Category: Born again Cynic!
In 2001, California passed a first-of-its-kind law to create a database of residents who had become prohibited from owning firearms. Whether through criminal conduct or mental health issues, these individuals would be included on a list dubbed the “Armed and Prohibited Persons System” (APPS).
The database is made possible by the state’s firearm registration and universal background check systems, and the California Department of Justice hoped local law enforcement and state agents would be able to use APPS to confiscate firearms from those deemed unfit.
Unfortunately for Golden State gun grabbers, the program has been an abject failure—and its problems are only getting worse.
The news outlet CalMatters published this week a lengthy article highlighting the program’s worst failings, and they sum it up like this: “…what seemed at the time like a straight-forward approach to the enforcement of existing gun laws has instead become mired in chronic shortcomings, failing for years to make good on its potential.”
The full piece is worth a read, but CalMatters revealed (sometimes unintentionally, it seems) how the APPS system is used to harass gun owners and violate their privacy rights.
Since government agencies maintain the APPS list, CalMatters was able to obtain personal information of some of the current and former gun owners included in the database. But as CalMatters admits, not everyone on the list is supposed to be there.
SEE ALSO: New California Law Imposes Court Process for Confiscating Guns
Some people who appear in the APPS database have already surrendered their firearms. Others are only there due to administrative errors.
“Even when the information is correct, some people might be on the list because of an apparent misunderstanding or paperwork issue, not because they’re trying to illegally keep their guns,” the outlet reports.
Law enforcement agents sometimes devote time and resources to confiscating firearms only to find that the database has given them faulty information.
“The work-intensive process and outmoded technology has led some in law enforcement to question the database’s reliability. They say they’ve discovered errors during field operations and that investigations based on the list are a waste of resources,” according to CalMatters.
And then there’s simple bureaucratic incompetence. Some officials estimate that there are 24,000 people in the APPS database who have not surrendered their firearms. But CalMatters reports (towards the bottom of the article) that even this number is mostly guesswork.
“As it stands now, the department can’t even determine the precise breadth of the backlog, including how many cases have remained unresolved for more than six months,” they say.
There are multiple causes for the backlog. CalMatters discovered that many local police departments do not even know about the database. They also note that judges often do not ensure that their gun confiscation orders are carried out, and agents at the California DOJ can’t keep up with the constant stream of new prohibited persons.
SEE ALSO: CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: ‘We have the ability to do martial law…if necessary’
What many gun owners may not know is that just being on the list doesn’t give law enforcement the right to confiscate firearms. According to CalMatters, agents must acquire probable cause that a person still possesses a gun in order to obtain a search warrant. If an individual simply denies owning a firearm, the investigation may end right there.
One agency told CalMatters that they gave up on confiscating firearms after one night of work, calling it “a waste of resources that could be directed toward more pressing violent crime problems.” Some people provided proof that their guns had been sold long ago, while others claimed they had gotten rid of them but could provide no evidence.
“There was just no way to verify,” one agent said, adding that the state “has no idea who has guns and who’s turned them in.”
The program’s sorry track record has made it difficult for anti-gun advocates to justify its continued existence. According to CalMatters, “Gun control advocates struggled to identify shootings that might have been prevented had authorities successfully retrieved firearms,” and the outlet did not report on any specific instances.
One spokesperson for the anti-gun group Giffords may have unintentionally summed up how most law-abiding gun owners feel about gun control efforts.
“It’s very frustrating to see that we have such a hard time implementing firearms removals in situations where we have all the information in front of us,” she said. “It doesn’t give the public a lot of confidence in our ability to tackle a lot of these more complex firearm issues.”
Categories
Wisdom
- Eric Adams on Tuesday was declared Democrat nominee for NYC’s mayoral race
- On Wednesday, the former NYPD police captain spoke of his plans for the city
- He said Andrew Cuomo’s gun violence plan – announced on Tuesday – was too long in the making, and insisted it urgently needed to be implemented
- Adams, 60, praised Cuomo for describing gun violence as a public health crisis
- He also hit back at criticism from podcast host Toure, who said Adams could not make the city safer given his police background
- ‘It’s time for us to stop believing that we should have the right tweets — we should have the right safe streets,’ said Adams on Wednesday morning
New York City‘s likely next mayor has criticized the state’s governor for his gun violence ‘disaster emergency’, asking Andrew Cuomo: ‘What took so long?’
Eric Adams, a 60-year-old former NYPD police captain, on Tuesday was confirmed as the winner of the Democratic primary, putting him on track to secure victory in the strongly-Democrat state at November’s election.
He wasted no time in attacking Cuomo, also a Democrat, and used his first interview to condemn the veteran governor.
Asked for his response to Cuomo’s gun violence plan, Adams replied: ‘My first question is, what took so long? And why has it taken us so long, watching these babies die, year after year after year? No one seems to care.’
Eric Adams, who is on track to be elected mayor of New York City in November, on Wednesday morning said that Andrew Cuomo’s gun violence reduction plan should have been ushered in earlier
Adams, 60, served as a captain in the NYPD and then entered politics, becoming Brooklyn borough president. Asked for his response to Cuomo’s gun violence plan, he replied: ‘My first question is, what took so long? And why has it taken us so long, watching these babies die, year after year after year?’
Adams campaigned on a ticket of improving law and order in the city, which is seeing soaring violence.
New York City has seen 765 shootings in the city so far this year, compared to 555 shootings during the same time last year.
Cuomo on Tuesday unveiled a $139 million seven-point plan, with emphasis on violence reduction initiatives, jobs and training for those at risk of getting swept up in gun crime, and making the gun manufacturers more accountable to victims’ families.
