Private arsenal doesn’t protect gun dealer

[jpak]

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional/private-arsenal-doesnt-protect-gun-dealer/nTts4/

Carnesville — Keith Ratliff was living his dream. Part computer geek, part self-professed “gun nut,” Ratliff helped shoot an offbeat and wildly popular series of videos on Youtube called “FPSRussia” that featured a Georgia boy with a fake Russian accent shooting and blowing stuff up.

Ratliff and partner Kyle Lamar Myers, aka “Dmitri Potapoff” in the show, also branched into the world of weaponry, setting up a business to develop, test and market custom-made guns, including one advertised as a “super compact full auto carbine PSD special ops weapon.” And in recent months, Ratliff had stepped from behind his camera to jump into the white-hot issue of gun control, arguing an armed populace was a safe populace.

He even shot a video contending that ordinary citizens should be able to own “true military arms, real assault weapons” to defend themselves “from all enemies no matter where they rise from.”

But despite his formidable arsenal, Ratliff was unable to protect himself from an assassin’s bullet. On Jan. 3, the 32-year-old father of three was found dead in his office, killed by a single bullet to the head. His SUV, with a holster on the driver’s seat, boxes of bullets in the cargo area and a “Don’t Tread on Me” tag on the front still sat in front a week after his death.

<more>

[In_The_Wind]

1. May he rest in peace.

Anyone in New York owning 5 hand guns is considered a gun dealer.

[holdencaufield]

2. Is that like anyone with more than 1 ounce of pot ...

... is a dope pusher?

[In_The_Wind]

3. Yep.

Or growing one measly plant.
Yeah. Like that's gonna bring in the big bucks. [img][/img]

[BlueStreak]

4. The mind of a paranoid.

Anybody with more than a couple weapons (other than specific guns needed for specific sports) is probably mentally very sick. We really should stop talking about these people as if they are well-balanced people simply exercising Constitutional rights.

They are sick. All of them. And they should be addressed and treated that way.

I don't want to lock up the guns. We should be talking about locking up the gun owners -- the sick ones I mean.

[holdencaufield]

5. I own several firearms ...

... each one suited to a specific situation and some just because they have historic or cultural significance. Will you be coming to lock me up as well?

I own a lot of tools too ... for precisely the same reason.

[BlueStreak]

8. Can you read?

Go back and read my post. It answers your question without any ambiguity whatsoever.

[holdencaufield]

10. Sure -- I've been reading since I was 18

And you said "other than specific guns needed for specific sports" and several of my firearms are not for sporting purposes. So, does that mean you'll be coming to "lock me up"?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. So collectors of lets say WWI rifles are mentally unbalanced?

[holdencaufield]

7. Hate is rarely rational ...

... even hate of inanimate objects.

[BlueStreak]

9. If you don't mind having them permanently disabled, they you are probably a pretty clear thinker

If you fixate on these things to the point that you can't conceive of that, yes, you probably are not very balanced mentally.

[holdencaufield]

11. Should vintage cars ...

... be wheel-clamped?

After all -- they don't have air bags or pollution control devices.

[BlueStreak]

13. Yes, If we had hundreds of deaths fron antique cars every week.

WWII rifles are not antiques. They are just as deadly today as they were 60 years ago.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. When were WWI era rifles last used in crime let alone a mass killing

Note that they are bolt action

[BlueStreak]

15. This is too easy

When there are 300,000,000 guns out there, it isn't hard to find examples.

http://www.wyff4.com/Deputies-Teen-Accidentally-Kills-Best-Friend-With-WW-II-Rifle/-/9324882/10077406/-/8h6pl2/-/index.html

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. Not really

The term was WWI, not WWII and the question was crime not accident.

My overall point is that collectors are not automatically nutcases as you assert.

[BlueStreak]

19. You don't think it is a crime to leave guns out

where kids can find them and shoot their friends?

If gun owners were a lot more responsible across the board, I think the rest of us would be a lot more sympathetic to your arguments. But you keep trying to make the absurd "inanimate object" argument to rationalize irresponsible gun ownership.

[holdencaufield]

18. Are there even a dozen deaths ...

... a week, month, year, from antique guns?

[BlueStreak]

20. I don't have a big problem with collectors of antiques

But those collectors should accept a rigorous set of requirements forrecording of ownership, safe storage and/or permanently disabling the things.

