Looks like the Gays and Lesbians are starting to understand how it works

[GasMan]

Gun sales surge among gays, lesbians after Orlando shooting

Posted 6:23 pm, June 14, 2016, by Keagan Harsha, Updated at 07:12am, June 15, 2016


DENVER -- Gun sales are surging in the wake of Sunday’s deadly mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. The tragedy is generating new debate over gun control reform and the right to bear arms.
Gun shops typically see a spike in customers after mass shootings. But this time, many are seeing shoppers they’ve never really seen before: More gays and lesbians.
George Horne, the owner of The Gun Room, Denver’s oldest firearms dealer, said Tuesday business is booming at his store.
"For this time of year I’d say its three to four times what we normally have," he said.
Background checks that once took minutes can now take hours. It's a sales surge similar to what happened after Sandy Hook and the Aurora theater shootings.
“We’re not surprised by it,” Horne said.
However, what’s different this time around is the clientele. Mike Smith, a firearms instructor in Colorado Springs, is one of many closely tracking the sudden surge in gays and lesbians buying weapons.
“I think right now because of what happened, people are looking for answers,” he said. “You walk into a gun shop and you expect to see people, frankly, who look like me. I think we forget we’re a country of all people, not just people who fit that predetermined mold.”
The Pink Pistols is a national gun club for gays and lesbians. It saw its membership soar from about 1,500 members on Saturday to 3,500 on Monday.
Dozens of new chapters are springing up, including one Smith is creating in Colorado Springs. He said it’s something he feels compelled to do, even though he’s heterosexual.
“I look at it as a disenfranchised minority that needs someone who’s willing to say I’m a resource who’s here and willing to help,” he said.
Another chapter also appears to be forming in the Denver area. The Pink Pistols typically meet on a regular basis at firing ranges to practice shooting.
For more information Smith’s defense instruction group and his firearms courses, he can be reached at 719-286-9451.

 

[JDeuce]

Well, it does take some doses of reality to deprogram yourself from the dimocrap narratives if that's what infected your brain early on in life.

"All R's are racist! All R's hate gays! All R's hate women! All gun owners are hillbillies!"

It's all a crock of shit. However, when you look at every aspect of life through that idiotic lens, it's no surprise that some outcomes like this Pulse shooting will jar what you thought was your reality. Conservatives are smart enough to know better and figure it out on their own.

 

[ScottL]

It's the same as when 2 women get robbed in a shopping center parking lot a week apart. Over the next month women flock to self-defense classes. As they should.

 

[TomGshotput]

It's definitely a good idea to buy your gun before the next attack. Even better would be to buy stock in gun companies before an attack like this

 

[superbeets]

People vote with their feet.

 

[SheriffJoe]

Gays discover Muslims are higher in the "diversity" pecking order and that the government they championed can't/won't protect him.

When reality meets people with delusions, reality wins.

 

[superbeets]

And we can't have guns in the UK


BUT


[h=2]Labour MP Jo Cox DIES after being shot three times in the street near her office by attacker 'who shouted Britain First then kicked her while she lay bleeding'[/h]

Mother-of-two Jo Cox, 41, (pictured right) was rushed to hospital after a gunman opened fire on her in Birstall near Leeds. She was later pronounced dead from her injuries. Witnesses said a man was at her constituency surgery before she arrived and shot her three times, once in the head, before stabbing her as she lay on the ground. Her husband Brendon simply tweeted a photo of his wife after she was rushed to hospital with catastrophic injuries. A 53-year-old - named locally as Tommy Mair (pictured left) - has been arrested by police and his house is currently being searched by police forensics experts. Pictures have emerged which are believed to show Mr Mair being arrested by police (centre).



[h=1]Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot three times in the street near her office by an attacker 'who shouted Britain First then kicked her while she lay bleeding'[/h]

• West Yorkshire MP was arriving at her local office when she was attacked by a man who wrestled her to the ground
• Attacker said to have shouted 'Britain First' as he kicked mother-of-two before shooting and repeatedly stabbing her
• 53-year-old man, named locally as gardener Tommy Mair, was arrested at scene after armed police flooded the area
• Political leaders have now sent their thoughts to 41-year-old victim's husband Brendan and their two young children
• Her husband Brendan posted moving picture of his wife and urged people to 'fight against the hatred that killed her'

By RICHARD SPILLETT and MARK DUELL and EMMA GLANFIELD and STEPHANIE LINNING and JOSEPH CURTIS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 14:01, 16 June 2016 | UPDATED: 18:29, 16 June 2016




A Labour MP has died after she was shot three times and repeatedly stabbed in a shocking attack as she arrived at her constituency surgery.
Mother-of-two Jo Cox, 41, was airlifted to hospital after a gunman opened fire on her in Birstall near Leeds.
Witnesses said the man was at the office before she arrived and shot her three times, once in the head, before stabbing her as she lay on the ground.
Her husband Brendan tweeted a photo of his wife two hours after she died from catastrophic injuries. He later urged people to 'fight against the hatred that killed her.'
In a statement, he said: 'Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
'Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.
'She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisionous.
'Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.'
A 53-year-old - named locally as 'loner' Tommy Mair - has been arrested by police and his house is currently being searched by forensic experts.

