Friday, June 06, 2014 4:28:00 AM
A Bunch Of Gun Activists Wore Assault Weapons While Walking Around The Baby Clothes Aisle In Target
People are not thrilled about it.
June 4, 2014
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/moms-versus-assault-weapons-in-target [with comments]
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Someone Left A Loaded Gun In The Toy Aisle Of Target
By Alexander C. Kaufman
Posted: 06/05/2014 12:37 pm EDT Updated: 06/05/2014 6:59 pm EDT
A Target employee found a loaded handgun in the toy aisle of a South Carolina store last week, just days before activists began petitioning the retailer to ban firearms [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/04/target-guns-open-carry_n_5446275.html ] from its stores.
The gun, loaded with live ammunition, was found sitting atop a superhero Playskool toy box at a Myrtle Beach store last Friday, WMBF News reported [ http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/25698439/real-gun-found-in-toy-aisle ] Thursday morning.
"We take these matters very seriously and we are partnering with local law enforcement on this incident," Molly Snyder, a Target spokeswoman, said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "Because this matter is under investigation, we are unable to share additional information."
On Wednesday, the gun-control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America kicked off a national campaign calling on Target to prohibit the open carry of guns in its stores.
The petition has dragged Target into a bitter fight between Moms Demand Action and a collection of open carry advocates in Texas, who were photographed toting assault rifles through a Dallas-area Target in March.
Videos and photos of affiliated open carry groups hauling their firearms into Chipotle, Chili's and Sonic prompted the restaurant chains to announce no-gun policies last month. Under intense criticism, C.J. Grisham, president of the group Open Carry Texas, has since backed down, asking members of his group to stop bringing their rifles into businesses.
"Assault rifles and guns don't belong in the baby aisle, they don't belong in the toy aisle -- and they don't belong in any aisle of stores that American moms frequent like Target," Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement on Thursday. "It's time for Target, a store that American moms flock to, to follow the lead of Chipotle and Starbucks and prohibit the open carry of firearms.”
For his part, Grisham, in a statement to HuffPost, suggested that "despicable" gun-control activists planted the gun.
"Target is currently in the crosshairs of gun control extremists who will stoop to [no] level too low to effectuate their agenda," he wrote in an email. "Our children are our most precious commodity and intentionally putting them in any kind of danger to exploit a personal agenda is deranged, sick and twisted."
UPDATE: 1:45 p.m. -- A spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action responded to Grisham's allegation with this statement: "The insinuation that an organization devoted to the prevention of gun violence would plant a loaded gun in the toy aisle of Target is utterly ridiculous. Moms Demand Action is solely focused on the safety and security of our families and communities. Only one organization has a history of bringing loaded guns into Target -- it's not us."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/target-guns_n_5453164.html [with embedded video report, and comments] [and see also e.g. "Pressure Mounts On Target To Ban Firearms After Loaded Gun Found In Toy Aisle", http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/06/05/pressure-mounts-on-target-to-ban-firearms-after-loaded-gun-found-in-toy-aisle/ (with comments)]
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Guns aren't meant to be fun
NRA Convention in April in Indiana.
(Photo: Kelly Wilkinson, The Indianapolis Star)
Open carry shouldn't become a way for people to show off while risking deadly accidents.
Duncan Black
10:17 a.m. EDT June 5, 2014
It's rare that I agree with National Rifle Association officials about anything. Recently, though, they rightly sent a message [ http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2014/5/good-citizens-and-good-neighbors-the-gun-owners-role.aspx (that original post since scrubbed and gone, and {at the same link} replaced with a post with/introducing the YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GThvEXDUY {with comments}, next below)]
It's difficult to know when something is really a trend, or whether in the age of the Internet social media just puts the spotlight on things that aren't actually any more common than they are normally, but let me remind people that guns are scary. They're scary because they're capable of killing people, and because it's not unreasonable, in certain contexts, to think that a person with a gun might be planning to use it. Why else would you have it with you? People are going to suspect you're a bad guy with a gun.
I can only think of two reasons why someone would want to openly carry a firearm, especially a very large one that reduces personal mobility by virtue of being so big and heavy. The first is in order to intimidate people around you. The second is simply to show off. But gun owners who fancy that people at McDonald's and Chipotle will be impressed by their peacocking should learn that most people are unlikely to be impressed. I thought my Doctor Who [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0 ] fan club button might impress people back in 1986. I was wrong. Our interests, however devoted we are to them, don't necessarily have universal acclaim. You might think your hobby is cool, but it doesn't mean the rest of us do, especially when we're worried it might kill somebody. At least my sonic screwdriver wasn't dangerous.
I understand that people hunt. I understand that people in rural areas, particularly people who work in agriculture, might have a genuine need to regularly employ the use of a gun to deal with predatory wildlife. But increasingly, "gun culture" just refers to people who amass large arsenals without any genuine practical purpose. Even if we accept personal self-defense against other people — the bad guys with guns — as a legitimate reason for firearm ownership, this is not a legitimate reason to stockpile multiple weapons. Boys do love their toys, but let's acknowledge that is what they are. For most people, they're expensive, noisy, deadly toys. Enjoy your games. Your too often tragically deadly games.
Gun aficionados regularly speak of "responsible gun owners," as if it's just something to be assumed. Some people are responsible gun owners and some aren't. The cashier at the gun store doesn't have any good way of determining which one I might be, nor any strong legal requirement to try to do so.
More than that, there is an inherent contradiction between the concept of the responsible gun owners and people who own them for the alleged purpose of self-defense. The archetypal responsible gun owner is the hunter who keeps a hunting rifle locked in a safe somewhere, so that children or other untrained individuals cannot stumble across it accidentally with potentially horrific consequences. Someone concerned with self-defense will, understandably, want to have a weapon that they have easier and quicker access to. Fears of home invasion are overblown, but if that is your concern, your safely locked up firearm isn't going to be much help.
Because of various cultural narratives in this country, some people think guns are just intrinsically cool. Much like bow ties, they really aren't. You might like them and enjoy cosplaying with your other gun wielding pals, going out in public dressed up as Heroic Guy With Gun, but that character is going to scare a lot of people, and probably that's the purpose. Don't do something with predictable consequences and then wonder why it upsets people.
Lots of people like to engage their fantasies and play dress up. It's been a long time since I've had any desire to put on a Doctor Who costume, but plenty of adults regularly do such things, and good for them. Fun is fun and I'm all for people having fun, as long as that fun doesn't have a significant negative impact on other people. The problem with dressing up as a gun nut is that, well, you're carrying a loaded gun that can quite easily kill people. And even if you're a good guy with a gun, deadly accidents happen. A lot.
Duncan Black writes the blog Eschaton [ http://www.eschatonblog.com/ ] under the pseudonym of Atrios and is a fellow at Media Matters for America.
Copyright 2014 USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/06/04/nra-gun-control-safety-column/9881417/ [with comments]
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NRA pens statement asking Open Carry Texas to knock off their 'hijinx'
Not helping? Go figure.
@MomsDemand | Twitter
by Hunter
Mon Jun 02, 2014 at 11:43 AM PDT
It's happened: Open Carry Texas has finally out-extremed the NRA. And the NRA doesn't like it, because having Gun Furries For Texas parade around Chili's or Sonic or Home Depot in full cosplay turns out to be something the general public is getting pissed off about. And if the general public gets pissed off about it, you see, politicians start getting pissed off with the NRA about it, and the NRA loses some of its ability to wrap those same politicians around its finger, and so the NRA has come out with an (amazing) statement telling the gun furries to knock it the eff off [ http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2014/5/good-citizens-and-good-neighbors-the-gun-owners-role.aspx (since scrubbed/replaced, as noted in the item above)]:
[W]hile unlicensed open carry of long guns is also typically legal in most places, it is a rare sight to see someone sidle up next to you in line for lunch with a 7.62 rifle slung across his chest, much less a whole gaggle of folks descending on the same public venue with similar arms.
