Ohio Cops Get Off After Shooting Black Guy at Walmart

John Crawford III

I'm having a tough time figuring out the elements of this story. You have a cop shooting, which--let's face it--usually turns out well for the cops. The victim was a black guy, so that goes double. And he was (sorta) armed. That's where it gets sketchy. The victim was carrying a BB gun, an item for sale at the Walmart in question. Though the witness who called the cops alleged, initially, that the guy was aiming the gun at people. The surveillance video does not bear this out. At worst, he had the thing over his shoulder at one point, unless there is missing video or something. But, you might think, guy with a gun: threatening. Right?

But hold on. This was in Ohio, which is an open carry state. And how many of us has seen those Open Carry nuts, with an assault rifle* slung over their back or chest, buying a burrito at Chipotle or patrolling the aisles of a Home Depot? So, even if this guy "looked threatening," he wasn't even doing something that gun rights advocates would even think was unusual. So, how is it that the cop who shot the guy isn't culpable? Why is it that so many police seem to have a shoot first, ask questions later policy, and why is it that they seemingly always get out of it, even if they make a tragic mistake? And another thing: why is it that conservatives--who typically are distrustful of government in almost any form--nearly always also side with the cops in these cases? It's worth pondering, if only for the psychological riddles.

[Excerpt]

Cops Escape Charges For Killing Walmart Shopper Holding A BB Gun Sold At The Store

A grand jury decided not to file charges Wednesday against police officers who shot and killed 22-year-old John Crawford III inside a Beavercreek, Ohio, Wal-Mart for carrying a BB gun. They rejected charges of not just murder, but also reckless homicide and negligent homicide, finding instead that there was no probable cause to charge officers with anything. One of those officers is already back on the job. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

*PS. I don't care--at all--if "assault rifle" is the right term here. I know you gun fetishists are particular about gun terminology, but it has zero to do with the point: yahoos carrying big-ass guns.

So, That Happened: A Kids Book on Open Carry

A couple of decades ago, when people would travel to countries that had armed soldiers at airports, carrying large weapons, they'd remark on it. It was odd. Scary. Foreign. Now, gun nuts advocates are trying to make "open carry" of large and/or small weapons a normal thing. To most of us it's still odd, scary and foreign. But when pressed, a lot of open carry advocates will tell you that their showy demonstrations at Chipotle, Home Depot and other ordinary locales, are meant to familiarize the populace with the concept. To normalize it.

I think I speak for a sizable portion of the populace when I say I don't want deadly weapons on random citizens to be normal. And let's be honest, if this is so "normal," why don't they demonstrate in banks? Airports? And what would the reaction be if The New Black Panthers or a Muslim group began holding the same sorts of demonstrations? Frankly, that I'd like to see! Just for the cognitive dissonance meltdown.


Now, I'm about to veer off into a place that you might not see the point of at first, but bear with me. Many of these same people are anti-gay, or at least anti-gay marriage.  One of the big allegations is, that the "Gay Agenda" is to normalize homosexuality, by desensitizing people to it. They will (falsely) tell you that gay people "recruit" children, or at the very least, we wish to "indoctrinate" them into believing that being gay is normal and natural. They see this as something of a sinister infiltration.

How is "Open Carry" different from that (exaggerated) scenario? They're trying to get us to think of openly carried weapons as normal. And, they're indoctrinating children.

[Excerpt]

There’s Now A Book To Teach Your Kids About Why They Should Pack Heat While Shopping

Do you wander around with a Glock on your hip, so you are prepared for the day when you’ll open fire on an armed assailant? Do you worry about how you will explain to your kids why you wander around with a Glock on your hip, so you are prepared for the day when you’ll open fire on an armed assailant? Well, Brian Jeffs and Nathan Nephew, two advocates for openly carrying firearms from Michigan, have a solution for you! The two men have authored “My Parents Open Carry,” a book for children that tells the tale of a young girl and her family as they “turn an otherwise ordinary day into an open carry adventure!”. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Open Carry Man (A Rocky Mountain Mike Song Parody)

I missed this nugget from a few days ago, Rocky Mountain Mike's tribute to the (not crazy!) open carry brigade. To the tune of Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man. Thanks, Mike!

To hear much more from Rocky Mountain Mike, click here.
 

Georgia "Guns Everywhere" Law Leads to Altercation on First Day

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Gun lovers, I've got news for you: you're coming off like idiots. Even to people like me, who was raised around guns, learned to shoot at a young age, and until recent years, didn't really have much of an opinion on gun rights or gun control. But with the Open Carry guys in Texas and elsewhere? With all of the oopsies at "gun safety" demonstrations? With the absolutely insane, knee-jerk, instantaneously furious commentary in the blogosphere? You're impossible to take seriously, and extremely easy to come down against. You're your own worst enemies.

[Excerpt]

First day of ‘guns everywhere’ law in GA sparks convenience store showdown

On July 1, the state of Georgia enacted the Georgia Safe Carry Protection Act — also known as the “guns everywhere” law — which allows licensed gun-owners to bring their weapons to churches, bars, government buildings and other places where they were previously prohibited. The Valdosta Daily Times reported Tuesday evening that the new law had already pitted two armed citizens against each other in a standoff at a local convenience store. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Hey, Kids! It's Gun Nuts! (A Rocky Mountain Mike Ad Parody)

Hilarious!