Guns

[LFC]

Using your position as police chief to obtain and illegally sell / rent full automatic weapons? What's the big deal? The people of Adair, IA certainly don't see a problem with it.

Bradley Wendt is feeling appreciative that his small Iowa town has his back and is allowing him to return to work as Adair police chief—despite being charged with allegedly lying to federal agents while selling machine guns for a profit.

The Adair City Council last week voted to reinstate Wendt as police chief of the town of about 800 residents and a department of three other officers. The decision, which stipulated that Wendt is no longer allowed to buy new guns for his force without approval, came after several residents voted in support of Wendt in the council meeting.

It also comes after federal prosecutors indicted Wendt on several charges, alleging that he had been exploiting his position to obtain military-level weaponry that he later resold in his private gun stores and a friend’s separate business.

Prosecutors allege that between July 2018 and August 2022, Wendt supplied “law letters” to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) in which he justified his acquisition of guns “not lawfully available to the public” by falsely claiming they were for his department. He also detailed in the letters that he wanted the guns so that he could demonstrate them to his officers for potential future purchases.

But prosecutors allege Wendt and a friend either resold the weapons or set up paid demonstrations where patrons would be allowed to shoot the military-style weapons.

The indictment, which was unsealed last month, alleges that, in all, Wendt requested 90 machine guns for such purposes—but that the ATF did not approve all his requests.

“Brad Wendt is charged with exploiting his position as chief of police to unlawfully obtain and sell guns for his own personal profit,” FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel said in a statement.

[goldenvalley]

So there was a March for Life thing this weekend and there was a mass shooting of mature ballroom dancers too.  What is the "pro-life" stance on gun control/safety laws?  

[pnwguy]

Jan 23, 2023 17:19:25 GMT goldenvalley said:

What is the "pro-life" stance on gun control/safety laws?  

All fetuses should be issued a gun to shoot an abortion doctor that the woman goes to.  Of course, to not kill their host, the fetuses need safety training to accurately aim through the cervix at the appropriate moment.

[pnwguy]

The Virginia school where a 6-year-old is accused of shooting his teacher this month was warned three times that the student had a gun, with a child seeing it at recess, a lawyer for the teacher said.

A teacher warned that the boy had a gun in his pocket and an administrator dismissed the threat, according to the lawyer.

Well in Virginia, what's unusual about a 6 year old having a gun? MAGAts must teach patriotism at a young age!

[LFC]

Gun pins in Congress? And during a jump in homicides by gun? These people are so f***ed up.

Here's where we are:

[LFC]

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) is the shitbag handing out assault rifle pins in Congress, and he's proud of it. If the name sounds familiar it's because he's Congressman "Normal Tourist Visit", who we've seen pictures of cowering behind Capitol officers during the Jan 6 Republican Insurrection.

The man responsible for handing out pins in the shape of assault weapons that have been adopted by right-wing Republicans in Congress has revealed himself—as clashes between the political parties grow over the controversial accessory.

Earlier this week, the pins appeared on the lapels of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) in committee meetings and on the House floor.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who has worn the pin for years, was also seen parading it on Wednesday as he delivered remarks critical of gun restrictions.

The pins did not go unnoticed, with Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) tweeting out photos asking: “Where are these assault weapon pins coming from?”

It now appears we have an answer.

Turns out Clyde, who Business Insider revealed last year owns Georgia's No. 4-ranked firearms store, is responsible for dishing out the pins. He even says he has “plenty more to give out.”

“I’m Congressman Andrew Clyde for Georgia’s 9th District,” Rep. Clyde says in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday night claiming credit for the stunt.

“I hear that this little pin I’ve been giving out on the House floor has been triggering some of my Democrat colleagues,” he continues, no doubt referencing Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who described them as “despicable and an insult to all of the victims of assault weapons,” and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), who asked simply, “What is wrong with you?”

[goldenvalley]

This is just stunning:

On Dec. 14, 2012, Michigan State University student Jacquelyn Matthews was forced to hide alongside her young classmates as a shooter wielding an assault-style semi-automatic rifle terrorized Sandy Hook Elementary in her Connecticut hometown.
On Monday, the college senior was forced to hunker down once again as a shooter went on a rampage over her college campus in East Lansing, Michigan, killing three students and injuring five more.

“I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through,” Matthews said in a TikTok video posted in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

 

[pnwguy]

Feb 14, 2023 19:58:19 GMT goldenvalley said:

This is just stunning:

On Dec. 14, 2012, Michigan State University student Jacquelyn Matthews was forced to hide alongside her young classmates as a shooter wielding an assault-style semi-automatic rifle terrorized Sandy Hook Elementary in her Connecticut hometown.
On Monday, the college senior was forced to hunker down once again as a shooter went on a rampage over her college campus in East Lansing, Michigan, killing three students and injuring five more.

