Blog For Arizona

Action Alert: Guns in Public Buildings bill HB 2339 in House Judiciary Committee on Thursday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Action Alert from Arizonans for Gun Safety:

WE NEED YOU TO TAKE ACTION TODAY!

HB2339 will be heard in the Arizona House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, February 20 at 8 AM. This bill will require all Public (state and local government) buildings and events to provide metal detectors and/or security personnel to screen people entering if they want to prevent people with Concealed Carry Weapons permits from entering with their guns.

This is a really bad bill and we need the Coalition to show strong opposition. Here’s what you can do:

If you are registered in the Arizona Legislative Information System (by having signed up in person at the Capitol kiosk), please go into ALIS and Request to Speak. You can select not to speak, select "against" HB2339 and give comments to support your position. Here are talking points you can use:

· Arizona voters do NOT support guns in public buildings. In a 2011 public opinion poll, an overwhelming 75% of Arizonans including 72% of gun owners opposed allowing guns in government buildings.

· The cost of providing the required security measures at public building entrances will be prohibitive and an unfunded mandate on local governments.

· Guns do not belong in places designed for families, children and youth. Society has always deemed places like swimming pools, libraries, and community centers as gun free zones. There is NO EVIDENCE that supports changing this long held policy.

· Law enforcement officials believe more guns in public places will complicate police work and endanger bystanders, if when they respond to a shooting scene there are multiple people with firearms in their hands.

The Trouble with E.Orr - he does not represent the values of his constituents

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Is this a private fight, or can anyone join in?

Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star is writing the most recent iteration of the Political Notebook that Rhonda Bodfield and Daniel Scarpinato (now with the RNCC) before her used to write. God, I hated the Political Notebook!

Anyway, Timmeh takes issue with Blog for Arizona's Pamela Powers Hannley for taking issue with a recent column of his, correctly pointing out that Rep. Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) only nurtures the appearance of being a moderate but votes with his GOP caucus routinely.

I would make the point that the occasional departure vote does not make Orr a "moderate" or a RINO, any more than a Democrat casting the occasional departure vote makes him or her a Teabagger or a DINO. It is a voting record taken as a whole that matters.

Here is Pamela's informative post. AZ Star Perpetuates 'Ethan Orr Is a Moderate' Myth. Please note the Votesmart.org link to Orr's voting record.

Today's Steller column wastes everyone's time focusing on Facebook comments about his previous column with which Pamela Powers Hannley took issue. Yeah, that's not news. Too many political reporters are fixated with social media like Twitter and Facebook. It is not news.

"Both parties suck! Wah! Why won't you Democrats fix it?!?"

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Laurie Roberts at the AZ Republic is beside herself that the well-heeled proponents of the dumb Top Two Primary idea are, as she delightedly exclaims, baaaaaack. (Much more after the jump)

Senate Judiciary Committee advances unconstitutional 'nullification' of federal gun laws

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday advanced SB 1294 (.pdf), the gun worshipers' wet dream, sponsored by the Neo-Confederate "interposition, nullification and secession" caucus (Ward, Burgess, Crandell, D. Farnsworth, Borelli, Gowan, Mitchell, Seel, Thorpe, Barton, Kwasman. Livingston, and Petersen).

This gun worshiper's wet dream "Declares federal law that violates the Second Amendment invalid and void in Arizona and prohibits state and local enforcement of federal firearm laws within the state."Howard Fischer reports, Senate panel moves forward on broad gun legislation:

State lawmakers sent a warning Monday to local officials: Do anything to help the federal government enforce its guns laws and find yourself out on the street.

The legislation approved on a 6-3 vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee declares that all federal acts, laws, orders, rules and regulations that violate the “true meaning and intent of the Second Amendment are invalid and void in this state.” SB 1294 also forbids the use of state personnel or resources to enforce those rules.

Tea-Publicans love their vexatious litigation

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this year I posted about Rep. John Kavanagh's bill to designate a person a “vexatious litigant’’ and to make it difficult for them to file lawsuits if they initiated at least five unmerited litigations, other than in small claims court, over a period of seven years. HB 2021 (.pdf) (Passed unanimously in the Judiciary Committee with amendment). As I said at the time:

I'm curious -- does this apply to the Arizona Legislature and the Goldwater Institute, which routinely file "vexatious" litigation only to have the court declare that the legislature's actions were unconstitutional and unlawful? Because they clearly qualify as a "vexatious litigant" given the number of lawsuits they have lost over the years (again today). These ideological extremists have been racking up millions of dollars in attorneys fees and court costs at taxpayer expense in pursuit of their ideological agenda. Shouldn't this be stopped?

Tea-Publicans believe that Kavanagh's notion of vexatious litigation "applies to thee, not to me."

The Arizona Daily Star today reports today that the gun worshipers and fetishists want a cause of action to sue any local government official (read the City of Tucson) which enacts "illegal" regulations of firearms in violation of their absolutist view of the Second Amendment.

Get in line, assholes! You get to sue for damages when the government violates the law or the Constitution when I get to sue our lawless legislature and governor for damages for pissing away taxpayer money on lawsuits defending their unconstitutional and unlawful extremist agenda in court. Proposed law wants to make elected officials to pay for adopting illegal gun laws:

A proposed state law would let gun owners sue city council members or county supervisors personally if those governments pass or try to enforce gun laws that are stricter than state law.

Under the bill, HB 2517 (.pdf), courts could hit individual elected officials with civil penalties of up to $5,000 for passing an ordinance out of compliance with state law.

Anyone who enforces an illegal ordinance would be subject to penalties as well.

Gun worshipers and fetishists rally at the Capitol

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

As if to make my point for me, the gun worshipers and fetishists are using the Sabath to worship their false idol, the gun, at the Arizona Capitol today with a "Stand Your Ground" rally -- because being purposefully confrontational and insensitive (MLK weekend? Really?) is part of their religious dogma -- sponsored by Gun Rights Across America.

Yeah, you see that's just the problem. Guns have rights in Arizona superior to the private property rights of individuals, and gun worship is the official state-sanctioned idolatrous religion of Arizona. We even have an official state gun (holy relic icon). Guns are not threatened in Arizona, people are.

Check out this paranoid conspiracy theory-laced rant for the rally, Website: www.facebook.com/events/432330883562221

Gun Rights Across America is hosting the Second Guns Across America Nationwide Rally to say, “Stand Your Ground!”

With corruption at every corner and our Second Amendment Rights being trampled on, GRAA asks you to come out, bring your family, signs and your unwavering American Pride and peacefully assemble. Our own ability to defend ourselves from a tyrannical Government, and from those that wish to do us harm is being threatened now. We are not criminals, we are law abiding American citizens! We are mothers, fathers, soldiers, veterans and your every day man, woman and child. We walk among you every day. We will no longer let the misinformed and uninformed classify us into a genre that is not ours.