Let's not mince words, not only is it rare, it's downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself. To those who are not acquainted with the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one's cause, it can be downright scary. It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates.
Hey, a concession: wandering around the streets with assault rifles so that people will pay attention to you is a "dubious practice." I do believe we might be getting somewhere. (They probably had to lock Wayne LaPierre in a closet while typing that—good thing they don't let him have any guns in the office or the door would be well-perforated by now.) We may have also gotten an admission that perhaps armed gangs marching into crowded businesses is a damn peculiar way to "defend yourself," unless "defend yourself" is the usual euphemism for accidentally putting a bullet in your own foot.
As a result of these hijinx, two popular fast food outlets have recently requested patrons to keep guns off the premises (more information can be found here and here). In other words, the freedom and goodwill these businesses had previously extended to gun owners has been curtailed because of the actions of an attention-hungry few who thought only of themselves and not of those who might be affected by their behavior. To state the obvious, that's counterproductive for the gun owning community.
Yeah, well, we've been trying to tell them that for a long time now, so good luck. They've convinced themselves they're locked in heated battle with "Moms Demand Action," and further convinced themselves that anyone who disagrees with them is a secret member of Moms, and now you're all members of Moms by just saying that. You'll be getting the usual death threats anytime now.
More to the point, it's just not neighborly, which is out of character for the big-hearted residents of Texas. Using guns merely to draw attention to yourself in public not only defies common sense, it shows a lack of consideration and manners. That's not the Texas way. And that's certainly not the NRA way.
All right, I have to stop here. The irony is too thick. I can't even parody that.
© Kos Media, LLC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/02/1303854/-NRA-pens-statement-asking-Open-Carry-Texas-to-knock-off-their-hijinx [with comments]
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Open Carry Texas demands NRA 'retract' statement blasting their 'hijinx'
The image accompanying the Open Carry Texas press release. So sad.
Open Carry Texas | Facebook
by Hunter
Tue Jun 03, 2014 at 10:18 AM PDT
A few days ago the NRA blasted [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/02/1303854/-NRA-pens-statement-asking-Open-Carry-Texas-to-knock-off-their-hijinx (just above)] members of Open Carry Texas for their "hijinx" of wandering into restaurants and other public places loaded for bear. Turns out it was making the NRA sad; they're worried that actually watching people live out the NRA fantasy of taking assault weapons everywhere in case someone needs shootin' tends to make both the public and the politicians in the NRA's back pocket antsy, so the NRA non-respectfully asked the society of future American serial killers to tone it down a bit.
So now Open Carry Texas is fighting back with their own public statement. Crazy person fight [ https://www.facebook.com/OpenCarryTexas/posts/699519806761309 ]!
It is unfortunate that an organization that claims to be dedicated to the preservation of gun rights would attack another organization fighting so hard for those rights in Texas. [...] The NRA has refused to learn for themselves how Open Carry Texas (OCT) conducts itself other than what the liberal media and Bloomberg funded gun control extremists have falsely portrayed.
What's falsely portrayed? Your group is the one that's been filming these things and taking commemorative Look-At-Mah-Gun photos. You do know that, right?
Already, OCT members are posting pictures of themselves cutting up their life membership cards. If they do not retract their disgusting and disrespectful comments, OCT will have no choice but to withdraw its full support of the NRA and establish relationships with other gun rights organizations that fight for ALL gun rights, instead of just paying them lip service the way the NRA appears to be doing. The NRA should have instead released a statement to the effect that it applauds our groups for coming together and finding new methods to promote safe and responsible open carry.
While this fight plays out, another one is beginning. The Open Carry crowd demands they be allowed to attend the Texas Republican Party Convention with their life partners, by which I mean their guns—but they won't get to, because Republicans are tremendous hypocrites [ http://www.texastribune.org/2014/06/03/brief/ ]:
Republican Party of Texas Chairman Steve Munisteri clarified that open-carry demonstrators would not be able to bring their weapons inside the convention center during his party's state convention later this week. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Anna Tinsley reported that Munisteri issued a statement [ http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/06/02/5867541/nra-chastises-open-carry-protests.html ] saying that “anyone carrying an openly exposed weapon will be asked to do so outside of the building.”
Tinsley added that some open-carry supporters still intend to try to bring black powder guns inside, claiming that they are not considered firearms under Texas law.
Apparently the Republican Party does not feel that a bunch of yahoos of unknown mental status wandering around their own convention with loaded AR-15s would make anything safer, even though we're all supposed to feel very safe and protected when the same yahoos do it in a public restaurant or home improvement store. Well, at least they probably can't shoot their own foot off with a musket. Probably.
© Kos Media, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304071/-Open-Carry-Texas-demands-NRA-retract-statement-blasting-Open-Carry-Texas-hijinx [with comments]
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NRA apologizes to Open Carry Texas lunatics for calling them 'weird', 'scary'
Not weird! Not scary!
@MomsDemand | Twitter
by Hunter
Tue Jun 03, 2014 at 04:52 PM PDT
You could not make this up if you tried. It only took a few days for the NRA to wash their hands of their previous statement asking Open Carry Texas to refrain from being gigantic public assholes [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304071/-Open-Carry-Texas-demands-NRA-retract-statement-blasting-Open-Carry-Texas-hijinx (just above)]. Not only are they apologizing for it, they're now saying it was all just a big misunderstanding [ http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/nra-apologizes-open-carry-texas ]:
In an interview on Tuesday with the organization's own news site, the head of the NRA's lobbying arm blamed a staff member's "personal opinion" for the content of an unsigned statement published Friday on the organization's website, and he apologized for "any confusion" the statement may have caused.
Ah, it was a rogue staff member who had a moment of clarity vis-a-vis whether a group of people showing up in Chili's with AR-15s, AK-47s and other rifles in hand was a good or a bad idea. Clearly it was a good idea! We're sorry! We regret ever implying that you are dysfunctional manchildren with sexual attachment issues as relates to your shiny guns, and/or poor spokesmen for our official and equally equally asinine position of demanding guns everywhere for all possible reasons no matter how many fine Americans might get murdered in the process!
"Ultimately, what this comes down to is a tactics discussion," Cox told NRA News host Cam Edwards. "Some people believe that the best way to effectuate that sort of policy change is in protest. And what they did in Texas is, some people decided to protest the absurdity of the ban on … open carry of handguns by carrying their long guns openly, and legally. Now, the truth is, an alert went out that referred to this type of behavior as weird, or somehow not normal. And that was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened. I've had a discussion with the staffer who wrote that piece, and expressed his personal opinion. Our job is not to criticize the lawful behavior of fellow gun owners."
No matter how dangerous, inflammatory or batshit insane that behavior might be, he did not need to add. And it sounded like some staffer got his behind handed to him for not recognizing that the NRA was in fact fully devoted to batshit insane proto-terrorists parading around with their guns in an attempt to intimidate passersby into taking their cause seriously. Hell, half their 2015 NRA calendar pictures will be photos of pasty guys with assault rifles eating at various fast-food restaurants.
"It was a poor word choice in an alert that went out," Cox said. "But again, the underlying point here is: what is the best tactic to win? That's what we're interested in. We're not interested in distractions. We're not interested in arguing with the national news media over this. We're interested in winning."
