"Open Carry" Intimidation

(UPDATED -- see below)

When we see pictures on the news, of third world countries, of men toting around assault rifles in public and brandishing them at peace activists and government officials, we automatically think terms like "intimidation," "extremist," "rebel," and "terrorist."  Yet, for some reason, when we see nearly the exact same thing in America, somehow a certain subset of people think "freedom" instead.   See HERE of a telling comparison I've made.

A couple days ago, four members of the Arlington, Texas, chapter of Moms Demand Action privately met at a restaurant over lunch to talk about their program.  Some pro-gun extremists found out, so they decided to intimidate the ladies by showing up with their fellow gun lovers.  But they didn't just show up -- they came armed to the hilt with hunting rifles and assault rifles.  Look at that image and tell me that isn't intimidation.  The picture to the right which was taken by one of the Moms Demand Action members.  There were forty pro-gun extremists, and some of them even brought along some small children, I guess to give the impression of a "family event" for their armed ambush. 

See below for another image that was posted on the Facebook page of those extremists.  As stated on the "Moms Demand Action - TX" Facebook page:

Moms, restaurant employees and patrons were all shocked. One patron commented to one of our organizers," I grew up with guns, but no one would ever do this. This is like Deliverance." 

Brandishing loaded assault rifles and threatening four older ladies is the epitome of extreme, in my mind.  Is this really what our country has come to?  Texas is one of the most gun-friendly states in the nation?  What are these people so afraid of that they feel threatened by four older women?

I think these extremists have their priorities wrong.  They should be fearing the same thing that the older ladies feared:  guns falling into the wrong hands.  Every gun crime makes law-abiding gun owners look that much worse.

This same weekend, in Texas, a house party in Houston turned bloody as a mass shooting unfolded.  In all, 22 people were injured, and two teens were killed, ages 16 and 17.  But the gun guys aren't interested in actually DOING anything to stop such shootings.  They would rather intimidate old women.

Sadly, wanton shows of force by the pro-gun guys is becoming all-too-common.  

At the end of October, also in Texas, a couple "Open Carry" activists illegally carried loaded antique handguns in public.  See the video below.  When Texas Rangers confronted the men and arrested them, the men's pro-gun buddies showed up in force, verbally abusing the officers and waving their Gadsden "don't tread on me" flags.  What did these men hope to achieve by displaying their guns and resisting arrest?  What did their buddies think they were achieving by abusing the officers?  Did any of this circus actually serve to help their "open carry" cause?  I don't think so.  The video made the rounds on the pro-gun sites, with statements suggesting in the usual vitrolic anti-government language that this was an over-stepping of law enforcement.  I think the opposite.  These men wanted only one thing: intimidation of society with their guns, and I'm glad law enforcement was there to put a stop to it.

Earlier in October, an "Open Carry" rally was held at the historic Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Billed as "Come and Take It San Antonio!" it was a statement all about anti-government sentiment and fearmongering about the government coming to confiscate all guns -- the most enduring pro-gun myth promulgated by the gun lobby.  Hundreds of pro-gun extremists showed up, weapons held high.  Some brought small children with them.  Said one of the pro-gun demonstrators:

“A rifle on our back is part of our everyday life, just like a cell phone is part of our everyday life.”

Really? They feel so afraid of their fellow citizens that they think carrying a rifle around is as normal as carrying a cell phone?  It's horrifying to me that anyone could be so blinded by gun-worship that they would see it this way.

Naturally, tourists to the Alamo that day were also shocked.  According to another article:

For the tourists who just happened upon the rally — 2.5 million visit the Alamo annually — there was initial trepidation among some. 

Mark Roberts, 63, of London, Ontario, was among a group of Canadian tourists caught off guard."We're not used to seeing guns carried openly in Canada, so that was almost like a culture shock," Roberts said, noting that it appeared well organized. It was more unnerving for his wife. 

"I didn't like it at all because you don't know who you're dealing with," Julie Roberts said. "You don't know who these people are."

Again, what, exactly, are these extremists trying to achieve?  No one is trying to take away their guns, especially in Texas!  But paranoia runs deep in these people.

But intimidation by the "open carry" crowd isn't only in Texas.   Increasingly it is across America.  

Consider the following cases:

November 5, Phoenix, Arizona:  A man brought his 12-year old son to the international airport in Phoenix.  Only two days after the shooting at LAX, he thought it would be a fine idea to show up with his assault rifle openly strapped to his back.  His son, too, was packing, with a handgun on his hip.  He clearly knew the shocking effect it would have on the people around him, and police showed up to surround him and escort him, but he knew his bounds.  Sadly, it was completely legal to do so there.  From an article:

“I was outraged by it and others around me were outraged," one woman told KNXV.  .... 

“The vibe that I received from them was that they were rather smug about what they were doing that they knew the law. They knew what they could and could not do,” the woman who witnessed the incident explained. “I think there are circumstances where people should be able to carry guns and have guns, but I don’t think this is one of the good ones.”