We are American. We are protectors of the Second Amendment, we are the majority and we will Stand Our Ground! We also know that like many of us, a majority of you will be attending church on Sunday morning. Please note this is why the event is scheduled to start at High noon and run for at least 2 hours.

They're baaack! The gun worshippers and fetishists file a slew of bills

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

They're baaack! The gun worshippers and fetishists in the Arizona Legislature have a slew of new bills to honor and worship their false idol god. Howard Fischer reports, Laws upping gun owner rights coming to Legislature:

A Senate panel voted Thursday to strengthen laws allowing people to bring weapons into public buildings if there’s not an easy and immediate way to check them.

Dave Kopp, lobbyist for the Arizona Citizens Defense League, said a 2006 law says individuals are permitted to arm themselves. He said that law allows those operating public buildings to tell people their weapons are not welcome only if there are convenient lockers available .

He said some government agencies claim having lockers near entrances would be too costly. Kopp said that puts those who refuse to disarm themselves at risk of being arrested on a charge of misconduct with a weapon. SB 1063 (.pdf) would end that risk.

“The only thing the bill changes is it basically says if you are not providing the required storage that’s been required since 2006, then folks can just walk on in,’’ Kopp said.

Scott Smith is for sure not running as a moderate

I got the following email from Mesa Mayor and (now) GOP candidate for AZ Governor Scott Smith:

Friend,

Today, I was honored to file paperwork to begin my campaign for Governor of Arizona.

For the past six years as Mayor of Mesa, I have shown how governing using conservative principles of efficient, effective and limited government can create opportunity and help individuals and businesses succeed. I am confident the experience and successes I have gained as mayor can be a model for success for all of Arizona.

As Governor, my number one priority for Arizona will be to build a healthy economy, get Arizonans great jobs and brighten the future for our children.

As Mayor of Mesa, I dealt with a $62 million shortfall caused by the economy by reducing spending, reforming government operations, and eliminating burdensome regulations. Mesa residents are paying less in taxes than they were before I became Mayor.

I also brought economic opportunity by keeping the Chicago Cubs spring training in town, recruiting 5 private universities to our downtown, and led the effort to bring Apple to Arizona.

As a business owner, I turned around a troubled company into a $200 million company and looked at opportunities to create jobs and work in areas other builders had long ignored. I am proud of the success we achieved and the Arizonans we employed. I also know how hard it is when Washington bureaucrats force ill-conceived policies like Obamacare on the American people. As Governor I will stand up to Barack Obama and work with our Congressional delegation to replace it.

I am pro-life, support traditional marriage, am a strong proponent of Second Amendment rights, and believe Governor Brewer was right to demand the Federal Government secure our border.

I am a man of faith and it is at the core of who I am.

In addition, I am the only candidate in this race who as an executive in government has actually put true conservative principles into action to bring economic opportunity to Arizona while also shrinking the size of government.

Our state has amazing potential to lead the nation in job growth and economic prosperity. With continued conservative leadership, we can bring more companies like Apple to Arizona.

We can create additional high paying jobs for Arizonans while keeping fiscal discipline with government spending.

We can create a world-class education system for our children while also giving parents control over where their child attends school.

We can hold true to our conservative principles while also being leaders who bring people together to solve the challenges we face.

We can do this together and I ask that you please take a moment to join our campaign. Together, we can make Arizona the greatest state in America to live, work, and raise our families.

Sincerely,

Scott Smith

 

That's standard right wing boilerplate there: anti-choice, anti-gay, pro-gun, "school choice", drown the government. God, Obama-bashing. Yet I'm still being told what a nice, pragmatic, and moderate man he is. Of course I anticipate the inevitable protest: "Oh but you know he's just doing that for the primary!". Unless Scott Smith has given you his personal assurance that the uber-conservative stances he's taken are simply a ruse to fool Republican primary voters, you have no way of knowing that. If he hasn't told you that then you should realize that you are pinning your hopes on Smith being someone different from who he tells you he fundamentally is. I can tell you from my dating days that that is not a good idea.

Are the Ammunitionally Correct violating a writer's free speech rights?

by David Safier

Dick Metcalf is a gun enthusiast, writer on guns and hunting and defender of a pretty strict interpretation of the Second Amendment and gun rights. But in his regular Guns & Ammo column in October, he wrote a column, "Let's Talk Limits," where he said, “The fact is, all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” He argued that the Second Amendment talks about a "well regulated militia" and says the right to keep and bear arms "shall not be infringed," but it doesn't say "shall not be regulated."

He's been banished, or, as the Duck Dynasty defenders would say, his free speech rights have been violated. The gun mags won't publish him, and his television program is off the air.

He knows that the odds of returning seamlessly to his old career are slim. When people ask him what’s next, he shows them a photograph taken shortly after InterMedia dismissed him. In it, he holds a gun, and a sign that reads “Will Hunt For Food.”

Obviously, no, Metcalf's free speech rights haven't been harmed any more than those of Duckster Phil Robertson. Neither of them has a constitutional right to be published or be on television. Metcalf is still a free man who can write, blog, publish youtube videos or stand on a soapbox in a public square to his heart's content. If gun mags don't want to publish him and TV networks don't want to air his shows, that's their right.

Community gun-control and mental-health forum

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tucson City Council member Steve Kozachik is hosting a community gun-control and mental-health forum Tuesday, January 7, at 6:30 p.m., at The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway. The forum will follow a presentation of Living for 32:

Join us on January 7th for a screening of Living for 32, with a panel discussion to follow. On April 16th, 2007, 32 students were gunned down in a senseless shooting on the Virginia Tech campus. Colin Goddard was in the room, and survived multiple gun shot wounds. On the 7th, Colin will join the Tucson Chief of Police, Pima County Sheriff, representatives of the Mental Health service provider community, Mayor Rothschild and City Council member Steve Kozachik to discuss local initiatives related to mental health issues, background checks and other related topics. This forum is presented by The Loft Cinema, with support from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Organizing for Action and the Tucson Coalition against Gun Violence.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and is open to the public.

Community gun-control and mental-health forum

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tucson City Council member Steve Kozachik is hosting a community gun-control and mental-health forum Tuesday, January 7, at 6:30 p.m., at The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway. The forum will follow a presentation of Living for 32:

Join us on January 7th for a screening of Living for 32, with a panel discussion to follow. On April 16th, 2007, 32 students were gunned down in a senseless shooting on the Virginia Tech campus. Colin Goddard was in the room, and survived multiple gun shot wounds. On the 7th, Colin will join the Tucson Chief of Police, Pima County Sheriff, representatives of the Mental Health service provider community, Mayor Rothschild and City Council member Steve Kozachik to discuss local initiatives related to mental health issues, background checks and other related topics. This forum is presented by The Loft Cinema, with support from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Organizing for Action and the Tucson Coalition against Gun Violence.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and is open to the public.

