Tragic Reminders

They happen all too often, if you ask me.

At this time almost 32 years ago, I was stationed in Ft Riley Kansas. One evening I got a call from my Commander, who notified me that my sixteen year-old brother had been killed. He and a couple of his pals were in the house, one of them got a hold of my dad's .22 caliber Derringer and accidentally shot/killed him.

As long ago as it was, it still is fresh in my mind.

This becomes especially true when stories like this are reported.

Hamilton County Sheriff Doug Carter said 16-year-old Carson Wallace and his younger brother had been having a snowball fight in the family's yard just before the shooting.

Carter said they ran into the garage and the 14-year-old picked up a shotgun there, thinking it was unloaded. He aimed it at his older brother Carson and pulled the trigger.

Carson was shot in the stomach and later died during emergency surgery at Methodist Hospital.

Sheriff Carter knows the family and says the 14-year-old boy looked at Carson "as his hero."

Carter said the two boys were avid hunters and that both had been trained in gun safety.

Even after all these years, it still makes me sick. But even so, the gun did not shoot anyone. The human that made the fatal error did.

This is a sad situation to be sure. Not only is the young man gone from this life, the family stands a good chance of thorough collapse after the initial trauma begins to wear off. I know mine did.

Even though I was out on my own seeing the world, it was never the same afterward.

Gun Laws: A Comparative Look

I'll keep this short but sweet.

Miami has apparently registered a month without a homicide:

Midnight Friday marked the end of October and the news from Miami's homicide office was what didn't happen.

No one was murdered.

October passed without a homicide -- meaning for the first time since May 1966, an entire month went by in the city of Miami without someone succumbing violently.

''That's an amazing thing,'' said Miami Lt. John Buhrmaster, a longtime homicide investigator. ``It's a great record when people are not killing each other.''

The brief report goes on to say:

Overall, Miami has notched 55 homicides in 2008. Last year, the overall number was 87.

Let's contrast this with Chicago's rate. In August of this year, the rate was up 18% over last year.

For the first seven months of 2008, murders rose by 18 percent over the same period in 2007 and by 9 percent for the same period in 2006. According to internal police data, 291 people were killed from January through July, up from 246 in 2007 and 266 in 2006.

The only difference I notice in these two locations (besides the climate) is Florida has a "Stand Your Ground Law" and Chicago does not. In fact, Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in the country.

Obama has been an advocate of disarming the law-abiding citizens of Chicago. Can we expect him to change his stance on this issue, if he becomes President?

Just something to think about before you pull the lever, Tuesday.

In Their Own Words

For those that are not on Mustang's mailing list, here are a couple of quotes that deserve some analysis. They don't stand out nearly as much on their own, as they do when you line them up next to each other:

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded." — Barack Obama, 2008

Now, let's compare those words with these:

"This year will go down in history for the first time a civilized nation has full gun regulation. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future." — Adolf Hitler, 1935

The more you learn about this guy named Barack Obama, the more you need to worry. Before you cast your ballot, you really should give some real thought to who you are voting for and what the repercussions will be, should the guy you pull the lever for, win.

If the instant rise to fame, the grandiose promises, and all of the wide-eyed star-struck adoring fans aren't enough to persuade you, take a moment and digest these words. Get all of the partisan rhetoric out of your head and critically analyze what these words mean.

Remember, it was Obama that said that words count. Well, these are his own words. We know his stances on gun control, we know how he will act once he has power to work with a Democratic Congress. We know it will be the people, who will lose their abilities to empower and protect their own freedoms.

Britain's Cutlery Problem

Like Indianapolis, Britain is dealing with an upsurge of homicides these fine summer days.

Britain is struggling to get to grips with a surge of fatal knife attacks, which analysts say reflects a growing sense of insecurity on the country's streets.

While some say young people are increasingly carrying knives as a fashion item, others say it is simply because they are scared of being attacked and so make sure they are armed.

Outrageous!! Something has to be done, and fast.

