Who defends themselves with guns?

[WESGATORS]

This white guy I used to work with used to do the same thing.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

[wygator]

Originally Posted by lacuna

Am I? Right now I'm think Gray is probably wishing you hadn't resurrected my question of him.

Earlier in the thread Gray wrote:


It wasn't "important [or even necessary] for him to point out it was a 'guy'." He chose that word when other words could have similarly conveyed the fact it was a 'man' or a 'person' or a 'human being' standing in his driveway. He also could have written it was 'some jerk' or 'some idiot' "dressed head to toe in all black."

He chose "guy." Fine. I asked him why he thought it necessary to inform readers of the thread it was a "black guy." He deflected and side stepped my question and made a pathetic attempt to imply I was a racist for asking it. He postured and overused emoticons, but he never answered the question as to why he thought it necessary to point out the person who frightened him and trespassed in his yard was black.

Gray probably doesn't have a ready answer that he feels comfortable sharing on the thread. He strikes me as being a reactionary and shallow thinker. If he delved into his own inner mental processes he might self expose himself as being one of the sheeple he accuses others of being.

Racism is subtle and insidious. It's likely many of us are racist and not consciously aware of it. I know I once found I had a racist perception I was not aware I had. Discovering this about myself has made me more aware of racist attitudes in people who might not be aware they harbor them. Their speech - and their writing - reveals a darker truth.

In 1976 my husband and I moved from one state to another and used Bekins Van Lines as our carrier. A three man crew moved our furniture from the house onto the van. They were careful and efficient. I had some question or concern and needed to speak to the driver, the man who generally heads a long distance moving crew. One of the 3 men was hardly out of his teens so I knew he wasn't the driver. The second man was black and the third was an older white man in his 50's. I went to the older man with my question and was in turn directed by him to the black man. It was an eye opening experience for me.

Just a description of the perp...

[HudsonGator]

Originally Posted by lacuna

He postured and overused emoticons...

That seems to be a pattern with him.

[DaveFla]

It's a disturbing trend on the local news to try to remain PC. Many times, while attempting to describe a suspect, they omit the race.

I think Gray was merely trying to be descriptive here. There was no such intent as lacuna is insinuating. After all, why use the word "guy"? The sex of the suspect meant as little to the story as his race, after all.

[Lawdog88]

All prudent white and black guys that I know, if presented with the same circumstances as were presented to Gray, would have done basically the same thing.

Some of the more imprudent ones I know, might have ratcheted the situation up a notch or two.

[lacuna]

Originally Posted by wygator

Just a description of the perp...

Originally Posted by DaveFla

It's a disturbing trend on the local news to try to remain PC. Many times, while attempting to describe a suspect, they omit the race.

I think Gray was merely trying to be descriptive here. There was no such intent as lacuna is insinuating. After all, why use the word "guy"? The sex of the suspect meant as little to the story as his race, after all.

Descriptive? Perhaps. But why so explicitly descriptive when the people Gray was relating the story to on Too Hot were not police officers charged with the responsibility of looking for the suspect to detain, question and possibly arrest for theft. There was no need for the Too Hot reader to know the trespasser was black but for the fact Gray, for whatever reason, thought it necessary to make that fact known. Why was that unless he has an agenda or bias he is unaware of having.

"Guy" is the word he chose to denote the trespasser was male. Gray could have used 'person', 'man', or some other word to indicate the trespasser was a male and not a woman approaching him in the dark. It would have been equally offensive for Gray to state he was accosted by a black woman had the trespasser been female. But to designate "guy" (or woman had that been the case) a descriptive term in the same sense the word "black" was a descriptor, is nothing but a strawman.

I rarely watch the local news in Gainesville so I can't say if the news team states the race of suspects on its broadcasts. I do read The Sun daily and know for a fact the racial identity of suspects is stated in printed accounts of local crimes.

It's nice you guys are so interested in providing possible explanations for Gray, but it would be even nicer if Gray returned to the thread to provide his own explanation.

[MichaelJoeWilliamson]

No doubt there is causation

Kennesaw’s 1982 gun mandate was a direct response to a gun -ban- enacted a year earlier in Morton Grove, Illinois. That was later deemed unconstitutional, but Kennesaw’s law is still on the books.

Added Lt. Graydon, “It was not meant to be an enforceable law. The police department has never searched homes to make sure you had a gun. It was meant more or less as a political statement to support citizens’ second amendment rights to own firearms.”

After the law went into effect in 1982, city leaders say they witnessed a 29% drop in crime. Over the last 30 years, the crime rate has remained low with just four gun-related homicides.

“Our crime rate is generally less than half the national average,” added Lt. Graydon.

[Minister_of_Information]

I wonder what happened to Morton Grove?

[MichaelJoeWilliamson]

I wondered the same thing.

This is all I could find;

In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw - responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. - unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of "Wild West" showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting - as a victim, attacker or defender.


The crime rate initially plummeted for several years after the passage of the ordinance, with the 2005 per capita crime rate actually significantly lower than it was in 1981, the year before passage of the law.

