Iowa 'Fake Gun' Bill Debated by Officers, Senators

Local report with video

Guns With History

ATF Director Jones Announces Resignation

ATF Director, B. Todd Jones

Ammoland

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director B. Todd Jones today announced that he is resigning. 

Jones was nominated by President Barack Obama for the position of ATF director on Jan. 24, 2013. On July 31, 2013, Jones became the first ATF director in history to receive Senate confirmation.
Prior to becoming ATF’s permanent Director, Jones served as the acting ATF Director starting Aug. 31, 2011. While serving as the acting director of ATF, Jones was also the U. S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, a post he held from Aug. 7, 2009, until his confirmation as ATF Director.

ATF Deputy Director Thomas E. Brandon will serve as Acting Director after Jones departs. Brandon was appointed Deputy Director of ATF in October 2011. Brandon has more than 26 years of experience with ATF. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Director, Brandon served as the special agent in charge of the Phoenix field division beginning in March 2011, and special agent in charge of the Detroit field division from January 2008 until his assignment to Phoenix.

West Virginia Governor, Earl Ray Tomblin Bucks Legislature, Vetoes Permit-Less Concealed Carry Bill

 
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin delivers his annual State of the State speech on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015, in Charleston, W.Va. (AP Photo/Tyler Evert) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Huffington Post

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) vetoed a bill Friday that would have eliminated the permit requirement for concealed carry, citing the concerns of law enforcement officers. 

The bill was passed out of the Republican-controlled state legislature, and would have ended a state law requiring anyone over the age of 21 to have a permit and undergo safety training to legally carry a gun that's not visible. Gun rights supporters say the requirements are costly, time-restrictive and infringe on Second Amendment rights. 

"Throughout my career, I have strongly supported the Second Amendment, as demonstrated by my repeated endorsements and high grades from the National Rifle Association," Tomblin wrote in a statement. "However, I must also be responsive to the apprehension of law enforcement officers from across the state, who have concerns about the bill as it relates to the safety of their fellow officers. It also would eliminate the required gun safety training courses for those applying for a concealed carry permit. In light of these concerns and in the interest of public safety for all West Virginians, I have vetoed Senate Bill 347."

Silencers

from ssgmarkcr

I came upon this interesting article from CNN of all places and it impressed me with its lack of bias, and as an example of how business works to help a person to get what they want.  My home state of Minnesota is one of several states hoping to become the 40th state in the union to allow its citizens to possess suppressors. 

  "Buying a silencer is legal, and they are more rigorously regulated by the federal government than most guns. It can take nearly a year to go through all the legal channels to buy a silencer. It's such a pain that some potential buyers don't even bother to purchase one.

SilencerCo, a maker of silencers in West Valley City, Utah, has launched an unusual service for potential buyers called EasyTrust. 

 

For a fee of $130, SilencerCo provides legal counsel to help customers leap the hurdles required for silencer approval.

But purchasing a silencer requires the applicant to mail or Fax a photo and fingerprints to the ATF and to pay a $200 tax. The approval process for most guns takes about 20 minutes, but for a silencer it can take nine or 10 months. 

 

To offset the tax, another silencer seller, Advanced Armament Corp. of Lawrenceville, Georgia, offers a $200 tax credit to buyers. "Don't let a government-imposed tax stop you from practicing your right to shoot safe & silent," says the company on its web site.

The silencer market has been booming. 

 

The civilian market for silencers soared 37% in 2013, according to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The tally in 2013 was half a million, compared to 360,000 in 2012 and 285,000 in 2011.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/13/news/companies/gun-silencers/index.html

Teen Left Paralyzed after Pellet Gun Negligent Discharge

Javier Castillo, 18, is facing aggravated assault charges after leaving his friend paralyzed from the waist down this week from an air rifle pellet in the spine. (Photo: WMSV)

Guns dot com

Three teens found out first hand that an air rifle is not a toy when one aimed a pellet gun at another’s spine, pulled the trigger, and left him instantly without feeling below the waist.

The incident occurred in Shelbyville, Tennessee earlier this week and resulted in one teen being charged with aggravated assault and another fighting to regain the ability to walk.

