Two men injured outside a Utah gun show after their weapon exercised its 2nd Amendment rights.

Courtesy of KUTV: 

Two men are recovering from gunshot wounds after an accidental discharge in the parking lot of the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy where the International Sportsmen's Expo was being held. 

According to Jason Nielsen from the Sandy Police Department, the two adult men were sitting in their car at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday when one tried to hand a firearm off to the other. 

The gun discharged hitting one man in the hand, ricocheting and hitting the other man in the leg. 

Both were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The report does not say that the men just purchased the gun at the Sportsmen's Expo but that is likely the case. 

Which would mean that almost immediately after purchasing a weapon for protection they were injured by gun fire which could have potentially ended their lives.

There has got to be a lesson here somewhere.

Illinois gun show bans the selling of AR-15's.

Courtesy of WaPo:

It looked like many other small weekend shows across America: folding tables covered with handguns, rifles, parts, ammunition and war mementos, including helmets, patches, pistols and even vintage Nazi memorabilia. 

But no AR-15s. 

Organizers halted an advertised raffle that would have awarded an AR-15 to the winner, and vendors were told they would not be allowed to sell the weapon at the monthly show. 

Frank Cesare — of the Pioneer Valley Sportsman’s Association, which has hosted the show for more than 40 years — said the decision followed complaints the group received after the Parkland shooting and as gun-control advocates planned to protest. 

“We did the ban to try to calm the situation down and show them we are willing to work with them,” he said, referring to the protesters. 

Cesare said that the ban on AR-15s also would remain in place for April’s show and that the club is “waiting to see” what the mood is like before deciding on shows later in the year. But the move has forced the club into the gun culture war that has gained new energy across the United States since Parkland.

It may be a small gesture, and perhaps only a temporary one, but it is still more than we have seen in response to past mass shootings in this country.

And I have to say that if the Parkland students have their way this will certainly NOT be temporary, and it will only be the beginning. 

My confidence in their abilities grows by the day.

Islamic State magazine instructs potential terrorists to simply visit gun shows in America for all of their death dealing needs.

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

In August, a former Islamic State recruit caused a stir when he described how the terrorist organization sought to exploit America’s lax gun laws. 

“They say the Americans are dumb — they have open gun policies” the recruit told the New York Times from a German prison. “They say we can radicalize them easily, and if they have no prior record, they can buy guns, so we don’t need to have a contact man who has to provide guns for them.”

Yep, our 2nd Amendment makes access to guns both easy and affordable.

You know, for freedom.

In the most recent issue of Rumiyah, its glossy multilingual propaganda magazine, the Islamic State encouraged recruits in the United States to take advantage of laws that allow people to buy firearms without having to present identification or submit to background checks. 

Recruits should seek out gun shows and online sales in particular, said the write-up in the magazine, which was released Thursday. 

“The acquisition of firearms can be very simple depending on one’s geographical location,” the piece read. “In most U.S. states, anything from a single-shot shotgun all the way up to a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle can be purchased at showrooms or through online sales — by way of private dealers — with no background checks, and without requiring either an ID or a gun license.” 

“With approximately 5,000 gun shows taking place annually within the United States,” it added, “the acquisition of firearms becomes a very easy matter.”

Using our own insecurities about the possibility of attack, to buy the very weapons they would need to launch that attack. 

Ironic, don't you think?

And the sad thing is with Trump in the White House, and the Republicans in charge of virtually everything, the gun laws will only get looser and access to firearms only that much easier.

So what do you think the NRA would say in response to this?

Well if you said that more Americans should arm themselves in order to be prepared for a terrorist attack, give yourself a gold star.

One, possibly two, people shot and injured during Ohio gun show, But don't worry, according to the local sheriff the organization is "top notch."

Courtesy of the Wilmington News Journal:

An accidental shooting injured at least one person Saturday at the Ohio Gun Collectors Association Show at the Roberts Centre in Wilmington. 

Col. Brian Prickett of the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office said one man was injured when there was an accidental discharge of a gun, and another person may have also been struck. He believed that any injuries were not life-threatening ones. 

He also stated that the organization running the gun show is a “top-notch” one that is very safety conscious, and that normally the only loaded guns at the show “are ours” (sheriff’s deputies). He said that, to his knowledge, the gun show is continuing today.

I like how the sheriff is not exactly sure how many people were hit, but that he is confident that any injuries were not "life-threatening."

