DC cabbies want guns

This is a month old, and I don't know how I missed it, but cab drivers in DC want to carry guns for protection:

After the Supreme Court's decision to overturn a ban on handguns, D.C. residents are allowed to keep registered weapons in their place of business. But police and city officials say the workplace must be a "fixed location," making it illegal for taxicab drivers to carry weapons.

How about some common sense legislation to give cabbies their rights back?

Text message fail

At Virginia Tech, no less.

Why is this even considered a remote substitute for letting the few students who are willing protect their own lives? And again, spare me the "duck and cover" scenario, or the one where "EVERYONE WILL BE SHOOTING AT EVERYONE!" It's all a bunch of nonsense.

The text message system is supposed to represent the most advanced and logical solution that school officials can come up with for a solution to a problem that can be solved by just staying the hell out of the way.

Update: It seems that I found the condensed version of the story. Head on over to David's post for some more info.

A little more serious than "fun & games"

Teenagers in DC are beating the snot out of citizens, sometimes fatally, and either robbing or attempting to rob them, or worse.

Watch the whole video.

If even on duty DC cops are getting jumped by these thugs, then how do you expect them to keep you safe? Assistant DC Police Chief Diane Groomes offers a pathetic warning to the young heathen:

"We really need to tell these youths out there. . . OK . . you might think it's fun and games. . . and you think it's OK to . . you know. . maybe punch someone. . .but sometimes when you. . .even when you punch someone it could lead to death."

Thanks for the stern warning, there, Chief! That's sure to make the little violent scumbags tremble in their Timberlands, but I have a better idea. How about giving the DC citizens their rights back so that they can carry small lifesaving tools that could prevent a beating, shooting, stabbing or raping from ever happening in the first place. That is, until you can guarantee the safety of every citizen, including your police officers. Or perhaps you can just keep on with the ineffective policy that you are using now:

"As for the victim of the most recent attack. . .she just wants something to be done."

"I see so many young adults hanging around. They keep me from going into CVS. They keep me from using the ATM. They keep me from taking the path that I would normally take."

I suggest moving to Virginia where your life and safety is taken more seriously. You can protect yourself here.

Don't take action

Snitching is OK, but don't think that you're responsible enough to stop any crime in your community on your own. Let these guys do it instead.

Good grief.

They sure are indoctrinating DC citizens to be helpless victims. I guess my great grandfather was out of line when he used an old double barrel shotgun to hold a crowd of violent citizens at bay who were intent on lynching a German farmer for nothing more than being a German in the US during WWII. He should have just called the authorities and stayed out of it. I guess having morals made him a "vigilante."

The Lord must have stopped issuing moral compasses to mankind.

It must be the gunshows. . .

. . .that are enabling DC teens to purchase guns without background checks, thus causing the violence as the mere possession of a gun makes people loose all self control.

I blame George Bush.

Or these thugs could be using their bare hands or knives to project their power onto the defenseless, in which case the question would be what kind of small portable device could the defenseless carry in order to negate the disparity of force?

Anyone got any suggestions?

Another "Gun Free Zone" fail

This time in Arkansas where two people were killed and one wounded. The school was put on "lock down," no doubt to let armed people of the authorized kind scour the campus. No word on text messages or any of the other useless stuff that are now the SOP for school shootings, and my money is on the shooter having some sort of record, but I have nothing other than a hunch.

More when I get it.

Update: Four scumbags have been arrested in connection with this shooting:

The suspects were identified as Kawin Brockton, 19; Kelsey Perry, 19; Mario Toney, 20 and Brandon Wade, 20.

That's all the police will say for now.

Clueless student at UMW

This guy should think deep about what he just said concerning the assault of a girl at the University of Mary Washington ten days ago:

"If there had been security cameras, the rape would not have happened," he said. "We would have known what color car the rapist drove and what he looked like, which would have been much better than an artist's rendering. You can only capture so much in a drawing and human memory is only so good."

