The Last Gun

by The Last Gun- How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans

  105. “Napolitano OKs Eased Self-Defense: Burden of Proof in Killings Shifts to Prosecutors,” Arizona Daily Star, Apr. 25, 2006.

  106. “Self-Defense Unleashed! No Season on Sales, No Limit on Profits!” Shooting Industry, Feb. 1, 2007.

  107. “Justifiable Killings Up as Self-Defense Is Redefined.”

  108. “Force Measure Goes Too Far,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Apr. 7, 2005.

  109. “Justifiable Killings Up as Self-Defense Is Redefined.”

  110. “Florida Expands Right to Use Deadly Force in Self-Defense,” New York Times, Apr. 27, 2005.

  111. “A Right Goes Wrong: Man’s Killer Is Protected by Alabama Law,” Winston-Salem Journal, Dec. 21, 2008; “U. Central Florida Valencia Student Enters Wrong Home, Shot,” University Wire, Oct. 13, 2008.

  112. “Justifiable Killings Up as Self-Defense Is Redefined.”

  113. “Now Everyone in Florida Can Play Dirty Harry,” Lexington Herald Leader, May 15, 2005.

  114. “Two Men Charged in Killing Declared Immune,” Tallahassee Democrat, May 18, 2010.

  115. “Fatal Shootings Test Limits of New Self-Defense Law in Texas,” New York Times, Dec. 13, 2007.

  116. “What Is Known, What Isn’t About Trayvon Martin’s Death,” Miami Herald, Mar. 31, 2012.

  117. “Evidence to Arrest Gunman Lacking, Sanford Police Say,” Orlando Sentinel, Mar. 13, 2012.

  118. “Scott Names Special Prosecutor to Investigate Trayvon Martin Shooting,” Tallahassee Democrat, Mar. 23, 2012.

  119. “Senator Forms Stand-Ground Panel: Democrat Chris Smith Says the Governor Is Taking Too Long to Convene a Task Force on the Gun Law,” Palm Beach Post, Apr. 4, 2012.

  120. “Justice Dept, FBI to Probe Black Teen’s Death,” Washington Post, Mar. 20, 2012.

  121. “Trayvon Martin Shooter George Zimmerman Charged with Second-Degree Murder, Turns Himself In,” Miami Herald, Apr. 11, 2012.

  122. Ibid.

  123. “Text of Probable-Cause Affidavit,” Orlando Sentinel, Apr. 13, 2012.

  124. “Trayvon Martin Shooter George Zimmerman Charged with Second-Degree Murder.”

  125. “‘Stand Your Ground’ Hearing Sought,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 10, 2012.

  126. “Outcry Over Gun Law: Teen’s Death Spurs Calls to Review Statute,” Palm Beach Post, Mar. 21, 2012.

  127. “Charges Reveal ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law’s Flaws,” Orlando Sentinel, Apr. 13, 2012.

  128. See “About,” New American, http://thenewamerican.com/about (“The New American . . . is published by American Opinion Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of The John Birch Society”).

  129. “Gun Rights on Trial,” New American, Sept. 1, 2008.

  130. Barnes v. Indiana, Indiana Supreme Court, May 12, 2011, 2.

  131. Ibid., 4.

  132. Ibid., 4–5.

  133. Jacob Sullum, a writer for the libertarian Reason magazine, wrote that “the justices were eager to repudiate a straightforward extension of self-defense that struck them as an outmoded impediment to law enforcement.” “Home Is No Castle When Cops Barge In,” Chicago Sun-Times, May 25, 2011. Thomas R. Eddlem wrote in the right-wing magazine The New American, “The consequences of the Barnes decision, if citizens indeed have ‘no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers,’ are indeed frightening. If a policeman enters a man’s house to rob him or rape his wife or daughter, under this decision, a citizen cannot legally resist him. Thomas R. Eddlem, “Indiana Supreme Court Says Citizens Can’t Resist Rogue Police,” New American, May 16, 2011, www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/7959-indiana-supreme-court-says-citizens-cant-resist-rogue-police.

