"I just didn't have my hand on the trigger"
July 12, 2011 5:33 AM Subscribe
This post was deleted for the following reason: yes this sucks but single link huffopo us-gun-filter isn't so great for metafilter. -- jessamyn
...and that she was taught gun safety by her father.
I was taught gun safety by my father, too. You know what his number one rule is? Never, ever, EVER, point a gun at anyone, EVER, safety or not, unless you intend to kill that person. This is shameful.
posted by phunniemee at 5:39 AM on July 12, 2011 [32 favorites]
I was taught gun safety by my father, too. You know what his number one rule is? Never, ever, EVER, point a gun at anyone, EVER, safety or not, unless you intend to kill that person. This is shameful.
posted by phunniemee at 5:39 AM on July 12, 2011 [32 favorites]
...aiming the gun at Ruelas's chest to show off the red beam of the laser sight. Klein's gun, a .380 Ruger, has no safety, but the senator assured Ruelas that he wasn't in danger.
Where do I even
posted by DU at 5:41 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Where do I even
posted by DU at 5:41 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
She keeps a loaded gun, with no safety, in her purse. She's a danger to everyone around her at all times.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:41 AM on July 12, 2011 [14 favorites]
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:41 AM on July 12, 2011 [14 favorites]
Sums up republican attitudes in one simple example, "I'm safe, so don't worry."
posted by usagizero at 5:42 AM on July 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
posted by usagizero at 5:42 AM on July 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
Also, how the fuck is she not arrested?? If i pulled that shit i'd be in jail for brandishing a weapon, at least.
posted by usagizero at 5:43 AM on July 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by usagizero at 5:43 AM on July 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
I'm sure the NRA will be denouncing her.
posted by Legomancer at 5:44 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Legomancer at 5:44 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
She's an Arizona state senator. Of course she's a danger to everyone around her at all times.
posted by Arquimedez Pozo at 5:44 AM on July 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
posted by Arquimedez Pozo at 5:44 AM on July 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
Pointing a gun is an intimidation tactic, loaded or not, and the intimidation of a reporter by a representative of government, no matter the context, is another crack in the foundation of our democracy.
This is incredibly infuriating. What a terrible person this woman is.
posted by JHarris at 5:45 AM on July 12, 2011 [9 favorites]
This is incredibly infuriating. What a terrible person this woman is.
posted by JHarris at 5:45 AM on July 12, 2011 [9 favorites]
"A person commits endangerment by recklessly endangering another person with a substantial risk of imminent death or physical injury. Endangerment involving a substantial risk of imminent death is a class 6 felony." Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-1202. "'Recklessly' means ... that a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard of such risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation." Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-105(10)(c). The lowest possible sentence for a Class 6 felony (the 'mitigated' sentence) is 4 months. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-702(D).
posted by jedicus at 5:46 AM on July 12, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by jedicus at 5:46 AM on July 12, 2011 [6 favorites]
Guys, it's okay. Even though it didn't have a safety, it was a cute gun. C'mon, we should let her slide on this one!
posted by inturnaround at 5:48 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by inturnaround at 5:48 AM on July 12, 2011
If you arrested people every time they violated gun discipline, you'd be arresting a lot of people.
posted by smackfu at 5:48 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by smackfu at 5:48 AM on July 12, 2011
I wonder what Senator Klein's reaction would be if someone pointed a loaded gun at HER and activated the laser targeting? And, with her being an Arizona Republican I especially wonder if it would matter if that person appeared to be Mexican. Would she get it then?
posted by tyllwin at 5:49 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by tyllwin at 5:49 AM on July 12, 2011
Hey, I used to work with a guy who accidentally shot his friend in the leg by doing something like that. Good one Senator Klein.
posted by ghharr at 5:50 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by ghharr at 5:50 AM on July 12, 2011
she was taught gun safety by her father
To be fair, it doesn't say she learned gun safety from her father. The devil is in the details, after all. Details like having a safety....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:50 AM on July 12, 2011 [7 favorites]
To be fair, it doesn't say she learned gun safety from her father. The devil is in the details, after all. Details like having a safety....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:50 AM on July 12, 2011 [7 favorites]
If you arrested people every time they violated gun discipline, you'd be arresting a lot of people.
