libertymaniacs:

The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics released a special report on gun violence in America from 1993-2011 by Michael Planty, Ph.D., and Jennifer L. Truman, Ph.D..

We made this infographic showing some of the more interesting findings.

Is this in NY or Texas? Either way, I agree. lol

(Source: 13nov75)

IRS tea-party bloodbath continues in Congress, as evidence emerges that IRS's own internal probe ended in May 2012, six months before election, but was hidden from legislators

stuff-that-irks-me:

Tempers flared in a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Wednesday, with members on both sides of the aisle castigating the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative groups with special scrutiny, and then hiding the practice from Congress.

Rep. Darrel Issa, the committee’s chairman, said that the committee learned just yesterday that the IRS completed its own investigation a year before a Treasury Department Inspector General report was completed.

But despite the IRS recognizing in May 2012 that its employees were treating right-wing groups differently from other organizations, Issa said, IRS personnel withheld those conclusions from legislators.

‘Just yesterday the committee interviewed Holly Paz, the director of exempt organizations, rulings and agreements, division of the IRS,’ Issa said. ‘While a tremendous amount of attention is centered about the Inspector General’s report, or investigation, the committee has learned from Ms. Paz that she in fact participated in an IRS internal investigation that concluded in May of 2012 - May 3 of 2012 - and found essentially the same thing that Mr. George found more than a year later.’

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WILL NY GOV. FIRE ANY SHERIFFS WHO PUBLICLY OPPOSE THE STATE’S STRICT GUN CONTROL LAW?

Some critics have pointed to New York State’s new gun control law as chilling in its scope and intent. But new allegations coming from sheriffs may add to the outcry, as some authorities maintain that Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed local sheriffs to stop publicly speaking out against the SAFE Act, the gun-control law he signed in January. One source, in fact, told a local outlet that the governor threatened sheriffs’ jobs if they don’t comply.

Law enforcement officials were reportedly summonsed to Albany last month, where they met with the governor about the contentious issue. It’s no secret that sheriffs have come out to publicly oppose the law, sharing their concerns with the public at large. But during the meeting at the capitol, Cuomo allegedly asked them to stop being so vocal.

“The governor was of the opinion that the sheriffs around the state should not be interjecting their personal opinions in reference to the law,” Chemung County Sheriff Christopher Moss told the Times Union.

A Stag Arms AR-15 rifle with 30 round, left, and 10 round magazines in New Britain, Conn., Wednesday, April 10, 2013. Credit: AP

Cuomo’s comments to authorities, though, about not publicly speaking out against the bill may have crossed beyond simply recommending silence — at least according to one anonymous source. The Times Union has more:

One person briefed on the meeting said Cuomo threatened to remove sheriffs from office, a little-used power afforded the state’s chief executive under the state constitution. Moss would not confirm this. He did say the meeting was heated at times, but overall he described it as “cordial.”

[Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Peter] Kehoe did not return calls, and Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi declined to comment. An administration official, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss a private meeting, “strongly” denied Cuomo had threatened to remove any sheriff.

Credit: AP

Regardless of what was said at the meeting, the Sheriffs’ Association has joined other politicians in filing an amicus curiae brief that would support a federal challenge to the gun control law. Rather than protesting the measure, itself, Sheriff John York of Livingston County said that the main issue is that the state’s resident’s did not have input on its contents and how it was enacted. So it is more the method through which it was passed that is in question.

Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the SAFE Act was passed and signed by Cuomo. As National Review notes, “Parts of the bill have needed modification because they were unclear or impossible to comply with. The new law put strict limits on the size of magazines in addition to broadening the definition of an assault weapon, a class which is banned.”

Some sheriffs have said that they will not enforce the law. With Cuomo welcoming any legal challenges, it appears the battle over gun control in New York State is just beginning.

‘IN THE END, EVERYTHING WILL BE CLAIMED’: CREATOR OF FIRST 3D-PRINTED GUN HIGHLIGHTS CREEPING GOV’T CONTROL OF TECHNOLOGY

“It’s a demonstration of claiming everything in the national security interest,” he said.  “They say, ‘well, your useless plastic gun can’t be shared with other people. It’s important to national security.’  In the end, everything will be claimed…”

It seems to be “consistent [with] the total bureaucratization of social space itself,” Wilson continued.

SEE THE FACE OF SUSPECTED BURGLAR AFTER HOMEOWNERS FOUGHT BACK

A 19-year-old suspected burglar chose the wrong house to invade last week.

This is the face of Michael Maxwell (below) after he wasbeaten, kicked and shot with a stun gunby Palm Bay, Florida, homeowners defending themselves against him and a group of at least three others, WTSP reported.

Michael Maxwell was treated for injuries sustained while homeowners defended themselves in a home invasion. Maxwell has been charged with home invasion with a firearm or deadly weapon, among other charges. (Photo:Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)

Maxwell was arrested and held under $51,000 bond at Brevard County Jail Complex with charges of home invasion robbery with a firearm or a deadly weapon and four counts of battery. A 17-year-old was served the same charges as well.

