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The BTK Killer and defenseless victims

Art DeVany has an interesting discussion on this on his website:

had any of the BTK killer's victims been armed she might have ended his string of victims. I don't carry a gun or own one, but there is a case to be made that females would be safer if more of them were armed and lethal. There would be fewer BTKs, Green River Killers, and Ted Bundys in this world.

A few armed females makes these murderous chain killers uneasy when, at present, they have little to fear of their victims. It increases the chances their run of victims will end in their death rather than in their chosen victim's. And victims are spared down the chain. Don't just mourn the victims of this serial killers, let them take measures to stop these depraved and mad men.

The media bear responsibility for the bias against guns and the female body count of these chain killers. It is a simple case to make; females are easy targets for determined and experienced killers (we all are, but they are even easier). Why are instances where guns protect victims almost never reported (John noted one story buried far back in the NYTs that reported this fact)? How many victims are the result of this bias?

"Get used to officers with guns, police chief warns Scots"

[Mr Tomkins, chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police] told The Scotsman that the increased terrorist threat meant the sight of armed police on Scotland's streets was likely to become more common. . . .

Last month's bombings saw a massive increase in the presence of armed officers on the streets of London, and Mr Tomkins said that the Scottish public should also expect to see an increasingly visible armed presence. Armed officers are regularly deployed at Scottish airports, and after the 7/7 attacks they were also to be seen at train stations in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Thanks to John Williamson for sending me this article.

Bakersfield, Ca.: Woman uses gun to stop drug crazed man

A woman defending her home shot a trespasser after two warning shots Wednesday afternoon. It happened on O Street around 2 p.m.

Police said a man who may have been on PCP was attacking two pitbulls outside the woman’s back yard. . . .

The woman, who is said to be in her 40’s, came to the back yard and asked the suspect to leave. Police said he then came at the couple and pushed the elderly man to the ground.

The woman fired two warning shots into the air before shooting the man in the thigh.

“It sounds like the occupants life was legitimately in danger,” said Det. Jack Smith from the Bakersfield Police Department. “They didn't know who he was he seemed to be under the influence of some sort of drug.” . . .

Investigators said the wound is not life threatening and no charges will be filed against the woman.

Thanks to Nicki for sending me this article.

"Memphis seniors fight back in home invasion"

Two Memphis seniors took matters into their own hands and fought back against burglars, and an old Smith & Wesson will forever remind retired Naval Officer Bryant Green of his Tuesday morning ordeal.

He said it all began when his doorbell rang at 10 a.m., "I got up quickly and did not see anyone."

However, his 76 year old wife Gwyneth saw four men breaking into a backyard window of their West Crestwood house.

Bryant Green came out the front door, crept around his house and into the back courtyard where he saw one of the suspects with a shotgun.

Green said he and the young man exchanged a few rounds, but no one was hurt.

Gwyneth Green said she watched from inside in mortal terror, "I could see the smoke from the shotgun the fellow had...I was trembling so I couldn't stand."

The four med fled on foot and by car. . . .

Thanks to Nicki for sending this to me.

New oped: Is Canada right to blame US for its crime problems?

I have a new op-ed at National Review Online entitled:Canada Blames Us: Gun-control folly here, up north, across the pond...

What do you advise a woman to do when the police can't protect her

"North Carolina lawmakers have approved a measure that would require courts to give battered spouses something extra when they seek a restraining order — information on how to apply for a concealed weapon."

"PA GOP Files FEC Complaint Over Scranton Times Advertising Campaign"

"The Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania has filed an official complaint with the FEC over the Scranton-Times advertisement campaign that allegedly promotes the candidacy of Bob Casey Jr. The letter is signed by Chairman Eileen Melvin and addressed to the FEC’s Lawrence Norton." Part of the complaint is provided at NRO.

I guess that I don't think that the advertising will be found in violation of the campaign finance laws simply because the media is treated differently from everyone else, but I think that simply means that the laws don't have much logical consistency.

Another example of the problems with campaign finance regulations

Why are there limits to how much you can spend supporting a federal candidate, but there is not a limit for a newspaper or other media? Here a newspaper has spent money on ads that trumpet "Casey to run for Senate" when you or I couldn't not even spend the money that it would take to run one of these ads. Casey is running against Rick Santorum for the Senate in Pennsylvania.

Walt Disney changed the lyrics for "Born to Be Wild." Deletes firearms reference.

Walt Disney changed the lyrics for "Born to Be Wild."

For Herbie: Fully Loaded, they used classic rock songs covered by modern bands - like Caleigh Peters singing the Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun, Fun", the Donnas singing BTO's "Roll on Down the Highway", and the Mooney Suzuki singing Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild."

But if you listen closely, the motorcycle anthem's lyrics have been changed to eliminate a reference to firearms. Yeah, gonna make it happen...

"...Take the world in a love embrace.
Fire all your en-gines at once, and
explode into space."

