Apr 19
randoma commented on The Reason Why We Can't Trace Gunpowder.
@40, Can you provide any links to that assertion? Because all of the Federal level proposals I've read, for gunpowder/blackpowder did not have unique taggants per individual package. Just manufacturer lot. Considering that gunpowder/blackpowder is sold in multi-million-unit yearly quantities, having taggants per individual package would be extremely cost prohibitive, not to mention difficult to oversee.
Apr 19
randoma commented on Manhunt Continues for At-Large Boston Bombing Suspect.
Yikes. I own a house on Dexter Ave (where that picture was taken) and went to the same high school (decades apart) as one of the suspects!
Apr 18
randoma commented on The Reason Why We Can't Trace Gunpowder.
Since all the proposals for taggants that I've seen, at a Federal level, were at the manufacturer level, and there are basically 4-5 companies that manufacture blackpowder/gunpowder, how exactly would this help? Assuming that the explosive used was blackpowder, 1-5lb jugs of it are available at many sporting goods stores (and department stores where I am). So a taggant wouldn't really narrow down the place of purchase...
Taggants are required in high explosives - TNT, C4..etc., but there are many small companies that make those and the quantities sold are much lower, so being able to trace back to an individual company is in fact useful.
Taggants are required in high explosives - TNT, C4..etc., but there are many small companies that make those and the quantities sold are much lower, so being able to trace back to an individual company is in fact useful.
Apr 12
randoma commented on The Best of Slog: Drones, Taxis, and a Dog Named Woofus.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-college-s…
Key quote: "The defendant gave a videotaped confession, admitting he stabbed complainants multiple times with an exacto knife because of his fantasy to kill people," read a judge in probable cause court overnight, according to ABC News' Houston affiliate KTRK.
I'm pretty sure mass-shootings with a BB-gun have also had low fatalities.
Key quote: "The defendant gave a videotaped confession, admitting he stabbed complainants multiple times with an exacto knife because of his fantasy to kill people," read a judge in probable cause court overnight, according to ABC News' Houston affiliate KTRK.
I'm pretty sure mass-shootings with a BB-gun have also had low fatalities.
Apr 12
randoma commented on Knives Don't Kill People... Well, Not as Efficiently as Guns Do.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/14-people-stabb…
Key quote: "The suspect appeared to be a student, wearing all black including a cap and appeared to have hearing aids, according to James. He also said the suspect used what appeared to be an Exacto-knife to stab people. "
(Other reports refer to the weapon as a "Utility Knife" of the type used to score sheetrock...)
I'm pretty sure that the mass-shootings with a bb-gun have also had low fatalities.
Key quote: "The suspect appeared to be a student, wearing all black including a cap and appeared to have hearing aids, according to James. He also said the suspect used what appeared to be an Exacto-knife to stab people. "
(Other reports refer to the weapon as a "Utility Knife" of the type used to score sheetrock...)
I'm pretty sure that the mass-shootings with a bb-gun have also had low fatalities.
Apr 9
randoma commented on Two Year Old Shoots Mother In the Stomach With Significant Other's Glock.
Am I the only one that finds the idea of a two year old A) being able to pull the trigger on a Glock and B) not be injured in any way after doing so just a little curious?
That said, anyone who feels a need to sleep with a gun under their pillow probably needs serious counseling, or a dramatic change in their lifestyle.
Also, Mother Jones', in their accounting of "assault weapons" used for mass shootings counted ALL rifles as "assault weapons". Which makes their credibility just about zero.
For example, Myth #2: Yes, no question, states that have higher rates of gun ownership also have higher rates of gun use in deaths. However, they do not necessarily have higher rates of homicide. For example, murder rate per 100k in Wyoming (high gun ownership) is 3.2, murder rate in New Jersey (low gun ownership) is 4.3. If you take the average murder rate of the 5 highest rate of gun ownership states and compare to the 5 lowest rate of gun ownership, the statistics for overall homicide are very close.
#5 is based on A. Kellerman's work which has been widely debunked because the conclusions were based on mis-use and selective use of the data. Kellerman himself has admitted that his finding in the work cited was not entirely correct.
#9 is partially based on data from 1993! (This is where you whine, "But but but! The NRA prevented Federal funding for firearms research! Okay, so why doesn't the Stranger buck up? It seems like Goldy didn't have much trouble coming up with $100k in donors so that he could have a movie prop.. No one is preventing private funding of research. You want to run a study on current gun ownership - go right ahead!
Incidentally, if you look at the Gallup poll referred to in that 'Myth' there appears to be a pretty high margin of error in their polling methodology from year to year. Additionally, the Gallup poll and the GSS survey are not consistent with each other.
"Around 80% of gun owners are men. On average they own 7.9 guns each" Yet, if you look at the linked study, it says, "Almost half (48%) of all individual gun owners reported owning >=4 firearms". In order to get an average of 7.9 guns each, those owners would have to own more than 12 firearms each. This seems somewhat unlikely.
#10 - nearly all the examples show people breaking the law and nothing happening to them. So yes, absolutely, we need to enforce the laws we have.
More...
That said, anyone who feels a need to sleep with a gun under their pillow probably needs serious counseling, or a dramatic change in their lifestyle.
Also, Mother Jones', in their accounting of "assault weapons" used for mass shootings counted ALL rifles as "assault weapons". Which makes their credibility just about zero.
