Geeks With Guns » In The News

Boycott of Starbucks for respecting lawful carry

HGIC — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:23:37 +0000

A nationwide boycott of Starbucks stores and its products will be launched on Valentine’s Day to eliminate “the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S.”

This boycott is being called by the National Gun Victim’s Action Council (NGAC), a network of 14 million gun victims, and is targeting Starbucks because it allows guns and assault weapons to be openly carried in cccits stores in 43 states, and concealed and carried in its stores in 49 states.

“Starbucks has the legal right to ban guns but despite having been petitioned by thousands, asked at a shareholder meeting, and a direct appeal made to their Board, Starbucks clings to this policy that puts millions of Americans at risk every day and encourages the spread of guns being carried in public,” said NGAC CEO Elliot Fineman in a Jan. 23 press release circulated by the group.

Of course, such reasoning is sheer idiocy, said Seattle Guns Rights Examiner Dave Workman in a Jan. 23 Examiner.com column.

“Starbucks’ sin is that the coffee giant caters to everybody, including legally-armed citizens, whether they carry openly or concealed,” Workman wrote. “Starbucks made it plain in 2010 when the Brady Campaign, assisted locally by Washington CeaseFire, that it abides by local state laws and does not discriminate against a certain class of customers. Starbucks has the legal right to serve any customer it pleases, including someone exercising his or her right to bear arms. Fineman evidently doesn’t grasp that.” – [ source ]

Sheriff: Time For Citizens To Arm Themselves

HGIC — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:12:46 +0000

The Spartanburg County Sheriff is known for speaking his mind, and at a news conference on Monday, he didn’t hold back his anger and frustration after a woman was attacked in a park over the weekend.

Investigators said 46-year-old Walter Lance choked the woman, made her take off her clothing and tried to rape her.

Sheriff Chuck Wright opened his news conference by saying, “Our form of justice is not making it.”

He said, “Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it.”

He said he doesn’t believe every person needs to be kept in jail, but he said, “I don’t think this animal deserves to be out in our society, walking alongside our women.”

Wright said,”Liberals call me and tell me the chain-gang form of justice isn’t working. Well, let me inform you, your form of justice isn’t working either.”

He said Lance should not have had the right or opportunity to “violate a good, upstanding woman.”

Wright said, “It’s too bad someone with a concealed weapons permit didn’t walk by. That would fix it.” He said people are tired of doing the right thing and criminals getting away with their actions. Wright said, “I’m tired of looking at victims saying, ‘There’s life after this’ … I’m tired of saying, ‘We’re sorry, we can’t keep them in jail.’”

Wright said in his view, gun control is, “How fast can you can get the barrel of your gun back on the target?” – [source]

Federal Raid Of NM Gun Shop Netted 1,200 Firearms

donttreadonme — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:48:34 +0000

Federal authorities seized more than 1,200 firearms and nearly 2 million rounds of ammunition when they raided a family-run gun shop in New Mexico last month as part of a multi-agency investigation into illegal gun sales and smuggling.

The Albuquerque Journal reported Sunday that the tally of weapons seized was laid out in search warrant documents filed this week in federal court in Santa Fe. The warrants were executed on the gun shop owner’s home and shop south of Deming in late August.

Affidavits for the warrants also describe conversations in which confidential informants say the weapons being bought were headed to Mexico for use in the drug wars, the newspaper said.

Federal agents last month arrested Rick Reese, 55, his wife Terri, 48, and sons Ryin, 24, and Remington, 19. They all are accused of conspiring to falsify paperwork recording gun sales, to launder the sale proceeds and to smuggle weapons into Mexico.

All four have pleaded not guilty.-[source]

How the Brits arm themselves

HGIC — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:14:24 +0000

You think you’ve got problems? The riots in the not-so-United Kingdom is encouraging our brethren over across the pond to arm themselves. Fire (or arms using fire) is not acceptable, so there’s an upswing in bludgeoning weapons over at Amazon.co.uk! Baseball bats and batons… sales up over 6000%!

Amazon.co.uk has baseball bat sales up over 6000%!

ATF Investigates Buyers Of 2 Rifles In 5 Days

donttreadonme — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:10:20 +0000

Two weeks ago, concerned about news reports that President Obama would order the investigation of citizens buying two or more rifles at a time, a licensed Texas gun dealer contacted his local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) official to find out if the reports were true, so he could be in compliance. The ATF official assured him that he was aware of such legislation having been considered, but added, “The law is not going to pass, and we can’t enforce something that isn’t law.” This week, however, gun dealers and pawnshop owners across the country received a certified letter from the ATF requiring just such compliance…-[source]

SAF FILES INJUNCTION ON ILL CARRY BAN

donttreadonme — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:09:13 +0000

Capitalizing on its federal appeals court victory Wednesday in Ezell v. City of Chicago, the Second Amendment Foundation today moved for a preliminary injunction against the State of Illinois to prevent further enforcement of that state’s prohibitions on firearms carry in public by law-abiding citizens.

