Articles by Herschel Smith

Newsweek:

A gun-violence victim’s family is hoping the mother of the man who fatally shot their relative will strengthen their case against two firearms dealers in an Oregon court.

Kirsten Englund, a 57-year-old California woman, was fatally shot in April 2013 at a scenic overlook in Oregon while on her way to visit relatives. After 30-year-old Jeffrey Boyce killed Englund, he drove to northern California and carjacked two different drivers before police arrested him. Two months later, while awaiting his arraignment, Boyce killed himself in jail.

On Thursday, the gunman’s mother, Diane Boyce, agreed to help the family with its wrongful death lawsuit against two retailers that sold her guns, despite originally being named in the lawsuit.

In the complaint, Englund’s two sons and sister accuse Diane Boyce of acting as a straw purchaser by buying an AK-47 rifle and two handguns for her son in 2011 and 2012. A “straw purchase” occurs when the actual buyer of a firearm uses another person to execute the paperwork necessary to complete the purchase through a federally licensed dealer. By intentionally buying guns for someone else, straw purchasers thwart the background checks system and thus may allow firearms to be funneled to criminals, domestic abusers and other individuals who pose a risk to public safety.

Jeffrey Boyce, who lawyers say was not legally allowed to own guns because he had a criminal record at the time of his mother’s first purchase, used one of the three firearms to murder Englund, according to the lawsuit. He had never met Englund before he killed her, shooting her at close range, pouring gasoline over her body, lighting her on fire and then shooting her once more, the complaint says.

The suit says J&G Sales, an online firearms and ammunition retailer in Arizona, sold the two pistols, which were then shipped to World Pawn Exchange (WPE) in North Bend, Oregon, for Boyce to claim. A Minnesota dealer sold the AK-47 and also shipped to WPE. After his arrest, Boyce told law enforcement officials that he used one of the pistols to kill Englund, the complaint says.

[ … ]

The lawsuit alleges that the retailers had reason to know the guns were being purchased by a straw buyer—but still allowed the sales to proceed—and that J&G and WPE’s negligence caused Englund’s death. The suit describes an invoice that allegedly identifies Jeffrey Boyce as the buyer.

I don’t know any more details about the case.  But it isn’t good enough that Remington was on the hook (pardon the pun) for Sandy Hook and then wisely let go because of the federal law, and it doesn’t matter that the dealer (WPE) apparently didn’t do their due diligence in selling the firearms (if indeed that is the case, and I don’t know that it is).

No, this parent wants more.  She wants to shut down a distributor who had absolutely nothing to do with the crime.  When the law fails their desire for “social justice,” progressives always turn to the court, where single individuals (or malleable juries) can effectively rewrite the law for them.

Progressives were outraged at acquittal of the Bundy brothers.  Jury nullification is outrageous in this case because the Bundy brothers challenged the fedgov, but as for gun laws, if it works for them then it’s a good thing.  Because the only good law is one which aids the social justice warriors in their quest to become god.

AJC:

New York’s attorney general has a message for Georgians: keep your guns to yourselves.

In a study released this week, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman blamed lax gun laws in states such as Georgia for much of the violent crime that occurs in New York state.

New York has some of the nation’s strictest gun-control laws: It bans so-called assault weapons; prohibits the sale of high-capacity magazines; requires background checks on buyers in all firearms transactions, including private and gun-show sales; and issues licenses to people who legally buy handguns.

“New York’s gun laws have curbed access to the guns most associated with violent crimes: handguns,” Schneiderman said in the report. “But the ready availability of these guns in states without these protections thwarts New York’s efforts to keep its citizens safe.”

The study used data from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine the origins of guns recovered in connection with crimes in New York between 2010 and 2015.

Of those 52,915 guns, three-fourths came from out of state – in most cases, Schneiderman said, through illegal trafficking. Just 6 percent of the guns still belonged to their original owners when the crimes occurred.

Georgia sent more guns to New York than any states other than Virginia and Pennsylvania, the study found.

Police connected 2,822 guns originally bought in Georgia to crimes in New York; 2,711 of those were handguns. Georgia accounted for 13 percent of out-of-state “crime guns” recovered by New York police during the five years covered by the study.

The largest number of the Georgia guns – 152 – were connected to a crime within one year of purchase. Another 209 had been bought in Georgia between one and three years earlier. Many may have been stolen from gun stores or individuals in Georgia.

Schneiderman used the report’s release to call for federal legislation to mandate background checks on all purchases at gun shows and for state laws s to require permits for handgun buyers.

In Georgia, at least, that proposal is a non-starter. Georgia law prohibits police from even asking people with guns whether they have concealed-carry permits. The state allows open carry of firearms in many public places – bars, for instance, or the non-secure areas of airports.

New York to Georgia: “You need to be more like us.”

Georgia to New York: ” … yawn.  Did somebody say something?”

