Apparently so many people are running out to get flat panel televisions that folks are expecting a huge amount of old television sets to be turning up at land fills (where I live now, I just put old stuff out at the street and it vanishes within an hour).

What I don’t understand is why so many people are buying flat-panel televisions instead of projectors. The picture on most flat-panel sets is less-than-desirable. A thin TV with a bad picture is not worth $3000, to me anyway. Especially when, for the same money, you can have a little bitty projector beaming a 100″ cinema-quality picture onto your wall.

We’re moving into a house with a 25×19 living room and an 18×25 rec room. Any of those flat panel TVs, and indeed our 47″ HD rear projection TV, will vanish in a room that size. Are we going to be more inclined to get this or this for the same price? Up to 133″ of picture or just 32″?

So what is it about the flat-panel TVs? Just that they’re cool? I don’t get it, but then again, I don’t own one either. Of course, with a projector I’ll have to buy a screen and deal with bulb maintenance and can’t get it smaller than about 50″. Maybe that’s a reason to get a flat-panel TV…a small one, not a large one.

I’ve been in la-la land the last week or so. Nope, not endlessly commanding the virtual bartender to jiggle, but stressing over this house closing process. Well, today after signing 10 million pieces of paper, it’s finally ours! Yay! And, we almost have a buyer for our old house, meaning we may not have to rent it out.

Now to bait the kitchen with scotch and rum to get people over to help paint. Heh…

I don’t even know what’s going on in the news anymore. Something about Ukraine I think. And perhaps some new Bush appointees?

If you’re in the market for a good retro Christmas album, pick up Chris Isaak’s new CD. I think that about catches me up to this week!

In response to the recent shootings of dogs and bad press, Midstate police are learning non-deadly methods of dealing with vicious dogs:

More than two dozen police and animal-control officers from throughout Middle Tennessee — including 10 officers from Hendersonville, where the most recent dog shooting occurred — were scheduled to attend.

”I don’t want to second-guess any police officer, but if you can avoid an encounter where you have to shoot somebody’s pet, that’s a good thing,” said Sgt. Ty Wilson of the White House, Tenn., Police Department, one of five officers from that department at the training. ”We’re duty-bound to protect the public from vicious dogs, and we need any help we can get on how to defuse that kind of encounter.”

In addition to learning to deal with vicious dogs, Wilson said his department hopes to avoid the ”media blast” surrounding the Cookeville dog shooting in January 2003 and the dog shooting in Hendersonville last month.

Good idea. However, sometimes shooting a vicious dog is unavoidable. It happens. But in the case of the Cookeville dog shooting, they could just hire less trigger-happy police.

As you may know, there’s a case at the Supreme Court (being argued by Randy Barnett of the Volokh Conspiracy) arguing whether Federal Law trumps state law and how much power Congress actually has due to the commerce clause (after all every fucking thing is commerce, right? Just ask Congress). More importantly, this case could set a standard in the war on civil liberties err some drugs err drugs.

Drug War Rant, a blog you should be reading, is on the case.

Update: The Times has more.

Confederate Yankee on the second amendment and assault weapons.

Jeff has the latest.

Chai Vang has had charges brought against him:

A Laotian immigrant accused of shooting several hunters in Wisconsin was charged with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder on Monday, authorities said.

Shirley Conley is a complete lunatic:

Regarding the shooting deaths of the hunters in Wisconsin, it should come as no surprise to anyone that a person capable of killing Bambi and other defenseless animals with assault weapons would turn on humans as well.

Call it “collateral damage” from our wonderful congressional leaders who refused to renew the assault weapons ban. Perhaps now, the surviving members of the hunting party will know how it must feel for the poor animals!

GOA:

As Media Focuses on Wisconsin shooting, GOA Asks: “Why not report on the 4,000 self-defense uses of guns that same day?”

For a running list of media reported self defense shootings, go here, or here, or here.

Did you know that criminals don’t obey gun laws? Well, you do now:

Justice Department Study Shows 79 Percent of Criminals Obtained Firearms From Illegal Sources

Ninety-five percent of US police commanders and sheriffs believe most criminals obtain their firearms from illegal sources, according to a survey released by the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Coincidentally, data released by the US Department of Justice appears to confirm this claim by our nation’s police executives. The DOJ study refutes the conventional wisdom that guns used in criminal acts are purchased at retail stores or gun shows.

About 18 percent of state prisoners and 15 percent of federal prisoners reported that they were armed when they committed the offense for which they were imprisoned, according to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In the interviews, an estimated 9 percent of state prisoners and 2 percent of federal prisoners reported that they fired their weapon during the commission of the crime

[snip]

Among those who carried a firearm during the offense for which they were sent to prison, about 8 percent of the state and federal prisoners carried a military-style, semiautomatic weapon. These firearms included the UZI, Tec-9, and MAC-10 handguns, the AR-15, and AK-47 rifles and the “StreetSweeper” shotguns. Possession of these models which meet certain criteria as contained in the Federal statute can be unlawful. The firearm most favored by the inmates was a handgun, which was carried by more than 80 percent of the armed inmates.

I thought assault weapons were the weapon of choice among criminals? But what about that evil gun show loophole? Glad you asked:

Purchased from a retail store 8.3%
Purchased at a pawn shop 3.8%
Purchased at a flea market 1.0%
Purchased at a gun show 0.7%
Obtained from friends or family 39.6%
Obtained on the street/illegal source 39.2%

The NYT:

A proposal by the federal government to create a vast new database of enrollment records on all college and university students is raising concerns that the move will erode the privacy rights of students.

Until now, universities have provided individual student information to the federal government only in connection with federally financed student aid. Otherwise, colleges and universities submit information about overall enrollment, graduation, prices and financial aid without identifying particular students.

For the first time, however, colleges and universities would have to give the government data on all students individually, whether or not they received financial assistance, with their Social Security numbers.

They want this so that they can track performance and education statistics. I see no need for the government to track this kind of data other than at a non-specific level. Tracking this sort of info has that creepy big brother feel to it.

PG Politics notes that the Prince George’s County is proposing an amendment to the Maryland Constitution to authorize the County Council of Prince George’s County to provide for the immediate taking of private property situated in Prince George’s County under certain circumstances. The purpose, of course, is for economic development so they are authorizing taking land to give to private developers.

My top referrer this month is this site: http://12.163.72.13. I try to go there and get nothing. I try to look up the IP and get nothing. Anyone have a clue?

Chuck has the latest news on the shooting death of Kenneth Walker. Kenneth Walker was shot twice in the back by a police officer with an H&K MP5 as he lay on the ground. The officer claims he tripped and fired accidentally.

Update: Chuck tells me to note Mr. Walker was shot in the head. I meant in the back in the figurative sense as we was face down on the ground.

Got some good responses to the poll. Marc recommended the Trijicon Reflex, which I had read was problematic in low light since it is fiber optic and requires no batteries. I ordered the EOTech this weekend. We’ll see how it works.

Publicola goes down the list of anti-gun buzzwords. He forgot to add regular capacity to his list of terms.

Assault Weapon Watch.

Via Robert Douglas, who is also shipping magazines to our troops since the government issued mags apparently suck. Good thing the ban expired since our troops likely prefer regular capacity magazines for their M9s.

Kevin bought one and details the rifle. Pretty neat since you can get one shipped to your door by the government.

Here’s some pics of a pretty tricked out looking one.

Local reporter Bob Hodge writes that the SKS is not an assault rifle:

“By the literal definition of an assault weapon an SKS is not covered because it doesn’t have the function of being fully automatic,” said Ryan Patrick, one of the co-owners of Guns & More on Kingston Pike. “It wasn’t covered by the 1994 assault weapon legislation, that was very carefully called the semiautomatic assault weapons ban, either. It doesn’t have a detachable magazine or a pistol grip.”

