Republicans protecting Wisconsin from change! Move along, these aren't the changes you're looking for!

Republicans like things in Wisconsin just the way they are. Republicans are now willing to let things slide as a way of protecting their failing policies while the public watches in horror.

Bad Republican Timing Exposes Vos/Fitzgerald as Bad Leaders: Mass Shootings: Nothing like sticking your foot in your arrogant mouth highlighting another bad decision that ignores a Marquette University Law School poll where over 80% of Wisconsinites support new gun control measures:

Just hours before one of the worst mass shootings in state history ... Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, made clear that the state's gun laws would not change under a Republican-controlled Legislature despite a call for a review from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers:

"We’re going to have that discussion about the Second Amendment forever," Sen. Scott Fitzgerald told reporters in Franklin, about an hour before the shooting at the Molson Coors brewery. "A lot of the provisions that are in place already, people are satisfied with."

But 80 percent aren't satisfied, especially with this kind of response:

The Dumbest most repeated GOP freeloader idea Ever!!! A one time surplus in exchange for a permanent ratcheted down tax cut is madness, and an outright refusal to pay for anything. George W. Bush set the template:

“Today, our high taxes fund a surplus. The surplus is not the government's money. The surplus is the people's money.”

I have an idea. Why not take a look at Wisconsin's current list of needs including future plans, determine estimates for the amount of spending, and then compare that to state revenues!!!

For Republicans, Surprise, THIS is a Functioning Government? Republicans like former Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch now wants to push a similar but more simplistic idea stressing there really is a "free lunch" entitling conservative freeloaders a pass on paying their current bills, fixing things up, and improving the future of our state. Just off the top of my head:

Who needs to pay for transportation, new youth prisons, replacing lead water pipes, dairy farm support, broadband fiber optics in all rural communities for job creation, provide affordable health care, return schools to 2/3rds funding, fund the UW again, provide expanded public transportation, affordable housing, ask manufacturers to help pay for schools that educate their future employees by repealing their tax credit, and finally, wiping out our structural debt. 

Assembly "Leader" Robin Vos repeated W's nonsensical deficit growing logic:



Kleefisch:

Try this instead: A growing business, like our growing state, has a good year and higher profits. Should that business give back those higher profits, or invest, expand, and prosper? Tough one huh?

One year under Tony Evers limited control as governor, Republicans have conditioned their low information voters to think like this. Note: remember how Republicans accused Democrats of wanting Trump empeached right from the beginning...

Still, I'm waiting for Wisconsin Democrats to frame their message of responsibility in the simplest terms...hmm, what could they say...

Government can't reduce Mass Shootings and Gun Violence, "that human beings have to fix"?

To avoid effective gun regulation, Republicans have focused all their energy on mental health treatment. Or so they wanted us to think. That ended abruptly when Republicans were asked to prove their case.

Note: Republicans want to make it perfectly clear they are not proposing mental health solutions for gun violence AFTER a mass shootings. Got that? It's always good to wait...

Rep. Paul Tittl, chairman of the Assembly’s mental health committee ... said a package of mental health bills that he and other Republican lawmakers and advocates unveiled was part of a years long push to improve mental health services and not a response to the shootings this month in Texas and Ohio that left 31 people dead.

“We have cared all along about mental health,” Tittl said. “This is not a reaction at all to any of the shootings. This is basically a reaction to what we’re working on.” 

Lie finally Revealed at fake stall tactic to do nothing at all: I could have searched out so many more past comments but you get the idea. Republicans latched onto this excuse because the press never confronted them about how phony their argument was; only 3 to 5 percent of gun violence has anything to do with mental health. Even worse, Republicans were making getting health insurance more difficult and unaffordable.

The Truth; Republicans were lying, again: Suddenly, Republicans realized they were already "throwing more money at the problem," so it's time to move on I guess:

WPR: The Republican leader of the state Assembly said Thursday GOP lawmakers won't vote to increase state mental health funding as a means of combating gun violence in Wisconsin ... GOP lawmakers have for months countered Democratic arguments for expanding background checks and instating a red-flag law with the possibility of increasing state mental health resources and programs. They have argued that mental health crises are often the root cause of shootings.

"We have already done a lot on mental health. I think there’s a lot of things that play into what’s happening. It isn’t as simple as snapping our fingers and putting more money into a problem." - Republican Speaker Robin Vos

After the fact Punishment, No Prevention. Get this...Robin Vos thinks government is not controlled by "human beings."