[Ashgrey77]

33. 100+ people die every day from car accidents in the USA. n/t

[BlueStreak]

34. We have extensive regularions on cars and drivers, resulting in fewer deaths every year

per million miles driven, for the past 30 years.

We should be doing exactly the same things with machines that have no other purpose but to kill things. Regulations on the devices and how they are used. Registration of the devices. Registration and regular testing of the operators.

With the goal of reducing the number of per capita gun deaths every year -- just as we have with cars.

Why are you against improvements in the safety of all Americans? Do you remove the air bags from your car as soon as you buy a new car?

[gejohnston]

35. regular testing of drivers?

what state is this? I haven't taken a driving test since high school, what was when Carter was president.

I would prefer to reduce the number of murders regardless of means.

[BlueStreak]

36. In Indiana, it is age-based because that correlates strongly with risk

See http://www.dmv.com/in/indiana/senior-drivers

If there were clear, unambiguous data that says gun violence correlates with age, then I would favor age-based requirements for gun ownership. But the facts seem to be that most of the violence is done by younger men. I suggest that, considering that the perps are either mentally sick or criminally inclined, it is natural that their acts would happen sooner than later. Later, they are more likely to be dead or in jail.

So you are agreeable with sensible gun safety laws that take into account risk factors?

[Loudly]

12. "Assasin's bullet" is an interesting choice of words.

Is there some reason to think he was murdered for his political beliefs?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. The GBI statements are pretty clear

Basic analysis tells us that he trusted the person who killed him.

The right wingers are starting some WOO about this and another recent killing of another well know pro gun bubba (name escapes me).

[lastlib]

21. Live by the gun, die by__________

(you can fill in the blank.)

Callous, perhaps, but accurate. Not gonna devote a lot of sympathy to a man who made his living enabling killing.

[sylvi]

24. That adage

That adage is normally applied to people who actually harm other people with guns. There's no evidence I've seen that this individual ever harmed anyone.

He was in the business of building custom guns. Those types of firearms usually run in the thousands of dollars. His clientele is not the type seeking a weapon with which to knock over the corner Kwikee-Mart.

[lastlib]

25. if the shoe fits, don't let the dogs drag it off............

[sylvi]

26. That's just it...

...it doesn't fit.

[ileus]

22. Let's hope they find his killer.

From what I can tell he was living a pretty peaceful life that was cut short for some reason. It'd be interesting to know the whole story of what happened and why.

[raidert05]

23. What qualifies as an Arsenal now-a-days

I have:
S&W Ar-15- Closet thing to what I carry at work use it to keep my proficiency up
Beretta 92 M9A1- carry one just like it for work sometimes-train with often
Sig Sauer 226- carry one just like it for work sometimes-also train with often
Taurus Pt-145- My concealed carry pistol
Bersa .380- Wife's Concealed carry pistol
Marlin 30-30-Hunting Rifle (Mainly Deer)
Mossberg 500 12ga-Hunting Rifle (Turkey)/ Possible SD shotgun

I also try to keep 200 rounds for each weapon also, cheaper to buy in bulk and store away.

With the military budget dwindling, range time and ammunition is limited anymore to just keeping qualification certs up, I'm a stickler for training...if you are gonna own a firearm IMO you should at log least get a couple hours in every week at the range.

[Ilsa]

27. A couple of hours a week? I didn't know

You need that much, but I'll bet you know what you're talking about.
8+ hours a month. Equivalent of a workday. Plus 4 trips. That's a big time investment, and I don't think most people take that seriously.

[raidert05]

28. I'm deploying again

towards the end of this year and for all I know we could at war with Iran or sent out to Africa for god knows what...Plus I'm a small arms instructor for the navy so I practice a lot to keep up my qualification certs and we usually only have a gun shoot once every other month if the command can budget ammo and rent a range, believe it or not the Navy has very few ranges here in Va Hampton Roads area and we have to compete for time slots against all the other commands in the area, if not the command has to come out of pocket to rent a range for the day.

[Ilsa]

30. Deploying again...

Please know that I hope for the best for you, and patience and hope for your loved ones awaiting your return.

[apocalypsehow]

29. So much for the notion that strutting about town with a pistol perched in your pants

somehow makes one "safer."

Let us hope that his "arsenal" of military-style weapons is confiscated, and destroyed. That's a step that will help make the rest of us in America truly a little safer.

[ileus]

31. firearms are passive devices...

Without an operator they do nothing.

[lastlib]

32. but with one defective part....

...(nut on the trigger) they can kill an awful lot of people.