Schumer touted as maybe next majority leader
The Washington Post in May was touting Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), the prince of the anti-gun movement in Congress, as a possible successor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. During his three-decade legislative career, Schumer, 59, has developed a reputation as a razor-elbowed, shamelessly self-serving, media-addicted political monster. He is also arguably the single most effective lawmaker of his generation, The Post commented.
Now, with confidant Reid hanging on to his seat by a thread in the 2010 congressional elections, the Brooklynite is nearing the goal line of his long game. Succeeding Reid would make Schumer the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history and, more important for the uber-competitive politician, the first among peers. In addition to gun and crime issues, Schumer has thrust himself into the center of everything ranging from jobs to immigration to Supreme Court hearings. That momentum has carried him into a more intimate arena where popularity matters, as a former chairman of the Senate Democratic National Campaign, he is seen by some as the architect of the current Democratic majority, and assumed a noticeably more collegial attitude. Perhaps not coincidentally, his colleagues see him as the front-runner to be their leader.
Alabama women flock to gun safety classes
Women in the Birmingham, AL, area are turning out in greater numbers than ever to take gun safety classes from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and gun sales to women are up.
According to WBRC News, at least 25% of the firearms sales at the Hoover Tactical Firearms gun shop, which opened only about nine months ago, have been to women. All indications point to an increasing number of citizens taking advantage of their right to keep and bear arms, the station said.
Classes at the sheriff’s department are free, and the course includes time on the shooting range.
One factor sending more people to the gun safety classes is a couple of high-profile home invasions and burglaries in which the homeowners shot and killed the perpetrators.
In one such incident reported by WRBL, the local NBC affiliate, a 62-year-old homeowner fatally shot a man identified as 54-year-old Preston Jenkins, who was apparently forcing his way into the older man’s home. Jenkins reportedly had a previous relationship with the homeowner’s wife, the station said.
Death sentence for China school knife attacker
The former teacher convicted of a bloody knife attack at a school in southern China has been sentenced to death by the Intermediate People’s Court of Zhanijiang City, although none of the victims in the April incident died.
According to the Associated Press, 33-year-old Chen Kangbing stabbed and slashed 16 students and a teacher at a primary school in Leizhou City. If he is executed, he will follow another school killer, Zheng Minsheng, who was put to death in April for fatally stabbing eight youngsters in late March. Another man, Xu Yuyuan, was executed in May for having slashed three teachers and 29 children in yet another knife attack at a school.
There was a rash of knife and hammer attacks at schools in China earlier this year. Nobody has explained why these attacks occurred, but the fact that China tightly controls firearms did not prevent the carnage.
China typically executes condemned prisoners with bullets to the head.
This article is provided free by GunWeek.com.
For more great gun news, subscribe to our print edition.
Return to Table of Contents