A Good Guy with a Gun. No really, off-duty Cook County Deputy wins gun battle

"I had to kill him," a pained Kevin Costner looking forlornly at a dead Capone gangster.
"Oh yeah. He's as dead as Julius Caeser..." Sean Connery who notes Costner's torn expression. "Would you rather it was you?"
"No. No I would not."
"Well, then, you've done your duty. Go home and sleep well tonight." from The Untouchables (1987) 

During the Bill Nye- Ken Ham "Debate", the best moment for Science came when the question was asked what would change your mind on your respective position.

Bill Nye explained that "evidence" would change his mind while listing several examples, Ken Ham said that because of the bible there was "nothing" which would change his position.

In the Gun Control Debate, Firearm Fondlers are like Ken Ham absolutely convinced of their position and totally unwilling to allow any evidence to penetrate their warped ideas of the Second Amendment.

On 02/10/14 an off-duty Cook County Sheriff Department Sergeant was approached by three young black males while filling up his car at a Citgo station at 103rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. One of the three, 16-year-old, Deonta Dewight Mackey, pointed a gun at the Sergeant while a second began going through his vehicle and the third lolled around to his far right.

The Sergeant bladed off, his concealed weapon side back while he fake fumbled trying to get his wallet out. Then ready, he batted away the offenders weapon with his off hand, and shot the robbery suspect Mackey in the head.

The two other offenders fled the scene, while the Sergeant secured his position and checked for additional threats and then kicked the weapon away from the downed Mackey.

The gas station video captured Mackey's death...

Now, Mackey may have been a gang-banger or a a wanna-be but at 16 while we could get into the Socio-Economic Discussion about why Mackey turned to crime at such a young age that's sure to be glossed over or over emphasized depending on ones point-of-view and will bring us far afield of the topic I'm addressing here

Now, it's incidents such as this which make me reconsider my position on guns. 

However, let's look at knowns of the Sergeant and the incident. Off-duty officers have been authorized to concealed carry because of the 2004  Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act. 

But, he's also required by law to requalify with his primary duty weapon and any weapon he carries off-duty at least once a year. His weapons serial numbers are kept on file with the Department, in this case the Cook County Sheriff Police (CCSPD), and he has to prove or at least affirm every year he has positive control of his weapons. Additionally, the CCSPD, did a criminal history check and at least a cursory background investigation of the Sergeant before he was hired and his activities while working are well known and subpoenable.

Would every gun owner be willing to put themselves through this minimum level of background investigation, training and records keeping?

Despite the fact that, 90% of Americans support a strong thorough Universal Background Check, the NRA, the Money and Political Coercion Arms of the Firearm Manufacturers still oppose it. 

Additionally, 2/3rds of Americans seem to support a Federal Firearm Database. However, the NRA paints a dystopic Stalin/Hitler future if registration to create a federal database is undertaken, repeatedly asserting that Registration is the first step to Confiscation.

I believe this is a paranoid delusion, though I will admit that oppressive governments have employed people to confiscate weapons in the past. But, those situations are not analogous to 21st century America. The Great Sword Hunts of Late Feudal Japan and the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, for instance, were accomplished because of a number of factors; including social stratification, resistance to Western Imperialism, changing technologies, and religious friction.

Nonetheless, it would be dishonest of me to not acknowledge that this incident is one in which the good guy won.

But, Firearm Fondlers often ignore basic facts, such as the level of training, background investigation and stored data about the off-duty Sergeant and Mackey's use of the weapon in this incident, and shamelessly invent incredibly absurd statistics, such as the Larry Pratt invented claim that guns are used 2.5 million times a year in defense of life (or roughly 6850 times a day or 5 times every minute).

Merry Xmas! Gun Nuts celebrate their Newton Massacre Victory

Like all cowards, Gun Lovers are willing to sacrifice someone else's life in defense of their beliefs.

On this Christmas Day, take a moment to reflect that since the Newton Massacre, 34,472 Americans have been killed by guns. But, because of political cowardice and the blood money flowing freely to and from Firearm Manufacturers We, the People have to live under constant threat from criminals and the delusions of lunatics like Wayne LaPierre.

