A Brief History In 1902, the English politician and game shooting enthusiast Mark Hanbury Beaufoy (1854–1922) wrote some much-quoted verses on gun safety, including the following: “If a sportsman true you’d be Listen carefully to me: Never, never, let your gun Pointed be at anyone…” Like Beaufoy, protecting myself and those I care about is what first interested me about firearms. Given my goal of being more safe in more situations, it would be ironic—and even stupid—of me to not take gun safety incredibly seriously. Regardless of what led to your involvement with firearms, whether you came from a similar…
Browsing: Crime
Read More
A Brief History On May 12, 2006, an Iranian magazine ran a cartoon of a cockroach sitting across a table from and having a conversation with an Iranian boy. Incredibly (to us), this cartoon led to massive riots across Iran, a country that experienced a profound revolution in 1979, when it transformed from a monarchy to a theocracy, becoming an Islamic state. We have often told you about goofy riots, riots that have either idiotic origins or at least have goofy names. History is full of such unfortunate events, and today, we add yet another such unfortunate riot to this…
A Brief History On May 10, 1849, Astor Opera House in Manhattan was the unlikely scene of another of those goofy named riots we keep telling you about. Though the Astor Opera House is no more (nor are the 22 to 31 people killed during the riot!), the Astor Place Riot lives on in the Pantheon of Stupid Riots. (Type in “Riot” in the question box of our website to get our many articles about the seemingly endless supply of riots.) Along with the many people killed, another 260 (including militiamen) were seriously injured, making the Astor Place Riot one…
A Brief History On May 5, 1994, American teenager Michael Fay made international news when he was punished in Singapore for theft and vandalism by the local custom of “caning.” The case caused outrage in the United States that one of our own 18 year old citizens could be treated with corporal punishment for a youthful prank, but the rest of the world saw the offenses of Fay as an egregious affront on the hospitality of another country. A protest by the United States got Fay’s sentence reduced from 6 strokes of the cane to only 4 strokes. Digging Deeper…
A Brief History On April 28, 1881, the notorious outlaw and gunman known as Billy the Kid escaped from his jail cell where he was being held after he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. In a previous article, 5 Dashing, Daring, and Dynamic Escapes we discussed some famous/infamous escapes, and today we again explore the topic of people escaping from custody against all odds of success. Digging Deeper 1. Billy the Kid Cheats the Hangman by Escaping Jail, 1881. Often referred to as being named “William H. Bonney,” the Kid’s real name was probably Henry McCarty. And…