I mentioned before how this site was scrubbed by Google. No big deal really in terms of readership but it has affected my ad revenue. It seems that I am not the only gun blogger scrubbed by them.

I’ve seen a few Google ads for gun stuff lately. I know in the past there was some stink over their anti-gun nonsense. Now, I’ve seen ads for NRA certified instructors, gun safes, and Front Sight (a top notch training center). Anyone know?

Kevin tries to take me to task with the strawman. See, when I express opposition to some random tax (of which there are thousands), I am also required by, err, I dunno what to come up with a way to pay for crap that might otherwise be funded by the taxes I oppose. In other words, I should be glad to be taxed and thankful for our infrastructure. Or damn the taxes and the infrastructure. What Kevin doesn’t seem to grasp is that I oppose taxes only slightly more than I oppose a bunch of crap the .gov wastes money on. So, yes, kill a bunch of it. I could write a list and it would basically include most things that start with Department of, social security and a great many more. But there are things they do that I support. There is a potential for balance but we’re tilted in the wrong direction.

He also states a real boner, that taxes are flat.

I was going to discsuss Dwight Lewis’ simplistic and flawed anti-gun piece in the Tennesseean but Nathan Moore already did.

I’ve discussed The Market and Guns before. Ronnie Barrett sums it up:

…When politicians say “we’ll ban sales of this caliber or that rifle to anyone except the police department and the military” who do they think will be making those items? We don’t have a “U.S. Springfield Armory” anymore – the government shut them all down years ago. If we could only sell to the military, every firearms company in the United States would fail. The industry condition is that fragile….

Head sets us straight on parts counts to stay legal when building an AK.

Looks like the Denial of Service business finally got squared away. Malkin has a summary.

R. Neal got to spend the day at WATE to see how TV news was made. He has a fairly long and detailed post about it.

Sorry for the light blogging but it may continue a while longer. In the meantime, here’s a bunny with two pancakes on it’s head:

In Arizona, a veto of such a bill was almost overridden:

The Republican-led Arizona Senate narrowly voted against overriding Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano’s veto of a bill that would have prohibited the imposition of firearms restrictions during a declared state of emergency.

“This is America. This is not a police state,” said Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City. “This is the governor by her veto trying to take her authority over the Second Amendment.”

Meanwhile, today’s asshat is Oklahoma State Representative Mike Shelton:

During states of emergency, I think police need total control. They don’t need to worry who has guns and who doesn’t. If the governor calls for Oklahomans to relinquish their guns, the public needs to do so

From their cold, dead hands.

Update: Left out an important word at first. Thanks to publicola for the heads up. The bill was not overridden.

Mr. Completely has updates to the scheduled event, including dates and hotel info. Too early for me to commit yet but it sounds fun.

Win a Sig!

You can do cool stuff when you cut your rifle scope open.

In Connecticut, a gun dealer was arrested by the ATF for what are largely clerical errors:

The 22-page affidavit lists numerous, mostly record-keeping, violations. Sullivan charged that D’Andrea on 11 occasions failed to report multiple gun sales to the same person; on 34 occasions failed to get certification of the 90-day state residency requirement before selling guns to aliens; and on 32 occasions failed to insure that all of the questions on a required ATF transaction form were answered before the gun was transferred.

D’Andrea is charged with disposing of firearms without making entries into his record books; making false statements and representation on required forms; failing to conduct required background checks on purchasers; transferring guns to people who failed to certify they were not prohibited from buying guns; failing to report multiple sales to the same person; failing to report the theft or loss of firearms; and receiving or possessing firearms that are not registered.

Keep in mind, this guy was in business for 30 years. There’s also the fact he may have sold a gun to a felon. But, instead of going after that, they’ve thrown a bunch of technical violations in. I find that overreaching.

Update: Jeff says I’m full of crap. Actually, he doesn’t. He says that:

If (that’s IF) the allegations are true, that’s a hell of a lot of violations — remembering that the investigation only started a couple years ago. Sorry, Uncle, but I’m not impressed, either, with the argument that he’s been in business for 30 years. If so, he should bloody-well know better by now what the state and federal laws require of him.

Indeed it is a hell of a lot of violations. And that’s what the ATF seems to focus on. Rather than saying the guy didn’t do background checks and sold guns to felons (which most folks would say is pretty bad), the ATF opted to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the guy. That seems to be standard operating procedure when the real issue should be going after the egregious violations and not the technical violations.

I blogged the run up to this thing but others beat me to covering the issue. I figured it’d be more of the same pie-in-the-sky nonsense that has not worked in the past. Looks like I was right. Bruce says of Boston’s mayor:

No doubt, he’ll be sure the mention the decrease in the nationwide violent crime rate that has happened concurrently with more and more states loosening their restrictions on the rights of law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons for self-defense purposes.

He also notes this ridiculous assertion:

The problem is we don’t have a national policy on guns,” Menino said after the summit ended with a news conference and a signing of the statement of principles.

Has this guy read any gun laws? David Hardy has the text of the presser. He says it’s more of the same. Ayup.

In the presser, Bloomberg says:

The fight against illegal guns is one that reaches beyond our borders and today’s Summit opens the dialogue with leaders across this country who have made safety in their neighborhoods and on their streets a top priority. This is not a question of ideologies or a referendum on the Second Amendment. This is about public safety and making sure that illegal guns never make their way into the hands of criminals and onto our streets. Today, we shared our most innovative strategies for fighting illegal guns and we’ve created a plan to move forward to build the broadest coalition of leaders possible.

The trouble is, of course, that illegal guns in New York is almost all of them. With the exception of a few other localities, that is not the case every where else. Period. And you’re not going to change that.

Denise has a lot more.

Generally, people don’t like the fact they pay taxes and they don’t like the fact that they will die. So, a glorious idea is to combine two of the shittiest things ever into one craptacular package:

This [estate taxes - ed] is a perfect issue for Southern progressives. Half of the super-rich families are based in or have close ties to the South. And Southern populists — a large part of the Southern electorate, who are progressive on economic issues — hate the idea of the super-rich not paying their fair share to make government work. (The fight for the estate tax was actually started by Populists as a response to the excesses of the Robber Barrons.)

Paying their fair share? And somehow when you die you should be forced to make amends for, err, all those years you were in the higher tax brackets. Give me a break. Even more ridiculous is the intro to the bit:

The essence of the American dream is that every child born should have an equal shot at success, and that every person should pay their fair share of taxes, right?