Tucson January 8th Memorial Events

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from The January 8th Memorial Foundation:

The January 8th Memorial Foundation is honored to present “January 8th Memorial Foundation: Together We Thrive,” which will be presented at three different branches of the Pima County Public Library from January 3rd-31, 2014. This is the first time any of these touching community-created materials will be publically seen since February 2011 and we want to remember together.

The exhibits will be installed at three libraries: Nanini, Eckstrom-Columbus and Joel D. Valdez Main. Each exhibit will have a special opening event:

■ Reception on Monday, January 6th at Joel Valdez Main Library at noon

■ Flag-raising and reception on Wednesday, January 8th at Nanini at 10:00 a.m.

■ Reception on Thursday, January 9th at Eckstrom-Columbus at 5:30 p.m.

These events are free and open to the public. The January 8th Memorial Foundation invites you to join us in this special remembrance of a tragedy which touched our community so deeply, as well as a celebration of the spirit of hope and caring so beautifully expressed in these tribute memorial items. Truly, together we thrive.

Other Community Events:

■ Monday, January 6 at 11 am
January 8th Foundation Board Press Conference
Historic Pima County Courthouse Courtyard, 115 N. Church Avenue

■ January 7 at 6 pm
Panel Discussion and Screening of Living for 32
Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd.

■ January 8 at 10:10 am
University of Arizona Medical Center Moment of silence/ringing of bells
University of Arizona Medical Center, 1501 N. Campbell Avenue - front lawn

■ January 8 at 7 pm
Church Service, and short presentation by Pat Maisch
St. Phillips in the Hills Episcopal Church, Music Center. (River and Campbell)

■ January 11 from 12 to 3 pm
BEYOND: Commemorate, Celebrate, Commit (Community-wide event)
Armory Park, 200 South 6th Avenue

■ January 19 from 2 to 6 pm
Concert for Civility: Family Friendly Showcase
Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street

Please visit the Foundation's website at http://www.january8memorial.com/ for more information about our projects, and the Library’s website at http://www.library.pima.gov/ for more details on exhibit locations.

'Tenther' Sen. Kelli Ward to push the so-called 2nd Amendment Protection Act again

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Capitol Times followed up on its report last week on "Tenther" Sen. Kelli Ward's bill to "nullify the NSA" with this tidbit way down in the report: Ward intends to reintroduce here bill from last year to nullify the enforecment of federal gun laws in Arizona. AZ lawmaker ready to take on NSA:

After unsuccessfully pushing legislation to defend Arizonans’ 2nd Amendment rights in 2013, Sen. Kelli Ward is preparing to try again during next year’s legislative session.

The Lake Havasu City Republican told the Arizona Capitol Times she’ll file another bill, similar to 2013’s SB 1112, that would attempt to prevent certain federal gun laws from being enforced in Arizona.

Guns manufactured and owned within Arizona’s borders would also be made exempt from any federal gun law, according to Ward’s 2013 legislation.

Ward’s previous attempt to pass such legislation failed after Senate Rules Attorney Stacey Weltsch told lawmakers she had no doubt the measure would be struck down in court — that various portions of the law would have violated the Supremacy Clause, interstate commerce regulations and the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution.

Despite Weltsch’s warnings, Ward’s bill still cleared the Rules Committee in 2013, but could never gather enough votes to pass on the Senate floor. Strong objections from Senate Democrats, as well as concerns from some GOP lawmakers, left it clear the bill lacked enough votes for approval.

The bill was held on the Senate floor, never coming up for a vote.

Jennifer Longdon interview on Canadian TV

I've had the good fortune of knowing a fair number of Canadians in my time. When I was stationed in Japan in the Navy twenty years ago (!) I hung out with a pack of expats in Tokyo most weekends, several of whom were Canucks. From 1995 to 1997, I was stationed at Keyport, Washington where I was part of a unit that did weapons training ops, mostly off the coast of Vancouver Island. We spent most of our off duty time in a town called Nanaimo, hanging out with locals. I developed a fondness for Tim Horton's that I still have to this day. 

Based on my experience, there are a couple of generalizations about Canadians I can safely make: 1. they think our for-profit health care system is insane and 2. they think we are completely batshit crazy with the all guns and the shootings down here, eh.

Gun deaths total in AZ: All about a malicious attitude

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

And the "malice" isn't just on the part of the shooters...

There's a couple of gun stories going around that, on the surface, are unrelated.  However, they are probably more closely related than "Second Amendment activists" (a euphemism for "gun nuts") would care to admit.

First up: an "effect".

From Mother Jones, written by Dana Liebelson and Stephanie Mencimer -

Back in December, not long after the massacre at Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, Bloomberg News published a study suggesting that by 2015, guns would kill more Americans than traffic accidents do.

The comparison struck a nerve, and the factoid has become a talking point in gun control debates on Capitol Hill. But it's clear from the data that the prediction wasn't just a hypothetical. A number of states have already hit this grisly milestone.

From the story, Arizona's shameful numbers -

 

Yes, in 2010, there were already more gun deaths than traffic deaths in Arizona.

Yet, while there are scads of laws regulating the use of motor vehicles in AZ, there are many fewer such laws regarding the use of firearms in AZ, and those laws are made fewer and weaker seemingly every time the Arizona legislature meets.

Now, a cause (or at least, a contributing factor):

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month: Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America to hold Domestic Gun Violence Event

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Press release from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America:

MOMS DEMAND ACTION FOR GUN SENSE IN AMERICA ARIZONA CHAPTER TO HOLD DOMESTIC GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS EVENT

On the Top 10 Worst State List the Moms Demand Action-Arizona Chapter will host a Press Conference Highlighting the Need for Stronger Legislation

(Tucson, AZ) Oct. 19, 2013: In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has launched a national domestic gun violence awareness campaign to push for stronger policies surrounding domestic violence and gun ownership.

The local Arizona Chapter will be participating with a press conference on October 19, 2013 at 3202 East 1st Street Tucson, Arizona 85716, 1:00 PM.

Featured speakers will include Jocelyn Strauss, regional manager of Moms Demand Action Arizona Chapter; Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild; Steve Kozachik, Ward 6 City Councilman; and Richard Miranda, City Manager.

Congressman Ron Barber, and State Representative Bruce Wheeler will also join us.

Moms Demand Action is partnering with the Violence Policy Center (VPC) to promote its report, When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2011 Homicide Data http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2013.pdf, released Sept. 25, 2013, which lists the top 10 states with the highest rates of females murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents in 2011. The report revealed that Arizona had the #5 worst homicide rate among female victims murdered by males, with 56 percent of these homicides related to domestic violence, and 65 percent of those victims killed by guns.

Let's Negotiate!