The motion was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. Joining SAF in this motion are Illinois Carry and four private citizens, Michael Moore, Charles Hooks, Peggy Fechter and Jon Maier. The underlying case is known as Moore v. Madigan.

Illinois is the only state in the nation with such prohibitions. The state neither allows open carry or concealed carry, which runs afoul of recent U.S. Supreme Court Second Amendment rulings, including last year’s landmark ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago, another SAF case. SAF was represented in McDonald and Ezell by attorney Alan Gura, who noted after yesterday’s appeals court win – forcing a temporary injunction against the city’s ban on gun ranges that the city immediately changed after the decision was announced – that “Even Chicago politicians must respect the people’s fundamental civil rights…Gun rights are coming to Chicago. The only question is how much the city’s intransigence will cost taxpayers along the way.”

“Now that the Seventh Circuit has recognized that the deprivation of the right of armed self-defense is an inherently irreparable injury, it is clear that Illinois’ law-abiding gun owners are entitled to a protective injunction,” said attorney David Jensen of New York, who, along with Glen Ellyn, IL attorney David Sigale, is representing SAF and the other plaintiffs.

“Yesterday’s win was a wake-up call to Chicago,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “Today’s motion is a signal to the Illinois Legislature that the state’s total ban on carrying of firearms for personal protection is counter to both Supreme Court rulings on the Second Amendment, and yesterday’s ruling by the Seventh Circuit appeals panel that shredded Chicago’s gun ordinance. Our victory Wednesday and today’s motion are key components of SAF’s overall mission to win back firearms freedoms one lawsuit at a time.”-[source]

Time To Close Down The ATF

donttreadonme — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:17:41 +0000

This week, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) beamed a spotlight on the criminal behavior of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, commonly referred to as the ATF. At Wednesday’s hearing, Issa took on Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich by asking him: “Who authorized this program that was so felony stupid it got people killed.”

Chairman Issa started off the interrogation of Weich by holding up one of the pages that the ATF had provided his committee. It was completely blackened, one of hundreds that had been totally redacted by the agency. Issa told Weich that this was unacceptable and that he was tired of the lack of cooperation at the Department of Justice.

Issa also caught Weich in a lie by pointing to a letter in which he denied any knowledge of Fast and Furious, when we now know that Weich did know about the program. Weich said that the letter had been written by a committee and that he did not know who had written that particular sentence. He refused to commit, however, to finding out who authored that lie and reporting back to Issa about it!-[source]

1st Gunwalker Hearing Offers No Surprises

donttreadonme — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:46:53 +0000

Monday’s opening session in what will likely become a series of hearings on Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform demonstrated that Chairman Darrell Issa is laying a strategy to hold people accountable for an operation that sent thousands of guns illegally to Mexico.

During his initial questioning of witnesses before his committee, Issa noted his desire to not provide immunity to anyone who may be responsible for what appears to be a horribly botched gun sting mounted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“We must avoid providing immunity to somebody we believe is guilty of a crime,” Issa observed. “The worst thing to do is get the kingpin and then let them off.”-[source]

Al-Qaeda Mentioned In Antigun Campaign

donttreadonme — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:16:34 +0000

Things you need to know about American al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn, or, as I like to call him, Azzam al-Berkeley: He’s a bratty California kid, offspring of hippie parents, and steeped in the deeply ignorant suburban pop anti-Americanism that fuels protests against World Trade Organization meetings and the like. He is, like practically all of his kind, not too terribly well informed.

Newspaper editors and mayors are not supposed to be like that. But when it furthers your political agenda, ignorance truly is bliss.

In his latest statement, Mr. Gadahn repeated the myth that machineguns are widely available to American civilians, and he encouraged his fellow jihadis to hit the gun-show circuit and gear up for an intifada in the United States. When I read that statement, I was certain that it would be repeated as fact by the antigun ideologues and their enablers in the media. And, behold this editorial in the New York Daily News, which quotes Mr. Gadahn and then concurs.

“America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?”

We don’t say this often about Al Qaeda types, but: He’s right on the facts.

No, he is not — as two seconds’ research would have revealed.-[source]

Capone’s Revolver On Auction Block

donttreadonme — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:27:16 +0000

Christie’s is auctioning off a collection of guns and other American memorabilia including, most notably, a pistol once owned by infamous gangster Al Capone.

The gun, a Colt .38, was made in 1929, the same year as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

It’s expected to sell for as much as $115,000, and comes with a letter and signed affidavit from Capone’s brother’s widow, stating the gun was owned and used by Al Capone, according to the auction house.-[source]