Most of the so called facts Americans believe about guns are actually myths.

There needs to be a blog entitled "The Stolen Gun." 

The NRA and gun rights groups make a very big deal about the fact criminals can get guns. According to these groups, the criminals are able to buy stolen guns or steal them.

So, where are all these legally owned guns that are now stolen? Because, my understanding is that Americans own guns for self-protection. An example is; if there is a home invasion the guns in the house will protect those asleep prior to the front door being broken down. So, if these guns are so vital to the safety of Americans where do they come from? 

I would think anyone owning a gun would treat it like a driver's license and carry it with them all the time or keep it in a wallet so it doesn't get lost over night while asleep. I want to know how these guns are being stolen, because, according to the gun rights groups that doesn't happen; what happens is gun carrying Americans are having their lives saved, due to their concealed carry permit.

"How criminals get guns" (click here)

by Dan Noyes

Ask a cop on the beat how criminals get guns and you're likely to hear this hard boiled response: "They steal them." But this street wisdom is wrong, according to one frustrated Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agent who is tired of battling this popular misconception. An expert on crime gun patterns, ATF agent Jay Wachtel says that most guns used in crimes are not stolen out of private gun owners' homes and cars. "Stolen guns account for only about 10% to 15% of guns used in crimes," Wachtel said. Because when they want guns they want them immediately the wait is usually too long for a weapon to be stolen and find its way to a criminal....

...Wachtel says one of the most common ways criminals get guns is through straw purchase sales. A straw purchase occurs when someone who may not legally acquire a firearm, or who wants to do so anonymously, has a companion buy it on their behalf....

Monarch butterflies and oyamel trees are intricately linked.

...But after trekking (click here) across an entire continent for an answer, it was a team led by Canadian zoologists led by Fred Urquhart that final tracked the resting place of the butterflies as they made their migratory journeys south....

What has been discovered over decades is the importance of an evergreen tree, the oyamel fir tree.

21 December 2015
By Janet Marinelli

For as long as anyone can remember, (click here) monarch butterflies have arrived in Mexico's Trans-Volcanic Belt in late October, when the locals begin to celebrate Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Families fill their homes with marigolds, eat skull-shaped sweets and place candles on graves to guide the souls of departed loved ones home. According to
traditional belief, the brilliant orange butterflies are the spirits of ancestors returning to earth to visit....

The oyamel fir forests of Mexico (click here) are remnants of boreal forests that advanced south with periods of glaciation. When the glaciers retreated, they were left as high elevation survivors, existing as isolated islands at 2400-3600 meters (7,800 – 11,700 feet). Several hundred million Monarch Butterflies spend the winter clinging to Oyamel Fir trees on a cluster of these mountaintops of the Transverse Neo-Volcanic Mountain range of Central Mexico. Waxy pine and oyamel needles shelter the monarchs, protecting them from moisture. When the butterflies become wet and temperatures drop to below freezing, millions of butterflies perish....

Butterfly watching is as widely popular as bird watching. There is an economic component to these events in nature. The great thing about butterflies is they don't bite or peck.

Species name: Danaus plexippus

The other great part about being either a bird or butterfly watcher is an information book never gets old. Species are species and don't require updates.

"Handbook for Butterfly Watchers" (click here)
June 26, 1992
 By Robert Michael Pyle

Some people fish and some people hunt, but, there is no difference between sports involving nature; it's interesting, peaceful and fun. Bird and Butterfly watchers are different than fishers and hunters in that their accomplishment is a LIST of observed species.

To many, making a list is something one does when doing grocery shopping or striving to be a successful Santa; but, lists are very prestigious filled with respect and status. It is the same status as any other trophy.

Robert Michael Pyle on Facebook (click here)

 








Butterflies and moths are pollinators, too.

Thousands of people (click here) travel abroad each year looking for butterflies and moths. Eco-tours bring valuable income to many European countries and developing countries around the world (e.g. the valley of the butterflies in Rhodes and the Monarch roost in Mexico).

Every butterfly and moth has developed its own suite of chemicals to deter predators and parasites, find a mate, and overcome the chemical defences of its host plant. Each of these chemicals has a potential value and could be exploited economically.  For example, powerful antibiotics have been found in the Meadow Brown, one of our commonest and most widespread species.

