3 Boxes of BS

Reading through Dennis Hennigan’s article at Jurist, I re-read a statement made by Justice Breyer during the oral Arguments.
(I’ll link to the transcript instead of Hennigan’s article – statement found on page 14)

I’m trying to decide if he is pointing out the patent — let’s be polite and call it “inflation” of the numbers or if Justice Breyer truly believes what he said:

JUSTICE  BREYER: There are two ways. One is that — look at — all you have to do is look at the briefs. Look at the statistics. You know, one side says a million people killed by guns. Chicago says that their — their gun law has saved hundreds, including -and they have statistics — including lots of women in domestic cases. And the other side disputes it. This is a highly statistical matter.

Now, I wonder what brief Justice Breyer was reading.

The CDC’s WISQARS reports that there were 859,170 firearm related deaths. That includes suicides, justifiable homicides, legal intervention — everything.

Consider just homicides? 361,285 for the same period.

Oh, that period covered; try 1981 to 2006 – 25 years.

So, was Justice Breyer dissing on the antis for their numbers, having trouble with his numbers or just engaging in hyperbole in order to justify restricting a right that should not be infringed?

Please join the discussion.

I know I’m supposed to post every day here but just not up to it this morning.

I’ll see if I can find something, somewhere that I can work up enough energy to do a post on.

It’s been one of those weekends, really good but busy.

Saturday night the Boy Scout Troop’s Pancake Supper. We visited with my in-laws and a couple I’ve known since 1991. Saw some folks that I hadn’t talked to in a while.

Found out one of the last people I would have expected has a brand new CHL — more on that later.

Then church on Sunday morning and in the afternoon, we went to my brother in law’s 40th birthday party.

It was fun but a little rough for an introvert like me. Over 35 people there, in a room for a couple of hours.

Now, this morning I’m brain dead. Come back later for more hopefully.

…what tools they use to commit their crimes.

First one of 3 attempts to murder members of an anti-gang unit

An anti-gang officer in Hemet, Calif., discovered a deadly device attached to his car Friday — in what appears to be the third attempt in the past two months to injure or kill members of an anti-gang unit in southwest Riverside County, MyFoxLA.com reported.

An officer with the Hemet/San Jacinto Gang Task Force called for back-up after discovering a threatening device next to his car, parked outside of a store. Authorities cordoned off the intersection near the vehicle while a bomb unit disabled the instrument.

I’m confused (my normal state I guess), I thought with the easy availability and the lax gun laws; criminals didn’t need to go through such extreme measures.

Then we travel across the country to find a “young lady” who didn’t get the memo either.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. —  A 16-year-old Delray Beach girl has been formally charged as an adult with fatally stabbing her mother’s boyfriend in a shopping center parking lot.

Berenice Juarez was indicted Friday on a charge of first-degree murder.

Police say Juarez lured 42-year-old Gilardo Ramos Paz to the Delray Beach parking lot by sending him a text claiming to be her mother. When the man arrived, Juarez approached his vehicle. Paz reportedly rolled down his window, and the girl stabbed him in the chest at least two times.

Guess we have a case of knives being bad news for moms’ boyfriends.

Again, I’m absolutely shocked this “young lady” had to resort to using a knife. Firearms, especially in Florida because of its Concealed Handgun Carry laws, should be readily available regardless of age, right?

Maybe we shouldn’t focus so much on the tools used but the folks involved, the socioeconomic conditions. Maybe we should look at the discipline styles and ability of the parents involved.

What do you folks think, do we need stricter explosive device laws?
Do we need stricter knife control laws?

Please join the discussion.

I don’t know if this person is typical or not, what do you think?

An 18-year-old Kansas City man caught this week with drugs and a gun didn’t make many excuses when questioned by police.

According to an affidavit filed Thursday in federal court:

Police pulled over a car Anthony L. Robinson was riding in Tuesday at Thompson and Bales avenues, when a warrant linked to the license plate.

Let’s examine  — first “a warrant linked to the license plate”.
Does that mean the young man had committed a crime and not answered for it according to the legal process?

Officers found a semi-automatic handgun concealed in a bag, marijuana in Robinson’s jacket pocket and more than 13 grams of crack-cocaine in his pants.

Given the fact that he was driving, which of the 3 do you think was most dangerous at the time: handgun, marijuana or crack cocaine?
I think the Cocaine, eh?

His honesty will probably be used as a reason one or more of the charges are dismissed or plea bargained down, according to his interview:

He was headed to buy a cigar because he was rolling a blunt to get high, which he does every day.

Again….which would you rather have out on the streets: someone illegally carrying a firearm and that is his only crime or someone getting high every day?

He bought the gun a couple days earlier for $30 and put it in the bag to hide it from police. But he said there were no problems with the gun because it wasn’t stolen and it “had no bodies on it.”