As reported by WSMV, Javier Castillo, 18, of King Arthur Trailer Park was sitting around with two of his friends when he picked up an air rifle he believed to be unloaded, pointed the gun at Kyle Lee Burnett, and pulled the trigger.

“He told me he was just going to point it at Kyle and aim at him through the scope, but he somehow pulled the trigger,” Shelbyville Police officer Tory Moore noted in his report. “He said he was just messing around and did not mean to shoot his friend.”

The air rifle used in the accident, an Ignite Black Ops Tactical Sniper, fires a .177 pellet at velocities of up to 1,000fps.

Black Ops notes on its website that, “Safety is the top priority when handling, transporting, storing, and shooting air guns,” and cautions its users to only point an air rifle in a safe direction and always act as if it were loaded.

Another New Jersey Gun Rights Poster Boy

Georgia 2-Year-old Shoots Herself - Dad is Distraught

WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather

A Fascinating Study of Shot Placement

Ammoland

At the Chicago site shown above, the number for 2014 is about 1 out of 7  (2619 shot/375 killed)    That is from shootings that are treated in hospitals.  At least some people choose not to be treated.  We do not know what number that may be, but prison interviews have found that a number of criminals choose not to go to a hospital, they have their wounds treated by themselves, family, or by some form of care in the underground economy.

A gunshot wound is potentially life threatening, and the law treats the person shooting as using deadly force for that reason.  Wounds to the extremities can kill, though the percentage is lower.   An Alabama intruder was shot in the leg.  He died.  From wiat.com:

The suspect collapsed after running away due to a bullet striking an artery in his leg. According to Tarrant Police, the male suspect, who has not been identified, died early Sunday afternoon. Authorities will meet Monday to determine if there will be any charges filed.

Remember, any shot is the use of deadly force.  Police are not trained to “shoot to wound” because a shot to the arm or leg can easily be deadly, it may not stop the attack, and such targets are inherently smaller and harder to hit than aiming for the center of mass.    The policy that most instructors teach is:

• Shoot to stop the threat, not to kill.
• Aim for the center of mass.
• Keep shooting until the threat is down and no longer a threat.

Victim's Family Awarded $12M in Accidental Apartment Shooting

Local news

The family of an Albuquerque man killed by a stray bullet in 2011 has been awarded $12 million.

Andrae Davis, 31, was shot and killed in the southeast Albuquerque shooting. A bullet went through the door and struck him in the heart in front of his fiancé and two children, according to an attorney.

The victim's family filed a lawsuit against the Eagle's Nest Condominium Complex and its property management company, saying they could have done more to prevent the shooting. The family’s attorney said the property manager didn’t screen tenants before they moved in.

He said there was no screening or background checks, though they are required by the rules of the complex. He said that led to a drug dealer living at the complex, who he believes was involved in the shooting that killed Davis.

A jury agreed with the family and awarded them $12 million.

No arrests were ever made in the shooting.

Lena Taylor: Most NRA Members Back Background Checks on All Gun Purchases

Politifact

In March 2013, Lee Leffingwell, then the mayor of Austin, Texas, made a two-part claim that includes the claim Taylor made. He said 90 percent of Americans and 74 percent of NRA members support background checks of gun purchasers. PolitiFact Texas rated his claim True.

The key evidence was an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine on a poll done in January 2013 by two entities at Johns Hopkins University -- the Department of Health Policy and Management and the Center for Gun Policy and Research.

The poll was conducted online among 2,703 adults -- including 169 NRA members -- through GfK Knowledge Networks, which specializes in working with academic and government researchers to do polling online. It recruits participants randomly via mail and telephone.

The poll found that 74 percent (to be precise, 73.7 percent) of NRA members supported requiring background checks for all gun sales. (The margin of error was seven points.)

Arizona Shooting Spree - 1 Dead, Several Wounded, 1 Arrested

Ryan Giroux

Local news 

An ex-convict with a history of violence and drug use is accused of gunning down a man in a Mesa motel Wednesday morning, then going on a shooting spree that left five others, including a culinary student, injured.

A Mesa SWAT team took Ryan Giroux, 41, into custody around 1 p.m., in a vacant condominium near Longmore and Emelita Avenue after a massive manhunt that included four other law-enforcement agencies.

