A top- official leaked today that a report due for release next week will show violent crime increasing for the :
The surging crime rate, detailed in a new FBI report expected nextweek, counters Justice Department attempts to tamp down violence bysending more money to local police and studying U.S. cities for clueson how the increases began.
Asked if the report would show crime rates are still climbing, FBIAssistant Director John Miller said: "I think you can anticipate itwill." He would not say by how much.
This is analogous to a report released earlier in May, this time by the Justice Department, that blamed the spike in violent crime mostly on the that offenders have to guns.
On the other hand, Many conservatives such as believe gun control actually contributes to higher crime.
However, others might conclude that the Bush Administration's decision in 2003 to is partly to blame.
Picnic baskets, fried chicken, face painting and a day of fun filled family activities! Sack races, egg toss, 3 legged races? ... nope, Machine Guns!
I am not an anti-gun advocate, and I do believe in the second amendment. The right to bear arms was very important back when bears were running through your backyard or outlaws could just "pop over" for a cup of coffee then rob you (or whatever). Educating family members in the use of firearms isn't a bad thing, and perhaps even a good thing. Learning the do's and don't's as well as respect of firearms isn't evil or necessarily a bad thing. However, I'm not quite sold on the need for an 8 year old girl to familiarize herself on a 50 cal. machine gun. Whatever happened to Malibu Barbie?
A video to warm the cockles of your heart. Que up to 2:25 to see the child rip a few rounds off.
Now onto the more disturbing issue at hand, the thinking of the (National Rifle Association)
to conduct a criminal background checkand deny sales if a gun purchaser falls under a specified prohibition,including a felony conviction, domestic abuse conviction or illegalimmigration. There is no legal basis to deny a sale if a purchaser ison a terror watch list.
A 2005 study by the Government Accountability Office found that 35 of44 firearm purchase attempts over a five-month period made by known orsuspected terrorists were approved by the federal law enforcementofficials.
The NRA has a large conservative base, and these are the same people that are responsible for attempting to instill fear into everyone that the terrorist are on their way to America to take us out. So why do they feel its ok for the "potential" terrorists to get their hands on guns? I just don't understand.
famously predicted that technology and information would lead us to what he called a revolution of technology that would inevitably unite us and give us the ability to communicate to anyone in the world at anytime with just about any means.
I am a senior in and in three weeks I'll graduate with degrees in Advertising and Public Relations. One of my morning classes deals with : how to handle tough situations, having a plan in place, communicating facts and answering questions appropriately, etc. My morning class today, Persuasive Communication taught by Dr. Robin Meyers (author of the famous speech, and author of ,) took a detour from the syllabus - about Marshall McLuhan - to just talk. It's difficult to gauge how you're feeling as readers, but as a student I find myself not needing to see political banter or politics for a few hours, at least a few minutes, and rather find myself just wanting to talk.
As a student in , I felt the building shake as I sat in my fourth grade classroom at 9:02AM on April 19, 1995, the morning of the . I drove through the torrential rains and heard my mother scream as the phone disconnected the night she was buried underneath her own house by the - May 3, 1999. I sat in my 11th grade Government class and watched as the second plane crashed into the . Yesterday, I sat in an empty room, the living room where I'll soon occupy in my new home, and listened to the cries of a university, a city, a state, a country, about the horrors of what transpired at .
My life and the technology within it has allowed me to step out from a small suburban classroom, from a city-wide terrorist attack, from a statewide natural disaster, into what was the first of, unfortunately, many global tragedies. The global village has its ups and downs, and the down is that we must all experience the devastation of tragedy without ever feeling the ground shake or hearing the shots fired.
At the time of this publication, we have learned and and have begun to piece together the history of the individual: , , . We've watched a university stumble in crisis from , , and We've watched media outlets frantically interview second- and third- and fourth-hand witnesses and provoke emotional reactions. We've watched Fox News tell you how this will impact the stock market and the war on terror and the security and sanctity of our schools. Unfortunately, until now, we have yet to just talk.
