The gun biz is scummy, as we all know; more important, for the hapless citizens of Goleta CA, who only recently found out their town has no power to stop gun stores from moving next to day care centers, Goodland Guns now beetles o’er their babes.

Wyoming has the highest rate of suicides in the nation, but even when some local officials declare a Suicide Prevention month, the local press covers it like this.

Note the photograph. Ninety percent of the suicides are men. Why does the story feature an image of a woman?

And a young one! Average age of the suicides is 60 – 80.

Most of the suicides are with a gun. At least put a gun in her hand…

God has given this nation 500 million guns, and has scattered them abroad in such a way that every moment of every day one is found unattended.

In Goleta California, a gun shop is about to open right next door to Here We Grow Early Learning Center, a preschool.

[O]fficers were dispatched to the 1600 block of Rosedale Street NE for a report of a man down.

But when they arrived, police found that it was instead a boy suffering from a gunshot wound on the sidewalk. First responders declared the boy dead, later announcing his identity as 13-year-old Ahmad Mims.

A 12 year old has been arrested in the case.

AWKward. As mayor, you are of course bound to repeat the mantra crimedeclinecrimedecline til you’re blue (red?) in the face.

You are also, cognitive-dissonantly, in charge of admitting that, whatever the stats, your city’s still an abattoir, with beaucoup bloodletting even on Tuesdays. Time was people respected the Friday night to Saturday night special shooter time.

See the deal is if you’re Georgia —

Georgia has some of the weakest gun laws in the country. The legislature passed a law requiring colleges and universities to allow guns on campus in 2017, and in 2022, Georgia repealed its last foundational policy by passing permitless carry legislation. Though Georgia repealed its Citizen’s Arrest law in 2021, the state still has a dangerous Shoot First law that allows a person to kill another in a public area, even when they can safely walk away from the danger.

— your Wow look how much gunplay has declined! thing takes place in a special context. There’s so much powpow and so absolutely no legal constraint that even an eighty percent decline will still mean you can open your window and hear people going at it.

No one pulled out a gun, even though there were lots of serious fights with injuries and arrests.

No one pulled out a gun! There was no mass slaughter.

State officials have already been invited to several other cities around the country to advise law enforcement on how they did it, and on how other police forces can do it too. Good on ya, Milwaukee!

Bullshit.

The latest massacre in Kentucky prompts a local pol to wonder why why why. So here you go:

Kentucky’s gun laws are among the worst in the country, and the state’s gun death rate is above the national average. Kentucky has none of the foundational policies in place—after legislators repealed its concealed carry permitting requirement in 2019.

Kentucky is Gonzo Gun. It doesn’t just like them — it goes to a lot of trouble to make sure everyone gets plenty of them.

That doesn’t just mean lone loons blasting away. It means effing shootouts. Enjoy.

A cop working the fair last Saturday saw a man beating up his wife.

When the deputy intervened and identified himself in an attempt to de-escalate the situation, [Thomas] Smith reportedly told the deputy it was “none of his business.” Smith then pulled out a loaded 9mm pistol, pointed it at the deputy’s head, and threatened to “blow his brains out.” 

Nineteen years old, armed with a big gun, out and about at 1:30 AM. Ready, aim, fire.

How did Virginia State security let it happen?

Does VSU have security?

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https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19MNJ2aaye

Twelve years ago, UD expressed amazement at the incredibly, endlessly, violent Virginia State University:

Virginia State, where only a few months ago two students were hazed to death, should definitely come with a warning. At a recent event celebrating its athletic conference, its football team beat an opposing quarterback so badly the game that had been scheduled for the day after the banquet has been called off… Wow. Yet more violence at Virginia State University.

An update: Last Friday night was a big back to school event featuring Cam Newton; Saturday morning, multiple shooters went at it in front of one of the dorms and a whole bunch of students were shot. But hey they might all live!

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Story behind this latest bloodiness? Not yet announced. But this is what it often is: One group of students fights with another over

a woman

a drug deal

one group being refused admission to another group’s dorm party

money

an object stolen by one or more of the students.

… aggravated assault with a firearm, disrupting public schools, receiving stolen property, possession of a handgun by someone under 18 and possession of a gun in a school safety zone.’

They grow up so fast!

They grow up so fast!

In what sense? Memphis is the most dangerous city in America, so after, say, any mass shooting in Memphis, it makes little sense for the police to assure us it was isolated. It took its place as part of incessant local warfare.

“Police said a fight broke out [at a graduation party] just after 11:15 p.m. in the 1700 block of Brookins Street before multiple people opened fire.”

At least a hundred people had gathered at the party, which is Memphis for “Ten heavily armed teenagers did what they rather often do when there’s a party.” That ain’t isolated. That’s a pattern.

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Northwest ISD, Texas