For example, Myth #2: Yes, no question, states that have higher rates of gun ownership also have higher rates of gun use in deaths. However, they do not necessarily have higher rates of homicide. For example, murder rate per 100k in Wyoming (high gun ownership) is 3.2, murder rate in New Jersey (low gun ownership) is 4.3. If you take the average murder rate of the 5 highest rate of gun ownership states and compare to the 5 lowest rate of gun ownership, the statistics for overall homicide are very close.
#5 is based on A. Kellerman's work which has been widely debunked because the conclusions were based on mis-use and selective use of the data. Kellerman himself has admitted that his finding in the work cited was not entirely correct.
#9 is partially based on data from 1993! (This is where you whine, "But but but! The NRA prevented Federal funding for firearms research! Okay, so why doesn't the Stranger buck up? It seems like Goldy didn't have much trouble coming up with $100k in donors so that he could have a movie prop.. No one is preventing private funding of research. You want to run a study on current gun ownership - go right ahead!
Incidentally, if you look at the Gallup poll referred to in that 'Myth' there appears to be a pretty high margin of error in their polling methodology from year to year. Additionally, the Gallup poll and the GSS survey are not consistent with each other.
"Around 80% of gun owners are men. On average they own 7.9 guns each" Yet, if you look at the linked study, it says, "Almost half (48%) of all individual gun owners reported owning >=4 firearms". In order to get an average of 7.9 guns each, those owners would have to own more than 12 firearms each. This seems somewhat unlikely.
#10 - nearly all the examples show people breaking the law and nothing happening to them. So yes, absolutely, we need to enforce the laws we have.
Mar 22
randoma commented on What Happened to Maureen Walsh's Courage?.
@5, I personally didn't have any problem with the proposed background check other than cost. I just don't think background checks help much. However, the typical argument is that background checks lead to Federal or State level gun-owner registration and that is a problem.
The current FFL checks do not have Federal or State (depending on state) records keeping. The individual FFL is required to keep records on each sale for 20 years, but the NICS inquiry information is required to be destroyed within 24 hours.
In most states where all transfers require a background check, there is a de-facto state level gun registration. Many gun owners take issue with that as gun registration has been used in the past to facilitate confiscation.
The current FFL checks do not have Federal or State (depending on state) records keeping. The individual FFL is required to keep records on each sale for 20 years, but the NICS inquiry information is required to be destroyed within 24 hours.
In most states where all transfers require a background check, there is a de-facto state level gun registration. Many gun owners take issue with that as gun registration has been used in the past to facilitate confiscation.
Mar 22
randoma commented on What Happened to Maureen Walsh's Courage?.
From the linked article: " That may not sound like much. But it means 5,000 to 10,000 people in our state were denied a gun or gun permit last year. Usually because they were an ex-con, a domestic abuser or a fugitive, and sometimes due to mental illness.
This would be worth it if only 500, or 50, of this crowd was stopped from getting guns. Yet porous as it is, the system stopped 5,000."
Two problems with this - one, it doesn't document whether or not the denied applicant ended up purchasing a firearm or not. It just documents that they did not purchase a firearm from an FFL. (For example, the Newtown shooter was stopped from purchasing a firearm at an FFL due to the required 14 day wait, but that didn't stop him from stealing his mother's weapons..)
Two, the statistics given don't differentiate for false positives. As in, if my name is John Smith and I'm 5'10", and I decline to provide my social security number, there is a high likelihood that there is someone with my name and rough description that is a criminal is in the database, which will result in my application being denied even though I am not, myself, a criminal.
More...
This would be worth it if only 500, or 50, of this crowd was stopped from getting guns. Yet porous as it is, the system stopped 5,000."
Two problems with this - one, it doesn't document whether or not the denied applicant ended up purchasing a firearm or not. It just documents that they did not purchase a firearm from an FFL. (For example, the Newtown shooter was stopped from purchasing a firearm at an FFL due to the required 14 day wait, but that didn't stop him from stealing his mother's weapons..)
Two, the statistics given don't differentiate for false positives. As in, if my name is John Smith and I'm 5'10", and I decline to provide my social security number, there is a high likelihood that there is someone with my name and rough description that is a criminal is in the database, which will result in my application being denied even though I am not, myself, a criminal.
Mar 21
randoma commented on The NRA Now Knows That the Governor of Colorado Has Balls.
@13, There is some evidence that his gun jammed, most likely due to his ridiculous 33 rd magazine and he was trying, unsuccessfully, to clear the jam.
Personally, I don't understand the fixation with high capacity magazines - the argument, as I understand it, is that if you carry concealed, you're likely to only have 1 or 2 extra magazines, and therefore want as high capacity magazines as possible. Whereas, if you are planning an attack, you can have as many magazines/firearms as you can carry.
However, extremely high capacity magazines have proven to be unreliable as well as bulky/heavy..etc.
Personally, I don't understand the fixation with high capacity magazines - the argument, as I understand it, is that if you carry concealed, you're likely to only have 1 or 2 extra magazines, and therefore want as high capacity magazines as possible. Whereas, if you are planning an attack, you can have as many magazines/firearms as you can carry.
However, extremely high capacity magazines have proven to be unreliable as well as bulky/heavy..etc.
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http://trib.in/13v2z1k
These people used to be my neighbors:
http://trib.in/177UUEp
I lived there for over a decade - in fact, I was staying there last month, my brother currently lives on Norfolk Street in Cambridge, my kids used to play with a tenant in this house:
http://trib.in/13uUzxp
and every single person I've talked to in the area, is VERY happy with the police response. Police State my ass.