Archive for the 'Guns' Category

We’ve discussed at length the South Carolina LEO opposition to open carry legislation and the Senators’ deference to these guys.  Previously we saw that Chief Joseph Hill of the Horry County Police Department said “I don’t have any personal objections to it other than it doesn’t fit the culture of Myrtle Beach.”

To this, Josh said the following.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

The “culture?” Myrtle Beach has absolutely zero culture. It’s a disgusting shithole filled with tourist traps, trash, gross and loud foreigners, drunks, assholes, criminals, and for some reason that continues to escape me, Ohioans.

The Ohioans can have it.

Now we find out just what kind of “culture” Myrtle Beach really has.

At least seven people were injured early Sunday morning in Myrtle Beach after someone began shooting during a crowded street fight, police said.

The chaotic scene was captured and streamed on Facebook Live by a man staying at a nearby hotel.

Bubba Hinson told the Myrtle Beach Sun News that he was in town for a firefighters’ convention when he spotted a large crowd blocking traffic on the street below his room at the Holiday Sands North hotel.

“I thought they were dancing. That’s why I started filming it,” he told the newspaper. “Then, they started fighting. Then, they started shooting.”

Myrtle Beach police said in a statement that, just after midnight Sunday, a fight broke out on Ocean Boulevard, a major thoroughfare in the seaside South Carolina city.

Before officers arrived, a man in the fight pulled out a gun and shot one person, police spokesman Lt. Joey Crosby said.

An armed security guard who was already on the scene witnessed the disturbance and fired at the shooter, Crosby said. The shooter then hijacked a car and fled — but not before firing additional gunshots at people in the crowd, Crosby said.

Here is reaction to the event.

Bob Pisani: “Tell all my friends & family to stay in North Myrtle  because MB isn’t safe for families anymore.Not like it was 7/8 years ago. Went down the Boardwalk today. Bad vibes. Won’t even think of going there after sundown. Rhodes gotta go.”

Regis von Wagner: “Good idea for vacation is to stay away from Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach beach once was a really nice vacation destination. Today it is a dump. Maybe this will help get the word out.”

the video of the shooting that happened last night on the strip is wild. Myrtle Beach really is a crazy place.

— brian knight (@thginkb) June 18, 2017

Laura Wiggins Russell: “We came home early from our vacation Friday from Myrtle Beach because of all the junk that was going on. It was white kids, black kids and Hispanic kids doing all crowding up the streets all night long. They were loud disrespectful and had no fear of the law. The cops were extremely out numbered. During the day all these kids were running the families off the beach because of girls taking their tops off and kids being drunk. It ruined our family vacation. We will not return to Myrtle Beach.”

Kenny Rutherford: “Welcome to Murder Beach! Precisely why I haven’t been there in many years. The young thugs have taken it over and now it is not a desirable destination for myself and many others. People wonder why there is so much racial tension in the US. Here is a prime example.”

Michael S Ford: “Rhodes thinks he has a top not tourist town?…No Bro, you got a town that I very rarely visit, and I’m only five miles away…I even drive around it now.”

David Byers: “My family and I got back from our yearly vacation to MB a couple of weeks ago…While leaving a restaurant I was accosted by a man that claimed his car was broke down and wanted assistance. I got a bad vibe from the guy and noticed his car was in an area off from the street alone near some empty broken down buildings…It felt like a set up. He became upset, verbal, and crowded me, it almost turned bad. I asked him to step away which he did. Never have I had anything like that happen in MB. It has always felt like a safe place but that has changed. I will not be back to MB next year. This video confirms that decision.”

The fact that a near mass shooting happened right beside of me last night in Myrtle Beach haha Classic Senior Week

— Joshua Sayers (@jsayers54) June 18, 2017

Topless girls with your family around you, drunken people staggering around, gangs fighting and dominating the streets, and shootings.

This is alleged to be why S.C. LEOs are opposed to open carry.  Here is the thing and a quick note to S.C. LEOs.  I couldn’t care less about your problems, and I haven’t been to Myrtle Beach in so long I can’t remember the last time.

But if you think a criminal culture is justification for preventing me from openly carrying, you have it all backwards.  What do you think is going to happen with open carry – crime?  Gang fights?  Drunken kids?  You have all of that now.  Don’t come crying to me about your Myrtle Beach problems.

Myrtle beach is a shit hole that deserves to go out of business.  If you don’t want that to happen, then run the hucksters, low rent dives, criminals, unaccompanied minors, tourist traps, fat ass red necks and other low rent trash out of town.  Make it a gated community with higher rent, or do whatever you want to do.

But just don’t use this as some sort of justification for denying open carry.  It isn’t, and you know it.

Codrea:

In an honest report, armed citizens saving the day would have been the headline.

You have to go 30 paragraphs down into the story to find out the homeowners didn’t “help capture” the fugitives, they captured them. And while it’s fine and proper to credit the man and his neighbor with being brave, it was the fact that they were armed – with guns – that enabled them to successfully act on that bravery.

