They still can’t figure out a way to do their job, even after 49 people were gunned down in Orlando in what is now the biggest mass shooting incident on America’s soil.
The Senate has rejected the first of four gun control measures it is set to consider on Monday, just over a week after 49 people were killed in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
The Senate voted 53-47 on a measure backed by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that would reauthorize funding for the National Criminal Instant Background Check System (NICS) and provide incentives for states to give mental health records to the federal system.
Sixty votes were needed to advance the bill under the Senate’s procedural rules.
The Senate will now vote on a Democratic bill that would require a background check for most gun sales or transfers. It is also expected to fail.
Most Republicans backed the Grassley measure, while most Democrats opposed it.
Two more votes are also expected on legislation aimed at preventing suspected terrorists from being able to buy guns. Both of those measures will also require 60 votes to advance, and are both expected to fail.
All of the proposals are being offered as amendments to the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill.
It’s been a week since the attack in Orlando and much of what’s happened is predictable. Both political parties have rolled out their positions on gun control, and both are very familiar. Democrats want new background checks and to ban sales of guns to anyone on the no-fly or terrorist watch lists. Republicans counter by saying that more people should be carrying guns and that denying anyone their second amendment rights is abhorrent. Further, the man responsible for the massacre wasn’t on any list when he purchased his guns, so changes in the law wouldn’t have stopped his actions.
It’s a tiresome debate, and the more it drags on, the more we will see horrible scenes like the one in Orlando. Remember that there was an armed guard at the door to the Pulse nightclub, and he couldn’t stop Omar Mateen from entering the club. The NRA fantasy is that a nightclub full of armed patrons would have killed Mateen before he could have done damage, but the reality is that it’s likely that far more than 49 people would have died if there was a shootout because most people just aren’t very good shots. I could imagine bullets being sprayed all over the club and more innocent club-goers losing their lives. More guns is not the answer. It’s a punchline.
The most sensible reform would be to know who has guns in this country. Background checks, licenses, and ones that need to be renewed like driver’s licenses, and mandatory safety classes should be the law of the land. More than that, the culture needs to change. This was an attack on gays, plain and simple. It was a terror attack too, but only insofar as Omar Mateen’s personal and religious views were hostile to the LGBTQ community. Despite the positive changes in marriage laws and more widespread acceptance of gay rights, we clearly have more work to do.
As for politics, this past week was a terrible one for Donald Trump, as he acted as though this was a personal referendum on whether he was right that we’d have a terrorist attack on American soil. He also repeated his call to bar all Muslims from coming or returning to this country until…well, he hasn’t said. Polls show his appeal to women, Muslims, Hispanics and African-Americans dropping like a stone. Hillary has rightly been supportive and empathetic, and she’s smart enough to get out of the way when her opponent is imploding.
It’s been a sad week, and one full of national and personal reflection. Can we please not do this anymore?
Now you can’t get more responsible than this, right? This must be what the NRA was referring to when they talked about good guys with guns – a Police officer and a gun shop owner.
The incident shown on the video below happened in Southern Kentucky when police officer Darrell Smith visited the Barren Outdoors in March and inquired about a .380 handgun. The clerk took the gun from the display and handed it to the officer without performing any safety checks on the weapon first.
The responsible officer, who is supposed to be especially trained in handling firearms, took the gun and neglected to check if the device was loaded. Moments later, the gun goes off in the officer’s hand, blowing off part of his finger.
Needless to say, the officer filed a lawsuit against the gun shop owner and he also lost his job.
“He’s permanently disfigured,” said Alan Simpson, the attorney representing the police officer. “He went through a lot of pain and suffering, He’s gone through several surgeries. He’s got a lot of medical bills that have to be paid. It ended his career and he’s going to have a lot of lost income.”
“She was doing what she felt was right and to defend herself at that time,” said Detective Antoine Kincade, a spokesman with the Fayetteville Police Department. The husband thought he was doing something good by returning home early to surprise his wife with breakfast in bed.
