Following Walmart yesterday, retailer Walgreens is prohibiting customers from openly carrying guns in its stores. It posted a succinct press release, quoted here in full:

We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials.

Remember that above all things, the right hates free markets. https://t.co/bl0XoeNEsE

— Rob Beschizza (@Beschizza) September 5, 2019

Read the rest

The wife of a West Virginia pastor apparently wanted to shoot another woman, but the Pastor realized her intent as she stormed out of the Church to fetch her pistol. Her husband followed her to her car where a single shot was fired, in the Church parking lot. Reportedly they wrestled for the weapon.

Newsweek:

According to authorities, Melinda walked out of the church during the disagreement and went to her car in the parking lot, where she got her handgun.

Realizing what she intended, Earl and followed her outside.

Willis reports Pastor Toney intercepted his wife before she was able to come back inside the church and attempted to wrestle the gun out of her hand. The weapon fired a single shot during the struggle, but nobody was hurt.

Haywood, who was leaving the church when the gun discharged, called the police and told them that she was Toney's intended target. The department reviewed parking-lot surveillance video but could not determine whether the pistol was aimed at Haywood before it was fired.

Image via the NEW LIFE APOSTOLIC CHURCH Read the rest

After two shootings in their El Paso, Texas and Southaven, Mississippi stores, the CEO of Walmart has announced major changes to the chain's gun sale policies, including no longer selling ammunition for assault-style weapons and discontinuing the sale of handgun ammunition. Read the rest

Glad no one was hurt, but seriously? $250? Read the rest

What the fuck is she talking about? pic.twitter.com/Mchf0L4rDx

— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) August 24, 2019

Pockets are not actually in the bill of rights. Read the rest

Some Californians are looking to limit when law enforcement can employ 'deadly force.' Others ensured their taking of lives stays a semantic game.

NPR:

The legislation emerged from a push for new rules in response to police killings of unarmed black men such as Stephon Clark, who was shot last year after a police chase that ended in his grandmother's backyard. The officers in that shooting said they believed Clark had a gun; he was found to have been holding a cellphone, and prosecutors said in March that the officers would not face criminal charges.

The new law reflects a compromise between civil rights advocates who say it will save lives and law enforcement groups that want more clarity on the use of force — but do not want to undermine legal protections for officers.

"The whole debate boils down to two words: 'necessary' and 'reasonable,' " Ben Adler of Capital Public Radio reports. "Right now, deadly force is justified if a reasonable officer would have acted similarly in that situation. So in other words, what a typical officer would have done based on his or her training. When the law takes effect in January, that standard will change to when the officer reasonably believes deadly force is necessary."

But Adler also notes that the law mostly avoids offering a specific definition of "necessary" — a move that is widely seen as leaving the interpretation up to the courts, where judges will weigh what is "necessary" in the context of officers' use of force.

All the participants at the 3-day Volusia, Florida orgy were naked and used aliases, and for obvious reasons, DNA-based identification "is not going to be an option, which means we'll probably never find out who stole the Glock from the bedside table. (Image: Eyes Wide Shut/Warners; Askild Antonsen, CC BY-SA, modified) (Thanks, Gnat!) Read the rest

The NRA's internal finances have come under close scrutiny this past year, after Oliver North launched a failed coup intended to unseat longtime CEO/cult leader Wayne LaPierre, triggering so much internal strife that the organization's dirtiest laundry ended up getting aired in retaliatory strategic leaks by each camp. Read the rest

Wayne LaPierre, the embattled leader of the National Russian Asso— whups, typo there, the National Rifle Association, is opposed to new so-called 'red flag' gun restrictions being proposed by lawmakers after back-to-back gun massacres in Dayton and El Paso this week. Read the rest

People fleeing and hiding from #timessquare after suspected live shooter #NewYork we caught this from our hotel bar 10th floor #police confirmed this was not a live shooter #timessquare #NYC pic.twitter.com/IKfagFbtzy

— The Daniels Group (@DanielsGrp) August 7, 2019

At around 10pm last night in New York City's Times Square, the sound of backfiring motorcycles triggered panic and chaos. Listen below. I'd have run like hell too.

