Gunman Killed Trying to Rob Ex-Reporters Lynne Russell and Chuck de Caro in Albuquerque
Former CNN journalists Chuck de Caro and Lynne Russell
"'Is there anything in here we can give him?' Chuck said, 'Oh, yes, there is.'"
Two journalists got their hands on a crime story up close and personal this week.
Former CNN and Headline News anchor Lynne Russell and her husband, former CNN reporter Chuck de Caro, were involved in a fatal shooting at an Albuquerque, New Mexico, motel, police told NBC News on Wednesday.
Albuquerque police said Russell was accosted by a man about 11:35 p.m. Tuesday (1:35 a.m. ET Wednesday) in the parking lot of a Motel 6 and was pushed into her room.
De Caro — a former investigative reporter, Special Forces member and military expert — and the man then got into an altercation, and both were shot, police said.
The assailant was unresponsive when officers arrived and died at a hospital, while de Caro was wounded and was being treated at a hospital Wednesday.
Russell — herself a licensed private investigator and former Fulton County, Georgia, sheriff's deputy with two martial arts black belts — told NBC station KOB that she and her husband had stopped in Albuquerque for dinner with a friend and were planning to get up early because they were traveling.
Russell described the man's gun as "a 40-caliber big shiny silver handgun." The man pushed her into the motel room just as her husband was coming out of the shower, she said.
"In the process, I recognized what I had seen before — I was a deputy sheriff for many years — that this guy was used to this," Russell said. "I suddenly realized that it wouldn't bother him at all to pull the trigger."
Russell and de Caro — both described as expert shots — were legally carrying concealed handguns, she said. She said she offered to search her purse for something of value to hand over to the gunman — and slipped her gun into the purse, which she then handed to her husband.
"'Is there anything in here we can give him?'" Russell said she asked. "Chuck said, 'Oh, yes, there is.'"
Russell said the man took de Caro's briefcase over to the bed of the motel room and began firing at her husband.
"Chuck fired back, and it was a shootout," she said. "He expended the rounds from one small handgun and grabbed for the other even as he had taken fire" and was losing blood quickly.
"The guy went down, and he was history," Russell said.
De Caro was hit three times, but the bullets didn't strike any vital organs, Russell said. Authorities said he was expected to survive.
"I am very, very proud of my husband. He is my hero," Russell said. "He saved my life."
Lynne Russell, ex-CNN anchor, and her husband are alive thanks to a gun
In this photo taken June 6, 2015, former CNN Headline News anchor Lynne Russell poses for a photo during the CNN 35th anniversary reunion in Atlanta.
We see these stories every day, some of the heroic actions caught on video and others where the criminal is killed, but you would never know it, because the national media continually ignore them. The case with Russell is an exception because she is a public figure.
Jeff Knox notes days gone by when blacks fought to carry firearms
Armed African-Americans, primarily veterans of Korea and World War II, successfully defended themselves, their families, churches, communities and the non-violent civil rights movement.
"Why on earth would a group of people who feel they are being oppressed and targeted by government agents – not to mention hate groups and street criminals – advocate for only government agents (and criminals) being armed? It makes no rational sense, yet African-Americans aren’t the only oppressed minority that has taken this tack, American Jews, whose families were slaughtered in the Holocaust after being disarmed by Hitler in the years leading up to the war, have long been in the vanguard of citizen disarmament movement."
"A generation or two ago, African-Americans were risking their lives to acquire guns to defend their families and communities from night-riders and corrupt sheriffs. Today as their grandchildren face similar threats and predation, instead of empowering their communities with the means for self-defense, they are advocating that only the police (and criminals) be armed. Again raising the question – how’s that working for you so far?"
Humans are complicated and confusing creatures. We often cling to misguided beliefs and self-destructive philosophies, even as we decry the impacts and results of those beliefs and philosophies. One of the most confusing examples of this is when a minority that has suffered oppression and abuse advocates for policies that enable that abuse and remove options for protecting against future abuse.
The right to arms has long been recognized as a core distinction between a citizen and a subject, a free man and a slave. Virtually all gun control laws in the U.S. prior to the 1970s were aimed primarily at blacks, first in fear of slave rebellions, then in fear of retribution from freed slaves, then in fear of “black crime.” California’s ban on open carry of long guns was a direct result of members of the Black Panther Party legally carrying guns out on the streets and actually into the State Capitol. The Ku Klux Klan, which was a recognized political force in the 1920s and ’30s, helped pass gun control laws in several states as a way of keeping blacks defenseless. Many of those laws remain on the books today, including in North Carolina where a bill to repeal a Jim Crow-era purchase permit law fell to heavy-handed political maneuvering this year.
