Monday, July 16, 2012

June U.S. Shooting Report numbers soar

Although I have changed the formula in counting shootings—it is now one shooting for each death or wounded to conform with Brady campaign protocol—the total number has climbed to more than 4-times the May figure.  June was a startling 361 to 90 in May.  Prior to this, if three people were shot in the same incident, it was counted as one shooting.  Once again, these numbers are taken direct from qualified news reports throughout the country.

But the number of dead and wounded from shootings is even worse, considering the sizable increases.  In May there were 69 people killed as a result of a shooting compared to 128 in June.  That is an 85.5% increase.  These are folks their family or friends will never see again…all because of a gun.  Also in May, there were 131 woundings from shootings, compared to 233 in June.  That is a 77.9% increase.  And some of these may have died by now.

I keep saying this but it is still beyond me why lawmakers, and the White House, haven’t taken action to do something about this crisis.  They do have something of an excuse—which is really inexcusable—with the coming November elections.  But the major gun control advocates have absolutely no excuse for not jumping on these numbers to point out the need for immediate action to stop gun violence.  This report can’t be the only source of data; if it is, the situation is worse than any of us thought.

Once again, let me encourage any of you who know of shootings I have missed in this or future reports to let me know through comments and I will post an update.

Here are the June numbers by date and location, broken down by shootings, dead and wounded.  This is in a Word compatible Excel format which I hope to have converted to HTML soon so that all months will be available, and the file will be interactive.


DATECITY/STATE               SHOOTINGS                 DEAD                  WOUNDED
6/1/2012Phoenix, AZ550
6/1/2012Tucson, AZ101
6/1/2012Miami, FL211
6/2/2012Phoenix, AZ110
6/2/2012Brooklyn, NY211
6/2/2012Clarksdale, MS101
6/2/2012Vallejo, CA413
6/2-6/5/2012Baltimore, MD1046
6/3/2012El Mirage, AZ211
6/3/2012Miami, FL220
6/3/2012Phoenix, AZ202
6/4/2012Surprise, AZ211
6/4/2012Los Angeles, CA211
6/4/2012Springfield, MA220
6/4/2012Little Mexico, TX110
6/4/2012Phoenix, AZ220
6/5/2012Fresno, CA413
6/6/2012Chicago, IL312
6/7/2012Stone Mountain, GA220
6/7/2012New York, NY330
6/8/2012Belle Glade, FL202
6/8/2012Cobb County, GA110
6/8-6/9/2012Hartford, CT1129
6/9/2012Auburn, AL431
6/9/2012Sacramento, CA440
6/9/2012Glasgow, MT101
6/9/2012Selma, CA550
6/9/2012Rochester, NY312
6/9-6/11/2012Mount Vernon, NY202
6/10/2012Hartford, CT312
6/10/2012Corpus Christi, TX202
6/10/2012Goldsboro, NC404
6/11/2012Louisville, KY211
6/11/2012West Palm Beach, FL110
6/11/2012Baltimore, MD505
6/11-6/12/2012Chicago, IL725
6/12/2012Tucson, AZ110
6/12/2012Providence, RI110
6/13/2012Kansas City, MO211
6/13/2012Buffalo, NY110
6/13/2012Buffalo, NY110
6/13/2012San Francisco, CA422
6/13/2012Bakersfiels, CA202
6/13/2012Chicago, IL220
6/14/2012Orlando, FL220
6/14/2012Phoenix, AZ110
6/15/2012Phoenix, AZ110
6/15-6/17/2012Chicago, IL31526
6/15/2012St. Louis, MO725
6/15-6/16/2012Hamden, CT101
6/15-6/17/2012Chicago, IL42735
6/16/2012Baltimore, MD202
6/16/2012Phoenix, AZ404
6/16-6/17/2012Camden, NJ220
6/17/2012Paterson, NJ303
6/17/2012Indianapolis, IN220
6/17/2012Anchorage, AK312
6/17/2012Phoenix, AZ101
6/17/2012Anniston, AL101
6/18/2012New Orleans, LA202
6/18/2012Pensacola, FL202
6/18/2012Manatee, FL202
6/19/2012Chicago, IL220
6/19/2012Chicago, IL101
6/19/2012McAllen, TX330
6/19/2012New Orleans, LA312
6/20/2012Edinburg, TX422
6/20/2012Houston, TX532
6/21-6/26/2012Flint, MI1064
6/22/2012Buffalo, NY202
6/24/2012Trenton, NJ211
6/22/2012Phoenix, AZ303
6/22/2012Ionia, MI312
6/22/2012Richmond, CA211
6/22-6/23/2012Chicago, IL14113
6/23/2012Beverly Hills, CA220
6/23/2012Rockford, IL404
6/23/2012Phoenix, AZ101
6/23/2012Albany, GA303
6/23/2012No. Las Vegas, NV202
6/23/2012Anchorage, AK202
6/23/2012Atlanta, GA220
6/23/2012Portland, TX211
6/23-6/24/2012Salinas, CA312
6/24/2012Louisville, KY615
6/24/2012Denver, CO110
6/24/2012Chicago, IL211
6/24/2012St. Louis, MO202
6/25/2012West Houston, TX220
6/26/2012Tucson, TX101
6/26/2012East Orange, NJ220
6/26/2012Miami, FL220
6/26/2012Memphis, TN101
6/26/2012Evansville, IN303
6/27/2012Las Vegas, NV211
6/27/2012Chicago, IL211
6/28/2012Fayetteville, NC321
6/28/2012SE Washington, DC303
6/28/2012Newport News, VA312
6/28/2012Houston, TX514
6/29/2012Chicago, IL404
6/29/2012Essex County, NJ220
6/30/2012San Jose Hills, CA202
6/30 12Winterhaven, CA202
6/30/2012Chicago, IL312
TOTALS361128233

