Pew Survey Shows Major Shift In Attitude Towards Gun Ownership , Especially Among Blacks , Women

How Current Events Might Play Into America’s Shift In Favor Of Gun Rights

 

 

 

” For the first time, a Pew survey found more support for gun ownership than gun control among Americans. Current events like the Michael Brown case may be accelerating the trend, a gun control advocate says.

  A dramatic swing in public opinion when it comes to guns and gun control may be driven by current events – particularly high-profile police killings in Staten Island, N.Y., and Ferguson, Mo., a gun control advocate says.

  In 2012, 48 percent of Americans in a Pew survey said guns do more to protect people than place them at risk. According to a survey released Wednesday, that number has increased to 57 percent.”

 

 

 

 

” The shift was even more substantial among African-Americans, going from 29 percent in early 2013 to 54 percent now (though with a margin of error of almost 10 percent due to a small sample size). 

  In addition, Pew said that for the first time, it found more support for gun ownership than gun control in more than two decades of conducting the surveys.”

 

 

 

 

Read it all at the Christian Science Monitor  . Of particular note is this telling paragraph: 

 

 

” The shift in views makes for grim reading for gun control advocates, who, according to Pew, have lost support among every demographic except Hispanics and liberal Democrats. City-dwellers, women, and blacks moved particularly hard toward a view put forth by pro-gun rights researcher John Lott: that an armed society is a polite society.”

 

 

The poll itself , which The Monitor did not see fit to provide a link to , is even more informative than the article and  can be read here . Needless to say , it is not good news for the Statist gun-grabbers among the Democratic party .

 

HT/Instapundit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Symbolic Pumpkin Smashing Protest Results In Arrests , Pumpkin Confiscation

 

Smashing Pumpkins In Clayton Leads To Three Arrests For Littering, Assault

 

 

 

 

 

” Three people were arrested Monday afternoon during a protest that briefly linked the unrest in Ferguson to the violence that erupted last Friday at a New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival.

  The arrests occurred after approximately 10 demonstrators approached the St. Louis County Justice Center with a red wagon filled with pumpkins scrawled with slogans denouncing “RACISM,” “WHITE PRIVILEGE,” and “HATE.”

  Authorities took protest organizer Derek Laney into custody after he held a pumpkin overhead and decried the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson police before smashing it at the feet of officers stationed about 10 feet from the Justice Center door.

  The pumpkin bore the words “POLICE BRUTALITY.”

” We are going to smash (pumpkins) symbolically at the foot of someone who can bring (the Brown) case to justice,” Laney said prior to his arrest in a reference to St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, whose office is in the building. “It’s another way to let people know we will be heard.” “

   While it is becoming more evident that the shooting of Michael Brown was a “justified” use of force , these protesters still had a right to their free speech . Since when is it illegal to smash your own pumpkins ?     

   As to the littering charge , if the “litterers” hadn’t left the scene leaving a mess behind then who is to say they weren’t going to clean up after themselves . The assault charges are also easily trumped up as anytime a police officer grabs you and you pull away , as is a natural reaction , you are liable to be charged with resisting arrest and assault . We cry Bulls**t on this one .

From St Louis Today with a tip of the hat to Filming Cops

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Ferguson Protesters Clash With Cardinals Fans At Ball Game

Cardinal Fans Clash With Ferguson Protesters Outside Busch Stadium

 

 

 

 

” At the St. Louis Cardinals’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night, Cardinal fans came face-to-face with Ferguson protestors chanting for justice for Michael Brown outside Busch Stadium.

  A video of the confrontation was captured for Argus Streaming News.

  Near the beginning, the video shows a small group of protestors chanting “Justice for Mike Brown,” as a large group of fans chants, “Let’s go Cardinals.”

  Some fans later switch the chant to “Let’s go Darren,” referring to Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot Michael Brown.”

