DOWNLOADS: (129)

PLAYS: (1109)

Embed

Two men were arrested in Ohio on Wednesday after their target practice with an AK-47 assault rifle accidentally shot up a woman's home and nearly hit a officer who was responding to reports of gunfire.

Mary Kuruc told WEWS that her daughter discovered a bullet hole in the siding of their Montville Township home and other holes inside the house. After calling 911, Montville Police Sgt. Matt Neil began investigating and the home was hit again.

"We noticed a second bullet hole, followed the trajectory of it and noticed the bullet landed in the microwave," Kuruc recalled.

Neil found himself in the line of fire as he tried to track down where the bullets were coming from.

"When I get about a half mile back in the field up on a hill, gunfire started again, and started hearing rounds go over my head," the officer explained.

Neil called for backup and police discovered two men who thought they were safely shooting at paper targets, but the bullets were skipping off the ground and riddling the suburban neighborhood.

"They were drinking alcohol, they had some drugs on them and they were just outside, in their backyard shooting paper targets," Neil said. “They felt because they were shooting at a downward angle, that it would have been OK.”

Police suspect that "dozens" of shots were fired and have asked other residents to come forward if their homes were hit.

Two men, 53-year-old Mark Bornino and 45-year-old R. Daniel Volpone, were arrested and are facing felony charges. Police seized an AK-47 with two high-capacity magazines, three handguns, over 700 rounds of ammunition and some marijuana.

DOWNLOADS: (138)

PLAYS: (748)

Embed

I'm not sure why MSNBC thinks that anyone from an organization that makes the NRA look like moderates deserves to get some air time or to be treated as someone the public should take seriously, but they brought Gun Owners of America's Erich Pratt (son of Larry Pratt) on to bash President Obama after his press conference today calling for sweeping new gun laws.

As Think Progress noted, he decided to dish out a bit of revisionist history on just when St. Ronnie was in support of gun control and as I noted this week, it was before he was president and well before he started exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer's disease: Reagan Only Supported Gun Control Because He Was Senile, Prominent Gun Advocate Suggests:

As he unveiled his comprehensive package of gun safety regulations on Wednesday afternoon, President Obama urged Americans to stand up to irrational opponents of restrictions on military-style weapons, noting that even President Ronald Reagan supported sensible restrictions on assault weapons. “And by the way, so did Ronald Reagan, one of the staunchest defenders of the Second Amendment, who wrote to Congress in 1994 urging them — this is Ronald Reagan speaking — urging them to listen to the American public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the further manufacture of military-style assault weapons,” Obama said.

Asked about Reagan’s position during an appearance on MSNBC shortly after Obama’s remarks, Erich Pratt of Gun Owners of America, suggested that Reagan only supported greater restrictions because he was senile:

ANDREA MITCHELL (HOST): What’s the problem with registering a gun? If you have a bushmaster, first of all, why would you have one?

PRATT: President Reagan owned an AR-15.

MITCHELL: And he supported gun control. He advocated…

PRATT: In his later years. We have to keep that in account.

MITCHELL: In his later years he was almost killed by John Hinckley.

PRATT: But all through his presidency he opposed gun control, that’s my point.

Read on...

Pratt was also defending the NRA's new ad that they decided to double down on today, even though, as Andrea Mitchell noted, it's generally considered off limits to be going after the children of presidents. These groups don't care how low they have to go if it gets their base whipped into a frenzy and protects the gun manufacturers who are funding them.

DOWNLOADS: (313)

PLAYS: (5938)

Embed

While discussing the White House commission on gun violence meeting this week, which the NRA has been invited to attend, along with Vice President Joe Biden's remarks that an executive order is on the table as part of a solution to curb the gun violence in the United States, Howard Fineman did his best to pin down MSNBC's The Cycle co-host S.E. Cupp and get an answer as to why any civilian out there needs an assault weapon or a high capacity magazine. To on one's surprise, she couldn't give him an answer.

Rather than answering his question, she started playing games with semantics on what the definition of an assault rifle, or high capacity, or rapid fire was and claimed that there were reasons someone would want them outside of the military or specialized police forces. When Fineman asked her to give one example, she punted and said she didn't want to take up the time allotted to the other hosts.

I still don't know why MSNBC hired Cupp. She's as thick as a brick and takes great pride in just being as annoying as humanly possible rather than bringing a bit of intellectual honesty to single debate. This is just the latest example of what she does on a daily basis to make sure this stinker of a show stays exactly that.

DOWNLOADS: (307)

PLAYS: (2990)

Embed

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Friday lashed out at tea party-backed Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) after he insisted that there was no "gun problem" in the United States because mass shootings and assault rifles were a "people problem."

In an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Huelskamp said that what "bothers me the most" about the slaughter of 20 children in Newtown was that people were using the tragedy to push a gun control agenda. The Kansas Republican insisted that violent videos games and mental illness were the real problems.

"But it is it time to look at assault weapons?" co-host Mika Brzezinski wondered.

"Will that solve the problem? I don't believe so," Huelskamp replied. "It's not a gun problem; it's a people problem."

"It's not a gun problem?" a shocked Scarborough interrupted. "So tell me, why do Americans need assault weapons? Why do they need these high-capacity clips? Why do they need a Bushmaster [AR-15 assault rifle]? Can you tell me why?"

"Well, you know what? There's been a lot of misleading statements, including those that are said right here," Huelskamp opined. "It's not a gun problem. There's a person doing that... But, gosh, let's step back. Let's not build on the tragedy in Connecticut and use that to push a political agenda."