Doesn’t sound like a motorcycle backfiring to me. Pure chaos 13 minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/17t425s6c8

— Emma (@emma_elizabeth6) August 7, 2019

Please be advised that all is safe and secure in #timessquare 🌃. All reports of suspicious sounds were due to a large group of 🏍 cruising through the area on this nice evening. #connecting #protecting

— NYPD Midtown South (@NYPDMTS) August 7, 2019

At least 10 people were killed after a gunman opened fire in a Dayton nightclub early Sunday, targeting revelers in the Ohio city's Oregon Historic District. 26 more victims were reportedly injured. The shooter was shot dead by police within a minute.

The incident came only hours after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas which left at least 20 people dead.

It also took place less than a week after three people were killed and 15 injured at a food festival in California.

Mayor Whaley ... said it was the 250th mass shooting in the US this year. But the Gun Violence Archive, which categorises mass shootings as four or more people shot or killed (excluding the shooter), said there have in fact been 251.

At least 19 people were killed after a gunman opened fire in an El Paso Walmart on Saturday, targeting back-to-school shoppers. Forty more victims were reportedly injured. The shooter was taken into custody, unharmed.

The first reports of a shooting emerged at about 11:00 local time (18:00 GMT).

Police said the Walmart was "at capacity" with shoppers buying back-to-school supplies at the time of the attack.

He said the suspect was a white male in his 20s. No officers had fired their weapons in apprehending him, he added.

Twitter's summary of events:

- The Associated Press says hospitals are treating 22 victims - Texas AG Ken Paxton says there are "between probably 15 and 20 deaths" - El Paso police say a white male in his 20s is in custody - Situation is no longer active and is transitioning to a crime scene

At least two people are dead after a gunman opened fire at the Southaven Walmart in Mississippi on Tuesday, with a police officer and the shooter also reportedly injured. CBS News:

WHBQ-TV reports one person was found dead in the store and another found dead in the parking lot. The suspect was taken to a Memphis hospital. His condition wasn't reported. Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto tells WATN-TV the officer was hit in his bulletproof vest and not seriously injured.Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto tells WATN-TV the officer was hit in his bulletproof vest and not seriously injured. Walmart employees joined a prayer circle outside. The company didn't immediately respond to phone calls and information requests.

A gunman opened fire at Gilroy, California's garlic festival Sunday, killing three before being shot dead by police. At least fifteen more were injured and a 6-year-old boy was among the dead.

There was "a white man in his early to mid-30s firing a rifle," eyewitness Julissa Contreras told NBC.

It was the 246th mass shooting in the US this year, according to US tracking website Gun Violence Archive.

The suspect entered the festival after cutting through a perimeter fence, Gilroy Chief of Police Scot Smithee told reporters. He said witnesses reported that a second suspect may have been involved, possibly in a support role.

Another eyewitness: "I could see him shooting in just every direction. He wasn't aiming at anyone specifically. It was just left to right, right to left. He definitely was prepared for what he was doing." Read the rest

For more than a decade Shane Claiborne has worked with gun violence survivors, teaching them to use a forge to melt down guns and an anvil to makes farm implements out of the metal. Read the rest

The attorney general for Washington, DC has issued subpoenas for the National Rifle Association and its charitable foundation. The gun rights organization is in the sights of nonprofit regulators, and under fire separately for connections to convicted Russian military intelligence agent Maria Butina -- not to mention the NRA's own internal power struggles, interpersonal petty drama, and financial ruin. Read the rest

A good way to understand how something works is to watch how it fails.

Forgotten Weapons:

Over many years of filming with my high speed camera, I have a decent little library of malfunctions in a wide variety of guns. These don't normally make it into videos, and I figured it would be neat to present a bunch of them together. Enjoy!