Stolen Guns From Parked Cars At Homes Are National Concern, Largest Source Of Stolen Weapons

If a dollar were given for every instance we heard how wise and responsible gun owners are it would require a trip to a bank to make a hefty deposit.  But as national data proves, gun owners are not always responsible members of society.

The rate of guns stolen from cars in the U.S. has tripled over the last decade, making them the largest source of stolen guns in the country, an analysis of FBI data by the gun safety group Everytown found.

The rate of stolen guns from cars climbed nearly every year and spiked during the coronavirus pandemic along with a major surge in weapons purchases in the U.S., according to the report, which analyzes FBI data from 337 cities in 44 states and was provided to The Associated Press.

Shortly after reading that news story, I was at a Walgreens pharmacy counter in Madison.  Behind me, two men had apparently vied for the same place in line and rather than be gentlemanly about it proceeded to a loud verbal showdown. Given that we live in a gun-soaked society the first thing that crossed my mind was one of the Mensa members making a public scene might pull a gun. It was only about a month ago when several people got into a verbal altercation for some equally crazy nonsense inside a State Street eatery and gunshots followed out on the pavement.  It is, therefore, necessary to be mindful of what can happen in any given situation. If guns are in cars ready to be stolen it makes sense that the drivers also arm themselves when walking into stores in our communities.

Nearly 112,000 guns were reported stolen in 2022, and just over half of those were from cars — most often when they were parked in driveways or outside people’s homes, the Everytown report found. That’s up from about one-quarter of all thefts in 2013, when homes were the leading spot for firearm thefts, the report says.

Stolen guns have also been linked to tragic accidents, such as when a 14-year-old boy in St. Petersburg, Florida, killed his 11-year-old brother after finding in an alley a gun that had been stolen from an unlocked car a few days before.

At least one firearm was stolen from a car every nine minutes on average in 2022, the most recent year for which data was available. That’s almost certainly an undercount, though, since there’s no federal law requiring people to report stolen guns and only one-third of states require a report.

We know road rage with gun violence continues to escalate and with national data, we also know more and more of the guns people carry and use are not only left in cars but in unlocked cars. At a time when gun owners ask that we trust them to make sound decisions with their deadly weapons, the data proves they are no more concerned about locking up weapons than if a burger wrapper was left on their floormat.

What can be done to curb this national problem, which leads to more gun violence, deaths, and injuries? Legislators at all levels must pass laws to help prevent these thefts. The highest-priority policies are, first, laws that require guns to be securely stored and not visible when left unattended in cars. States including California, Connecticut, and Oregon have done so and can serve as examples. Second, immediate, mandatory reporting of lost and stolen guns enables law enforcement to investigate the theft and any possible gun trafficking and allows us to better understand where and when these incidents are happening to help focus prevention efforts. Research has shown that these reporting laws can reduce illegal gun movements by 46 percent compared to states without this law.

The problem with logical measures to help stem gun violence is that the National Rifle Association has for so long been the tail that has wagged the body of elected legislative chambers, there is no reason to think that is soon to change. But history shows that the NRA is wrong in claiming that gun control measures do not work. In fact, gun control measures do work. Decades ago, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was enacted to create the requirement for background checks on all handgun purchases from federally licensed firearm dealers. Since its enactment in 1994, approximately 4 million illegal gun transactions have been prevented.

What is still much needed, but rejected by the NRA, is for a background check to be mandatory for guns sold by unlicensed sellers who ply their weapons online or at gun shows. This loophole enables people with felony convictions, domestic abuse restraining orders, and other troubled people with prohibiting histories to buy guns with no questions asked. The loophole should be closed to require background checks on all gun sales.

With that same sense of urgency, we should demand another source of future gun violence be addressed, and that is making sure laws are in place to ensure guns are stored correctly and stolen weapons are reported to authorities. After all, we know how earnest gun owners are in telling us they are wise and responsible for their actions.

Stormy Daniels Political Cartoons About Sex With Donald Trump (Yuck)

When the deplorable element of the electorate in 2016 voted for one of their own to sit in the Oval Office we knew the political norms of our country had cratered to the trashy side. But we could not have known the depths that we would travel due to grievance-prone and perpetually resentment-strapped white male voters. This week, we held our noses and slid deeper into the place the underside of the Trump base has taken our nation. Here then, are the editorial cartoons that say it better than a long column could today.

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

Speaker Mike Johnson Should Ask, “What Would Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson Do?”

November 22, 1963. President Kennedy speaks at a parking lot rally at a Texas hotel. L-R: President Kennedy, [unidentified], Senator Ralph W. Yarborough, Governor John Connally, Vice President Johnson. Photograph by Cecil Stoughton, White House.