The shooting happened around 10:15 a.m. in the 1100 block of Christina Street.
Fayetteville Police say Zia Segule, 28, left for work. His wife, 27-year-old Tiffany Segule, set the home alarm system. Zia Segule returned to the home unannounced to surprise his wife with breakfast. The alarm sounded and Tiffany Segule, who had gotten back in the bed, shot her husband in the chest through their closed bedroom door. Police said her husband had entered through the front door, but it’s unclear whether he ever announced himself or tried to turn off the alarm.
Zia Segule was able to walk and talk following the shooting, said police. He has been released from Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. He declined to speak in detail with media when he returned home early Friday afternoon, but said “I’m good.”
Tiffany Segule was taken to the Fayetteville Police Department for questioning. Police said she may have been on edge due to recent break-ins in the area. Four home break-ins and four vehicle break-ins have been reported in the neighborhood since January 1, 2014. However, neighbors said Friday that there have been far more attempts.
It never ceases to amaze me what cowards Americans are. They are afraid of everything. Afraid of terrorism, afraid of air travel, afraid of countries thousands of miles away, afraid of Cuba, afraid of rare diseases. Yet somehow they think they are the most courageous people in the world. The rest of the world doesn’t see it that way, which would be the majority of the earth. And for good reason because it’s not true.
Three people have contracted Ebola, only two of them while in the United States. Both of those people are nurses that had direct contact with the man who died. That’s it. Yet, there are screams for travel bans and paranoia over how easy it is to contract the disease. None of it is based in reality, just fear and of course crass politics. And hey right wingers..don’t tell me about Obama’s “late” response to Ebola when your hero Reagan let over 40,000 Americans die of AIDS before he would even mention the word!
What is really killing Americans at an alarming rate is obesity, alcohol and cigarettes. This is reality, but all we hear about is how frightened Americans are over Ebola. About as frightened as they are over ISIS. Neither poses any imminent threat at all. AT ALL. But they want travel bans as well as boots on the ground in Iraq so more strangers can die in the name of “freedom.”
It’s not freedom at all but fear. They are afraid so they want others to protect them from their uniquely American fears. Notice how most other nations including Canada have no such fears. They don’t worry about ISIS or Ebola the way Americans do. Maybe the real fear should be with Texas and its health care system. A place where they send you home from the hospital with 103 fever and a free cowboy hat and an autographed Rick Perry head shot.
It’s stunning how Americans have the inability to look around them and see how other countries handle things. It’s like they live in a vacuum. The first reaction to any crisis is fear. Not a common sense solution or a dialogue but outright hysteria. There is no weighing options because that would take brains and courage. Two things that too many Americans are lacking. Stop flights! Don’t allow them damn foreigners in our schools, to learn or teach! Doesn’t matter if you aren’t from anywhere near West Africa or Africa for that matter…you look foreign so you must have the Ebola! You must be feared!
It’s fucking pathetic. It continues generation to generation because kids see their parents being afraid so they become afraid. Speaking of the children, an 11 year old shot and killed an albino deer and now feels like a “rock star” according to his wonderful father. Albino deer are so rare that I didn’t even know they existed. They are also beautiful. They don’t inspire fear at all. They inspire hope about nature and what evolution has given us. Yes evolution. Because if they were created by the lord why would most Christians not be up in arms about the murder of one..right?
The murder took place in Howell, Michigan. Mostly Michigan is fine, but not Howell. It is a right wing shit fest. Home to the KKK. No wonder this kid is a hero there. So are guys in sheets. Now I don’t want to be too hard on the kid. I do however despise his parents. Instead of teaching their son about empathy and concern for weaker creatures, they have taught him to kill and to love it. To bask in it. Maybe a school or a politician can be his next target? For this there should be a nice place in hell prepared for them. The same can be said for the right wing propaganda ragUSA Today that actually glorified the killing.
