Donal Fagan Archives - The Truth About Guns

Mehserle/Grant blog fallout

July 13, 2010 by ttag

Like nearly everyone else, Colorlines questions the verdict:
Oscar Grant Verdict: What’s Inside the Jury’s Ruling

The awkward ruling, which came after just under nine hours of deliberation, appears to both accept the defense case that Mehserle pulled his gun on accident and reject it, by adding a sentencing enhancement to the conviction for intentionally using a gun. It also accepts the defense’s assertion that the Oakland transit police reasonably felt life-threatening danger from the unarmed group of Black men they arrested.

Much Ado About 1911

June 17, 2010 by ttag

I feel thoroughly humbled after reading this article from Salon’s War Room, poking fun at a 9.12 Project event. First, here’s the real invite to a 912 member:

Dear Tampa 912 Member, Please join us at the Alfano Conference and Banquet Center on Tuesday, June 29th at 6:30 pm for a meet & greet and 7pm for the General Member Meeting.

LAST CHANCE TO BUY RAFFLE TICKETS FROM FAMILY FIREARMS!!!

Read more

I find David Brooks one of the least convincing op-ed writers around, but I have to admit that he is a lot more sly than most conservatives. In this column, Brooks earnestly sells the new-found safety of The Big Apple:

Today you can walk around the Upper West Side of Manhattan in such ease and safety that you could get the impression it was always this way. But it wasn’t.

On July 5, 1961, a gigantic brawl broke out on 84th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. Two policemen, caught in the middle, fired warning shots into the air to stop the fighting, but a mob of 400 engulfed them. Traffic was halted on Columbus as bottles rained down from tenement houses, lye was thrown into one man’s face and knives flashed out.

That section of 84th Street in those days was one of the most dangerous blocks in the city. The Times described it as “a block of decaying tenements packed with poor Puerto Rican and Negro families and the gathering place of drunks, narcotics addicts and sexual perverts.” A local minister, James Gusweller, said there were five or six stabbings every Saturday night.

But somehow things got better.

Arlen Specter Under the Gun

May 17, 2010 by ttag

Back home in PA, Senator Arlen Specter is running neck and neck with Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary. According to Washington Post reporter Greg Sargent, the Kansas-born Specter, “is highlighting his vote against the assault weapons ban in the 90s and calling Sestak out for his ‘F’ rating from the NRA.” But Specter is only running the ads in rural PA; he doesn’t want to be seen as close to the NRA in downtown Philadelphia. Curious, I went to the NRA site to check Specter’s rating. I found an A for conservative Republican Pat Toomey and an AQ for his defeated primary opponent Peg Luksik. But couldn’t find a rating for Sestak, or Specter. Curious. So I Googled this old Pittsburgh Trib article reporting that the Gun Owners of America (GOA) thought Specter didn’t deserve an endorsement from the NRA, and was only a fair-weather friend to gun owners . . .

For want of a pin …

April 26, 2010 by ttag

Here’s another story (via The Baltimore Sun) about a criminal going free on technicalities, and an unlucky citizen suffering as a result. “Michael R. Hunter Jr. pleaded guilty to having a .22-caliber revolver loaded with five bullets tucked in his waistband while walking along a city street on the evening of Oct. 25. Two Baltimore police officers saw him ditch the weapon in an alley near Greenmount Avenue.” Maryland has a law called Exile. It guarantees “hard time for gun crime”: five, ten or fifteen mandatory years without parole, depending on the offense. But in THIS case . . .

Zen and the Brain Chemistry of Hitting A Target With A Bullet

April 21, 2010 by ttag

Discover Magazine’s recent article “The Brain Why Athletes Are Geniuses” reinforces what I’ve heard before: great athletes are body geniuses. “Even a sport as seemingly straightforward as pistol shooting is surprisingly complex,” author Carl Zimmer declaims. “A marksman just points his weapon and fires, and yet each shot calls for many rapid decisions, such as how much to bend the elbow and how tightly to contract the shoulder muscles. Since the shooter doesn’t have perfect control over his body, a slight wobble in one part of the arm may require many quick adjustments in other parts. Each time he raises his gun, he has to make a new calculation of what movements are required for an accurate shot, combining previous experience with whatever variations he is experiencing at the moment.” OK, I’m intimidated.

Baltimore Public “Saftey” vs Budget Cuts

April 18, 2010 by ttag

That Ashtabula judge is not the only one trying to invoke public safety to keep his budget intact. The Fraternal Order of Police planned to hold a rally last Monday and march on Baltimore City Hall.

Now is the time to Unite and Stand with your fellow Police Officers and Firefighters and let the Mayor and City Council know that Safe Neighborhoods Are Not An Accident – Say No To Public Saftey Budget Cuts!

Hey, who cares if they can spell, as long as they protect us, right? BTW, Baltimore is known locally as Charm City. In response to that email about the rally, Adam Meister, “The Politics Meister” of Charm City Current lists about four hundred current police and fire salaries from $167,421.92 down to $20,015.74, then opines . . .

Off-duty Officer Carjacked

April 15, 2010 by ttag

I encountered this in the crime section of today’s Baltimore Sun: Off-duty D.C. police officer carjacked. “The 44-year-old officer told police he was driving home on Harford Road and East 25th Street at about 11:40 p.m. when a woman stepped in front of his car and a man armed with a handgun ordered him out of the vehicle, police said. … [Police recovered the car and arrested the woman, but,] The officer, who was driving away from his East Baltimore home at the time of the carjacking, said his service weapon was inside the car, but police did not recover it.” I suppose everyone has a bad day, but I have to question the effectiveness of concealed carry for the average Joe when someone can carjack an armed, experienced police officer. Maybe that’s why OnCourse (“specialising in 4×4 driving courses tailored to suit the driving conditions common to developing countries”) recommends avoidance above all. [ED: Bullet points from their course after the jump, so to speak.]

Modesto California Sheriff Pledges to Loosen Gun Permit Regs

April 13, 2010 by Robert Farago

Two days ago, an Ohio judge told local residents to arm themselves in response to cop cuts. Our own Donal Fagan warned TTAG readers to take his ballistic exhortation with a shaker of salt. (Some people think that there’s a tax grab to blame.) Now the Modesto Bee is all abuzz about Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson’s sudden pro-gun self-defense stance. More specifically, his decision to sign a Madison Society pledge promising to make it easier for applicants to receive a license for concealed carry gun permits. In fact, he “shocked a standing-room-only audience of more than 100 by immediately signing the pledge with a flourish. ‘I’m not going to infringe upon your right to protect yourselves,’ the sheriff said. ‘You are more likely to get a gun permit when you apply for one.'” Than before, obviously. When self-protection in and of itself wasn’t sufficient cause to cause the Sheriff to issue a concealed carry permit. The pledge reads, in part . . .

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