The rich don’t think so — which is why their political minions on the right are pushing to abolish the estate tax, to ensure the Paris Hiltons of the world never have to do honest work or contribute to society.

Actually, no American dream I know of includes paying taxes. And how is that someone else being rich impacts someone else’s fair equal shot at anything? Life is not a zero sum game. The Paris Hilton’s of the world don’t have to work because their predecessors took risks and worked hard. I hope some day that Junior is a spoiled little rich girl, only without the whole dirty movie thing, of course.

If Southern Progressives want issues, they should avoid the ones based on class warfare.

A bit back, I linked to a blog survey. I thought no one would take it but some of you did. The average Uncle reader who would take a survey is a dude, between 31-40 years old, lives alone, makes between $30k and $120K per year, works in computers, is a libertarian, and reads between 11-15 blogs. I’m glad this blog is one of them. You can see the results here.

Finally got the $20 electronic hearing protection to the range. Impressions are that they’re not bad. They are definitely not as good as Pro-Ears but are better than standard hearing protection. They amplify soft sounds so you can hear people talk and make out the sounds of folks in other lanes loading magazines; and the block out loud sounds. In comments to the initial review, reader Fred wrote:

I reordered after your comment and they just arrived.

First impression is negative. I put the batteries in (a bad design in my opinion) and the indicator light turns on. I put it back together and the indicator light won’t turn on. Something seems to be sensitive to the stress when the cup is snapped in. It may be a defect only with this particular set, but . . .

Incidentally, the instructions are wrapped up with the warranty in the bottom of the package. Rather, mine were. They may also have problems with their packaging process.

I don’t know whether I’ll bother to send them back under warranty since I have to pay to ship. I’ll probably just not deal with them again.

Perhaps he got a lemon or I got a top performer. My impression is that they are worth the $20. You get what you pay for so don’t buy these thinking they’re as good as Pro-Ears. They are not. But they are quite adequate and better than regular hearing protection.

AC tells us that Representative Susan Lynn is blogging.

Another review. I didn’t know they came in OD green.

Terry Frank brings to light a sad pitiful comedy bit from local radio veteran Phil Williams on WNOX NewsTalk 100. I missed it but it doesn’t sound funny at all.

Terry explains what happened:

Williams began the show by mocking the details of the shooting incident involving Knoxville City Councilman Steve Hall. Williams relayed details of a mock incident where he had stepped outside to fix some signs or something, and he heard a voice say “Hey, Mister Big Talker.” He then proceeds with his “mock” story that he heard two shots and goes on to say that he’s ok.

Terry recommends people contact Vice-President Ed Brantley by email at ed.brantley@citcomm.com or by calling him at 865.212.4529.

She explains why a call to Mike Hammond may not accomplish much:

Don’t bother contacting Operations Manager Mike Hammond. In addition to serving as Operations Manager for WNOX, he serves on County Commission in Knoxville and has a vested interest in seeing that his friend, political ally, and incumbent County Mayor Mike Ragsdale stays in office.

Has Phil lost the ability to know what is funny? Phil was not in today. There were no apologies from the station on either the Hallerin Hilton Hill radio program this morning or on the Phil Williams show which had guest host Jay Kersting this afternoon.

I have often criticized local newspapers and television media. One of the newspapers I often criticize is the Metro Pulse.

Not today.

In today’s unsigned editorial in the Metro Pulse, “Litigating commissioners threaten the whole Knox government” there is a fascinating analysis of the lawsuit brought forward by the “Hell no we won’t go five”. Hat tip to Betty Bean for the best name for the “It’s all about me five” also know as the, “Let’s play chicken with the Charter five”. Diane Jordan, David Collins, Billy Tindell, Phil Guthe, and John Griess supposedly decided to file a lawsuit to “seek clarification” about the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling on term limits for Knox County Commissioners. They did this supposedly to help the Knox County Election Commission. It’s all about helping.

Both the Knox County Election Commission and the Knoxville News Sentinel have said how much they feel this lawsuit will help bring “clarification” to the matter.

Bullshit.

What it does show is how compromised this town really is and how compromised the local media can be.

The Metro Pulse editorial today delves into what the lawsuit is really about. It is about who else the law states must be term limited. It is about the Sheriff of Knox County. The Charter does not mention the Sheriff and he is exempt along with a few other offices because of the Charter.

Give the Metro Pulse it’s due, there are some strong statements in this editorial:

“The specious lawsuit brought by five term-limited county commissioners seeking to invalidate the Knox County Charter represents an uncharacteristic dereliction of duty on their part.

In a transparent attempt to cling to office, five commissioners have resorted to a claim that would cast doubt on the validity of just about every act of county government since the Charter took effect in 1990. In doing so, they have violated their oath of office, which includes a vow to defend the Charter of Knox County. That violation alone could well be grounds for their removal from office even before their terms expire in August.”

What the editorial does not address is who is behind this “specious” lawsuit and what the end game is? Is this from the desk of Mike Arms or possibly one of the many PR flacks in the Ragsdale camp? Is it an eleventh hour ploy to change the Charter to term limit the Sheriff? That would make Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale very happy because the single greatest impediment to Metro Government in Knox County is Sheriff Tim Hutchison. Mike Ragsdale must have Metro Government in Knox County to run for Governor.

One thing you can say about elections in Knox County. They are not dull. Hat tip to the Metro Pulse for an interesting editorial.

To Michael Silence, who is going to have double-bypass surgery.

Speaking of Death Matches, guess who won:

I got me a KEL-TEC P-3AT. Fugger has the stats on it. I’ll tell you my impressions. This gun is tiny. It is easily smaller than my hand. With the Uncle Mike’s (no relation) pocket holster seen above, it easily fits into front or rear pants pockets with no printing. It’s polymer and seems quite durable. It’s also a breeze to take apart.

At the blogger shoot, I shot it for the first time. The gun is so small that I don’t see how it’s possible to effectively shoot it one handed. So, I didn’t try. I put three magazines worth of 102g Remington Golden Sabers through it with no problem. When I switched to the cheap plinking ammo after I was satisfied it would handle my carry load, I had one failure to feed on the second magazine and one failure to feed on the fourth magazine. After that, no problems at all. I put 50 rounds of plinking ammo through it with those two problems. I’d say it was a matter of breaking it in. After those two FTFs, it was perfectly reliable.

