A blow to my community

Some of my earliest memories on this earth were of hearing Brian Strobel on the radio in my dad's truck in the morning while riding in to school. As a young man working to help my dad in the family business, hearing him on the radio while we sweat in the sun was an everyday occurance. We never missed Brian's radio show; in fact, one day while my mom and I were cleaning out dad's old Izuzu pickup to sell it, we tried to change the station from WFLS where dad had set it the day he got the truck, and even though the dial would show different stations coming up, it wouldn't stop broadcasting WFLS. That show was a part of my family for over three decades, and I'm sorry to hear that Brian Strobel was killed; he will be missed.

Farewell, sir. Thanks for the memories!

Moronic statement to start the year

The shooting renewed debate about a federal law that made it legal to take loaded weapons into national parks. The 2010 law made possession of firearms subject to state gun laws.

Bill Wade, the outgoing chair of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Congress should be regretting its decision.

"The many congressmen and senators that voted for the legislation that allowed loaded weapons to be brought into the parks ought to be feeling pretty bad right now," Wade said.

This piece of jackassery is in response to the sociopathic gunman who shot and killed a Park Ranger at Mount Rainier park shortly before stripping off what little protective clothing he had and wandering around until he died from exposure. The madman obviously didn't read the law, as shooting up house parties and federal agents and blowing through police checkpoints is illegal. If we are to take Mr. Wade seriously, the gunman may still have left the scene of his previous shooting with his guns, but would have stopped cold when he reached the boundary of the park, as violating firearms law is all illegal and shit.

It's a wonder why his "misconduct discharge", domestic violence charges, pending mental health evaluation, and restraining order didn't bar him from owning firearms. Maybe there should be some laws there which would certainly have prevented this tragedy just like keeping parks gun free would have. It's only common sense.

***ETA: Great minds think alike! A post at Hell in a Handbasket discusses the same shooting and the same moronic statement from Mr. Wade.

Seven years. . . .

It doesn't seem like it's been seven years since the murder of one of the world's most talented guitarists. I realize that he played in a musical niche that most people don't care for, or even appreciate, but I didn't take it too well when he was killed.

"Dimebag" Darrel Abbott was killed on stage this day in 2004 in Columbus, Ohio by a scumbag with a handgun. Here is a video that offers a view of a mass shooting that may change your perspective a bit on what happens.


First thing I noticed was that the audience didn't go anywhere, or seem to panic at all; they kind of just stood there for several minutes like a bunch of goons and watched a gunman murder five people. Next, one of the band's technicians repeatedly attacked the gunman, and was shot multiple times all over his body, including his chest, and yet he still persisted in trying to stop the gunman from killing his friends. The whole time he was getting shot fighting the gunman, he was pleading for somebody to help him. Nobody did. Hundreds of men stood there quite calmly and watched him fight a madman alone.

A cop finally walks in with a shotgun and, when the gunman took a hostage and pointed his pistol at his head, the cop shot the gunman and killed him. The most profound part was the look on the officer's face when he walked away after killing the psycho; to me it looks like a man that did the hard thing that day, even though he didn't want to. The last thing was I noticed was what another band tech said while he was watching his friends get murdered: "I kept screaming NO! Ya' know, but. . . there was nothing I could do."

"There was nothing I could do" is not an excuse that I ever want the option of being able to make. I willingly inconvenience my life by a substantial margin just so I don't ever have to face that regret; so there's something I can do in a moment where someone may need me. I'm not knocking the guy; shit happens in life and we chose day to day how we will be postured to prepare for it.

To end on a better note, here's Dimebag at his finest (embeds are disabled, probably because of today).

***ETA: Here's one:

Spotsylvania handgun accident

Yes, the one I blogged about the other day. Some new information has come out, in that the victim was carrying his Glock tucked in his waistband without a holster. With the gun carried this way, there's nothing covering the trigger guard, which creates a dangerous situation in that something can inadvertently come into contact with the trigger and cause it to fire. A friend of the man said it's likely that he was carrying the gun loose in his pocket. I have a friend who carries a full up Glock 17 loose in his back pocket on occasion, and I've warned him about the dangers. I've offered him a holster of his choice from the many that I own, as well as instruction and ammo, but so far life has been too busy for it to happen. I'm going to push harder for a range trip now.

With a gun shoved into the front of the pants, discharging it can put a round through the femoral artery, which is the main strike against appendix carry. If carried in a serviceable, quality holster, and proper care is taken during re-holstering, this sort of accident is avoidable.

It's crushing to hear that this happened to an innocent man, in front of his kids, no doubt. My father-in-law called my wife when he found out because he thought it was me: I shop at that store with my four kids; I have a minivan, and I carry a gun. I'm thankful for the air in my lungs, and my prayers go out to the man's family.

