The FBI issued more than 4,000 requests last year for agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives to retrieve guns from people who failed background checks…
It was not immediately clear how many gun seizure requests agents successfully executed last year or how many weapons were ultimately recovered.
The American Way of Death.
Five years after Sandy Hook, U.S. gun-control advocates switch strategy https://www.reuters.com/article/us-connecticut-shooting-anniversary/five-years-after-sandy-hook-u-s-gun-control-advocates-switch-strategy-idUSKBN1E617Q
“Walmart Shuts Down All Gun Sales in New Mexico After State Expands Background Check Requirements” https://www.newsweek.com/walmart-new-mexico-gun-sales-1447768
“The New Mexico law, enacted in March after Democrats captured the reins of statewide government for the first time in eight years, expanded background check requirements for firearms sales to include transactions between private parties, a level of scrutiny that federal law does not require.
To facilitate these sales, the new law mandates that federally licensed gun sellers such as Walmart, who are already required to conduct background checks by querying the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), assist private sellers by conducting background checks on their behalf.”
See also: “NRA Wrote Op-Eds Published Under New Mexico Sheriffs’ Names to Protest Gun Control Bills, Documents Reveal” https://www.newsweek.com/nra-lobbying-new-mexico-sheriffs-1431949
“I don’t think there is any mystery to understanding the passionate feelings people have for guns. Nobody really believes it’s about maintaining a militia. It’s about having possession of a tool that makes a person feel powerful nearly to the point of exaltation.” (Alec Wilkinson)
2018 Gun Violence Archive (GVA) http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/ includes an interactive map of 2017 incidents
Tuesday’s school shooting in Benton, Ky., on Tuesday was the worst so far in 2018: Two 15-year-old students were killed and 18 more people were injured. But it was only one of at least 11 shootings on school property recorded since Jan. 1, and roughly the 50th of the academic year. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/kentucky-school-shooting.html Two decades ago there was another school shooting in West Paducah, about a 40-minute drive away. Three people were killed when a student opened fire into a prayer circle, and five more were injured.
As of this 10 AM this morning President Trump had not publicly commented on Tuesday’s shooting although White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday told reporters Trump had been informed of the incident and offered “thoughts and prayers … with the victims and families there.”
‘My backpack fell and the gun went off,’ 12-year-old girl reportedly told classmate in LA school shooting https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/02/my-backpack-fell-and-the-gun-went-off-12-year-old-girl-reportedly-told-classmate-in-la-school-shooting/
“An Arizona man who sold ammunition to the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history was charged Friday with manufacturing armor-piercing bullets, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.” http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ammo-dealer-las-vegas-gunman-raised-suspicions-52800910 “The records don’t say if the ammunition was used in the attack. Haig was charged shortly before holding a news conference Friday where he said he didn’t notice anything suspicious when he sold 720 rounds of ammunition to Stephen Paddock in the weeks before the attack that killed 58 people.”
‘Please keep kids safe from guns’: How Trump replied to a 7-year-old’s anguished letter”(Washington Post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/please-keep-kids-safe-from-guns-how-trump-replied-to-a-7-year-olds-anguished-letter/2018/02/04/5b8d9f9a-079b-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html?utm_term=.fd98aefe4f53 “…Townville’s kids joined a group that now includes more than 150,000 students, attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools, who have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, according to a Post analysis of online archives, state and federal enrollment figures and news stories. That doesn’t count dozens of suicides, accidents and after-school assaults that have also exposed children to gunfire.”
See also “Children under fire : Almost two dozen kids are shot every day in the U.S. This 4-year-old was one of them.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2017/09/15/road-rage-a-bullet-to-the-head-and-the-frantic-effort-to-save-a-4-year-old/?utm_term=.3a8751fc568c
“The showdown over the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act : A bill passing through Congress could change the way states recognize concealed carry permits” (CBS News “60 Minutes” 2/11/18) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/concealed-carry-reciprocity-act-showdown/ “The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act has already sailed through the House of Representatives and has the full support of President Trump. It has roughly 40 co-sponsors in the Senate where a showdown is shaping up between the gun lobby and law enforcement over states’ rights and the second amendment.”