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Popular MP Jo Cox has tragically died after she was shot three times and stabbed repeatedly by a man as she arrived for a constituency meeting in Birstall near Leeds today

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Ms Cox, pictured, with her husband Brendan on election night when she was elected as an MP for the Batley and Spen area

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Two hours after her death, Ms Cox's heartbroken husband Brendan tweeted a photo of her standing by the houseboat they stayed on when they were in London

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Locals have named and identified 'loner' Tommy Mair as the 53-year-old man who has been arrested by police in connection with the attack

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Police are searching a number of addresses this evening in connection with the killing, including the home of the attacker, pictured above

David Pickles, a neighbour of Mr Mair, said: 'He's just quiet. He kept himself to himself. He lived by himself. He's been on his own for about 20 years. I've never seen a lot of people visiting or anything like that.'
Witness Clarke Rothwell, who runs a cafe near where the attack took place, told the BBC he believed the MP had been shot and stabbed multiple times.
He said: 'He [the attacker] was stabbing her as well, he was stabbing her with his knife.'
Another witness, Sam Watson, added: 'The man walked away calmly and nobody wanted to approach him.'
Hichem Ben Abdallah, 56, was in the cafe next door to the library when he heard screaming and went outside.
He said: 'There was a guy who was being very brave and another guy with a white baseball cap who he was trying to control and the man in the baseball cap suddenly pulled a gun from his bag.


He was fighting with her and wrestling with her and then the gun went off and then she fell between two cars and I came and saw her bleeding on the floor.'
It was earlier thought Ms Cox had intervened in a fight between two men but it is now believed that her attacker was lying in wait. After around 15 minutes, the shop owner said emergency services arrived and tended to her with a drip.
Mr Abdallah said the weapon looked handmade and that the man who had been wrestling with the assailant continued to do so even after he saw the gun. He said: 'The man stepped back with the gun and fired it and then he fired a second shot, as he was firing he was looking down at the ground.'
Aamir Tahir, of The Dry Clean Centre, said the gunman was heard shouting 'Britain first'.
He said: 'The lady I work with heard two loud bangs. I wish I was there because I would have tried to stop him.

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A picture has been circulated on social media that is said to show the suspect being arrested after the attack in Leeds this afternoon

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A picture was taken of the man believed to be the suspect seconds after he was tackled to the ground by two uniformed police officers

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A view of the scene of the shooting outside the library in Birstall, where Ms Cox was attending a meeting

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Police officers are maintaining a 'significant and large crime scene' in the area where Mrs Cox was killed this afternoon

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Police and forensics officers carry out searches in the area of Birstall where Mrs Cox was fatally injured this afternoon

• SHARE PICTURE

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Forensics officers examine potential evidence, including a bloodied shoe and handbag found near where Mrs Cox was attacked, right


Apparently the guy who did it shouted "Britain first" and if I had been there I would have tackled him.'
Britain First is the name of a far-Right group which said it was 'not involved and would never encourage behaviour of this sort'. Daniel Blyth, a company director from Birstall, told the paper he saw seven police cars 'racing up' the road to the scene
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: 'Jo was universally liked at Westminster, not just by her Labour colleagues, but across Parliament.
'In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died. But for now all our thoughts are with Jo's husband Brendan and their two young children. They will grow up without their mum, but can be immensely proud of what she did, what she achieved and what she stood for.
David Cameron added: 'The death of Jo Cox is a tragedy. She was a committed and caring MP. My thoughts are with her husband Brendan and her two young children.'
Campaigning for the EU referendum by Britain Stronger in Europe and Vote Leave has been suspended for the day after the attack.
Commenting on the attack, temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins said: 'Just before 1pm today Jo Cox, MP for Batley and Spen, was attacked in Market Street, Birstall. I am now very sad to have to report that she has died as a result of her injuries.
'Before going into further detail, I would like to express our deepest sympathies to her family and friends at this tragic time.
'Jo was attacked by a man who inflicted serious and sadly ultimately fatal injuries.
'There was a subsequently an attack on a 77 year old man nearby who has sustained injuries that are non-life threatening. Shortly afterwards a man was arrested nearby by police officers. Weapons, including a firearm, have also been recovered.
'At 1.48pm Jo was pronounced dead by a doctor working with a paramedic crew who was treating her injuries. This is a very serious investigation with a large number of witnesses that are being spoken to by police at this time. There is a large and significant crime scene. There is a large police presence in the area. A full investigation is underway to establish the motive of this attack.
‘There are specially trained officers with Jo’s immediate family who are fully aware of what has taken place. And we would ask the media to respect their privacy at this difficult time. Additional officers are working with the local community this evening, in order to provide support and reassurance to our communities.
‘Clearly as our inquiry is at a very early stage, and we have an individual under arrest, we are not in the position to discuss any motive at this time. We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.'
She added: 'We are attending a number of scenes as part of this investigation and we will be looking very closely at what evidence we may or may not be able to recover.'