One of the often-used lines at our home is, “What would Lyndon Johnson do?”  Those words are offered after one of the far too usual stories from the dysfunctional House of Representatives where the Republican majority have more fondness for eating their own than offering any reason the nation should feel comfortable with their ‘leadership’.  This week, we witnessed Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene make another spectacle of herself as she tried to remove Speaker Mike Johnson but was utterly rebuked by a House vote that even had Democrats aiding the conservative man with the gavel. It was impossible not to consider how the famed former Texan member of both houses of Congress, vice-president, and president would have handled the Greene situation.  After all, he was known far and wide for making sure things went according to how he wished them to align and proceed on his watch.

It comes as no surprise that a growing number of the GOP House are tired and bewildered at the continuing antics from the irksome rebels who care not to govern but to raise campaign cash from their hijinks.  Today it is reported that conference Republicans are wishing to take action and build some reactions and punishments if hardliners strike out at leadership in the future. There is talk in the House that sanctions could include allowing the entire conference the ability to force a vote on yanking their committees or even ejecting them from the conference altogether. The days of wine and roses must be over when it comes to how the House GOP operates vis-à-vis the Freedom Caucus’ behavior.  

The rancor from Republicans is far deeper than just the ridiculous calls for the rejection of the speaker. There is also real anger about the votes the hard-right casts on rules that bring a bill to the floor for a vote.

Members of the Main Street Caucus believe that Republicans are no longer united around what was once a constant of the majority: That you vote for a rule to get your party’s priorities to the floor even if you oppose the underlying legislation.

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), in an interview this week ahead of the vote, recalled that former Speaker John Boehner gave him four core principles upon his arrival in Congress in 2015, with the first one being: Don’t vote against a rule from your own party.

“We now have people that routinely vote against the rules … so I think we bottomed out,” said Zinke, arguing that Republicans should honor Boehner’s edict.

“I would suggest a 80 percent rule. Oddly enough, what the Freedom Caucus has. If someone routinely violates the rules … then it should be the conference’s decision of whether he should be removed or suspended from committees,” he added.

If you have read this blog over the years, you are undoubtedly aware of my high regard for Robert Caro, the most talented and insightful biographer of our time. His volumes on LBJ are more than masterful, they are an essential read if one is to understand the ‘laws of politics’ and the decades where the pol helped to shape the 20^th century. I use Caro’s words to tell a story that links to the needs of the House Speaker as he seeks ways to grind down the members who would trade cheap headlines for legislative progress.

Johnson, accompanying President Kennedy on a tour of Texas, had been given an assignment that the President considered vital: since a unified Democratic front in the state would be needed to carry it in 1964, the Vice-President had been made responsible for healing the bitter Democratic Party rift between Governor John B. Connally, a former Johnson assistant, and Senator Ralph Yarborough, the leader of the Party’s liberal wing. The previous day, however, Yarborough had refused even to ride in the same car as Johnson. Assigned to accompany the Vice-President during a Presidential motorcade through San Antonio, the Senator had gotten into another car instead, and, in a procession in which the other vehicles behind the Presidential limousine were packed with people, Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, had had to sit conspicuously alone in the back seat of their convertible.

In Lyndon Johnson’s lapel was a white carnation that had been pinned on him at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast, and in his car was Ralph Yarborough. “I don’t care if you have to throw Yarborough into the car with Lyndon,” Kennedy had told his chief legislative aide, Larry O’Brien, that morning. “Get him in there.” He told Ken O’Donnell, his appointments secretary, to give Yarborough a message: “If he doesn’t ride with Lyndon today, he’ll have to walk.” The President himself had had a few words with the Senator that morning, telling him, in a quiet voice, that, if he valued his friendship, he would ride with Johnson.

On the thirteen-minute flight to Dallas, the President took care of another public aspect of the feud. O’Donnell, taking Connally by the arm, pushed him into Kennedy’s cabin and closed the door. “Within three minutes,” he was to recall, the Governor had agreed to invite Yarborough to the reception at the Governor’s Mansion and to seat him at the head table at dinner. Emerging, Connally said, “How can anybody say no to that man!”

Politics is far more than campaigns and votes on the floor of a legislative chamber. The real professional tacticians in any legislative body take their foes to an office, close the door firmly, and tell them exactly what is about to happen if the ducks are not in a straight line moving in a forward direction. Speaker Johnson has a kind face and boyish appeal, as did Jack Kennedy, but he needs to assert his power and place some fear into those who wish to undermine him.

