It’s a crude attempt to send a message. It’s a threat. It is no coincidence that the right wingers chose April 19th to brandish/fetish their weapons: this is the anniversary of Tim McVeigh’s successful domestic terrorist attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Until 9/11, it was the worst terrorist attack on our soil in history. More than a hundred people, including 19 children, died because of the insane fruitcakes on the right, who whipped themselves into a paranoid frenzy, loaded a truck up with high nitrogen fertilizer, and set their homemade truck bomb off in a crowded office.

THAT is why these so-called “patriots” chose to march today. They want you to know that they have killed fellow Americans before, and they are only too happy to kill their countrymen again. So when you hear your local right wing radio station spout off today, or your conservative cousin sends you another chain email about “Obama the socialist nazi”, remember: they want THIS:

…to happen again.

They want THIS:

THAT is what the right wing stands for, nothing more and nothing less.

Here we are shooting a 45 caliber pistol:

I gotta say, pistols scare the living shit out of me. They’re small and (relatively speaking) fairly light, and I found my hands shaking a little bit the first time I picked the thing up. I get the same kind of anxiety when I use power tools: something about the potential for permanent, grievous harm makes me queasy.

Pistols don’t have the same range or accuracy as a rifle, so I wasn’t surprised that I wasn’t able to hit the targets 50 yards away. What worried me was that my arm might shake while firing, sending a bullet ricocheting off a tree or a rock and into someone’s head.

I’ve got a much deeper understanding of why people object to handguns (even if I do not): something that small and that deadly can lead to a LOT of problems for everyone. in addition, as Alex pointed out, handguns are used for close-range self-defense, like when someone breaks into your house. As such, the typical handgun is either loaded, or the ammo is kept nearby in case of emergency. I certainly wouldn’t want one in my house with a kid Sam’s age living there. There’s just too much opportunity for something to go horribly, tragically wrong.

On the other hand, the rifle was a LOT more comfortable to use. It was a 1970s Romanian PSL, a semi-automatic sniper rifle that’s widely available for anywhere from $700-$1000.

There are a lot of reasons we like the rifle better. For starters, the fact that it’s, you know, BIG, means neither of us felt like it might go off by itself if we dropped it or handled it wrong. Also, since a rifle is typically used for hunting, it’s not kept loaded: rather, the gun itself is locked up in a secure case until you use it, and the ammo is kept separately.

And man, does that PSL make a spectacular BANG when you pull the trigger. if it wasn’t for those ear protectors I’m wearing (christina had the in-ear plugs), I’d be stone-deaf right now.

I’m not sure if we’re eventually going to invest in a firearm one way or the other. A lot of that depends on whether I follow through on learning how to hunt (and while the PSL isn’t approved in Pennsylvania, the much cheaper Mosin Nagant, a bolt action rifle used by the Russian Army from the 1890s through 1960s, is not only legal here but apparently very good for deer hunting).

Of course, learning to hunt means buying a “Butt-Out” to facilitate removing entrails.

Susie thinks it’s a tragedy. TPM calls it “very dark”.

Me? I call it “the predictable result when stupid people act stupidly”:

Meleanie Hain, the pistol-carrying Lebanon mom who received national attention for taking a loaded gun to her daughter’s soccer game, was shot to death Wednesday night with her husband in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

Hain, 31, and her husband, Scott, 33, were pronounced dead by Lebanon County Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Yocum shortly after 8:30 p.m. at their home at Second Avenue and East Grant Street, police said.

The couple’s three children were home at the time and were not injured, and are staying with relatives and friends, police said.

While it’s incredibly sad for the children, when you have a couple of people who have no respect for their second amendment rights and carry their guns around like some kind of badge of honor (”look at ME!! I have GUN at the SOCCER GAME! hey everyone, LOOK AT ME!!”), you can’t call it a tragedy. You can call it PREDICTABLE.

Meleanie Hain was thrust into the national spotlight when she took a gun, in plain view and holstered on her hip, to a soccer game Sept. 11, 2008, at Optimist Park in Lebanon.

Her permit to carry a gun was revoked by Lebanon County Sheriff Michael DeLeo on Sept. 20, 2008. DeLeo said Hain showed poor judgment in wearing her gun to the game.

