursday afternoon (Oct. 24). "The Reno Gazette-Journal had requested the name Tuesday after Sparks police said in a news conference they would not release it," reports the Reno Gazette-Journal. "The RGJ editorial board called on Sparks to release the name, arguing that Sparks police needed to follow the state’s public records laws."
The two wounded students were taken to Renown Regional Medical Center in critical condition. One is out of surgery and the other is doing well, reports Associated Press.
A witness to the Sparks Middle School shooting, 13-year old Kyle Nucum, describes the shooting in this video:
“We heard a pop, like a loud pop, and everybody was screaming and the teacher came to investigate,” Nucum told RGJ Media this morning. “I thought it was a firecracker at first, but the student was pointing a gun at the teacher after the teacher told him to put it down, and the student fired a shot at the teacher and the teacher fell and everybody ran away. And we ran across the field to get somewhere safe and while we were running we heard about four or five more shots and we just got somewhere safe. This lady let us into her house.”
Another student who saw the shooting said, “I heard him saying, ‘Why you people making fun of me, why you laughing at me.’” More at RGJ.com...
Classes at Spark Middle School have been cancelled for the rest of the week. Sparks is located just east of Reno (see map).
JJ Peppers in Uptown, scene of gunfire on July 28, 2013
(Screenshot from WGN TV video)
June 29, 2013 - UPDATED, 2:00 PM - Chicago media can't seem to get their story straight on yesterday's shooting in Chicago's north side Uptown neighborhood.Is the number of victims five, four or six? Were they all male or were some female? How many people were actually hit by gunfire in Uptown last night?
The shooting happened by a JJ Peppers store in a strip mall around 7:15 PM on Friday at the intersection of N. Sheridan Road and W. Lawrence Avenue. Initial news reports said that five men were hit by gunfire, four critically wounded and one seriously.
Google search for "shooting uptown peppers wgn"
On WGN TV's 9PM newscast on Friday, however,Gaynor Hall reported from the shooting scene that police had amended the number of wounded down to four, all which were in "good condition."
WGN has since removed Hall's report and edited their story to reflect what other local media are saying: SIX people were wounded, two of which were female.
A Google search for "shooting uptown peppers wgn" finds a link to WGN's story, originally headlined "Four people shot outside Uptown strip mall."
NBC5's story, screenshot at 3:00 PM, June 29, 2013
Laughably, NBC5 has a story headline that is non-committal: "Several Wounded in Uptown Shooting." NBC updated their story at 10:30 last night to say that "A police department spokesman said four were injured, adding that they were four males of unknown ages."
That's what Gaynor Hall reported for WGN. NBC has apparently not felt it necessary to update their story.
Some of the blame for this confusion should probably go the the Chicago Police Department for giving out bad information to the media.
Previous Reports, Friday, June 28: UPDATED 10: 30 PM - Four men were hit by gunfire this evening around 7:15 PM in the Uptown neighborhood on the city's north side.
NBC5 tweet from June 28, 2013: "5 wounded, 4 critically"
The shooting happened in front of the JJ Peppers convenience store in a strip mall at the intersection of N. Sheridan Road and W. Lawrence Avenue. It's a particularly rough part of a very rough neighborhood, just one block east of the Aragon Entertainment Center.Two people were shot at the same location on June 10. The shooting happened even as a "positive loitering" event was taking place across the street (see below).
NBC5 Chicago reported that "Shots rang out at about 7:15 p.m. in the 4800 block of North Sheridan Road, a fire department spokesperson said. Five ambulances responded to the scene. Four people were critically wounded and one person was in serious condition, the spokesperson said." NBC notes that the story is still developing.
ABC7 Chicago said that all victims are male. "Four people were critically wounded and one person was in serious condition, Fire Media Affairs said. Two males were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and two males were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien said."
Uptown Update had a first-hand report, published at 8:50 PM. Their lead story until then, ironically, was about another useless "positive loitering" event from 7-8 pm, at the southwest corner of Lawrence and Sheridan, just inches from a shooting that "positive loitering" is supposed to prevent. The shooting, in front of JJ Peppers, is at the northwest corner of the intersection.
This is probably what the targets looked like.
Source: Huffington Post
April 13, 2013 - A police sergeant in Port Canaveral, Florida was fired in the wake of being accused of having shooting targets with the likeness of shooting victim Trayvon Martin. Port Canaveral is about 60 minutes away from Sanford, Florida, where Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in February 2012.
