Vice President Joe Biden latest controversial statement has produced some interesting criticism. Biden was asked recently if the ban on certain guns would put people at risk. He responded by encouraging people to buy shotguns and fire them out the window. It was pretty dim-witted advice since that would be illegal, but is it sexist as well as stupid?
A women at a Parents Magazine town hall as Biden “Do you believe that banning certain weapons and high capacity magazines will mean that law-abiding citizens will then become more of a target to criminals as we will have no way to sufficiently protect ourselves?”
Biden immediately did what he does best: put his foot in his mouth and then shoot himself in the foot. Biden chuckled and responded: “As I told my wife — we live in an area that’s wooded and somewhat secluded — I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony, put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,’” Biden said. “I promise you whoseever [sic] coming in is not gonna — you don’t need an AR-15. It’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun.”
Kate Ernest later went on Fox and said that Biden sounded sexist: “I think it was poor advice and it comes off a little sexist. Like, ‘let me tell you what you need’ versus, you know, ‘arm yourself or protect yourself in a way that you feel necessary.” Really. You ask Biden for advice on guns. He gives you advice on guns and then you say it was sexist to “tell you what you need.”
No it was not sexist, Ms. Ernest, just stupid.
As a torts professor and criminal defense attorney, I can assure you that firing a shotgun out your window or porch is both illegal and negligent. State laws and regulations strongly reinforce the need to have a clear target or view in shooting a weapon and do not countenance shooting blindly out of window, even on private property or in rural areas. Yes, you may to scare off a prowler as well as gun down your neighbor. If his wife were to follow Biden’s sage advice, she would be looking at possible criminal charges for aggravated menacing, reckless endangerment, and other crimes in Delaware and other states. She would also be subject to tort liability for negligence, assault, and possible battery or wrongful death. It is not generally considered reasonable mistaken self-defense to fire a weapon out a window to scare off the neighbors. Indeed, not long ago, a prosecutor was arrested for such a warning shot.
Now, the Ms. Biden’s possible defense is strengthened by the fact that he described his home as being “wooded and somewhat secluded.” Moreover a shotgun pellet has a shorter trajectory than a bullet. However, we have people hit every year by folks who think they can harmless fire guns in rural areas or in the air. This includes police officers, mail carriers, and others who lawfully come on to property as well as common trespassers in rural areas who cut across land like the recent tragic case in Oregon.
Source: ABA Journal and TPM
Bob Kauten:
I think what is lost in Sandy Hook is that a woman taught her troubled son how to shoot and thought it was OK. Why in gods name would a person do that?
Furthermore he was probably on medication that has all sorts of dangerous side effects. As are most of the children who have been involved in school shootings. I know a couple of people who have killed themselves and tried to kill themselves while on those medications. And psychiatrists prescribe that poison as if it was candy.
What we have become is a country full of people who pop pills if they are tired, if they cant sleep, if they have anxiety, if they want to work harder, if they want to relax. Why do we need all of those pills?
If you have a serious problem then take the medicine but if you are anxious cause John Thomas cant salute anymore, then cut back on the carbs and start working out.
Bob Kauten:
“YES! You can collect all sorts of incidents, from all over the U.S.A., proving how dangerous it is to go outside. Or stay home, whatever. Does this mean any of these exciting, rare events will ever happen to you? No.”
So, . . . if it hasn’t happened to you, it won’t . . . unless it does, in which case . . . hard cheese.
I think I’ve got it now. Thanks for the wisdom.
“I also don’t endorse manufacture or ownership of a weapon whose only feasible use, would be to attack another person’s house, and murder everyone inside.”
You have just described one conceivable use for pretty much every weapon ever invented. But you miss the point that there is no weapon whose *only* conceivable use is to do that. Perhaps you just lack imagination, or perhaps you are projecting.
floriduh
http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2013/2/27/police_man_shoots_at.html
yippy ki yea m f
OS,
You just made my point. You have been struck by lightning, but never had your home invaded by armed intruders.
YES! You can collect all sorts of incidents, from all over the U.S.A., proving how dangerous it is to go outside. Or stay home, whatever. Does this mean any of these exciting, rare events will ever happen to you? No.
And, as everyone seems to forget, I endorsed the use of a shotgun for home defense, in the beginning of this thread.
I do not endorse keeping a weapon in your house, that, if discharged, the bullet will go through walls until it kills your neighbors.
I also don’t endorse manufacture or ownership of a weapon whose only feasible use, would be to attack another person’s house, and murder everyone inside.
I was impressed beyond words, when the reaction of many to the Sandy Hook massacre was to buy up copies of the murder weapon, because they might become scarce. What a noble tribute to those 26 lives.
Deep sorrow and reflection on what we’ve become?
No.
“I better get mine, before they’re all gone.”
This may be of interest. Happened last year:
http://www.wkrn.com/story/17573774/home-invastion-turns-into-deadly-shooting
This happened last month:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/georgia-mom-shoots-home-intruder-face-article-1.1234400
A quick Google search shows there are a lot more where those came from. There are also dozens of stories of home invaders killing, beating and raping homeowners who were either unarmed or could not get to any weapons in time. These stories are not from the distant past, but are current.
