Tag Archives: Safety

California Man Offers Free Gun Safety Classes to Church Personnel

A Northern California man is reportedly offering free gun safety classes to religious leaders.

Geof Peabody, who owns a gun range in Placerville, near Sacramento, told CBS News that he’s provided the training to some 500 ministers and church security teams over the past eight years.

“Safe and saved,” Peabody told CBS News. “We can accomplish both with the right training.”

Sacramento television station KOVR also covered Peabody’s story, reporting that the owner saw “a dramatic increase” in interest in recent months. Peabody told KOVR a recent class attracted nine different churches, who collectively sent about 25 students to learn introductory training.

The classes cover more than firing weapons. Peabody told KOVR he also teaches his clients certain defense techniques, which can be used to stop someone else from shooting.

The news comes at a time when America is feeling particularly jittery.

A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll, conducted in the wake of the San Bernardino mass shootings, found that 47 percent of Americans believe they or someone in their family will be the victim of a terrorist attack. And data available on Google’s website indicates that more Americans have performed searches for concealed carry permits, which allow people to carry hidden handguns in public, this month than they have at any other point in the past 11 years.

CBS News reported Peabody’s graduates can carry concealed weapons, and many of them bring their guns to church. In addition to San Bernardino, another incident is undoubtedly fresh in the minds of some of the church personnel who receive training from Peabody. Nine people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, back in June.

But there is conflicting evidence on whether concealed carry permits actually curb gun violence, particularly in chaotic active-shooter situations like those in San Bernardino and Charleston, as well as conflicting ideologies about whether firearms belong in church under any circumstance.

Hackers Take Control of Jeep Cherokee From Miles Away

Two hackers have shown an exploit in the Jeep Cherokee that would allow them to take control of the vehicle from miles away.

In one demonstration, they caused the vehicle to crash.

Two cybersecurity experts, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, worked with Wired magazine to expose a flaw in the computer software that allows remote takeover the vehicle by anyone with knowledge of computer hacking.

In one test, Wired magazine staffer Andy Greenberg was driving 70 miles an hour near downtown St. Louis when the air conditioning suddenly blasted at maximum,  the radio changed to a new radio station and blasted full volume and the windshield wipers turned on while blasting wiper fluid making it almost impossible to see the road.

The hackers then put a picture of themselves on the car’s digital display.

The hackers had previously performed similar experiments with a Ford Escape and Toyota Prius, although they were in the backseats of the car.

In these tests, they were more than 10 miles away in the basement of one of the two security experts.

A test conducted away from traffic for safety reasons showed the hackers could lock up brakes, disable driving and transmission and kill the engine.  In one test, the driver was helpless as the car crashed off the road into a ditch.

The hackers can also track the car’s GPS, measure speed and drop pins on a map to track the car’s movements.

Chrysler responded while they appreciate the efforts to show exploits that can be corrected, they were not pleased the information was released.

“Under no circumstances does FCA condone or believe it’s appropriate to disclose ‘how-to information’ that would potentially encourage, or help enable hackers to gain unauthorized and unlawful access to vehicle systems,” the company’s statement reads. “We appreciate the contributions of cybersecurity advocates to augment the industry’s understanding of potential vulnerabilities. However, we caution advocates that in the pursuit of improved public safety they not, in fact, compromise public safety.”

Looting, Crime Rises In Wake of Hurricane Odile

Hurricane Odile, which slammed into Mexico’s Baja California as a major Category 4 hurricane, is opening the door for criminals and looters to ransack villages devastated by the storm.

Officials say that 135 people have been injured from the storm, and no one has been killed, but the major problem has been power outages and looting from stores left unprotected in the wake of evacuations.

Police say that looters have appeared to focus on electronic and higher end stores, stealing televisions, stereo equipment and other high event devices.  Grocery stores have also been cleaned out with everything taken from Coca-Cola to potato chips to pancake mix.

Over 240,000 residents of the region are without power after most of the utility poles in the region were snapped off by the storm.  The Federal Electricity Commission says that 92 percent of the people living in Baja California are without power.

Officials say that without power, it will be very hard to control the looting of vacated homes and businesses.

Sudanese Christians No Longer Feel Safe

Christians in Sudan are telling media outlets and international aid organizations that they no longer feel safe to even pray after the religious persecution of Meriam Ibrahim.

One Christian activist told CNN that they are refusing to publicly identify themselves anymore because they don’t want to face the same situation as Ibrahim, who was sentenced to 100 lashes and then being hung to death for her failure to renounce Christ and praise Allah.

“The church is now contaminated with terror. You don’t feel safe in prayer,” he said.

A human rights lawyer in the country who is a Christian said that the Christian minority will never be able to make traction because of the government’s systemic persecution.  The government-controlled media routinely tell the public that Christianity is an “illegitimate religion.”

The U.S. State Department continues to be virtually silent on the matter even though Ibrahim is the wife of an American and her children are legally American citizens.