At least a dozen people are dead in Washington, D.C. today after multiple gunmen opened fire in the historic Navy Yard district of our nation’s capitol. As is so often the case in the early hours of tragedies like this, reliable information is hard to come by – but what isn’t up for debate is the ongoing and unmitigated failure of anti-Second Amendment laws when it comes to stopping violent crime.
Washington, D.C. bans citizens from carrying weapons outside of their homes – whether concealed or out in the open. In fact if you want to own a gun inside your own home in Washington you are limited to a list of “pre-approved” weapons and must abide by strict limits on ammunition. Not only that, you must provide law enforcement with your fingerprints, take a course on firearm safety and pass a written exam on the district’s gun regulations.
And that’s before we get to the issue of background checks and waiting periods …
Have any of these laws worked? Of course not. Washington D.C. ranked eighth in the nation in 2012 in terms of murders per 100,000 residents.
We’ve already discussed unavoidable failure of such strict laws as it relates to Chicago – the reigning murder capital of America – but it bears repeating in this case.
Federal crime data has shown there is no correlation between tougher gun laws and lower levels of violent crime (in fact just the opposite is true), while just last month a new Harvard study revealed the same thing is true of “gun control” across the globe.
Anti-Second Amendment advocates should “at the very least (be able) to show a large number of nations with more guns have more death and that nations that impose stringent gun controls have achieved substantial reductions in criminal violence (or suicide),” the Harvard researchers noted.
Indeed … however the researchers found that “those correlations are not observed when a large number of nations are compared around the world.”
Again … the opposite was true.
Of course none of this is stopping the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama – and numerous left-leaning state, county and municipal governments across the country – from seeking to turn America into a nation of sitting ducks.
As we’ve noted previously, there is but one true “gun control” law in America. It provides American citizens with an unqualified, unambiguous right to keep and bear arms – one that the federal government (or any government, for that matter) is explicitly enjoined from infringing upon.
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” it says, right there on the paper.
Of course government at all levels has been infringing upon this right for decades – making us less safe in the process.
We fought aggressively against this erosion of liberty in the wake of the tragic school shooting in Connecticut last December, and we will fight every bit as aggressively against it in the wake of this tragedy. It is never “too soon” to stand up for liberty (and against ignorance) … however it may one day soon be “too late.”
54 comments
Law abiding citizens are the ones that need guns. The lawless will get one. I think there is more than one group of terrorist plotting in America.It is time White Americans take a look at what is going on here. I believe this with all my heart because about everyday I read over the internet and it has become like a contagious disease. I will not live or work in a place that prevents me from being able to protect myself and loved ones. I would sooner doe than be a coward.
I’m not sure where to begin with you. Why are you invoking race? Most mass killers are white. This is the rare exception.
What has become a contagious disease? And if you are reading it on the internet, than it must be true.
Also, your spelling.
Oh, and if you would rather doe (or die?) than be a coward, then why not post under your real name? I have a pseudonym as well, but I am not boast about my courage under said pseudonym.
EGBDF — Every good boy does fine…with an assault rifle. Every boy and girl, man and woman should carry an assault rifle, yes? To defend ourselves against madmen, yes? And let’s unseat every politician who restricts us from our assault rifles or multi-cartridge clips, right? Guns are wonderful. Everyone should have a large collection.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r9LA60BtTw
This is the rare exception.
TBG thinks “rare” seems to be inaccurate in that blacks commit mass murder at a rate over double of that of their % of population….
Mass murderers are considerably more likely to be white males than are killers in general. Sixty percent of mass murders are committed by whites, compared to 49 percent of all killings. Blacks account for 36 percent of mass killings, but 49 percent of all homicides. People of other races account for 4 percent of mass killings and 2 percent of all homicides.
Source
I am sorry about die,the i and e are beside each other and at times I hit the wrong key. I think you and I have conversed before. Go to newslink.org and you can hook up with quite a few newspapers from all around the country.I read several hours a day from them and the internet. Not using it as an excuse but I have a little age on me but I do not think I am senile yet. You being a lawyer,an arbitrator or such you probably do not keep up with what is going on but I would be happy to run you off the articles I have copied if you will give me your address. I do not wish to die but I have lived a good,full and fruitful life in my opinion and would certainly give my life for a loved one in a heartbeat
I also was not speaking of this because of it being a mass killing but black on white crime is 8 to 12 times higher than vice versa and you do the math and the ration Mr. Lawyer!.
doe
D’OH!
You and the Lawyer need to get together and keep my spelling corrected. I just happened to hit the wrong key. I guess I am at that stage in life but thanks.
TBG was trying to rag on Greenville Lawyer about his ragging on you about what was obviously a typo. TBG also likes to work Homer Simpson quotes into a reply, whenever possible. Sorry about that.
For the record, misuse of rein/reign, discreet/discrete, pallet/palette/palate etc WILL bring out the Grammar Nazi in me.)
What’s Homer Simpon’s favorite song? D’OH a Beer!