  134. “Young Vows to Fight Indiana Supreme Court Ruling on Police Entry; Will Author Legislation to Clarify Indiana law,” PlusNews, May 18, 2011.

  135. “Unlawful Entry Bill Has One Foot in the Door: House Approves Measure That Homeowners Could Stop Police,” Evansville Courier & Press, Mar. 2, 2012.

  136. “Ind. Lawmakers Weigh Home Entry Police Ruling,” Associated Press State & Local Wire, Aug. 25, 2011.

  137. “Unlawful Entry Bill Has One Foot in the Door.”

  138. “Indiana Police Groups Object over Right to Resist,” Associated Press State & Local Wire, Feb. 23, 2012.

  139. “Governor Signs Bill on Residents Resisting Police,” Associated Press State & Local Wire, Mar. 21, 2012.

  140. State of Indiana, “Protecting Those That Serve and Protect Us,” news release, Mar. 20, 2012.

  6. As Close as You Can Get Without Enlisting

  1. “It Just Gives Me the Creeps to Be Here,” Denver Post, Aug. 1, 2012; “Midnight Massacre, Aurora Theater Shooting: ‘Our Hearts Are Broken,’ “ Denver Post, July 21, 2012.

  2. “Midnight Massacre, Aurora Theater Shooting.”

  3. See “S.W.A.T, Special Weapons and Tactics,” Los Angeles Police Department, www.lapdonline.org/inside_the_lapd/content_basic_view/848.

  4. “ ‘Controlled Detonation’ Successful at Holmes’ Home, Police Say,” Anderson Independent-Mail, July 21, 2012.

  5. Ibid.; “ ‘It Almost Seemed like Fun to Him’: 12 Dead, 59 Injured in Aurora, Colorado, Theater Shooting,” Fort Collins Coloradoan, July 20,2012.

  6. “A Day of Tears and Twists in Colorado,” Washington Post, July 23, 2012; “Gun’s Magazine Shaped the Pace of Colorado Theater Massacre,” Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2012, www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-theater-shooting-magazine-20120722,0,4212661.story; “Midnight Massacre, Aurora Theater Shooting.”

  7. “ ‘It Almost Seemed like Fun to Him.’ ”

  8. “Midnight Massacre, Aurora Theater Shooting.”

  9. “Interview with General Wesley Clark,” Crossfire, CNN, June 25, 2003.

  10. The catalog text is reproduced in Violence Policy Center, The Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2011), 11, www.vpc.org/studies/militarization.pdf. “Special Operations Forces (SOF) are elite military units with special training and equipment that can infiltrate into hostile territory through land, sea, or air to conduct a variety of operations, many of them classified. SOF personnel undergo rigorous selection and lengthy specialized training. The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) oversees the training, doctrine, and equipping of all U.S. SOF units.” Andrew Feickert, U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress, (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2012), 1.

  11. The image is reproduced in Violence Policy Center, The Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2011), 19, www.vpc.org/studies/militarization.pdf

  12. Ibid., 5.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid., 15; Tom Diaz, Making a Killing: The Business of Guns in America (New York: The New Press, 1999), 81–82.

  15. Violence Policy Center, Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market, 16; Diaz, Making a Killing, 77–78.

  16. Glock Annual 11 (New York: Harris Publications), inside cover. The publication is also known as Glock Autopistols 2011. The two are evidently the same, and are produced for and distributed by Glock—one directly distributed by the gun maker, the other through newsstand sales. See “What Is the ‘Glock Autopistols’ Magazine?” www.glockfaq.com/content.aspx?ckey=Glock_FAQ_General_Glock_Info#annual.

  17. Violence Policy Center, Understanding the Smith & Wesson M&P15 Semiautomatic Assault Rifle Used in the Aurora, Colorado, Mass Murder (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2012), 2, www.vpc.org/studies/M8cP15.pdf

  18. Ibid., 3.

  19. Freedom Group, Inc., Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2011, 2.

  20. Freedom Group, Quarterly Report for the Quarterly Period Ended June 30, 2012, 21.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Ibid., 22.