This is an all American story for sure. If the obstacle is tough and powerful like ISIS or Ebola, we cower. If it’s an easy target like a poor Albino deer we shoot to kill and show off. What courage! I know what…let’s sing “God Bless America” one more time! Notice how they don’t have the need to sing about blessing Canada in the middle of every hockey game? But Americans wouldn’t notice that, they never notice anything outside their own little universe. Other nations advance while we are stuck in the dark ages.
How to deal with terrorism or a disease? Fear and discrimination. How to raise a child? Violence and power is good, honorable. Dress them up in camo (what war are they fighting?) and send them out to kill nature, destroy the environment, hey it’s OK, you are an American son!
Fear the unknown and the strong, bully the weak and the defenseless. Makes my skin crawl.
A gun owner was sitting in his kitchen with his baby. His baby was apparently dirty, so he decided to clean it. Not too far from the gun owner was his other baby, his 9-month-old child.
The man began cleaning his baby, but he forgot to remove the bullet from his baby’s chamber. The baby went off accidentally shooting the man in the leg and shooting his 9 month old in the head.
Police are investigating the incident between 31-year old John Hambaugh III of Indiana, his dirty baby with the bullet in the chamber, and the accidental shooting of his 9 month old child.
Both Hambaugh and his 9 month old were taken to Community Howard Regional Hospital Kokomo. Hambaugh is in stable condition but his 9 month old is in critical condition.
Some people just can’t take a joke, especially when they are armed with a gun.
A Clay County man was arrested early Saturday on manslaughter charges after allegedly shooting a woman to death after she jokingly slapped him across the face.
Elliott William Orsborn, 26, is accused of shooting Jamie Lee Martin, 26, in the head after a night of friendly drinking at Martin’s home at 2041 Ashton Street in Middleburg, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Witnesses told authorities Martin, Orsborn and several other friends had been hanging out in the garage throughout the night while Martin’s two children slept in the house, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Orsborn had flashed his silver .22 revolver with electrical tape wrapped around the handle several times and kept playing around with it.
The gun wasn’t loaded earlier in the night because Orsborn took all the bullets out, the Sheriff’s Office said.
As the night went on and the group drank more, Martin and Orsborn were sitting at a table talking when Martin said something Orsborn didn’t like. Witnesses said Gavin Lamberth, Martin’s boyfriend of about 5 months who lives with her and her children, told Orsborn to “just chill.”
Then, Martin “jokingly slapped the defendant across the face.”
Witnesses told authorities Orsborn pulled his gun out of his shorts pocket, pointed it at Martin’s forehead and shot her, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Orsborn immediately told witnesses he didn’t mean to shoot Martin, and Martin’s boyfriend and friend started “freaking out.” He stayed at the house for a few minutes and tried to help Martin but then ran from the house.
Orsborn was arrested at his home and told authorities he didn’t wish to speak until talking with an attorney. He was taken to the Clay County Jail, where he awaits his first court appearance Sunday. His bond had not been set as of Saturday evening.
“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to thesecurity of a free state, the right of the people to keepand bear arms shall not be infringed.”
That was James Madison, a very long time ago. I’ve often wondered when Madison said “A well-regulated militia” what kinds of images may have been in his head. I mean, what kind of well-regulated militia did he have in mind? I’m wondering if he might have been thinking about this guy..
Since Madison and his colleagues wanted a well-regulated militia in order to protect the state, to defend against other nations and people trying to take over our land and take away our freedoms I’m guessing a guy like this might not get drafted into that militia. Maybe Madison had something closer to these guys in mind?
I guess that’s somewhat possible. One guy at least is in shape right? Wouldn’t you trust that duo to protect the “security of a free state?” OK maybe Madison was thinking this whole well-regulated militia thing was more of a family affair. Something the entire American clan could get in on…
Not just mom, dad and the kids but the dog as well. They look ready to defend our American way of life! This has got to be what Madison had in mind. But maybe he wasn’t thinking that one gun per family member was enough. Maybe he was envisioning something like this..