Spoken like a true man of the world!
Wait, aren’t you people always saying that if we armed everyone to the teeth they could stop these gunmen? It was a freakin’ Navy Yard, with a bunch of Marines around the corner? You telling me they couldn’t come up with a gun to stop it?
I’m sure they had acess to the storage room where the guns were under lock and key. It was probably in a basement located in a building on the other side of the compond.
** COMPOUND **
This is a “Navy Yard” in name only. It is basically an office park. If they have Marine guards at the gate, they may not even be armed. And if they are armed, they might not have ammo. There are probably DOD police aboard who, again, may or may not be armed.
Access is pretty free (probably not now) as there is a public museum on the grounds.
The Navy Yard has armed (with ammo) Dept of the Navy personnel (mixed Navy / Marine / Civilian) guarding the gates. You must have a Gov’t ID of some kind to enter the Base. The Museum and the USS Barry are open the main tourist attractions on the base. The current story is that Alexis took the rifle and handgun he had from one of those unarmed, un-“ammoed” guards.
Fort Jackson’s DAC Police Force is armed and has long guns for backup readily available. Bragg’s gate guards routinely carry shotguns as the check vehicles entering the base.
That’s the irony of it all. The military doesn’t even trust their own troops with firearms. All troops’ weapons are at the armory, and if they live on base, their personal weapons are at the armory as well. Retrieving your weapon from the armory can be a time consuming process. And as CNSYD said, the average Marine guards in garrison (not on deployment) will have their rifle on them but won’t have their mags loaded.
The reasons for this policy are to prevent accidents and suicides. But doesn’t it says a lot when the military spends thousands of hours training its personnel on weapons handling procedures, just to tell them they can’t be trusted with them?
That’s all fine and good, but this happened at a NAVY YARD and at least one killed was a COP. These folks had guns.
Who knows maybe it was one from Fast & Furious our own governments operation. The government cannot protect you even in places they control and expect you to turn your weapons over to them. Sounds sort of strange doesn’t it? The first place that went under lock down after this was the US Senate from what I understand.
isn’t this the same gubmint that freed nearly 3,000 illegal sexual predators recently according to an ICE report?
You don’t say! Take your guns so they can send them to drug dealers in Mexico and you cant resist when they come for you.
what’s wrong with you,dude
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6UAYGxiRwU
Why do you feel the need to defend you position right now? Did you not write this same bullshit after Newtown? Somehow you always manage to leave the first sentence off of the Second Amendment whenever you make reference to it. “A well regulated Militia,”
You read your Constitution like most Carolinans read their bibles,selectively. Wait a day before you bend over and pander.
“Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The Second Amendment is ONLY one sentence long. ” A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,…” refers to THE PEOPLE as a whole, who in the time of Tyranny will use arms to defend Liberty.
MyDaddyIsRich, I would suggest you read American history and not listen to your pandering overlords, Fienstien et.al. Washington DC has some of the most restrictive and oppressive gun control laws in the nation, yet it didn’t stop the criminal who shot up a Military Base today. If, as the President says, we are at war with terrorists, why weren’t the soldiers on the base armed? This would not have happened on a military base in Israel I can assure you.
If, as we see that restriciive gun control does not work to prevent violence as occured today, we have to ask what is restriciive gun control true purpose?
A disarmed populace becomes subjects, not citizens.
And finally, MyDaddyIsRich, The POTUS was pandering to you and yours on his gun control agenda while the killing was ongoing. I would further suggest that you go back to school, read a book, get your GED and stay in San Fransisco,,,AND DON’T EVER TALK ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINIANS LIKE THAT AGAIN!
“DON’T EVER TALK ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINIANS LIKE THAT AGAIN!”
Um, you’ve heard of the First Amendment, right? Calm down there, Anon cowboy.
So you interpret “well regulated militia” to mean the general populace regardless of training or ability. Are you from Afghanistan?
TBG interprets “the people” to mean the “general populace regardless of training or ability”. Are you from the Netherlands or Belgium?
Barak Obama, democrats and RINOs caused this massacre.
And Lindsay Graham!
RINO *******Lindsay Graham
The Dept. of Redundancy Department would like a moment of your time.
He was from Texas and within slingshot distance of Virginia, both awash with guns and gun culture. This was hardly London, far from a sea of private guns.
More interesting, one news story today said he had an arrest record (true, not necessarily a conviction) and was supposedly licensed (somewhere) to carry a concealed weapon. I wonder if that is true, but jeez, in Texas you can maybe be on parole and packing.
Yep, a CWP holder that did this. I thought they were all vetted and would stop bad guys with weapons. Guess not.
CWP verifies history and fingerprints and tests on aim and knowledge of the law. You’re surprised that CWP holders are not machines, but in fact still human beings?
The fact is most CWP carriers are law abiding citizens, as are many gun owners without a CWP. Taking their rights away in some vain attempt to stop criminals who are already hellbent on breaking multiple laws to carry out their acts is absolutely retarded.