See March, April, May reports.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Is the “God Particle” the link between science and religion?

It probably depends on your relationship with God, and just how important the creationist theory is in your faith.  Beyond that, there is the belief in Christ that is necessary to be a true Christian.  Further, religious fundamentalism is an organized, militant Evangelical movement insisting on the inerrancy of Scripture.  Even more complicated is the term, “Rapture,” which is shared by many fundamentalists to explain the second coming of Christ.

Religion has become so diversified that it is impossible to define most religions today in the sense of where they originated.  Many will say this doesn’t matter as long as you stick to your beliefs, but there are others who search, even demand, that we discover the secret to creation and salvation.  Christians have the latter locked up in believing it is through Christ; agnostics are confident there is a God, but don’t buy deliverance through the Christ figure.

Higgs boson collider
And then came the Higgs boson discovery, better known as the “God Particle,” without which, scientists tell us, there would be no life in the universe.  But, The Economist reports, it does not explain creation itself.  I can imagine the church pulpits across the country, even the world, on July 8, trying to put this in perspective for their congregations, particularly Christian groups.  Unitarians, on the other hand, might find it interesting.



An Agnostic might say this is what I have been telling you all along.  Since this group does believe in a God of sorts, because they can’t comprehend of a universe this complex without a creative entity, Higgs boson could be the answer to many questions.  Supposition might go something like this: a deity created the “God Particle” and science took it from there in the form of the evolution of man.  The term “evolution” could even take on a more positive approach in religion.

Peter Higgs
Peter Higgs, who first proposed the Higgs boson theory doesn’t seem very impressed by the name it has been given, the “God Particle.”  Higgs is an avowed atheist and would probably not agree with what I have said.  To the atheist, it just happened, the “big bang” as some have identified it.  In their belief, they feel there is no need for the “divine crutch” to lean on to face death. 

We will most likely never bridge the gap between this ideology and passionate religious beliefs, but for most of us, the “God Particle” is the first step to help connect those who want to believe in some order of divine creation and those who are the religious fundamentalists.  This isn’t going to outdo the theory of evolution, but it will certainly give those thinkers who are interested in finding out who they are and why they are here a place to start.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Arizona Sec. of State Ken Bennett tied in with conspiracy theorist Joseph Farah

I live in Arizona where Republican lunatics run the state, supported by a lot more of their ilk that vote for them.  We have some of the stupidest laws in the country that only a demented bunch of legislators led by an even more demented governor would pass.  This includes almost every gun law in the state, anti-immigration law, SB-1070, a birther bill that at least the Gov had enough sense to veto, and a list much too long to include here.  But you get the idea.