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A jacket, handbag and shoes were left at the scene. They are believed to belong to the MP who was attacked

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Emergency equipment left at the scene where Ms Cox was attacked during a scuffle today

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Police are currently at the scene of a home in Birstall, pictured, understood to belong to Mr Mair

• SHARE PICTURE

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Dee Collins and Mark Burns Williamson confirmed Mrs Cox's death in a press conference at Carr Gate police headquarters, Wakefield



Cambridge graduate Ms Cox was elected to the seat of Batley and Spen at the last general election in 2015.
She is national chair of Labour Women's Network, has worked for Save the Children and the NSPCC.
She is the mother of two young children and is said to enjoy mountain-climbing, boating and running.
Earlier this year MPs were given an 'enhanced' security package amid heightened fears about the threat of attacks.
The move by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) came after the Commons vote on bombing Syria saw protests outside MPs' constituency offices and homes. There have also been concerns that backbenchers could be a soft target for Islamic State extremists.
Details of the extra security measures were not published, but they are thought to include more funding for alarms, locks and CCTV in constituencies and homes. Police carry out assessments of what risk MPs face.

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Mr Cox and the couple's children drove a boat down the Thames yesterday, opposing Nigel Farage's 'flotilla'

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Brendan, Ms Cox and the children lived on a houseboat on the River Thames when she was in London

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Labour MP Ms Cox has been campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU in recent weeks

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Mrs Cox voted in April for the UK to accept 3,000 unaccompanied Syrian child refugees, saying that she 'would risk life and limb to get my two precious babies out of that hellhole'

[h=3]ATTACKER SAID TO HAVE SHOUTED 'BRITAIN FIRST' BUT WAS IT IN SUPPORT OF FAR-RIGHT PARTY?[/h]Eyewitnesses claim the gunman shouted 'Britain first' as he carried out the horrific attack on Ms Cox.
Britain First is a group,which formed in 2011 and is led by former British national Party councillor Paul Golding. It is in favour of preserving what it deems 'traditional British culture' and is against immigration.
Ms Cox, a Labour politician, had been voting to 'Remain' in the EU ahead of the referendum.
It has raised suspicions that her attacker was opposing her political views when he fatally shot her.
However, Britain First has issued a statement denying any involvement or encouragement in the attack, suggesting that the phrase 'could have been a slogan rather than a reference to our party'.
A spokesman said: 'Britain First obviously is not involved and would never encourage behaviour of this sort.'


The watchdog authorised £77,234 of spending on additional security measures last year - more than double the sum in the previous 12 months.
Fellow MPs today sent their best wishes to their colleague as she remained in hospital.
Yvette Cooper wrote: 'Terrible, terrible news. Thoughts and prayers with good friend Jo & with her family.'
Boris Johnson ‏added: 'Just heard the absolutely horrific news about the attack on Jo Cox MP. My thoughts are with Jo and her family.'
And Sadiq Khan tweeted: 'Shocked to hear terrible news about brilliant MP and friend Jo Cox. Thinking of her and praying for her and family.'
A Labour spokesperson said: 'We're aware of the incident that happened this afternoon. All our thoughts are with Jo Cox and her family. We cannot give any further updates at this time.'

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One witness said he saw seven police cars 'racing up' the road to the scene in West Yorkshire

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One witness claimed the man shouted 'Britain first' during the scuffle in Birstall, West Yorkshire



How MPs' security was beefed up this year after they voiced fears about lack of protection
By James Tapsfield for MailOnline

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MPs were given extra protection this year after fears were raised about their safety