Who said anything about taking away rights? Just commenting that the NRA would have us believe the cure for everything from crime to cancer is a CWP holder packing heat. Sure didn’t seem to be the case today.
He bought the shotgun in Lorton, VA, about 20 miles south of DC and a place where virtually no rules apply. He used that shotgun to shoot police or security personnel and take their AR-15 and sidearm.
Not sure where all the facts are coming from so quickly:
AP is reporting that: “Two federal officials told the Associated Press that Alexis had an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene.” If that is true, he obtained all of his weapons at the scene.
Any hit on the multpile background checks required in VA would have delayed his gun purchase: from VA State Police: ” The fifth database accessed during this check is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) which searches the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) consisting of the Wanted Persons File, Protection Order File, Interstate Identification Index (III), Deported Felons File, US Secret Service Protective File, Foreign Fugitive File, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms’ Violent Felon File, and NICS indexes: Illegal/Unlawful Aliens File, Mental Defectives/Commitments File, Dishonorable Discharges, Citizenship Renunciants, Controlled Substance Abuse File and Denied Persons File.”
Another excellent post….
Didn’t have a CWP, it was denied because of issues with his driver’s license
Hurry, wingnuts! Go spend all your money on guns and ammo before Obama takes your rights away!
Unfortunately America seems to be the place where there is a disturbing confluence of mental health issues and an obsession with guns. It is a recipe for tragedy — again and again and again.
The only reason there are restriction on guns in DC is because Congress fears for their lives!!
It could be that folks really don’t want to see congressmen blowing out their own brains on live tv……..
How did Mr. Alexis get a SECRET clearance?
Who adjudicated his police record at the Central Clearance Facility
(CCF)?
This guy was a fucking mess.
Trust him with classified material?
W T F ?
Most of his trouble with the law never resulted in convictions (or even trials for that matter) – generally, no conviction = no entry into the databases that a Secret Clearance looks into. Most “secret” level clearances are granted after a NAC (national agency check) done almost completely electronically. From the looks of this mess, Mr. Alexis had multiple run ins with the law that resulted in exactly not to damn much on his record. I’m surprised his discharge didn’t kick – but we rely on people to do the right things when granting clearances at this level. One lazy operator could have allowed this to happen: “…oh, I see you had a clearance in 2010…we’ll just resume that one…Yes, I’m supposed to rerun the NAC but you look like a nice guy…”.
Excellent comment, and one to keep in mind with names such as Snowden and Manning.
From the AP: “…Aaron Alexis, 34, had been treated since August by the Veterans Administration for his mental problems, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation in the case was continuing. The Navy had not declared him mentally unfit, which would have rescinded a security clearance that Alexis had from his earlier time in the Navy Reserves…”
If you’re pursuing a job that requires a clearance, I hope you already have it – it’s about to get real difficult to obtain one. Same thing happened after
BradleyChelsaManning er whatever the hell its name is got caught.If SLED was given the authority to check him out for a security clearance this wouldn’t have happened yesterday —– he would have been delayed about nine months…….
Help me FITS – this was a terrible tragedy by any measure, but many, many, many news organizations keep calling this “the worst single loss of life in DC” since 1982.
I appreciate the rush to be historical, but a rush to be accurrate would be nice – didn’t over 120 people die in the Pentagon in D.C., and all the people on the plance that crashed intoth e building on 9/11/2001?
I guess “always rembers,” “never forget” means about exaxtly 12 years?
the Pentagon is in Arlington VA, not DC.
The District actually goes over the river on that side a ways…so that is not certain, and isn’t the ship yard in Maryland? The opposite side of the water on the key bridge (where the plane crashed into in 1982) is technically NOT in the District…so I think it is a valid point about 9-11-2001, and many news organizations have since corrected this.
To those that like to wise crack about how armed people are supposed to stop mass killings, they can’t stop them altogether, they stop them sooner than if there were no guns in the hands of good guys. A criminal pulls out a gun he is going to get off a number of shots no matter what. If there are armed good guys in the vicinity they can stop him at killing 12 before he reloads several times and kills 19 or 26 people. I don’t believe this dork killed himself and I believe the cause of his death was a gun shot wound, guns in the hands of good guys save lives.
Well put.
So sic did you print this silly line of pandering bullshit after the Fort Hood shooting?
What do gun laws in DC – very specifically approved by Antonin Scalia, btw – have to do with guns at the Navy Yard?
Do you think it should be OK for non-LE employees there to pack heat ?
Virginia and Maryland are each less than 15 minutes from Navy Yard and neither has a gun ban. I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy lived in either state. The biggest problem with DC’s gun ban is enforcement in the rough parts of the city. MPD largely avoids areas like Anacostia and Northeast DC where most violent crime occurs.
Of course the other point you missed is of course this was a military installation where plenty of people walk around armed. This guy had the element of surprise and a military background to help him avoid getting gunned down by the marines stationed there.