“Gun Control Is as Old as the Old West : Contrary to the popular imagination, bearing arms on the frontier was a heavily regulated business” (Smithsonian 2/5/18) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gun-control-old-west-180968013/
“Trump slump? Remington files for bankruptcy amid declining gun sales.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/13/trump-slump-remington-files-for-bankruptcy-amid-declining-gun-sales/?utm_term=.52b48a4a83f8
“The NRA has a new ad out, and its message is downright bizarre. The video encourages Trump supporters to destroy their TVs with a sledgehammer over “fake news.”” https://www.dailydot.com/irl/nra-pro-trump-ad-smash-tv/ R. Crumb illustration: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/fc/07/16/fc07169dda750f5c3e2803c1014fa1c7–robert-crumb-robert-richard.jpg
America’s oldest gun manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to court papers filed in Delaware late Sunday. The move by Remington Arms Co. and its parent, Remington Outdoors, comes amid slumping sales at the firm founded more than 200 years ago. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/03/26/gun-maker-remington-americas-oldest-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy/457709002/ Stephen Jackson, Remington’s chief financial officer, said in the filing that the company has seen a significant decline in revenue and sales over the last 12 months. He said the “overall business and industry environments continue to cause significant financial hardship,” a situation that could be partly attributed to the perception that President Trump, a National Rifle Association supporter, won’t impose new restrictions on gun sales. There are no official federal statistics covering gun sales nationwide, but there have been correlations between the threat or risk of increased firearm regulation and so-called panic-buying among gun enthusiasts.
Growing up in the Arsenal of America, my generation was the first in my family NOT to work at the Remington Arms factory in Bridgeport, CT. A firm not alone in bankruptcy provoked by pigheaded reliance on nutballs to feed recurrent floods of demand-at-any-price. The NRA’s siren call for gun lust ignored many realities — not the least of which was an end to panic buying by folks who need bigger and “better” firearms to feel virile in the face of sensible regulation. Another statistic diminishing in the era of Trumpiness.
Law enforcement struggling to combat unregulated, DIY “ghost guns.” CBS News correspondent Carter Evans explains. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/law-enforcement-struggling-to-combat-unregulated-diy-ghost-guns/
Recent school shootings in the US (FOX News 2/14/18) http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/14/recent-school-shootings-in-us.html
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 12:50 PM – 14 Feb 2018
“My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”
“290 School Shootings In America Since 2013” https://everytownresearch.org/school-shootings/5832/ (prior to yesterday’s shooting in Parkland, Fla.)
50 years of U.S. mass shootings: The victims, sites, killers and weapons. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/mass-shootings-in-america/?utm_term=.0ca8da29e315
“Have your representatives in Congress received donations from the NRA?” (list) https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/nra-donations/?utm_term=.c27542013197
An analysis of U.S. census and Education Department data shows that more than 800,000 students go to school in public school districts where school shootings took place. More than 6 million people live within those districts, census data shows. That’s 2 percent of the U.S. population. https://www.local10.com/education/over-800k-students-live-in-school-districts-with-past-shootings
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on Friday that she would not stand in the way of states that want to use federal grants to purchase guns for schools, emphasizing that it’s a decision for local officials to make.
“I have no intention of taking any action concerning the purchase of firearms or firearms training for school staff under the [Elementary and Secondary Education Act],” DeVos said in a letter to Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the House education committee.
DeVos’ letter comes as Democrats and some education groups had asked the Trump administration not to allow federal education grants to be used for firearms after The New York Times first reported last week that the Education Department was considering the issue.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/31/devos-schools-guns-federal-grants-806103
“Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants — known as Title IV-A — are distributed to states, which allocate the money after districts draft plans on how the money would be spent.
The statute that created the $1 billion program offers states considerable flexibility and, unlike another pot of federal money, does not ban use for firearm purchases.
The law specifies that larger districts have to spend at least 20 percent of the money on school health and safety. The Obama administration suggested schools spend funds in that category on mental health services, nutrition programs and drug prevention.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/devos-leaving-it-to-states-whether-to-use-federal-money-to-buy-guns-for-schools/2018/08/31/947ec06c-ad46-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html?utm_term=.274e2190db6a
The NRA and the Safari Club Are Gunning for Grizzlies https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-nra-and-the-safari-club-are-gunning-for-grizzlies The gun lobby and big-game hunters are teaming up to get the bears off the endangered species list. But that’s just a first step toward stealing public land.
