Assault Weapons and High Capacity Magazines

> In the poll of 15,000

law enforcement professionals, 71% of respondents said an "assault weapons" ban would have zero impact on violent crime. Of those surveyed, 95.7% said the same of a "high capacity" magazine ban.

I like cops. Every other home in Mt Greenwood was the home of a police officer.  But they are not always right. And they are always armed - most of us are not.

I agree with them that an assault weapon ban would not

have too much of an impact on crime. Bad guys would still kill with normal pistols and rifles and shotguns.

What a ban on assault guns would help reduce is the nutcase who wants to commit mass murder and fantasizes about killing huge numbers of people. In his sick twisted mind this would really be neat and give him immortality. And get revenge on all those who dissed him.

Most people can have a assault rifle and not misuse it. My cousins and friend both had one. They shot prairie dogs and deer with it.  But they certainly did not need a 30 to 50 round magazine to do this.

I get it that firing them is cool.  It is fun to fire a machine gun. I like firing weapons. 

But is the individuals ability to have a bad ass cool looking weapon worth the mass killings we have to endure?

High capacity magazines

Add caption

" Jared Lee Loughner allegedly used in Tucson, Arizona, when he was able to fire 31 bullets in 15 seconds because he supersized his Glock 19 handgun with a high-capacity magazine."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-frank-lautenberg/post_1905_b_845590.html

"Loughner proceeded to fire apparently randomly at other members of the crowd. He reportedly used a 9mm Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine.A nearby store employee said he heard "15 to 20 gunshots". Loughner stopped to reload, but dropped the loaded magazine from his pocket to the sidewalk, from where bystander Patricia Maisch grabbed it. Another bystander clubbed the back of the assailant's head with a folding chair, injuring his elbow in the process, representing the 14th injury. Loughner was tackled to the ground by 74-year-old retired United States Army Colonel Bill Badger, who had been shot himself, and was further subdued by Maisch and bystanders Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio."

Kudos to the people who subdued this monster. I love it that a woman and a 74 year wounded old guy helped subdue this moron.

It is unlikely that any of us will ever be in a situation where there is a mass shooter banging away.  But if there is you have several choices - fall down and play dead, run, or try to close with and destroy and kill the moron.  

I vote for trying to assault and kill the cretin.  To have any chance to take out the shooter you must wait till he runs out of ammo, then make your move. Makes it much harder if he has a 30 to 50 round magazine.

"More Than Half of Mass Shooters Used Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines"

"More than half of the killers we studied in our investigation of 62 mass shootings over the last three decades possessed weapons that would be banned by Feinstein's bill, including various semi-automatic rifles, guns with military features, and handguns using magazines with more than 10 rounds. The damage these weapons can cause has been on grim display since last summer, from Aurora to Milwaukee to Minneapolis to Newtown, where attacks carried out with them left a total of 118 people injured and dead."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/assault-weapons-high-capacity-magazines-mass-shootings-feinstein

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"NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Adam Lanza used a semiautomatic Bushmaster .223 rifle during his rampage through Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, firing dozens of high-velocity rounds as he killed 20 children and six adults, authorities said Sunday."

"Lanza, 20, carried "many high-capacity clips" for the lightweight military-style rifle, Lt. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police,"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/school-shooter-adam-lanza_n_2312818.html

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Aurora Gunman’s Arsenal: Shotgun, Semiautomatic Rifle and, at the End, a Pistol

By JAMES DAO

The three types of weapons used by the man accused of killing 12 people in a Colorado movie theater — a semiautomatic variation of the military’s M-16 rifle, a pump-action 12-gauge shotgun and at least one .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol — are among the most popular guns available in the multibillion-dollar American firearms market.

Enlarge This Image

Nancy Palmieri for The New York Times

The police say the gunman in Aurora used three types of weapons, including a Smith & Wesson M&P15.

The weapons have become so common that a growing sport among gun enthusiasts is the “three-gun competition,” in which sharpshooters use a version of each of the weapons as they move from target set to target set, firing and reloading as rapidly as possible.

It appears, the police say, that James E. Holmes, the man accused in the Aurora shootings, used all three types of weapons inside the theater as well, first firing the shotgun, then using the semiautomatic rifle until its 100-round barrel magazine jammed, and finishing off with a pistol. 

