Idaho Allows Firearms Onto College Campuses

According to Al Jazeera, the Senate of the state of Idaho has passed a law stating that college student will be allowed to carry firearms in a concealed manner on the state's college campuses for use in self-protection purposes. The legislation passed with a majority vote of 25-10. The bill requires those who wish to carry a firearm to be of the age of 21 or over and to have passed a firearms training course that lasts for approximately eight hours. The bill also denies firearms to be brought into locations with more than 1,000 people at one specific time or the dormitories. Also, an enhanced concealed carry permit is required to be allowed to carry a handgun on campus grounds. This law has unfortunately met great opposition. Many state that the law will cause disruption of the classroom and the learning process. I do not see how this possible for the classroom to become disrupted, since the firearms are concealed. Of course, the anti-gun people claim that the guns with just end badly when the mix with the drinking culture of colleges and the stresses of school work. I personally do not believe that this fear is sound, as most firearms owners are of stable mind and know what is right and wrong. Plus, as Georgia has done, anyone in a bar is not allowed to carry a firearm inside the establishment. This could deter people from drinking and carrying at the same time. Idaho is not the only state that has decided that college students should be allowed to carry concealed on campus. While 21 states have prohibited the carrying of firearms on college campuses, 23 other states have moved in the opposite direction and are allowing firearms to be carried on campuses. I sincerely hope that more states realize that laws like this will aid in the security of college students and will decide to move in that direction.

Piers Morgan: Don't Get Me Started On Him Either

According to CNN, the British anti-gun news editor and debater, Piers Morgan, had left his job on March 28, 2014. Mr. Morgan is known for many things, but he is most certainly known for his gun control debates. Even during his farewell speech, he had decided to throw in one last slap to the gun society. He restated the information that he had so many times before during his debates. This personally angers me, as I am a firearms enthusiast and I do not understand why he could not just simply have said that he was glad to have worked there for so long and then just leave with his dignity still intact. It pleases me to say his show had very low ratings and those ratings remained consistently low. It did not help his rating with his first ever interview with Oprah Winfrey after he took over Larry King's job at CNN. Piers Morgan had never thought before he spoke, but some of the statements to Oprah were just ridiculous. Piers Morgan is one of the biggest idiots I have ever seen as he does not let others get their statements across, if even finished, or he just calls his opponents "idiots" and occasionally throws his notes and papers at those he is debating against. I cannot stand Piers Morgan and I am extremely glad to know that he will not be using a common media station to fill the minds of the younger generation in the United States with incorrect information.

The stats that Piers Morgan denies and covers
up with his own false stats

The DEA and NFL: Two Acronyms Most People Don't Wanna Hear Together

According to CNN, in the National Football League, more commonly just called the NFL, many team trainers had been accused of dispensing prescription painkiller drugs in an attempt to help players stay on the field longer. Of course, this information caught the attention of the Drug Enforcement Administration, also known as the DEA. The DEA had begun interviews with different team doctors and trainers to find of whether the accusations were factual or not. The accusations had all branched off from the lawsuits of approximately 1,300 prior NFL players. Some of the former players stated that the league had given out illegal painkillers. However, others had stated that the drugs had been distributed by the staff. They had specifically pointed out the athletic trainers. One player, Jim McMahon, states that he has become addicted to painkillers due to having to take around 100 pills a month for the duration of his time playing. The NFL had supplied the painkillers by filling out prescriptions in the names of players, but the player may not even know this was done. Then, the pills would be distributed throughout the team whenever needed, sometimes in a drink if the player was against the use of drugs, as many were. It is believed that this heinous act has been committed from 2008 to 2012 and possibly is still ongoing. Unfortunately, the DEA has not been able to find who has been supplying the illegal drugs and no arrests have been made. I just hope that the DEA finds something soon so this whole terrible mess can come to an end.

