The Daily Beast
The shooting was at a federal building in downtown Manhattan that houses the immigration court and processing center.
Anybody
who has been listening to Donald Trump rant about a supposed illegal
alien crime wave might have imagined that the gunman who inexplicably
drew one of two .38 caliber revolvers he was carrying in a plastic bag
and fatally wounded a security guard on Friday was a homicidal
foreigner.
But after the gunman had
stepped beyond the dying guard and passed through the metal detector and
fatally shot himself, a search of his wallet showed that he was
68-year-old retired U.S. Army Reserves officer and onetime government
employee named Kevin Downing from a place no more distant than just
across the Hudson River in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He had briefly worked
as an economist with the U.S. Department of Labor, which has offices in
the building. He had been let go before he completed the one year trial
period and he had unsuccessfully sued to be reinstated, charging he had
been fired for being a whistleblower who reported “a gross waste of
funds.” The hearing board found he had “not revealed anything not widely
known” and had “failed to make a non-frivolous allegation.”
Detectives
noted that Downing had opened fire without exchanging so much as a word
with the ill-fated guard. The guard, 53-year-old Idrissa Camara, had
been due to go off duty at 4 pm, but he had agreed to work an extended
shift when he could have gone home to his wife and children. He was a
native of the Ivory Coast, which means in this case the immigrant was
the victim. He had died simply because he had the terrible luck to be
there at 5:05 PM when Downing appeared with his two handguns.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
Mass Shootings Rise Steadily Since the 1970s
With data provided by criminologist Grant Duwe, CRS also compiled a 44-year (1970-2013) dataset of firearms-related mass murders that could arguably be characterized as “mass public shootings.” These data show that there were on average:
•
one (1.1) incident per year during the 1970s (5.5 victims murdered, 2.0 wounded
per incident),
•
nearly three (2.7) incidents per year during the 1980s (6.1 victims murdered, 5.3
wounded per incident),
•
four (4.0) incidents per year during the 1990s (5.6 victims murdered, 5.5
wounded per incident),
•
four (4.1) incidents per year during the 2000s (6.4 victims murdered, 4.0
wounded per incident), and
•
four (4.5) incidents per year from 2010 through 2013 (7.4 victims murdered, 6.3
wounded per incident).
These decade-long averages suggest that the prevalence, if not the deadliness, of “mass public shootings” increased in the 1970s and 1980s, and continued to increase, but not as steeply, during the 1990s, 2000s, and first four years of the 2010s.
Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Possession and Lying to the Cops about an Accidental Shooting Death
Local news reports
A Marshall-Shadeland man will spend five to 10 years in prison stemming from the accidental shooting death of a Bellevue woman earlier this year.
Charles Miles, 27, pleaded guilty Wednesday to single counts of involuntary manslaughter and illegally possessing a firearm before Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski.
Police said Miles accidentally shot Jacquelyn Bush, 25, on March 21. Police were called to a home in Marshall-Shadeland about 3:20 a.m. for a woman with a gunshot wound. Ms. Bush had been shot in the left buttock, with the bullet severing an artery.
Mr. Miles at first told police he was unsure how she got shot. He later admitted that they were dancing in the basement and that when he went to move a gun that was on a table, it went off.
A Marshall-Shadeland man will spend five to 10 years in prison stemming from the accidental shooting death of a Bellevue woman earlier this year.
Charles Miles, 27, pleaded guilty Wednesday to single counts of involuntary manslaughter and illegally possessing a firearm before Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski.
Police said Miles accidentally shot Jacquelyn Bush, 25, on March 21. Police were called to a home in Marshall-Shadeland about 3:20 a.m. for a woman with a gunshot wound. Ms. Bush had been shot in the left buttock, with the bullet severing an artery.
Mr. Miles at first told police he was unsure how she got shot. He later admitted that they were dancing in the basement and that when he went to move a gun that was on a table, it went off.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Panama Lifts Ban on Gun Imports amid Rising Crime Wave
PanAm Post
Public Safety Minister Rodolfo Aguilera said the country will follow in the footsteps of the United States and Switzerland, where the right to bear arms is believed to lead to fewer homicides.
