Shot in the Dark

Category: Gun-“Free” Zones

  • Heroism Is Not Enough

    I’ll urge prayers, or whatever your worldview calls for, for Chris Mintz, an Army veteran who was shot seven times trying to save others during yesterday’s mass-murder in Oregon. While the details are still sketchy, it appears Mintz was shot repeatedly trying to either protect others, or to stop the murderer during his killing spree.…

  • And Another One

    A shooting at Umpqua Community College in southwestern Oregon has apparently claimed 10. First things first; I’ll urge prayers, or whatever your worldview calls for, for the survivors, and the families of the victims. And I urge you not to believe anything the media has to say about it for the next couple days. But…

  • Punt

    Joe Doakes from Como Park writes in re the Minnesota police union’s lawsuit against the NFL for barring off-duty officers from carrying their firearms at games: The NFL says only on-duty peace officers can carry during football games.  An off-duty officer was relieved of his weapon at TCF Stadium. The trial court held the NFL…

  • Protection For We, But Not For Ye

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Some local folks lost their home for non-payment of real estate taxes.  Their son allegedly showed up at the county offices, threatened some staff, broke a window.  A restraining order was issued but staff wasn’t satisfied. “A piece of paper won’t keep him away, he might come back with…

  • A Fearless Prediction

    It turns out that a Marine and a sailor at the Chattanooga navy reserve office during the spree killing last week committed a bit of a naughty, and apparently fired personal sidearms at Mohammed Abdulazeez. A report distributed among senior Navy leaders during the shooting’s aftermath said Lt. Cmdr. Timothy White, the support center’s commanding…

  • Forfeit

    The NY Daily News informs us that last week’s shooting in Chattanooga, claiming four Marines and a Navy petty officer, all unarmed – where a person whose motive can’t possibly be determined, but whose actions absolutely do not define his entire race the way Dylan Roof’s defined all white people – has “renewed the debate on gun…

  • Gun Free Zones: Four More Dead

    A man motivated, I’m sure we will be assured, in no way, no how by Muslim extremism, has left US Marines dead in… wait for it… Wait for it … in a gun free zone. Not that it matters, of course, because as we found in the Fort Hood massacre,  even major post, much less…

  • You Have To Order It In Austrian

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: The South Carolina church shooter killed people for their race. He owns a Glock. Which is made in Austria. So was Hitler. Who also killed people for their race. It all makes sense, now. Stop the Senseless Slaughter! Immigration Reform Now! Ban Austrians, All Their Works! What the heck,…

  • A Tale Of Two Churches

    First things first: Like every human being with a living soul, I abhor the violence that took place yesterday in Charleston, South Carolina. While one can expect the Obama Justice Department’s to politicize this episode for all it’s worth (more later), in this case the hate crime investigation seems entirely warranted; the alleged shooter, who seems…

  • Posted

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Ordered a couple of magazines for my Combat Commander. Didn’t like them, wanted to return. My usual shipper is the UPS Store on Lexington but no, their franchise agreement says they can’t ship guns or gun parts which they interpret broadly to protect their franchise. Fair enough, they gave…

  • Sitting Sheep

    As the Twin Cities mulls over the news that Al Shabaab – the Somali terrorist group – has called for jihadists to attack the Mall of America and other large symbols of commerce, it’s worth noting that virtually every single mass shooting that’s happened at a mall has been at one that is, like the…

  • Absolute Moral Authority

    Remember Cindy Sheehan? The woman whose soldier son was killed in action in Iraq, and became an anti-war crusader, and a hero of the left (until she started attacking Barack Obama, when she became an untouchable).  Before she parted ways with the left, the left said her ordeal gave her “absolute moral authority”. And indeed…

  • We Are All Charlie – In More Ways Than One

    Some say last week’s attack in Paris underscores a change in terrorist tactics – from high-overhead, difficult attacks on “hard” targets (targets that are in some way defended), like the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, the USS Cole, and even US airliners on 9/11, to “soft targets” like the Nairobi Mall, schools in Pakistan…