And by the way, for those who use the “struck by lightning” argument. I have been struck by lightning. On State Highway 12 in the Mississippi delta. Fortunately I was in a Volkswagen Beetle which acted as a Faraday cage. From the burn marks, it appears the bolt hit the front bumper directly in front of me. Blind and deaf for several minutes, but managed to get stopped without hitting anything. When someone makes remarks about the odds of being hit by lightning, I am not impressed with that as an argument.
Bob Kauthen,
This home invasion is clearly not on the “tired NRA list”, because it just happened today in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50973196/ns/local_news-washington_dc/#.US6hTxnpZ9Q
Ay sez: “Feral swine can be vicious even without a litter in tow…”
*************************************
That is very true. Most folks have no idea how fast a feral hog can run. Until you have seen one up close and personal, trying to figure how to climb that tree you are clinging to, you come to realize they have a mouthful of teeth a shark would envy. A hog will attack for no particular reason. The Honey Badger has nothing on a razorback hog as far as disposition goes.
Last time I encountered a wild hog in the woods, I was squirrel hunting with a .410 single shot shotgun. I did not shoot the hog with it, because all that would have done was piss it off even further. Talk about the stuff of nightmares:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UGSSUl2rb6s/TTZ-DEU9vRI/AAAAAAAAAUI/cxd9z4WUugA/s1600/feral+pig+wild+pig.gif
Bron,
Yes, as a matter of fact I have used a tree in the woods for that purpose, but never so enthusiastically, and never with music. Then I turned around and used it for……never mind.
Blouise,
When I wrestle Krakens underwater, I try to look fashionable:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m867vnvfBa1qaebz2o1_500.jpg
OS,
I am reminded of Dan Akroyd’s SNL skit, in which he cautioned viewers to never feed bears by holding marshmallows in your teeth. He was hideously misfigured.
Note that I did not smear myself with bacon grease, prior to confronting the bear. I also did not think to pick up my camera, for which I shall curse myself, evermore.
OS:
that should be a good warning to Bob, that bear he sho shoed was probably Yogi. They look loveable on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRiVkmiSiIU
you ever done that to a tree?
Blouise:
they actually paid money to have a sign made? Now that is hard core.
Bob K.,
I always keep my Kraken shoes handy …right next to my Super Soaker Tornado Strike Blaster
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2300/1518442812_ed8561acea.jpg
http://www.toysrus.com/product/prodpop.jsp?LargeImageURL=/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-9267155dt.jpg&displayTab=enh&productId=11077778&totCount=0
Blouse,
You might be right about the Indians up there… They were a peaceful lot until the white man stole from them… But I bet they are having the last laugh with the casinos and buying major names hotels in major cities throughout the US….
Texas may be a gun cultured state… I will state that its not much different than other rural arrayed places. Hunting is big in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin…. Per capita I suspect they have more long guns than hand guns… There just happens to be more money in Texas than those named…
OS,
Feral swine can be vicious even without a litter in tow…
Bob K.
They keep records of bear attacks around here. Fatal black bear attacks are on the rise. In the only statistic I could find in a one minute search of the internet for attacks in the area where I live, I found 1,028 reports of black bears acting aggressively toward people, 107 of which resulted in injury, were recorded from 1964 to 1976. There have been fatalities, but those are relatively few. More recent data show a sharp rise in bear attacks in the past three decades. More people, more bears. They are generally avoidant of human contact, but get between a black bear and food, and you have a problem. Trying to shoo one off is a pretty good way to end up looking like this:
http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0196070906002043-gr2.jpg
Having been chased up a tree by a feral sow with little pigs, I am not at all brave when it comes to facing down a 500 pound Mama looking after her kiddies.
Distortions JT: Biden did not say: fire your shotgun from the house out through a window.
If you live in the country and are awake at midnight on New Years Eve and hear shotguns going off, then you might conclude that homeowners go out on the deck, the front porch, the veranda, and shoot off the shotgun into the air to make noise and celebrate. In the air, not at passing cars. Birds dont like it if they are awake and flying about at that hour.
Watch for them Krakens. They’re devious, but a sucker for, “Hey, your shoelace is untied.”
Don’t ask me how I know that.
SwM,
Remember the Alamo!
Blouise, Many many Texans are into the gun culture. It is the norm.
AY,
They didn’t call it Perry’s Fleet in the Wilderness for nothin’
And your implied thought (or perhaps just my inference) could be more on target than not in that the Iroquois could still be waiting to take revenge for Fort Le Boeuf.
All in all, I remain woefully unprepared to do battle especially when one considers all those flashing neon signs my Tea Party neighbors have in their front yards reading “Invaders! Go Here!” with arrows pointing to my house. Gun culture folk can be really bad sports.
Blouse,
Always refreshing to see you post. Lake Erie is kinda of a funky place… Especially in New York…