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As our main man Zimmerman reported previously, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is organizing/coordinating a nationwide series of candlelight vigils for victims of gun violence. Strangely, the media kit bit is password protected. But we do have access to the sample prayers and stories page. Make the jump for Sample Prayer 2. Apparently, love is more powerful than any gun. Meanwhile and anyway, I’d like to point out that none of the four sample stories present a de facto case for gun control . . .

Kenzo Dix

Kenzo was visiting a friend’s house. His friend decided to show him his father’s gun. Thinking he had unloaded it, his friend walked into the room and pulled the trigger. The bullet, still hidden in the chamber, killed Kenzo. Kenzo was shot. Our lives stopped. Unintentional shootings could be prevented with simple changes in gun design. But guns are exempt from federal consumer product safety regulations.

Some guns have built-in safeties that prevent the shooter from firing the weapon without a magazine. But a mag safety can render a gun ineffective for defensive use (e.g. if the magazine falls out during contact). The free market has spoken on this point; remembering that there are trade-offs with any safety system.

Equally, constitutionally protected gun owners don’t want the Nanny State designing firearms by fiat. Consider the dreaded “Massachusetts trigger” and the limited selection of firearms available for sale in the Bay State. Firearms are, generally, safe. There is no statistically valid case for allowing the government to modify their design.

Besides, a mag safety is no guarantee against a negligent discharge. While we’re at it, one wonders (Tim McNabb style) if young Kenzo would still be alive if both sets of parents had taught their children gun safety—a proposal which never gets air time in the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence’s campaign to prevent gun violence.

Laura Ligon Wilcox

Laura was killed in a rampage shooting at her place of work in Nevada County. A severely mentally ill gunman shot Laura four times at close range, killing her instantly.

Laura’s killer, Scott Thorpe, was diagnosed with acute paranoid psychosis. His health care providers failed to intervene when it was clear that the legal gun owner was a danger to himself and others. Thorpe’s sister specifically warned his doctors that her brother owned guns and would use them “if pressed.” The Brady blurb also fails to mention that Laura’s place of work was the Nevada County Behavioral Health Department.

In short, Laura’s killing was a failure of the mental health care system, not gun laws. (As Wilcox’s parents pointed out last Sunday at sacbe.com). If Thorpe had been committed—as he should have been—he would not have been able to buy or keep firearms. He would not have been able to attack anyone with any weapon.

Dante Boone and Travante James

Every day we read in the papers about another young person killed with guns in Richmond, like my two cousins Travante James and Dante Boone. In the meantime, the gun manufacturing industry is thriving.

The Brady Campaign doesn’t provide any back story for the gun violence victims. sfgate.com reports that Dante Boone was killed in a drive-by shooting. richmondconfidential.org reports that Travante Jones was shot 15 times in the chest at 4am in the so-called “Iron triangle.” Do I really need to point out that gun control has no appreciable effect on illegal gun use amongst the criminal class (whether or not either man was involved in the trade)?

The fact that the gun industry is thriving is a good thing, not a bad thing. It proves that there’s a market amongst law abiding citizens for a tool with which they can defend themselves against hardened criminals. Amongst other things.

Jan Heyne

Memorial Day, 2005, my beautiful wife of 25 years, Jan, and I were returning a boat we had used to my best friend, Steve Mazin. As we were speaking with Steve in his front yard, a man with a history of violence and, with, whom Steve had a longstanding feud, appeared suddenly, walked straight up to us, pulled a 9mm hand gun from behind his back, and shot all three of us multiple times. Jan and Steve died instantly, and I was left for dead.

Incredibly, Steve had recently been granted a restraining order against the killer, knowing he was capable of doing exactly what he did! The following day, the killer took the life of another young woman, stole a car, and then killed himself as authorities were closing in on him. When authorities searched the monster, they found him armed with a .357 Magnum and a .45 to go along with the 9mm.

Click here to read the back story from a more objective point-of-view.

The question almost asks itself: why did killer and former Air Force Captain Toby Whelchel—a man with a “history of violence” and the subject of a restraining order—continue to legally possess legally purchased firearms? Dunno. But I’d be willing to bet that Welchel’s weapons could have been confiscated under existing laws. Sounds like a failure of the criminal justice system.

Or not. Sometimes shit happens. Which raises an equally Brady-agenda antagonistic point: why didn’t Steve Mazel, Jan Heyne and/or Tim Heyne purchase a firearm to protect themselves from Welchel? Without a gun, they didn’t have a prayer. Although Tim Heyne and the Brady Campaign vigilantes [sic] do now, and here it is . . .

Sample Prayer 2
(Contributed by Rev. Rachel R. Smith)
O God of all people,
We know that you are as near as our next breath,
wherever we go, you are already there.
Thank you for creating us in your image,
and claiming us as your children.
O Lord, we confess that we have forgotten who we are;
that each of us belongs to you.
We confess that we have forsaken your peaceable kingdom,
and allowed gun violence to shatter our communities.
Forgive us O God.
Remind us that your love is more powerful than any gun
and that your spirit will sustain us as nothing else can.
Let us desire, as you desire, forgiveness rather than revenge,
reconciliation rather than retribution.
Give us the courage to live not by the gun but by your spirit.
Open our hearts to you so that we also may open them to each other.
Guide us on the path of peace.
In the name of all who love you, we pray.
Amen

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29 COMMENTS

  1. I’m not sure if existing laws could have been used to confiscate Welchel’s firearms. I don’t know how much power a restraining order has, but I think confiscation would require at least one of the antis most fervent desires: registration. To your point that Mazin et al. would have had a better chance of surviving if they had been armed, I think that’s the key. If you have a restraining order out on someone, you should assume that the person could show up at any time to do violence, be prepared if he does, and don’t stand around on your front yard.

