Crime – Page 13 – Shall Not Be Questioned

IHOP Killer Had History of Mental Illness

Keep on eye on this story. I would be very surprised if Sencion was not well known to police for previous mental illness problems. I would be surprised if there is not a history of observational holds, followed by release because he was not an imminent danger.

So far his prediction would seem to be bearing out:

Family members told authorities that Sencion had a history of mental problems dating back to age 16, the official said.

Also this:

Eduardo Sencion, 32, had been taken into custody in South Lake Tahoe in 2000 under a California law that allows police to hold a person who presents a danger to themselves or others, South Lake Tahoe police spokesman Lt. David Stevenson said.

There’s no background check system that’s going to work to disarm mentally ill people like this if authorities refuse to act. Even under California law, this would only have disabled him from buying a firearm for five years. Being held under this particular California statute is not a federal disqualification, nor should it be, since the amount of due-process afforded is very low.

Our opponents will hew and haw that we must turn the country into a giant padded cell, rather than making sure authorities and the mental health system understand the importance of getting these people proper mental health treatment, and, when necessary, getting them off the street. It’s not going to do us any good if they switch from using guns to matches and gasoline. You have to get the mentally ill off the streets, or this kind of thing is going to continue occurring.

Bloomberg Blaming the Feds

It should be no surprise that Bloomberg’s response to 24 shootings in 24 hours was to blame Washington for a lack of federal gun controls. Kate Pavlich notes:

Note to Bloomberg: guns don’t shoot themselves. As shown above, the shooter had an extensive criminal history. This isn’t an issue of gun control, this is an issue of criminal control.

We’ve noticed Katie Pavlich writing on our topic often, as well as appearing in studio at NRA News. We’re hoping this continues. It should be noted the shooter’s extensive criminal history that made him federally disqualified to even so much as touch a firearm, let alone carry one. What federal gun control that does Bloomberg think would have disarmed him? Make it illegal for him to transport a gun back to New York? Sorry, already illegal. Make it illegal for him to purchase a gun? Sorry, already illegal. And how much do you want to bet the shooter in this case didn’t get his gun from a gun show, which still would have been illegal even if he had done it.

Quote of the Day

From Dave Hardy:

As was suggested in comments to earlier posts, it’s becoming increasingly hard to deny the suspicious that the object of getting guns to the Sinaloa Cartel was … to get guns to the Sinaloa Cartel.

It makes you wonder if this operation goes beyond the simple explanations, like that it was meant to create a basis for more domestic gun control, and gets into a much broader purpose, that could develop into a major scandal. If the media weren’t completely in the tank, I might suggest this could be an administration destroying scandal.

Kate Pavlitch is reporting that senior administration officials were briefed on the operation. I keep wondering whether mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times are going to give up the charade that this was just good intentions gone sour, rather than push the idea there were never any good intentions in Fast and Furious, and that it accomplished exactly what it was intended to.

UPDATE: I should say, if this scandal gets into cloak and dagger territory, it will really speak to the incompetence of this administration. If you’re going to go that route, do you really want to leave a key component of your strategy in the hands of…. ATF? I’d like to think no one would be that foolish.

Melson Being Moved

This is an interesting development. Looks like he’s being moved to Justice, presumably where higher ups can keep a closer eye on what he’s up to. This comes as the Congressional investigation probes just how high the Fast and Furious scandal goes. It’ll be interesting to see the Congressional reaction to this reassignment, and whether Melson will continue to cooperate with the investigation.

Canton Officer Being “Disciplined”

I share WizardPC’s disappointment that the Officer in Canton responsible for a loony rage, where he threatened to kill a CCW holder that was compliant and in custody, is only facing disciplinary action. If I did that to a cop, I’d be in jail already. Like you and me only better, indeed.

Plainfield Touts Buyback, Gun Shot Detector

Plainfield, New Jersey is yet another community to install gunshot detectors. I don’t honestly have much of a problem with this technology, as if I have to fire a gun within a city’s limits, I want the police showing up quickly. But does it actually work? I’ve yet to hear these systems revolutionizing police work, and their deployment, as best I can tell, has been pretty limited. New Jersey law enforcement seems to be keen on them, however. My guess is the system probably provides a lot of false positives, and doesn’t buy you much in terms of crime prevention for the cost. Cities would probably do better to spend the money on more police.