October 2013, Portland, Oregon:  A man with an assault rifle, body armor, and ammunition walks around on the streets.  Claims he is training for a "military training mission" and openly welcomes confrontations with police.  Has had multiple run-ins with police.

September 2013, Nebraska: A man "expressing his Second Amendment rights" enters a convenience store, armed with an automatic shotguns, ammo belt, and trenchcoat, leading to police response and the lockdown of a neighboring school.

August, 2013, Nashville, Tennessee:  A man walks downtown with a bulletproof vest and an assault rifle with silencer in a case, leading to public fears and police response.  He had been detained five other times for carrying weapons in public.

August, 2013, Wisconsin: Two men with assault rifles openly carry them to a farmer's market "to make a point."

July, 2013, Vancouver, Washington: A man carries assault rifle near family fun center, restaurant, and fireworks stand to "educate the public," prompting calls to 911 and police response. 

July, 2013, Beaverton, Oregon:  A man, dressed in camo and armed with a pump-action shotgun, carries his gun in a "low ready position" on the street to "practice his Second Amendment rights."  When police arrives, he puts a round in the chamber.

January, 2013, Charlottesville, Virginia:  A man "expressing his Second Amendment rights" carries an assault rifle into grocery, causing a panic and leading to police to arrive and draw their guns on him.

January, 2013, Utah:  A man openly carries an assault rifle and handgun into a JC Penney store "to make a statement."

January, 2013, Springfield, Oregon: A man with an assault rifle openly carries it on streets.  People become upset, and police have to respond.

January, 2013, Portland, Oregon:  Two men with assault rifles walk through neighborhoods.  People flee and businesses lock up.  Police have to respond.

And these are just a few of the cases I've noted.  I haven't even done some sort of search for them.

Over and over again in these cases we see how these pro-gun "open carry" activists alarm the public, requiring police response, and smugly confront police, sometimes seeming to purposely bait them, and then justifying it away as some sort of public education attempt or an attempt to "normalize" the open carrying of guns in public.

But their real purpose isn't any of that.  The political cartoon to the right says it all.  Their real purpose is to intimidate normal citizens and, most especially, anyone who is working to reduce gun violence, like those four moms in Arlington, Texas.  It's also a sad and public display of the paranoid fear they feel toward their fellow Americans.

As you can see by these cases, the number of "open carry" demonstrations has vastly increased this year, ever since the Sandy Hook shootings.  The pro-gun crowd is afraid.  All the mass shootings, which are increasing at an alarming rate, are turning the tide in the gun argument.  The gun guys are outnumbered by people who are fed up with the daily carnage in America, and it's got them scared.  The days of unfettered access to guns is coming to an end.  Our culture simply can't handle 100,000 shootings a year, including 32,000 deaths, at the end of bullets.  Reasonable legislation is on the way to require background checks for ALL gun sales, and other limits.  The people who parade around with their guns in public are the same ones who would rather trump their interpretation of "rights" over the right of the people to live without fear.

Honestly, the "open carry" crowd are doing me and other gun violence prevention advocates a great favor.  They are their own worst enemy.  Every gun they wave, every Gadsden flag they fly, every shout they utter at the police, is another example of their motivations.  Every time they act this way, they put on display their extremism for the rest of us to see and use against them, yet they are too blind to see it.  They are the face of a gun culture that has run amok.  It's time to change.

ADDENDUM (11/11/13):  A related post, from Common Gunsense blog.

UPDATE (11/11/13):  A Forbes online article points out that the "open carry" protesters may actually have been breaking the law by their show of force.  From the article:

While the group is certainly entitled to protest (although there are questions raised about them doing so on private property without invitation as was the case here), they are not, according to Texas law, entitled to do so by openly showing their weapons. 

While Texas permits licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons, Texas does not permit the open carry of guns
, except for long guns that are not being used in a menacing way (added). Indeed, it is the desire to change this law that the Open Carry Texas group is all about.

The updates at the end of that article are very interesting.

UPDATE (11/11/13):  Hear about the intimidation of the Moms Demand Action moms from founder Shannon Watts.

UPDATE (11/12/13):  "Open Carry Texas", the organization that intimidated the women at the restaurant, continues its high-jinks by protesting for open carry of handguns on the state capitol during a Veteran's Day memorial.  Two people were arrested for trespassing, including the president of that organization.

UPDATE (11/12/13):  Apparently the leader of "Open Carry Texas," Kory Watkins, has been dabbling in politics when he isn't carrying assault rifles everywhere he goes in public. According to an article:

At age 30, Watkins has been working his way up the political apparatus. According to his campaign site: he was ”secretary on the Volunteer Committee of the Tarrant County Republican Party, and was also a delegate to the Republican State Convention in 2012.” He is popular with the Ron Paul crowd saying, “I will work to abolish the Federal Reserve and the central banking system” – and receiving a listing as a ‘Liberty Candidate‘ on DailyPaul.com.

And he has made insurrectionist, anti-government statements, taking (of course) a hard-line Libertarian, Tea Party stance, particularly regarding the Second Amendment and his interpretation of "rights." 

