Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Training Issues At The IRS’s Criminal Division

October 3, 2012 by

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report yesterday detailing firearms training issues with the Special Agents of the IRS’s Criminal Division.


From Reuters on the report:


Armed Internal Revenue Service agents need more thorough firearms training and they
need to be more consistent in reporting accidental firings of their
guns, said the tax-collecting agency’s watchdog on Tuesday.


“Special agents not properly
trained in the use of firearms could endanger the public, as well as
their fellow special agents, and expose the IRS to potential litigation
over injuries or damages,” said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration.


The
inspector general said agents used firearms in self-defense eight times
and accidentally fired their weapons 11 times during fiscal years 2009
through fiscal 2011.

 I am reading the report now but I’d say “accidentally fired their weapons” is really negligently filed their weapons. I think the Inspector General agrees with that as well given his statement regarding potential liability for damages.

“It is imperative that Criminal Investigation ensure that all its
special agents are well trained,” said J. Russell George, Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration. “Special agents not properly
trained in the use of firearms could endanger the public, as well as
their fellow special agents, and expose the IRS to potential litigation
over injuries or damages.”

Uncategorized

Meet MAIG’s Version Of Colin Goddard

October 3, 2012 by 1 Comment

I know it is a tough job market for recent college graduates but there has got to be a better job than to be working for Mayor Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors.

Meet recent Syracuse University graduate Stephen Barton who is moving to Brooklyn to work for Bloomberg. It would seem the key job requirement to be hired by Bloomberg is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Barton’s case, it was a gun-free zone in Aurora, Colorado. That gun free zone was the site of the Batman Movie Massacre as Alan Korwin calls it and Barton suffered shotgun pellet wounds.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

Uncategorized

An Update On Assaulted

October 3, 2012 by 2 Comments

As of 9:30pm this evening, 616 pledges had been made to produce the film Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire. This leaves it approximately $21,500 short of the $65,000 goal. This is significantly better than it was on Sunday afternoon. Still, there are only 50 hours left before Kickstarter closes this pledge drive.

You can make your pledge here and I would really encourage you to make a pledge. Even a few bucks will help towards reaching the goal. You can see a trailer for the film here as well as read more about it.

I have met Kris and Anita. I think they will make an excellent film if only they can raise enough money. They already have the commitment from Southern Oregon Public Television to handle the distribution of it.

Uncategorized

So Much For “Truth Telling”

October 2, 2012 by 15 Comments

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (sic) – the group formerly known as the Legal Community Against Violence or LCAV – is holding an event entitled Truth Telling: The Media’s Role in the Conversation on Guns on October 25th. It will be held at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence & Opus2 International
are pleased to present:
Truth Telling: The Media’s Role in the Conversation on Guns

 OCTOBER 25, 2012 | 6 – 8:30 PM
UC Hastings College of the Law

Louis B. Mayer Lounge
198 McAllister Street | San Francisco

RSVP REQUIRED

Free to Members, UC Hastings Students and Faculty
$12 All Other Students | $20 Non-Members
The Law Center reserves the right to refuse admittance.

Following an hors d’oeuvres and wine reception, a diverse group of
journalists from local and national news outlets will share their
perspective on the role the media plays in the national conversation on
guns, particularly in an election year.

As the “information age” has become
incredibly fast-moving and complex, the media’s power to inform,
educate, and persuade has also grown. Meanwhile, the topic of gun
violence in America remains complicated and fueled by passionate beliefs
from all sides.
What are some of the challenges journalists
and news agencies face when trying to tell the truth about America’s
gun laws? What impact does the national political debate have on the
media’s approach to this issue? How is “new media” affecting the way in
which this conversation is cultivated?
Please join us to find out the answers to these questions and more. Come and ask your own questions for our panelists!

JOINING THE PANEL:

  • MARK FOLLMAN, Senior Editor, Mother Jones
  • KRIS HUNDLEY, Staff Writer, Tampa Bay Times
  • BOB EGELKO, Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle
  • SCOTT JOHNSON, Violence Reporting Fellow, The Oakland Tribune
  • ABBY STERLING, Producer, CBS 5 San Francisco

MODERATED BY:
RORY LITTLE, UC Hastings Professor of Law

Unfortunately, the former LCAV really doesn’t want to hear anything other than their version of “the truth” as told by sycophantic reporters.

