View from a Rhino House: gun crime

On Saturday evening a 107-year-old man was killed in a shootout with a police SWAT team, after he waved a gun at two people in the US state of Arkansas.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon the police were called to a home in the city of Pine Bluff (population about 48.000) following reports that Monroe Isadore, was waving a gun at 2 (unidentified) people.

The pair (who were not being held hostage) left the immediate scene of the incident safely before police tried to arrest Mr Isadore, who was locked inside a bedroom. The police then attempted to speak with Mr Isadore who fired a number of shots through the door, according to the police report.

No officers were struck by the unaimed shots, & police called for backup, including a SWAT (Special Weapons & Tactics) team.

As part of their attempts to persuade Mr Isadore to come-out they then released gas into the room & forced open the door. Mr Isadore began shooting & officers returned fire, killing him.

No-one was injured in the incident except a possibly confused 107-year old man.

Anything I could add would be spurious in the extreme.

The guilty party….

Signage #77

The NRA finally managed to agree on gun control measures to stop a repeat of the terrible & insane slaughter of children across the country. Thank God these tragedies will never be repeated.

View from a Rhino House: Battle hymn of the Repugnant

Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General, has sent a message for New York gun owners: “Come to Texas, & bring your guns with you.”

“Texas is better than New York, & New York just gave us another excuse to say that,” Abbott, a Republican (you didn’t guess?), said yesterday, after several humorous adverts singing the praises of Texas appeared on East-Coast media websites.

Democratic New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo (come on, you didn’t guess that one either?), signed new gun-control legislation at the start of the week expanding the state’s ban on assault weapons & putting limits on magazine capacity & type of ammunition that can be purchased.

Abbott, a possible/wannabe candidate to be Governor of Texas in next year’s election, used campaign money to buy the ad space on websites of news organizations based in New York City & Albany.

One ad says in classic Western script: “WANTED: Law abiding New York gun owners seeking lower taxes & greater opportunities.”

Clicking on the ad leads to a Facebook page listing the “virtues” of Texas, including the fact that the state has no income tax so “you’ll be able to keep more of what you earn & use that extra money to buy more ammo.” (sic)

Abbott has said he will file a federal lawsuit to throw out any nationwide gun restrictions implemented by Congress.

Sounds like a very very nice man, & possibly one who is heavily armed…..

The Texas “good neighbor” safety kit (tax deductible)