Hain’s permit was reinstated by Lebanon County Judge Robert Eby on Oct. 14, 2008, but the judge asked her to conceal it when she goes to soccer games. Hain said she would continue to carry it openly under the Second Amendment.

A lot of the commenters to that article are going on and on about her constitutional right to bear arms. And yeah, the deceased Ms. Hain had that: but with rights come responsibilities. Is there REALLY a need to tote a gun around in a place with 7.5 violent crimes per 1000 people? Well put it this way: violent crime rates are more than 3 times the national average in Philly, and I’ve never felt the need to carry a pistol to the park.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I have no problems with handguns, which are a pretty damn effective form of self-defense. They’re great for removing criminals who have broken into your house.

But unless the black helicopters come or the Apocalypse comes to pass, ordinary people don’t need to pack heat in the course of their daily lives anymore than I need to walk down the street waving a running a circular saw. And if you think a handgun is going to be an adequate defense against the black helicopters or the armies of the New World Order, you are sorely deluded. And finally, maybe you THINK you have the tactical skills to fight off an insane person with a gun, but really, you’re not going to know who the crazy person is until he starts shooting, and by that time it’s probably too late. There’s a reason cops and soldiers go through tactical training.

So no, the death of Ms. Hain, a unfortunate as it is for her and her children, is not a tragedy: it was an easily avoidable death if Ms. Hain and her husband were responsible gun owners.

Hence the Homer clip. Stupid is as stupid does.

When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration’s policies.

Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating “No More War.” What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?

Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.

Authorities say they were arrested because they refused to obey reasonable security restrictions, but the women disagree: “Because I had a dissenting opinion, they did what they needed to do to get me out of the way,” said Nelson, who teaches history and government at one of this city’s middle schools.

“I tell my students all the time about how people came to this country for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, that those rights and others are sacred. And all along I’ve been thinking to myself, ‘not at least during this administration.’”

Their experience is hardly unique.

In the months before the 2004 election, dozens of people across the nation were banished from or arrested at Bush political rallies, some for heckling the president, others simply for holding signs or wearing clothing that expressed opposition to the war and administration policies.

But guns at President Obama’s health care forums? Perfectly A-OK

PHOENIX – About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday – the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn’t need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

We live in one seriously fucked up country:

Brian Beutler reported at Talking Points Memo on Friday that a health care protester in New Mexico had been encouraging those following him on Twitter to bring their guns to town hall meetings — and use them if provoked.

“If ACORN/SEIU attends these meetings for disruptive purposes, and you have a license to carry….carry,” Scott Oskay wrote in one tweet. In another, he suggested, “Stop being peaceful, and hurt them. Badly.“

These lunatics, and the people who are irresponsibly inciting them, need to be dealt with before someone gets hurt. And believe me, eventually someone’s going to flip out.

Opponents prevailed in their argument that the measure violated states rights by forcing states with stringent requirements for permits to recognize concealed weapons carriers from states that give out permits to almost any gun owner.

“This is no minor shift in policy,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose state requires people to be fingerprinted, get gun training and to undergo a federal background check before issuing permits. “It in fact would be a sweeping change and I think with some deadly consequences.”

The vote reversed recent trends where Republicans and gun rights Democrats from rural states joined to push pro-gun rights issues and block gun control legislation.

Congress this year voted to restore the rights of people to carry loaded weapons into national parks and the Senate moved to effectively eviscerate the tough gun control laws of the District of Columbia.

Hey Bob: when you’re finished wiping the NRA jizz off your chin and you’ve put your clothing on again (seriously, how much does Wayne LaPierre pay you to star in those bukkake films?), take a look at this picture:

You know who that is, asshole?
That’s a little boy named Faheem Thomas-Childs who was caught in the cross-fire outside of his school by idiots with guns. He was only ten years old when he died and it STILL makes me sick to think about it:

Her son would be 14, and on quiet days, when her younger children are at school, Patricia Arnold sits and imagines her son as a high schooler, discovering his independence, but still “sweet and kind,” tagging behind his older brother Cardeen, teasing his sisters, helping around the house, doting on Arnold, pleading “Mommy, gimme a kiss.”

Across from the brown sofa, a large portrait of Faheem peers down from the wall. It was drawn by an inmate in state prison, where Arnold once spoke about how violence stole her son.

One bitter cold February morning, five years ago, as Faheem Thomas Childs walked to school in his North Philadelphia neighborhood, two groups of men, feuding for days, pulled out guns and fired more than 40 shots at each other.

