Gun Safety Weekly Updates

on
Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what Donald Trump’s election means for federal gun legislation. And the truth is, we don’t know. But if you’ve followed the news like I have, there’s been a lot of talk about Republicans potentially introducing something known as a "concealed carry reciprocity bill."

 What that means is states with strong gun laws would be forced to accept concealed carry permits obtained in states with looser permitting processes.

 It’s a dangerous bill, and it reminded me of something my friend Jimmy Hatch, a man who bravely served our country as a Navy SEAL, wrote about concealed carry shortly after the tragic San Bernardino shooting a year ago this month.

 Read Jimmy’s thoughts below and sign our petition opposing any effort to pass a national concealed carry reciprocity bill.

 After the slaughter of 14 Americans in San Bernardino, Calif., when two people armed with high-powered rifles and handguns ambushed unsuspecting Americans in a conference room, United States senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz held a press conference to issue a familiar refrain we hear after every major gun tragedy:

 If only there had been a "good guy" with a gun there. Or, as Sen. Cruz put it:

 "You stop bad guys by using our guns."

 We heard the same call after the recent tragedy at a medical clinic in Colorado Springs, and after attacks in Paris, where 129 people were murdered in a theater by terrorists armed with guns and explosives. That's when former presidential candidate and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took to Twitter to issue his call to arms:

 "Imagine a theater with 10 or 15 citizens with concealed carry permits."

 I know that the political advocates for this "good guy with a gun" mantra like Sen. Cruz and many of the other politicians and lobbyists think that this is a politically expedient catch-phrase to support their own interests.

 I doubt career politicians like Sen. Cruz and the rest of the Washington operators have had much experience with gunfights.

 In my experience, being the good guy when the bullets start flying is very difficult.

 I say that as someone who spent 25 years serving our military. For many of those 25 years, I was a member of a Special Missions Unit.

 I've been in dark rooms with "good-guys and bad guys" going at it with guns, and let me tell you something:

 Gunfights are crazy.

 Gunfights are hard.

 On my final combat mission, I was shot in the leg with an AK-47 from about 30 feet away and it blew my femur in half.

 I hope that was my last gunfight.

 Here at home, there are almost 13 million Americans who have a license to carry a concealed weapon. The vast majority of them are responsible, law-abiding and good-hearted people. Many of them want to be prepared to be the good guy, to do the right thing and to save lives.

 I hope they never have to face being the target of a dangerous person with a gun. Because it's hard to make the right decisions.

 There are groups of individuals, like me and my fellow Special Operators, both military and law enforcement, who train for years to be good at close quarters shooting: shooting with discernment, keeping your head clear and making snap decisions before you pull the trigger -- all while being shot at by the enemy.

 And after dedicating their lives to being good operators in those extreme circumstances, even those professionals make mistakes.

 Then consider that people like us trained for firefights for years, and that in many states there is virtually no training required for someone to legally carry a loaded, hidden gun.

 So think about 10 or 15 people, who are weekend shooters with limited tactical training, deciding to shoot it out with a criminal in a crowded office holiday party, a medical clinic or a darkened theater, while people are screaming and running, and no one knows who or how many of the people shooting are the "good guys" and how many of them are the "bad guys."

 In some cases, can a "good guy" with a gun neutralize the threat and help save lives? Absolutely. But it doesn't happen very often. It is, for the most part, a myth perpetuated by people who've never been shot at.

 I am a proud Navy combat veteran. I risked and nearly gave my life in dozens of combat situations in defense of our Constitution. I value the Second Amendment and the right of responsible Americans to own guns for self-defense.

 But people need to know that it is a fallacy to believe that the everyday gun owner can be expected to make all the right choices in a dangerous, fast-moving situation like a mass shooting with high-powered weapons.

 When the bullets are flying, determining "who's who in the zoo" is hard.

 If the scenario that Sen. Cruz envisions were to ever unfold, we'd have a lot more dead innocents. And it would probably include some of the "good guys."