Sergeant Ron King was fired on Friday "after he brought Trayvon Martin shooting targets to a firearms training session," reports WFTV-9.
Trayvon Martin
King was supervising a training session at the Brevard Community College campus in Cocoa on April 4. King purchased the targets on the internet, Port officials told WFTV.
King, reports reports WTVM-9, is alleged to have offered two targets with Martin's likeness to two other officers at the training session. King and the two officers were all on duty at the time. The two officers said that they refused to use the targets.
Jan. 21, 2013 - The predominantly liberal Mainstream Media is using the recent murders family membes by Nehemiah Griego as a way to attack homeschooling. New York Daily News's absurd headline today is "New Mexico homeschooled teen Nehemiah Griego accused of murdering family constantly wore camo: neighbors." 15-year old Griego fatally shot his parents and three siblings on Saturday, Jan. 19 in their home near Albuquerque.
Wow, sounds like those wacky homeschoolers are a bunch of dangerous nutjobs! Is the fact that Griego was homeschooled a legitimate part of this tragic story? Sure it is, in the same way that it's legitimate to report certain other personal information about him. But the way the NY Daily News headline portrays it, homeschooling was a major factor in the shooting. The NY Daily News headline is a deliberately misleading bit of anti-homeschooling propaganda from the Left, which prefers government-run public schools to allowing kids to be educated at home - outside of the ideological grip of the government.
Jan. 15, 2013 - Prominent Republicans are saying that they would move to impeach Barack Obama if he uses executive orders to limit access to firearms. The White House will announce its plan of action on Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 11:45 ET. Obama will reveal "concrete proposals" to limit our Second Amendment rights, including a ban on "assault weapons" and ways to "strengthen" background checks for gun buyers.
The White House has 19 executive actions that it says are ready for Obama to implement. Such action by Obama would be unilateral. That is, it would be the Executive branch of federal government bypassing the Legislative branch (Congress) to unilaterally make law.
"The president is also expected to outline 19 executive actions that he can unilaterally take, according to Capitol Hill Democrats briefed on his plan," reports The Hill. "Those executive actions are likely to include more aggressive enforcement of existing gun laws, increasing federal research on gun violence and stronger prosecutions of those who lie on gun background checks."
Alex Jones on Piers Morgan Tonight, Jan. 7, 2013
Nuttier than squirrel crap
Jan. 8, 2013 - Man, this is hot stuff. Alex Jones was on Piers Morgan Tonight yesterday, and sparks flew.Here is the full video of that encounter, below, which was taped in CNN's studios in New York.
It was one of the best drubbings that Morgan has experienced since rock legend and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent kicked his arse back in May, 2011.
There was a table between Morgan and Nugent, but on Monday there was no barrier between Jones and Morgan. They sat inches away from each other, and for much of the encounter Morgan actually looked frightened, as though he feared that Jones would physically attack him at any moment.
Unfortunately, Jones came of (as usual) as a complete nutter. He's one of those guys who, no matter what he says, it tends to sound crazy. His verbal style is, well, crazy. But the fact is that Jones is a dishonest fear-mongering opportunistic egoist, with a delusional paranoid personality that is either real or very well feigned. VIDEO BELOW.
Jan. 7, 2013 - Bank of America (BofA) tried to take the law into its own hands in late December when it froze the deposits of gun manufacturer American Spirit Arms. Late this morning, however, American Spirit announced that it has "gotten most of the deposits and have set up new accounts with a local bank."
Joseph P. Sirochman, owner of American Spirit Arms, says that BofA put his company's deposits on hold and under "further review." He says a bank employee told him, "We believe you should not be selling guns and parts on the Internet." Needless to say, Sirochman was very upset. On December 29, he posted about the ordeal on Facebook
This update was posted by American Spirit Arms at 10:45 AM CST, January 7, 2013 as a comment to the original post on Facebook (below):
I first want to thank all of you that have called, emailed and posted your support. I also wanted to post an update and to clear up some questions... BANK OF AMERICA started holding American Spirit Arms deposits for REVIEW on 12-18-12. Since that time we had to fight tooth and nail to get them released... We have now gotten most of the deposits and have set up new accounts with a local bank. Again I want to thank everyone for the outpour of support on this matter and believe because of you we were able to get our deposits..
Sincerely and Many Thanks, Joseph P Sirochman American Spirit Arms
Note: Sirochman's post got a lot of comments, and they're still coming in. Many commenters are urging him to sue BofA. A typical comment: "Get a good attorney and sue them... I am quite sure you will win, I would go for a few years worth of receipts for the damage done to your reputation and your business..." Following is Sirochman's original Facebook post on December 29, 2012.
