4/30/2005
Washington State Election Fraud
-- some 700 felons voted illegally in King County, given the 90 percent rate that felons vote for Democrats, this is by itself made the difference in the race.
-- illegal votes were also likely cast when 700 provisional ballots were fed into voting machines before officials had determined their validity.
Ridiculous coverage of Florida's new self defense law
LEIGH SALES: Mark and his mates were out one night, playing doorknocking pranks. Jay Levin was one of their targets. He was home alone and heard noises outside, imagining it was a burglar. He opened his front door, gun in hand, just as Mark was running away. In panic, Jay Levin shot Mark Drewes in the back, killing him.
Mr Levin was charged with manslaughter because under Florida's old laws, that level of force was considered excessive.
But this week, the law changed, and today, Mr Levin would be innocent of any wrongdoing.
The coverage is outrageous and I doubt that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will bother getting their story correct, but in any case I sent an email to them at currentaffairs@your.abc.net.au:
Dear Sir:
Your story on "Florida widens right to use deadly force" was extremely inaccurate and completely misstated Florida's law on self defense. There is still a "reasonable person" standard for whether a reasonable person would view themselves as being in danger. You can only engage in responses that are commensurate to the danger that you face. Shooting someone in the back who was running away would not be viewed as a reasonable response. Someone has to be actively threatened to use a gun in self defense. For example, is the attacker pointing a weapon at you or charging you. What the new Florida law changed was whether you must also first retreat between you may use self defense.
Sincerely,
John R. Lott, Jr.
Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute
More on the Breast Implant Scare
The media compounded the FDA goof by reporting the agency action as a scary “ban” -- and the lawyers were off to the races. Manufacturers were hit with thousands of lawsuits, eventually deciding to settle class action claims as a matter of business and not because there was a factual basis for genuine liability.
I am not sure that I would classify this as a "goof." Given the rest of Milloy's arguments, it seems more likely that the original ban was much more a political decision than a scientific one.
4/29/2005
The External Benefit from Hunting
So they increase fees?
The legislation plans to increase the number of deer hunted, but with benefits such as this, it would seem to make more sense to subsidize hunters.
4/28/2005
Armed Pilot Program Still Moving Slowly
By Caitlin Harrington
CQ Homeland Security Daily
April 27. 2005
Two years after the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) launched a program to train pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, critics say lingering problems with the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program still discourage pilots from participating.
Since the program's inception in 2003, pilots groups have expressed frustration with TSA policies on gun storage and identification. The policies, they say, put the safety of deputized pilots at risk and run contrary to the intent of Congress, which wanted as many pilots as possible to participate.
"They've created a program that is so unfriendly that tens of thousands of pilots have changed their mind about volunteering," said David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance (APSA), a group formed after the Sept. 11 attacks to lobby for the arming of pilots. . . .
APSA estimates that only about 4,000 pilots have been trained and deputized - a fraction of the approximately 95,000 commercial pilots in the country. APSA estimates about 50,000 pilots who were initially interested in the program changed their minds after learning about certain TSA policies. . . .
What a difference a year of experience makes
"The issue perhaps is not as volatile as we thought last year," said Johnson, DFL-Willmar, who opposed the bill in 2003. "I don't think the problems have played out as predicted." . . .
Borchardt [head of the state sheriff's association] said the overturned law proved manageable. "The fact is the sky didn't fall," he said. "The fact is it worked pretty seamlessly."
However, some people never give up.
You would think that they would have learned by now that these claims hurt their credibility.
4/27/2005
5-3 Supreme Court Ruling that Foreign conviction does not deny the right to own a gun
There is an interesting breakdown of opinions on the court. Breyer wrote the majority opinion (with the normal liberals supporting him) and Thomas dissented joined by Scalia and Kennedy. In other words, the liberals allowed the American citizen to get his gun back because they said that we shouldn't depend upon decisions in foreign courts since they are not based on the same standards as ours. Thomas based his decision solely on the law, and references the fact that the original law was quite broad. I have to say after looking at it, that may be despite my policy preferences in favor of Breyer (and on policy grounds I think that his arguments are sound), Thomas seems to have gotten it right on the law. Here is one case where judicial activism came to a conservative decision, but it was accomplished by liberal judges whom I assume have decisions further down the road in mind with the precedents that they wanted to create.