Republicans have been demanding negotiations over the government shutdown. A few minutes ago, President Obama gave in to their demand. In a private meeting with House leaders, he said:

Let's negotiate. I understand that you want to repeal Obamacare, or at least delay it for a year. Now let me tell you what I want:

Idolatrous gun worship now the official state religion of Arizona

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is going to lead to wailing and the gnashing of teeth by the idolatrous gun worshipers and fetishists. The day before their idolatrous religion became the legislature-sanctioned official state religion of Arizona, the Phoenix police department destroyed almost 2,000 holy relics unwanted firearms. Oh the horrors! Phoenix destroys 2,000 guns before ban:

The goal of the popular gun buybacks held last spring in Phoenix was clear: purchase and destroy as many unwanted weapons as possible before a new state law requiring police to sell firearms instead of melting them down took effect.

The program collected nearly 2,000 weapons, and Phoenix police worked nearly 175 hours of overtime — at a cost of about $10,000 — to ensure the guns were destroyed before the law kicked in last Friday.

* * *

“I’m very happy we were able to get these destroyed before the law took effect,” said Hildy Saizow, president of Arizonans for Gun Safety.. “That’s what we promised the public, and no matter what the Legislature did, we needed to meet that objective.”

New Research: 'Guns Do Not Make a Nation Safer'

by Pamela Powers Hannley

With each massacre of innocent citizens, the demand for action on gun control by the US Congress intensifies.

After the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012,  it appeared as if the national outrage over the massacre of 20 children and 6 school staff would finally push the Congress into action, but sadly, in April 2013, the most recent attempt at common sense gun control was thwarted by a Republican Party filibuster (which included both Arizona Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain.)

This week, a lone gunman opened fire in a Washington DC naval facility, killing 12 people and injuring 8 others before being killed by authorities. Within hours of the shooting, Senator Diane Feinstein, who sponsored gun control legislation earlier this year, called on Congress to revive gun control efforts.

Serendipitously for gun control advocates, The American Journal of Medicine released Gun Ownership and Firearm-related Deaths by Drs. Sripal Bangalore and Franz Messerli today.

More Guns Don't Make a Nation Safer

Read the details of the study after the jump and then forward it to your state legislators and your Congressional representatives.

Shooting Rampage at Washington Navy Yard

Posted by AzBueMeanie:

Where is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs when we need him? Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? Today's tragic mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard is certain to be an episode of NCIS this season. At least 12 dead in Navy Yard shooting; possible suspect at large:

At least 12 people are dead and others were wounded after a shooter opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, police said, spreading fear and chaos across the region as authorities tried to contain the incident.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced the mounting death toll in a 2 p.m. news conference. The suspected shooter, identified by three law enforcement officials as Aaron Alexis, a man in his 30s from Texas, is among the dozen dead.

But hours after the rampage began, it was still unclear whether the shooting was the act of a lone gunman, or if other shooters were involved. Lanier initially said authorities were looking for two other potential shooters dressed in military style clothing. But shortly after she announced a detailed description of two suspects, city officials said one had been located and cleared.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray said no motive is known. He said they have no reason to believe it was an act of terrorism, though he said he could not rule it out.

Lanier described the other possible suspect, who has not been located, as a black man in his 40s with gray sideburns, wearing an olive-drab military-style uniform.

Police are asking anyone with information on the suspect to call 202-727-9099.

Sen. John McCain calls for review of Arizona's 'stand your ground' law

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Careful, Johnny. Arizona's "Ms. NRA," Governor Jan Brewer, will be sticking her boney finger in your face next like she did to President Obama. Brewer: Fla. case doesn't change her mind on 'stand your ground'.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Sen. John McCain joined President Barack Obama's call to review so-called "Stand Your Ground" laws in the aftermath of the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting of black teen Trayvon Martin. NBC reports, McCain joins Obama in calling for review of 'Stand Your Ground' laws:

Sen. John McCain, Ariz., a prominent Republican who's been known to break ranks with fellow members of the GOP at times, urged state legislatures to review Stand Your Ground laws in the wake of the Zimmerman trial, which became a national flashpoint for race relations in America.

"I can also see that Stand Your Ground laws may be something that needs to be reviewed by the Florida legislature or any other legislature that has passed such legislation," McCain said on CNN.

Asked whether his home state legislature should consider revising its own similar law, McCain said yes. 

"I think that, yes, I do, and I'm confident that the members of the Arizona legislature will because it is a very controversial legislation," he said.

President Obama asks the pertinent question

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In all the media coverage of the George Zimmerman trial, I do not recall anyone posing the pertinent question: "What if Trayvon Martin had been carrying a firearm? Would he have been justified in using deadly force to 'stand his ground' when he was lawfully where he had a right to be and was accosted by George Zimmerman?"

In President Obama's remarks today on Trayvon Martin, he posed the pertinent question. Lawyers are like that.

Attorney General Eric Holder's speech to the NAACP convention

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the annual convention of the NAACP on Tuesday, and in the wake of the George Zimmerman trial in Florida, he addressed the legitimate concerns of African-Americans that simply being a black male in America renders them a "criminal suspect." Attorney General Eric Holder denounces ‘stand your ground’ laws:

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. strongly condemned “stand your ground” laws Tuesday, saying the measures “senselessly expand the concept of self-defense” and may encourage “violent situations to escalate.”

* * *

“These laws try to fix something that was never broken,” Holder told cheering delegates of the annual convention of the NAACP, which is pressing him to file civil rights charges against Zimmerman. “The list of resulting tragedies is long and, unfortunately, has victimized too many who are innocent.”

The attorney general, who is the first African American ever to hold that position, drew parallels between his own life and the claims of many here that Zimmerman racially profiled Martin after spotting the teenager walking through his father’s neighborhood in a hooded sweatshirt. Martin was African American. Zimmerman’s father is white, his mother Peruvian.

Holder recalled being pulled over twice by police on the New Jersey Turnpike as a young man and having his car searched, “when I’m sure I wasn’t speeding.” Another time, he said, he was stopped by law enforcement in Georgetown while simply running to catch a movie after dark.

NRA apologists defend 'stand your ground' laws

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted about this the other day: the Washington Post reports, Everything you need to know about 'stand your ground' laws:

The National Rifle Association lobbied hard for the measure, while law enforcement officials like Miami’s police chief opposed it.

* * *

Since Florida became the first state to pass an explicit stand your ground law, more than 30 others have passed some version of it, with the help of a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a organization that promotes conservative bills. Here’s a 2012 map of stand your ground laws nationwide.

In the wake of the Florida case, we can expect an increase in calls to repeal or at least revisit the laws across the country.

I have been waiting to see how long it takes before the push-back begins from the "happiness is a warm gun" crowd at the NRA. Today we hear from "Ms. NRA," Governor Jan Brewer in the senior division, and from "Miss NRA," Arizona Republic columnist Joanna Allhands, in the junior division.