This gun is not pleasant to shoot. It’s a small, light pistol and that makes it bounce around quite a bit. After shooting, my index finger was a bit sore. I bought a Hogue slip-on rubber grip and put it on to absorb recoil next time I shoot. If you buy the smallest size Hogue, you still have to cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom of it to get it to fit without covering the magazine. But this isn’t a gun you get because it’s pleasant to shoot. It’s a gun you get to conceal easily.

Accuracy was about what I expected out of this tiny pistol. Best group was about 3 inches at seven yards (with the Golden Sabers) and average groups were about six inches. This pistol isn’t made to for minute of angle, it’s made for minute of ass hole. So, I can’t complain.

If you want a pleasant to shoot, accurate gun, this is not it. However, if you want a reliable pistol that’s about as big as a pack of cigarettes (and much thinner) that you can stick in your pocket, this is your gun.

Update: A couple more things:

Unfortunately, the weapon only comes with one magazine and additional magazines are $20. If they’d up the price and ship them with two, no one would complain.

Also, the trigger pull on it, while consistent, is not crisp and it’s also not a true double action. It requires cocking, similar to various striker fired handguns.

The Geek has a little comparison of the two weapons. Looks like someone stole my Death Match format.

Over at Knoxviews, rikki has some choice words for the Tennessee Supreme Court regarding their recent term limits:

Somebody needs to make sure these Justices understand what a mess they’ve made. State law forbids amending a ballot within 40 days of an election. The Supreme Court did just that, in effect. How do you sue the State Supreme Court for violating state election law?

Are arbitrary dates and deadlines and procedural niceties really more important than the right of every Knox Co citizen to participate in a coherent election in which their vote actually counts for something? The courts keep saying yes. I disrespectfully disagree. Contemptuously, even.

My thoughts about the ruling are that, sure, it’s a pain in the ass, it’s inconvenient and a lot of folks won’t be too happy. But the law is the law and it should be followed. Period. Arbitrary dates and deadlines and procedural niceties may not be that important in the giant scheme of things but they are the law of the land and no amount of belly-aching for the candidates of choice will change that. Thems the breaks. After all, if we disregard those things, we may as well not have them. The court could have offered some guidance or withheld the decision until after elections but that wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting.

And I’m fully aware of the irony that this is coming from me, your local libertarianish sort.

Reader Carl forwards this from the Tennessee Firearms Association:

Gun ranges in Tennessee seem to be under attack by local zoning officials. These local zoning officials are often motivated by public pressure. Usually, that means that the gun range is in trouble unless the gun owners of this state and range members ban together to fight local government. This is one of the main reasons that the State of Tennessee passed a stronger range protection act in 2004.

Most recently, a sporting clays range in Bradley County, Tennessee, (Flint Springs) has been under attack. Papers filed in Chancery Court in Bradley County, Tennessee, reflect that the range is situated on a 175 acre farm in the rural part of the county. In 2003, the Bradley County Planning Commission issued a permit authorizing the use of the land as a shotgun only shooting range. No restrictions were placed on the number of members that the club could have nor on the days or hours of shooting.

On February 2006, according to court filings, the Bradley County Planning Commission voted to revoke the 2003 permit. The court pleadings reflect that non-shooters had been complaining about the noise and that those complaints garnered more attention by the county when the number of members in the club increased over time. Those complaints appear to have influenced the county to “reconsider” the permit and then to revoke it allegedly on grounds of misrepresentation.

In March 2006, the County filed with the court a petition seeking an injunction to close down the range. At a hearing in the matter occurring on April 21, 2006 and again on April 25, 2006, the Court denied the county’s efforts to close the range. Instead, the Court issued an order prohibiting the county from closing the range based upon the county’s revocation of the use permit until all administrative and court proceedings were concluded.

This is going to be an potentially expensive fight for the Flint Springs Sporting Clays club. If you are interested in helping in this fight, financially or otherwise – individually or as a club, please feel free to contact Flint Springs Sporting Clays, LLC through the clubs website.

http://www.flintspringsclays.com/contact.htm

Who knows when your club will be the next one in the sights of a local government?

Not blogged about it because it infuriates me. But apparently some Campbell County deputies tortured some drug dealer and it was caught on tape. I haven’t listened to it as I can’t really stand to hear that crap. I perused the transcripts and it’s quite hideous. Blogs covering the issue are AC, gunner, Blake, and Brittney.

The powers that be like juries stupid. How else would you explain that time the jury wasn’t told that someone charged with growing weed was doing it for medical purposes under state law? Now:

Jurors in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui asked for but were denied a dictionary Tuesday for use during their deliberations on whether the Sept. 11 conspirator should receive a death sentence or life in prison.

Before their lunch break, the jurors — and Moussaoui — filed into the courtroom to hear the response of Judge Leonie Brinkema to the request to have a dictionary in the jury room.

Brinkema told them that sending a dictionary in would be like adding additional evidence in the case, but she invited them to come back if they had questions about specific definitions. And she warned them against doing their own research, including looking up definitions.

Why is that? Seems you’d want a jury to be as informed as possible. Knowledge is power, and all.

Don’t get me wrong, Moussaoui is a sack of turds and I personally wouldn’t be heart-broken if someone beat him about the head and neck area with a Ball-peen hammer until he stopped fidgeting. Heck, I’d even do it. But let the jury do its job.

I had a client once that made processed the zinc to make pennies. They knew what they made but told me they thought the .gov broke even making them. Now, it turns out, pennies cost more to make than they are worth:

. . . the metals used in a penny cost about 0.8 cents, and it costs another 0.6 cents to make the penny.

WATE:

A state Senate committee Tuesday cleared a bill that would allow people over 21 to ride motorcycles without wearing helmets.

On an 8-3 vote, the Finance, Ways and Means Committee sent Sen. Tim Burchett’s bill to the full Senate.

Good. Freedom includes the freedom to be a dumbass.

I have always wondered how editors decide which stories to run and where to place them. From observation it appears to be more art than science. In Knox County some people are puzzled by the contrast between a story from October 5th of 2004 where some shots were fired into an empty Republican Headquarters in Knoxville early in the morning and the recent news story of the attempt on the life of a Knox County Mayoral candidate.

The first story had local front-page news and reached national exposure in USA Today and other national news outlets. The second story has been under reported. Is there an implication in the under reporting of the recent news story? Or is the under reporting a signal of local media bias?