"An awful lot of these (shootings) come from a young person who’s in an incredibly bad place, either suicidal, lonely, disconnected ... ...those are things that human beings have to fix, governments not going to do it." 

Rest Easy, Republicans have a Plan: Vos admits, people will die, but those who commit crimes will be appropriately punished.

Voters choose Lives over Gun Rights.

We continually let gun losers get away with their numbnuts 2nd Amendment argument that they have a right to bear any and all kinds of firearms. 

Nowhere in the 2nd Amendment does it guarantee an individual's right to bear a particular model or style of firearm. If it did, a gun manufacturer could be sued for infringement for simply discontinuing a specific model.

Also, the government could designate a specific gun as the official weapon of the U.S., banning all others and still fulfill the intent and new activist meaning of the 2nd Amendment.

Which leads me to this revelation, where Fox News couldn't even push poll this to further their agenda. Odd isn't it that Republicans aren't even close to the will of the people on guns, yet aren't being held accountable:

A majority of voters in a new poll thinks it is more important to prevent gun violence than to protect gun rights. A Fox News poll finds: 

1. 53 percent of respondents think it is more important to protect citizens from gun violence, compared to 40 percent who think it is more important to protect the rights of people to own guns.

2. 91 percent support requiring criminal background checks for those who want to buy a gun.

3. 84 percent support mandatory mental health checks.

4. Nearly three-quarters of voters also support raising the minimum age to buy all guns to 21.

5. 69 percent support putting armed guards in schools. 

6. 57 percent of voters oppose a proposal to arm teachers.

Republicans can't be allowed to ignore gun chaos!!!

The terrorist attack in California was all the Republicans needed to run off the cliff, and flip into panicky chaos. I put together the following recent comments that are without a doubt lunatics rantings.



Still not over the top enough for you? Try this Cruz ad:



Democrats and the news media continue to play along right wing crazy talk declaring that nothing can be done, killers will be killers, people will still get guns, and background checks aren't 100% perfect. That's leadership? What it tells me is that these freeloading Republicans are using the term "small government" as a convenient excuse to do nothing.

Don't be surprised when they use the same line to deal with everything from environmental protection to health care, feeding the idea that regulation is a waste of time.

But the talk of having an armed citizens police force is also based on a flawed premise. I remember the panicky call from my conservative friend in Milwaukee after he saw the lunkheads in his concealed carry class.

The following video report exposes how bad gun owners will be with their weapons, even after police training. And without the retraining that builds "muscle memory" (that overtakes and controls the shaking and adrenaline rush), gun owners revert back to their untrained state. From 2010:

The controlled study documented in these videos show that concealed carry permit holders are fooling themselves if they think they will be able to react effectively to armed aggressors. Most CCW holders won't even be able to un-holster their gun. They will more likely be killed themselves or kill innocent bystanders than stop the aggressor. For more details, see "Unintended Consequences: Pro-Handgun Experts Prove That Handguns Are a Dangerous Choice for Self-Defense." CCW permit holders don't protect innocent people. They kill them. http://www.vpc.org/studies/unincont.htm.`

Remember the Gun Rally?

I loved this lunatic comment at today’s gun rally of misplaced priorities at the Alamo.

NBC News: Hundreds of gun-rights advocates, many toting rifles and shotguns, gathered early Saturday at the Alamo in San Antonio … with remarks from organizers: “We aren't here to start a war today,” one said, according to the San Antonio News-Express. “We are here to show that an armed society is a polite society."

Yea, and waving load rifles around is polite. Who feels safe around a stranger(s) carrying or waving loaded guns for god’s sake? Society has moved toward madness because we didn't say no to the juvenile ranting’s of irresponsible “adults.”

Of course guns don’t add to the threat of violence:

Open Carry Texas President C.J. Chivers told the crowd "(The San Antonio Police Department) is no longer going to be messing with us," Victoria Montgomery, public relations manager with Open Carry Texas said.

Yes, she’s one of those juvenile adults, who isn’t afraid to flaunt it by advocating….

She is in favor of openly carrying a weapon in schools, restaurants and churches.

Just brilliant.

Guns pass Cars as number one killer, even as fewer people own firearms.

I can't wait to hear how they're going to explain this one. What new cliche will they shape around the number one killer in the U.S.? The fact is, the auto industry continues to make cars safer, while gun manufacturers laugh at technologies that could save lives.

