Cleveland police officers and steelworkers destroyed more than 350 firearms on Wednesday by lobbing them into a big ladle filled with 200 tons of molten iron. Don’t you feel safer? . . .
Using the theory that the best course of action when someone ignores you is to repeat yourself, only louder, Moms Demand (some) Action is redoubling its efforts to get Staples to ban guns from their stores nationwide. You’ll recall that they wrote an open letter to CEO Ron Sargent in late September. Since that seems to have not provoked any response, they’re going full wharrgarbl, with “letters moms can take to the manager of their local Staples asking them to go gun-free; a petition that will be hand-delivered to Staples headquarters; reaching out to Staples CEO Ron Sargent through letters, emails and Tweets; writing letters to the editor of local papers to educate moms in their communities about Staples’ gun policy; and pressuring the company through social media.” I wrote my own open letter to Staples a few weeks back, feel free to make use of it.
In a rare example of bringing a knife to a gunfight working out the right way, watch the convenience store clerk in the video above chase a robber out the door with a machete despite having a gun not only pointed, but fired at him. (Ignore the 2011 date on the video, the incident happened on September 25th.) It’s great that it worked out well, but he’s lucky the goblin didn’t decide to shoot him while he fumbled with the sheath. I don’t know if the clerk could have legally possessed a gun in the Long Island community of Brentwood, New York, but it’s likely the criminal on the other side of the counter doesn’t care. [h/t: Dan E.]
The Jackson (MS) Free Press has a story about a man killing another man and police letting him go because it was self-defense. What makes the story interesting is the way the article tries to blame everyone but the guy responsible, who ended up dead. It starts with the headline, which reads Was William Brown an Open-Carry Casualty?, blaming it on the open carry law that recently went into effect. Then the wife of the decedent repeats that charge, but not before saying it went beyond self-defense, because her husband was shot 12 times. (Marksmanship what?) She goes on to say that the open carry law may also have the effect of giving police an excuse to not investigate crimes that are more complicated to untangle, but doesn’t say how that’s so. But the best part is you have to read twelve paragraphs into the story to find out that the reason her husband was shot and killed in self-defense is because he drew and fired first. But it’s the law’s fault.
Our favorite laughing German debuted a hand-cranked pencil shooter a few days ago (click here if you haven’t seen it). It wasn’t super-stable, so the next day he had table-mounted it (click here for that one). But this was all with the ultimate goal of motorizing the whole thing, and although it’s not ready yet, he released this teaser today. Hold on to your potatoes!
Mobile users click here if the video doesn’t render above.
Next up in New York ban self defense…period. Me thinks that his blade is probably illegal too. I love how media victimized the perp.
The crime problem in Cleveland is at last put to an end.
I have already booked a fabulous week-long vacation there knowing that me and my wife are completely safe.
Because ya’ know, the guns are melted and whatnot.
dammit know i got to light over 350 candles for the lost souls lost in the smelter
I always get a tinge of sadness when I see the pile and its usually like 90% ruger Mark 2’s.
*Manly Tears*
Rugers making more than they can melt. Keeps the lines open and American workers on the job.
So they contaminated and ruined 200 tons of iron, just to destroy guns that their owners didn’t want anyway. The iron was probably worth $4,000 to $6,000 a ton (2 to 3 dollars a pound). 200 tons equals $800,000 to $1,200,000! Now the stuff is just “pot metal”, and that is worth a lot less. So who paid for the ruined iron? How much did that cost the taxpayers?
Dammit Bob! This is not the time or place to use your brain, go put it back in the jar and get ready to wave your Moms Demand Action signs like you were told.
Yeah. Get your shit together, Bob.
Freakin’ Bob, man…
I agree it’s a stupid act…..but the iron is still usable for steel making and is probably only $300 to $400 a ton at best. Still stupid , a waste and will not stop a single crime though.
The amount of alluminum in 350 guns in a 200 ton furnace won’t make a difference, they’ll just reduce the amount they normally add as a deoxidizer if necessary. Any other “pot metal” alloys will wind up in the slag or the dust.
It won’t make a difference in Cleveland’s crime problem either.
Not that it’s especially relevant, as others have already addressed the “contamination” non-issue, but you’re WAY off on the value of pure iron. Try more like $150 at most for one metric ton (2200lbs).
$2-3 per pound? More like CENTS per pound scrap value. You might get as much as $0.10/pound for good quality cast iron in large quantities, i.e. when scrapping WW2-era 5000lb machine tool such as a mill or lathe.
On the local news here in the land of Cleves they showed a table full of guns including a P08 Luger, I said a prayer, sheds some tears and set forth with stronger resolve to buy up all the orphaned guns at the next buyback.
Funny, the mob has been doing the same thing in the US Steel facilities in N Indiana for over 80 years, quickest way to ensure a gun is never traced!
I work in Cleveland. I have to laugh at this story. A previous attempt at a gun buy back did not work out well for the city. Someone went to where the buy back was being held and paid owners more than the city. Cleveland was pissed off. Legally they could not stop this guy from buying the guns. Freaking hilarious.
I see empty shell casings all the time in front of the building I work at. Plus, Cleveland has had some of the most high profile serial killers and rapist in the past 5 years. Go Cleveland! Lets keep those streets safe.
Ariel Castro hanging himself made Cleveland a little safer. This not so much. If they tossed 350 perps in the pot with the guns I would think Cleveland would be a lot safer.
Give new meaning to “Melting Pot”.
Judging by the impunity with which the clerk goes after the perp…….makes me wonder. Did he have “replica” written down the side of his gun?? B
No more pop-up windows when you open an article please
This is the same city that had Ariel Castro driving a school bus. Not the brightest bulbs in the box.
They should have saved the guns and melted the criminals.
So that’s 0.0001% of the firearms in America.
Well, good job gun grabbers. If you did that every single day for about 100 years (and no new guns were ever bought or produced again) you’d be up to a full 1%.
Meanwhile, (some) perfectly good firearms have been destroyed to absolutely no effect.
farking idots.
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