Damn liberal media, taking our staffer's statement of momentary rationality and running with it. We'll tell you if we're about to have a rational thought, media, so don't go sniffing around looking for one unannounced. There will be flashing lights, and white smoke will billow from the office chimney, and birds will all sing show tunes.
All right, NRA, you've made your point. Never again will anybody give you the benefit of the doubt, we promise. We'll always assume you've taken the most belligerent, offensive, destructive position and if we see any hints that you might have just once done otherwise, we all promise to hold our tongues until you've beat the unruly staffer responsible into dazed submission.
© Kos Media, LLC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304178/-NRA-apologizes-to-Open-Carry-Texas-lunatics-for-calling-them-weird-scary [with comments]
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Man asked to store loaded gun before voting in Alabaster
By The Associated Press
on June 03, 2014 at 3:15 PM, updated June 03, 2014 at 5:10 PM
ALABASTER, Alabama -- A gun rights supporter who took a loaded pistol to the polls got to vote, but only after putting the weapon in his pickup truck.
John David Murphy wore his holstered 9 mm handgun and two ammunition clips into First United Methodist Church of Alabaster when he went to vote in the Republican primary Tuesday.
The church, like other precincts, had a sign in the door saying firearms are prohibited. But Murphy argued with a poll worker that his constitutional right to openly carry a weapon trumps a state law allowing guns in public places unless a sign is posted.
Poll workers called a deputy, who made Murphy put the gun in his truck outside before voting.
Murphy says he's going to complain to county leaders.
The National Rifle Association, while a zealous supporter of gun owners' rights, has discouraged actions like Murphy's in the state of Texas, where gun rights advocates have recently shown their support for "open carry" gun rights by bringing military-style assault rifles into businesses and public buildings.
The NRA has said such demonstrations have "crossed the line from enthusiasm to downright foolishness."
"Using guns merely to draw attention to yourself in public not only defies common sense, it shows a lack of consideration and manners," the NRA said in a statement posted on its website Friday.
© 2014 Associated Press
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/man_asked_to_store_loaded_gun.html [with comments]
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Gun-rights group challenging Shelby County after Alabaster man wears holstered pistol to polls
John David Murphy, 55, of Alabaster talks about gun rights on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, after he was denied entry into a polling location for the primary election because he openly wore a holstered pistol.
(Martin J. Reed / mreed@al.com)
By Martin J. Reed
on June 04, 2014 at 6:38 PM, updated June 04, 2014 at 6:51 PM
ALABASTER, Alabama [ http://www.al.com/local/alabaster/ ] -- A state gun-rights group is calling on Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry and Probate Judge Jim Fuhrmeister to eliminate the prohibition on firearms at polling places after an Alabaster man was refused entry with a holstered pistol [ http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/man_asked_to_store_loaded_gun.html (just above)] Tuesday.
Alabama Gun Rights Inc. is securing legal representation for John David Murphy in response to authorities refusing him entry into the First United Methodist Church in Alabaster during the primary election because he openly wore a holstered pistol on his belt.
"There is no authority for either the probate judge or the sheriff to engage in the conduct that they engaged in," George Owens, the organization's director of legislative affairs and public policy, said in a phone interview this afternoon.
Alabama Gun Rights Inc. wants to know if Curry and Fuhrmeister will admit "they simply exceeded their authority and they're either going to rescind the policy of their own admission ... or we're going to get a judge who will tell them that what they have done is unlawful," Owens said. "We are prepared to take this to court. We are going to defend Mr. Murphy."
Curry and Fuhrmeister could not be reached for comment this evening.
Murphy was one of three reports of individuals with firearms at polling places in Shelby County [ http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/shelby_county_receives_at_leas.html ] received by the Sheriff's Office on Tuesday. In Murphy's case, a sheriff's deputy instructed him to place the Glock 19 9mm pistol he openly wore in a holster in his vehicle before he could enter the church to vote.
"Judge Fuhrmiester's order should be rescinded," Murphy said at his home in Alabaster this afternoon. "Had I been concealed, I could've gone in and no one would've known a difference. I offered to conceal mine, but he (the deputy) said, 'I already know you got it.'"
Curry and the Probate Court have stated that firearms are not allowed at the polling locations. But similar officials in Chambers County on Tuesday decided to remove their prohibition on firearms [ http://www.al.com/news/montgomery/index.ssf/2014/06/guns_allowed_in_polling_places.html ] after determining that state law didn't prohibit guns from being carried into polling places.
"They came to the conclusion they simply do not have the statutory authority and have been specifically denied by the Legislature to issue any kind of gun ban," Owens said. "There has never been a single civil rights case in any court in this land ... that says when you exercise one right you forfeit another."
Murphy and Alabama Gun Rights Inc. are ready to challenge Shelby County's decision in the matter.
"I feel that it was improper that they stopped me from carrying my firearm openly, which is my constitutional right to do. And voting is also a constitutional right we have," Murphy said. "And an individual should not be denied exercise of one right in order to exercise another. That's what was done, and that's why this (issue) has gone so firestorm."
Murphy and Owens cited the Alabama Constitution, other state laws and court rulings including from the Alabama Supreme Court that support their stance on the matter.
"Our intent is to approach the judge and the sheriff, and we're going to ask them to reevaluate their position," Owens said. "We're going to give them the same moment of pause that the officials in Chambers County availed themselves of."
Owens referenced a quote from Curry in an AL.com story posted Tuesday about guns at polling sites. "We've got 121,000 registered voters in Shelby County. We've had three instances of someone with a gun at a polling place, so when you put it in that perspective, it doesn't rise to that much of an issue," Curry said.
"My question to Sheriff Curry is, how many citizens' rights have to be violated before we have to take it seriously?" Owens said. "We don't know how many citizens rights were violated, but I can tell you the sum total of the entire population of Shelby County that went to the polls that day had their rights violated whether they know it or not."
Murphy, a 55-year-old retiree on disability who lives with his mother, said he carries a pistol every day for self-defense. He hopes to see Shelby County change its ban on weapons at polling places by the runoff election July 15.
"At the runoff election, I will be going to the polls again with my firearm on my side as before. What I hope to see is I would be welcome there to vote as I presented myself there -- in other words, open carry of my firearm," Murphy said.
© 2014 Alabama Media Group
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/gun-rights_group_challenging_s.html [with a non-YouTube copy of the included YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIe0QWvCtu8 (with comment), embedded, and comments]
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Don't Take Your Guns To Vote
Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images
By Charles P. Pierce on June 4, 2014
Remember Shelby County, down there in Alabama, which was Ground Zero for the destruction of the Voting Rights Act [ http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/shelby-county-v-holder/ ], and the place where American racism was finally declared dead and John Roberts first heard the triumphant notes of the Day Of Jubilee? What say we go back there [ http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/shelby_county_receives_at_leas.html ] and see how things are working out?
This afternoon in Pelham, a report surfaced of a man wearing a shirt that stated "Bama Carry" wanting to bring a firearm into the Pelham First Baptist Church Annex on U.S. Highway 31. The man had a camera phone displayed and was recording his experience, a witness told AL.com. Sometime this morning, a man named John David Murphy wore his holstered 9mm pistol with two clips into First United Methodist Church of Alabaster. Murphy told The Associated Press he would complain to Shelby County authorities about having to put his gun in his truck before voting. Sheriff Chris Curry in an interview this afternoon said another man at a polling location wore a gun into the building, voted and was leaving when someone noticed his holstered pistol. Curry could not recall the polling location of the third encounter, and the man left before anyone spoke to him.
(By the way, if the First United Methodist Church Of Alabaster isn't something Flannery O'Connor dreamed up, it should be.)