It used to be "Fire all of your guns at once."

Original lyrics can be found here.

New London charging Kelo plaintiffs with rent for five years

I suppose that this isn't very surprising, but it shows how costly it is to defend yourself in court.

"In June 2004, NLDC sent the seven affected residents a letter indicating that after the completion of the case, the city would expect to receive retroactive "use and occupancy" payments (also known as "rent") from the residents.

In the letter, lawyers argued that because the takeover took place in 2000, the residents had been living on city property for nearly five years, and would therefore owe rent for the duration of their stay at the close of the trial. Any money made from tenantssome residents' only form of incomewould also have to be paid to the city." . . .

"The New London Development Corp., the semi-public organization hired by the city to facilitate the deal, is offering residents the market rate as it was in 2000, as state law requires."

Gun stocks are hot

"I'm all for buying Smith and Wesson [SWB, the stock] --- and I'm anti gun!!!!!!

Jim Cramer

CNBC stock guru August 16, 2005
Jim Cramer's Mad Money

New op-ed on the National Organization for Women

April Dabney and I have a new piece on some of the contradictions regarding the abortion debate. Our piece appears at Tech Central Station today.

Women's bodies are theirs to do what they want, but for the National Organization for Women (NOW) that only seems true as long as what the women want to do is politically correct. Despite NOW's rhetoric, the laws they have come out supporting the last couple of weeks appear to have more to do with forcing women to live the way NOW wants them to live then letting women have the freedom to make these decisions themselves.

In the last couple of weeks NOW has launched several campaigns, among them:

-- Some pharmacists have moral objections over selling the so-called "morning after pill." Even though there are virtually always other nearby pharmacists and that any chain store with such a pharmacist makes arrangements for someone else to fulfill the prescription, NOW believes that even that small inconvenience places too great of a burden on a woman's right to use her body as she sees fit, and thus such practices should be outlawed.

-- NOW is also fighting for a continued ban on silicone breast implants. They claim that the claimed health risks are just to great for women to be given the choice of using these implants. . . .

Story of Sandy Froman's move to the NRA

Jewish woman, a Bay Area native, heads NRA

by Joe Eskenazi
staff writer

Just as there are no atheists in the foxholes, there are no gun control advocates locked in their apartments with a large, menacing burglar attempting to batter his way in.

That was Sandra Froman’s experience nearly two decades ago. Her shouting, banging on the wall and even cranking the stereo to 11 didn’t scare off the would-be intruder, but he eventually proved inept enough at his chosen profession that he abandoned his effort to enter her domicile.

Still, the minutes of sheer terror left an impression on the San Mateo-born and raised Froman, and it would prove to be a life-altering moment.

“The next day, I went to the gun store. I didn’t even know where the gun store was — I had to look in the Yellow Pages. I was determined to protect myself,” said Froman, who became the National Rifle Association’s first Jewish (and second female) president earlier this year. . . .

"Statistics belie flood of guns from U.S."

PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL
DATE: 2005.08.15
PAGE: A1 (ILLUS)
BYLINE: COLIN FREEZE
SECTION: National News
EDITION: Metro
WORD COUNT: 857

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Statistics belie flood of guns from U.S.

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As Canadian politicians express alarm about a rising tide of guns smuggled from the United States, statistics obtained by The Globe and Mail show that federal border guards are seizing fewer firearms and Toronto police are pulling no more guns off the streets than they ordinarily do.

The Canada Border Services Agency says it has intercepted 318 guns so far in 2005, below the more than 1,000 seized guns that border guards have averaged annually during the past five years, and far fewer than the 1,500 seized annually in the 1990s.

And while Toronto Police Service Chief Bill Blair was widely quoted last week as saying his officers have seized more than 2,000 guns so far in 2005, civilians in his statistics department say the chief inadvertently "misspoke." Their official tally is only 1,151, consistent with the pace of seizures in recent years.

During the past three weeks, eight people have been killed by guns and 25 injured in Toronto. One man was killed and two others injured in two separate incidents Saturday night, the latest in the city.

As the gun violence appears to be rising, officials are left seeking answers. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and other politicians have started lobbying U.S officials, asking them to help curtail the cross-border gun flow.

But if a glut of guns exists on Canadians streets, the weapons have not materialized overnight. The border agency says its lower seizure numbers stem from anti-smuggling efforts. . . .

No one really knows how many guns are crossing the border, but experts say plenty of problems lie in Canada's backyard and the Americans are not about to solve them.

"Guns from the U.S. are an issue, but a small part of the bigger picture," said Paul Culver, a senior Toronto Crown Attorney. . . .

Eliminating Gun Control Produces Huge Drop in Crime

Interesting report from the Russian News and Information Agency:

Advocates of legalizing firearms in Russia often refer to the experience of neighboring Latvia: After the relevant law was adopted, street crime dropped by 80%, and the Latvian police force has been cut.

Thanks very much to Don Kates for sending this.