Another article states that the SKS is not rare! Chai Vang apparently didn’t use an SKS but rather a Saiga, which is also not an assault weapon. Head has also confirmed for me that early model Saigas did in fact have an H prefix on their serial numbers. It’s looking like the SKS was not the rifle used in this incident.

Judging from the comments section of this post and the recent spike in traffic for folks Googling up Chai Vang, people are definitely interested in Mr. Vang.

I was going to address the absolute stupidity of this hysterical piece on why semi-automatics apparently aren’t just normal guns but this guy already did.

The NRA will be pushing the gun immunity bill since they view the new congress makeup as favorable.

Stephen Young proves he doesn’t know much about gun laws:

Take any major American city — Chicago, New York, Detroit, Philadelphia — and statistics reveal that annually, more people get killed by handguns in any one of these cities than all of Europe combined. Why is that?

Two of those cities also have the most restrictive handguns laws in the nation so the contention that you’re about to make that regarding restricting access to guns is going to stop that is asinine.

American gun laws are the byproduct of a lobbying machine called the National Rifle Association. The gun control movement has accomplished a few minor victories, but the vast majority of modern American gun law is the work of the NRA. Compare their results to the rest of the world and you’d have to say their work is a failure. American kids are 20-plus times more likely to die of gun violence than European, Japanese, Canadian or Australian children.

Foreign governments keep guns off their streets. They don’t allow gun industry lobbyists to write their firearms laws. The safety of their citizens comes first.

Given that Canada, Australia and many countries in Europe have higher crime rates than the US, that contention doesn’t hold water. Also, the NRA hasn’t written the gun laws in this country as it has a tendency to oppose them so that claim is false as well.

The PLO advocates gun control:

PALESTINIAN security forces should be the only group in the occupied territories allowed to carry weapons, Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Mahmud Abbas said today.

“We want to control the Palestinian security scene so that we end the phenomenon of arms being carried around everywhere. This is the policy of the Palestinian government,” he said.

Insert your own commentary, I got nothing.

John D. Crosier notes that the city of Nashua is abusing the Hell out of eminent domain:

FOR MORE than two years, the city of Nashua and Pennichuck Corp. have been at odds over the city’s professed intention to acquire the company by eminent domain.

Yes, the city just wants to take over operations of a private company. So far, the company has spent $2M defending itself and its investors are getting shaky. John D. Crosier nails it:

The city is not only attempting to take the company’s water works inside the boundaries of Nashua, but also is laying claim to Pennichuck subsidiaries that provide water service outside of Nashua through systems that are entirely unconnected to the one serving the city. The power of eminent domain is not being used for any overriding public benefit, but to block a legitimate business decision made by Pennichuck’s board of directors to merge with another company. City leaders have essentially admitted as much.

Such abuses are an egregious violation of property rights and an indicator of state as nanny going way too far.

After the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed the frivolous and baseless lawsuits alleging that the gun industry makes it easy for criminals to get guns, the accusers in the case are up to plan B:

He and other families hit by gun violence sued in an attempt to force gunmakers and sellers to be more socially responsible. But on Nov. 18, the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed their lawsuit and another brought by the city of Chicago accusing the firearms industry of knowingly allowing criminals to get hold of guns. (sic)

Young still believes someone will find a way to hold those who make and sell firearms responsible for gun violence, whether it’s the legislature, Congress or the courts somewhere else.

“I think we are seeding the future,” he said. “We will get some sanity in gun policies.”

I think a good start for sanity in gun policies would be to stop harassing through the court system makers of a legal product that is not defective. Continuing:

There also are some avenues suggested by the Supreme Court justices themselves.

Though the court dismissed both lawsuits unanimously, saying there was no legal basis in the lawsuits for holding the manufacturers responsible, five of the seven justices issued a separate opinion in which they urged the legislature to “turn its attention to the problems” alleged in the cases.

The court is advocating exactly what? The article mentions undercover police buying guns from gun dealers in the suburbs after making it clear they were engaging in a straw purchase. My suggestion is, of course, to prosecute those dealers. Mayor Daley is also pursuing additional actions.

Here’s an article that looks at another case of Eminent Domain abuse cases headed to the Supreme Court. It also addresses the problem:

Court rulings have stretched the definition of “public use,” adding urban blight and job creation to the original goals of acquiring land for highways, public schools, and the like. Ohio law says eminent domain in the name of economic development cannot be used solely to expand the tax base. It must create jobs and the positive effect must happen in a reasonable amount of time.

Some examples:

Among the most egregious examples of abuse of eminent domain, the institute and other critics say, occurred in Lakewood, Ohio, where the city council deemed a neighborhood of 200 homes to be “urban blight” to make way for a condominium and retail development with a movie theater.

In Mesa, Ariz., the city wants to remove Randy Bailey’s Brake Repair Shop to make way for a larger, more valuable Ace Hardware store.

In New London, the city has condemned private homes on a 90-acre tract to make way for a waterfront hotel and conference center, and mixed-use development of offices and residential units. The project is designed to build upon pharmaceutical goliath Pfizer’s decision to open a research facility in the area.

The Connecticut Supreme Court said New London had a valid public use, claiming the redevelopment would raise the tax base and create thousands of jobs. But an appeal to the highest court on behalf of seven property owners said they seek “to stop the use of eminent domain to take away their most sacred and important of possessions: their homes.”

The fact is that using ED as an economic development tool tramples the property rights of others. Hopefully this Spring, the Supreme Court will rule that way. Given some of their horrendous rulings lately, I’m not feeling too good about it.

Drew at Darn Floor has the most detailed account of the Wisconsin hunter shooting that I have seen. It includes Vang’s and others statements to the police.

As it stands, it would seem to me that he was taunted and even shot at. However, that action doesn’t warrant hunting down and shooting unarmed people in the back.

Mrs. Uncle is doing the shopping thing and yours truly is babysitting. Junior is sleeping and blogging will be light this weekend. Some gun stuff of note:

JoinTogether continues to dance in the blood of the dead:

The Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort extends their deepest sympathy to the families and victims of the horrifying and deadly shooting in Sawyer County, where a man used an SKS semi-automatic assault rifle to gun down five hunters and wound three others. This tragedy demonstrates the urgent need for an effective federal ban on military style assault weapons. But since President Bush and Congress allowed the federal assault weapons ban to expire in September of this year and seem disinterested in passing a new law, Wisconsin lawmakers should, in the meantime, pass a comprehensive statewide assault weapons ban. Reports suggested that the shooting occurred after an argument escalated when hunters found 36-year-old Chai Soua Vang using a tree stand belonging to someone else.

SKS military style, semi-automatic assault rifles, like the one used in yesterday’s tragic shooting, are the most common assault rifles used to kill law enforcement offices in the United States, according to the Violence Policy Center, a Washington, D.C. based think tank. In 2004, six law enforcement officers in the United States have been gunned down by shooters using SKS assault rifles.

It is pretty much confirmed by police reports that the weapon used was a Saiga 7.62. The weapon is not an SKS but is a sporterized based on the Kalashnikov that was not affected by the ban.

A push for more gun laws in PA:

Within hours after 16-year-old Jalil Speaks died of a bullet wound to the chest, politicians and children’s advocates looked for the cause, and many settled on guns.

There are too many, and they are too easy to get, they said.

What went unmentioned after the shooting Monday was that the gun laws in Philadelphia are the same as everywhere else in Pennsylvania.

But in Philadelphia, Speaks was the 14th person under age 18 to be killed by a gun this year, while elsewhere in the state such shootings are almost unheard of.

However, the author is not blaming only guns but rather the socioeconomic breakdown of Philly:

A key difference in Philadelphia is that much of its population is poor, and poverty has long been correlated with an increase in violence.

The city also has an entrenched drug trade, whose practitioners consider a weapon as integral to the business as the illegal drugs themselves.

While other towns may wrestle with similar issues, nowhere else in the state are these problems concentrated so greatly.

In Philadelphia, the drug trade has spawned a flourishing traffic in illegal guns that sprung up to bypass state and federal laws that prohibit felons from owning firearms.