Interesting Article in Ebony Magazine on Murder

Much of what you believe about murders in Chicago may not be true. Consider the recent widespread media coverage of Chicago murder victims like 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, the innocent honor student who was shot to death in January not far from President Obama's house less than two weeks after she performed at his second inauguration.

Think also about 18-year-old Janay McFarlane, shot and killed in February on the same day that her younger sister sat two rows behind President Obama when he delivered a speech at Hyde Park High School. Although Janay's murder happened in a northern suburb of Chicago, it added to the general view that murders in Chicago are on the increase, and perhaps more out of control than ever.

That isn't exactly accurate.

Of course, every murder is one too many, and the reported 506  murders of 2012, and the 61 that have so far occurred in 2013, are quite alarming and unacceptable. People are outraged by the senseless ways that most of the Chicago murders happen, the reckless use of handguns, the high number of young people as both victims and offenders, the record number of unsolved cases, and the added strain on mainly Black and Hispanic communities, with no clear solutions to the killings in sight. Additionally, the 24-hour news cycle, the proliferation of social media and the fact that our president is associated with the South Side of Chicago have subjected the city to additional media attention. However, it’s important to understand the numbers to get a better picture of what's going on in the city. 

Chicago Murders From 1991-2011*

-Prior to 2012, murders in Chicago had decreased by 53 percent over a 20-year period, with 928 murders in 1991, and 433 in 2011—the City's lowest since the 1960s.

-Chicago is 237 square miles and has 25 police districts. Of the city's 2.7 million residents, over 887,000 are Black.

Read the rest of the article at EBONY

 http://www.ebony.com/news-views/enough-chicago-murder-by-the-numbers-405#ixzz2WWn7C3Js

Parents Turn Son in to Prevent Mass Killing

'This is my hell. If I make it through this, I go to heaven': Agony of parents who turned their mentally-ill son into police to prevent Aurora-style massacre - after finding receipt for assault rifle in his pocket

• Blaec Lammers followed a male clerk for more than two hours with a knife in his hand when he was 18
• 
  
• Hearing his name called over the PA system and seeing his father at the store made
  
  Lammers stand down 
• 
  
• 
  
• Lammers said he was inspired by recent reports of mass shootings
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• 'Loner' arrested when his mother reported his strange behavior to police
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• Charged with assault and terrorist plot after confessing to deadly plan
• 
  
• Bought an assault rifle in the same store where he threatened employee with a knife.

By RACHEL QUIGLEY

Whatever the outcome was going to be, they were sure to lose their son. So the Lammars decided to do what was for the greater good - they turned him over to police.

Last year, Tricia Lammers found a receipt for an $865 shotgun in her mentally-ill son's pocket. Blaec Lammars was able to buy the shotgun from the same Missouri Walmart where he was picked up by police a year earlier holding a butcher knife and a Halloween mask. 

He later told his parents he had picked out an employee who he was going to follow into the back of the store and kill after watching Halloween, because the character Michael Myers 'got him to thinking'.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Arrested: Blaec Lammers, 20, is accused of planning to launch shooting sprees in Bolivar, Missouri

Parents: Whatever the outcome was going to be, the Lammars were sure to lose their son, so they decided to do what was for the greater good - they turned him over to police His father Bill said: 'What he told us was he had picked out someone. He was going to watch them go into the back room, follow them back there, and hopefully the police would get him and shoot him first before he did anything.'

Yet Blaec was able to buy the assault rifle despite being in and out of mental hospitals throughout his life - one time for threatening to put a pipe bomb under his teacher's car.

On turning her own son in to the police, Tricia said: 'My first thought was, "What have I done? I just destroyed my son's life." And people would come up to me and say, "No, you saved our lives".

'This is my hell. This is my hell. If I make it through this, I go to heaven.'

Click to read more

Read more

: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336292/Blaec-Lammers-Parents-mentally-ill-child-averted-Aurora-style-mass-shooting-turning-son-police-discovered-bought-assault-rifle.html#ixzz2WWhqCaid

Murder Rate and Lead

The US Murder Rate Is on Track to Be Lowest in a Century

—By Kevin Drum

| Thu May. 16, 2013 10:32 PM PDT

239

This is fairly preliminary data, but Rick Nevin reports that if current trends keep up, we'll end 2013 with the murder rate in America at its lowest rate in over a century.

• America's Real Criminal Element: Lead
• Is There Lead In Your House?
• An Interview With Pioneering Toxicologist Howard Mielke
• How Dangerous Is the Lead in Bullets?
• Does Lead Paint Produce More Crime Too?
• How Your Water Company May Be Poisoning Your Kids

More MoJo coverage of the dangers of lead.

