Gunnuttery category archive

Cultural Anthropologist Griffin Dix explores the proliferation of firearms and find that, in the immortal words of Yogurt, it was all “merchandising, my boy, merchandising.”

A nugget:

First — in response to declining sales of hunting rifles and shotguns — the gun industry initiated a four-decade marketing campaign to persuade Americans to buy handguns for home protection. In 1960 only 27 percent of the annual addition to the American gun stock consisted of handguns; by 1994 handguns’ share had doubled to 54 percent.

The industry’s marketing effort emphasized the need to have a handgun instantly available when — inevitably — your home is invaded. Gun marketers circulated criminologist Gary Kleck’s wildly inflated estimate that guns are used 2.4 million times per year for self-defense. Kleck’s research was riddled with errors soon exposed by Harvard’s David Hemenway. Subsequent studies showed that rather than providing protection, gun ownership greatly increased the risk of homicide and suicide in the home.

Read the rest.

Practice random acts of politeness towards the police.

A Boiling Springs town commissioner has been charged with pointing a gun at state troopers.

The Shelby Star reports (http://bit.ly/13KW5VO ) that troopers were responding to a call at around 10 p.m. on July 12 when 54-year-old John C. Glenn shined a laser light at them.

Authorities say Glenn then drove to his nearby lumber business. Troopers say they arrested Glenn there and found a gun with a laser sight in his car.A Boiling Springs town commissioner has been charged with pointing a gun at state troopers.

Too soon armed, too late smart.

From the webpage:

f they really believed their own rhetoric – the NRA and its friends in the Republican Party would start talking about giving people like Trayvon Martin – not George Zimmerman – easier access to firearms.

Also, pigs, wings.

More politeness for the children.

Wilmington police say a 5-year-old girl has been shot outside her home.

(snip)

He (Cpl. Mark Ivey–ed.) says the girl was standing outside her home when she was shot in the right leg.

Be polite to the children.

The Oakland Tribune (http://bit.ly/15OQ8w6 ) says the Oakland girl was on a sleepover with a friend inside the apartment when a man opened fire on the building shortly before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. She died at a hospital.

The shooting also wounded a 4-year-old boy, his 7-year-old sister and their 64-year-old grandmother. They’re hospitalized in stable condition Thursday and are expected to recover.

Party politely.

St. Louis Homicide detectives report just before midnight the men were driving on Chestnut on the north side of Kiener Plaza when one of the men in the car dumped beer inside the vehicle, sparking an argument.

Another man in in the car upset over the spill then got into an argument with the man who dumped the drink. That man got a gun and fired several shots at the victim, striking him repeatedly in the chest. The 29 year old victim was dead at the scene.

If Spuds MacKenzie had had a gun, this no doubt would not have happened.

Via the Sacramento Bee.

Practice, politely.

. . . the offending customer was firing a Smith & Wesson pistol that was “rather new” to him in a neighboring lane at Wade’s range. As the man raised his arms to shoot, the other customer accidentally fired through the foam lane divider.

The 9 mm bullet struck the man in the right arm, powered through it, then tore through his left arm as well, leaving him seriously injured, according to the lawsuit.

Yes, it does say “foam lane divider.”

Politeness proliferates potently.

Twenty-three mass killings have taken place in the past year since the Aurora, Colo. movie theater shooting, according to a USA Today report.

According to USA Today, 126 people have been killed in mass killings across 19 states since July 20, 2012.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Feral twits.

Be polite to the sick and infirm.

Officials at Crozer Chester Medical Center are investigating an incident in which a bullet fired from outside the hospital late Monday night struck a patient in the abdomen.

Keep trafficking on, politely.

Police say that Ramiro Valerio was riding in the rear of a Chevrolet Tahoe traveling east from 35th Avenue on the access road to Indian School Road. As the Tahoe merged onto Indian School Road, it almost collided with a car which was traveling east. Occupants of both cars exchanged words.

East of 31st Avenue, the car turned north and one of the occupants of that car shot at the Tahoe, police said.

Valerio’s companions realized he was shot and drove him to a hospital, but he did not survive.

Be polite to your playmates.

A 6-year-old boy was shot by his 5-year-old playmate in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., on the Fourth of July, the local Mountain News newspaper reported Thrusday.

The two boys found a loaded pistol in an unlocked closet in the older boy’s grandparents’ home . . . .

Be polite on the highways.

The victim was driving his Chrysler 300 west on the Expressway about 10:30 p.m. between Montgomery Drive and Route 1 when he accidentally cut off another driver, said Cpl. Gerard McShea, of the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Philadelphia.

The victim said he saw the car behind him speed up and then heard a loud crack, McShea said. One bullet smashed the back windshield and cracked the front windshield and appears to have just missed striking the victim.

Locally, some call it the “Surekill Depressway,” but, even for the Surekill, this is unusual.

Of course, if the victim had had a Glock in the glove compartment, this would have never happened, as it would have restored the balance of politeness.

Celebrate birthdays politely.

William Scroggins, 34, met Michael Abernathy, 35, and his brother at a Circle K store at 5105 W. McDowell Road at about 11:30 p.m. to celebrate Abernathy’s birthday, according to Phoenix police. Scroggins had brought Abernathy’s sister to the Circle K with him.

Scroggins and Abernathy argued while at the Circle K, said Sgt. Trent Crump of the Phoenix Police Department. Scroggins is suspected of pulling out a handgun, shooting Abernathy and threatening to shoot his brother.

Watch Thom tangle with a glibertarian who keeps trying to change the subject.

These folks are nuts.

Manage family issues politely.

The man grabbed his shotgun when his ex-girlfriend showed up at his house, authorities told TV station KSAT. When his girlfriend tried to intervene, the gun went off, wounding her, according to police.

News reports of polite celebrations continue to surface.

Guns don’t make persons safe.

They make persons stupid.

Be polite when you see the light.

According to the Mitchell Police Division, the 34-year-old man was sitting alone in a lawn chair on the back porch of his residence, located in the 400 block of East Ninth Avenue, when a family member turned on the porch light and opened a nearby door. Startled by the light and noise, the man woke up and unintentionally pulled the handgun’s trigger and shot himself.

He drove himself to the hospital.

Via TPM.