Just fills you with confidence doesn't it?

You know perhaps it's just me, but if you cannot even visit a place where they sell instruments of death without somebody getting shot, perhaps its time to think about spending your money on something a little less likely to splatter your brains onto your bedroom wall.

You know, like a new surround sound system or something.

Arizona man shoots friend in torso with new gun. Because that's what guns are for.

Oops.

Courtesy of ABC 15:  

A man was taken to the hospital from the Arizona State Fairgrounds after he was accidentally shot by his friend, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. 

DPS said a man was inspecting a semi-automatic handgun that he had recently purchased when he accidentally shot his friend in the torso. The victim was taken to a hospital and is expected to be OK. 

The Arizona Exposition and State Fair website says the Crossroads of the West Gun Show is taking place at the fairgrounds this weekend. 

Signs outside of the exhibit hall say 'No Loaded Guns' allowed. 

Well clearly this is a case of a good guy with a gun stopping a bad friend with a.....I don't know, attitude problem?

But hey the state fair is covered, after all they did put up a sign and everything.

Seriously what else could they have done? It's not like they can stop selling guns on a fairgrounds full of innocent people and children or anything.

South Dakota gun show vendor sells "Running Ni**er" targets.

Courtesy of TPM:  

A vendor at a gun show this weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D. was spotted selling shooting targets with a cartoonish depiction of a black man and bearing the words "Official Runnin' N****r Target," television station KSFY reported on Sunday. 

While a crew from KSFY was reporting on the "Collector's Classic Gun Show," one of the station's photographers noticed the targets showing the cartoonish silhouette. The KSFY photographer confronted the unidentified vendor who was selling the targets for 10 cents each and who was unfazed by the photographer's questions. 

"Why are those on there?" KSFY's photographer asked. 

"Why aren't they?" the vendor said. "They're just targets." 

"Aren't they offensive in nature?" the photographer asked. 

"To who? Are you a negro?" the vendor said. "You know there's some black people and then there's some negroes." 

The unidentified vendor also added that he'd "sold 500 of them this weekend so what difference does it make?"

Of course when confronted by the news crews the organizer and gun show officials claimed to be "disgusted" by the targets and that they certainly did not "condone such things."

Of course those statements might have held more weight if the man had not already sold 500 of the targets just that weekend.

Makes it kind of hard to imagine that the organizers did not notice what he was selling until KSFY brought it to their attention. Don'tcha think?

Man it sure is a good thing that America is now post racist. Just imagine how bad things probably were before we did away with racism.

The NRA speaks out against Texas initiative that would allow alcohol at gun shows. Wait, did I read that right?

Courtesy of TPM:  

The National Rifle Association sent out an alert to its members late Monday warning that an initiative in Texas to allow alcohol at gun shows could backfire and have a "devastating impact" on NRA events. 

The warning came after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission proposed a new set of rules last week that would allow alcohol to be served at gun shows across the state. The catch was that organizers of the events had to disable all firearms on display, ban live ammunition, and prohibit buyers from taking possession of their weapons on site. 

The changes would override the current protocol, in which alcohol-serving venues are made to suspend the sale of alcohol throughout the preparation and duration of a gun show. 

But what might appear to be a relaxation of regulations on the gun show industry has not been well-received by the NRA. In an alert posted Monday by the organization's lobbying arm, the NRA asked its members to take action because the changes “could actually end these events as we know them” 

"The proposed rules, as currently written, could have a devastating impact on Friends of NRA (FONRA) events in the Lone Star State," the alert said.

Okay am I crazy or is the NRA saying something that makes sense here?

I am not sure if I can live in a world where I find myself in agreement with the NRA.

Oh my God up is down, black is white, and suddenly watching old Charlton Heston movies seems like a great way to spend my afternoon.

In what is now becoming a trend yet another person shot after attending gun show. This one died.

Courtesy of KTBC:  

In what Cedar Park Police believe to be an unintentional shooting, a man shot and killed his father-in-law Saturday at a gun show in Cedar Park. When Cedar Park Police got to the scene Saturday around 5, they found 59-year-old John Glover Warden injured from a single gun shot wound. 

Police say the man from Jarrell, Texas later died at St. David's in Round Rock. The department tells us the shooting happened in a car in the parking lot. Warden's son-in-law, Jared Priddy from Eulless was quote 'manipulating' the firearm after reloading it. 