UPDATE (11/17/13):  More incidents of "exercising rights" to the horror of locals.  In particular is this case from Leith, North Dakota, where white supremacists have been trying, literally, to take over the tiny town and form an all-white community of it.  From an article:

Leith City Councilman Lee Cook said he was outside his home Saturday with Gregory Bruce, the city’s website administrator, looking for a location to install surveillance cameras due to concerns for his family’s safety since Cobb moved to town. 

Within about 10 minutes, Cobb and Dutton approached them carrying a rifle and a shotgun, staying on the street but coming right up to Cook’s property line, Cook said.
“We weren’t more than 10 feet away,” Bruce said. 

Cobb, 62, and Dutton, 29, held the guns high and then lowered them, but didn’t speak and did not point the guns directly at the men, Bruce said. 

“Dutton, he had the gun in a position where he was ready to shoot,” Cook said. “I just looked right at him and didn’t say a thing and picked up the phone and dialed 911.” 

Cobb and Dutton then continued walking through the streets of Leith carrying their firearms with a woman believed to be Dutton’s wife, Deborah Dutton, following with a cellphone camera, Bruce said. 

It took at least an hour before the Grant County Sheriff’s Office arrived, Cook said. 

“They just walked around like they owned the town,” Cook said. “The whole point was, they’re trying to drive people out by terrorizing to them.” 

Bruce said Cobb and Dutton followed a local woman around town with their guns and yelled obscenities at her. 

“It’s all intimidation,” Bruce said.

The men were arrested for terrorizing, but "open carry" is allowed in North Dakota, so this sort of blatant intimidation is the natural outcome.

And then there is this case, from another tiny town:  New Castle, Virginia, where extremists convinced the tourism board to have an "exercising rights" day to parade around with their guns.  Good luck getting tourists there now!

ADDENDUM (11/26/13):  HERE is a good article about how the open carry movement is a scare campaign designed to incite confrontation. From the article:

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "In a post Aurora-Newtown environment, it's a reckless and irresponsible stunt to strut around in public with an assault-style weapon and think police should assume you're well-intentioned.”

At another stop this fall, also taped and posted to YouTube, an exasperated responding officer pleads with Branstrom, again carrying his rifle, this time in a school zone. “Do you realize what you’re doing could cost us, me, my second amendment rights? Because this is so egregious to the general public that it’s going to cause them to make decisions legally that are going to restrain us.” ..

And so, the logic of open carry goes, regular exposure to armed “good guys”—on the street, at the farmers’ market, at Starbucks—will act as immersion therapy for the needlessly frightened. And if it doesn’t work? If people are still alarmed by the sight of the armed?

“Grow the hell up,” Idehen suggests in one of his many online videos hosted on the NRA’s website. “You don’t have a right to feel safe by taking away or severely limiting people’s means to protect themselves. We aren’t in kindergarten anymore where you’re allowed to wallow in your false sense of importance by limiting other people because of how you think it makes you feel.”

ADDENDUM (12/4/13):  See HERE for a sickening video, wherein a pro-gun advocate urges "open carry" citizens to resist police, openly calls for insurrection, and even advocates attacking police if they feel that their interpretation of the law doesn't match the police's.  "Do you have enough of a spine to draw that line?" she asks.  She even attempts to compare such gun carriers / police-attackers to Revolutionary War patriots.

UPDATE (4/29/14):  White supremacist, Craig Cobb, who attempted to take over the small town of Leith, North Dakota, with his hate-fueled buddies and openly intimidated residents with guns, has now been convicted of felony terrorizing, but was given only four months probation.  Residents are scared.  From an article:

Leith Mayor Ryan Schock, who had wanted a 4-year prison term for Cobb, said outside the court that it would take a long time for the town to recover. 

"When are we going to be safe from him? He has made his mark on our lives," Schock said. .... 

The terms of Cobb's probation bar him from having contact with victims, but Cook, one of the victims in the case, said he had been given no information on where Cobb will be going. He and mayor Schock said they worry whether the town will be safe — especially since Cobb gave three of his Leith lots to white separatist Tom Metzger, National Socialist Movement Commander Jeff Schoep and white supremacist Alex Linder. 

"It's a failure of justice," Cook said. "This guy gets off. He made our lives a living hell and now he's walking the streets again."  .... 

"They were out looking for a reason to shoot us," Cook said. "Just like the guy in Kansas City who gunned down a 14-year-old boy — they're buddies." 

Cobb has acknowledged a friendship with Frazier Glenn Cross, who is accused of killing three people at Jewish sites in Kansas earlier this month. Cobb told The Associated Press earlier that he spoke with Cross just three days before the killings but that the allegations against Cross have nothing to do with him.

.

Yet Another Tragic Example Of A Failure In Gun Regulation

Reserve officer Robert Libke (image source)

Last Sunday, firefighters and police responded to a house fire in the town of Oregon City, Oregon, a suburb of Portland.  The neighbors called it in, saying that a house was ablaze and that the man who lived there was "running around on the property with a gun."  That man was 88-year-old Lawrence Cambra, armed with a rifle and a handgun.  According to an article:

Josh Wenzel, 25, saw flames and rushed to help. Cambra came out of his garage with his hair singed and covered in soot. "I did this," Wenzel heard him say. "I started the fire." 

