Category: gun rights

Thoughts on gun control on Independence Day:

A 16-year-old boy who was gun downed by a gang of up to six youths pleaded for his mother and said “I don’t want to die” as he bled to death, a witness said today.

Shakilus Townsend became the latest victim of Washington, D.C.’s gun crime epidemic, the 33rd teenager murdered in D.C. this year and the 18th in SE alone.

Witnesses said he was attacked by a gang of around six men wearing hooded tops and ski masks, who were allegedly “called in” by a girl the victim had argued with during the afternoon.

A senior detective described it as “another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a gun”.

[…]

A 17-year-old boy who lives near where Shakilus was attacked said shootings were depressingly commonplace – and often happened for no reason at all.

He said: “If he hadn’t died, no one would have cared about this, it would have just been another shooting. You grow up around here, you always see the police flyers around and then you wake up and see 20 police cars outside.

“How are the police or the Government going to be able to sort this out if we as kids don’t know why this sort of stuff’s going on?”

The same old crap happening in D.C., right?

The problem? This is Britain and the murders are being committed with knives!

A 16-year-old boy who was stabbed by a gang of up to six youths pleaded for his mother and said “I don’t want to die” as he bled to death, a witness said today.

Shakilus Townsend became the latest victim of London’s knife crime epidemic, the 33rd teenager murdered in Britain this year and the 18th in London alone.

Witnesses said he was attacked by a gang of around six men wearing hooded tops and balaclavas [ski masks], who were allegedly “called in” by a girl the victim had argued with during the afternoon.

A senior detective described it as “another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a knife”.

[…]

A 17-year-old boy who lives near where Shakilus was attacked said stabbings were depressingly commonplace – and often happened for no reason at all.

He said: “If he hadn’t died, no one would have cared about this, it would have just been another stabbing. You grow up around here, you always see the yellow boards around and then you wake up and see 20 police vans outside.

“How are the police or the Government going to be able to sort this out if we as kids don’t know why this sort of stuff’s going on?”

Link for the full story.

Looks like Britain needs knife control — oh wait, that’s already been called for (link #1, #2)!

“Dammit, we’ve been caught!”

From the NRA-ILA: Labor Department Announces It Will Revise Overreaching OSHA Explosives Rule:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new “explosives safety” regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with.

Gun owners had filed a blizzard of negative comments urged by the NRA, and just a week ago, OSHA had already issued one extension for its public comment period at the request of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. After continued publicity through NRA alerts and the outdoor media, and after dozens of Members of Congress expressed concern about its impact, OSHA has wisely decided to go back to the drawing board.

Working with the NRA, Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) planned to offer a floor amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill this Wednesday when the House considers this legislation. His amendment would have prohibited federal funds from being used to enforce this OSHA regulation.

Such an amendment is no longer necessary since Kristine A. Iverson, the Labor Department’s Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, sent Rep. Rehberg a letter, dated July 16, stating that it “was never the intention of OSHA to block the sale, transportation, or storage of small arms ammunition, and OSHA is taking prompt action to revise” this proposed rule to clarify the purpose of the regulation.

[…]

The OSHA proposal would have defined “explosives” to include “black powder, … small arms ammunition, small arms ammunition primers, [and] smokeless propellant,” and treated these items the same as the most volatile high explosives.

Under the proposed rule, a workplace that contained even a handful of small arms cartridges, for any reason, would have been considered a “facility containing explosives” and therefore subject to many impractical restrictions. For example, no one could carry “firearms, ammunition, or similar articles in facilities containing explosives … except as required for work duties.” Obviously, this rule would make it impossible to operate any kind of gun store, firing range, or gunsmith shop.

What a load, the rule was exactly what you intended to do, why else would you define “explosives” as ammunition, powder, and primers; which would prohibit firearms from being in the same building, require evacuation during any electrical storm, and prohibit smoking within fifty (50) feet of any building containing ammunition, powder, and primers?