Janine Balekdjian: The Tuscon Massacre and Jan Brewer

Why Has Support For Gun Control Tanked?
Nate Birkhead has an interesting and informative post up about lobbying and the power of the NRA. He notes that Gun Control has become far less popular over the last 20 years, and concludes: The NRA, though it is exceptionally powerful (and it is), would still not be able to suppress the interests of populace if there was considerable support for renewed Gun Control initiatives. The problem for Rep. McCarthy and her allies: there’s very little public support for limiting access to guns. I...

Tougher Gun Laws?
WASHINGTON — Despite powerful lobbying against any new gun-control measures by groups like the National Rifle Association, a new Bipartisan poll shows that both gun owners and the general public support stronger measures to keep Firearms out of the hands of criminals and other potentially dangerous individuals. The poll — conducted for the coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino — suggests that wh...

Bloombergs Gun Control Group Polls On Gun Control
Mayor Bloomberg has joined the pushback effort on the suggestion that passing Gun Control Legislation is neither possible nor palatable in the current political environment, releasing a poll through his Mayors Against Illegal Guns group today that demonstrates a “sensible approach” to the nation’s Gun Laws. The poll was conducted jointly by Momentum Analysis, a polling firm with Democratic clients, and American Viewpoint, a polling firm with Republican clients. “This po...

Both sides of the gun debate make their case at state Capitol
Opposing groups rally at Capitol Square in Richmond during Martin Luther King Day, anti-gun and pro-gun supporters. Video by Chris I. Young (more) In the aftermath of a Mass Shooting in Arizona, and on a day off work designed to commemorate the life of an assassinated civil-rights leader, both sides of the gun debate converged on Richmond on Monday to prod state lawmakers for legislative reform. Armed, pro-gun advocates pressed their case for less Regulation of Firearms in the state by assertin...

ABC, NBC Fret Over Gun Show in Tucson, ABC Surprised Crowds Arent Protesters, Theyre Customers
On Saturday, both ABC and NBC ran stories fretting over the Crossroads of the West Gun Show that was held over the weekend in Tucson, Arizona. On ABC, at one point, correspondent David Wright seemed surprised that the large number of people showing up at the event were customers instead of Protesters. After relaying that some members of Congress want more Gun Control laws and cautioning viewers that they should not "hold your breath for them to pass," he continued:: "If you wonder...

Rallies in Richmond target gun laws from both sides
With Michael Sluss of The Roanoke Times RICHMOND It's one of the most heated debates of our time: Would fewer guns equal fewer killings, or is it just the opposite? In the shadow of the recent shootings in Arizona, the argument is as contentious as ever. Both sides came to the capital Monday to air their starkly different views to lawmakers. The face-off, however, was more subdued than in years past. Each camp staged its own rally and kept largely to its own. The irony of dueling over guns on M...

Ron Paul: Gun control push after Tucson massacre is despicable
Stumble This! 'Guns and violence are a fact of life,' Texas Rep. insists Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul assailed as "nonsensical" the recent attempts at stiffening Gun Control laws in the aftermath of the shooting rampage in Arizona that killed six and thirteen injured In an op-ed for The Hill published Monday, Paul sharply denounced the violence in Tucson last Saturday, but said that "some have attempted to use this tragedy to discredit philosophical adversaries or score political points. Thi...

Too Many
Bob Herbert asks how many deaths by guns are enough.We’ve allowed the Extremists to carry the day when it comes to guns in the United States, and it’s the dead and the wounded and their families who have had to pay the awful price. The idea of having large numbers of College Students packing heat in their classrooms and at their parties and sporting events, or at the local pub or frat house or gymnasium, or wherever, is too stupid for words. [...] Approximately 100,000 shootings oc...

Gun debate reaches state Capitol on 'lobby day'
The movie, which originally was planned as a five-minute public service announcement, follows shooting survivor Colin Goddard, who is now a gun-control advocate. After the 45-minute documentary ended, Goddard received a standing ovation from crowd members at the downtown YWCA, who were urged to join in an afternoon vigil and lie-in at the Capitol Square's Bell Tower for Victims of gun violence. It was part of a day of demonstrations and advocacy in what has come to be known as "lobby day" at th...

Safer Streets 2011: The system is not broken, it is short-circuited.
In 1987, the City of New York did to Billie Boggs what our public servant governments are doing to the rest of us. It is important to understand that when the rights of some are violated, all our rights are violated not as one people at one moment, but sooner or later, where everyone else is next. Gun Control has a great deal in common with the abuses of powers in the case of Billie Boggs. I describe the story in Chapter 21 in my E-book Safer Streets 2010 . Briefly, Billie Boggs was among...

Safer Streets 2011: What do you do in the absence of first responders?
I have often been asked how a Paramedic reconciles the use of lethal force with a mission or philosophy of saving lives. I was asked this so often that I put it on the liner notes on the back cover of my hardcover book. It is a most important question for non-gun owners to ask. Its answer is the message of Liberty. The question is what do you do in the absence of First Responders? My question is what can you do in the absence of First Responders? I have articulated this for more than three dec...

A Realistic View of Gun Ownership
Due to a recent Supreme Court decision, Chicago recently rewrote its gun ordinance. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of these United States reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and Bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Thomas Jefferson’s letters to James Madison make it clear that the intent of the 2nd amendment was that the fledgling United States have able-bodied men as a militia; the Founders...

Enhancing "civility" in politics is too broad a goal to be enforceable by public pressure and "eliminating threats of violence"

Times Suddenly Discovers Caution When It Comes to Blaming Drugs for Loughner's Rampage
The Times found yet another angle to the killings and attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson: “Shooting Suspect has Been Known to use Potent, and Legal, Hallucinogen.” No one has suggested that his use of a Hallucinogenic herb or any other drugs contributed to Jared L. Loughner’s apparent mental unraveling that culminated with his being charged in a devastating outburst of violence here. Yet it is striking how closely the typical effects of smoking the h...