Apparently, someone thinks Minnesota’s concealed carry law should prohibit guns in churches. Isn’t that, you know, up to the church?

Republicans split over the assault weapons ban:

If there’s one issue on which Republicans usually agree, it’s their strong defense of the Second Amendment. But less than two weeks before the GOP convention, moderates and conservatives find themselves at odds over the soon-to-expire semi-automatic gun ban.

In a clash with pro-gun Republicans, President Bush has publicly supported the ban on so-called “assault weapons” dating back to his 2000 presidential campaign. Although he hasn’t actively pushed for an extension of the 1994 law, his spokesmen consistently reaffirm his support for it.

The law would sunset Sept. 13 without action from Congress. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have refused to bring up the matter for debate, and with only four working days left before it expires, even the law’s supporters acknowledge it is doomed.

At the same time, however, a band of moderate Republicans have stood in stark opposition to their more conservative colleagues in House leadership posts. They believe enough Republicans would join with Democrats to send a bill to the president’s desk.

In my opinion, the votes are there in the Senate. They are not likely in the House. However, I don’t think Bush will push for it during an election year. He wants the NRA to sign off on him.

That aside, why are so many Republicans backing the ban? The ban is purely symbolic and accomplishes nothing and surely these Republicans know that. My speculation is that it’s a regional thing. In rural areas, the ban is not popular. It probably is popular in urban areas.

Worth the read. A taste:

For years, municipalities and community development agencies have successfully argued that state and local seizures of private property for purposes of economic growth, job creation and tax revenue maximization are valid “public uses” of eminent domain powers under federal and state constitutions.

The argument greatly expanded upon the popular notion that eminent domain meant that government takings of private property would be solely for public projects such as roads, bridges, parks, schools, government installations, public buildings and the like. Courts have long bought into the broadened argument and sanctioned takings of private property for the benefit of other private entities.

Hence, Norwood, Ohio, declared some private homes “blighted” to justify their razing to make way for a more tax-productive mall. An Arizona town invoked eminent domain proceedings to replace a brake shop with a more favored hardware store (dispute featured in a TV news report). The New Jersey shore town of Long Branch is trying to take oceanfront homes from present owners and build expensive new condos for yuppies. New London, Conn., seized some perfectly fine waterfront homes to replace them with an office building (litigation now before the U.S. Supreme Court).

All over the country, localities have dispossessed one set of property owners to make room for builders of stadiums, auto assembly plants, racetracks, casinos and big box stores. If someone else could make more money with your property and pay higher taxes, the town would boot you off that property and give it to that other party.

But one court is saying, “Hold on there! Not so quick!” In a broad ruling delivered this July, the Michigan Supreme Court has caused all jurisdictions across the nation to rethink the use of government eminent domain powers to advance economic goals and better land use agendas.

In Michigan, the court decided that a private entity’s pursuit of profit does not constitute public use. Good.

This article details a property owner’s victory:

Despite the loss of three federal grants comprising 90 percent of the $7.4 million it would cost and the possibility of repaying $300,000 for already-spent funds, the Oakdale City Council voted down a proposal Monday night to expand the Oakdale Airport through condemnation procedures.

The action, made on a 3-2 split vote, also provided a win for JLG Holsteins, who opposed the Eminent Domain process on 2.7 acres of its property. The argument posed by an attorney for the firm was countered by the City Special Attorney for Eminent Domain on the grounds that it did not meet a “legal” definition for public necessity.

This article addresses the use of eminent domain as an economic development tool rather than a public use measure.

And this article addresses the use of eminent domain to make a lake.

It’s good to see some victories for property owners or eventually all land would be for public use.

Again, an attempt to tie the assault weapons ban to machine guns (which the ban does not regulate):

Attorney General Bill Lockyer planned to be on hand for a news conference this morning to support renewal of the federal law. Also expected to attend were Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn, Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

The news conference was planned outside the Bank of America in North Hollywood — the scene of a 1997 robbery that culminated in a shootout between two heavily armed gunmen and LAPD officers.

Police conceded they were outgunned by the robbers, who wore body armor and were armed with machine guns. Ultimately, both were killed.

The anti-gunners are using the imagery of the two men who used machine guns to rob a bank. Those machine guns were illegal and are regulated by the 1934 NFA.

Per this:

The MessageLabs Intelligence Email Security report shows that 63.5 per cent of all email sent in the first half of 2004 was spam.

Furthermore, 8.3 per cent, or one in 12 emails sent, contained a virus, according to the report.

Damn.

What do you mean sitting behind targets is bad?

The Comedian and I have been using the comments section of this post to continue coverage of the press corps’ infatuation with butts at the Olympics, particularly pictures from the Olympic beach volleyball games.

Not that I’m linking to those to draw hits, but apparently lots of folks are Googling them up.*

Read the rest of this entry »

Unlike the media, Kerry is addressing the allegations of the Swift Boat Vets:

Senator John F. Kerry is disputing an allegation made by a group of veterans opposed to his presidential candidacy that he never operated inside Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

In a just-published book, “Unfit for Command,” the veterans said that “Kerry was never in Cambodia during Christmas 1968, or at all during the Vietnam War” and that he “would have been court-martialed had he gone there.”

But the Kerry campaign said that the group, which calls itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is wrong and that Kerry was inside Cambodia to drop off special forces on one mission and was at the border on other occasions.

“During John Kerry’s service in Vietnam, many times he was on or near the Cambodian border and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia at the request of members of a special operations group operating out of Ha Tien,” Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said in a statement. The statement did not say when the cross-border mission took place.

At the time of Kerry’s service, the official policy was that US forces were supposed to respect the territorial integrity of Cambodia, but they occasionally went inside Cambodia either secretly or in pursuit of the enemy.

For years, Kerry has said he was in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968. He gave a detailed view of that experience in an article he wrote for the Boston Herald in 1979. “I remember spending Christmas Eve five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas,” Kerry wrote. “The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real.” A similar recollection by Kerry was mentioned in a Globe biography of the Massachusetts senator published earlier this year.

The anti-Kerry veterans have said Kerry’s recollection does not make sense because Nixon was not inaugurated until January 1969. But Kerry campaign spokesman Meehan said Kerry was referring to a range of time that included when Nixon was president-elect and president. During the 1968 presidential campaign, Nixon opposed a change in US policy that would allow “hot pursuit” of enemy forces into Cambodia; in March 1969 he authorized the secret bombing of Cambodia, which was followed by the 1970 invasion of Cambodia.

Given the amount of time it took to do so may intimate getting stories straight, I’m not convinced. However, I am glad to see him address it.

In other news, Kerry has condemned the Moveon ads targeting Bush’s National Guard record.

Nicholas D. Kristof on the assault weapons ban:

President Bush promised in the last presidential campaign to support an extension of the ban, which was put in place in 1994 for 10 years. “It makes no sense for assault weapons to be around our society,” Mr. Bush observed at the time.

These days Mr. Bush still says that he’ll sign an extension of the ban if it happens to reach his desk. But he knows that the only way the ban can be extended on time is if he actually urges its passage, and he refuses to do that. So his promise to support an extension rings hollow – it’s not exactly a lie, but it’s not the full truth, either.

Mr. Bush’s flip-flop is surprising because he has generally had the courage of his convictions. Apparently he’s hiding from this issue because it’s so politically charged.

Yes, Bush is playing politics. Thank God it’s an election year or he’d be pushing for it. However, he wants gun owner votes. Look for it after the election. Continuing:

Critics of the assault weapon ban have one valid point: the ban has more holes than Swiss cheese.

“The big frustration of my customers is that [the ban] removed things that were kind of fun and made it look cool, but didn’t affect how the gun operated,” said Sean Wontor, a salesman who heaved two rifles onto the counter of Sportsman’s Warehouse here in Meridian to make his point.

Actually, we have many points, including the fact that CDC and NIJ have concluded the ban has no effect on crime.

So far so good, but then he says:

Still, assault weapons, while amounting to only 1 percent of America’s 190 million privately owned guns, account for a hugely disproportionate share of gun violence precisely because of their macho appeal.

I’d like to see some sort of citation for this stat because to my knowledge that is not the case. Taking the VPC talking points and reporting them as fact borders on dishonesty.

