Author: Don Tabor

I am a former Chairman of the Tidewater Libertarian Party and was the 2007 LP candidate for the 14th district VA Senate. Previously, I was the Volunteer State Director for the FairTax. I am married 50 years with two grown children and 5 grandchildren.

Time to “do something” about mass shootings

In the Pilot and across the media, we are hearing the calls again to “do something ” about mass shootings, and Len has pointed out that ese shootings have a far greater effect on our lives than the number of victims would indicate. So, let’s do what the number show us would do the most good, within the limits of the Constitution and reality.

John Lott, statistics on mass shootings

First, most of these mass shootings are accomplished with ordinary handguns. Not ARs. And most of those in which ARs were used, could have been just as deadly with those handguns(with the exception of the Vegas shooting) So, AR bans are not the solution.

But there is one change in the law that exceeds all other possibilities that the Constitution allows to mitigate mass shootings.

Lott finds that 34% of mass shootings are ended by armed citizens. This differs from FBI statistics because of some rather odd classification methods. For example, if a shooter is driven away or forced to shelter by an armed citizen, and later arrested by police, the FBI does not count that as stopped by the citizen. Lotts classification methods are explained in the link. As year by year the number of people carrying concealed has increased, so has the number of shootings stopped. 

But the overwhelming difference is that when properly categorized, the overall share of shooting stopped was 34%, but in areas where citizens can be legally armed, the percentage stopped by citizens rose to 59%. 

So, the number one thing we can do to reduce the number of people killed in mass shootings is to eliminate gun-free zones. 

This time maybe we’ll succeed

Republican Tim Anderson seeks to end Defense of Marriage Amendment

At the request of the Tidewater Libertarian Party, Republican Delegate Tim Anderson has introduced a resolution to remove the odious Defense of Marriage Amendment from the VA Constitution.

In the past, attempts to repeal it have failed on party line votes Hopefully, by getting it introduced by a Republican we’ll have better luck this time.

The Importance of Waiting for Facts

Leftwing journalists blame GOP for Q-Club shooting

Notice how quiet the news has gotten about the mass shooting at the Q-Club in Colorado?

The tragedy was immediately promoted as a hate crime, and the responsibility of Republicans in general and certain conservative commentators specifically, with MSNBC commentators suggesting civil liability. Continue reading “The Importance of Waiting for Facts” →

Time to bury the climate boogeyman

Curry review of trends in climate policy

The IPCC used to consider an increase of 3.5°C as a catastrophic change, but they have moved to goalpost to 2°C and targeted policy for 1.5°C. Keep in mind that is measured from pre-industrial times. The average temperature is already 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.

So, we’re basing policy on trying to hold temperatures to a increase of 0.4°C between now and 2100, just over a third of the change over the last 100 years.

We can’t even measure average global temperature within 1°C