6/04/2005
Does This Bother Anyone Else?
Closing arguments were given in two trials yesterday. One received massive press coverage, the other was almost completely ignored. One is a trial of a celebrity and is completely insignficant in the larger scheme of things, the other has the potential to have a major effect on the lives of millions of American citizens.
While the media tortured us beyond endurance with saturation coverage of the Michael Jackson trial (if Darth Vader had has this stuff available, he wouldn't have needed that interrogator droid to get information out of Princess Leia), the court proceedings in the still contested Washington state governor's election went largely unnoticed outside the state of Washington.
I have to wonder: is this merely a case of short attention spans and media celebrity obsession? Or is media bias at work? If the manual recount had gone Rossi's way by a similar margin and former Attorney General Gregoire and the Democrats were challenging the validity of the election, would the MSM be paying more attention?
And would the Seattle media still be making the same arguments, that despite ample proof of massive irregularities, especially in King County, there's no proof of fraud so the election should stand?
Permalink
|
6/03/2005
This Would Likely Be Much Ado About Nothing...
if it weren't in the People's Republic of New Jersey.
Arsenal Found in Elderly Couple's Home
(Note: this is one time when I don't really object to the use of the term 'arsenal' by the media. For the most part, it means more than 2 guns, but this time it was 500.)
RIDGEFIELD, N.J. - A day after police escorted a disoriented elderly woman to her home, they returned with a search warrant and found a massive cache of weapons and gunpowder.
Nearly 500 guns, including AK-47s and high-powered rifles, 500 pounds of gunpowder and 100,000 rounds of ammunition were taken Wednesday from the home of Elizabeth and Sherwin Raymond, both 82.
Sherwin Raymond, a former physician and known gun enthusiast, has twice spent time in prison: in the early 1970s for performing illegal abortions and later that decade for selling silencer-equipped submachine guns. Convicted felons are not permitted to own guns.
"People knew he was a (gun) collector, but no one suspected the magnitude of what was found," police Chief John Bogovich told The Record of Bergen County for Thursday's newspapers. "This will be a monumental task to inventory."
Police said they sought the warrant after bringing Elizabeth Raymond back to her home on Memorial Day and seeing the windows and doors open.
Police suspect many of weapons might have been bought at gun shows. Federal authorities are expected to investigate where they were purchased and whether they had ever been used in crimes.
Sherwin Raymond was charged with creating a hazardous condition and his bail was set at $25,000. Police guarded him Wednesday at a Hackensack hospital while he received dialysis treatment. His wife, who was not charged, was taken to a nearby hospital so she did not have to be alone.
I'm willing to bet that they'll find that any of the guns purchased after the felony convictions were purchased in the wife's name. As convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy likes to say, "My wife has a fine firearms collection." Anything purchased before then was probably given to the wife, as well. (The husband would have been about 50 in the early 70s, plenty of time to amass an extensive gun collection, especially on a physician's income.)
What the couple is probably most in danger of is running afoul of the PRNJ's "assault weapon" laws. I'm going to guess that the 'AK-47s' were bought before the law went into effect, and may or may not have been property registered. Are grandfathered weapons even allowed in the PRNJ? Trainer, Gwa.45, help me out here.
Then there's the question of the ammuntion and powder. 100,000 rounds divided by 500 guns equals 200 rounds per gun. Not so much when you think about it that way, and an old man on dialysis and his easily dioriented wife probably didn't do much shooting to use up 60 or so years of accumulated ammo. Storage of the 500 pounds of powder and possibly the ammo as well is probably the source of the "creating a hazardous condition" charge, which sounds to me like a fire code violation. Anybody out there know if the PRNJ places limits on how much ammo a subject citizen can keep in their home?
If this were Montana, it'd be no big deal, some fire code violations and that's about it.
UPDATE: Per poster WT on THR, fire codes in PRNJ limit powder storage to 36 lbs of modern smokeless powder and 5 lbs for black powder without a permit. Larger amounts require a permit, fire suppression system, and annual fire marshall inspections. So right now this guy is booked for violating fire codes.
Permalink
|
6/02/2005
Hey Dianne...