"He didn't seem to be in his right mind," Wenzel said. "He wasn't frantic or worried."

One of the first to arrive was a reserve officer, 41-year old Robert Libke.  Libke confronted Cambra, yelling twice for Cambra to drop his weapon.  Cambra responded by shooting Libka in the face (see HERE for details on the shooting and response).

SWAT responded and traded fire with Cambra and hitting him.  Cambra died at the scene, but the fatal wound turned out to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The house fire, which was almost certainly arson, was eventually extinguished by the fire department after several hours. 

Sadly, officer Libke died from his wound.  He was the first Oregon City officer to be killed in the line of duty since 1906.  Reserve officers like Libke are volunteers, meaning he was protecting his community without even getting paid to do so.  Our men and women in blue are heroes every day, but Libke was especially so, since he purposely put himself in harm's way for the good of the community without even getting compensated for it.  According to an article:

Outside of being a volunteer Oregon City cop, Libke worked at the steel mill where Demus works. Libke held a full-time job as supervisor at the EVRAZ Oregon steel mill. EVRAZ has a structural and rolling mill in Portland, Ore.

He also leaves behind a wife who is pregnant with their first child, making this horror story all the more tragic.

In recognition of Libke's ultimate sacrifice, a procession of police cars escorted his body to the funearl home, a candlelight vigil was held by members of his community, and, according to an article, the Governor’s Commission for the Medal of Honor voted unanimously to present reserve officer Libke’s family with the Medal of Ultimate Sacrifice.

Although Libke volunteered his services, his family is eligible to be considered for Oregon Public Safety Memorial Fund benefits, including a $25,000 lump sum payment. A board may approve discretionary benefits including health and dental reimbursement for Libke’s family, mortgage payments for up to a year and scholarship considerations for his unborn child, according to the State Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. 

As for his life when not volunteering to protect his community,Libke had also worked at Evraz, a North Portland steel company, where he was a general supervisor in charge of 60 people. His coworkers were shocked by Libke's death.

"I think he thought he was there to calm a guy down whose house was on fire," said Bruce Iredale, Vice President of Evraz. "He wanted to help people and he was good at it." 

A fund has been set up in Libke's name, and a memorial is being planned.

But what about the monster who committed this heinous act?  Well, it turns out that Cambra wasn't

Shooter Lawrence Cambra (source)

a nice man.  Police had responded to his home dozens of times.  He had a history of violence which included pulling a gun on some painters who had wanted him to move his car out of the way of potentially being splashed with paint.  When someone complained about him keeping homing pigeons in his back yard, Cambra responded by shooting all the pigeons to death instead of moving them.  Said one ex-neighbor of Cambra's,

“I avoided him,” Cook said. “I knew what he was capable of. So - he wouldn't say a thing to you, he'd just go get a gun and shoot you.” 

His most recent neighbors were also in fear of the man, saying he was unfriendly, untrustworthy, and angry.  One of those neighbors reported that Cambra had been in a fight with his longtime domestic partner, who left in a huff just before the fire and craziness began.  It turns out that Cambra had once had a restraining order against him, filed by that partner, which was eventually dropped.  From an article:

"His girlfriend or wife left maybe 30 minutes before fire started at house," said neighbor Pam Laird. "She was nervous, trying to call somebody." 

Court records show the girlfriend filed a restraining order against Cambra in 2012, and that officers have been called to the home nearly a dozen times. 

In her own handwriting his girlfriend says "Cambra said he was going to get a gun and get rid of a few people and himself -- and that I 'should watch my back.'" 

Court documents indicate the restraining order was later withdrawn. But neighbors recall a mean streak with the 88-year-old man. 

"He caused a lot of enemies in the neighborhood," said one. 

The last time Laird saw Cambra alive, he was pounding on her back door and trying to get in. She refused.
....

"I've never let him in my house," Laird said. "He wasn't a nice man, ever."

Wow.  And yet, despite the history of drawing a gun on people, shooting to death his own pets, anger issues, and even having had a restraining order against him, it was perfectly legal for this man to own as many guns as he wished.

This is the sad result. 

But stories like this happen all the time in America, so much so that it hardly rises above regional news headlines.  It's not even the first time that people have fired on emergency personnel responding to a fire.  Consider this case from New York, this case from Nevada, this one from Iowa, or this one from Alabama.

It's a dilemma that I've personally heard from officers, deputies, and even my police chief.  They are always bumping up against the current definition of gun rights and the Fourth Amendment.  It doesn't matter how violent and crazy a person is or how much he is feared by the community, friends, and family -- if he hasn't been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, doesn't have a warrant for his arrest, and hasn't yet committed a felony, there isn't anything they can do.  That lunatic is free to amass as large of an arsenal as he wishes and there's nothing anyone can do about it....

... until he pulls the trigger.

