What California, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and New Jersey All Have in Common

They have two things in common. Each state contains at least one city with a murder rate at least four times the national average -- Oakland, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Newark; and each state is home to a Republican Presidential candidate: Fiorina, Carson, Kasich, Walker, Christie.
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Ok, it's time to play gun nut quiz. And here's the gun nut question today: What do the following states -- California, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey -- have in common? And the answer is -- actually they have two things in common. Each state contains at least one city with a murder rate at least four times the national average -- Oakland, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Newark; and each state is home to a Republican Presidential candidate: Fiorina, Carson, Kasich, Walker, Christie.

Right now the national murder rate per 100K is somewhere slightly above four. The murder rate in Oakland is 22, in Detroit it's 45, Cleveland's rate is 14 (oops, that's only 3.5 times the national average), Milwaukee rolls in at 17 and peaceful Newark sits at 40. Now you would think that Fiorina, Carson, Kasich, Walker and Christie would know something about gun violence, given the fact that they come from states with cities that have murders happening as if it were Mog. And if you don't know where Mog is, take a look at a map of Somalia -- it's what our Airborne guys call Mogadishu, the place we lost a couple of Black Hawks back in those heady days before the Twin Towers came crashing down.

Before I get into this issue too deeply, I'm going to give Carly and Ben each a pass, because they come from California and Michigan respectively, but they don't live there any more. On the other hand, Kasich, Walker and Bridgegate are the friggin' governors of their states. They live there, they work there, and they are ultimately responsible for public safety there. And since most murders occur with the use of guns, and these guys need to show they are doing something about murder rates that are beyond belief, let's see what, if anything, they have to say about guns.

I'll start with Kasich. "I believe in the 2nd Amendment." That's from a 2010 webcast during his successful gubernatorial campaign. What was Kasich supposed to say? I love how all these red-meat politicians "believe" in the 2nd Amendment. Duhhh, it's part of the Constitution. What are they supposed to say? That they don't believe in it? In 2011 Kasich signed a bill that allows Ohioans to bring concealed weapons into establishments that served liquor, including nightclubs, restaurants, stadiums, malls and, of course, restaurants. He really believes in the 2nd Amendment.

Scott Walker also believes in the 2nd Amendment. He believes in it so much that he says it's his duty as Governor to "protect and preserve our Constitutional freedoms." To prove how important the 2nd Amendment is to our freedom, he recently signed a bill that ended a long-established 48-hour waiting period to purchase a handgun in Wisconsin. The fact that the bill's supporters used a fabricated tale about a woman who ended up being killed by her husband because she couldn't get her hands on a gun is further proof of Walker's commitment to Constitutional rights, in this case the right to tell a lie protected by the 1st Amendment's defense of free speech.

As for Bridgegate, he began huffing and puffing after the Roanoke shooting with the standard bromides about the "terrible tragedy," his condolences to the families, the usual crap. But then he cut to the chase and reminded the interviewer that we didn't need any new gun laws, we just needed to enforce the laws we already have. And in case anyone was wondering who would do the enforcing, I'll let Bridgegate tell you himself: "New Jersey has a Governor who enforces the law." Christie enforces laws so well that the only person who didn't get fired after millions of commuters were unable to get to work was the guy who should have been fired -- Christie himself.

When it comes to your 2A rights, you'll have nothing to fear from Kasich, Walker or Chris. As for the cities with gun violence rates through the roof, let's not worry about a few bodies here and there when the Constitution will be defended by all those armed citizens and their guns right to tell a lie protected by the 1st Amendment's defense of free speech.

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