Watch Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Persons” segment about Mary McFate who spied on gun violence prevention organizations for over 12 years as a NRA mole. McFate received second place as Olbermann’s “Worser” persons, even ahead of Bill O’Reilly from Fox News. The impetus was an investigative report by Mother Jones, “There’s Something About Mary: Unmasking a [...]
(We are pleased to post the following press release from our partners at the National Parks Conservation Association whom we’ve partner with to keep concealed guns out of our National Parks). FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON – July 31 – The nation’s leading voice for the national parks, the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) today [...]
Crosscut, a Seattle based news website and blog, reacted strongly to the Mother Jones investigative report outing Mary McFate as a NRA mole. (Mary “McFate,” as we have repeatedly noted, was a Freedom States Alliance board member since September 2006). Knute Berger of Crosscut wrote: Barry Goldwater famously said that “extremism in defense of liberty [...]
(We are pleased to post the following alert from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence). ICHV Insights July 31, 2008 Dan Gross is a co-founder of PAX, an organization that has become the largest non-lobbying organization dedicated to the gun violence issue. One of the organization’s programs, the national ASK Campaign (ASK stands for Asking [...]
Mary “McFate,” one of Freedom States Alliance’s own board members, has just been outed as a NRA spy within the gun violence prevention movement. Read this shell-shocking investigative report by James Ridgeway, Daniel Schulman, and David Corn from Mother Jones. There’s Something About Mary: Unmasking a Gun Lobby Mole Mary McFate was a prominent gun [...]
Board Members With Whom ‘Mary McFate’ Served Are Available For Comment FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Angus McQuilken, Board Spokesperson 508-277-1133; angusmcquilken@comcast.net Scott Vogel, Communications Director, scott@freedomstatesalliance.org (July 30th, 2008, Chicago) Freedom States Alliance (FSA), responded today to an article released on the Mother Jones web site documenting the double life of one of the organization’s [...]
Pro-gun Senator Jim Webb’s own aide apparently committed suicide with a gunshot to the head. According to the Washington Post on July 30th: Frederick Wayne Hutchins Jr., who headed up Sen. James Webb’s Roanoke office, was found dead this morning alongside a highway in Botetourt County, according to the sheriff’s office. Hutchins, 26, had been [...]
Morgan Spurlock became famous for his Oscar nominated film “Super Size Me,” where he lived exclusively on McDonald’s fast food for 30 days. He has now replicated the concept into an entire TV series called “30 Days.” The premise of his show is to take people with radically different points of view and pair them [...]
Sometimes people just aren’t what they seem. Jerry Lewis, whose annual telethon raises millions of dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association — last year it raised $63.8 million — was arrested in Las Vegas. According to the Associated Press: Police say they have confiscated a gun belonging to Jerry Lewis that was found in the [...]
More troubling information is being released about Jim Adkisson’s shooting rampage at a Knoxville, Tenn. church. According to ABC News: The gunman who yesterday shot up a Tennessee church that embraced gays and other liberal causes left behind a long letter fuming that he couldn’t find a job and expressing a profound “hatred for the [...]
According to WBIR NBC news in Tennessee: The Knoxville Police Department has released the names of those injured in Sunday’s church shooting, while UT Medical Center has confirmed their conditions. They are: * Joe Barnhart – age 70 – no info on condition * Jack Barnhart – age 71 – critical condition * Betty Barnhart [...]
According to the Associated Press in Milwaukee: A 56-year-old Milwaukee man is accused of shooting his lawn mower because it wouldn’t start. Keith Walendowski has been charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed. According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski says he was angry because his Lawn [...]
TN: Angry over not finding a job and hatred for the liberal movement, Jim Adkisson, 58, used a shotgun he purchased at a pawn shop, and walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church where he shot and killed two adults, and wounded seven others before being tackled by church members. IL: Two men were [...]
Guns on campus for protection? Well, this story today in Phoenix demonstrates that armed individuals on college campuses are, in fact, the worst possible idea for protecting students or improving public safety. A simmering fight between two men resulted in two innocent people being wounded by stray gunfire. The fact that innocent people get hurt [...]
(We are pleased to post the following edition of “Illinois Insights” from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, an affiliate of Freedom States Alliance). Like many students who won awards in ICHV’s Essay, Poetry and Art Contest this year, Verdell Taylor has experienced the effects of violence in his own life. “I wrote an essay [...]
A double tragedy in Wisconsin leaves a community stricken with grief. According to the Associated Press: Police in Elko say a distraught teenager from Wisconsin committed suicide after accidentally shooting another boy in the head with a handgun. Investigators say the 15-year-old boy was visiting with family and was at another’s boy home across the [...]