PYY calls for the the carrying of a concealed weapon to be a crime. By outlawing of all knives (except for law enforcement), the citizens will be safer from knife violence. Anyone caught with a knife should be thoroughly punished. At very least, the government ought to require all knife owners to be registered (after taking government approved knife safety classes, or course).

Reaction To SCOTUS Handgun Ruling

Getting back late last evening caused me to be too exhausted to post anything on this topic. Spending what I consider to be an inordinate amount of time in traffic, I got to hear Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's reaction to the SCOTUS ruling on DC's hand gun ban, ad nauseum.

An “outraged” Mayor Daley this morning denounced a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Washington D.C.’s handgun ban as a “frightening decision” and a “return to the days of the Wild West.”

Daley predicted that Chicago’s 1982 handgun freeze would be next in the crosshairs of the powerful gun lobby and that gun violence will surge if they’re successful.

Daley must be a prophet, because that is precisely what is happening. The Illinois State Rifle Association immediately filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Chicago's now unconstitutional handgun law. And the NRA's action will be following there, and other places too.

The Illinois State Rifle Association filed a lawsuit with just that purpose in mind at 9:15 a.m.

"We want to overturn this ban. It's pretty onerous. It takes the right of self-defense away from every Chicago citizen," said Richard Pearson, director of the Illinois State Rifle Association.

The National Rifle Association also plans to file lawsuits in Chicago and several suburbs, as well as San Francisco, challenging handgun restrictions there based on Thursday's outcome.

John McCain stood with the court, while Barack Obama waffled, tap-danced, and otherwise straddled the fence. His inability to take a principled stand one way or the other may have something to do with his recently outed comments, about Pennsylvania citizens clinging to God and guns. At the same time, he must be careful not to upset the George Soros crowd that wants to disarm law-abiding citizens, leaving them unable to protect themselves.

As PYY regular Greg points out on the last thread, the frightening thing about this ruling is the 5-4 margin of the decision, This means that if BHO is elected President, he could appoint a liberal justice that will swing it back the other way should the anti-gun lobby become emboldened again And you know they will.

One thing about the anti-gun lobby's arguments you will never hear is their lack of proof that these bans reduce gun violence. Florida relaxed laws on carrying concealed weapons awhile back and a noticeable drop in gun violence has been noted. DC has had the ban for 32 years and it continues to rise.

Common sense should dictate to us that if a criminal does not know who is carrying and who is not, he/she may very well think twice about trying to attack or rob a person. Likewise, if a person does not know which homes have guns in them which do not, he/she may think twice about burglarizing or staging a home invasion. But I have never used the words common sense and anti-gun activism in the same sentence. And I am not about to start now.

Gun Rights On The Line With SCOTUS Decision

Not a lot of time to expostulate, but today we are looking for the US Supreme Court's decision that may impact gun rights for years to come.

The case, District of Columbia v. Heller, which was argued nearly four months ago, could settle the decades-old debate over whether the Second Amendment grants individuals the right to own firearms.

When I read the Constitution, I read this:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Shall not be infringed seems pretty plain to me. Now we'll see how the Court sees it. Meanwhile, we will be touring the Chicago Stockyards, when the decision is likely to be announced.

Have a great day.

Armed. Not Dangerous.

We read this kind of story all too often. Yet, some still decry a person's constitutional right to bear arms and make no secrets of their foolish desire to rid the world of handguns.

A 51-year-old man stopped a masked man from robbing a Southside grocery store and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.

It's a short article, nothing too John Wayne. It just reinforces the folly of those that think eliminating handguns will stop murders. As we see here, it stopped a robbery in which no one got hurt (including the assailant). Who's to say it didn't prevent something worse?

I know. It doesn't always happen this way. And if it does, it gets a little article buried somewhere (in the back sections). No doubt, if there had been a shootout and people were dead as a result of it, the entire scenario would lead the headlines locally and likely get national coverage.

But it didn't. And another cold hard example of why the anti-gun lobby is wrong, has surfaced with minimal fanfare. Doesn't it make you wonder where they get their logic?

Kind of ties in with what I said in the previous post, if you think about it.