Now that is what I call prepared! How could we ever worry about our freedoms and liberty being taken away with those two on our side? This must be who Madison was thinking of when he came up with those very well thought out words. But what about protecting our business owners? What had Madison envisioned? Maybe this??
Or this?
These guys are sure ready to protect our capitalist ways! That’s what Madison had to be thinking all those years ago. Do you think he might have wanted our young Americans to get an early start in learning how to defend the rights of a free state? If so maybe he was imagining something like this…
Now there is a toddler that is already prepared to be part of that “well regulated militia.”
It’s too bad that Madison couldn’t see over 200 years into the future when his words would come to fruition and there would be everyday stories of the Second Amendment in action, with that same idea of letting them start young. To understand what it is to be an American! Like these..
Yes this really proves what was in Madison’s mind when he spoke those words. The words so many in our current times hang their hats on, the words that are referred to when a defense of these actions are needed.
This guy knows what Madison was thinking, and he is proud to live by those words every single day…
Yep, those Bundy ranchers put Madison’s words into real action. “Well regulated…”
And so our state remains secure and free. Madison knew we’d understand.
She was in a heated discussion and needed to make a point. She slammed the butt of her gun on the floor to emphasize her point and BANG! The gun discharged, shooting her in the face.
A 51-year-old woman accidentally shot herself in the face after she slammed the butt end of a shotgun on the floor, causing it to discharge, the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Department reports.
Deputies were called about 10 a.m. Monday, July 14, to a house on Waterman in Fremont Township for a report of a gunshot victim.
Upon arrival, deputies found that a family dispute had taken place and the victim, a 51-year-old woman, told officers that she had taken a shotgun out to “make a point.”
She told police she slammed the butt end on the floor, the gun discharged, and she was shot in the face.
FlightCare transported the victim to St. Mary’s of Michigan in Saginaw, and she is expected to recover, police said. The complaint remains under investigation.
Tragedy has struck an Ohio family after a 15-year-old boy accidentally shot his 11-year-old cousin dead when they were left home alone.
According to News Net 5, Ashton Nicholson was pronounced dead after his unidentified cousin killed him with a gun found in his parents bedroom.
Lt. Gregory Johnson told the site:
“I have nothing to indicate that it was an intentional act, nothing to indicate that whatsoever. This is a terrible tragedy that he was involved in, but I have to give him credit for standing up.”
The gun was not secured, which was how the 15-year-old boy knew where to find it in the house. The boys were home and not at school because it was a snow day.
When the 11-year-old – who was said to have also handled the gun at one point – was shot, the 15-year-old’s older brother called 9-1-1 and told the dispatcher:
“My brother just shot my cousin on accident… Oh my God, he shot him with a pistol.”
Johnson also said that he wants this case to be a lesson to parents who hold guns in their house to be more responsible about securing them.
We pray for family of these young boys during this tragic time.
An 8-year-old boy in Ohio died over the weekend after being shot by his older brother who found a loaded handgun, but thought it was a BB gun.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Police Department officials determined that the boys were visiting their uncle on Saturday when the shooting occurred.
“We walked in through the front door here that’s in to the kitchen area and the child was laying on his back with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was conscious and alert at that time,” Cincinnati police Sgt. Jim Perkins told WXIX.
The gunshot victim died shortly after being rushed to a nearby hospital.
Lt. Don Luck recalled that one sibling “kept telling the story of how it happened, over and over again.”
“It’s so sad,” Luck said.
The shooting has been classified as a homicide, but authorities said that they believed it was an accident. An investigation was ongoing.
On the eve of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords is challenging Washington leaders not to ignore gun violence.
The former Democratic congresswoman is featured in a new television ad set to air immediately before and after the president’s speech. In the ad, Giffords faces the camera and says, “Congress is afraid of the gun lobby.”
“Tell Washington it’s too dangerous to wait,” she says in a slightly slurred voice.
Giffords, 43, is still recovering from a brain injury suffered in 2011 when a mentally ill man shot her in the head as she met with constituents outside an Arizona shopping center. Six people were killed in the attack.
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