  • Open Letter To Bremer Bank

    To: Bremer Bank From: Mitch Berg, Ornwry Peasant Re: Your Wish Is My Command Dear Bremer, Couldn’t help but notice this photo: It’s one of your banks, apparently newly posted with a sign declaring the bank a safe place for criminals. Oh, I know – what it really says is Bremer Bank doesn’t want people…

  • Dear Kroger

    To: Kroger Foods From:  Mitch Berg, Hypothetical Gun Owner Re:  Standing Up To Stupid Dear Kroger Foods, Please open some stores in the Twin Cities metro area, so I can shop at them.  Because any chain that tells Michael Bloomberg and his pet group “Upper Middle-Class Moms Want Action” to go pound arugula is a…

  • The Mystery Deepens

     As was noted last week, there’ve been two arrests in the first armed robbery in the 150-odd year history of the Minnesota State Fair.  Two Saint Paul men were arrested in the August 29 robbery of the MN Craft Beer booth, which netted (at least briefly) over $100,000.  St. Paul residents Antontio Washington, 20, and Jarret…

  • The Peasants $trike Back

    In 2003, and again in 2005, when Minnesota passed its “shall issue” firearm permit law, a slew of businesses “posted” themselves; they put signs on their front doors indicating they didn’t want firearms on their premises. Two things happened – or, rather, didn’t happen: There were no crimes in public related to legal post-2003-permitted firearm…

  • Coincidence?

    This was the first year since the passage of shall issue firearm carry that the Minnesota State Fairgrounds loudly, visibly posted itself as a “gun free zone”. The Fair’s spokesperson Brooke Blakey was even just a little bit obnoxious about it before the fair started. Near as I could tell, it was the first time…

  • No Pep

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Stopped at Pep Boys on South Robert to buy epoxy for a cracked bumper. Pep Boys Bans Guns In This Store. I asked if that was a franchise decision but the counterman said no, all Pep Boys stores are corporate. So I went up the street to O’Reilly Auto…

  • Deflation

    Everytown USA – one of Michael Bloomberg’s astroturf gun-grabber groups – circulated a map claiming that there had been 74 school shootings substantially similar to Newtown since the Sandy Hook shooting. But what have we told you about anti-gun groups? Distrust but verify.  Then, almost inevitably, resume distrusting (emphasis added): The news outlet circulated the graphical…

  • Open Letter To Target Corp

    June 9, 2014 To: Target Corporation From: Mitch Berg, Law-abiding Customer Re:  Billionaire Trouble Dear Target, I’ve been a customer of yours for decades, like most Minnesotans.  I estimate I likely spend well north of $2,000 a year at your stores, counting groceries and clothing. And like about 180,000 Minnesotans, I have a permit to…

  • So Let Me Get This Straight…

    A deeply mentally ill child of immense privilege… …from a family that is very, very likely left of center (given where the father lives and the industry he works in), not that that necessarily should matter… …who stabbed three victims, shot three (of whom four were men and two were women) and critically injured two…

  • On The One Hand…

    …if I did have a gun and a carry permit, I’d never carry openly.  Part of it is that is that it’s the sort of thing you want to keep under wraps if you ever need it. Part of it is that the anti-gun movement has trained the weak-minded to be such incredible ninnies. And part of…

  • A Vote Against “Transparency”

    I get why people open-carry. Logistically, it’s less of a hassle; wearing a holster on the outside is more comfortable, and quicker to get to if, heaven forfend, you need to use your gun in a hurry. And I get the political motivation behind the “Open Carry” movement as well; “If you don’t use your…

  • RIP Otis McDonald

    In the late sixties, a justifiably obscure SCOTUS’ “decision”,  “US v. Miller” (a depression-era case involving a robber who was murdered before his case made it to the court, and for whom no attorney argued before the high court) was dragged out of the legal ether by a series of liberal, activist judges, and installed…