Tag: Gun Violence

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Gun Crime

Judge Allows Wrongful Death Suit Against Kyle Rittenhouse To Move Forward

A federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin has ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Kyle Rittenhouse by the father of a man shot and killed by Rittenhouse in August 2020 can proceed as planned.

According to PBS, attorneys for Rittenhouse had sought to have the suit dismissed.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman on Wednesday dismissed motions filed by Rittenhouse and the government defendants seeking to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit.

In allowing the case against Rittenhouse and the others to proceed, the judge said that Anthony Huber’s death “could plausibly be regarded as having been proximately caused by the actions of the governmental defendants.”

Rittenhouse had argued that the case against him should be dismissed because he wasn’t properly served with the lawsuit. Adelman dismissed that, saying that Rittenhouse “is almost certainly evading service.”

Attorneys for Huber said they spent over 100 hours trying to locate Rittenhouse so he could be served, with Judge Adelman noting in his ruling, “Rittenhouse has been deliberately cagey about his whereabouts. Although he denies living in Florida, he does not identify the place that he deems to be his residence.”

Anand Swaminathan, an attorney for the Huber family, said the judge’s ruling means his clients are now “one step closer to justice for their son’s needless death.”

“The Kenosha officials that created a powder keg situation by their actions tried to claim that they cannot be held accountable for their unconstitutional conduct; that argument was soundly rejected today.”

Rittenhouse was criminally charged with homicide and reckless endangerment for the shooting deaths of Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum. He traveled to Kenosha from his home in Illinois, complete with an AR-15 style assault rifle. He later said he had done so to protect businesses that were at risk when riots began after a white Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake, a black man.

In November of 2021, Rittenhouse was acquitted on all charges after he claimed he acted in self-defense. Since his acquittal, he has become a darling of right-wing media and gun rights groups.

 

Categories
Gun Crime Gun Nuts

Kyle Rittenhouse’s Michigan Pro-Gun Rally Is A Humiliating Failure

Kyle Rittenhouse (a.k.a. Killer Kyle as he’s often called) should be able to draw one hell of crowd when he shows up considering that he’s a darling of the right-wing gun fetishists who think they need to strap semiautomatic weapons to their obese frames in order to visit Wal Mart and pick up some beer and bologna for the weekend.

But it turns out that Killer Kyle isn’t much of an attraction, as he proved when he was a featured speaker at a pro-gun rally in Ionia, Michigan.

When he did speak, the tens (if that) of people who showed up in the heat got to hear Kyle intone against anyone who has ever suggested that sensible gun control is a good idea.

“Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her anti-freedom cohorts are hellbent on shredding Second Amendment rights for law-abiding Michiganders,” Rittenhouse said.

Rittenhouse called House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, a “weak-kneed Republican” who “opened the door” to a red flag law. Hall was one of five House Republicans to vote for the three bills establishing safe storage, drawing outrage from some conservatives. Hall did not vote for the bills establishing a red flag law.

Rittenhouse may have also been under the impression that Republicans controlled the House — asking, “what’s the point of a Republican majority?” — when in fact Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature. A message seeking comment was left with Hall’s office.

Yeah, Kyle. Blah blah blah. He might just as well have said, I like guns and killing people, and I know you do, too, or why else would you be here to listen to a loser like me?

Well, because losers attract other losers. It’s the Second Law of the Physics of Pathetic.

However, something good did come out of the rally: The humiliation and mockery that was doled out online in response to Killer Kyle’s below par crowd size.

Maybe next time Killer Kyle needs to serve some beer and sandwich meats to guarantee that the fatties like him make the trek.

 

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GOP Gun Crime Gun Nuts WTF?!

Matt Gaetz: There Were No Mass Shootings When Automatic Weapons And ‘Cannons’ Were Legal

As the country reels from yet another mass shooting — this time in Louisville, Kentucky on Monday — Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is suggesting that fully automatic weapons and “cannons” should be declared legal because when they were, mass shootings were nonexistent.

On his Firebrand podcast, Gaetz began with the right-wing’s favorite bullshit tactic whenever there’s mass deaths from gun violence: Thoughts and prayers.

“This morning, we were made aware yet again of another shooting, this time at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky. We, of course want to take time to mourn the loss of innocent life, but we should not wait in acting to prevent these frequent aggressive acts from happening in the future.”

From there, the Florida Republican asserted that gun control is actually the problem, not the solution.

“Your grandparents used to be able to order mail-order automatic weapons, and when the Second Amendment was written, the American people, such as they were, could own cannons. No mass shootings back then.”

That’s simply not true, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Gaetz doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

The National Firearms Act, which outlawed automatic weapons, was enacted in 1934. Why? To stop mass shootings by gangs involved in bootlegging and organized crime, as NPR has reported:

In the 1920s and ’30s, the U.S. was dealing with a different kind of gun violence epidemic: a massive increase in organized crime, fueled by Prohibition.

