NY Times: Reckless Disregard for Safety
The New York Times offered an editorial this week titled, “Reckless Disregard for Safety,” noting:
The House showed its utter disregard for public safety in November when it approved the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which would take away the authority of states to decide who is allowed to carry a concealed and loaded handgun within their borders.
This is really “utter disregard.” Consider the following passage:
For example, New York, New Jersey and other states that bar individuals under 21 from obtaining a concealed carry permit would have to honor permits from states with no age requirement. The measure would also hamper efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking. An individual with a concealed carry permit from Florida — which allows the holder to carry unlimited numbers of concealed weapons — could drive a stash of weapons into New York and would have to be caught selling the guns on the street to get arrested.
What is stopping those teenagers in Harlem from arming themselves now? They don’t have concealed carry permits. This argument only aims to show that it would punish the law-abiding as the criminals are already breaking the law.
Does a posted speed limit by itself stop speeding? No, so why would a law such as this change who is packing an illegal gun and who is legally carrying a gun? Except to make it illegal to even carry a gun in the first place? In the end it seems to use the illegal gun would still be carried.
CayCompass: Feds investigate US-Cayman firearms smuggling ring
While the story is still very much only developing, it seems that United States federal law enforcement is investigating firearms smuggling between Florida and Grand Cayman. According to CayCompass this has been going on since 2008.
We don’t expect to see another Fast and Furious exactly, but there have been other capers that have turned out to be full-blown debacles. This story might be one to follow.
Tampa Gun Buyback Takes “1000 guns off the streets”
Yet another holiday timed supposedly “feel good” story was reported this weekend, as the Tampa Police collected 1,000 guns, while the media of course used those infamous words “off the streets.” The St. Petersburg Times quoted Tampa’s Mayor Bob Buckhorn as playing along:
“Every gun we get off the streets is one less potential fatality.”
There is no proof this is true, and it is ironic that the media pays so much attention to these and barely notes Fast and Furious, which truly could result in fatalities on both side of the border.
Huff and Puff: Slippery Slope of Gun Laws
When a piece, written by Josh Horwitz, Executive Director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, appears on the Huffington Post with the title “The Real Slippery Slope of Gun Laws,” we don’t expect a fair story. And Horwitz didn’t let us down.
Not at all, as he decides to take on concealed handgun permit holders, noting that several individuals held the permits and committed “mass murder (three or more innocents killed) with guns.” Of course what he doesn’t list are the tens of thousands of names of concealed handgun permit holders who never broke the law.
He doesn’t note that criminals don’t even bother with the permits at all! But Horwitz uses Marqus Hill as an example instead:
We’ve already had a preview of how H.R. 822 will work in practice. In September of last year, Marqus Hill, a resident of Philadelphia, executed an 18-year-old who allegedly broke into his car, shooting him 13 times on the street. The city of Philadelphia had previously revoked a concealed handgun permit that Hill held in the state of Pennsylvania based on his criminal history. Because of a reciprocity agreement that Pennsylvania signed with Florida, Hill was able to get a permit in the mail from The Sunshine State with no problem.
It isn’t noted that Marqus Hill was actually acquitted. So the point of criminal history is actually misleading. But does the truth really matter to anti-gun zealots?
Florida Carry Request For Special Prosecutor In Gun Owner Private Info Release
Florida Carry:
Florida Carry, Inc., through our attorneys, has requested that Governor Scott appoint a special prosecutor to investigate felony violations of state law by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Demings’ department utilized secure police databases, intended for use in the enforcement of law, for his office’s lobbying efforts and made private gun owner, concealed firearms licensee, and driver’s license data public despite multiple state and federal laws. Read more
Time Magazine Shows Anti-Gun Bias… Again
This week Time Magazine offered a story titled, “Kids and Guns: Why Doctors Have a Right to Know.” This is in response to the Florida law that makes it illegal for doctors to ask parents if there is a gun in the home. Obviously from the headline Time shows its own bias. This story ran as a “case study,” but is essentially an editorial.
However, our friends at The Gun Zone have compiled years (seriously years) of similar anti-gun bias at Time.
The Gun Zone: Time’s Anti-Gun Agenda
That’s the NY Times We Know and Loath
As The New York Times has begun to cover Fast and Furious and noted the growing scandal, we thought maybe the Old Gray Lady was coming around on the issue of guns. But last week offered an editorial titled, “Pandering to the Gun Lobby.”
We don’t question editorials, but would be curious why it is even necessary when the passage begins, “How low can the Florida Legislature go in pandering to the gun lobby?” The rest of the editorial isn’t about any national issue, or any that affects New York City or even New York State in the least.
Instead and once again, this shows that New York editors think they know America when they can’t see past the Hudson River.
Is Operation Castaway the Next “Fast and Furious”
While it is obvious that the ATF has some serious issues, the Fast and Furious debacle seems to be just one recent example of how badly run the agency is, and why its days should be numbered.
What the mainstream media hasn’t picked up on it, there seems to be Operation Castaway, a similar program that was conducted by ATF’s Florida offices, which likely put guns into the hands of Honduran criminals including the violent MS-13 gang.
What was ATF thinking in letting guns walk?
There have been those who have suggested that this could all be a plot, a conspiracy, to allow criminals to obtain weapons so that ATF could crack down on all guns. Anti-gun types, and some in the media, have called this theory absolute nonsense. But honestly, can anyone come up with a better explanation for why ATF let so many guns fall into the hands of criminals?
Palm Bay Offers Buyback – Buys from Widows and Orphans
The Cocoa and Palm Bay Police held a gun buyback, and it is one type where we really must say “shame on them.” The story was reported by Florida today noting, “from old rifle muskets to sawed-off shotguns, Cocoa and Palm Bay police officers were able to take nearly 500 guns off the streets last year.”
The Brevard County law enforcement agencies had a “Kicks for Guns” campaign, but it is the comment by Sgt. Ron Lugo of the Palm Bay Police Department that we find shameful:
“A lot of the weapons we see getting turned in are from people that don’t want them, maybe someone whose spouse has died.”
The very statement shows both ignorance and a total disregard for the potential value of some collectible firearms. A widow or orphan could be given a $50 gift certificate for items worth potentially thousands of dollars. Simply shameful!
Columnist Says She “won’t be silenced by gun law”
Annette Clifford of Florida Today offered her thoughts on Florida’s new law that bans doctors from asking about guns. While her intentions may be good, she’s a little off base in our opinion, she notes:
“Florida doctors may be silenced on preaching gun safety, but I can still say it. If you have a weapon, store it safely and out of the reach of kids.”
Good advice, but she also says she thinks “it’s a bad law.”
It is only a bad law if you assume every gun owner to be irresponsible. Yes, there are tragic accidents with firearms, but as she notes, a large number of children in Florida drown in swimming pools. We can either be a Nanny State and warn about every little thing or we can allow people to use their own commonsense.
This isn’t a bad law because as Clifford notes:
“Interestingly, the law also forbids insurance companies from denying coverage or increasing any premiums because of gun ownership.”
Why should responsible gun owners pay more in insurance? The anti-gun crowd continues to look to use backdoor bans anyway possible, and this law in Florida closes one of those doors.