“I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through,” Matthews said in a TikTok video posted in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

 

She was such a good Crisis Actor that she was hired for a second event!  Another chance at the Oscars!

[LFC]

When firearm interest goes from enthusiast to fetishist.

[pnwguy]

Feb 15, 2023 18:56:32 GMT LFC said:

When firearm interest goes from enthusiast to fetishist.

Well, if the training consists of how to disarm an assailant and use their gun to hold them until police arrive (and not be scared to death about safe handling), I'd support that.  It's a whole different animal if they think these teachers are going to get into a shootout with them.  Ask any cop who has been through the training how often the wrong person gets shot or how most people don't react with great cunning in a crisis situation.

[AnBr]

Feb 15, 2023 19:25:21 GMT pnwguy said:

Well, if the training consists of how to disarm an assailant and use their gun to hold them until police arrive (and not be scared to death about safe handling), I'd support that.  It's a whole different animal if they think these teachers are going to get into a shootout with them.  Ask any cop who has been through the training how often the wrong person gets shot or how most people don't react with great cunning in a crisis situation.

I have heard police say it is something that requires constant training, where even a week's vacation that removes them from that training is enough to lose the effectiveness of that training.

[LFC]

Feb 16, 2023 15:32:28 GMT AnBr said:

Feb 15, 2023 19:25:21 GMT pnwguy said:

Well, if the training consists of how to disarm an assailant and use their gun to hold them until police arrive (and not be scared to death about safe handling), I'd support that.  It's a whole different animal if they think these teachers are going to get into a shootout with them.  Ask any cop who has been through the training how often the wrong person gets shot or how most people don't react with great cunning in a crisis situation.

I have heard police say it is something that requires constant training, where even a week's vacation that removes them from that training is enough to lose the effectiveness of that training.

I remember reading about an experiment where they took college students and trained them on proper handling and how to react in a crisis situation. The students didn't know they were part of a study. Students were then surprised with a mock situation and most failed, spectacularly. One-time or even annual training simply doesn't work. If provides people with unearned confidence in the use of a firearm in a potentially deadly situation it is likely worse than no training at all.

In discussions like this I always flash back to a famous church shooter case. The gun nuts love to point out that he was taken out by a man with a handgun. IIRC that man had law enforcement experience, shot competitively, and trained regularly. The guy they fail to mention, every time, was the one in the next aisle over who was sweeping parishioners heads left and right in panic while he tried to line up the shooter at a distance he likely can't shoot at accurately. If the man with lifelong training wasn't there what would have happened if the asshat started popping off rounds through a crowd?

[AnBr]

I remember that experiment. I think that it was coverage of it is where I heard cops noting the loss of that skill from a break in constant training.

[LFC]

Only 46 days into the year and we already had 71 mass shootings. Welcome to American gun culture.

Three students were shot to death and five critically injured before a gunman took his own life Monday at Michigan State University. It was the first mass shooting at a U.S. school this calendar year.

Nationwide, there have been a total of 71 mass shootings this year-to-date.

"There's not been any year that we've had 67 in six weeks" this early in the year, said Mark Bryant, executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday evening, the number of mass shootings reported and verified by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit formed in 2013 to track gun violence in the U.S, increased to 71.

One of the latest shootings took place Tuesday afternoon outside Westinghouse Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Four juveniles were injured, according to the Pittsburgh police department – marking the second mass shooting at a school in 2023.

[LFC]

Hey, look! Another responsible gun owner.

A Florida prison guard’s 3-year-old shot himself to death with a 9mm pistol that was left unlocked in a bedroom nightstand drawer—a tragedy that left deputies and police dispatchers traumatized.

The victim’s 16-year-old sister, who was watching the toddler, called 911 in an anguished panic.

“My little brother shot himself!” she screamed. “There is blood everywhere!”

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood had a note of incredulity and frustration in his voice as he told reporters the Wednesday night accident in Daytona Park Estates was easily avoidable.

“You want to own guns? Go out and do the right goddamn thing so we don’t have to deal with another 3-year-old shooting himself,” Chitwood said.

The father doesn’t use a weapon in his job as a lieutenant at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach but he had the 9mm and a Glock at home.

There was a safe in the bedroom but it did not work, and the 9mm was in the nightstand next to a bed, while the Glock was on the top of the refrigerator.

[LFC]

Yet more people gunned down.

Spectrum News 13 has confirmed the identity of the reporter killed while covering a homicide near Orlando.

24-year-old Dylan Lyons and photographer Jesse Walden were in the field reporting on the killing of a 20-year-old woman which happened around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning when they were shot. Lyons lost his life, while Walden remains in critical condition.

[goldenvalley]

Feb 23, 2023 16:43:36 GMT LFC said:

Yet more people gunned down.

Spectrum News 13 has confirmed the identity of the reporter killed while covering a homicide near Orlando.

24-year-old Dylan Lyons and photographer Jesse Walden were in the field reporting on the killing of a 20-year-old woman which happened around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning when they were shot. Lyons lost his life, while Walden remains in critical condition.