Yes, and there is even more to this story.

The 35-year-old father said he decided to make a run for it rather than hole up in the panic room in his home. He called 911, grabbed his daughter and headed out to his car.

As he started to pull out of the driveway, Hale noted how much closer the suspects had gotten.

“They began to take off their shirts and start waving at us as if to slow us down,” he recalled.

But he continued to back his car up and “for some reason they started to surrender and laid down on my concrete driveway.”

[ … ]

Hale said he never had to use any of his weapons and suspected the pair mistook his car for a police cruiser.

Regardless of the reason for the surrender, with what this pair had done already, I can see yet another dead man (and little girl since she would have been a witness) if he didn’t have weapons with him.

But CNN wasn’t the only stupid ones.  Here is what Georgia Tennessee Governor Nathan Deal said.

Gov. Nathan Deal released a statement, “Rest assured, justice will be served. My sincere thanks to our local, state and federal law enforcement officers who assisted in the manhunt. Because of their tireless efforts, the public is safe.”

What a goober.

WaPo:

“We need the courage to face our gun safety problem now …”

I’ve got my safety issues worked out deary.

KR Training:

Did shooters using the slide mounted red dots shoot better than those using irons or lasers? No.

Many, regardless of experience level, had a hard time finding the dot on initial presentation of the pistol from ready, with the most difficulty occurring when no backup iron sights were available.

Those using the green laser (in bright daylight, much of it during summer months in Texas) had no trouble using it to shoot scores very close to what they could with iron sights.

There was not time in the testing to give participants significant training time to learn the red dot or the laser. They were allowed 10 or less dry fire presentations before testing began. Red dot advocates insist that finding the dot on presentation improves with training, and I found that to be true during summer 2016, when I put in the time to earn a Grand Master ranking in USPSA’s Carry Optics division.

It would be interesting to see this study performed with more time to practice with the red dot sights.  But I’ve heard this about green light lasers and their usefulness.

With red dots you’re searching for the dot.  With the green light laser you’re looking down a line of light.  It just seems that it would be easier to sight.  It also seems like it might be a useful thing to have for folks like me who wear glasses and may not be able to find them in the middle of the night.

Readers with experience using pistol red dots and green light lasers are welcome to weigh in with their own experiences.

The Libertarian Republic:

Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk said concealed-carry reciprocity should be considered for members of Congress looking to protect themselves from future acts of violence like Wednesday’s attack on lawmakers practicing for the congressional baseball game.

While the shooting– which left four injured, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise — took place in Alexandria, Va., where individuals have the right to carry guns, members were headed to Capitol Hill following practice, which falls under the jurisdiction of Washington, D.C.’s stricter gun laws.

Loudermilk, a member if the GOP’s baseball team, said the situation could have been worse had it not been for Scalise’s security detail that went after the shooter. Leadership members are provided with security, but rank-and-file members are not — leaving many wondering how to best address security threats.

“I think we need to look at some kind of reciprocity for members here, but also we need to look at security detail if Scalise hadn’t been on our team it would have been really bad,” Loudermilk told reporters. “You know, at what point do you have a congregation of members — and we’re not any more special anybody else but we are targets — do you have a security detail with you then.”

Well, apparently you feel that you are more special than other people, and listen to me Congresscritter, everyone is a target.  Everyone.  There are no exceptions.

I’ll say the same thing for you I said over reddit/r/guns to the California LEOs who wanted to keep their service weapons because … ahem … they are more special than everyone else.

No, and a thousand times NO!  If you want reciprocity, then do it for everyone.  The California LEOs over reddit/r/guns were flabbergasted that someone could actually think the way I do.  I hope you’re flabbergasted too.  So do something about it, or continue to be a target.

Choose wisely.

Politico:

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) included the silencer provision as part of a broader bill, the “Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act,” or SHARE Act. There are several gun-related items in the package, including the silencer language. A “discussion draft” of SHARE Act will be reviewed by a House Natural Resources subcommittee on Wednesday.

An interesting reddit discussion on this can he found here, and the American Suppressor Association has a summary of the bill here.

I don’t like that suppressors will be treated as long guns, taxed, and form 4473 completed.  For God’s sake, people, this is a threaded tube with baffles.  But I’ll admit that it will make this easier to pass, there will be no waiting period, no ATF review, and suppressors will be removed from the NFA items list.  And if we believe in incrementalism, we should support this bill.

David Codrea:

Sherriff Ivey’s “common sense” approach is a welcome and refreshing change from the “Only Ones” attitudes and efforts to undermine the right to keep and bear arms that we’ve noted recently from the Fraternal Order of Police “leadership.” That “us vs. them” approach is promulgated by all too many politically-motivated police chiefs who put their personal professional exclusivity before their oaths to support the Constitution.

