Gord's Notebook : NRA: Deregulate Silencers For Guns & FBI And Pres. Obama Designate Occupy Movement As A " Terrorist Organization "

NRA pushing to overturn laws banning the sale of "silencers" for guns their excuse is supposedly their concern over protecting the hearing of gun enthusiasts and their children .
Occupy Movement designated a Terrorist organization by FBI and President Obama
Re-upping video of Sam Sacks discussion about FBI spying on and infiltrating Occupy Movement.

In the you can't make this shit up category NRA outdoes itself.

NRA's newest outrage as they put pressure on legislators to make silencers legal .
In order to push this batshit crazy marketing the NRA and arms industry are re-branding Silencers for guns as safety equipment for the gun enthusiast.

Arms manufacturers and the NRA are now insisting every gun owner should have silencers for their weapons to protect peoples' hearing especially children. But the legal selling of silencers they don't bother to explain has an unintended consequences since a silencer would help a would be killer or mass murderer to carry out their murderous rampage undetected for a longer period of time thereby allowing for the killing of more people before anyone notices.

New Outrageous Lie from NRA: Gun Silencers Protect Kids' Hearing Silencers could give the next Adam Lanza even more time to kill -- but to the NRA, it's got to be protected. by Alexander Zaitchik at Alternet.org, Dec. 30, 2012

A gruesome holiday season exercise: Think of some firearms and accessories that might have added to the body counts of Aurora and Newtown. More starkly, imagine the means by which coming Auroras and Newtowns will be made more deadly.

It should surprise no one that the NRA has recently thrown its weight behind an industry campaign to deregulate and promote the use of silencers. Under the trade banner of the American Silencer Association, manufacturers have come together with the support of the NRA to rebrand the silencer as a safety device belonging in every all-American gun closet. To nurture this potentially large and untapped market, the ASA last April sponsored the first annual all-silencer gun shoot and trade show in Dallas. America’s silencer makers are each doing their part. SWR Suppressors is asking survivalists to send a picture of their “bugout bag” for a chance to win an assault rifle silencer. The firm Silencero — “We Dig Suppressors and What They Do” — has put together a helpful “ Silencers Are Legal” website and produced a series of would-be viral videos featuring this asshole.

This Silencer Awareness Campaign is today’s gun lobby in a bottle. The coordinated effort brings together the whole family: manufacturers, dealers, the gun press, rightwing lawmakers at every level of government, and the NRA. Each are doing their part to chip away at federal gun regulation in the name of profits and ideology. Together, they plan to strip the longstanding regulatory regime around silencers, and reintroduce them to the gun-buying public as wholesome, children-friendly accessories, as harmless as car mufflers.

In case you’re wondering, the answer is yes, the gun lobby’s grand strategy rests grotesquely on fake concern for child hearing health. Among the opening shots in the campaign was a feature in the February 2011 issue of Gun World, “Silence is Golden,” penned by the veteran gun writer Jim Dickson. “One only has to look at children in the rest of the world learning to shoot with silencers, protecting their tender young ears, to see what an innocent safety device we are talking about here,” writes Dickson. “To use an overworked propaganda phrase, legalize silencers ‘for the sake of the children.’”

...“Billions of dollars are spent every year in our healthcare system for hearing loss conditions, such as shooting-related tinnitus,” explained the NRA. It was a very important point that had long been overlooked in the gun control debate; because if there is a single pressing gun safety issue in America today, it is the hearing, comfort and convenience of recreational shooters who find orange earplugs unsightly.

The NRA is also extremely concerned about the fright children may receive from shooting or standing near the reports of high-caliber weapons. These jolts could have a lasting and detrimental developmental impact, possibly imbuing America’s impressionable and tender young brains with the notion that guns are loud, dangerous things. The NRA firmly believes that American freedom is best served by giving 9mm gunfire the feel and sound of a toy cap gun. As the NRA’s Lacey Biles put it during last April’s Dallas Silencer Shoot, silencers are good for “getting younger folks involved [in guns]. They’re less afraid of the loud bang.”

For these reasons, the NRA believes America must “move to eliminate the laws, regulations and policies that discourage or prohibit suppressor use.”

And America's Rogue Sheriff Arpaio of Arizona jumps at chance to send armed deputies of his posse to protect schools. Interesting that Arpaio has deputies to spare on this school assignment but on crimes committed against supposedly illegal immigrants and Latinos in general such as sexual assaults, domestic violence against women and children Arpaio refuses to waste his time .

