2013 America (and Friends!) Gun Violence Thread No Plows Allowed!

[Meresgi]

Pretty sure we passed a bunch of harsh gun laws here in Maryland too back after the Sandy Hook shit or w/e went down this past year.

http://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2013/1...or-gun-buyers/

The firearm bill passed in the last legislative session took effect on October 1, 2013. Considered as one of the nation’s toughest firearm regulations

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...523_story.html

So yeah, I guess it was due to the Newtown shit. I don't keep up with killing sprees/gun laws but I did know people were bitching up a storm during the fall over it.

Sooooo we passed sweeping legislation pre-emptively to stop this sort of thing..and it happens anyways!

[wipers]

Just saw that Katy Perry is now a "gun expert" she should stick to what she does best. Singing and shaking dat ass.

[Drex]

If they're admitted addicts they can't, however, how many alcoholics do you know that are admitted alcoholics? See that weird loophole? You could be a habitual abuser but till you've been locked up or forced in to rehab, you can slip under the radar as long as you don't go in to the shop blasted (and depending on the state or how rural the area is, the seller might be just as drunk as you who go to purchase).

Federal regs are just guidelines and they usually leave enforcement (and interpretation) up to the states. It's weird loopholes like that which allow some states to circumvent certain laws since it's almost not entirely specific or very vague in it's description. If every amendment or regulation had specific language to it, then each section would probably be 100 pages long and use extremely fancy language.

the other issue is how hazy definitions of mental illness really are (ex being gay used to be one) and how easily they can be exploited by people on both sides of the interaction to reach desired outcomes. a large number of mental disorders are just observed behaviors after all.

[Meresgi]

We need to go back to where a man could admit his wife because she was "crazies" while on her period!

[BaneTheBrawler]

ah, hysteria

[Nephlite]

Pretty sure we passed a bunch of harsh gun laws here in Maryland too back after the Sandy Hook shit or w/e went down this past year.

http://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2013/1...or-gun-buyers/



http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...523_story.html

So yeah, I guess it was due to the Newtown shit. I don't keep up with killing sprees/gun laws but I did know people were bitching up a storm during the fall over it.

Sooooo we passed sweeping legislation pre-emptively to stop this sort of thing..and it happens anyways!

The laws really just affect only those who are newly purchasing a firearm. It does nothing to shotguns and rifles (a shotgun being the weapon used in the Columbia Mall Shooting). The mental health thing would apply to shotguns and rifles but only if the subject was involuntarily committed to receive help for the condition. There's still hundreds of thousands of people in the region that have mental health issues (which is the problem) and the background (again) doesn't cover mental health issues unless you were committed. This guy could have legally purchased the shotgun and no one would have ever suspected and the system fails again, yet it is some of the "strictest gun regulations in the nation".

the other issue is how hazy definitions of mental illness really are (ex being gay used to be one) and how easily they can be exploited by people on both sides of the interaction to reach desired outcomes. a large number of mental disorders are just observed behaviors after all.

Exactly the reason why mental health institutions and Law Enforcement need greater ability to monitor these problems, however, at what point do you start infringing on a persons right to keep their medical records safe from government scrutiny? It's an endless cycle of Q & A and failure to be able to find a good answer to the issue.

[hey]

however, at what point do you start infringing on a persons right to keep their medical records safe from government scrutiny?

At the point where they want to buy weapons that could kill hundreds of people, seems like a good choice to me.

[Waraji]

This guy could have legally purchased the shotgun and no one would have ever suspected and the system fails again, yet it is some of the "strictest gun regulations in the nation".

Much easier to blanket legislation than to really address the problem, and actually acknowledge, the true problem of Mental Illness in this country, no matter how acute or severe.

[archibaldcrane]

http://gawker.com/florida-man-shoots...ium=socialflow

So apparently in Florida anyone who owns private land (even the land your RV sits on) can discharge firearms for shooting range purposes, no matter how small the piece of land is or how close to your neighbors you are. There's actually a state law that bans local municipalities from legislating against firing weapons on your own property.

Old-fart Floridians have found a new way to keep the damn kids off their lawn: Start a shooting range on it. It's totally legal, thanks to a little-known 1987 law that's recently been rediscovered by Beretta-toting bubbas.
Thank 57-year-old snowbird Doug Varrieur, who was looking for a way to teach his eyesight-impaired wife how to shoot her self-defense pistol without the inconvenience of going to a commercial gun range, "which is 50 miles round trip, costs $45 an hour and is enclosed in a building with people shooting around you that you don't know," he told the Miami Herald.
So, without any hint of irony, he did the next best thing: He started shooting at cans and zombie cutouts right outside the door of his RV, around people he didn't know. He can do this because a state law prevents local municipalities from banning the discharge of firearms in residential neighborhoods:

"I honestly had hoped no one would catch wind of it and it would become public knowledge," Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said of the state law that pre-empts local ordinances. "I'm concerned now that people know. This isn't about the right to own and bear arms. My concern is public safety and quality of life."
Ramsay is not the only one who is worried. Since word got out about the legality of Varrieur's "Gun Day" — he shoots from 3 to 4 p.m. every Wednesday — citizens and lawmakers up and down the island chain have become concerned that gun owners less responsible than Varrieur will begin shooting in their own yards.
"Without any oversight, somebody's neighbor could set up a gun range and invite his friends over and have a good old time shooting," said longtime Monroe County Commissioner George Neugent. "That's a little scary situation, and I say that as a gun owner and somebody who believes in the Second Amendment."