Assault weapons aren’t necessary for any kind of hunting or target shooting, but they’re popular because they can transform a suburban Walter Mitty into Rambo, for a lot less money than a Hummer.

What’s hunting got to do with it? And, having just admitted there’s no difference in functionality above, you’d think he’d realize the Rambo reference is misplaced as somone could act all Rambo with a post-ban rifle.

I grew up on an Oregon farm that bristled with guns to deal with the coyotes that dined on our sheep. Having fired everything from a pistol to a machine gun, I can testify that shooting can be a lot of fun. But consider the cost: 29,000 gun deaths in America each year.

While gun statistics are as malleable as Play-Doh, they do underscore that assault weapons are a special problem in America.

They accounted for 8.4 percent of the guns traced to crimes between 1988 and 1991, and they are still used in one in five fatal shootings of police officers. If anything, we should be plugging the holes in the ban by having it cover copycat weapons without bayonet mounts, instead of moving backward and allowing a new flood of weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Ah, the patented I’ve shot guns before justification is quite John Kerryish. The statistics you cite (assault weapons traced to crime and the one in five police deaths) have both been discredited. The former is a useless statistic that proves nothing and the latter is a blatant lie by the VPC.

The bottom line is that Mr. Bush’s waffling on assault weapons will mean more dead Americans.

About 100 times as many Americans are already dying from gunfire in the U.S. as in Iraq. As many Americans die from firearms every six weeks as died in the 9/11 attacks – yet the White House is paralyzed on this issue.

About half of those gun deaths are suicides and most gun deaths are the result of handguns, not assault weapons. On September 14, we will not see an increase in gun violence. And the attempt to tie the weapons to Iraq is rhetoric comparable to the weapons of mass destruction, weapon of choice of criminals, and favored by terrorists nonsense we’ve seen in other media outlets. None of which is true.

I do applaud the fact he never once used the alarming and false talking point about AK47s and Uzis hitting the streets but the rest of the rhetoric is based on falsehoods.

For those not familiar with Boomsday, it’s a Knoxville tradition that involves a big fireworks show during Labor Day Weekend. The show has always had street vendors selling food. Beer was usually plentiful in the tents on the street. And if you’re connected, you can make a killing selling it:

Attendees at next month’s Boomsday fireworks show will not be able to purchase beer at the event. Unless, that is, they do their drinking at Calhoun’s on the River.

In a pair of seemingly contrasting votes Tuesday night, Knoxville City Council members approved the restaurant’s request to extend its standing beer permit to an outdoor patio area during the Sept. 4 event, after earlier denying a requested beer permit from Boomsday’s sponsor, Journal Broadcasting Group.

The Calhoun’s restaurant will have a monopoly on beer sales. The lines will be long. Of course, the owners of Calhoun’s (and a few other restaurants) are major players in the political realm in Knoxville. Just ask Tyler Harber.

The rule has always been keep it at Calhoun’s. However, that rule was never really enforced.

Update: Great minds and all that, Bubba has more.

Champaign brunches are now legal.

The college athlete addition:

A judge, while acknowledging he believed a college football player was “guilty as sin,” acquitted him of charges related to a run-in with police after a lawyer argued that a conviction could end the player’s career.

Gregory D. Powell, 20, was charged with assaulting police and disorderly conduct after a June disturbance at a motel where police had ordered underage drinkers to pour out their beer.

Way to teach him a lesson. Judge R. Patrick Hayman needs to be reprimanded but that won’t happen.

By now, you’ve probably seen it. The video is all over the news. The story is:

Officers in hurricane-ravaged Fort Myers used a Taser gun on a man allegedly trying to get by a police barrier to get home, and it was caught on tape.

A crowd formed around the scene and voices can be heard yelling, “Leave him alone,” “That is so wrong,” and “Come on man, he’s frustrated.”

The man had three children in the car with him. Many in the crowd felt for the man who hasn’t seen his home in days.

A free citizen has decided to return to his home. The extent of police involvement in this case should be a warning that it might be dangerous, proceed with caution. The hurricane was over. How about using those resources to, you know, stop looting?

Dragging a man out of his car, tasering him, and arresting him in front of his family for no real reason is pretty horrid.

A doctor refused to draw blood from a homicide suspect because the suspect did not consent. Obviously unclear on the concept of the fourth amendment, the police arrested the doctor. Eventually, the police got a warrant and a doctor performed the test. Says one policeman:

The five-hour delay could have “a serious impact on the case,” Stanek said, because the delayed blood test won’t provide an accurate gauge of the suspect’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the stabbing.

I’m so sorry that fourth amendment is such an inconvenience. That’s pretty abysmal.

The doctor who was arrested was following the hospital’s privacy policy.

Update: Gunner has good news regarding this case.

Perhaps unclear on the concept of the public use:

The city now has the option of purchasing, on a judge’s terms, any business property the courts decide could be put to better use.

A City Council decision Tuesday night to restore the power of eminent domain means the city can take ownership of businesses in the redevelopment district – which includes the entire city - and a few apartment complexes as well, if they prove to be a public nuisance.

Councilwoman Jane Day said the city should expand the authority to include all apartment buildings in Suisun City. As it is, only three apartment complexes are vulnerable.

Day called eminent domain “a tool we definitely need on board so that if there are problems we can correct those problems.”

Correct what problems? The problem of private ownership?

Update: Thanks to HL, I corrected the terminology.

The “Gun Safety” advocates always talk about how “nobody needs an AK-47 to hunt deer.” Well, OK, but how about a mountain howitzer?

For those of you unfamiliar with cannon artillery talk, a 12 pound Mountain Howitzer cannon was a small cannon used during the Civil War. The early mt howitzer cannons were originally designed to be disassembled and packed into the mountains on horseback, hence the name, Mountain Howitzer. The later model Mountain Howitzers, like this one, were built on a carriage designed to be “pulled” by horses.

The “pound” designation ( 12 pdr ) in the name ” 12 pound Mountain Howitzer “, refers to the weight of the projectile that the mt howitzer cannon shoots. Therefore, a 12 pound Mountain Howitzer ( 12 pdr ) shoots a 12 pound cannonball. All artillery cannons with smooth bore barrels were described in the “pound” weight of their projectiles. ( like the 12 pound Mountain Howitzer ) Artillery cannons with rifled barrels were described in the “inch” of their bore diameters. ( like a 3 inch Gun )

First, let me start by saying that I’m pretty sure that it may not be entirely legal to use a Mountain Howitzer Cannon for deer hunting, at least not here in Wisconsin. ( I didn’t actually ask the DNR about using a Mountain Howitzer, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t like it ) Check with your own State Hunting regulations, … or not … (see hunting with artillery section)

Give those deer a whiff of grape!

Hugh Hewitt on Operation Keep Your Mouth Shut:

How odd for papers to carry opinion pieces relating to controversies that their readers have never read about in those papers, but which the opinion pieces presume they have heard or read about elsewhere.

My new highly unscientific study says no. A while back (up until last week, if I recall correctly), Glenn had a patron blog ad for this website, a group of local Knoxville lawyers (one of which has an on again, off again – but mostly off – blog).

The cost of this blog ad was $750 for a week, unless it was given to them free. Did the ad draw droves of traffic to the site? Nope. They went from about 3 visits per day to 16 visits per day. Not a stellar traffic increase from a site that, with a simple post, can send thousands and thousands of hits to bloggers. None of the other sites advertising at Glenn’s had Sitemeters.

Additionally, nearly all their hits come from Instapundit.

Most blog readers block out the ads, it seems. I wouldn’t buy any.

A while back, I TiVoed the CNN thing on blogging because Glenn said he’d be on it. Since then, TiVo’s suggestions function has recorded an episode of Dennis Miller, which featured the blogger Moxie.

Last night, it picked up an episode of whatever Bill Maher’s new show on HBO is called. And there was Michelle Malkin arguing with some Democrat politician and DL Hughley. Nothing exciting to report about the exchange, other than the Democrat toed the party line. DL Hughley had nothing insightful or funny to say once he ran out of scripted one-liners. I stopped watching (baby cried) when they started addressing her book, which apparently defends the internment of Japanese in America during WWII. I don’t see how such an act is defensible.

