Back when the blog was daily we had a brief post following the Pulse Nightclub tragedy and never revisited the incident. The news reported it as an attack against the LGBTQ community by a wanna be terrorist and we accepted that to be true. Recently an article from Huffington Post entitled Everyone Got The Pulse Massacre Story Completely Wrong pointed out the flaws in the previous byline. Sure, the news posted the fact the shooter visited an entertainment complex and the police presence cause him to move on. We never put two and two together as the author of the article did to come to the realization the shooting was random and the nightclub had not been targeted for any reason other than it had a large number of people in one location who could be victims. The shooters widow was recently acquitted and it was determined her confession was bogus and only made after half a day of continuous questioning. The FBI knew her confession wasn’t true because she didn’t go with her husband to case the club and they were never near the club at the time stated. It was a horrible hand fate dealt those at the club that the shooter went to the club they were in, but as the article points out, they were not targeted for being LGBTQ.
If you haven’t see the Huffington Post article, be sure to read it from beginning to end, it is well worth your time.
In this viral video Mark Robinson sets the Greensboro City Council straight on who they should represent and his thoughts on legal gun owners. I don’t know him, but I wish I did!
A few days ago we posted questioning which story by David Hogg was true. Since then some reports have indicated Hogg’s comment was taken out of context and he rode his bicycle back to the school later that evening at twilight to shoot film. One thing is for certain, it would have been impossible for Hogg to have heard about the shooting while sitting at home and make it there before the school went into lockdown. Since there is video which was made during and after the lockdown of Hogg, he was certainly inside the school. If his statement was simply taken out of context then shame on CBS for editing clips to drive viewership and controversy.
There still are some questions which remain unanswered. The timeline for the events in Parkland are well documented. The shooter was dropped off by an Uber at 2:19pm, the shooting began at 2:21pm and stopped at 2:24pm, the school was locked down at 2:25pm, the shooter exited at 2:28pm, went to WalMart at 2:50pm, McDonalds at 3:01pm, the lockdown lifted at 3:36pm, and the shooter arrested at 3:41pm. Edited video from Hogg has been released on various news media which has him in a classroom or closet interviewing students and providing his own commentary. It begins at 2:52pm and he indicates he heard a single gun shot at around 2:30pm. We’re only talking about a 5-9 minute discrepancy, but one would think someone who professes to be a journalist would strive for accuracy especially someone from a generation known to use a smartphone regularly as their clock. At 3:13pm in the video Hogg identifies “Nick Cruz” as the shooter. This makes us wonder how he could have identified someone at 3:13pm who was not arrested until 3:41pm.
An unedited and unverified time stamp video emerged which indicates the interview in the closet/classroom is actually taking place at 9:32 with no indication of am or pm. So has someone pieced together various videos to try to tell a particular story, or are portions completely made up? In the LA Times video Hogg can clearly be seen exiting the building after the lockdown was lifted. There can be little doubt he was in the school at the time of the incident. The questions then become is the video and edited compilation of snippets designed to tell a narrative and are portions fabricated. Also how would Hogg be able to identify Cruz before the police were able to make the identification? We’ve not seen anyone pose that question before, but to know at 3:13pm it was Cruz would mean Hogg knew information the police had not yet figured out. The only other explanations which come to mind are Hogg’s video is a fabrication or Hogg was somehow complicit in the event. We may never know the truth, but it is evident the LA Times video is edited so we are leaning toward the video being fabricated to meet a storyline.
If anyone is thinking of Hogg as their spokesperson they might want to rethink their choice. He’s quickly showing his true colors and a panache for making things up as the shooting was over before he could have ridden three miles to the school after he received the news. He inserted himself in the middle under the guise of journalism, but his true colors are showing through, all he desires to do is extend his 15 minutes of fame. Looks like we may have another Brian Williams in the making.
I remember watching the aftermath of the shooting which occurred in Parkland, FL and seeing David Hogg interviewed and later making commentary on CBS News Sunday Morning and thought what an intelligent young man. I also felt for all he must have been through during the shooting which took 17 lives. Later it surfaced he may have been coached, oh heck, he WAS coached in his responses. Regardless he still experienced the shooting and was certainly affected by it.
On 60 Minutes they featured the high school students from Parkland and of course Time has them on the cover. Yesterday a video surfaced of a woman discussing the “rally” on Saturday in DC and the lack of permits, where they were going illegally, and firms who supposedly has financed the trip when the reality is those firms are not providing transportation. She is a teacher and was coaching the kids on how to act, what to wear, and what to say. She mentioned throughout the experience they would have teachers with them. It got me wondering if this group of students is leading the charge as they asserted on 60 Minutes or if it’s the adults who run the show.
