Mass Shootings the last six months

[Gaspar]

I had a shop teacher in high-school who always had at least two blue fingernails.  He wasn't ready for a hammer.  He eventually cut of a finger on the band-saw.

Regardless of the implement, Darwin will find you.

[heironymouspasparagus]

More of Mark Kelly's ongoing dishonesty today in Colorado....he tells the Colorado legislature that he doesn't think criminals or the mentally ill should have the right to bear arms.  Knowing full well that they don't.  Liar.



Inside, retired astronaut and Navy captain Mark Kelly told lawmakers that he and his wife, Giffords, support the Second Amendment, but he said the right to bear arms shouldn't extend to criminals and the mentally ill.

[patric]

New Study Finds Firearms Laws Do Nothing to Prevent Homicides
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/03/new-study-finds-firearms-laws-do-nothing-to-prevent-homicides.php?

The study was conducted by Dr. Eric Fleegler of Boston and published in JAMA Internal Medicine.  Dr. Fleegler is an anti-gun activist who reportedly has signed a petition calling on the federal government to enact stricter gun control measures. His study, one surmises, was timed to try to influence the current Congressional debate over gun control. But what does it actually show?

Fleegler classified the 50 states according to how many gun laws they have. Using an alternative measure, he classified them according to the effectiveness of their gun laws as rated by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He then looked at gun-related fatalities on a state by state basis, including both homicides and suicides, from 2007 through 2010. The key data are summarized in Table 2, which shows how the 50 states are ranked and the suicide and homicide statistics that Fleegler used. In making his findings, Fleegler purports to have controlled for a wide array of other variables. It will take some time for those with expertise in statistics and access to Fleegler's data to determine whether there are technical flaws in his analysis.

But what jumps out at you when you read Fleegler's article is that the decrease in fatalities that he documents relates almost exclusively to suicides. What his study really shows is that strict gun laws have little or no impact on gun homicides.

But there is more: note that Fleegler's study covers all 50 states, but leaves out the District of Columbia. Why do you suppose he chose to do that? Because the District has 1) some of the nation's most draconian gun laws, and 2) the highest murder rate in the country, higher even than Louisiana's. In 2011, the District had a firearms homicide rate of 12.46 per 100,000. Now let's redo Fleegler's math, with the District counted as one of the ten strictest jurisdictions. We now have an average rate of 4.0 gun homicides per 100,000 in the ten most anti-gun jurisdictions, and a gun homicide rate of 3.5 per 100,000 in the ten jurisdictions with the fewest gun regulations, even if we include the outlier, Louisiana.

Based on those numbers, you could argue that strict gun laws cause more gun violence. I wouldn't necessarily go that far; I think it is fairer to say that Fleegler's study doesn't prove anything at all, but suggests, at least, that draconian gun laws are ineffective when it comes to homicide–which, after all, is what those laws are primarily intended to prevent.

[DolfanBob]

Some are saying they think Gabby Giffords Husband is a hypocrite for purchasing a assault rifle, one day before the both of them spoke at a gun control rally, at the supermarket where she was shot.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Some are saying they think Gabby Giffords Husband is a hypocrite for purchasing a assault rifle, one day before the both of them spoke at a gun control rally, at the supermarket where she was shot.

That, and he is a liar.  I have been saying that for a while.

[heironymouspasparagus]

New Study Finds Firearms Laws Do Nothing to Prevent Homicides
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/03/new-study-finds-firearms-laws-do-nothing-to-prevent-homicides.php?

The study was conducted by Dr. Eric Fleegler of Boston and published in JAMA Internal Medicine.  Dr. Fleegler is an anti-gun activist who reportedly has signed a petition calling on the federal government to enact stricter gun control measures. His study, one surmises, was timed to try to influence the current Congressional debate over gun control. But what does it actually show?

Fleegler classified the 50 states according to how many gun laws they have. Using an alternative measure, he classified them according to the effectiveness of their gun laws as rated by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He then looked at gun-related fatalities on a state by state basis, including both homicides and suicides, from 2007 through 2010. The key data are summarized in Table 2, which shows how the 50 states are ranked and the suicide and homicide statistics that Fleegler used. In making his findings, Fleegler purports to have controlled for a wide array of other variables. It will take some time for those with expertise in statistics and access to Fleegler's data to determine whether there are technical flaws in his analysis.