I realize Michelle Malkin is not only known as a blogger but a syndicated columnist. Regardless, is TiVo searching for shows that feature bloggers? I realize that is unlikely, but I found it interesting.

A girl was attacked by a pit bull. The owner of the dog did not follow Ohio’s law that requires owners of vicious dogs (which includes all pit bulls) to have $100K in insurance. So, an irresponsible dog owner who allows is dog to run loose, which is certainly a violation of leash laws that most cities have, also doesn’t obey insurance laws. Go figure.

Ohio’s law, which labels pit bulls as vicious by default, should be re-written to classify dogs as vicious once they act, you know, viciously.

Michael Silence opines:

Is it just me, or are there a lot more John Kerry bumper stickers around GOP East Tennessee than ones for President Bush?

Background: The 2nd Congressional District (Knoxville) has not sent a Democrat to Congress since 1861.

I just returned from a meeting downtown and a Republican source of mine said in his travels with his business throughout the Southeast he’s seeing more Kerry than Bush stickers.

Being the good blogger I am, I paid attention to bumper stickers since reading that yesterday. The majority of cars had no bumper stickers. I noticed some Kerry/Edwards stickers. I noticed, I think, slightly more Bush/Cheney stickers (but you have to be on the lookout for the the almost-innocuous-looking and hard-to-spot sticker that just says W). I also noticed stickers that were of the anybody but Bush variety (Defend America – Defeat Bush). I only saw one sticker that was anti-Kerry (it said Not Fonda Kerry, get it?)

The result of my scientific study concludes that most East Tennesseans won’t vote because most cars didn’t have stickers. Or that Republicans and Democrats who have nicer cars just don’t want them cluttered with crappy looking bumper stickers.

Matt chronicles a gun control debate. Good stuff.

You town is decimated. You may or may not be able to account for all your loved ones. What do you do? You go looting, of course:

After the hurricane ended, the looting began.

Among the first targets, officials said, was the Charlotte Harbor Fire Department. Firefighters arrived early Saturday to find that their computers had been swiped in the night.

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Robert Carpenter said his office is getting regular reports of looting from residents of the area’s many storm-wrecked neighborhoods. Carpenter said his officers are responding when able, but that they are saddled with more pressing demands, such as caring for survivors.

“No question about it,” he said. “We are behind on these types of calls.”

The fear of looting is so widespread, many residents are staying in their damaged homes to protect their valuables. Emergency shelters have far fewer people than officials had expected given the extensive damage in Charlotte County.

Abysmal.

Update: I think this is a case for semi-automatics if there ever was one.

Update 2: Ravenwood points out a guy who isn’t going to take it. Love the sign:

Looters will be killed

Some folks wonder why it is I keep wasting my time pointing out these stupid anti-gun editorials. One reason, is because I enjoy it. The fact that somebody can be so scared over something so small amazes me.

But also, when 9/14 gets here and there’s no blood in the streets and violent crime remains the same, I want a chronicle of the stupid shit these anti-gun organizations have said. Like this:

These are the same weapons our troops are trying to take off the streets of Baghdad.

What an idiot. The ban doesn’t affect AK-47s. Just rhetoric designed to scare the hell out of people.

The other biased Washington paper reports:

The federal assault-weapons ban, scheduled to expire in September, is not responsible for the nation’s steady decline in gun-related violence and its renewal likely will achieve little, according to an independent study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

“We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence,” said the unreleased NIJ report, written by Christopher Koper, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

“It is thus premature to make definitive assessments of the ban’s impact on gun violence. Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement,” said the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

The report also noted that assault weapons were “rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban.”

NIJ is the Justice Department’s research, development and evaluation agency — assigned the job of providing objective, independent, evidence-based information to the department through independent studies and other data collection activities.

The NIJ is apparently in agreement with the Centers for Disease Control, which an AP report about it said:

A sweeping federal review of the nation’s gun control laws — including mandatory waiting periods and bans on certain weapons — found no proof such measures reduce firearm violence.

The review, released Thursday, was conducted by a task force of scientists appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said the report suggests more study is needed, not that gun laws don’t work. But the agency said it has no plans to spend more money on firearms study.

And the Fraser Institute agrees that Gun Laws do Not Reduce Criminal Violence.

The article goes on to say:

The assault-weapons ban is set to expire Sept. 13, and at least six bills reauthorizing it are pending in the Senate and House.

Six bills pending? Geez. Got our work cut out for us.

A doctor in Kentucky, who obviously doesn’t know shit about dogs, says pit bulls shouldn’t be allowed around children because of a recent attack he had to treat:

“I just don’t understand with all the breeds available, why people with these children have to have these aggressive dogs,” said Cummings.

“I think that’s just like keeping a loaded pistol on your coffee table saying kids don’t touch it,” said Josh Wilson, Jada’s father. “Course I’m mad that my daughter’s face has stitches all over it. I’m not nearly as mad as I was yesterday.”

It’s terrible that this happened but the owners of the dog should have paid attention to who was entering their house. No dog is inherently any more aggressive than any other based entirely on its breed. It’s about socialization and proper training. Don’t look now Doc, but here’s an image of a vicious dog and a baby.

I was stuck in a traffic jam this afternoon, so I turned to the local Evil Right-Wing Talk Radio station to get the traffic report (which, in hindsight, is kind of like turning on the Weather Channel after a tornado has wrecked your double-wide, but that’s another story altogether). Unfortunately, my local ERWTR station has Sean Hannity on during my evening commute.

Now, on a normal day, I don’t much care for Hannity. For one thing, his voice is Yankeely annoying. And from what I’ve managed to glean from listening to him, it strikes me as if he were trying to do Rush Limbaugh’s schtick, without Rush Limbaugh’s talent* (maybe Hannity ought to ask God for a loan…).

But I digress. During the little bit I caught, he was talking about how John Kerry was into windsurfing and how this somehow reinforces the image that he’s not In Touch With The Common Man. Hannity started mimicking Kerry asking his butler to make him a PBJ sandwich or something. Now, in my younger, less-busy bachelor days, I was an avid board-sailor. I guess that means I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, too?

Now, I’ll admit that board-sailing (which is the correct generic term for the activity; as Xerox is to photocopying, so Windsurfer is to board-sailing) is not the most popular of recreations. However, it is definitely not something restricted to the elite. Sure, it costs a couple grand to own your own equipment, but how does that compare with a good set of golf clubs, or, heck, a motorcycle? A low-end Harley will set you back quite a bit more than top-notch board-sailing gear, and I don’t see anybody suggesting that Harley fans are some kind of Elite East-Coast Establishment types.

Nosir, from my experience, board-sailors are just like everybody else. Except we have more fun!
Read the rest of this entry »

The AP reports that the FBI is tracking potential GOP protesters.

The Tennessean has a crappy editorial on the assault weapons ban:

No one needs an Uzi

Assault weapons exist for one purpose: To kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

They are inappropriate for hunting, for self-defense and for target practice. Nevertheless, Congress cannot muster the collective guts to extend a ban on the world’s deadliest weapons. And that’s pitiful.

What’s need got to do with it? The people at the matches at Camp Perry and The Texas State Rifle Association will disagree about target practice and civilian need. And the Korean shop owners who used their rifles to defend their livelihoods during the LA riots would disagree about self defense. Additionally, Uzis would be classified as machine guns and covered under the 1934 National Firearms Act. Semiautomatic Uzis (i.e., not machine guns) have been banned from import since 1989 by Executive Order.

The assault weapons ban which passed in 1994 prohibited 19 classes of semiautomatic weapons from being manufactured or sold in the United States except for police or military use. That ban is due to expire Sept. 13 unless Congress passes an extension.

No, it doesn’t. It limits certain aesthetic, non-lethal features that semiautomatics can have to one of the following: pistol grip, folding stock, bayonet lug, grenade launcher, flash suppressor, and threaded barrel capable of accepting a flash suppressor. The only difference between the banned weapons and your daddy’s semi-automatic hunting rifle is the exclusion of those non-deadly features.

Here’s what the law does not do. It doesn’t require the confiscation of any gun: Automatic weapons in existence in the United States prior to 1994 were grandfathered in to the law, and can be kept, sold or given to anyone who is legally authorized to own a weapon. The law also specifically protected 670 types of hunting rifles and shotguns.

