“They always quote the Second Amendment rights. This Second Amendment was written in 1791 when you needed to have a gun. You had all the outlaws. But we don’t need the guns in the urban communities,” he said.

Source: Tough gun laws urged after shooting death of L.I. girl – NY Daily News

The killing of an innocent 12-year-old girl is a tragedy, but that Hempstead’s Mayor Wayne Hall  would go as far as pimping her death for gun controls while  spouting such a level of cognitive dissonance goes beyond the real, specially when apparently there is something fishy going on in that particular household.

From the same article:

“Authorities should have done something before this happened, because this has been going on for months now.”

Someone has shot at that house “four or five times in the last few months. The previous one was about five weeks ago, and before that it was one after another, just days in between,” Cruz said.

There is a lot more going on when a family has been targeted 5 times for drive-by shootings. But have no fear, Mayor Hall is a proud member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns/Everytown. They have all the answers..unfortunately they are the wrong ones.  And it seems that the Village of Hempstead is having a wee bit of a crime issue, in fact it is twice the violent crime of New York City and has a murder rate more than four times the national average.

You would have thought that the NY Safe Act would have brought those statistics down to zero or a least under the national average, but appears it did not. Just like any other Gun Control measure.

I think I am going to introduce a new term for people like Mayor Hall: Corpse Pimps.

Except that as far as I could determine,  Agents of the ATF do qualifiers only twice a year and shoot the old Practical Pistol Course, a 60 round course of fire which is the lowest common denominator used by FLETC. One IDPA or IPSC match may have higher round count and all the tactical exercise that PPC does not have.

Mr. Chipman is Senior Vice President of ShotSpotter, (a gun fire locator company used by several police departments in the nation but with actual dubious results and little in the way of solving crimes) and he was also as senior adviser for Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Being from ATF and MAIG does not make for a very convincing resource…

Gabriel Astengo got into a fisticuffs with a maintenance man inside an elevator. When he breaks the fight and retreats, the man follows him outside to re-engage. Astengo draws his concealed weapon, pistol-whips him in self-defense.
Astengo gets charged with Aggravated Battery, a second degree felony which could get him up to 15 years in prison.

There are two videos available for you to watch.

And another view:

Astengo ends the fight and leaves the confined space of the elevator.

Alvarez follows
Alvarez wants to re-engage. Astengo places his hand on his gun.
Fight begins again.
Astengo pistol-whips him. He ends up with the charge of Aggravated Battery.

Now, here is the thing: If Alvarez would have been the one with a deadly weapon and pulled it after Astengo left the elevator, the prosecution would have stated that the “clock” for the original incident inside the elevator had ended and no self-defense could be claimed. However, it seems the prosecutor decided to make it one continuous event even when the video clearly shows Alvarez disengaging and retreating. That takes us to the mantra I have kept repeating over and over since Stand Your Ground came into effect in Florida:

The prosecutor determines if you retreated enough.

More the reason why we need to maintain Stand Your ground in the books.

Now let’s go over the shoudda-couldda-wouldda. 

Leave the ego at home. Astengo could have clearly taken the next elevator if he already had words with Alvarez.

Distance is your friend. Avoid sharing small spaces with angered people. Alvarez could had a knife or a gun of his own. Good thing he had neither and was not a trained hand fighter.

Don’t count of video evidence to support your case. Astengo was lucky the place had cameras everywhere but that may not be the case with an event in which you might be involved.

Although the legal outcome was favorable, Astengo is probably out of several thousand dollars worth of saving paying for his defense.

Avoidance, De-Escalation and Deterrence are still cheaper and safer.

I wish I could say Elliot Fineman has some sort of redeeming qualities, but as many have told me, the guy may be rich but he is whacked out of his mind. He does not care what he does or say as long as guns get banned.

Example, this post:
The obvious message is that the killer had a gun and shot it out with the Deputy and killed him. Or is it?

Danny Hammond, was being monitored by Aitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Steven Sandberg at the request of St. Cloud Hospital, where he was being treated, when a “struggle” broke out at about 5:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m. ET), said Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans.
Hammond grabbed Sandberg’s gun during the struggle and shot him, Evans said

Source: Sheriff’s Deputy Fatally Shot by Suspect Being Treated at Minnesota Hospital – NBC News

So it was not the secret winged cabal that the NRA has operating from the basement of his Virginia Headquarters that goes out a night and puts loaded guns under the pillows of domestic abusers after they knocked out the teeth out of their spouses that got the deputy killed but a rare event where a desperate or crazy criminal goes after the LEO’s gun and kills him with it.

But what is really indicative is the comments of Elliot’s followers. It seems that the simple act of clicking on the link and actually reading the not very long article is beyond their ability.

I swear Pavlov would have so much fun observing Social Media. And he would leave the dogs alone.

Hat tip to Scott W. for the find.

Dear J. Kb.

You want to carry your snubbie? God Bless you and fair winds. No reloads?  We are going to disagree on that one.