Analytically speaking, murder is an especially interesting crime because we have pretty good homicide statistics going all the way back to 1900. Most other crimes have only been tracked since about 1960. And if you look at the murder rate in the chart below (the red line), you see that it follows an odd double-hump pattern: rising in the first third of the century, reaching a peak around 1930; then declining until about 1960; then rising again, reaching a second peak around 1990. It's been dropping ever since then.

This is the exact same pattern we see in lead ingestion among small children, offset by 21 years (the black line). Lead exposure rises in the late 1800s, during the heyday of lead paint, reaching a peak around 1910; then declines through World War II; and then begins rising again during our postwar love affair with big cars that burned high-octane leaded gasoline. Lead finally enters its final decline in the mid-70s when we begin the switch to unleaded gasoline.

This is powerful evidence in favor of the theory that lead exposure in childhood produces higher rates of violent crime in adulthood. It's one thing to have two simple curves that match up well. That could just be a coincidence. But to have two unusual double-humped curves that match up well is highly unlikely unless there really is an association. Put that together with all the statistical evidence from other countries; plus the prospective studies that have tracked lead exposure in individual children from birth; plus the MRI scans showing the actual locations of brain damage in adults who were exposed to lead as children—put all that together and you have a pretty compelling set of evidence. Lead exposure doesn't just lower IQs and hurt educational development. It also increases violent tendencies later in life. If we want less crime 20 years from now, the best thing we can do today is clean up the last of our lead.

Front page image: Snap2Art/Shutterstock; Argus/Shutterstock

Chain of Command

The President of the United States is the Commander in Chief.  The Secretary of Defense reports to him.  To carry out a military action the Commander directs one of the Unified Commands to take action. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are head of their respective services and act as advisers.

Current Commands[edit]

Emblem	Command	Acronym	Role	Established	Headquarters
	United States Africa Command	USAFRICOM	Geographic	October 1, 2007	Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany
	United States Central Command	USCENTCOM	Geographic	January 1, 1983	MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
	United States European Command	USEUCOM	Geographic	March 15, 1947	Patch Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany
	United States Northern Command	USNORTHCOM	Geographic	October 1, 2002	Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
	United States Pacific Command	USPACOM	Geographic	January 1, 1947	Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii
	United States Southern Command	USSOUTHCOM	Geographic	June 6, 1963	Miami, Florida
	United States Special Operations Command	USSOCOM	Functional	April 16, 1987	MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
	United States Strategic Command	USSTRATCOM	Functional	June 1, 1992	Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska
	United States Transportation Command	USTRANSCOM	Functional	July 1, 1987	Scott Air Force Base, Illinois

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Combatant_Command

Political Thoughts

 Some of these are very insightful...
We hang petty thieves and appoint the great thieves to public office.
~Aesop, Greek slave & fable author 

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed
by those who are dumber.~Plato, ancient Greek Philosopher

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where
there is no river.~Nikita Khrushchev, Russian Soviet politician   
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm
beginning to believe it.~Quoted in 'Clarence Darrow for the Defense' by Irving Stone.

Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go
out and buy some more tunnel.~John Quinton, American actor/writer

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds
from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.~Oscar Ameringer, "the Mark Twain of American Socialism."

I offered my opponents a deal: "if they stop telling lies about me, I will
stop telling the truth about them".~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952..

A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.~Texas Guinan. 19th century American businessman

I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be
left to the politicians.~Charles de Gaulle, French general & politician

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to
change the locks.~Doug Larson (English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924
Olympic Games in Paris, 1902-1981)

I am reminded of a joke: What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
(I don't know who said this, lol)

Violent Crime Per 100,000 People

Interesting the things you find on the internet. This graph from Wikapedia shows my adopted state of Florida with one of the worst violence rates in the US - worse than Illinois or California. A surprise to me.  The map was prepared by someone named Tasty Cakes so I am not sure of its veracity. The darker the color the higher the violent crime rate.

Description	Map of violent crime per 100,000 people in the USA by state in 2004. "Violent crime" includes Homicide, rape, robbery and serious assault.    < 100    >100-200    >200-300    >300-400    >400-500    >500-600    >600-700    >700-800    >800
Date	15 July 2009
Source	Made with the data from the table in w:en:Crime in the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Violent_Crime_2004.svg