So, I should be thankful that no one is knocking on my door to get my guns? The law doesn’t specifically protect 670 types of weapons. It lists 670 guns supposedly not affected by the ban. However, those guns must meet the same criteria as the supposedly banned 19 rifles (i.e., only one of the aesthetic features above).

Additionally, the ban has nothing to do with automatic weapons. Period. Never has. Implying that the ban somehow affects machine guns is misleading at best and outright lying at worst.

Yet the law is still valuable because it has prevented new weapons in these classes from being made and sold — thus protecting this nation’s streets from being flooded with the weapons of choice of terrorists.

Playing the terror card wreaks of desperation. Additionally, there has been no evidence that the ban has had any effect on crime nor any evidence that it has increased terror attacks in the US. The hateful rhetoric is quite desperate.

And here’s the kicker:

The absurdity is that in an era when American citizens can’t carry pocketknives onto airplanes, and are required to walk through metal detectors to enter many buildings, the U.S. government is about to remove the safety on one of the nation’s few significant gun laws.

I’m not real happy about the pocketknife thing either. And if you are, you are a fool.

The Tennessean does offer this counterpoint article by Chris Cox.

Contact info for The Tennessean can be found here.

Jeff has the Olympic shooting sports edition this week. Cool.

George Schwab writes:

I would like to clarify a couple of things.

First, your “Choosing sides — Will lawmakers stand with NRA against assault-weapons ban?” editorial last month referred to the “deep-pocketed National Rifle Association” as if it were some type of monster that hides under the bed and will come out to eat you up if angered. The NRA is nothing more than a group of American citizens who pay their dues to belong. It is really no different than the AARP, the AAA or the NEA. All are organizations that exist to make sure the voice of their members — seniors, drivers and educators — get heard by the government.

Second, there is no data that I could find to suggest that the assault-weapons ban has had any effect on crime overall. While the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says that the incidents of these weapons used has gone down clearly, the crimes themselves have not. The U.S. Department of Justice, the Centers for Disease Control and the FBI Web sites contain data that says, in essence, that the ban has had no discernible effect on crime or gun-related deaths.

Third, and most important, is the fact that the elected officials you mention are clearly doing what their constituents have told them to do. They are not supporting the renewal of the ban because we, the people, have contacted them and asked them not to. If I’m reading your editorial correctly, it would seem that you would have them ignore the will of the people.

We live in a democracy; the people have the right to elect representatives and a duty to inform those elected as to our wishes. It is their duty to create legislation that conforms to these wishes.

People forget often that the NRA is the nations oldest civil liberties watchdog (gun rights are civil liberties, whether you like it or not). The NRA didn’t get into lobbying until the late 1930s as a result of the 1934 NFA. They are viewed as evil because they have lots of members and lots of money. I’ve never been a member of the NRA because of the few times they sold gun owners down the river to protect manufacturers (1968, 1986 and 1994). No gun control law has passed in this country since 1934 without their support (passive or active). Yet, they’re labeled extremists in the media.

Turns out the increasingly popular SOG Seal Revolver knife (seen here) was invented by a local Blount County man.

Heck, they practically give them away.

The KNS reports the number one major at the University of Tennessee is Psychology:

It is the undisputed heavyweight champion of majors at the University of Tennessee.

The number of psychology majors is so overwhelming that last year you could add the numbers of students majoring in logistics and journalism (the second and third most popular UT majors), and the sum still wouldn’t equal psychology.

The numbers don’t surprise UT Professor James E. Lawler, head of UT’s psychology department.

“It’s the No. 1 major at state universities across the country,” Lawler said last week. “It’s been this way for quite a few years.”

But while psychology is the single dominant major at UT, the College of Business Administration dominates the top 10 majors.

They speculate as to why psychology is popular. I’ll tell you why. It may as well be called a major in drinking beer and partying. It’s an easy major. It doesn’t take much time or effort compared to other majors. This allows you to spend your time doing more important things like drinking, hanging out, and showing up at a few peace rallies. You know, important stuff.

In LA, officials are taking land from a sporting goods store to build proposed 15.5-acre retail and residential project. Again, the powers that be are taking private land from private individuals under the threat of force or lawsuit to provide benefit to other private individuals. That does not pass the public good test.

Meanwhile, in Normal, Illinois, the powers that be are taking private property to build a hotel and convention center. Again, not passing the public good test.

And the powers that be elsewhere are taking one man’s parking lot to make renovations to a hotel.

The Toledo Blade:

A Toledo man found guilty last month of violating Toledo’s vicious-dog ordinance has appealed his case, as expected, and a national organization fighting against breed-specific legislation is picking up most of the tab.
“It’s a stepping-stone to where this needs to be,” Paul Tellings, Sr., said of his case.

Mr. Tellings appealed a Toledo Municipal Court decision in which Judge Francis X. Gorman ruled that Mr. Tellings had violated the city’s vicious-dog ordinance because he owned more than one pit bull and had no insurance for his dogs.

Pit bulls are the only breed presumed vicious under state law and Toledo Municipal Code. Owners in Toledo are subject to certain restrictions and must carry extra liability insurance.

Mr. Tellings argued that the law is unfair.

Judge Gorman upheld the law, but he said individual owners could ask the court to determine if their pit bull is not vicious, thereby relieving them of the extra responsibilities of owning a vicious dog.

He could have paid the fine but chose to fight the law. He has filed an appeal. The American Canine Foundation is picking up the bill and they have fought other BSL laws.

This time, at Newsday:

If you think streets awash in Uzis, AK-47s and other military-style firearms are just what the country needs, then you’ll love the game that President George W. Bush and House Republican leaders are playing. They’re about to let the 1994 assault-weapons ban slip into the dustbin of history without so much as a vote in the House.

The law that prohibits the manufacture or distribution of 19 kinds of semiautomatic weapons will sunset on Sept. 13. It should be extended.

The ban doesn’t affect Uzis, AK-47s and other military-style firearms. Those weapons are machine guns, which are covered under the 1934 National Firearms Act. The ban also doesn’t prohibits the manufacture or distribution of 19 kinds of semiautomatic weapons. It limits the number of features that any semiautomatic weapon can have to one.

However, this article is right about one thing, Bush is playing politics.

Kathy K. has apparently weathered the hurricane and MommaBear reports she’s OK.

No, not the Catholic kind. Spacewar reports the US will be pulling 100,000 troops out of Europe and Asia. Good. About time they paid for their own defense.

Gunner addresses the pending expiration of the assault weapons ban.

I tend to share his assessment that:

So the Republicans in Washington are trying to look good, and the Democrats cannot pass a rifle range without a photo-op occurring. What does that say to me? They are buying our love until they can get the votes. Then it’s 20 dollars on the hotel nightstand with “don’t call me, I’ll call you” written on it.

I think the ban will sunset. I think it will come back after the elections and it may even be more stringent. As such, I plan on buying a lot of stuff in the interim.

Matt at Triggerfinger is more optimistic.

At three days, I see the first mainstream media outlet cover the Kerry in Cambodia flop. However, it’s an opinion piece. And it’s assuming the AJC is mainstream media:

Kerry claimed in a March 27, 1986, speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate that he vividly remembered Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. “I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared — seared — in me.”

It was a story he had told earlier, as well, blaming President Nixon for lying to the country. Kerry’s swift-boat superiors deny that he was ever in Cambodia — the border region was not in his division’s area of operation — and, according to another book about Kerry, “Tour of Duty,” he spent Christmas 1968 in Sa Dec, more than 50 miles from the border. And, of course, on Christmas of 1968, Lyndon Johnson was still president.

Or good rather, just bad for the journalists:

Earlier today two Middle Eastern men attempted to penetrate our security. They telephoned one of my helicopter FBOs and asked about a charter flight. After discussion of price and directions to the business, they arrived an hour later. When the office agent asked how they were going to pay for the flight they produced cash. When asked for ID, they produced driver’s licenses from two different states and they were driving a car licensed in a third state.