You say that as if it would a bad thing.
posted by daveje at 5:52 AM on July 12, 2011 [14 favorites]
You say that as if it would a bad thing.
posted by daveje at 5:52 AM on July 12, 2011 [14 favorites]
Hopefully the next reporter has a cute, safetyless gun to protect himself.
posted by Oddly at 5:53 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Oddly at 5:53 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I love how she equates "not liking chocolate ice cream" with "being free to carry a safety-less firearm".
posted by gene_machine at 5:53 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by gene_machine at 5:53 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
"I don't like chocolate ice cream," she told the Arizona Republic. "Am I going to force you not to have any?"
Pointing a gun at me, apparently you are.
posted by swift at 5:56 AM on July 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
Pointing a gun at me, apparently you are.
posted by swift at 5:56 AM on July 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
So we get to read the shocker headline, which refers to the writing of Ruelas' news story. But even his article mentions her pointing it "at a reporter." Is Ruelas just using referring to himself in the 3rd person, or has HuffPo provided us with ...gasp shoddy journalism? Anyhow, from the linked article:
She called police, and they arrived about 10 minutes later, she said. "That's a terminal amount of time," she said. "Had the perpetrators gotten in, I had no gun, I had nothing. There was nothing I could do to protect my children."
She went to Shooter's World, a gun store, on Ladies Night and bought a .40 caliber revolver. "I slept with it," she said.
Wow, this article actually confirms an equally specious hypothesis seen on the blue yesterday, which stated that women would love to sleep with anything but men these days....
posted by obscurator at 5:59 AM on July 12, 2011
She called police, and they arrived about 10 minutes later, she said. "That's a terminal amount of time," she said. "Had the perpetrators gotten in, I had no gun, I had nothing. There was nothing I could do to protect my children."
She went to Shooter's World, a gun store, on Ladies Night and bought a .40 caliber revolver. "I slept with it," she said.
Wow, this article actually confirms an equally specious hypothesis seen on the blue yesterday, which stated that women would love to sleep with anything but men these days....
posted by obscurator at 5:59 AM on July 12, 2011
I honestly didn't know they were allowed to make guns without safeties. Why the hell are they allowed to do that? They're not allowed to make cars without brakes.
posted by Riki tiki at 5:59 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Riki tiki at 5:59 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Arizona remains at the top of the insane state politics rankings, despite strong challenges from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.
posted by norm at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by norm at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2011
Pink guns don't kill people ...
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2011
Well, it was a .380. He wasn't in that much danger. <- This is a joke.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:01 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by BeerFilter at 6:01 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Another beautiful desert, ruined by stupid white people. The lead made it sound like she'd actually aimed at him; on further reading, aiming would have indeed been better. "Weapon as fashion accessory", as a policy, never ends well. Can't we pool together and get something more appropriate for those who are into this sort of thing? I don't know, like miniature pitbulls as bag-dogs?
(I do want to praise Bulgaroktonos for one thing, and suggest that in the future anyone posting a similar FPP ensure it begins with the two words "Arizona [Lawmaker|Legislator|Senator|Sheriff|Dogcatcher|etc.]"; this ensures that a healthy red haze builds behind your eyes before you read the fourth word, protecting your sanity.)
posted by Vetinari at 6:02 AM on July 12, 2011
(I do want to praise Bulgaroktonos for one thing, and suggest that in the future anyone posting a similar FPP ensure it begins with the two words "Arizona [Lawmaker|Legislator|Senator|Sheriff|Dogcatcher|etc.]"; this ensures that a healthy red haze builds behind your eyes before you read the fourth word, protecting your sanity.)
posted by Vetinari at 6:02 AM on July 12, 2011
She walked in through the out door, out door
She carrried a
Raspberry .380
The kind U find in a second hand store
Raspberry .380
And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more
posted by clavdivs at 6:02 AM on July 12, 2011 [14 favorites]
She carrried a
Raspberry .380
The kind U find in a second hand store
Raspberry .380
And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more
posted by clavdivs at 6:02 AM on July 12, 2011 [14 favorites]
I honestly didn't know they were allowed to make guns without safeties. Why the hell are they allowed to do that? They're not allowed to make cars without brakes.