Thanks to Sonya for mentioning this and making similar points.
"Va. Teacher Accused of Taking Gun To School"
Possibly I need to write in a letter to the editor.
Transcript of Fox News Interview:"Today's big question, Professor Lott, does the Senate really discriminate against smart judges?
4/26/2005
ON Fox News at 5:40 PM EDT today
4/25/2005
This tells us something about people's values
Sheard was shot and killed Wednesday night while allegedly trying to rob a pizza delivery man in the 1300 block of Pierce Ave. While police have linked him to gang activity in the past, friends, family and school officials remember a different side of Sheard.
The rest of the story gets even more bizarre, such as noting that flags were flown at half mast in honor of this robber's death.
Amazing, the NY Times concedes that the so-called "Assault Weapons" Ban had no effect
The Fraternal Order of Police has not made a new federal ban a legislative priority, either. Mr. Pasco, the organization's director, said he could not recall a single "inquiry from the field about the reauthorization of the ban - and we have 330,000 members who are very vocal."
"In 1994, I was the principal administration lobbyist on this ban," said Mr. Pasco, who then worked for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "But here we are 10 years later, and these weapons do not appear to pose any more significant threat to law enforcement officers than other weapons of similar caliber and capability."
This is pretty amazing, but I predicted this multiple times. The discussion on state laws is simply silly, but one figures that gun control groups have to try holding on to something. I feel pretty vindicated.
4/23/2005
Fox News Segment on my research on policing and affirmative action
Video link of the television segment is also available if you click on the link marked "Video" in middle of the page next to the photographs.
Yet another reason to pass restrictions on law suits against gun makers
Courts across the country have rejected nuisance and negligence claims against the gun industry, but the District's Assault Weapon Manufacturing Strict Liability Act added another element to the city's case that is keeping it alive. Passed in 1990, the law makes the manufacturer, dealer or importer of any assault weapon or machine gun strictly liable for the damages arising from injuries or deaths resulting from the firearm's discharge in the District.
The first paragraph makes it appear as if the law only applied to machine guns, but it isn't clear until the fourth paragraph that this includes "assaul weapons." Unfortunately, the reporter and much of his readership may not realize that so-called assault weapons are the equivalent of hunting rifles.
4/22/2005
Soros on campaign finance
I have two questions. It is nice to know that Soros acknowledges that people will find ways around the regulations just has he already has, but how exactly would campaign finance regulations stop him from creating loopholes? For example, Soros can surely buy whatever media outlets that he wants. Also, is Soros considered a special interest?
Southern Utah University
4/21/2005
Letter in Thursday's WSJ
Additional note: The Federalist Society chapter at the University of Chicago Law School is trying again to set up a debate between myself and either Steve Levitt and/or John Donohue and/or Stephen Dubner on their abortion research discussed in my WSJ letter. Donohue is apparently free on May 25th to do the debate, but it is not clear whether he will show up. John Donohue cancelled our debates that were scheduled at the University of Chicago for December 2 on November 30th last fall and our April 13th debate on April 7th. Hopefully the fact that this debate will be on abortion and not guns as our two previous debates will ensure that one of the two actually show up. It is my understanding this time I will make a presentation sometime during that week whether they show up or not.
4/19/2005
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackman in a pretty bad light
The article in Legal Affairs, based on research done by Garrow in Blackmun's papers released last year at the Library of Congress, recounts numerous cases in which memoranda from clerks and other documents show an outsized influence and assertive tone by clerks that Garrow says is unmatched by other justices whose papers are available. . . .