 If you agree that passing a national concealed carry reciprocity bill would make our communities less safe, sign our petition opposing the legislation.

 He thinks Sandy Hook was a hoax. Our movement will face some serious challenges when Donald Trump and his friends at the NRA head to Washington, but this is one I wasn't expecting.

 Our president-elect is cozying up to Alex Jones -- the Infowars radio host promoting the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook School shooting was a hoax.

 Click here to automatically sign my open letter below asking President-elect Trump to denounce Alex Jones >>

 Dear President-elect Trump,

 My mother was shot and killed at Sandy Hook School four years ago, along with five of her colleagues and 20 first-graders. Since then, radio host Alex Jones has fanned the flames of a hateful conspiracy theory claiming that the shooting that took my mother's life never happened.

 I'm asking you to denounce it immediately and cut ties with Alex Jones and anyone who subscribes to these dangerous ideas.

 You’ve appeared on Jones' radio show, praised his "amazing" reputation, and promised him that you "won't let him down". Now he’s claiming you’ve personally called to thank him after the election, and will be on his show again soon. It's unacceptable.

 My life changed forever when I lost my mother, as do the lives of the families of the 91 Americans shot and killed and hundreds more injured every single day. You've promised to be a president for all of us. Well, that includes victims of gun violence and their families, like me. I hope that you will not only refuse to go on his show, but that you will denounce the conspiracy theories that he spreads at the expense of gun violence survivors.

 -- Erica Lafferty, daughter of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, shot and killed at Sandy Hook School

 Please click here to sign on to my letter if you agree.
Joe McKnight shooting: Former NFL star shot dead in New Orleans road rage incident

Former NFL player Joe McKnight was shot dead in New Orleans on Thursday in what police described as “a possible road rage incident.”

Suspect Ronald Gasser, 54, was taken into custody for questioning after handing his gun to authorities at the scene.

A witness said she saw two men standing at an intersection in the city’s Terrytown suburb, NOLA.com reported. One man was shouting at the other, who was trying to apologize, according to the witness.

McKnight, 28, was unarmed, police said. He was shot multiple times and died at the scene despite attempts by the emergency services to revive him.

McKnight was a star running back for the University of Southern California before he was drafted to the NFL by the New York Jets in 2010. He went on to play for the Kansas City Chiefs and most recently played in the Canadian Football League.

McKnight is the second former NFL player to be shot dead in New Orleans this year in a suspected road rage incident.
Pizzagate shooting: Armed man storms DC pizzeria to bust bogus Clinton child sex ring

Conspiracy theories seem harmless until one dude decides to take matters into his own hands and show up with a weapon — which is exactly what this North Carolina man did.

Edgar Maddison Welch targeted DC pizzeria Comet Ping Pong, the restaurant at the center of “Pizzagate,” one of the internet’s most prevalent fake news stories.

According to the theory, leaked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta point to a child prostitution ring operating under the pizza joint, which is run by none other than HRC herself.

Welch read the story online and was convinced the story was real. So convinced, that he decided to arm himself with an AR-15 assault rifle and a pistol and trek all the way to the capital to, as he told police, “self-investigate the rumors” and rescue the poor child sex slaves, the Washington Post reports.

Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, Welch barged into Comet Ping Pong, where he told people to get out and pointed his gun at an employee.
School shooting: Campus cop shoots Reno high school student armed with knives

A Reno high school was sent into lockdown on Wednesday after campus police shot an armed teen on school grounds.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that a 14-year-old boy had been fighting with another male student outside the library of Procter Hug High School just before 11:30 a.m.

He pulled out two knives in the middle of the altercation and began swinging it at his opponent. Soon, he was brandishing the knife while threatening to attack other students as well.

A campus police officer who tried to get the teen to drop his weapons shot him in the shoulder when he refused and continued to wave the knives around.

Several videos of the incident have emerged online, though they only show the events before and after the shooting.

The teen is currently in critical condition at the hospital. Authorities have yet to determine what prompted his behavior, though one parent who knew the injured teen suggested he was constantly bullied.

Related articles