Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

California’s Gun Medicine

May 3, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
gun-medicine

Night after night, dressed in a black jumpsuit and a bulletproof vest, John Marsh knocks on the doors of violent felons and mentally ill people and asks them for their guns. People hand them over more often than you might expect. Last year, Marsh, a special agent with the California Bureau of Firearms, and the 33-person team he heads, confiscated 2,000 illegally-owned weapons. Marsh is the lead agent for the Armed Prohibited Persons System, a program in which state officials comb through mountains of data to find people who have lost the right to own guns, and then send Marsh’s team to ... Read More

More like this: May-June 2013, Politics
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That Red Juice From Strawberries Might Be Blood

April 18, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
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Adding real blood to the saga of blood strawberries, a farm foreman in Greece’s Peloponnese is accused of shooting protesting migrant workers, sending 29 or 30 of them (accounts vary) to the hospital yesterday. Lots of threads here: GUN VIOLENCE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES It’s worth noting this was in a rural area, and the assailant used a shotgun—Joe Biden’s suggested home defense weapon—which certainly can be a deadly weapon but in this case left no one critically injured. According to GunPolicy.org (which is hosted by the Sydney School of Public Health and gets some funding ... Read More

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Right of the Living Dead

February 20, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
(PHOTO: ELISANT/SHUTTERSTOCK)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj5l9S830B4 The (notably sarcastic) video above is an advertisement for Brownells, an Iowa gun accessory retailer that does much of its business online. Last fall the company, which describes itself, perhaps generously, as the "World's Largest Supplier of Firearms Accessories and Gunsmithing Tools," launched the video series as part of a sales and marketing campaign. The story focuses on a fictional Zombie Elimination Crew that uses Brownells-sold products to survive an undead apocalypse. After the video, clicking a link brings you to a photograph of the ... Read More

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Guns, Game, and Control: Who Are America’s Hunters?

December 21, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Since the Newtown massacre I have heard repeatedly that one necessary act for advancing gun control is to get “hunters” (or at least rural types) on board. That line of thought has been boosted by “pro-gun” Sen. Joe Manchin, a reliable NRA lieutenant who’s now uttering heresies like: "I don't know anyone in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle. I don’t know anyone that needs 30 rounds in a clip to go hunting. I mean, these are things that need to be talked about." (Need and want are different animals, of course. Fast-firing rifles with big ... Read More

More like this: The 101
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Virginia is for Lovers – of Machine Guns

October 23, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Note to both presidential candidates as they pursue votes in the swing state of Virginia: don't overlook the automatic-weapons enthusiasts! The state leads the nation in ownership of legally purchased, registered machine guns, the Roanoke Times reports. Some 30,200 fully automatic weapons are in the hands of the state's eight million people - a total higher than any other state, including second and third place holders Florida and California, which both have far larger populations. Not that local law enforcement are particularly concerned. "Why do we have so darn many in Virginia? Who ... Read More

More like this: The 101
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Every Month, a Multi-Person Shooting in the U.S.

August 8, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Here's a frightening list: every month there has been a shooting of multiple people in the U.S. Of course not all are "mass shootings," but many include the words "open fired" and were at places—like nightclubs, restaurants, NBA games, parties—with crowds: http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/pdf/major-shootings.pdf. ... Read More

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Batman Shootings Explained – by Everyone

July 26, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Deborah Blum of the Knight Science Journalism Tracker has a great roundup of answers to the question: “Why would someone, anyone, buy four semi-automatic weapons and 6,000 rounds of ammunition for the single-minded purpose of harming people he did not know?” She links to a fistful of well-researched articles making it clear that most of our presumptions about mass killers from Columbine on are wrong, or at least drastically oversimplified. We may never know what actually motivates someone to slaughter a bunch of strangers, but we do know what makes it easy for them to do it: ... Read More

More like this: Culture, The 101
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Holding a Gun Makes You Look Larger

April 11, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Holding a gun may or may not make you feel bigger. But apparently it makes you look so. That’s the conclusion of a study published in the online journal PLoS ONE. “Danger really does loom large—in our minds,” said lead author Daniel Fessler, director of UCLA’s Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture. As part of Fessler’s study, 628 people looked at photographs of four different male hands, each of which grasped a single object: a caulking gun, electric drill, large saw, or handgun. They were then asked to estimate the height of each hand model. Although all the ... Read More

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‘Stand Your Ground’ Stats Point to High Costs

March 30, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

“Stand your ground” laws, such as the one prominently cited in Florida’s Trayvon Martin shooting last month, are on the books in 28 states. These laws represent a kind of gamble, that by shifting the justice system in favor of the shooter, society will aid people who have acted in self-defense more than it will enable those who might exploit the concept. By claiming Stand Your Ground status, a shooter (or stabber) never enters a courtroom to defend their actions unless police cite probable cause to believe the homicide or assault with a deadly weapon was, in fact, ... Read More

More like this: Legal Affairs, The Idea Lobby
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Patchwork of Gun Laws Assists Traffickers

October 27, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Patchwork of Gun Laws Assists Traffickers

The range of gun laws in states across the country is vast. Some states demand stricter background checks, and others make it easier to purchase weapons at gun shows. Wisconsin and Illinois don't offer concealed carry permits, while every other state does. California just outlawed openly carrying an unloaded gun in public. Federal law excludes convicted felons from purchasing guns, but some states add to that black list anyone with a violent misdemeanor on their record. The cumulative effect is a national patchwork reflecting regional cultural differences around gun politics. But Brown ... Read More

More like this: Legal Affairs, The Idea Lobby
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