Tag Archives: gun violence

Frisky By The Numbers: The Toddler/Terrorist Death Toll

Julie GersteinJune 14, 2013 //
Frisky by the numbers toddlers vs terrorists

The website Opposing Viewpoints revealed a rather sobering statistic this week: The number of people killed in the first five months of the year from gun deaths involving toddlers was nearly three times as many as from deaths involving terrorist attacks. Since January, there have been 11 deaths related to toddlers who somehow gained access to guns. In many of those cases, the toddlers themselves, or another young child, were victims. One child, though, fatally shot his father, a former Green Beret soldier. (And that doesn’t even cover the nine other deaths reported by kids 7 to 19 who were also accidentally killed while handling firearms.) Keep reading »

Fearing Guns
How a gun-loving West Texas girl learned to fear assault weapons. Read More »
Domestic Violence & Guns
Vice President Joe Biden says we need to reduce domestic violence via guns. Read More »
On Men and Guns
Why owning a gun doesn't make you even more of a man. Read More »

“If Babies Had Guns, They Wouldn’t Be Aborted,” Says Republican Politician

Jessica WakemanApril 12, 2013 //
PP Attacked With Ax
Today's Lady News photo
Man vandalizes Indiana Planned Parenthood with an ax. Read More »
Tiller Clinic To Reopen
South Wind Women's Center
The Kansas abortion clinic operated by Dr. George Tiller will reopen. Read More »
Our Favorite Republican
Alan Simpson
... says male legislators "shouldn't even vote" on abortion bills. Read More »
babies guns

Yeah, that’s an actual thing an elected official said. Like, for real. Republican Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas tweeted the remark today, which is cringeworthy on multiple levels — not the least of which shooting people with guns doesn’t sound very “pro-life” to me. Perhaps in his own well-documented twisted mind Stockman thinks that owning guns means you’re just protecting yourself, ergo fetuses (“babies”) need protection from big, bad Planned Parenthood; but this reads to me as an allusion to clinic violence against doctors who perform abortions. Dr. George Tiller was, after all, murdered by an anti-abortion extremist with a gun.

Ugh. There’s believing in a right to bear arms and there’s being a gun nut who suggests children should have guns. [Raw Story]

Ann Coulter Calls For Meghan McCain To Be Killed. Yes, Really.

Jessica WakemanApril 11, 2013 //
Meghan In Therapy
meghan mccain photo
The talking head saw a therapist over trashing of her body. Read More »
Slutshaming
Don't call Meghan McCain a "slut." Read More »
Glenn Beck Hurts Meghan
Glenn Beck made barfing noises talking about Meghan McCain's body. Read More »
wtf?!?!
meghan mccain

Remiss as I am to give Ann Coulter any attention, this is just obscene: the Fox News commenter wrote a blog post in which she suggested Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain and a Republican commentator, should be killed.

Coulter blogged on Fox about MSNBC host Martin Bashir, mis-stating (as NYMag.com explains) that he had suggested Republican senators wouldn’t support gun control unless they had members of their families killed:

“MSNBC’s Martin Bashir suggested that Republican senators need to have a member of their families killed for them to support the Democrats’ gun proposals. (Let’s start with Meghan McCain!)”

Yup, she just suggested that John McCain’s daughter should be murdered. Really, Ann Coulter? Keep reading »

Please Tell Me This Bra-Clad “Zombie Ex-Girlfriend Shooting Target” Is An April Fool’s Day Joke

Jessica WakemanApril 1, 2013 //
Meet Natalie Foster
natalie foster NRA
The NRA thinks Natalie Foster will make women want to buy guns. Read More »
Domestic Violence & Guns
Vice President Joe Biden says we need to reduce domestic violence via guns. Read More »
Fearing Guns
How a gun-loving West Texas girl learned to fear assault weapons. Read More »
disgusting
zombie ex girlfriend

I really, really, really want this to be an April Fool’s Day joke.

ZMB Industries, which manufactures shooting targets which all resemble zombies, has a “zombie ex-girlfriend” target of a bra-clad woman for presumably-male shooters to “kill.”

Put another way: practice murdering your ex-girlfriend, men! It’s okay! Because she’s a “zombie!”