The two events have some commonality. Shots fired into a building. The difference is that in the first story no one was in the building and in the story from this Sunday the shots were fired head high into a door moments after the gunman called out, “Mr. Mayor”, and then fired two shots.

Like most people I thought this was more a story of intimidation rather than an attempt to kill someone. That was until I saw the pictures. The pictures tell more than the words of the story.

I am a frequent critique of the local news media. So lets stipulate that. The two stories are similar but the coverage has been different.

Why?

I can understand the urge to sell newspapers but how is a sensational event in 2004 given greater coverage than an attempt on the life of a current City Councilman and candidate for Knox County Mayor?

How much independence is there is there in the local media in Knox County? Who makes the decisions on which stories run and where they are located?

Jeff has it.

So, is Iran on a suicide mission?

From a presser:

In a letter faxed today to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office, the trade association representing the firearm industry officially requested a seat at the table at tomorrow’s national summit on illegal guns organized by Bloomberg and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston.

Lawrence G. Keane, who signed the letter on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), said the industry shares the mayors’ concerns about further reducing crime by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

“Our industry has developed programs that are working to reduce criminal misuse of firearms, as well as reduce firearms accidents. We would welcome the opportunity to educate mayors about these programs, including Don’t Lie for the Other Guy, the straw purchase deterrence initiative developed in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” said Keane, senior vice president and general counsel.

Of all the people that didn’t show up at the blogger shoot, Michael has the only valid excuse, possible heart surgery. Me and the Mrs. send our thoughts and prayers his way and wish him a speedy recovery.

David Hardy looks at ‘Interstate commerce” and the Gun Control Act.

I’m not the only one who had trouble with recruiters. Miriam did too.

By the way, blogging will be lighter since I’m no longer unemployed. Scored a plum consulting gig that should keep me busy for about a month. Blogging will be more of the linky not the thinky variety.

CCTV to spot concealed firearms:

For Loughborough University’s multi-environment deployable universal software application (Medusa, see PDF) project, CCTV footage of people carrying concealed firearms will be analyzed to identify characteristics associated with the behaviour of criminals (body stance, gait, movement and eye contact with cameras) before they commit a gun-related crime. This information will be used to develop a machine-learning system for behavioural interpretation. Armed with this data, the CCTV cameras will scan footage and match behavioural characteristics that indicate if an individual might be carrying a gun.

At first I thought it was odd that concealed carry was automatically thought to be criminal. Then I realized this is in England.

You lied. Or probably realized that since the weather was nice you’d rather sit on the patio and have some adult beverages.

Got to CCA yesterday for the blogger shoot. They asked how many I thought would be there and I said that, based on emails and comments, I expected about 15 to 20 people. But only 8 showed up. So, where were you? And you know who you are.

Still, a good time was had by all. Played with some 9mm AR-15s, an MP-5 submachine gun, and a Desert Eagle 50. I got to shoot a Sig GSR for the first time. That’s a sweet pistol. There was also a super accurate 9mm CZ. More later.

Xrlqy Wrlqy defends logical fallacies.

Blake interviews a policeman about traffic policies.

Cool. Full-auto gun porn.

The latest is up at the Strata Sphere.

Reader Knob Creeker emails:

I couldn’t find news of this on your page or any others, but figured it would be of interest to the readers. According to the Kentucky Legislature website, the Kentucky Governor signed SB 38 “Castle Doctrine” on Friday, April 21 (If I understand correctly it shall become law in about 90 days).

It gives KY residents the right to stand their ground, meet force with force, & defend themselves and others. This Act also protects a person who lawfully uses deadly force from any criminal prosecution (including arrest or detainment) or civil action.

Check out the link for more specifics.

Looks like Cali is trying to lead the way:

California could become the first state in the nation to require semi-automatic handguns include microscopic equipment for pressing an identifying mark into every bullet fired.

Through newly developed technology, the firing pin of a semi-automatic weapon can stamp the gun’s make and model onto a bullet shell as it leaves the chamber. The technology could help police investigate homicides and trace gun trafficking.

Thirty-three California police chiefs and two county sheriffs support a bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, that would require the markers.

Ammo prices would go up and more people would reload. As pointed out in comments, this would be done via firing pin and ammo wouldn’t really matter. Sorry, no coffee yet.

New York mayor Bloomberg is attempting to wrap himself in the constitution when it comes to 2nd amendment PROTECTED rights with this comment

“Believe this or not, I am a defender of the Second Amendment,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “I see nothing wrong with people having guns. But that doesn’t mean you can have a gun everyplace. And concealed weapons or even weapons out in the open in big cities, in city streets, does not make a lot of sense to me.”

I simply say “or not”, and there seems always to be a but(t) and he was the one quoted.

Article may be password protected. Trust me when I say it is not worth your time to read it.

Remember, the blogger shoot is this afternoon at about 4:45ish:

Who: Invitation is open to all. Bloggers, readers, lurkers, reporters, gun nuts, hoplophobes, or anybody else.

What: Spring Time Blogger Shoot. We will have the entire indoor range to ourselves.

When: Sunday, April 23, 2006. Arrive at about 4:45p.m(ish) and we will begin shooting at 5:00 and last at least until 6:00

Where: Coal Creek Armory, you can find a map and directions here

What you need to know: The four rules of firearms safety:

1. All guns are always loaded

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy

3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire

4. Be sure of your target and what’s behind it

The Carnival of Cordite is up.

Pro-Gun Progressive got his concealed carry weapons permit. In Maryland, even. He advises:

If you’re living in a Shall Issue state and you don’t have your permit, shame on you. If you’re living in MD or another restrictive state, apply today and make a political statement. Feel free to ask me for help with the process.

The Cranky Insomniac takes the Cleveland not so Plain Dealer.

Actually I don’t, but I’m thinking about starting

Me and the Mrs. headed to Wal-Mart a bit ago. The Mrs. (who is 8 months pregnant) and I were driving through the parking lot. Wal-Mart has those parking spaces that are right near the handicap parking spaces labeled Expectant/New Mothers. These are for folks like my wife who shouldn’t have to walk far distances. We pulled up to one and there was a car in it. The car had a handicap sticker. Right next to the empty handicap spaces. Ponder it for a bit. This person could have parked in the handicap space and even been closer than they were. But they parked in the spot for hormonal women, who may kill you for looking at them funny or implying that maybe their ankles are kind of puffy.

I think that was the first time in the history of the universe that someone was pissed because a handicapped person was in their spot.