If that photographer had a weapon everything would have been ok, right?

[Bact PhD]

Feb 23, 2023 16:43:36 GMT LFC said:

Yet more people gunned down.

Spectrum News 13 has confirmed the identity of the reporter killed while covering a homicide near Orlando.

24-year-old Dylan Lyons and photographer Jesse Walden were in the field reporting on the killing of a 20-year-old woman which happened around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning when they were shot. Lyons lost his life, while Walden remains in critical condition.

The reporter had been at one of our local stations before his current gig, so the local newscast did a tribute story.

[LFC]

Abbott vs. reality.

Without mentioning the Uvalde mass shooting, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week declared school safety a priority for the current legislative session and again dismissed calls for more laws that would restrict access to guns.

“Some want more gun laws, but too many local officials won’t even enforce the gun laws that are already on the books,” the governor said during his annual State of the State address. Without providing a source or clear data, he then asserted that “most gun crimes are committed by criminals who possess guns illegally.” Abbott proposed a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for people who are not legally allowed to have a firearm but have them anyway.

“We need to leave prosecutors and judges with no choice but to punish those criminals and remove them and their guns from our streets,” said Abbott, a Republican.

But Abbott’s speech avoided a glaring reality: The majority of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally acquired firearms, according to an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune published before his speech. Guns were legally obtained in 13 shootings, including two in which the shooter was not allowed to have one but took advantage of a loophole in the law that does not require background checks for firearms that are acquired from private individuals. Firearms were obtained illegally in three instances. The rest of the cases were unclear.

The news organizations’ analysis found that lawmakers failed to pass at least two dozen bills that would have prevented people from legally obtaining the weapons and ammunition used in seven of the state’s mass shootings. Such measures included requiring universal background checks, banning the ownership of certain firearms and raising the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21 years old.

State lawmakers instead have loosened restrictions over the years on publicly carrying guns while making it harder for local governments to regulate them.

[LFC]

Smith & Wesson is now using the Proud Boys for marketing. As one comment notes the t-shirt is actually from "Perception Brands" but that the font and colors are very, very much like the Proud Boys. Gee. What  a coincidence for all involved.

[goldenvalley]

Feb 27, 2023 22:43:38 GMT LFC said:

Smith & Wesson is now using the Proud Boys for marketing. As one comment notes the t-shirt is actually from "Perception Brands" but that the font and colors are very, very much like the Proud Boys. Gee. What  a coincidence for all involved.

Serious question...do men who buy such weapons actually believe that they will look like that photo...no need to lose weight, work out, or anything, just by carrying that thing? 

[LFC]

Feb 28, 2023 0:34:28 GMT goldenvalley said:

Serious question...do men who buy such weapons actually believe that they will look like that photo...no need to lose weight, work out, or anything, just by carrying that thing? 

Yes. Think of it as a bad dye job, a combover, or a bad toupee. It's sad and pathetic, but unfortunately common.

[LFC]

They literally love their guns more than the lives of children. Yes, literally.

After 19 young children and two teachers were murdered in a massacre at an elementary school in his district last year, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) joined a bipartisan effort to pass gun control legislation that expanded criminal background checks and banned some domestic abusers from purchasing guns.

His home state Republican Party is now punishing him for it.

Gonzales was one of 14 House Republicans last year who supported Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) gun control bill, which also provided more funding for programs that help law enforcement get guns out of the hands of unstable people and school security measures. When President Biden signed the bill into law last June, it was the first major gun control legislation to pass Congress in almost 30 years.

But Gonzales’ support for that bill is just one of several reasons he has attracted outrage back home in Texas — the Texas GOP is also reportedly unhappy with his public remarks in support of same-sex marriage in the last Congress and his current opposition to a Chip Roy and Kevin McCarthy-backed border security bill.

The state Republican Party is expected to vote to censure Gonzales this weekend, according to the San Antonio Report. If approved, the censure could impact his ability to fundraise and invite primary challengers when he’s up for reelection next year.

[pnwguy]

Mar 3, 2023 21:45:37 GMT LFC said:

They literally love their guns more than the lives of children. Yes, literally.

Guns and fetuses are all that matter.  If actual children are killed by guns, that's acceptable.  Of course, if a child sees a drag queen, then suddenly the supposed welfare of a child becomes a manufactured rallying cry.

[LFC]

Mar 4, 2023 3:46:38 GMT pnwguy said:

Mar 3, 2023 21:45:37 GMT LFC said:

They literally love their guns more than the lives of children. Yes, literally.

Guns and fetuses are all that matter.  If actual children are killed by guns, that's acceptable.  Of course, if a child sees a drag queen, then suddenly the supposed welfare of a child becomes a manufactured rallying cry.

They've even proposed laws that would make killing a fetus another count of murder but they really aren't much interested in the children that are born.