News from Cleveland:

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Investigators are trying to determine if any laws were broken when a stray bullet from the gun of an off-duty police officer ended up inside a local day care center.

The incident happened at about 3:30 Monday afternoon when there were children at the center.

“The person was, I believe in their upstairs bedroom when the gun discharged and it went through their exterior wall and then entered into the day care center,” said Russ Balthis, Cuyahoga Falls city prosecutor.

The gun described by police was a 9mm Glock 19.

“My building is brick and the kids were playing and literally it sounded like a loud noise; dust was flying because it came through one wall and then hit another wall and there’s a circle, so it could still be in the circle but I didn’t want to pull anything apart and look for it,” a caller from the KinderCare Learning Center on State Road told police in a 9-1-1 call.

Police Chief Jack Davis said the gun owner is a volunteer reserve police officer in Cuyahoga Falls but a paid patrolman in East Cleveland, where he has been with their department since last December.

“There was an off-duty East Cleveland officer who was unloading a gun or somehow doing something with his weapon, I believe unloading it, from what I heard, had an accidental discharge the bullet, traveled outside of his home through a wall at a day care and got lodged in the opposite wall of the day care,” said Davis.

Okay, let me help you a bit Mr. Davis.  The officer put his finger inside the trigger guard and pulled the trigger.  I’m glad I could be of help.

Barney, give me the gun and bullet.  Hand it over.

Quartz:

Victims of gun violence are not just the people in direct range of bullets. They’re also those on the periphery.

 Almost every single American—99.85%—will know at least one victim of gun violence during his or her lifetime, a recent analysis in the journal Preventive Medicine estimates.

Around 30,000 gun-related deaths and 80,000 non-fatal injuries occur annually in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A study published in the American Journal of Medicine earlier this year showed that Americans were 10 times more likely to die as a result of a firearm compared with residents of 22 other high-income countries. Of all firearm deaths in all these countries, more than 80% occur in the US.

The researchers combined two kinds of data to establish the full scope of the effects of gun violence. First, they collected estimates of direct victims of gun violence—fatal and non-fatal gun injury rates in 2013 at the national level—from the CDC. Second, they tried to calculate the size of the average American’s social network based on data from previous social network studies.

The researchers made additional assumptions, such as that gun violence happens to anyone at random, so all individuals face same risk. In reality, of course, some people are much more likely to be shot than others, but the thinking here is that, when averaged across the entire US population, everyone’s likelihood of experiencing gun violence is about the same.

Sounds awful doesn’t it?  High income, sophisticated country, and all that.  The deaths aren’t concentrated in the inner city where the collectivists have created an uneducated and feral population of killers demanding the next handout.

Oh wait.  There’s that.  And how does the author deal with this issue?  By saying, “In reality, of course, some people are much more likely to be shot than others, but the thinking here is that, when averaged across the entire US population, everyone’s likelihood of experiencing gun violence is about the same.”

I’ve never read such a nonsense statement in my life masquerading as journalism and analysis.  Some people are much more likely to be shot than others.  But the assumption is that everyone’s likelihood is about the same.  No shit.  You can’t make this stuff up.

The author contradicted the premise for the analysis, and then restated the premise.  But if it’s to support gun control, that’s okay.  Because it’s okay to be an idiot if you’re a gun controller.  No one will call you out for what you are, not even an editor.

Threats of home invasion, right address police raids for an ounce of marijuana, or wrong address police raids, is a form of terrorism on the American population, perpetrated by the police.

There are other forms.  On Long Island, it takes the form of being told to be in fear for your life because of Latino criminals imported from South of the border.

BRETNWOOD, Long Island (WABC) — For the fifth time since September, police have discovered the remains of a teenager in Brentwood, a community plagued by gang violence.The body of Jose Pena-Hernandez, 18, of Brentwood, was found Monday in a wooded area at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death, but police said the case was being investigated as a homicide.

Hernandez, who police say was a known gang member, was reported missing in June. Suffolk County police believe he was beaten to death.

“We didn’t find those remains by accident,” said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini. “We are putting an enormous amount of pressure on the criminal element in the Brentwood area.”

Four Brentwood High School teens were killed or found dead within the past six weeks, all suspected victims of gang violence.

Investigators began discovering the corpses on Sept. 13, when the badly beaten body of Nisa Mickens was found on a tree-lined street in Brentwood, a day before her 16th birthday. A day later, the beaten body of her lifelong friend, 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas, was discovered in the wooded backyard of a nearby home.

In the wake of the deaths, school administrators warned students not to wear clothing that risked offending vicious street gangs.

Make sure not to offend the vicious street gangs.  So mothers, make sure to know the gang colors and throw all of that clothing away.  The cartels, as regular readers know, engage in more than drug trafficking.  They also engage in human trafficking.  The invasion will continue, and make sure not to let your kids out of your sight.  They might be kidnapped and sold into sex slavery.