Till recently I carried a .357 Rossi snub and two extra Bianchi Comp II speedloaders. I know, big suckers but when your fine motor skills are gone and your hands are one step from ogre, you need all the help for reloading. So I am not allergic to Snubbies, in fact I want to buy a couple more to have as emergency reach guns around the house. I believe they are great guns to hide just anywhere… and no, I don’t carry around the house as gym shorts tend to fall off with the weight of the guns.

I carried the snub in a holster at 3 O’Clock and I felt protected knowing that the tradition of the .357, 125 grains in hollow point would deliver…if I hit where I am supposed to hit. I do realize I am not the most cool guy with a gun, might miss the sweet spot on an attacker so I rather fail to the humble side and figure I might need extra BBs. Bad guys also move when you are shooting at them. Lately I switched to a Khar CW9 with CorBon’s Pow’RBall and two spare mags. I carry it in a Sibari Hun Side Bag that my wife abandoned when she found more stylish options for her. Why? Health issues and a bad back forced me to give up anything around the waist except my own roundness.

You say that the average defensive shooting is over after only 2 rounds fired and that is true, but I live in Miami and it was not that long ago that a cop put two rounds of .40 S&W on a guy that was eating a homeless man’s face, but the bath-salt-infused guy kept chomping away like nothing had happened. The officer had to get close and put one in the brain pan to finally end the “meal.” Besides the bath salts, we are having issues with a new version called “flakka” which seems to be making people even more stupider and dangerous. So, just for the non-average event, I want to have as much advantage as I can summons because I know I am going to be the poor bastard that is gonna end up with the “He needed six shots and only brought five” scenario.

I like having eight right out of the holster and seven more close by.

Again, I am just being contrary….. because I can 😀

Following the Charleston Church Shooting, the State of Virginia, in a move championed by the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, has revoked the Sons of Confederate Veterans license plates it once issued.  Virginia drivers who had them, were required to send them back in.  Approximately 1,600 Confederate plates had been issued, and a whopping 187 have been returned.

These are licence plates.  License.  Plates.  And only 1,600 of them, all in one state.

Just how well do you think a mandatory, nation wide, gun buyback would work?

UPDATE:

Two commenters brought up the 10% compliance rate observed in NY and CT following their gun bans/registrations.

I thought about that a little and decided up update this post.  There is a difference between guns and licence plates regarding this issue.  You only have as many licence plates as you do cars (let’s leave out motorcycles, etc.).  Most families in America have 2 cars (the average is 2.3 cars per household).  Let’s assume when it comes to specialty vanity plates, there is only one per household, so the 1,600 issued plates equates to 1,600 separate households.  If 10% of people comply, that’s gets about 160 plates.  The actual number was 187 so about 12%.

Guns are different.  There are many people who own just one gun.  There are many more who own between “a few” and “so many they’ve lost count.”  At last count, in 2009, the govt estimated there were 310 MILLION guns in the US.  Better estimates put the number at, at least 350 MILLION spread out over 120 million people.

By straight numbers, 10% compliance assumes that some 35 million guns will be turned in.  I doubt it will be that high.  I’d guess closer to 10 million.  The 10% of people who turn them in would most likely be the single gun owner.  The target shooter with one .22 rifle or the casual (Fudd) hunter with one deer rifle.  The “gun nuts” with multiple guns, I believe are much less likely to comply.  Maybe 10% of people will comply, but that won’t translate to a 10% reduction in guns.

Dear Gun Show Armchair Commando,

I fully accept that my choosing to carry a 5 shot, snub nose, .38 special is taking my life into my own hands.  You are absolutely right, I might as well be unarmed carrying such an under powered gun.  Even my choice of ammo, the Winchester 110 gr +P+ treasury load, doesn’t hold up to snuff.  Not to mention that the average defensive shooting is over after only 2 rounds fired.  Since I can’t practically reload or manipulate a snubby one handed by racking it on my belt, I might as well just commit suicide as try to defend myself with it if I every have to draw my gun.  (On a side note, since I can’t actually see your belt under your gut, can you rack your gun on your belt?  Like, is that a physical possibility with you?)

I really should heed your advice.  I need to start carrying a full size 9mm with a +2 base pad IWB along with two reloads.  That, that might be a little heavy or bulky to carry concealed, is irrelevant.  See, I guess that if I was anticipating getting into a two-reload running gun battle, I’d be carrying a rifle.  Not that I anticipate getting into a two-reload running gun battle at all.

Five rounds is not nearly enough to defend myself against a gang of three to six rapists.  In unlikely event that I am attacked by multiple assailants, I believe that basic psychology would save me.  Evidence shows that most criminals are cowards who like easy victims.  I figure that after I shoot the first one, the rest would scatter.  This is entirely speculation, but I’d think it would be really difficult to rape somebody while hemorrhaging internally.

I really did think my quip “if 5 rounds of .38 was enough for Joe Friday, it’s enough for me” would make you laugh.  But I can see how joking about self defense means that “I guess [I] don’t take my life seriously.”

I like carrying a snubby.  It’s light, compact, and easy to carry.  I still carry in a fanny pack like a dork half the time, just because it’s so easy.  I appreciate that you are only looking out for my safety.  I’m just not that tactical.  Sorry.  I think I’ll be alright.