Ed Kilgore weighs in on the messy Mississippi Senate primary between incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R) and tea party upstart state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R): “But with the radicalization of the conservative movement and the Republican Party that has intensified during the Obama presidency, the perceived value of Cochran’s Grandee position has steadily declined, and he’s in real danger of being seen as that most hated figure, a Scalawag.”
Setting aside why you really need to bring your loaded handgun to Walmart, just why do we have all these cases of people dropping, bobbling, bending over and having their gun fall out, strike the ground and discharge into someone’s arm, leg, butt, etc.? Police virtually always have a holstered gun on them. And you really seldom ever hear of one of them having this happen. TPM Reader AZ has some thoughts on the matter, tying back to TPM Reader SG’s question about criminal liability …
Your reader’s question about “accidental” discharges of firearms and the responsibility of the person carrying the gun requires some more detail.
I should say that my contact with guns was in my time as a soldier in the Swiss military. One of the things they drilled into us was that whenever we moved with the weapon (an assault rifle) the safety catch had to be on–to prevent accidental discharges.
Apropos of this incident where a woman was accidentally shot in the arm in an Indiana Walmart, TPM Reader SG has a question …
And what, pray tell, is the man being charged with? The original story does not mention a charge in the case, which leads me to believe he’s not being charged with anything.
Group of North Carolina legislators introduces legislation which calls for “convention of the states” after determining, among other things, that the federal government has “ceased to exist.”
UCSB alum Shannon Kelley writes a moving essay about the “twisted world” shooter Elliot Rodgers lived in. It’s worth a read.
Many of us are concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. And it was in that context that we heard the news of a gunman who opened fire and killed four people at a Jewish Museum in Brussels on Saturday. But it seems like there may have been both less and more to this killing than it first appeared.
Conor P. Williams takes a look at California’s “Parent Trigger” law, which allows parents who sign a petition to make dramatic changes to a school. Though this can be a force for evil, Williams takes a look at a case in which it seems to have been used for a force for good.
Physician Dr. Julie Johnston explains why buffer zones for protesters are so crucial for providing women’s health care.
Over the weekend I flagged how Open Carry Texas and a few similarly minded groups have decided to call off their campaign to have members go to restaurants openly carrying long guns to show that … well, to press the case that you should be able to carry your firearms into restaurants because freedom. You can currently bring long guns but not handguns. Thus the campaign to open this new front for freedom. But the groups’ leaders decided that doing this actually scares people or makes them uncomfortable and mainlymakes them really mad at you. Who knew? Now here’s video of members of the same group getting booted from Chilis. They had originally proudly posted the video as an example of the violation of their rights. But have now taken it down because of the whole making themselves look crazy and deranged thing.
We’re hiring an Associate Editor to work out of our NYC headquarters overseeing LiveWire and breaking news. Listing after the jump …