John Oliver Nails George Zimmerman & Florida’s Racism (video)

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Over the weekend, George Zimmerman, the now infamous gun-toting neighborhood watch volunteer, was found not guilty after he shot and killed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

Like many others, I was shocked at the verdict, I don’t agree with it, but I am sadly not surprised. I have not written about this because I really didn’t know what to say. Was it racial profiling? Yes. Did the gun give Zimmerman undeserved power and authority over Martin? Yes. Should Stand-Your-Ground Laws be repealed? Yes. Do we need better gun control laws in the US to prevent innocent people from premature death? Yes. Are laws in the US applied unevenly based upon race and class? Yes.

John Oliver  sums up the outrage and the inequality in this segment of the Daily Show. Now it’s our turn to figure out next steps. Maybe in our own backyard– with Arizona’s Stand-Your-Ground Law. 

Here's the link:

Acquitted Development, with John Oliver

[Photo Credit: c.garcia.s, Wiki Creative Commons]

A license to kill

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

No, I am not referring to James Bond, 007. Any American living in a state that has lax gun laws and stand your ground laws, and which permits its citizens to engage in vigilante justice (like Arizona) has the tacit approval of the state for a license to kill. It is a sickness in our culture.

There are two good opinions on this topic that I have read. The first is Ed Kilgore at the Political Animal Blog, who writes, Licenses to Kill:

[T]he more I think about it, the real aberration in law and society that’s been exposed by this case involves the incentives offered to Zimmerman and people like him—not just in Sanford, Florida, but in much of the country. At TAP, Scott Lemieux nails it:

Carrying a deadly weapon in public should carry unique responsibilities. In most cases someone with a gun should not be able to escape culpability if he initiates a conflict with someone unarmed and the other party ends up getting shot and killed. Under the current law in many states, people threatened by armed people have few good options, because fighting back might create a license to kill. As the New Yorker’s Amy Davidson puts it, “I still don’t understand what Trayvon was supposed to do.” Unless the law is changed to deal with the large number of people carrying concealed guns, there will be more tragic and unnecessary deaths of innocent people like Trayvon Martin for which nobody is legally culpable. And to make claims of self-defense easier to bring, as Florida and more than 20 other states have done, is moving in precisely the wrong direction. And, even more importantly, no matter how self-defense laws are structured the extremely unusual American practice of allowing large number of citizens to carry concealed weapons leads to many unecessary deaths. (All 50 states, it’s worth noting, permit concealed carry.)

George Zimmerman verdict: let's change the law

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It is simply too easy to assert that the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial was due to racism, although racial profiling and stereotyping, and appeals to racial prejudice were certainly part of the defense strategy in this case.

In the end, the defense successfully put Travyon Martin on trial rather than George Zimmerman. The defense made Travyon Martin the perpetrator rather than the victim of the crime. They were able to do so because of Florida's perverse criminal laws.

I was deeply offended by defense counsels' statements after the verdict, when asked if the race of the individuals  had been reversed, would the outcome of the trial have been the same? Defense counsels asserted that there never would have been a trial because civil rights organizations would not have pressured prosecutors into bringing charges against an African-American -- a perverse claim of "reverse racism" that the race-baiters at FAUX News Fraudcasting have been hyping incessantly to their white grievance audience. (FAUX News was promoting the possibility of post-Rodney King verdict race riots breaking out after the verdict in this case. FAUX News is a malignant cancer in American journalism). As defense counsels tell it, George Zimmerman was the innocent victim of a lynch mob of civil rights organizations and the media. This is an alternate reality designed expressly for consumption by the conservative media entertainment complex. Defense counsels are shameless.

What, insurance companies have a problem with school staff packing heat?

by David Safier

This falls into the "What could possibly go wrong?" category. It's something I've wondered about. If teachers and other staff members other than trained police personnel and hired campus security are allowed to carry guns and a staff member wounds or kills a student, or someone gets ahold of a staff member's gun and creates havoc, who's financially and legally liable? It looks like the EMC Insurance Cos. decided, "It ain't gonna be us."

The EMC Insurance Cos. insures 85 percent to 90 percent of all Kansas school districts and has refused to renew coverage for schools that permit teachers and custodians to carry concealed firearms on their campuses under the new law, which took effect July 1. It’s not a political decision, but a financial one based on the riskier climate it estimates would be created, the insurer said.

Other Kansas insurers are following suit. Insurance companies are in the business of assessing risk, and they're saying, putting guns in the hands of untrained staff is too risky. The Kansas state senator who advocated for the law doesn't agree.

“I’m not an insurance expert, but it’s hard for me to believe that if schools and other public buildings allow law-abiding citizens to carry that that increases risk — it’s news to me,” Knox said.

It looks like the school districts don't think arming staff is such a good idea. No Kansas school district has opted to let its staff carry.

Gun violence: It's a health crisis. Treat it that way.

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

This has been a tough post to write.  Not because there is nothing to say, but because there is so much to say, it's been difficult to keep it down to a readable length.  However, since there have been more than 5000 gun deaths since the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and nothing has been done...

In the wake of December's mass shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, there were a number of ideas floated to stem the epidemic of gun violence sweeping the country - reinstituting the assault weapons ban, closing the gun show loophole in background check laws, and banning ammunition magazines/ammo clips that are larger than a certain size, among many others - all of which have been strenuously opposed by the gun industry's lobbying group, the NRA, and most of which won't become law.

Witness Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and 44 of his colleagues banding together to block a proposal to close the "gun show loophole" in the federal law requiring background checks for firearms purchases.

Even though 90% of Americans, across all demographics - Ds, Rs, gun owners, liberals, conservatives, whatever - supported the common-sense move, 45% of US Senators were cravenly swayed by the NRA's campaign contributions.

New ad about Flake's gun background check vote

by David Safier

A new ad about Jeff Flake's vote against background checks will be playing in Arizona through May 30. It's Caren Teves talking about her son and his fiance who were killed in the Aurora, Colorado, shooting, then showing the letter from Flake saying he supported background checks, which he went on to vote against.

Jeff "Both Ways" Flake continues to try and wriggle his way out of the bad publicity, saying he did vote to strengthen background checks, it's just that . . . (Fill in the incomprehensible blank).

 

Some Amazing Flakery on Background Checks

Yesterday I called the Tucson office of Senator Jeff Flake. I told the staffer, I wanted to let y’all know that even though it’s been almost four weeks, people still remember that Senator Flake filibustered the most basic gun reform bill. She immediately interrupted me, saying:

"I’d just like to clarify one point: He did vote for cloture."

I said, Look, on the vote that mattered, Senator Flake supported the filibuster. Again she interrupted:

"I’d just like to clarify one point: He did vote for cloture."