Giroux was shot with a Taser, taken to Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa for treatment, then questioned late into Wednesday evening by detectives and investigators. Hewas expected to be booked into Maricopa County's Fourth Avenue Jail on multiple charges.

Court Upholds Sunnyvale Gun Limits, Similar to S.F.’s

SF Gate

Sunnyvale can ban possession of gun magazines that carry more than 10 cartridges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, rejecting gun advocates’ claims that enforcement of the measure violates the constitutional right of self-defense.

The ban was approved by nearly two-thirds of the South Bay community’s voters in November 2013, as part of Measure C, and took effect in March 2014. A month later, San Francisco began enforcing a similar ordinance passed by its Board of Supervisors. Gun owners also challenged that ordinance in federal court but dropped their case after a federal judge let the measure take effect.

California law prohibits the manufacture and sale of high-capacity gun magazines but does not forbid the possession of weapons legally purchased elsewhere, leaving that issue up to cities and counties. A federal ban on possessing high-capacity guns expired in 1994, and Congress has not renewed it.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that individuals have a right, under the Second Amendment, to possess handguns in their home for self-defense. Opponents of the Sunnyvale ordinance cited the high court’s statement that the Second Amendment covers weapons “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes,” and noted that millions of Americans own guns with large-capacity magazines.

But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding a federal judge’s ruling that allowed the ordinance to take effect, said there was little evidence that the weapons were typically used or needed for self-defense.

City officials presented evidence that “large-capacity magazines are disproportionately used in mass shootings as well as crimes against law enforcement,” Judge Michael Hawkins said in the 3-0 ruling. He said the evidence also indicated that the use of those weapons “results in more gunshots fired, results in more gunshot wounds per victim, and increases the lethality of gunshot injuries.”

Iowa Attorney Gives Employees Bonuses to Carry Guns

Arizona Lawmakers Debate Whether God Gave Americans Gun Rights

Blocking the Paths to Suicide

New York Times

Every year, nearly 40,000 Americans kill themselves. The majority are men, and most of them use guns. In fact, more than half of all gun deaths in the United States are suicides.

Experts and laymen have long assumed that people who died by suicide will ultimately do it even if temporarily deterred. “People think if you’re really intent on dying, you’ll find a way,” said Cathy Barber, the director of the Means Matters campaign at Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

Prevention, it follows, depends largely on identifying those likely to harm themselves and getting them into treatment. But a growing body of evidence challenges this view.

Suicide can be a very impulsive act, especially among the young, and therefore difficult to predict. Its deadliness depends more upon the means than the determination of the suicide victim.

Now many experts are calling for a reconsideration of suicide-prevention strategies. While mental health and substance abuse treatment must always be important components in treating suicidality, researchers like Ms. Barber are stressing another avenue: “means restriction.”

Instead of treating individual risk, means restriction entails modifying the environment by removing the means by which people usually die by suicide. The world cannot be made suicide-proof, of course. But, these researchers argue, if the walkway over a bridge is fenced off, a struggling college freshman cannot throw herself over the side. If parents leave guns in a locked safe, a teenage son cannot shoot himself if he suddenly decides life is hopeless.

The Growing Risk of Suicide in Rural America

The Atlantic

In rural America, where there are more guns, fewer people, and fewer doctors than in the urban U.S., young people are at particular risk of suicide.

A study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics analyzed suicides among people aged 10 to 24 between 1996 and 2010, and found that rates were nearly doubled in rural areas, compared to urban areas. While this gap existed in 1996 at the beginning of the data set, it widened over the course of this time period, according to Cynthia Fontanella, the lead author on the study, and a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.

Both adults and adolescents are at greater risk of suicide in remote areas of the U.S., according to a 2006 literature review. But suicide is in general more common among adolescents and young adults: It’s the third leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the second for people 25 to 34, and the 10th most common among the general population.

More than half of the youths who killed themselves in this time period did so with a firearm, and gun suicides (though generally on the decline) were particularly common in rural areas—nearly three times more common. This may be because gun ownership is higher in rural regions. According to 2014 Pew data, 51 percent of people in rural areas kept a gun at home, compared to 25 percent in urban areas, and 36 percent in the suburbs.

