Prosecutors from major cities across the United States announced the formation Wednesday of an alliance to combat gun violence, even as national gun control legislation is frozen on Capitol Hill.

An October summit of the prosecutors, which organizers say will be the first of its kind, is notable for both the range of cities represented—Milwaukee’s lead prosecutor will sit side by side with Los Angeles’—and for the cooperation among disparate offices.

“What I want to achieve at the end of the day is to have very smart, dedicated people get together and start to talk about gun violence, and put the voice of prosecutors into this debate,” New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., co-chair of the new Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, told TIME in an interview. “We want to share what’s working for us.”

via Local Prosecutors Form Nationwide Alliance Against Gun Violence | TIME.

Yes, pretty much is going to be a bunch of Mayors from different cities talking…and that’s it. I mean, it is important that there is a perception that they are doing something because:

Vance said American cities are facing an “epidemic” of gun violence that has become a “fact of life.” There were 11,068 firearm homicides in the United States in 2011, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a homicide rate of 3.6 per 100,000 people. Many of the prosecutors, including Vance and co-chair Mike Feuer, the City Attorney in Los Angeles, have publicly supported stricter gun control. Vance supported the NY SAFE Act, which New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the toughest gun control law in the country.

If they say it, it must be true! Not only that but they have the statistics to prove it, right?

Despite the sense of urgency among prosecutors, gun violence has fallen significantly in the United States since 1993, with firearm-related homicides dropping 39% by 2011, according to Pew Research.

And also according to that unimportant government entity called the FBI and its Unified Crime Report. But don’t mind that, we need that sense of urgency to pass more Gun Control Laws because elections!

Vance said the decline in gun violence was due to successful policing strategies and the increasing severity with which prosecutors treat gun cases. Community organizations, Vance said, have also put pressure on police and politicians to tamp down on neighborhood .

And I won’t deny that proper police work and other policies have helped bring crime down, but according to their own words, the liberalization of gun laws we had should have helped increase the crime rate by orders of magnitude, instead crime keeps dropping.

So why Manhattan Prosecutor Cyrus Vance, Jr. is so intent on this October meet? It would not have a thing to do with his working under the tutelage of one Michael Bloomberg when he was a mayor, would it?

Is there a Bible-based theology that justifies an emphasis of personal defense and deregulation of gun sales and ownership? Not really, says a panel of activists who fight for good gun regulation out of their personal religious motivations.

via ‘Jesus was not a member of the NRA;’ no biblical grounds for emphasis on self-defense | AL.com.

You have to love the twisted slogans and logical fallacies some come up with to try to push a political agenda under the cloak of The Cloth. No, Jesus was not a member of the NRA for obvious reasons: There was no Friends of the NRA chapter in Judea some 2,000 years ago. Nor there is a Bible-based theology that justifies deregulation of gun sales and ownership the same way there is no Bible-based theology that explains the correct tune up procedures for a Harley Davidson Electra Glide: Neither existed in biblical times.

However, there is plenty of material regarding self-defense and it is even doctrine. From Exodus 22:2-3 : “If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.” to Luke 22:36: “..But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a sack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.”

In Judaism we see Maimonides (Laws of Shabbat 3:23) : “It is a mitzvah for all Jews who are able to come and help defend their brethren to do so, and it is forbidden to delay their coming until after Shabbat.” We also have Sanhedrin 72a:“If someone comes to kill you, arise and kill him first” and Choshen Mishpat 125:1: “If one sees that someone is pursuing him with the intention to kill him, he is permitted to defend himself and take the life of he who is pursuing him.”

The Catechism of Catholic Church states in 2263: “The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. “The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor. . . . The one is intended, the other is not.( St. Thomas Aquinas.)” It also says in 2264: “Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow.”

If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful. . . . Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one’s own life than of another’s.
St. Thomas Aquinas

Heck it even goes as far as common defense in 2265: “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”

Maybe these “Men of the Cloth should be reminded of Matthew 23:

²⁷ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

²⁸ Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Harsh but necessary words for those who play politics under the umbrella of God.

According to police, five children were inside the home when the incident happened. The report says 25-year-old Leonard Demon Henry broke in through the glass door and began attacking his ex-girlfriend and stabbing her. Police say the children’s mother was stabbed multiple times.

That’s when police say the victim’s young daughter shot him twice. Police say when they arrived, the found him running from the home with a gun shot wound.

via Police: 11-year-old shoots man stabbing her mom in SE Oklahoma C.

And the kicker:

The victim had filed a protective order against Henry in Cleveland County, alleging that he abused her kids.

Mom at least was smart enough to have Steel backing up Paper.

Well done young lady!

Kristen Moore, the Ann Arbor ambassador for the Michigan chapter of Moms Demand Action, said about 20 volunteers showed up to the Kroger at 400 S. Maple Road on Ann Arbor’s west side to pass out signs and gather signatures for the organization’s petition.

About 12 shoppers returned their Kroger loyalty cards in protest of the policy, she said.

In short, the group wants guns kept out of Kroger.

“I think we’re putting a lot of pressure on Kroger,” Moore said.

via Group seeking to get guns out of Kroger protests outside Ann Arbor store | MLive.com.

20 volunteers? I see 5 (Maybe the other 15 were inside shopping or eating free samples). And 12 shoppers returned cards! I am sure Kroger just went into an economic tailspin on that one.

They have the checkbook but don’t have the numbers.

First: I lay no blame at all on either Mr. Crawford or the Officers responding the call. Both were caught by circumstances not of their making. I do lay blame on Ronald Ritchie, the 911 caller who gave exaggerated descriptions of what Mr. Crawford was doing to the 911 operator and that snowballed into the shooting. Again, that is my particular opinion.

Second: Comments are closed for this post to avoid unnecessary flames & trolling.

Setting the stage:

What information is available to the officers responding? Man with a rifle, possible active shooter at the local WalMart. The suspect was seen waving the rifle, loading it and pointing it to the customers. Victims unknown. Reports from the 911 caller still coming in, story does not change. On arrival, they see a man fitting the description given and he is indeed armed with a rifle.

So, for all intents and purposes, the officers are about to face somebody with a rifle and this person apparently has no regard for the safety of the people or is directly threatening them. Failure to act in a decisive matter may result in casualties. That is not acceptable.

Here is the sequence via captures from the synced video.

From officers arriving to the end of the aisle to officer securing the rifle, time elapsed is 12 seconds. Not a whole lot of time, but this was not a situation to be screwing around. Again, with the information available to the officers at that time, the shooting is legally justified in my opinion. It is a bad shooting in the sense that there was no real threat, but that not to be known until after the dust settled.

You politely share this one with them where shows we have a murder rate equal to a bucolic USA in the 1900s – 1910s.

Be kind enough to point out that the two great peaks match Prohibition and the aftermath of Gun Control Act of 1968.  Also, very politely, show them that the drop in murder rate in the 1990s happen (coincidentally I am sure) with the expansion of Concealed Carry Laws and liberalization of gun laws across the states.

If the trend continues, we should have a murder rate under 2 per 100K sometime in the next decade…with more guns including Evil Black Rifles!