The Oregon City shooting is a prime example of how we need to change the law.  We need to stop putting "gun rights" over the welfare of the people and their right to live without fear.  We need to have the law take into account the opinion of relatives and neighbors on the gun owner's level of sanity and self control (as Japan and Canada do).  And we need to have a mental health system that more clearly defines when a person can be referred by police to psychiatric evaluation and when an individual is determined to be a threat to themselves and others, to have them held and to have their gun rights revoked until they are determined to no longer be a threat.

The best way to honor the memory of Officer Libke is by working to keep guns out of the hands of lunatics like Cambra.

Be Safe This Halloween

In Oregon, as in most states, a private gun sale requires no background check, paperwork, or questions asked at all (except at gun shows in Oregon).  That means ANYONE can purchase a gun:  it's just cash-and-carry, no "underground black market" needed.  And too many of those sales are to unstable individuals or criminals.

Be safe this Halloween, and demand background checks and other sensible gun regulation to make a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.

More Pro-Gun Arming Of Schools Despite Objections From Teachers

Even in the hands of police, accidents happen at schools

(This post is UPDATED with additional instances since first posting -- see below)

Well, it's happened again.  Another school board with some pro-gun extremists sitting on it has declared that concealed handguns are allowed in its classrooms, including in the hands of its teachers.  This time in St. Helens, Oregon.  As usual, though, they have done so against the wishes of the very teachers they want to arm.

Back in March, 2013, a ban against guns was put in place in that school district after teachers and parents were polled.  The vast majority were against guns.  Wisely, the school board put the ban in place out of respect to the wishes of those they served.

Unfortunately, school boards are not necessarily made up of people who have children in their district or have any teaching experience at all. 

From an article and news video which quotes one of the teachers in that school district:

A teacher at St. Helens High School says the school board ignored teachers’ opinions when they repealed a ban on teachers and staff members carrying concealed weapons on campus. 

Amber Horn said the board knew how the teachers felt about the issue, but didn’t care. 

“Totally unvalued. Our opinion doesn’t matter,” she said. “A teacher’s worst nightmare is a gun in school. I have a toddler there. That’s the worst nightmare there is.”

Since the ban was put in effect, some new, more conservative school board members have come on the board and decided, on their own, that guns around kids in their school would be a great thing.

From another article:

Board member Ray Biggs and chairman Marshall Porter, in particular, think teachers should be able to have guns in the event of a school shooting. 

“I would say that the risk is more likely that somebody who isn’t following the law is a higher risk to your child coming on to school property than the one that is going to do it legally,” Porter said.

Really?  It would seem that Mr. Porter doesn't have his facts straight.  If he had bothered to look, he would have found that there has never been a school shooting stopped by an armed teacher or a citizen conceal-carry owner.  The closest case I ever found was of a school staff member (and Army reservist commander) who went out to their car and got a gun, but the shooting was over by that point, the shooter was out of ammo and was driving out of the parking lot (the only reason he was stopped was that the shooter crashed his car, allowing the staff member to get to him and hold him under arrest).

On the other hand, I know of at least SEVENTEEN instances where they have CAUSED incidents, including injuring themselves or children, just in the last couple years, including one by a police officer just the other day.  Here they are:

• February 28, 2018: A high school social studies teacher in Dalton, Georgia, barricaded himself in a classroom and fired a shot from a handgun. Luckily, no one was injured, and he was taken into custody.
• February 5, 2018: A police officer was at an elementary school in Maplewood, MN, "building relationships" with 3rd and 4th graders when one little boy reached over and pulled the trigger on the officer's holstered handgun. The gun fired into the floor. Luckily, no one was injured.
• September 13, 2016:  A school teacher at Cumberland Christian School, in Chambersburg, PA, left a loaded, unsecured handgun on a toilet in a bathroom. Four children, ages 6 to 8, went in the bathroom before one of the children reported the gun. Luckily, none of them fired the gun.
• February 19, 2015:  A school resource officer at Western Wayne School District in Pennsylvania unintentionally fired his handgun in the school.  Luckily, no one was injured.
• September 11, 2014:  A teacher was in the bathroom of a school in Taylorsville, Utah, when she unintentionally shot herself in the leg with her own handgun.
• January 18, 2014:  An armed security guard left his weapon unattended in the bathroom, fully accessible to K-8 students, despite being a retired police weapons instructor.
• October 24, 2013:  A police officer left his loaded assault rifle strapped to his motorcycle while visiting an elementary school.  A boy pulled the trigger, firing the weapon and leading to a shrapnel injury of three kids.
• August 24, 2013:  A SWAT police officer was giving a presentation at an elementary school in Lodi, California, when a 6-8 year old boy fired the officer's holstered gun, hitting the officer in the leg.
• May 14, 2013:  A school staffer with a conceal carry permit was offering a ride to a student, in the parking lot, when he unintentionally fired his legally concealed handgun, hitting the student in the leg.
• March 6, 2013:  A recently-started armed resource officer program at schools in Highland, New York, was suspended after one of the security guards unintentionally fired his weapon in school.  Children were present, but luckily no one was injured.
• March 1, 2013:  During a conceal carry training class, on school grounds, which was part of a new program to arm school staff, a school maintenance worker who was a student in the class unintentionally fired his weapon, wounding himself in the leg.
• January 17, 2013:  A charter school in Lapeer, Michigan, decided to start having an armed guard on campus.  Three days after hiring a guard, the man left his weapon in a school bathroom where kids could have found it.
• October 8, 2012:  A man with a concealed handgun visited an elementary school classroom in Moore, Oklahoma, to help the teacher with her computer.  His gun fell out and he left without it, only realizing it was missing after the media reported it.  Small children were present in the room at the time.
• March 22, 2012:  A volunteer track coach at John Mall High School in Walsenburg, Colorado, unintentionally shot himself in the leg with his new .40 caliber Glock handgun, nearly bleeding to death.  He was in his vehicle in the parking lot of the school sports complex.
• December 8, 2011:  A janitor with a conceal carry permit was working on ceiling tiles in a preschool classroom in Waterbury, Connecticut, when he took off his gun belt.  He then left the loaded gun in the classroom and forgot about it. Monday morning, teachers came in the room and found the gun, only moments before 3- and 4-year olds entered the room.
• September 12, 2011:  An armed security guard, patrolling schools at night in Salem, Oregon, unintentionally lost his loaded firearm somewhere during his rounds.  The gun was never found.
• May 12, 2011:  A school resource officer was cleaning his gun, while in the school building, and unintentionally fired the gun. The round went through the wall and into the nurse's room where there were two student, the nurse, and another adult. Luckily, no one was injured.

