Connecticut’s gun owners against the governor’s poll tax gun fee hike – Gun owners start push back against Malloy pistol fee hike – “Over 250,000 Connecticut residents hold a Connecticut ‘Permit to Carry Pistols and Revolvers.’ To get one, you must take a training course and currently pay a $70 fee for a five-year permit. As we first reported last week, the governor’s budget plan calls for increasing that fee to $300. The state fee for background checks would also rise from $50 to $75. Tuesday, members of the state’s largest gun rights organization, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, began the first in a series of major push backs against the hike by attending a hearing on the Public Safety division’s budget.”
The Surprising History Behind America’s Stand Your Ground Laws – “The idea of the right to defend oneself may seem universal, but in her new book Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair With Lethal Self-Defense, Harvard’s Caroline E. Light posits that the opposite is true. In examining the history of self-defense in the United States — from remembering the Alamo to the controversial ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws now on the books in some states — she traced the American ideal back to its origins in English law in the 1600s. Though she writes fondly of her experiences visiting shooting ranges with her parents while growing up in Virginia, her research led her to unsettling conclusions about the meaning of self-defense and guns in American culture.” This goes about as well as you’d expect from a Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor from Harvard.
Are you tired of winning yet? . . . Donald Trump’s Congressional Lackeys are Threatening Washington D.C.’s Gun Laws – “Now proven largely correct, I’m willing to bet there’s one consequence to Donald Trump’s presidency that didn’t occur to you: For the first time in 40 years, due to the Republican Congress emboldened by a new president, guns might return to the streets of our nation’s capital en masse, no longer subject to the controls that have kept gun violence in check for decades.”
Because why not? . . . Realtree Releases New Twin Size Camo Panel Bed – “The Realtree Twin Size Panel Bed is ideal for a home, cabin or hunt camp. Made from solid pine, this rustic bed is stained in an array of camouflage colors for a stylish outdoor appeal. Each bed and case piece is unique with mixed colors, saw marks and open knots for a true rugged look and feel.”
“Are You Prepared to Kill Somebody?” A Day With One of America’s Most Popular Police Trainers – “Marching around the stage in a theater in Lakeport, California, Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman tells his audience that they shouldn’t go out looking for people to kill, because those who need killing—the ‘gangbangers,’ terrorists, and mass murderers—will come to them. All they need to do is be ready. ‘Are you prepared to kill somebody?’ he asks me and the small group of ‘armed citizens’ who’ve paid $90 or more to see him. ‘If you cannot answer that question, you should not be carrying a gun.'” Nice scare quotes around “armed citizens” by Mother Jones. They’re citizens and they’re armed. No equivocation necessary.
Good . . . Lehigh Acres man cleared in I-75 fatal shooting case – “A Lehigh Acres man has been cleared in the citizen-involved shooting that killed the attacker of a Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputy along Interstate 75. Ashad Russell, 35, acted lawfully in shooting and killing Edward Strother on the exit ramp of I-75 and Corkscrew Road in Estero on Nov. 14, according to the state attorney’s office. Russell was coming to the defense of Deputy First Class Dean Bardes.”
What goes up must come down…somewhere . . . The Physics Behind Why Firing A Gun Into The Air Can Kill Someone – “Would you fire a gun into the air in celebration if you knew that, when the bullet comes down, it could kill somebody? It’s no surprise that bullets fired towards a target can easily destroy whatever they run into: a bullet from an AK-47 leaves the rifle traveling at over 1,500 miles per hour (670 meters per second): about double the speed of sound. Despite only having a mass of about five grams — under a fifth of an ounce — it’s got the energy of a brick dropped from a 30 story building. Concentrated into a tiny surface area at the bullet tip, it can easily break through your skin. And once it does, that energy and momentum tears through your body, ripping a hole through blood vessels, muscle, and potentially vital organs. No wonder it can kill you.”
Proposed bill would left firefighters, EMS carry guns at work – “The bill, however, does not mention any additional training. It only states that a first responder would be able to carry while on duty. ‘It’s not designed to put them in a peace officer role. It’s just to allow them to protect himself or herself in the same manner that any other LTC holder would,’ Wray said. David Robinson with the Bellmead Fire Department said he sees how there could be benefits, but there are also concerns.”