UPDATE: Interesting study:

Police response times to technology-generated reports of gunfire wereÂ compared to response times to citizen-generated reports both before andÂ during the test period. For the most part, there was little differenceÂ between response times to technology-generated reports of gunfire duringÂ the test period and response times to citizen-generated reports before theÂ test period. However, the mean response time to citizen-generated reportsÂ of gunfire during the test period (about 30 minutes) was about 30 percentÂ less than the mean response time to technology-generated reports (aboutÂ 45 minutes). Nonetheless, the overall mean response time during the testÂ period (to the technology- and citizen-generated reports combined) wasÂ about 41 minutes, just 2 minutes longer than the mean response timeÂ before the test period (to citizen-generated reports only). ResearchersÂ concluded that using the technology did not change in any substantial wayÂ the speed with which the police responded to reports of gunfire.

Also:

There are two possible explanations for this significant increase in policeÂ workloads: First, gunshot detection technology may generate some falseÂ alerts. Given the design of the evaluation and the relatively early stage ofÂ this technology’s development, this first possible explanation could not beÂ explored in more detail. Second, Dallas may have a high rate of unreportedÂ gunfire, at least in the Oak Cliff neighborhood; if so, this finding couldÂ have significant ramifications for future crime analysis and crimeÂ prevention activities that seek to control the random gunfire problem inÂ Dallas.

Given that, it seems to me this technology is a net negative, if it’s not resulting in a better response and is consuming police resources. Yet the conclusion is still relatively positive. But then again, our society likes easy solutions to complex problems, so I guess it’s not surprising.

How To Get Fiber to Your Rural Neighborhood

Apparently stealing the phone cables for the scrap copper might work pretty well. This article speaks of Alabama leading the nation in people stealing copper wire off poles.

A commenter notes that with no market for scrap fiber, it might be another justification for AT&T to finally bite the bullet and invest in fiber to the home. I occasionally like to plug the keywords “electrocution” and “copper” into Google News to see if copper thieves have gotten any smarter about also trying to steal live electrical wire. The answer has continually beenÂ no.

That’s pretty funny. I had a co-worker from the former Soviet Union, who noted after the collapse of the Soviet government, it wasn’t uncommon for whole areas to wake up to no phone or electricity, because someone had come in the middle of the night and stolen all the copper wire to the neighborhood. Glad to see Obama is bringing us all the same joys of societal decay.

Situational Awareness

If you’re going to go to the City of Philadelphia, you have to pay careful attention to your surroundings.

Caught On Tape: Philadelphia Teen Mob Attack: MyFoxPHILLY.com

You would do well to steer clear of groups of young males, even if they look relatively benign on approach. I would no longer worry about seeming racist for crossing the street. That’s the sad reality of the City now. For your own safety, you must assume the group’s intentions are poor, and alter your route. If the group follows you, be prepared to defend yourself quickly and violently.

This is not a dangerous neighborhood. These kinds of attacks are happening all over the city in nice areas, and it’s not going to stop until the city either ruthlessly prosecutes the perpetrators, or someone start shooting these hoodlums in self-defense. I don’t give good odds on the former.

UPDATE: Just realized the Fox video is embeddable.

Does Gun Control Save Lives in Riots?

The Boston Globe’s Ben Jacobs ponders:

Compared to similar outbreaks of unrest in the United States, like the 1992 riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict, there has been relatively little loss of life. In LA, 53 people died; in the UK, four were dead as of Wednesday afternoon. This likely can be attributed to one major difference between the US and the UK, which is the low level of gun ownership in Britain (35 of the LA victims were killed by gunshot wounds).

How many of those 35 people killed by gunshot wounds in the LA riots deserved it? One of the biggest philosophical differences between us, and people who are repulsed by firearms, is that we accept that some people’s criminal behavior makes it completely justifiable to shoot them. As long as the people killed in a riot were killed because they were flouting law and order, I have no problem with it. Saving lives should not be the measure the civility of dealing with a riot; how quickly law and order is restored and maintained is the measure of civility.

Dueling Op-Eds in USA Today

USA Today itself is blaming the “gun lobby,” for gun smuggling to Mexico, with only passing mention of ATF being responsible. Their article today on Fast and Furious doesn’t seem to suggest there’s much to blame, except maybe the straw buyer.

But they did at least give NRA a say:

That must be some form! The administration claims it will help stop cartels from bringing drugs and mayhem to our country. Really?

Can this form also leap tall buildings in a single bound? President Obama must be kidding.

I find Wayne’s public rhetoric often sounds a bit contrived, but I think mockery is absolutely the correct way to deal with this, and the messaging here is good. The idea that you’re going to disarm drug trafficking networks with billions of dollars is absolutely ludicrous. Laughably ludicrous.