The May issue of Motor Trend magazine was all about supercars. The cover featured several of the megamachines with the captions, “The World’s Supercar Arsenal Reloaded” and “Assault Weapons for the Street and Track.” Of course, with gun control nannies looking anywhere and everywhere for something about which to whine, some of their readers took offense. One reader invoked images of Newtown and the Boston bombing to take them to task for their horrific choice of words. But instead of telling them to get a life and get over it, they invoked the classic non-apology apology for “any distress May’s cover may have caused.” Let’s hope their readers never make the mistake of looking at back issues that featured a Chevy Beretta, Dodge Caliber, Mitsubishi Colt, or Dodge Magnum. Having to apologize for those could very well send them into full Paula Deen mode. And at the risk of being considered insensitive . . .
Mayor Mikey is, as always, a bit touchy, too. After seeing his beloved “stop and frisk” policy curbed by a pair of bills passed by the city council, he went on the defensive and said his critics (naturally) had it all wrong. His army isn’t harassing stopping too many blacks and Latinos – just the opposite. On his Friday morning radio talk show he stated, “I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little… It’s exactly the reverse of what they say. I don’t know where they went to school but they certainly didn’t take a math course. Or a logic course.” And based on the way he bastardizes the Constitution for his own agenda, I’d say Hizzonner certainly didn’t take a civics course. Or an American history course.
But that’s OK. In spite of what went on in NYC last weekend, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is basking in a murder rate that has “dropped significantly during the first half of the year.” He claims this is due to their “antigang strategy meant to suppress retaliatory violence among neighborhood gangs” and “their efforts at identifying and monitoring abusive husbands whose behavior seemed poised to turn lethal.” And stop and frisk also played a big role because of the “long half-life” of its “deterrent effect.” He claims “that criminals may decide to leave their guns at home because they have been stopped in the past, even if the odds of a stop have decreased in recent months.” I guess, based on this past weekend’s activities, that half-life idea was kind of half-baked?
In other LEO happenings, the police chief of Bangor, Maine “was cleaning his newly issued weapon Monday afternoon and apparently shot himself in the hand.” The gun, a .45-caliber Glock, is “new for the department” and “there are different mechanisms in this gun that is for sure.” His injury was to his pinky, “which is still intact.” And now his “message is going to be train, train, train… We’re always reporting [about] people outside accidentally shooting themselves. It can happen to a police officer too. Gun safety is extremely important. That is the message he wants to relay.”
Maybe he should relay that message to the unidentified New York State Trooper who left his loaded .357 Glock in a restroom at Grass Point State Park. A maintenance worker found the weapon and it eventually ended up with the park’s po-po. Shortly thereafter, a call came in from someone who identified himself as an “off-duty state trooper” looking for his gun. “After explaining the situation and presenting his pistol permit to the park police responders, [he] had his weapon returned to him.” The New York State Police say they’re “aware of the incident” and “it was being investigated” but – surprise! – won’t give out the trooper’s name or any other juicy details.
Bernard Zapor was the ATF agent in charge of the St Paul, Minnesota Field Division. While there, he ran “Operation Fearless,” a sting operation in which $35K of merchandise was stolen from their fake storefront; three government guns — including a machine gun — were stolen from an agent’s SUV; a document that listed names, vehicles and phone numbers of the undercover agents involved was left behind when they cleared out; a person already in prison was charged with selling drugs to them; and most anything else that could go wrong, went wrong. With a stellar record like that, he’s just been named as director of the ATF’s Phoenix, Arizona office, home of “Operation Fast and Furious.” You may have heard of it. There he’ll be reunited with Fred Milanowski, another key figure in “Operation Fearless.” Cue the next ATF debacle in 3…2…1…
Finally, a British couple cleaning a pond in the yard of their newly-rented house discovered someone dumped a large amount of ammunition in there sometime in the past – 7500 rounds, according to the police. Now they’re totally freaked out: “It’s really unnerved us. I’m terrified that next time I’m mowing the lawn I’ll run over a bullet…We were planning to be in this house for years – now we want to move out as soon as we can… I don’t want to stay in a house where that kind of thing has been found in the garden. I’m gutted… Of course for our family and friends this is a great story, but for us, it’s ruined our home.” Ah, that famous British stiff upper lip. What the hell ever happened to Keep Calm and Carry On?