Kelly Holds Fundraiser At Gun Range Day After Mass Shooting

Last week, there was a mass shooting at the Molson Coors brewery in Milwaukee. An employee pulled out two handguns and proceeded to shoot and kill five coworkers before committing suicide.

On the very next day, NRA-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly, who is running for election after being politicaly appointed by former governor Scott Walker, had a fundraiser at a gun range:

Kelly held a political fundraiser on Thursday — around 26 hours after the mass murder — at a shooting range in Waukesha County. Kelly is a conservative jurist running against liberal Dane County Judge Jill Karofsky in the April election.

"Tonight!" announced a Facebook post by the Waukesha County Republican Party. "Help return Justice Dan Kelly to the State Supreme Court by attending a fundraiser in his honor at the Wisconsin Firearms Training Center in Brookfield!!!"

The post said money from liberal sources is "pouring into the state to back soft on crime Judge Jill Karofsky." "Can you help save our courts?" said the post, which carried the hashtag #2A, a reference to the Second Amendment.

How's that for politically tone-deaf? But there's more.

The flyer from the Kelly campaign said hosts could give at three levels, including $5,000 for the "50 Cal M2HB" level, a reference to a Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun.

A $2,500 donation put a supporter at the "25 ACP" level, named for a semi-automatic .25 caliber handgun.

A $1,000 donation was the "10 mm" level, referring to a different semi-automatic handgun.

The cost to attend: $100.

As one might have expected and righteously so, Kelly received a lot of backlash for such a bone headed stunt. One might have also expected that at the very least, Kelly would have offered an apology or something. But he didn't even do as much as offer the usual "thoughts and prayers" to the victims.

Instead, Kelly tried to play the victim card. In an fundraising email, Kelly wrote:

Last week the good folks at the Wisconsin Firearms Training Center (“WFTC”) hosted a campaign event for Justice Daniel Kelly. The WFTC dedicates itself to providing our fellow Wisconsinites with the tools and training necessary to protect themselves and their families from those who would do them harm, and Justice Kelly is grateful for their support and enthusiasm for his campaign. It was a pleasant and productive evening for everyone who attended.

But then our opponent’s allies did what they always do … they made it political and exploited a tragedy for their own benefit.

Our opponent’s allies attacked us for appearing at this event because a very sick individual had recently shot several of his co-workers at a major Milwaukee business. Along with the rest of our fellow Wisconsinites, we were shocked and saddened by this terrible tragedy, and we continue to pray for the victims and their families.

However, this attempt by Judge Jill Karofsky and her allies to exploit this tragedy for their own political gain is inexplicable and grotesque. They equated an evil murderer with the good folks at WFTC who are simply trying to make sure they have the tools and training to protect themselves and their families from those who would do them harm.

This is not just an attack on Justice Kelly, this is an attack on everyone who cares about protecting themselves and the innocent people around them. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by this. After all, it fits the same disgraceful pattern we have seen in the rest of Judge Karofsky’s campaign.

Pretty horrific, right? But wait! There's more. There's always more.

The Wisconsin GOP chimed in and tried to tie all gun owners in with Kelly's insensitivity and tactlessness and even with the murderer:

Make no mistake, such a disgusting attack on Justice Daniel Kelly and his supporters is an attack on all the law-abiding gun owners of our state. By launching such a distasteful attack, Karofsky’s allies apparently believe responsible gun-owners and mass murderers are one and the same.

Attempts to tie Justice Daniel Kelly and supporters of the Second Amendment to the shooting in Milwaukee demonstrate that there is no low that Jill Karofsky and her allies won’t stoop to for political gain. Under no circumstance should law-abiding citizens who legally exercise their rights to bear arms be blamed in any way for the tragic events that occurred in Milwaukee.

There is no way in hell that someone with a complete lack of morality and common sense like Kelly has shown, should be on the bench of the highest court in the state.

Milwaukee Mass Shooting Sponsored By The NRA and GOP

On Wednesday, Milwaukee became the site of the latest mass shooting. Anthony Ferrill, a 51 year old electrician and long time employee at the Molson Coors brewery chose to bring two handguns - one equipped with a silencer - to his job site. He shot and killed five coworkers before turning one of the handguns on himself, committing suicide.

Authorities have not given an official motive, but it is known that Ferrill was a gun nut and was often seen going around the neighborhood carrying a gun. We also know that Ferrill had an ongoing dispute with one of the victims and felt that he was being discriminated against due to being African American. It also appeared that he had a dysfunctional thought process:

About a year ago, the co-worker said, Ferrill started saying he believed brewery workers were coming into his home, bugging his computer and moving chairs around.