A crossing guard was struck in the foot. At the schoolyard gate, Faheem was struck in the head, above his right eye. The third grader fell to the ground, onto his backpack. A police officer rushed him to the hospital. He died three days later.

A mother grieved, and a city was outraged.

And YOU, Mr. Casey, being the supreme DOUCHEBAG that you are, voted to make it EASIER for people to bring guns into Pennsylvania.

How do you reconcile your pretend “pro-life” beliefs with your “pro-murder” votes? Every time I talk to your staff, they beat around the bush and hem and haw a lot.

You know what I think, Senatir?

I think you ought to take Wayne laPierre’s cock out of your mouth, stop acting like his come-rag, and start supporting common-sense gun legislation.

And don’t for a moment think I’m some anti-gun moron. I believe in the right to keep and bear arms just as much as the next guy.

But when that right bumps up against my right not to be shot, it’s a whole different ballgame. And you, sir, are in the wrong. Pennsylvanians don’t need some dingaling from Texas or Florida carrying their cock-substitutes into our borders: we have enough problems with our homegrown dinglalings.

So take a good look at Faheem Thomas, Senator Casey. Take a good look at that dead kid, and then ask yourself if you’re really as “pro-life” as you think you are.
Asshole.

if you like guns so much, why not give up your seat to a responsible Democrat, and go to work for the NRA instead. They pay better, and you’ll be that much closer to your boyfriend Wayne.

Sometime around 8:30 or 9:00 we heard a familiar POP POP POP!

“Was that fireworks or a gun?” Christina asked. Last week we’d rushed to the door, cellphones in hand, to report a shooting that turned out to be nothing more than bottle-rockets. I peeked out the window, and saw hordes of kids and adults running in all directions from the basketball court: from the air it probably looked like a giant living asterisk. Hundreds of kids, runningas fast as they could.

My neighbor’s son was already out on the porch. “Did you hear those shots?” he asked.

“Is that what it was? Guns again?” I asked back.

“Oh yeah. I was over there with my little cousin, and this group of girls started fighting…” An acquaintance walked by and waved to my neighbor. “That shit’s messed up,” the guy said.

“Sure is,” my neighbor replied, shaking his head. “Motherfuckers ruin everything for everyone else…” He turned back to me. “So yeah, these girls were fighting and then someone pulled out a gun and just started shooting!”

“Was anyone hurt?” Christina asked. “And was anyone hit that wasn’t supposed to be?”

Our neighbor didn’t know. “Here comes po-po,” he said, as the police cars flew up the street, lights flashing. “Motherfuckers had to go ruin it again,” he repeated, shaking his head.

That’s the first shooting this year in our neighborhood. it would be nice if the newspapers paid attention, but our neighborhood is poor so why bother?

A few months ago I wrote about murder number 113, which happened directly across the street from my house in the Kingsessing neighborhood and was witnessed by my former housemate.

The neighbors were frightened and angry. We live across the street from a popular recreation center that attracts kids and adults from all over Southwest Philadelphia. The shooting occurred outside, where the bullets could have exited the victim, and entered any one of our homes and bodies.

We did not, however, cower and cringe like helpless children. We got together and formed a neighborhood town watch that works with the police district to report suspicious behavior. With the help of my neighbor, I mounted the signs just yesterday evening on the telephone poles at the east and west ends of our block.

Around 1:00 AM or so last night I got up to use the bathroom, and heard the familiar sound of a gunshot. Under your leadership (or lack thereof) the murder rate has skyrocketed, and so the sound wasn’t exactly unusual. What I didn’t know was that the gunshot I heard was most likely murder number 223. My girlfriend told me that soon after I left for work this morning the police showed up: they were asking all the neighbors if we’d seen or heard anything.

Mayor Street, around this time last year you and the hapless police commissioner delivered what had to be the most piss-poor response to gun violence in the city, delivered with glazed eyes and as much passion as one of those robot fortune teller machines on the boardwalk. And in the year since your pathetic teevee appearnce, I am hard pressed to identify what you’ve done since. A “Put It Down” ad campaign? Are you kidding me?

The Philadelphia Weekly’s Kia Gregory has quite accurately called you out for sitting down on the job, in the rain, next to a dumpster, waiting for a goddamn i-Phone while the murder rate crested 200.