Another gun lunatic, Larry Pratt continues his organizations' ceaseless campaign of blaming the victims of gun violence for their deaths and praising gun owners as god's chosen people. Of course, Faux News gives Pratt airtime to voice his vile, frightening and ignorant views.

"All of these gun-free zones are murder magnets, and we’ve simply got to get rid of them." 

If this had a scintilla of truth then no police officers or law enforcement officials would ever be shot or killed in the line of duty because they are always armed. Here's some more inane prattle from Larry Pratt, about how God loves guns and judges those who don't pack heat everyday,

"And we should be praying that we will all be able to go around armed because that will be one outward indicator that we have God’s blessing. If we are walking around like they are in New York and San Francisco, we are under his judgement."

Blaming Gun-Free Zone for the murderous rampages of Second Amendment Heroes is the akin to blaming homeowners for the actions of burglars, if you didn't own that home it couldn't have been burglarized.

But, victim blaming is part of the strategy adopted by the Gun Nuts. Fear is another potent weapon.

In the US Congress, fear of the Gun Lobby and rancorous speeches about the Second Amendment Shall Not Be Infringed have made for a cowardly, wishy-washy approach. Typically, the eventual bill is a clunky, hastily, cobbled together bunch of contradictory nonsense which fails because they go too far in the views of the lunatic fringe gun nutters and irk gun control advocates for not going far enough. While the rest of us groan over the malapropisms inserted in the text which shows that whomever wrote the bills doesn't have enough, if any, technical knowledge about what they're trying to legislate.

Of course, complicating matters is unlimited buckets of blood money Wayne LaPierre has at his disposal with which to threaten or cajole lawmakers. Thus, of the 109 Gun Laws passed after Newton, the vast majority (70) have eased restrictions and made acquiring, carrying and using guns easier. 

Starting next year, Illinois will have a concealed carry law. Cook County Sheriff Tommy Dart has correctly labelled this law "horrifically unworkable" and derided the blood money soaked Illinois legislators who wrote it, "What in God’s name were these people thinking? What were they thinking?"

Sheriff Dart is correct about the law being unworkable because the background checks installed in the law are to be conducted by Illinois State Police, who are going to do a standard name check of the applicant. Because of manpower limitations and HIPA laws ISP is not going to go speak with neighbors of the applicants or be able to find out if someone is unbalanced if they've never officially been institutionalized.

Sheriff Dart, who deals with the 3rd largest metro area in the Nation, wanted automatic disqualifications for known criminals with gun offenses, domestic abusers and those with recorded gang affiliations, but Rep. Brandon Phelps, the Harrisburg Democrat, the prime sponsor of the law has said that standing objections are "not part of the law". 

In Colorado, 2 state lawmakers were recalled and other hastily resigned because out-of-state Gun Lunatics brought pressure and money to remove them.

On the topic of Colorado, another responsible gun owner stood his ground, shot and killed an intruder to defend his property. It turns out the dastardly criminal breaking into the basement was his 14-year old step-daughter sneaking back into the home at 6 in the morning.

No target identification at a time not generally associated with burglaries. This is going to take some investigation by the local PD, but I'd look at the history between the two and see if the obviously willful stepdaughter and stepdad haven't had a few domestic disputes and the "responsible" gun owning stepdad didn't care for his now deceased stepdaughter.

See the act of owning a gun ipso facto makes one a "responsible" gun owner.

A canard amongst Gun Nuts is that 'An Armed Society is a Polite Society', Chicago's gun violence and the 34,000 dead Americans across the Nation show this to be false. What Stand Your Ground Laws and Concealed Carry have brought about is a Shoot First cause Dead Men Tell No Tales and create the potential for turning every minor scuffle or verbal disagreement into a gunfight.

So, have a safe Christmas. Remember guns aren't toys to show off to relatives. Remember to keep them locked up so children don't have access to them. Don't drink and draw. If family tensions start to run high don't go for your gun. Let's not add to the horrific gun death total this year.