Genious! So he says cameras would have prevented it, but then says that it would have helped catch the rapist. Are people really this naive? Fortunately, around here, no:

Junior Mike Isaacson agrees with the administration's decision not to install cameras. "I see the administration's point. Yes, [cameras] would be good to help find the guy after the fact, but they couldn't stop what already happened," he said.

And this from the Fredericksburg police department:

According to Fredericksburg police spokesperson Natatia Bledsoe, a security camera would not have deterred the recent sexual assault on the parking deck. "The problem with [security cameras] is that for them to be in real time, there has to be someone watching the screen at all times," Bledsoe said. However, Bledsoe said that while security cameras are not helpful in crime deterrence, one aided investigation of the abduction and murder of local delivery person Yong Hui Zhang in downtown Fredericksburg this July.

And this:

Hurley said other safety factors contributed to the school's decision not to install the cameras. "Their advice was that cameras provide a false sense of security, are incapable of capturing views of all areas of a deck and are not helpful for crime prevention unless you have someone staring at the monitors 24/7 and even then, it does not mean they would prevent crime since it takes time for police to respond to dispatch calls," Hurley said. Hurley added that this decision was supported by the state crime prevention specialist, whom the school safety office hired to inspect the parking deck last week.

Cameras give a false sense of security. Short of snapping a cop with an M4 into a pouch on your side, your best bet is to provide for your own defense with something small, portable and powerful.

This just in!!! DC cannot protect the citizens!!

I know, shocking isn't it? Now DC citizens are looking to other community resources for help:

Our neighborhood has seriously declined and become a less desirable place to live given the threats of criminal-minded juveniles," said Amy Caspari, a Capitol Hill resident whose husband, Matthew, was the victim of an Aug. 12 midday attack by a knife-wielding juvenile on the corner of 17th and C streets Southeast.

Said Mr. Caspari: "It's very frustrating trying to raise two kids when you have this kind of stuff going on."

As a result, Mr. Glick has asked for help from the D.C. chapter of Guardian Angels, a volunteer group of unarmed residents who patrol streets and make citizen arrests, if
necessary.

For starters, the unarmed Guardian Angels no doubt care ten times more about the safety of DC citizens than the Metro police, but the fact of the matter is that they shouldn't be forced to be unarmed. How do you make a citizens arrest on a knife wielding teen if you don't have equal or greater force to match it? You can't even use pepper spray in DC.

I think the community has turned to the right people for help, but that help should have the ass to make these thug teens know that violence could potentially land them a dirt nap, and by that I mean the citizens should have the choice to go armed, which most probably won't, and that's fine. Nothing pisses me off more than when hippie pacifists say that pro-gun folk advocate arming everybody in order to make the world safer. That is incorrect. Erroneous. Absurd.

The truth is that people like myself want all Americans to have the choice to be armed in order to provide for their own defense, and to prevent nonsense like this from starting in the first place. That does not mean that myself or other gun owners want to be armed in order to take the law into our own hands, nor does it mean that we want to be vigilantes. It only means that we want to be able to hold our own until the cops get there. When criminals see the community, along with the Guardian Angels, patrolling the streets with a means of matching or exceeding the potential force that they were considering using, then they will go elsewhere to find easier fodder.

Criminals beware of the deadly text message!!!

From none other than DC comes this garbage, where businesses - who are disarmed by the local govt. for their own good - will get text messages to let them know they're being robbed.

Awesome plan DC! It's not like anything could go wrong with the text message alert system!!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, DC businesses are still not allowed to keep and bear arms for the defense of their stores.

Good thing she couldn't fight back

We wouldn't want to hear about this story having a happy ending instead of just an ending without tragedy.

Police say he duct taped the three people -- a mother, her boyfriend and her young daughter -- then started searching the apartment. During that time the mother and her daughter were able to break free. They jumped out of the second-story window, landing face first in the alley below.

"When I went out and looked, I saw a girl hanging out of the window and then I could hear someone screaming around the corner, "Baby don't die on my." The little girl and the woman were on the ground," said AJ, neighbor.

