Everyone knows at this point that Massachusetts’ gun laws are some of the strictest in the country, so that makes it that much more surprising to find out that almost half of the illegal guns seized and traced last year in Boston came back to Massachusetts as their point of origin. 509 handguns (not pictured) were seized in 2013 in Boston, some used in homicides or other crimes, and some simply possessed illegaly. 326 of those were traced to their original point of retail sale, and 46% of that number were originally purchased legally in Massachusetts. Even more interesting, despite the strengthening of MA’s already strict gun laws over the last 18 months, that 46% number is much higher than back in 2005 & 2006 when gun laws were weaker . . .
and only 26% of crime guns came from MA. Back when the gun laws were less strict in ’05-’06, 41% of guns came from New Hampshire, Maine, and Southern states. In 2013, with the ink barely dry on the new, stronger gun laws, that number fell to 36.5%, meaning more came from inside MA. Curious, that.
Your Lockdown of the Day™ comes again from my hometown, Fort Pierce, Florida. It’s from a couple weeks ago, but notable for its “What?” factor. John Carroll High School was placed on lockdown for about a half hour “as a safety precaution.” You see, a local sheriff’s deputy was conducting a traffic stop “a few blocks from the school” when the driver fled on foot. Officials set up a search perimeter to look for him, and because the school was near (not inside, but near) the search perimeter, it was placed on “code yellow” lockdown. Everyone hunkered down in locked classrooms for about 35 minutes, because a guy ran from a traffic stop. He probably had a little weed in his pocket, or something equally harmless, but let’s freak out an entire high school campus. Good plan.
Gun control groups in Australia are pulling out all the stops in launching a new campaign against widespread gun ownership in the state of New South Wales, as today marks the 18th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre, which led to the widespread prohibition and confiscation of firearms across the country. Gun Control Australia, a gun control group, obtained gun ownership figures for NSW that showed there are 700,894 firearms registered to private owners, nearly one for every ten people. And while the paper refers to “arsenals of high-powered rifles,” in truth more than half of that number — 416,726 — are “Category A” weapons, which include air rifles, rimfire rifles, and some shotguns. Still, private gun ownership is on the rise in Australia, much to the chagrin of the anti-gun groups. It’s interesting to see that they use the exact same language that the civilian disarmament movement uses here, viz. “…the gun lobby is so powerful. This is despite the fact that the majority of Australians want sensible gun laws.”
How tactically do you brush your teeth? Can you beat this guy? [h/t ENDO]
Yes, it’s an airsoft gun. Don’t try this at home, kids.
he needs a new toothbrush
I nominate Toothbrush Kid for NRA Special Envoy for International Human Rights.
Seconded.
” the strengthening of MA’s already strict gun laws over the last 18 months, that 46% number is much higher than back in 2005 & 2006 when gun laws were weaker . . .”
“The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
―Leia Organa Solo, to Grand Moff Tarkin
You may fire when ready!
After wiping away the tears from laughing so hard, I hit play again and just listened without watching.
OMG!
Yep. The Japanese popular culture is the closest we’ll probably come (for now) to having aliens living among us.
God bless ’em.
There are probably alien cultures on planets thousands of light-years away that are less peculiar than Japanese pop culture.
I guess getting nuked really does a number on your national psyche.
Shooting his mouth off?
I got nuthin.
I looked twice and didn’t see anything. Is the first image of that nifty rail-grip a “picture-unrelated” deal or something?
I yea was kind of confused by the pic choice as well.
I’m loathe to try to get inside Matt’s head (that’s one jacked-up place, I’m sure), but maybe since the lead story is about “recovered” firearms, he chose that photo because that grip/rail thingy is made by a company called Recover?
Tortuous, yes, but it’s the only connection I see.
Picture completely unrelated. I was having a really hard time engaging my brain to write last night, and I had no on-topic photo, so I just trolled for a generic handgun in our library. Sorry for the confusion.
That toothbrush thing is genius!
Glock toothbrush.
