Plan to hand out free shotguns in Tucson stirs debate By Judson Berger March 28, 2013 FoxNews.com
"A former mayoral candidate in Tucson, Ariz., is drawing heated criticism from Democrats after he launched a program this week to hand out free shotguns in high-crime neighborhoods.
Shaun McClusky, who kicked off the program Monday, financed it with initial donor commitments of $12,000. He told FoxNews.com that with those private donations alone, he can arm and train 36 people -- and hopes to begin that process in 60 days.
McClusky said he's already received more than a dozen responses from residents, "none of them negative, all of them positive." . . . The program, though, is actually the brainchild of a master's student at the University of Houston. The student, Kyle Coplen, launched what he calls the Armed Citizen Project, a nonprofit that is handing out "defensive shotguns" for free in certain neighborhoods of Houston and studying the effect on crime rates.
Reached Thursday, Coplen said it's too early to tell whether there is an effect -- but he said he intends to expand the program to 15 cities by the end of the year. Right now, the program is only in Houston and Tucson, with McClusky's help.
"His idea's great," McClusky said Thursday. "So I took his idea and I ran with it here in Tucson."
McClusky said he's working with a gun shop that will help procure the shotguns and run the background checks and another school that will help conduct training classes. He said he's identified three high-crime neighborhoods and estimates it will cost $300 to $350 to arm each person who signs up. . . ."
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." Thomas Jefferson
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Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:43 am
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