Member of "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" facing gun charges as well as "reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, and furnishing a minor with alcohol"

From myfoxphilly.com:

The Delaware County DA's office has announced that James Schiliro, the mayor of Marcus Hook, has been arrested. 

He is facing multiple criminal charges, including reckless endangerment. Schiliro surrendered to police early Thursday morning. 

Earlier this week, the Delco Times reported that the borough council and the Republican Party asked Schiliro to resign following a drunken encounter with a 20-year-old man, which resulted in the discharge of a firearm. 

According to court documents, the mayor is accused of having a police officer pick up a 20-year-old friend in a police cruiser and bring him to his home. Inside, the mayor allegedly served the minor alcohol and asked for sexual favors. 

When the man refused, the mayor allegedly told him he was a hostage and fired his gun inside of the home, court documents said. . . .

Yet, of course, the media accounts leave out the fact that Schiliro is a member of “Mayors Against Illegal Guns.”  If it was a conservative who engaged in an affair, the media would be all over it because it would show hypocrisy.  How come the same doesn't apply to liberals?

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Obama and Bloomberg try to put pressure on Senate Dems?

From Fox News:

. . . The group’s ads are unlikely to do much to sway the opinion of the gun owners it purports to address since it features an unnamed spokesman wielding a shotgun in a way that would make any responsible gun owner cringe: chamber closed, finger on the trigger and pointed sideways as children play nearby. 

For folks who think “bolt, pump or lever” when it comes to action on firearms, the ad is not a winner. It has shades of the infamous 2010 Republican Senate ad in West Virginia that sought “hicky” actors in a casting call. 

But the real objective here is not so much to sway public opinion but to let these lawmakers know that Bloomberg is watching them and will make life difficult next year for those who do not join his and Obama’s effort for a gun ban. 

Senate Democrats are not thrilled, especially the five facing re-election next year in states carried by Mitt Romney in 2012. Bloomberg’s group has already held up a Democratic primary for a vacant House seat in Illinois as his model for next year. Bloomberg pushed cash into the Democratic primary to defeat a gun-rights Democrat last month. . . .

No one forgetting Newtown.  The problem is that Obama's policies will make things worse.

President Obama made an emotional plea for Congress to pass gun-control legislation, telling the political world “shame on us” if it has forgotten the 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School less than 100 days ago.
“Shame on us if we've forgotten,” Obama said Thursday at a White House event where he was flanked by more than a dozen mothers whose children were the victims of gun violence.
The president paused for effect several times in his remarks, stating: “I haven't forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we've forgotten.” . . .

Obama is still dishonest about the facts regarding background checks.

None of these ideas should be controversial.  Why wouldn’t we want to make it more difficult for a dangerous person to get his or her hand on a gun?  Why wouldn’t we want to close the loophole that allows as many as 40 percent of all gun purchases to take place without a background check?  Why wouldn’t we do that? 

And if you ask most Americans outside of Washington -- including many gun owners -- some of these ideas, they don't consider them controversial.  Right now, 90 percent of Americans -- 90 percent -- support background checks that will keep criminals and people who have been found to be a danger to themselves or others from buying a gun.  More than 80 percent of Republicans agree.  More than 80 percent of gun owners agree.  Think about that.  How often do 90 percent of Americans agree on anything?  (Laughter.)  It never happens.  . . . 

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Michael Bloomberg's gun control group greatly expands staff

It is my understanding that Bloomberg has already been deeply involved in the push for more gun control in a number of states.  His big gift to Johns Hopkins is also going to push for more gun control.  From Politico:

The Mike Bloomberg-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns is expanding its staff in a number of states, bringing on field organizers and press secretaries to press members of Congress in advance of voting on gun control legislation, officials confirmed. 

Emails have circulated in the past two weeks searching for press operatives and other staffers to work on a three-to-six-month project for MAIG. The email says the teams will be deployed in states. 

MAIG officials declined to identify which states are involved, but the group released a poll of 21 states including Maine, Arizona and Louisiana showing voters overwhelmingly approve of background checks for all gun sales. The survey was conducted by Bloomberg’s longtime pollster, Doug Schoen. The group expects to be in at least some of those states, officials said. 

The goal of the new hires is to apply pressure on federal lawmakers in advance of voting on new gun-control legislation. 

“Ninety percent of Americans want background checks for every gun sale, we are helping to make sure their voices are heard,” said John Feinblatt, Bloomberg’s chief policy advisor who is also the point-person with MAIG. . . .

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Mayors Against Illegal Guns gets supposed list of shootings where guns were allowed all wrong

I have previously noted that there were two multiple victim public shootings that weren't in gun-free zones.  Those were the Gabrielle Giffords and the Carson City, NV IHOP shootings.

