Connecticut State Police are about to hold a press conference on the Newtown shooting. The names of the victims are expected to be made public today.
From TPM Reader SS …
I’m a pretty left-of-center liberal. Read TPM regularly. Donated nearly $1,000 to BHO’s re-election campaign. But I was raised with guns. More to the point, my childhood was steeped in gun lore: I learned to hand-load ammunition when I was 10 and 11, and – by the time I was 14 – my dad was trusting me to prepare my own handloads. I could (and to some extent, still can) recite chapter and verse of firearms arcana, from muzzle velocities – a product of the type of gunpowder used in one’s handloads; of the weight (in grains) of a projectile; of the length of a gun’s barrel (the longer, the faster); of the temperature and elevation at which one is shooting – to impact energy (measured in footpounds), to trajectories (flatter for heavier bullets; some calibers have an innate advantage over others), and so on.
I bring this up to establish my bona-fides.
A response from TPM Reader MH …
Quick response to SS. I am also a gun owner and recreational shooter with very liberal politics. But unlike SS, I have always loved what has come to be called “Tactical Shooting”, particularly the tactical handgun. I started out shooting customized 4″ .357 revolvers in the seventies. Then came Jeff Cooper, “Wondernines” and IPSC competition. I have always enjoyed it as a recreation, as something I found truly enjoyable. It’s not real – we’re not wannabe killers, any more than people who ride horses think riding horses is a practical real life skill.
As we talk about the rights and wrongs of mass gun ownership, I thought I’d share a few thoughts. Read More
From TPM Reader JB …
Getting drunk and driving 100 miles an hour is also fun, but it’s still illegal. Same with crystal meth. The point is there is a social cost to allowing recreational gun ownership, and gun owners need to acknowledge we are all paying a certain price for their entertainment. For those of us who never have and never will own a gun, it is most definitely not worth it.
Most of us are aware of studies that show that having a firearm in the home increases rather than decreases your chance of violent injury or death — usually through accidents or suicide. I was not aware of this peer-reviewed 2009 study by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study which concluded that people in possession of a gun were 4.5 times more likely to be shot during an assault than those who didn’t have a firearm.
In the words of the study: “On average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. Although successful defensive gun uses occur each year, the probability of success may be low for civilian gun users in urban areas. Such users should reconsider their possession of guns or, at least, understand that regular possession necessitates careful safety countermeasures.” Read More
SNL opened with the New York City Children’s Chorus singing Silent Night. Not easy to watch.
RNC Finance Chairman says Detroit voting all about boozing and vote fraud.