State Republicans propose Buying Out-of-State Rifles on same day another "responsible" Gun Owner Shoots and Kills 12 People.

On the same day state NRA Republicans pushed this:

Nothing wrong with this guy...

GOP bill would loosen restrictions on sales of long guns: A Republican effort to ease controls on purchases of rifles and shotguns from out of state might please hunters, but at least one Democrat sees it as an act of subservience to the National Rifle Association.

Timing is everything; this tragedy happened to remind us why Republicans are so bad at governing:

Navy vet ID'd as shooter in DC attack that killed 12 … sprayed bullets from the fourth floor down to the cafeteria area in the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters just after 8 a.m. (with) an AR-15. While stationed in Fort Worth, he was arrested on Sept. 4, 2010, after an upstairs neighbor reported that he had fired shots up into her apartment.

Why did this guy have a rifle?

Two strange men carry assault rifles to family Farmers market, what could go wrong?

Even my conservative friend in Milwaukee called these two guys knuckleheads for not doing concealed carry advocates any favors.

I've always contended the that small fraction of hobbyist gun owners and potential carriers don't seem to care one bit about public safety and everyone else's freedom to not have strangers with loaded guns around their families. I'm including much of the story here because it's important to understand how useless reasoning is when dealing with these people;

Here's what an AR-15 looks like....

jsonline: Two men heading to Appleton's downtown farmers market with AR-15 rifles slung over their shoulders and handguns in holsters swiftly attracted the attention of police officers last weekend. The men, Charles Branstrom, 27, and Ross Bauman, 22, ultimately were released without tickets or charges.

Branstrom recorded the confrontation with Appleton Police. 

Milwaukee's police chief ridiculed the pair. "In a post Aurora-Newtown environment, it's a reckless and irresponsible stunt to strut around in public with an assault-style weapon and think police should assume you're well-intentioned," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said Thursday, referring to mass shooting incidents in Colorado and Connecticut. "It's just absurd," Flynn said.

Police were trying to appeal to the practical side of carrying a gun in public, and hoping this was one of those learning moments. It wasn't. According to their recording:

The men are walking down the street when they see a police car's lights go on and they see officers approaching. As the officers order the men to put their hands against the wall, the police ask why they're carrying the guns that way.
"For self-defense," Branstrom says.

"These are real AR-15s guys. I'll cover them both," says one officer, who levels his own weapon at the men as another officer begins questioning them.

Police ask if the men are headed to the farmers market. "Yeah, we were just going to do some shopping," Branstrom says.

"Do you understand how that might create a disturbance if you're walking around with an AR-15 strapped to your back?" asks an officer.

"Yeah, I guess some people don't like guns," Branstrom replies.

One officer offers this parting comment: "I get what you guys are trying to do. ... But when you grow up a little bit and you're a parent and have kids at an event like this and you see someone walk through with guns strapped to their back, your first inclination is going to be, 'All right, what's this guy up to? Is my child going to be safe?'"

Branstrom, an Appleton truck mechanic, said he gets that argument, but said police just "provoked more fear and panic" the way the rolled up on him and Bauman. "I'm still kind of shaken," he said. "I was one nervous twitch away from having a bullet put in me," he said.

NRA collects personal Data in Secret, from the Government they hate and we’re supposed to fear.

When I saw this story, I thought, “a private data base of gun owners that could be used for any purpose.”

Unfortunately, even the likes of MSNBC’s Chris Hayes twisted himself into a pretzel justifying the private ownership of these names, names we were told was a danger to all gun owners everywhere. It didn’t matter who had the names, the existence of the list itself poses a problem. Hackers from China was given as one example by NRA VP Wayne LaPierre.

What will be interesting is how the typical paranoid gun owner will excuse the NRA’s use of government politicians to get the names. 

Lawrence O'Donnell talked with Buzzfeeds Steve Friess, who did the research:

The National Rifle Association has rallied gun owners … against the threat of a national database of firearms or their owners. But in fact, the sort of vast, secret database the NRA often warns of already exists, despite having been assembled largely without the knowledge or consent of gun owners. It is housed in the Virginia offices of the NRA itself.

The NRA used local and state governments, politicians, to gather the names for them. It’s kind of like a private government…with a gun owner list.  