Actors who glorify guns and butchery demand a vague "plan" to stop the same violence and killing that they glamorize in film and television...
Hypocrisy in Action: Celebs 'Demand a Plan'
Jan. 1, 2013 - Hollywood is a culture of violence. Big stars make big bucks portraying psychotic killers, shooting people in orgies of bloody gore.
These actors glorify guns and killing, but they want you to "demand a plan" to stop real-life killings.
Look, we're all for stopping the violence. The real issue here is the hypocrisy and stupidity of the celebrities who appeared in a video called "Demand a Plan to Gun Violence." (Watch it below.)
In response to that video, a video titled "Demand a Plan? Demand Celebrities Go F*** Themselves" points out the double standard and hypocrisy of those celebrities. The response video was posted by "Mike Hunt" (hey, maybe that's his real name) on YouTube on Dec. 25, 2012.
The celebrities' plea to "demand a plan" is vague at best; they suggest no plan themselves. The video was put out by a group called "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" (MAIG) as a response to the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. 28 people died in that horrific attack, including gunman Adam Lanza. At the MAIG website, there is a proposal for action, but no part of their "plan" would prevent another Adam Lanza from stealing his mother's guns and going on a killing spree. SEE THE VIDEOS BELOW.
Taliban fighter clings to his guns and religion.
Original photo: Reuters Wording: Unknown
Jan. 1, 2013 - Had to share this graphic with you. It's a Reuters photo of a Taliban soldier. It says, "I wonder when Obama is going to tell the Muslims to stop clinging to their guns and religion."
That's a darkly funny reference to Obama's insult to Americans who believe in God and/or own firearms as the Constitution says they can. (I don't know who added the words.) The irony in all of this, of course, is Obama's firm support for the Islamo-fascist Muslim Brotherhood, which recently came to power in Egypt with help from the Obama Administration.
Obama made his insulting comment while running for the presidency in April, 2008. He was referring mainly to unemployed blue collar voters when he said, "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." If that describes any group, it best describes militant Muslims. You know, such as the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and so many other groups.
Image by T. Mannis,
Chicago News Bench
Hillary Clinton, running against Obama at the time, said, "His remarks are elitist and out of touch."Watch a video of Hillary criticizing Obama for his "elitist" remark. A few years later, Hillary Clinton would be Obama's Secretary of State, and would help make possible the ascension of the Muslim Brotherhood. Did Clinton ever consider how "out of touch" it was to give so much assistance and political legitimacy to the terrorists of the Muslim Brotherhood?
Neither Clinton or Obama considered the opinion of the Egyptians who would fall under the oppressive rule of President Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. They should have consulted with Egyptian democracy activist Michael Meunier, who says Obama "needs to stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood flat out."
Does anyone at Brietbart know that L.A. is not in D.C.? Click image to enlarge.
Sorry Breitbart: This is NOT Sidwell Friends School.
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) (Damian Dovarganes) Click image to enlarge (see original story).
Dec. 29, 2012 - BUSTED: Breitbart's "Big Government" website is using two photos that they present falsely as being taken at the exclusive Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., attended by the Obama daughters. In my opinion, they did this deliberately. Sadly, both photos are being reproduced by bloggers who don't know how, or are too lazy, to do a little basic research to confirm facts.
One of the photos in question was most certainly not taken at Sidwell. The other is highly suspicious. Let me explain, and keep in mind that I am a conservative blogger who doesn't like fellow conservative bloggers presenting lies, whether on purpose or through stupidity. We all make mistakes. I sure do, but I correct them when I become aware of them. I would never do what the Breitbart kiddies did here.
BAD PHOTO #1: On Dec. 23, Breitbart's "Big Government" website published a photo as part of a story about security guards at Sidwell Friends School, the private institution in Washington, D.C. that the Obama daughters attend. The article, written by someone who calls himself A.W.R. Hawkins, is titled "D.C. School Posts Job Opening For Police Officer." A photo at the top of that article shows four burly, armed guards. The photo has no caption, and no source is given.
Trouble is, the photo was actually taken in February, 2011 on the other side of the continent, in Los Angeles. The armed men are Los Angeles Unified School District police, and they were guarding Miramonte Elementary school during a protest in Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. Sadly, hundreds of conservative bloggers are mindlessly republishing the same photos as they follow Breitbart like zombies, telling their readers that the photo is of Sidwell Friends School.