Guns Explained With Cats https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxwPcUh97oc
Gun culture (The New York Review of Books April 5th issue) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/04/05/guns-bang-for-the-buck/ see also related at bottom
A 9-year-old wanted a video game controller from his 13-year-old sister — so he shot her in the back of the head, police say. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/03/19/a-9-year-old-wanted-the-video-game-controller-from-his-sister-so-he-shot-her-police-say/?utm_term=.d61d9955b551
“According to a 2017 report in the medical journal Pediatrics, firearms-related injuries are the third leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 17 in the United States. From 2012 to 2014, an average of 1,297 children in the United States died each year from a firearm-related injury, the study showed.
Analyzing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, The Post’s editorial board found that “on average, 23 children were shot each day in the United States in 2015. Of the approximately 8,400 shootings, 1,458 were fatal, a death toll that exceeds the entire number of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan this decade.”
Why Are White Men Stockpiling Guns? (Scientific American) https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-are-white-men-stockpiling-guns/
“Tennessee college senior defends posing for graduation picture with gun in her waistband” http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/10/tennessee-college-senior-defends-posing-for-graduation-picture-with-gun-in-her-waistband.html
“Georgia governor candidate aims gun at teen in campaign ad. ‘Get over it,’ he tells critics.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/02/georgia-governor-candidate-aims-gun-at-teenager-in-campaign-ad-get-over-it-he-tells-critics/?utm_term=.1f106734230c
The ad shows Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state, sitting in a room filled with firearms. he holds a shotgun in his lap, cleaning it off as he speaks to the camera.
“I’m Brian Kemp, this is Jake, a young man interested in one of my daughters,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” a nervous Jake replies.
“Jake asked why I was running for governor,” Kemp said before listing off several reasons, including capping government spending, cutting regulations and promoting small business.
Finally Kemp asks, “and two things if you’re going to date one of my daughters?”
“Respect,” Jake responds, and “a healthy appreciation for the Second Amendment, sir.”
Kemp then closes the gun, as if it was ready to fire, pointing it toward the teenager.
“We’re going to get along just fine,” Kemp says, as the young man grins anxiously.
The number of homicides committed using guns has gone up by nearly a third nationwide in recent years, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC found a 31 percent increase in homicides involving firearms from 2014 to 2016. In 2014, 11,008 homicides involved a gun. The number rose to 14,415 by 2016, the CDC team said.
Guns were by far the most common weapon used in homicides, the CDC team found. https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/07/27/homicides-using-guns-up-31-percent-cdc-finds/23491253/
“NRA dodges bullet with Ninth Circuit’s ruling on open-carry” (SF Chronicle 7/28/18) https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/NRA-dodges-bullet-with-Ninth-Circuit-s-ruling-13113998.php “The National Rifle Association received an unlikely gift last week when the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of open-carry of firearms. News of the decision gives the trade group masquerading as a civil liberties organization a chance to reload its campaign against American civility.
To be clear, the court is not the villain; that Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain interprets the right to “bear arms” in the Second Amendment to mean as “on your person and for purpose of self-defense” is not unreasonable; the U.S. Supreme Court will get the final word upon appeal at a later date.”
WATCH: The Science Behind Why Some Bullets Are More Destructive Than Others https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/01/633098211/watch-the-science-behind-why-some-bullets-are-more-destructive-than-others Each year, more than 100,000 Americans are shot. And the wounds to bone and tissue caused by specially designed bullets also are getting more severe according to surgeons.
The National Rifle Association says it could soon face a financial crisis that will force it to shut down some of its operations, including broadcasts by its NRA TV division. The pro-gun rights group blames a campaign by New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo aimed at discouraging insurance companies and other financial institutions from doing business with the NRA. https://www.npr.org/2018/08/04/635618126/nra-says-it-faces-a-financial-crisis-in-lawsuit-against-new-york-state-officials The gun rights organization has filed a lawsuit against Cuomo and the New York Department of Financial Services in federal court, alleging that Cuomo and state regulators seek to “deprive the NRA and its constituents of their First Amendment rights to speak freely about gun-related issues and defend the Second Amendment.
