Morning Briefs on the Gun Buyback Scheme for Thursday

Free groceries entices thousands to give up their firearms.

 Any symbolic political exercise is not complete without pandering politicians.

Any symbolic political exercise is not complete without a press/photo op.

Great Thursday to all, especially those who headed straight to Ralph's/Food for Less to load up on food stuffs after turning in Tio Antonio's rifle from his OG days in the hood.

Angelinos can feel safer knowing that the hordes of supposed "Non Revocable Parolee, Low Level, Non Violent Offenders" roaming the state thanks to the democratic supported AB 109, will have a thousand plus less firearms to use for nefarious reasons.

With the likes of CD 15 City Councilman Joe Buscaino, City Controller/Mayoral Candidate Wendy "The Villar Greuel" and Mayor Antonio Villar in full view of the media, symbolism reign while the inconvenient truths on the follies of gun buybacks, was not on the agenda of an enabling press corps.

Leave it to this supposed subjective blogger to ask some objective questions regarding yesterday's symbolic endeavor.

First, in the wake of the fact that mentally-impaired individuals have been responsible for recent acts of mass shootings, why do we not make mental health counseling more readily available?

Second, was their any incentives yesterday for discarding violent video games such as "Kindergarten Killer" which desensitizes violence?

Third, were knives, bats, chains, and cars (** the LA Weekly reports on the bloody epidemic of hit and runs city-wide), which can also cause mass harm, part of yesterday's buyback?

Fourth, will the pandering politicos who were so ready to partake in yesterday's symbolic exercise, tell those who gave up their tool of self-defense, how thin LAPD is stretched and how many patrol vehicles are actually on duty, in areas like Northeast LA?

If constituents actually knew the truth about how stretched thin LAPD really is and the debacle that is the democratic-supported AB 109, then I dare say that a "gun handout program" is what is really needed. After all, is that what President Barack "H" Obama's ATF did in Mexico with the "Fast and Furious Program"?

Your thoughts ..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14    

Villaraigosa Schedules Gun Buyback: But They Don't Work

Mine is this big!

In the wake of the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, as those impacted mourn and experience incredible pain, and the rest of the nation weeps with them, leave it to glad handing politicians try to exploit the issue for the latest gain.

Locally, we hear word that our own Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, is moving up a planned gun buyback program to the day after Christmas.

We all know about these programs. Those with guns are encouraged to bring them to some location in exchange for cash, Nikes, movie tickets, lap dances, whatever is enticing to the gun owning public.

The problem is, like gun control, they don't work to reduce gun violence. We have seen hundreds of these events around the country and the level of violence has yet to reduce

From Wikipedia:

Gun "buy-back" programs are a strategy aimed at influencing the firearms market by taking guns "off the streets". Gun "buy-back" programs have been shown to be ineffective, with the National Academy of Sciences citing theory underlying these programs as "badly flawed." Guns surrendered tend to be those least likely to be involved in crime, such as old, malfunctioning guns with little resale value, muzzleloading or other blackpowder guns, antiques chambered for obsolete cartridges that are no longer commercially manufactured or sold, or guns that individuals inherit but have little value in possessing. Other limitations of gun "buy-back" programs include the fact that it is relatively easy to obtain gun replacements, often of better guns than were relinquished in the "buy-back." Also, the number of handguns used in crime (approximately 7,500 per year) is very small compared to the approximately 70 million handguns in the United States (i.e., 0.011%).

But when has a politician ever turned down something that doesn't work if it gets their picture in the paper?

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Zuma Dogg is attempting to unravel an extremely tangled web of overlapping relationships, business arrangements and political alliances that could very well be at the heart of a deep scandal around public employee pension funds, perhaps rivaling Watergate in intensity and potential impact.  Rather than go on about it here, check out the story at Zuma's blog.

The LA Weekly's Patrick Range McDonald dissects a recent gun buy-back program sponsored by the Mayor where those who turned in uzis and other illegal assault weapons received gift cards. McDonald shows how the event, despite the Mayor's spin, was a useless exercise and was handled in such a way that may have discouraged some folks from turning in guns.  In the meantime yuppie sandwich shop and wi-fi hangout Panera Bread apparently classifies the Weekly as pornography and it's firewall blocks patrons from accessing the fishwrap.

Going into the final days of the campaign, City Attorney candidate Carmen Trutanich has significantly more cash on hand than his opponent Jack Weiss.  Trutanich has nearly $350K on hand while Weiss is just shy of $200. In the meantime Trutanich's campaign once again criticized Weiss for refusing to return funds from a fundraiser held by City Commissioner Kelly Candaele, in violation of ethics laws.

Political blogger Meghan McCain continues to piss off both Democrats and Republicans which leads me to think she must be doing something right.  Both Right Wing Blogging Dentist Flap and Left Wing Blogging Mommy Debbie Lopez once again bitch slapped the political scion over a recent celebrity PMS moment McCain had at the White House Correspndents dinner, itself an event where overly self-important scribes, pols and celebrities fete each other and spend way too much time after talking about it.  Most of the details come from the bitchy celebrity gossip site Wonkette which should be noted is a competitor to the site McCain blogs at, The Daily Beast.