Gangsters, like Al Capone, were making big money trafficking illegal alcohol. And a key weapon in their arsenal was the machine gun.

“Those criminals from the mob took advantage of the rise of the portable machine gun, capable of firing multiple rounds of ammunition with the single pull of a trigger,” says Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA’s school of law and author of Gunfight: The Battle Over The Right to Bear Arms in America.

Categories
Congress Gun Crime Gun Nuts

Democrat Swats Down MT Greene On Guns: ‘You Guys Are Worried About Banning Books – Dead Kids Can’t Read!’

At a Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing this week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got swatted down by Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz (FL) on the issue of guns, gun safety, and the mass shooting at a school in Nashville that left six dead, including three young children.

Moskowitz began by remarking:

“There are six people that are dead in that school including three children because you guys got rid of the assault weapons ban.
“Because you guys made it easy for people who don’t deserve to have weapons, who are mentally incapable of having weapons of war, being able to buy those weapons and go into schools.”

The Florida Democrat then noted the hearing itself was a joke with the GOP focusing on car theft and public urination in the District of Columbia:

“You guys want to talk about DC public schools and crime? I don’t I don’t want to burst your bubble over there, but mass murder in schools is crime.

“You want to talk about 1,300 cars being stolen, 550 people have been murdered in school. Who cares about the cars? What about the kids?”

Moskowitz continued:

“No hearing for them. 330,000 kids have experienced gun violence in this country. The number one killer of school aged children in this country. Gun violence. How do you think for the parents who have had to bury their kids who have had to decide what to put their kids clothes, but their kids when they buried them? Or kind of box they have to pick out for their child or for when they come home?”

When it was her time to speak, Greene began whining, “I was an 11th grade and Joe Biden made our school gun free school zones. One of the students in my school brought three guns to school and our entire school went on lockdown, because he was the only person with a gun. There was no good guy with a gun to protect us kids at school.”

She added:

“So, if you want to have a good talk about schools, and protecting children, we need to talk about protecting our children the same way we protect our president, the way we protect our celebrities.”

However, Congressman Moskowitz had the perfect retort to Greene’s claims:

“Did the good guys with the guns stop six people from getting murdered? No. But you know what? AR 15’s, have you ever seen what those bullets do to children? You know why you don’t hunt with an AR 15 with a deer, because there’s nothing left. And there’s nothing left as these kids when people go into school and murder them while they’re trying to read.

“You guys are worried about banning books – dead kids can’t read.”

If guns were the solution to crime the way Republicans claim, wouldn’t the United States be the safest country on the planet? It isn’t, and the proliferation of guns is a big part of the problem.

 

Categories
Right Wing Morons

Alex Jones Facing Financial Ruin As Sandy Hook Parents Seek Over $100 Million In Damages Today 

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could be on the merge of discovering that the First Amendment has limits and does not allow a person to attack others with lies in an effort to demean their pain and suffering as testimony begins today in Texas to decide much he must pay the families of children slain in the 2912 Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting that left 26 dead, including 20 children between the ages of six and seven.

According to the Associated Press, the parents suing Jones are seeking in excess of $100 million in damages. Such a judgement, attorneys for Jones allege, would lead to financial ruin for the controversial radio and podcast host.

The jury could deal Jones a major financial blow that would put his constellation of conspiracy peddling businesses into deeper jeopardy. He has already been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify for violating their hate-speech policies and he claims he’s millions of dollars in debt — a claim the plaintiffs reject.

The trial involving the parents of two Sandy Hook families is only the start for Jones. Damages have yet to be awarded in separate defamation cases for other families of the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

During questioning of potential jurors, Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal conceded that his client is indeed a “very polarizing” and “controversial” figure, but urged to cap any damages at a miniscule $1.

“We’re very happy with the jury we’ve seated,” Reynal said. “It’s a very important First Amendment case. On trial right now is not just people’s freedom of speech, but it’s also people’s freedom to listen. To choose what they watch on television, to make those choices for themselves, instead of having a personal injury lawyer make those choices for them.”

Reynal neglected to mention that juries in both Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation after he suggested that the children and teachers slain at Sandy Hook Elementary were “crisis actors” who staged a fake shooting to increase the likelihood of gun control legislation in the United States.

Since being found liable, Jones has insisted that he’s already broke, claiming that he’s $20 million in debt and cannot possibly pay any judgements that may be assessed against him.

The plaintiffs, however, don’t believe Jones, and the facts simply don’t support his claims of poverty:

Court records show that Jones’ Infowars store, which sells nutritional supplements and survival gear, made more than $165 million between 2015 and 2018. Jones has also urged listeners on his Infowars program to donate money.

Hopefully, when all is said and done, Alex Jones won’t have a proverbial pot to piss in.