The law says folks can fire anything they want on their own property, no matter how small the plot of land, as long as they're not "reckless" or "negligent"—terms that cops admit they're unsure how to interpret. And the first violation would be a misdemeanor anyway, meaning a police officer can't arrest an offender unless he witnesses the offense with his own eyes.
As the Herald's Cammy Clark notes, gun-totin' gadflies are getting hip to the opportunity—and not always for gun-related reasons:

If people want to shoot on private property next to a daycare center, they can. Just last month, Ernie Vasiliou threatened to put a private gun range on a one-acre lot on Ranches Road west of Boynton Beach if a proposed daycare center were approved on land next to his. Vasiliou said noisy kids would ruin his dream-home plans.
When Monroe County commissioners asked whether noise ordinances could be invoked to stop shooting at private homes, County Attorney Bob Shillinger said no.
"And if they want to shoot a fully automatic weapon, and have a class 3 license, technically they would not be in violation of anything," Ramsay said.

Sure sure, but what's the harm?

A month ago, on Christmas Day, a grandfather in Volusia County was working in his back yard when he was hit in the chest by an errant bullet fired from a neighbor's yard. Bruce Fleming, 69, died less than an hour later at a local hospital.
No arrest has been made in the case while investigators await forensic evidence. According to the Daytona Beach News Journal, the shooter has been identified. He admitted to firing a shotgun but said he did not know the bullets had hit anyone. The shots were fired from a nearby property with a horse stable.

Ironically, this situation was set up by "small government" conservatives who wanted to ensure that actual small governments—you kn0w, local ones—couldn't regulate gun ranges within their boundaries:

Many municipalities in Florida used to have local laws banning the firing of guns in residential areas. While the preemptive state law has been in place for almost three decades, many local governments ignored it and passed their own gun ordinances.
But in 2011, backed by the National Rifle Association, the Republican-led state Legislature put more teeth into the state law, creating penalties for local lawmakers who violate it. Gov. Rick Scott signed the law that now makes anyone who creates or upholds local gun ordinances subject to fines of up to $5,000. They also can be removed from office and forced to pay their own legal bills if sued over local gun ordinances.

Even some Republican lawmakers think that's bunk. State Rep. Holly Raschein told the Herald that, even though she considers herself a friend to gun owners, the range rule "shocked" her. "I almost didn't believe it at first... I'm originally from Alaska, and we're no strangers to guns up there. But even in Anchorage, that's not allowed."
Welcome to free Florida! If you don't like it, you can move in with the rest of those big-government fascists in DENALI.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...5numaiagif.gif

[Ghost_Wheel22]

Fuck you, fourth rule of gun safety. But this is pants-on-head retarded on several levels.

[Boyiee]

Took a ride out to Cabelas in PA the other day, was able to walk out with a rifle in 30 minutes and take it back to Jersey. I think the Credit Card approval took longer.

[Nephlite]

I'm sure the idea came out back when people had lot's of land and you didn't have to sardine communities. Lot's of wtf goings on here...

[Esvedium]

Yet another reason in a long list of reasons to never go to Florida.

I'm sure the idea came out back when people had lot's of land and you didn't have to sardine communities. Lot's of wtf goings on here...

There were plenty of sardine communities on the 1980s (or was that the 70s when the bill was passed, on phone, can't check while replying...)

[wipers]

[Suvhater]

[wipers]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014...ver-loud-music

The Ghost of George Zimmerman. In before racism gun laws and Al Shartpon.

[Pirian]

Shouldn't have been playing loud music in a war zone...wait, isn't that a good strategy?

[Byrthnoth]

So, think this one is ridiculous enough to smite some "Stand Your Ground" laws?

Spoiler: show

Too bad. It's not.

[Suvhater]

im curious why the prosecution in zimmermans case and this case alike choose to blow the case before it gets started by charging the accused with a crime two steps above what was actually committed. This guy is charged with 1st degree murder which given the narrative doesnt fit the crime at all. At best this is a case of manslaughter, maybe 2nd degree murder if the prosecution has evidence that this dude had malice aforethought.

[Blubbartron]

im curious why the prosecution in zimmermans case and this case alike choose to blow the case before it gets started by charging the accused with a crime two steps above what was actually committed. This guy is charged with 1st degree murder which given the narrative doesnt fit the crime at all. At best this is a case of manslaughter, maybe 2nd degree murder if the prosecution has evidence that this dude had malice aforethought.

Standard prosecutorial bullying. They trump up bullshit higher level charges in an attempt to get people on trial to plea it down to what it should have been realistically to begin with. And the raping of the "justice" system continues...