But what jumps out at you when you read Fleegler's article is that the decrease in fatalities that he documents relates almost exclusively to suicides. What his study really shows is that strict gun laws have little or no impact on gun homicides.

But there is more: note that Fleegler's study covers all 50 states, but leaves out the District of Columbia. Why do you suppose he chose to do that? Because the District has 1) some of the nation's most draconian gun laws, and 2) the highest murder rate in the country, higher even than Louisiana's. In 2011, the District had a firearms homicide rate of 12.46 per 100,000. Now let's redo Fleegler's math, with the District counted as one of the ten strictest jurisdictions. We now have an average rate of 4.0 gun homicides per 100,000 in the ten most anti-gun jurisdictions, and a gun homicide rate of 3.5 per 100,000 in the ten jurisdictions with the fewest gun regulations, even if we include the outlier, Louisiana.

Based on those numbers, you could argue that strict gun laws cause more gun violence. I wouldn't necessarily go that far; I think it is fairer to say that Fleegler's study doesn't prove anything at all, but suggests, at least, that draconian gun laws are ineffective when it comes to homicide–which, after all, is what those laws are primarily intended to prevent.

Exactly what I have been saying all along.  And exactly what the NRA has been saying all along.  Now this from an anti-gun guy...well, that kind of shows that even if you try to "cook the books", the reality is still there!

[Conan71]

Much as "Gun Free Zones" has not kept people from killing sprees within those zones.

All that sign does is ensure there's a helpless, target-rich environment for someone bent on killing as many people as possible in a short amount of time.

[Townsend]

Governor unsure about bill to allow guns at school

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-governor-unsure-about-school-firearms-bill/article/3765477

Gov. Mary Fallin said Wednesday she will withhold comment on a bill that would allow trained public school teachers to bring handguns to schools until she sees the final version of it. The governor said she is looking forward to seeing how recommendations from the Oklahoma Commission on School Safety will be developed into legislation. House Bill 1062 passed the House 68-23 late Tuesday and is headed to the Senate. The measure would allow public school teachers or administrators who successfully complete a special school resource officer course to bring loaded handguns to school. An emergency clause, which would make the bill take effect immediately if it is signed into law, failed.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Went to a Buffalo Wild Wings today for lunch.  Saw the little sign they post about no guns allowed.  We turned around and left.  Won't go back while that is up.

[Conan71]

Went to a Buffalo Wild Wings today for lunch.  Saw the little sign they post about no guns allowed.  We turned around and left.  Won't go back while that is up.

Why not??? Always fun to see if they are trying to figure out if you are:

A) Trying to smuggle in your own drumstick
B) Getting ready to rob the place
C) Feeling like a gun-free zone is exactly the last place you feel comfortable these days and the employees are relieved you are packing in case that little sign indicates a target-rich environment to the wrong person.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Why not??? Always fun to see if they are trying to figure out if you are:

A) Trying to smuggle in your own drumstick
B) Getting ready to rob the place
C) Feeling like a gun-free zone is exactly the last place you feel comfortable these days and the employees are relieved you are packing in case that little sign indicates a target-rich environment to the wrong person.

What it tells me is they don't want my business, in much the same way Chik-Fil-A tells gay people the chicken cookers don't want gays eating chicken.  Really makes no sense...many of my gay friends like chicken.... go figure...

[Conan71]

What it tells me is they don't want my business, in much the same way Chik-Fil-A tells gay people the chicken cookers don't want gays eating chicken.  Really makes no sense...many of my gay friends like chicken.... go figure...

Do your hetero friends like chicken too, or are they chicken phobic?

[Gaspar]

Do your hetero friends like chicken too, or are they chicken phobic?

Please don't establish that food has a sexual preference.

Thank you.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Do your hetero friends like chicken too, or are they chicken phobic?

Yep.  They like chicken - who doesn't like chicken?  I love it!!  Especially when I can raise it myself!  Get eggs with it, too, then.

It's just the chicken restaurant that is homophobic....

[Townsend]

Someone made some changes:

Twitter

AP: 

BREAKING: Senate Democrats dropping assault weapons ban from gun bill, making ban's approval unlikely.