I guess jumping out of your second story window with your baby to avoid the criminal is the safe bet when compared to smoking the home intruder with your Colt. Too bad that poor family didn't have the option; it is Chicago, and all, and Mayor Daley knows what's best for you.

Remember kids, don't resist. Give them what they want, and it might be a good idea to leave your windows unlocked in case you need to make a quick getaway.

DC Police Chief blames citizens for being victimized

That's what I'm hearing from this article:

Groups of young people are attacking victims who walk alone at night.

Victims who are unarmed.

Lanier also is asking people to do their part when it comes to drinking. Those who leave bars at 2 or 3 a.m., and who've had too much to drink, create more opportunities for criminals to prey upon them, she said.

Drunken rowdiness, which can spill onto streets, diverts police from protecting people against robberies, she said.

So don't go out and enjoy yourself as an adult in DC or you're just helping the criminals attack you. Why don't you just stay at home and drink a sixpack instead?

Where were the guards with the M4s?

Just so you know, the University of Mary Washington is not so super safe. Too bad that while the girl was being abducted, a security guard was wandering around the parking garage above her. The campus police and their M4s were nowhere to be found, which you can't really blame them for because it's not like rapists try to get their attention or anything.

This isn't the first time some scumbag has tried to rape someone on campus, but what bothers me is that students say that they still feel safe because the campus is so friendly.

My point in all of this is still the same: personal security is up to the individual, not some benign security guard you've never met, and not a sworn officer of the law who is well protected in the guard house with his shiny new rifle.

Update: Look at the bottom of the article for this gem:

The University of Mary Washington offers a 12-hour Rape Aggression Defense self-defense class. The program is free for male and female students and is available to area residents for a fee.

For more information, all 540/ 654-1025 or visit umw.edu/police/prevention/rad_class.php.

I highly doubt the class involves proper instruction in the use of a modern, portable self-defense tool that negates the strength of full grown attackers. Just for fun, stick that link in the address bar and see if you get anything.

How could they kill without guns?

Too bad this woman died a needless death. No doubt she would have had a chance if she had been armed, or at least had the option, but California doesn't allow it because she's not professional enough to know when her life is at stake, nor does she have the ninja skills needed to wield such a small portable device. If only she were a well connected anti-gun celebrity, then all of that wouldn't matter.

My main question is how is it that two scumbags could rob and kill with such little effort when all they're armed with is knives? Such instruments are so 19th century; everyone knows that guns are the only tools these days that give an individual power over another. Then again, if Roshni Singh had had a gun then her attackers would have just taken it away, right? Don't criminals study disarming techniques and pistol skills at the same secret gun training facilities that cops do?

How is it, again, that those gun laws are helping? Disarming your citizens should be a crime.

Why we need carry in National Parks

From an alert from the VCDL:

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9. Who needs a gun on the Appalachian Trail?

**************************************************
Thanks to member Jonathan McGlumphy for the link: http://tinyurl.com/5mxz4g roanoke.com

Vinton man pleads no contest in attack on Appalachian Trail hiker

By Mike Allen

A Vinton man accused of abducting and sexually assaulting a young woman who was passing through Botetourt County while through-hiking the Appalachian Trail will spend eight years in prison.

Joel Fulton Carter III pleaded no contest this morning in Botetourt County Circuit Court to a charge of animate object sexual penetration. In exchange for his plea, a 30-year sentence was suspended after eight years.

The incident occurred in early May. Authorities said the woman, who was hiking alone on the 2,175-mile trek from Georgia to Maine, had gotten off the trail near Troutville with plans to go to a post office and pick up a package of supplies that was waiting for her.

As the woman walked along U.S. 11 near the Exit 150 interchange with Interstate 81, a man offered her a ride, she told police. The man then drove her to an industrial plant, where he reportedly worked, and took her into an office building.

The woman said the man sexually assaulted her and then told her it was to teach her a lesson not to accept rides from strangers, according to previous court testimony. [PVC: So, if she had been armed and shot him, she could have said it was to teach him a lesson about not sexually assaulting women. ;-) ]

The Appalachian Trail crosses U.S. 220 just north of the Exit 150 interchange, and it's common for through-hikers to stop long enough to take advantage of a cluster of
restaurants and motels. The nearby Troutville post office is frequently used by hikers as a mail drop.