That database has been built through years of acquiring gun permit registration lists from state and county offices, gathering names of new owners from the thousands of gun safety classes taught by NRA-certified instructors and by buying lists of attendees of gun shows, subscribers to gun magazines, and more ... Asked what becomes of the class rosters for safety classes when instructors turn them in, (a NRA spokesperson) replied, “That’s not any of your business” … former NRA lobbyist estimates they keep tabs on “tens of millions of people.”

While the organization took great umbrage in December when a newspaper published the names and addresses of gun owners … the group for years has been gathering similar information via the same public records. In December 2011, NRA lobbyist Christopher Rager wrote to Iowa Department of Public Safety … “If the NRA wanted to collect data from DPS’ permit holder files, is there a specific process or any rules for us to acquire the records? Can we pay to have the files copied or sent to us?” Similarly, officials in Arkansas and Oregon also told BuzzFeed they had requests for such lists, and Gawker reported in February of NRA-related registry requests in Louisiana and Tennessee. “You could obtain from most states the listings of hunter licenses from the Department of Wildlife and Conservations.” The mining of data on the thousands who take gun safety classes from NRA-certified instructors. 

The NRA used the specter of a national gun registry to great effect ... Even though the bill explicitly prohibited the federal government from creating such a database, it was a talking point that senators who opposed the measure repeatedly cited.

Yet there does not seem to be the same concern among gun owners about the NRA’s own efforts to amass the same information ... they probably won’t care because the NRA is not part of the government.” 

I want Domestic Tranquility, not Death Threats from Gun Owners.

The psychological change a person goes through once they have a gun is one of the biggest issue facing our civilized society, yet no one seems to want to connect the dots. It's all about attitude.

The next step our adolescent gun owners are going through right now? Threatening those who don't play with guns, values life, and want the constitutional guarantee of domestic tranquility. I'm pretty sure getting your head blown off  ain't so tranquil.

NBC: A threatening letter was mailed to President Obama that is similar to two letters containing poisonous ricin sent to Mayor Bloomberg and his anti-gun group, officials

confirmed Thursday. 

The text of that mailing was identical to the letters sent to the mayor and his gun group, which threatened: "what's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you. You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die."

Bloomberg is the founder of the anti-gun group and has emerged as one of the country's most potent gun-control advocates, able to press his case with both his public position and his private money.

"There's 12,000 people that are going to get killed this year with guns and 19,000 that are going to commit suicide with guns, and we're not going to walk away from those efforts," said Bloomberg, adding that he didn't "feel threatened." 

New WiFi Rifle Streams Video, Shoots when Pointed in the Right Direction.

Killing people with one shot, first time, is about to become the new standard for gun goons, if the following rifle's technology catches on. NPR:

A new rifle goes on sale on Wednesday, and it's not like any other. It uses lasers and computers to make shooters very accurate. A startup gun company in Texas developed the rifle, which is so effective some in the industry say it should not be sold to the public.

It's called the TrackingPoint rifle. On a firing range just outside Austin in the city of Liberty Hill, a novice shooter holds one and takes aim at a target 500 yards away. Normally it takes years of practice to hit something at that distance. But this shooter nails it on the first try.

The rifle's scope features a sophisticated color graphics display. The shooter locks a laser on the target by pushing a small button by the trigger. It's like a video game. But here's where it's different: You pull the trigger but the gun decides when to shoot. It only fires when the weapon has been pointed in exactly the right place, taking into account dozens of variables, including wind, shake and distance to the target.

The rifle has a built-in laser rangefinder, a ballistics computer and a WiFi transmitter to stream live video and audio to a nearby iPad. Every shot is recorded so it can be replayed, or posted to YouTube or Facebook.

Joe the Plumber goes "Sheriff David Clarke Nuts," says "You can either pee or vomit on yourself and hope that you do not become a victim, or you go to your local shooting range."

Samuel Wurzelbacher, or aka Joe the Plumber, put out his own online PSA (it's cheaper that way) to counter Mayor Bloomberg's own message about gun control. He start his message with the above comment. It's oddly similar to Sheriff David Clarke's fear mongering, check it out:

Clarke: "You could beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back."

Joe the Plumber ended his message this way:

"That way, God forbid, if you or your family is ever attacked, you can shoot the bastard."

What a genius. 

Huffington Post: This isn't the first controversial anti-gun control videos released by Wurzelbacher. During a failed campaign to unseat Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) last year, he posted a video blaming gun control for the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.

