@ShannonRWatts: State Gun Laws Don't Work...Even In State

According to her, ONLY federal laws can stop in-state criminal activities:

"We always hear Illinois has some of the most extreme gun laws in the nation, that if gun laws worked, Chicago's strict laws would make it a safe haven," Watts says. "But the borders around Chicago are invisible. The guns stream in from Indiana, Wisconsin and Mississippi."
Indeed, 43 percent of the guns seized by Chicago police were originally purchased in other parts of Illinois, and 57 percent came from out of state, according to ThinkProgress.
"That's only going to be stopped by a federal law," Watts says.

So like most people, she has trouble recognizing that 'Illinois' /= 'Chicago'.  Illinois has licensing, universal background checks, waiting periods yet nearly half of the guns the CPD confiscates are from Illinois.  Does she think that a FEDERAL law will suddenly change that? 

Guess what Shannon, the borders around the STATE are invisible.  The borders around the COUNTRY are invisible. The strict laws don't even work in Illinois, why do you think they'll work in the country? 

All Chicago All The Time

2 dead, 8 wounded in Tuesday shootings
 
According to a police source, both are self-admitted gang members.
 A police source said the teen was a self-admitted gang member.
a dark-colored sedan drove past and someone inside fired at him (iow gang)
 someone in the pursuing vehicle then shot him in the head (gang/drug)

Young mother of five dead after shooting on Dan Ryan 

Some gang-banging thug shooting up the highway. 

 This is McCarthy's 'crime fighting techniques' in action.  Instead Rahm and Quinn will continue to spend millions trying to keep victims victims.

So where's Jesse Jackson Sr. and Shannon Watts and their paid for marchers?  Obama did a press conference on the boy he wanted to be his son, what about these? 

John Walsh Wants His New Show Cancelled

by following in the tracks of Piers Morgan in 'taking on the NRA'.

So a "Gun Owner Butt..." wants to use a new show on a network w/ declining ratings to stump about a generally unpopular topic while getting gun advice from Joe 'Shotgun' Biden.

Yeah, there's some good marketing for you.

But I found this particularly funny:

Walsh said he has suggested that gun manufacturers put GPS tracking devices in every gun so stolen weapons could be easily recovered.

Hmmm. A tracking device in a gun.  Kind of like what the Gov't attempted w/ 'Fast and Furious'? 

Just goes to show he's another sufferer of 'Hollywood Syndrome'.

Grassroots vs Bloomberg Money in Niles, IL

As what usually happens when gun control doesn't function in an echo chamber of censorship, they get outnumbered and lose.

In this case, Niles, IL was debating a permit for a gun shop in an industrial zone.  Bloomberg supporters have a conniption fit because it would be 'within walking distance' of some schools/parks then try to play some of the standard parlor tricks w/ the debate.  Well the main committee punted it to 'zoning' which held their meeting last night.  PuSH'ers were outnumbered 3-1 at least. 

According to the ISRA, the anti-gun folks used quite a bit of nonsense as well as attempting to smear the owners of the shop in order to spread the usual fear-mongering, going on about kids wandering through the store and range.  They even tried to get Todd Vandermyde, NRA lobbyist thrown out of the meeting.

So tell me again how it's a conspiracy theory that the anti-gun groups will try and get rid of gun shops after mandating 'universal background checks'? 

ROBOTECH Academy KS

A potential new ROBOTECH series that was being worked on by Carl Macek before his death in 2010. Personally I'ld like to see them restart Sentinels but that will never happen.

Speaking of Chicago Chief 'Streetlight' McCarthy....

Remember when Garry took credit for the crime drop in Chicago that occurred during the sub-zero 'Polar Vortex' this winter saying it was all his 'crime-fighting strategies'?

Well now, with Chicago more violent than a warzone w/ over 80 people shot and 14 killed last weekend, he's changing his tune.  NOW it's the fault of all those 'lax gun laws' and 'loopholes' :

“Chicago’s police superintendent lashed out at what he called lax state and federal gun laws after a violent Fourth of July weekend that saw 11 deaths in dozens of shooting incidents in a city already known for frequent shootings.”

So how does this work exactly?  He's designed weather dependent 'strategies'?  Have the streetlights been talking to him again?  Or is he and all of the Chicago anti-gun policies complete and utter failures as they listen to fiddle playing by Rahm?

Were these kinds of crime sprees occurring in all of the places that have those 'lax gun laws', there might be some validity to their claims but since crime drops by half immediately outside the city limits, there's something else that's going on.  Perhaps it has something to do w/ the 50% school drop out rates, drugs, poverty, and wandering mobs randomly assaulting people that are more relevant.

More at GFZ

NYPD: More Accurate When Drunk

NYPD officer takes a page from Chicago Police Superintendent Garry "Streetlight" McCarthy's playbook and goes on a drunken shooting spree. In this case, the officer managed to hit his intended target, the guy in the next car, 6 out of 14 times. 