As predicted, the anti-gun crowd immediately howled that guns are not a way to protect kids in schools, many arguing that it would only compound the problem. And yet...
The hypocrisy comes from politicians such as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and His Royal Highness Barack Obama, and such as NBC's David Gregory. They say they are anti-gun, each has made statements against putting armed guards in schools, they all send their children to private schools where armed personnel protect the staff and students.
Emanuel and Obama, and thousands of other politicians, never appear in public without a cadre of well-armed guard flanking them for protection. And who can blame them? They want to be safe. They feel that armed guards protect themselves and their kids. So, why then, do they tell us that the same thing won't protect you and me?
"As it happens," notes Wizbangblog.com, "Gregory sends his kids to D.C.-based Sidwell Friends, the same expensive, high-end school the President sends his own children to. Every day that school features armed security details. In fact, the security department is quite large for such a small school as Daniel Halper points out."
Yet, hypocritical elitists such as Obama, Emanuel and Gregory insist that what works well for themis not appropriate for the average ordinary peasant. “It’s outrageous and unsettling that the NRA would choose to address gun violence not by taking assault weapons off our streets, but by adding more guns to our schools,”Emanuel said in a written statement. “That is not the right answer for our society, our schools and most importantly our children.”
"While the Obama administration is calling the idea of armed protection at our schools crazy, they are not mentioning the fact that Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, has 11 security officers and is seeking to hire more," points out Gather.com. (See the classified ad here.) "This of course is on top of the secret service officers that are at the school daily since Obama's daughter attend there. Joe Biden's grandchildren as well as children and grandchildren of other high profile political figures attend Sidwell Friends. One more note here. As Hillary and Bill Clinton were calling for gun control, their daughter was attending Sidwell Friends for the superb protection afforded by the added by the schools armed security."
Perhaps Emanuel's hypocrisy was best summed by Jim Johnson of WLS 890 AM in Chicago:
"Oh, outraged huh? Gee, if he's soooo outraged, then why doesn't he pull his kids out of the LAB School at the U of C campus. Guess the 2 U of C armed police officers that work the Lab School everyday just make for such a scary and unsafe environment. Oh wait, if he did that then he just might have to enroll his kids in the local CPS school by his house!?!?! Wait, that can't happen. CPS is just good enough for the peasants kids but not for his little angels. Double standard hypocrite." (h/t: Second City Cop)
Johnson was referring to The University of Chicago Laboratory School, an exclusive and expensive private school. Before he ascended to the Throne, Obama sent his daughters to this bastion of education for the wealthy and privileged. Emanuel currently sends his own kids there. (This begs for a discussion of their hypocrisy about school choice and school vouchers, but we'll save that for another day.)
What the anti-gun idiots do not seem to understand is the painfully obvious fact that when there is a mad killer on the loose in a school, there will be a scramble to call 911. And why is 911 called? To get police to the scene, of course, so that they can - drum roll, please - introduce guns into the school, and thereby stop the lunatic. In other words - and this is what the anti-gun morons cannot seem to comprehend - the defensive guns will be in a school that's under attack sooner or later. Yet, with incredibly dysfunctional "logic," the anti-gun imbeciles opt have the defensive guns arrive later, after the murderous attacker has had more time to kill than he would have if an armed guard, armed teacher or other armed staff member been able to draw his or her own pistol and end the killing well before the police dispatcher even finished with the first 911 call.
"How have our nation's priorities gotten so far out of order?" asked LaPierre in his statement. "Think about it. We care about our money, so we protect our banks with armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants, courthouses - even sports stadiums - are all protected by armed security. We care about the President, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents. Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by armed Capitol Police officers. Yet when it comes to the most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family - our children - we as a society leave them utterly defenseless, and the monsters and predators of this world know it and exploit it. That must change now!"
So there they are: Obama and fellow anti-gun clowns telling us that we need stricter gun laws. They tell us what we cannot do to protect our own children, while they themselves do exactly what they say would be wrong for us. It should be remembered that the State of Connecticut and the City of Chicago have some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. And just how are those working out?
Ted Nugent on Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN.
"Suck my machine gun."
Dec. 24, 2012 - Here is the full 29-minutes of Piers Morgan's interview of Ted Nugent on CNN on May 19, 2011 (video below). Legendary rock star, hunter and gun enthusiast Nugent held his own in the discussion, effectively destroying the British fop's weak arguments against the Second Amendment. This interview seems even more poignant today, in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT on Dec. 14, 2012.