We celebrate the Monarch Butterfly today, but, it's popular status protects so many more species. 

Wikipedia (click here) put together a rather interesting migration map.

There is no excuse for the lack of content in the Republican response to the State of the Union.

The speech is released early to the press so they understand the content. The Republicans are just lazy and want to take the opportunity to play politics and promise more obstruction of governance.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016 (click here)

Mayor Jim Kenney doesn't want to provide the status of a soldier for Allah to a common criminal with a STOLEN gun.

I think the Mayor is correct. There is the idea 'out there' somehow any jerk can dress in a white robe and pretend they have a real reason to kill for Allah. I think the Mayor has a very interesting response to this ATTEMPTED MURDER. To call a killer a person acting on behalf of God is simply wrong. God of any religion is not a common criminal acting out.

There is a sincere criminal element in all this so called religious movement for a caliphate. The men in Syria are criminals and there were criminals long before they escaped to Syria from Iraq. They are the men that carried out human rights abuses for Saddam. That criminal element is carried through in all it's actions. These men claiming to be acting to uphold the integrity of God are common criminals or in the case of the Ba'athists, international criminals. 

What are people thinking? Innocent people are being sucked into plans of criminals to pretend to be sent on a godly purpose to a caliphate. That is insane. They are Daesh, not some vernacular of a holy caliphate.

It must be a real trip to find oneself with a criminal record that is somehow transformed into a 'special status' with Allah. The Mayor is correct; there are criminals dressed up in robes and stating they have a real case as a soldier for God. That is nonsense and is equivalent to a Halloween costume. 

When watching the video it is nothing but a small miracle the officer was able to leave the petrol car and actually chase and wound the shooter. He is an amazing man. I am sure he'll be receiving metals once he is recuperated.  Perhaps he has insight regarding his circumstances in those SECONDS that allowed him to live through it. I think all officers need bullet proof vests and bullet proof glass in their cruisers.

There was a time in the USA when police patrolled together. That should be a mandate in these years of violence and uncertainty.

A country is grateful for officers like him. He didn't put his life first. Not at all. He put his responsibility to the city of people he swore to protect. He was more worried about the people that might still be attacked by a criminal with a stolen gun and found the will to chase the lousy SOB.

STOLEN GUN. So, it would appear there are so many guns on the street in the USA there are plenty to be stolen as well. Who did he steal it from, the local drug dealer?

January 8, 2016
By West Philadelphia (WPVI) 

...Mayor Jim Kenney (click here) said the shooting had nothing to do with "being a Muslim or the Islamic faith."

Officials also say the gun used in the crime, a 9mm Glock 17, had been stolen from a police officer's home in 2013, but it's not clear how it ended up in Archer's hand. That officer had been disciplined, Ross said.

The shooting happened 11:40 p.m. on Thursday.

...Police say the suspect fired a total of 13 shots, three of which hit Hartnett in the arm.

Despite being seriously wounded, Hartnett got out of his car, chased the suspect and returned fire, wounding his attacker in the buttocks, police said. Other officers chased Archer and apprehended him.

Ross called it "absolutely amazing" that Harnett survived. "It's nothing short of miraculous and we're thankful for that," he said....

El Chapo needs to be extradicted to the USA for trial.

 I congratulate the government of Mexico in it's dedication to protect the people. El Chapo is responsible for a drug cartel that has killed thousands of innocent people in Mexico.

...But on Friday, (click here) nearly six months after his escape, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, was captured again after a fierce gun battle near the coast in his home state, Sinaloa, Mexican officials said. “Mission accomplished: We have him,” President Enrique Peña Nieto announced.

The arrest ended one of the most extensive manhunts undertaken by the government, involving every law enforcement agency in the country and help from the United States.... 

...The government said late Friday that it had been watching a home in Los Mochis for more than a month when law enforcement officers finally saw movement on Thursday. Officials said that during the ensuing raid, Mr. Guzmán managed to slip away through the sewers, and then he surfaced, stole a car and was apprehended. The authorities took him to a hotel to wait for backup.

The capture of the drug lord concludes a deeply embarrassing chapter for the government of Mr. Peña Nieto, which has been waylaid by a series of security and corruption scandals that reached their low point with Mr. Guzmán’s daring escape....