  23. Freedom Group, Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2011, 11.

  24. Freedom Group, Quarterly Report for the Quarterly Period Ended June 30, 2012, 6.r />
  25. Ibid., 22.

  26. “What Will You Do When the Zombies Come?” Shotgun News, July 20, 2012.

  27. “Outbreak Omega 5 Sets Attendance Record & Breaks New Ground,” AmmoLand.com, June 26, 2012.

  28. “Capturing Success in 2012: Dealers Reveal Tactics for the New Business Year,” Shooting Industry, Jan. 1, 2012.

  29. “What Will You Do When the Zombies Come?”

  30. Violence Policy Center, “New VPC On-Line Resource—Cross-Border Gun Trafficking—Uses Federal Court Documents to Detail Types of Firearms Favored, Methods Used, by Illegal Trans-Border Gun Traffickers,” news release, July 11, 2012, www.vpc.org/press/1207indict.htm.

  31. Violence Policy Center, Target: Law Enforcement—Assault Weapons in the News, March 1, 2005-February 28, 2007 (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2010), www.vpc.org/studies/targetle.pdf

  32. “Stanton Heights,” PittsburghCityLiving.com, http://pittsburghcityliving.com/neighborhoodProfile.php?neighborhood=Stanton%20Heights.

  33. “Gunman Kills 3 Police Officers in Pittsburgh,” New York Times, Apr. 5, 2009; “Stanton Heights.”

  34. “Slain Officer’s Wife Thought He Was Safe in Stanton Heights Shootout,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Apr. 16, 2009; “Gunman Kills 3 Police Officers in Pittsburgh.”

  35. “Map of Pittsburgh Police Zones,” www.pittsburghpa.gov/police/zones.htm.

  36. “Poplawski Bought Guns Through Shop in Wilkinsburg,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Apr. 7, 2009.

  37. Posted on Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association website, Jan. 26, 2008; Anti-Defamation League, Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings, 2007-2009, Compiled by the Anti-Defamation League (New York: Anti-Defamation League, 2009), 38, www.adl.org/extremism/Richard-Poplawski-Comments-Categorized.pdf.

  38. “Poplawski Trial: Penalty Phase Day 1,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 29, 2011.

  39. Bill Morlin, “Racist Pittsburgh Triple Cop-Killer Gets Death,” Hatewatch blog, Southern Poverty Law Center, June 29, 2011, www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/06/29/racist-pittsburgh-triple-cop-killer-gets-death.

  40. “Poplawski Trial: Penalty Phase Day 1”; Morlin, “Racist Pittsburgh Triple Cop-Killer Gets Death.”

  41. “GED Definition,” City College of San Francisco, www.cscsf.edu/NEW/en/student-services/matriculation_services/ged_center/ged_definition.html.

  42. “Defense Rests in Penalty Phase of Pa. Cop Killings,” Associated Press State & Local Wire, June 28,2011.

  43. Morlin, “Racist Pittsburgh Triple Cop-Killer Gets Death”; “Poplawski’s Vest Barred Cop Bullets, DA Says,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 23, 2011.

  44. Morlin, “Racist Pittsburgh Triple Cop-Killer Gets Death”; “Who Is Richard Poplawski? A Portrait of Contrasts Emerges from Those Who Knew Officers’ Accused Killer,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Apr. 12, 2009.

  45. “Who Is Richard Poplawski?”

  46. “ ‘Truly a Tragic and Very Sorrowful Day’: Deadly Ambush Claims the Lives of 3 City Police Officers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Apr. 5,2009.

  47. “SWAT Officers Feared Ambush After Poplawski Surrendered,” Pittsburgh Tribune- Review, June 21,2011.

  48. “Poplawski Browsed Web Just Before Shooting,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 24,2011. “Created by former Alabama Klan boss and long-time white supremacist Don Black in 1995, Stormfront was the first major hate site on the Internet. Claiming more than 130,000 registered members (though far fewer remain active), the site has been a very popular online forum for white nationalists and other racial extremists.” Southern Poverty Law Center, “Stormfront,” www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/stormfront.