“Kids can go on the corner and buy guns like they can buy drugs,” said Bilal Qayyum, cochairman of Men United for a Better Philadelphia, an antiviolence group.

“If there was serious gun control and if there were fewer guns on the street, more than half these deaths would not have happened,” Qayyum said.

Statewide, firearms dealers sold 147,719 handguns in 2003, a typical year’s business, according to Pennsylvania State Police data.

Criminals don’t obey gun laws.

The calm before the storm. In a few hours, tons of family will be here for Thanksgiving. It will be pretty hectic. I’ve been smoking a turkey since about 6:30 this morning. Should be pretty good.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

Man, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is absolutely boring. Anyone catch the Brook Shields lip sync, dance combo? Who writes and creates that nonsense? This parade is the most boring thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in meetings with E&Y’s financial transaction advisory services and seen Cats!

New info on Vang’s gun:

Vang was later apprehended by Wisconsin DNR Warden Jeremy Peery. Vang was still in possession of his hunting gear, including back tag and also his rifle. The rifle was a Saiga SKS 7.62×39 caliber, serial number HO-3104079

I don’t know that there is a Saiga SKS. There is the new Saiga brand of rifles offered by the European American Armory. The Saiga is a sporterized version of the Kalashnikov (the AK47) that would also not be covered by the assault weapons ban.

Update: Probably not an EAA as their serial numbers begin with EA. Anyone know who precedes their serial numbers with HO?

The early morning smiles from a little girl who just woke up

The naps on the couch with that same little girl

The greatest wife a man could ask for

That I live in the greatest country on Earth (it has its problems but there’s no other place I’d want to be)

Friends who provide good conversation and are there when I need them to be

Dogs peacefully sleeping at my feet

My wife’s apple pie

A wonderful family

Bread pudding with whiskey sauce

I have a comfortable life

My little girl’s bath time

The way my dog cocks his head to the right as though he really is trying to figure out what I’m saying

The men and women (past, present and future) who fought to make this nation great

My ability

Oreos and milk

My readers

God

Mom

Dad

Capitalism

The small of my wife’s back

Samuel Adams, brewer & patriot

My mother in law who loves to babysit

Poker night with the guys

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll

OK, gun-loving readers, which is it:

EOTech vs. Aimpoint? And which models and why. Or another brand, if you know of a good one.

All help appreciated.

Hidden Clause Would Force Lawmakers to Read Legislation

Update: Maybe we should try to get a law passed that requires Congress members to pass, with 70% proficiency, a test on what each law says or they can’t vote?

A 69 year-old woman was tragically killed in Tennessee a while back because some idiots tossed a large rock from an interstate overpass. Pretty open and shut, you would think. However, the prosecutors are trying to charge the killers under a law that says it’s first degree murder if the killer used a destructive device. They argue that a rock is a DD. This could have some serious implications.

A DD, as regulated under the 1934 National Firearms act, is:

1) any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas (A) bomb, (B) grenade, (C) rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, (D) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, (E) mine, or (F) similar device; (2) any type of weapon by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell which the Secretary finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes; and (3) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device as defined in subparagraphs (1) and (2) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled.

Such devices are highly regulated federally. I did a quick search of the Tennessee Code Annotated for Destructive Device and found no definition. However, I know that Tennessee Code merely mimics federal law with respect to Class III weapons. It would stand to reason that, since the other firearms rules are referenced specifically in the TCA, that the definition of a DD would be the same.

They are improperly charging these hoodlums to get the first degree murder conviction. After all, my car, a spoon, and a key can be used as weapons.

The New Republic ranked Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen a top prospect for Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. As long as he doesn’t get all Howard Dean on us and change his longstanding pro-gun position, I’d vote for him. I voted for him as Governor. You have to love a guy who signed shall-issue Class III into law and played hardball with our socialized medical system. And he’s a Democrat.

Kevin has a good piece on the VPC, England and more.

Reasonable Nut on the alleged Hmong racism that may have lead to the shooting. He notes that it is odd that among 20 hunters, there was only one gun reported. If true, it shoots a rather sizable hole in the claim that the dead folks shot first, if you ask me.

The Journal Sentinel doesn’t know much about guns or deer killing:

Some will immediately raise the issue of gun control. The SKS 7.62mm semiautomatic assault weapon, the kind of rifle Vang was carrying, is ill-suited for hunting deer. It is apparently too underpowered to kill a deer with a single shot, the goal of hunters who want to avoid needless suffering.

The 7.62 is adequate for deer hunting.

Former President Clinton, by executive order, barred SKS rifles manufactured in China and Russia. The Bush administration, according to a national gun control group, has specifically allowed their importation from some other countries.

Actually, that would Bush 1 and not Clinton.

Should they be banned by executive order altogether?

Actually, I’m still trying to figure out where executive order authorized the president to do anything, much less ban the importation of something. I thought Congress regulated commerce. Meanwhile, the VPC is calling on the president to ban all gun SKS imports.

Apparently, there have been other incidents in the past of Hmong hunting on private property without permission:

Hunters have complained the Hmong do not understand the concept of private property and hunt wherever they want. The tension once led to a fistfight in Minnesota.

The Brady Camp and JoinTogether continue to dance in the blood of dead people. In the event that it turns out that Vang was actually attacked and defended himself (unlikely, since police are reporting he hunted down the other hunters), would that change the Brady statement?

Update: Shooting another hole in the self-defense angle:

Vang said he continued firing as the group scattered, and at one point chased one of the hunters and shot him in the back, only to find the man had no gun, the document states.

It’s not defense if you chase them down and shoot them in the back.

The Council Bluffs mayor has signed breed specific legislation into law:

Kelley McAtee said she and others met with Hanafan last Thursday to request his veto of the ordinance. McAtee said the mayor expressed concerns about some parts of the ordinance, though he told them he couldn’t veto just parts of the ordinance, it would have to be the whole thing, she said.

So, despite concerns, you’d sign it anyway? The city currently has no plan to fund the ordinance, which will be expensive. And they have now way of ensuring people will comply.

Just wanted to wish all of Say Uncle’s readers a happy Thanksgiving a day in advance!

I’ve always hated watching television, especially shows that require you to come back next week to see what happens. After getting married though, the television is on more than it ever was in my house. I mean, I used to sneak and watch Xena (mostly just to see Gabrielle and…mmm….Callisto), but that was it beyond movies.

Then I discovered HGTV and I’m almost a junkie. It’s sad, really.

Other than that and adult cartoons (South Park, King of the Hill, etc), I have a hard time watching anything else. Except Overhaulin’ on TLC. Have you ever watched that show? My wife used to shudder when I turned it on, and now she even loves it. Is it the cars? Is it the whole prank thing? Is it Courtney? I don’t know. But if you like seeing untold amounts of money being spent on a complete car rebuild hosted by a hot chick (and some guy), you’ll probably like Overhaulin’.

Mike, in a read guaranteed to offend somebody, tells the Democrats that they can woo the South in the same way they’ve sewn up another demographic.

In an update to the hunter incident, the suspect (Chai Vang ) is claiming he was fired upon first after being called racially insensitive names. The suspect also has a history of waving guns around.

The story just doesn’t jive. Triggerfinger thinks so too.

Dan Ra^ther stepping down in March. He won’t be missed.

No doubt caused by the Internets.

Overall, blog traffic is down. That goes for my blog as well as others. I blame the election having ended. It got me to thinking about the nature of blogs (others and this one). Honestly, I don’t seem to enjoy it as much as I used to and the impact of that on my writing is obvious (at least to me). The blog has gone from longer posts about life, the universe and every thing to shorter posts and random commentary thrown in here and there. I still like to blog but, instead of writing about things that I want to, feel forced to add content daily regardless of whether or not I have anything insightful or relevant to add that hasn’t already been said. I repeat myself a lot. I’ve gone from thinker to linker. And the number of comments is also down which may indicate lost interest.