 

CBS St Louis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bill Whittle Offers Some Perspective On Crime And Race

Bill Whittle: Ferguson And The Real Race War

 

 

 

 

Published on Aug 20, 2014

” Since the shooting of Michael Brown by a white policeman and the ensuing riots and looting in Ferguson, MO, Americans have been told, yet again, that there is an epidemic of crime against black people in this country. But is there really a race war, and if so, which side is actually waging it? “

 

 

 

 

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Ferguson Cop Who Threatened To Shoot Reporter Suspended “Indefinitely”

Policing Ferguson-Style: Officer Who Pointed Rifle At Protester And Warned ‘I Will F****** Kill You’ Is Suspended Indefinitely

 

 

 

 

 

 

” An unnamed police officer from St. Ann, Missouri, has been relieved of duty and suspended indefinitely after he was caught on camera pointing an assault rifle at a protester, in Ferguson, on Tuesday night.

  The officer was supposed to part of the effort to keep the peace, but instead two separate videos uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday show him pointing a semi-automatic assault rifle at protestors and shouting: ‘I will f****** kill you.’

  The incident happened just before midnight on Tuesday during the latest of several protests that have followed the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer.”

This is a follow-up piece to the events we reported on here . Here is one of the videos …

Read more

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John Oliver On The Militarization Of Police And The Killing Of Michael Brown

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: Ferguson, MO And Police Militarization (HBO)

 

 

 

 

Published on Aug 17, 2014

” In the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, John Oliver explores the racial inequality in treatment by police as well as the increasing militarization of America’s local police forces.”

 

 

 

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Saturday Steyn

Cigars, But Not Close

 

 

 

 

 

” The “narrative” of Ferguson, Missouri changed somewhat today. But, amid the confusion, the blundering stupidity of the city’s police department remains consistent.

  This morning the Police Chief, Thomas Jackson, released security-camera shots of the late Michael Brown apparently stealing a five-dollar box of cigarillos from a convenience store. So the 18-year old shot dead by Chief Jackson’s officer was no longer a “gentle giant” en route to college but just another crappy third-rate violent teen n’er-do-well.

  This afternoon, the chief gave a second press conference. Why would he do that? Well, he’d somehow managed to create the impression in his first press conference that the officer who killed Mr Brown was responding to the robbery. In fact, that was not the case. The Ferguson policeman was unaware that Brown was a robbery suspect at the time he encountered him and shot him dead. Which is presumably why Chief Jackson was leaned on to give his second press conference and tidy up the mess from the first. So we have an officer who sees two young men, unwanted for any crime, walking down the middle of the street and stops his cruiser. Three minutes later one of them is dead.

  On the other hand, Jackson further confused matters by suggesting that he noticed Brown had cigars in his hand and might be the suspect.

  It’s important, when something goes wrong, to be clear about what it is that’s at issue. Talking up Michael Brown as this season’s Trayvonesque angel of peace and scholarship was foolish, and looting stores in his saintly memory even worse. But this week’s pictures from Ferguson, such as the one above, ought to be profoundly disquieting to those Americans of a non-looting bent. “

 

Mr Steyn addresses the mess that is Ferguson , Missouri . Read it all .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Black Officer Revealed As Shooter In Ferguson

Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson Revealed As Missouri Fatal Shooting Cop

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Police have announced the name of the officer who shot and killed an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri — an incident that led to days of clashes in the streets of the St. Louis suburb.

  Darren Wilson was revealed today as the officer who shot Michael Brown, 18. Officials have moved the six-year police veteran and his family from the town as a safety precaution.

  Wilson does not have any history of disciplinary action, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said.

  Jackson also noted that Wilson was “treated for an injury.” When he announced Wilson’s name, authorities handed out copies of a police report to reporters relating to a convenience store “strong arm” robbery that took place in the area shortly before Brown’s fatal shooting, showing that the police see the two events as connected.”