I think Toyota owners would disagree with you.
( I say this because everything this non-American can think of to say here will probably be considered trolling by someone, so it's better to go for a non-sequitor instead... )
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 6:09 AM on July 12, 2011
I think Toyota owners would disagree with you.
( I say this because everything this non-American can think of to say here will probably be considered trolling by someone, so it's better to go for a non-sequitor instead... )
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 6:09 AM on July 12, 2011
"I don't like chocolate ice cream," she told the Arizona Republic. "Am I going to force you not to have any?"
Of course "I don't like to smoke marijuana...Am I going to force you not to have any?" is different than guns because OMG DRUGS!
posted by spicynuts at 6:09 AM on July 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
Of course "I don't like to smoke marijuana...Am I going to force you not to have any?" is different than guns because OMG DRUGS!
posted by spicynuts at 6:09 AM on July 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
She's an Arizona state senator. Of course she's a danger to everyone around her at all times.
Wherein "around her" includes a very significant acreage. Arizona is BIG.
posted by Skeptic at 6:11 AM on July 12, 2011
Wherein "around her" includes a very significant acreage. Arizona is BIG.
posted by Skeptic at 6:11 AM on July 12, 2011
I honestly didn't know they were allowed to make guns without safeties. Why the hell are they allowed to do that?
I think this pistol, the Ruger LCP-CT, is the gun Klein was using. The LCP has no safety, not even a trigger or grip safety, which is pretty nuts in my opinion, as such safeties do not compromise the use of a gun for self-defense. The only safety feature the LCP has is a fairly heavy trigger pull of 8 lbs.
The LCP is currently subject to a safety recall because it may discharge accidentally when dropped or struck. I wonder if Klein has had hers checked.
posted by jedicus at 6:14 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think this pistol, the Ruger LCP-CT, is the gun Klein was using. The LCP has no safety, not even a trigger or grip safety, which is pretty nuts in my opinion, as such safeties do not compromise the use of a gun for self-defense. The only safety feature the LCP has is a fairly heavy trigger pull of 8 lbs.
The LCP is currently subject to a safety recall because it may discharge accidentally when dropped or struck. I wonder if Klein has had hers checked.
posted by jedicus at 6:14 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
...she was taught gun safety by her father.
Maiden name: Cheney?
posted by Oddly at 6:15 AM on July 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
Maiden name: Cheney?
posted by Oddly at 6:15 AM on July 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
BTW, if the honorable lawmakers of the state of Arizona put as much effort into preventing southbound gun smuggling as they purport to put into preventing northbound people and drug smuggling, I suspect that Mexico and Central America would be much more peaceful, prosperous places and those people and drug smugglers a lot less of a problem.
posted by Skeptic at 6:15 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by Skeptic at 6:15 AM on July 12, 2011
The lead made it sound like she'd actually aimed at him; on further reading, aiming would have indeed been better.
She did aim it at him:
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:16 AM on July 12, 2011
She did aim it at him:
She showed off the laser sighting by pointing the red beam at the reporter's chest.The red beam is an aiming device. In some states, that's assault.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:16 AM on July 12, 2011
"I don't like chocolate ice cream," she told the Arizona Republic. "Am I going to force you not to have any?"