Security for MPs was beefed up earlier this year after fears were raised about a lack of protection from people with 'knives and guns'.
The expenses watchdog announced an 'enhanced' package for politicians outside the parliamentary estate in January after a survey carried out by the Commons authorities revealed extreme concern about their own safety and that of their staff.
Details of the extra measures were not published, but they are thought to include more funding for alarms, locks and CCTV in constituencies and homes. Police carry out individual assessments of what risk MPs face.
The watchdog had already more than doubled the amount of spending authorised on security away from the Commons to £77,234 last year.
The internal report prepared by House staff following interviews with MPs said: 'Security was raised as a key concern by many participants; this related both to their constituency offices and their accommodation in London and largely related to what expenses they could or could not claim under Ipsa rules ...
'It was felt that the limitations of the office allowance that could be claimed meant offices could often only be situated in out of town areas, or deprived areas of town, where rentals were below premium.
'This had potential implications for the security of staff, who were often women working alone or in pairs. Participants also stressed that security is important as staff can be at risk due to the number of constituents they deal with that have mental health issues.'
'Others raised concerns about safety in their London accommodation. Although there is a separate allowance for security measures in their constituency offices, most participants understood that they had to pay for security measures for their London home from the London accommodation budget, which because of the very high rental prices in London was very difficult to do.'
'A few MPs gave examples of incidents involving stalkers, and those with knives and guns, which although not just issues for women, were ones where some women felt they were more vulnerable.
'A few were aware that concerns could be reported to the Police or via the Sergeant at Arms; but others did not know this and referred to difficulties in getting advice and support.'
The document went on: 'Many women stressed that if they were travelling between Westminster and their London accommodation, or back to their constituencies when it was dark, they would prefer to take a taxi as they felt it was safer.
'They were concerned that this was not allowed under IPSA guidance unless it was past a specific hour, and that even then it was subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, which deterred many women from so doing.'
Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle carried out a review the security provision away from parliament last year, and at one point there was pressure for Ipsa to be stripped of responsibility for funding security away from parliament.
In a letter to politicians in January, chief executive Marcial Boo said the expenses watchdog had always 'taken seriously the need for MPs and their staff to besecure'.
Referring to high-profile protests against MPs over the vote on bombing Syria and concerns that backbenchers could be a soft target for IS extremists, he wrote: 'Recent events have led us, with the police and the House of Commons, to take stock of our arrangements to ensure that they are appropriate to changed circumstances.
'This letter announces enhancements to the security measures available to you and your staff.'
Ipsa has distributed - but not published - guidance prepared by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure.



[h=3]KILLED ON THE STREET: LABOUR MP JO COX IS NOT THE FIRST MP TO BE ATTACKED DURING A PUBLIC SURGERY[/h]The brutal shooting and stabbing of Labour MP Jo Cox is not the first time an MP has been attacked while holding a public surgery.
Former Labour Cabinet minister Stephen Timms was stabbed twice by a student who had booked an appointment to see him in east London in 2010.
And in 2000, former Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones, now a peer, came under attack by a man wielding a samurai sword, with the politician's aide Andrew Pennington killed while trying to protect him.
Roshonara Choudhry was jailed for life for stabbing East Ham MP Stephen Timms in his constituency surgery in May 2010.

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Stephen Timms, left, 60, was stabbed twice in 2010 in his constituency office by Roshonara Choudhry, right, who launched the attack in 'revenge' for Mr Timms voting in favour of the Iraq war

Choudhry, of East Ham, knifed the 60-year-old twice in the stomach at a constituency surgery in Newham, east London.
She was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of possessing a knife at a trial at the Old Bailey in December that year.
Choudhry, who studied English at King's College London, was told she faced a minimum sentence of 15 years behind bars.
During the trial, the Old Bailey heard she had created a list of MPs who had voted in favour of the war in Iraq, and that the attack on Mr Timms was 'revenge' for him doing so.
After the case, Mr Timms described the sentence as 'appropriate'.
The Labour politician was rushed to hospital for surgery on his wounds, but made a full recovery and remains in his seat, winning re-election last year.

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Baron Jones of Cheltenham, left, was attacked by Robert Ashman with a samurai sword in January 2000, with the latter stabbing aide Andrew Pennington, right, to death as he tried to protect the MP

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Baron Jones, pictured in hospital after the attack, required 57 stitches to his hand and now suffers from a heart condition as a result of the armed assault

During the attack, his aide Andrew Bazeley, 22, bravely disarmed the woman, who had made an appointment to see Mr Timms at his surgery.
Mr Bazeley was left covered in blood after he grabbed the knife and restrained her until a security guard arrived.
In January 2000, deranged Robert Ashman attacked Baron Jones as he conducted a surgery in his Cheltenham constituency.

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Ashman, pictured, was jailed but has since been allowed back on the streets after psychiatrists deemed him 'fit for release'

Ashman seriously injured Baron Jones and stabbed to death his aide Mr Pennington as he tried to protect him.
Pennington, 39, tried to fight off the attacker with an electric fire.
Baron Jones required 57 stitches to his hand.
He still suffers from a heart problem that was aggravated by the attack 16 years ago.
The peer described during the court case how Ashman, now 65, had brandished the sword above his head like a cartoon character from Master of the Universe.
Ashman later claimed he had carried out the attack because his MP was not doing enough to help him after he lost his job, got divorced and was declared bankrupt.
The former engineer was found guilty of manslaughter and attempted murder.
Sentencing the father of two at the time, a High Court judge said Ashman was so disturbed she could not foresee a time when he would be safely released.
But Ashman has since been allowed back on the streets after psychiatrists deemed him fit to be let out.
Although he is supervised by police and has to obey a curfew, he is free to go out alone during the day.
Mr Pennington was posthumously awarded the George Medal for his attempts to protect Baron Jones.

 

[Dave007inVegas]

^^^


Another perfect example of how well gun laws work.

 

[GasMan]

Lol...Guesser owned again.

 

[JDeuce]

^^^


Another perfect example of how well gun laws work.