Needs to work on his logical reasoning skills and legal knowledge: If you are arrested on a warrant while driving a vehicle, I don’t think the cops need any other reason to search the vehicle. They are going to find the handgun Sparky.

Not sure how he knows it wasn’t stolen or has “no bodies on it”….must trust his supplier extremely well. Of course, it entirely possible that he is telling the truth. Drug users have been known to trade firearms they own for drugs.

The crack? “It’s mine and that’s how I roll 24/7.”

Now is this a firearm related crime or a drug related crime or both?

He didn’t endanger someone by having the firearm in the same manner as he endangered others by driving while high — “that’s how I roll 24/7″

Should we have fun and list all the city, state and federal laws that were broken by this drug user?

Or what I would really like to see is an anti-rights advocate — a gun control advocate explain exactly how any new law would stop this guy from getting another firearm upon his release.

Any anti-rights advocate willing to take me up the challenge?

I think this is the type of crime that are most often involved with “concealed handguns”. I think this happens more often then a person with an issued license or permit being involved in a crime.

The statistics certainly back it up but ultimately this is about our rights.

As Justice Scalia pointed out in the oral arguments of McDonald v Chicago

JUSTICE SCALIA: There is a lot of statistical disagreement on whether the Miranda rule saves lives or not, whether it results in the release of dangerous people who have confessed to their crime but the confession can’t be used. We don’t — we don’t resolve questions like that on the basis of statistics, do we?

MR. GURA: That’s correct, Justice Scalia, and as your opinion -

JUSTICE SCALIA: Well, why would this one be resolved on the basis of statistics? If there is a constitutional right, we find what the minimum constitutional right is and everything above that is up to the States….

Please join the discussion

Today’s defensive gun use is brought to us once again by that great site: CCW Saves Lives.

In today’s story we find out about a gun owner who doesn’t know what he is supposed to do but we’ll get to that in just a moment

Michel and his wife, Dawn, had returned home on Ivan Avenue about 1 p.m. after taking their grandson to a doctor’s appointment. The 9-year-old grandson noticed a light on in a downstairs bedroom and asked his grandmother if she had left it on.

Dawn Michel said she looked in the room and noticed some items weren’t where they were supposed to be. Then she and her grandson went outside and saw a garbage bag on the ground, along with a window screen that had been knocked out of a second-floor window. Jewelry and money were in the bag.

Dawn Michel told her husband someone had been in the house. Raymond Michel said he armed himself with a handgun and walked upstairs.

Grandmother and Grandson notice something isn’t right and immediately take the proper steps — alerting someone else and vacating the area.

Good on them. Smart because the burglar seemed ready to do violence

tems from the bedroom closet were strewn about the floor, and Raymond Michel noticed that the bathroom door was almost completely closed. He and his wife always keep that door open.

He kicked the door, and it stopped partway as it struck the intruder, Raymond Michel said. The suspect stepped from behind the door and leveled a rifle at the homeowner, he said.

The rifle was the home owners and might have been stolen had the home owners not returned. I personally might have locked it up but that is my choice.

Police soon arrived and took John Garner into custody. Police said John Garner had drugs in his possession and was wanted on an outstanding misdemeanor warrant.

Notice that the burglar was already a criminal and a drug user. He was ready to do violence — predatory violence against the home owner, the wife and probably the kids.

The home owner responded with violence that was used to protect himself, his wife and the kids. Which type of violence is acceptable, eh?

I’ll close this report of a defensive gun use with the money quote:

The south Bakersfield resident shot at a suspected burglar in his house Wednesday afternoon and held the man at gunpoint until police arrived. The suspect, identified by police as John Jenaro Garner, tried to get up twice, but Michel warned him to stay down.

“I told my wife to call the cops because (the burglar) was staying here one way or another,” Michel said.

Mr. Michel if you are ever in the area, I’ll buy you a drink or dinner. Way to go folks.

Please join the discussion.

Okay, Since I seem to be having to repeat myself in the comments I might as well get a post out of this.

Back in the post titled -More examples of “who are you going to call” – I cited a “gamefowl” (trying to limit the pron searches) fighting ring that was exposed by the Humane Society and the incredible fact that a Kentucky State Police Officer and a local constable were filmed watching the fights.

Since then, I’ve raised the dander of several people trying to convince me I don’t know how to read.

Continue Reading

First a beg

Saturday March 6th is Boy Scout Troop 379’s 46th Annual Pancake Supper.

This is the troop’s primary fundraiser for the year and it is a doozy folks.

All you can eat pancakes, bacon, sausage for $5. That’s right, just 5 bucks per person.

Starts at 5:30 p.m and goes until 8:00 p.m.

The Pancake Supper will be held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Arlington.  It’s located at 2625 South Cooper St. (Turn east off of Cooper on St. Jude)  It is located just north of I-20 across the street from Pep Boys.

