Another Theater Shooting

The shooter is described as a 51 year-old local man. Story developing...

Headline Of The Day

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader David)

Rick Perry: People Should Be Allowed To Bring Their Guns Into Movie Theaters

Mediaite reports:

“I think that it makes a lot of sense to send a message across this country,” Perry said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning. “If we believe in the Second Amendment, and we believe in people’s right to protect themselves and defend themselves, and their families.” “I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there’s as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette,” he added. Perry also said the Lafayette shooter, who had a history of mental instability and criminal activity, was able to procure a firearm because the existing gun laws weren’t being enforced. How he squares this with only “well-trained” people in movie theaters having guns was left to the winds.

Headline Of The Day

The SPLC has lots of details.

REPORT: Movie Shooter Was A Teabagger

Via Lafayette's ABC affiliate:

The man identified as killing two people and wounding nine more in last night's shooting is John Russell Houser, 59, of Alabama. He's also known as Rusty Houser, and apparently has a presence on social media as an outspoken conservative. The last thing someone posting as Rusty Houser posted on Facebook was in 2013, when he linked to an article called "A woman's place in the church and the weak church elder." He wrote, "The bible doesn't ask me to like what it says, only to obey it. Death comes soon to the financially failing filth farm called the US." He only had two things liked on Facebook, among them "I hate liberals!" In addition, a John Russell Houser from Phenix City, Alabama, is listed as a member of a group called the Tea Party Nation. However, KATC could not confirm if this John Russell Houser is one in the same with the shooter.

Shocking.

LOUISIANA: Theater Gunman Identified

The gunman in last night's mass shooting in a Louisiana movie theater has been identified as 59 year-old John Russell Houser. Local police are calling Houser a "drifter from Alabama" who had been living in a nearby hotel since early this month. Houser's motives are not yet known. He is reported to have an "old" criminal history.

Mass Shooting At Louisiana Theater

Via Reuters:

A gunman fatally shot at least one person and injured eight others at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, before killing himself on Thursday, according to police and local media. NBC News reported that one person died and eight others were wounded at the Grand Theatre in Lafayette before the gunman took his own life. Those reports could not immediately be confirmed by Reuters, but Lafayette police said in a tweet that they were "working a shooting at the Grand Theater on Johnston Street" and that it involved multiple victims. The local Advertiser newspaper reported that the gunfire broke out during a 7 p.m. showing of the film "Train Wreck". Witness Katie Domingue told the paper that the gunman was an older white man who stood up in the theater and began shooting. "He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either," Domingue said.

It was three years ago this week that James Holmes murdered 12 and injured 70 in a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

OKLAHOMA: Gun Group Promotes Event With Rainbow Flag Shooting Target

Via Oklahoma City's NBC affiliate:

Organizers of an Oklahoma race are coming under fire for a picture they posted on their Facebook page. It appears they’re using the LGBT rainbow flag as a shooting target. The post angered many people who took it as a direct threat to the LGBT community. Event organizers say they did not expect the response they got and that it was all meant as a joke. The Oklahoma Run ‘n Gun is a biathlon combining running and shooting. They’re promoting their upcoming race in Pawnee on July 18 on their Facebook page, but some are saying one post went too far. “People got really offended and really upset and people were really feeling threatened,” said Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director Troy Stevenson. The picture shows two men with rifles standing beside a rainbow flag and the caption reads “new high visibility targets on the 500 yard range.” “People took it as a threat, people felt very threatened,” said Stevenson.

Race organizers say the photo was meant to be "funny" and was posted because of complaints that less brightly-colored targets were difficult to see. Uh huh. The group has since taken down the image, saying that they are a "guns and fitness" organization, not a hate group. (Tipped by JMG reader William)

Headline Of The Day

Via Media Matters:

On June 26, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment requires that states issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Conservative media and the National Rifle Association (NRA) quickly seized on the decision to draw a parallel with concealed carry reciprocity, a top federal legislative priority of the NRA. Reciprocity legislation, also known as federally mandated concealed carry, would force states to recognize permits to carry concealed guns issued by other states, regardless of what the issuing state's standards are for issuing permits. Reciprocity legislation has been introduced in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, but conservative media and the NRA view Obergefell as an opportunity to argue that the Constitution extends at least some right to reciprocal permit recognition regardless of whether Congress acts. The problem with that argument, however, is that the 2008 landmark Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller limited the scope of the Second Amendment right to gun possession to people's homes.