For decades African-Americans struggled for the unencumbered right to arms. It was one of the core liberties identified in the early days of the civil rights movement and was one of the central objectives of the NAACP. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached pacifism and non-violence as a tactic for advancing the cause of equality, but he did so surrounded by armed men prepared to defend him and his followers. The Deacons for Defense and Justice not only guarded black leaders, black churches, and black neighborhoods, they represented an ominous shadow in the background behind Dr. King. Though they maintained a strictly defensive posture, many political leaders new about the Deacons, and they feared what would happen if the civil rights movement ever shifted from Dr. King’s doctrine of non-violence to the Deacons’ philosophy of armed resistance. Whites were more willing to negotiate with Dr. King in order to avoid having to negotiate with men like the Deacons.
That possibility began to rear its head in the late 1960s with the growth of the more militant Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Initially focused on police brutality against blacks and a high incidence of police shooting of black suspects, the BPP’s primary activity was openly armed patrols through black neighborhoods to “police the police.” Many credit the activity with reducing racially biased police activities, and crime in general, but soon the hostility between members of the BPP and police boiled over into active warfare. The FBI engaged in a campaign to undermine the group, and their militant socialist and separatist philosophy fueled the public’s fear, contributing to new firearms and carry restrictions in several states and passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968.
And it wasn’t just white folks who were frightened. During that same period, the “right to arms plank” began disappearing from the platforms of civil rights organizations. Younger, more politically ambitious leaders like Jesse Jackson stopped talking about securing the right to arms for black citizens and instead became outspoken proponents of restricting firearms as a means of reducing the problem of “black-on-black” crime in urban areas. Of all of the major groups of the time, only CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, led by Roy Innis of Harlem, maintained support for Second Amendment rights. Mr. Innis lost two sons to street violence and has strongly advocated for the right to self-defense. He has served for many years on the Board of Directors of the NRA.
So with America’s gun control laws founded in racism, African-American communities roiling over racially motivated police brutality and unjustified shootings of blacks, inner-city crime back on the rise and a heinous, racially motivated attack on a Bible study group in Charleston, the response from black leaders and America’s first black president is a call for more restrictions on firearms. As Dr. Phil might say, “How’s that been working for you so far?”
Why on earth would a group of people who feel they are being oppressed and targeted by government agents – not to mention hate groups and street criminals – advocate for only government agents (and criminals) being armed? It makes no rational sense, yet African-Americans aren’t the only oppressed minority that has taken this tack, American Jews, whose families were slaughtered in the Holocaust after being disarmed by Hitler in the years leading up to the war, have long been in the vanguard of citizen disarmament movement.
Like Roy Innis and CORE, there are exceptions to the disarmament philosophy among Jewish groups, the most prominent being Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership, or JPFO. Unlike CORE, JPFO’s only mission is opposition to firearm restrictions, and they pull no punches in their efforts. Among their signature achievements are a series of award-winning documentaries on the roots and results of gun control laws, including “Innocents Betrayed,” “No Guns for Jews” and “No Guns for Negroes,” which are available for viewing on YouTube, or DVDs can be purchased at JPFO.org.
A generation or two ago, African-Americans were risking their lives to acquire guns to defend their families and communities from night-riders and corrupt sheriffs. Today as their grandchildren face similar threats and predation, instead of empowering their communities with the means for self-defense, they are advocating that only the police (and criminals) be armed. Again raising the question – how’s that working for you so far?
Obama pushes to extend gun background checks to Social Security
Relatives of gun violence victims and gun control advocates held a news conference in Washington on Dec. 10, 2014, two years after the Sandy Hook shooting, to urge lawmakers to expand background checks.
Seeking tighter controls over firearm purchases, the Obama administration is pushing to ban Social Security beneficiaries from owning guns if they lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, a move that could affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others..
The push is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws regulating who gets reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, which is used to prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the country illegally and others.
A potentially large group within Social Security are people who, in the language of federal gun laws, are unable to manage their own affairs due to "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease."
If Social Security, which has never participated in the background check system, uses the same standard as the VA, millions of its beneficiaries would be affected. About 4.2 million adults receive monthly benefits that are managed by "representative payees."