Public Safety Minister Rodolfo Aguilera said the country will follow in the footsteps of the United States and Switzerland, where the right to bear arms is believed to lead to fewer homicides.
“Everything
seems to indicate that there is no direct correlation in the aphorism
that says more guns mean more crime,” said Aguilera, who explained that
relaxed gun laws have allowed the United States to reduce the homicide
rate over the last 20 years.
Aguilera added that new regulations will include criminal and psychological background checks for future gun owners.
Probably very few of their homicides are poor unarmed average citizens. The folks getting killed are criminals, drug dealers and the like. So, arming the average citizens will have little effect to the good, but like in the US, more guns will be stolen and more will be sold to criminals. Things will get worse, proving the age-old truth: guns do more harm than good.
Gun Laws Associated With Lower Suicide Rates
A new study has found that four gun laws are significantly associated with lower rates of firearm suicide.
Researchers
gathered data on the presence or absence of four firearm laws in each
state: waiting periods for gun purchases, background checks for purchase
or licensing, hand gun locks, and restrictions on the open carrying of
handguns. Then they collected the data on gun suicide rates in each
state. The study is in The American Journal of Public Health.
After
controlling for population density, race and ethnicity, education,
poverty and age, they found that each of the four laws was associated
with a lower rate of suicide by gun as well as a lower overall rate of
suicide.
In 11 states with waiting periods, the
longer the waiting period, the lower the gun suicide rate. Compared with
states without the laws, background checks were associated with a 53
percent lower gun suicide rate, gun locks with a 68 percent lower rate,
and restrictions on open carrying a 42 percent lower rate.
Florida Man Shoots Two Intruders - The Surviving Burglar Charged with Murder
Guns dot com
A Florida man returning to his Lantana home last week opened fire on two intruders he found inside, killing one and seriously injuring the other. Now the surviving suspect is charged with murder for the death of his accomplice.
Juan Pablo Flores, 27, came home around 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 13 and noticed there were lights on inside the house when there should not have been, the Palm Beach Post reported. So Flores, who was armed, told his girlfriend to stay in the car as he walked toward the home. Once inside, he discovered his two dogs had been killed.
Flores then came face to face with Tavarress Alexander Wilson and Obrian Simms, who were in the middle of burglarizing his home. According to the homeowner, one of the suspects aimed an assault rifle at him, but Flores fired first, striking both suspects. Flores then ran out the front door and later told police he could hear shots being fired as he ran.
Wilson, who previously served six years in prison for armed robbery and carjacking, now faces charges for second-degree murder for his part in Simms’ death and is being held without bond. In Florida, as in most states, a suspect can be charged with murder if the death of an accomplice occurs while the suspects are involved in the commission of a felony, regardless of how the suspect is killed.
A Florida man returning to his Lantana home last week opened fire on two intruders he found inside, killing one and seriously injuring the other. Now the surviving suspect is charged with murder for the death of his accomplice.
Juan Pablo Flores, 27, came home around 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 13 and noticed there were lights on inside the house when there should not have been, the Palm Beach Post reported. So Flores, who was armed, told his girlfriend to stay in the car as he walked toward the home. Once inside, he discovered his two dogs had been killed.
Flores then came face to face with Tavarress Alexander Wilson and Obrian Simms, who were in the middle of burglarizing his home. According to the homeowner, one of the suspects aimed an assault rifle at him, but Flores fired first, striking both suspects. Flores then ran out the front door and later told police he could hear shots being fired as he ran.
Wilson, who previously served six years in prison for armed robbery and carjacking, now faces charges for second-degree murder for his part in Simms’ death and is being held without bond. In Florida, as in most states, a suspect can be charged with murder if the death of an accomplice occurs while the suspects are involved in the commission of a felony, regardless of how the suspect is killed.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Oklahoma Man Accidentally Shoots Self While Guarding 'Muslim-Free' Oktaha Gun Store
Local news
The Muskogee County sheriff said a member of the group guarding an Oktaha gun shop accidentally shot himself Tuesday.