CO: Edward Davidson, convicted “spam king,” walked away from a minimum security prison in Florence, Colo. Four days after his jailbreak, Davidson shot and killed Amy Lee Ann Hill, 29, and their 3-year old daughter. Davidson shot and wounded his teen daughter before killing himself; Hill’s 7-month old son was spared. GA: A Fort Stewart-based [...]
Well, we told you so. In fact, even the pro-gun Bush administration’s own Department of Justice and Solicitor General’s Office told us so. A Supreme Court ruling reversing the ban on handguns in D.C., and an unprecedented new interpretation that the Second Amendment grants an individual “right to keep and bear arms†might backfire and [...]
We were moving our office recently and came across a March 27, 1998, Wall Street Journal op-ed by the controversial pro-gun “researcher†John Lott. Lott became famous for marketing his dubious claims that “more guns equal less crime” and spearheaded CCW laws across the country. The methodology of some of Lott’s “scholarship†has been challenged [...]
MI: Betty Reedy, 58, was shot to death by a man she divorced 23 years ago. Her ex-husband, Albert Reedy, 67, was found dead with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the chest. MO: Firefighters became victims of what appeared to be an ambush Monday when they were fired upon from a house as they worked [...]
Leadership matters when it comes to confronting special interests, especially taking on the gun industry and lobby. Too many of our leaders choose to placate gun proponents instead of challenging their radical worldview that seeks to increase the availability and lethality of guns. As a result, the United States suffers approximately 30,000 gun deaths each [...]
Dick Heller, who was the lead plaintiff in overturning the D.C. handgun ban isn’t done yet. After being one of only two people to register a handgun with the Washington, D.C., police after the ban was overturned by the Supreme Court, Heller vowed to fight on: Dick Heller, whose legal challenge prompted the Supreme Court [...]
Satire sometimes cuts to the heart of the matter, as does this commentary from a comedic news website, CAP,on the Supreme Court decision overturning the D.C. ban on handguns: Amid criticism of a recent ruling that potentially opens up millions of previously firearm-free homes in America to the high-stakes game of handgun possession, the Supreme [...]
(We are pleased to post the following press release from Freedom States Alliance affiliate, Ceasefire NJ and elected officials from July 14th). For Immediate Release MAYOR BOOKER, SENATOR CUNNINGHAM, AND JERSEY CITY MAYOR HEALY DENOUNCE ILLEGAL HANDGUN TRADE AT ELWOOD PARK PRESS CONFERENCE Newark, NJ – July 14, 2008 – Mayor Cory A. Booker joined [...]
LA: A 4-year-old boy died after he wandered into his grandmother’s house and discovered her 22-calibur pistol. Family members aren’t sure how it happened, but the gun went off and the bullet struck him in the head. SC: 52-year-old Kurt Edward Kern shot his wife, 51-year-old Patricia Anne Kern, in the head and then took [...]
Despite Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s ruling in the DC handgun ban case that invented a new theory that the Second Amendment grants an “individual right” to keep and bear arms, Scalia also went out of his way to hold that an “exhaustive” list of gun control measures could be passed and held Constitutional. Even [...]
What a refreshing breeze sanity brings in its wake! Officials at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana have announced that the recent “D.C. Handgun Ban” Supreme Court ruling will have no impact on their prohibition of guns on campus. According to the News-Gazette in Champaign: Bring a gun to the Illini Union, a dorm, or [...]
KY: Videos provide glimpse of Ky. plant shooting MI: Detroit dad, son in critical condition after shooting MA: 3rd suspect arraigned in Worcester shooting IL: Teen’s Older Brother In Custody For Shooting Death CA: Gilroy man is suspect in fatal Palo Alto City Hall shooting MO: Double shooting at St. Louis area mall OH: Hurricane [...]
The District of Columbia enacted new and revised regulations to comply with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that held that DC’s handgun ban was unconstitutional. Although GunGuys believes that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Heller was a craven political decision that ignored over 200 years of legal and historical precedent, the District was left no [...]
AZ: Man kills self as police investigate other death. FL: After an emotional day of testimony, a judge issued a temporary ruling in a custody case that could shape the future of an 11-year-old boy who recently lost both parents in murder-suicide. FL: Courtney Saddler, 31, shot dead his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend, Ahlandone Ford, then turned [...]
It is the most sensible policy, an idea that GunGuys calls “common sense for the common good.” It’s a true compromise for gun owners and gun violence prevention advocates: gun owners can purchase guns, and advocates and law enforcement officials can dramatically reduce gun trafficking. The true beneficiaries are communities that would become safer, and [...]
Gun violence continues to poison Chicago’s communities. The city is facing an estimated 13% rise in homicides this year and civic leaders are demanding solutions and protesting against the spiraling violence caused by guns. According to the Chicago Tribune on July 14th: Hours after 3 latest gun-related killings in city, hundreds protest, beg for it [...]