I’ve long thought that the only reason VCRs and Al Gore’s Internets took off was due to porn. Via Bitter, Reason tells us that Vivid Video’s hoping to penetrate new markets by offering DVD-burnable movies for download.

With what was basically the death of our former alt-weekly publication (it didn’t really die but became basically not alt at all), comes Knoxville Voice. Knoxville Voice seems to have the old MP crew, in part. We need another voice in Knoxville.

Via R. Neal.

Update: But if they want me to read regularly, let’s see some RSS or other syndication.

Democrats receive campaign money from, err, other Democrats.

A Columbine-style shooting was thwarted through police work and tips from citizens. I mean I thought the only way to prevent this stuff was through closing the gun show loophole, passing bans on weapons that look like assault weapons, mandatory trigger locks, and marking bullets so that they are traceable?

Been widely known that large urban areas are losing population and businesses for a while. From experience, I thought most of that was due to income and property taxes. And, of course, traffic and noise and crime. But the SAF says:

The Census Bureau has reported what amounts to a “domestic migration” from three large cities in three key states, and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) blames much of this population flight on repressive gun laws.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that, according to the Census Bureau, states losing the most people are New York, California and Illinois.

“This is no mystery,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “Those states are infamous for their anti-gun attitudes. Countless times have we heard from people who have moved from those states because they wanted to escape the Draconian gun laws.

“The Census Bureau reports that New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles lost the most residents between 2000 and 2004,” Gottlieb continued. “Anti-gun politicians and their restrictive gun laws have made it virtually impossible for average law-abiding citizens to get a concealed pistol license in Los Angeles or New York City. In Chicago, you can’t own an unregistered handgun, and they no longer register handguns.

“Americans prefer to live where they can enjoy freedom and liberty, rather than depend upon an oppressive, disinterested municipal bureaucracy for their safety,” he said

While I agree with his sentiment, I doubt that gun ownership is that important to a lot of people. I could be wrong, of course.

Remember, the blogger shoot (details here) is Sunday.

Who: Invitation is open to all. Bloggers, readers, lurkers, reporters, gun nuts, hoplophobes, or anybody else.

What: Spring Time Blogger Shoot. We will have the entire indoor range to ourselves.

When: Sunday, April 23, 2006. Arrive at about 4:45p.m(ish) and we will begin shooting at 5:00 and last at least until 6:00

Where: Coal Creek Armory, you can find a map and directions here

What you need to know: The four rules of firearms safety:

1. All guns are always loaded

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy

3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire

4. Be sure of your target and what’s behind it

The .gov does not approve. First up, this:

At an outdoor ceremony, Bush told Hu:

“China has become successful because the Chinese people are experience the freedom to buy, and to sell, and to produce — and China can grow even more successful by allowing the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely, and to worship.”

Seconds later, one of the people assembled on the White House south lawn actually tried to speak freely right here in America — about both the lack of free speech and religious freedom in China.

That free-speaking woman was promptly hauled off and arrested:

And Sorry, Your Viewpoint Is Excluded from First Amendment Protection.

Washington Ceasefire (an anti gun group) president Ralph Fascitelli has an opinion piece in the Seattle Times that blames the lack of gun control for the death of some kids at a rave. He says:

…last month our own Columbine event happened on Capitol Hill. In both cases, a deranged loner or two with an affinity for assault weapons carried out a horrific massacre of innocent children and adults.

Nevermind that Huff didn’t use what these folks consider an assault weapon to commit his crime. His affinity for them is clearly to blame. More:

Nobody is claiming that better gun-control laws could have prevented the Capitol Hill shootings. The issue is more complicated than that. It’s a deadly cocktail of easy access to powerful firearms and a societal paranoia that all too often leads to gun violence. Too many people feel they need a gun to protect themselves at home when, in fact, gun ownership raises the risk of gun violence.

Anyone with a brain knows that by better you merely mean more. And have you read your organizations own webpage, which calls for more? Gun ownership does not increase the risk of gun violence. There are countries with fewer gun owners than the US that have more gun crime and countries with more gun owners that have less.

The NRA is a body mostly of white men who live outside urban centers

Race card? Culture war card? You tell me.

[The NRA's] stubborn solidarity has led to the repeal of the ban on deadly assault weapons and a flood of gun shows and private arms sales that allow criminals and terrorists easy access to military weapons whose primary purpose is to kill people.

These two lies are repeated often. The ban was not repealed. It had a sunset provision and was not renewed. And every weapon is designed to kill and what this guy considers an assault weapon is no more likely to kill than a hunting rifle. And the ban did not affect military weapons, which have been regulated since 1934 and banned since 1986. It affected weapons that looked like military weapons.

The options include stricter measures on gun shows and private arms sales, an ad campaign to build awareness on gun safety, mandatory trigger locks to prevent accidental shootings, and marked bullets so we can trace criminals to weapons. In short, a comprehensive joint program to address this deadly problem.

Isn’t that a list of things that you said would not have prevented this incident?

With an antiquated camcorder and a child on the way, we’re looking at digital camcorders. Some thing that records to DVD and don’t want tapes or anything like that. Any recommendations?

Update: Based on comments, it seems MiniDV is the way to go. And Panasonic seems to get high marks.

Reuters:

A 76-year-old man claiming to be a doctor went door-to-door in a Florida neighborhood offering free breast exams, and was charged with sexually assaulting two women who accepted the offer, police said on Thursday.

I’m amazed that some women fell for that.

One woman became suspicious after the man asked her to remove all her clothes and began conducting a purported genital exam without donning rubber gloves, investigators said.

That’s when you became suspicious?

My brain is turning to mush. It’s true. If you don’t have exposure to an activity that requires attention, you sort of lose focus. At home with Junior, I spend my day watching Noggin’ and having great philosophical discussions that consist of:

So, during the day the only thing remotely mentally stimulating is surfing Al Gore’s Internets. Because of this lack of mental stimulation, I’ve even gone on some job interviews for jobs I’m not really interested in just to interact with the occasional adult other than my wife. I think this mental mushiness from lack of adult interaction is common. After all how many times do you hear of some business sort who retires only to go insane or die shortly thereafter? I think the reason is they lack a challenge.