  49. “Poplawski’s Murderous Roots Started Early: Trial Revealed Terrible Upbringing,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 3, 2011. For a complete compendium of Polawski’s Internet postings, see Anti-Defamation League, Richard Poplawski Selected On-line Postings, 2007-2009.

  50. “Who Is Richard Poplawski?”

  51. “Poplawski’s Murderous Roots Started Early.”

  52. “Suspected Killer Poplawski’s Weapons Cache May Have Been Legal,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Apr. 7,2009.

  53. Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream,” American Rhetoric, www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm.

  54. Posted on Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association website, Dec. 29, 2007, in Anti-Defamation League, Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings, 37.

  55. Posted on Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association website, Nov. 24, 2007, in Anti-Defamation League, Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings, 36.

  56. “Alleged Cop-Killer Poplawski’s ‘Hit List’ Surfaces,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Jan. 23, 2010.

  57. “Poplawski’s Murderous Roots Started Early.”

  58. “I’ve seen it. He showed it to me. He said ‘Eddie, get one of these,” Perkovic told a newspaper reporter. “Poplawski Bought Guns Through Shop in Wilkinsburg,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Apr. 7, 2009. Perkovic later pleaded guilty to charges of reckless endangerment and two DUI charges and was sentenced to six month’s probation. “Lawrenceville Rifle Incident Nets 6 Months’ Probation,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Mar. 10, 2010. He was arrested after an incident in which he argued with his girlfriend while holding a rifle and told her, “More cops should of died. I’m gonna go out and shoot more cops.” “Alleged Cop-Killer Poplawski’s ‘Hit List’ Surfaces.”

  59. Posted on Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association website, Nov. 10, 2008, in Anti-Defamation League, Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings, 39 (“I recently purchased some body armor from a friend”).

  60. “Poplawski’s Vest Barred Cop Bullets, DA Says.”

  61. Posted on LetsGoPens website, Dec. 3, 2008, in Anti-Defamation League, Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings, 40.

  62. “Wilkinsburg Gun Shop Tied to 2000 Rampage Sold Arms to Poplawski,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Apr. 8, 2009; “Poplawski Bought Guns Through Shop in Wilkinsburg.”

  63. “Putting the Pieces Together: Clinton to Comment on Tragedy in Address,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mar. 4, 2000.

  64. “Weapon Used in Shootings Bought Legally: Store in Wilkinsburg Sold Gun in 1982,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mar. 3, 2000; “Wilkinsburg Gun Shop Tied to 2000 Rampage Sold Arms to Poplawski.”

  65. Posted on Stormfront website, in Anti-Defamation League, Richard Poplawski Selected On-Line Postings, 41. Right-wing conspiracy enthusiasts often use the acronyms SHTF (shit hits the fan) and TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it). Anti-Defamation League, “Extremism in the News: Richard Poplawski, the Making of a Lone Wolf,” Apr. 8, 2009. www.adl.org/learn/extremism_in_the_news/White_Supremacy/poplawski%20report.htm.

  66. “ ‘Truly a Tragic and Very Sorrowful Day’ ”

  67. “Prosecution Rests: Jury Expected to Begin Deliberations Saturday Night,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 24, 2011.

  68. “Gun Guide Goes to 911 Operators: Procedures Changed in Wake of Shootings,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Apr. 9, 2009.

  69. “ ‘Truly a Tragic and Very Sorrowful Day’ ”

  70. “Slain Officer’s Wife Thought He Was Safe in Stanton Heights Shootout.” Time and distance obtained by Google map search.

  71. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion: Accused Killer Put Bulletproof Vest On and Armed Himself,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 25, 2011; “Prosecution Rests.”

  72. “Details of Stanton Heights Police Shootings Emerge in Filings,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Apr. 5, 2009.

  73. “Prosecution Rests.”