About 2.7 million people are now receiving disability payments from Social Security for mental health problems, a potentially higher risk category for gun ownership. An addition 1.5 million have their finances handled by others for a variety of reasons.
The agency has been drafting its policy outside of public view. Even the National Rifle Assn. was unaware of it.
Told about the initiative, the NRA issued a statement from its chief lobbyist, Chris W. Cox, saying: "If the Obama administration attempts to deny millions of law-abiding citizens their constitutional rights by executive fiat, the NRA stands ready to pursue all available avenues to stop them in their tracks."
All available avenues to stop them? Let us hope so; an admittedly clever (if dastardly) way to nullify the rights of millions of Americans most of whom won't have the capacity to fight back. Again by executive fiat; no Congress, or court or anything needed. Sure if it is upheld it could easily be expanded to include lots of other people deemed potential "risks to public safety" in the eyes of some government bureaucrat.
Fresh off their recent victory in having same-sex marriage legalized, many of the movement’s organizers are now turning to gun control as the next hot social issue, or so reports the New Yorker
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Marriage-equality activists in every state were armed with a talking-points tip sheet from WhyMarriageMatters.org whose logo reads “Love. Commitment. Family.” The one-page memo talks about the protection of religious freedom, the golden rule, family stability, and mutual respect. In the fight for marriage equality, the left borrowed the language of the right, in other words, and used it consistently and explicitly to bring the opposition along. Now similar tacks are being taken on guns… When Zach Silk thinks about how to articulate the values of the renovated gun movement, he uses the same words that the gun advocates use: “Community. Safety. Responsibility. Protecting my family.” In this redefining, he hopes to make a point. “Protection” isn’t an individual matter (a canard in any case, because having a gun in the house makes you exponentially less safe) in which individual patriarchs safeguard individual offspring. “Protection” is a communitarian thing, in which the safety of one’s own children depends on the safe habits of one’s neighbors.
Gun people underestimate these guys at their own peril. I shudder to think that in the face of savvy, patient, successful operatives like Zach Silk, we’re offering the tone-deaf and thoroughly unlikeable Wayne LaPierre, along with mass mailings filled with fear-mongering fever swamp boilerplate about black helicopters and the NWO. We need an NRA 2.0 to go with Gun Culture 2.0, and we need it now.
Black Leaders Silence Gun Control Advocates With This One Simple Historical Fact
The NRA was created to protect freed slaves.
“Black history is rife with government demands for background checks in order to qualify for constitutional rights. All Americans should be concerned.” Star Parker, a nationally syndicated columnist and other noted thought leaders, authors and speakers will make the case against the type of gun control measures
williatw wrote:Gay Marriage Organizers Set their Sights on Guns
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They will get their @$$E$ handed to them. The right to keep and bear arms is simply gaining strength, and these people cannot propagandize it away as they did with the normalization of homosexuality through television and entertainment media.
Diogenes wrote:The right to keep and bear arms is simply gaining strength, and these people cannot propagandize it away as they did with the normalization of homosexuality through television and entertainment media.
Panama Lifts Ban on Gun Imports amid Rising Crime Wave
More Firearms Will Mean Fewer Homicides, Says Public Safety Minister
Public Safety Minister Rodolfo Aguilera said the country will follow in the footsteps of the United States and Switzerland, where the right to bear arms is believed to lead to fewer homicides.
As Panama deals with increases in crime rates, forged gun permits, and rising gang activity, the government is set to lift the ban on firearm imports, in an effort to promote personal safety.The UNODC estimates that an average of 700,000 firearms circulate within Panama’s streets. (Entorno Inteligente)
Public Safety Minister Rodolfo Aguilera said the country will follow in the footsteps of the United States and Switzerland, where the right to bear arms is believed to lead to fewer homicides
“Everything seems to indicate that there is no direct correlation in the aphorism that says more guns mean more crime,” said Aguilera, who explained that relaxed gun laws have allowed the United States to reduce the homicide rate over the last 20 years.
Aguilera added that new regulations will include criminal and psychological background checks for future gun owners.
Under the current law, in effect since 2012, only state security forces can import firearms. Meanwhile, the Central American Integration System (SICA) has called for a comprehensive review of Panama’s firearm-import ban before any action is taken by the National Assembly.
“It’s a decision for each sovereign government to make, but we should take into account that for criminals, anything that is prohibited becomes more attractive,” said Hefer Morataya, director of SICA’s Central American Programme of Small Arms Control
However, not everyone agrees that easing gun restrictions will benefit Panamanian society.