That's better than many NYPD officers do when sober.

Eris: 1997-2014

My last year in the Navy, a friend and I got an apartment since the ship was scheduled to be inport the majority of that time due to overhaul and SLEP.  The place felt empty though.  I found what was missing while doing my usual rounds of the San Diego malls.  In a pet shop which I liked to browse through, one day I saw a little, bright-eyed, grey and brown tabby kitten. "Yeah", I thought, "No home is complete w/o a pet" and I had always had pets around up until I went into the service.
So that evening, my roommate and I drove back there and picked her up.  On the way back, we stopped at his sister's place.  I had the kitten in a box for transport (she didn't like that).  When I took the box out and set it on the hood, I pretended like it was almost more than I could lift and leaned against the bumper making the car lower.  Sister asked 'What the hell is in there?" right before I lifted out a tiny ball of fuzz.  The landlord was not happy as we hadn't cleared it w/ them first but they couldn't resist a cute little fuzzdart so she got to stay.
Then a name.  My roommate wanted to name her 'Puppy' but I had a better one.  What name would fit a ball of chaos?  Eris.  Goddess of Discord.
Her first few weeks in the apartment.

She spent about the first year of her life there, happily peeing in my beanbag, shredding rolls of paper towels, and eating ham, her favorite food.  One of our favorite games was hide and seek.  I would chase her into the kitchen where she would hide in a cabinet which was her 'safe' spot. Then I would go and hide in one of about three places. She would come out after a bit, try and find me, and then I would chase her back into the cabinet.  One time I hid in a different spot and she couldn't find me.  Through a peep hole, I watched her check one, then another, and finally the third spot w/o locating me.  She then slowly walked back into the living room, obviously upset, and let out a piteous mewl. I jumped out, startling her, and the chase began again. 
At one point, I did end up spending about a month in Washington state.  A mutual friend watched the apartment/took care of Eris while we were gone.  When I got back, I was outside talking to the landlord and heard a ruckus coming from the apartment.  I looked up and Eris had shoved through the blinds, hearing my voice. She let out a MEOW that could probably be heard blocks away and met me at the door.  She didn't leave my lap the entire weekend.

When I got out in June of '98, we took a very long trip in a Uhaul back to the People's Soviet.  Between her unhappy meowing and the squeeking of a foam cooler, kitty almost didn't make the trip.  She finally settled down, alternately sleeping under the bench seat or sitting on the dashboard.  She did pick up an unfortunate habit of wanting to sit on my lap with the rest of her body through the steering wheel.
We spent the next few years either living at my folks (her first experiences w/ dogs and other cats) or in various college apartments where the 'family' started growing, along w/ her waistline, eventually reaching near 20 lbs, before settling into the 'Trailer' and an ever growing herd o' kitty where she lived for near 10 yrs.

Some of her favorite places was sitting on my lap w/ as much of herself draped across the keyboard as she thought she could get away with, nesting in some blankets next to (or on) my head while I was sleeping, and any shelves with clothing she could shed on.  Over the last few years, she'ld lost some weight and arthritis was bugging her somewhat but overall she remained a content kitty.

A few weeks ago, I found a lump on her chin.  The vet said it was cancer and that w/ her advanced age, she wouldn't be able to handle chemo or surgery. They gave us some steroids and antibiotics to try and stem the growth.  Since then she went from soft canned food to tuna to finally in-vitro fluids and me feeding her baby food w/ a syringe over the weekend as the tumor grew.  Of course over the weekend.

Her last night w/ her daddy

 This morning I took her to the vet where she spent her last moments in my arms. I'm having her cremated so she can spend even more time w/ me as I sit in my cave.

I miss my Eris kitty.

Chicago Weekend

Obviously the NRA is holding their annual meeting in Chicago:

At least five people were killed and another 11 were wounded in overnight gun violence in Chicago, bringing to more than 50 the number of people shot in the city over the holiday weekend so far, according to police.

And the police are involved as well:

Chicago police shot and killed a 16-year-old boy as he hid under a car in the Gresham neighborhood, one of five people shot by officers in the city over 36 hours, according to authorities.

Now the police are claiming he refused to drop the gun he was holding but a witness claimed he was 'surrendering'.  Which story is true?  I don't know but there is the usual apologetics from the family:

She acknowledged that he’d had trouble with the law but didn’t think he was a “notorious gangster.”
The boy would sometimes accompany his grandmother to church, his family said.
“He was a good young man,” Utendahl said. “He didn’t deserve to be gunned down.”

No, he wasn't.  He was a 16yr old running the streets w/ a gun and already had a criminal record.  He wasn't 'turning himself around' nor was he on his way to church. 

Wonder why certain Chicago neighborhoods have gang/drug/violence problems? This is part of it right here.  It's got nothing to do w/ the NRA, 'Gun Lobby', or lawful firearm owners.