regulator

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Burglary-suspect-critical-after-Harris-County-homeowner-opens-fire-184934511.html +1 more

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” If you had to sum up the National Rifle Association’s response to the Newtown (Conn.) school massacre, and to any proposal for tougher gun-control laws, that one sentence from the NRA’s Dec. 21 press conference pretty much does the trick. The gun owners’ lobby opposes restrictions on civilian acquisition and possession of firearms because, it contends, law-abiding people need guns to defend themselves. Millions of people also use guns for hunting and target-shooting. But at the core of the NRA’s argument is self-defense: the ultimate right to protect one’s ability to remain upright and breathing. So how often do Americans use guns to defend themselves? If it almost never happens, then the NRA argument is based on a fallacy and deserves little respect in the fashioning of public policy. If, on the other hand, defensive gun use (DGU) is relatively common, then even a diehard gun-control advocate with any principles and common sense would admit that this fact must be given some weight. Criminologists concur that the unusual prevalence of guns in America—some 300 million in private hands—makes our violent crime more lethal than that of other countries. (See, for example, the excellent When Brute Force Fails, by UCLA’s Mark Kleiman.) That’s the cost of allowing widespread civilian gun ownership: In this country, when someone is inclined to commit a mugging, shoot up a movie theater, or kill their spouse (or themselves), firearms are readily available. One reason the gun debate seems so radioactive is that gun-control proponents refer almost exclusively to the cost of widespread gun ownership, while the NRA and its allies focus on guns as instruments and symbols of self-reliance. Very few, if any, participants in the conflict acknowledge that guns are both bad and good, depending on how they’re used. Robbers use them to stick up convenience stores, and convenience store owners use them to stop armed robbers. If guns have a countervailing benefit—that lawful firearm owners frequently or even occasionally use guns to defend themselves and their loved ones—then determining how aggressively to curb private possession becomes a more complicated proposition. As with everything else concerning guns in this country, the DGU question prompts divergent answers. At one end of the spectrum, the NRA cites research by Gary Kleck, an accomplished criminologist at Florida State University. Based on self-reporting by survey respondents, Kleck has extrapolated that DGU occurs more than 2 million times a year. Kleck doesn’t suggest that gun owners shoot potential antagonists that often. DGU covers various scenarios, including merely brandishing a weapon and scaring off an aggressor. At the other end of the spectrum, gun skeptics prefer to cite the work of David Hemenway, an eminent public-health scholar at Harvard University. Hemenway, who analogizes gun violence to an epidemic and guns to the contagion, argues that Kleck’s research significantly overestimates the frequency of DGU. The carping back and forth gets pretty technical, but the brief version is that Hemenway believes Kleck includes too many “false positives”: respondents who claim they’ve chased off burglars or rapists with guns but probably are boasting or, worse, categorizing unlawful aggressive conduct as legitimate DGU. Hemenway finds more reliable an annual federal government research project, called the National Crime Victimization Survey, which yields estimates in the neighborhood of 100,000 defensive gun uses per year. Making various reasonable-sounding adjustments, other social scientists have suggested that perhaps a figure somewhere between 250,000 and 370,000 might be more accurate. What’s the upshot? 1. We don’t know exactly how frequently defensive gun use occurs. 2. A conservative estimate of the order of magnitude is tens of thousands of times a year; 100,000 is not a wild gun-nut fantasy. 3. Many gun owners (I am not one, but I know plenty) focus not on statistical probabilities, but on a worst-case scenario: They’re in trouble, and they want a fighting chance. 4. DGU does not answer any questions in this debate, but it’s a factor that deserves attention. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-27/how-often-do-we-use-guns-in-self-defense#r=rss

And your online drivel never makes any assumptions. right

And we knew for sure that japan was going to bomb pearl harbor. Are you smoking the shit youre selling?

and as soon as the entire usa is rid of all guns we will be the next prime target for invasion. Nobody will be able to fight back.

Any way we could get Jeremy to punch him in the mouth again?

Because you know what EVERY situation is about. You are the ALL KNOWING nostrodamus of gun control. Now we can cancel the superbowl.

Do you happen to know if that company is still hiring?

Users of the White House's "We the People" digital petition platform have flooded the site in support of an effort to officially designate the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group. The most popular petition was submitted on Dec. 14, the same day as the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., an incident that Westboro responded to by announcing its intent to picket the funerals of the 26 victims, including 20 young children. This plan made them a prime target of hacktivist group Anonymous and eventually drew a well-attended counter-protest to block the church's followers from disrupting the services. The individual push has since received the support of nearly 250,000 signees, making it the most popular single petition ever created through the White House initiative. It recently cruised past a call for federal action on gun control, which along with a number of other petitions on the issue of gun rights, drew a response from President Barack Obama last week. But the quarter-million signature effort to recognize Westboro as a hate group is also getting a boost from two other petitions calling for the congregation's tax-exempt status to be revoked. Both of those have also crossed the 25,000 signature threshold needed to prompt a response from the administration. Official action has been taken against Westboro's most frequently utlized weapon -- its highly inflammatory, anti-gay displays at military funerals -- though not directly against the church itself. In August, Obama signed the Honoring America's Veterans Act, which declared that protests must be held at least 300 feet from military funerals and were prohibited two hours before or after a service. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/white-house-petition-westboro_n_2365799.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

That one of the left is a total hoodie hottie!

hmmmm..I wonder if rob zombie directed this 'safety video'. Also have to love work related videos that say 'shit' in them.