The NRA Is in Big Trouble, and Parkland Teen Activists Could Be the Reason https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/nra-big-trouble-parkland-teen-193804179.html The National Rifle Association is apparently in major financial trouble. Rolling Stone obtained legal documents filed by the NRA against the state of New York, which argue that the powerful gun-rights lobby has been losing millions of dollars as a result of new restrictions in the state. These new regulations, which restrict some NRA activities in New York, were in part prompted by youth anti-gun violence activism following the tragic and fatal shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in February. See also https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/nra-financial-trouble-706371/
“Did Alleged Russian Spy Maria Butina Cause a Leadership Shake-up at the NRA? Weeks after the feds raided Butina’s apartment, the gun group’s president made a hasty exit.” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/08/did-alleged-russian-spy-maria-butina-cause-a-leadership-shake-up-at-the-nra-1/ The Butina case has been an embarrassment for the NRA, which has yet to comment on it, and, more important, it has raised questions about interactions between the gun lobby and Russia, including the possibility of Russian sources funneling money to the NRA. (According to a BuzzFeed report [link], Butina and her partner Paul Erickson engaged in financial transactions totaling nearly $300,000 that were flagged by banking investigators as suspicious.)”.
“Hardline U.S. ‘gundamentalists’ pressure NRA from within” (Reuters UK August 5, 2018) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-nra/hardline-us-gundamentalists-pressure-nra-from-within-idUSKBN1KQ09H “The NRA has faced divisions before. An internal revolt at the 1977 meeting in Cincinnati turned the polite, sport-shooting organization into a bare-knuckled political lobby that today claims five million members and is closely aligned with the Republican Party, funding pro-gun politicians. The NRA, which spent $30 million to support Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, is often viewed by gun-control advocates as implacably opposed to tighter gun laws.”
See also ‘Zumboed’ https://www.thetrace.org/2015/07/zumboed-the-word-for-what-happens-when-a-gun-journalist-steps-out-of-line/ and Fudd (“a gun owner whose single-minded obsession with hunting blinds him to threats against Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms”) http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/05/robert-farago/fudds-somewhere/
“Meet the Ultra-Organized Teenager Masterminding Parkland’s Midterms Push” (Vanity Fair October 2018 issue) https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/09/parkland-gun-laws-march-for-our-lives-jaclyn-corin “The March for Our Lives movement began with an eruption of anguish. But changing America’s gun laws will take long-term logistical prowess. That’s where Jaclyn Corin comes in.”
“US gun regulation debate deeply divided along racial, socioeconomic lines” (The Mainichi, Japan 9/18/18) https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180918/p2a/00m/0na/003000c
12 dead in California bar shooting : Flags fly at half-staff at the White House
“Some of the people who survived the largest mass shooting in modern US history in Las Vegas found themselves fleeing yet another gunman Wednesday night when he opened fire inside a country music bar in Southern California, killing 12 people.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amberjamieson/thousand-oaks-shooting-route-91-vegas-survivors
Just hours before a man shot and killed 12 people at a country-western bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif, the National Rifle Association posted a mocking tweet that has stirred many physicians to post on social media about their tragically frequent experiences treating patients in the aftermath of gun violence. (NPR 11/11/18) https://www.npr.org/2018/11/11/666762890/after-nra-mocks-doctors-physicians-reply-this-is-our-lane [Note: This story includes graphic imagery and language.] See also “How The NRA Worked To Stifle Gun Violence Research” https://www.npr.org/2018/04/05/599773911/how-the-nra-worked-to-stifle-gun-violence-research
““When it’s easier to buy a cache of assault weapons than cast a vote — expect massacres to be the norm.” (Bill Madden)
“The NRA’s suggestion that “self-important” physicians who support banning semiautomatic weapons should “stay in their lane” was drawing fire on social media after a doctor was fatally shot in a Chicago hospital late Monday. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/11/20/chicago-shooting-nra-blasted-telling-docs-stay-their-lane/2064406002/
Emergency room doctor Tamara O’Neal, pharmacy resident Dayna Less and Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez were fatally shot at Mercy Hospital on the city’s South Side by a former fiance of O’Neal, police said. The shooter, identified by family members as Juan Lopez, 32, also died in the carnage.