France Warns Citizens About US Travel

Via Bloomberg:

The French shouldn’t be too French when they visit the U.S. That’s the advice being doled out by the French government to its citizens visiting America. Along with warnings about slower speed limits, higher drinking ages and hurricanes in Texas, the French foreign ministry adds a note of warning against being too “Latin.” “It’s recommended to adopt a reserved attitude toward those of the opposite sex,” it says. “Comments, behavior, and jokes, which might be harmless in Latin countries, can lead to criminal cases,” the ministry’s website says. Reinforcing French views of American prudishness, the website notes that even minors can be accused of sexual harassment, and asks that children use toilets reserved for their sex in the U.S. Among other advice to the French in America: “keep calm in all circumstances” since some states authorize the carrying of weapons. It asks visitors to avoid raising their voice or making sudden or aggressive gestures at the police.

The US State Department offer no specific warnings to Americans visiting France.

Today's New York Daily News

SOUTH CAROLINA: Newspaper Apologizes For Gun Ad Next To Shooting Story

The Hill reports:

Charleston's Post and Courier apologized Thursday for publishing an ad for a local gun range next to a front-page story about a mass shooting in the city. “The front-page sticky note that was attached to some home delivery newspapers on the same day as this tragedy is a deeply regrettable coincidence,” the newspaper said in a statement, according to blogger Jim Romenesko. “We apologize to those who were offended.” “It was just unfortunate timing,” an advertising department manager told Romenesko. “The ad had already been scheduled.” The ad attached on Thursday morning’s cover of The Post and Courier promotes a shooting range in Summerville, S.C. It lists a ladies night event and says, “$30 gets you everything.” Among the products included in the ad are “50 rounds of ammo,” a “pistol or revolver” and a “range pass” for shooting.

Tweet Of The Day - E.W. Jackson

(Tipped by JMG reader Mark)

Obama Speaks On South Carolina Murders, Denounces Easy Availability Of Guns

President Obama:

"I've had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. Once again, communities [were harmed] because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no problem getting their hands on a gun. Let's be clear: at some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this type of frequency. It is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town... but it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it."

South Carolina Shooter Caught In NC

SOUTH CAROLINA: Cops ID Shooter

Via Charleston's NBC affiliate:

The man accused of shooting and killing nine people in a downtown Charleston church on Wednesday night is from the Columbia area, according to law enforcement sources. Law enforcement is pursuing 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof, of Eastover. An active manhunt is taking place in several locations in the Midlands. Public records show Roof was most recently arrested in March in Lexington County on drug charges. According to Lexington School District One, Roof attended White Knoll High School for at least part of his 9th grade year. Roof is described as a white male, with a bowl cut haircut, slender/small build, grey sweat shirt, blue jeans and clean shaven. He is considered armed and dangerous. Roof is believed to be driving a black Hyundai Elantra with South Carolina tag LGF-330. His last known address is in the 10,000 block of Garners Ferry Road in Eastover.

NRA Speaker: Let's Add A Semi-Automatic Rifle To The Seal Of United States

Headline Of The Day

Via Addicting Info, here are the NRA's stated rules: "A multilevel security plan went into works not long after Nashville was chosen as the convention destination. All guns on the convention floor will be nonoperational, with the firing pins removed, and any guns purchased during the NRA convention will have to be picked up at a Federal Firearms License dealer, near where the purchaser lives, and will require a legal identification." (Tipped by JMG reader David)

NRA Guns Giveaway At CPAC 2015

Headline Of The Day

Details.