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).

To Arms Second Amendment Heroes! Conservatives make plans to "shoot people". Most Likely, on Gun Appreciation Day.

Get Ready. Gun Appreciation Day is on 01/19/13. Conservatives are not hiding their intentions. Like a poor fighter, Right-Wingers are "telegraphing" their next move. Molon Labe.

Gun Nuts, Right-Wing Second Amendment Heroes and the simpering Republican Party are actively pushing for a violent shooting Civil War. If Gun Nuts have their way, 01/19/13 will be the start of their Campaign of Murder and Gun Violence.

The CEO of Tactical Response James Yeager a Tennessee-based company declared he is "gonna start killing people."

"I'm not fucking putting up with this," Yeager declared in a Youtube Manifesto posted Wednesday. "I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people."

It turns out Yeager's Blackwater-lite accreditations are false. It also turns out that when Yeager was in Iraq as a Contractor he froze, ran and hid during his one firefight.

Yeager would later write in a personal account of the incident. As more bullets chew into the cars, another voice can be heard on the tape shouting "Drive, drive, drive!" But no car moved. 

Yeager "punched the gas to the floor and the engine raced, but the car stayed stationary." The ex-cop had forgotten that the car he was driving had a manual shift, and had failed to engage the clutch or the gears. 

Yeager, unable to see the attackers, blasted away pointlessly at a barricade before running to take cover in a ditch on the opposite side of the road.

Isn't that just typical. Big Tough Talking Gun Nut at home was worthless when actual bullets began to fly.

Child-Raping Chicken hawk Coward Ted Nugent is back comparing Domestic Terrorists and himself to Rosa Parks.

"There will come a time in America where Gun Owners will be Rosa Parks and we will sit in the front of the bus."

I'm still waiting for Nugent to suck-start a 9mm and fulfill his vow of being dead after President Obama won re-election.

Two Portland Oregon Gun Nuts decided to exercise their Second Amendment Rights by walking around Downtown Portland, near shops and stores, with AR-15s slung across their backs.

Portland police identified the men as Warren Drouin and Steven Boyce. The men told officers they were hoping to educate the public about gun rights. Drouin said he hoped people would approach them and talk to them, instead of calling police.

I'd like to ask a "responsible gun owner" what is the difference between these two and James Holmes or Adam Lanza just prior to their mass murders?

The only difference is Intention. Please show me how someone can know Drouin and Boyce's intention by merely looking at them. I see a person strolling around brazenly carrying a rifle I assume he is planning on using said rifle. And Mister Gun Nut, openly displaying his rifle, wants people to approach him and talk? Is Drouin so absorbed in his 'ITS MY RIGHTS' or just dishonest?

Former USMC Corporal Joshua Boston let Senator Diane Feinstein know that he "will not have some woman" telling him he can't have his guns. For being 8 years in the Military Corporal Boston seems to have failed to grasp the concept of Civilian-controlled Military or the whole "Well-Regulated" verbiage actually written in the Second Amendment. But, hey when you're a willing pawn of the Gun Manufacturers and Military-Industrial-Complex, as former Cpl Boston is, you won't let some woman who never wore the EGA make "regulations"!!!

66% of the Residents of Virginia want an armed Police Officer in every school. Where do they think the funds are going to come from? Do they think the Department of Justice is going to just send them a check? Eric Cantor declared he wouldn't provide emergency government funds for the residents of Joplin, MO after the horrendous tornadoes and 67 Republicans voted against funding for Eastern Seaboard residents after Hurricane Sandy.

Under Republican tutelage DOJ has routinely slashed funding for State and Local police work. In Wisconsin, DOJ used to provide money for the 3 Wisconsin crime labs to conduct specialized forensic work. Because of Right-Wing budget cuts Wisconsin no longer conducts this work.

Conservatives and Republicans want Americans afraid that when the "Tyranny" becomes to much for the Insane Gun Lovers they will engage in Violence and will invoke their Liberal-Hunting Permits, indulge in their murder fantasies and begin shooting the "Moochers", the Poor, those Scary New Black Panthers and "Leftists" who've stolen their country from them.

Triple A, Standard Rookies and Poor Umpires

Born on Third, thinks he hit a Triple... ~ Molly Ivins of George W. Bush

Who could have foreseen that Standard & Poor's would downgrade the Credit Rating of America's debt? And why does S&P have any credibility?

The same group of Wall Street insiders who duped people into dumping their money into Wall Street by crafting bizarre mathematical derivatives, credit default swaps and giving bankrupt Ponzi schemers at Lehman Brothers, Bear Strearns and AIG, AAA ratings all the way up to when the bottom fell out, still have the power to forecast economic futures? Why didn't the Free Market eliminate a ratings agency like S&P which has either had some of the worst blunders in Financial History or colluded in the largest theft since biblical times?

I want to know why the all-powerful and all-knowing invisible hand of the Free Market hasn't strangled the likes of Jim Cramer? Jim Cramer recommended buying each and every one of the Investment banks on every show, which if you followed his advice would have netted you a loss of around 95% of your investment. For instance,

Jim Cramer recommended buying Lehman Brothers on 10/17/05 at $55.18 per share. On 9/5/08 with the stock trading at $16 per share, on CNBC, Cramer selected Lehman as a "screaming buy" and said things couldn't get any worse for the company. The firm went bankrupt and the stock trades for pennies per share for more than a 99 percent loss for Cramer.

I want to know how many Republicons other than Eric Cantor bet against the US economy by having their investment portfolios shored up with shorting long-term US Bonds? And I want to know which Hedge Fund Manager made Ten Billion dollars on his Billion Dollar bet that the US would lose it's credit rating?

Of course, if you wanted to be cynical you would say S&P did exactly what the Bankster criminals and Plutocrats wanted them to do. And after the Wall Street gambling bubble imploded and the Free Market was saved by Socialism what did the people get? Nothing. The Republicons in Congress have spent the last 3 years filibustering and impeding Wall Street regulation.

"I find it interesting to see S&P so vigilant now in downgrading the U.S. credit rating. Where were they four years ago when they, and other credit rating agencies, helped cause this horrendous recession by providing AAA ratings to worthless sub-prime mortgage securities on behalf of Wall Street investment firms? Where were they last December when Congress and the White House drove up the national debt by $700 billion by extending Bush's tax breaks for the rich?" - Senator Bernie Sanders

Precisely, Bernie. Where was S&P when the Free Market was falsifying data for the Plutocracy, the Bush Presidency and the Republican recession?

Update:
The Billion Dollar Hedge Fund wager is contested, but, Faux News and Right Wing blogs know a priori that evil George Soros did it...