The shooting came less than two weeks after the NRA took to social media to blast the American College of Physicians and the professional journal Annals of Internal Medicine for publishing a series of articles supporting tighter gun laws.”
“Doctor-affiliated PACs fund political candidates who oppose firearm safety policies” (Brown University 2/22/19) https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-02/bu-dpf021919.php
The findings were published on Feb. 22, in the journal JAMA Network Open. See “Association of Physician Organization–Affiliated Political Action Committee Contributions With US House of Representatives and Senate Candidates’ Stances on Firearm Regulation” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2725483
“A year ago Fourteen students died on Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland, Fla., inspiring marches, new laws and widespread calls to stop the onslaught of gun deaths. But in the year since one of the worst school shootings in the United States, nearly 1,200 more children have lost their lives to guns in this country.” (NYT) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/us/parkland-obituaries-students.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&rref=us
‘Since Parkland’: A remarkable project by teen journalists about kids killed by guns in America (Washington Post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/02/14/since-parkland-remarkable-project-by-teen-journalists-about-kids-killed-by-guns-america/?utm_term=.db3211795b0c
“Since Parkland” https://sinceparkland.org/
“A Loaded Gun : A mass shooter’s tragic past.” (The New Yorker February 11 & 18, 2013 Issue) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/11/a-loaded-gun
See also “University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting” (February 12, 2010). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Alabama_in_Huntsville_shooting
“A Virginia bill designed to ban sales of large-capacity magazines similar to those used by the Virginia Beach gunman died in committee in January on a party-line vote.
The fate of the legislation, SB1748, was so widely expected that the outcome drew virtually no public attention. For more than 20 years, Republicans and a few rural Democrats in the General Assembly have killed almost every measure aimed at restricting gun ownership.
The GOP blocked a major push for gun control after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, where 33 people died. They chose instead to respond to that shooting by joining Democrats to enact mental-health reforms.” (Washington Post June 1, 2019) https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-news/in-january-virginia-gop-killed-bill-to-ban-sales-of-large-capacity-gun-magazines-like-those-used-by-virginia-beach-shooter/2019/06/01/ee5efd8e-8489-11e9-933d-7501070ee669_story.html?utm_term=.081ba27664f2&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
Guns don’t kill people; video games kill people. https://www.vox.com/2019/8/4/20753725/el-paso-dayton-shootings-video-games-gop-mccarthy
Former Texas representative and 2020 hopeful Beto O’Rourke railed against Congress late Saturday for not doing enough to stop gun violence after yet another mass shooting. After a gunman in west Texas left at least 5 dead and 21 injured, O’Rourke told voters in Virginia that “there is no reason” Americans should live with such gun violence. “Not sure how many gunmen, not sure how many people have been shot. Don’t know how many people have been killed, the condition of those who have survived. Don’t know what the motivation is, do not yet know the firearms that were used, or how they acquired them. But we do know that this is fucked up,” he said.
“There is no reason that we have to accept this as our fortune,” he said, “And yet functionally, right now, we have.” He went on to slam Congress, which he said “will not even pass universal background checks or close those loopholes that allow people to buy a firearm when they should not be able to.” The El Paso native has become outspoken on gun control following the shooting at a Walmart in his hometown that left 22 dead and dozens injured. https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1167954084122353664
Texas Set to Ease Gun Restrictions One Day After Odessa Shooting : 10 bills set to take effect Sunday, all of which the NRA praised as “protecting your Second Amendment rights” earlier this week. https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/odessa-shooting/h_b9b888e9a9a4a904717627d83440373e
CNN fails to bleep out Beto’s F-bomb during gun control rant following shooting https://www.foxnews.com/media/beto-orourke-2020-cnn-gun-control-cursing
O’Rourke later tweeted out part of his comments from the CNN interview and dropped another F-bomb, as part of his recap.
“Thoughts and prayers have done nothing to stop the epidemic of gun violence. Yes, this is f–ked up; and if we don’t call it out for what it is, we will continue to have this bloodshed in America,” he repeated.
He followed up with a second tweet an hour later, defending his use of foul language and said it’s more profane for an infant to get shot, than for someone to curse on TV.
“Profanity is not the f-bomb. What is profane is a 17 month-old baby being shot in the face,” he tweeted.