" In the 1990 Cruzan right-to-die case, Garrow quotes a memo in which a law clerk tells Blackmun she "does not really know" his views -- an indication, says Garrow, that "by the spring of 1990, he was giving his law clerks little explicit direction in the court's most notable cases." . . .
Clerk Stephanie Dangel . . . referred to Justice Antonin Scalia as "evil Nino" and worried that even though Casey would preserve Blackmun's Roe v. Wade decision declaring a woman's right to an abortion, the ruling "may have the effect of removing abortion from the political agenda just long enough to ensure the re-election of President [George H.W.] Bush." . . .
Dangel told Legal Times she had mixed feelings about the release of the memos, which she said she wrote in part to cheer Blackmun up. . . .
This is a very long article and I suggest that you read the whole thing, but some of these quotes are pretty shocking. Dangel's explanation that she made these last statements to 'cheer Blackmun up" are hardly reassuring. New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse's forthcoming book doesn't come off very well.
Two appearances on Fox News today
UPDATE: With the selection of JOSEPH RATZINGER as the Pope, it looks like that my appearances tonight will be cancelled.
4/18/2005
My friend Ted
How quickly those "Watch Lists" can expand
4/16/2005
An "Indecent Interval"?
The op-ed that they are criticizing is here. (The piece covered a spate of recent shootings that had been in the news.) Of course, one could say that gun control groups had already come out on this issue or that papers such as the LA Times had already had an article after the Wisconsin attack, but that is not really a useful response. One reason why everyone talks about this is because they are concerned about what will save lives. There is a second reason: When is the discussion 'newsworthy." If a newspaper, such as the Richmond Times Dispatch is going to publish an article (whether a news story or an op-ed), it has to be near when the event occurred or at least there is some other news peg. The op-ed seems as indecent as the news coverage and the editorializing that often creeps into those news stories. When people hear only about the bad events (not the defensive gun uses) and no context is provided it creates a misimpression of the costs and benefits of guns. Interestingly, I can't find a similar editorial from the Richmond Times Dispatch concerned about gun control advocates.
For another piece from someone in Minnesota that says the same thing see this.
"Florida Great-Great Grandma Shoots Would Be Robber"
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
Janet Grammer was filling in for the regular clerk Thursday afternoon when a man entered the store waving a gun and fired two shot at the back wall.
"I think he thought I was an old woman and would just give him the money," Grammer, 64, said Friday. "My life was at stake. I thought he was going to kill me."
So she pulled a pistol out from under the cash register and fired once, hitting the man in the chest. . . .
I am not sure, but this might be the first time that I have heard of a defensive gun use on a national radio news program.
New Gallup Poll on Guns
What is your overall opinion of the National Rifle Association, also known as the NRA -- is it very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable, or very unfavorable?
...................................Total favorable..............Total unfavorable
2005.Apr.4-7.......................60.................................34
2000.May.23-24..................52.................................39
2000.Apr.7-9.......................51.................................39
1995.Jun.5-6........................42.................................51
1993.Mar.12-14...................55.................................32
When asked "Do you think courtrooms would be safer places or more dangerous places if judges were armed with guns?", the April 4th to 7th poll indicates that while 43 percent think things would be safer, 50 percent think they would be more dangerous. Yet, when asked "Do you think airplanes would be safer places or more dangerous places if pilots were armed with guns?", 62 percent say safer and only 33 percent say more dangerous.
4/15/2005
"What may be behind long nominee battles"
That might hold true for astrophysicists, accountants, and veterinarians. But according to at least one scholar, it doesn't hold for nominees to a federal appeals court. For them, he says, dumber is better.
This is the provocative conclusion of John Lott, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, who studied the judicial confirmation process in the US Senate dating back to the Carter administration. He wanted to know why certain judicial nominees have been singled out for harsher treatment - including, most recently, filibusters. . . .
