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RI Coalition Against Gun Violence supports Obama’s Executive Orders on guns


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RICAGV logoWe commend President Obama for his Executive Orders today to better protect Americans from the out of control epidemic of gun violence.

None of what the President ordered adversely affects the rights of Americans to firearms except for criminals or people with mental health issues that are prohibited from possession of a gun.  Private gun dealers and online firearms dealers who presently refuse to obtain a firearm dealer’s license will be required to do so and will now have to perform background checks for every gun they sell.  There will be an improved National Instant Criminal Background System (NCIS) greatly expanding the inclusion of mental health records of prohibited firearms buyers.  Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF&E) agents will be added to perform the increased demand for NCIS Background checks.   Firearms purchases by Federal Agencies will be directed to gun manufacturers who invest in “smart gun” technologies and who market their products in an ethical manner.

While the Gun Lobby will undoubtedly issue bombastic claims that the President’s actions violate our 2nd Amendment rights and are a slippery slope to gun confiscation none of that is true.  Over 90% of Americans and a large majority of gun owners support expanding Background Checks for every single gun sale.  Hopefully, these common sense measures will encourage a national debate that will lead to reforms that result in a reduction in the nearly 90 daily gun deaths each day in America.

We thank President Obama for standing up to the Gun Lobby and call on Congress to take meaningful action to protect American lives.

(From a press release)

You can watch the President Obama’s announcement Here:

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FBI or ransomware? You be the judge


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DSC_9419 MacBethLost in the aftermath of the budget was this gem (start at around 2:54; for fun, pay attention to Reps. Shekarchi and Morin reactions) from last Friday’s House debate over Budget Article 1. In it, Rep. Karen MacBeth claims that the FBI temporarily seized control of her home computer for reasons unknown.

Now, I’m not a seasoned law enforcement professional, but given a lot of ink has been spilled over the ability of government to monitor Internet activity without much oversight, it seemed suspicious that the FBI would notify someone if they were hacking a computer. It seems to me that if you’re looking for documentation of wrongdoing, you’d get a warrant or request it from a possibly cooperative source like MacBeth. And if you didn’t want MacBeth or anyone to know, you’d get permission to do it secretly.

So I did what I usually do in cases like this, I searched “the FBI has taken over my computer” online. And I found this little piece of malware (more specifically, ransomware) known as “Reveton” or “the Moneypak Virus” from a number of articles from one to two years ago. Basically, it’s something you accidentally download from either a bad website or email and then locks your computer until you pay. The ransomware poses as the FBI, or if you’re in another country, that nation’s police or cybersecurity force. The genuine FBI has been warning people about this virus for a while.

Now, the details of Rep. MacBeth’s encounter with someone claiming to be the FBI hacking her computer doesn’t quite match up with what’s described in the above links, and from her summation of the events, we don’t get a detailed picture of what happened. Perhaps it really was the FBI. Or perhaps, (and in my view, more likely) this was an iteration of the older piece of malware; since it’s shown to be pretty adaptable.

If it’s the latter, I hope the Speaker asks himself why he made her House Oversight Chair. Frankly, I’d look for a healthy level of skepticism on the part of the Oversight Committee Chair.

P.S. A number of articles note that this virus could be stopped by having up-to-date antivirus software. If you’re a cheapskate like me, there are plenty of free alternatives. And yes, Mac users, that means you too! You get viruses as well, so protect yourself before you wreck yourself.