I then googled that phrase to see if there actually was such a thing… unfortunately it links back to this video.
The criminal element in Mass, being a green state, don’t want to contribute to global warming. As such, they refuse to use firearms that were shipped long distances, opting instead for “locally grown” firearms. It’s all about the carbon footprint.
I was shooting with an Aussie this weekend that lives in New South Wales. He was showing pictures of the changes that they had to do to their shooting range. It seems the new head big wig in NSW decided that the range wasn’t safe enough that it backed into the unoccupied Australian outback. He decided that they need to build baffles to catch any shots that might leave the range. Being that this was an NRA Action pistol range they had to build dozens of baffles to cover each shooting position.
No appeal no nothing, a new appointed politico decided that they need to spend thousands of dollars or get shot down. There is no right to own guns or shoot. All it takes is enough a majority and gun ownership can be a thing of the past there.
So, how long before this kid gets a takedown notice from Glock?
Never. This is part of the integrated campaign.
Gunny: Some cavity picked the wrong mouth.
Why didn’t my dentist neighbor hand out toothbrushes like that for Halloween?
I’d, of course, have ripped off the toothbrush and used the airsoft gun intelligently, but it would have been better than the Darth Vader toothbrush he gave me. And I would have used it in preference to eating candy, so win-win!
Okay, this is why Japan has an all weapons ban…
Matt im laughing too hard at that video right now!!! Great find!
Happily, we get a break from all the finger-pointing at Virginia!
But we keep getting blamed for MD and DC.
Children do not try this at home. Especially those of you who still have baby teeth !
“The part that is concerning to me is that we have really good gun laws here,” Braga told police and city officials from across New England
No, your guns laws suck! They do absolutely nothing to stop crime because they are based off of the false premise that guns are causing the crime. If guns were eliminated crime would still exist.
On the other hand, the video of the toothbrush gun was funny. Better him than me to test something like that out. I am sure it was all for science.
Funny how even in Australia, where they’re mostly getting their way and have done for nearly 20 years, it’s still the faceless, soulless “gun lobby” that’s holding them back. The control cultists just can’t admit that not only does no one need what they’re selling, most reasonable people don’t even want it.
Unfortunately Ing; people get the government they vote for. If enough people really wanted gun rights; they would vote for the public parasites that would support them in keeping their guns.
That’s why I say that by hard facts; most people in the world want to control or be controlled by others; a person wanting to be free and to have others be free at the same time doesn’t seem to be the norm.
That’s why America is unique; we have enough people in some areas of the country; that we have more freedom than most.
My problem is the parasites who flat out LIE about their intentions on gun control in order to get elected, then claim their “common sense” has kicked in. Oh, yeah, we have some of those now, don’t we? At the highest levels!
Here’s the same kid, with an assault weapon toothbrush (AWTB) – can empty 30 tube-clips of toothpaste in 30 seconds or less (if you put the shoulder thingy up)…
http://thechive.com/2014/04/29/well-thats-one-way-to-brush-your-teeth-video/
Massachusetts is experiencing the law of unintended consequences. The harder you make it to get guns illegally the bigger the illegal trade in guns gets. We don’t see a lot of gun smuggling into the United States, Leland Yee notwithstanding, because guns can be had. Ban guns and transnational criminal organizations will start bringing in the hardware. So instead of law abiding citizens have the vast majority of guns only criminals will have them.
I wonder how much of that is the local constabulary selling “confiscated/turned in and destroyed” guns out of the back door to pay for upkeep on their “free” MRAP?
If he really wants to get his teeth clean he should use a Glock 18 and pull the trigger.
My coworker ( in fl) just got a call about a 380 he sold a few months back. It was found in Brockton ma. Go figure
Not that I am supporting mass gun laws, but there have not been any changes to Mass gun laws since 2004, when Romney permanently installed the AWB and made some other minor changes. There were no new gun laws signed into law in 2013, they proposed dozens, but they still haven’t made a consolidated bill based on the hearings and the Joint Committee’s recommendation.