New York became the first state in the nation to declare gun violence an emergency on Tuesday as Cuomo pointed the finger at the manufacturers of weapons as one of the main reasons behind the spate of shootings and killings that is at its highest level since the early 2000s.
Cuomo is finally taking action over the surging crime rate in the Big Apple and the rest of the state, by signing legislation allowing for a lawsuit to be brought in cases where ‘reasonable controls and procedures are not in place’.
He also closed a loophole that allowed people with outstanding warrants for their arrest to purchase guns and said that they want to form a council aimed at gun-violence prevention.
However, critics have claimed it is ‘political grandstanding’ and that an increase in gun violence has been caused by ‘soft-on-crime’ policies such as the early release of prisoners, treating criminals ‘like victims’ and calls to defund the police.
Cuomo has long had a contentious relationship with the current mayor, Bill de Blasio, and in response to Adams’ criticism blamed the incumbent.
‘Policing is a local government issue managed by the mayor, and Mr Adams is right that it has taken too long to step up and take charge on the gun violence issue,’ said Rich Azzopardi, an advisor to Cuomo.
‘The governor is stepping in because too little has been done by the local leadership.
‘The governor mandated all local governments reform their police systems last year, and some made more progress than others.’
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, was in Manhattan on Tuesday to sign into law a $139 million plan to combat gun crime in the state. Almost half of the money will go to violence prevention initiatives and finding jobs and training for young people deemed most at risk
However, critics have claimed it is ‘political grandstanding’ and that an increase in gun violence is caused by soft crime policies
NY first state to declare gun violence as a public health emergency
Adams mingles with supporters during his election night party, late on June 22
Adams did praise Cuomo’s plan to invest more money in violence prevention, and said Cuomo was right to describe it as a public health crisis.
‘It’s going to allow the easiest accessibility to finance and money,’ he said.
‘We need to teach, treat gun violence as a public health emergency. Every agency in the city, in this country, must be part of dealing with gun violence because if we deal with the gun violence, we’re going to start dealing with the feeders of violence.
‘We’ve ignored that for far too long.’
Over the Fourth of July weekend, 51 people were shot in New York state with 26 of those in New York City alone. At least two of those were killed.
Across the state, 14 victims were in Buffalo, five in Syracuse, three on Long Island, two in Utica and one in Rochester.
During the holiday weekend, 13 people in the state died of COVID-19.
New York City police officers investigate the scene where a man was shot and killed in Brooklyn on June 11. Gun crime is soaring in the city, and across the state
New York City police officers with the Crime Scene Unit investigate the scene in Brooklyn on June 11
Adams was attack earlier on Wednesday by former MSNBC host Toure – a left-wing podcast host with a large following.
Toure claimed on Twitter that Adams wouldn’t live up to his promises to bring change to the city’s police department.
‘If you marched in NYC last year to protest police violence and this year voted for Eric Adams to be Mayor, I don’t understand you,’ Toure said.
‘Cops cannot get us to the real police reform we need.’
Adams insisted that he was indeed the man for the job.
‘I say that it’s time for us to stop believing that we should have the right tweets — we should have the right safe streets,’ he told CNN.
‘I say that when [Touré] gets on the subway, he does not want to be pushed to the subway tracks, and he doesn’t want to be slashed.
‘He does not want his son to be like young 10-year-old Justin, who was shot and killed in Rockaway by gun violence.’
And Adams said he was confident that New York City could lead the nation in reducing violent crime.
‘I know how we can turn around not only New York, but America,’ he said.
‘New York is going to show America how to run cities.
‘We’re in a terrible place, and we can turn this country and city around.’
I know it is hard to believe but even in Los Angeles, up until the 1960’s that is. There were these folks called the Milk Man who brought to your home Fresh Milk and Butter!
Believe it or not! Grumpy
Ghoulish Virginia Democrats Planning to Dig Up Confederate General’s Grave Without Relocation Plan
In one of the most disturbing tales to come from Richmond, Virginia’s moves to erase history, they are now planning to dig up the grave of Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, according to a new report.
To make the matter even more ghoulish, the city has not actually come up with a plan yet on what to do with his remains that have been in the location since 1892.
General Hill had requested he be buried under the memorial in his will, ABC 8 reports.
“He had left in his will that he wanted to be buried in Richmond. I’m not sure why Richmond because he wasn’t from Richmond and didn’t have any particularly strong Richmond roots that I’m aware of,” Bob Balster, president of the Hermitage Road Historic District Association told 8News.
To ensure his wishes were carried out, Confederate veterans who served under Hill raised money for the monument and the land was donated by Lewis Ginter.
The National File reports that an effort “led by Mayor Levar Stoney and backed by Governor Ralph Northam, anti-history Democrats in Richmond, Virginia are finalizing plans to dig up the remains of Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, who lies beneath a towering statue dedicated in his honor and now marked for removal amidst efforts to erase all traces of the Confederacy from its former capital.”
Though the city removed nearly all of their Confederate statues during the terroristic Black Lives Matter riots last year, the general’s statue and grave had remained.
To circumvent laws against desecrating graves, the Democrats are reportedly designating the grave a threat to traffic safety, giving them the power to remove it.
According to the National File, under the removal plans, “workers will remove the bronze statue of the General before destroying its stone pedestal and removing the sarcophagus containing his remains. Details of what the city plans to do with Hill’s remains are unclear, and the project is estimated to carry a taxpayer-funded price tag of over $33,000.”