Scouting America Looks Like America: Girls, Gay Youth, And Boys Going Forward

I have not thought about the Boy Scouts for many years. While planting some geraniums this weekend a mom and her son walked by, and after the boy looked interested in my project I asked if he wanted to help plant them into the large pot.  He looked at his mom with a silent question and she said with a smile, “Well, your hands are going to get dirty with your Scouting project, so go ahead”.  I was not even aware there was much of a scouting organization locally, but he helped plant the rest of the flower pot with eager hands.

Within a day, I was reading news reports about the scouting organization making a name change in 2025. The Boy Scouts of America will become Scouting America.  Within 24 hours, I had heard twice about an organization I had not thought about for years. I did a quick search of this blog and found in 2017 I did write about the Scouts with strong approval.

At last–and with hearty applause from the desk of Caffeinated Politics. The Boy Scouts of America’s board of directors has unanimously agreed to let girls into the Cub Scout program and will provide a path for older girls to pursue so to earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout.

In 2012, I posted about the need to have the Scouts enter the 21st Century. The Boy Scouts confirmed this past week that it is considering a change of policy that lets gay scouts and leaders serve openly in local chapters.

In 2013, more progress was made when the Scouts ended its longstanding policy of barring openly gay youths from activities. That sent some conservative parents and volunteers over the edge, (as we know some did not have far to go in reaching that point) but let us be honest about the larger facts that were playing out. Society had changed and younger parents were an essential factor to the future of scouting. The kids themselves knew friends with gay parents, or had gay classmates, so continuing the promotion of bigotry in the scouting organization was just unacceptable.

Now, five years after the organization began including girls in scout programs, what has taken place with more opportunities for kids? There are more than 176,000 girls in its scouting programs and do not miss this fact, that number includes 6,000 girls who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout. The change has been seen as a great stride forward for inclusion and one can strongly assume an early lesson for boys and girls alike to see that gender is not the determination about what is possible in life. That is not a small lesson to be learned by kids in many parts of this nation.

Pulitzer Prize For Feature Photography Given To Associated Press For Migrant’s Journey

Today there is much interest in the winners of the Pulitzer Prizes. Among the well-deserved honors, the Feature Photography award was given to the Associated Press for their coverage of the more than 500,000 people who made the journey through the dense jungles of the Darién Gap on the Colombia-Panama border, most with hopes of reaching the United States. The AP’s feature, pieced together from day-to-day coverage of a historic rise in migration through the Darién Gap, created an intimate picture of a major news event. Some of those remarkable images are posted below.

The Pulitzer Board’s citation called the AP’s work “poignant photographs chronicling unprecedented masses of migrants and their arduous journey north from Colombia to the border of the United States.”

Balloon Release In Milwaukee Was Inappropriate

The news from Milwaukee was sad, again. Another family lost a loved one and is grieving. However, the manner in which the ones gathered expressed part of their understandable sadness was simply inappropriate. I do not mean to sound harsh, but in 2024 the scene below should not be happening.

Amid pieces of shattered glass, white candles sit on the sidewalk near 27th and Locust on Milwaukee’s north side.

On the grassy hill above are several pieces of posterboard with writing spelling out “Forever in our Heart.”

And taped onto a nearby pole is a photo of a smiling man, with several Sharpie-d messages written around the border.

That’s the scene on Sunday afternoon, as dozens of family members and friends joined together to honor Damond Harris.

About 45 minutes into the gathering, white and gold balloons were released into the sky as another tribute to Harris.

What seemed to have gone unnoticed by the family and friends is a simple concept.  What goes up must eventually come down. This becomes troubling for animals far and wide, given the miles that a balloon can travel. The deflated balloon returns to the earth where it can cause harm to both animals and the environment. Being close to Lake Michigan made the balloon release even more dangerous.

What was released in the air this weekend will not decompose quickly. Not only is the ballon a serious environmental problem, but the strings tied to them usually aren’t made of biodegradable material. Even if the ballons and strings were biodegradable versions it can take as long as four years for them to break down. Meanwhile, animals often mistake balloon fragments for food and choke or suffocate when they try to eat them. Partially inflated balloons can block animals’ gastrointestinal tract, causing them to starve to death slowly and painfully. Shorebirds flying in the Milwaukee area can become entangled in balloon remnants. The sad truth is that due to balloons many such birds have been found dead with bits of Mylar, latex, or string wrapped around their necks, beaks, or legs.

I am not certain how much more environmental education is required so that society can finally stop the senseless act of releasing balloons for any reason. I strongly believe that no one who is honored and remembered at the time of their death would wish for animals to be harmed or perish during the celebration of life.

Balloons are prohibited in the Wisconsin State Capitol, but no state law prevents them from being released, which can harm wildlife or our environment. Seems to me there is a reasonable and bipartisan piece of legislation just waiting to be introduced and worked on in the legislature.