Arpaio plans to use armed volunteer ‘posse’ to patrol local schools by Arturo Garcia Raw Story, Dec. 28, 2012

Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio said he plans to send members of his department’s volunteer “posse” to patrol schools as a response to the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

“Everybody else is talking about what their ideas are. They want new laws,” the Maricopa County sheriff told KPNX-TV on Thursday. “This is immediate. I don’t need a new law to send out my posse.”

Arpaio said his plan, which he hopes to put into effect next week, would have volunteers providing security at 50 schools that fall under his jurisdiction. According to the station, the group of about 3,000 members includes 300 to 400 allowed to carry weapons following 100 hours of training and background checks identical to the kind actual members of his department undergo. They also wear similar uniforms and drive Sheriff’s Department vehicles while on duty.

“The visual presence of a marked patrol car is a wonderful presence, and a deterrent for anyone that might think that they might want to go on school grounds,” said one volunteer, Jerry Johnson.

For more on Gun Control and the NRA and the Pro-gun lobby see end of post.
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Occupy LA sues city over mass arrests -Dec. 26, RT

Journalist sues LAPD over police brutality during OWS

Published on 12 Dec 2012

Last year, the Occupy Wall Street movement swept the nation and although most of the mainstream media ignored the protests many journalists took to the streets to report on the police brutality against peaceful protesters. Former reporter for the Los Angeles City News outlet, Calvin Milam, never expected police would brutality attacks him for doing his job. Now Milam is taking the LAPD to court. Ramon Galindo brings us the latest on the case.
RT America LIVE http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/

Due to technical issues we are re-posting video of Sam Sacks at The Big Picture talking about the FBI documents showing that the FBI, local law enforcement and other government intelligence agencies and Big Business and the White House were coordinating their operations to control and to suppress the Occupy Movement based upon their assessment that Occupiers were a "clear and present danger" to National Security and to local police and to the buildings and operations of Big Businesses on not just Wall Street but across the country.

FBI shared info based upon speculation or rumors with local police as if the intel had been vetted and was based upon FBI investigations ie snipers out to kill leadership of Occupy. This is odd since whenever police or FBI have such information they are required to tell the people or organizations which are being targeted. So at the least this would be a severe breach of protocol and possibly a criminal act of Ommission.

The FBI also shared dubious claims to local police such as that Occupiers were going to target and shoot police officers . But there is no evidence to show this claim had any validity -if it did the FBI should have informed Occup that there were such plans being made by people in the movement. The FBI with that sort of intel if it were supported by good evidence they should have been requesting Occupy leaders or spokespersons to be questioned about this issue or if they had some irrefutable evidence they could have arrested these so-called leaders. But none of these things happened so the intel was somewhat tenuous .

But telling local police forces what might have been a total fabrication on the part of the FBI may have had a profound effect on police in their treatment of the Occupy movement as a dangerous revolutionary or anarchist movement using any and all methods and tactics to bring down the US government. No wonder the local police forces viewed all Occupiers as potential threats and therefore a brutal crackdown was justifiable .

12/26/12: FBI on Wrong Side of History The Big Picture Sam Sacks filling in for Thom Hartmann.

FBI & Corporations Vs. the 99%
Citizens exercising their right to protest are characterized by the FBI and President Obama as dangerous unpatriotic "Domestic Terrorists" who are to be treated as if they were enemy combatants.

Published on 28 Dec 2012

Massive surveillance by FBI of the Occupy Movement
Guest host Sam Sacks fills in for Thom Hartmann and discusses how the FBI is once again on the wrong side of history with new documents revealing their paranoid surveillance of peaceful Occupy Protests. Jason Leopold of Truthout.org who filed for documents on FBI investigation of Occupy Movement. FBI characterized the whole Occupy Movement as a terrorist organization.

The Big Pictire with Thom Hartmann-Sam Sacks filling in discusses new revelations of the Spying on and infiltration of Occupy Wall Street Movement. The FBI and other agencies shared with local police forces what appear to be false information in order to create a more hostile climate by the local police . The FBI for exampled claimed that they had evidence armed occupiers were out to kill local police. This false intel may have spurred on the over-reaction of police in a number of cities. Meanwhile president Obama has done nothing to prove that he wasn't in communication with the FBI or that he didn't approve their tactics. So Obama has failed the American people and especially those who believed he would be an agent of change taking on the status quo.