4/14/2005
I feel safer already
Question: What are we going to do to stop matches from getting on planes? Does the TSA understand the amount of scrutiny they would have to give passengers to stop some matches from getting on an airplane?
Response to "Watch-list 'justice'" piece
HEADLINE: Flawed research on guns and violence
. . . According to the article: "The federal Brady Act has been in effect for 11 years and state background checks even longer. But despite all the academic research that has been done, a recent National Academy of Sciences report could not find any evidence - not a single published academic study - that background checks reduce any type of violent crime. " I actually went to the National Academy of Sciences Web site to find that information.
It appears that the columnists and I reached different conclusions. As I read it, the report on guns and violence said that in spite of much research on the connection between guns and gun control, such as background checks, the research is so flawed that it is essentially useless, and no intelligent conclusions can be drawn. The report also implied that guns are so pervasive, both legally and illegally, that trying to control them is almost impossible.
It seems to me, therefore, that the columnists have constructed a straw man to destroy and have essentially wasted not just their own time, but mine. An intelligent and honest discussion about guns and their effect on this society is long overdue, but so long as individuals on both sides misrepresent the facts, any discussion or argument is a farce.
ANN MUSCHETT
Wayland, Mass.
It is indeed true that the National Academy of Sciences criticized much (note not all) of the research on guns as flawed and that more government money was necessary (a very self serving claim for academics to make and I think that it has more to do with the conclusions of the existing research than anything else). But the point is that despite surveying "253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications" there is not one single study showing that background checks reduce any type of violent crime. With all the decades of study and tens of millions of dollars spent, one would think that there would be one academic study of even questionable worth showing that background checks or other gun control efforts significantly reduced violent crime.
Despite the author's claims to the contrary, the point that "The report also implied that guns are so pervasive, both legally and illegally, that trying to control them is almost impossible" is consistent with our claim that the NAS provided no evidence showing that these laws mattered.
Mark Duggan's More Guns, More Crime Paper's Fundamental Flaws
Skip Johnson, a vice president for Guns&Ammo's and Handguns Magazine's parent company Primedia, told us that between 5 and 20 percent of Guns&Ammo's national sales in a particular year were purchases by his company to meet its guaranteed sales to advertisers. These copies were given away for free to dentists' and doctors' offices. Because the purchases were meant to offset any unexpected national declines in sales, Johnson said that own purchases were very selective and produced very large swings in a relatively small number of counties. More importantly, while a precise breakdown of how these free samples are counted towards the sales in different counties is not available, these self-purchases were apparently related to factors that helped explain why people might purchase guns, and these factors included changing crime rates. Johnson indicated that the issue of self-purchases is particularly important for Guns&Ammo because the magazine had declining sales over part of this period. Handguns Magazine was much newer and experienced appreciable growth.
Duggan (2000, p. 1110): Duggan makes the adjustment for the standard errors in column 2 of table 12. Murder and violent crime show statistically significant drops after the adjustment, but Duggan knows that there are also typos for his rape and assault results. Simply divide the coefficients for rape (=-.052/.0232) and assault (=-.0699/.0277) and you will see that they have t's greater than 2. Thus for all the violent crime categories but robbery the adjustment does not change the conclusion. In addition, there is the issue of looking at before and after averages versus before and after trends, with the symmetry in the changes in trends before and after the before and after averages do not show a big change even though the change in trends is very big, especially for robbery.
About half of his violent crime rate estimates show statistically significant drops in violent crime from right-to-carry laws and none of his results show a statistically significant increase.
Other family congressional family members on payrolls
16th Annual Survey of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs
4/13/2005
No surprise, but other congressmen pay family members for work that they do on campaigns
FDA turns down silicone breast implants
My colleague and friend Sally Satel has a particularly devastating op-ed about the political nature of this decision.
UPDATE: Of course, the next day the panel voted by 7 to 2 to approve at least one type of silicone-gel breast implant.
