No wonder they're extinct!

So I happened to see Cavemen tonight. I'm not a fan of the show, but it was on when I went into the front room. In this episode, the cavemen get robbed and so the girlfriend takes one of them to the shooting range, after suggesting they get a gun for protection. When it comes the caveman's turn to shoot, he's all bravado and piss about how many video games he's played. When he actually pulls the trigger, he hits the target's head, lucky shot...

At this point he goes all weepy that he "killed" the target, drops the gun and curls up in the fetal position on the floor.

Shortly after, one of the three roommates gets the other to support a candidate who's against guns and shooting people.

It was at this point I turned it off.

Damn! It's not like I expected anything different, but this was so blatant!

Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest.

BIASED Much?

This is prime anti-gun media bias on full display. What exactly are "Shoot First Laws"? What makes "authorized journalist" Fanny Carrier think that it's a good idea to allow a burglar to sue his victims if they shoot him in the commission of a crime? Seriously, where does she get off? Defending yourself against a bad guy is somehow wrong?

She goes on to portray the criminals in the most flattering light possible and portraying the true victims of these criminals as murdering, trigger happy thugs.

Tellingly, the sole source of information quoted in the article is a spokesman for The Freedom States Alliance, a virulently anti-gun organization, founded by the Joyce Foundation. One has to wonder if they wrote this article for the "authorized journalist"?

My favorite bit of bias is on the original web page where they illustrate the story with a picture of a soldier and a .50 caliber machine gun.

Thanks to www.sondrak.com for the tip.

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'Shoot first' laws make it tougher for burglars in the United States

by Fanny Carrier Sat Oct 27, 3:53 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Burglars in the United States could once sue homeowners if they were shot, but now a growing number of states have made it legal to shoot to kill when somebody breaks into a house.

John Woodson, 46, found that out last week when he ambled into Dennis Baker's open garage in a Dallas suburb. A surveillance video showed the robber strolling inside, hands in his pockets.

From the shadows, Baker opened fire and killed Woodson.

"I just had to protect myself and that was it," Baker told reporters despite the fact Woodson had not tried to enter the bedroom near the garage where Baker had been sleeping.

The incident made national headlines since it was Baker's parrot that gave the alarm when it innocently squawked "good morning" at the intruder.

But Woodson's death seemed anecdotal compared to another Dallas resident who a few days earlier had killed his second robber in three weeks inside his home.

Police are investigating both cases, but it is unlikely charges will be filed. Texas recently passed a law branding anybody breaking into a home or car as a real threat of injury or death to its occupants.

In contrast with traditional self-defense laws, this measure does not require that a person who opens fire on a burglar be able to prove that he or she was physically threatened, that force was used only as a last resort and that the victim had first tried to hide.

Florida was the first state to adopt in 2005 a law that was dubbed "Stand your ground" or "Shoot first."

But now they have proliferated largely under pressure from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), the main weapons lobby in the United States.

Today 19 out of 50 US states, mostly in the south and the central regions of the country, have this kind of laws, and similar legislation is pending in about a dozen others.

"This law will bring common-sense self-defense protections to law-abiding citizens," said Rachel Parsons, a spokesperson for the NRA.

"If someone is breaking into your home, it's obvious that they are not there to have dinner with you," she continued. "You do have a right to protect your belongings, your family and yourself.

"The law needs to be put on the side of the victim, and not on the side of the criminal, who is attacking the victim."

But for the Freedom States Alliance that fights against the proliferation of firearms in the United States, these new laws attach more value to threatened belongings than to the life of the thief and only serve to increase the number of people killed by firearms each year, which currently is estimated to stand at nearly 30,000.

"It's that whole Wild West mentality that is leading the country down a very dangerous path," said Sally Slovenski, executive director of the alliance.

"In any other country, something like the castle doctrine or stand-your-ground laws look like just absolute lunacy," she continued.

"And yet in this country, somehow it's been justified, and people just sort of have come to live with this, and they just don't see the outrage in this."