Totaled up, that's four children and four adults who have been wounded out of sixteen cases.

What's more, these extremist school districts are discovering that, upon making their ruling allowing guns on campus, their insurance companies are pulling their coverage or drastically increasing premiums.  You see, insurance companies actually pay attention to the facts and statistics.  They understand that guns and kids are a deadly mix.

Arming schools is an idea that is very unpopular with nearly every national organization representing parents, teachers, and law enforcement, as well as the citizens of Newtown, and has no merit with any historical context.  It’s time to listen to them and put this whole, dangerous nonsensical suggestion by the NRA to rest.  Support commonsense gun regulation to keep guns out of the hands of children and bad guys to begin with.

(10/29/13: corrected to read St. Helens, Oregon [not Washington])


UPDATE (11/5/13):  A group of teachers, parents, and concerned citizens of St. Helens, Oregon, got together to hold a public protest of the school board decision.


UPDATE (11/11/13): The shooting at a high school in Walsenburg, Colorado, was added to the above list.

UPDATE (1/14/14):  Incident in Michigan added to above list.

UPDATE (9/11/14):  The unintentional self-shooting of a teacher in a school in Utah was added to the list above. 

UPDATE (1/13/16):  Added the incidents from February 2015 and May 2011.

No Vacation For Shootings

Also one of the safest, and a gun-free zone

(Updated -- see below)

I took a little vacation from volunteering, including from gun violence prevention activities like this blog (though I did continue to read and share on social media) as well as any other sort of community work I do.

Facing down the specter of gun violence, reading so many articles about shootings, learning about victims, and meeting survivors all takes a toll on a person.  Instead, for a month, I focused almost completely on my family.

A week of that time was spent in southern California, taking the kids to Disneyland and Legoland and visiting with family down there.  I was thankful for Disneyland's policy against concealed handguns by visitors.  Despite the fact that over 40,000 people (sometimes up to twice that number) visit the park each and every day I was there, there were (gasp!) no incidents where someone had to defend themselves with a firearm in this gun-free zone.  No gangs jumped out at me from behind the yeti on the Matterhorn roller coaster; no drug fiends tried to rape us on the Tea Cup ride; no mass shooters went on a spree as we sailed through It's A Small World.  The worst I saw were some stressed parents with over-stimulated, tantruming kids.  Safety in the "Happiest Place On Earth" doesn't need gun-toting people afraid of their fellow man.  Of course, some gun guys purposely disobey.  They just can't keep their paranoia at home.  If they would stupidly take them into airport security (as over 1500 did last year, with a disturbing rise so far this year), they would take them anywhere.  Legoland, too, doesn't allow firearms.  Nope, didn't see anyone needing one there, either.

I was also thankful that California has such strong gun laws.  As has been shown many times, there is a strong inverse correlation between the strictness of gun laws and the number of shootings.  California is one of the states with the tightest gun regulations, and not coincidentally, is among the top ten safest states for number of per capita shootings.  Gun laws matter!  And California has now passed additional laws requiring long-gun buyers to earn safety certificates, banned conversion kits that can turn regular magazines into high-capacity magazines, locked storage of guns in homes where felons and other prohibited people live, extension of prohibition for gun purchase from six months to five years by people deemed to be violent, and a ban on lead-containing ammunition.