I said, Stop lying to me. That’s not a clarification, that’s a deception. I am aware that there were preliminary votes where he did not bother to filibuster, and I am aware he promised a group of Sandy Hook survivors that he would not filibuster ... but on April 17th, on the last vote the Senate took, on the vote that derailed the effort, he filibustered. It’s a matter of public record. He didn’t just vote against it. He didn’t just vote to water it down. He blocked it from coming up for a majority vote. Background checks are supported by more than 90% of the citizens. Without the filibuster, the bill would have passed. Senator McCain voted one way, and Senator Flake voted the other way. He even talked about it on his facebook page ... so why do you object when I say the same thing?

"But he did vote for cloture."

I said, Look, lady, you must think the voters are really stupid. You must think I’m too stupid to remember how things went down ... but I do remember, and I’m going to make sure all my friends remember. At first I thought Jeff Flake was incompetent, doing ridiculous things by accident. Now it’s obvious y’all know exactly what you’re doing. It’s selfish, it’s corrupt, it’s evil, and it’s shameful. He’s been in office less than a year, but he’s already managed to become the #1 most unpopular member in the US Senate. That’s not easy to do, but he earned it.

California teachers want to be armed (but not with guns)

by David Safier

For me, with my love of education and my concern about the out-of-control, NRA-fueled gun culture, this video says it all.

 

Presented almost without comment

by David Safier

I can't bear to read past the headlines of the recent string of accidents and deaths connected with children with guns. However, things like that seem to qualify as unfortunate but unpreventable collateral damage for the NRA. Here's one of the displays at the recent NRA gun conference.

And the NRA youth magazine InSights (Get it? In [your] Sights?) tells children, if it's too cold to shoot outside, you can always use your BB gun inside and shoot into your fireplace.

More images below the fold.

Sen. Jeff Flake digs his hole deeper

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

As the Arizona Republic correctly noted a couple of weeks ago, Flake urges victims to continue gun control fight: "Gun violence victims said they were not impressed with Jeff Flake’s political posturing, and accused him of trying to appease voters from both sides of the gun control debate without risking retribution from the National Rifle Association."

Sen. Jeff Flake is back to his old ways, playing the media villagers for fools with his political posturing, trying to have it both ways. In Turnaround, Flake Says He’s Open To Expanding Background Checks:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told CNN he's open to expanding background checks if the Manchin-Toomey legislation is modified to be more accommodating for Internet sales between friends.

Flake said he'd consider voting for the bill if the requirement is altered to ensure that a gun owner may sell a firearm to a friend without an FBI check after exchanging text-messages or emails or posting on Facebook. The senator fretted that as currently written, the bill may deem that a commercial transaction and require a background check.

The legislation generally exempts background checks for private gun sales between friends and family.

Flake recently took a beating in the press after obfuscating his position on background checks with the mother of a shooting victim who was slain in Aurora, Colo. He admitted his vote against the bill harmed his poll numbers.

'None dare call it treason'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ed Kilgore at the Political Animal blog has some important posts about the growing use of eliminationist rhetoric by the far-right, and their threatening armed insurrection and sedition, None Dare Call It Treason, if they do not get their way in the democratic political process (see this Fairleigh Dickinson University poll in which 44% of Republicans, think “in the next few years, an armed revolution may be necessary to protect our liberties”):

As Steve Benen notes this morning, the National Rifle Association’s new president, James Porter of Birmingham, Alabama, likes to talk about the importance of the Second Amendment as a way to ensure the American people will be able to “resist tyranny”—i.e., shoot and kill law enforcement officers, members of the U.S. armed services, and presumably anyone else (you know, like their neighbors) who might disagree with their definition of their essential “liberties”—at some undefined point in the future. And while I’ve not yet seen evidence of him calling Barack Obama a “tyrant” (though he has called him a “fake president”) I’d be shocked if it doesn’t exist.

So let’s put it this way: Porter seems to be highly representative of the amazingly common type of contemporary “conservatives” who combine extremist language about their political opponents with violent language about their political options—who in effect point their guns at “liberals” while making it known they and they alone will decide what “liberties” to surrender, democracy or laws be damned.

Gabrielle Giffords receives JFK Presidential Library Profiles in Courage Award

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The New York Times reports, Kennedy Library Gives Courage Award to Giffords:

Caroline Kennedy was not even 6 years old when her father was assassinated 50 years ago. And on Sunday, she said the hurt never heals.

“Our family is still suffering the heartbreak caused by gun violence,” Ms. Kennedy said here at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

She was here to honor another target of an assassin, one who lived. Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who was shot in 2011 at point-blank range and was nearly killed by a lone gunman, has devoted herself to pressing for measures to prevent gun violence since she has recovered.

For that, Ms. Kennedy bestowed on Ms. Giffords the Profile in Courage Award in a small ceremony on Sunday afternoon at the library. The award is given annually to someone who demonstrates the kind of courage that President Kennedy highlighted in his book “Profiles in Courage,” which praised eight senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands on unpopular positions.

“No one should have to lose a husband, a wife, a father, a child to senseless murder,” Ms. Kennedy said in presenting the award to Ms. Giffords. “But as our honoree has shown, out of that pain and tragedy, we must find the strength to carry on, to give meaning to our lives, and to build a more just and peaceful world.”

Mark Kelly's op-ed for the NRA Convention in Houston

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mark Kelly put the wood to the NRA leadership as NRA members arrived in Houston, Texas for the NRA convention, in a op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle. NRA leadership should refocus its priorities:

As a former Houstonian, I'm glad to see the National Rifle Association is holding its annual convention in Space City. I lived and worked not far from the George R. Brown Convention Center and I am confident that the thousands of NRA members who attend this year's meeting will find a friendly and welcoming city. I am certain you will have a fabulous time.

I have often considered joining the NRA myself, and if I had, maybe I would be there with all of you this weekend. Unfortunately, today there are many important issues that your leadership and I no longer agree upon.

But first, let's try to find some common ground. Here's something we can agree on: We should thank the majority of the NRA's 4 million members who are law-abiding citizens who use their guns responsibly. Now, I want to speak to the 74 percent of those people - more than 3 million - who supported expanded background checks. Some of those people probably joined the NRA before 1999 - you know, the year that Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre testified in favor of background checks.

Tea-Publican Kansas asserts the long-discredited and rejected theory of nullification, interposition and secession over gun rights

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Those of you who remember your U.S. history will recall that Bleeding Kansas (1854-1861) was a proxy war between anti-slavery free-staters and pro-slavery "border ruffians" from the neighboring state of Missouri. It presaged the American Civil War, in which the Confederacy asserted the theory of nullification, interposition and secession.

While Kansas entered the Union as a free state in January 1861, 152 years later Neo-Confederate dead-enders are now in control of Kansas, and are once again asserting the long-discredited and rejected theory of nullification, interposition and secession -- this time with respect to Senate Bill 102, also known as the Second Amendment Protection Act.