Oh, and make sure not to offend the Muslims in Idaho either.  Your little girl might get raped and cut.  Folks, you’re under attack from all corners.  Understand it as the war that it is.

Ammoland:

This is another one that is different for everybody. In the beginning, I went to the range every two weeks and put a couple hundred rounds at paper targets.

I also practiced dry fire in my house (with no one home, because, you know, it feels kind of silly – even though it isn’t) at least twice a week.

This was mainly drawing, firing and firing while moving either backwards or quartering away from the target. Later my Son bought a SIRT training pistol – a full weight replica of a Glock 19, with a removable mag and a two stage laser trigger – and I practiced with that the same way.

Beyond practice, you need to read, Read, READ! So many books that help you to understand concealed carry, guns, tactics and practice.

Read them. Study them. Practice them. When you’ve read a book, sign the inside of the cover and date it. Why? Because if you ever have to defend yourself at trial, what you know and don’t know may be the difference between going home to he family and living in a hell called prison for the rest of your life.

At trial, you are able to give evidence only to what you knew at the time, and how it may have affected your lethal force response. If you shot a man who had a knife and was 18′ feet away, being able to explain to a jury what the Tueler Drill is and the part it plays in JOA – Jeopardy, Opportunity and Ability – will go a long way to helping yourself.

If you didn’t know this information in advance, you would not be able to bring it up at trial. Keeping records of what you read can be a great help to yourself and your attorneys, should the need arise.

I don’t think dry fire practice is silly at all, and it certainly doesn’t feel that way.  Furthermore, as I’ve recommended before, I wait until no one is in the house, turn the lights out at night, make sure my tactical light has fresh batteries, and practice room clearing techniques.  How do you know you don’t bang the doorways with your rifle muzzle without practicing it?  Do you have a plan for sweeping the whole house?  Which room do to tackle first?  Does it make a difference if anyone is in the house?  Do it change your plan?  Do you have the movement mechanics worked out for hallway and room to room transition?

But this last recommendation from Ammoland is also very good on threats outside the home.  So in the interest of being able to prove that you’ve thought about the Tueller drill, watch this video in its entirety.

Chicago Maroon (from reader Mack):

A leading humanist scholar stressed symbolic Bible reading and warned of the radical right at a talk on Tuesday at the Seminary Co-Op.

For Catherine M. Wallace, faculty member at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine  and author of the recently concluded book series *Christian Humanism and the Moral Imagination*, the Christian fundamentalist movement in the United States is more dangerous than Islamic terrorism. Wallace, a Christian herself, believes fundamentalist access to United States armaments is the number one threat to state security.

“If [anything Islamic] wanted to attack an American city, they had to hijack an airliner. If they want to blow up a concert, they need to put bombs on their own children and send young men in to kill themselves…that kind of radicalism [Christian fundamentalism] in control of nuclear codes was a much, much greater threat,” Wallace said.

As a historian and Christian humanist, Wallace wanted to examine fundamentalism’s strongest arguments and find its weaknesses. She looked at how fundamentalist Christianity first sprung up in the Southern United States. “The religious right in its most contemporary form has an origin in Southern opposition to desegregation and to the Civil Rights Movement…a transparently racist appeal,” Wallace said.

In Wallace’s view, this radicalism stems from a literal reading of the Bible. “Nobody in the ancient world would have read the Bible literally,” Wallace said. The idea of a literal reading is a thoroughly modern phenomenon, according to Wallace—church fathers of the past would discourage anyone from taking the Bible literally.

Therefore, according to Wallace, the fundamentalists have it all wrong. “Christian fundamentalism is a malignant form of Christianity,” Wallace said. In her opinion, their literalist reading creates misconceptions of what the Bible means, fostering a climate of hate and leading to increased and unnecessary conflict between Christians and the rest of the world.

Near the end of the talk, Wallace turned to her personal take on the Bible. “It’s the great anthology of Jewish storytelling. It’s brilliant, but these are very ancient stories.” She argues that by reading the Bible this way, Christianity can far better coexist with the worlds of science and politics. Equally important, the religion can lose its reputation of going against facts and progressive social trends.

She’s lying.  She is presupposing the stupidity and ignorance of the modern seminary student – and that may be a perfectly good assumption – in order to make her point.  She wants the students to think that good hermeneutics means that nothing the Bible says is true.  She is conflating the lies of source, form and redaction criticism with good hermeneutical principles like interpreting according to literature type (e.g., the parables of Christ aren’t systematic theology, and cannot be used to make more than a single theological point, versus the systematic theology that is found in the Pauline doctrine from the epistles).

So who knows – since we Christian fundamentalists are more dangerous than Islamic radicals, perhaps she wants the fedgov to go after us.  But listen here.  We have the guns.  So what are you going to do about it beyond lying to the idiot students?

