Crime – Page 26 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Star Ledger Strives for Balance and Fails

I think this article in the Newark Star Ledger that MikeB pointed to in the Star Ledger tries to seek balance, by pointing out both sides of the coin. It’s a tired formula the media uses in attempt to appear balanced and insightful, without actually being balanced and insightful, and still pushing an agenda.

It’s also an intellectual cop-out to suggest we just ought to split the difference and be done with it, as if we’re not already sitting on top of a pile of gun laws and regulations already.Â Â It’s difficult to take an article seriously when it’s author can’t even understand the difference between licensed dealers and black market dealers:

Half the guns used in crimes come from one-percent of gun dealers. There can be better oversight of those dealers, and better enforcement of laws.[…]

In New Jersey last month, undercover State Police busted a Glassboro gun dealer who allegedly sold them two assault weapons and a 37 mm projectile launcher, as part of a crackdown on the one percenters.

The guy in the link above is not a legal gun dealer.Â There is no change in regulatory oversight or new gun laws that are going to affect him.Â This isn’t some kind of crack down on otherwise legal gun selling operation.Â This is smuggling.Â It’s already operating outside the law.

The anti-gun people are always quick to paint this image of rouge licensed dealers who blatantly and willfully violate the law.Â If that were the case they’d be in jail.Â It’s always difficult for them to accept that guns are regulated beyond belief, and those regulations don’t do squat about keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals who really want guns.

OK, Armored Cars Aren’t So Soft

Almost as if they took my advice from this weekend, an armored car driver gets into a shootout with an armed robber in South Philadelphia.Â I guess armored cars aren’t quite the soft targets I thought.Â I figured there’d be no way those drivers would get into a gun fight if they could possibly avoid it, because they don’t get paid much, and the money is insured.Â Since criminals seem to be following my advice, and getting shot at, my next suggestion is to try to hold up a police station.Â Yeah.Â That’s the ticket.

Pizza Delivery

Pizza guys are typically the last people you want to rob if you’re a criminal in Philadelphia.Â Especially if they aren’t running pizzas from a major chain.Â Somehow criminals don’t seem to get this message.Â Every month or so there’s a story of a pizza man getting robbed, and the robber getting his ass shot.Â This is the way it should be, of course, but you’d think after a while they’d try to rob an easier target, like armored car drivers.

Deep Concealment

I should get this up early before people have lunch.Â A 600lb man not only concealed a pistol beneath layers of body fat, but conceals a 9mm pistol and two spare magazines.

You Don’t Say

Investigators discover the obvious about the Pittsburgh Gym Shooter:

“These are the rambling messages of a likely psychotic” and display characteristics of a man who has been “severely depressed for a long time,” forensic psychologist Naftali Berrill said of Sodini’s writing.

I would have never guessed the man was psychotic.Â Shooting up a bunch of innocent people in a gym is something pscyhologically healthy people do all the time, isn’t it?

Mass Murder Suicide

At a local gym out near Bridgeville, PA, which is in Western Pennsylvania, a guy kills a bunch of people then offs himself.Â His web page, which I won’t link here, because I have a no publicity for assholes policy, is whaky.Â I did link it on twitter for those who follow me.

Gyms are relatively soft targets, which follows the trend for these losers.Â There are still people in critical condition.Â Let us hope and pray they end up well.Â The next big risk are the copycats, which always seem to follow.

Headline of the Day

Step Two for Underpants Gnomes Finally Revealed

Revocation OK, but Durante Confused About Law

Back when I was biking more regularly, one of my favorite bike trails was the Schukyll Trail.Â I would rarely ride the whole thing, but the parts that go through Norristown can get a bit sketchy.Â I’ve seen kids throw rocks at bikers on the trail.Â Not like big rocks that are going to knock someone out, but bad enough behavior.Â Apparently things have gone downhill, and there have been actual attacks.Â This guy would make a pretty good poster boy for Brillianter’s pepper spray argument:

According to court records, DePaul told police he was riding his bike on the trail and almost crashed into a fence after a boy kicked him in the ribs near the 900 block of Conshohocken Road. DePaul said the boy had a BMX bicycle. Upset, DePaul fired all six rounds at the boy from a distance of 200 to 250 feet, the records say he told officers.

Facing these kinds of charges, the Sheriff is definitely within his legal rights to revoke his License to Carry.Â It’s hard to make a self-defense argument for a threat that was almost a football field away from you.Â It’s quite likely, if the news releases are true, that he’s going to go to prison, and he’ll deserve it.Â He’ll be unable to own, let alone carry a firearm if convicted, and I won’t shed a tear for him.

But the reaction of the Sheriff of Montgomery County concerns me, especially since I carry on that trail when I bike it:

Sheriff Durante once again reminds the public that carrying a firearm on the trail or in any county park, regardless of whether or not one has a concealed carry permit, is illegal and a violation of the rules and regulations of the Montgomery County park system. Anyone caught in possession of a firearm in violation of these rules and regulations will immediately lose their concealed carry permit and will be turned over to the Montgomery County District Attorneyâ€™s Office for prosecution.

It is entirely and unambiguously unalwful for Montgomery County to enforce this ordinance, and I can promise Durante a giant lawsuit if he tries.Â As a violation of statewide preemption, it couldn’t be any clearer.Â Furthermore, I’m rather outraged that Durante chose to focus on it (not) being illegal to carry in a county park, rather than mentioning this jackass’ LTC was revoked because he drew his hog leg and started shooting up the place like it was high-noon at the OK corral.

If you have a License to Carry a firearm, this ordinance does not apply to you.Â Carry on the trail if you feel inclined, and if you get in trouble, contact an attorney and fight it.Â The rest of us shouldn’t be punished because of one jackass.

Man Who Sold McNair’s Girlfriend Gun Arrested

Apparently he was a prohibited person:

Adrian J. Gilliam Jr., 33, of LaVergne, Tenn., was arrested Friday morning by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and faces a “felon in possession” charge, a source familiar with the case told ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky.

A criminal complaint unsealed Friday in Nashville says that Gilliam — who was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted armed robbery in 1993 in Florida — admitted he sold the gun to the woman who later shot McNair.

So she basically bought it from a criminal.Â Where Gilliam got it from, it doesn’t say, but the last legal sale of the gun was in 2002.Â Could have been stolen and ended up on the black market.Â Either way, the guy wasn’t allowed to own a gun at all, so it can be considered a black market transaction.

So does Bryan Miller and the Brady Campaign want to apologize for maligning honest gun owners over this yet?

Craig’s List Killer’s Gun

Turns out the Craig’s List Killer bought his gun with fake ID in New Hampshire.Â Not much you can do about criminals willing to go to such lengths.Â Only problem for the dealer was that the fake ID was a New York driver’s license:

Concord attorney Evan Nappen recently wrote a book called “New Hampshire Gun, Knife and Weapon Law.” He said that while local dealers are required to only sell to New Hampshire residents, one section of federal law does allow for a purchase with an out-of-state picture identification, as long as that person can prove dual residency, meaning that they physically live at the local address for some period of time.

“Some of the things that could go to that is showing proof of residency, like a utility bill, and then you may have deeds, etc., whatever is going to meet that standard,” Nappen said.

If the Craig’s List Killer didn’t show such proof, if the dealer only gets his license yanked, he can count his lucky stars.Â I’m going to bet whoever sold him the gun is going to end up indicted on federal charges, however.

Do the anti-gun people still want to argue that guns are unregulated?