Things didn’t smell right so the mechanic took them into the hangar to see the aircraft while the office person called the FBI and local police. The helicopter they were going to fly was blocked in by other aircraft so the mechanic was able to stall them by having to slowly shuffle the blocking planes. Meanwhile the two men got their backpacks and odd-shaped luggage out of their car. Soon the local police arrived and they were hauled off to jail in handcuffs.

After a little time behind bars, the FBI verified that the two men were employed by NBC New York and were on assignment to get a story of how easy it is to charter a helicopter for a terrorist attack. The men had stayed in a local hotel and purchased box cutters, leather-man knives, and other potential weapons at the local Wal-Mart using a credit card. The box cutters had been hidden in the lining at the bottom of the back packs and the other weapons were hidden throughout their baggage. They had audiotaped the telephone conversation with Arlene and were going to use it as part of a national news story about how easy it is to get information and directions to the location of the helicopter and then hijack it to commit a terrorist attack.

So, in an attempt to create a sensationalistic story (instead of like, you know, reporting) a couple of morons decide to charter an aircraft while fitting the near perfect description of a terrorist. They got busted. And jailed.

As the site says, the story won’t be seen much since they were caught. No sensationalism = no story.

Via Fark, whose Farklanche shut down the original story.

The Geek has an email from Bill Frist that states further federal regulation of gun ownership is not the best answer to preventing violent crime, and I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.

Excellent. Given that Frist did not allow the ban up for vote before the recess, things are looking up. I applaud Frist.

Matt has some info on Seegars v. Ashcroft, which is one of the cases challenging the D.C. gun ban. I actually thought the case was done for.

You wouldn’t know it by all the cries of cuts, but Bill has the latest on Tennessee’s $380 million dollar surplus.

If you ever take up carjacking, make sure you know how to drive the car you’re taking.

Still checking to see if a major American news source is going to cover the Kerry/Cambodia flop . . . . hang on, I’m looking . . .. Nope.

It’s possible I missed it so if you have a link, let me know.

Update: Countertop has more in comments.

For updates of asses at the Olympics pictures, see comments

Reuters apparently needs to hire a female photographer because the guy there doing it is apparently taking pictures of random butts. For example, these two:

Brazil’s swimmer Mariana Brochado stands near the pool before a training session in the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Athens

Russian water polo player Maria Yaina prepers her team training in Athens Olympic Aquatic centre on August 13, 2004

Apparently, it’s asses from the Olympics week. Notice, the spelling isn’t too good either.

Apparently, lots of men are liars.

The funny thing is how they did the study:

Company representatives went to Cancun, Mexico, at the heart of spring break, hoping to get 1,000 guys to drop their trousers, get aroused, and let a team of nurses measure them individually.

Spoons reports that the author of the article has a follow up, which includes an interview with another passenger.

I bet Bubba wants to bid on this one:

The Walther PPK, engraved with the star’s motto “TCB” (”Taking Care of Business”) was to have been one of the stars lot in the rock’n'roll memorabilia sale on European cable channel Auction-world TV.

But advertising guns in England is illegal so no one gets to see it.

New Jersey doesn’t usually grant carry permits, unless you’re rich, a politico, a policeman, or someone calls in a favor. However, a judge ruled recently that:

A Warren County ship captain may carry a concealed weapon in New Jersey waters and ports, state Superior Court Judge John Pursel ruled Wednesday.

The judge cited the post-Sept. 11 world of terrorist threats and the recent rise in the terrorist alert system as part of the reason for his decision to grant the carrying permit.

Authorities fear the ruling could lead to similar requests from other civilians who would normally face a daunting task in obtaining a New Jersey carrying permit — permits that are tougher to obtain than those in other states, such as Pennsylvania.

Good. However, what about the average citizen?

An article at ESPN.com tackles the question. We’re not the psychotics the Brady Campaign would have you believe. One quote:

You meet the nicest people at a shooting range.

Indeed you do. The range is probably the easiest place in the world to strike up a conversation because everyone there is interested in shooting.

We apparently have domestic terrorists:

Forget duct tape.

With America at war and Americans at risk, this group of young Campbell County men figured their homeland security plan ought to include some heavy artillery.

But guns, ammunition and survival kits cost money, and the newly formed American Independence Group was not in line for any government grants.

So, AIG President Ronald Eric Myers hatched a plan to rob a Campbell County bank and a pawnshop and, if the group had any spare time, torch a hotel full of Hispanics, a FBI agent testified Thursday.

I’ve already forgotten duct tape. This is rather scary. Further in the story, we learn that the two are charged with attempted bank robbery and possession of an AK47 rifle, which is odd because the AK47 rifle is banned by the 1994 assault weapons ban.

Three schools in Blount County were identified as failing the benchmarks established by No Child Left Behind. The KNS says, spinning not so good news into kind of OK news, that only half as many failed this time.

But don’t worry, the wheel tax will save them. Oh, it’s not for schools?

The KNS also has this excellent No Child Left Behind Primer, it’s worth reading. I like the concept of No Child Left Behind in that it does establish standards. However, all my teacher friends assure me those standards are not very helpful.

People like you are not the final arbiters of what are legitimate uses of firearms.

AWBSunset

Via Bubba, we welcome to the following to the Rocky Top Brigade:

Dropstones, a recent Tennessee transplant.

Tennessee Talk, where Kate discusses Tennessee in the news. Maybe she figure out why it’s always for something stupid.

Domestic Psychology, a personal blog.

John Brown, who is to the right and is also a columnist for the University of Tennessee school paper.

Michael Silence, who is a reporter for the local city news paper.

And finally Argus, a Navy guy at Pearl Harbor.

The army err navy amasses. Soon, we will strike. All your base are belong to us.

Welcome all.

There is one month remaining before the sunset of the Assault Weapons Ban. Proponents of the extension are out in force. The Million err Twenty Four Moms our out in force as are New Jersey congressmen.

It has not expired yet not is it guaranteed to. Contact your congressmen and tell them to kill it. Write, email, phone, carrier pigeon or fax. Need contact info? Go here or here or here.

JoinTogether writes:

The halls of the U.S. Capitol are empty this month as Congress has adjourned for the August recess without extending the Assault Weapons Ban. If President Bush and Congress continue to stall, the ten-year-old Ban will expire on September 13, 2004. Just as our children are returning to their schools, assault weapons will be returning to their streets. While your Members of Congress are at home this month make sure they get the message that you do not want assault weapons in your community!

It’s expiring. Good news indeed. However, the ban has not been shown to have any impact on firearm violence. When you rely on the children as a talking point, you’re really reaching.

Since the ban was passed, overall gun deaths have decreased by nearly twenty-five percent and child and teen deaths from firearms have dropped fifty percent. Sixty-three percent of gun owners favor the ban and an overwhelming majority of registered voters also support it.

And, in that same time period, 16 states adopted shall-issue conceal carry or stopped restricting carrying weapons. Correlation does not equal causation.

In other news, Armalite is offering its customers the opportunity to pre-order post-post-ban rifles. The Brady’s are trying to say that this is illegal. It’s not illegal because Armalite has not manufactured the rifles yet.

To use the hateful rhetoric of the Brady Campaign, this psychotic plans on buying multiple receivers on September 14, 2004.

On the way to work, I saw a late model Ford station wagon that had two bumper stickers. On the left was a Gore Lieberman 2000 bumper sticker. On the right was a Bush Cheney 2004 bumper sticker. Possible explanations:

Captain Ed:

The Left spent the entire campaign shouting “Bush Lied — People Died!” as a disqualification for the presidency. Now that we’ve determined that Bush didn’t lie, that he represented the intelligence given to him accurately, will the Left hold John Kerry to the same standard? He lied about his Cambodian missions in order to lend credence to his testimony about witnessing systematic atrocities by American servicemen in Viet Nam, leading to our withdrawal — and the genocide that followed.

Kerry lied, millions died. Millions died.

Is that the leadership that the Left endorses?

Ouch. Now, it is quite a stretch to say that Kerry’s actions caused millions to die, and I doubt that is the point. The fact that Kerry has maintained the lie after basing the entirety of his reason for public service on it makes it abysmal.

Meanwhile, Instapundit reports the lack of media coverage and has a good round up of the whole thing.

