Five dead, eight wounded - was it preventable
Edit - This blog was written on Friday but I fell asleep before publishing it. Streak still intact
It took only six days for the first mass shooting of 2017 to take place. A former member of the army National Guard named Esteban Santiago legally got his gun and bullets into an airport baggage claim area, in his luggage. He took his luggage into the men's room where he pulled out and loaded his gun. Then he emerged and started firing.
The law allowing people to check guns in their luggage makes sense. The requirement is that the gun be in a locked container, inside of a locked suitcase. The gun must be completely unloaded with the magazine (if any) removed and no round in the chamber.
The problem that created the danger that gave Esteban Santiago the opportunity to get a loaded weapon into an airport where it would not normally be allowed is that he was also allowed to pack the bullets inside that locked suitcase.
Guns are unique to their owners, especially hunting rifles. A hunter shouldn't be forced to travel somewhere to go hunting without their personal weapon. But ammunition is not quite so unique. If a hunter insists of having "special" ammunition (self-loaded or custom-loaded), it can be shipped separately. Or alternatively put into a locked container that the TSA can return to the traveler once he or she is far enough away from the airport to ensure the safety of the large crowds inside the airport.
We cannot prevent all mass shootings this way. But this type, where a vulnerable crowd with minimal security present, can be prevented.
* * *
January 6th is the date every four years that the presidential election conducted the prior November is certified by the Congress. Like everything else connected to the election of Donald Trump, it was not "business as usual."
Had the votes of three electors from Colorado not been invalidated and replaced, there would have been a total of 10 faithless electors. That would have been the most since the election of 1872 (the 14 electors who did not vote for Richard Nixon in the 1960 election were not pledged to a candidate and are therefore not faithless).
Here are the results:
Final certified tally:
Donald Trump, 304
Hillary Clinton, 227
Colin Powell, 3
John Kasich, 1
Ron Paul, 1
Bernie Sanders, 1
Faith Spotted Eagle, 1
All of the efforts of those to try to alter the results of the election by convincing electors to vote for anyone but Trump utterly failed.
Time for a chance to this system that favors states with smaller populations over larger ones as mentioned in a previous blog.
It took only six days for the first mass shooting of 2017 to take place. A former member of the army National Guard named Esteban Santiago legally got his gun and bullets into an airport baggage claim area, in his luggage. He took his luggage into the men's room where he pulled out and loaded his gun. Then he emerged and started firing.
The law allowing people to check guns in their luggage makes sense. The requirement is that the gun be in a locked container, inside of a locked suitcase. The gun must be completely unloaded with the magazine (if any) removed and no round in the chamber.
The problem that created the danger that gave Esteban Santiago the opportunity to get a loaded weapon into an airport where it would not normally be allowed is that he was also allowed to pack the bullets inside that locked suitcase.
Guns are unique to their owners, especially hunting rifles. A hunter shouldn't be forced to travel somewhere to go hunting without their personal weapon. But ammunition is not quite so unique. If a hunter insists of having "special" ammunition (self-loaded or custom-loaded), it can be shipped separately. Or alternatively put into a locked container that the TSA can return to the traveler once he or she is far enough away from the airport to ensure the safety of the large crowds inside the airport.
We cannot prevent all mass shootings this way. But this type, where a vulnerable crowd with minimal security present, can be prevented.
* * *
January 6th is the date every four years that the presidential election conducted the prior November is certified by the Congress. Like everything else connected to the election of Donald Trump, it was not "business as usual."
Had the votes of three electors from Colorado not been invalidated and replaced, there would have been a total of 10 faithless electors. That would have been the most since the election of 1872 (the 14 electors who did not vote for Richard Nixon in the 1960 election were not pledged to a candidate and are therefore not faithless).
Here are the results:
Final certified tally:
Donald Trump, 304
Hillary Clinton, 227
Colin Powell, 3
John Kasich, 1
Ron Paul, 1
Bernie Sanders, 1
Faith Spotted Eagle, 1
All of the efforts of those to try to alter the results of the election by convincing electors to vote for anyone but Trump utterly failed.
Time for a chance to this system that favors states with smaller populations over larger ones as mentioned in a previous blog.
posted by me at 8:10 AM
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