Ouch! Somebody got his ass beat. Maybe next time he will think twice before trying to steal other people’s stuff.

poorrichardsnews:

This makes me want to beat my head against a wall.  A heroic man saved a little boy from a pitbull attack, and now he faces a $1,000 fine for having an unregistered firearm.

from Washington Times:

Authorities last week made an agreement not to prosecute a Northwest D.C. man who used his unregistered handgun to kill a pit bull in order to stop it from mauling a child in his neighborhood.

As part of the agreement, Benjamin Srigley, 39, was required to pay a $1,000 fine but will not have criminal charges filed against him for the three unregistered firearms and the ammunition that investigators found in his possession, said Ted Gest, a spokesman for the office of the attorney general. 

“We took it into account that he saved this boy’s life,” Mr. Gest said.

Possession of an unregistered firearm or ammunition in the District is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, and prosecutors said Mr. Srigley could have faced up to seven criminal charges in the case.

“In our recent memory this is a unique charge because of the unusual circumstances of this case,” said Mr. Gest, whose office generally prosecutes low-level crime in the District.

read the rest

Oh, how benevolent of the DC attorney general for not filing criminal charges against this hero!

Hey, pal, thanks for saving this boy’s life; now pay up!

S.E. CUPP VS. MICHAEL MOORE ON GUNS: ‘I JUST HAPPEN TO BE INFORMED’

TheBlaze’s S.E. Cupp battled liberal filmmaker Michael Moore on the gun issue Friday, arguing against gun restrictions and schooling him on basic statistics on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Cupp, contending with boos from the “Real Time” audience, said the problem with a gun registry is that “it treats law-abiding citizens as if they are guilty until proven innocent.”

She went on, “The problem with background checks, five-day waiting periods, they assume that I have criminal intent to use my gun to pursue my Second Amendment rights…I go to get a background check, ‘Prove to me you’re not a criminal.’ I go to get a gun, ‘Prove to me you don’t want to use it in the heat of passion right now, wait five days, you need to cool off.’ That’s not fair — the government is not in the business of intimidating me away from my Second Amendment rights. It’s an abuse of power, and it seeps into the culture — it’s why newspapers think they can publish gun owners’ addresses, as if they are pariahs. It’s not appropriate.”

Moore countered, “You have a dangerous device that can kill 20 schoolchildren, I want to know where that device is. You can have it — ”

“You do not have that right,” Cupp said.

Moore then said he wanted the Second Amendment altered to spell out the Founding Fathers’ intention: that it covers muskets.

Maher pointed out that he is a gun owner himself and would never give his guns up. He said he goes to the shooting range a few times a year, which Moore said wasn’t enough — he wouldn’t be effective against an intruder if he were just coming out of a deep sleep.

“As opposed to what, just getting mowed down?” Maher asked.

The conversation shifted to crime statistics, with Maher raising the question: Why have gun homicides gone down in an age of less gun control?

Moore made the point that all crime has gone down, and Cupp said mass shootings are also down — causing Moore to throw up his hands in laughter.

“Less school shootings since Columbine, let me ponder that for a second,” he said sarcastically.

“There have been fewer mass shootings over the past 30 years, that’s just a fact,” Cupp said. “It’s an inconvenient truth I know, but it’s a fact.”

Moore referenced “the bubble” that gun owners live in.

“There’s no bubble. I am a gun owner, I have lived and breathed this issue personally for a decade,” Cupp shot back. “It’s not a bubble, I just happen to be informed on gun issues, unlike those people who talk about them.”

Get him girl! Facts and rational thought win the day again.

THE SCATHING SPEECH THAT JUST GOT A STANDING OVATION DURING THE IRS HEARING

Some of the highlights:

• “I have a grandson who’s afraid to get out of bed at night because he thinks there’s someone under the bed that’s going to grab him. And I think most Americans feel that way about the IRS.”
• “This kind of reconfirms that, you know what, they [the IRS] can do almost anything they want to anybody they want, anytime they want. This is very chilling for the American people.”
• “This is a Pandora’s Box that has been opened and I don’t think we can get the lid back on it.”
• “I don’t believe the White House just found out about this in a news report.”
• “I got to tell you, where you’re sitting, you should be outraged — and you’re not. The American people should be outraged, and they are.”
• “This reconfirms everything the American public believes! This is a huge blow to the faith and trust the American people have in their government!”
• “Is there any limit to the scope of where you folks can go?”
• “It’s sure as hell intimidating. And I don’t’ know that I got any answers from you today.”
• “I am more concerned today than I was before. The fact that you all can do just about anything you want to anybody. You know, you can put anybody out of business that you want anytime you want.”
• “And when the IRS comes in, you’re not allowed to be shoddy, you’re not allowed to be run horribly, you’re not allowed to make mistakes, you’re not allowed to do one damn thing that doesn’t come in compliance. If you do, you’re held responsible right then.”
• “This is absolutely an overreach and this is an outrage for all America!”

YOU CRITICIZED OBAMA: FAMED CHRISTIAN RADIO HOST ALLEGES OUTRAGEOUS IRS INTIMIDATION