 

ABC News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rand Paul Decries The Police State

Rand Paul: We Must Demilitarize The Police

 

 

              Police in riot gear watch protesters in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014.Jeff Roberson—AP

” Anyone who thinks race does not skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention, Sen. Rand Paul writes for TIME, amid violence in Ferguson, Mo. over the police shooting death of Michael Brown

  The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy that continues to send shockwaves through the community of Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation.

  If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

  The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.

  The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.

 

  Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:

  Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.

  It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.

 

  The Cato Institute’s Walter Olson observed this week how the rising militarization of law enforcement is currently playing out in Ferguson:

  Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”? “

 

Read it all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ferguson Tragedy: Police Militarization On Display

From RT America

 

 

 

 

Published on Aug 14, 2014

” The police shooting and killing of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown has made Ferguson, MO known worldwide as citizens continue defying heavily armed police to protect their rights. Although the details of the initial incident remain murky, the tragedy has thrust the issues of racial disparity, police militarization and media portrayals of minorities into the mainstream’s attention, and no one knows what will happen next. RT’s Manila Chan takes a look at the now historic series of events.”

 

 

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Martial Law Comes To America

13 Photos From The Protests In Ferguson, Missouri, You Won’t Believe Happened In The United States Of America

” Protests entered their fifth and most tense day in Ferguson, Missouri, in response to a police officer on Saturday fatally shooting 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, and it’s hard to look at the photos and believe the scene is in the United States.

  From heavily armed SWAT officers aiming rifles at unarmed civilians to the use of intimidating armored vehicles — it looks less small-town U.S.A. and more like Egypt’s Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring. The behavior of police is similar — albeit less deadly — in the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and a deafening loudspeaker meant to break up the demonstration officers had declared “no longer peaceful.”

  Various live streams showed a defiant but mostly peaceful crowd chanting and singing songs. But some protesters have indeed been seen, as St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s David Carson tweeted, throwing rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails.”

Business Insider

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Armed Shop Keepers Save Businesses From Ferguson Rioters

Ferguson Riots: North County Business Owners (Some Armed) Survey The Damage

 

 

 

Mike Gutierrez (left) and Adam Weinstein (third from left) brought guns to guard their store during the riots in Ferguson last night.

 

 

” Nobody is robbing St. Louis Ink Tattoo Studio anytime soon. Or County Guns, for that matter.

  The two north county businesses share a storefront in a Florissant strip mall less than ten minute drive from the epicenter of last night’s riots in Ferguson. After nightfall, what began as a community’s peaceful demonstration against the Ferguson Police Department’s shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown turned increasingly violent. Crowds plundered a QuikTrip and burned it to the ground, and local news began reporting brazen raids on other stores in the area.

  After hearing of the roving bands of looters, Mike Gutierrez knew he had to protect his tattoo shop. He brought a posse with him, including Adam Weinstein, owner of County Guns, who was acutely worried about criminals getting their hands on his merchandise.

” We didn’t want them coming in here and then running around with a bunch of free guns,” Weinstein told Daily RFT when we arrive at the store around 12:30 a.m. this morning. Weinstein was outfitted with an assault rifle, pistol and tactical vest. Gutierrez cradled his own rifle in his hands.”

 

RiverfrontTimes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“Unarmed” Teen Shot Dead By Cops In St Louis

Anger Follows Police Shooting In St. Louis Suburb

 

 

 

 

 

 

” The fatal shooting of a black teenager by police sent hundreds of angry residents out of their apartments Saturday in a St. Louis suburb, igniting shouts of “kill the police” during a confrontation that lasted several hours.

  The shooting occurred around noon Saturday at the Canfield Green Apartment complex. Ferguson police confirmed it was one of their officers who opened fire.

  Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson told the Post-Dispatch that the officer involved has been placed on paid administrative leave.

  Family members identified the shooting victim as 18-year-old Michael Brown. Desiree Harris, who says Brown is her grandson, says she found his body in the middle of the street minutes after he was expected to arrive at her home in suburban St. Louis neighborhood.”

 

USA Today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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