The interview is wide-ranging. The good stuff - the fireworks - starts at 10:30 minutes into the video. The verbal exchange was good-natured intense, but Nugent was in no mood to take Morgan's liberal spewings without hitting back. Nugent is often underestimated by people who assume he's an ignorant redneck rock 'n' roller, but as he has proven so many times, he again proved that he has a strong command of statistics and history. Nugent doesn't mince his words, either.
"Anybody who wants to disarm me can drop dead," Nugent told Morgan. "Anybody who wants to make me unarmed and helpless, people that want to literally create the proven places where more innocents are killed, called 'gun-free zones,' we're gonna beat you. We're gonna vote you out of office. Or, suck on my machine gun. You can take it whichever way you like."
Morgan's weak come back: "Much as I'd love to suck on your machine gun, the whole point of your defense is a lot of people do drop dead precisely because you are armed to the teeth, much as you would like everyone else to be."
"Not true at all," said Nugent. "Piers, break this down. See, you're so British..."
"No, you write this down," Morgan interrupted, "80 people a day die in America from gunshots."
Nugent to Morgan: Kiss my ass.
"And 75 of them, to 78 of them, statistics by the Uniform Crime Report by the FBI and the UN Study on Violent Crime, 78 of those 80 are let out of their cages by corrupt judges and prosecutors who know the recidivism is out of control, know that they'll commit their crimes again, and they let them walk. From plea bargaining, early release and programs. Kiss my ass! Where you have the most armed citizens in America you have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst [strictest] gun control you have the highest crime rate. Piers, choose one. Do you want a lot of crime? We have it, gun-free zones. Do you want less crime? We have that. More people with concealed weapons permits. Why do you guys resist [those] statistics?"
Morgan, of course, had no good reply to Nugent citing facts from the FBI and the UN. He could not comprehend Nugents facts. Instead, he took the well-worn Liberal anti-intellectual path of letting his feeling overrule reality. No wonder Morgan's ratings are in the basement.
Morgan asked Nugent, in an accusatory question, if he wanted everyone in America to have a gun.
"What I want," said Nugent, "is the Second Amendment. We the people, free individuals, have the right to keep and bear arms for self defense. Find fault with that."
"Well, I can find lots of fault with that," replied British citizen Piers Morgan. "You end up with what happened with [Congresswoman] Gabby Gifford in Tuscson."
"That guy," Nugent said, referring to Jared Loughner, the man who shot Gifford, "went through the cracks of the mental health system."
I won't spoil your fun by giving away any more of the conversation. It is well worth watching the full interview. It was relevant in 2011. Now, at the end of 2012 and with the gun-control debate at a fever pitch, it is even more relevant. Sadly, the anti-gun crowd comes at the issue with cherry picked statistics and a lot of emotion, clouding their ability to reason and use logic. Like many of the ignorant Leftists who oppose the Second Amendment, Piers Morgan has cited his native Britain as a model for gun control as a way to reduce violence. That's amazing, because the facts and numbers show that strict gun control in the UK has had exactly the opposite effect. Like Nugent said, "Do you want a lot of crime? We have it, gun-free zones."
Dec. 21, 2012 - FULL VIDEO of NRA Press Conference - Many predicted that the world would end today. They were wrong. Another prediction that proved false was that the National Rifle Association would soften its stand on gun rights as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Au contraire, for the NRA is standing strong today by issuing a powerful statement that they are standing strong on guns and the need for them. The NRA made a gutsy and hard-truths statement this morning at their news conference in Washington, D.C. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA. He also said that "the monsters and the predators of the world" take advantage of the fact that schools and other places are "gun-free zones." As we've said here many times, gun-free zones are helpless-victim zones, deliberately made vulnerable to attack. (Read the full text of Wayne LaPierre's statement below.)
During the press conference, LaPierre said, "Why is the use of a gun when it's asked to be used to protect the president or used by the police, but bad when it's used to protect children." He challenged the media to "at least admit that it's possible" that armed guards might have been able to stop the Newtown shooting.
USA Today reports that a protester interrupted the event by holding up a red handmade sign that said "NRA Killing Our Kids, CodePink.org." (Watch the video, above.) The protester was escorted out by security he shouted, "NRA, stop killing our children." (The poor lunatic probably also thinks that the American Automobile Association is responsible for the approximately 30,000 traffic deaths every year.)