I applaud the Sheriff’s candor and commitment to the constitution.  Now he needs to work in Florida to repeal the concealed carry permitting process and legalize open carry.

As for the matter of “run, hide and tell,” the U.K. simply copied our very own DHS stupidity with a little modification of their own, ours being run, hide and fight.  And as for the matter of all of those dumbass corporations who forbid their employees from carrying weapons on the premises, they may be answering to a jury latter on those hundreds of employees killed on the job by an active shooter from which no one could defend because they were unarmed.  If that does happen, and it eventually will in America, may the corporation become an example by going bankrupt from the class action settlement.  I have absolutely no sympathy for such a corporation.

Via Outdoor Hub.

WSOC.com:

The North Carolina House of Representatives approved a bill Thursday that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

The North Carolina Association of Police Chiefs is against House Bill 746, which a person can carry a concealed gun, but would allow people to carry without a permit and no formal training, which is required now.

The bill would allow citizens age 18 and older, who legally own a gun, to carry it concealed without a permit, anywhere they can carry it openly.

It now will head to the Senate.

“Most people dying are being killed with guns,” said Judy Williams, the leader of the organization Mothers Of Murdered Offspring. She is working to combat rising violent crime in Charlotte.

Williams is worried the bill, if passed, will lead to more violence.

Most people being shot are young inner city blacks who are dying due to cultural and moral problems, unrelated to whether concealed carry requires a permit to be legal.

So Ms. Williams, what makes you think that if a young gang member decides to kill someone else, he is going to hesitate and reconsider his decision because concealed carry isn’t legal for him?

As for Roy Cooper, I seriously doubt that he will sign the bill into law.  Since the county Sheriffs and city and county police are separated in function and organization, and since it is the CLEOs and their employees who get the money, and since gun purchase permitting requires CLEO signoff, there is no incentive for the police to go along with any recognition of liberties and rights.

Dean Weingarten on a recent Eighth Circuit decision:

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August reversed that decision and ruled Officers Nathan Kaiser, Tobias Hite and Shane Jensen violated his Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The judges took issue with the reason for the stop, saying a report of a person with a handgun isn’t enough to create a reasonable suspicion of a crime, and in Nebraska and Lincoln people can openly carry handguns.

[ … ]

Officer Kaiser relied on an incident report that did not contain information sufficient to create reasonable suspicion that Duffie had already, was, or was about to commit a crime. See United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 227 (1985) (extending Terry to the investigation of completed crimes). Nebraska law permits individuals who are at least 18 years old to open carry handguns in public. See Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 28-1202, 28-1204 (2009). The City of Lincoln does not restrict an individual’s right to open carry except in certain locations. See Lincoln, Neb., Mun. Ordinances § 9.36.130. Moreover, the mere report of a person with a handgun is insufficient to create reasonable suspicion. See Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266, 272 (2000)

I thought I found all of the articles on and instances of open carry, but I missed this one.  I’m glad that Dean wrote on this.  It adds to our collected wisdom and information concerning what the courts think of this kind of behavior by the police – at least, some courts, even if they refuse to do anything about it.

For God’s sake.  The 58-year-old black pastor is a double amputee.  He fell all over the place trying to comply with the idiot’s command.  He injured himself and under other circumstances I can see death resulting from his fall (if he had landed differently).

The only disappointing thing about this judgment is that the cops weren’t fired and put in prison.  The circumstances are not necessarily similar to but dovetail with the decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, where they found that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police violated the rights of Nathaniel Black, even though Black was apparently a criminal and did indeed break the law.

Nathaniel Black was part of a group of men in Charlotte, North Carolina who local police officers suspected might be engaged in criminal activity. In particular, Officers suspected that after seeing one of the men openly carrying a firearm – which was legal in North Carolina – that there was most likely another firearm present. When police began frisking the men one by one, Mr. Black wished to leave, but was told he was not free to leave. Officers chased Mr. Black and discovered that he possessed a firearm; it was later discovered that he was a previously convicted felon. Mr. Black was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Before the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Mr. Black moved to suppress the evidence against him. His suppression motion was denied, he entered a guilty plea preserving a right to appeal the denial of the suppression motion, and he was sentenced to fifteen (15) years imprisonment. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, however, determined that the officers had improperly seized Mr. Black, suppressed the evidence against him, and vacated his sentence.

This was the right decision.  Open carry is legal in North Carolina, and without this being a “Terry Stop” – and it most certainly wasn’t – Mr. Black should not even have been detained.

If you are a CLEO or a Chief of Police reading this, listen to me well.  If open carry is legal in your state, you cannot stop someone for open carry.  I know it sounds so obvious and common-sense that this shouldn’t have to be said.  But apparently with the police it does indeed have to be pointed out – again, and again, and again.

Only an idiot doesn’t understand this, or if you understand and refuse to implement and comply, you’re just a criminal with a badge.