Anyway, last night I happened upon a YouTube video of David Hogg entitled, “David Hogg is the NRA’s worst nightmare, and he’s just getting started,” by The Outline. I was listening to the video and besides figuring out Hogg used the most profane sentence structure to enunciate his thoughts, I happened to catch a statement made at ~5:40 into the 9 minute video which made me rewind and listen again. The Outline has part of video written on their website, but neatly omits that portion. Here is what I heard, listen and see if you hear the same thing.
David Hogg: So honestly it’s been a great thing because people are becoming more critical thinkers and becoming more politically active as a result. It’s also been great advertising for me. Uhh, in terms of acting, because I don’t give a **** what people say about me, but they quadrupled my twitter following, they’ve done a great job of that.
Previous to that statement the people conducting the interview touched on the crisis actor conspiracy theories so some might say the term actor and advertising were a response to those previous questions, but I don’t buy that argument. In candid interviews he tends to say what’s on his mind without thinking and judging by the volume of profane statements this was a candid interview and he was speaking his mind without thinking. We’ll see what the future holds. I suspect you’ll see him as a commentator on the news and eventually as a reporter. That is unless he continues to do candid interviews laced with profanity and discussing how the tragic event in Parkland has been great advertising.
Ruger recently wrote a letter to shareholders which is worthwhile for everyone to read. They speak about Modern Sporting Rifles and the programs in place which they participate. The finish up with how they feel about banning firearms based on the action of a few criminals. Take a few minutes and read the letter. It will be time well spent.
Sometimes a teachable moment comes along. We noticed a tweet on someone’s page from Shannon Watts who is the director of Mom’s Demand Action For Gun Sense In America. It showed a rifle, a black one, and said, “You can buy this at @SportsmansWH if you’re 18.” We went to Mrs. Watts twitter feed and sure enough the photo below was there with the tweet.
We should take a minute to understand what “THIS” is exactly. Sure it is a black rifle, but what it is really? Look closely and you will notice it is a BOLT ACTION. For those who may not be familiar with rifles, in order to load a cartridge you pull back the bolt and when the bolt is closed a cartridge is removed from the magazine and placed in the chamber. After firing the bolt can be cycled to eject the spent casing and load another cartridge. We really need to peel the onion one step further in this case. In addition to being a bolt action this is also a .22LR. Mrs. Watts would have known this if she had simply typed Ruger 8400 into a Google search and then viewed the results.
We’ve been told all our lives to not judge a book by its cover. Just because a firearm is black and appears tactical it is not an assault weapon. Perhaps Mrs. Watts should work on her “Gun Sense.”
It appears the murderer who terrorized concertgoers injuring over 500 and killing 59 utilized bump fire stocks to carry out his mayhem. I can recall taking a look at them as a novelty which might be fun for a trip or two to the range several years ago, but when you couple the cost of the stock with the cost of ammunition they just don’t make sense. You can approximate automatic fire with them, but at the cost of accuracy. Unfortunately the gunman in Las Vegas didn’t need to be very accurate as he had 22,000 targets in the crowd.
Let’s circle back to the topic of the post. Bump fire stocks were declared legal by the ATF and are only considered a firearm part, like any other stock. The reason is they are not a firearm and accept no ammunition. On this point I have to agree with the ATF. It’s what they do which is suspect. They allow a semi-automatic rifle to approximate the firing rate of a machine gun. While one half of my brain hates governmental intervention in our daily lives, the other thinks we as a society decided machine guns needs to be regulated. I think owning a machine gun would be interesting and fun, but I still think they need to be tightly regulated. Can you imagine the death toll in Chicago if every gang banger had a functioning machine gun? If we need to regulate machine guns then by the same token a device design to circumvent normal operation and approximate automatic fire should similarly be regulated.
I don’t believe for an instant the shooter in Las Vegas would have been stopped if he didn’t have bump fire stocks, but I do believe he would have fired less rounds during his assault and may have injured less people. How many less is unknown, but even if the numbers were cut in half it would be better. With the even still fresh in my mind, my position is we don’t need devices designed to create the rapid fire characteristics of regulated weapons unless the devices are regulated. Thoughts?
This morning I awoke to learn of the tragedy which happened last night in Las Vegas when a single gunman was positioned in a high rise and shot down into a crowd of 40,000 attending a concert. The police have indicated one person caused this tragedy and he acted alone. Early reports indicate he had at least ten rifles and shot into the crowd for at least ten minutes killing at least 50 with more than 400 transported to the hospital. I watched some videos and it the gunshots came rapid fire as if the firearm was fully automatic. Those weapons are highly regulated and legal owners are registered or criminals have illegally converted the firearm to be fully automatic. Crimes committed with machine guns are few and far between.
The events in Las Vegas are terrible and the facts are not yet known. I hope society will focus on the victims and their families because they need our support as those who were injured heal from their wounds and the families of those who were killed mourn the loss of their loved ones.