“In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated,” Wurzelbacher said in the video, while loading a shotgun. “In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1939 to 1945, six million Jews and seven million others unable to defend themselves were exterminated.”

Wurzelbacher is raffling off an AR-15 rifle on his website in protest of debate over an assault weapons ban. 

Public too Dumb to Understand Gun Safety Measures? How Respectful is that?

Gun nuts have nothing left to argue. That's why they've come up with a list of scare tactics about living through a lawless apocalyptic disaster, or creating scenarios where the U.S. government shreds the Bill of Rights and confiscates our guns.

To gun loons, the ignorant public shouldn't be writing guns laws. You see, we don't know enough about the mechanics that goes into manufacturing guns, bullet calibers or how confident they make us feel in a heated argument.

Media Fail: St Norbert College just came out with a poll that included a question about a banning military style rifles. Firearms that LOOK like military rifles. Professor Wendy Scattergood did a fine job of explaining the survey on WPR's morning show, up until a gun shill know-it-all called in to intimidate and confuse the question. It worked.

The caller thought the question was misleading because actual military assault rifles are fully automatic. Automatic weapons have been banned for decades. The question didn't ask should military assault weapons be banned, that's just dumb. It asked if military STYLE assault weapons, rifles that LOOKED like assault weapons, should be banned. As an "uninformed gun novice," even I understood the question.

Scattergood folded like a house of cards. Fearing the appearance of liberal bias, she panicked and agreed with the "gun shill" that the question should have been more specific. Scattergood blew it. Here's the audio of the smug gun loser scoring a win over our timid media.



WPR's morning show then presented firearm fanatic and propagandist Jim Fendry, who's baritone voice oozes authority and a thorough knowledge of the issues. Wrong. Fendry goes after background checks with an endless stream of bullshit. The facts below counter Fendry. Even radio host Joy Cardin had to question Fendry's lack of reasoning. Fendry ignored Justice Scalia's allowance for regulation, and said in all seriousness, it's too late anyway for gun control.

The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month approved background check legislation drawn up by Sen. Chuck Schumer.

That bill, S. 374, would require all private gun sales between individuals to be run through the existing National Instant Criminal Background Check System. For that purpose, the people involved would have to take the gun to a federally licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, or importer. S.374 makes exceptions for transfers between spouses, parents and children, siblings, and grandparents and grandchildren. It also contains language allowing the loan of firearms at a gun range or while hunting or otherwise for a short period of time.

NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said, “there are only two reasons for government to create that federal registry of gun owners – to tax them and to take them.”

The same could be said of one of America's biggest killers, cars.

I have worried many times and had heated arguments about the day I believe the government will take away our cars. Think about it, the Constitution doesn't even protect car owners from government confiscation. 

Conservative Members of Law Enforcement Refusing to Enforce Gun Laws. We are now a Lawless country.

What if law enforcement refused to give speeding tickets, defied the law, because there was no way to stop drivers from going too fast?

Greeley Tribune: Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said he won’t enforce either gun-control measure waiting to be signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper, saying the laws are “unenforceable” and would “give a false sense of security.”

That’s the argument being made right now by a Colorado sheriff over new gun regulations. But what would happen if law enforcement decided to do this time and time again over almost anything they didn't like. In Milwaukee, Sheriff David Clarke is acting out his conservative disobedience in public. He even cut back on security for President Obama to make a point about staffing.

We’re slipping into chaos, and watching in slow motion the disintegration of our representative democracy where laws are voluntary now.

One bill passed Friday would expand requirements to have background checks for firearm purchases. Colorado lawmakers approved a 15-round limit on ammunition magazines. It also is awaiting the expected approval of the governor. Cooke said the bill requiring a $10 background check to legally transfer a gun would not keep firearms out of the hands of those who use them for violence.

“Criminals are still going to get their guns,” he said. “They’re feel-good, knee-jerk reactions that are unenforceable,” he said.

Cooke said he, like other county sheriffs, “won’t bother enforcing” the laws because it will be impossible for them to keep track of how the requirements are being met by gun owners. He said he and other sheriffs are considering a lawsuit against the state to block the measures if they are signed into law.

“Are we going to stop all criminals from getting guns? No,” said Democratic Rep. Beth McCann, a sponsor of the background checks bill. “But are we are going to put a barrier there, make it more difficult for them? Yes.”

