Tag: guns

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Detroit Police Investigate Viral Video Of Man Pulling Gun On Gay Man

(image via JMG)

From the Detroit Free Press:

A viral video of a man shouting slurs and pointing a gun at another man he believed was gay as he exited a convenience store on Detroit’s west side has sparked outrage and is being investigated by police, an official confirmed Wednesday.

“We are aware of it,” said Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody. “It was sent to us and we have opened up an investigation on behalf of the victim, although the victim did not come forward. We are investigating it. Obviously, it’s very troubling that anyone would feel comfortable enough to point a weapon at anyone and post it on social media for everyone to see and attacking and singling out a person … regardless of how they identify is outrageous.”

The 32-second video was initially posted at 8:16 p.m. Tuesday and shows a man sitting in a car at the Brightmoor Liquor store, at 22002 Lyndon St., uttering gay slurs. When the second man walks out of the convenience store, the man in the car shouts “Yo” at him to get his attention. The man ignores him initially, but as he passes the window of the car, the man in the car points a gun at him at the 22-second mark of the video while saying, “Take those pants off, bro. What the f–k you on?”

(h/t JMG)

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Trump Supporter Pulls Gun On Crowd At Portland March

Tense moments at a Portland march yesterday as a right-wing agitator and Donald Trump supporter pulled a gun with a large capacity magazine on the crowd.

From Raw Story:

Michael Strickland, the right-wing agitator and Trump supporter seen in this video brandishing a gun at a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally, has been charged with two class A felonies after being arrested and initially released Friday morning on his own recognizance without bail.

At his arraignment today at the Multnomah County Courthouse in downtown Portland Strickland was hit with two felony counts of “unlawful use of a weapon,” as well as misdemeanor charges of menacing and disorderly conduct.

The hearing took place on the same block where Strickland pulled a Glock 27, swept the gun at the crowd while yelling “Get the hell back!” He subsequently outfitted the gun with a large capacity magazine.

At the scene, Strickland said he was only armed in self-defense. But the Multnomah County District Attorney revealed in court that Strickland had six magazines of ammunition on him.

In videos of the incident, Strickland also appears to be far out of the range of any protesters when he menaced them with his gun. Some protesters can be seen facing Strickland with their hands up and urging him to put the gun away and to leave.

As reported first by The Raw Story, the police found a live round chambered in his gun. In its case, the state also said there was an undercover cop in the crowd threatened by Strickland.

That led a judge to slap Strickland with $250,000 in bail and he was returned to custody in the Multnomah County jail. If convicted of the two felonies, he could be sentenced for a maximum of 20 years prison on each count.

The gun comes out in the first few seconds of the video.

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Congressional Democrats Stage ‘Sit-In’ Demanding A Vote On Common Sense Gun Measures

From Huffington Post:

Congressional Democrats took over the House floor Wednesday in a ‘sit-in’ demonstration over Republican leaders’ refusal to hold a vote on gun legislation.

Their efforts to achieve this goal continued throughout the night, even after the Republican lawmakers snuck into the chamber at 2:30 a.m. and voted to adjourn the session until Jul. 5.”

C-SPAN broadcast the scene by using a Congressman’s Periscope feed after Congress was declared in recess. Majority Leader Paul Ryan called the move a “publicity stunt.”

Although Speaker of the House had the chamber cameras turned off, Democrats are broadcasting the ongoing sit-in via cellphone camera.

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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg On The 2nd Amendment

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the 2nd Amendment:

“The Second Amendment has a preamble about the need for a militia … Historically, the new government had no money to pay for an army, so they relied on the state militias,” she said. “The states required men to have certain weapons and they specified in the law what weapons these people had to keep in their home so that when they were called to do service as militiamen, they would have them. That was the entire purpose of the Second Amendment.”

Ginsburg said the disappearance of that purpose eliminates the function of the Second Amendment.

“It’s function is to enable the young nation to have people who will fight for it to have weapons that those soldiers will own,” she said. “I view the Second Amendment as rooted in the time totally allied to the need to support a militia. So … the Second Amendment is outdated in the sense that its function has become obsolete.”

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New York Daily News Dubs Senate “Slaughter House” After Failure To Pass Any gun Reform

From the NY Daily News:

The GOP-controlled Senate failed to pass legislation aimed at keeping suspected terrorists from buying guns and tightening background checks Monday, shrugging off the worst mass shooting in U.S. history with more inaction.

Barely a week after the Orlando nightclub massacre that killed 49 people and just days after a 15-hour filibuster from Democrats, it felt like “Groundhog Day” on Capitol Hill, with votes falling mostly along party lines to defeat four gun control measures.

“What am I going to tell 49 grieving families? What am I going to tell those who are still in the hospital fighting for their lives?” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). “Sadly, what I’m going to have to tell them is the NRA won again.”

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Donald Trump Walks Back ‘Guns In Nightclub’ Statement

Last week, Donald Trump said that if the folks in the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando had more guns, the outcome would not have been so grim.

A day after the attack, he told radio host Howie Carr: “It’s too bad that some of the young people that were killed over the weekend didn’t have guns, you know, attached to their hips, frankly, and you know where bullets could have flown in the opposite direction, Howie. It would have been a much different deal. I mean, it sounded like there were no guns. They had a security guard. Other than that there were no guns in the room. Had people been able to fire back, it would have been a much different outcome.”

And he said this in a campaign appearance:

Today, he’s walking that back…

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Fifteen Hour Senate Filibuster Succeeds In Winning Two Votes On Gun Measures

After nearly 15 hours of filibustering launched by Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who was supported by fellow Democrats Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Senate Republicans finally agreed to allow votes on two gun measures.

From Politico:

Though senators had yet to formally strike a deal, the Senate was likely to vote on two Democratic-backed gun measures: a proposal from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) meant to bar those on federal terror watch lists from obtaining firearms, and a plan from Murphy and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) mandating background checks for sales at gun shows and over the internet. Republicans are expected to put forward two of their own proposals for votes.

As Sen. Murphy and others pointed out over and over, these measures are supported by the VAST majority of Americans. One recent poll showed 90% of Democrats favor universal background checks, as well as 80% of Republicans.

Of course, the Senators themselves probably do, too. Their opposition most isn’t to the measures themselves. The problem is an actual vote where they have to go on record, and in doing so possibly anger the all-powerful NRA.

As the filibuster came to a close, Senator Chris Murphy recalled the story of Sandy Hook student Dylan Hockley and his teacher Anne Marie Murphy, who died trying to protect him from gunfire.

“It doesn’t take courage to stand here on the floor of the U.S. Senate… It takes courage to look into the eye of a shooter and instead of running wrapping your arms around a 6-year-old boy and accepting death,” Murphy said. “If Ann-Marie Murphy could do that then ask yourself — what can you do to make sure that Orlando or Sandy Hook never, ever happens again.”

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Mitch McConnell Gets Trolled On Twitter For Inaction On Guns

https://twitter.com/SenateMajLdr/status/742379367477678080 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell got called out on Twitter today by a follower who felt strongly about inaction on the part of Congress for doing nothing in the wake of mass gun shootings across the country, the latest being the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Florida that left 49 victims dead and 53 more hospitalized.

https://twitter.com/Ryan_Mourton/status/742386149579071490