Dont be ridiculous, Dave. Their gun laws just aren't tough enough! I'm sure a mandatory waiting period before he bought one (since criminals perform background checks before selling weapons) would have, like, fixed everything. They just need to do...something! But it's getting harder since the NRA gun nuts just ruin everything.

How's that for a well thought out dimocrap response?

 

[Dave007inVegas]

Dont be ridiculous, Dave. Their gun laws just aren't tough enough! I'm sure a mandatory waiting period before he bought one (since criminals perform background checks before selling weapons) would have, like, fixed everything. They just need to do...something! But it's getting harder since the NRA gun nuts just ruin everything.

How's that for a well thought out dimocrap response?

Predictably typical.

 

[Willie99]

if they can figure something out, then they're smarter than the village idiots who simply don't evolve intellectually

 

[JDeuce]

if they can figure something out, then they're smarter than the village idiots who simply don't evolve intellectually

But this is going to get interesting, Willie.

D's all hate gun owners and want to confiscate them. Problem is, you can't speak out against anything homos do nowadays without being labeled a homphobe. So, how will dimocraps react to homos who purchase guns?

They're going to be chasing their tail trying to figure out the talking points for this one, because not just one, but several of their stupid narratives get their wires crossed in this incident.

Get the popcorn ready.

 

[Willie99]

But this is going to get interesting, Willie.

D's all hate gun owners and want to confiscate them. Problem is, you can't speak out against anything homos do nowadays without being labeled a homphobe. So, how will dimocraps react to homos who purchase guns?

They're going to be chasing their tail trying to figure out the talking points for this one, because not just one, but several of their stupid narratives get their wires crossed in this incident.

Get the popcorn ready.

they'll just put a group of words together in what resembles a sentence to some, take both sides of every issue, blame Bush, call Trump crazy and libtard nation will rejoice

after all, "what difference does it make"?



idiots being idiots, empowering idiots, revenge of the idiots

meet your 2016 democrats


"everything should be free people", you're entitled to it, it's your right and somebody else pays for it. Wow man, like sign me up dude

 

[Acebb]

D's all hate gun owners and want to confiscate them. Problem is, you can't speak out against anything homos do nowadays without being labeled a homphobe. So, how will dimocraps react to homos who purchase guns?

You are largely correct. However, there is a clear hierarchy to liberalism and without a doubt Muslim's are ahead of gays. This was proven when the left collectively took to blaming guns instead of Islam.

The only thing that trumps Islam for the left is global warming & abortion. But that may change if the next Muslim attacker targets Christians. Then said attacker probably will get a statue outside of the DNC.

 

[Acebb]

 

[The Guesser]

[h=1]Here’s What Happened When A Terrorist Attacked LGBT People In A Country With Strict Gun Laws[/h] [h=2]There’s no right to bear arms in Israel, and the death count in recent terror attacks is much lower than in terror-inspired U.S. mass murders.[/h]
06/13/2016 06:46 pm ET | Updated 1 day ago
15k

Jessica Schulberg Foreign Affairs Reporter, The Huffington Post

Credit: Jack Guez/Getty Images
In Israel, the soldiers are heavily armed, but civilians have to clear several tests before they can legally purchase a gun.

Like Florida shooter Omar Mateen, Yishai Schlissel was a homophobic extremist determined to kill gay people. But Schlissel, unlike Mateen, lived in a country with strict gun laws: Israel. When Schlissel attacked a gay pride parade in Jerusalem a year ago, he was armed with a knife, not an assault rifle.

He stabbed six people, killing a 16-year-old girl before he was apprehended. Mateen used a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to shoot more than 100 people in a Florida gay nightclub early Sunday, killing 49, before law enforcement officers shot him to death.
There is no such thing as a right to bear arms in Israel. To get a gun, an individual has to apply for a license, show a need for a firearm (either for work or personal safety), demonstrate an ability to safely use a gun, and pass a mental health check. Licenses are only granted to individuals who have been Israeli residents for more than three years and who are over 21 years of age if they served in the military, and 27 if they didn’t. Even after obtaining permission to buy a gun, the government limits the amount of ammunition an individual can purchase.
In Israel, a country that faces frequent terror threats, proving a “need” for a gun isn’t automatic. During the Second Intifada, a violent Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, author Daniel Gordis applied for a license to purchase a gun, citing his frequent travels to dangerous areas to report on violence. Gordis, now a senior vice president at Shalem College in Jerusalem, said the government rejected his application.