...With operations that span much of Mexico, his organization has specialized in smuggling tons of drugs into the United States through vast networks of tunnels deep beneath the border. His success has made him among the richest drug dealers in history: Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at close to $1 billion....

He might HAVE BEEN worth $1 billion US, but, Mexico has the right to confiscate every dollar of that money. It is blood money. Thousands of Mexicans have died due to the viciousness of the drug cartel, that money is not his and it never was.

I find it insulting and disgusting that Forbes even reports his worth. What has Forbes become a secret admirer of organized crime? 

Political pressure by the gun lobby supports right wing extremist groups.

If the militias in the USA were proven to be criminals, the gun lobby would not have a reason to sell military style weapons. The struggle to remove dangerous guns from USA streets would be over. Right? The only reason the organized militias exist is because of some odd belief the USA government is going to take away their guns and enter into some sort of dictatorship.

The militia groups and the NRA and other gun lobby organizations are silent partners in gun violence in the USA.

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Rep. Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, signed a letter last year asking President Obama to reopen the extremism office at the Department of Homeland Security.

January 9, 2016
By Ron Nixon

...Although the F.B.I. (click here) has primary responsibility for countering terrorism, the D.H.S. conducts analysis and intelligence gathering, and tries to spot troubling trends.

Representative Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, who last year signed a letter with 15 lawmakers asking President Obama to reopen the extremism office at homeland security and update the 2009 report, agreed with Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Ellison said the killing of nine people at a black church in Charleston, S.C., by Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old accused shooter who said he planned to “start a race war,” along with the current standoff in Oregon, show why the government needs to scrutinize the growth of antigovernment groups.

“The Department of Homeland Security needs to deal with Muslim extremists, but don’t ignore every other kind of threat,” Mr. Ellison said.

Citing data from a 2013 report produced by the United States Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center, Mr. Ellison noted that, “Right-wing extremists have launched an average of 330 attacks a year and killed about 250 people between 2002 and 2011. These are dangerous people.”...

The right wing extremists tried desperately to put "The Southern Poverty Law Center" out of business. It does invaluable work and no different than Planned Parenthood it is targeted for right wing political agendas.

What happens when militias overwhelm the National Guard?

January 4, 2016

In its annual count of militias,  (click here) released today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified 276 militia groups – up from 202 in 2014, a 37 percent increase.

The number represents a renewal of growth after several years of declines. The movement grew explosively after President Obama was elected, from 42 groups in 2008 to a peak of 334 in 2011 before declining in recent years....

In addition to the militias, there are 784 active hate groups that see a confluence between prison and home.

February 10, 2014
By Keith Coffman

A neo-Nazi parolee murdered Colorado's prison chief (click here) last year after forcing a pizza delivery man whom he kidnapped and later killed to record a message denouncing the prison system, federal prosecutors said in a court filing released on Monday.
The disclosure is the first time authorities have publicly stated that ex-convict Evan Spencer Ebel killed the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, Tom Clements, and 27-year-old pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon.
Previously, investigators stopped short of calling Ebel the trigger man in the two murders, saying only that the weapon used to kill the two men matched the handgun Ebel used when he was killed in shootout with Texas police days after the murders.
The existence of the audiotape surfaced in the case of Stevie Vigil, a Denver-area woman who pleaded guilty to buying a 9mm handgun for Ebel, an ex-convict who skipped out on his parole days before the murders in March.
Clements, 58, was gunned down at his home in Monument, Colorado, about 45 miles south of Denver.
"Ebel rang the doorbell and shot and killed Clements when he answered the door," prosecutors said....

Ebel should never had possessed a gun, but, there was another party involved sympathetic to his reasons and assisted in breaking the law. The same was true of Adam Lanza in Sandy Hook. Background checks would not have stopped those murders. If the guns aren't on the shelf they can't be purchased by people willing to circumvent the law for an expression of love.

As much as right wing gun groups such as the NRA exist, they are making up reasons to keep  gun sales high. The NRA assaults the sovereign rights of the USA and backs sales regardless of the outcome of that weapons on the streets of the USA.

No list of those with mental health illnesses will prevent anyone to supply them with weapons. There is only one way to end this level of violence in the USA and that is to limit the dangerous guns from our country. It worked before, it will work again.