    • most restraining orders, esp. in CA, have a requirement to surrender all weapons or not be in possession of them. Damn – you mean the piece of paper doesn’t work?

      • Exactly. No matter what a court says, or what the victim wants, there’s no restriction on law-abiding gun owners that would keep that person from killing or injuring you. I may want that person not to have guns, I also may want that person not to have access to gasoline and matches. Or kitchen knives. Or weight lifting equipment. Or mean friends. Or….

        I hear the antis say, “but he wouldn’t have been able to kill so many people without a gun!” He beat poor Carole Nordella to death.

  2. so let me get this straight: a former military person, who had been arrested and charged several times with violent crimes, and who did not have his weapons taken, despite such violent crimes, shot his former lawyer and husband of his mistress? Am I missing something?

  3. and here is a real silly question – why are they using Michael Douglas as a spokesperson/model? How many movioes has he been involved with that have violent gun scenes? Oh, it’s just acting? Kids know it is not real? #hypocrisy#

  4. When the Brady bunch lights the candles will they have obtained carbon credits from AlGore?

    This symbolic gesture will surely make criminals and irresopnsible gun owners stop and think. As Lt. Gen. Russel Honore said after hurricane Katrina, “You can’t fix stupid.”

    While I’m venting, what event will get more news coverage: the candle lighting vigils or news of D.C. having to cough-up the $1.3 million to pay for their violating the citizen’s Second Amendment rights?

  5. What’s with all this God stuff libs? Seems a little out of character. Perhaps a prayer to a tree that glaciers melt from rising CO2 and wash the guns away would be more in keeping with the current meme.

  6. “In the name of all who love you”??? I don’t know about all of you but I was taught in Sunday school that we pray in the name of our Savior.

  7. “Unintentional shootings could be prevented with simple changes in gun design. But guns are exempt from federal consumer product safety regulations.”

    Making guns subject to federal consumer product safety regulations is one of the anti-self defense leftists’ “under the radar” gun control dreams. Once the feds can regulate guns as “consumer products”, they can determine that the only safe gun is one that will not fire or accept a round of ammunition.

    And as far as preventing unintentional shootings “with simple changes in gun design”, we have ample evidence that when you make something idiot-proof, they will just come up with a better idiot. Just look at the “child proof safety caps” on drugs. Roger.45 called it – you can’t fix stupid.

    • “Unintentional shootings could be prevented with simple changes in gun design. But guns are exempt from federal consumer product safety regulations.”

      That’s a load of BS and they know it. A gun malfunction is if it blows up and injures the shooter, not if the projectile successfully leaves the barrel. Misusing a firearm or using it for illegal purposes cannot be blamed on the manufacturer, not for guns and not for anything else.

  8. Remember, candles and prayers solve everything, including criminal assault. Just try it the next time you’re mugged, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what happens!

    Only in the lefty, gun-grabbing fantasy world…

    • Kirk Douglas is well known as a hard left extremist and commie sympathizer. Apple fell close to the tree. I will continue tp pray that our God given Right to self defense by any method I deem necessary remain intact.

  9. The first case is really apropos to Tim’s post about teaching children about guns. If the kid in that case knew the four rules, Kenzo wouldn’t have been shot that day, because three of them were violated. 1) The kid treated the gun casually, assuming it was unloaded, 2) he pointed the muzzle at something he didn’t want to destroy, and 3) he had his finger on the trigger when he shouldn’t have. The result: a dead boy. Ignorance of how to safely handle a firearm is what killed Kenzo that day, not a design detail.

  10. When I read the Brady material, I was so deeply moved that I drove to my favorite gun store and stocked up on 500 rounds of .40 hollowpoints, 500 of 9mm ball and 100 of 12 gauge reduced recoil buckshot. But I’m still sad, because I should have bought 1000 .40s. They were on sale.

    Oh, well. Next time.

  11. Re-read the second half of the prayer. It’s the usual politically correct claptrap about not fighting back during a crime or holding the criminal responsible for his behavior.

  12. I have no problem praying for those who lose a loved one, but I will pray no false prayer that propagandaizes people to be victims and not defend themselves and their loved ones.

  13. Kenzo was visiting a friend’s house. His friend decided to show him his father’s gun. Thinking he had unloaded it, his friend walked into the room and pulled the trigger. The bullet, still hidden in the chamber, killed Kenzo. Kenzo was shot. Our lives stopped. Unintentional shootings could be prevented with simple changes in gun design. But guns are exempt from federal consumer product safety regulations.

    Kenzo is an idiot. I could have figured this out when I was in Kindergarten! No ,the round is not hidden in the chamber, you have to check it!

    • Kenzo was visiting a friend’s house. His friend decided to show him his father’s gun. Wrongly assuming he had unloaded it, and violating two more cardinal rules of firearms safety, his friend walked into the room and pulled the trigger. The cartridge, which hadn’t been cleared from the chamber, killed Kenzo. Kenzo was shot. Our lives stopped. Negligent shootings could be prevented with simple instruction in gun safety. But gun control advocates oppose teaching children gun safety rules.

      Fixed.

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