I may need to expand my horizons. I figure I need a new direction. I blog about guns roughly 30% of the time, which is probably dull to you non-gun readers. Politics doesn’t hold my interest much because it’s all more of the same and, to be honest, I don’t like the direction it’s going. Blame this guy or that. This issue or that. It doesn’t seem to matter which party is in control, the leviathan swells. There is no third party that has a legitimate chance of changing that. The partisan hacks continue to be hacks. Some bloggers have hung it up, some aren’t updating and some are still going strong.

I don’t know what direction SayUncle will be moving in. Maybe some readers will have some suggestions. I’m not saying that I’ll stop blogging or even that blogging will decrease. I’m just unsure of what’s going to happen. Sometimes, I just don’t feel it but write anyway. I’m also considering expanding the number of contributers. If interested, leave a comment with some links to your blog or stuff you’ve written. For the record, there are actually three bloggers here: myself, MX5 and Thibodeaux (And where the Hell are you guys?). Some people don’t seem to realize that and link to stuff here and credit it to me, even though the second line of each post names the author (maybe I should bold it or make it flash, or something.

So, there you have it. Stuff may change, or not. Or it may stay the same, or not. That was your non-update update. Any questions?

In the past, I’d have read something like this and briefly thought about how screwed up it is. Now that I am a father, such treatment of children fills me with rage and the thought of this incident enters my mind every few minutes.

Some people should be shot.

Local columnist and sports writer Gary Lundy has passed away at the age of 49. Sympathies to his family. He’ll be missed.

A large cross visible from the interstate and located on private property was ordered removed by an Anderson County judge:

“I had a big let down today because it was on private property,” Potter says. “It wasn’t on public property. It was on private property but the government can come in and tell us where we have to put a cross when the Constitution says they can’t do that.”

However:

Anderson County code states that a structure shouldn’t be able to fall on someone else’s land.

I suppose you could make a smaller cross.

Given the tragic hunting trip shooting, the SKS is in the spotlight. Here’s an article detailing some history of the rifle. It gets one point wrong:

Ted Sellers with Northwest Outlet in Superior said even before the expiration of the assault weapons ban the rifle was legal, provided the magazine fired less than 15 rounds.

I don’t think that’s the case. The AWB limited detachable magazine capacity to 10. The SKS typically has a fixed magazine, though after market detachable mags are available.

Another article on the SKS, filled with some hysteria, but points out that the SKS is popular due to its low cost. A buddy of mine ran a gun shop once and I remember when you could buy them in bulk for about $50 each. Since then, Bush 1 banned their import from China and the prices have risen. The article states:

In fact, this gun is not a sporting weapon at all; it was conceived and first built a half-century ago as a tool to kill people, and too often, that’s how it is still used today. The SKS may not be in the same firepower league as the notorious AK-47, but it is easily modified into an illegal high-capacity fully automatic.

First, the gun is probably no easier to convert than any other semi-automatic. Second, it is almost functionally identical to a civilianized AK47 in that it fires the medium powered 7.62X39 round and is capable of semi-automatic fire (one shot per trigger pull).

Even in its original semiautomatic mode, the gun is an apparent favorite of cop killers and wackos. SKS rifles have been used to kill at least five police officers this year. At least eight other officers have been killed by SKS-wielding gunmen since 1998. The guy who sprayed the White House with bullets 10 years ago used the SKS.

Remember, apparent usually means we’re too lazy to check. Because the actual favorite of cop killers is the common handgun, usually the cops own handgun.

Here’s some more history on the SKS.

The Trainer has been documenting his customization of his own SKS.

So, what we have is a popular hunting rifle that is going to be targeted yet the anti-gun groups claim that they’re not coming after your hunting guns.

So, you decide to look up how to wash pillows and what’s the first thing you see?

Jeff has the latest.

One post ago (like an hour or so), I said the media hadn’t gotten the memo from the VPC. Nevermind that the SKS was not covered by the assault weapons ban. Well, here it is:

SKS assault rifles like the one reported to have been used to murder five hunters and wound three others in Wisconsin over the weekend are a primary threat to police, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) reported today. So far in 2004, at least six law enforcement officers have been slain by SKSs. In the wake of the shooting, the VPC called on President George W. Bush today to use the Administration’s executive authority over firearm imports to fully ban the import of all foreign-made assault rifles. Such an action would not require Congressional approval. The Bush Administration has specifically authorized the importation of SKS assault rifles from both Yugoslavia and Albania.

No reference to bullet hoses? Is this because it was pointed out that the SKS is a popular hunting rifle?

A dispute over a tree stand results in five deaths:

The incident began when two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land in Sawyer County when they saw the suspect in one of their hunting platforms in a tree, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.

It’s not known who shot first, Zeigle said.

Both hunters were wounded and one of them radioed to the cabin a quarter mile away. Other hunters responded and were shot. About 20 shots were fired, but it’s unclear who shot them, he said.

The dead included a a teenage boy and a woman, Zeigle said. A father and son were among them, he said. Some of the victims were shot more than once.

The shooter used an SKS, which the report refers to as a common hunting weapon. Obviously, they didn’t get the memo from the Violence Policy Center that this is an assault weapon even though it was not covered by the assault weapons ban. The VPC includes SKS rifles in their assault weapons statistics. I’m sure the media will correct this issue soon.

All this violence over a tree stand? The spin will start and a push for a more restrictive ban will be forthcoming. So much for the sportsmen angle.

I don’t like Katz in general for a variety of reasons. One of which is that I can’t see owning a pet that requires me to keep a box of turds in my house. The other is that they are shitty friends. In a righteous fisking, another pit bull blogger XRLQ points that that Katz:

Knows nothing about dogs.

Knows nothing about numbers.

Expects dogs to behave in very un-dog-like fashion.

Seems to be surprised at the result of a fight between a Lab-Pit mix and a Pekingese.

Ironically, Katz paints a horrific picture of the dog in this story before pointing out that ascribing human characteristics of morality to dogs is a fallacy. The facts are that the woman whose dog was killed either had a defective leash or she was incompetent in putting the leash on the dog. Her dog attacked a properly restrained dog. The properly restrained dog defended itself and its owner.

Begging to Differ points out that vicious dog laws present a consistency test for libertarians. Actually, I’d say it depends on the particular vicious dog law. Those laws that require that the dog be, you know, proven vicious present no such test. However, such laws based on breed do. Breed specific legislation is largely ineffective.

Additionally, Stitch in Haste chimes in noting that no dog is pre-disposed to violence. I tend to disagree. The more accurate statement is that no breed is pre-disposed to violence toward humans. Some pit type breeds were bred to be aggressive toward other dogs as they were bred for fighting. However, socialization will usually take care of this. Dogs are inherently territorial any way and, in the right circumstances (over food, territory, and sex) all dogs can be aggressive to other dogs, like the Pekingese above was. You have to train that out of them.

In my experience, small dogs tend to be the worst behaved dogs and it’s not their fault. The owners tend to tolerate certain behavior that they wouldn’t tolerate in a large dog because the smaller dog can’t really do damage nipping or mouthing a person.

Jed asks for a new term for people who say they support the Second Amendment, but argue for gun control. I’d say liar. Or, you know, yesterday’s Democrat party. Democrats are changing, just ask this guy.

But not this guy:

Americans are split in their approach to the problem, with advocates on one side for gun control and the powerful NRA on the other for little control.

So, if I’m for gun control, I am an advocate. If I oppose it, I am part of a powerful lobby? He advocates bans, which is blatantly against the Constitutional rights he professes to love.

NPR is doing the assault weapons thing.

And today’s idiot is Doug Griffin:

Finally, guns kill more people than abortions do. That’s a fact. Yet the right to own one is guaranteed in the Constitution. I don’t hear any pro-lifers protesting guns. Quite the contrary. It’s been my experience that most of them own guns and many were probably for the expiration of the assault weapons ban. If you claim to be pro-life, how do you explain that obvious flip-flop?

