Republicans are arming America, and that’s creating a false sense of security among some gun owners, because the laws of self-defense haven’t changed. Even in Florida, with its laissez-faire gun laws, you can’t just shoot people. Self-defense only applies to an imminent threat of d[...]
Posts Tagged ‘Gun Violence’
June 2nd, 2023 - 4:01 am § in Law and Courts
Guns are changing American life
An entire generation of American kids are growing up in fear of being gunned down in their classrooms, or shot at a shopping mall. The NRA likes to say, “An armed society is a polite society,” but the data say otherwise. Guns are now the leading cause of death of Americans under age 19 ([...]
May 6th, 2023 - 7:55 pm § in Politics, Republicans
Gun violence on 5/6/23
Headlining today’s gun violence news, a mass shooter killed 8 shoppers and injured 7 others at a Texas mall before being killed by police (story here). But it doesn’t stop there: A 16-year-old boy was killed at a Texas graduation party (story here). A 17-year-old girl was killed and 5 ot[...]
April 30th, 2023 - 10:28 pm § in Law and Courts, Politics
Should courts go easy on teenage killers?
The gunfire, it seems, never stops. And in many cases, kids are pulling the triggers. In South Carolina, a drive-by shooting at a park wounded 9 young people, ages 16 to 20, in the wee hours of Saturday, April 29, 2023. Police found “dozens of shell casings from several different weapons,̶[...]
April 18th, 2023 - 12:18 pm § in Law and Courts, Racism
Reasonable fear or trigger happy?
That’s what a jury may have to decide after a D.A. charged Andrew Lester (photo, left), 84, for shooting a teenager (see story here). Lester was at home on Thursday, April 13, 2023, when the doorbell rang at 9:45 p.m. He went to his door with gun in hand, a .32 pistol. Opening the wood [&helli[...]
April 16th, 2023 - 10:25 pm § in Law and Courts
Two black teens, two doorbells, and gunfire
A black teenager was shot in Kansas City on March 21, 2023, for not answering a doorbell. His mother says “a man came to her house looking for a cousin who he thought lived there,” and when the teen wouldn’t let him in — there were young children there — the man opened [...]
April 15th, 2023 - 12:19 pm § in Law and Courts
Mitigating circumstances
“The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his teacher had a series of miscarriages and post-partum depression in the year before the shooting, her attorney said Friday,” adding his client “believed her gun, which was legally purchased, was secured” (see s[...]
Republicans can’t escape their unpopular policies
It’s hard for ordinary people like me to fathom why anybody would want to be president, but a number of Republican politicians do, and they all have a problem. Most Americans hate their positions on abortion and guns. On top of that, the GOP has long been a party for the rich, and often indiff[...]
April 10th, 2023 - 9:02 pm § in Politics, Republicans
Florida isn’t a crime-free haven
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who wants to be president, isn’t keeping Florida residents safe. Florida’s pandemic death rate was twice Washington’s, thanks in part to his lax public health policies. What about crime? DeSantis is bragging he’s made Florida a safe state, but nothing backs[...]
GOP House leader wants to talk about school shootings
“House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said legislation alone can’t prevent school shootings and that the U.S. must also have some kind of serious talk,” Huffington Post reported on Thursday, March 30, 2023, in the aftermath of a private Christian school massacre (read story here). M[...]