"I was: 'Are you serious, Anthony? What?' We all kind of joked about it, saying we should maybe get him an aluminum hat. Things just started getting weird. But he was dead serious about it," the co-worker said.

The usual suspects on the right have started their normal litany of excuses including that Ferrill was evil, that it wasn't the right time to discuss guns, etc.

However, those are mere excuses to distract from the fact that Republicans have been willfully refusing to take any action to pass even the most common sense gun laws. Mitch McConnell has been sitting on such a bill for over a year now.

Likewise, Wisconsin Republicans, under the thrall of the NRA, have been even worse. They have systematically dismantled almost all the gun laws in the state. Not coincidentally, Wednesday's shooting was the eleventh mass shooting in the state since 2004.

But there's more. There's always more.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers had called the legislation to a special session to pass two common sense gun laws - one to stop the loophole in background checks and a red flag law. In a poll, more than 80% of Wisconsinites supported these two bills.

Not only did the Republicans refuse to have an honest debate about these laws, but State Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, went beyond the pale to avoid any such debate, much less pass these two laws:

But it wasn’t until 8 p.m., after most of the activists had gone home, that Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, called the session to order with no other lawmakers in the room. He adjourned the session a few seconds later, avoiding debate or a vote on the gun control measures Democratic lawmakers had been advocating for throughout the day.

“I think if there are bills that would make sense to Republican legislators, that we would call ourselves into regular session or extraordinary session to take those up,” Fitzgerald said. “I think the governor knows the bills that he’s offered are not going to pass the Legislature … As they’ve been presented by the governor, there’s no momentum for them.”

You can almost see the NRA's hand sticking up his backside.

On Wednesday morning, Evers again implored the state legislature to review and reconsider the bills. About an hour before the shooting occurred, Fitzgerald again absolutely refused to even entertain the idea:

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, early Wednesday afternoon made clear that the state's gun laws would not change under a Republican-controlled Legislature despite a call for a review from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

"We’re going to have that discussion about the Second Amendment forever," Fitzgerald told reporters in Franklin, about an hour before the shooting at the Molson Coors brewery. "A lot of the provisions that are in place already, people are satisfied with."

His comments came just after Evers again called on lawmakers to take up legislation aimed at keeping guns away from people who are dangerous, underscoring the deep divide between Evers, Democrats and Republicans on the issue of gun restrictions.

It should be noted that while most politicians on both sides of the aisle only offered the perfunctory thoughts and prayers, one politician showed that he truly gets it and has the courage to say it as it is. Shortly after the shooting, State Representative Jonathan Brostoff issued a statement that read in part:

“But in times like this, thoughts and prayers are not - and never have been - enough. In the past 16 years, Wisconsin communities have suffered ten mass shootings, and countless other fatal and near-fatal incidents involving firearms. Time and again, public opinion polling shows that Wisconsinites are in favor of common sense gun reform legislation. We have committed community groups like Moms Demand Action and the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort who have organized their communities and continue to keep these issues at the forefront. We have a governor who specifically called a special session of the Legislature this session in order to address gun violence. And yet, time and again, bought-and-paid-for Republican politicians in this state do everything they possibly can to block simple and popular reform measures from making their way through the political process, all while more and more Wisconsinites die as a direct result of their antipathy and inaction. So today, I have one question for any politician who continues to block these life-saving reforms: how many NRA dollars are Wisconsin lives worth?”

It should also be noted that Fitzgerald is running for Congress, to replace the retiring James Sensenbrenner, which goes a long way to explain why he is so ready to bend over backwards for those NRA

Demand A Plan

Enough is too much:

Mass Shooting On Gun Appreciation Day Leaves Five Dead

On Saturday, while the gun nuts were celebrating Gun Appreciation Day, there was a mass shooting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which left five people dead, including three children:

A slaughter was discovered at a Albuquerque, New Mexico home on Saturday, five are dead (two adults and three children) and a teen has been charged and is being held in the murders.

CNN cites Deputy Aaron Williamson, a spokesman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department who said each victim had been shot multiple times.

The report adds that "several guns were found inside the home, including a "military-style" rifle he said had been used in the crime."

One of the dead has been identified as a Fire Department chaplain, who also worked for 13 years with inmates a the prison.

I'm waiting for Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA to come out and tell us how America needs to have a highly-trained, well-armed tactical officer in each and every home around the clock.

You know that the Republicans would go along with this, and not just for the NRA campaign donations and endorsements. This way, they can make sure the gays aren't having gay sex, that women aren't using birth control, that people aren't practicing critical thinking, and that no one has any money of their own.

I would suspect that they would put Police Chief Wiggums Erwin in charge of this operation. After all, he's used to coming to people's homes in the dark of the night to intimidate them and punish them for using their First Amendment rights.

Too soon, or too late?