Sheriff Charles Pearson said the man dropped his gun and a bullet hit him in the arm. The sheriff did not identify the man or offer any other details about what happened.
The group of armed citizens and veterans is standing guard outside the Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gear store after the owners said they received death threats from all over the world for putting up a sign saying Muslims weren't welcome.
"I saw several of those gentlemen out there yesterday," Pearson said. "The way they were holding their weapons, with the fingers on the triggers, you can tell a couple of these gentlemen have no idea about weapons safety. It's like the Clampetts have come to town," Sheriff Pearson told muskogeenow.com.
National Forest Shootings on the Increase - What a Surprise!
Glenn Martin, 60, was killed by a stray bullet July 3, 2015, in the Pike National Forest. (Photo: KUSA)
Perched around a secluded campfire in the Rocky Mountains , Glenn Martin jerked forward, said, "Ow," and died. The wayward bullet that struck him in the national forest has campers and other users calling for changes in recreational shooting policy.
Martin, 60, died July 3 in the Pike & San Isabel National Forest , 30 miles southwest of Denver. The 3.1-million-acre forest holds the record for the most gun-related violations reported in the country, a review of federal records by the USA TODAY Media Network shows.
Since 2010, United States Forest Service officers handled 8,500 shooting incidents across the country. Of those, 926 were in the Pike-San Isabel. The reported illegal shooting has intensified precipitously in recent years.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
What To Do If You're Home During a Break In
SimpliSafe
3. Unless you are a trained professional, don't grab a weapon. This includes firearms, baseball bats and pepper spray. They all sound like a good idea, but again, we don't know how the burglar will react to seeing an armed person. If they do have a weapon, they may be more likely to use it when they see you have one too. If you use pepper spray in an enclosed space, you and your family will also be affected by the pepper spray. If you use another weapon, such as a firearm and are not a trained professional, you run the risk of hurting yourself or a family member. And when a weapon is in your hand, you also run the risk of arriving police officers mistaking you for the intruder!
4. Escape is choice one. This is when you hark back to your emergency plan. Can you get out of the house from where you are without venturing from your locked room or into a place the burglar could potentially see you? Do it. Out a window, down a fire escape—all good choices. Just remember to alert the 911 operator of your position as you escape the house. Remember, police are on the way—they really do need to know if you, the homeowner, is climbing down a drain pipe. Remember to only escape if you can do so safely—hurting yourself in a panicked leap will put you in an extremely vulnerable position in these few moments before the police arrive. Make sure you have your cell phone and your car keys with you.
5. Hiding in a locked, safe place is choice two. If you can't get out (you're in that apartment we talked about earlier, facing the back of the building and on the sixth floor), gather your family and remain in a locked room or closet. If a lock is not possible, barricade the door as quietly as possible with heavy objects and furniture. Make sure to alert the 911 operator to your location and your actions. How many people are there in the room with you? Is there anyone else in another area of the house that they should be aware of? Make sure you have the cell phone and your car keys with you. Speaking of— - See more at: http://simplisafe.com/blog/what-to-do-if-youre-home-during-a-break-in?
Monday, August 17, 2015
Sunday, August 16, 2015
'Muslim-Free' Zones
Andy Hallinan, of the Florida Gun Supply in Inverness, Florida, declares his store to be a "Muslim-free zone" in a video posted to YouTube on July 18, 2015.
Huffington Post
The number of gun stores and shooting ranges declaring themselves "Muslim-free zones" appears to have accelerated since last month's shooting deaths of five U.S. service members in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
At least four U.S. gun shops have posted signs banning Muslims since the July 16 attacks, which authorities said were committed by a 24-year-old Chattanooga Muslim with a history of drug abuse and mental health problems. He was shot to death by law enforcement.
Just this week, a gun store in Oklahoma was reported to have posted a sign in its window banning Muslims.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the businesses for possible civil rights violations.
"These bigoted declarations are no different than 'whites only' signs posted in businesses during a period of our nation's history that we had hoped was over," Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations's national communications director, said in a press release.
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