Gun Availability is the Problem

Common Gunsense

The gun lobby is trying hard to keep the real facts about the causes and effects of gun violence from going public. Not only do events on the ground interfere with their dangerous mantra that more guns make us safer but there are more groups and individuals doing research and writing about the truth. This article by Mike Weiss takes on the gun lobby yet again:

"According to the FBI, from 2000 to 2012 there were slightly more than 200,000 homicide victims of which slightly more than two-thirds were killed with guns. This is an average of 10,400 gun homicides each year, a remarkably-stable number over the past thirteen years. Of these gun killings, slightly more than 15 percent involved women as victims, or roughly 21,000 over the same span of years. When women are homicide victims, most if not virtually all of these shootings grew out of some sort of IPV. Let's not forget, incidentally, that men were also shot to death by their girlfriends or their wives an average of 700 times per year. Taken together, domestic violence probably claimed more than 2,200 victims annually between 2000 and 2012, or one-fifth of all gun fatalities during those years.

The degree to which homicide grows out of personal disputes is shown by the fact that of the total murders committed in 2012, only slightly more than 20 percent took place during the commission of other crimes. The rest happened because people who knew each other, and in most cases knew each other on a long-term, continuous basis, got into an argument about money, or who dissed who, or who was sleeping with someone else, or some other dumb thing. And many times they were drunk or high on drugs, but no matter what, like Walter Mosley says, "sooner or later" the gun goes off.

Here's the bottom line on gun violence and crime. Every year 20,000+ shoot themselves intentionally, which is suicide. Another thousand, give or take a hundred, kill themselves accidentally with a gun. Then another 10,000 use a gun to kill someone else, but 8,000 of those shootings had nothing to do with other violent crimes. If we define gun violence as using a gun to end a human life, the FBI is telling us that less than 10 percent of those fatalities would be eliminated if we got rid of all violent crime. The NRA can try to convince its members that the reason for gun violence is that there's too much crime, but the data from the FBI clearly indicates that the reason for gun violence is that there are too many guns."

ACLU Files New Lawsuit Over Obama Administration Drone 'Kill List'

Link provided by George Jefferson

As the US debates expanding its campaign against the Islamic State beyond Iraq and Syria, the leading US civil liberties group is intensifying its efforts to force transparency about lethal US counterterrorism strikes and authorities.

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will file a disclosure lawsuit for secret Obama administration documents specifying, among other things, the criteria for placement on the so-called “kill list” for drone strikes and other deadly force.

Information sought by the ACLU includes long-secret analyses establishing the legal basis for what the administration terms its “targeted killing program” and the process by which the administration determines that civilians are unlikely to be killed before launching a strike, as well as verification mechanisms afterward to establish if the strike in fact has caused civilian deaths. 

The suit, to be filed in a New York federal court, also seeks basic data the Obama administration has withheld about “the number and identities of individuals killed or injured” in counterterrorism strikes, according to the ACLU filing. In February 2013, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who favors the drone strikes, estimated they had killed 4,700 people.

The Double Police Shooting in Ferguson Was an Accident

From ssgmarkcr

Not sure if you saw this, but this attorney is really going for a master class challenge, though I imagine its to try to avoid an attempted first degree murder charge of some sort,

"This wasn't any type of ambush shooting," Christmas said in an interview with The Associated Press, countering an earlier description by St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar of the March 12 shooting outside Ferguson police headquarters. "Those officers were shot accidentally."

 

Williams told investigators he was not targeting law enforcement and had been aiming instead at someone with whom he had a dispute, authorities said. But that assertion was met with skepticism by St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch.

 

"We're not sure we completely buy that part of it," the prosecutor said Sunday.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/03/17/attorney-for-ferguson-shooting-suspect-says-police-officers-were-hit/

White House Office to Delete its FOIA Regulations

USA Today link provided by George Jefferson

The White House is removing a federal regulation that subjects its Office of Administration to the Freedom of Information Act, making official a policy under Presidents Bush and Obama to reject requests for records to that office.

The White House said the cleanup of FOIA regulations is consistent with court rulings that hold that the office is not subject to the transparency law. The office handles, among otherhyp things, White House record-keeping duties like the archiving of e-mails.