4/12/2005
An essay on campaign finance regulations
4/11/2005
Zogby Poll on Terrorism and Guns
Asked whether they agreed or disagreed that banning guns would reduce the threat from terrorists, poll respondents disagreed by a margin of 75 percent. Only one in five supported the notion, and five percent were not sure. Zogby polled 1,009 likely voters chosen at random nationwide with a margin error of plus/minus 3.2 percent.
The Zogby poll was commissioned by the Second Amendment Foundation.
Our take on part of the Senate hearings last week to renew the Patriot Act
4/10/2005
On Ohio's Right-to-Carry Law's One Year Anniversary Nothing Surprising
Kim Norris of the Ohio attorney general's office said implementation of the law permitting hidden guns "has gone very smoothly."
"We've worked with county sheriffs diligently" to set up the system for obtaining licenses, she said.
Maybe the Liberals used the gun registry program to siphon money to the party because they never really believed in program
The tip of the "The iceberg"
If Adscam was the only problem Paul Martin faced, notes Greg Weston, he'd be in trouble. But things may be far, far worse than that ... Investigations by the auditor general and now the Gomery inquiry point to potentially widespread bid-rigging.
Another description of how the Canadian government operated with respect to the gun registry:
If what Mr. Brault testified to is true, and the offences he alleged are proven (though let us be clear that he did not consider them to be offences, but rather the normal course of doing business with Ottawa), then the party would surely be a contender for the criminal organization label. . . .
This, of course, is the same Department of Justice that got into advertising for the first time in a big way, Mr. Brault testified, with the advent of the inept and ineffective boondoggle that became the billion-dollar federal gun registry. . . .
By 2001, that same contract was soon due for renewal. “We were at the crossroads,” Mr. Brault said. “There was uncertainty in the air, pressure from other agencies.” By then, happily for him, Mr. Brault had agreed to pay a monthly salary, in cash, for Liberal fundraiser Buryl Wiseman, the first instalment of which he said he handed over to another party fundraiser, Joe Morselli, over lunch in Montreal's Little Italy.
So, a few months later, still fretting about that unresolved gun-registry contract (God forbid it would have been put out for a real tender), he was splendidly positioned to ask Mr. Morselli for a return favour. He told him, he said, that he wanted the contract extended until mid-2002, or, as Mr. Brault put it, “I had suggested $100,000 if the competition was sidelined . . . if it's delayed, it's worth $100,000 to me.” . . .
bold emphasis added.
4/09/2005
More on corruption in Canada's gun registry program
Jean Brault, the Montreal executive who ran the now-defunct Groupaction Marketing, told the Gomery inquiry that he lengthened the deal by six months by agreeing to pay a senior Liberal worker $100,000. Brault testified that Quebec Liberal bagman Joe Morselli told him in 2001: "$100,000 cash, your problem is solved."
The Quebec firm was paid to promote the Canada Firearms Centre throughout McLellan's tenure as justice minister. The last contract on her watch was to end in 2001.
But Brault said he got it extended into the spring of 2002 by paying the first $50,000.
Anne McLellan was in a tight race in the last election. If a new election is called soon, this can't be good news for her.
Other related posts can be found here and here.
4/08/2005
Canada's Corruption Scandal Spreading Over to the Gun Registry Program
DATE: 2005.04.08
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: 6
BYLINE: CP
DATELINE: MONTREAL
COLUMN: Adscam Inquiry
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'$100,000 CASH, YOUR PROBLEM IS SOLVED'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A one-time adviser to former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano participated in a scheme with ad man Jean Brault to delay a bidding process related to the gun registry, the sponsorship inquiry has heard.
Brault, president of Groupaction Marketing, told the inquiry he paid $50,000 in cash to Joseph Morselli, a former adviser of Gagliano's. The conspiracy is just one of several allegations to emerge during Brault's six days of testimony at the inquiry. Brault said he was frustrated at repeated demands by top Quebec party executives for large, secret cash donations.