Prior to enactment of the law, Kennesaw had a population of just 5,242 but a crime rate significantly higher (4,332 per 100,000) than the national average (3,899 per 100,000). The latest statistics available - for the year 2005 - show the rate at 2,027 per 100,000. Meanwhile, the population has skyrocketed to 28,189.

By comparison, the population of Morton Grove, the first city in Illinois to adopt a gun ban for anyone other than police officers, has actually dropped slightly and stands at 22,202, according to 2005 statistics. More significantly, perhaps, the city's crime rate increased by 15.7 percent immediately after the gun ban, even though the overall crime rate in Cook County rose only 3 percent. Today, by comparison, the township's crime rate stands at 2,268 per 100,000.

This was not what some predicted.

http://wizbangblog.com/content/2007/...-two-towns.php

caveat emptor. The article originates from WND.

[MichaelJoeWilliamson]

“A 22-year-old man found himself facing a summons after he told officers he fired his shotgun repeatedly upon finding masked suspects leaning in his window.” Huh? But the Vice President of these here U-Nited States said firing warning shots with a shotgun is the sine qua non in home defense strategy. Ol’ Double Barrel Joe even confided that he advised his own wife to do just that if she ever felt threatened in their home. Guess that doesn’t apply in Virginia. Trevor Snowden of Virginia Beach “told police his dog was acting strange. When he walked to his bedroom, he said he saw two masked suspects leaning in his open window” . . .

From wavy.com:

Snowden told police the suspects pointed weapons at him and told him to shut the bedroom door. Thinking the suspects were going to rob him, he moved into the hallway and retrieved a shotgun.

Moyers said Snowden fired through his bedroom door, then opened the door and fired several more rounds toward the window. Any suspects fled the area and could not be located by officers.

Snowden’s been charged with reckless handling of a firearm. Since this was all just a misunderstanding – Trevor was obviously just following government sanctioned advice – we’re sure the Veep will be glad to cover his attorney’s fees and any fines that may be assessed."

---From The Truth About Guns

[ncgatr1]

Damn Snowden needs more time at the range.

[MichaelJoeWilliamson]

Civilian shoots would-be robber during attempted bank hold-up

The FBI said a man walked into the bank, showed a weapon and demanded cash. He was shot in the face by a civilian in the bank during the attempted robbery and then left, the FBI said.

Police apparently pursued the car down 169 Highway to I-435 and put down spikes to stop the car. The pursuit ended at I-435 just south of 152 Highway.

http://fox4kc.com/2013/03/01/bank-ro...h-speed-chase/

[HudsonGator]

U.S. Gun Deaths Since Sandy Hook Top 1,280
Updated: 02/03/2013 3:32 pm EST


WASHINGTON -- It was Christmas night when Sincere Smith, 2, found his father’s loaded gun on the living room table of their Conway, S.C., mobile home. It took just a second for Smith’s tiny hands to find the trigger and pull. A single bullet ripped into his upper right chest and out his back.

His father, Rondell Smith, said he had turned away to call Sincere’s mother, who had left to visit a friend. His back was turned to the toddler, he said, for just that moment.

Sincere was still conscious when his father scooped him up and rushed him to the hospital, just a few minutes away.

Eleven hours earlier, Sincere Smith had woken up to Christmas -- the first that he was old enough to appreciate. His father remembered their last morning well -– his son ripping through wrapping paper, squealing with delight with each new gift -- his first bike, a bright toy barn.

.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_2602074.html

[ufhomerj31]

Originally Posted by HudsonGator

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_2602074.html

we should ban stupidity, never leave a loaded gun any where.

[HudsonGator]

Originally Posted by ufhomerj31

we should ban stupidity....

If only we could.

[MichaelJoeWilliamson]

Professors James D. Wright and Peter Rossi surveyed 2,000 felons incarcerated in state prisons across the United States. Wright and Rossi reported that 34% of the felons said they personally had been "scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim"; 69% said that they knew at least one other criminal who had also; 34% said that when thinking about committing a crime they either "often" or "regularly" worried that they "[m]ight get shot at by the victim"; and 57% agreed with the statement, "Most criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police."

(James D. Wright & Peter H. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms [1986]. See Guns and Public Health: Epidemic of Violence or Pandemic of Propaganda? by Don B. Kates, et. al. Originally published as 61 Tenn. L. Rev. 513-596 [1994]).

[HudsonGator]

Originally Posted by MichaelJoeWilliamson

(James D. Wright & Peter H. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms [1986]. See Guns and Public Health: Epidemic of Violence or Pandemic of Propaganda? by Don B. Kates, et. al. Originally published as 61 Tenn. L. Rev. 513-596 [1994]).

And I'm sure 100% of them would also tell you that they were innocent of all charges...

[Lawdog88]

Originally Posted by HudsonGator

If only we could.

Well, since we can't ban stupidity, let's ban everything else !

[HudsonGator]

Perhaps we should revisit eugenics.

[Lawdog88]

Originally Posted by HudsonGator

Perhaps we should revisit eugenics.

And your suggestions on thinning the gene pool would be . . . . ?