According to Federal Bureau of Investigation, there were 2.18 million burglaries to the United States in 2006, up 1.3 percent compared to the year before.

But the number is still well below the 3.24 million burglaries a year committed 20 years ago.

"Joyce Foundation" Blasts Gun-Show Loophole

Police chiefs blast gun show loophole

All sales, even private ones, should be licensed, group says

By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTER

The International Association of Chiefs of Police issued a report Wednesday that calls for stronger gun laws and urges law enforcement agencies to better educate the public about gun violence and to form more partnerships with public health officials in preventing firearms-related deaths.

The organization, which includes police executives from around the country, made 39 recommendations in the report, intended as a guide in countering a rise nationwide in gun violence over the past two years.

The report also implores states to consider enacting legislation that would close the "gun show loophole," a term referring to transactions between private sellers, which allow buyers to avoid mandatory background screenings required by federally licensed gun dealers.

Mayor Greg Nickels and police Chief Gil Kerlikowske have campaigned heavily in favor of such legislation, which has repeatedly failed in the Legislature.

Many of the report's strongest recommendations to local jurisdictions already are in place in Seattle and King County, including policies requiring officers to seize firearms from domestic violence offenders and ensuring officers submit data from all guns recovered on the streets into a federal database.

The report spawned from a summit earlier this year in Chicago, where law enforcement officials, prosecutors and researchers, mostly from the Midwest, met to address gun violence in that region. The Joyce Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to reducing poverty and crime in the Great Lakes region, co-sponsored the event.

"The idea is that it really should be a multifaceted approach. It's not just a police issue. It's a public health issue, it's a youth issue and our schools are involved," said Bob Scales, a Seattle policy analyst who attended on behalf of the city.

"We've got to do a lot of things. It's not enough to say that if we close the gun-show loophole, that's going to solve an 'X' amount of gun incidents."

The wide-ranging report urges state and local governments to strengthen laws barring access to guns for domestic violence offenders, including those convicted of misdemeanors, and the mentally ill. It also suggests that local and state officials consider safety regulations on gun storage and require owners to file a police report if their weapons are stolen.

In Seattle and King County, police seize weapons on domestic-violence arrests and when court protection orders are served, Kerlikowske said. Police also have recorded trace data on all recovered firearms since 2001. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives opened a regional crime gun center in Seattle last year to analyze trends in regional weapons trafficking.

A representative from the Washington-based Concerned Citizens for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said Wednesday he'd not yet read the report. But the gun-control legislation proposed in the report has been intensely opposed by Second Amendment advocacy organizations.

Gun-rights supporters point to studies that show only 1 percent of firearms bought at gun shows are linked to crimes.

Kerlikowske said the most critical issue is that all private gun sales are licensed. Without records of such sales, it's impossible to say how many people illegally obtained firearms when a licensed dealer would have denied them, he said.

"I think there should be a lot of concern," he said. "I'm glad the IACP did this."

The report also advocates for more funding for thorough public health studies of gun violence and urges state and local officials to improve education about gun-related suicides and safe gun ownership.

It notes that 30,000 people die gun-related deaths each year, many from suicide or accidental shootings. The King County Medical Examiner's Office investigated 146 gun-related deaths in 2005, the most current data available. Of those, 32 percent were homicides. All but two of the remaining cases were ruled suicides.

"The IACP report lays out the need for us to adjust our way of thinking about gun violence," said Kristen Comer, executive director of Washington Ceasefire, a gun-control advocacy group. "We must do more to educate the public, especially our young people, about the dangers of gun violence."

P-I reporter Scott Gutierrez can be reached at 206-903-5396 or scottgutierrez@seattlepi.com.

Men Who Own Guns Are Psychopaths

UPDATE:

After reviewing what Pat Brown actually said, I have decided to remove this post. It is my policy to be honest and admit when I am wrong, and I was wrong in this case.

Thank you to Robb Allen for the heads up on this.

For clarification on this, please follow the link provided to me by Robb Allen:

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2007/06/28/pat_brown_responds/

Thanks!