As the city marked its 200th homicide for the year, Street sat in a lawn chair outside the AT&T store, starting at 3:30 a.m., and staying on-and-off in the intermittent rain for about 14 hours, waiting to get his hands on a new iPhone.
[snip]
I’ve been waiting for him to attend some of the funerals of the 2,500 murder victims since he took office. I’ve been waiting for him to preach from a drug-infested corner instead of a church pulpit. I’ve been waiting for him to lead the city in one of its darkest moments. I’ve been waiting in vain.

When it comes to the city’s gun violence, Street has pointed his finger everywhere from here to Baghdad—everywhere but his own administration. I’ve been waiting for Street to say what he, as this city’s mayor, is going to do.

You sir, are a disgrace. You are a disgrace to the City and a disgrace to the nation, sitting idly by like an African American version of George Bush on vacation ignoring warnings that al Qaeda plans to strike in the United States. It would almost be better if you resigned now, because it’s more than clear that as a lame duck, you don’t care about the job, and you care even less for the most vulnerable and the poorest Philadelphians who are trapped in these neighborhoods, lacking the jobs and financial capability to escape. For that matter, your neglect makes it harder for Philadelphians like me to rationalize staying here: why should my taxes go to pay the salaries of public servants like you and your colleagues who have let the city fall into further disrepair and spiraling violence with no end in sight?

Mayor-elect Nutter (because let’s face it, Al Taubenberger has as much a chance of winning election as Squiddly Diddly does), I disagreed strenuously with your stop-and-frisk proposal during your primary campaign, and STILL feel the proposal is constitutionally shakey. Philadelphia desperately needs reforms at the DA’s office so that violent criminals may be effectively prosecuted and incarcerated. The City needs to put more cops on the street on bicycles and on foot so they can act as as allies and liaisons in the community, and I urge you to petition the state and the federal government to restore the COPS program that Mr. Bush unwisely defunded.

The City needs hope, Mr. Nutter, and hope can only come from policy, not band-aids and slogans. Reasons to stay in Philadelphia are absent, and shrinking every day. Every single one of us who voted for you, from the most enthusiastic supporter to people like me who hold most politicians at arm’s length, is looking for leadership to help us all dig out of this hole.

Do not let us down.
Sincerely,

Brendan Skwire

15 more to go and we break 1997’s record! Go Killadelphia!

You can do it Philly. This is totally achievable. You can break the 1997 record if you really try. But you have to want it. You have to be hungry for it. You have to be like Rocky Balboa, except with a Glock or an AK instead of a pair of boxing gloves and a side of beef. “Gonna fly now…”

OK, maybe we can’t beat New York, but we’re gonna die trying.

Had the gun either been locked in a firearms case, or had a working gunlock that either immobilized the trigger or prevented the firing pin from coming in contact with the shells in the gun, or for that matter, had the shells not been in the gun and instead, had been in a separate location, this unfortunate accident would never had happened…

Defenders of the 2nd amendment like to say that ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people.’ Well, 3 year old children don’t kill people with intent, but they do get into their irresponsible parents shit and find things to play with that they shouldn’t be playing with.

So whose fault is that? Who’d like to step up and blame the 3 year old for shooting himself in the face? Anyone?

I concur. A lot of my readers don’t know this, but I am a very strong supporter of the Second Amendment. My belief in the right to keep and bear arms has gotten me into arguments with my girlfriend, but I deeply believe in the right of the ordinary citizen to be able to defend him or herself with deadly force if necessary. The Framers knew what they spoke of: when you allow only the government to bear arms, the citizenry is helpless before the power of the state.

That said, what happened yesterday in Feltonville, one of the poorest and most violent neighborhoods in Philadelphia, is UNACCEPTABLE.

The ammo should not have even been in the gun. That’s rule number one about gun safety in the home, followed by “always assume the gun is loaded”. I learned about this in Boy Scouts for crying out loud.

The gun should have been locked away, out of reach of children. Again, this is basic gun safety.

None of these rules were followed in the Bailey-Henderson household: this is beyond question. Your average 3 year old is about 3 feet tall. That’s not very tall. The gun that killed that poor little kid was in easy reach. On a coffee table. In an unlocked nightstand.

This is gross negligence: is it too much to ask that parents be responsible for their kids?