A tragic handgun accident

Update: The man was carriygn the gun loose in his waistband.

Liz Scott said the victim was in the driver’s seat of a minivan when he apparently went to unbuckle his seat belt and hit the trigger of a Glock 40-caliber handgun. A bullet was fired into the victim’s hip. He looked at his wife, who had already returned to the van, and said, “I just shot myself.”

There has to be more to this story, but my heart goes out to the family of this man, who did not survive. The store in question is where we grocery shop, so I'm a little apprehensive to hear the name of the man that lost his life; there's a good chance I may have known him.

There is only one account that I know of a gun firing in a holster where the owner was not handling the gun, but it is very very rare that it happens that way. Usually the owner has the gun out of the holster, and a finger or foreign object finds its way into the trigger guard, which is exactly the conclusion that I came to when my wife read this article to me last night. It's not known at this time whether the gun was in a hip holster, or whether it was in a pocket holster. It does sound to me like the femoral artery was hit, which is why there are some who do not carry over their appendix. I've never thought that it matters much where you have your gun holstered if you have a AD/ND, anywhere can cause a fatality.

. . .and that's just a little bit more than the law would allow

Good grief. There's so much fail in this short tragic story that I'm just shaking my head.

As Bittinger approached the front porch of the home, the suspect fired an arrow into his chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shootee had a "weapon;" the type is not made clear in the article. I'm under the assumption that if the shootee had a weapon and made threats, and/or became a deadly threat, then perhaps deadly force via bow and arrow was appropriate. Just because the shooter didn't use Paw Paw's shotgun hanging over the mantle doesn't mean that deadly force wasn't justified. The Dukes were quite fond of primitive tackle, and as we know they were just some good ol' boys, never meanin' no harm.

This part of the story was interesting:

The coroner says Bittinger died when the arrow punctured his lung and blood filled his heart.

Blood filled his heart?!?! You can die from that? Oh, shit, I have blood in my heart right now! I'mma fixin to call me the rescue squad, right fast! Maaaama! Maaama heeeeelp!! Bloods done filled my heart!!!!

My take on this is that the coroner meant blood filled his lung, or maybe the coroner imbibed a little too much moonshine, or even his sweat stained Realtree hat is on just a little too tight. We'll never know for sure. The hits just keep on coming, though:

A compound bow has a system of pulleys that provide more force with less pull. It’s normally used for hunting.

Or killing babies. You know, because anything that provides more force should be brought into the light for some much needed obfuscation, and then hopefully some legislating. Because this wasn't a killing with a "bow," but a "compound bow," meaning that we should ponder the shit out of what this actually means. It means the deadliness of the instrument is compounded, and commands less effort to wield, so logically we should point this out to the masses considering that a good 99.99% of professional journalists don't have a clue as to what to make of this. Being that the weapon is obviously compounded, it should only be allowed in the hands of law enforcement and professional hunters who have met the compounded training needed to handle all that compounded power that comes from a system of pulleys. Idiot.

Lastly, we have this comment that makes me weep for the people of this country:

Lynne Le

I don’t believe Tony threatened the suspect,
the suspect murder him and blame him, he’s death he can’t defense him self.

Lynne Le needs an intervention to get him/her off whatever substance he/she has been abusing. That person needs help, right quick now! Get Betty Sue and Jimmy John in a room with em' to talk some sayance in to em'!

The news isn't fun to read anymore

It's too depressing. This morning I open Yahoo! News to find that Andy Whitfield has died. I enjoyed Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and somehow hoped that Whitfield would return to the part because he played the character so well. His character was re-cast, and the new season starts early next year.

The first news article that caught my eye this morning though was the headline/quote from president Obama stating that "America does not give in to fear," which made me snort just a little bit. The news has been awash with stories fear for eleven days, pondering the next terrorist strike that is bound to happen at any moment. Any minute now. . . .

We have uniformed government workers sexually assaulting random Americans at airports and bus stops, F16 fighters escorting air planes to the ground, bomb scares in Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and D.C. ; and in New York:

New York police amassed a display of force on Friday including checkpoints that snarled traffic in response to intelligence about a car or truck bomb plot linked to the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Officers armed with automatic weapons were stationed at city landmarks including Wall Street, Times Square and the September 11 memorial site where the Twin Towers once stood.