3 year mandatory minimum for Crimes committed with Gun in Illinois Plus Obama's shutdown of America's Last Lead Smelter

Commit a crime with a gun and add 3 years to your sentence. Seems straightforward doesn't it? Ah, but in America were the Gun is Sacrosanct any law which might "harm" some innocent Gun is anathema. The NRA and their lapdog Representatives threw a hissy fit.

"I don’t think anybody should go to jail for three years for a mistake. With the new conceal carry law there’s going to be people that mess up, there’s going to be honest, law-abiding gun owners that are going to make a mistake,” Brandon Phelps an Illinois Legislator out of Harrisburg stated during interviews.

First off, there is no such thing as an "Accidental Discharge" there are only Negligent Discharges. And if a gun owner in Illinois commits a ND there should be consequences. I would leave sentencing up to the State's Attorney and the Judge based on the specific circumstances of each individual event.

And make no "mistake", there are tens of thousands of NDs every year. Many of those result in the wounding of children. Between 1997 and 2009, an average of 7500 children per year were admitted to Hospitals with gunshot wounds.

Of course, I'm certain Phelps as an Unrestricted Gun Violence Supporter would ignore this and claim he doesn't want some Gun Nut who illegally carries his gun whenever and wherever to be punished by the big bad government.

Illinois became the last state to adopt Conceal Carry Laws on July 9th of this year. However, there is a 180 day waiting period before the Illinois State Police (ISP)  to accept applications. There is also a lagtime for the ISP to process CC applications. Additionally, law enforcement agencies can protest specific CC applications with the Illinois State Police review board if "based upon a reasonable suspicion that the applicant is a danger to himself or herself or others, or a threat to public safety."

The verbiage associated with the concealed carry law is large but not overly complex. The Illinois State Police have a FAQ page. However, ignorance of the law is no excuse, except amongst conservatives who have perfected the right-wing persecution myth.

What I'd really like from the pro-gun rights group is a yes/no answer followed by a short explanation of the following questions:

• Should a gun owner be able to bring a firearm into a house of worship?
• Should a gun owner be able to bring a firearm into a bar?
• Should a person charged (but not convicted) of a crime be able to bring a gun into a courthouse?
• Should a gun owner be able to walk in and around Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois with their firearm?
• Should a gun owner be able to bring a firearm into a Hospital Emergency Room? Into an MRI?  
• Should a gun owner be able to carry a firearm inside Six Flags Great America in Gurnee? How about Rivers Casino in Des Plaines?
• Should a gun owner convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery have to relinquish his firearms?
• Should there be any restrictions on handguns, long guns, squad automatic weapon ownership whatsoever?

Related:

"Cursing, he reached for his pistols and would have killed him... But the Duck was faster and hot lead blazed from his smoking six-guns.'' - Gene Hackman, Unforgiven. But, Thanks Obama! Now, where is my hot lead gonna come from???

While reading No More Mister Nice Guy's Blog, I learned that conservative crazies are rending their hair and figuratively (this time) going ballistic in the Right-Wing Fart Bubble that Obama has shut down the last Primary Lead Smelting Plant (Doe Run) in the United States, in Herculaneum, Missouri. Doe Run has been operating on that site for the last 121 years.

Doe Run could have upgraded their facility so as to comply with the new Clean Air Act regulatory levels but, that would cost them money and Corporations are only interested in their bottom line and if poor people are killed and workers are exposed to toxic levels of lead well to bad for them.

Now, the Right-Wing Fart Bubble has officially declared this to be Obama's end run around the Second Amendment, using the Job-Killing EPA to take away America's bullets.

The EPA officially released the revised the National Ambient Air Quality standards back in November 2008...

Of course, the actual residents in Herculaneum are happy because they won't be breathing in lead dust,

"This was all over," said resident Jack Warden. "It covered the side-walking areas. Kids would ride their bicycle down the street and they’d see that dust, they’d lock the brakes up, slide the back tire around on the bicycle, dust would just go flying. And that’s what they were breathing—30 percent lead."

But, conservative crazies, who much like latter-day Roman citizens suffer from the effects of heavy-metal poisoning, can't be expected to be reasonable or rational.