Does he really want to be on the record making such stupid and easily refuted argument?

On exercising your rights:

I believe it was Robert Heinlein who first said, “An armed society is a polite society.” He meant armed as in packing heat. As in loaded and trained. As in cocked and locked.

Heinlein did not mean, “A society armed with information, dialogue, smarts, verbal-power-that-dispels-liberal notions, an Ayn Rand background, a memory for past LewRockwell.com articles, or an intense knowledge in Libertarian ideas.”

There’s a point where you must stop honing your argument about your rights and learn how to defend your rights. And that point is always far sooner than you or I think it is.

Or, as we say in Tennessee, shit or get off the pot.

XRLQ alerts us to an eminent domain ban in Anaheim:

It is the policy of the City of Anaheim that the power of eminent domain not be used by the City Council or Redevelopment Agency to acquire property from private parties, for the express and immediate purpose of conveying such property to any other private person or entity for commercial uses, when there is no public purpose for the acquisition except the generation or increase of sales tax or property tax revenues to the City.

Good.

First, we have Uncle Tom. Then Likudnik. Now, Aunt Jemima.

Update: Hitler is always a good one too. As is lying about Hussein comparisons.

Medic Mom provides a good little round up of gun links. She forgot someone, though.

$30 wheel tax is on its way to my home county.

The local news is all ga-ga over a road construction project in Knoxville that was completed seven months early. What about the Alcoa Highway bridge, which should have been done last year, I think? Or the bridge on Asheville Highway that should have been done two years ago? Or the never-ending orange barrels that litter I40 for as long as I’ve been driving?

A few times I have opined that I think people, particularly police, carrying non less-than-lethal weapons may lead to unnecessary use of those weapons. In other words, if one has a taser or pepper spray, they may use it when it is unnecessary whereas the finality of using a gun would not result in its misuse when lesser force will do. To wit, police tasered a 75 year old women and a six year old.

Triggerfinger on Seegars v. Ashcroft:

Whether it is reasonable to expect someone wishing to challenge a law to face prosecution for violating that law if their challenge fails is questionable, but it is an established principle with a reasonable goal. Legislatures sometimes provide for an expedited Constitutional challenge to a questionable law, but that was not provided for in the assault weapons ban. Since most of the plaintiffs in Seegars neither owned handguns, nor sought to register them, nor carried them within the city, they did not face a credible and specific threat of prosecution.

This, I think, is why a lot of laws go unchallenged. Who wants to lose and spend years in jail? It’s also why yours truly won’t challenge the Hughes Amendment banning machine guns made after 1986 and why I wouldn’t have challenged the assault weapons ban. Apparently, I’d have to actually break the law to have a legal standing in the case and, given the courts’ rulings on second amendment issues, I’d likely lose and spend ten years in jail. Not a risk a family man would take.

Stay tuned to Triggerfinger for updates on the case.

Gun ranges near neighborhoods typically don’t go well together. This is typically due to the fact the ranges, no matter how safe they are, just aren’t politically correct. I can’t figure out why people continue to build subdivisions near existing ranges then move to have the range shut down. Benjamin over at Reasonable Nut details the potential for using eminent domain to shut down a gun range.

Here’s a good rundown of the pending eminent domain case that is to be heard by the Supreme Court.

Here are two stories covering the same tragic incident of a child attacked by a dog. Story one:

Investigators call it the worst pit bull attack in recent memory: an 18-month-old Cannon County girl left to fend for herself while her caretaker slept inside. Now the child is in critical but stable condition in a Nashville hospital while her mother’s boyfriend faces charges.

Her youthful resilience might spare her, but it was childlike curiosity that led 18-month-old Bre’el Thomas down a path and into the jaws of a vicious pit bull. Sheree Gregg found the little girl after the savage mauling.

Story two:

A Woodbury toddler remains in critical condition at a Nashville hospital after being mauled by a pit bulldog.

Police say the dog was chained at a home near the house trailer which 18-month-old Breel Thomas wandered from.

The child’s mother, Laura Stock, had left her in the care of her boyfriend, Jeffrey Thomas. Police say Thomas was drunk and didn’t watch Breel.

The first story opens with words like vicious and savage. The first story (only after using words to raise your hair) does conclude by stating that no one in the family blamed the dog.

Searching for a house is a lot of fun. Going to open houses, driving around scouting out neighborhoods, daydreaming about where we might end up and what we’ll do with more than 860 sq/ft. But the stress apparently really kicks in after you find a house and start the buying process.

When I bought my first house, it was pretty stress-free, except I had to make some minor “improvements” to the house myself before VA would approve the loan (it was unoccupied and in rough shape and the owners weren’t about to do anything to it). And it was only $50K.

Now we’re almost having to sign a new addendum every day and spend a lot of time waiting on people who are waiting on someone else to do something. We’re also condensing our closing down to two weeks. Our initial offer was posted on 11/9, and we’ll actually be closing on 11/24. I think that might be a record. We just got the appraisal and are waiting on underwriting to be expedited, and also waiting on the sellers to get appraisal and inspection reports back on the property they’re trying to buy to see if they can close. Any little thing that falls through will delay closing. Ugh! So we’re supposed to close on Wednesday only we don’t know for sure so can’t order refrigerators or utilities or cable…

Then in the meantime, we have to figure out what to do with our current house–sell or rent–and last night I confirmed that the new large living room windows are apparently heavier than the frame can support and so the structure is collapsing under the weight. Hooray! So who knows how much that’ll cost, and we’ll have to fix it before either selling or renting.

Not to be all bitchy, but I’m just blogging about what I know today. The moral of this story? Ask me in two weeks. Heh… We want to eventually build, but judging from this, I’d probably wind up in an asylum before it was over.

I had to prepare a basic personal financial statement for myself for investment purposes. I have on said statement a line item under assets for Firearms. I just thought it was funny.

The City of Chicago’s suit against gun manufacturers has been dismissed.

Armchair lawyering ahead. Amendment V:

. . . nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . .

Yet:

The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a murder conviction in the 1994 sniper death of a University of Kentucky athlete, saying the prosecutor committed a “flagrant” violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The court ordered a new trial for Shane Ragland, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2002 in the killing of football player Trent DiGiuro.

The “flagrant” violation was that the prosecutor mentioned that Ragland did not testify against himself, which is also his right under that pesky amendment mentioned above.

Via the Comedian, how not to get a car out of the water.

WATE:

Around noon Tuesday, after Alan Vanhuss put an earring in his right ear his science teacher sent him to the principal’s office. “They told me it was considered a dangerous weapon and I wasn’t allowed to pierce my ear in school and it’s zero tolerance.”

An earring is a weapon? Apparently, anything is a weapon:

The principal at Clinton Middle couldn’t talk about the specific case or punishment but told 6 News the policy on weapons includes anything that can inflict injury, even a pen, pencil or earring.

Zero tolerance is a rather sorry joke. Too bad it’s played on our children.

During the push for the gun immunity bill, the Senate voted 52-47 to pass the assault weapons ban. You may recall Kerry and Edwards, who had been shirking their congressional duties, flying in just to vote on the ban. It was a pretty dark day for me knowing that the Senate was willing to sell gun rights down the river. Now, it seems, the tide has turned:

Seven of nine newly elected members to the Senate oppose the ban, and another would only support a more narrowly defined ban. They replace senators who voted six to three in favor of the ban.

If all else held true, the switches would result in the Senate rejecting the ban 48 to 52.

Good.

Buck is back to blogging. It’s about time.

Max Burns (again):

As mentioned earlier in this section, the Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) did more to hurt the Democratic Party than to help it. Crime rates resulting from the use of firearms went virtually unchanged during the time of the ban, and many moderate Democrats and swing Republicans abandoned the Democratic Party over what they saw as a completely unjust intrusion on their Constitutional rights.