It seems that what we had in Alabama yesterday was a remarkable convergence of virtually everything this Supreme Court has done [ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ala-man-told-store-loaded-gun-voting-23979327 ] to American society since it declared the Day Of Jubilee.
Several poll volunteers and voters expressed misgivings about someone being armed inside a precinct, but Murphy said he was going to complain to county leaders about his treatment. "Them being freaked out doesn't trump my right to open carry," said Murphy, who described himself as a member of Alabama Gun Rights, an advocacy group. In Chambers County, east of Montgomery on the Georgia line, the sheriff's department posted a message on its Facebook page saying "no weapons" signs had been removed from precincts following complaints after the sheriff and probate judge determined a new state firearms law did not apply to polling places.
We should keep in mind that these were primary elections. Everybody who thinks people are going to show up armed at the polls to intimidate Those People from whose ballots Roberts already has removed the protection of the federal law -- because racism is dead and it is the Day Of Jubilee -- are kidding themselves. There will be more of this and it will be more serious.
©2014 Hearst Communications, Inc.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/guns-voting-locations-shelby-county-060414 [with comments]
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Alabama GOP offers $1,000 for information on voter fraud
JayDanny Cooper urges Alabama residents to vote in the primary along the side of a highway March 13, 2012 in Birmingham, Ala.
06/03/14
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/alabama-gop-offer-money-to-find-voter-fraud [with comments]
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Thanks to new voter ID law, 93-year-old voter turned away in Alabama
Brennan Center for Justice
by Jen Hayden
Tue Jun 03, 2014 at 03:01 PM PDT
Alabama's new voter ID law is already making voting difficult [ http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/voter-id-law-disenfranchises-93-year-old-black-man ]:
Willie Mims, 93, showed up to vote at his polling place in Escambia County Tuesday morning for Alabama’s primary elections. Mims, who is African-American, no longer drives, doesn’t have a license, and has no other form of ID. As a result, he was turned away without voting. Mims wasn’t even offered the chance to cast a provisional ballot, as the law requires in that situation.
Jenny McCharen of Empower Alabama, a progressive group that gave Mims a ride to the polls, recounted the story for msnbc. McCharen said Mims’s voter file showed he has voted in every election since 2000, as far back as the records go.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice [ http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/challenge-obtaining-voter-identification ], nearly 11% of the U.S. population doesn't have identification:
The 11 percent of eligible voters who lack the required photo ID must travel to a designated government office to obtain one. Yet many citizens will have trouble making this trip. In the 10 states with restrictive voter ID laws:
- Nearly 500,000 eligible voters do not have access to a vehicle and live more than 10 miles from the nearest state ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. Many of them live in rural areas with dwindling public transportation options.
- More than 10 million eligible voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest state ID-issuing office open more than two days a week.
- 1.2 million eligible black voters and 500,000 eligible Hispanic voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. People of color are more likely to be disenfranchised by these laws since they are less likely to have photo ID than the general population.
- Many ID-issuing offices maintain limited business hours. For example, the office in Sauk City, Wisconsin is open only on the fifth Wednesday of any month. But only four months in 2012 — February, May, August, and October — have five Wednesdays. In other states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas — many part-time ID-issuing offices are in the rural regions with the highest concentrations of people of color and people in poverty.
It's a growing problem nationwide and it's all by design. Shame on you, Republicans.
© Kos Media, LLC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304147/-Thanks-to-new-voter-ID-law-93-year-old-voter-turned-away-in-Alabama [with comments] [the included YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks-4YRZWaNY (comments disabled)]
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Police: Gunman who killed 3 Canadian officers captured
By Faith Karimi and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
updated 2:02 AM EDT, Fri June 6, 2014
(CNN) -- A gunman who killed three police officers and wounded two others in Canada is in custody after more than a day on the run, authorities said Friday.
Police arrested Justin Bourque, 24, at 12:10 a.m. Friday (11:10 p.m. ET Thursday), according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Authorities said the suspect, dressed in fatigues and armed with a rifle, went on a rampage Wednesday evening in Moncton, New Brunswick.
Grieving police officers launched a manhunt for him. During news conferences, they broke down over the loss of their colleagues.
Michelle Thibodeau said the suspect was arrested on the front lawn of her home in Moncton.
She told CNN partner CBC that she watched authorities take down a man resembling a suspect seen in pictures circulated widely.
"The SWAT team arrived at my house and unloaded, and started screaming in my backyard for him to surrender and he did," she tweeted.
"They had him sprawled on my front lawn for some time and then loaded him into the SWAT vehicle. They are now checking my yard for firearms."
Shortly after the shooting, SWAT teams swarmed neighborhoods and surrounded buildings, warning everyone to stay inside, lock their doors and remain calm.
"We can all rest easy and safe here in Moncton, thanks to the wonderful RCMP and all of the officers. We sincerely thank you!," Tawni McCready posted on the local police Facebook page. "Our greatest sympathies go out to the families of our fallen heroes."
Motive unknown
Police spotted the suspect at least three times Thursday morning, but did not catch him, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Marlene Snowman said.
The victims were all officers of the RCMP, said Roger Brown, the commander for the New Brunswick RCMP.
"This is perhaps the darkest day in the history of RCMP New Brunswick," he said.
Authorities have not released the names of the officers killed, saying they are waiting for all family members to be notified.
Police don't know -- or haven't disclosed -- what prompted the attacks.
Police leaders appeared emotional as they conveyed the few details they had to reporters.
"As you can imagine, this is working through your worst nightmare," Brown said.
Last social media post?
A Facebook page purported to belong to Bourque has many posts with pro-gun photos and a few anti-police memes.
There is also one photo in which two men pose with shotguns in the snow. It was posted February 25, six days after the Facebook page was created, and is used as the profile picture.
In what appears to be his final post, the page's author used the words of a song by the metal group Megadeath.
You say you've got the answers, well who asked you anyway?
Ever think maybe it was meant to be this way?
Don't try to fool us, we know the worst is yet to come.
I believe my kingdom will come.
Terror outside the window
The rampage began Wednesday evening when police responded to a report of an armed man in the north end of Moncton.
Joan MacAlpine-Stiles saw the gunman through an open window.
"It was really warm in the house, so we opened up the windows in the family room, and there he was going across through the back with this rifle on his shoulder," she told CNN partner CBC.
"I said, 'Oh, my God, there he is with camouflage and the headband and a gun,' and it looked like a bow he had with him, and I mean, he was just through our backyard," she said.
After police arrived, neighbor Vanessa Bernatchez watched with a couple of others from a living room window. She uploaded a video of the confrontation to Facebook.
"He shot him. He shot the ... cop," a man in the video exclaims. "Call 911!"
Polite city
Moncton, a city of about 140,000 people, is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Saint John.
"It's a lot. Especially for a city like this, where you wouldn't expect something to happen like this," resident Jonathan Hurshman told CTV. "You see it all in the States, and you think, 'No, that could never happen here' -- and sure enough, it happens here."
There were no homicides in Moncton in 2011 and 2012, and the average number of homicides per year between 2006 and 2011 was one.
In 2012, the homicide rate in Canada was 1.6 per 100,000, while in the United States, it was 4.7 per 100,000, according to United Nations statistics.
CNN's Mariano Castillo, Dave Alsup, AnneClaire Stapleton, Greg Botelho, Kevin Conlon and Elizabeth Lander contributed to this report.
© 2014 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/06/world/canada-shooting/ [with embedded video reports, and comments]
===
(linked in):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=100592755 and preceding and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=101374546 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=102934161 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=102956783 and preceding and following
People are not thrilled about it.
