Old Firearms Destroyed in Texas

Firearms stored in the Nueces County Police Department were destroyed last week, reports The Nueces County Record. This is sad news for us, because while the police may have only seen these items as “evidence,” we see it is a much more. According to the story:

 ”If they are no longer needed for a case, protocol dictates the weapons must be destroyed…”

But what is upsetting is that the 70 or so firearms destroyed, many were storage for years. While many might have been common or damaged, we have no idea how many valuable firearms – monetary as well as historically – maybe now lost forever.

Vermont Newspaper Notes Gun Show Not Hit By Recession

In a surprisingly unbiased story about this weekend’s gun show, The Times Argus reported that this weekend’s gun show was seeing breakout business. Vermont might be a “blue state” but it was also one of the original colonies calling for independence from England back in the 1770s, so it is no surprise that its residents understand how firearms keep one free!

The story noted not only that attendance of the gun show was up, but called out a few highly desirable pieces, “including a musket carried by a soldier in a New Hampshire regiment in the Revolutionary War.”

 Kudos to The Time Argus. It is nice to see news in the mainstream media that calls out the importance of historical firearms. 

 

Editorialized Philly Gun Story Passed Off as News

Philly.com, home for The Philadelphia Daily News, has run a highly editorialized piece under the guise of news. Ironically, it ran said piece in the local news section, but yet it is about a gun law and those with ties to Florida. So is this really national news? 

The story covers the main points without too much bias:

“Pennsylvania’s firearms reciprocity agreements require the state to recognize permits from 24 other states that have permit laws as strict or stricter than its own and that those states, in turn, recognize Pennsylvania weapons permits.

“Among the states covered, there are three – Florida, Utah and New Hampshire – that allow out-of-state residents to get permits even if they don’t qualify or apply for permits in their home state.” Read more

Tiny Gun Causes Child Big Trouble

While toy guns have evolved – devolved even – over the years, we sort of understand if these look realistic. Considering that police have enough to worry about we agree that realistic guns can be a problem. But is this about keeping guns safe, or really about teaching guns that all guns are bad. That’s a question we ask because of a story making the rounds this week on how a child in New York City was in trouble for a toy gun for an action figure. MSNBC notes this fact:

“Department of Education policy states that there can be no imitation guns on school property, and a representative said that the principal has ultimate discretion, and this one felt there was reason for ‘concern.’”

So why is a toy gun for an action figure a problem? Is this even an imitation gun? Imitations in our opinion at least would be replicas – as in full-size or approximate size to the real deal. A toy gun for an action figure or toy is just that – a toy. It isn’t an imitation. No one calls a Matchbox car an imitation toy. It is a scale replica, with scale being the key word.

But this is no surprise in New York City, where it is a crime to sell toy guns. Soon we might expect toy stores to ban action figures, or anything “violent,” regardless of whether it is historical. We assume this would mean no knights sold at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a fine gallery of arms and armor. And soon we might expect that the military planes need to be removed from the U.S.S. Intrepid, the World War II era aircraft carrier turned floating museum. But that’s New York City for you!

Baltimore Mayor Calls for Tougher Gun Laws, Interesting Fact Noted

While we support law enforcement (even if we call out their fobbles from time to time), we realize that crime in our nation’s cities remains a problem. But we found an interesting fact in a story in The Baltimore Sun, which noted how the city’s incoming mayor, Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, is calling for tougher gun laws. The laws in this case we actually agree with, where use of a gun is added to a criminal’s charges when arrested (i.e. “use of handgun in commission of a crime”), but it is this passage that we found interesting:

“Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III tried to steer the focus back to the legislation, saying that 26 percent of the guns seized in Baltimore last year were long guns.”

This is notable because many cities make it so much harder to own handguns. In New York for example, you need a different permit for long guns (rifles and shotguns) as you do for handguns. Two different offices handle these permits, and these aren’t even located in the same borough of New York City let alone the same building.

Now we worry that the anti-gun zealots will use this as ammo to say, “all guns are bad,” but we’ll flip the argument and say, “see if criminals can’t get handguns they’ll use rifles,” and to make our point, “if they can’t use rifles, they’ll use bats, axes or sticks with a nail.” Criminals, in other words will use anything they can as a weapon.

Huffington Post Huffs and Puffs Again About NRA

In a recent piece for the liberal Huffington Post, Dennis A. Henigan (a noted anti-gun zealot) calls out the NRA, claiming there is no “cultural issue,” and notes:

“The core of the gun lobby’s strategy is to use fear tactics to keep gun owners in a constant state of agitation so that they can be activated to oppose even modest gun law reforms.”

Does he not understand the NRA, or the purpose of a lobby group? It seems so, and as a lobbyist himself, Henigan’s article would be laughable, were it not just a piece meant to put the NRA in a negative light. The NRA can never let down its guard on the issue of gun laws, because if it does so, the very freedoms it stands to protect could be taken away.

The media notes, and Henigan’s own group The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence often reports that Obama and the Democrats in Congress haven’t attempted new legislation on firearm ownership. But this doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen. And Henigan clearly has an agenda, which is to let the NRA and others drop their guard, so that very legislation could be brought up.

One Sided Local News Story in Daily News Passed Off as News

Where does news end and editorial begin, especially when the piece is about local news? The New York Daily News certainly blurred the lines in a story about a young anti-firearm zealot from Brooklyn. The story pulls no punches, and comes out swinging with this intro:

 ”At 18, Kristine Arroyo already knows how to stand up to the powerful National Rifle Association – and tomorrow night, she’ll stand up and be honored at Borough President Marty Markowitz’s State of the Borough address.” Read more

Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office Seizes Guns

In a weapons check operation last week Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Detectives along with Agents for the California Department of Justice (Bureau of Firearms) seized several guns from owners. These included those legally barred from owning guns within Santa Barbara County, such as those who have been convicted of a felony, a specified misdemeanor or was otherwise found by a court or mental facilities to be prohibited from owning a firearm. This was reported by several outlets including Santa Barbara Edhat and KVEC TV.

While we don’t question that felons shouldn’t have guns (in most cases), we must question how effective this “raid” was, and whether it was really necessary? More importantly, how exactly did law enforcement determine whether an individual had a gun, or was it a random sweep? Wouldn’t civil liberties groups be up in arms if a sweep was done for drugs instead of guns?

Cuba “Cracks” Down on Guns

Is Cuba softening its stand on guns? That’s how it sounds, as The Washington Post is reporting that Cuba has declared a two-month amnesty for citizens to register unlicensed guns. Ironically, in this Communist nation almost no one is legally entitled to own guns – after all guns brought the Communists to powers, so the Communists never wanted anyone else to have guns. Even police officers, say The Post, are required to leave pistols in a station when on leave, and many soldiers are given unloaded firearms.

According to The Post, those passing aptitude and psychological tests to legally possess a gun. The paper adds:

“Starting Feb. 12, Cubans will have the ‘exceptional and one-time only’ chance to register their guns with police, and will be allowed to keep them provided they are over 18 and have passed the proper tests administered at police stations.” Read more

Newsday Makes Dubious Claim About Illegal Handguns

New York Newsday reported on a buyback in Nassau County, and how police paid up to $200 per handgun. The interesting part is the dubious reporting:

“A gun buyback program run by the Nassau County police department Saturday at a church in Rockville Centre was responsible for taking 173 illegal but operable handguns off the streets, police said.”

How do the police know – or the reporter for that matter – that these were “illegal” handguns? And does this mean that guns that were registered and legally owned couldn’t be turned in? That seems highly biased. So was this a case of bias in the buyback, or just biased (and inaccurate) reporting?