The vast majority of gun owners in the United States are law abiding citizens who either own the firearm for personal and family protection or to hunt. These are valid reasons for owning a firearm, and owners should not have come under fire for owning them as they did when the AWB was passed and signed.

It is true that owning an assault weapon may worry some Democrats, but the fact that the same weapon with minor modifications could still be sold during the time of the AWB is a fact often overlooked by those seeking to argue blindly for it.

The IJ ranks Kansas and Missouri among the worst land grabbers:

You think you own your home or land until a developer comes along and wants it. The watchdog group Institute for Justice says cities in Kansas and Missouri are the worst in the nation when it comes to taking private property for another person’s private gain.

On the criteria for ED:

“Anything is blight if the city legislature says it is,” said Sherwin Epstein, an eminent domain attorney.

Epstein said blight, by Kansas City’s definition, can be found just about anywhere and is. Flink said the new federal courthouse still sits on blighted land, along with parts of the Country Club Plaza now under development.

The Institute for Justice is taking the case:

“Well, if property is being taken for someone else’s private benefit, that is not a public use. That not only mangles the words of the Constitution, but it mangles people’s basic property rights. And it’s outrageous,” said Bert Gall, of the Institute for Justice.

Triggerfinger is the source for the pending second amendment gun case that challenges DC’s gun ban.

James Rummel of Hell in a Handbasket answers a reader’s question about the source of the old saw that “an armed society is a polite society.” James also links to the Quotable Heinlein web page. That site correctly identifies the work—Beyond This Horizon—in which the phrase appears, but attributes it to the wrong character.

In the book, Heinlein posits a future society with several curious aspects. One of these is that citizens always go armed in public—because citizens meet perceived rudeness with deadly force. The famous quote appears in a discussion between the protagonist, Hamilton Felix, and his wise old friend Mordan Claude. Felix is expressing his doubts about the custom of going armed, and Mordan explains why it is a good one:

“Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing.”
…
“Maybe so,” Felix answered slowly, “but it does seem like there ought to be a better way to do it. This way is pretty sloppy. Sometimes the bystanders get burned.”

“The alert ones don’t,” Mordan pointed out. “But don’t expect human institutions to be efficient. They never have been; it is a mistake to think they can be made so…[b]ecause we are sloppy, individually—and therefore collectively.”

There’s a lot to think about there, and—as is typical of Heinlein—a lot to get people riled up about. In my opinion, the notion that “an armed society is a polite society” sounds nice, but I don’t know how much evidence there is either to support it or refute it.

Of course, my favorite quote comes earlier in the book, when another character, Monroe-Alpha Clifford, is approached by a scientist named Thorgsen. Monroe-Alpha works for the government, and Thorgsen asks him what the odds are of getting government funding for his pet research project. Monroe-Alpha, after hearing the details of the project, replies:

“[I]t’s very expensive, it will run on for years, and it doesn’t show any prospect of being economically productive. I would say it was tailor-made for subsidy.”

Sounds like the future is going to look a lot like today.

WATCH released its list of the top 10 most dangerous toys. The number 10 most dangerous is a toy gun. An Uzi, to be exact. Says WATCH:

In today’s world, there is no excuse for outfitting children with realistic toy weapons designed to produce dangerous and unnecessary thrills.

So, the product is not really dangerous. This is just anti-gun hysteria packaged as a consumer alert.

There’s no need to buy those fake guns when the VPC provides a handy list of guns marketed to children.

I wish the president wasn’t such a girlie-man:

President Bush used the annual Thanksgiving turkey- pardoning rite Wednesday to roast the bitter campaign for the White House, jokingly recalling fund-raising disputes, attack ads and a polarizing political movie. “Now’s the time for healing,” he said, as he ceremonially spared two birds.

Sparing the turkeys? Can we get a real man in the White House who would shoot the birds himself?

Taking advantage of the new category MX5 created, comes this story (via Justin). The bad:

When it debuted in 1999, TiVo (news – web sites) revolutionized the TV experience by wresting control of screen time from advertisers, allowing viewers to record shows and skip commercials. TiVo’s slogan said it all: “TV your way.”

Behind the scenes, though, TiVo was courting advertisers, selling inroads to a universe most customers saw as commercial-free. The result is a groundbreaking new business strategy, developed with more than 30 of the nation’s largest advertisers, that in key ways circumvents the very technology that made TiVo famous.

By March, TiVo viewers will see “billboards,” or small logos, popping up over TV commercials as they fast-forward through them, offering contest entries, giveaways or links to other ads. If a viewer “opts in” to the ad, their contact information will be downloaded to that advertiser — exclusively and by permission only — so even more direct marketing can take place.

A few reasons I have TiVo include not having to watch commercials and it saves time (I can watch a thirty minute sitcom in 21 minutes). Bombarding me with commercials is annoying and I don’t like the idea. I also don’t like how TiVo sends me the occasional T-Mail message advertising something I’m not interested in. I like TiVo but I’d switch to DVR in the event TiVo starts regularly hitting me with crappy ads that I don’t want to see. TiVo hasn’t yet figured out that I don’t like to watch TV shows in Spanish, what makes them think they can target me with appropriate advertisements?

The good:

By late 2005, TiVo expects to roll out “couch commerce,” a system that enables viewers to purchase products and participate in surveys using their remote controls.

Perhaps even more significant is TiVo’s new role in market research. As viewers watch, TiVo records their collective habits — second by second — and sells that information to advertisers and networks. (It was TiVo that quantified the effect of Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction,” reporting a 180% increase in the number of replays reported by viewers.)

Privacy issues aside, that is pretty cool. In the event I do want to buy something, doing it through my remote would be pretty handy.

The ugly:

But what about TiVo’s devotees, those folks who send the company fan mail and photos of their pets posed with TiVo boxes, and act as missionaries, converting their friends to the technology?

Uhm, Ok.

TiVo is on the cusp of something big. Whether that cusp is keeping my business remains to be seen.

A few safety concerns aside, I think this website is a pretty interesting concept:

LIVE-SHOT is a new concept. You can challenge yourself and compare your skills to other members with our on-line target shooting. We have developed a system where you can control a pan/tilt/zoom camera and a firearm to shoot at real targets in real time.

Online hunting and target shooting. Who’d have thunk it?

Alan Whisler in a letter to the editor:

We need to all stop saying things like “legislation to restore the right of self-defense.” We should say instead something like “…to stop the infringement of the natural right of self-defense.”

Looks like the house also voted to override the veto:

Rejecting the governor’s veto, Illinois lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to give new legal protection to homeowners who use a banned handgun to shoot burglars.

The House voted 85-30 Tuesday to override Governor Rod Blagojevich’s veto. The Senate had approved the bill earlier, so it now becomes law.

The legislation applies only in specific and uncommon circumstances, but it became a symbol in the tug-of-war over gun control.

It’s only value is as a symbol about gun control. The handguns shouldn’t be banned in the state.

We’re winning.

Eminent domain authorizes a government body to take land from private entities for public use if they pay just compensation. Eminent domain should not be used solely for the purpose of settling the disagreement over what just compensation is:

Negotiations between the city and owner Joe Zivnak of Azusa have been stuck for months, with the city willing to pay $1.75 million and Zivnak holding out for a package deal worth $2 million.

“The city budged a lot” from its earliest offers months ago, Michael Beck, the assistant city manager, said, adding that the amount was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Zivnak disagrees. “The city never budged at all,” he said.

Part of the disagreement is over cleanup costs, including the removal of asbestos and lead-based paint. The city received an estimate of $600,000, and Zivnak said it could be done for much less.

The reason the city wants the theater:

City officials envision a renovated Fox as an entertainment venue – preferably a performing arts center – that would attract thousands of people a week to downtown Riverside.

That doesn’t look like public use to me.

I don’t oppose all eminent domain. I do oppose its abuse, as illustrated above. Or as illustrated in the pending Supreme Court case involving the city of New London where the city is trying to take property from one private entity to give to a developer. However, a case like this one passes the smell test. In this case, the city is taking property to widen an intersection. That is definitely public use.