June 4, 2014
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/moms-versus-assault-weapons-in-target [with comments]
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Someone Left A Loaded Gun In The Toy Aisle Of Target
By Alexander C. Kaufman
Posted: 06/05/2014 12:37 pm EDT Updated: 06/05/2014 6:59 pm EDT
A Target employee found a loaded handgun in the toy aisle of a South Carolina store last week, just days before activists began petitioning the retailer to ban firearms [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/04/target-guns-open-carry_n_5446275.html ] from its stores.
The gun, loaded with live ammunition, was found sitting atop a superhero Playskool toy box at a Myrtle Beach store last Friday, WMBF News reported [ http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/25698439/real-gun-found-in-toy-aisle ] Thursday morning.
"We take these matters very seriously and we are partnering with local law enforcement on this incident," Molly Snyder, a Target spokeswoman, said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "Because this matter is under investigation, we are unable to share additional information."
On Wednesday, the gun-control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America kicked off a national campaign calling on Target to prohibit the open carry of guns in its stores.
The petition has dragged Target into a bitter fight between Moms Demand Action and a collection of open carry advocates in Texas, who were photographed toting assault rifles through a Dallas-area Target in March.
Videos and photos of affiliated open carry groups hauling their firearms into Chipotle, Chili's and Sonic prompted the restaurant chains to announce no-gun policies last month. Under intense criticism, C.J. Grisham, president of the group Open Carry Texas, has since backed down, asking members of his group to stop bringing their rifles into businesses.
"Assault rifles and guns don't belong in the baby aisle, they don't belong in the toy aisle -- and they don't belong in any aisle of stores that American moms frequent like Target," Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement on Thursday. "It's time for Target, a store that American moms flock to, to follow the lead of Chipotle and Starbucks and prohibit the open carry of firearms.”
For his part, Grisham, in a statement to HuffPost, suggested that "despicable" gun-control activists planted the gun.
"Target is currently in the crosshairs of gun control extremists who will stoop to [no] level too low to effectuate their agenda," he wrote in an email. "Our children are our most precious commodity and intentionally putting them in any kind of danger to exploit a personal agenda is deranged, sick and twisted."
UPDATE: 1:45 p.m. -- A spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action responded to Grisham's allegation with this statement: "The insinuation that an organization devoted to the prevention of gun violence would plant a loaded gun in the toy aisle of Target is utterly ridiculous. Moms Demand Action is solely focused on the safety and security of our families and communities. Only one organization has a history of bringing loaded guns into Target -- it's not us."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/target-guns_n_5453164.html [with embedded video report, and comments] [and see also e.g. "Pressure Mounts On Target To Ban Firearms After Loaded Gun Found In Toy Aisle", http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/06/05/pressure-mounts-on-target-to-ban-firearms-after-loaded-gun-found-in-toy-aisle/ (with comments)]
===
Guns aren't meant to be fun
NRA Convention in April in Indiana.
(Photo: Kelly Wilkinson, The Indianapolis Star)
Open carry shouldn't become a way for people to show off while risking deadly accidents.
Duncan Black
10:17 a.m. EDT June 5, 2014
It's rare that I agree with National Rifle Association officials about anything. Recently, though, they rightly sent a message [ http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2014/5/good-citizens-and-good-neighbors-the-gun-owners-role.aspx (that original post since scrubbed and gone, and {at the same link} replaced with a post with/introducing the YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GThvEXDUY {with comments}, next below)]
to gun owners in legal open-carry areas, suggesting that what is (and, in their view, should be) legal is not always appropriate. In particular, groups of people "toting a variety of tactical long guns" to fast-food restaurants and similar establishments might be, at best, demonstrating poor manners.
It's difficult to know when something is really a trend, or whether in the age of the Internet social media just puts the spotlight on things that aren't actually any more common than they are normally, but let me remind people that guns are scary. They're scary because they're capable of killing people, and because it's not unreasonable, in certain contexts, to think that a person with a gun might be planning to use it. Why else would you have it with you? People are going to suspect you're a bad guy with a gun.
I can only think of two reasons why someone would want to openly carry a firearm, especially a very large one that reduces personal mobility by virtue of being so big and heavy. The first is in order to intimidate people around you. The second is simply to show off. But gun owners who fancy that people at McDonald's and Chipotle will be impressed by their peacocking should learn that most people are unlikely to be impressed. I thought my Doctor Who [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0 ] fan club button might impress people back in 1986. I was wrong. Our interests, however devoted we are to them, don't necessarily have universal acclaim. You might think your hobby is cool, but it doesn't mean the rest of us do, especially when we're worried it might kill somebody. At least my sonic screwdriver wasn't dangerous.
I understand that people hunt. I understand that people in rural areas, particularly people who work in agriculture, might have a genuine need to regularly employ the use of a gun to deal with predatory wildlife. But increasingly, "gun culture" just refers to people who amass large arsenals without any genuine practical purpose. Even if we accept personal self-defense against other people — the bad guys with guns — as a legitimate reason for firearm ownership, this is not a legitimate reason to stockpile multiple weapons. Boys do love their toys, but let's acknowledge that is what they are. For most people, they're expensive, noisy, deadly toys. Enjoy your games. Your too often tragically deadly games.
Gun aficionados regularly speak of "responsible gun owners," as if it's just something to be assumed. Some people are responsible gun owners and some aren't. The cashier at the gun store doesn't have any good way of determining which one I might be, nor any strong legal requirement to try to do so.
More than that, there is an inherent contradiction between the concept of the responsible gun owners and people who own them for the alleged purpose of self-defense. The archetypal responsible gun owner is the hunter who keeps a hunting rifle locked in a safe somewhere, so that children or other untrained individuals cannot stumble across it accidentally with potentially horrific consequences. Someone concerned with self-defense will, understandably, want to have a weapon that they have easier and quicker access to. Fears of home invasion are overblown, but if that is your concern, your safely locked up firearm isn't going to be much help.
Because of various cultural narratives in this country, some people think guns are just intrinsically cool. Much like bow ties, they really aren't. You might like them and enjoy cosplaying with your other gun wielding pals, going out in public dressed up as Heroic Guy With Gun, but that character is going to scare a lot of people, and probably that's the purpose. Don't do something with predictable consequences and then wonder why it upsets people.
Lots of people like to engage their fantasies and play dress up. It's been a long time since I've had any desire to put on a Doctor Who costume, but plenty of adults regularly do such things, and good for them. Fun is fun and I'm all for people having fun, as long as that fun doesn't have a significant negative impact on other people. The problem with dressing up as a gun nut is that, well, you're carrying a loaded gun that can quite easily kill people. And even if you're a good guy with a gun, deadly accidents happen. A lot.
Duncan Black writes the blog Eschaton [ http://www.eschatonblog.com/ ] under the pseudonym of Atrios and is a fellow at Media Matters for America.
Copyright 2014 USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/06/04/nra-gun-control-safety-column/9881417/ [with comments]
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NRA pens statement asking Open Carry Texas to knock off their 'hijinx'
Not helping? Go figure.
@MomsDemand | Twitter
by Hunter
Mon Jun 02, 2014 at 11:43 AM PDT
It's happened: Open Carry Texas has finally out-extremed the NRA. And the NRA doesn't like it, because having Gun Furries For Texas parade around Chili's or Sonic or Home Depot in full cosplay turns out to be something the general public is getting pissed off about. And if the general public gets pissed off about it, you see, politicians start getting pissed off with the NRA about it, and the NRA loses some of its ability to wrap those same politicians around its finger, and so the NRA has come out with an (amazing) statement telling the gun furries to knock it the eff off [ http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2014/5/good-citizens-and-good-neighbors-the-gun-owners-role.aspx (since scrubbed/replaced, as noted in the item above)]:
[W]hile unlicensed open carry of long guns is also typically legal in most places, it is a rare sight to see someone sidle up next to you in line for lunch with a 7.62 rifle slung across his chest, much less a whole gaggle of folks descending on the same public venue with similar arms.