Authorities declined to give the woman's exact age or say where she is from. There is no indication that she knew Carter previously, authorities said.

Let us not forget that regardless of how safe we think we are in society, the laws of nature still apply, and that means that criminals - like all predators - prefer vulnerable victims. Shame on our Park Rangers for insisting that we have no means of defense on public land while they go about armed and safe.

A digital message will tell you you're being shot at

Virginia Tech just shelled out big bucks for message boards that will alert you if there is a spree shooter on campus, as if gunshots don't give it away already.

That's right folks - message boards.

Officials said the school has installed 201 devices total, and purchased 19 backup message boards at a total cost of $243,700.

I know what I would want if a shooting was going down, and it wouldn't cost the school a dime.

DC dose of stupid

Michael Gorbey was handed a 22 year sentence for being a nutjob in front of the US Capitol. He would be the guy in the soft body armor with a shotgun and sword that claimed he had an appointment with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. He's crazy, got it.

The dose of stupid comes from the old bag Eleanor Holmes Norton, and it's a twofer. In regards to the Supreme Court ruling in the Heller case encouraging more activity like this, Norton says:

"Perhaps we see here . . .the strict gun laws here. . .protect more than the residents of the District of Columbia. They also protect the Capitol of the United States of America."

Um, no. Perhaps your naive ass has been re-elected way too many times. The DC gun ban was alive and well during this whole ordeal, and it didn't do a thing to protect anybody. Here's why:

Court records show Gorbey is a convicted felon and has been in and out of prison since 1991 for convictions on larceny, domestic violence and illegal gun and drug charges.

Gun laws did nothing to stop this man before or after this event. Gun laws have done nothing for the absurd amount of shootings in the District. Keeping violent people locked up will do more than you silly laws and signs.

The next bit of dribble that spews from her mouth is this bit where she tries to tell DC Metro Police that they're incompetent because they didn't find the bomb in Gorbey's truck until three weeks after his arrest:

". . important for homeland security. . .um . . . that the police . . .um. . . be trained, as they clearly had not been well enough trained at the academy in light of homeland security to look everywhere."

Nobody is arguing that DC Metro Police are not the brightest, but this woman clearly shows that she's about as brainless as it gets. I mean, this is a woman who believes that your all of your rights are collective, belonging to everyone. Why DC residents keep voting for this woman is amazing.

Drug cartels grow pot in National Parks

But I thought that National Parks were super safe! I mean, Park Rangers have been telling us that there is no reason to carry a gun in a National Park because there is nothing to worry about. That is until you run into one of the many multi-million dollar marijuana grow operations. What then?

"This is about serious criminal organizations," Walters said. "They're willing to kill anybody who gets in their way. They're taking money back to those who kill prosecutors, judges and law enforcement."

But how can they kill anyone who gets in their way if they're unarmed? It's the law, right?

Once at the national forest, the growers carry with them everything they need -- tents, food, guns, fertilizer, irrigation hose and marijuana seeds. Armed men keep watch over the gardens day and night during planting season, officials say.

Why is it that people like me are considered crazy when we assert that we have the right to carry everything we need anywhere we are legally allowed to go? The park is owned by the public, right? From my experience, Park Rangers don't want you on the freaking property in the first place. I'm sorry, but when armed Park Rangers tell me that there is no reason to be armed in the park, I have to call them liars.

"They come into our own national parks and risk the lives of sheriffs and others," Walters said.

You don't say!?!? We should ensure that everyone who enters the park is defenseless! That way they will be easier for the cartels to slaughter!

OOOooo OOoo! I KNOW, I KNOW! Maybe we should make marijuana illegal or something! Or is that causing the problem?

What a farce!

DC rewards those with illegal guns

So DC will start registering guns for its residents tomorrow, with some caveats:

Guns will be returned to owners, and they will get paperwork indicating that registration is in process. After an FBI background check, which takes about 14 days, the guns will be officially registered.