Via XRLQ

Update: More ouch:

And the Post manages to write an entire editorial about the veracity of the Swiftvets without even noting that their first charge scored a direct hit this week.

Weely gun links are up.

Despite this claim, why is the Texas State Rifle Association (a group of civilians) teaching our soldiers how to shoot? And with assault rifles.

Eminent domain is inherently bad because it can (and often is abused). In this case, the plan is to take by force someone’s private property and give it to other private individuals:

Three streets [Marine and Ocean Terraces and Seaview Avenue, known as MTOTSA] in the redevelopment zone designated as Beachfront North, phase II, remain, that are slated for eminent domain. Plans call for the properties to be bulldozed and replaced with townhouses and condominiums

Taking someone’s property to build homes and town houses? How does that benefit the public good? What about the private good?

Howard Nemerov rips the VPC a new one regarding its selective use of its supposed studies and other statistics. Worth the read.

The KNS reports:

A Holocaust denier booted from his Sevier County home – and the country – should get a shot at arguing against his deportation, a federal appellate court has ruled.

Whether Ernst Zundel, 65, will actually be allowed to appear in U.S. District Court in Knoxville remains unclear, however. Zundel is in solitary confinement in a detention center in Toronto, Canada, where he is accused of being a threat to that country’s national security.

Zundel is a German-born graphic artist and publisher whose 1980 pamphlet “Did Six Million Really Die?” rocketed him to infamy as a Holocaust denier and – as some allege – a neo-Nazi.

The man is obviously a moron but he should be allowed a proper trial. Of course, other than the deportation claims, they really don’t have much on him. Free speech includes the freedom to say hateful, stupid things. To continue:

Zundel was eventually deported to Canada, where officials are trying to send him back to Germany. He faces hate crime charges there in connection with his writings, which include the book “The Hitler We Loved and Why,” and his Web site (ed. – website link removed because he’s a bastard)

Some more of that Canadian free speech I keep hearing about. Or is it healthcare? I forget.

This one is pretty lame:

How many rounds of ammunition are needed in a single clip to hunt or target shoot?

Federal law now allows up to 10. After that, the marksman or hunter has to manually replace an ammo clip to load 10 more. It takes about three seconds, less with practice.

In 32 days, the 10-year-old federal assault weapon ban expires, allowing hunters and marksmen to save that extra three seconds by having magazines that can hold 15, 20 even 70 rounds of ammunition for a continuous spray of bullets to pulverize a target or decimate large game.

What does hunting have to do with it?

These large-clip, rapid-firing assault weapons certainly can be used for target practice and hunting. But their real value is in man-to-man combat, exchanging rounds in a firefight. Their prevalence in Iraq is what makes things so deadly for U.S. troops. If Iraq had an assault weapon ban, the U.S. casualty count would be much, much lower.

Again, trying to imply the assault weapons ban applies to military machine guns, it doesn’t. And the comparison to Iraq is intellectually dishonest on so many levels. Do they really think a ban would curb the insurgency? That may be the dumbest thing I’ve read today.

Without action by our congressmen, the U.S., too, will be without an assault weapon ban. The current ban isn’t fool-proof. Some assault weapons manufactured before the ban still are allowed. Legal, semi-automatic weapons can be illegally modified to operate in violation of the law.

The current ban isn’t a ban on any gun. It’s a ban on what cosmetic features guns can have. And, for the record, ALL assault weapons manufactured before the ban still are legal to own.

But it clearly has kept thousands of more dangerous weapons off the streets. Scientific polls of registered voters invariably show more than 70 percent favor extending the ban.

And how are those two statements related? The ban has kept the weapons out of the hands of law abiding collectors. Criminals, who by definition disobey laws, are not going to obey this one (like you said in the above paragraph). Additionally, the studies you allude aren’t credible and there are studies that show the opposite.

And their conclusion:

You know what is crazier? Letting this common-sense ban fall victim to a relative handful of gun supporters who earnestly believe the ban somehow weakens our important and necessary 2nd Amendment.

It doesn’t.

So, if I understand this right, you’re telling me that infringing on my second amendment rights doesn’t, you know, infringe on my second amendment rights? Moron.

Jerry Parsons in a letter to the editor:

I know how to get a 99.9% “yes” response on a question about gun control. You merely ask anybody “Are you in favor of a law that will keep dangerous guns out of the hands of criminals?” I also know a way to silence 100% of the lawmakers, activists and other believers in unicorns. You merely ask them, “Could you please define a law that will keep dangerous guns out of the hands of criminals?” The response would be universal silence, as there is not, never has been, nor ever will be such a law, and criminals do not obey laws.

He goes on to say:

Even the most ardent supporters of the assault gun ban admit that it has been totally ineffective, so why does The Times keep pushing the gun control myth?

Indeed.

You may remember this post of mine that pointed to a site called Winning An Argument. I challenged their argument on the assault weapons ban and never heard from them. Today, I get this email from a contributor to the site:

In a recent post on the popular liberal blog Daily Kos, the site’s primary author attributed some of the success of his site to his decision to “immediately shut the door on…Republican commentors.” His idea was “to create a ’safe zone’ for liberal political junkies.” No matter how successful the Kos site has been I don’t think it was the right decision. I don’t think anyone – including bloggers – should try to insulate themselves from people who disagree with them. Unfortunately, this is increasingly the trend among blogs of all stripes.

In my mind, the only way to move forward is to constantly test our ideas against our harshest critics. We should be willing to learn from those criticisms and, if necessary, change our positions.

That is why I am inviting you and your readers to come to our liberal blog – Winning Argument – and prove us wrong. I welcome any opinion expressed in any way you want. There will be no censorship. Check it out:

Winning Argument is a little different than a lot of liberal blogs instead of just providing commentary we explicitly try to prove positions. I plan on promoting especially thoughtful comments – even conservative ones – to the main section of the site.

Thanks for your consideration.

First, Kos is a partisan hack. Second, I applaud the site for getting away from that whole bush lied, selected not elected, or whatever cool little hippie saying the moonbats are using these days. However, to win an argument, they may want to address when their arguments are challenged. And they may want to brush up on how to argue. Getting your talking points from issue driven hacks is usually not the way to go.

Congrats to Andrew on the new edition to his household.

I just thought that women’s Olympic wrestling would be, you know, hotter.

I want to buy one of the AR-15 sling adapters listed here. Trouble is, you click on their buy button and takes you a list of retailers. I have searched their sites (those that have websites) and can’t find the item listed. Anyone know a good source?

Triggerfinger has a round up rebutting some of the stats that anti-gunners like to use regarding the supposed assault weapons ban.

Breed Specific Legislation in Council Bluffs, which I’ve covered before, was not passed. Good.

Alan Keyes:

I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and I think it would require some serious justification in my mind before we would curtail the rights of gun owners. I was appalled when I heard that my opponent was one of these people that believe if a burglar breaks in your house you don’t have the right to use some means of self defense against an individual that might threaten your life.

Alex Halperin, of The Financial Times, writes:

On paper, both John Kerry and George W.Bush support the extension of the US assault weapons ban. In practice, neither has done much to make it happen – thanks to the power of gun politics in the US.

The 10-year-old ban expires on September 13, highlighting an issue both men have avoided.

In 1994 Mr Kerry backed the law prohibiting sales of various types of semi-automatic weapons. But, like all Democrats, he and his aides know the price of tangling with the gun lobby. Former president Bill Clinton has said that the assault weapons ban cost 20 Democratic members of Congress their jobs and helped the Republicans sweep Capitol Hill in 1994.

The National Rifle Association, for its part, boasts that it mobilised gun owners in such key states as Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri, rallying enough votes for Mr Bush to win in 2000.

So Mr Kerry has hardly mentioned extending the ban even though the Democrats’ election year platform calls for it. In a symbolic Senate vote to extend the ban this year, Mr Kerry voted in favour, but since then he has courted gun owners by posing for photographs with a shotgun and in hunting gear.

That being said, I used to think that it was brilliant politics on the part of Clinton to have the foresight to ensure the ban expired in an election year. However, it seems those politics may be its undoing.

Gunner, recalling my post comparing the names of house paints to porn stars, emails a link to this fun little quiz. Is it the name of a My Little Pony or a porn star?