But the timing of the move raised eyebrows among transparency advocates, coming on National Freedom of Information Day and during a national debate over the preservation of Obama administration records. It's also Sunshine Week, an effort by news organizations and watchdog groups to highlight issues of government transparency.

"The irony of this being Sunshine Week is not lost on me," said Anne Weismann of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.

"It is completely out of step with the president's supposed commitment to transparency," she said. "That is a critical office, especially if you want to know, for example, how the White House is dealing with e-mail."

Stockton CA Mass Shooting

Fox News

Stockton police have confirmed 7 victims following a shooting at Madison Market in Stockton.

Of the seven victims, six were rushed to nearby hospitals and one died on scene.

Just after 9:40 p.m., a second victim died after arriving at the hospital.

Just after 10 p.m. a 3rd victim died. Police say one male and two females died in the shooting.

The victims were shot in a drive by shooting, according to police, and gang detectives are on the scene.

A Typical Gun Show

Ahem:

The targets, which depicted a black man’s silhouette under the words “Running N*gger,” were being sold for 10 cents each.The vendor defended the targets on camera when a KSFY photographer confronted him.“Why are those on there?” the photographer asked.“Why aren’t they? They’re just targets,” the vendor replied.“Aren’t they offensive in nature?” the photographer pressed.“To who?” the vendor remarked. “Are you Negro? You know, there are some black people, and then there are some Negroes.”The vendor added that he had “sold 500 of them this weekend. So what difference does it make?”

Just another gun show.

Gun show organizer Bob Campbell insisted that he banned the vendor as soon as the racist targets were discovered.“I take pride in the work I do and the quality of the shows I put out,” Campbell told KSFY. “And I’m very disappointed, disgusted to see what was on that table.”

Suuurrrre, Bob.  You're just disappointed a little sunlight exposed your kind.  Look, I've sagely noted this many times: gunshows are a fetid petri dish for racists and white supremacists.  You can go to car shows, computer shows, home improvement shows, etc.  and never see anything remotely racist.  But you find this all the time at gun shows.  Why?  Because that's where the market is.

NRA Shill Aaron Schock (R-Downton Abbey) Resigns

You probably need a gun with this outfit

Just another NRA quisling caught with his hand in the cookie jar:

Schock billed the federal government and his campaign for logging roughly 170,000 miles on his personal car from January 2010 through July 2014. But when he sold that Chevrolet Tahoe in July 2014, it had roughly 80,000 miles on the odometer, according to public records obtained by POLITICO under Illinois open records laws. The documents, in other words, indicate he was reimbursed for 90,000 miles more than his car was driven.

Michigan Man Faces Years in Prison for Accidental Shooting

Lasail Hamilton

Local news

Lasail D. Hamilton faces several years in prison at his April 15 sentencing by Judge Edward Servitto for the Sept. 8 incident that resulted in the accidental shooting of a 20-year-old male in a vehicle with Hamilton. He was acquitted of failure to stop after a weapons injury incident.

The discharge offense is only a misdemeanor, but Hamilton also was convicted of two felonies -- being a felon in possession of a firearm, punishable by five years in prison, and felony firearm, punishable by two years in prison. He has multiple prior convictions, according to court records.
Hamilton turned himself in 17 days after the incident, three days after his 22nd birthday.

Sheriff’s investigators say Hamilton was in the back seat of a Pontiac Aztek on Orchard Street when he accidentally fired one shot from a handgun. The bullet went through the front seat and struck the driver, a 20-year-old male, in the back.

Hamilton fled the scene, according to police. The school was put on lockdown status for a short period.

Hamilton pleaded guilty in March 2014 to disorderly person/obscene conduct and carrying a concealed weapon for an incident in December 2013. He was sentenced in June to 18 months of probation and more than $1,500 in fines and court costs.

More Cannibalism - Grover Norquist Responds

Town Hall

Gover Norquist, the National Rifle Association board member and leader of Americans for Tax Reform accused by talk show host Glenn Beck of subverting America's national security, told Armed American Radio host Mark Walters he welcomes the NRA investigation Beck claims is underway into his background.