The Bleeding Ex-Girlfriend Target sells for $89.99 and each one is “hand painted to accurately resemble an infected human that just finished gnawing on his trusted courier’s leg, to give you that realistic look so you genuinely feel the hate.” A site that sells the ex-girlfriend target, Motorcycles & Outdoors, also sells Arab “terrorist” and North Korean soldier targets.  My brain can’t even process it all. I’m so disgusted at the cavalier disregard for violence against women that I don’t know what to say. [Motorcycle & Outdoors via Salon]

RIP Society: Fifth Grade Boys Plotted To Rape, Murder Female Classmate

Jessica WakemanApril 1, 2013 //
Teach Boys Not To Rape
On Steubenville High School and teaching boys not to rape. Read More »
CNN on Steubenville
They're mourning the lives of the rapists. Read More »
Teaching Boys Feminism
kids photo
How to teach boys to be feminists. Read More »
rip society
boys

When I was a 10-year-old, the worst thing a boy did to me was put Scotch tape in my hair. If only! Proof that society is going down the toilet: two fifth grade boys in Colville, Washington, have first-degree murder conspiracy charges against them for plotting to rape and kill their female classmate. They were discovered on February 7 after a child saw one of the boys playing with a knife on the school bus; in a backpack, the kids had a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol (stolen from a family member) and ammunition. One of the boys explained, “She’s rude and always made fun of me and my friends.” Keep reading »

Meet Natalie Foster, The Woman The NRA Thinks Will Make You Buy A Gun

Jessica WakemanMarch 29, 2013 //
Domestic Violence & Guns
Vice President Joe Biden says we need to reduce domestic violence via guns. Read More »
Fearing Guns
How a gun-loving West Texas girl learned to fear assault weapons. Read More »
The Soapbox: Gun Control
newtown
You don't have to be a parent to worry about guns. Read More »
natalie foster NRA
Meet The NRA's New Commentator

This week, the National Rifle Association debuted Natalie Foster as the new video commentator for its website, the NRA News Network, to drum up support for the Second Amendment.

Blonde and telegenic, Foster already blogs for her own site, Girls Guide To Guns, “dedicated to women who dig fashion and fire power,” in which she writes about gun ownership as well as girly tips, like New Year’s cocktails and how to look “extra cute” at a gun range. Her site also includes a list of female-friendly shooting ranges. The NRA News Network (which, by the way, is not exactly espousing “news” if these people are editorializing commentators, which they are) also debuted two other new commentators who are both men. Colion Noir, who is black, is an “urban gun enthusiast” and Dom Raso is a veteran. Altogether, the three are meant to appeal to demographics the NRA desperately wants to reach.

But it’s Natalie Foster who is most disconcerting. I don’t doubt the sincerity of her love for shooting at all. In fact, her website is actually kind of cool. But Foster’s involvement with the NRA is calculated to only pose gun ownership as good for women, appropriating the language of the feminist movement to do so.  In her intro video, she drops the E-word, explaining how she was “empowered” by learning to shoot a gun. She also poses gun ownership for women as a choice akin to abortion: “Our culture is all about women being able to choose for themselves and if you’re going to be able to choose what you do with your body, why aren’t we able to defend our bodies?” Foster isn’t free from gun-related machismo, either: She swoons over her favorite gun and says shooting it makes her “feel like a badass.” Keep reading »

Hadiya Pendleton, 15, Performed At Obama’s Inauguration And Was Killed By Gun Violence Yesterday

Jessica WakemanJanuary 30, 2013 //
hadiya pendleton

This is disgraceful: a 15-year-old Chicago high school sophomore named Hadiya Pendleton died yesterday in a park where she was murdered as a bystander to gang violence. Less than two weeks prior, Hadiya and her classmates performed in Washington, D.C., for President Obama’s Inauguration ceremony. The Chicago Tribune reports that Hadiya and other students from King College Prep School (one of the top prep schools in the city), were dismissed from class early on Tuesday and so they went to hang out in a park. A gang war broke out and Hadiya, a majorette and volleyball player, was caught in the fray. In addition to her death, a 16-year-old male classmate was also injured and is in serious condition. [Think Progress]

Student Shot At Taft High School In California

NewserJanuary 10, 2013 //

One student has been shot at a high school in Taft, Calif., a community in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Police say a suspect is in custody and is believed to be a student. The shooting was reported at Taft Union High School around 9am local time, and the wounded student has been flown to a hospital in Bakersfield with unspecified injuries. Police think a shotgun was used in the attack. Local station KGET says a second student received minor injuries and refused treatment at the scene.

4 Dead In Aurora, Colorado, After Shooting

NewserJanuary 5, 2013 //

Another shooting with multiple fatalities in Aurora, Colorado: Police say four people are dead, including the gunman, after an hours-long standoff, reports the Denver Post. Details are still sketchy, but SWAT teams surrounded a townhouse in the Denver suburb after neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 3am. Denver’s 9News reports that police entered the home and shot the gunman after hours of failed negotiations. They found three victims inside. The TV station also reports that one person inside the home escaped. Read more…