Also, recruiters and headhunters are almost completely useless human beings. Of the several interviews I’ve been on, only one was arranged by a headhunter. And these recruiting firms make shit up. They post jobs they don’t have in an effort to get you to send them your résumé. I’ve even confirmed this with a headhunter friend of mine. I have basically written off one local firm because they have nothing but made up jobs. Seriously. I contact a local firm and tell them I saw a particular ad they had in the paper and express my interest. Should be no problem setting me up since they have my info. But they don’t have a job. I ask about the ad and they tell me it’s already been filled. Really? You filled it in 20 fucking minutes? I should have figured that out since they probably wouldn’t run ads if they already have candidates who were qualified.

Also, a special note to headhunters: When I send you my résumé, that’s what you should work with (and maybe a list of references). Do not call me into your office when you have my résumé and ask me to waste a couple of hours (counting driving time) filling out your proprietary paperwork that is a complete duplicate of information that is already contained on my résumé. Don’t ask me to take some proficiency exam either, particularly when said proficiency exam is targeted towards, say, a clerk and I’m there on the premise that you have a director level, upper management job. Then, don’t act all surprised and patronizing when I score in the 99th percentile on said exam. Of course, a CPA is going to score high on an exam that targets clerks. And why are you asking me to fill out tax info when you don’t have a job for me.

I’ve even had a couple that have called me in on the pretense that they have a job I may be interested in and they want to discuss it with me. So, I arrange babysitting, put on a monkey suit, drive the 40 minutes to their office, fill out their paperwork, take some stupid test, then finally meet the recruiter, who promptly implies (without actually coming out and saying) that they don’t have anything for me now but I’m on file while making vague references to jobs I know they don’t have orders for.

All of a sudden, TiVo thinks the Uncle family speaks Spanish. Seriously, its suggestions lately are from Spanish TeeVee.

Man, these things are shooting up all over. Reason Engaged is a brand spanking new gun blog.

Xavier says:

I challenge my readers who have their own blog and a camera to unholster their carry gun right now, snap a photo, and post it, linking to this page. Show the world that a gun does not have to be perfect to be beautiful!

Here’s the SigArms P229 in 9MM that I carry:

Here’s the Glock 30, that I usually carry more:

Blake reports:

Ophelia Ford’s election has been voided with a vote of 26-6. Just now at 4:14pm, Ford has dismissed herself from the Senate Chamber… graciously I might add.

Joe reports that Boomershoot has made the news. He notes:

… if you want the media to cover your event you need to write the story for them.

So the people of Knox County vote for term limits in 1994, the Tennessee Supreme Court rules this vote must be honored, and then five Knox County Commissioners sue to invalidate the Charter they have pledged to obey?

Why should anyone ever vote for these five people for any office? Diane Jordan, David Collins, Billy Tindell, Phil Guthe and John Griess have betrayed their office, the people of their district, and their oath by filing a lawsuit against the Knox County Charter they swore to obey. None of the 12 ineligible incumbents have suspended their campaigns even though two of them have claimed they have.

These are the ineligible incumbents. If elected they cannot serve because of term limits. Print this out and carry it with you.

Diane Jordan (D-1st District)
David Collins (R-2nd District)
Billy Tindell (R-2nd District)
Wanda Moody (R-3rd District)
John Schmid (R-4th District)
Phil Guthe (R-4th District)
John Griess (R-5th District)
Mark Cawood (D-6th District)
Mary Lou Horner (R-7th District)
Michael McMillan (R-8th District)
John Mills (R-8th District)
Larry Clark (R-9th District)

Take this list and request a write-in ballot. Vote for anyone except these 12 people.

Don’t let these ineligible incumbents ignore the will of the people. A vote for the ineligible incumbent is like mystery meat on a sandwich. You don’t know what you are getting. Since they don’t have the decency to obey the will of the people send them packing. Throw them out. Find a good write-in candidate to vote for. Or simply do not vote in this particular race. Do not reward these people. Vote for someone else or shun them.

I graduated high school in 1989. It what I can safely describe as a joke by the entirety of my graduating class or a twisted statement we smart-assed Gen Xers would make, our homecoming queen was pregnant. IIRC, she was quite visibly pregnant during the ceremony. Today, I realized that her child is probably driving, registering soon for selective service, a junior in high school, can enlist in the army, and can see R-Rated movies without an adult. Time sneaks up on you.

WATE:

A bill that puts a liquor by the drink vote on the table in Townsend soared through the state legislature Tuesday.

The bill is now waiting on Gov. Bredesen’s signature.

If Bredesen signs it, residents of Townsend can vote on the issue in the November election.

In 2005, a similar measure was taken to allow a liquor by the drink vote but the paperwork was not filed on time.

So, why exactly does the state have any say in a city matter?

Update: In comments, Scott says:

I don’t know the reasoning or origins, but the state of TN regulates liquor sales and local governments regulate beer (and other low alcohol drinks) sales.

Alrighty, then.

Interesting stuff from The Trainer. Notably:

The military needs 7.62 M14s so bad that it is buying them from Springfield Armory and buying back lots that were sold to other NATO countries.

I thought they had a ton of these mothballed somewhere.

I concur that this is the scientific equivalent of what happens after a Southerner says, “Hey, y’all, watch this!”.

Phelpsy Welpsy is back with new Wordpress digs.

With the warmer weather, young men’s fancy turns to pocket guns.

My carry gun is generally a Glock 30. Sometimes, it’s a Sig P229. Both are fine pistols that function flawlessly. But, with the warm weather, they’re sometimes not practical. They can both be carried by me in my usual attire, which is typically shorts/pants and an untucked pull over shirt. However, the weather now dictates no jacket, so they’re hard to carry concealed when wearing what I’d consider business casual (khaki pants and a tucked button down shirt). I’m not one to wear the uber-tactical shoot me first vests so my thoughts have turned to pocket guns (AKA Mouseguns). That is to say, I want something that, when dressed for some sort of social outing that requires more than jeans and a T-Shirt, a pistol that I can stick in the pocket when I stop to get gas.

That said, I’ve narrowed my choices down to a small auto-loader or a snubby revolver. Notably, The KEL-TEC P-3AT or a S&W J-Frame. Both of these come highly recommended, it would seem. So, my quick and dirty death match of two things I do not own:

By a score of 4 to 4, I call it a tie. Convince me which one I should get.

In the comments, Tom of LeanLeft says this about gun shows:

I’ve long argued that gun rights activists ought to concede this one [background checks at gun shows - ed], since they lose virtually nothing as a result, and would be able to point to it as evidence that they are, in fact, willing to submit to common sense measures in deed as well as in word.

