A gun in the editor’s top drawer
They don’t make editors like they used to . . .
When I was the editor of the Oakland Tribune back in the 1990s, I kept a loaded Glock in my top drawer.
I take issue with the blanket news reports that the shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., which killed four journalists and an employee, was a “surprise,” “a shock.” Newspapers in the ’90s didn’t have large budgets for security. Many today don’t have a check-in desk. At The Chronicle, there is at least a security person at the entrances, sitting behind a desk where visitors sign in. Not exactly Fort Knox, but it is something.
Newspapers and reporters — even photographers — receive threats all the time. Every day, there is someone out there unhappy with the coverage, either about an issue for which they have passion, or coverage of themselves or someone in their family. Newspapers get letters, phone calls. Nowadays, the threats come through social media.
I had come to Oakland from Texas, where having guns was part of the culture. When you go to a church or a bar in Texas, you usually see a sign saying “Leave your guns outside.” I bought mine at a gun show, with no background check, just cash on the barrel, so to speak. I took a gun safety class and started to target-shoot for a hobby. I got pretty good. Eventually, I became an instructor in gun safety and taught classes on weekends.
I-1639 gun initiative reaches required signatures; opponents launch lawsuit
The Californization of the northwest continues . . .
Supporters of the new I-1639 gun initiative reached the required 260,000 signatures to get it on the November ballot. The fanfare was short-lived, however, as opponents just announced a lawsuit against the initiative.
“I dropped off the lawsuits today at the Attorney General’s office, the Secretary of State’s office, and also the sponsors of I-1639 and their attorneys,” prolific activist Glen Morgan told KTTH’s Todd Herman. “What it’s saying is that the Secretary of State’s office cannot count the signatures collected over the past month, because the people who sponsored it failed to print the correct language on the back of their initiative.”
Initiative I-1639 would: create enhanced background checks for semiautomatic assault rifles; raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21; require a firearm safety training course; enact a waiting period before purchasing; and establish standards to responsibly store firearms.
Webster Groves police: NRA will not open carry in Fourth of July parade
We can’t have guns in an Independence Day parade . . .
The Webster Groves community takes their Fourth of July parade pretty seriously.
So much so that last year, chairs began appearing along the parade route a full nine days before the celebration. It’s an unofficial Webster Groves tradition for residents to claim a spot and put chairs out well before the parade starts.
But this year, some residents are concerned less with getting a spot and more with one of the groups in the parade, according to a Facebook post from the Webster Groves Police Department:
“The National Rifle Association is being represented by a float in this year’s Community Days Parade. The Police Department received several inquiries concerning the potential of members associated with the group carrying weapons in the parade.
Russia fan in Germany celebrates World Cup win over Spain with AK-47
But that’s illegal, isn’t it?
An AK-47 was confiscated in the German town of Essen as a German citizen with Russian heritage celebrated Russia’s round-of-16 defeat of Spain at the 2018 World Cup, local police have confirmed to ESPN FC.
The 39-year-old is now facing charges for violation of the Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz, the War Weapons Control Act, an offence punishable with a prison term of up to five years under German law.
After Russia advanced to the quarterfinals of their home World Cup with a penalty-shootout defeat of Spain, eye witnesses in Essen had reported a white Mercedes driving on one of the main streets of Germany’s ninth-largest city.
The witnesses reported an unknown man not only displaying a Russia flag but also a rifle. When police stopped the car minutes later, an officer “spotted the evidently real machine gun and under threat of their weapon asked the occupants to show their hands.”
David Hogg Calls on Trump to Repeal Law Passed by Congress — Kyle Kashuv Embarrasses Him With Facts
In response to President Donald Trump calling out the National Security Agency for possible privacy violations and tweeting that it deleted “685 million phone calls and text messages,” pro-gun control Parkland activist David Hogg called for Trump to “repeal the Patriot Act” . . .
David, President Trump does not have the Constitutional authority to repeal federal law. That is the job of Congress. Do you enjoy embarrassing yourself? https://t.co/37qUsDDJsE
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) July 3, 2018
Watch the latest video at <a href=”http://www.foxnews.com”>foxnews.com</a>
Las Vegas cop ‘terrified with fear’ as gunman murdered dozens, body camera footage shows
No one knows how they’ll respond in a situation like that until you’re there . . .
An armed, veteran police officer stood idle for several minutes last October as the Las Vegas gunman slaughtered dozens of concertgoers from a perch one floor up, and now that cop’s actions — and inaction — are being reviewed by the Metropolitan Police Department.
The investigation into Cordell Hendrex, and the rest of the city’s police department, comes as Las Vegas prepares to release its ninth batch of footage and records related to the shooting, which left 58 dead and hundreds injured.
“Every officer’s actions that night are being evaluated,” police spokesperson Carla Alston told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week. “One of the things Sheriff [Joseph] Lombardo has said from the beginning is that this is an ongoing investigation. Part of that investigation is the evaluation of the performance, actions and conduct of every officer and civilian employee involved in the incident.”