From Russia to America: Krokodil

According to USAtoday, in 2013, two cases of the flesh-eating drug known as "krokodil" had been reported in the state of Arizona. Krokodil is a drug that is created through the technique of mixing over-the-counter codeine, iodine, gasoline, paint thinner, and alcohol. Krokodil is chemically known as desomorphine and was created in Russia in an attempt to create a cheap form of heroin. It is thought to be made by approximately 100,000 different people throughout the country. The drug has spread through the countries of Ukraine, Georgia, and other countries in the former Soviet Union. Somehow, just as all Asian drugs do, krokodil made its way to America. Along with the two cases in Arizona, this year (2014), Mexico confirmed that a patient from the United States had used the terrible flesh-eating drug. A 17-year-old woman had told officials of her usage of krokodil, which had given her lesions. The woman's skin had begun to turn green and "scaly" as if she were a crocodile, which is why the drug has the name. The DEA has made many attempts to find and destroy the terrible drug, which has become known as a "poor man's heroine," but they have had little success. I only hope that people learn of this drug and wish to aid the DEA or just simply do not use the drug, or any drug for that matter. 

The effects of krokodil

The Million Dollar Guitar

Bob Dylan's guitar that sold for $965,000

According to CNN, the rock legend, Bob Dylan's, Stratocaster guitar sold at an auction house called Christie's for $965,000. The sale price had set an all new world auction record for the sale of any guitar. It just beat Eric Clapton's "Blackie" guitar that sold for $959,500 back in 2004. The 1964 Fender Stratocaster had been sold along with the original case and newly found lyrics that Mr. Dylan had written at the auction. Oddly enough, the guitar was only expected to sell for around $300,000 to $500,000 at Christie's, but instead, it sold for approximately double the amount. A New Jersey family had owned the legendary guitar for around 48 years before it was accidently left on a plane. The daughter of the pilot had the guitar authenticated on television. I find it funny that people will pay so much for something simply because a specific person used it. Do not get me wrong, I would love to own this guitar, as I do play guitar myself, but almost a million dollars for something that just an ordinary man who happens to be famous baffles me. People will continue to pay outrageous amounts of money for items that their favorite celebrity or outlaw used, no matter what the cost.

"Blackie"

The Wild West Lives On

The portrait of Billy the Kid that sold for
$2.3 million.

According to Al Jazeera, the only remaining and authenticated portrait of the infamous Wild West outlaw Billy the Kid sold in the city of Denver for approximately $2.3 million. The image portrays the classic outlaw with a Winchester rifle in his right hand and a Colt revolver can be seen inside a holster on the left side of his body. The portrait was created from an imaging process known as tintype. Tintype is a photography process that involves metal plates to create an image. The portrait of Billy the Kid was only expected to earn a price of approximately $300,000 to $400,000, but organizers were pleasantly surprised to hear the number of $2.3 million. Billy the Kid is not the only outlaw of the Wild West to live on through relics. The notorious gunslinger known as "Wild Bill" Hickok will soon have a firearm go to auction. The firearm is the Smith & Wesson .32 caliber single action revolver that Hickok was carrying at the time of his assassination while playing poker in the town of Deadwood. Mr. Hickok had been shot in the back by a man named Jack McCall. The revolver is estimated to sell for approximately $300,000 to $500,000 at an auction. While the men of the Wild West may be long gone, their legends live on through the stories and relics that have  been left behind.

"Wild Bill" Hickok's .32 caliber revolver he carried at the
time of his assassination.

Murderers and Wedding Bells: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Charles Manson today.

According to BBC, the convicted murderer Charles Manson has been granted a marriage license to marry a woman who is approximately 54 years younger than him. Charles Manson is 80 years of age and his bride-to-be, named Afton Elaine Burton, is only 26 years of age, yet she states that she is in love with the convicted murderous cult leader. Nine years ago, Miss Burton had moved to Corcoran, California to be closer to the prison Mr. Manson is staying at. Manson has been imprisoned since 1969 because of the murders of Sharon Tate and four other people at Tate's estate on August 9 of the same year. Every time he has requested parole, the request has been denied. The next time he may request parole is in the year 2027. Burton claims that her husband-to-be is innocent and should be released, but most people in America knows this is not true, as Charles Manson was the leader of a cult that many of the followers had committed murders in his name and at his direction. Not odd however, is that the parents of Burton do not express the usual emotions parents would for a daughter about to get married, as this marriage is quite special. Melissa Gay Burton, the mother of the 26 year-old woman about to get married, states that the marriage is "her business." I do not believe that a prisoner should be given the privilege of marriage while they are incarcerated. Only in California.



Charles Manson when he was younger.