Tag: guns

Trayvon Martin Murder Case Shows State Legislatures are Letting Gun Extremists Call the Shots

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Guns

Is it self-defense if you pick a fistfight and then, when you realize the other person is winning, shoot to kill?

Laws that protect and encourage gun violence are moving America closer to becoming a society based on the whims of thousands of tiny militias

That’s the question legal reporter Dan Abrams poses in a column that gets to the heart of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman mess.

Abrams finds that Florida’s NRA/ALEC written “Stand Your Ground” law contains two exceptions that could mean the answer is yes and that Zimmerman will go free.

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Law Makers Have to Live With Consequences of Their Own Gun Laws

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concealed Guns were king during the last couple of legislative sessions in Florida. The Republican super-majorities of both chambers passed laws to imprison pediatricians who so much as asked if there was a gun in the home. They voted to allow visitors in state parks to bring all the guns they wanted into campsites, where they could presumably blast away at fellow campers who seem threatening. At the same time, they worked tirelessly to ensure that employers on private property could not set their own rules prohibiting employees from bringing guns to work, which surely renders annual evaluations much more high stakes.

Florida’s very own Marion Hammer, inducted into the Florida Woman’s Hall of Fame by former Gov. Jeb Bush, and longtime National Rifle Association (NRA) head and lobbyist, led the way on expanding the rights of guns to go wherever they wanted, no questions asked (under penalty of prison). The Republicans in the Florida House and Senate just could not seem to do enough of her bidding.

And now they have to live with it. In a story surely destined for the Department of Ironies, the Florida legislature is finding out firsthand what it means to bring guns into everyone’s personal space. And many of them don’t like it.

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Why Are Gun Rights Groups Putting Guns Ahead of Children?

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boywithgun

With the shooting attacks on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, as well as on law enforcement officers in Indiana, Florida, and Michigan, it’s hard to argue that one of America’s most pressing problems is not enough access to guns. Yet a proposed law in Florida would do just that, with a cruel bonus: it puts children at special risk of taking a bullet.

State Rep. Jason Brodeur (R-Sanford) is behind a bill that would make it a felony for a pediatrician to ask parents if there are guns in the house, and if so, how they are secured. If the doctor is found guilty of asking these questions, the penalty would be a $5 million fine and up to five years in prison.

Surely we have lost our minds.

A proposed Florida law would make it a felony punishable by a five-year prison sentence and a $5 million fine for pediatricians to ask parents if they lock up their guns

In a one-week period in my part of the state, close enough geographically for both stories to be reported by the same local news outlets, two children found guns that the adults who were responsible for them failed to secure. The first incident resulted in a 6-year-old girl shot in the chest.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, when officers first questioned Donnell Burney in the emergency room, he told them he was in front of the house when he heard the gunshot and saw his daughter outside the house holding her side.

According to the arrest report, Burney later told homicide investigators he was cleaning his handgun in the kitchen and left it on the counter when he went to another room.

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To Kill a Movement to Replace the Mockingbird

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mockingbird-attack

I had to read this twice to make sure it wasn’t satire. NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer is slamming efforts to change Florida’s state bird to one more unique than the mockingbird. Florida shares its current state bird with Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas and Hammer wants to keep it that way.

The outspoken Hammer, inducted by former Gov. Jeb Bush into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame, has devoted a lot of thought to the subject. Even though the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission suggests the osprey as a better choice, Hammer is adamant.

“They can be seen on any given day in any area of the state by children and adults alike,” Hammer explained…

She also likes the fact that mockingbirds are willing to fight other birds, even larger ones, that might threaten their nests.

“They are very protective of their family and of their territory,” she said.

She also finds their ability to mimic other bird songs and even various sounds highly entertaining. On her home territory, at the state Capitol Building, she has noticed mockingbirds mimicking the sound of ringing cell phones.

They’re so convincing “you will see lobbyists and other people reaching for their cell phones,” she said, chuckling.

O.K., but what about the endangered Florida scrub jay?

Supporters of the scrub jay boasted about how gentle it is, how it will eat peanuts right out of a person’s hand.

Hammer was unmoved.

“Begging for food isn’t sweet,” she testified in a committee hearing. “It’s lazy and it’s a welfare mentality.”

Maybe Hammer identifies with the mockingbird because of its violent personality. Mockingbirds are known to dive-bomb people, dogs, cats, squirrels, and anything that come close to its nest. Some research even suggests the birds can identify certain people and make a point to attack them. Sounds a lot like Hammer.