Joseph Farah with G Gordon Liddy

It seems that Arizona Sec. of State, Ken Bennett, wasn’t happy with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio getting all the attention in demanding President Obama’s birth certificate, so he decided, prodded by the Surprise, Arizona tea party gang of (let’s see, what’s another word for lunatic, oh yes) wackos, to demand proof from Hawaii of Obama’s birth, or he would keep him off the November ballot.  I did a blog post on this back in May you can see here.

And then in a recent turn of events, local KPHO-TV investigative reporter, Morgan Lowe, ties old Kenny into a conspiracy theorist, Joseph Farah, who was the official prod of those poor souls in the Surprise TP, who promptly crawled on Kenny’s back.  Farah writes in the conservative media and is the guy who said Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh “…had ties to a Middle Eastern terrorist group and that TWA Flight 800 was brought down by missiles and that the U.S. government covered it up.”

KPHO-TV reporter Morgan Lowe
I was watching the report on KPHO with a friend who is also a staunch progressive like me and I mentioned the earlier blog post, above, and the fact that Ken Bennett had threatened to keep Barack Obama off the ballot in November.  My friend went ballistic questioning whether this idiot could actually do that.  I said yes, but felt the negative reaction, maybe even a court case, would remedy the situation.  But the impact on this voter was painfully obvious.

I explained to my friend, who is an avid voter, that this is the problem for most progressives in Arizona; they don’t get out and vote, and that is why we have fruitcakes running the state.  There is a question here of a conflict of interest since Bennett is Mitt Romney’s Arizona campaign chairman.  Morgan Lowe spoke to State Rep. Chad Campbell, a Democrat, who told him, “He is pandering to a very small fringe group of people and he's really putting their interests in front of the interests of the state of Arizona.”

Reporter Lowe sent a number of questions to Ken Bennett’s office to help clarify the Sec. of State’s positions on all these issues, which you can see in the above KPHO link.  He did not receive an answer.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Will Obamacare decrease health care costs?

The short-term answer is sort of.  Long-term, well, in 2014, when the program begins to expand, it jumps 7.4 percent, then, drops significantly in 2015, gradually rising to $4.8 trillion in 2021, 19.6 percent of GDP.  In 2010 it grew by only 3.9 percent, the same rate as the GDP.  This, according to The Economist, which reports that health care spending will grow modestly up to that 2014 spike.  The question is how Obamacare will eventually reverse upward spending.

Americans spent just under $2.7 trillion on healthcare in 2011, almost 18 percent of GDP.  That’s more than the feds spent on defense, Social Security or any other single item in the budget.  Jill Horwitz and Helen Levy, writing on CNN, say the Affordable Care Act has many provisions that are designed to force the health care system to evolve into a more frugal approach in the future.  Here are some of them.

“Accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes, value-based purchasing in Medicare, incentives for hospitals to provide better, safer and more efficient care, an excise tax on "Cadillac" health plans, and better information about treatment effectiveness to help patients and providers make informed decisions.”


President Obama

The two mention the plan of Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wis), which simply unloads the healthcare problem on the states and individuals.  Not as good as the Affordable Care Act, they claim, adding that shifting these escalating costs to those who can least afford them will deprive them of the care needed.  Obama’s health care reform addresses the most effective approach to spending problems.  But are voters ready to accept this ultimatum just decided by the Supreme Court?

David Gergen, senior political analyst for CNN thinks the American public is ready to move on.  GOP contender Mitt Romney must appease the Tea Party by forcefully coming out against the Affordable Care Act, but that’s no longer what most voters are interested in.  It will take more than this kind of rhetoric to win in November, but it could help a Republican voter turnout.  It’s jobs and the economy that Americans want solutions to.

Gergen said that public response to the Supreme Court healthcare decision for a couple of weeks following would be significant.  According to a Gallup poll taken on July 4, less than a week after, the reaction was an even split.  It was 46 percent for and 46 percent against; 79 percent of Democrats agree while 83 percent of Republicans disagreed.  The question is, just how much of that 83 percent on the right disagree enough to make it an issue in November?

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Obama revisits Bush-era tax cuts

It isn’t a question of whether the 2001 GWB tax cuts should be extended at a time when the economy is just beginning to right itself.  It is rather a matter of to whom they should be extended.  White House spokesman, Jay Carney, has stated that president Obama would not sign any extension that included the wealthy, which has been identifies as income over $250,000.  Republicans claim this will weigh heavily on small business owners.