Death of Democracy and the Right to Dissent
Obama Wall St. and FBI War on Occupy
FBI America's Secret Police

Cenk Uygur The Young Turks
Occupy Movement Infiltrated by Spies

Published on 27 Dec 2012

" WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation used counterterrorism agents to investigate the Occupy Wall Street movement, including its communications and planning, according to newly disclosed agency records.

The F.B.I. records show that as early as September 2011, an agent from a counterterrorism task force in New York notified officials of two landmarks in Lower Manhattan — Federal Hall and the Museum of American Finance — "that their building was identified as a point of interest for the Occupy Wall Street."*

Are the people of the Occupy movement terrorists? They were investigated by the FBI as if they were. Why go to these measures? Whose interests are being protected, and whose are being stomped on? Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

FBI labels Occupiers "domestic terrorists"

Published on 24 Dec 2012 at RT

According to reports released by FBI local law enforcement officials teamed up with The Department of Homeland Security in order to deal with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Moreover, the FBI used the term "domestic terrorism" when referring to the non-violent movement. Foya request, an independent journalist and activist Anna Lekas Miller joins us to break it down.

Democracy Now.org Dec. 28, 2012
Secret Docs Reveal FBI Counterterrorism Monitoring of Occupy From Its Earliest Days

Democracy Now!
Secret Docs Reveal FBI "Counterterrorism" Monitoring of Occupy From Its Earliest Days 2 of 2
Dec. 28, 2012.

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And more on NRA and Gun Control:

NRA misleads on assault rifles ban
NRA ignores facts on public's desire for stricter gun control
NRA doesn't allow the government to do any research that might suggest that there is a need for better gun control laws.

New Poll Shows Surge in Support for Gun Control by Matt Pearce, LA Times, Dec. 29,2012

Public support for stricter gun laws has leaped to its highest point in eight years with 58% now in favor, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Thursday. That's a 14-point jump from last year.

Of those surveyed, 92% of Americans want background checks for buyers at gun shows and 62% want to ban magazines that carry more than 10 rounds, which have played a frequent role in mass shootings.

But Americans still oppose a full ban on semi-automatic assault rifles 51% to 44%, and opposition to a full handgun ban is higher than it has ever been, at 74%.

The poll was conducted with 1,038 respondents by phone over Dec. 19-22, with a 4% margin of error.

NRA misleads on assault weapons
Don't believe the NRA spin: The '94 assault weapons ban was full of loopholes, but studies prove it was effective By Alex Seitz-Wald at Salon.com, Dec. 26, 2012

There’s a dearth of quality empirical research on the efficacy of the ban, thanks in part to Congress’ statutory limitations on the type of gun violence research the federal government is allowed to conduct. Pro-gun lawmakers made it illegal for research agencies to advocate for gun control, which effectively means looking for any connection between guns and gun violence, but the evidence suggests the law had positive effects, if not as much as advocates would like.

The single formal assessment of the ban, as required by Congress in passing the law, was conducted by criminologists Christopher Koper, Jeffrey Roth and others at the University of Pennsylvania (Koper is now at George Mason). The National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the Department of Justice, paid for the evaluation, which was first conducted in 1999 and updated in 2004, and looked at everything from homicide rates to gun prices.

A few key findings emerged. Overall, banned guns and magazines were used in up to a quarter of gun crimes before the ban. Assault pistols were more common than assault rifles in crimes. Large-capacity magazines, which were also prohibited, may be a bigger problem than assault weapons. While just 2 to 8 percent of gun crimes were committed with assault weapons, large-capacity magazines were used in 14 to 26 percent of of firearm crimes. About 20 percent of privately owned guns were fitted with the magazines.

But even though assault weapons were responsible for a fraction of the total number of gun deaths overall, the weapons and other guns equipped with large-capacity magazines “tend to account for a higher share of guns used in murders of police and mass public shootings,” the study found.

This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone paying attention to the recent history of mass shootings. In just the past year, the same .223 Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle was used in the Aurora, Colo., theater massacre, the shooting at the Clackamas Mall in Oregon, the Newtown elementary school shooting, and, just a few days ago, the killing of two firefighters in upstate New York. Jared Loughner used 33-round high-capacity magazines in a handgun to shoot former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and more than a dozen others. Seung-Hui Cho used a 15-round magazine to kill 32 and wound 17 at Virginia Tech in 2007.