Sadly, the rate of gun deaths in the United States never takes a vacation.  During my stay in California, a mentally ill man, Aaron Alexis, who had a history of problems and had recently been reported as hearing voices and thinking people were microwaving his brain, was nonetheless legally able to purchase a firearm and go on a shooting spree in the Washington Navy Yard, killing 12 and injuring 4 before he was killed by law enforcement.  Sane voices understood that this was yet another example of how guns get into the wrong hands, and that action needs to be taken to keep it from happening yet again and again and again.  The NRA's response, predictably, is that there should have been more people with more guns.  No surprise there.  Ignorant and dangerous, it ignores the fact that America, despite having the highest rate of gun ownership in the world, also has the highest rate of shootings of any nation not at war (see a graph HERE).  If the NRA's self-serving line were true, we would be the safest country, not the worst.  The facts and the deaths of innocents are inconvenient to the NRA line that more guns make us safer.

And as I tried to vacation and keep my thoughts positive, the shootings just kept coming and coming, of children and co-workers and family members.  Some were mass shootings of four or more people.  One of those was at a pick-up basketball game in Chicago, where 13 people were shot and injured, including a 3-year old and two teens.  But most shootings were single-victim shootings, of all ages, in small towns and large cities.  A great many of these shootings would be national headlines in other countries.  Here, in blood-drenched America, they were lucky to make the front page of their local paper, and most people have already forgotten the name of the Navy Yard shooter, and likely haven't even heard about that Chicago shooting.  The Joe Nocera Gun Report continued to report on many of these shootings as they happen, cramming them together as best they can, too many to go into depth on any of them.

And so, it's time to get back to the cause of protecting our communities in my own small way.  This month, in addition to returning to blogging, I am serving on a county firearms safety committee, organizing an annual United Way donation drive, and taking part in other activities to help my town be a safer and more caring place to live.  We all have to work together to create a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.

UPDATE (10/11/13):  Updated, in text, regarding newly-passed laws in California.

Killer George Zimmerman Just Keeps Screwing Up

(UPDATED -- see below)

I’m mildly entertained by the massive FAIL that defines the ongoing, and still prison-free (for now), life of George Zimmerman, the man who stalked and shot to death unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.  It’s the same sort of mild entertainment I feel when I can’t help but watch idiots on those home-video TV shows who jump off of roofs onto trampolines and wind up racking themselves on their kids’ bike.

Since being acquitted of Trayvon’s murder, George can’t seem to stay out of trouble.  Shocking, since he’s such an upstanding, law-abiding citizen who was only defending himself, so says his gun nut supporters who continue to send him money for his defense, numerous times (examples HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE). 

Oops, but he’s been mis-spending that money.  Turns out he didn’t actually use it for his defense, and hasn’t paid his attorneys.  Instead, he’s mainly using it on his personal expenses.  So much so, in fact, that his lawyer, Mark O’Mara, has demanded he pay up, and has stopped representing him.  From the article:

It appears that George Zimmerman may have conned the cons. After his recent altercation with his wife, his attorney, Mark O’Mara told ABC News in a September 10^th  interview that he would no longer be representing Zimmerman. 

…. 

During the ABC interview, when O’Mara was asked if he had any advice for his former client, he said this: 

“Pay me.” 

Wait, Zimmerman never paid his defense attorney? What happened to all of the money he raised for his “legal defense fund?” It’s interesting, actually. If you visit Zimmerman’s Legal Defense fund web-site you can get a pretty good idea where the majority of the money was spent. 

…. 

Leaving that page, and moving to one titled “Moving Forward” which addresses how future donations will be spent, it gets even more interesting. The predicted future expenses include the Zimmerman’s living expenses and private security as the first two items on the page. A bit further down the page, under the heading “Case Related Expenses” it clearly says “Mr. O’Mara and Mr. West have not been paid for their services. Money has been used to pay rent on office space, for IT support, for staff dedicated to the case.” 

So by his own admission Zimmerman did not use the Legal Defense Fund donations to pay his attorneys. He spent the majority of the money on living expenses for himself and his wife, who was just paid more than $4,000 for one months living expenses out of the defense fund money. Wow. 

Wow is right. But should anyone really be surprised that he’s conning the gun guys out of their money?  After all, he and his wife plotted to hide their money from the judge to the tune of $85,500, for which his wife, Shellie, was convicted of perjury.

And he has the gall to demand that the State of Florida pays his legal fees!

But even if he had paid his attorney, who can blame O’Mara for dumping George?  Zimmerman just keeps screwing up and acting irresponsibly!

Consider the following screw-ups….

• July:  George fakes a rescue of a family in a car crash. Alerted to the crash by a sympathetic (pathetic?) officer, he zooms in to ask if they are alright, but then takes credit for rescuing them from a burning vehicle (the family was out of the vehicle and walking around when he arrived).  National news sites ran stories about his valiant rescue without investigating whether they were true.
• July:  George was pulled over for speeding in Texas, with a gun in his glove compartment.  He got off with a warning.  Said the officer to George: "Just take it easy. Go ahead and shut your glove compartment. Don't play with your firearm."
• August:  George visits a gun manufacturer, Kel-Tec, and poses for pics like some sort of celebrity.  If you just killed an unarmed teen, legal or not, would you be making celebrity visits and posing for cameras?  Sick.  His lawyer thought so.
• September:  George was pulled over for speeding again, this time in Florida.  This time he was given a ticket.
• September:  Finally, George was involved in a domestic violence call to police. 