Obama speaking to middle-class tax cuts
There is some truth to this in that sizable portions of small business owners (31.8 million as of 2008) now elect to be taxed on a system called flow-through or pass-through income.  Basically, that means this income is taxed on the business owner’s personal tax income, not as a corporation.  This, of course, frees this sole proprietor (or LLC, partnership, or S corp.) from being taxed as a traditional C corporation and then taxed again individually.

Sen. Jon Kyl, (R-Arizona) came up with the statement, "The proposed tax increase on 53% of all flow-through business income would be especially harmful to small businesses," but he doesn’t spell out who that 53% is.  Obama counters with the fact that under his tax proposal 97% of U.S. small business owners’ lower tax rates would remain at the same level.  If I had to choose between believing the facts of Jon Kyl next to Obama, it’s the president hands down.

Assuming the 31.8 million small business owners, above, have increased—they were only 10.9 million in 1980—then there is a sizable number affected.  3% of only 31.8 million is just under a million businesses, and the combined net income from pass-through businesses was $1.7 trillion.  TaxFoundation.org states that based on 2009 tax returns, 66% of pass-through income was reported by taxpayers earning more than $250,000.  36% of that is $1million plus.

Anyone might agree these are hard figures to reconcile.  The Tax Foundation also reports from 2009, “…individual taxpayers reported $896 billion in total business income from all sources—including business and professional income, rents and royalties, partnership and S corporation income, and farm income. After subtracting net losses, individual taxpayers earned $696 billion in net business income.”  It may be impossible to untangle the actual numbers.



Tax breaks will expire at the end of this year and with the elections in November controlling just about everything right now, we can probably count on the GOP Congress to take the direction of damaging Pres. Obama at all costs.  That would mean demanding a continuation of tax breaks for millionaires, which Obama is likely to veto.  The GOP favor the same old story of shrinking government over raising taxes, partially right, but with no conciliation on revenues.    

Warren Buffett wants us to “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” in a New York Times piece.  He states, “The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.”  This is another matter entirely but points out the inequality of the whole tax system.

The Tax Foundation warns that, based on the importance of pass-through income, over taxing that group could “fall very heavily on America’s non-corporate businesses.”  We are also reminded that these flow-through businesses “account for a large percentage of business income and employment in the United States.  So how do you literally change the system so that small business owners win in the overall tax deal? 

Would it make sense to take another look at the Hire Act of 2010 (extended into 2011) which provides tax incentives to employers for hiring qualified individuals?  Extend this beyond the special groups to include anyone unemployed, perhaps with increased incentives for hiring those without jobs for a long period of time.  Anything offered to these companies must have meaningful results that are calculable by small businesses.  Can’t see how Republicans could object to that.

But of course they would.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Its time to defuse the uproar over the UN Arms Trade Treaty ATT

NRA's head gun lunatic, Wayne LaPierre
As it does with anything remotely connected to gun control, the gun rights lobby, led by the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), has reacted with overstated alarm to the UN’s attempt to place some kind of control over the international trade of weaponry.  In effect, what the gun nuts are saying is that we should do nothing about keeping firearms away from terrorists or the Mexican cartels, or in general regulating the transfer of guns internationally.

This persistent 2nd Amendment misnomer of ‘You’re trying to take away our guns’ has become very tiresome, and should be viewed in the same absurd light as the equally wearisome arguments used to back up this prattle.  No one is trying to take away your precious guns for rightful purposes domestically, meaning based on U.S. law and the 2nd Amendment in this case.  The UN General Assembly resolution 61/89 even specifies hands off all domestic laws.

But we know gun worshippers won’t give it up so we have to keep explaining it to these double-digit IQs.  Put simply, it is a UN sanctioned resolution establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.  You do understand that international, while not exactly the opposite of domestic, does’n mean domestic control, or do you?  61/89 is proposed for people affected by the side effects of irresponsible arms transfers.

George W. Bush, of course, said no to this during his administration, but in 2009 the Obama administration through Sec. of State Hillary Clinton overturned GWB’s decision.  And this immediately got the attention of the international community because the U.S is the world’s largest arms exporter with a $55 billion annual trade in conventional firearms.  Without the participation of the U.S., based on the latter, any treaty would have limited relevance.