Eric Lach writes at Talking Points Memo, Holder Calls Gun Law Unconstitutional:

Remember all those gun nullification bills that cropped up back in January? [Including one in the Arizona legislature.] Last month, Kansas went ahead and passed one. Senate Bill 102, also known as the Second Amendment Protection Act, became effective in Kansas on April 25. And it has led to a high-level back and forth between Attorney General Eric Holder and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R).

Kansas’ Second Amendment Protection Act declares, among other things, that firearms manufactured and owned in Kansas that do not cross state lines are not subject to any federal laws. It also makes it unlawful for government agents to try to enforce federal laws on firearms made and kept within state lines.

Ethan Orr defends his "Every gun is sacred" vote

by David Safier

Ethan Orr (R, LD-9) is my representative, so I emailed him criticizing his Yes vote on HB 2455 which forbids a city -- like, say, Tucson -- from destroying guns. As today's Republicans go, Orr is a reasonably reasonable guy who I've had reasonable conversations with, so it's not a wasted effort to email him. The problem is, after he hits on some lovely sounding general principles we agree on and gets down to specifics, he and I usually part company.

Orr sent me an email reply which you can read in full below the fold. The first paragraph is all about what a sensible guy he is, cosponsoring a bill with his Democratic LD-9 Rep Victoria Steele to put more money into mental health training -- a good bill that never made it to a vote. He's for expanding funding for school resource officers, meaning basically, more armed guards in schools, and -- I'm not sure exactly what this means -- "I'm currently working to change the allocation formulas to favor schools in the Tucson area."

We get to guns in the second paragraph. He says buyback programs are marginally effective at best, though I have no idea what that has to do with allowing a city to destroy guns it purchases in a buyback program. He then says he thinks nonprofits should organize buyback programs, though if they're ineffective, why bother, and if it's OK for them to destroy guns, why shouldn't the city have that option as well? He also writes, if the city buys back guns, it makes sense to sell them to a legitimate dealer to generate money for the police. Well, that's a fine idea if that's what the city wants to do, but that doesn't explain the need for a bill mandating the city resell the guns. This is classic Orr, semi-logical doublespeak that sounds like it puts us on the same side but means almost nothing.

'How freaking crazy do you have to be to be the actual president of the NRA?'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last Saturday at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, comedian Conan O'Brien asked this question as a joke:

"Incidentally, you may not know this, but Wayne LaPierre is merely the executive vice president of the NRA. Which begs the question, how freaking crazy do you have to be to be the actual president of the NRA? He's not even at the top."

Well boys and girls, the answer to this question is batshit freaking crazy. This weekend at the NRA Convention in Houston, Texas, NRA vice president Jim Porter will be elevated to president (the position of president rotates every two years). Media Matters reports, Five Things To Know About The NRA's New President Jim Porter:

Porter's father was the NRA's president from 1959 to 1961 and chaired the 1977 annual meeting  at which hardliners took over the organization and began transforming it into the no-compromise lobbying powerhouse the group remains today.

Jeff Flake: Gun lobby senator

by David Safier

Using the heading, "Whoops! We found Senator [fill in the name]’s receipt from the gun lobby," Demand Action to End Gun Violence has a series of Facebook posts about how much money senators voting against background checks received from the gun lobby. Here's Flake's receipt.

Go to Demand Action's Facebook page or website to see all the receipts.

 

The trouble with 'E.Orr' redux

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

During the 2012 campaign, Ethan Orr (aka "E.Orr") fashioned himself after moderate Tucson Republicans like former Reps. Pete Hershberger and Toni Hellon, and said he hopes to work with the southern Arizona Democratic delegation to pass legislation that can help the people and Tucson. The local media bought his act. Orr was elected to the House.

Rep. Orr (R-LD 9), voted in favor of HB 2455, which clarifies that local law-enforcement agencies must sell guns they acquire in situations such as gun buy-back programs -- even where the gun owner voluntarily surrenders his or her weapon for the express purpose that their weapon be safely destroyed by law enforcement.

HB 2455 is a bill that was introduced by the gun worshipers and fetishists in direct response to Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik's gun buy-back program earlier this year. It is a bill fashioned by our "big brother" colonial overlords in the state of Maricopa to subjugate the City of Tucson and to micromanage the affairs of this charter city. "Small government" conservative is just a lie.

Can we at least get as serious about guns as we are about kids' car seats?

by David Safier

A 5 year old boy shot his 2 year old sister with a gun given to him for his birthday. The gun was left in a corner with a bullet still in it. The family say they didn't know about the bullet.

These days, it's considered akin to child abuse to put a young child in a car without belting him/her into the proper car seat. That wasn't true 20 years ago. Even seat belts were considered optional and a bit wimply a few decades ago. Now, not wearing one is considered reckless. People used to laugh at stories people told about driving drunk. Now anyone who drives drunk is considered a dangerous fool, and we're advised to take away their keys. Designated driver? Who even heard the term a few decades ago?

Yet keeping guns in unlocked cabinets, in bedside tables, even propped up in a corner with children around is still considered OK by lots of people. "Don't worry, I always take out the bullets." "My kids know better than to play with my guns." "What, if a burglar comes in, I'm supposed to ask him to wait a minute while I get my key, unlock my gun cabinet and load the damn thing? Are you nuts?"

Changing our gun culture doesn't mean confiscating people's guns or "taking away our freedoms." It means acknowledging that these lethal weapons are involved in too many thousands of deaths, many of which would have been avoided if people treated guns with the care and concern they deserve. We need laws to help prevent gun violence, but just as much -- maybe more -- we need a cultural shift that makes people behave more safely and responsibly when they own or are around guns.

Gov. Jan Brewer appeases her GOP crazy base

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So how's that "De-Kook the Capitol" thing working out for ya, Laurie Roberts? Gov. Jan Brewer, engaged in a civil war in the Tea-Publican Party over her Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan, appeased her GOP crazy base by signing several bills on Monday.

HB 2455 clarifies that local law-enforcement agencies must sell guns they acquire in situations such as gun-buyback programs -- even when the gun owner desires that their weapon be destroyed, in violation of their private property rights.

House Bill 2326 would prohibit local governments from keeping a list of gun owners (there is no evidence that any city is keeping such a list). This is prophylactic paranoia.

It is now official. Idolatrous gun worship is the official state religion in Arizona. Guns are sacred objects and holy relics that are protected from destruction.  Bill signed preventing Tucson from destroying 'buyback' guns:

Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation aimed specifically at halting Tucson's practice of allowing police to destroy guns that people voluntarily surrender through buyback programs.

Instead, the state law, which takes effect later this year, will require that any weapons that come into a city or county's possession must be sold off, with the profits used to bolster the local treasury.