Israel has a sense that there’s no right to a weapon ... A weapon is a responsibility, and it can be earned. Dr. Daniel Gordis​

“I thought it was a legitimate request and they turned me down,” Gordis said during a phone interview. “Obviously, I was momentarily annoyed that I got turned down — but, actually, I took the larger view of it, and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty amazing!’
“Israel has a sense that there’s no right to a weapon,” Gordis explained. “A weapon is a responsibility, and it can be earned. Or you can have a need for a weapon — but you don’t have a right to weapon.”
Last year, the Israeli government encouraged individuals with firearms licenses to carry their weapons, and made it easier for people living in certain areas to legally carry a gun. The policy changes were tied to the wave of Palestinian attacks and drew criticism from Palestinian rights groups. But even with the changes, access to guns in Israel remains far more regulated than in the U.S.
“The message is a bit mixed,” in Israel’s relaxed gun restrictions, said Natan Sachs, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute who focuses on Israeli policies. Because of Israel’s near-universal mandatory military service, guns are ubiquitous in the country, he said. “But there is still no perception in Israel that people, writ large, should just carry arms,” he added.
In the U.S., owning firearms is considered an inherent right, regardless of need or the ability to safely use weapons. In a country with few restrictions on firearms purchases, Florida, in particular, has some of the least-restrictive regulations on gun ownership.
The Sunshine State, which received an “F” last year on a scorecard compiled by Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, doesn’t restrict the sale of assault weapons, limit the number of guns that can be purchased at one time, or require background checks for private sales, including sales at gun shows. Guns & Ammo magazine ranked Florida as the 12th-best state to own a gun, describing the state’s laws as the “envy of gun owners nationwide.”

X​

Mateen, who was once on an FBI watchlist for possible ties to terrorism, legally purchased a semiautomatic assault-style rifle capable of spraying bullets as fast as the shooter can pull the trigger.
Asked if an Israeli civilian could get access to the type of assault weapon used by Mateen — and by numerous other U.S. mass murderers — Gordis was emphatic. “Never, never, never, never, never, never, zero,” he said. “People are walking around with pistols. … The only people walking around with real serious guns are soldiers.”

When terrorists in Israel get guns, they don’t always work. Last week, two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on civilians in Tel Aviv. But they were using cheap imitations of a Swedish World War II-era rifle. Video footage of the attack shows one gun appearing to jam and an ammunition clip falling out of the second. The two terrorists killed four people in the attack.
Part of the reason for Israel’s strict regulation of civilian gun ownership is that the country has a security-driven interest in making sure weapons don’t flow into the hands of terrorists. “There is a very tight monitoring of where all the weapons are,” Sachs said. “The last thing you want, especially in a place like Israel, is to have arms roaming free.”

 

[The Guesser]

[h=1]George Takei has a warning for the NRA from the LGBT community: ‘You don’t want to mess with us’[/h]

Bethania Palma Markus
14 Jun 2016 at 15:20 ET

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George Takei is not just famous for playing Star Trek helmsman Hikaru Sulu. He is also a fierce activist for LGBT rights.
On Tuesday, Takei penned an op-ed for the Daily Beast in which he argued that the fact the LGBT community was the target of Sunday morning’s terrorist attack in Orlando could mean the National Rifle Association may not find it so easy any more to block gun safety regulation.

“Now this latest and most deadly attack has targeted a group that has spent the last few decades learning how to organize, fight for, and protect its rights,” Takei writes. “Perhaps, then, the next chapter of LGBT history might not be just about the struggle to gain equality for ourselves, but also how we might help lead this country towards a collective right to participate and live free of fear and terror, and ultimately toward a common-sense, permanent ban on weapons designed for mass slaughter.”

Takei discusses the conundrum of trying to protect constitutional rights while the Second Amendment goes untempered.
“[T]he asserted right of citizens to own, purchase, and sell semi-automatic firearms runs headlong into our right to participate in civil society without undue fear of being targeted or killed,” he writes. “We appear to face a choice, because one freedom seemingly cannot be protected without limiting the other.”
Takei points out that even the freedom of speech, a bedrock of American civic structure and society, is tempered by consideration for public safety, which means you can’t yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater or make libelous statements and expect to be protected by the First Amendment.

But with guns, it’s murkier, thanks to lobbying efforts by the NRA.
“Somewhere between a protective home handgun and a machine gun-toting terrorist lies the harder question of what to do about the rest, such as the semi-automatic weapons of choice used by recent mass killers,” Takei writes.
He then points out that with the Orlando massacre comes a higher public profile of homegrown terrorists.

“Restricting their ability to obtain dangerous weapons domestically thus is as vital as diminishing and destroying their bases and influence overseas,” he points out.
“Like it or not,” Takei concludes, “this history and this obligation have been thrust upon us, and we must now rise to its challenge. For if there is one group in this country with more will, more experience, and more tenacity than the NRA, it is the LGBT community.
“You don’t want to mess with us.”