A 2/3 majority of the U.S. Senate is required for passage and gun rights groups such as the NRA claim that the treaty is an attempt to circumvent the 2nd amendment and similar guarantees in state constitutions in order to impose domestic gun regulations.  However, the resolution explicitly states that it is “the exclusive right of States to regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through constitutional protections on private ownership.”


Pass Arms Trade Treaty

The Huffington Post reported that the propaganda that 61/89 provided a legal way around the 2nd Amendment and a complete ban on all weapons for U.S. citizens was “virtually impossible.”  If you follow them, Snopes.com called it “scarelore” and false.  The Los Angeles times reported that only the fringe element believed this foolishness.  If you want to read more go to Wikipedia.org for a comprehensive understanding of the Arms Trade Treaty.

So recently a guy by the name of Joe Wolverton II, a militant Libertarian and Ron Paul supporter, enters the fray through an article in The New American.  He wrote that George Soros, a billionaire and very progressive, is financing the fight “to give the United Nations control of your guns.”  Now that will get the attention of every gun freak in the U.S. and send them screaming to the NRA, who will reply they are right, but send more money so we can fight the battle.

For the most part Wolverton’s article is the kind of disinformation you would expect, except for a statement that the UN  won’t meddle in the gun affairs of individual countries, but with some reservations.  Wolverton cites a couple of red flags that deal in the semantics of quotation marks around a phrase on freedom, and infers the U.S. needs permission from the UN for the right to own a gun.  In each case, he is thrashing around in the ridiculous.

But I have always said that it is good to know your enemy, and a reading of this article proves just how persistent the gun rights fanatics have become.  Wolverton makes the accusation that President Obama and Secretary Clinton will engage all the governments of the world involved in the ATT to gang up on the U.S. and take away Americans’ guns.  He even goes so far to say Obama, Clinton and Soros “have much to fear from an armed and educated citizenry.”

Now that almost sounds threatening.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Wildfires caused by target shooting a complete waste

This is a follow up to last Wednesday’s post, “The epitome of gun stupidity…Arizona gun nut knowingly starts major wildfire,” that recounted five dimwits that went into the Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix, Arizona for a bachelor party that ended up starting one of the state’s worst wildfires in history.  Craig Shiflet, 23, faces 6 months in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both for starting the Sunflower fire that has burned over 18,000 acres.

These gun nuts were target shooting, which has been prohibited for years on BLM property, and Shiflet even used an incendiary shotgun shell, which started the fire, and which is also banned on federal land.  Gun irresponsibility does not get any worse than this, and aside from the alarming trend today of increased shootings resulting in multiple deaths and injuries, we have yet another case of an equally irresponsible National Rifle Assn. (NRA) not taking action.

All this gang of misfits—with Wayne LaPierre at the helm—cares about is pushing for more gun rights to put more guns on the street in the hands of the likes of Craig Shiflet.  The NRA and other correspondingly inept gun rights groups keep telling us that things like this only occur from a small faction of gun owners that are in a minority.  I would like to know exactly what puts Shiflet in the minority; he seems more like the typical gun owner to me.

Although the feds don’t keep records listing “shooting” as a cause. The U.S. Forest Service does make side notes in their records that the fire was caused by “shoot” or “target” and the numbers are not good.  The Forest Service reported that in 2010, 17 wildfires were caused by one of these means, 28 in 2011, and 13 already this year.  And that’s only on land that is managed by this agency. 

What’s wrong with target practice on a gun range?  Especially when there are currently 45 wildfires burning in 15 states.  A gun owner has to have a double-digit IQ—or less—not to understand the danger of firing steel-jacketed or steel-core ammunition that in most cases puts off a spark when ricocheting off a rock, potentially leading to a fire.  Utah is banning this ammunition in favor of lead bullets which unfortunately can be toxic to animals.

One gun owner in Utah who was interviewed was reasonable about the situation, saying, “I certainly wouldn’t want to be responsible for a fire that burned somebody’s house.  I wouldn’t even take a chance with it.” 

But a Utah gun owning grandmother, Yetive Jones, was less committal saying, "I don't think the standards should be any higher for any one person who sets a fire.  Granted, somebody shooting who accidentally sets it off, they're going to feel bad about it. ... But there's nothing you can do once a fire starts."  Spoken like a true gun nut.