Sen. Jeff Flake now owns the dubious title of most disliked senator

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In just three short months in the U.S. Senate, our boy Jeff Flake has managed to dethrone the Septegenarian Ninja Turtle, Mitch McConnell, as the most disliked senator among Americans. Getting caught lying to a grieving mother who lost her son to gun violence will do that. The Atlantic Wire reports, How Jeff Flake Became the Most Unpopular Senator in America:

Public Policy Polling, in their latest survey on the fallout of the recent vote on gun legislation, explains just how much people don't like Mr. Flake:

Just 32% of voters approve of him to 51% who disapprove and that -19 net approval rating makes him the most unpopular sitting Senator we've polled on, taking that label from Mitch McConnell.

Since December, it was hard to imagine anyone unseating McConnell because, according to PPP and despite the Kentucky Senator's internal numbers, the Senate Minority Leader was always' the old curmudgeon who represented the laughable state of America's hatred toward Congress.

* * *

So what happened to the junior Senator from Arizona? According to PPP's polling, conducted April 25-26 in the aftermath of the gun vote that killed legislation on background checks, it's blowback — Democrats and independent voters have really flaked on Flake:

Is it possible for a politician to be too "pro gun"?

by David Safier

Maybe, just maybe, politicians will soon come to realize there are political dangers in supporting the NRA, not just in voting against the NRA position. Case in point: the plummeting poll numbers of Jeff Flake, who said he supported an increase in background checks, then voted no.

The backlash appears to be the harshest for Flake, whose standing in Arizona cratered following his “no” vote on background checks. With an approval rating of 32 percent, Flake is already among the least popular senators in the country, according to PPP. Fifty-one percent of Arizona voters said they disapprove of Flake, while a majority of 52 percent said that his opposition to the gun legislation makes them less likely to vote for him in the future.

Other politicians have experienced similar drops in their poll numbers since voting against background checks.

 [T]he once-popular Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R) numbers have taken a huge dip. . . . Her fellow Alaskan Sen. Mark Begich (D), who was one of four red state Democrats to vote against the background checks legislation, fared much the same. . . . Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), whose national profile rose last year after he emerged as a possible running mate to GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, has seen an 18-point drop to his approval rating in the last six months, according to PPP.

This isn't conclusive evidence, but the long-standing common wisdom -- that gun rights fanatics will hold a vote for greater regulation against you while voters on the other side aren't committed enough to make a vote on gun regulation a deciding factor -- looks like it's less wise. Politicians are naturally skittish folks, and this kind of information could make them reconsider their votes.

The lesson for people who hope to lessen gun violence in the country is, keep up the pressure. March, gather, send letters, send emails, make phone calls, whatever it takes to let politicians know this movement isn't going away. The Brady Bill didn't pass the first time around either, so the recent vote against background checks is more of a temporary setback then a defeat.

A not-as-bad-as-it-could-be news story

by David Safier

It's no feel-good story that a man at an Albuquerque church vaulted over pews and stabbed members of the choir before he was held stopped and held down by parishioners. But the good news is, the four people who were stabbed are alive and stable.

If the man attacked a group of choir members standing shoulder to shoulder with a gun, the event would almost certainly had a bloodier and more tragic conclusion.

Who Is Homeland Security Watching? Off-the-grid Fertilizer Plant vs On-the-Grid Citizenry

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Last week was an outrageous news week for our country with the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, the explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant on Wednesday, and the shoutout, manhunt, killing, and capture of the bomber brothers at the end of the week. Whew.

This Monday on MSNBC, Chris Hayes offered an interesting look back at these events. (Video link below.) During the week of the bombings, there was continuous coverage of the "terrorist attack" in Boston and continuous pundit chatter about terrorism, but relatively little coverage of the chemical plant explosion in West, Texas.

Apparently, workplace casualties caused by corporate neglect and lack of government oversight are not as sexy as pressure cooker bombers, even though, as Hayes pointed out, people are far more likely to be killed on the job than in a terror attack. Citing 2000-2010 data, Hayes reported that in that 10-year period, there were 3033 deaths from terrorist attacks, 60,394 workplace deaths, and 335,609 firearm deaths.

Given these statistics, it is ironic (and somewhat sad) to see what Congress has chosen to regulate. Not firearms and not workplace safety. They are working on further immigration regulations and further militarization of the border-- just in case some of those Mexican laborers might be terrorists.

In a stunning omission of oversight, Hayes also reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-- the same group that found the two Boston bombers in a matter of days-- didn't know the fertilizer plant in Texas existed! (Don't they know about Google Earth?)

Quoting Reuters, Hayes further reported that the plant had "1300 times the amount of amonium nitrate fertilizer that would normally alert DHS" and "100 times more than the Oklahoma City bombing."

So, who is DHS watching? Us. They're watching real people-- not corporate people. 

Watch Chris Hayes here: Willfully off the Grid

How the NRA aids terrorists and hampers law enforcement investigations

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week I posted about the "terror lophole" in the federal background checks law. F.B.I. Terrorist Watch List, Background Check Loophole - NYTimes:

The law that requires background checks on gun buyers is full of loopholes, some big and some small, but the most egregious loophole of all may be the fact that people on the F.B.I.’s terrorist watch list are legally entitled to buy firearms and explosives. And they have been doing so at an alarming rate. Between February 2004 and December 2010, individuals whose names turned up on the list were cleared to purchase firearms or explosives a total of 1,321 times, according to the General Accounting Office. Felons, illegal immigrants and mentally ill applicants are barred on the obvious grounds that they could present a heightened risk of violence. Not so, terrorist suspects — an anomaly that congress has occasionally tsk-tsked over since the 9/11 atrocities, but done nothing substantial to repair.

The National Rifle Association has opposed measures in the past because the terrorist watch list has been shown to "contain errors." So much for erring on the side of caution.

UPDATE: It turns out that the deceased Boston bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was on a terror watch list.

MSNBC's The Last Word did a segment last week on how the NRA on behalf of its clients, the merchants of death, has prevented taggants from being required for gunpowder. How the gun lobby has already blocked Boston’s bombing investigators:

One avenue of investigation is already closed off to forensic officials working the Boston Marathon bombing case due to efforts dating back decades by the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers.

Flake in the Rewrite

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell was a key legislative aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. From 1989 to 1991, he served as senior advisor to Senator Moynihan. From 1992 to 1993, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, then chaired by Senator Moynihan. From 1993 to 1995, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, once again under Senator Moynihan’s chairmanship. O'Donnell has a deep respect for the history of the U.S. Senate and knows its institutional norms.

In his Rewrite segment on Tuesday, Lawrence O'Donnell heaped much-deserved opprobrium on Sens. Max  Baucus (D-MT) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) for their cowardly votes last week to filibuster to death consideration of the Manchin-Toomey background checks amendment.