Let's not mince words, not only is it rare, it's downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself. To those who are not acquainted with the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one's cause, it can be downright scary. It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates.
Hey, a concession: wandering around the streets with assault rifles so that people will pay attention to you is a "dubious practice." I do believe we might be getting somewhere. (They probably had to lock Wayne LaPierre in a closet while typing that—good thing they don't let him have any guns in the office or the door would be well-perforated by now.) We may have also gotten an admission that perhaps armed gangs marching into crowded businesses is a damn peculiar way to "defend yourself," unless "defend yourself" is the usual euphemism for accidentally putting a bullet in your own foot.
As a result of these hijinx, two popular fast food outlets have recently requested patrons to keep guns off the premises (more information can be found here and here). In other words, the freedom and goodwill these businesses had previously extended to gun owners has been curtailed because of the actions of an attention-hungry few who thought only of themselves and not of those who might be affected by their behavior. To state the obvious, that's counterproductive for the gun owning community.
Yeah, well, we've been trying to tell them that for a long time now, so good luck. They've convinced themselves they're locked in heated battle with "Moms Demand Action," and further convinced themselves that anyone who disagrees with them is a secret member of Moms, and now you're all members of Moms by just saying that. You'll be getting the usual death threats anytime now.
More to the point, it's just not neighborly, which is out of character for the big-hearted residents of Texas. Using guns merely to draw attention to yourself in public not only defies common sense, it shows a lack of consideration and manners. That's not the Texas way. And that's certainly not the NRA way.
All right, I have to stop here. The irony is too thick. I can't even parody that.
© Kos Media, LLC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/02/1303854/-NRA-pens-statement-asking-Open-Carry-Texas-to-knock-off-their-hijinx [with comments]
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Open Carry Texas demands NRA 'retract' statement blasting their 'hijinx'
The image accompanying the Open Carry Texas press release. So sad.
Open Carry Texas | Facebook
by Hunter
Tue Jun 03, 2014 at 10:18 AM PDT
A few days ago the NRA blasted [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/02/1303854/-NRA-pens-statement-asking-Open-Carry-Texas-to-knock-off-their-hijinx (just above)] members of Open Carry Texas for their "hijinx" of wandering into restaurants and other public places loaded for bear. Turns out it was making the NRA sad; they're worried that actually watching people live out the NRA fantasy of taking assault weapons everywhere in case someone needs shootin' tends to make both the public and the politicians in the NRA's back pocket antsy, so the NRA non-respectfully asked the society of future American serial killers to tone it down a bit.
So now Open Carry Texas is fighting back with their own public statement. Crazy person fight [ https://www.facebook.com/OpenCarryTexas/posts/699519806761309 ]!
It is unfortunate that an organization that claims to be dedicated to the preservation of gun rights would attack another organization fighting so hard for those rights in Texas. [...] The NRA has refused to learn for themselves how Open Carry Texas (OCT) conducts itself other than what the liberal media and Bloomberg funded gun control extremists have falsely portrayed.
What's falsely portrayed? Your group is the one that's been filming these things and taking commemorative Look-At-Mah-Gun photos. You do know that, right?
Already, OCT members are posting pictures of themselves cutting up their life membership cards. If they do not retract their disgusting and disrespectful comments, OCT will have no choice but to withdraw its full support of the NRA and establish relationships with other gun rights organizations that fight for ALL gun rights, instead of just paying them lip service the way the NRA appears to be doing. The NRA should have instead released a statement to the effect that it applauds our groups for coming together and finding new methods to promote safe and responsible open carry.
While this fight plays out, another one is beginning. The Open Carry crowd demands they be allowed to attend the Texas Republican Party Convention with their life partners, by which I mean their guns—but they won't get to, because Republicans are tremendous hypocrites [ http://www.texastribune.org/2014/06/03/brief/ ]:
Republican Party of Texas Chairman Steve Munisteri clarified that open-carry demonstrators would not be able to bring their weapons inside the convention center during his party's state convention later this week. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Anna Tinsley reported that Munisteri issued a statement [ http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/06/02/5867541/nra-chastises-open-carry-protests.html ] saying that “anyone carrying an openly exposed weapon will be asked to do so outside of the building.”
Tinsley added that some open-carry supporters still intend to try to bring black powder guns inside, claiming that they are not considered firearms under Texas law.
Apparently the Republican Party does not feel that a bunch of yahoos of unknown mental status wandering around their own convention with loaded AR-15s would make anything safer, even though we're all supposed to feel very safe and protected when the same yahoos do it in a public restaurant or home improvement store. Well, at least they probably can't shoot their own foot off with a musket. Probably.
© Kos Media, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304071/-Open-Carry-Texas-demands-NRA-retract-statement-blasting-Open-Carry-Texas-hijinx [with comments]
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NRA apologizes to Open Carry Texas lunatics for calling them 'weird', 'scary'
Not weird! Not scary!
@MomsDemand | Twitter
by Hunter
Tue Jun 03, 2014 at 04:52 PM PDT
You could not make this up if you tried. It only took a few days for the NRA to wash their hands of their previous statement asking Open Carry Texas to refrain from being gigantic public assholes [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304071/-Open-Carry-Texas-demands-NRA-retract-statement-blasting-Open-Carry-Texas-hijinx (just above)]. Not only are they apologizing for it, they're now saying it was all just a big misunderstanding [ http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/nra-apologizes-open-carry-texas ]:
In an interview on Tuesday with the organization's own news site, the head of the NRA's lobbying arm blamed a staff member's "personal opinion" for the content of an unsigned statement published Friday on the organization's website, and he apologized for "any confusion" the statement may have caused.
Ah, it was a rogue staff member who had a moment of clarity vis-a-vis whether a group of people showing up in Chili's with AR-15s, AK-47s and other rifles in hand was a good or a bad idea. Clearly it was a good idea! We're sorry! We regret ever implying that you are dysfunctional manchildren with sexual attachment issues as relates to your shiny guns, and/or poor spokesmen for our official and equally equally asinine position of demanding guns everywhere for all possible reasons no matter how many fine Americans might get murdered in the process!
"Ultimately, what this comes down to is a tactics discussion," Cox told NRA News host Cam Edwards. "Some people believe that the best way to effectuate that sort of policy change is in protest. And what they did in Texas is, some people decided to protest the absurdity of the ban on … open carry of handguns by carrying their long guns openly, and legally. Now, the truth is, an alert went out that referred to this type of behavior as weird, or somehow not normal. And that was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened. I've had a discussion with the staffer who wrote that piece, and expressed his personal opinion. Our job is not to criticize the lawful behavior of fellow gun owners."
No matter how dangerous, inflammatory or batshit insane that behavior might be, he did not need to add. And it sounded like some staffer got his behind handed to him for not recognizing that the NRA was in fact fully devoted to batshit insane proto-terrorists parading around with their guns in an attempt to intimidate passersby into taking their cause seriously. Hell, half their 2015 NRA calendar pictures will be photos of pasty guys with assault rifles eating at various fast-food restaurants.
"It was a poor word choice in an alert that went out," Cox said. "But again, the underlying point here is: what is the best tactic to win? That's what we're interested in. We're not interested in distractions. We're not interested in arguing with the national news media over this. We're interested in winning."