At what point in the OP's post did he mention anything about partisan approval ratings? Seemed like he just mentioned that IF we go over the supposed 'cliff' that it might not be a disastrous as the media has portrayed it to be. Nothing in there defacing your precious.

Watch out the same newspaper is going to release their next map giving precise details about the size and location of each persons blow up dolls and giant 12 inch black dildos. Better go hide your shit asap.

Yes but undoubtedly some poor bastard like me would have to see someone like you naked. And that would totally ruin my buzz.

How did that armed guard at Columbine work out? The guard worked about as well as the assault rifle ban during that time did. Clebold and Harris used other weapons and got the same results.

Never once said I wanted him deported. However giving him an overabundant amount of laxitives which makes him shit himself on live TV....wait that wont do anything...all he does is spew shit every time he talks.

I'm sure the cost of the security is included in the tuition parents pay to send their kids to that private school. It's also somewhat disingenuous to pretend that kids of the ultra rich or famous are no more likely to be kidnapped for ransom, or targeted for political purposes, than "run of the mill poor children"are. The city where I live has 21 public schools (14 elementary, 4 middle, 3 high). At 11 assigned police officers/school, that would require 231 officers. The entire city police department has 240 officers. So, you could assign virtually the whole police department to guard the schools, leaving just 9 officers to police the entire remainder of the city. Alternatively you could double the size of the police department, or have the school district create its own police department which would be equal in size to that of the rest of the city. Either way would require essentially doubling the city's budget for police services, which would require a very substantial property tax increase. Do you really believe this is a practical solution to the problem? Don ------------------------------------------------------- have the school district create its own police department Houston has had its own school police force for more than 20 years...all of them carry and are licensed peace officers.

Police in the small African kingdom of Swaziland have banned women from wearing miniskirts and midriff-revealing tops saying they provoke rape. Offenders face a six-month jail term under the ban, which invokes a colonial criminal law dating back to 1889. "The act of the rapist is made easy, because it would be easy to remove the half-cloth worn by the women," police spokeswoman Wendy Hleta was quoted as saying by Independent Online on Monday. The ban also applies to low-rise jeans. "They will be arrested," she said. Hleta said women wearing revealing clothing were responsible for assaults or rapes committed against them. "I have read from the social networks that men and even other women have a tendency of undressing people with their eyes. That becomes easier when the clothes are hugging or are more revealing," Hleta said. However, the ban does not apply to traditional costumes worn by young women during ceremonies like the annual Reed Dance, where the ruling King Mswati III chooses a wife. The flamboyant king already has 13 wives. During the ceremony, beaded traditional skirts worn by young bare-breasted virgins only cover the front, leaving the back exposed. Underwear is not allowed. The law was enforced after a march by women and young girls last month calling for protection against a spate of rapes in the impoverished kingdom, which is almost entirely surrounded by South Africa. http://now.msn.com/swaziland-bans-miniskirts-revealing-clothes-saying-they-lead-to-rape

and by that you just affirmed you are lovingly attracted to piers morgan. When do you plan on asking him out on a date?

-------------------------------------------------- the value you add to these conversations is proportionate to the accumulation of dingleberries in your underwear.

Pretty sure because some 65,000 people WANT him to leave doesnt make them 'ignorant' Isnt that what Michael Jackson used to say about the people who were calling him a child molester? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qR5tRwvuas So when people don't agree with your pure manlove for Piers Morgan they're 'ignorant' got it

HISD PD are active peace officers. They arent at every school, but they have roaming guards and are on radio for dispatch when emergencies happen.

I'm really confused by what you guys are talking about. Houston schools already have HISDPD. They ALL CARRY. This has been going on for quite a while. When I was in my late 20's I worked for a communication company and I mounted VHF radio systems with the antennas on their roofs. I always had to liase with the school police. I was mentioning to them that when I was in high school there was no police and I had to go back to do some work and at Angleton high school they had active police/security that was packing because there were several events where kids have been caught bringing guns to school. So why now of all times are we saying this would be so HORRIBLE and its like taking a kid to an armed prison camp. Doesnt seem like anything new to me. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8925996

Its a fake. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/video-shows-eagle-snatching-baby-article-1.1223441

I've had a lot of personal interaction with WBC members. I'd like to hear about that sometime.