Please consider stopping by and having dinner with these fine young Scouts and the parents and Scouters that support them.

Half of the money from the tickets sold goes to pay for the Scouts summer activities. From Summer camp to backpacking in New Mexico, this is their chance to pay for it all. And they do have some Scouts that pay for their entire summer activities by selling tickets.

Behind the scenes prior to the Big Day.

Let me tell you a little about the behind the scenes work that makes this possible — I remember only all too well

It starts off months before, slowly but steadily lining up donations of supplies. Plates, flatware, paper towels, flour, syrup, butter, eggs; anything that doesn’t have to be bought makes a difference.

Scouters (the adult leaders) and Parents start twisting arms early and often. Of course so folks strongly support the program and have for years. The Knights of Columbus hall is provided free of charge as part of their outreach program (of course they love the troop because of how clean the hall is after the event).

About January, tickets are passed out to the Scouts and work begins on communication skills. Oh yes, no opportunity is wasted to teach skills to the youths and this is a valuable learning experience. The Scouts sell on their own for a while and in tandem on occassion.

2 to 4 weeks before the Pancake Supper, the Troop starts selling as a unit. While Texas winters are relatively mild, it can be a chilling experience sitting out in front of a store for hours as the kids hit up shoppers.

Scouts earn incentive prizes for their efforts also. Some of the prizes are fun things — the latest and hottest games, or gift cards to fast food restaurants. Some of the prizes are items they need for Scouting — backpacks, water bottles or hydration packs, sleeping bags, knives, etc.

The Day before the big event.

Want to make any veteran Scouter laugh? Simply say “And it is only 1 hour a week”.

The Scout leaders, youth and adults, usually load up the supplies and equipment the night before. Troop 379 has been doing this for quite a while and has a great deal of equipment, for example 5 electric restaurant quality griddles for cooking. They weigh a frakkin ton each. Fun stuff to load up after working all day. Everything is loaded up and staged on the trailer for the next day.

The Big Day.

Starts off way too early in the morning. Arrival at the Knights of Columbus Hall is set for 7:00 a.m. — that’s right, it’s not a mis-print.

While this is a supper, the work starts long before.

While the Troop is setting up equipment and arranging the hall, adult volunteers cook breakfast for the troop. Doesn’t take long to get everything off the trailer (and it is a big trailer) and set up. Most of the boys are dismissed, told to be back at 4:30 p.m.

Then the fun begins – the griddles are fired up and the cooking begins. Depending on the number of tickets sold, weather, size of the trooop, etc; the Troop pre-cooks anywhere from 140 to 200 pounds of sausage and 140 to 200 pounds of bacon.

Again, that’s not a mis-print — 140# to 200# each. This takes most of the day.

Sometimes the adults are lucky and there are enough people to work shifts, sometimes — not so lucky and a few souls stay there the entire day cooking.

Did I say the fun begins? Well, maybe it really starts when the boys show back up and we feed them a quick meal. Scouts eat a lot. An incredible amount really.

Opening the doors.

Remember how I told you it starts at 5:30 p.m.? Well, we have people lining up at the doors 20 minutes before that. The older crowd does like to eat early and get home.

I enjoyed talking to these folks. One couple hadn’t missed a Pancake Supper — it amazed me to hear they had been to all of them. Other have been attending for decades. That type of support for the troop made the work gratifying.

The crowd keeps on arriving. It isn’t unusual to have folks lined up all the way around the walls and out the doors.

This event is huge. We’ve served between 400 and 700 people at times. It usually runs around 500 people or so — in 2.5 hours.

The adults run the griddles and the serving line. The Scouts — boys ranging in age from 10 to 18 (we work this with a Cub Scout pack that is associated with the Troop) serve as runners and wait staff for the guests. They clean the tables, get more food for the wonderful people who have came out to support the troop.

The crowd starts thinning out around 7:30 – most of the time. Clean up starts and the every so enjoyable task of trying to keep tired, cranky, rambunctious boys on task takes on new levels of fun.

Griddles are shut down, cleaned and allowed to cool. This takes a while….a long while. 3 of the 5 griddles have been used nearly all day; all the griddles have been in continuous use since 5:30.

Serving equipment, utensils, crock pots — everything used gets cleaned.

Tables are wiped down, floors swept and mopped and everything is loaded back on the trailer.

If the Troop is lucky and organized they can be out of the Hall by 10 or 10:30. Some times it is much later.

At the end of a very long day, you stop and ask if it was worth it.

Then you hear the totals of how much money was brought in….and you say yes.

Then you hear the stories, the reports of the awesome job the kids did in serving, you hear the compliments from folks as they talk about how the youth leaders kept things going and on track and you say yes.

If it is worth it for an adult to spend that time, energy and effort to support the troop; surely it is worth your time, energy and money to stop by and have dinner with the troop.

Thanks for letting me share.