Damn liberal media, taking our staffer's statement of momentary rationality and running with it. We'll tell you if we're about to have a rational thought, media, so don't go sniffing around looking for one unannounced. There will be flashing lights, and white smoke will billow from the office chimney, and birds will all sing show tunes.
All right, NRA, you've made your point. Never again will anybody give you the benefit of the doubt, we promise. We'll always assume you've taken the most belligerent, offensive, destructive position and if we see any hints that you might have just once done otherwise, we all promise to hold our tongues until you've beat the unruly staffer responsible into dazed submission.
© Kos Media, LLC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304178/-NRA-apologizes-to-Open-Carry-Texas-lunatics-for-calling-them-weird-scary [with comments]
===
Man asked to store loaded gun before voting in Alabaster
By The Associated Press
on June 03, 2014 at 3:15 PM, updated June 03, 2014 at 5:10 PM
ALABASTER, Alabama -- A gun rights supporter who took a loaded pistol to the polls got to vote, but only after putting the weapon in his pickup truck.
John David Murphy wore his holstered 9 mm handgun and two ammunition clips into First United Methodist Church of Alabaster when he went to vote in the Republican primary Tuesday.
The church, like other precincts, had a sign in the door saying firearms are prohibited. But Murphy argued with a poll worker that his constitutional right to openly carry a weapon trumps a state law allowing guns in public places unless a sign is posted.
Poll workers called a deputy, who made Murphy put the gun in his truck outside before voting.
Murphy says he's going to complain to county leaders.
The National Rifle Association, while a zealous supporter of gun owners' rights, has discouraged actions like Murphy's in the state of Texas, where gun rights advocates have recently shown their support for "open carry" gun rights by bringing military-style assault rifles into businesses and public buildings.
The NRA has said such demonstrations have "crossed the line from enthusiasm to downright foolishness."
"Using guns merely to draw attention to yourself in public not only defies common sense, it shows a lack of consideration and manners," the NRA said in a statement posted on its website Friday.
© 2014 Associated Press
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/man_asked_to_store_loaded_gun.html [with comments]
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Gun-rights group challenging Shelby County after Alabaster man wears holstered pistol to polls
John David Murphy, 55, of Alabaster talks about gun rights on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, after he was denied entry into a polling location for the primary election because he openly wore a holstered pistol.
(Martin J. Reed / mreed@al.com)
By Martin J. Reed
on June 04, 2014 at 6:38 PM, updated June 04, 2014 at 6:51 PM
ALABASTER, Alabama [ http://www.al.com/local/alabaster/ ] -- A state gun-rights group is calling on Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry and Probate Judge Jim Fuhrmeister to eliminate the prohibition on firearms at polling places after an Alabaster man was refused entry with a holstered pistol [ http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/man_asked_to_store_loaded_gun.html (just above)] Tuesday.
Alabama Gun Rights Inc. is securing legal representation for John David Murphy in response to authorities refusing him entry into the First United Methodist Church in Alabaster during the primary election because he openly wore a holstered pistol on his belt.
"There is no authority for either the probate judge or the sheriff to engage in the conduct that they engaged in," George Owens, the organization's director of legislative affairs and public policy, said in a phone interview this afternoon.
Alabama Gun Rights Inc. wants to know if Curry and Fuhrmeister will admit "they simply exceeded their authority and they're either going to rescind the policy of their own admission ... or we're going to get a judge who will tell them that what they have done is unlawful," Owens said. "We are prepared to take this to court. We are going to defend Mr. Murphy."
Curry and Fuhrmeister could not be reached for comment this evening.
Murphy was one of three reports of individuals with firearms at polling places in Shelby County [ http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/shelby_county_receives_at_leas.html ] received by the Sheriff's Office on Tuesday. In Murphy's case, a sheriff's deputy instructed him to place the Glock 19 9mm pistol he openly wore in a holster in his vehicle before he could enter the church to vote.
"Judge Fuhrmiester's order should be rescinded," Murphy said at his home in Alabaster this afternoon. "Had I been concealed, I could've gone in and no one would've known a difference. I offered to conceal mine, but he (the deputy) said, 'I already know you got it.'"
Curry and the Probate Court have stated that firearms are not allowed at the polling locations. But similar officials in Chambers County on Tuesday decided to remove their prohibition on firearms [ http://www.al.com/news/montgomery/index.ssf/2014/06/guns_allowed_in_polling_places.html ] after determining that state law didn't prohibit guns from being carried into polling places.
"They came to the conclusion they simply do not have the statutory authority and have been specifically denied by the Legislature to issue any kind of gun ban," Owens said. "There has never been a single civil rights case in any court in this land ... that says when you exercise one right you forfeit another."
Murphy and Alabama Gun Rights Inc. are ready to challenge Shelby County's decision in the matter.
"I feel that it was improper that they stopped me from carrying my firearm openly, which is my constitutional right to do. And voting is also a constitutional right we have," Murphy said. "And an individual should not be denied exercise of one right in order to exercise another. That's what was done, and that's why this (issue) has gone so firestorm."
Murphy and Owens cited the Alabama Constitution, other state laws and court rulings including from the Alabama Supreme Court that support their stance on the matter.
"Our intent is to approach the judge and the sheriff, and we're going to ask them to reevaluate their position," Owens said. "We're going to give them the same moment of pause that the officials in Chambers County availed themselves of."
Owens referenced a quote from Curry in an AL.com story posted Tuesday about guns at polling sites. "We've got 121,000 registered voters in Shelby County. We've had three instances of someone with a gun at a polling place, so when you put it in that perspective, it doesn't rise to that much of an issue," Curry said.
"My question to Sheriff Curry is, how many citizens' rights have to be violated before we have to take it seriously?" Owens said. "We don't know how many citizens rights were violated, but I can tell you the sum total of the entire population of Shelby County that went to the polls that day had their rights violated whether they know it or not."
Murphy, a 55-year-old retiree on disability who lives with his mother, said he carries a pistol every day for self-defense. He hopes to see Shelby County change its ban on weapons at polling places by the runoff election July 15.
"At the runoff election, I will be going to the polls again with my firearm on my side as before. What I hope to see is I would be welcome there to vote as I presented myself there -- in other words, open carry of my firearm," Murphy said.
© 2014 Alabama Media Group
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/gun-rights_group_challenging_s.html [with a non-YouTube copy of the included YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIe0QWvCtu8 (with comment), embedded, and comments]
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Don't Take Your Guns To Vote
Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images
By Charles P. Pierce on June 4, 2014
Remember Shelby County, down there in Alabama, which was Ground Zero for the destruction of the Voting Rights Act [ http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/shelby-county-v-holder/ ], and the place where American racism was finally declared dead and John Roberts first heard the triumphant notes of the Day Of Jubilee? What say we go back there [ http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2014/06/shelby_county_receives_at_leas.html ] and see how things are working out?
This afternoon in Pelham, a report surfaced of a man wearing a shirt that stated "Bama Carry" wanting to bring a firearm into the Pelham First Baptist Church Annex on U.S. Highway 31. The man had a camera phone displayed and was recording his experience, a witness told AL.com. Sometime this morning, a man named John David Murphy wore his holstered 9mm pistol with two clips into First United Methodist Church of Alabaster. Murphy told The Associated Press he would complain to Shelby County authorities about having to put his gun in his truck before voting. Sheriff Chris Curry in an interview this afternoon said another man at a polling location wore a gun into the building, voted and was leaving when someone noticed his holstered pistol. Curry could not recall the polling location of the third encounter, and the man left before anyone spoke to him.