In the aftermath of yet another heartbreaking mass shooting, this time resulting in the death of 20 children and seven adults,  we’re forced to discuss not what can be done to prevent future atrocities, but whether or not it’s too soon to even discuss the events at all.  The reality however, isn’t that it’s too soon, it’s that it may be too late.  

There are now more than 310 million non-military firearms in the U.S. (as of 2009).   While some polls suggest that overall, gun ownership in the number of homes in the U.S. is declining, overall gun sales continue to skyrocket.  This would suggest that in households where a gun is present, there is usually more than one.  Additionally, support for gun control legislation seems to be on the decline.  Even though there has been a continuing reduction in the crime rate in the U.S., Americans are increasingly driven by fear.  Local news reports focus heavily on the day’s violence.  The NRA and its proponents spin tales of how Obama and those evil liberals want to take away everyone’s guns, leaving you defenseless prey to the criminals who will inexplicably still be able to easily obtain them.  Fox News and the right wing echo chamber drone on and on about how big government wants to turn the country into some communist dystopia.  The fringe right goes even further, claiming the UN will be coming any minute to usurp our sovereignty, turning the world into some one world authoritarian nightmare.  Fear and sensationalism sell, and Americans seem to be buying with increased fervor.  This has lead to a massive increase in the availability of firearms to criminals and would be criminals.  

 Whenever there’s a dialogue about the merits of gun control, someone always has to chime in with some variation of the meme, “if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them.”  While that sounds great, it ignores the realities of where it is that criminals obtain their guns.  All firearms start out as lawfully owned property.  The vast majority of guns that criminals use are obtained via one of four ways, theft, straw purchases, illegal sales from FFL’s(Federal firearm licensees), and private or gun show sales.  If legislation was passed making it illegal for firearms manufacturers to sell or provide firearms to anyone other than the military or law enforcement, the methods that criminals use to obtain weapons would largely be useless.  Yes, this would require all currently legally owned firearms to be confiscated, which is why this will never happen.  A ban on all firearms in the U.S. isn’t realistic, and no one is suggesting this as a legitimate option. 

Absent a ban and confiscation of all firearms in the U.S., what can be done?  Well, if we were to listen to the fanatical gun rights advocates, more guns is the answer.  Once again, this ignores the realities of the situation.  

"In the wake of the slaughters this summer at a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, we set out to track mass shootings in the United States over the last 30 years. We identified and analyzed 62 of them, and one striking pattern in the data is this: In not a single case was the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun. Moreover, we found that the rate of mass shootings has increased in recent years—at a time when America has been flooded with millions of additional firearms and a barrage of new laws has made it easier than ever to carry them in public. And in recent rampages in which armed civilians attempted to intervene, they not only failed to stop the shooter but also were gravely wounded or killed."

Many gun owners seem to feel that in the chaos of a mass shooting, they would be able to calmly draw, aim, and effortlessly double tap that would-be killer before he had a chance to begin his spree.  This is pure fantasy.  More guns only lead to increased societal risk. Guns kept in homes are 22 times more likely to be used in a fatal or nonfatal accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.  If you have a gun in your home, statistically speaking you’re at a much greater risk of injury or death because of it. 

While we’re starting to finally hear talk of addressing the problems of gun violence, it seems as if people are afraid to speak in anything more than vague generalities.  No one wants to invoke the ire of the gun folks.  Well then, allow me.  We have to take steps to limit the availability of “assault” style weapons, handguns, and high capacity magazines.  Their use is what facilitates the high body count in these sprees.  We have to close gun show loopholes and prohibit sales between private, unlicensed individuals.  While this will have minimal affect on mass shootings, it would close down one avenue for criminals to obtain firearms.  We need to limit purchases from FFL’s to one per month.  This would make it much more difficult to traffic weapons via FFL’s.  Repealing the immunity from lawsuits that firearms manufacturers currently enjoy would encourage those entities to be more discerning in their gun sales.  Repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment would also encourage seller and manufacturer accountability.

I harbor no illusions that this, or any gun control legislation would be easy to pass.  The pro gun lobby is immensely powerful, and our populace has an irrational attachment to guns.  But how many more people need to die?  How many more children have to be brutally murdered in their classrooms before we say enough?  If this horrific tragedy isn’t sufficient evidence that our culture and permissive gun laws are deeply flawed, what will it take?  I never thought that my first contribution to this blog would be in response to a tragedy of this nature, and I’m saddened that it has to be.  We can look at the events in Connecticut as a lesson, and make them a turning point in rational discourse about guns.  Or we can close our eyes and become increasingly desensitized, clinging irrationally to the mistaken belief that somehow the prevalence of guns in our society makes us safer.  Which will you do?