McLuhan says, In this place, the home of inclusion and open-mindedness and intelligent dialogue, I hope the message can resonate from those values. I needed to engage the global village, to speak back to it instead of merely observing it. I hope you'll do the same.
If there's anything you'd like to share - comments, critiques,condolences, thoughts in general - please use the comments section todiscuss.
Thanks to the 2004 expiration of the assault weapons ban, you can now have overnight delivery. According to , gun distributors are making a fortune:
Web sites now advertise overnight UPS delivery of the clips, whichcarry up to 40 rounds for both semi-automatic rifles, including 9mmpistols, and handguns.
"High capacity magazines read extreme firepower and gusto. Stock Up!" is the headline of one of many gun shop Web sites.
The went after Democrats for not following through on their promise to ban assault weapons:
“There is no ban on assault weapons. It is depressing that we could noteven take that action,†commented a spokesman for the Brady Campaign toPrevent Gun Violence, expressing the hope that Democrats who woncontrol of Congress last year would reintroduce the ban. “But not muchhas been seen of that.â€
According to a last fall, 56% of the American public supports stricter gun laws.
The released a study that was reported this morning in the . Homicides are up 10%, and robberies are up 12%:
Violent crime rose by double-digit percentages in cities across thecountry over the last two years, reversing the declines of themid-to-late 1990s, according to a new report by a prominent nationallaw enforcement association.
While overall crime has been declining nationwide, police officialshave been warning of a rise in murder, robbery and gun assaults sincelate 2005, particularly in midsize cities and the Midwest. Now, theysay, two years of data indicates that the spike is more than anaberration.
Local police departments blame several factors: the spread ofmethamphetamine use in some Midwestern and Western cities, gangs, highpoverty and a record number of people being released from prison. Butthe biggest theme, they say, is easy access to guns and a willingness,even an eagerness, to settle disputes with them, particularly amongyoung people.
Easy access to guns? But isn't that what the NRA wants?
Iraq, health care, minimum wage, corruption, education, and energy independence top the list of issues that the Democrats will address starting on January 4th. Although, out of the blue, the debate over gun control could intensify over the next few months. According to the , the NRA is warning that they will put together an "active defense" if the Democrats try to address the growing concern over gun safety in this country:
"If there's an effort to pursue gun control, we will mount an active defense."
Thefamously combative lobby, with 4 million members, is displeased withthe voting histories of House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) andother top Democrats in the House and is putting them on notice that itwon't tolerate passage of anti-gun measures.
However, in the first few months under the new Democratic Congress, there is little sign that any lawmaker in the majority party will address this head-on. That is a problem for the NRA. Anti-gun control strategists actually would want the Democrats to focus on this issue because the reactive outrage that it would cause among rural conservatives would propel the NRA to higher status. NRA needs gun-related issues to be debated. If they aren't, then the NRA's membership might decline, and the group would have less influence over GOP Congressman.
The same reasoning is true for many anti-choice groups. If Roe V. Wade is overturned, then the issue will have already been solved, no more money will be spent by those conservative groups, and a load of lobbyists will be laid off.
In other words, these groups care more about raising a fuss about a particular issue than they do actually solving it and moving on. Money is always the number one motivator for many (although not all) single-issue groups in Washington.
This is just too irresistable to pass up. Texas State Rep. Edmund Kuempel, a Republican, is sponsoring a bill that would allow . The bill was submitted for the 2007 legislative season, but cannot be adopted until at least 2008 when the legislature is expected to legally define the phrase "" (I kid you not):
"This opens up the fun of hunting to additionalpeople, and I think that's great," said Republican RepresentativeEdmund Kuempel, the bill's sponsor.
Visually impaired people are allowed to shootnow with the aid of a sighted person, he said, a requirement that wouldcontinue if the sights were legalized.
"I've seen this on TV before, when they'retaking target practice," Kuempel said. "When they aim the gun, theguide tells them, aim two inches higher or two inches lower and you'reon the target, and you're off and running."
This comes just less than one year after Vice President Dick Cheney in the face while quail hunting in Texas.
Because hey, if Cheney can legally operate a weapon, so should a blind person. What is next? ?
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