I’ve been getting crapaganda about the UN Small Arms Treaty. I got some from my brother, my neighbor, my congressman.. Just goes to show there’s no telling what people will get riled-up about; where have you gone Anna Nicole Smith?

 I call this NRA-sponsored baloney. The three countries that opposed the small arms treaty are North Korea, Syria and Iran. Is that the side we want to be on? The world is awash in guns, to the sorrow of all but the gun manufacturers that bankroll the NRA. When Texas Congressman Charley Wilson wanted a million AK-47s to arm the Afghan mujahideen he was able to buy them, a million of them, at gun shows in Texas. Now those guns are still there being used against our sons and daughters, ‘chickens coming home to roost.’ Who said, “As ye sow so shall ye reap?”

The Hon. John E. Davis


Texas District 129



Dear Rep. Davis,

I would like to take this opportunity to commend you on your efforts in this session to remove politics from the administration of the Texas Enterprise Fund. I suspect that you knew the long odds against passage of this measure and the near-inevitability of a gubernatorial veto if it were to have passed; but sometimes it’s important to stand on the right side of an issue, even in a lost cause, if only to further public understanding of an important matter.

So, while I’m on the subject of windmill-tilting I would like to ask that you take on another intractable cause, that of the drawing of Statehouse and Congressional districts, which I hear is to be the primary business of this year’s special session. It is my hope that you and other members of the Legislature take this opportunity to propose the establishment of a non-partisan or bi-partisan body to draw legislative districts that more closely resemble existing communities and geography; precluding the practice of gerrymandering. The Post Office’s system of zip codes might be a workable model for this. Again, this effort may not be successful in this special session, but you would have made a first step towards bringing representative democracy to Texas.

Sincerely,

Charly Hoarse

Clear Lake, Texas

"The attorney general will not cast aspersions on my asparagus," -Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas

The Armed Citizen

Boy dies from accidental shooting

By Megan Gray  The Denton Record Chronicle

A 5-year-old boy was pronounced dead at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas Monday after allegedly being shot in the head at his Denton home Saturday morning by a friend.

Officer Orlando Hinojosa, spokesman for the Denton Police Department, said it was with “a heavy heart” that he had to announce the little boy’s death to the media Monday afternoon.

He said the boy, whose name is not being released at this time, was pronounced dead at 12:05 p.m.

The reported incident took place inside the boy’s home after 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the 2700 block of Stockton Street.

Police said the 5-year-old and his 8-year-old friend were in a bedroom alone when the 8-year-old found a .22-caliber rifle.

The 8-year-old boy then allegedly pointed the rifle at his younger friend and shot him in the head, according to a news release issued by the department.

Officials are unsure where the loaded gun was found, but ruled out the parents’ bedroom.

“The parents were at work at the time of the accident,” Hinojosa said.

The 5-year-old’s grandparents, along with a teenage uncle, were home when the shooting occurred, police said.

The 5-year-old was taken from Denton Regional Medical Center to Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

The investigation is still ongoing and no charges are being filed at this time, but that could change pending further investigation, Hinojosa said Monday.

The Armed Citizen

-In honor of the NRA convening in Houston this week, (complete with Glenn Beck and Ted Nugent) this from the Louisville Courier Journal:

BURKESVILLE, Ky. — A 5-year-old boy accidentally shot his 2-year-old sister to death in rural southern Kentucky with a rifle he had received as a gift last year, authorities said.

The children’s mother was home at the time of the shooting Tuesday afternoon but had stepped on to the porch for “no more than three minutes,” Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told WKYT-TV.

White told the Lexington Herald-Leader the boy received the .22-caliber rifle as a gift. He said the rifle was kept in a corner and the family didn’t realize a bullet was left inside it.

“It’s a Crickett,” White said, referring to a company that specifically makes guns, clothes and books for children. “It’s a little rifle for a kid. … The little boy’s used to shooting the little gun.”

White said the shooting was an accident.

It wasn’t immediately clear who gave the boy the gun or exactly what led up to the shooting. White did not return a telephone call from The Associated Press on Wednesday.

State police said in a brief news release the shooting occurred when the boy was “playing” with the rifle, but did not elaborate.

It is not clear whether any charges will be filed, said Kentucky State Police spokesman Trooper Billy Gregory.

“I think it’s too early to say whether there will or won’t be,” Gregory said Wednesday.

Keystone Sporting Arms, based in Milton, Penn., produced 60,000 Crickett and Chipmunk rifles in 2008, according to its website. It also makes guns for adults, but most of its products are geared toward children.

The company’s slogan is “my first rifle” and its website has a “Kids Corner” section where pictures of young boys and girls are displayed, most of them showing the children at shooting ranges and on bird and deer hunts. The smaller rifles are sold with a mount to use at a shooting range.

“The goal of KSA is to instill gun safety in the minds of youth shooters and encourage them to gain the knowledge and respect that hunting and shooting activities require and deserve,” the website said.

No one at the company answered the phone Wednesday.