 

[superbeets]

[h=2]Gay Gun Rights Activist: Arm Yourselves[/h][h=2]An important Supreme Court decision on the right to self-defense involved the fear of anti-LGBT violence.[/h]Scott Shackford|Jun. 13, 2016 12:55 pm



he New York Daily News has used the Orlando attack (as have many, many others) to continue its call for stricter gun controls and to blame the National Rifle Association (NRA), in spite of America's lengthy history of being completely unable to ban access to any product or good its citizens want to get their hands on.
But despite their tunnel vision, let's give credit to them for giving space for a strong opposing opinion. Today they've also got a piece by noted gay, libertarian, gun rights advocate Tom G. Palmer, calling for LGBT citizens to arm themselves. He writes:

Let's get one thing very clear. Gun control advocates disarmed the victims at that night club. Florida law states unequivocally that even a concealed carry permit "does not authorize any person to openly carry a handgun or carry a concealed weapon or firearm into any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose."
That made those people sitting ducks. Legally designated gun-free zones are invitations to killers. They get to rack up kills among defenseless victims without any effective opposition. There is a reason that they seek out such places: Everyone has been disarmed and rendered defenseless by the gun-control movement.
Advocates of gun control think it's a good idea to disarm victims and to advertise where you can find completely defenseless people because there's one primitive magical superstition they share with the murderer Omar Mateen: chanting things makes them true. If you chant the right words, in this case "Guns are forbidden," no one will have guns. And if no one has guns, there will be no murders.
​

Palmer isn't just a supporter of gun rights, he helped fight to secure them. Palmer was one of the plaintiffs of the important District of Columbia v. Heller Supreme Court decision. That was one of the Supreme Court decisions that helped establish that the Second Amendment right to self-defense is, indeed, an individual right.
Palmer fought for gun rights on the basis of being able to protect himself from the likes of Orlando killer Omar Mateen. He had previously used a gun in California to scare off a pack of men who threatened him with apparent antigay animus. But D.C. laws prohibited from similarly defending himself (and others) there.
The call for more gun control here is as predictable as it is rather baffling. For one, there is no prohibition in the United States that actually works. And while there's increasing evidence that Mateen was likely a dirtbag even before ISIS came around to use an excuse to wreak the mayhem he probably always fantasized about, it's just not clear that he ever would have been affected by tighter gun regulations—that is, unless we started using mere suspicion as an excuse to curtail liberties, which some have been promoting. It's as much of a constitutional violation as proposed "hate speech" restrictions and will likely have the same unintended consequences. We would have no control over who the government prosecutes or who the government denies gun rights. Keep in mind Mateen worked as a security guard with government contracts. Many gun restrictions have exemptions for those who work in law enforcement.
What we do know is that clearly relying on the government domestic surveillance system to prevent attacks failed here just as it failed in San Bernardino. So many responses to this sort of violence seem to a call for a sort of collective action that's already been shown to be unsuccessful. Think all Muslims should be under surveillance? Well, Mateen was investigated a couple of times by the FBI, who apparently did not conclude he was a threat. Think there should be collectively tighter gun controls? Have we forgotten Bataclan already? Go ahead and forget France, then—many of the same people calling for tighter gun laws already understand that prohibition against drugs are a massive failure that have done little but throw more people in prison. Prohibitions don't work.
How could some sort of collective government response be successful to such a decentralized domestic threat? How is it reasonable to expect that the same government that failed to predict Mateen's behavior (and to be clear, I'm not saying that it was even possible to know that this was coming) to be able to immediately mobilize and protect us at the drop of a pin?
It's becoming increasingly clear that the Orlando Police certainly tried in this case. The latest details have police rushing into the club early on to confront Mateen, leading to a firefight, followed by a hostage scenario. Now we can dread the possibility that some people might have been killed by police gunfire by accident. But that's the argument that gun control advocates use against individual ownership—self-defense in public encounters might not work, and innocents could get hurt or killed. If the same thing happens when police respond to mass shootings, and it's not reasonable to expect safer outcomes when the government gets involved, then all people are doing is rendering themselves utterly, bafflingly helpless. What happened wasn't a failure of gun control. It's exactly what an outcome of gun control looks like that advocates just refuse to accept as an unintended consequence.
People can decide that they don't want to arm themselves. And the bar owner should be able to decide whether to allow armed patrons or not. But people should not be able to make that decision for others. That was exactly Palmer's crusade. He should not have to hope that somebody with a badge shows up with guns blazing to protect him in time. None of us should. It's not a realistic expectation of government.

Palmer is hardly alone in wanting to defend himself against anti-gay attacks. Check out the Pink Pistols.

 

[superbeets]

[h=1]When the Law Would Leave You Defenseless Against the Likes of Omar Mateen, Carry a Gun Anyway[/h][h=2]Police can’t defend every gathering, so the people in attendance must take that task on themselves, with or without legal sanction.[/h]J.D. Tuccille | June 14, 2016

Despite social media jabber, the 49 dead at Orlando's Pulse nightclub weren't killed by their sexual orientation, or by disapproval of the same, or by the collective adherents of Islam, or by the National Rifle Association. They all died in an act of terrorism committed by one evil man, named Oscar Mateen, and his accomplices, if any.