Two weeks for a background check? What a joke. They just want it to be as big of a pain in the ass as possible. Remember how I said that the incompetent DC officials are throwing everything they can at this in order to make it difficult? I give you some of this:

The emergency legislation will allow handguns to be kept in the home if they are used only for self-defense and carry fewer than 12 rounds of ammunition.

I'd say that the "12 rounds" requirement is going to be challenged as that number is arbitrary. This is what really pisses me off:

Handguns, as well as other legal firearms such as rifles and shotguns, also must be kept unloaded and disassembled, or equipped with trigger locks -- unless there is a "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm" in the home.

I recall the Supreme Court saying this in the Heller decision:

". . .the requirement that any lawful firearm in the home be disassembled or bound by a trigger lock makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the core lawful purpose of self-defense and is hence unconstitutional."

I hope DC gets its pants sued off tomorrow. And how does this make you feel:

The registration process actually will be faster for people who have had illegal handguns compared with people who want to purchase guns.

Great! So not only are they trying to keep citizens from exercising their rights, because it can't be done without their authority, but the DC government is going to reward those who are breaking the law first. I can only bash them so much because if I lived in crime ridden DC then I would probably have a gun in my home too, but to think that Fenty and his crooks are going to piss all over the citizens rights by stonewalling them, and then make it easier for those who have broke the law just burns me up. But know that DC is going to work harder to bend its own people over at every chance:

"This is not perfect legislation," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson, who worked with the mayor's office on the bill.

"The first step is what we have before us today so that we maintain important provisions in our gun registration law while we continue look at how we can further refine our gun registration law."

No shit it's not perfect! And by "refine" they mean that they will push further garbage requirements that will inhibit the god citizens, while the gangbangers continue to buy and carry whatever the hell they want without challenge. Bastards!

But there is some light at the end of the tunnel:

City officials said they fear gun advocates may rush back to court to force the District to get rid of some of the new provisions.

The Cato Institute, which is one of the groups that fought the handgun ban, said
it's ready to take the city to court again over the new law.

The Cato Institute rocks!

Don't bring a stick to a knife fight

Gangbangers beat and stab a man in his home, but then apologize when they realize they have the wrong guy. A woman that lives in the house was unable to stop the attack. Here's why:

The woman, who spoke to KCRA but did not want to be identified, said she came running down the stairs with a stick in her hand just after 6 a.m. when she heard a commotion.

There is a much better tool to deal with thugs. What would she have done if they attacked her?

Sloth attempts to abduct a 2nd woman.

I say Sloth because that is exactly what the police composite sketch looks like; a face only a mother could love. All of this took place at the University of Mary Washington.

So I guess all of those M4's didn't help campus security now did it?

Natatia Bledsoe of the Fredericksburg Police Department said the woman, who is in her 20s and is not a UMW student, was running on the trail around the athletic fields on Hanover Street when a man with a gun grabbed her and pushed her into the bushes.

Just give him what he wants. Let the state handle the aftermath.

The attacker tried to tie the woman's hands together and when she resisted, he dropped the gun, Bledsoe said.

I thought you weren't supposed to resist? And how come the attacker dropped the gun when it's supposed to be the woman who does that? This changes everything. Next time you go jogging, I recommend you take one of these.

Here is an oft heard multiple dose of stupid:

Neighbors along Hanover said yesterday that they never considered the UMW track area to be an unsafe place to run.

"I was out there about 6:30 [Wednesday] morning," said Shirley Eye, who lives on Hanover near the track. "I've always felt really safe and content that this is a nice place to be."

"I would have said it's the safest place in the world to go and jog," he said.

"Sometimes I see girls out there at night running by themselves and I worry," said Betsy Spradlin, another Hanover Street resident. "But I wouldn't think you'd have to worry at 7:30 in the morning."

Do people really think that criminals look to conduct business in a rough part of town? No, they look for petite unarmed joggers who are not likely to resist. Here is a look at what happens when petite prey resists.

Woman, be advised: you can stop an attacker with the right tool.