I hear you don't like gay marriage either. Are you going to force people to not have them?
posted by Dysk at 6:17 AM on July 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
I hear you don't like gay marriage either. Are you going to force people to not have them?
posted by Dysk at 6:17 AM on July 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
Well, she is a Republican after all, so she probably thinks that being disallowed from pointing her safteyless gun at a person is a tyrannical trampling of her First Amendment free speech rights.
posted by Flunkie at 6:17 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by Flunkie at 6:17 AM on July 12, 2011
"I don't like chocolate ice cream homosexual sex," she told the Arizona Republic. "Am I going to force you not to have any?"
posted by hermitosis at 6:20 AM on July 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by hermitosis at 6:20 AM on July 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
Really, if you're going to have legal firearms for the general public, surely it makes sense to at least have a license and test system, like you do for cars? That way, someone like Klein could have their license for a gun revoked for life for something like this...
posted by Dysk at 6:21 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by Dysk at 6:21 AM on July 12, 2011
I had no idea that guns came in colors. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around it. Guns are just some accessory to her: wallet, lipstick, loaded pink gun.
posted by montaigneisright at 6:23 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by montaigneisright at 6:23 AM on July 12, 2011
I just read the article and I...I have to lie down.
posted by Kitteh at 6:25 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 6:25 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
She keeps a loaded gun, with no safety, in her purse is a Republican. She's a danger to everyone around her at all times.
posted by Naberius at 6:26 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Naberius at 6:26 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Well, there's that pesky Second Amendment thing that complicates such proposals, Dysk.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:27 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by BeerFilter at 6:27 AM on July 12, 2011
On a more serious note, what is Arizona law regarding self defense? Would Ruelas have been legally within his rights to kill her?
posted by Naberius at 6:28 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Naberius at 6:28 AM on July 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I, too, have often noticed the striking resemblance between loaded handguns and chocolate ice cream.
posted by crazylegs at 6:28 AM on July 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by crazylegs at 6:28 AM on July 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
"I don't like chocolate ice cream," she told the Arizona Republic. "Am I going to force you not to have any?"
If I have ice cream, I will not force you not to have any. If I have no ice cream, I will force you to FUCK OW GOD DAMMIT YOU FUCKING SHOT ME IN THE GODDAMN LEG OW
posted by griphus at 6:29 AM on July 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
If I have ice cream, I will not force you not to have any. If I have no ice cream, I will force you to FUCK OW GOD DAMMIT YOU FUCKING SHOT ME IN THE GODDAMN LEG OW
posted by griphus at 6:29 AM on July 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
Well, there's that pesky Second Amendment thing that complicates such proposals, Dysk.It directly says "well-regulated".
posted by Flunkie at 6:29 AM on July 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
As well as the caveat to the second amendment that Flunkie points out, while the founding father might not have envisioned the motor car, is there not an even stronger sense that having a car is a fundamental right in modern America, for example? And yet there is a license system for that...
posted by Dysk at 6:33 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by Dysk at 6:33 AM on July 12, 2011
I shouldn't have brought it up. My only point was that there's a big difference between having a drivers license and owning a gun. One is written about in the Constitution and the other isn't, so it's not a good analogy.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:35 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by BeerFilter at 6:35 AM on July 12, 2011
But even his article mentions her pointing it "at a reporter." Is Ruelas just using referring to himself in the 3rd person, or has HuffPo provided us with ...gasp shoddy journalism?
While it would have been more apropriate to say something like, "That crazy bitch pointed a god damn gun at my fucking chest and it didn't even have a god damn safety! How the hell did such a fucking idiot get into office!?!?!" I think you'd find that most people would have considered that passage to be shoddy journalism.
Gasp!
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:36 AM on July 12, 2011
While it would have been more apropriate to say something like, "That crazy bitch pointed a god damn gun at my fucking chest and it didn't even have a god damn safety! How the hell did such a fucking idiot get into office!?!?!" I think you'd find that most people would have considered that passage to be shoddy journalism.
Gasp!
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:36 AM on July 12, 2011
This is in especially poor taste considering EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN ARIZONA THIS YEAR.
posted by HostBryan at 6:36 AM on July 12, 2011
posted by HostBryan at 6:36 AM on July 12, 2011
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