[snip]

New Yorkers who have grown accustomed to bag searches at subway stations and random displays of police presence encountered increased vigilance after the threat, which prompted President Barack Obama to order a redoubling of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

Yeah, we sure don't give in to fear not one little bit. Nothing tells me that the republic is at ease like amassed police with automatic weapons in major cities. My favorite, sweet little truffle from yesterday morning's news:

Mejia now is close to marking her fourth year as a TSA security officer. She has worked every September 11, she said. "It's somewhat an honor to be here today, to watch, to say that people are not afraid to fly, and we are here to help," Mejia said.

This is from an article titled "Travelers feel fear, resolve about flying on September 11." Someone should probably tell her that thousands, if not millions of Americans fear flying the other 364 days out of the year because of the fear of having their intimate body parts rigorously fondled by blue-glove wearing tyrants who work for the TSA.

"Nearing the end of this violation, I sobbed even louder as the woman, FOUR
TIMES, stuck the side of her gloved hand INTO my vagina, through my pants. Between my labia. She really got up there. Four times. Back right and left, and
front right and left. In my vagina. Between my labia. I was shocked -- utterly
unprepared for how she got the side of her hand up there. It was government-sanctioned sexual assault."

I know I always feel safer about travel knowing that when I get to the airport, there is a high likelyhood that some disgusting stranger in a dirty blue shirt will painfully grab ahold of my satchel; but it's awesome though and totally worth it because some spineless wimp of a man behind me will feel like these good hearted goverment agents are dilligently keeping everyone safe. Even though they're not.

Fear not, muslim friends, we're here to find terrorists. I'm clearing your minds of all anxiety." - Sarah; Team America: World Police

Have a safe day!!

Robbery/Murder in a NYC pharmacy

I'm not trying to dance in the blood of the dead, but I thought I would again point out that you can never place your faith in the hands of a scumbag. The mantra of "just give them what they want" and the "don't resist or you'll only get hurt" policies wore through here, and a great tragedy happened:

The man was armed with a handgun, stole prescription drugs and killed everyone in the shop before fleeing with a black backpack.

The shootings happened at about 10:20 a.m. inside a family-owned pharmacy in a small cluster of medical offices in Medford, a middle-class hamlet on Long Island about 60 miles east of New York City.

Sometimes it's just not about the robbery. Why on earth did that man decide to kill those four people? Maybe to get rid of the witnesses? Who knows. I hope they catch the scumbag soon.

The murder happened in a decent part of town according to the statements from those who live there. My guess is that's why the scumbag sought out that particular store.

Spousal Unit Fail

Little initially put the gun to the dog's head and pulled the trigger several times, but nothing happened, police say the wife told them.

Knowing my wife like I do, I'm certain that if I was sitting on the porch pounding moonshine, snapping a partially loaded revolver at the dog while babbling about how bad my life sucks, she would probably end my suffering temporarily with a frying pan long enough for the state-run help to arrive and give me proper attention. But maybe my wife is different then the vast amount of them out there in that she cares about me, and wouldn't just sit on her ass while I self destructed.

The guy in the article is dead by his own hand, but I have to question the sanity of his wife. Telling the cops that her husband "got tired" of playing russian roulette with the dog means that she had plenty of time to do something to prevent such a tragedy, unless of course she's patiently waiting for that "til death do us part" clause in the marriage contract to be executed (oh, my pun!) so that she can get on with her life. It makes sense then.

The history of the M16

I don't have a lot of time to discuss, but check out this lengthy read on how the M16 cut its way into the arms of our military.

Found over at Ace of Spades.

Feeeelings. . . . . .nothing more than feeeeelings

Some pathetic little thug murdered a Baltimore detective with a rock, leaving his wife a widow and his kids fatherless, all over a parking space. This reinforces my belief to never argue such things if at all possible, which is not clear from the information in this story.

What we do have is a man who is presumably armed and trained to use a firearm getting killed by a guy wielding mankind's oldest weapons system, thereby demonstrating that safety from predators is not always certain even if one is prepared and has all the proper tools on hand.

Fortunately the dirtbag in this case was easily apprehended, as he was relaxing in a club sipping on a cold one. Let's hope the jury gets to hear that part; although I don't have any confidence in the justice system in Maryland regardless. I'm waiting with bated breath to hear about this piece of work's extensive criminal history; you don't just get to the point one day where casually brain someone with a stone. These things develop over time.

The reason for the title to this post though has nothing to do with murderous scumbags and everything to do with the clueless people who domicile in and around noted dangerous cities talking about how they want to feel safe. The woman in question didn't happen to mention how she's going to go about making herself safe using her mind and her own two hands. My guess is that when pressed, she will mention something about voting for some Baltimore lawyer-critter to apply for the daunting task of running that violent city, all in the hopes of being tuff on crime or something.

I'm sure they'll get right on that.