  74. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion.”

  75. Ibid.

  76. “Details of Stanton Heights Police Shootings Emerge in Filings.”

  77. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion; “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes’: Prosecutors Present Graphic Evidence of 2009 Shooting Deaths of 3 Pittsburgh Police Officers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 21, 2011.

  78. “Poplawski Trial Evidence Reveals a Bloody Scene: 900-Plus Rounds F
ound After Shootout,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 23, 2011.

  79. Ibid.; “Poplawski’s Vest Barred Cop Bullets, DA Says.”

  80. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion”; “Prosecution Rests”; “Medical Examiner: Kelly Shot Before Exiting His Vehicle,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 20, 2011.

  81. “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes’ ”; “Slain Officer’s Wife Thought He Was Safe in Stanton Heights Shootout.”

  82. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion.”

  83. “Medical Examiner: Kelly Shot Before Exiting His Vehicle.”

  84. “Poplawski’s Vest Barred Cop Bullets, DA Says.”

  85. “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes.’ ”

  86. “SWAT Officers Feared Ambush After Poplawski Surrendered.”

  87. “ A Day of Cowards and of Heroes.’ ”

  88. “Talks Key to Poplawski’s Arrest: ‘You Know, I’m a Good Kid, Officer.’—Richard Poplawski in His Surrender Call,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 22, 2011.

  89. Ibid.

  90. “911 Call Set Battle Plan in Motion.”

  91. “SWAT Officers Feared Ambush After Poplawski Surrendered.”

  92. Ibid.

  93. Ibid.

  94. “85- to 190-Year Term Added for Poplawski: ‘Let Him Recede into Distant Memory,’ Prosecutor Urges at Sentencing for Convicted Police Killer,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 7, 2011.

  95. For detailed discussions of the history of semiautomatic assault weapons, their marketing by the gun industry, and their impact in the United States, see the following reports, all of which are available on the Violence Policy Center’s website, www.vpc.org: Violence Policy Center, The Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market (June 2011); Violence Policy Center, Target: Law Enforcement—Assault Weapons in the News, March 1, 2005-February 28, 2007 (Feb. 2010); and Violence Policy Center, Bullet Hoses: Semiautomatic Assault Weapons—What Are They? What’s So Bad About Them? (May 2003).

  96. A considerable amount of energy is expended in distinguishing between clips and magazines as ammunition-holding devices, as the NRA itself points out in the following sections from its online glossary of gun-related terms. Purists insist that the word magazine can be applied only to a self-contained spring-loaded metal box into which ammunition is loaded. The box may be an integral part of the gun or a freestanding box that is inserted into the gun. The purists restrict the term clip to devices, often metal strips but not spring-loaded boxes, to which ammunition is attached. The ammunition from these devices is stripped off the device and into the gun by a variety of means. The NRAs glossary seems not to endorse this orthodoxy. Thus, “Clip. A device for holding a group of cartridges. Semantic wars have been fought over the word, with some insisting it is not a synonym for ‘detachable magazine.’ For 80 years, however, it has been so used by manufacturers and the military. There is no argument that it can also mean a separate device for holding and transferring a group of cartridges to a fixed or detachable magazine or as a device inserted with cartridges into the mechanism of a firearm becoming, in effect, part of that mechanism.” By comparison, “Magazine. A spring-loaded container for cartridges that may be an integral part of the gun’s mechanism or may be detachable. Detachable magazines for the same gun may be offered by the gun’s manufacturer or other manufacturers with various capacities. A gun with a five-shot detachable magazine, for instance, may be fitted with a magazine holding 10, 20, or 50 or more rounds. Box magazines are most commonly located under the receiver with the cartridges stacked vertically. Tube or tubular magazines run through the stock or under the barrel with the cartridges lying horizontally. Drum magazines hold their cartridges in a circular mode. A magazine can also mean a secure storage place for ammunition or explosives.” “Glossary,” NRA Institute for Legislative Action, http://nraila.org/glossary.aspx.