States with More Gun Laws have fewer Deaths

Funny, information like this doesn't get any play at all:

Study: States With More Gun Laws Have Fewer Gun Deaths

States that have more gun laws have fewer gun-related deaths, according to a new study by Boston Children’s Hospital. The study, released Wednesday, also found that background checks and permit requirements are associated with decreased homicide rates, and that states with the most gun laws have lower mortality rates. Researchers hope the results will encourage leaders to pass gun reform across the U.S.

"Our research gives clear evidence that laws have a role in preventing firearms deaths," said the study’s lead investigator Eric Fleegler, a pediatric emergency doctor at Boston Children's Hospital. "Legislators should take that into consideration."

States with the most gun laws had a mortality rate 42 percent lower than states with the fewest laws.

States with stringent laws had firearm-related homicide rates 40 percent lower as well as firearm-related suicide rates 37 percent lower.

Despite showing these correlations, the study did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between guns and deaths. One critic says that greatly limits the usefulness of the research. Seeing as the study didn't show correlation, there could easily be some extraneous factor not being accounted for, and increasing gun laws in a state may not result in lower mortality rates or fewer gun deaths.
Research into gun laws and violence stopped about 15 years ago. That missing data might have helped establish cause and effect. Source: USA Today

Gun Ammo requirement; Complete anger management classes first

From Fox News reported this interesting twist that mirrors similar restrictive laws that have basically done away with abortion in some states. And I love it:

A Florida legislator wants anyone trying to buy ammunition to complete an anger management program first, in what critics say is the latest example of local lawmakers reaching for constitutionally-dubious solutions to the problem of gun violence.

I’m sorry but this is not “constitutionally-dubious,” and does nothing to affect the Second Amendments right to bare arms.

The bill filed Saturday by state Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, would require a three-day waiting period for the sale of any firearm and the sale of ammunition to anyone who has not completed anger management courses. The proposal would require ammo buyers to take the anger management courses every 10 years. “This is not about guns," Gibson said. "This is about ammunition and not only for the safety of the general community, but also for the safety of law enforcement.” Gibson said she’s concerned with citizens stockpiling ammunition, potentially creating dangerous situations should those individuals ever come in contact with law enforcement agencies or criminals. “It’s a step, I think, in a safer direction. It’s about getting people to think before they buy.”

That sounds so reasonable. But Republicans don’t get the connection with their own attempt to ban abortions. And, it has nothing to do with violating the Constitution.  

Critics of the bill, however, derided the legislation as “absolutely ridiculous” and suggested that Gibson take a course on the U.S. Constitution. “When I first saw it, I thought it had to be a joke,” said Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry. “They’re trying to say that anyone who owns a gun or shoots a gun or has ammunition for it needs counseling and obviously has some anger problems.”

Yes, that’s exactly was its saying. Like ridiculous abortion restrictions, Democrats derided Republicans for not focusing in on jobs.

Caranna said he was disappointed that Gibson wasted her time on the bill instead of focusing on other issues like jobs or the state’s rate of foreclosures, which is the highest in the nation.

Jon Gutmacher, an Orlando attorney and author of “Florida Firearms: Law, Use & Ownership,” told FoxNews.com that the bill would almost certainly be found to be unconstitutional based on prior restraint. “It has no reasonable relationship to anything,” he said. “There has to be a reasonable basis to believe that a person had a substantial anger problem that could cause public harm.” Gutmacher said he found the bill to be an “insult” to any gun owner in the Sunshine State.

“It’s absurd on its face,” he continued. “And anyone who proposes that legislation is in my mind unfit for the legislature because it shows a basic problem with their thinking process, aside from their lack of understanding of what the Constitution is all about. That’s the kind of bill that doesn’t even get past committee.”

And when it comes to bizarre abortion restrictions?…ditto. 

An Armed Society creates other deadly problems…ya think?

Now we're seeing the time filling sport of shooting randomly at people in cars. Hey, it's something to do for law abiding gun owners, before they break the law.

Channel3000: A vehicle was struck by a bullet on Verona Road in Madison early Tuesday morning … A 24-year-old Madison man told police he was exiting from the Highway when he passed an oncoming car traveling north. He said he thought he heard a stone strike his vehicle, but he discovered a bullet hole in the rear driver's side door. Police said the suspect vehicle is a white four-door car, and the victim appears to be a random target.