FL: The Orange County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in the parking lot near a theater complex at Downtown Disney. Giovanny Munoz Perez, 33, of Haines City, was returning to his car with his 12-year-old son; while getting into the car, his .40 caliber Glock accidentally discharged striking him in the left leg. OH: [...]
It seems like the NRA is desperately trying to pass some last minute policy changes before George W. Bush leaves office, despite the danger to public safety. Perhaps that’s why the gun lobby is hard at work trying to allow gun owners to carry hidden and loaded guns into our National Parks. (The Department of [...]
Yes, the NRA usually moves their unnecessary, extremist efforts to pass legislation in waves. As we’ve reported, one of their key objectives is to pass laws in each state that require employers to allow workers to bring guns onto company property, in particular parking lots. In Florida, where they passed such a law, the Disney [...]
On July 8th, GunGuys posted a story about Toronto’s Mayor, David Miller, who called on the United States government to crack down on illegal guns pouring into his city and other towns in Canada. Now, more information and details are being released about how big the problem of gun trafficking from the U.S. into Canada [...]
TN: A 9-year-old Bessemer boy was killed in what police called an unintentional shooting. The boy and several other children were playing with the weapon when it discharged, striking the youngster in the head. MN: A man went to his ex-girlfriend’s house and shot and killed her then killed himself in the alley. Authorities say [...]
In writing the opinion in the DC handgun ban case, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in essence, invited gun control laws to be challenged and litigated in the courts. Although Scalia would say otherwise, his opinion foresaw an active role for the judiciary in the coming decades on the gun issue. Although Scalia gave an [...]
A news brief from Reuters on July 9th stated: Last month’s Supreme Court ruling striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital will lead to more deaths and accidental injuries, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said on Wednesday. They joined a growing clamor from medical doctors, especially emergency [...]
MA: Three teens, aged 13, 14, and 15, were shot at 12:30 a.m. on the third floor of a Dorchester porch. NE: Race may have been the motive behind the death of Brittany Williams, 21, a University of Nebraska-Omaha student who was shot to death on Jan. 20 as she sat in a drive-through lane [...]
GunGuys.com is non-partisan, as we repeatedly note. However, we do occasionally report on how the gun lobby and gun industry interact with politics. Following up on a recent report that the NRA will spend $40 million on ads to defeat Barack Obama, we found an interesting story in the Congressional Quarterly on July 8th: Barack [...]
Maybe we should listen to the wind from the north blowing us an important warning, in this case the Mayor of Toronto: With 11 murders in Toronto so far this year, Mayor David Miller is once again calling for more action south of the border to stem the flow of illegal U.S. guns into Canada. [...]
NE: Race may have been the motive behind the death of Brittany Williams, 21, a University of Nebraska-Omaha student who was shot to death on Jan. 20 as she sat in a drive-through lane in Florence. Kyle Bormann, 19, fired a single shot from a high-powered sniper rifle that killed Williams. Evidence gathered at the [...]
The NRA believes that Disney World employees should be allowed to keep loaded and hidden handguns on Disney’s own parking lot despite the company’s fervent objections. Disney World maintains, rather sensibly, that only Disney has the right to decide its own safety measures and policy around weapons on company grounds. The NRA should mind its [...]
(We are pleased to post the following op-ed from Freedom States Alliance affiliate, New England Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, written by its Executive Director, Cathie Whittenburg.) Follow the Supreme Court’s Lead On Gun Control Saturday, July 5, 2008 – Bangor Daily News In the recent ruling District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court [...]
MD: An 18-year-old woman was raped by a suspect wielding a gun. Baltimore County Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the man. IA: Two children were involved in an accidental shooting in rural Boone on Thursday. No arrests were made or charges filed, and the shooting was determined to be unintentional, said [...]
Syndicated Chicago Tribune columnist Robert Koehler is a compassionate journalist who frequently writes with a broad overview of issues. And that is how he approached the recent Supreme Court ruling establishing the NRA’s interpretation of the Second Amendment. In his most recent column, Koehler writes: As one anonymous writer put it in response to a [...]
We haven’t talked about gun suicides in awhile, but Mother Jones magazine brings up the issue in relation to the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding handgun “ownership” as an “individual right.” Alas, the number of people killed in “self-defense” with a gun is dwarfed by the number of people who commit suicide with a firearm. [...]
FL: Teen Arrested In Shooting Over Playstation MO: Investigators: Love-triangle may have led to north St. Louis shooting CA: AMBER Alert Issued In Connection With SoCal Shooting, Abduction TX: Garland Police tell News 8 that Thai Nguyen, the suspect in six random shootings across several northern Dallas suburbs, has confessed to all six of the [...]
The gun lobby’s smear machine is gearing up for a major assault on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The NRA stated it would spend approximately $40 million on this year’s fall elections “with $15 million of that devoted to portraying Barack Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment rights upheld last week by the Supreme [...]
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