Maybe it’s a sign of how little influence President Joe Biden has, maybe it indicates growing fear of crime, but American support for more gun control has taken a huge hit over the past five months.
On the day after Biden repeated his demand for an “assault weapons” ban following a shooting at a Colorado gay club, Gallup today revealed that support for stricter gun laws has dropped nine-points to what is now a “diminished majority.”
A report from a new group, 97Percent, seeks common ground on gun-control legislation.
The idea of a centrist version of the National Rifle Association—a group for gun owners that would be open to at least some gun-control legislation—is not new. It’s also not been particularly successful. Have you heard of the Independent Firearm Owners Association? Did you know Gabby Giffords’s gun-control group has a Gun Owners for Safety spinoff?
The latest iteration of this concept is 97Percent, which seeks common ground between gun owners and the rest of the country. It doesn’t purport to be a grassroots organization, but it uses polls and focus groups to guide its policy recommendations, giving special attention to gun restrictions that even gun owners support.
I’m beginning to think that the easiest way to become a millionaire right now is to announce that you’re building a “smart gun” and you’re looking for investors. It seems like all you have to do is hope (don’t promise) to deliver a product somewhere in the next 12-to-18 months in order to secure cash, and once you’ve done that you can always push back your deadline.
Two people are facing numerous charges after OPP found prohibited devices used to manufacture “ghost guns” at a Woodstock address.
“Ghost guns” have no serial numbers and are untraceable. They can be purchased online and assembled at home.
Provincial police said the Canada Border Services Agency intercepted and seized prohibited devices during routine courier inspections in October.
Last month police said they made one of the largest seizures of 3D printed firearm components in the UK.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime Command had discovered what they alleged was a “suspected makeshift 3D firearms factory” at a home in London on 7 October.
Officers said it demonstrated how “the emerging threat of 3D firearms continues to evolve”.
The discovery comes as some experts also warn of a growing threat.
Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams penalize legal owners of firearms, while doing nothing about the real problem: illegal possession.
Confronting a rise in violent crime on streets and in subways of New York City, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have set up a “gun-free zone” in Times Square, declaring the neighborhood off-limits to firearms. Laminated signs affixed to lampposts warn: “violation of this prohibition is a felony.”
Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro said on Nov. 3 that the federal government made a “unilateral” decision to withhold meeting notes related to multiple provinces’ refusal to devote policing resources to the federal gun buyback program.
The information stemmed from the annual federal-provincial-territorial meeting of Justice and Public Safety ministers, which was held on Oct. 13 and 14. Usually, official meeting notes summarizing discussions and decisions are made public.
When the campaign season fired up, Democrats were convinced that gun control was not only going to be a huge issue but a winning one for them. Candidates laid out their anti-Second Amendment credentials and they started pushing for things like universal background checks and assault weapon bans.
Uvalde, in theory, should have sealed the deal.
Authorities haven’t said what kind of firearm was used in a drive-by shooting in Chicago’s Garfield Park on Halloween night that resulted in 14 people, including three children, being injured, but that’s not stopping Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot from demanding a gun control response to the shooting.
With crime such an important issue, Americans depend on the FBI for accurate data. The crime data for 2021 is a mess, with almost 40% of law enforcement agencies around the country not submitting any data to the FBI. In California, 93% didn’t report crime data. In New York, 87% didn’t. Cities are embarrassed by the soaring crime rates, and even when they have collected the data they aren’t transmitting those numbers to the FBI.
But many more data errors are the direct responsibility of the FBI.
Between his two stores, firearms retailer J.R. Cox would usually manage to sell around 1,200 to 1,400 handguns to licensed Canadian firearms owners every year, at least before the federal government announced in May its plan to “freeze” handgun sales.
In Alan Carr’s seminal book Easy Way to Quit Smoking, the man who once hammered five packs a day made a startling discovery at an anti-tobacco conference.
None of the participants had ever smoked.
I have to wonder how George Zimmerman felt upon reading about the shooting death of Kansas City firefighter Anthony Santi, 41.
Ten years ago, after getting his head pounded into the concrete for a minute or more, Zimmerman famously shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Although Martin attacked the much smaller Zimmerman without provocation, and eyewitness evidence supported Zimmerman’s claims of self-defense, the media and the woke mobs frightened state prosecutors into charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder and ruining his life.
Spend a few minutes on Twitter and you will find many of your fellow Canadians struggle with basic logic.
Politicians know that and cynically use it to their advantage.
Take the recent gun ban freeze from the Liberal government.
As of this past Friday, the federal government has froze the sales, purchase, and transfer of handguns. Making it illegal to a buy a handgun of any kind, unless “exempted.”
The decision was made in Ottawa to help limit access to firearms, and combat gun violence across the country.
But one crime expert doesn’t believe the government addressed the actual issue of gun-related crimes, and in turn, targeted the wrong group.
“We don’t have law abiding licensed citizens going around shooting people, the criminality that’s out there is using illegal guns – and I don’t feel this was the right step,” said Karen Reid-Sidhu, executive director at the Surrey Crime Prevention Society.