I don’t think this one should be conceded for a few reasons. Namely:

That said, being the incremental absolutist I am, if it’s trade they want, I’ll do that. I’ll trade it for either repeal of the sporting purposes language or the 1986 Hughes Amendment.

I’ve long felt, that as a byproduct of the supposed culture war, we’ve seen drastic differences between the big cities and rural areas. Bloomberg has decided to get a big group of big city mayors together to have a gun conference:

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will host a summit next week for about a dozen of their colleagues to discuss gun violence, a problem that has long frustrated big-city mayors.

Mayors from Dallas, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., and Seattle are among those scheduled to attend the meeting at Gracie Mansion, the historic Upper East Side house where Bloomberg holds official events.

Bloomberg, a Republican, has zeroed in on gun control as a priority for his second term, which began four months ago. Crime statistics show the number of shootings this year is slightly lower than last year, but high-profile gun deaths _ like that of a toddler killed by a stray bullet on Easter Sunday _ continue to hold a spotlight on the issue.

Jeff figures the strategy will include:

1) Suing gun stores across the country that legally sell guns.

2) Reviving the AWB.

3) Lobbying the governors of other states to enact the same gun-lack-of-rights that NY and NYC have.

4) Refusing (or making it damn near impossible) for law abiding citizens to obtain a CCW permit to protect themselves.

I think pretty much anything in the Brady Wish list is likely. Bruce says:

Not a “gang” summit, a “crack dealer” summit, a “carjacker” summit, or an “armed assailant of any kind” summit. It’s those pesky inanimate objects…again. Remember the big “car” summit that was held last year as the state legislature was exploring new ways to crack down on drunk driving in the Commonwealth?

A longtime reader and commenter has set up his own blog. Check out And a Thirty Aught Six.

That Chattanoogan has a piece on some legislation in Tennessee to address ED concerns.

Via Bitter, police have a 7 hour stand off when no one was home.

Blake notes how Naifeh keeps killing pro-gun bills potentially out of a conflict with some NRA types. He notes:

The only thing that’s going to help firearm owners in this state is a change of leadership in the House. This can only happen at the voting booth.

Jeff has the latest on anti-gun bias in the media.

Which is hateful? Reprinting public information that was made public via press release for the purposes of publicity or calling someone a fucking slanty-eyed cunt and starting an email bomb campaign?

Update: Heh. Cliff notes version.

Yeah, you’re wondering why I haven’t blogged about my Buy a Gun Day purchases. Being unemployed means I can’t go buying guns willy-nilly. So, I’ll consider the 9mm AR my month early BAG purchase. Or I guess I could file an extension with the BAG agency and get one later.

Cowboy Blob rounds up other BAG purchases.

It’s a start. However, it’s not much of one. The headline states New Orleans police giving back weapons confiscated post-Katrina but that doesn’t really jive with the account. Looks like some guns are being returned after owners jump through various hoops. Some items:

A handful of people showed up Monday to try to get back guns confiscated by the New Orleans Police Department after Hurricane Katrina — and not many of those walked away with a weapon.

“They told me the police took them the first two weeks after the hurricane, after that it was the ATF,” said Charles Clark, 62, a retired law officer, who had an antique gun taken from his house after the Aug. 29 storm. “It’s very frustrating. I know we had a storm and all, but there should be a way to find out who has your property.”

Police, national guardsmen and military removed guns from houses during a search after the storm flooded the city, and they confiscated guns from some evacuees — leading to a lawsuit by gun-owner advocates including the National Rifle Association.

“Natural disasters may destroy great cities, but they do not destroy civil rights,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of Second Amendment Foundation, which joined the NRA in the suit.

Chief Warren Riley denied on Monday that his officers indulged in mass confiscations after the hurricane.

“If we took a gun from you and you were walking down the street, you went to jail,” Riley said. “We took guns that were in homes. We took guns that were stolen that were stashed in alleyways. If we went into an abandoned house and a gun was there, absolutely we took the weapons. Obviously there were looters out there. We didn’t want some burglar or looter to have an opportunity to arm themselves.”

Actually, you guys taking guns from little old ladies was caught on tape. More:

About 700 weapons were made available to owners beginning on Monday.

Those seeking a weapon must bring either a bill of sale or an affidavit with the weapon’s serial number. Police also are running a criminal background check on anyone claiming a weapon.

“We were told 25 people went in to get their guns and eight left with their firearms,” Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association, said Monday afternoon.

I have quite a few guns but I do not have a bill of sale for them. And I also don’t have a list of serial numbers (though I probably should make one). More:

Some found the guns were evidence in a crime and were not eligible for release. Others did not have the proper paperwork to get their guns. And for some the work of tracking down their weapons was just beginning.

Robert Evans, 40, was trying to get the Ruger P90, semiautomatic hand gun his wife surrendered to ATF agents at the New Orleans airport.

“The agent gave her a business card, but he never answers his phone,” Evans said.

And this quote sums it up:

“I won’t ever see that gun again believe me,” Taplet said. “It’s gone like everything else in that storm.”

Remember, at first authorities there denied the confiscations occured. Then later admitted to it when threatened with a lawsuit.

Update: Xavier has more.

Richard Gardiner:

The ATF tends to focus or has a significant focus on trivial, immaterial violations which are unrelated to public safety. And they impose unreasonable standards of perfection which are simply not humanly achievable.

Via Triggerfinger, who notes:

One of the big differences between the BATFE and other tax-and-regulate agencies is that the laws the BATFE is charged with enforcing bear some heavy penalties. It’s like going after people who pay their taxes late with rocket launchers and ignoring people who don’t pay at all.

The latest are up at CounterTop’s.

Deb discusses why Stare Decisis (Latin for Oops) is not always a great idea.

First, a side note: I was trying to find some info on candidates’ positions on gun control. So, I Googled their names plus the phrase gun control. One of the links that always showed up was the Brady Campaign’s press releases. Something that never showed up was the NRA’s press release nor did their grading of candidates. I’ve addressed Google’s anti-gun bias before but this was for their news service and not their search feature.

So, anyone know where I can find the NRA’s grades for political candidates?

The guys at arfcom are looking at gun myths. You know, like file the sear and soda bottles make good suppressors. No mention of Die Hard 2’s infamous:

That punk pulled a Glock 7 on me. You know what that is? It’s a porcelain gun made in Germany. It doesn’t show up on your airport X-ray machines, and it costs more than you make here in a month.