Read more here, here and here.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The epitome of gun stupidity…Arizona gun nut knowingly starts major wildfire

Arizona wildfires
This is the kind of gun rights the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) has been promoting for years, led by head wacko Wayne LaPierre.  The mentality is to own any gun I want to, use any ammunition I want, and take them both anywhere I want to.  It happened recently in Arizona, actually May 12, the day the Sunflower fire was started near Payson, Arizona, that has burned over 18,000 acres in the Tonto National Forest. 

You would think it was some demented individual that carried out this brainless act but it wasn’t.  It was one of Arizona’s typical gun freaks that has been assured repeatedly by state legislators that the state is his own personal shooting range.  His name is Craig Shiflet, 23, and now he faces 6 months in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.  It was supposed to be a fun camping trip and bachelor party with, of course, lots of guns.  It turned into one of Arizona’s worse fires in history.

Shiflet, and four of his friends left Mesa, Arizona on May 11 for the Sycamore Creek area which is close to Payson.  First they were shooting at targets the morning of May 12, a practice proven to have already started wildfires in Utah and Colorado, and was widely covered in the media.  Duh…that doesn’t apply to me.  It was after this that Shiflet loaded a different kind of shell into his shotgun and fired it at a soda box.

Soon after this, the five certifiables noticed smoke where Shiflet had fired, discovered fire, then tried to stomp it out with no success.  It was then that Shiflet called 911 from his cell phone at 10:18 a.m. the morning of May 12, and the rest is disaster.  And here’s the rub.  Shiflet admitted to prosecutors that he believed the round he had put in his shotgun would shoot out flame or act like a flare gun.  I have heard of idiotic uses of a gun but this takes the cake.  

OK, here’s another ‘you just won’t believe it item.’  There is a warning label on the ammunition that reads: “Shoots 100 feet of fire, setting everything in its path ablaze.  Warning: Extreme FIRE HAZARD.”  Assuming Shiflet doesn’t have the brains to tie his own shoes, you would think at least one of the other four guys would have offered something like ‘this might start a forest fire.’  Is this what the NRA means when it says their members are “single minded?”

Monday, July 2, 2012

Fortune magazine calls Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) a LIAR in his Fast and Furious investigation

BREAKING NEWS

CA Rep. Darrell Issa's  Fast and Furious all lies
The ‘We will do anything, yes anything, to bring down Barack Obama’ GOP movement is not only still running strong but apparently gaining momentum.  Fortune magazine calls California Republican congressman Darrell Issa’s investigation of Fast and Furious a conspiracy.  Katherine Eban of Fortune says the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation was nothing like U.S. Rep. Issa has claimed.”  She has even more doubts about Issa.

Eban surmised that the Fast and Furious event was so different than has been portrayed by Issa that it would be near impossible for him to be so thoroughly misinformed.  The author thinks he is lying.  And apparently the same applies to ATF “whistle-blower” John Dodson who may have perjured himself by claiming under oath all 2,000 guns Issa proclaims went to Mexico came from ATF.  The actual number has been established as five, all under Dodson’s purview.       

Eban comes to the conclusion that the “problem” is Arizona with its loose gun laws making it almost impossible to prosecute those responsible for buying the guns, according to ATF Agent Dave Voth.  Gun runners can do their thing easily in Arizona without fear of prosecution.  As an example, a transient bought 10 AK-47 type rifles, was reported by the gun store to ATF, but because Arizona gun laws are so sloppy, it was impossible to convict the transient.

And the other “problem” in this matter is the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), which threatened to withhold support from congressional leaders that didn’t vote to hold AG Eric Holder in contempt for not releasing privileged documents.  This resulted in 17 wimp Democrats voting for contempt which succeeded in passing.  The NRA charges that Fast and Furious is Obama’s way of instigating gun control because of the required reporting of sales by 9,000 border gun stores.

The question is becoming not when we are going to halt the insane antics of an out-of-control organization that loves its guns over human life, but why haven’t we done something already?  It is hard to understand an American public that doesn’t comprehend the nature of this dilemma.  Innocent people are dying on the streets of the U.S. simply because Congress is too much of a coward to stand up to the NRA, afraid of losing millions of $ in annual contributions.  Pathetic.

Read more here and here.

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