‘Silence the guns’ urges UN disarmament chief as global week of action begins
Remind us again, why does the UN still exist? . . .
“Every day, hundreds of lives are lost due to gun violence worldwide,” the UN Disarmament Affairs chief, Izumi Nakamitsu, said in her message at the start of the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence. “Guns are responsible for about half of all violent deaths – nearly a quarter-million each year.”
The High Representative said that for every death, there were “many more injured, maimed and forced to flee their home and community” and those who just live with the threat of being shot.
The pandemic of gun violence has many roots, such as a lack of adequate legislation and regulation on gun control; an insufficient ability to enforce existing laws; youth unemployment and a lack of job opportunities for former gang members and ex-combatants.
Ms. Nakamitsu also singled out a culture in some places that “glorifies violence and equates guns with masculinity”.
Man found in Waikiki hotel room with fully loaded weapons, ammunition
Another possible Mandalay Bay? . . .
We’re told a 38-year-old man had posted “suspicious messages” on social media, prompting the FBI to ask HPD to perform a welfare check.
Police tracked him down Thursday night and, upon arriving at the hotel room, found the guns, 18 knives, and more than 800 rounds of ammunition and shotgun shells.
Investigators also found bulletproof vests, camouflage uniforms, a mask, and psychiatric medications in the room.
The man, who is a local resident, told police he brought all of the weapons and ammunition to the hotel room over the course of a few days.
Police found all of the guns were registered to the man. The weapons were confiscated.
Straying from party line, Rep. Paulsen proposes gun control measure
A sure-fire formula for electoral success . . .
As more states look into passing “red flag” laws that allow law enforcement to confiscate guns from individuals they have deemed a danger to themselves or others, U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minnesota, is attempting to clear the way with federal funding or incentives to implement such measures.
The move represents a rebuke of party orthodoxy for the Republican from Eden Prairie, who has an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and in the past has earned the endorsement of many local gun rights activists.
“Some of us who passionately believe you’re elected to legislate, you’re elected to get things done, we want to bring all sides together,” Paulsen said. “It’s a challenging environment, it’s highly partisan charged on the left and right but this is one of those things that’s commonsense.”
NRA sues New York governor, regulator for ‘blacklisting campaign’
Punching back . . .
The National Rifle Association on Friday sued New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state’s financial regulator for engaging in what it said was a “blacklisting campaign” aimed at swaying banks and insurers to stop doing business with the gun advocacy group, according to a complaint.
Cuomo and the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) aimed to deprive the NRA of its right to “speak freely about gun-related issues and defend the Second Amendment,” the group said in the suit, referring to part of the U.S. Constitution that protects the right of Americans to bear arms. …
The NRA’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, follows a $7 million fine on May 2 imposed by NYDFS against insurance broker Lockton Cos LLC, which administered an NRA-branded insurance program known as “Carry Guard.”
The bill arrived, and here’s how much the NRA convention and Trump visit cost Dallas police
Somehow the the Dallas news neglects to mention that, according to the Dallas Tourism Board, the NRA brought about $43 million into the city . . .
The National Rifle Association’s annual convention last weekend cost Dallas police $575,000, the city manager said on Thursday.
The NRA spent $150,000 on 400 off-duty officers who patrolled the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and its perimeter starting last Thursday through Sunday.
Dallas’ $575,000 bill includes security and traffic control for rallies, protests and President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Dallas to speak at the convention, City Manager T.C. Broadnax said.
Gun control might not be top issue in 2018 elections, Florida poll finds
Who could have possibly predicted that? . . .
In the survey, the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative asked 1,000 registered voters to identify “the most important issue in the upcoming elections.”
Gun-control policy was picked by 12 percent — far behind immigration, cited by 23 percent, and health care, cited by 20 percent. The gun issue was statistically tied with the economy, picked by 13 percent.
The state’s youngest voters, ages 18 to 34, were almost four times more likely to cite gun control as their top issue than voters age 75 and older.
And younger voters are statistically the least likely to show up at the polls.
Editorial: Dick’s Sporting Goods pulls a cynical, unsporting move
At least one newspaper sees Dick’s for what they are . . .
The calculation is obvious: Ending a particular product line will hurt Dick’s’ bottom line; it will lose market share, even if only marginally, to competitors. But if Dick’s can use the government to force its competitors to drop out of the semi-auto rifle market too, then it can insulate itself from the consequences of its own choice.
Exploiting the political system to gain economic advantage is a craven and scurrilous thing to do — a fact that does not keep it from happening on a regular basis, to be sure. Most of the time, though, companies try to camouflage their motives behind lofty-sounding principles like “fairness” or “environmental stewardship.” Dick’s’ maneuver is remarkably transparent. Which means the company is not only exploiting the political system for economic leverage, it is not even ashamed of doing so.
https://youtu.be/irUotcejsUU