That’s right, George got into a fight with his wife when, once again, she tried to leave him.  Then she called 911, saying that he was threatening her with a gun:

On the 911 call, Shellie Zimmerman is sobbing and repeating "Oh my God" as she talks to a police dispatcher. She yells at her father to get inside the house, saying Zimmerman may start shooting at them. 

"He's threatening all of us with a firearm ... He punched my dad in the nose," Shellie Zimmerman said on the call. "I don't know what he's capable of. I'm really scared." 

She also said he grabbed an iPad from her hand and smashed it.

She’s also quoted as saying on the 911 call, “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really, really scared.”

But then, abruptly, Shellie changed her story, saying that no firearm was involved, and both she and her father, who was also attacked, refused to press charges.  It’s not unusual for women in domestic assaults to change their story, out of fear of the abuser.  That’s why police can still investigate the alleged abuser even if charges aren’t pressed by the spouse.  Now the police are trying to piece together footage from the damaged iPad, to see what the truth is, but the task may take months and may not work at all.

Perhaps George can claim he was just standing his ground?  Worked once before....

This recent violent behavior of George’s, too, isn’t shocking, given that George already has a history of domestic violence, not to mention other violent behavior and even allegations of child abuse!

The police chief of the town where Zimmerman now resides considers George a “ticking time bomb” and another “Sandy Hook” waiting to happen! 

But even beyond George’s bad behavior, questions continue to arise about Trayvon’s killing.  The medical examiner in the Trayvon Martin shooting case, Dr. Shiping Bao, has recently come out with some bombshell information that he says was squelched by the police at the time of the trial who were biased against the victim, and told Bao to “shut up” about the facts in the case.  Bao, who was fired from the job over this issue, is suing the state of Florida over it, as a matter of fact.

What facts were covered up?  According to Bao, Trayvon was actually shot in the back, so there’s no way he could have been on top of Zimmerman.  Also, the amount of marijuana in Trayvon at the time of the shooting was too little to have led to any change in his behavior.  These facts came to light between the time Bao made his initial investigation of Trayvon and the time he was actually on the stand testifying.  This, among the many other ways that prosecutors threw the case.

Is Dr. Bao lying because he lost his job?  Or did he lose his job because the prosecutors didn’t like what he had to say, as he claims?  Time will tell, but I’m guessing Bao has evidence to back up his claims.

I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last of Zimmerman’s screw ups.  Eventually, he and his guns will be involved in yet another scandal.


UPDATE (9/14/13):  The Zimmermans claimed during the trial that they were living like "Gypsies" in a trailer.  Turns out it was a lie.  They were actually living in a two story, $240,000 home with a pool and spa, thanks to the generous donations given to them for their "legal defense" by the gun nuts.  From an article:

Shellie Zimmerman recently recalled living like gypsies during her husband’s trial for the shooting death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. According to GPS records at the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the couple moved for the last time into a two-story $240,000 home on a landscaped cul-de-sac — wait there’s more — with a 2-tier pool and spa with four water jets shaped like lions’ heads in the backyard. A patio sits in backyard with a second-story deck. The Zimmermans had 2,500 square feet of living space to stretch their legs.  .... 

The Orlando Sentinel reports, “The house where George and Shellie Zimmerman lived during his trial – and for nearly a year leading up to it – was no trailer in the woods.”
If it is, I want to live in a trailer too. 

The house is not even 10 minutes from the Seminole County criminal courthouse where Zimmerman stood trial. 

In an interview with ABC News two weeks ago, Shellie Zimmerman said, “We lived in a 20-foot trailer in the woods.” 

But that was for a short period of time, according to the Orlando Sentinel. 

The home is reportedly owned by Shellie Zimmerman’s parents and it’s the same house where police took George Zimmerman into custody Monday after Ms. Zimmerman called police saying her estranged husband had threatened her and her father with a gun.

UPDATE (Breaking!) (11/18/13): Yep, Zimmerman has been arrested AGAIN, this time for allegedly assaulting his pregnant girlfriend and possibly threatening her with his shotgun.  Didn't I say this would happen??  From an article:

Victim, identified as Samantha Scheibe, indicated she and Zimmerman were having a verbal dispute where she alleged he broke a table before pointing a shotgun at her. Zimmerman was unarmed when police arrived.  However, he had barricaded the door and the police had to move furniture out of the way to get to Zimmerman.  Ms. Scheibe told police that she was “in fear of her life.”  The investigators are still meeting with her to get more information about the incident, while they obtain a search warrant to locate the shotgun.  There might be another gun in the house, according to the police. 

Zimmerman was arrested and booked at 1pm EST, charged with aggravated assault, battery domestic violence, and criminal mischief. There is no bond set until he sees the judge tomorrow morning.  The aggravated assault charge with a firearm is a felony punishable up to 5 years in prison. If gun is used there is a 3 years minimum mandatory.

.