“I think it would be great for the NRA to put a stake through the heart of this at the end of the day,” said Norquist on the March 15 broadcast of the national gun rights program.

On Beck's March 11 program, Frank Gaffney, the founding president of the Center for Security Policy and a former national security aide to President Ronald W. Reagan, accused Norquist of being an agent of influence for the Muslim Brotherhood. At the time, Beck told Gaffney and his listeners that he was very concerned. “I am not an expert on this by any stretch of the imagination, but I heard enough.”

Norquist said to Walters whenever someone reaches a level of prominence in Washington, he is assigned a stalker and Gaffney is his stalker. “In the last 15 years, he has gone around blaming all of life's problems on me.”

Gaffney has accused Norquist of being a terrorist, a homosexual and a member of the Jewish-Russian mafia, he said.

Conservatives Beginning to Resort to Cannibalism

PJ Media with the full video, including this amazing quote:

"There's no organization bigger than the NRA, more powerful than the NRA."

Michigan Man Sentenced to 1 Year in Jail for Ann Arbor Shooting

Local news reports

One of two men who recently took a plea deal in an Ann Arbor shooting were sentenced in the Washtenaw County Trial Court Wednesday, records show.

Tawayne FlyJohn Counts | johncounts@mlive.com 

Tawayne Fly, 22, was sentenced to serve one year in the Washtenaw County Jail after pleading guilty Jan. 29 to one count of larceny from a person, according to court records and police officials. 

Fly was credited with 19 days served, records show. 

Charges of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and felony firearm were dismissed.

His co-defendant, William Ross IV, 17, was also scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, but online Washtenaw County Circuit Court records on Saturday did not have his case, which could mean he was sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. Under a HYTA sentencing, records are wiped.

Ross and Fly went to buy marijuana from a 20-year-old Ann Arbor man at a residence in the 700 block of Gott Street around 9 p.m. Jan. 7. But instead of buying drugs, the two men attempted to rob the 20-year-old in the backyard, according to police.The three men began to fight and the gun went off.

Ross was shot in the chest. The bullet grazed the 20-year-old's head. He was treated for minor injuries.

Florida Homeowner Shoots and Kills Burglar Stealing Yard Tools

Ernest Holdman


Local news reports

A burglary suspect was shot and killed Thursday morning at a home in northwest Miami-Dade.
According to Miami-Dade County police, Ernest Holdman tried to burglarize a home at Northwest 112th Street and 18th Avenue. Neighbors said Holdman, 31, climbed onto the roof of a trailer and tried stealing the homeowner’s yard tools.

Dennis Law, the 49-year-old homeowner, then shot Holdman, police say. He was dead when police arrived.

“He’s a good guy, you know,” said Lynn Eason, Holdman’s sister. “He never really hurt nobody or went out of his way to be mean or nasty to anybody. Maybe he did get caught in the wrong situation, but I think it could have been handled differently, better than that.”

“He wasn’t armed. I mean, lawn equipment?” said Melissa Jones, a friend of Holdman. “It doesn’t make no sense to kill somebody for a weedwacker that cost $110. C’mon. That’s somebody life.”

Common Ground at Last? Finger-gun Wielding Obama Provides Lesson for America's Schools

NRA-ILA

Attention overbearing public school administrators: you might want to remove any portraits of the 44^th U.S. president hanging on your walls. In a recent Affordable Care Act promotional video produced for the website Buzzfeed, President Barack Obama uses his index finger and thumb to form a finger gun and aim it at the viewer. Apparently, the commander-in-chief has not been briefed on the supposedly anti-social, threatening, and disruptive nature of this gesture, so we are here to help.

Jeb Bush Used Private E-Mail Too - And for Sensitive Communications

The Washington Post

Jeb Bush used his private e-mail account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a review of publicly released records.

The e-mails include two series of exchanges involving details of Florida National Guard troop deployments after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the review by The Washington Post found.

Aides to Bush said Saturday that none of the e-mails contained sensitive or classified information, and that many of the events mentioned in them were documented in press accounts, either contemporaneously or later. But security experts say private e-mail systems such as the one used by Bush are more vulnerable to hackers, and that details such as troop movements could be exploited by enemies.