World Press Freedom Day As Journalist’s Deaths Mount In Gaza

Every year on May 3, UNESCO commemorates World Press Freedom Day. This year I need not write, given the almost hourly headlines, the day was marked by the dire and grave threats to journalists where the war on Gaza is becoming the deadliest conflict for journalists and media workers in recent memory. Journalism is delivered by reporters and news photographers to a world that needs a better understanding of the events that impact their lives. It is, again I need not write, a most valued profession. 

As CBS News reported, the war on Gaza is the deadliest ever to be recorded by the CPJ since the nonprofit began to collect data in 1992. For comparison, the number of journalists killed in the first two months in Gaza surpassed the amount killed in the Vietnam War, which lasted two decades, according to the IFJ. According to CPJ, Four Israeli journalists were killed, three by Hamas during their attack on Oct. 7. Three Lebanese journalists were killed by Israeli airstrikes or shelling. 102 Palestinian journalists were also killed by airstrikes, shelling, or snipers, according to IFJ.

Think of a reporter as a pair of eyes and ears to the larger world and then think of losing those senses.  That is what happens each time a reporter is killed. This past week, the BBC reported on the importance of this annual event and spoke about one of the reporters who worked as an Al Jazeera cameraman. He was killed last year. When back on my computer I did a Google search and located more information about Samer Abudaqa who was hit in an Israeli drone attack while reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis, located in southern Gaza. He bled to death for more than four hours as emergency workers were unable to reach him because the Israeli army would not let them. Given the destruction of every hospital in Gaza, one does have to ask where he would have received vital medical attention even if humanity was allowed among the Israeli soldiers to take hold?

While researching more information about Abudaqa I came across a joined story, also from CBS News.

CPJ has tracked numerous forms of censorship: attacks, threats, assaults, and arrests of journalists covering the war in Gaza. Journalists have had family members killed. One of those is Al-Jazeera’s Wael Al-Dahdouh. In November, he received the call while on air that his wife, children, and grandson were killed after they relocated to an area they were told was safe. 

At the center of why journalists play such an important role is the importance for people to know about the workings of their government, and as the college campus protests have pointed out, what is being done with the people’s money. The need for press freedom is so great, and yet the attempts by some governments to curtail the work of journalists are egregious.

It is no surprise that this annual observance, and what it represents matters to us all since it is a foundational fact that journalists do the valued work for those who live in a democracy, or where people strive for more freedoms. For journalists working in places where rights are fewer this past week was a reminder to those governments that they must be aware that the rest of the world is watching. May 3rd was a day about recognizing the universal truth–whether or not it is applied in practice in each nation–that there must be a commitment to press freedom.

Al-Dahdouh was covering the news live when his son was killed by an Israeli bomb. The blast was heard by viewers and listeners. Later that day, he was back on the air reporting. That is the sign of professional steadfastness we call attention to on World Press Freedom Day.

Public Thanks To Madison Alderwoman Marsha Rummel And Dane County Board Supervisor Yogesh Chawla For Standing With UW-Protestors

Having not seen a public thanks on the listserv to Alderwoman Marsha Rummel or Dane County Board Supervisor Yogesh Chawla about their public actions in support of the UW-Madison protesters and the right for freedom of speech to remain a benchmark at this prized place of higher education, I now take a brief moment to do so.

I was very heartened to learn not only that the city council will likely pass a resolution to ask Chancellor Mnookin to authorize a continued peaceful encampment on Library Mall, but framed their argument, in part, due to the “spirit of the Wisconsin Idea”. This week that concept was talked about by a protestor and a professor at the Mall and strikes to the core of why we all need to care about this event now playing out on the isthmus. Those who have spent time at the Mall this week know the description from Republican Speaker Vos was a lie. There is no violent mob. (Just like there were no palm trees in winter in Madison with rioting people as shown on FAUX News when they wished to paint another lie during the union protests at the statehouse.)  I was on the Mall two different days this week both in support of stopping the killing of Palestinians by the Israeli military, but also to see how the conduct of those on the Mall was playing out. Long conversations and great interactions and not even one belligerent slogan was heard.

This leads me to thank Yogesh for signing a much-needed letter to Dane County Sheriff Barrett where several supervisors were rightly disgusted that county resources were being used for the unneeded and unfounded reason to break down the tents and make arrests on Wednesday.

At a time when too many of the elected class are timid and meek, I am most proud that our most local elected officials are in one with the mood and temperament of the citizenry concerning the right to protest and the reason we should care about stopping the killing in Gaza.

Thanks to Marsha and Yogesh.

Sincerely,

Gregory Humphrey