By the summer of 2001, Groupaction had been facing stiff competition from other firms for an upcoming bidding process for the lucrative gun registry contract, he said. The agency had held the contract since 1996 as part of Justice Department contracts worth $35.7 million.
WANTED BIDDING DELAYED
Brault said he phoned Morselli and asked him to delay the bidding process. "I told Mr. Morselli, 'I have done a lot, and you told me you could help me.' " Brault recalled last week. "I said, 'I need for the competition for the (contract) not to happen before the spring (of 2002).' "I proposed $100,000 to Mr. Morselli if the competition was delayed." A few days later, the two men met at Morselli's east-end Montreal office on Sept. 26, 2001, and Morselli's answer was immediate, Brault testified. "He said, '$100,000 cash, your problem is solved.' "
Brault said he and Morselli agreed that Brault would hand over $50,000 by the end of 2001 and another $50,000 the following April on condition the request was granted.
$25GS CASH DELIVERY
The semi-retired ad man said he paid some of the money directly to Morselli in the form of a $25,000 cash delivery, in an envelope, at a Christmas fundraiser in December 2001 that was hosted by Gagliano. Brault eventually paid only $50,000 to keep the contract, but he said Pierre Tremblay, Chuck Guite's successor as the bureaucrat in charge of the sponsorship program, confirmed in a subsequent conversation the bidding process had, in fact, been delayed. It wasn't clear whether Gagliano, Tremblay's and Morselli's boss, had intervened on Brault's behalf.
Brault and Guite face a joint trial, beginning with jury selection on June 6, in relation to alleged fraud worth $2 million, including alleged irregularities involving the gun registry. The Mounties allege a $330,000 contract awarded to Groupaction was entirely bogus and a $150,000 contract was also a vehicle for fraud.
________________
More can be found here and here.
4/07/2005
Debate with John Donohue is again canceled, this time with only six days to go
Further discussion of Ian Ayres & John Donohue are here. Labels: Crime, JohnDonohue
Update: Here is an email that I received from Joe Cascio:
On Apr 7, 2005, at 3:08 PM,
Dear Dr. Lott,
I know that you are not going to be happy about this, but unfortunately, Professor Donohue cannot make it on the 13th of April. I am currently trying to work out the 21st (a Thursday with him). This time it really is more my fault. If you think that you could make it on the 21st (if that works out--I will let you know when Professor Donohue has his plane reservations in his hands), then we, of course, will pay for your current ticket and/or any changes that you have to make (or for both your current ticket and a new one if it is unalterable). If, on the other hand, you don't think you might be able to make it on that date or any other later in the quarter, I completely understand (obviously, we will still take care of your current reservation).
You have been the most patient and flexible speaker I could imagine and I feel as though you have been treated rather shabbily. I am really sorry about that. I still really hope that this event works out, if it does, I really feel like it might the best of our entire year. However, if it does not, I have nevertheless enjoyed working with you and I still really appreciate everything that you did for us in the fall at the last minute as well. Thank you very much, and I regret that I, once again, must convey my apologies.
Joe
Notes from me: Bold markings added. Before I bought my plane ticket, I had asked Joe in an email well before this one whether everything had been set up and he confirmed that they had. Unlike the first event being cancelled by Donohue with just two days to go, I have my suspicions about what happened here and I suspect that Joe is falling on his sword to provide cover. I was so mad that Donohue would cancel the first event the way he did, I have my suspicions that Joe is trying to keep things undercontrol by taking the blame "this time."
New Mexico's Right-to-carry law becomes less restrictive
4/06/2005
A thought on the silly nature of campaign finance regulations
What am I missing in these attacks on Congressman Tom Delay?
Possibly I am missing something. $500,000 over four years for two people comes to $62,500 per year. Possibly this $62,500 even includes things such as employer social security taxes and other costs that employers have to bear. Probably one of the women got paid more than another, but the magnitudes seem small to me. They surely doesn't seem like an unreasonable compensation for some one working full or even half time.