Teresita de Arias, former congresswoman and leader of the People’s Party, said that lifting the ban on gun imports could backfire on the public.
“The issue of security will not be solved because every citizen has a weapon to defend themselves,” Arias said. She believes Aguilera’s comments on US homicide rates differ from reality, adding that the North American country itself struggles with the issue of gun control.
In the first three months of 2015, Panama registered 165 homicides in six different regions. According to the Ministry of Security, 70 percent of those homicides were committed with a firearm.
“There is no registry of the firearms that come in, much less exact data of how many there are,” said Security Vice Minister Rogelio Donadío. “Illegal weapons trafficking does not generate as much profit as drugs, but it does threaten citizen security.”
In 2012, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that an average of 700,000 firearms circulate through Panama’s streets.
Less Prohibition seems to be reducing the murder rate in Colorado. How unexpected. Who could have seen that coming?
Crime rates have dipped since Colorado enacted the law, according to the report. It found a 9.5 percent drop in burglaries in Denver and an 8.9 percent decline in overall property crime in the city.
“The doomsday vision of those who support continued prohibition has not come to fruition,” said Art Way, the DPA’s Colorado director.
Way, who called marijuana a “gateway” into the criminal justice system elsewhere, said the Colorado law had made the system less unfair. Black people are up to eight times more likely to face arrest for marijuana offenses than white people, according to an ACLU study.
Andrew Freeman, director of marijuana coordination for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, said legalization had paid for itself but was not an answer to all of the state’s funding needs.
“There’s been too much emphasis on money. It’s not something that you do to fill budget shortfalls,” Freeman said.
He said marijuana tax revenue had been able to pay for the costs of regulating the drug, and had funded programs intended to keep youth away from abusing substances such as alcohol and tobacco.
The report also noted that fears of a spike in traffic fatalities, voiced by the Colorado Dept. of Transportation, did not materialize. Deaths dipped a bit in the first 11 months of 2014, down to 436 from 449 the year before.
In Colorado, it’s safe to say that the doomsayers were 100% wrong. Sales of recreational marijuana continue to rise with more than $34 million worth sold in August alone. That means that the state raised $3.4 million for building and maintaining schools in the state. At the rate the state is going, some $30 million will be brought in from pot taxes alone. That’s some serious dough!
Even better, crime has suddenly and sharply dropped in the state, providing evidence that clearly counters the idea that crime would rise with the plant’s legalization. Overall crime has dropped by 15%, and murder is down by nearly half. The government is planning to allocate some of the state tax money from pot to improving infrastructure and employing more people, even now as the unemployment rate continues to drop.
Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States
Abstract:
Since President Obama’s election the number of concealed handgun permits has soared, growing from 4.6 million in 2007 to over 12.8 million this year. Among the findings in our report:
-- The number of concealed handgun permits is increasing at an ever- increasing rate. Over the past year, 1.7 million additional new permits have been issued – a 15.4% increase in just one single year. This is the largest ever single-year increase in the number of concealed handgun permits.
-- 5.2% of the total adult population has a permit.
-- Five states now have more than 10% of their adult population with concealed handgun permits.
-- In ten states, a permit is no longer required to carry in all or virtually all of the state. This is a major reason why legal carrying handguns is growing so much faster than the number of permits.
-- Since 2007, permits for women has increased by 270% and for men by 156%.
-- Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites.
-- Between 2007 and 2014, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.2 (preliminary estimates) per 100,000. This represents a 25% drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 156%. Overall violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that period of time.
-- States with the largest increase in permits have seen the largest relative drops in murder rates.
-- Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding. In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one-sixth the rate that police officers are convicted.
I like how Colorado is providing us so much concrete useful data on the effects of ending prohibition. I know we had the info from the 1920's era but that was a nation wide issue on multiple levels. Colorado gives us a much better localized experiment that we can compare and contrast with both itself and other nearby states. Ultimately, from a pragmatist point of view, I believe full decriminalization is a net positive for everyone involved. Government resources (tax dollars) not spent on enforcement can be better spent on rehabilitation and economic improvement. The legal sale itself turns a previous black economy into a white one where it can be regulated, taxed and most importantly produce capital gains that are reinvested into the economy into of into gangs and drug cartels. Then the third order social costs are reduced, less crime and other negative economic activities create a better market and better use of resources.