Of course, My Little Pony could be a euphemism for, uhm, something.

Since opinion pieces that oppose the assault weapons ban are rare, here’s a link to one:

Chicken Little arrives every four years in a feather-ruffled flurry squawking about some kind of impending doom. This year she is incited to a level of hen-ish hysteria by the encroaching expiration of the federal “assault weapons” ban.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is all for extending the ban on 19 military-style firearms, coos Chicken Little. He suspended his campaign back in March so he could go to Washington and cast one of the few Senate votes he found time to make in the past year. No one should read anything political into that.

But that bad ol’ President Bush, clucks the harried hen, he said he’d sign an extension of the ban, but he isn’t doing anything to force those nasty, gun-loving, NRA-co-opted Republicans to bring it to a vote.

Chickie needs to pipe down and revisit what the president did say about the ban, adopted by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1994. Bush said he’d sign the extension if it made it to his desk. He never promised to pressure lawmakers into getting it to that point.

This is just one more example of how hysteria and ignorance can warp understanding of an issue.

The uninformed make audacious claims: “If the ban expires, it will become legal to buy dangerous, rapid-fire guns most commonly seen in action movies.”

First, all firearms are dangerous, which is why it is so important to teach children never to think they are toys. But this line from a Statesman Journal editorial, which ran last month in the Salem, Ore., newspaper, equates the firearms covered by the ban with machine guns.

Even if the ban is lifted, John Q. Schnutz still will not be able to purchase fully automatic machine guns, which are highly regulated.

I can add action movies to the list of rhetoric used by proponents of the ban, which has included automatic weapons, bullet hoses, spray fire weapons, people killers, and weapons of mass destruction. And the following quote dispels the misconceptions that most media types try to shove down our throats regarding the ban:

The 1994 crime bill forbade the manufacture and import of certain guns that Congress defined as “assault weapons.”

These firearms were classified by how they looked and not by how they operate. Cosmetic and ergonomic features like telescoping stocks, bayonet lugs, pistol grips and flash suppressors that give the firearms a military-style appearance were banned even though they are mechanically indistinguishable from traditional sporting rifles.

The provision that banned “high-capacity” ammunition magazines is also scheduled to expire Sept. 13, although the House bill calling for the ban’s extension does not mention high-capacity magazines.

The ban did “not” outlaw ownership of semi-automatic guns. Banned “assault weapons” have always been available on the secondary market, and owners of those guns don’t break any law by reselling them.

Indeed.

The Evil Loophole Gun Show is in Raleigh this weekend. Any of you all planning to go?

Welcome back.

Bubba has a picture of a billboard advertising a local gun show. The problem with the billboard is that it says at the bottom in big letters: Randy Weaver Ruby Ridge.

Assuming that since Randy Weaver is an isolationist and will not actually attend the gun show (RK Shows, who is having the show doesn’t list him on their site), Bubba wonders what the point is. As do I.

Update: Countertop informs me in comments that Weaver is making the gun show circuit.

Update 2: Ace reporter Michael Silence did some actual, you know, journalism and confirms that Weaver is coming to the gun show.

Or at least humorous. First and foremost, I love The Daily Show. It’s hysterical. I TiVo it every night. Stewart is funny and he picks on both sides (though he picks on Republicans more).

Last night during the 4 in the morning feeding of the baby, I watched The Daily Show on TiVo. Now, my frame of mind at 4 in the morning is perhaps questionable, but here’s how the opening segment went down: Stewart shows a clip from the Swift Boat Vet ad. Then proceeds to go into all the talking points over at Media Matters regarding the SBVs (which coincidentally are misleading – I don’t believe the SBVs but such blatant fabrications to discredit them may lead one to believe the Dems do have something to hide) to counter the ad. And I waited for the punchline. It never came. There was a lame reading of the doctor who claimed to treat Kerry’s journal (not funny) and a mention of the Alabama Mail Room Clerks and Bush, which Bubba already did.

That was it. No jokes (OK, no good jokes) just talking points. Now, I don’t mind if my humor is slanted. I do take issue when it isn’t humorous. If you’re going to do the fake news, make sure it’s funny fake news and not a commercial.

Then Colbert did a hysterical piece on a representative sample from DemCon.

Hell, yeah:

FMG Publications is encouraging American sportsmen to vote to with their wallets this fall by supporting their Second Amendment right. The message from the publisher of American Handgunner, GUNS and Shooting Industry magazine: “Buy a Gun for America.”

Sign me up. Of course, it was Aaron’s idea first.

Triggerfinger alerts us about new developments in the door-to-door confiscation of guns that occurred in Oshkosh. Alarming to me was:

… police pursued a search warrant for a homeowner who — well within his rights — rescinded his consent to the police search after he realized police were stealing his guns.

Good for the homeowner. And I thought that refusal to submit to a search wasn’t grounds for a warrant.

It opens with the ludicrous statement of the day:

Assault weapons are only for people-hunters

Actually, I have an AR15 and all I hunt is paper targets. And those people with their M1s, Garands, and AR15s who lay waste to paper targets at Camp Perry would also disagree. Additionally, these weapons are functionally identical to most semi-automatic hunting rifles, they just look mean. More:

PRESIDENT BUSH says he favors legislation to extend the 1994 assault-weapons ban, which will expire Sept. 13 unless Congress acts. He isn’t, however, planning to encourage congressional action because gun issues pose an election-year minefield for some of his friends in the House and Senate.

Agreed, Bush is fence-sitting.

That is surely a fence-sitting position if there ever was one. The assault weapons that fall under the ban are not for hunting or personal protection. They are for the efficient, aggressive killing of human beings. They are military weapons. Sportsmen and those who own firearms for self-defense need them about like they need bazookas.

Comparing a semi-automatic rifle to a bazooka is almost as asinine as comparing a rifle to a baseball bat in terms of killing power. Make no mistake, this rhetoric is not intended in any way to allow a person to make an informed decision. This rhetoric is designed to mislead people into believing that the ban affects military weapons, which it does not. At least they didn’t pull an LA Times and call them weapons of mass destruction or play the nuke card.

A survey conducted in April by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, a research arm of the University of Pennsylvania, found that 71 percent of Americans support the ban’s extension, while 23 percent would rather it expired. Even among gun-owning households, 64 percent back the extension, the survey found.

And there is a survey that indicates the opposite is true. Both surveys are misleading.

Gun ownership, however, is one of those issues regarding which the tail wags the dog. The vehemence with which a minority of gun owners fight to protect their Second Amendment rights, which they view as unlimited, helps fuel the efforts of gun-control advocates, who have their own rabid subset. For example, the gun zealots who participated in a recent series of gun-brandishing incidents in Northern Virginia only threaten the rights of those who use and keep their arms responsibly.

So, you acknowledge the right and it’s restrictions? So do I. There are reasonable restrictions on the right to arms that I don’t oppose (a ban on bazookas, for example). These same restrictions apply to other rights (can’t yell fire in a theater, for example). I just don’t think that restricting the aesthetic features of a rifle (which is all the ban does) qualifies as reasonable. The ban does not affect military weapons, those have been regulated since 1934.

And it occurs to me that this is the same paper that Michael Zitz works for. I wonder if he wrote it?

Via Mike, the Other Biased Washington Paper reports:

A reporter is being held in contempt of court and faces possible jail time, and another was earlier threatened by a federal judge with the same fate, after they refused to answer questions from a special prosecutor investigating whether administration officials illegally disclosed the name of a covert CIA officer last year.

Newly-released court orders show U.S. District Court Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan two weeks ago ordered Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Tim Russert of NBC to appear before a grand jury and tell whether they knew that White House sources provided the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to the media.

The Justice Department probe is trying to determine whether this information was provided knowingly, in violation of the law. Hogan’s orders show that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald believes Cooper and Russert know the answer.

Cooper still refused to answer questions after Hogan’s July 20 order, and on Aug. 6 Hogan held him in contempt of court and ordered that he go to jail. Cooper has been released on bond pending his emergency appeal to a federal appeals court. Hogan has ordered that Time pay a $1,000 fine for each day Cooper does not appear before the grand jury.

Sources close to the investigation said they believe Russert was not held in contempt Aug. 6 because he agreed to answer the questions after Hogan’s July 20 ruling.

