669 Prohibited Washington Gun Buyers Attempted Purchases Since 2017

According to KING 5 News, November 30, 2018:  A report from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs found 669 people who are not allowed to buy a gun tried to since 2017.

There were 3,248 denied firearm applications between July 2017 and July 2018. Six hundred sixty-nine were referred to law enforcement. The law does not require law enforcement agencies to investigate.

The report by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) says it notified law enforcement about 264 people who made multiple attempts to purchase handguns through licensed firearms dealers, 103 background checks that failed after the buyer had received the gun, 192 people who had protection orders against them that barred them from owning guns, and 255 people with felony convictions.

The report says 12 cases that were referred to prosecutors were charged, and 13 cases were not charged.

In most cases, prohibited purchasers fail to receive the firearm, because they do not pass the background check. However, applying for the purchase of a firearm is itself illegal for felons, people who have protective orders against them, those convicted of domestic violence, and the mentally ill who have been involuntarily committed.

The WASPC report also noted instances where firearms purchasers were “…incorrectly being denied transactions” because of paper work errors and mistakes – although it couldn’t determine how often this occurs.
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According to the FBI, there were 491,011 background checks conducted in Washington state (Jan 1 - Oct 31, 2018) and 579,678 background checks conducted in 2017.

So, of approximately half-a-million background checks, only 669 denials were of a nature to be referred to law enforcement for investigation, and only 12 referred to prosecutors were charged.

Even taking the worst case scenario that all 3,248 denied firearms purchase applications posed a threat to the community (and it is not really reasonable to believe that this is the case), only about one-half of one-percent of total firearms purchases were denied.  Criminals do not get their guns by purchasing them at the local gun store.

As we have recently seen, a UC Davis study examining the first ten years after California adopted universal background checks shows that those checks did not reduce homicides.

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Veteran’s Suicide Prompts Seminar for Deploying JBLM Airmen

A military mom is trying to make a difference after her son killed himself after returning from deployment in Iraq.

“You could see he was sad, you could see he was struggling,” said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Saudi McVea. Her son, Bryce McVea, killed himself last year. McVea said her 26-year-old son was never the same after returning from a deployment to Iraq in 2011. He suffered a concussion and burns from an IED explosion.

When her son came home, he was more distant and had trouble sleeping. McVea said she now believes those were warning signs and wished she had sought help.

As part of their upcoming drill weekend, 300 service members from the 446th Airlift Wing will hear a presentation on resiliency from retired New York firefighter Tim Brown. The 446th Airlift Wing deploys overseas next month. McVea hopes after talking about resiliency they’ll be better prepared to handle the stress that comes with the job.

Those who need someone to talk to about suicide can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24-hours a day at 1-800-273-TALK.  (KING 5 News, November 29, 2018)
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JBLM Service Members (and civilian employees) are not getting the help they need for mental health related issues, as we saw in a recent report:   Army Punishes JBLM Soldiers Who Need Help.

The Suicide Prevention Lifeline can help, but there is too often a large number of people in line and very long waits in order to connect with anyone, as can be see with 71 people in line on August 19, 2018, and 85 people in line on September 11, 2018.

 

 

While there is, of course, a need to maintain order and discipline within the armed forces, personnel suffering a service / workplace related mental health issue need to be afforded treatment and counseling, not just thrown out of service.

Six Soldiers Hit by Truck at JBLM in Early Morning Accident

Six soldiers were hit and injured by a truck at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Friday morning. Two were transported to area hospitals with critical injuries.

The incident appears to be an accident, said JBLM spokesman Gary Dangerfield. The injured soldiers were in a formation about 7:30 a.m. during a “rucksack march” when a truck driver turned his vehicle into them, Dangerfield said.

A full investigation is under way. (Tacoma News Tribune, November 30, 2018)
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Pierce County Settles Lawsuit Filed by Family of Slain Nurse, For $7.8 Million

Jessica Ortega, was shot to death by her estranged boyfriend in 2016.

Tuesday, Pierce County Council members approved a $7.8 million settlement that ends a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Ortega’s family.

The decision “allowed Pierce County to avoid an embarrassing trial,” according to a statement from the law office of John R. Connelly, which represented the family. “This murder could and should have been prevented.”

The lawsuit contended that the Sheriff’s Department failed to protect her after she sought help, and fell short of reasonable standards in their response to her initial call to law enforcement.

