“It is unlawful to: A) Sell ammunition to another person who does not present certification that he or she has successfully completed an anger-management program consisting of at least 2 hours of online or face-to-face instruction in anger-management techniques,” the bill reads. “The certification must be renewed every 10 years. B) Purchase or otherwise obtain ammunition by fraud, false pretense, or false representation.”
Those in violation of the bill, if passed, would face a second-degree misdemeanor charge. Anyone found in violation a second time within a year of a prior conviction would face a first-degree misdemeanor charge.
Critics of the bill, however, derided the legislation as “absolutely ridiculous” and suggested that Gibson take a course on the U.S. Constitution.
“When I first saw it, I thought it had to be a joke,” said Sean Caranna, executive director of Florida Carry, a nonprofit group championing the right to bear arms. “They’re trying to say that anyone who owns a gun or shoots a gun or has ammunition for it needs counseling and obviously has some anger problems.”
Caranna said he was disappointed that Gibson wasted her time on the bill instead of focusing on other issues like jobs or the state’s rate of foreclosures, which is the highest in the nation.
“We’ve got a lot of issues that should be the focus of these bill slots with limited filing, but instead we put in something as ridiculous as this,” he said. “I don’t see a planet where this passes. This is an attempt to grab attention – it has to be. And that’s really disappointing.”
Jon Gutmacher, an Orlando attorney and author of “Florida Firearms: Law, Use & Ownership,” told FoxNews.com that the bill would almost certainly be found to be unconstitutional based on prior restraint.
“It has no reasonable relationship to anything,” he said. “There has to be a reasonable basis to believe that a person had a substantial anger problem that could cause public harm.”
Gutmacher said he found the bill to be an “insult” to any gun owner in the Sunshine State.
“It’s absurd on its face,” he continued. “And anyone who proposes that legislation is in my mind unfit for the legislature because it shows a basic problem with their thinking process, aside from their lack of understanding of what the Constitution is all about. That’s the kind of bill that doesn’t even get past committee.”
CDC says ‘nightmare bacteria’ a growing threat
federal officials warned Tuesday that “nightmare bacteria” — including the deadly superbug that struck a National Institutes of
Health facility two years ago — are increasingly resistant to even the strongest
antibiotics, posing a growing threat to hospitals and nursing homes
nationwide.
Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
said at a news conference: “It’s not often that our scientists come to me and
say we have a very serious problem and we need to sound an alarm. But that’s
exactly what we are doing today.”
He called on doctors, hospital leaders and health officials to work together
to stop the spread of the infections. “Our strongest antibiotics don’t work, and
patients are left with potentially untreatable infections,” he said.
Although the bacteria, known as Carbapenen-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or
CRE, haven’t spread to the wider community — like some other germs — they are
more dangerous, said Frieden, who described them as a “triple threat.”
First, the bacteria are resistant to all or nearly all antibiotics, even
those of last resort, he said. Second, they kill up to half of
patients who get bloodstream infections from them. And third, the bacteria can
transfer their antibiotic resistance to other bacteria within the family,
potentially making other bacteria untreatable, as well.
For example, carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella, which caused the NIH
outbreak, “can spread the genes that destroy our last antibiotics to other
bacteria, such as E. coli, and make E. coli resistant to antibiotics also,”
Frieden said.
E. coli is the most common cause of urinary tract infections in healthy
people.
In 10 years, the percentage of Enterobacteriaceae resistant to antiobiotics
increased almost fourfold, to 4.2 percent in 2011 from 1.2 percent in 2001,
according to data reported to CDC. And the strain that caused the NIH outbreak
has increased sevenfold in the past decade, according to a CDC report issued
Tuesday.
During the first half of 2012, almost 200 hospitals and long-term acute-care
facilities treated at least one patient infected with these bacteria. The CDC
did not have statistics for fatalities.
Enterobacteriaceae are a family of more than 70 bacteria, including E. coli,
that normally live in the digestive system. Over time, some of these bacteria
have become resistant to a group of antibiotics known as carbapenems, often
referred to as last-resort antibiotics. During the past decade, CDC tracked one
type of CRE from a single health-care facility to facilities in at least 42
states, according to a CDC news release.
Only six states — Tennessee, Minnesota, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oregon and North
Dakota — require hospitals and health-care facilities to report CRE infections
to state health departments.
The NIH outbreak sickened 19 patients, including the woman who brought the
germ with her when she was transferred to the Bethesda facility; 12 patients
died. Seven of the deaths were directly attributed to an
antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae.
When the outbreak erupted, the clinical center’s infection control staff
scrambled, walling off infected patients and tearing out plumbing. They swabbed
equipment, walls, railings and patients to track and contain the bacterium.
Despite these extreme efforts, the outbreak still ticked along for more than a
year as the hardy superbug lingered on hard surfaces — and inside patients,
among the sickest of the sick.
The seven patients who died of bloodstream Klebsiella infections had immune
systems weakened by cancer, anti-rejection drugs given after organ transplants,
and genetic disorders.
Almost all CRE infections occur in patients receiving care for serious
conditions in hospitals, long-term acute-care facilities (such as those
providing wound care or ventilation) or nursing homes.
These patients often have catheters or ventilators, which can allow bacteria
“to get deeply into a patient’s body,” Frieden said.
The germs themselves spread from person to person, often on the hands of
doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals.
The CDC said the spread of the germs can be controlled with proper
precautions and better practices. Standard infection control precautions include
washing hands and dedicating staff, rooms and equipment to the care of patients
with CRE. Prescribing antibiotics wisely can significantly reduce the
problem.
Patients who are hospitalized can, and should, ask their doctors and nurses
to wash their hands before touching them, the officials said. And patients
should not always demand antibiotics for their illnesses.
“Not all fevers require antibiotics. The more we use antibiotics, the more we
encourage the spread of antibiotic resistance,” Frieden said.
Related stories: NIH will share more info about outbreaks, high-profile
diseases NIH superbug claims seventh victim ‘Superbug’ stalked NIH hospital,
killing six
New Anne Arundel Co. Executive Probes Suspicious Cameras In County Council Offices
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — A stunning find in Anne Arundel County: hundreds of security cameras unknown to the police department. Now the new county executive is ordering a full investigation.
Adam May has an inside look at the operation.
Only one man monitored those cameras and he reported to former County Executive John Leopold, who resigned in disgrace.
At the end of a long hallway in Anne Arundel County’s main government building, the contents of room 170 were secret–until now. Five video monitors took in the feeds from not a few security cameras and not even a few dozen. Instead, there were more than 500 cameras, which covered just about every corner of every major government building.
“To say it’s unconventional is an understatement,” said new County Executive Laura Neuman.
Neuman says the most alarming part is that the cameras apparently served one person alone.
“Those cameras were monitored by a contract employee who was not reporting to the police department but rather the county executive,” Neuman said.
That’s former County Executive John Leopold, who resigned last month after he was found guilty of misconduct in office. Leopold not only spied on his political opponents but also misused resources to engage in sexual encounters.
“There’s been a cloud hanging over our county a long time and it’s fueled a cynicism among people in the county,” said County Councilman G. James Benoit.
County Executive Neuman immediately shut down the secret camera network. She’s going to have the police department take it over after an investigation.
“We will identify every camera, every location and we will do a complete forensic analysis of the system to understand what was being done with the cameras,” she said.
There are so many cameras in Anne Arundel County, only a small percentage have been looked at by investigators. Hundreds have yet to be analyzed.
It’s still unclear how much taxpayer money was used on the system
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/03/05/new-aa-co-executive-probes-suspicious-cameras-in-county-council-offices/
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