Human beings are aiming for a life of extinction considering that the majority of the folks out there would flat out be beaten to death or starve in the wilderness if someone didn't completely protect them. "Feeling" safe has absolutely nothing to do with actually being safe; the latter having everything to do with life favoring the prepared, or so I've been told once. Even that is no guarantee, but it sure does help. I just don't get though how people can be so naive, as if they can magically will away the bad people. Crazy.

As my wife often says to me: "Don't talk about it; be about it!"

Yup!

Spree shooting in Kentucky

Guy goes crazy and shoots his family and neighbors. He allegedly had violence issues for some time, although the article doesn't clarify.

In situations like this one, it's hard to say what could have been done to prevent it from happening. He started shooting his own family, and who would expect that, and then went over to his neighbor's house and started killing there too. Again, not what you would expect.

Here's the part that I find notable in this whole thing:

Sims said that when state police arrived about an hour after the gunfire began, they heard a single gunshot and found Neace's body on the porch in the unincorporated community of Mount Carmel in Breathitt County, which is home to about 16,000 people.

This is not a knock on the cops; it sounds like a remote part of the state, and who knows how long it took for someone to place a call. I point it out because calling the cops is not always the quick answer to a problem. Sometimes you may be on your own for awhile.

Premeditated spree shooting

Sponaugle's sister, Kitty Cooper, was among the wounded. Cooper says Sponaugle indicated months ago that he planned to kill his son and two others relatives.

And Cooper's husband, Mark A. Cooper Sr., who also was wounded Sunday, said Sponaugle told a relative two days before the shootings that "he was going to kill a bunch of people."

What more do you need? If someone indicates that they're going to kill a bunch of people, what do you do with that information? Why did these folks sit on this, and not act?

This is the same story that I posted about yesterday. Who knows why they didn't do anything about it; maybe they didn't believe him. These folks that live out in the middle of a nowhere county are known for following through with what they say.

Multiple shooting with ,22 caliber pistol

In Louisa county Virginia.

The story says it was a target pistol, which shows that it doesn't take a machine gun to take many lives. Two Sheriff's deputies killed the gunman, so at least the surviving family members don't have to live through a trial.

What a tragedy.

Giving new meaning to the word "Safe"

Hmmm. There is a common theme when someone is murdered at a school: the president, or some other official talking head, goes on the record as saying that the facility is "Safe."

While I understand the need to calm people down, I don't think that I could go on record with a big bold lie.

"In our sorrow, we must come together," Rosenberg said in his message to the university community. "Our campus is safe. Now more than ever, you must tell this story. ... Even while we mourn Kendall and express our sympathy to his family and friends, we must not let this heinous crime overshadow the incredible track record for safety that we have."

A student was tragically murdered hours ago, and the killer is nowhere to be found, so how can Rosenberg say something that is blatantly not true? From Webster:

Main Entry: ¹safe

Pronunciation: \ˈsāf\

Function: adjective

Inflected Form(s): saf·er; saf·est

Date: 14th century

1 : free from harm or risk : unhurt
2 a : secure from threat of danger, harm, or loss
3 : affording safety or security from danger, risk, or difficulty

So how can the campus be "secure from the threat of danger, harm, or loss" when the students have been advised to basically stay indoors:

FIU opened as scheduled Friday morning, with increased security for students and grief counseling available. Students living in residence halls were advised to keep doors locked, and any person at the university could be escorted around campus if desired.

And again, the killer is still at large.

Not very safe, huh?

So what recourse do students have right now to deal with an armed killer? Run to the blue phone and call for help? Yes. Have an unarmed escort walk you to your car? Yes. Carry a tool to help them effectively deal with an armed attacker? No; that is considered "Disruptive Conduct." You know what else is considered Disruptive Conduct?

(a) Endangerment. 1. Physical violence toward another person or group. 2. Action(s) that endanger the health, safety, or welfare of self or others. 3. Interference with the freedom of another person or group to move about in a lawful manner.

The killer certainly qualifies with all of them, and he or she is still out and about. Whomever issued the advisory to keep their doors locked runs afoul of "Interfer[ing] with the freedom of another person or group to move about in a lawful manner," do they not? This policy of disarming all but the violent people is madness. I know that everyone is sad, but you can't guarantee the safety of the campus. To do so is a lie.

School massacre in China

A former doctor armed with a large knife rampaged outside an elementary school in eastern China, stabbing eight young children to death and wounding five others Tuesday, a local official and a state news agency said.

Horrific. The killer was apparently captured alive, so lets hope China's prisons are as brutal as they are rumored to be.

Do note at the bottom for calls for more security. That one man armed with a piece of metal can so easily kill that many people before being stopped is a shame.