“She had contacted them pleading for help, and informing them that she was going to be killed,” attorneys wrote in a court briefing filed Nov. 9. “Unfortunately, she did not receive assistance and she was killed as she feared.”  (KIRO 7 News, November 28, 2018)
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In Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. Ct. of Ap., 1981) the Court stated that a "fundamental principle of American law is that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen."

The seminal case establishing the general rule that police have no duty under federal law to protect citizens is DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services (109 S.Ct. 998, 1989; 489 U.S. 189 (1989)). The court in DeShaney held that no duty arose as a result of a "special relationship," concluding that Constitutional duties of care and protection only exist as to certain individuals, such as incarcerated prisoners, involuntarily committed mental patients and others restrained against their will and therefore unable to protect themselves.

Did the Pierce County Sheriff's Office fail in its duty to protect Ms. Ortega? Many court decisions would suggest that as a rule, law enforcement has no duty to protect any individual citizen. Of course, law enforcement may be said to have duty toward the community as a whole.

In this $7.8 Million settlement the Pierce County Council has declared that the Sheriff's Office has failed in its general duty toward the community.

The murder of Ms. Ortega is certainly a tragic loss for her family, but was her death the result of the Sheriff's Office failing to do its job?  What do you think?

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

UC Davis Study - Universal Background Checks Do NOT Reduce Homicides

A UC Davis study examining the first ten years after California adopted universal background checks shows that those checks did not reduce homicides.

In other words, the very checks that the Democrat Party pushes on the national level — the checks that Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) describes as the gun control “north star” — already exist in California, and they did nothing to reduce homicides during the time frame studied.

Townhall reported that the study was conducted by UC Davis’s Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The study “found no net difference between firearm-related homicide rates before and during the 10 years after policy implementation.”
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Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

Yakima Police Officer Who Kicked Teen at Fair Won't Face Charges

A Yakima police officer who was videotaped kicking a 17-year-old boy who had been pepper-sprayed will not face criminal charges.

Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic said “I hereby find that YPD Officer Cole reasonably believed he had to utilize this push kick to control (the boy) and bring a prompt resolution to the situation to preserve his and others safety,” Brusic wrote in a three-page letter. “His use of force, namely the pepper spray and one kick to the back, was reasonably and necessarily used to enforce compliance with his commands and to prevent further injury from all involved and/or watching the fight.”

But that may not be the last word, as the attorney representing the boy said the family will file a claim against the city.

“Our version of what happened is the truth, and that is not changing because of the efforts of the police department to justify their misconduct,” said Yakima attorney Bill Pickett.

Pickett also renewed his calls for an independent civilian review board to look into such complaints, rather than having the police investigate its own officers.  (Yakima Herald, October 18, 2018)
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Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

 

 



 

Woman Spent Months in Jail Because Cops Thought Cotton Candy Was Meth

Back in July 2016, police in Florida arrested a very unlucky retiree after mistaking the blue glaze from the guy's donut for crystal meth. The man was strip-searched and held for ten hours before everyone realized the donut frosting was, well, just donut frosting. But apparently, that 64-year-old got off pretty easy for his Krispy Kreme meth debacle, because a Georgia woman just spent months in jail for the same goddamn thing.

Now, Dasha Fincher is suing Georgia's Monroe County after spending over three months in jail—all because the cops thought her cotton candy looked like meth.

According to the lawsuit, Fincher was arrested back on New Year's Eve 2016, after being pulled over because cops thought her tinted windows were too dark. The windows reportedly wound up being totally legal, but that wasn't exactly the worst mistake police would make that night. The two officers who stopped her, Cody Maples and Allan Henderson, spotted an open bag on the floor of Fincher's car containing "a light blue substance, spherical in shape," the suit reads. Fincher told them the bag was full of cotton candy, which it was—but the pair weren't buying it.

It somehow took until March of 2017 for anyone to do an actual, honest-to-god drug test on the cotton candy and clear Fincher of her charges. She was finally released on April 4, four months later.
(VICE, November 26, 2018)
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The facts of this case are outrageous, but sadly, they’re not the product of any single bad actor or law. On the contrary, they reflect a criminal justice system that’s structurally broken at almost every level. Police investigations are invasive, unchecked, and can cause far greater harm than the underlying [alleged] criminal act; and it is nearly impossible to hold police liable for misconduct. Until we address those systemic problems, we should expect more tragic cases like this one.

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.