Notice that little disclaimer about “the right to refuse admittance”? This means that if they know you are associated with gun rights you are to be excluded from their little soiree. They don’t want their worldview tainted by dissenting questions.


Josh Berger, a director of the CalGuns Foundation, had purchased tickets to this event. You can guess what he had waiting in the mail for him when he returned from the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Orlando. It was not the tickets he had ordered but rather a refund of his money with the note below.

Truth telling is a joke when you are dealing with the gun prohibitionists. The only “truth” they want to hear is their own skewed version of it.

Uncategorized

A GRPC Roundup

October 1, 2012 by

I won’t be able to do much in the way of posting about the Gun Rights Policy Conference today due to work and teaching tonight. However, I wanted to post some links to stories and posts about the conference.

USAToday had a story on the conference which featured a picture of Miguel of the GunFreeZone blog wearing his Gunwalker T-shirt and holding up the SAF’s Keep Calm and Carry poster. I’m still looking for the video from a local Orlando TV station that featured the backs of my and Miguel’s heads. Still, a picture in USAToday definitely trumps that!

Kenn Blanchard has video up of Emily Miller’s speech at the conference which can be seen here. It presents a much more accurate picture than that of a certain so-called gun blogger who was responsible for the Gun Blog Black List being formed. I refuse to link to him but I’m sure you can find it by using Google as he is the master of search engine optimization (SEO).

Robb Allen whom I got to meet for the first time has a series of posts up on the conference including this one.

Here is Joe Huffman’s take on the first day of the GRPC. It was a pleasure to finally meet Joe.

The now famous Miguel has a number of posts up on the conference and they can be found here, here, and here.

Congratulations to Sean Caranna of Florida Carry and the blog All Nine Yars for being named a Defender of Liberty award recipient by the SAF.

Derek Ward, the author of Zombie Strike and a gun blogger, was at the conference. I enjoyed meeting Derek and he has a number of posts on GRPC up on his blog.

All in all it was a good conference and I’ll be posting more on it through out the week.

Uncategorized

Madison Rising At GRPC

October 1, 2012 by 1 Comment

Madison Rising performed both nights at the Gun Rights Policy Conference and I think they were a big hit despite the amount of gray hair that many of us had.

(L-R) Alex Bodnar, Steve Padelski, Sam Fishman, us, Dave Bray

In one of those stranger than fiction coincidences, we got an email on Saturday from the Complementary Spouse’s 69-year old uncle with a link to Madison Rising playing The Star Spangled Banner saying how it was an amazing rendition. We, of course, rubbed it in a little by saying we just heard it in person.

There are many ways to get the message of freedom out. Madison Rising is one of them and a damn good one at that.

Uncategorized

It Can Still Be Done

September 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

The film Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire still needs funding to get it off the ground. As of this afternoon, Kris Koenig is still $37,750 short of the needed $65,000 to conduct the initial interviews and there are only four more days to raise it on Kickstarter.

I had the opportunity to meet Kris and his assistant Anita this weekend at the Gun Rights Policy Conference. They are good people and they are dedicated to the Second Amendment. Kris conducted a number of filmed interviews for the film this weekend and is off to a good start.

Kris has the contacts and the commitment from public television to get this program on the air. However, as I said in the opening paragraph, he needs money to finish the project. Personally, I have raised my own pledge four-fold because I believe in this project.

The readers of this blog are backers of gun rights or they wouldn’t be reading my blog. Here is my challenge: if everyone who reads my blog in next couple of days would only pledge $5 it would put this project over the top.

Let me put $5 into perspective. Five bucks is:

  • 4 softdrinks at $1.25 each, or
  • 1 fancy coffee drink at Starbucks plus the tip, or
  • Less than the cost of a Big Mac meal at McDonalds
  • The change scattered on the top of your dresser, or
  • The cost of a big box of popcorn at the movies, or
  • Less than the cost of a movie ticket.

I think you get the idea. Five bucks isn’t a lot of money in and of itself but if enough people donate five bucks it begins to add up. 

So please, consider making a pledge to this project. You can make your pledge here.