Of course this incident attracted the notice of some of those advocating for stricter gun control.

"If guns made you safer, no one would ever get shot accidentally. And that's exactly what happened here yesterday," said democratic consultant Jason Stanford. 

Stanford says he supports expanded background checks and even background checks to enter a gun show. 

"Some people say that guns don't kill people, the person pulling the trigger does. They can kill you a lot easier with a gun. And what we need is for gun owners to take it upon themselves to work with us to be safer on this. Because right now the status quo sure ain't working," he said.

However also included in this report were the views of gun store owner Michael Cargill who, as you might imagine, was of a different point of view:  

"I know all the nay-sayers are gonna come out and they're gonna say 'I told you so.' This is not 'I told you so' this is not 'I gotcha.' This is no different than this little incident we saw a day or so ago where two kids were ejected from a vehicle because they weren't wearing a seat belt. We don't blame the vehicle for that incident so we're not gonna blame the guns for this incident," he said.

I would like to respectfully point out that there is quite a lot of difference between deaths caused by  failure to use a seat belt in a motor vehicle and deaths caused by the mishandling of a firearm.

For one thing the car's sole purpose is to transport people from one place to another. While a gun's sole purpose is to take a life.

If a vehicle is used in the correct, and safe manner, it transports its occupants to where they are going in one piece.

However if a gun is used in the correct manner it either injures or takes the life of another human being. Ironically enough if it is used in an incorrect manner, the outcome is much the same. 

Woman accidentally shot by vendor at gun show. Personally I don't like high pressure sale techniques.

Courtesy of WNEP:  

A woman was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her leg after police say a vendor at the Eagle Arms Gun Show at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds accidentally shot her on Saturday. 

Police in Columbia County said vendor Geoffrey Hawk, the owner of “In Case of Emergency,” shot Krysta Gearhart of Orangeville in the thigh with a semi-automatic .380 while demonstrating a concealed carry holster. Usually, the demonstration is done with a plastic model of a gun. 

“Often times that is what is utilized. This time the vendor used a real gun,” said Sergeant Leonard Rogutski of the Bloomsburg Police. 

Police say that there was not a magazine attached to the weapon, however there was a round in the chamber.

Reports were that while the customers remained fairly calm that the other vendors were upset because it "makes them look bad."

"Dammit! Did we shoot another one? That makes it so hard to sell these instruments of death when somebody gets shot in here."

Artillery shell fired in gun show travels three miles before striking resident's home in Oklahoma.

Courtesy of KOAM TV:  

A homeowner in Wyandotte, Oklahoma is awaiting damage assessments after an artillery shell entered his home. 

It was fired at the Oklahoma Full Auto Shoot and Trade Show on Saturday, around 3 miles a way. 

Homeowner Gene Kelley could not fathom what he found after hearing a large crash inside his home. 

"It's unbelievable," Kelley said. "Unless you were here to see it or see the pictures I've got, you would not believe how huge this thing is." 

A 105 howitzer artillery shell, 14 and a half inches long and 3 and a half inches across, was lying on his bedroom floor. 

It entered from the outside wall, hit the ceiling, and damaged another wall, all while he and his wife were home. 

"Fortunately, nobody was hurt," Kelley said. 

Homeowners say if the shell had not first hit a tree limb and then the ground, the impact would have been a lot more severe when it hit the house. 

The Ottawa County Sheriff's Department says the shell came from a historic artillery canon fired at the gun show. 

The gun range owner says the weapon was fired safely by professionals at a downward projection. 

"It was not on a level plane, but on a downward trend, pointed downhill in the bottom of a valley," said Mike Friend, Owner of Fast Machine Gun Shoot. "For that thing to rise and go far northwest of the range, it's just unheard of." 

Both he and the homeowner describe it as an absurd occurrence.

An "absurd occurrence?" How absurd would they think it was if that shell had hit and killed somebody's child?

You know I have been to military shows where there were cannons fired that held blanks, which made an impressive boom but no shell was fired. I simply do not understand the thinking which went into the decision to live fire a howitzer.

What is that saying? It's all fun and games until somebody gets hit with a howitzer shell?

On the other hand I am sure the ammosexuals who attended that show creamed their pants when the howitzer fired. That is like a bullet riddles bukkake for those folks.

George Zimmerman sits for six hours at Florida gun show. Less than 20 people show up for autographs. So ends another fifteen minutes of undeserved fame.