And, thus, Glock hysteria began.

The Carnival of Cordite is up for your gun blogging pleasure.

Via Carl, looks like there’s a bill before the Tennessee senate to allow those with CCW permits to carry in any refuge, public hunting area, or wildlife management area. There are calls to push this bill in light of the recent bear attack that killed a small child.

Looks like they caught the bear suspected of killing the little girl. Apparently, they’ll do some sort of test to confirm. Seems like an event such as this could lead to unnecessarily killing bears who are innocent but that’s understandable.

Details are here. Still trying to get a count. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about these events it’s that some folks who say they’re coming don’t and folks who don’t commit to coming wind up showing up (that’s not a problem, of course). I figure currently we have between 10 and 15, at a guess. Also, the record for longest commute goes to Kirk, who will be heading in from Maryland.

At first glance the Knoxville alternative weekly newspaper the Metro Pulse and the establishment mainstream newspaper the Knoxville News Sentinel could not appear to be more different. Knoxville had two mainstream newspapers until 1992 when the Knoxville Journal closed it’s doors.

Many people have said that the closing of the Knoxville Journal cast a pall over Knoxville and Knox County. It is thought that this event was the catalyst for the emergence of the Victor Ashe political machine. Some people say that Victor Ashe still has influence over the political affairs of Knoxville even though he is the Ambassador of Poland and is an ocean away from Knoxville.

Over time the void left by the departure of the Knoxville Journal has been filled to some extent by the Knoxville alternative weekly newspaper the Metro Pulse. Like most alternative papers the Metro Pulse is in a tabloid format and carries advertisements a mainstream paper could not print. The back of the paper has many advertisements for dating services, escorts, strip clubs, and adult bookstores. In the center of the paper alternative subjects like, “Two Knoxville party girls peer into Nashville’s nightlife”, a story about a road trip to Nashville with two twenty something Metro Pulse reporters and the recent article on bondage “Free to be dominated” show the Metro Pulse is indeed an alternative newspaper.

Or is it?

In this weeks Metro Pulse the editorial, “Don’t let the situation confuse you — here are our endorsements” presents a political machine message of complete voter disenfranchisement. The unsigned editorial suggest is better to place your trust in the party system and let the Executive Committee of the Republican and Democrat parties select the commissioner for your district over the 41 write-in candidates running against the term limited incumbents. These 12 incumbents were term limited by the Tennessee Supreme Court. No higher court can rule on the matter. Yet Tennessee Election Law requires that the ineligible incumbents must remain on the ballot. So you may vote for them but they cannot serve. If the ineligible incumbent wins the district primary it is not the second place write-in candidate that will go to the August General Election it will be a “replacement” candidate select by the Executive Committee of the party.

Does that sound like an alternative newspaper to you?

Yet the mainstream Knoxville News Sentinel ran an editorial, “McElroy: Wait! Know the candidates before voting” with the opposite message. The News Sentinel suggests that people wait to vote until they have learned about the 41 write-in candidates.

Some examples of “party” endorsements from the Metro Pulse:

2nd District, Seat B — Billy Tindell, who can’t succeed himself, deserves your vote, so the Democrats can pick an eligible candidate to stave off any write-ins.

4th District, Seat A — A vote for term-limited John Schmid will put the decision for an August candidate in the hands of the GOP, where it belongs in this instance.

4th District, Seat B — Likewise, a vote for Phil Guthe turns the decision over to the party.

5th District, Seat C — A vote for John Griess wisely sends the decision to the Republican Party.

6th District, Seat A — Votes for Mark Cawood will assure that the Republican primary winner has a strong opponent in August.

So a vote for the ineligible incumbent who has been term limited by the Tennessee Supreme Court and cannot serve no matter how many pie in the sky lawsuits are filed should be decided by the Republican Party or the Democrat Party?

How arrogant is the author of this unsigned editorial? This may give a clue, “A vote for John Griess wisely sends the decision to the Republican Party.”

So what may be a great chance for democracy in Knox County is rejected by the Metro Pulse because in the eyes of whoever wrote this unsigned editorial we should bow to the wisdom of the local Republican and Democrat parties?

Bow if you want. I will take my time and learn about the write-in candidates. Mr. McElroy, you got this one right. Nice work. Keep it up and I will renew my subscription.

Via Blake, if you can’t handle dissenting views, you probably shouldn’t blog.

Update: JB has more.

Via AC, comes this quote:

Last year, Washington spent $53 billion on homeland security — and $60 billion on corporate welfare. Clearly our priorities are misplaced, and it’s time to change that.

Another reported case of the ATF going after technical violations instead of real crime:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE) wants to shut down San Leandro’s Trader Sports. The business, owned by Tony Cucchiara, is one of the largest gun dealerships in Northern California.

The decision to revoke the dealer’s license to sell weapons as of June 1 comes after an ATFE audit that found Cucchiara unable to document the whereabouts of almost 2,000 guns.

The ATFE believes that a proper tracking system for firearm sales is integral in preventing guns landing in the hands of criminals. Documentation of gun sales is also used to trace weapons found at crime scenes.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the government said that Trader Sports willfully violated the law even after repeated reminders of what was required of them to operate legally.

Then, later, we get:

Cucchiara’s lawyer, Sacramento-based Malcolm Segal, has countered that missing guns can me attributed to clerical error and the ATFE has been hyper-technical in its audit of his client — going so far as to audit records that date as far in the past as 1967.

OI:

Try as you might to find the title, “Federal Firearms Act” associated with 18 USC, chapter 44, you will not. Why then do we refer to it as such here? Many of the provisions that are currently codified to Title 18, chapter 44, were not originally codified there.

The Federal Firearms Act was enacted in 1938 and it was originally codified to Title 15. So what is Title 15? It is entitled “Commerce and Trade”. Do you remember that little discussion about creating vagueness where none originally existed? Well here is a stunning example. From 1938 until 1968, the Federal Firearms Act was within Title 15. That’s 30 years folks! Despite the law operating just fine for 30 years, someone deemed it no longer proper to have the law contained within Title 15. Want to guess why? That’s right – the government’s jurisdictional limits were far too easy to ascertain when the law was within the “Commerce and Trade” title. If it wasn’t moving in interstate or foreign commerce, then the US didn’t have jurisdiction over it! However, by moving the Act to Title 18, and thus disconnecting the Act from the Title of “Commerce and Trade”, there are few clues left to the law’s original intent and its Constitutional limitations.