In response to my statements, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) has put together a list of their own cases where they claim that more shootings have occurred where guns are allowed.  The group's chairman, John Feinblatt, had a relatively long 255 word letter in the Wall Street Journal publicizing this report.   What should be very clear to anyone who has worked in this area is that you can't simply look at a few news stories to determine whether an attack has occurred in a gun-free zone.  Indeed, as I have complained many times, the media virtually always refuses to mention whether the attack occurred in a gun-free zone (many of my op-eds have also made this point).  For those who follow this blog, it should be fairly clear that others and I do a lot of work in obtaining information about different attacks.  This includes calling the businesses or other facilities involved.  But many times those organizations are uncooperative and in those cases I have spent a lot of time contacting individuals in the area of the attack and asking them if they can provide pictures or other information on the facilities.  Dozens of individuals around the country can attest to me bothering them over the years after these incidents.

Unfortunately, Mayors Against Illegal Guns did not do this work, and they have also inaccurately stated, ignored, or simply missed material that is readily available in news stories.  Let me go through the cases in the MAIG report.

Geneva County, AL, 3/10/09: The shooter killed ten, including four members of his family, before killing himself. 

Shooter Name: Michael Kenneth McLendon, 28 

Gun details: Bushmaster AR-15, SKS Rifle, Shotgun, and .38 Pistol 

Ammo details: Police recovered additional ammunition from his vehicle after the shooting. Gun acquired: Unknown. 

Prohibiting criteria: The shooter had no criminal record and there is no indication he was prohibited from owning a gun. 

Not a gun-free zone: It was lawful to carry a firearm in the public intersection and gas station where two of the individuals were shot.

Nine people were killed by McLendon. In the first shooting in a house on Pullum Street, five people were killed.  There was also a second shooting in another home that left two people dead.  Neither were public places.  It is true that two individuals were killed in separate public places as McLendon was driving along, but that is not a multiple victim public shooting in which at least four are killed in a public place.  However, MAIG’s report implies that all these shootings occurred in a public places.

Lakewood, WA, 11/29/09: The shooter killed four police officers in a Tacoma Coffee shop, eluding police for two days before being killed as he fled.
Shooter Name: Maurice Clemmons, 37
Gun details: When he was killed, he was in possession of the handgun of one of the officers he had killed.
Ammo details: Unknown
Gun acquired: Unknown
Prohibiting criteria: The shooter was prohibited from purchasing a firearm, having been charged with at least 13 felonies across two states. He had posted bail for raping a child just six days before the attack.
Not a gun-free zone: The police officers were armed at the time of the shooting.

I haven't defined gun-free zones in terms of whether police were allowed to carry guns, but whether private citizens are able to readily obtain concealed handguns for their protection.  What is important is that the coffee shop was posted to prevent concealed carry permit holders from carrying.  Presumably MAIG understood this point and that is the reason why they focused on police officers being able to carry in this venue.  Obviously, however, on-duty police can carry any place.  The problem for uniformed police is that they provide an easily identifiable target and it is easy to take them out.  Possibly if the attacker had to worry about permit holders who he could not identify, it would have dissuaded him from attacking.  While I had checked when this event originally occurred, I reconfirmed this information with Dave Workman who lived nearby via email on January 8, 2013.  

Carthage, NC, 3/29/09: The shooter opened fire at a nursing home where his estranged wife worked, killing eight and injuring three before he was shot and arrested by a police officer.
Shooter Name: Robert Stewart, 45
Gun details: .357 Magnum handgun and Winchester 1300 shotgun
Ammo details: Unknown
Gun acquired: The guns were acquired legally from a local sporting good store.
Prohibiting criteria: There is no indication the Stewart was prohibited from owning a gun.
Not a gun-free zone: We could find no indication that the property-owner forbid carrying of firearms on their property.

This facility informed me in April 2009 that they did not allow guns in the facility for either the people living there or the staff.  I called up asking what their policies had been before the attack.

Boston, MA, 09/28/10: The shooter killed four and wounded one during a drug-related robbery.
Shooter Name: Edward Washington, 33, and Dwayne Moore, 35, were both charged in the killings. Washington was acquitted. In Moore’s first trial, the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of his guilt, but he was later convicted in a retrial.
Gun details: 40-caliber Iberia handgun and 9mm Cobray semiautomatic. The Cobray has not been recovered, but the weapon was identified based on recovered bullets and shell casings.
Ammo details: 14 rounds fired
Gun acquired: Unknown
Prohibiting criteria: Unknown
Not a gun free zone: A person with a Massachusetts Class A license could lawfully carry a firearm in this area. 

Buffalo, NY, 8/14/10: The shooter opened fire on a group of people outside a bar, killing four and wounding four others.
Shooter Name: Riccardo McCray, 24
Gun details: Unknown
Ammo details: Unknown
Gun acquired: Unknown
Prohibiting criteria: McCray had been arrested earlier that year on felony drug charges and the previous year for having a loaded rifle in his car. If he was found guilty of either crime, he would have been prohibited from possessing firearms.
Not a gun-free zone: We could find no indication that it was unlawful to carry a firearm in the area.