Carter Lake passed a breed ban. Do the really think a person like this would follow the ban:

A man remains in jail Monday morning, accused of a brutal practice called baiting.

Police say Terrance Freeman used a pit bull dog over the weekend as “bait” for a more aggressive pit bull to fight.

The dog that was attacked suffered some serious wounds and cuts.

If you read the letters section of the New York Times, that answer would be no. Honestly, of the many letters Kristof’s article would generate, there was only one pro-gun letter out of five?

Meanwhile, Max Burns:

When Al Gore took a leftward swing towards the end of the 2000 campaign, the chilling effect in his home state of Tennessee was clearly evident. Tennessee, like moderate West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri and Ohio, has a delicate balance of just how much liberalism they are willing to stomach.

In reference to what the Dems could currently do:

Losing places like West Virginia must be looked at as a mistake, an error on the behalf of the Democratic Party. That mistake is a direct result of four years of anti-gun rights policy from the very liberal left wing of our party, those who are obsessed with assault weapons bans and long waiting periods. President Clinton’s Assault Weapons Ban most likely did far more to hurt the Democrats going into 2000, and continuing into 2004, than anything that has been done recently.

To begin repairing this image of Democrats as untrusting elitists who seek to take away the guns of law abiding hunters, we must acknowledge what is true for many moderates – the Second Amendment is an important part of our Constitution.

While the Second Amendment is not about hunting (don’t say that too loud, it scares the white people), the gist is that, at best, advancing gun control is a regional thing. Apologies for getting into the red v. blue state thing, but expanding gun control doesn’t fly in a lot of the red states. And, the fact is, the assault weapons ban passed by one vote and that vote was the vice president (and the NRA wanted the instant background check system). It also only passed because it had a sunset provision. The new wave of gun control (banning semi-automatics and smart guns) generally is not a winner outside the blue states.

As Gary Pace, a former Democrat, opined:

You guys just don’t get it with the old confederacy/south, plains states and Rocky Mountains. In my opinion the Democratic Party has sold these areas of the country out. There is no room in the Democratic party for anyone that is not toeing the line as a pro-choice, tree-hugging, pro-gun control, death-penalty-opposing liberal elitist. I don’t feel there is anywhere in the Democratic party for dissent or to talk about these issues. It is either embrace the far left Northeastern liberal intelligentsia or become a Republican. The Democratic party used to be the party of miners and loggers. It is viewed as the enemy by those groups now. The Democratic party used to be bottom up not top down.

I’m one of the few conservatives who actually support alternative fuels for vehicles. Well, I’m sure there are quite a few of us out there, but we toward the right get a bad rap. So, I wonder if the ESA will be adapting this technology for Range Rovers or Hummers any time soon?

The spacecraft used only 130 pounds of the 181 pounds of xenon fuel it had aboard, according to European Space Agency spokesman Franco Bonacina in Paris. That translates to more than 5 million miles per gallon.

It might take 13 months to get where we’re going, but 5 million miles is a lot to get per gallon! Oh well, I guess as long as we keep not having zero-g on I-40, those ion drives won’t be practical.

Update: Speaking of engine upgrades, the scramjet is one step closer towards an installation in my Miata…

In the event Congress passes a law stating that I am not allowed to fast forward through commercials on my TiVo, it will be cause for insurrection.

By now, you’ve no doubt heard the story of the marine who shot a wounded and unarmed Iraqi. On the surface, it seems the marine did something that was wrong. However, it is a common tactic among insurgents to feign injury and attack soldiers when they approach to offer aid. Did the marine mess up? Probably. Can I blame him? Probably not. I say that having not watched the video.

Even if we don’t value property rights, maybe we do value money:

Donald L. Correll, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pennichuck Corporation, announced today that for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 the Company earned $577,000, or $.24 per share, compared to net income of $1,022,000, or $.43 per share for the same quarter in 2003. Mr. Correll indicated that, among things, the results of operations for the three months ended September 30, 2004 were adversely impacted by nearly $250,000 of legal and other costs relating to the City of Nashua’s ongoing eminent domain efforts.

It’s not gun control, it’s gun safety:

The City Council’s Committee on Public Safety met Monday to discuss a package of gun safety legislation. Among the proposals are a bill that would limit New Yorkers to the purchase of only one shotgun or rifle every 90 days, and another bill which would create a code of responsible conduct for gun manufacturers.

A code of conduct? Seems kind of worthless to me since the manufacturers are not responsible for the guns on the street. The manufacturers sell to retailers not end users.

In the comments to this post where I stated that gun safety was a code word for gun control (and it is), I got some grief in comments from a few people for my opposition to mandating some of these safety features. First, I oppose these measures because they are, essentially, stabs at gun control. The anti-gun lobby method of operation is to pass as many gun restrictions as possible whether they are beneficial or not. You can’t polish a turd. Second, some of the features proposed in the original article simply are ineffective. Here’s a rundown:

Childproof guns: Impossible to do. Period. The best method for preventing tragic child deaths is for parents to keep guns where kids can’t get them. An ounce of prevention, and all that.

Loaded chamber indicator: This feature is available on many guns already. If you want one with that feature, I have no problem with it. What I take issue with is a false sense of security this feature and manual safeties offer. I’ve seen countless folks who have safeties on their guns practice unsafe handling. If you say something to them, their response is that the safety is on. Mechanical devices fail. Also, the chamber indicator may fail. Often times, these are just holes that allow you to see into the chamber, which you can do any way by pulling the slide back and visually checking the chamber. The latter method also has the advantage of unloading the gun if it turns out to be loaded. In the event a particle of dust should cover the hole, the gun may look empty when it is not. Then someone who relies on the safety feature instead of gun safety rules may make a fatal mistake.

Require magazine safeties so a gun cannot be fired when the clip is removed: Many guns already have this. This feature is not desirable for everyone, such as police. The reason is that there may be a need to cover someone with a round in the chamber while changing the magazine. If you change the magazine, the gun is inoperable therefore making it pointless to cover someone.

Smart guns: I do not want any electronic device on a weapon other than an optic platform. Even on weapons with optic platforms, I have backup sights. The reason for backups is because electronic devices fail. In the event the electronic device failed, the gun would be inoperable and become nothing but a paperweight. Plus, it is a device that could be rendered useless through nefarious tinkering. No thanks. This feature is the perfect example of gun safety meaning gun control. In New Jersey, a law was passed mandating smart guns. The problem is that the perfect smart gun hasn’t been developed yet. And those that are available are unreliable, expensive, and not yet generally available.

Start public safety campaigns urging families to keep guns locked up in a gun safe or with a trigger lock: No problem for me here. However, I prefer a quick access safe as opposed to a trigger lock where I would have to potentially fumble with keys during a high stress situation.

Encourage doctors to counsel depressed patients not to keep guns, and to advise new parents on storing firearms safely: No problem there, either.

Make gun serial numbers harder for criminals to remove: And how the Hell are you going to do that?

Create a national database for gun deaths: No problem here other than to the extent that such information would be used by the usual suspects to mislead regarding gun deaths. But they do that already.

Then you weren’t paying attention:

Secretary of State Colin Powell has told his colleagues he is resigning and the White House is expected to make the announcement on Monday, a U.S. official said.

The press again blurs the line by intimating that the assault weapons ban affects machine guns (which it did not):

An officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety had come across a man he suspected was drunk inside his car on Mile 12 North on Oct. 30. As the trooper was detaining the driver, later identified as Cipriano Briones, the man broke free and drove away. During the chase, Briones started firing an automatic weapon out his window. The trooper was injured when a bullet fragment ricocheted and hit his face.

Law enforcement officers are worried that the Oct. 30 shooting is not an isolated incident, and that the potential for another large-scale shootout is high. Although Briones apparently got his gun illegally, law enforcement officials fear it will be easier to get them if they are legal. The expiration of the federal ban on assault weapons gives officers the feeling that criminals will have easier access to weapons, allowing them to outgun police officers.

So, we have an illegally obtained machine gun? Such an item was not affected by the assault weapons ban.

It looks like the culture war is winnable.

That’s a lot of gut bombs:

Japan’s Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi set a new world hamburger-eating record Saturday by consuming 69 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes to win the inaugural Krystal Square Off World Hamburger-Eating Championship in Chattanooga.

The guy weighs like 130 pounds. And for you non-local readers a Krystal is similar to a White Castle burger, except it is infinitely better.

The Presbyterian Church has been threatened with terrorists attacks:

The author said churches would be set on fire while people were inside.

The author of the letter said the fires would be an act of retaliation as a church panel is considering pulling its investments with companies that support the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

Churches, in general, I think should avoid political statements and that essentially what the investment pullout represents. However, it’s not a good reason to threaten to burn them down.

Even Nicholas Kristof, who is your typical uninformed scaremonger when it comes to guns, is telling the Democrats to give up on gun control:

Nothing kills Democratic candidates’ prospects more than guns. If it weren’t for guns, President-elect Kerry might now be conferring with incoming Senate Majority Leader Daschle.

Since the Brady Bill took effect in 1994, gun-control efforts have been a catastrophe for Democrats. They have accomplished almost nothing nationally, other than giving a big boost to the Republicans. Mr. Kerry tried to get around the problem by blasting away at small animals, but nervous Red Staters still suspected Democrats of plotting to seize guns.

Actually, I wouldn’t say it was the Brady Bill but the assault weapons ban portion of it that killed the Democrats in the 1990s. After the ban, they lost the House and Senate. And Kristof is right, it is a non-starter. But Kristof is still a scaremonger in this article:

Moreover, it’s clear that in this political climate, further efforts at gun control are a nonstarter. You can talk until you’re blue in the face about the 30,000 gun deaths each year, about children who are nine times as likely to die in a gun accident in America as elsewhere in the developed world, about the $17,000 average cost (half directly borne by taxpayers) of treating each gun injury. But nationally, gun control is dead.

So, he advocates giving up gun control by (wait for it) advocating gun control:

So it’s time for a fundamentally new approach, emblematic of how Democrats must think in new ways about old issues. The new approach is to accept that handguns are part of the American landscape, but to use a public health approach to try to make them much safer.

The model is automobiles, for a high rate of traffic deaths was once thought to be inevitable. But then we figured out ways to mitigate the harm with seat belts, air bags and collapsible steering columns, and since the 1950’s the death rate per mile driven has dropped 80 percent.

Similar steps are feasible in the world of guns.

“You can tell whether a camera is loaded by looking at it, and you should be able to tell whether a gun is loaded by looking at it,” said David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. Professor Hemenway has written “Private Guns, Public Health,” a brilliant and clear-eyed primer for the country.

We take safety steps that reduce the risks of everything from chain saws (so they don’t kick back and cut off an arm) to refrigerators (so kids can’t lock themselves inside). But firearms have been exempt. Companies make cellphones that survive if dropped, but some handguns can fire if they hit the ground.

This is the shift from gun control to gun safety that they’ve been trying to implement for a while now. It appears moderate, but it has the same goal. And, for the record, you should assume every gun is loaded so you shouldn’t need an indicator telling you whether it is or is not. This is the same thing that happened when the gun control lobby invented assault weapons. Semi-automatic firearms were always just called guns. In the late 1980s, Handgun Control, Inc. (now the Brady Campaign) knew that it was and will lose in its bid to ban all handguns. They needed an issue they could win. So, they invented one. The began referring to guns that looked like military weapons as assault weapons, even though such guns function identically to your dad’s hunting rifle. The media bought (and still peddles it) and now people think there was actually a ban on military guns that has expired.

Also, this gun safety idea can be particularly dangerous. As an example, look at New Jersey’s smart gun. The mandate certain safety features for handguns and those features do not exist. Or, essentially, it rules out the possiblity of people who can’t afford the expensive things to buy them. In general, it’s not a good precedent. If you want to address gun safety, then teach people the four rules:

All guns are always loaded (until you establish whether they are or not).

Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. Keep your gun pointed in a safe direction at all times: on the range, at home, loading, or unloading.

Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target (and you are ready to shoot).

Be sure of your target. Know what it is, what is in line with it and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you haven’t positively identified.

It’s in The Paper of Record, so it must be true:

IT may come as a rude shock to fans of traditional country club sports, but more Americans take part in sports involving guns than play tennis and golf combined. The list, of course, includes hunting and recreational shooting, but also a blend called sporting clays, in which shooters plunge into nature not to stalk deer or ducks but to test their skill at hitting clay targets that fly through the air or bounce across the ground.

The Chicago Tribune actually presents the other side of the concealed carry debate without all the usual anti-gun hysteria the usually put in an article:

But what really distinguished the crowd was how devoutly law-abiding it was–and exceedingly polite too. As banquet organizer Alan Korwin jested in a news release after the dinner: “Food Service Very Slow But Waiters All Still Alive.”

That was, in fact, the message the gathering last month was intended to drive home: Ordinary gun owners don’t fit the wild-eyed caricatures often drawn by anti-gun groups. And they ought to be trusted to carry their weapons, openly or concealed, wherever they wish.

Yes, that Chicago Tribune

Also, The WaPo discusses Virginia’s rather silly concealed carry provisions:

Arriving for lunch at a Topeka’s Steakhouse ‘n’ Saloon not far from his suburban home, Van Cleave confronted another choice, an annoying one. Because the restaurant serves alcohol, Virginia law says he can’t carry a concealed weapon inside. He would have to wear it in plain view. So he chose a different holster, one that fits inside his belt, leaving the gun exposed. Then he sighed.

And this may mark the first time the WaPo addressed the Virginia statutes without acting hysterical.

But a federal judge and the Whirlpool Corporation disagree:

Whirlpool Corp. has sued to block a new law that allows employees to keep guns in their locked vehicles on workplace parking lots. The law was scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, according to the Associated Press, but a federal judge blocked it. Only Kentucky has a similar law.

A car is generally viewed as your property. I wouldn’t think that Whirlpool would have a leg to stand on. Of course, it’s not like they’re authorized to search cars.

The bill that exempts from prosecution people who use guns that are not registered or are banned to defend themselves will likely pass:

Senator Ed Petka (R-Plainfield), former Will County prosecutor and initiator of SB 2165, says he is confident the veto will fly in the Illinois House as well.

Some detail on the bill:

SB 2165 says that an individual who uses a firearm while defending his home will be allowed an affirmative defense to a charge he unlawfully possessed the firearm. The legislation was initiated after a Wilmette resident faced local city officials who charged him with using a handgun — banned in Wilmette — to defend his family when a burglar entered his home last year.

In Illinois, a particularly anti-gun state, this is huge. We’re winning.

It looks as though the push to repeal DC’s gun ban has hit a snag (I think that snag is that elections are over) despite gains in Congress by Republicans:

“Really, it was a total victory,” said Martin Green, spokesman for Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., one of the chief sponsors of the bill. “Members of Congress made sure that the rights that the rest of the country enjoy – the Second Amendment – are also enjoyed by those in the nation’s capital.”

Chris W. Cox, chief lobbyist for the NRA, said the firearm-advocacy organization is both pursuing the repeal of the handgun ban legislatively and is assisting several district residents in suing the city for their gun ownership rights.

The lame defense of those that support the ban is to blame Maryland and Virginia:

“Every day I am witnessing someone who’s been shot or murdered on these mean city streets,” said Hannah Hawkins, who runs Child of Mine , a center that counsels at-risk youth in the greater D.C.-metro area. “It’s become more dangerous because of non-restrictive gun laws in other jurisdictions, like Virginia and Maryland,” just over the border.

So, you mean criminals bypass the law? That is odd.

Update: The NRA, in addition to the legislative route, is trying the litigation route. Triggerfinger has the scoop.