Both journalists had earlier tried to quash the subpoenas issued by Fitzgerald in May. But, citing a Supreme Court decision, Judge Hogan ruled that journalists have no privilege to protect anonymous sources when the state has a compelling interest to investigate or prosecute a crime.

First off, I echo Mike’s sentiment that reporters have no special rights. They should be treated just like you and me. However, I think those rights include the right to not incriminate themselves and to remain silent. Of course, I’m no Constitutional scholar so maybe there is no right to not testify.

And, for what it’s worth, this kind of testimony is just about the only thing that can convince me that the Plame incident was indeed scandalous.

No, not stem cells but this:

At this small town on a rail track, supporters brought John Kerry’s train to a halt with a homemade sign made of white bedsheets asking for just a few minutes of his time.

{snip}

“Somebody put up a sign, and it said ‘Give us 10 minutes, just 10 minutes.’ And another sign said ‘Give us 8 minutes and we’ll give you 8 years,’” Kerry said. “So just for an insurance policy, I gave them 15 or 20, and that’s why we’re late.”

I don’t like him on the issues but I applaud him for that.

Sad news: Fay Wray died yesterday at the age of 96.

* Bonus for the reference.

It is however here. That’s a link to Michael Silence’s new blog over at the KNS. Welcome to blogging.

Link via Bubba.

And those ties to terrorists.

Fishkite has a good summary of what has been found in Iraq. Hyperlinks in the post would have been nice but if you look on the right side toolbar, there are some links to what has been found.

Via Les.

Hasbro has Lite Brite online. Cool.

The KNS reports that Michael Silence will start blogging today. However, I can’t find the link. Interesting to note from the announcement that:

Silence’s blog will be his voice, not that of the News Sentinel. That voice is on the editorial page. He also will comment very little, if any, on the issues and people he covers.

When an article starts off like this, you have to wonder:

Forget that state agents were chasing the wrong man.

Forget that Rodolfo “Rudy” Cardenas never pointed a gun at the undercover officer who shot him in the back, or that the San Jose man eerily predicted his own death by police shootout.

Despite every questionable action leading to the Feb. 17 tragedy that ended with Cardenas’ death in downtown San Jose, the heart of the criminal case against Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agent Mike Walker now rests squarely on Walker himself, legal experts say.

The pivotal question a jury must consider is Walker’s state of mind the moment he aimed his Glock .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol at the 43-year-old Cardenas and fired.

State of mind? My ass. What about all the training the police get so that they can overcome stress and fear? The case will boil down to if they should excuse the officer involved because he was spooked. I’m not buying it and hopefully the jury won’t either.

Update: See comments for rescinded catch phrase.

The theft of an XBox resulted in three people killing six people by beating them and stabbing them. What is the world coming to?

And, you don’t need a baseball bat.

This time, it’s from the pro gun side. An error is still an error:

The liberal case for an extension of the assault weapons ban is undermined by one small but significant detail: the term “assault” as used in the law is a something of a misnomer. Technically, assault weapons are machine guns that can be fired either automatically (multiple shots per pull of the trigger) or semi-automatically (a single shot per trigger pull). Federal law already regulates these weapons.

I’m not sure which technically you’re referring to. Technically for a gun hobbyist and the military, assault weapons are machine guns (or automatics). Technically, under the 1994 Assault Weapons ban, assault weapons are semi-automatics that have two or more of a flash hider, threaded barrel capable of accepting a flash hider, bayonet lug, pistol grip, grenade launcher or folding stock.

The article does list some of the media hysteria surrounding the ban.

Update: It occurs to me that he may be referring to a single rifle that fires automatically or semi-automatically (i.e., one rifle with a selector switch). In which case, he’s not wrong. However, based on the wording, I can’t be certain.

Update 2: I’ve decided my reading comprehension is lacking and he is actually correct. Penalty flag withdrawn, repeat first down.

James Kilpatrick writes of eminent domain:

At the heart of these cases lies the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. In words every schoolboy can understand, the amendment says that government may not take private property for “public use” without payment of just compensation. The key words are “public use.” They are not difficult words. They are simple words. Their definition requires no law degrees.

Notice that the Constitution does not speak gauzily of “public purpose” or “public benefit.” It speaks with perfect clarity of “public use.” Except for the power to declare war, the power of eminent domain is the most essential and most dangerous of all powers vested in government. It is perilous precisely because it is most often employed by good men seeking to do good.

In New London, Connecticut, the city wants to buy the property of Mrs. Kelo and turn it over to private developers:

The New London Development Corp., a public entity, wants to grab 90 acres of absolutely unoffending property. The middle-income owners would be compensated, the land would be cleared and private developers would do what private developers do. They would make money. The city envisions more tax dollars and more construction jobs. Susette Kelo and her neighbors envision eviction. Their homes are their castles. They want to stay put.

When you take private property and turn it over to another private party, that is not public use in my book.

Chris Cox on the assault weapons ban:

The debate is not about so-called assault weapons. It’s about banning guns.

Indeed. The article also has some good information about the political impact of the ban on the 1996 elections. Gun owners do vote. Otherwise, Kerry wouldn’t use every opportunity to pose with a gun and Cheney wouldn’t be trying to smooth things over with the NRA because Bush supports the assault weapons ban. However, neither is fooling me.

Meant to post this a while back when Bubba was asking for sauce recipes. I dig Boston Butts. My usual method of preparation is to throw some charcoal in the smoker, add some hickory or mesquite logs (or chips) that have been soaking in water for a few days, and smoke the butt on about 250 degrees for 7 to 9 hours. However, when in a rush for lunch, you can do one in the oven on about 350 degrees for about 30 minutes per pound.

Regardless, to prepare the butt, I either do a rub or oil marinade. The rub consists of chili powder, cumin, garlic, mustard powder, paprika, kosher salt, brown sugar and pepper. I’ve never really measured amounts and tend to eyeball it. The oil marinade consists of 3/4 cup of olive oil, 8 fresh chopped basil leaves, two table spoons of fresh chopped rosemary and a couple table spoons of garlic. Salt and pepper the butt then spoon the marinade over it. Cook as outlined above.

One of the mop sauces I use (that I used today, in fact) is a vinegar sauce. Make this about and hour before you eat because it’s good fresh and it doesn’t keep for more than a couple of days. Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1.5 cups of cider vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 or 2 freshly chopped jalapeños (chopped thin. You can make the sauce less spicy by removing the seeds. I never do, though)
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons fresh ground pepper
1 small onion chopped
2 tablespoons garlic

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Spoon over the meat that you pull from the Boston butt. I’ll post my more traditional (i.e., tomato based) mop sauce soon. Go ahead, fix some. It’s good, I promise. Enjoy.

Last night, I attended my 15 year high school reunion. I have one thing to say. There should be a law prohibiting DJs from going from a House of Pain song to an AC(lightning bolt)DC song. It gave me the willies.

Benjamin Vanderford faked a beheading video:

“It was part of a stunt, but no one noticed it up until now,” Vanderford told The Associated Press after being awoken at his San Francisco apartment early Saturday and informed that much of the world was suddenly under the impression he had been decapitated.

Heh. Rather blasé for the media. Why?

When his political aspirations waned, he decided to distribute the footage on Kazaa, which is used to trade millions of audio, video and software files daily, “to just make a statement on these type of videos and how easily they can be faked.”

Although the video went for months without drawing attention, it spread quickly after it was posted on a militant Islamic Web site that has previously carried claims of violent acts that eventually were verified.

The clip aired Saturday on the Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya, as well as the Lebanese Al Hayat-LBC satellite station, before Western news organizations, including The Associated Press and Reuters, published news of the unverified beheading.

Well, that’s odd.

In the last couple weeks, I have seen Glenn, DailyKos, and some blogger I’ve never heard of on TV. And tonight, I flip on the tube and there’s Moxie on Dennis Miller. She only said like two things, one of which was a bad joke, as Ed Begley, Jr. hogged air time yammering about hybrid car incentive. Also, some pop star was on there who I had never heard of. It was kind of a snorer, but then Miller’s show usually is.

Is it sad that I know who Moxie is but not this pop star?