Both cities either forbid or make it incredibly difficult for law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns for protection.  In Boston it is so bad that even off-duty and retired police are regularly denied unrestricted license to carry permits.

Oak Creek, WI, 8/5/12: The shooter killed six people at a Sikh temple and injured three others, including a responding police officer, before killing himself.
Shooter Name: Wade Michael Page, 40
Gun details: 9mm semiautomatic handgun
Ammo details: Page reportedly bought three 19-round magazines when he purchased the gun.
Gun acquired: Page acquired the gun at a local gun shop a week before the shooting.
Prohibiting criteria: Page was involved with the white supremacist movement but he does not appear to have been prohibited from purchasing a gun. Federal officials investigated Page’s ties to supremacist groups more than once prior to the shooting, but did not collect enough evidence to open an investigation.

From FoxNews.com: “No guns [were] allowed in the temple,” Kulbir Singh, an attendee of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, told FoxNews.com. “Everyone knows that it’s not allowed, anywhere in the temple.” 

Norcross, GA, 2/22/12: The shooter returned to a Korean spa from which he'd been kicked out after an altercation, where he shot and killed two of his sisters and their husbands before committing suicide.
Shooter Name: Jeong Soo Paek, 59
Gun details: .45 caliber handgun
Ammo details: Unknown
Gun acquired: Police reported that he acquired the gun legally.
Prohibiting criteria: Paek does not appear to have been prohibited, although he had allegedly served two months in jail for assaulting his sister six years earlier.
Not a gun-free zone: We could find no indication that the property owner forbade possession of a firearm on their property.

In one of the more difficult conversations that I have had, I spoke with someone at the spa after the attack and they indicated that they were sure that neither the sisters nor their husbands had guns at the spa and that the killer who was the brother of the women knew that was the case.  I was told that the killer knew "nobody there had a gun."  While I don't know what the official policy at the spa was because the person that I was talking to was upset and didn't want to continue the conversation, the important thing was that the killer knew that there were no guns for people to defend themselves there.  This was a small family owned establishment so it is most likely that this was the official policy of the family.  Note that they have the wrong date on this event.  The event actually occurred on February 20, 2012.  Note also that the business has since closed.

Mount Airy, NC, 11/01/09: The shooter killed four people outside a television store before eventually surrendering to the police.  

Shooter Name: Marcos Chavez Gonzalez, 29  

Gun details: Assault rifle. 

Ammo details: Unknown 

Gun acquired: Unknown  

Prohibiting criteria: The shooter was a prohibited purchaser, having been convicted of kidnapping a minor in 2002.  

Not a gun-free zone: It was lawful to carry a firearm in the area of the shooting.

Indications are that the attack was part of gang related crime.  As I have explained before, that would exclude it from the cases that Bill Landes and I examined.

Just in case MAIG decided to rewrite their report, I have saved a pdf copy of it available here.  Possibly MAIG might have been more successful in their task if they had bothered to look up how my past research with Bill Landes has defined these gun-free zones is available here.

There are a few other cases that I have collected that I will link to here.

The Azana Salon & Spa shooting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (November, 2012).
Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting (July, 2012).
Another shooting in a another gun free zone: Binghamton, NY (April, 2009).
Trolley Square Mall in Utah (February, 2007).
Omaha, Nebraska mall shooting (December 2007).
I have about 327 postings on gun-free zones available here.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the MAIG "report" has gotten coverage without those who have looked at it doing any additional research.  Here is something from the MinnPost by Susan Perry and the MinnPost kindly puts up the report on their site.

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The Foundations that brought you Obamacare are banding together to bring you Gun Control

The resources for these organizations will swamp those of the NRA.  The studies that they fund and the ads that they finance will also be much more openly received by the media.  Bringing these foundations together may be the biggest advance towards gun control in my lifetime.  Imagine the resourcees of 50 Joyce Foundations.

The White House on Tuesday afternoon reached out to major philanthropic foundations not typically associated with gun control to gauge how much they are willing to get involved in President Obama’s future gun violence prevention efforts, according to a person on the call.
The call, which featured Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, and members of Vice President Biden’s staff, was largely a “listening session,” according to the person on the call, who represents a foundation invited to participate.
The person said the call included the Open Society Institute, the McCormick Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Endowment. Those groups, which traditionally work in public health fields, have not previously been identified with major gun control efforts. . . .
“There’s only one reason why you get a bunch of deep-pocketed funders on the phone,” the participant said. “It’s not because they’re great dancers. It’s because at the end of the day you need to tap into them for something.” . . .

There is also the claim that the Obama administration is working with WalMart and other businesses to push for government monitoring on the private transfer of guns.



If true, these moves point to a really serious battle coming up.

UPDATE: Michael Bloomberg is giving another $350 million to Johns Hopkins.  The money will go to financial aid to students and public health issues, including gun violence research.

Hopkins, in return, has become something of a brain trust for Mr. Bloomberg, shaping his approach to issues like cigarette smoking, gun violence and obesity. . . .

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