Wisconsin Launches $2m Deer Study
Federal stimulus package money is not behind Wisconsin’s $2m new study “Investing in Wisconsin’s White-tails.” The Badger State’s study “to improve the long-term management of a sustainable and healthy deer herd” will receive Pittman Robertson money (the 11 percent federal surcharge on firearms, bows, related accessories and/or supplies). Yes, well, thanks to the Pierce County Herald, I know what stimulated the study: “After last year’s big drop in the gun deer harvest, Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker called for the firings of every DNR [Department of Natural Resources] employee who’s involved in deer management. Secretary Matt Frank says they’ve gotten the message – and they’ve taken major action to ensure the best system possible.” According to the DNR spokesman Bob Manwell, no one has been decked Decker’s edict. “We’re determined to create data that can help us fine tune our deer population estimates, to devise the best possible seasonal structure,” Manwell told The Truth About Guns. “No one has been fired because of last year’s season.” OK, so, how many DNR employees are involved in deer hunting? “I honestly don’t know,” Manwell said. “I’ll have to find out.” [full press release here]
500 Guns Stolen from Cleveland TX Police Evidence Room
Chron.com reports that thieves removed some 500 deadly weapons from the Cleveland, Texas police evidence room. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recovered just 112 of the missing firearms from a Humble gun shop (of which there are three). As you probably guessed, there’s a strong suspicion that some of The Lone Star State’s Boys in Blue done did it. Especially as Captain Harold Kelley of the Liberty County sheriff’s department had officially listed 98 of those weapons as destroyed. The same Captain Kelley who had one of the two keys to the evidence room where the guns were stored. Apparently, “The Texas Rangers, which had been looking into the missing weapons, found the sale of the weapons to a gun shop ‘suspicious and irregular,’ according to the court documents.” Ya think? Meanwhile, The Truth About Guns has learned that Captain Kelley is still at his post pending investigation.
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Chimp Killing Cop Suffers From PTSD
“Travis, the 14-year-old, 200-pound pet of Sandra Herold, 71, mauled a family friend in Ms. Herold’s driveway,” the New York Times recounts. “Officer Chiafari and another officer were the first to respond to Ms. Herold’s 911 call, and after the chimpanzee attacked his vehicle and opened the driver-side door in the driveway, Officer Chiafari fatally shot Travis.” Apparently, Travis and the victim weren’t the only victims. The Gray Lady reports that Officer Chiafari’s encounter with a primate’s primal nature has left the policeman mentally scarred. “He was haunted not just by the frightening encounter with the bloody and enraged chimp who outweighed him by 50 pounds, but also by images of the victim in the driveway. ‘I’d go to the mall and see women and imagine them without faces.'” The policeman who, for some reason, still carries a firearm, had difficulty getting CT taxpayers to fund Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment. “Officer Chiafari required therapy but was denied a worker’s compensation claim. The reason was that harrowing episodes involving a person — shooting a suspect, for example — would be covered but similar encounters with animals were not.” And then he wasn’t! Not covered, I mean. And now there’s new legislation pending that would provide for “compensation for mental or emotional impairment after killing an animal when under threat of deadly force.”
TWHS BS: Ayuh Edition
We’ve reported on the relaxation of the federal parks gun ban. As of Monday, licensed gun owners are good to stow. Of course, not everyone is happy about this new state of affairs. For example, the change inspired The New York Times to wonder Whiskey Tango Foxtrot President Obama isn’t doing on gun control. Meanwhile, Maine is considering legislation which would re-ban guns in Acadia National Park and the St. Croix Island International Historic Site. The Washington Post reports that gun owner, hunter and state Senator Stanley Gerzofsky reckons some of his constituents appreciate [legal] gun-free national parklands. Some, but not all. “Now, there’s also families in the state that also want to be able to pack bazookas, but that’s a little different story.” As someone who’s spent a summer in The Pine Tree State, I can say it loud and say it plain: truer words have never been spoken.
Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day: Nicholas Bemis’ “Friend”
Here’s a rule worth following: don’t keep a bullet in the chamber when transporting a weapon. “Combat ready” means ready for combat, not a strenuous hike over hill and dale. And here’s another piece of common sense advice: never assume your gun’s safety works. Wyoming’s codyenterprise.com tells the tale: “[Sheriff Scott] Steward said [victim Nicholas] Bemis and two others were rabbit hunting in the rough terrain when the man in front of Bemis slipped and fell backward, discharging the rifle. The possibility of the man holding the gun facing charges ‘is there’ but depends on several issues, Steward said. ‘Much would depend on if he had prior knowledge of the weapon being faulty. If that turns out to be the case, I would say he could more likely face civil action should the victim’s family wish to go after him.” So to speak.
Sarah Palin: “It’s great to be in a state where it’s okay to cling to your guns and religion”
And so began former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s speech at a Republican fundraiser in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Of course, it’s great to be anywhere where they pay you tens of thousands of dollars for a few hours of your time and present you with a free engraved Big Boy 44 Magnum rifle. You know; if you like that sort of thing. Full press release from Henry Repeating Arms after the jump.
Blackwater Stole 500 AK-47s from Afghan Police/U.S. Taxpayers
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee spent a good part of today hearing testimony about the misadventures of Afghan defense contractor Blackwater (a.k.a. Xe Services a.k.a. Paravant). The senators were not happy, calling the company (and its shell companies) “reckless” and “irresponsible.” A document submitted to your duly elected reps revealed that Blackwater employees removed “hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles” from Kabul’s Bunker 22. The majority of the weapons, intended for Afghanistan’s national police force, disappeared. “It is not clear which Blackwater employee took possession of the weapons,” governmentexecutive.com reports. “The Defense Department said there was no paperwork documenting the transfer of weapons from the bunker and receipts showed the guns were issued to ‘Eric Cartman,’ a likely reference to the character on the animated television program, South Park.” Question: why are we supplying AKs to Afghanis? Surely we have something better?
ATF Agents Seize Toys Guns in Tacoma
The Seattle Times reports that “U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Port of Tacoma seized a shipment of 30 toy M-4 automatic rifles that had arrived on Oct. 20 in a 40-foot ocean container.” [That’s a pretty small ocean.] For one thing, the plastic weapons lacked the required orange-blaze tip denoting play value. For another . . . “Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tested the files and determined they were tooled to shoot plastic balls. However, ATF also found that the internal components could easily be refitted with original machine gun components, making the rifles capable of firing live ammunition. ATF lab results indicated the rifle to be a WE-Tech, Model AWSS M4CQBR, Airsoft M-4 copy.” Ah.
Editorial: Colorado State University Gun Ban Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Yesterday, Colorado State University’s Board of Directors decided to ban guns on campus. Although the edict follows hard on the heels of the recent tragedy in Alabama, CSU’s campus-wide firearms ban is not in sync with Colorado’s prevailing political climate, which places few legal or practical restrictions on gun owners. Nor does it jibe with 2008’s District of Colombia v. Heller, wherein the highest court in the land ruled that the Second amendment trumps local legislation. While “pro-gun” groups both within and without CSU are sure to legally challenge the ban, the real problem with the CSU gun ban is that it doesn’t go far enough. It fails to answer the question underlying the Board’s decision: how do we make college campuses safer? Banning guns is not the answer. Nor is carrying guns.