Nor were Mateen's victims directly killed by gun control, though their ranks were certainly swelled by restrictions that forbade most patrons of the nightclub from carrying the means of self-defense. Unburdened by any scruples about breaking the law, Mateen was not only unhindered by Florida's ban on carrying firearms in bars and nightclubs, he was enabled by its guarantee of a bonanza of relatively defenseless victims once he'd shot his way past the establishment's sole armed defender.
But rather than focus on the murderous Islamist terrorist who did the deed, too many reactions have looked elsewhere to place blame—specifically, the "AR-15" rifle he used to commit his crime (it was actually an MCX, but "AR-15" is the new "assault weapon"—a term of opprobrium used by all right-thinking people). This reaction takes the animist position that the tool compelled the bearer to do evil, rather than acknowledging Mateen's role in selecting the tool once he'd settled on the crime he wanted to commit.

"Everything You Need to Know About the AR-15 Used in Orlando," trumpeted Rolling Stone, getting yet another story wrong. More carefully, and generically, the Washington Post announced, "The gun used in the Orlando shooting is becoming mass shooters' weapon of choice."
Well…sort of. Omar Mateen's ideological brethren, the terrorists who brutalized Paris last year, selected a related sort of weapon for their butchery: the AK-47. But since the sort of restrictive laws favored by the folks circulating the "Ban Assault Weapons Now" Moveon.org petition on Facebook are already in place in France, instead of going to a gun shop to purchase civilian weapons they went to the black market to illegally acquire military firearms. In both cases, the perpetrators committed themselves to terrorism and then acquired the tools for the job by any means necessary.
"Did your French gun control stop a single fucking person from dying at the Bataclan?"asked Eagles of Death Metal singer Jessie Hughes, who survived the slaughter at the Paris nightclub.
The law was no impediment.
But tools can be used for good as well as evil—if they're available. The patrons at Pulse would have had the potential to defend themselves against Mateen had they been carrying firearms as is permitted in much of the United States. But carrying guns in bars is illegal in Florida, and well-intentioned people are more easily constrained by rules than are terrorists—a fact on which Mateen may have relied.
Bizarrely, the Sun-Sentinel's Michael Mayo insists that the massacre disproved the value of guns, because one armed guard failed to deter Mateen. He's joined by a chorus insisting that letting people defend themselves is no answer.
But not everybody agrees.
"It is difficult, if not impossible, to foresee such an event," notes Gwendolyn Patton, First Speaker of Pink Pistols, a GLBTQ self-defense advocacy organization. "But if they cannot be prevented, then they must be stopped as fast as someone tries to start them."
Patton worries that further legal restrictions will affect only the law-abiding, leaving them yet more defenseless against future Omar Mateens.
Tom Palmer, a gay libertarian and one of the original plaintiffs in the groundbreaking Heller Supreme Court gun rights case, agrees.
"Let's get one thing very clear. Gun control advocates disarmed the victims at that night club," he wrote in the New York Daily News. "Legally designated gun-free zones are invitations to killers."
When good people were not rendered defenseless by law, they have stopped mass murderers. Eugene Volokhrounded up a good selection for the Washington Post, but here are two from just the last few months:

• In April, a Chicago Uber driver shot a gunman who had opened fire on a crowd.
• Weeks before that, Philadelphia police say a good samaritan "saved a lot of people" when he shot and killed a manwho opened up on customers and staff in a barber shop.

Pulse's armed guard came close to saving the day when he exchanged fire with Omar Mateen, but the terrorist got by him and to the club's defenseless patrons. Mateen had the run of the place until Orlando police forced their way inside and killed him hours later.
Three years ago, after the Nairobi Westgate mall massacre by yet another band of terrorists unburdened by obedience to strict gun control laws, then Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble conceded that the old reliance on secure perimeters, professional law enforcement response, and ever-tighter restrictions was ineffective against decentralized terrorist attacks on random gatherings of people.


"How do you protect soft targets? That's really the challenge. You can't have armed police forces everywhere," the former U.S. Treasury official, who had overseen the Secret Service and the ATF before joining Interpol, wondered. "Ask yourself: If that was Denver, Col., if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly? What I'm saying is it makes police around the world question their views on gun control. It makes citizens question their views on gun control. You have to ask yourself, 'Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past with an evolving threat of terrorism?' This is something that has to be discussed."




But too many mass murders of civilians have occurred in places where citizens are legally precluded from arming and thereby defending themselves. If gun control advocates continue to insist on blaming the tools rather than the murderers, experience from Paris, Nairobi, and our own country suggests that they'll just create a few more laws for future Omar Mateens to break on their way to committing mayhem. And they'll make it a little more difficult for intended victims to have a chance at defending themselves without breaking the laws themselves.
Maybe well-intentioned people and potential victims have to recognize that restrictive laws and their deluded promoters are accomplices to these crimes. People who don't want to be victims may have to abide by the wisdom of Patton, Palmer, and Noble and protect themselves – but do so even if that means refusing to be constrained by the laws that predators so readily ignore.

Because the law itself offers no protection from evil people, no matter the tools they choose to use.