Courtesy of the Washington Times:

George Zimmerman spent Saturday signing autographs and snapping photos with customers and fans at the New Orlando Gun Show. 

Over the course of six hours, fewer than 20 people lined up to see Mr. Zimmerman, who was acquitted last year in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. He was stationed in a rear office of The Arms Room gun store, the New York Daily Newsreported. 

The show was originally set to be held at the Majestic on John Young Parkway, but organizers said the venue canceled late Thursday after getting negative feedback about Mr. Zimmerman’s planned appearance, WESH reported. 

“They told us they canceled for community pressure,” organizer Mike Piwowarski told the station. “They were getting phone calls and backlash, and didn’t want that kind of person there.” 

Fox 35 asked Mr. Zimmerman if he felt his appearance at the gun show could be viewed as antagonistic. 

“I don’t worry about people that say it’s antagonistic,” he said. “To be honest with you, like I said, the importance was to support the people that supported me.” 

“I’m willing to talk to everyone and try and answer their concerns or questions, and [have] them realize there’s no need to be angry,” he said.

 No reason to be angry? Cannot say I agree with that.

After all he did get away with the murder of an unarmed teenager.

Here is how one couple described their meeting with Zimmerman: 

“He seemed nervous and actually a little scared to be there. He also appeared emotional, like he was really thankful and touched that people would come out to see him,” said Melissa. 

“It was pretty weird to meet him in person — and wow, he has gained a lot of weight!” 

The Washington Times also reported that Zimmerman claims to suffer from PTSD and is receiving mental health services pro-bono.

He also is in constant fear for his life and wears a bulletproof vest everywhere he goes.  

Gee I guess getting away with murder is not all it's cracked up to be.

Five people shot accidentally at various gun shows during "Gun Appreciation Day." Boy that appreciation really stings!

Courtesy of TPM:

• In Indianapolis, a man shot himself when his gun went off outside a gun show. From WISH-TV: 

A person who was loading a gun outside of the Indy 1500 Gun and Knife Show at the State Fairgrounds was accidentally shot when his gun discharged Saturday afternoon. ... The man, identified as Emory L. Cozee, 54, was walking back to his car, was loading his .45 caliber semi-automatic and accidentally shot himself in the hand, [police said.] 

• In Raleigh, N.C., three people were injured when a shotgun went off at a gun show there. From the News & Observer: 

A 12-gauge shotgun discharged shortly after 1 p.m. as its owner unzipped its case on a table for a security officer to check it at a security entrance at the Dixie Gun & Knife Show, according to Joel Keith, police chief of the state Agriculture Department. Keith said birdshot pellets hit Janet Hoover, 54, of Benson, in the right torso; Linwood Hester, 50, of Durham, in the right hand; and Jake Alderman, a retired Wake County sheriff’s deputy from Wake Forest, in the left hand. Hoover and Hester were taken to WakeMed, but officials said their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. 

• In Ohio, a dealer at a gun show accidentally fired a gun, induring one. From WJW-TV: 

Jim Conrad, event organizer, said there were about 200 people there at the time, and they heard one gun shot. Conrad said a visitor to the event had handed an exhibitor his gun to look at. It apparently was loaded, and while the exhibitor was looking at the gun, it accidentally went off, hitting another man in the arm. Meanwhile, gun rights advocates touted Gun Appreciation Day -- which was organized to oppose efforts in Washington, D.C. to pass new gun regulations after Newtown -- as a success. Dave Workman, a former NRA board member, wrote that gun rights activists in Washington state showed up in big numbers at a gun show in Puyallup and a rally in Olympia.

Would it be wrong for me to say how muhc I appreciate these unbelievably stupid people for helping those of us on the side of more gun control make our case to the American people?

Or would that be kicking a stupid person when their down....and bleeding out on the floor?

Remember, gun shows don't kill people, they just help gather all the gun nuts and deadly weapons in one place so that people are easier to pick off.

Doing it right, Pennsylvania Gun Show bans assault weapons.

Courtesy of TPM:  

With the debate over gun control raging in Washington, the organizers of a major gun show in Harrisburg, Penn., have banned assault weapons at their February event, Lancaster Online reports. 

The organizer of the annual Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg apparently is banning so-called assault weapons from this year's show. 