My AR-15:
Semi-automatic? Check
Accepts magazines of greater than 10 round capacity? Check
Pistol grip? Check
Flash suppressor? Check
Bayonet lug? Check
What am I missing...oh yeah...
Collapsable stock? CHECK
Now with more Evil!!!
And it makes it more family friendly, too...my wife can collapse it all the way down where it's comfortable for her (the real reason I got it) and I can extend it so it's comfortable for me.
Permalink
|
6/01/2005
Another Gun Lawsuit Shot Down
Court Rejects Widow's Suit Against Gun Co.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - An appeals court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit that the widow of a teacher gunned down by a 13-year-old student had filed against a gun distributor.
Pam Grunow's lawsuit argued that Valor Corp. was negligent in selling the cheap handgun used in the shooting and should be held liable for the May 2000 death of her husband, Barry Grunow. He was shot in the doorway of his middle school classroom by Nathaniel Brazill, who stole the gun from the man he considered to be a grandfather.
"We certainly sympathize with Grunow and recognize the tragedy of the events that transpired. However, it was Brazill, his grandfather, and perhaps the school that were liable, not Valor," the opinion said.
...
Valor's attorneys argued that the company cannot be considered negligent if someone uses one of its guns for a crime. But Grunow's attorneys said federal officials had told Valor for years that its .25-caliber Raven handgun was frequently used in crimes and that the company had a legal responsibility to make the weapons safer.
So, the kid got pissed off because the teacher wouldn't let him talk to a couple of girls in the teacher's class, so the kid shot a killed the teacher, using a cheap Raven .25. Who to sue? The company that sold the gun, of course. There's no political point to be made by suing the perp, his grandfather, or the school.
The original jury verdict awarding $1.2 million was thrown out by the trial judge, who ruled that the verdict was inconsistent with the jury's finding that the gun was not defective. The Brady Campaign to destroy human rights who pushed the lawsuit, argued that Valor could have added some sort of mechanical interlock to prevent kids from using the gun. (The degree of mechanical ignorance is flabergasting. Yes, I'm sure it theorectically could be done, but then you have an expensive mechanical lock out device inside a cheap pistol.) Nevermind that the perp's grandfather probably bought the gun to protect himself from criminals, and that in guns fitted with such devices that are used for self proptection (like my Remington 870) such devices are usually left unlocked.
Of course, the final sentence is absurd. The feds have noted that the Raven .25 is frequently used in crime, and thus should be made safer. Um, OK then. Raven pistols are used for crimes because they're cheap and small, and thus easy to hide. Funny how my Kahr K40, which is also small and also lacks features to turn into into an expensive paper weight, doesn't really seem to suffer from the problem of being used in crimes.
Permalink
|
That'd Make Me a Large...
because I refuse to say "Venti."
You're a Classic Cup
'O' Joe!
What Kind of Coffee are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
And, no, I don't want room for cream in that.
Permalink
|
5/31/2005
Ma Deuce's Diary, 31 May 2005
Big entry this time. I didn't post anything for Memorial Day, so this is kind of a make-up for that.
Leading off with something that's been up before, Medal of Honor (posthumous) winner SFC Paul Smith:
On April 4, 2003, near the Baghdad airport, a large Iraqi force was advancing on and threatening to overrun a group of about 100 American soldiers when Smith took control of the situation, according to the Defense Department.
Smith first used his M-16 rifle, an AT-4 anti-armor weapon and a hand grenade against the Iraqis. He then climbed onto an armored personnel carrier and, exposing himself to enemy fire that ripped into his plated vest, Smith fired about 400 rounds from a .50-caliber machine gun.
The attackers retreated, but Smith suffered a fatal wound to the head and died that same day.
Veteran recalls time of service
Korean War veteran awarded Silver Star
Training for harsh reality
No man's land
Jacksonville fire chief shares stories about service in Iraq
WWII veteran honored in return to France
Remembering one man's sacrifice and another's bravery
Soldier finally to get his Silver Star, 54 years later
A baptism under fire
Don't forget the heroes among us
Convoy Airmen protect supply lines
Bomber visits Lansing
Families turn out to salute military
A soldier's life
Grave will tell of soldier's Civil War bravery
"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it cannot forget what they did here." -Abraham Lincoln
Permalink
|
|
|