Dec. 20, 2012 - A recent report by ABC News examines the issue of arming teachers and principals in public schools. This is a very hot debate in the U.S. after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, where Adam Lanza shot and killed 27 students and school staff. Some of the students interviewed in the ABC report support this idea, saying that they feel safer knowing their teachers are armed. Others don't, of course.
ABC noted that about 28,300 schools across the U.S. have armed security staff.
The obvious question to anti-gun people, then, is this:
If armed staff in a school is such a bad idea, then why have we not heard of any unfortunate incidents in those 28,300 schools? ABC cited the National Center for Education Statistics as the source for those numbers.
I can't help but wonder why some fear the idea of armed teachers more
than they fear an armed lunatic attacking them while they are
defenseless. Would those folks put a "Gun Free Zone" sign in their own
front yard? Why do they think it's safer to be unprotected when a
shooter enters their school, and then have to endure more killings while
they wait for the police to show up -- with their guns?
Dec. 18, 2012 - A few hundred anti-gun protesters milled about in front of the National Rifle Association's Federal Affairs Office in Washington DC yesterday. The group, CREDO Action, blames the NRA for the shooting rampage of mentally disturbed Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. These folks sound extraordinarily, well, stupid. But it's not their fault. They are, after all, stupid. Chanting "Shame on the NRA," many of these advocates of stricter gun laws would completely ban all U.S. citizens from owning any firearms. Language Advisory; Read more below the video...
A statement on CREDO Action's website says, "After the shooter Adam Lanza, no one is more to blame for the massacre of 20 first graders and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School than the National Rifle Association. In order to stop the senseless killing we must first stop the NRA."
CREDO Action at NRA office in Washington DC
This is mysterious to us at Chicago News Bench. None of the police reports related to the investigation of last week's shooting in Newtown, CT make any mention of the NRA. It would seem that blaming the NRA for the actions of the mentally unstable shooter, Adam Lanza, is the same as blaming the American Automobile Association (AAA) for traffic deaths. The CREDO Action website invites people to "talk to us," and they list their phone number as 800-555-7774.
The NRA has been virtually silent since last week's school shooting in Connecticut. However, Fox News reports that an NRA statement released late today "announced that it would hold a 'major' news conference on Friday. Issued by an aide to NRA President Wayne LaPierre, the statement also conveyed condolences for the murders and expressed the group's willingness to offer 'meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again'." (Whatever the hell that means.)
According to the Washington Free Beacon, CREDO is "a liberal activism group and 'America’s only progressive mobile phone company'." CREDO is was formed in part to counter the Tea Party Movement. "As previously reported by the Free Beacon, CREDO Action is an organizing front for CredoMobile, a San Francisco-based cellphone company that has donated more than $75 million to liberal causes since 1985."
"More than anyone else, the NRA is responsible for the more than 12,000 people murdered by guns every year in this country,"said Josh Nelson, campaign manager for Credo Action. I wonder if Mr. Nelson is a member of AAA, and if the 30,000 traffic deaths every year bother him.
Finally, what would Nelson and his fellow CREDO cretins say to the news that Canada's homicide rates in rose seven percent Canada rise 7% in 2011, despite having had the lowest level of firearm deaths in nearly 50 years? The weapon of choice for killers in Canada is now knives or other blades. The CBC reported that Statistics Canada, a federal data agency, said that "An increase in stabbings accounted for virtually the entire increase in homicides in 2011." One wonders, then, if CREDO is prepared to protest the cutlery industry if it and other extremist groups ever succeed in getting the Second Amendment revoked.
Dec. 17, 2012 - The nightmarish school shooting in Newtown, CT last week reminds us that lives could have been saved if some of the staff at Sandy Hook Elementary had been armed. One of them might have been able to take down killer Adam Lanza, thereby saving a dozen or more lives. Gun owners sometimes use their weapon to defend themselves or others but these stories rarely make it to the front page.
Sometimes a gun is used defensively against an animal. Sometimes it's used against a lunatic shooting at kids in a school, and sometimes the hero is a staffer of that school. Assistant principal Joel Myrick, for example, who undoubtedly prevented more killings by using his own hand gun to ruin a killer's day. Myrick used his own pistol to stop a shooting on October 1, 1997 at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. Time Magazine reported the following:
At 8 a.m. on Oct. 1, Luke Woodham, 16, bookish, overweight, an atheist filled with hatred for God and his own existence, drove a white Chevy Corsica up to his high school. That was already a sign of trouble: the young man had poor vision and was driven to school every day by his mother.