(By the way, if the First United Methodist Church Of Alabaster isn't something Flannery O'Connor dreamed up, it should be.)
It seems that what we had in Alabama yesterday was a remarkable convergence of virtually everything this Supreme Court has done [ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ala-man-told-store-loaded-gun-voting-23979327 ] to American society since it declared the Day Of Jubilee.
Several poll volunteers and voters expressed misgivings about someone being armed inside a precinct, but Murphy said he was going to complain to county leaders about his treatment. "Them being freaked out doesn't trump my right to open carry," said Murphy, who described himself as a member of Alabama Gun Rights, an advocacy group. In Chambers County, east of Montgomery on the Georgia line, the sheriff's department posted a message on its Facebook page saying "no weapons" signs had been removed from precincts following complaints after the sheriff and probate judge determined a new state firearms law did not apply to polling places.
We should keep in mind that these were primary elections. Everybody who thinks people are going to show up armed at the polls to intimidate Those People from whose ballots Roberts already has removed the protection of the federal law -- because racism is dead and it is the Day Of Jubilee -- are kidding themselves. There will be more of this and it will be more serious.
©2014 Hearst Communications, Inc.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/guns-voting-locations-shelby-county-060414 [with comments]
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Alabama GOP offers $1,000 for information on voter fraud
JayDanny Cooper urges Alabama residents to vote in the primary along the side of a highway March 13, 2012 in Birmingham, Ala.
06/03/14
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/alabama-gop-offer-money-to-find-voter-fraud [with comments]
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Thanks to new voter ID law, 93-year-old voter turned away in Alabama
Brennan Center for Justice
by Jen Hayden
Tue Jun 03, 2014 at 03:01 PM PDT
Alabama's new voter ID law is already making voting difficult [ http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/voter-id-law-disenfranchises-93-year-old-black-man ]:
Willie Mims, 93, showed up to vote at his polling place in Escambia County Tuesday morning for Alabama’s primary elections. Mims, who is African-American, no longer drives, doesn’t have a license, and has no other form of ID. As a result, he was turned away without voting. Mims wasn’t even offered the chance to cast a provisional ballot, as the law requires in that situation.
Jenny McCharen of Empower Alabama, a progressive group that gave Mims a ride to the polls, recounted the story for msnbc. McCharen said Mims’s voter file showed he has voted in every election since 2000, as far back as the records go.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice [ http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/challenge-obtaining-voter-identification ], nearly 11% of the U.S. population doesn't have identification:
The 11 percent of eligible voters who lack the required photo ID must travel to a designated government office to obtain one. Yet many citizens will have trouble making this trip. In the 10 states with restrictive voter ID laws:
- Nearly 500,000 eligible voters do not have access to a vehicle and live more than 10 miles from the nearest state ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. Many of them live in rural areas with dwindling public transportation options.
- More than 10 million eligible voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest state ID-issuing office open more than two days a week.
- 1.2 million eligible black voters and 500,000 eligible Hispanic voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. People of color are more likely to be disenfranchised by these laws since they are less likely to have photo ID than the general population.
- Many ID-issuing offices maintain limited business hours. For example, the office in Sauk City, Wisconsin is open only on the fifth Wednesday of any month. But only four months in 2012 — February, May, August, and October — have five Wednesdays. In other states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas — many part-time ID-issuing offices are in the rural regions with the highest concentrations of people of color and people in poverty.
It's a growing problem nationwide and it's all by design. Shame on you, Republicans.
© Kos Media, LLC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/03/1304147/-Thanks-to-new-voter-ID-law-93-year-old-voter-turned-away-in-Alabama [with comments] [the included YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks-4YRZWaNY (comments disabled)]
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Police: Gunman who killed 3 Canadian officers captured
By Faith Karimi and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
updated 2:02 AM EDT, Fri June 6, 2014
(CNN) -- A gunman who killed three police officers and wounded two others in Canada is in custody after more than a day on the run, authorities said Friday.
Police arrested Justin Bourque, 24, at 12:10 a.m. Friday (11:10 p.m. ET Thursday), according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Authorities said the suspect, dressed in fatigues and armed with a rifle, went on a rampage Wednesday evening in Moncton, New Brunswick.
Grieving police officers launched a manhunt for him. During news conferences, they broke down over the loss of their colleagues.
Michelle Thibodeau said the suspect was arrested on the front lawn of her home in Moncton.
She told CNN partner CBC that she watched authorities take down a man resembling a suspect seen in pictures circulated widely.
"The SWAT team arrived at my house and unloaded, and started screaming in my backyard for him to surrender and he did," she tweeted.
"They had him sprawled on my front lawn for some time and then loaded him into the SWAT vehicle. They are now checking my yard for firearms."
Shortly after the shooting, SWAT teams swarmed neighborhoods and surrounded buildings, warning everyone to stay inside, lock their doors and remain calm.
"We can all rest easy and safe here in Moncton, thanks to the wonderful RCMP and all of the officers. We sincerely thank you!," Tawni McCready posted on the local police Facebook page. "Our greatest sympathies go out to the families of our fallen heroes."
Motive unknown
Police spotted the suspect at least three times Thursday morning, but did not catch him, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Marlene Snowman said.
The victims were all officers of the RCMP, said Roger Brown, the commander for the New Brunswick RCMP.
"This is perhaps the darkest day in the history of RCMP New Brunswick," he said.
Authorities have not released the names of the officers killed, saying they are waiting for all family members to be notified.
Police don't know -- or haven't disclosed -- what prompted the attacks.
Police leaders appeared emotional as they conveyed the few details they had to reporters.
"As you can imagine, this is working through your worst nightmare," Brown said.
Last social media post?
A Facebook page purported to belong to Bourque has many posts with pro-gun photos and a few anti-police memes.
There is also one photo in which two men pose with shotguns in the snow. It was posted February 25, six days after the Facebook page was created, and is used as the profile picture.
In what appears to be his final post, the page's author used the words of a song by the metal group Megadeath.
You say you've got the answers, well who asked you anyway?
Ever think maybe it was meant to be this way?
Don't try to fool us, we know the worst is yet to come.
I believe my kingdom will come.
Terror outside the window
The rampage began Wednesday evening when police responded to a report of an armed man in the north end of Moncton.
Joan MacAlpine-Stiles saw the gunman through an open window.
"It was really warm in the house, so we opened up the windows in the family room, and there he was going across through the back with this rifle on his shoulder," she told CNN partner CBC.
"I said, 'Oh, my God, there he is with camouflage and the headband and a gun,' and it looked like a bow he had with him, and I mean, he was just through our backyard," she said.
After police arrived, neighbor Vanessa Bernatchez watched with a couple of others from a living room window. She uploaded a video of the confrontation to Facebook.
"He shot him. He shot the ... cop," a man in the video exclaims. "Call 911!"
Polite city
Moncton, a city of about 140,000 people, is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Saint John.
"It's a lot. Especially for a city like this, where you wouldn't expect something to happen like this," resident Jonathan Hurshman told CTV. "You see it all in the States, and you think, 'No, that could never happen here' -- and sure enough, it happens here."
There were no homicides in Moncton in 2011 and 2012, and the average number of homicides per year between 2006 and 2011 was one.
In 2012, the homicide rate in Canada was 1.6 per 100,000, while in the United States, it was 4.7 per 100,000, according to United Nations statistics.
CNN's Mariano Castillo, Dave Alsup, AnneClaire Stapleton, Greg Botelho, Kevin Conlon and Elizabeth Lander contributed to this report.
© 2014 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/06/world/canada-shooting/ [with embedded video reports, and comments]
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
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