Gun-fee zones seem to mean as much in Venezuela as they do in the Land of the Free. CNN reports that two U.S. State Department officials were shot in a Caracas club, even though a sign outside clearly stated that firearms were prohibited. Go figure. Thankfully their wounds were not life-threatening. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell would not elaborate on what kind of establishment the officials were at, except to say it was “some sort of social spot.” Apparently State’s people are taking entertainment recommendations from the Secret Service. Check the embedded video in the news story to watch Ventrell squirm when asked point-blank if it was a strip club. (It was.) . . .
First NASA wanted a 3-D food printer for space shots. Now the Navy wants to get in on the act with 3-D printers on ships to turn out weapons, munitions, and even ready-to-fly drones as needed. “The eventual goal is a drone that flies right out of the printer with electronics and motive power already in place. An organic ability to print replaceable drones from ships, forward operating bases or during disaster relief operations to serve as targets or observation platforms could be a huge enabler for sailors and Marines.” Well, at least until Chinese hackers break in and steal the designs to start manufacturing their own.
Things may be getting uglier in Colorado as the gun control debate escalates. Now Colorado Senate Dems are tweeting that by joining in the lawsuit to overturn the ban on high cap mags and universal background checks, most of the state’s elected sheriffs have sided with criminals over law abiding citizens. You stay classy, senators.
Next door in Arizona, the city of Tucson is enacting two gun control ordinances today. One will give firearm owners 48 hours to report a lost or stolen gun or face penalties. The second states the police can require a BAT if there is “reasonable suspicion” of a negligent firearm discharge within city limits. Both violate the state firearms preemption (A.R.S. 13-3108) which “prohibits any subdivision of the State from enacting any ordinance that is more strict than the State.” As always, the only people coming out of this on the plus side will be the lawyers.
Oakland, California wants to do something similar, but they’re working through the state Assembly to get a bill passed that would “give local control for Oakland to enact stronger restrictions than the rest of the state.” Let’s hope this doesn’t signal an overall trend for local politicians to try to flex their muscles by getting their cities to try end-runs around state gun control laws.
In October 2012, Ramon Sedillo tried holding up a store in Albuquerque and ended up being carried out feet-first. Now his widow is suing the clerk who shot him for wrongful death, claiming he carries “more blame” in Sedillo’s untimely demise than Sedillo does. The suit claims when the Sedillo pulled a gun, the clerk “should have then called police or left the store” instead of shooting Sedillo, and claims he “ambushed” the stick-up man. You just can’t make this stuff up.
ABC News is upset that the “U.S. Gun Debate Overlooks Daily Violence.” Conveniently glossing over the fact that gun deaths have been declining for decades, they opine, “The vast majority [of victims] died in the type of daily gun violence that does not grab national headlines in the same way as the December massacre of 20 young children and six teachers at an elementary school in Connecticut, or the mass shooting last July in a Colorado movie theater that killed 12 people and wounded 70.” And that’s true. Just as the vast majority killed in auto accidents by drunk drivers every day don’t grab national headlines in the same way as when a car plows into a crowd or a drunk takes out a school bus. Anyone want to bet ABC will start increasing the number of local gun death stories that get picked up and passed along by their national news feeds?
ATTENTION NEW YORK RESIDENTS: Another protest against the SAFE Act has been scheduled for June 11. Organizers are hoping for 25K participants this time. The Hudson, New York Register Star has the details. Don’t hold your breath waiting for national media coverage.
“The eventual goal is a drone that flies right out of the printer with electronics and motive power already in place. An organic ability to print replaceable drones from ships, forward operating bases or during disaster relief operations to serve as targets or observation platforms could be a huge enabler for sailors and Marines.”
Terminators. Dude, just say you want terminators.
Don’t naval ships already have machine shops to manufacture spare parts with?
This is why every time anyone shows some cool new technology that “the government is working on”, I say “That’s neat – but the absolute last people who should have that technology is the government”.
Actually, the State Dept/Embassy’s employees’ presence at the strip/sex club expressly violates Gov’t Rules regarding “Human Trafficking”, which includes strip clubs. Gov’t contractors lose their contracts and are supposed to terminate employees over this type of stuff. http://www.state.gov/j/tip/
Moreover, strip clubs fit the UN definition of “human trafficking”: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html
Let’s see how “really really really, no I am really really steamed” Obama gets. . .
(crickets)
He has to find out about it from CNN first.
What’s this world coming to when you can’t even bring a gun to a Venezuelan strip club?
My point EXACTLY!
Hey I wish more clerks “ambushed” the robber. Less prison crowding!
And the moral breakdown in society’s Chicago values proceeds apace.
It’s getting so a thug can’t earn a decent living.
I’d love to see the damages calculation for that wrongful death suit!
sample lost earnings projection – decadent averaged 26 armed robberies per year, with an average take of $500 per robbery, and a projected 30 additional years of work until retirement = $390,000 lost earnings.
If Tucson passes this law in violation of state preemption laws, can I be prosecuted for failing to report a stolen or lost gun?
It’s an effing absurd CHARADE.
Just remember Ducky you lost them all… What’s the term popular here? Tragic boating accident.
The shooters were obviously upset about a video.
State Department officials at a strip club? Check.
A strip club that doesn’t allow firearms? Check.
Disallowed firearms used to shoot said State Dept. officials at said strip club? Check.
State Department spokesman denying knowledge of their whereabouts? Check.
Obamacare covers State Dept. officials’ Venezuelan hospital bills? Check.
Obama administration pushing for more gun-free zones & increased expense accounts for State Department officials? Check.
Obama administration continues denying responsibility for 4 dead State Dept. officials in Benghazi? Check.
Well, Houston has frequent news events that make The Onion look like a 1960s Reader’s Digest. But the best involve VIPs or off-duty LEOs, guns, booze, and strip clubs. The best was the DEA agent who decided to take 50 or so of his best friends (all of them fellow off-duty intoxicated cops) to a strip club to celebrate his planned nuptuals the next day. When the doorman insisted that they had to pay cover even though they were cops and it was a bachelor party, the narc pulled his gun and started waving it around. So of course, the doorman shot him. Nobody got killed but a lot of shots were fired, several people were wounded, and the DEA guy (a) got fired and (b) got dumped by his fiancee. You can’t make this stuff up….