In related news:
But since winning a Senate seat last fall, Coburn has clashed with Senate ethics committee members over whether he could continue to do double duty as a lawmaker and an obstetrician. Now, Coburn says, the ethics committee has ruled that his private practice constitutes a potential conflict of interest with his work in Washington, and it has given him until Sept. 30 to close his office in Muskogee, Okla. An outraged Coburn is vowing to fight the ruling, arguing that the panel's decision contradicts the Founding Fathers' desire for lawmakers to retain ties to their communities.
Why not let the constituents decide if they think a particular job is appropriate?
4/05/2005
4/04/2005
Is requiring photo IDs for voting really the same as Jim Crow?
Lawmakers in Georgia and Indiana walked off the job to protest the proposals, which they say would deprive the poor, the elderly and minorities of the right to vote. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, has already vetoed a similar measure and has vowed to do so again. . . .
Nineteen states require voters to show identification, but only five of those request photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Those states - Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and South Dakota - also allow voters without a photo ID to present other forms of identification, such as a utility bill, or sign an affidavit of identity.
First baseball player busted under new steroid policy
It is surprising that the first person "caught" using steroids is someone who might have been using an over the counter remedy. In any case, I am concerned that this policy was adopted because of political pressure from politicians and not because the parties really wanted it. For my past perspectives on this issue see here and here.
Labels: Steroids
4/03/2005
First the LA Times, now the NY Times?
"The problems aren't the guns, it's the guns in the wrong hands," said Mr. Bucher, a Republican who recently announced his candidacy for Wisconsin attorney general. "We need to put more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens. Whether having that would have changed what happened is all speculation, but it would level the playing field. If the person you're fighting has a gun and all you have is your fists, you lose."
Across the country, efforts to expand or establish laws allowing concealed handguns have been fueled by the horrifying shootings in the last month - of the family of a federal judge in Chicago, at the church service in Wisconsin, at courthouses in Atlanta and Tyler, Tex., and the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota.
In Texas and Illinois, the shootings prompted new legislation to allow judges and prosecutors to be armed. Legislators in Nebraska and Wisconsin, which were already considering allowing concealed weapons, say they think the shootings will help their cause. . . .
Instead of calling for new restrictions on guns after the Minnesota shootings, the coalition, which includes 45 groups, simply asked for "a dialogue on the role of firearms in America."
Thanks to Jack Anderson for alerting me to this.
4/02/2005
Washington Post claims first time that ballistic fingerprinting was used to solve case.
The casings recovered at the murder scene matched a casing that was on file with Maryland State Police, showing that the weapon was purchased by Garner's then-girlfriend (now his wife) in a Forestville store about three weeks before the killing, according to trial testimony.
"That evidence was the cornerstone of our case," said Glenn F. Ivey, the Prince George's state's attorney. "It was powerful evidence. I hope this verdict helps our efforts to have the [ballistics identification database] continued and expanded."
Strangely, while the crime took place on 4/23/04, the testimony before the state legislature on the usefulness of the ballistic fingerprinting system occurred on 3/1/05 and the trial was just completed. Yet, during the legislative testimony it was clear that the Maryland state police did not believe that the ballistic fingerprinting had been useful. During the testimony, Tobin stated that something to the effect that "I don't consider 165th record to be a hit" and that might have been referring to this case. Even in this case there were apparently multiple eye witnesses so there is the issue of what additional role the ballistic fingerprinting played, indeed if the Maryland State Police are wrong and it indeed played any significant role. I have not read the transcript of the trial.
Another op-ed discusses gun free zones
"What the gun banners, and their media cheerleaders, have rather carefully ignored is that all of these brutal acts occurred in so-called 'gun-free' zones."
The first paragraph of this piece and several other paragraphs are very similar to my earlier piece at Foxnews.com.