Reed Exhibitions has informed some exhibitors -- including Kinsey's Outdoors in Mount Joy and The Sportsman's Shop in New Holland, representatives of both stores said -- that AR-style rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines capable of holding 30 rounds or more may not be sold or displayed at the show, scheduled for Feb. 2-10 at the State Farm Show Complex on Cameron Street.

Nice to see that SOME people are getting the message and making changes.

However as you would expect not everybody is so quick to recognize the writing on the wall.

This from Think Progress:

A small Wisconsin town school board will vote Monday night on whether or not to grant the Indianhead Rifle and Pistol Club access to the local elementary school this April for its annual gun show. 

Spooner Elementary School has hosted the show without much objection for the last two decades. But less than a month after the mass shooting at Newtown elementary school that claimed the lives of 20 first graders and 7 others, some community members are raising objections to the idea of welcoming hundreds of guns and gun owners into a public elementary school. 

Tim Brabec, a member of the club and organizer of their annual gun show, told ThinkProgress that the decision to use the elementary school is one of convenience. 

“Who doesn’t have sympathy with the families in [Connecticut]?” said Brabec when asked about whether the visual of a gun show at an elementary school was appropriate so soon after the deadly shooting in Newtown. “But we don’t associate one with the other. We don’t go there for the shock value.” 

Shock was but one reaction to the news that the town was considering granting the show permission to use the school. “I do not agree with it at all,” said one commenter online. “I was shocked to hear about it last year, and can’t believe they would even consider it this year after the shooting in CT.”

Personally I find this almost impossible to digest, considering the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, and that the type of weapons used there may be on sale in this place that used to be the very definition of a safe place for children.

In other news today the parents of Newtown, Connecticut announced the organization of violence prevention effort:    

Nelba Marquez-Greene put her two children on the school bus on the morning of Dec. 14. Only one came home. Nicole Hockley still finds herself reaching for her son’s hand in parking lots, or expects “him to crawl into my bed for early-morning cuddles before school.” 

“It’s so hard to believe he’s gone,” she said. 

The grieving mothers and other parents and relatives of victims killed in the Dec. 14 elementary school massacre gathered here at a news conference on Monday to help begin a campaign intended to prevent the kind of bloodshed that has turned this quiet New England community into a national symbol of grief. 

In some of their first public statements since the shooting, which killed 20 children and 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the families of 11 of the victims called for a national dialogue on issues of mental health, school safety and what their nonprofit group, called Sandy Hook Promise, described as “gun responsibility.”

You know perhaps the people thinking of holding that gun show in Wisconsin would like to see the autopsy pictures of these poor innocent victims in Connecticut.

Perhaps THAT would provide some context for them so that they could come to understand that these weapons are not simply for show, or target practicing, or making a pansy ass feel like a real man. They are for killing, in a way that tears human bodies into chunks of meat and rips loved one out of the arms of their families forever.

Just a thought.

Seen at a recent Mississippi gun show.

Yep, I think that is a fair representation of the average customer at a place like that.

I just heard Chris Hayes say on his MSNBC show "Up with Chris Hayes,"  that statistics show that while there are more and more guns being purchased, they are being purchased by fewer and fewer Americans. That means there is an ever dwindling population of people in this country, with an every growing arsenal of weaponry.

And I would say the majority of them look much like that guy in the photograph.

Gonna be a LONG four years!

Well sure the Newtown, Connecticut shootings were tragic. But not tragic enough to stop a gun show from taking place forty miles away.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Connecticut residents are outraged that a gun show will take place this weekend just 40 miles from Newtown, where 26 people were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School just weeks ago. The East Coast Firearms Show is being advertised as the “best of the best of vendors, offering 250 tables of antique and historical arms.” 

Local lawmakers say they wish the event had been cancelled, as had been similar shows across the state. “It seems insensitive to have the event continue,” Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia told local reporters. 

Since the shooting, several Connecticut newspapers have also apologized for publishing advertisements for a gun show next to articles about the tragedy.

Jesus, what is wrong with these people?

Are they so determined to add to their arsenal of penis extenders that they simply cannot postpone this damn thing for a year or two. Or how about altogether?

Apparently a number of others DID cancel their shows, but not these douchebags.

I sincerely hope that part of the legislation that Congress brings forth after Joe Biden does his thing, is legislation that places SERIOUS restrictions on what kind of weapons can be sold at these shows, and insists that EVERY potential customer undergoes a comprehensive background check before being able to purchase that special "Welcome to the Man Club" peashooter.