As for my more fundamentalist Christian response, I can only think of this to say.  Blow it out your ass, jerk.  Oh, and I don’t think you’re a Christian at all.  You lied about that too (I find the stupid term “co-religionist” insulting and objectionable and you don’t get to make up anything you want and call it Christian, any more than I can declare that I am the king of Siam and make it happen).

UTT:

After spending all of last week in Minnesota, UTT’s professional assessment of the enemy situation is this:  the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota – known as the “Twin Cities” – are in enemy-held territory.  They are, at least for the time being, lost – meaning, they are under the control of a collaborative jihadist/marxist element there.

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in America.  It is estimated that over 125,000 Somalis live there, most of whom are in the Minneapolis area.  This community sent at least 22 Islamic jihadi fighters overseas to fight for the terrorist group Al Shabaab, although some estimate the number is closer to four dozen.

The  Cedar Riverside neighborhood is also called “Little Mogadishu” in reference to Somalia’s capital.  Some Minneapolis residents feel parts of their city have become like a third world nation.

Inside a 10 mile radius of Minneapolis city-center, there are at least 29 Islamic Centers/mosques, and an unknown number of home-mosques.  The Twin Cities area is home to Hamas organizations including CAIR and Islamic Associations.  The Muslim Brotherhood’s Muslim Students Associations (MSAs) are on at least 21 Minnesota college and university campuses. There are MSAs in at least 11 Minnesota high schools recruiting jihadis and turning public opinion towards the Palestinian Cause (Hamas) and away from Israel.

Other Muslim Brotherhood (jihadi) organizations in and around the Twin Cities area include the Islamic Societies in Woodbury and Willmar, the Muslim American Society (MAS), and others.

The Twin Cities is home to the first official organization representing Al-Azhar University in Egypt -the Islamic University of Minnesota (IUM).  Al-Azhar is the oldest and most authoritative school of Islamic jurisprudence on the planet.  At IUM students are taught that killing Jews, waging jihad, and imposing sharia on the world are obligations for all Muslims.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are also home to the Minnesota Dawah Institute.  This Institute focuses on spreading Islamic Dawah, the call to Islam, a mandatory requirement before jihad can be waged.

As a result of this invasion of Minnesota, the average Muslim on the street wants to overturn U.S. law and live by sharia.  This includes the open support of killing people who mock Mohammad, Islam’s prophet.  For a realistic view, see the Ami Horowitz short video on the streets of the Muslim Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, also known as the “West Bank” of the University of Minnesota, HERE.

Read the rest.  The twin cities are a casualty in the global war.  The media is complicit, the elected officials are using their positions of power and influence to silence critics and dissent, and the takeover of Minnesota was bloodless.

If you ever thought that elected officials, law enforcement or the national security apparatus was going to save you from this, you’re naïve and badly mistaken.

You know what you need to be doing.  Take the guns you’ve already bought to the range and practice.  Buy more ammunition.  Steel yourself for what’s coming.  And just in case you needed to be reminded, you need to watch this and read this again.

Do it yesterday.

News from Virginia:

It was late on a Saturday night, and Elena DeRosa and her husband were watching TV in their southwest Roanoke County home. Suddenly their dog was going nuts. Seconds later the doorbell rang, and there was loud pounding on their front door — boom, boom, boom.

Because nobody they know ever uses that entrance, the couple feared they were targets of a home-invasion robbery. They’d read about one of those in Roanoke County just the week before, she said.

So DeRosa and her husband (whom she asked me not to name) went for their handguns. He was out the side door, armed, before she got to her gun. As she grabbed it, a bright light beamed into their sunroom.

Then the shouting began, DeRosa said. Someone ordered her out of the house. The light was in her face. The next day, this is what she wrote on her blog, in a post titled “My Life Matters.”

“Whoever it is, they are not lowering the light so I look away from it and see my husband to my left staring down the barrel of a gun while a cop shouts to him to put his hands on his head. WTF? The light gets lowered as I’m being yelled at to step out of the house, and for the first time I see cops, many, many cops all over my yard, guns pointed at me and my husband.

“I quickly put my [handgun] on the shelf inside and step out to the shouting, ‘Put your hands on top of your head, hands on the head!’ while three of them advance on me, their guns drawn and pointed.”

Geniuses, each and every one.  I reckon no one has ever heard of independent verification or QV&V (quality verification and validation to ensure the accuracy, fidelity and veracity of your information).  Guns drawn, people muzzle flagged, and innocent people put at risk, and had there been a home invasion by gang bangers, the poor folks inside wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.  Oh well, Justice Breyer says we don’t have a right to self defense anyway, because, “the children.”

Remember, boys and girls.  Only cops can commit the crime of home invasion, because they are just like you, only better and more special.  It’s illegal for you to do this.