More random "freedom:"

A Madison home suffered damage from gunfire early Wednesday morning … A 24-year-old resident called police at 12:24 a.m. after hearing a noise and finding a gunshot hole in a wall and in the front window of his living room. Police said the shot appeared to be fired from the street, but the victim didn't hear or see any people … they believe the victim's home was a random target.

Milwaukee's Police Chief interrupts do nothing Republican Lindsey Graham.

I thought this appearance of Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn was spot on about gun legislation to save lives. Sen. Lindsey Graham continued the freeloading Republican thing of doing absolutely nothing, suggesting we "enforce the laws on the books." Code for "is this over yet?" Or how about that the new one; go after the mentally ill. Love that piece of "small government" laziness. Check out why Flynn decided not to waste his time while addressing  the Senate Judiciary hearing on guns:

jsonline: Invoking both the Newtown school massacre and chronic gun violence in American cities, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn urged Congress Wednesday to ban sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines to civilians.

"I've wondered frequently in the past decade how many people have to get murdered in a mass murder for it to be enough," Flynn said. "Is 20 babies enough to say these implements should not be so easily distributed?"

Sen. Lindsey Graham argued that the government should instead do more to enforce current laws, asking why it was that so few people who fail background checks are prosecuted for lying on their applications to buy guns.

Flynn interrupted to object. "You know what? It doesn't matter!" Flynn answered, "We don't make those cases, senator. We have priorities. We make gun cases. We make 2,000 gun cases a year. That's our priority. We're not in a paper chase. We're trying to prevent the wrong people buying guns.

That's why we do background checks. If you think I'm going to do a paper chase, then you think I'm going to misuse my resources."

Later, in a Journal Sentinel interview: “So it's specious," he said of complaints about the failure to prosecute people who failed background checks. "It's just one of those things they throw out there to pretend we're not doing our job." “If you can't hit your target after 10 rounds, you're a menace to society. I mean, stop it." 

The Genius of Armed School Employees where nothing, could go wrong?

Not only do we have to worry about another savage attack by gun nut targeting school kids in classrooms, but we also have to worry about all the accidental shootings and firearm malfunctions by school staff.

Anyone with a brain knew this was a bad idea, but majority opinion doesn't count when it’s not the idea of conservative ideologues foisting their vision of six-gun justice into our classrooms.

USA Today: An East Texas school maintenance worker was in fair condition Thursday after being accidentally shot during a district-sponsored handgun safety class. The concealed handgun license class is part of an effort to permit teachers to carry firearms in schools in Van, Texas … at the end of the formal training a "certified person" stayed for private instruction with the trainer "and had a mechanical malfunction with his weapon" … "With the assistance of the instructor, the malfunction was addressed, but the gun misfired and the bullet ricocheted coming back to strike the VISD employee in the left leg."  

This is of course the idea of all those rugged individuals in Texas:

The gun classes were set up under a new school board policy approved in January that authorized "specific school employees and other persons" to possess certain firearms on school property and at school events. "We are going to go above and beyond on all-out training," school Superintendent Don Dunn said in January. 

And it's probably still a great idea.

Sheriff David Clarke promoting his lunatic "guns not 911" ad with Taxpayer Money. Anybody object?

County Sheriff David Clarke thinks he can spend taxpayer money on promoting the sale of guns, gun violence and vigilantism without any blowback. Here's hoping Milwaukee voters take this guy out at the ballot box, before too many people lose their lives or receive lifetime injuries.

Get in the game or be killed. Not exactly an adult message.

jsonline: Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke’s local radio ads that launched the whirlwind of attention for Clarke were paid spots that will be billed to taxpayers through the sheriff's county budget, Clarke said Friday. "Every penny we spend belongs to the taxpayers of this county," Clarke said in an email response. "We use public funds on public education as a means to work with people on ways designed to keep them safe. It's called crime prevention." Clarke's department has an $84.9 million budget for 2013, with 85% coming from property taxes. Most of the rest comes from state and federal funds.

Invoices and other records provided by the Sheriff's Department showed Clarke's office has agreed to buy more than $17,000 in radio ads this year, including the gun-themed ads. In an email, Clarke said his paid radio spots were not gun ads, but public safety announcements.

Supervisor John Weishan Jr. said the sheriff's ads did not qualify as something that promotes general welfare and safety … "There is a way to do public service announcements to promote public safety," Weishan said. "This has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with self-promotion."