A BB gun is still a gun

This story is tragic, but I would guess that it is a pretty rare event.

Either way, this message does need to get out more:

"If you come across any type of gun: stop," Pagano said. "Don't touch it. Leave the area and tell an adult. Everybody needs to know that, as surely as they need to know how to dial 911, don't take candy from a stranger, stop drop and roll. That message needs to get out more."

Absolutely.

It's not safe when someone gets shot there

"It's a horrific event and I hate it, and I wish we could have changed it, but our schools are safe," he told reporters.

So they weren't safe before? Of course not; we all know that. Silly signs with associated laws, and zero tolerance policies created to keep the lawyers off the backs of school officials in such an incident will not stop fourteen year old kids from doing the unthinkable.

This, one would think, would be common sense.

It's a horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the deceased kids family.

So what point do I have in posting this? That school policy, and local, state, and federal laws are not crafted to prevent this from happening. The sooner we wake up to this notion, the sooner something real can be done to prevent future tragedies.

Spree shooting in Finland

Update: Now the AP is reporting five people dead. Also, the AP doesn't even have the fundamental knowledge needed to report accurately on the type of weapon used. Way to go guys.

What a horrible thing for Finnish families to have to endure. Four deaths reported so far, and the gunman is still on the loose.

There are not too many details on the shooter yet. It hasn't been confirmed that the suspect is even the right guy, not to mention the circumstances leading to the shooting, but the press is already all over the gun control angle.

Who would have thought that big box reporters and journalists were such gamblers. How about waiting for some facts guys, and then get your blood dance on.

Yes, Finland has a strong gun culture; so it wouldn't be at all surprising for this ordeal to come to a swift end by some Finnish citizen closing the gunman's eyes with some well aimed fire from a Sako. Time will tell. Let's just hope that no more innocent lives are lost.

A tragedy with a happy ending

(The New York Post) - A career criminal who slaughtered three members of a family in their apartment in New York's trendy Upper West Side Thursday plunged to his death after tripping over his baggy pants.

That's the gist of it. The killer shot and stabbed his victims but ultimately spared New Yorkers the expense of housing his sorry ass in prison for the rest of his life. So let it be known what an oozing, pustulant piece of dogshit Hector Quinones was, and let's ridicule him for tripping over his stupid pants and falling three stories to his death.

The victims didn't deserve death despite having drugs in their house. There are many reasons I don't have drugs in my house, one of them being that I don't want scumbags with guns and knives paying me a visit. This is alleged to be common sense. Regardless, people living in their homes peacefully deserve to live their lives to the fullest.

Now we have to focus on Hector Quinones, and why he is running around with a gun and killing people. Rational folk know that scumbags use a variety of weapons to accomplish their deeds -- they're modus operendi necessitate it, and they will end up with a gun if they want one. Scumbags know how to get guns, and nothing will change that. What I want to show is that this particular scumbag, like 99.9% of violent, murderous scumbags in the US, was a career violent felon. Here's his record:

The suspect, who has 14 prior arrests for offenses that include manslaughter, assault, drugs and robbery, knew Rodriguez Sr. from when they were in prison together, sources said.

So, why was this guy out of prison? What the hell does a psychopath have to do to get an all expenses paid ticket to Sing Sing for the rest of his or her life? Would he have finally gotten a life without parole sentence for killing three people if he had lived?

Time after time after time these douchebags kill someone, and, being violent felons with prior arrests because they have amply demonstrated that they cannot be trusted, should have never seen the light of day. Who the fuck are releasing these people from prison? This is negligence on an unforgivable level from the elements of law enforcement that decide to let these animals loose on society, be it the cops, judges, jury, prosecutor, prison warden, whatever. Why are the NYC residents not screaming for the head of whomever signed off on this guy's release?

I'll tell you what, if my county releases some piece of shit back into my community, and I find out about it I'm going to be one of the many other steely eyed citizens with pickets, pitchforks and torches screaming at the public servant outside his or her building. Tar and feathers may be included.

The people who we as a society entrust with public offices that are supposed to protect society by arresting violent scumbags and ensuring that they stay out of sight are expected to perform as we pay them to. I can see giving someone a second chance for drugs, or robbery under certain circumstances, but racking up charge after charge of offenses that hurt innocent people is grounds for putting them away forever. A jury doesn't have the stomach to kill him? Cool beans; stick him in an 8' x 8' cell for 23 hours a day for the rest of his life. Let him go so he can go out and hurt someone? Someone like my family? Better knock that shit off. Even the morons that run the court in cities other than mine endanger every American with senseless decisions like this one. They should be held accountable.