Scarborough pointed out that Congress passed significant laws in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and few Republicans complained that the tragedy had been politicized.

"Do you dare come on my show and say that I am using the slaughter of 20 little 6- and 7-year-old children -- I'm using them for political purposes?" Scarborough asked in an angry tone. "I am not going to let you say that I am -- quote -- politicizing."

The MSNBC host continued: "Maybe some of us just believe, Tim -- just believe we have to do whatever we can, whether it's looking at mental health, whether it's looking at a violent culture of video games and Hollywood movies, whether it's looking at the proliferation of these weapons, whether it's looking at what happened in Oregon, what happened in Colorado, what happened in Virginia, what happened in Connecticut, what continues happening, Congressman. So, we can't at least talk about guns without you questioning my integrity and saying saying that I'm using the death of 20 children to try to make life for my children a little bit safer? We can't even talk about it without you coming on this show and insulting me personally?"

"You're not even a politician any more, and I understand that," Huelskamp shot back. "You look around this town, you look at within 24 hours, folks running on and saying we need to change the laws when they don't even know the situation. All I'm saying is, let's spend a little time looking at that, but not to use the tragedy. Because as a very famous political strategist said, don't let any crisis go unused. And I do not want to politicize this."

"So, let me get this straight," Scarborough quipped. "So, you can come on this show and say what I've said by the way, that we've got to look at violent video games and we've got to look at a violent culture that Hollywood promotes, and that's not politicizing. But if we even bring up guns, that somehow that's politicizing the death of 20 children. Wow."

DOWNLOADS: (180)

PLAYS: (1006)

Embed

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Sunday insisted that a tragic massacre at Sandy Forks Elementary School in Connecticut could have been prevented if Principal Dawn Hochsprung had been armed with an M4 carbine, an assault rifle designed by the U.S. military for urban warfare.

During an interview on Sunday, Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Gohmert if he still believed that the country would be safer if more people were armed as he had said after a mass shooting at a theater in Aurora, Colorado earlier this year.

"Every mass killing of more than three people in recent history has been in a place where guns were prohibited -- except for one," the Texas Republican explained. "They choose this place, they know no one will be armed."

Gohmert became emotional as he continued: "You know, having been and judge and having reviewed photographs of these horrific scenes and knowing that children have these defensive wounds -- gunshots through their arms and hands as they try to protect themselves -- and hearing the heroic stories the principal, lunging trying to protect -- Chris, I wish to God she had had an M4 in her office locked up. So, when she heard gunfire she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids."

Wallace noted that when the Second Amendment was written, weapons like the AR-15 Adam Lanza used to kill 20 children last week -- which can shoot up to five rounds in a second -- did not exist.

"These were created for law enforcement, these were created for the military," Wallace observed. "Why does the average person -- I can understand a hunting rifle, I can understand and handgun -- why do they need these weapons of mass destruction?"

"Well, for the reason George Washington said: a free people should be an armed people," Gohmert replied. "It insures against the tyranny of the government if they know that the biggest army is the American people then you don't have the tyranny that came from King George."

"Once you start drawing the line, when do you stop?" he wondered. "You use your head and you look at the facts."

DOWNLOADS: (362)

PLAYS: (5607)

Embed

I don't watch Piers Morgan's show too often since it's generally just a bunch of celebrity gossip that makes his predecessor, Larry King, look like he practiced serious journalism in comparison, but I caught some of his show following the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado this weekend. And I have to admit I'm really glad I heard someone say what Morgan did this Friday evening about when it's acceptable to talk about gun control.

If we don't talk about gun control after a tragedy like this one, it won't get talked about at all... period. And even if we do have a discussion now, both political parties are so beholden to or scared to death of the NRA, that neither of them are going to act unless there's finally enough pressure from enough voters that siding with the NRA is finally a losing proposition and is going to cost some politicians their seats. Given their huge war chest, that's a big hurdle to overcome. I'm not sure how many more people have to die by gun violence for that to finally become a reality.

Anyway, as I said, I'm no big fan of Piers Morgan, but it was nice to see for once the hypocrisy of not being allowed to talk about the root causes of this many deaths when we don't treat any other issue that way. People die and we want to know why and how to prevent it from happening. Sadly it seems even a Democratic member of Congress being shot wasn't enough to wake these people up that the laws need to be changed. Makes me wonder how many nut jobs out there have to be killing one of their own before enough is enough and Congress is willing to act. Apparently just one wasn't, which still just astounds me.

Transcript of Morgan going after the Cato hack below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (1411)

PLAYS: (4726)

Embed

Isn't this special? Even Ed Henry was flustered by these people openly carrying assault rifles and other guns outside of an Obama rally in Phoenix, AZ. As Henry stated, this is legal, but at what point does the Secret Service get involved and say, you know what if you've got a weapon out in the open with these crowds, it's time for you to go?

These are not concealed weapons. They are being carried out in the open where maybe someone who doesn't have a permit or own the gun could take the gun away from the person carrying it and shoot people in the crowd. I would love for someone who knows something about what the conceal and carry laws are in Arizona to explain to me why this is legal? It just looks down right irresponsible to me to be carrying an unconcealed, loaded weapon in a crowd even if you do have a right to carry it.

And for the record, I'm not some anti-gun zealot. I have no problem with those that own and handle guns responsibly. My husband hunts and we've got a safe full of guns at our home. That said, if he brought one of them loaded into a crowd like these people did and had it right out in the open where anyone might take it away from him, I don't think we'd be married any more. I think it is completely irresponsible and if the gun laws in Arizona allow this, there's something wrong with their laws.

Transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »