The push is on for an assault weapons ban in NY, even though they already have one:

They are asking the governor and the state legislature to quickly pass an assault weapons ban on the state level. They said the gun that was used in Sunday’s shooting was a Model 47, which is a copy-cat of an AK-47. Model 47s are legal, but activists said they are equivalent in strength to banned AK-47s.

Actually, there’s a huge difference. The AK-47 is a machine gun that shoots 600 or so rounds per minute. The Model 47 is a sporterized version of the AK that is semi-automatic and fires one round per pull of the trigger.

Andy Pelosi of New Yorkers Against Guns said, “The shooter is reported having two 30-round magazines. New York law says that your limited to a 10-round magazine.”

Actually, I think the law says you’re limited to 10 round magazines if they were made after 1994. Those made before that date are perfectly legal.

You ever been to a Japanese steak house and had the hibachi sauce? It’s sort of tastes like it’s based on mayo. Anyone know how to make it?

Guess away:

Bonelli is accused of spraying assault weapon fire through the mall Sunday afternoon, firing off about 60 rounds before surrendering.

Hit more for answer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Heh!

I was reading this piece by Eric Margolis which started to detail some seemingly frightful stuff:

The film Seven Days In May is one of my all-time favourites. The gripping 1964 drama, starring Burt Lancaster, depicts an attempted coup by far rightists in Washington using a top-secret Pentagon anti-terrorist unit called something like “Contelinpro.”

Life imitates art. This week, former military intelligence analyst William Arkin revealed a hitherto unknown directive, with the Orwellian name “JCS Conplan 0300-97,” authorizing the Pentagon to employ special, ultra-secret “anti-terrorist” military units on American soil for what the author claims are “extra-legal missions.”

In other words, using U.S. soldiers to kill or arrest Americans, acts that have been illegal since the U.S. Civil War.

I’m was all like uh-oh, spooky. Then the next paragraph:

This frightening news comes as Washington is gripped by reborn, Cold-War-style paranoia, ominous threats of war against Iran from the real president, Dick Cheney, and a titanic bureaucratic battle just won by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. – emphasis added for people who need to be told that sort of thing

At that point, I can’t read any further. If you’re going to wear your tinfoil hat proudly in a publication, don’t expect to be taken seriously.

We’re gonna tax ya:

So Just bought a fuel efficient hybrid and said goodbye to his gas-guzzling BMW.

[snip]

And that saves him almost $300 a month in gas. It’s great for Just but bad for the roads he’s driving on, because he also pays a lot less in gasoline taxes which fund highway projects and road repairs. As more and more hybrids hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of rough roads ahead.

Officials in car-clogged California are so worried they may be considering a replacement for the gas tax altogether, replacing it with something called “tax by the mile.”

Jeff has the latest.

Spent the last few days working on my taxes. Bastards. This year, we Tennesseans can deduct sales tax (which was particularly helpful since I bought a new ride this year) so the sting is slightly less than I thought it would be. Still, they’re bastards.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that April 15 is also buy a gun day for Schumer, Feinstein, The IRS, Michael Moore, ad infinitum. The point is to buy a gun because it annoys some people. So, plan accordingly.

CounterTop, noting Aaron is gone, has taken up the reigns to promote it.

Jacqueline Mackie Paisley Passey, who has a very long name and I say that as someone who also has four names (and like three suffixes), notes some real libertarian girl bloggers.

He’s voting for it before voting against it:

Democratic Sen. John Kerry , whose baffling explanation of votes on Iraq war funding hurt his 2004 White House bid, said on Tuesday he would back President Bush ’s new $81.9 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan .

It’s the same strategery as before. He’s planning his run in 2008. You heard it here first.

Ravenwood emails that trackback isn’t working. Until further notice, I’ve disabled them due to spam.

Robert Bonelli mall shooting update. First, police said it was an AK. Then it wasn’t. Now, it is again:

Police say Bonelli used a Hesse Model 47 semiautomatic rifle to terrorize patrons Sunday at the Hudson Valley Mall.

The fact it’s a Hesse may explain why he didn’t hit many people. Additionally, the Hesse was not covered as part of the 1994 assault weapons ban but that doesn’t keep our trusty pals in the media from trying to lead you to the conclusion that it would have been:

Sources said Bonelli, 24, from Glasco, bought the gun in October, a month after a federal 10-year ban on assault weapons expired.

Also, New York state has its own ban which identically mimics the expired federal ban. And he bought it at an evil gun show loophole:

A background check was done at the time the gun was purchased from a dealer at the gun show, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials said. ATF officials are assisting in the investigation.

Wait! I thought they didn’t do background checks at evil gun show loopholes? What’s up with that? Doesn’t he know he could have just walked out with it as our friends in the media so often point out?

Additionally, our friends in the media note that the guy also didn’t have something that he wasn’t required to have anyway:

Bonelli didn’t have a gun permit, Ulster police said. But Tony Tantillo, former owner of a Lloyd gun shop, said a permit isn’t needed to own such a weapon.

Huh?

In one week, the Supreme Court will hear Kelo v. New London, arguably the most important property rights case of our time. With a week left, the seven families are preparing to go before the Supreme Court and plead their case. A recent account:

Fifteen houses are all that remain of Fort Trumbull, a once vibrant immigrant neighborhood on the southeastern Connecticut shore. For years, bulldozers have been leveling houses to make way for a city’s high hopes: a hotel and convention center, office space and upscale condominiums.

The homes, surrounded now by swaths of rutted grass and gravel, stand in defiance to the project. Refusing to sell or leave, seven families will go before the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 22, arguing their city has no right to take property solely in the name of economic development.

At issue is whether the government can take land from one private entity and turn it over to another private entity. To exercise Eminent Domain, the Constitution requires that the land be for public use and that the owners be given just compensation. The city will likely argue that it’s for the public good and that the projected increase in tax revenues are for public use.

Justin, of Elephant Rants, was wanting an AR15 and emailed me about it. Told him (like I’ll tell any of you local folks) that if he wanted to save a few bucks, he could buy a kit and receiver then I’d put it together for him. So, met him at the gun show (and apparently just missed Les, who is sporting an SKS from the same show) where he bought a J&T Light Weight Flattop kit and a Stag lower receiver. So, here it is before we got to work:

And here it is after:

Justin has already emailed me about accessories and notes that AR15s are addictive and he already wants a second one. Tell me about it:

Justin has more and a pic. And he’s talking all fancy with his gun talk.

Feel bad for the guy:

What was supposed to be a magical moment at Sunday night’s Orlando Magic basketball game instead turned into an embarrassing memory for one man, according to Local 6 News.

The unidentified man asked his girlfriend to marry him in front of thousands of fans at the Magic’s 97-94 victory over the New Orleans Hornets at the TD Waterhouse Centre.

The man, who was standing on the court, dropped to a knee and asked the woman to marry him.

Instead of answering, the woman turned and ran off the court with her face in her hands.

Damn.

Update: It was a hoax:

Local 6 News reported Tuesday that the proposal was a hoax — an Orlando Magic marketing ploy to spice up the NBA experience, according to the report.

Some scientist is predicting humans will be immortal in about twenty years:

The famed inventor and computer scientist is serious about his health because if it fails him he might not live long enough to see humanity achieve immortality, a seismic development he predicts in his new book is no more than 20 years away.

It’s a blink of an eye in history, but long enough for the 56-year-old Kurzweil to pay close heed to his fitness. He urges others to do the same in “Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever.”

The book is partly a health guide so people can live to benefit from a coming explosion in technology he predicts will make infinite life spans possible.

How?

Kurzweil writes of millions of blood cell-sized robots, which he calls “nanobots,” that will keep us forever young by swarming through the body, repairing bones, muscles, arteries and brain cells. Improvements to our genetic coding will be downloaded via the Internet. We won’t even need a heart.

So, we’ll be immortal until these nanobots revolt like in Terminator 3 and start killing us off. Somehow, a nano-Schwarzenegger isn’t as scary.

In an update to this, New York has an assault weapons ban that mirrors the expired Federal ban. This article (sent by Robert) notes:

Police said the gunman, armed with an assault-type rifle that’s legal to own in New York state, entered the Best Buy store from the parking lot of the U.S. Route 9W mall shortly after 3 p.m., fired his way through the store and continued to shoot as he walked into the mall’s corridors, striking two people before running out of ammunition near center court.

So, was it a pre-ban AK like mine pictured at the link above? Not likely:

Authorities did not specify what type of weapon was used but denied reports that it was an AK-47.

I’d bet one cold beer he used an SKS, which is not covered by the NY ban nor was it covered by the expired federal ban. Any takers?

Any chance the media outlets who report this as an AK47 will retract those statements?

Update: This one could be ripe for retraction:

The shooting spree might have been prevented had Congress and President Bush re-enacted the Assault Weapons Ban that expired last September, US Senator Charles Schumer said today. The senator renewed his call to pass the law, which he drafted as a congressman and passed on the heels of LIRR incident, and which had succeeded in slashing the rate of banned assault weapons used in crime by nearly two-thirds.

When the ban expired last year, gun manufacturers were once again able to produce and sell 19 types of military-style assault weapons including TEC-9s, and AK-47s that have only one purpose – to kill human beings. Yesterday’s shooting is believed to have been promulgated by the use of a military-style assault weapon. Schumer said the type of weapon used in yesterday’s shooting would have been included under the assault weapons ban.

I’ll hold my breath. I really don’t understand why it’s such a chore for the press to figure out what gun was used by Robert Bonelli. Of course, they did the same thing with Chai Vang.

I’m a brown-bagger. I pack a lunch and take it to work. This may impact my career choice a bit as going out to eat is a ritual. I used to eat out every day and then realized (after I got married because my wife told me) that a $7 meal, five times a week, for 50 weeks out of the year is a hefty chunk of change ($1,750 for you slower people). Money better spent on, say, guns.

My wife is rather anal about the contents of our refrigerator. She constantly works to maximize the available space in the fridge. She will actually, and I’m not making this up, take the contents of a larger bowl and put them into a smaller bowl. I won’t do that. I figure that just creates one more dish to wash. She packs my lunch, and I’m thankful for that. She doesn’t do it because she wants to make sure I eat well. She does it because, if she doesn’t, I’ll just go out for lunch.

Her determination to get rid of everything in the fridge combined with packing my lunch has resulted in the suffering of yours truly. I get the oddest food combinations for lunch. For example, a few days back I had in my lunch box: Ramen noodles, Stove Top Stuffing and a small block of mild cheddar cheese. I’ve also had chili, rice-a-roni, and a yogurt.

The other thing about this situation is that we have four lunch boxes, one of which is a rather sissy-looking teal color. Carrying that lunch box makes me look like someone you’d want to beat up. If someone were to take this lunch box to school, they’d probably get their asses kicked. This lunch box is, of course, her first choice when it comes to packing lunch for me.

A man walks into a mall with a rifle and starts shooting up the mall. He runs out of ammo and is tackled after injuring one person. Foxnews apparently went into terror mode over the incident. While that bout of hysteria is asinine, the misinformation continues:

A gunman opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle Sunday inside a crowded mall in upstate New York, wounding one person before running out of ammunition and being subdued by employees, authorities said. Initial reports stated that there were up to three gunmen, but it later became clear that the shooter was acting alone.

The man did not open fire with an AK-47 assault rifle (can’t blame Fox here, that’s what the police chief told them). An AK-47 assault rifle is a select-fire, automatic machine gun that fires hundreds of rounds per minute. The man likely used a semi-automatic rifle that looked like an AK-47 assault rifle, like mine:

I wonder how this happened? I mean, New York has an assault weapons ban.

Patterico has a guest column in the LA Times. Unsurprisingly, it is called The Correct Way to Fix Mistakes.

Jeff has apparently waged comic war against Oliver Willis. Just scroll away, funny stuff, unless you’re Oliver.

The comment thread of pointing out that Libertarian Girl is not a girl (and we knew she wasn’t Libertarian) has someone named Bob D accusing me of being her, err, him. While I’m flattered that someone thinks I pulled a fast one, it isn’t me.

Not the first time I’ve been accused of it.

Matthew Greene sums up the recent Connecticut Supreme Court decision:

What if the government could condemn your house and the rest of the houses in your neighborhood, and then give them to a development company to put a hotel and some office space in their place because your town had fallen on hard economic times?

Well according to the Supreme Court of Connecticut, that’s a perfectly acceptable use of the government’s eminent-domain powers.

He’s thankful that the Supreme Court will hear the case. I’m not so certain the Supreme Court will do the right thing.

I had my doubts but it seems my inkling was right that Libertarian Girl is neither. And, of course, the best evidence is here.

I said I thought it was possible North Korea had nukes. Phelps disagrees. A lot.

There’s a push for it:

Imagine this crime reported in your local news:

Police bust a guy for possession of pit bulls. They find the canines concealed in his truck after it’s checked by a pit-bull-sniffing dog. They say the pit bulls have an estimated street value of $5,000 — or more, as the dogs’ price may be boosted by Georgia’s banning them.

Banning pit bulls is the aim of Georgia House Bill 78. The proposal’s what people in the dog business call “breed-specific legislation,” as is any regulation targeting certain breeds, like if legislators tried to run all Rottweilers out of the state.

The author of the article notes:

This unleashes the question of whether you can have a breed-specific ban on dogs that aren’t a breed. Apparently you can, as H.B. 78 puts all possible pit bulls in the same pen, like this:

“The term ‘pit bull’ means any dog that is an American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, or any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of any one or more of the above breeds, or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics which substantially conform to the standards established by the American Kennel Club or United Kennel Club for any of the above breeds.”

If you haven’t heard, North Korea has said they have nukes. They could be lying, of course. But the more frightful likelihood is that they probably aren’t. To sum up the diplomatic situation, I defer to Varifrank:

I hate it when you’re playing poker and you’re only holding a pair and someone calls your bluff and that’s just what happened. We’ve been warning of “dire consequences” for the last four years. We told them to get into 6 part talks with China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the US, “or else”.

And now the North Koreans just said “Or else what?”

You should read the whole thing. He notes that NK’s options with the nukes are to use them or sell them, if they haven’t sold them already.

This is some bad joo-joo.

Or maybe I do. In addition to strapping RFIDs on kids, Blake reports that the US House approved on Thursday a sweeping set of rules aimed at forcing states to issue all adults federally approved electronic ID cards, including driver’s licenses. Says Blake:

Once you start down this path, there is no turning back. You start with a national ID card, someone figures out a way around that…then they put RFID in the cards (if they don’t start out with that), and someone gets around that. Next thing you know, it will be required that all citizens who want to fly, access certain areas of the “Federal” government, or buy firearms have a chip implanted so that we definitely know who they are.

But wait…wouldn’t that be the perfect way to stop identity theft? Yeah…then let’s require that all citizens who want to buy and sell goods on the open market to have this chip implanted.

You see where I’m going with this? It’s only the beginning. It all sounds good up front, but the near term benefits don’t come close to easing the long term loss of privacy and liberty.

In a follow up to this, I’d venture to guess that if Republicans continue this big government, jackpot congress stuff that the next couple of elections could swing to the Democrats or at least allow them to gain some ground. For round two:

The Republicans could maintain their political sway in the United States if only they would . . .

More thoughts?

Comments in a couple of threads keep getting sent to my spam filter and I didn’t know why. Finally figured out that these comments contained the word socialism. The word socialism contains the word cialis, a spam word for a pill that gives you woodies.

I forgot where I read it (think it was a comment at some blog) but some Republican supporter stated essentially that now that the right had successfully taken back the White House, Congress and the Media, the next step was universities to get rid of liberal brainwashing. Some on the right seem to think they’ve won and the pax romana will endure. I don’t think I agree. If the Rs continue this big government trend, their run will be brief if there’s any party at all that can compete. The Democrats, currently, can’t do that. They’re too busy licking their wounds. The Ds were trounced in the last two elections cycles and it may be good for that party. Maybe they’ll distance themselves from the far left and I bet Michael Moore doesn’t get any more invites to their parties.

The Democrats are currently the obstruction party. They’re trying to stop Social Security reform, judges and other things. They haven’t really presented what they want to do other than to say we want to stop Republicans from their evil plan to kill puppies, starve old people, and ruin the environment. Well, that’s how their message comes across any way.

And, as I’ve said before, the Democrats are becoming a regional party.

Fûz, in addition to pointing out From the point of view of individual rights and the free market, the GOP may be second-rate firemen, but the Donks are first-rate arsonists, has a little game to play:

“The Democrats could be a resurgent political force in the United States if only they would,” [fill in the blank with your favorite killer policy prescription].

He lists a few ideas and notes that the Dems could embrace, like the second amendment and property rights. My suggestions:

Treat gun rights seriously

Stop catering to the loons (the right should do this too, by the way)

Value property rights

Value capitalism

Stop running candidates that suck

Realize that the people are taxed too much

Get serious about the war and actually develop, you know, a position

What are your thoughts?

The push is on again:

Howard County Delegate Neil Quinter is introducing legislation today that would ban rapid-fire, military-style assault weapons in Maryland.

I can’t find the bill at their site but I imagine it’s just a ban on weapons that look like rapid-fire, military-style assault weapons, since the ban on rapid-fire, military-style assault weapons has been in effect since 1986.

Proposed breed specific legislation banning pit bulls in New Mexico died in committee:

But pit bull breeders and others told the committee breed-specific bans would not survive court challenges.

Robert Cortese, a pit bull breeder from Tajique, said Beffort’s bill would burden the state with impounding thousands of innocent dogs “while doing nothing to protect the public.”

From one of my friends:

The difference between socialism and capitalism is that socialism collapses under corruption and capitalism thrives on it.

Via Bubba, we learn that a California school is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move:

The system was imposed, without parental input, by the school as a way to simplify attendance-taking and potentially reduce vandalism and improve student safety. Principal Earnie Graham hopes to eventually add bar codes to the existing ID’s so that students can use them to pay for cafeteria meals and check out library books.

But some parents see a system that can monitor their children’s movements on campus as something straight out of Orwell.

As they should. Some more:

“There is a way to make kids safer without making them feel like a piece of inventory,” said Michael Cantrall, one of several angry parents who complained. “Are we trying to bring them up with respect and trust, or tell them that you can’t trust anyone, you are always going to be monitored, and someone is always going to be watching you?”

Cantrall said he told his children, in the 5th and 7th grades, not to wear the badges. He also filed a protest letter with the board and alerted the ACLU.

Graham, who also serves as the superintendent of the single-school district, told the parents that their children could be disciplined for boycotting the badges — and that he doesn’t understand what all their angst is about.

“Sometimes when you are on the cutting edge, you get caught,” Graham said, recounting the angry phone calls and notes he has received from parents.

Each student is required to wear identification cards around their necks with their picture, name and grade and a wireless transmitter that beams their ID number to a teacher’s handheld computer when the child passes under an antenna posted above a classroom door.

Egad. Up next, finding a way to permanently affix the badges?

Weekly gun links are up.

Actual headline:

Boy Charged With Bringing Deadly Weapon To School

The boy had an air rifle. He had this one to be exact. It’s a deadly weapon firing plastic or steel B.B.s at a speed of 213 ft/second. I’m not saying that the kid should have brought it to school (he shouldn’t have) but charging him with carrying a deadly weapon is quite a stretch.

Looks like the VPC has teamed up with the usual anti-gun politicos to push for a federal ban on 50 Caliber Anti-armor Sniper Rifles:

The Violence Policy Center (VPC) today joined Representatives Jim Moran (D-VA), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) at a Capitol Hill press conference in support of federal legislation sponsored by Rep. Moran to ban 50 caliber anti-armor sniper rifles. Fifty caliber anti-armor sniper rifles can penetrate armor plating, pierce rail cars carrying toxic chemicals, and destroy aircraft. An ArmaLite AR-50 sniper rifle was displayed at the press conference.

You can read about 50 caliber lies here.

there was “insufficient evidence” to determine whether any of the federal, state and local gun laws reviewed had an effect on gun-related deaths, violent crimes, suicides and other outcomes.

The study, conducted by American Journal of Preventive Medicine, notes first that:

Despite a proliferation of gun registration requirements, bans on specific firearms and “zero tolerance” policies for guns in schools over the past three decades, the jury is still out on whether these laws help prevent gun violence

The study also concludes that more study is needed. This is standard operating procedure anymore. They can’t get the result they want so they must continue studying until they can. The study was done using data from 1979 through 2001. One note from me:

The studies included laws to ban certain types of guns or ammunition, such as fully automatic assault weapons and the cheap handguns commonly known as “Saturday night specials.” Others studies examined laws that restrict certain people from buying guns, determine waiting periods for gun purchases, require gun registration, allow for concealed weapon and impose “zero tolerance” for firearms in schools. The task force also reviewed studies that looked at combinations of these laws.

The assault weapons ban, which they are no doubt referring to, does not cover fully automatic assault weapons. Some more spin:

For instance, Hahn and colleagues found that the five studies of the 1976 ban on handguns in Washington, D.C. and its effects on the city’s homicide rate were inconclusive.

Hahn says the task force found “no evidence for or against” the idea that handgun bans make it harder for residents of high-crime neighborhoods to protect themselves.

Actually, that’s a rather disingenuous way of stating there is no evidence for or against the idea that the gun ban affected homicides, which should have been what they were studying.

Junior is now cutting two front teeth. Strangely, she hasn’t seemed to notice and doesn’t seem fussy about it at all. We figure in a few days she can have her own rack of ribs.

Jim VandeHei of the WaPo notes that Bush’s second term calls for bigger and more powerful government. Republicans of the 90s were pushing for smaller government yet when in power they seem to abandon that principle. At least the Rs in the House are concerned.

I bet ol’ Newt is pissed.

For those of you out there wondering where I’ve been lately…

Does anyone out there have the personal experience of having gravel in their eyes? I’d like to compare notes, you see.

I left for laser eye surgery about two weeks ago, and only just got back. The specific surgery I received was PRK, which I can’t say from personal experience as being more painful, but it sure seemed that way when I’m sitting in a darkened optometry office waiting to see the doctor with all the other people who got the same kind of surgery. And, of course, all the people who got LASIK are all parading around all happy about how good their eyes are now. But the PRKers are all groaning in pain, a most incredibly uncomfortable experience and I’d certainly hate to repeat it, at the same time though, I am quite happy to have gone ahead with the surgery.

Those of you out there with decent eyesight probably don’t understand exactly why those with glasses will put up with pain just to have what you were given from birth. I wore corrective lenses for over eighteen years, between itchy contacts and scratched up glasses, I can honestly say that I got very tired of it all. Without those lenses, I couldn’t count the fingers on my outstretched hand…

And if you’re curious about the surgery itself, well let’s get the down and gritty. Imagine first, someone taking a miniture powered buffing machine and using it to take the protective coating off your eye, pointing a laser at you while you watch the smoke drift up off your own eye, then experiencing three days of incredible pain that feels vaguely like gravel in your eyes. And this is not to mention the headaches or light sensitivity, which is also quite an interesting experience, I might add.

So, people asked me when I got back how the surgery went. Eh, not bad. It had it’s moments.

Next week, I’ll be going through the New Mexico concealed carry course, so I’ll be sure to leave an update on that.

A bunch of dog items in my to blog folder that do not warrant their own individual posts, but here goes.

Officers subdue a pit bull with a taser.

Doggie genocide in Arkansas: Unaware that there is no breed called a pit bull, Hot Springs officials voted to prevent adoption of pit bulls and pit bull mixes from the local animal shelter. The press reports that the official name of the breed is American Stafsordshire (sic) Terrier. They are wrong.

911 Operator has bias against pit bulls (via Tom):

Dispatcher: “What kind of dog attacked him, Samantha?”

Dispatcher, repeating: “What kind of dog attacked him, Samantha?”

Samantha to her husband: “What kind of dog is JD?”

Husband: “He’s a pit bull.”

Samantha to operator: “He’s a pit.”

Dispatcher: “Stupid people.”

If you call in such an emergency, why does the operator need to know the breed of dog anyway?

WATE reports that Timothy David Sawyer, who was accused of shutting a bathroom door on the neck of a Jack Russell terrier, then pouring liquid makeup down the puppy’s throat until it suffocated, will be the first person in the state to serve prison time for felony animal abuse. He was sentenced to three years.

The KNS has an entire section dedicated to the alleged torture of a suspect in the war on drugs. Too much to excerpt go read the whole thing for a frightening look into what transpired. A bit of good news in that five officers were fired and are expected to plead guilty to civil rights violations.

Jeff has the latest look at gun bias in the media. It’s almost a Black History Month edition. And it’s on Tuesday.

Token Librul, of Nashville Files comment fame, has started a blog called Not In My Bible.

West Hollywood’s mayor plans to introduce legislation that the AP calls cosmetic surgery — for pets. What does the ban really entail?

West Hollywood’s mayor plans to introduce a motion Monday that would prohibit ear cropping, tail docking, debarking, defanging and other surgical procedures performed on animals for “noncurative” reasons.

I don’t think those items are necessarily cosmetic. Yes, tail and ear cropping can be but you can blame those problems on breed registries. Debarking and defanging sound cruel to me. I don’t have any of these procedures performed on my dogs and never will. In my case, they are unnecessary. However, contrary to this notion that it’s cosmetic, some procedures do serve a purpose. Some hunting dogs have ears and tails cropped to avoid getting tangled in brush and thickets. And some of these procedures have their origin in dog fighting. Pit Bull ears and tails were cropped so that fighting dogs had nothing to grab a hold of. Dog fighting is now illegal and folks continued this tradition for appearance. Some Pit and Molosser owners who engage in wild boar hunting still crop ears and tails so the wild hogs can’t grab hold of the dog and to avoid injury from brush and such.

The state of California tried this a while back but it did not happen.

I was reading John Derbyshire’s latest NRO article where he argues against a continuing US military presence in Iraq. He starts out the article with a quote from H.L. Mencken, which hardly ever fails to tickle me. This one is no exception:

We suffer most not when the White House is a peaceful dormitory, but when it is a jitney Mars Hill, with a tin-pot Paul bawling from the roof.

Now THAT’S funny. But it got me to thinking: who is our modern-day Mencken? P. J. O’Rourke? He’s funny enough, but not quite bitter enough. Your thoughts?

Started writing this post earlier. I had it set to publish tomorrow but in this blog game you’ve got to be quick. People started talking about it before me and now it is basically a Seegars round up:

Matt notes that the DC Circuit Court opinion on Seegars v. Ashcroft did not go well. Here’s a link to the opinion.

Eugene Volokh notes:

D.C. Circuit Ducks Second Amendment Issue in the challenge to the D.C. gun ban, holding that citizens can’t challenge the ban unless they’re being prosecuted for violating it, or at least have shown some serious threat of imminent prosecution.

So, I would have to actually break the law to challenge it? That seems a bit odd to me as the gun control system is set up to prevent things. For example, say I wanted to challenge the 1986 Hughes Amendment which prohibits the transfer of new machine guns to citizens (pre-1986 machine guns are still A-OK). Short of building my own, I can’t violate the law to challenge it. I can’t fill out a Form 4, pay my NFA tax, send it to the ATF, and get a manufacturer to ship me a new machine gun. The reason is because the ATF would not approve my Form 4. Ever.

The other thing is challenge of a law is quite risky. Say I challenge the machine gun law by building one and walking over to my ATF office to turn myself in. I’ll be arrested. Post bail and begin my challenge. If I lose my challenge, I’m looking at 10 years in club fed and thousands of dollars in fines. This is in addition to the lawyers fees. So, I am in a system where I can’t challenge a gun law without violating it and I don’t want to run the risk because said risk is way too high.

Volokh also notes that neither the majority nor the dissent express a view on the Second Amendment.

Matt of Triggerfinger, in addition to pointing out that the judges are splitting legal hairs and don’t want to address the second amendment issue, notes:

This decision is a mixed blessing for gun owners. It does not support a 2nd Amendment right, but it also does not deny one, and it explicitly reverses the lower court’s decision for the one plaintiff in Seegars who could claim standing. As such, the lower court’s decision on the merits of the 2nd Amendment (a very unfavorable decision) is expunged, and we’re back to asking how, exactly, a challenge to the law can be brought. Most gun owners aren’t willing to deliberately put themselves at risk of a felony conviction to challenge this law; and that appears to be exactly what the Appellate Court here is saying we need to do.

Clayton Cramer notes how to challenge the law:

Someone–and preferably, someone squeaky clean–has to violate the law without violating any other law. You can’t lawfully buy a pistol in DC, and a DC resident can’t lawfully purchase a pistol outside of DC. A DC resident who already owns a pistol (as one of the plaintiffs does) needs to bring the pistol into the District, or someone who lives outside DC with a pistol needs to move into the District.

Or, as Countertop says: . . . this is pure and utter bullshit . . .

I personally think that’s an insult to bullshit.

Update: Reader Robert emails:

Who is the perfect perp for the DC gun case?

He has recently, repeatedly, and publicly displayed an unregistered handgun IN Washington, DC. There are many witnesses, all public officials. Not only THAT but the provenance of the firearm in question makes it extremely probable that it was NOT imported through proper channels. He’s a white male with only one possible old DWI on his record. He’s rich, a sharp dresser, presents himself well in public, and is defended by the heaviest lawyers available in America.

He’s George W. Bush and he’s got Saddam’s Browning Highpower 9 mm in his office!

Heh.

The .gov tends to be quick to regulate new technology. Via Wizbang, we learn that the British government granted a license to clone human embryos. Incidentally, we also learn that some dude cut his dudes off as part of a bar bet. The license (not for cutting dudes off but for cloning) was granted to Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly the cloned sheep.

Who is she? Her name is Tammy Plante. Some info on her can be found here (pics at bottom are NSFW). Apparently, she’s a pretty smart cookie. And, you know, hot.

Via Countertop.

So, it must be a loophole. Bonus in that it involves guns:

An apparent “loophole” in Arizona’s concealed weapon permit system may be prompting some people – including convicted felons – to get more easily obtained, cheaper Utah CCW permits instead.

Under a reciprocal agreement, Arizona is required to accept permits issued by Utah and six other states.

Actually, reciprocity is pretty much standard operating procedure for shall issue states. Sounds to me like they maybe ought to ask Utah to do background checks.

Good thing loophole is in quotes, or we might think it’s a real one this time.

Update: Xrlq notes in comments that only non-residents can rely on the out of state permit. As such, there is no loophole at all.

Update 2: Xrlq has more, in which he retracts his reversal. Huh?

In my post, I wasn’t stating that I wanted to be a Google news source. Rather, that Google doesn’t seem to follow it’s own criteria that often. Case in point, My Pet Jawa is a Google News source. No, really.

Pretty cool.

Les has told us before about being banned from Google ad words because he talks about guns. Even Google News has an anti-gun bias. Now, Overture is getting in on the anti-gun silliness (sort of):

Overture told me a ban on gun ads had been in place for over two years. But then forum moderator AussieWebmaster noted that a search for gun on Overture brought back some paid listings. Checking again today, I see one there that leads to a hunting web site that sells pistols, shotguns, rifles and revolvers. So if there is a ban, it’s a leaky one.

The ad criteria are, as the author points out, not clear. They should be.

Publicola does some Garand refinishing. More at the Carnival.

I’ve always been lukewarm regarding the bill to protect gun makers from lawsuits. I support it in the sense that it gives anti-gunners other crap to worry about so they don’t devote time to telling the world that the sky is falling when it really isn’t. However, Denise offers another reason to support the bill. That reason is the utter silliness of a the new law in New York in which the city tries to exert its influence on other parts of the country.

When the NYT is bashing your gun policy, you may have gone too far:

Mr. Bloomberg’s new law is likely to serve as a prime exhibit of the case for federal pre-emption on the issue of gun liability. The new city law makes it absolutely clear that anti-gun enclaves intend to inflict their will on other states. Lawmakers from the rest of the country will then, appropriately, move to defend their states’ preference through federal legislation.

Michelle Malkin notes that her and LGF are not listed as part of Google News (whereas Democratic Underground is) and that Google sent a letter to her explaining why. A part of the letter:

We do not include news-related blogs or other news-related sites that are written and maintained by a single individual. Similarly, we do not include sites that do not have a formal editorial review process.

That is a bit dishonest on the part of Google, I’m afraid. As I have noted before, I subscribe to various Google News Alerts to keep up with the gun issue. These alerts feed from Google News Sources. For example, I maintain an alert for assault weapons ban and gun control.

As a result, Google News always sends me links to press releases from anti-gun groups like the Brady Campaign, Million Mom March, and the Violence Policy Center. All of them. Every press release listed on their respective pages has been sent to me via Google News Alerts.

I doubt very seriously if such propaganda driven organizations have a formal editorial review process, since they pretty much lie through their teeth on a regular basis.

Also, I get absolutely zero press releases from the NRA or any pro-gun organization via Google. I don’t think Google should send alerts from either but the inclusion of one is a telling sign.

Murphy’s Laws of Combat:

Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.

Alternate title: WASR name, little girl, WASR name. New toy:

Yes, I now have a commie gun. A WASR-10, to be exact. It is a Romanian semi-auto version of the AK47. Haven’t gotten it to the range yet.

Not to bad a deal either at $264 plus NICS and transfer fees. That gets it home at just under $300.

More proof the media don’t know anything about guns:

According to training Lt. Eric Osanitsch, the department made the move to upgrade to what he called a better ballistic weapon when the Glock 40 mm was chosen as the new department-issued service piece.

I think they mean 40 caliber.

Bubba has the details of some pretty hideous police work from Campbell County:

The transcript indicates that Webber produces a form that, once signed, will state that Siler gave his consent for the officers to search his home. Siler apparently refuses to sign it. The beating resumes.

[..]

Franklin orders another officer to remove Siler’s handcuffs so he can sign. Siler, who cannot read or write, asks one of them to read it to him.

Monday refuses.

“Just sign it,” Monday orders Siler.

Siler refuses.

“Git (sic) up,” Monday responds. “Git (sic) up. I said get the (expletive) up.”

Beating sounds follow.

[..]

Webber responds, “No, I don’t want your help. I want you to sign that form ’cause you’re the one we want and we got ‘cha (sic), and if you don’t sign it, you probably won’t walk out of here.”

Siler is next threatened with electrocution. Webber tells him that they could take a battery charger, hook some wires to it and attach it to Siler’s testicles. The federal informations allege that the lawmen later rigged up such a device and used clamps to attach it to Siler’s body.

Monday is accused in the informations with pointing a gun at Siler, threatening to shoot him.

The transcript backs up the allegation.

“Shoot his (expletive) ass,” Green says.

This was transcribed by the FBI who obtained recordings the suspect’s wife made. Heads should roll.

The War on Guns has a good read entitled Merchants of Death. I guess I can’t shop anywhere now.

Another move by a government to ban limit eminent domain abuse:

The Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday voted unanimously to pass legislation restricting the use eminent domain powers. Senate Bill 86, authored by Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick), prohibits the exercise of the power of eminent domain for the purpose of transferring the condemned property to a private developer, corporation or any other private entity for the purpose of expanding the tax base or for economic development.

Good. This shouldn’t require a ban as it should already be illegal.

There is a civilian version coming but it will be pricey. About $1,400. Via Steve.

Every once in a while, a new twist on the government land grab really raises my eyebrows. A reader familiar with the case emailsone such case:

Some call it a Catch-22 situation. Others say it’s a bureaucratic nightmare that Janice and Gary Duclair have found themselves in as they try to sell their house at 4254 Vervais Ave. After living there since 1977, and with their children now grown, they have moved to Manteca and asked local Realtor Mike Carey to sell the house. Located in a commercially zoned area, or so he thought, since the Duclairs moved there, he had an offer of $850,000 from a buyer who wanted to use the house for a business venture. But City Hall turned him down when he sought assurances the buyer could get a business permit. It seems that unbeknownst to the Duclairs or almost anyone else in Pleasanton, the City Council had rezoned the land for a park.

Now, I can buy that a park is public use and as long as there is just compensation, there shouldn’t be any of the objections I normally have. But doing such a thing out of the public eye is questionable if not outright criminal. Additionally, it seems that no one was aware that anyone lived on the street in question as it was set aside for a new road.

When city planners attack from behind closed doors, something seems awry.

The Trainer has the latest on New Jersey’s smart gun law.

Drugs continue to win the war on drugs:

During the civil trial against the officers, attorneys for the family cast doubt over police methods.

They wanted to know why experienced narcotics officers take an informant’s word and discovered there is no manual for drug officers and no specific training.

And, they asked, why didn’t the officers perform a simple surveillance of the building, as is customary?

They also pointed out mishandling of evidence — saying the box cutter that officers said Robinson brandished as a weapon was taken from a toolbox and planted next to Robinson. Paramedics said they saw no box cutter near the body. The box cutter was never fingerprinted.

Mr. Robinson was shot through the jaw and paralyzed. He died six weeks later of pneumonia.

Maybe this guy is right. It could be fun to shoot some people:

The five children, along with two others who did not appear to have been abused, were removed from the Dollars’ home in Beverly Hills after one of the children called an ambulance for a 16-year-old boy who weighed less than 60 pounds and had suspicious injuries on his head and neck. The doctors alerted authorities.

The children, who ranged in age from 12 to 17, told officials that the Dollars struck them with a hammer, administered electric shocks and used pliers to pull off their toenails, sheriff’s spokeswoman Gail Tierney said. The children showed signs of injury, including missing toenails, Tierney said.

It’s now roughly 9:00 and the score is Patriots 14, Eagles 7. More importantly, I am giving this account of the game without the express, written consent of the National Football League.

Are people stealing your bandwidth by inlining images hosted on your site? XRLQ has the dope on how to smoke these roaches out.

Here’s some nifty photos taken from the shot show. This days news of most lasting significance: FN will be releasing a civilian version of the P90 (second post in the thread).

In other news, H&K is still clueless and not releasing civilian versions of the G36 or the XM8. Losers. I will never buy an H&K product until they start to give a damn about us civilians. Same with Colt.

Go, get your gun porn on.

Kevin fisked someone’s op-ed on the Second Amendment and that someone responded. Grab a chair and a drink and go read.

In Knoxville, parents are looking at jail time if their kids don’t go to school:

The warrants charge the parents with contributing to the delinquency or unruly behavior of a minor, a misdemeanor offense that carries a maximum penalty of 11 months and 29 days in jail, Garren said.

Each parent will be held in lieu of $1,000 bond after his or her arrest, she said. The six apprehended Thursday will be summoned to Knox County Juvenile Court on Feb. 18 and Feb. 25.

I tend to doubt that missing school is necessarily delinquency or unruly. Schools operate on a per diem basis. They get from the State and Federal government a certain dollar amount per day, per child. If a child doesn’t show, they don’t get the money. It’s not about the children, it’s about the money. If there was serious concern about children and their education, then Tennessee schools wouldn’t rank so low in education (as we say, thank God for Mississippi).

Parents of children who have 10 or more unexcused absences are sent a letter telling them to come to an “evening meeting” or face jail time. At the meetings, the parents learn about the truancy laws and the possible consequences of violating them.

So, parents are immediately threatened with jail time and the bogus charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Parents and critics say the system is inflexible. I agree. Any system that threatens arrest without any sort of verification of the facts cannot be flexible.

in San Francisco:

Gay, gun-loving San Franciscans exist, he said shortly before hunching his back, steadying himself and firing at a target. Not only do they exist, they are steamed up about the proposed law — supported by five San Francisco supervisors and set to go before voters next fall — that would ban the ownership of handguns.

The right to own guns may be even more important than the right to marry, Thomas said during the monthly shooting practice organized by the gay gun group the Pink Pistols.

Andrew is signing off. A loss for the blogosphere.

The Hill has a piece in which it claims gun control is likely dead as a big issue:

Like Dean, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is a strong supporter of gun rights. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) supports gun control but rarely mentioned the issue before the 2004 election.

National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Director Chris Cox said Dean, whom the NRA endorsed when he was running for governor, was taking over a party that had suffered electorally for its embrace of gun control.

Over the past decade, the issue had become strongly partisan, but gun-rights groups say the political winds have shifted. [not really - both sides mouth support for the assault weapons ban but neither is acting on it so take it for what it's worth - Ed.]

Countertop is happy noting:

Its official. The worst element of the failed and flawed ideology of the liberal left is now all but over.

I tend to agree. Taking a hard line for gun control can be deadly in federal politics. It kills you in the south and most red states. However, being pro-gun control is popular among most Democrats and most northeastern Republicans. Additionally, gun control is cyclical in nature as Robert Spitzer notes in the article:

“The gun issue has historically been a cyclical issue, and we’re in a cycle right now where there is less interest in gun control for a variety of reasons. The Democrats feel they were burned in 2000 on the gun issue. And enough Democrats believe it to be so that the Democratic Party doesn’t have the same zeal for the issue that it did earlier.”

It only takes one or two idiots to walk into a public area and start shooting people to bring the issue to the forefront. Now is the time for pro-freedom, gun-loving folks to go on the offensive. We should not sit back thinking everything is going well (even though, as I’ve said before, it is). Time to push for more of what we want. We may fail but it keeps the anti-gunners from gaining ground.

Turns out, The NRA (ain’t they cute?) are doing just that:

Fresh off its success at poking holes in a Wilmette handgun ban, the National Rifle Association has launched a new legislative drive to dismantle strong gun prohibitions in Chicago and test Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s wavering commitment to broader gun control.

Taking direct aim at Mayor Richard Daley’s hard-line stance against the proliferation of guns, the NRA package of state legislation would allow residents of Chicago and other communities that ban handgun ownership to legally keep the weapons in their homes for self-defense purposes. It also would hold Chicago and other places with bans liable for injuries that residents claimed could have been avoided had they been allowed to carry handguns.

Good to see the NRA going toe-to-toe with a gun banner like Daley. I need to make a contribution.

As for the Democrats at the Federal level, the proof will be in the pudding. Or as the president of GOA says:

“Harry Reid needs to make sure his boys in the Senate don’t throw up a filibuster to block these [bills] from going through,” Pratt said.

New to the blogroll is Vice Squad which addresses Explorations of public policy concerning alcohol, nicotine, other drugs, prostitution, gambling, pornography, ….

Keeping up with the seedy side of things looks fun. Like Nashville Metro Police will pay you to diddle hookers.

And from the Like you and me, only better files: Shaming the Illinois Senate into following the law.

The average person likely, in the pre-dawn hours, cannot distinguish a burglary from a police raid. That is what happened to Cheryl Noel:

Police raided a home in the Baltimore area and arrested Charles Noel, 51, Matthew Noel, 19, and Sarah Betz, 19. In the process of the raid, two officers opened the door to Cheryl’s bedroom and were allegedly met by Cheryl pointing a gun at them. One of the officers fired three times, killing Cheryl.

Given the knock rules of exercising a warrant (or rather lack of), this type of incident is not surprising. The police claim they identified themselves, which they may have. However, prior to 5 in the morning, I doubt most folks would have the capacity to really understand a raid situation.

His weekly gun links continue to be weekly. This is the excellent SKS edition.

Gunner has the latest round up of online contests where you can win guns and accessories.

My wife watches that terrible show The OC. I walk in the den to see two hot young women in their undies. I say to the wife Why don’t I watch this show? Then I remember it’s because they talk.

My first attempt at the subject read “Life of a co-booger,” which may have been more appropriate.

Just noticed that our host, Mr. Uncle, posted about not “feeling it” and hence wasn’t being very verbose here lately. He proceeded to wag his finger at us co-boogers for not filling up some space.

As some of you may remember, my company was bought recently. The bastard network people at the new place have web filters installed to keep us out of evil websites like Yahoo mail. Additionally, Mr. Uncle tends to post on such keen topics as “penis” and “porn” and other tidbits the filters don’t appreciate. Since I’m at work an average of 10-12 hours a day, that’s a lot of filtering. And since I’m at work an average of 10-12 hours a day, the wife gets pissed when I come home and get on the computer. And since I’m at work an average of 10-12 hours a day, I don’t watch the news much anymore anyway.

So, the topics I start to write about include what I know recently: work and home improvements, neither of which are of any interest to anybody else.

Like Mr. Uncle, I’m having a hard time feeling the urge to comment on things political lately. After that two-year election debacle, I think my mind just can’t cope with political thought and therefore it would rather spend quality time at home faux finishing the walls and teaching our new cat how to sleep all night. Neither of which I’m very good at.

As a co-booger, I do feel bad about not posting though, so I pop up every now and again with mindless chatter like this to help earn my keep. By the way, I noticed that Mr. Uncle hasn’t recently posted about enemas, so I took the liberty of making sure the site gets content blocked tomorrow at work.

Mike expressed disappointment that I don’t blog about family life so much anymore. He’s no doubt referring to my humorous escapades like the time I painted my house with porn starlets or did battle with the Light Nazi. The truth is that, though I have many whimsical observations about life and stuff swirling around in the noggin, I just ain’t feeling the funny. In fact (consider this an upcoming preview), I’m working on One Nation under David Alan Coe, which may involve drinking and karaoke, and SayUncle vs. Lunch. The last original humor piece I wrote of any substantial length or effort was in December. And not many prior to that for a while.

I guess the realization that the US is headed down a pretty rocky road right now in terms of both international and domestic issues, coupled with the arrival of my daughter have got me a bit worried. Also, things at the office are hectic and, as such, I spend more time at the office than I (or the Mrs.) would like.

Aside from such observations, you, dear reader, may have noticed that my blogging lately is more of the linking variety and not the thinking variety. Just haven’t felt it. I should comment on Social Security (but I don’t care), the SOTU (still don’t care), the war (I care but have little to offer), and [insert your pet issue here]. I’ve also brought on some co-bloggers to aid in the content. They haven’t been pulling their weight, though [finger wagging!].

Despite not having much to say, I feel obligated to keep blogging. And I do. I still like it but can’t devote as much time to it as I have before. I still feel the need to draw what little attention I can to certain things, hence the linking to random gun and property rights issues.

So, there’s your state of the blog address. Any questions?

A 20 year-old American woman goes to Mexico. Upon her return, border officials inform her she’s really 18 and not an American. No, really.

Kevin addresses an asinine column on the second amendment. Oy, that stings.

1 – I did not watch the SOTU. I thought the supposed debates were bad enough (they weren’t real debates, just two guys who memorized talking points) but watching just one guy read talking points would be quite dull. No SOTU blogging for you.

2 – Trackbacks are disabled. However, some guy thinks you, gentle reader, may want to play poker online.

Mr. Mike has the latest round up of Tennessee bloggers. Give it a read.

Norwood, a city trying to unconstitutionally use eminent domain to take land from one party to turn over to a developer, has had an interesting turn of events:

After the jury was selected Monday, the judge ordered jurors be given a tour of the property to give them a better sense of its worth. Once inside the building, though, the jurors, court workers and attorneys got a surprise.

The owners had festooned the interior with signs, banners and a mannequin dressed in clothes attacking the government’s use of eminent domain to seize private property.

That was done, Burke and Powell argued Tuesday, to convince the jury to award Motz a higher price.

“(Motz’s) outrageous conduct was calculated to serve no legitimate purpose, but rather to illegitimate(ly) injure the City of Norwood’s position in front of the jury,” Powell and Burke wrote in their request for a mistrial.

Inside one room of the building, the owner posted editorial cartoons attacking Norwood’s use of eminent domain and a photo of a group of protestors in the legal fight over the issue.

The building’s back door, which jurors passed to get to the basement, bore a sign reading, “Government Quit Selling Us Out to Developers.”

In the basement, jurors saw a banner proclaiming “Fight Eminent Domain Abuse in Norwood” next to a mannequin dressed in a T-shirt that sported an anti-eminent domain message. The dummy also was holding a sign that read “Being Forced to Sell is Just Not Right.”

This resulted in a mistrial.

Today’s Idiot is Robert Schiering, who writes that we gun nuts have no excuse:

At first glance, the term “gun nut” would appear to be nothing more than an ad hominem against the more enthusiastic weapon owners of this country. However, as one reads the literature espoused by gun nut organizations, the reasoning behind this term becomes startlingly clear. Gun nuts are called as such because they are incontrovertibly insane.

Actually, his entire article is one big ad hominem attack. I notice that his use of statistics doesn’t paint the whole picture. He points out the number of gun deaths but doesn’t note the numbers that are suicides (i.e., well over half) and thus doesn’t adequately compare the cost benefit. He also fails to mention gun uses that stop

He also states:

Owning an arsenal is not a “way of life,” it is a mental disorder. It is an unjustifiable paranoia that leads to thousands of unjustified deaths every year. Let’s put this in perspective. Annually, about 17,000 people die of illicit drug use (illegal), 0 people die of marijuana use (also illegal), 20,000 people die of sexual behaviors (not illegal, but frowned upon), while some 29,000 die in a firearm related incident, 1 percent of which result in a “bad guy” eating a lead sandwich.

This guy apparently just read all the anti-gun websites and repeated their propaganda. He’ll make a good journalist someday. My arsenal is a hobby. I like building things and shooting paper targets. I only own two guns that are for self defense and they are two handguns. The rest are hobby guns. What the boy genius here fails to note is the amount of crime that is prevented with guns that don’t involve someone eating a lead sandwich. What a moron. How’s that for ad hominem?

The ATFE has a history of lying and entrapment. JPFO points to a case that is pretty abysmal but, in the end, the man who never broke the law in the first place won out. Here’s the details of the case and here’s a Las Vegas Tribune editorial on the case:

They can break laws in order to induce you to do the same.

They can lie under oath and judges do nothing. They can video tape you for hours, then edit everything out of the tape which might exonerate you. Then they can present it in court as evidence against you.

The Knoxville City Council approved a law allowing traffic cameras at intersections:

The law allows the cameras, but it does not require them. Council members say they want a lot more information before they put a plan into action.

“I just have some serious reservations about it overall, and there’s some unanswered questions that I’m still looking into, and so I’m going to continue to find the answers,” said Knoxville City Council member Joe Bailey.

I wonder if anyone has told them these things tend to lead to an increase in accidents?

No problem. Just annex a business:

The company contends the following: The annexation is not necessary to further promote the welfare of city residents; the city only wants the property for revenue purposes, and the property owner does not require city services; and the city “has not followed the required statutory procedures” in pursuing the annexation.

The city has vowed to vigorously defend the annexation. I drive past Vulcan every day. There’s really nothing there. I think it’s pretty clear the motivation is for tax revenue.

Brent Greer:

Yesterday, January 27, saw an extraordinary event at the old Columbus Police Academy. Members of the city administration, led by City Council Member Michael Mentel spoon fed local media a “photo-op” firearms demonstration that was closed to the public. There, he had police representatives showing off firearms far less powerful than those used for hunting, as well as fully-automatic guns from the city’s SWAT arsenal — the latter of which is illegal to own in the U.S. — all for the purpose of saying how Columbus must rid the streets of so-called “assault weapons” in order to protect children and law enforcement. The hyperbole was extensive.

The actual article eats it up:

The dummy was dressed in a bulletproof vest that kept the bullets from going completely through, yet a bullet from a police service pistol caused a 1½-inch-deep impression, and a 12-gauge shotgun blast left a 4-inch crater.

“That would probably kill the officer,” Winship said.

Then came the rifles.

Because the guns are so powerful, the officers fired them outside to avoid damaging a steel wall at the back of the indoor range.

Fired from 45 yards away, bullets from the military-style rifles easily penetrated the vest on the dummy. The bullets even penetrated quarterinch-thick (sic) steel plates.

The rifles fired were an SKS, an AK-47 and an AR-15. Officer Floyd Wise said the AR-15 is included in the Columbus SWAT unit’s arsenal.

CNN got in trouble for this a while back and issued a retraction.

Taser will implement background checks on buyers of their products:

Taser International Inc. is hiring a company to conduct criminal background checks and verify the identity of private citizens trying to buy its stun guns.

Taser chose Atlanta-based ChoicePoint Asset Co. to provide online criminal background information and identity verification, said Rick Smith, Taser’s co-founder and chief executive.

He said the checks confirm Taser’s commitment to ensuring its devices, “designed for personal safety and citizen defense, are purchased for those very reasons.”

This potential eminent domain case seems pretty silly to me:

An agency backed by the city is preparing to take Day’s business by eminent domain to make way for something called a “Media Box.”

Day can take the offer of $67,500 for his property – less than the city says it’s worth – or continue with an already drawn-out court battle. Either way, he has little chance of keeping his shop on a triangle of land at Spring Avenue and Olive Street.

Critics say Day’s situation is a classic example of the abuse of eminent domain. A case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could affect thousands of similar cases nationwide.

It’s part of a revitalization effort but no one was talking about what exactly a media box is. Someone finally came forward to clarify:

But last week, Michelle Cohen, a public relations executive recently hired by Grand Center, said the “Media Box” is a building that will hold a design studio and apartments or condominiums.

“The ‘Media Box’ is really the working title for the design studio piece of it,” Cohen said.

Another case of forced private party transfers.

I don’t have a problem. I can stop whenever I want. Below is the latest kit and sack of parts I got:

Got it together and wanted to snap a pic. Since the camera is out, the dog decides he wants to pose too:

The new addition meets his family:

Did I mention I bought some more mags? How many is enough?

Another extortion lawsuit has been filed in East Tennessee regarding the taking of assets and demanding contributions to the drug fund:

A Kingston couple have filed a $20 million lawsuit against the Loudon County Sheriff’s Department, claiming they were coerced to donate to a drug fund.

Kenneth Wayne Templeton and his former wife, Tina Miller, filed suit Friday in connection with a traffic stop a year ago on Highway 70.

Court documents show Templeton claims that deputies pressured him to contribute an unstated amount to the department’s drug fund to get his truck back.

The vehicle had been confiscated when Templeton was arrested on charges of DUI, driving on a revoked license and drug possession. A judge dismissed all of the charges.

When you have an incentive for taking property, people will take property even when they probably shouldn’t. Not the first time this has happened here.

If you’ve ever read Christopher Buckley’s Thank You For Smoking then you might recall the “Merchants of Death” or “MOD Squad.” These were lobbyists for the alcohol, tobacco, and firearms interests, who meet every day for lunch.

I was reminded of this today as I was perusing the latest issue of America’s 1st Freedom, the monthly NRA magazine. Toward the back is a section called the “NRA H.Q. Bulletin.” One picture caught my eye; it’s two guys holding one of those giant checks that you get for winning golf tournaments. The caption reads:

NRA Life member Todd A. Walker, representing UST Public Affairs, Inc., presents NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox with a $5,000 check…Walker is vice president of federal government relations for UST, Inc., a holding company whose principal subsidiaries are U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company and International Wine & Spirits, Ltd.

I just…I don’t know; for some reason this cracks me up.

To Kathy for installing some fixes to the trackback problem. If you’re in the market for a person to handle the technical stuff on your blog, she gets my recommendation.