I didn’t make it but Rich did. And he blogged it.

Kim has more. Initially, the UN apologists were stating this had nothing to do with Americans owning guns and this was about illegal trafficking of small arms (which they implied meant rockets and such). As report after report has indicated, those apologists were absolutely wrong.

If the assault weapons ban did not have a sunset provision, this is what would be happening federally:

Earlier this year the New York State Assembly passed Assemblyman Lavelle’s bill (A.2466) to expand the State’s current ban on assault weapons (modeled after the federal ban which expired in 2004) to prohibit more of these deadly guns including guns that have been modified to bypass the ban while still functioning like military-style assault weapons. On June 7, 2006, Cuomo announced his support for strengthening the assault weapons ban as part of a five-point proposal to fight gun violence.

Essentially, it will be a ban on all semi-automatic rifles. More:

“Andrew Cuomo truly understands that in this post-9/11 world, law enforcement need effective measures, protections and tools to help us keep New Yorkers safe,” stated Michael J. Palladino, President Detectives’ Endowment Association. “We recently lost two of our undercover detectives – James Nemorin and Rodney Jay Andrews – while they were doing their jobs taking illegal weapons off the streets. They were both gunned down in cold blood. In their memory, the Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA) vows to continue our fight against the needless proliferation of non-sporting firearms and the easy access to deadly assault weapons. We are here to say that we need more assistance from Albany in tackling this critical issue and we believe Andrew will be there to help us.”

Were they gunned down with modified, copycat weapons that look like assault weapons?

“We owe it to the brave men and women who risk their lives to protect us to prevent that military-style, cop-killing weapons are simply unavailable for civilian use,” stated Andrew Cuomo, New York State Attorney General candidate. “When New York was attacked by terrorists, President Bush came to this city and vowed to stand solidly behind our police. Since then he has allowed the most basic, life-saving, common-sense protection for cops to just lapse. It is up to us to stand up for police, where the federal government is “standing down.” I will stop at nothing to work with ensure that these lethal weapons never return to the streets of New York.”

Evoking 9/11 again? Oy.

The Nuge:

Never has there been such an upsurge in crime since they confiscated all your weapons. Why don’t you arm yourselves? You Limeys have a zipper that’s locked in the closed position, because you don’t have a constitution. You’re rewarded for shutting the fuck up.

Seems with all the yammering about flag burning, gay marriage, and other pointless issues making the floor of congress, that we are hot and heavy in the election season. Now, some are trying to energize the gun base:

The National Rifle Association is pleased by Tuesday’s announcement by House Congressional leaders to include gun ownership rights as part of their 2006 “American Values Agenda”.

“On behalf of our four million NRA members nationwide, we deeply appreciate the House Republican leadership for recognizing the fundamental importance of protecting law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist. “We strongly encourage and endorse these pro-gun bills as part of the their “American Values Agenda.’”

“Family, faith, patriotism and hard work bind us together as Americans. Our laws should reflect those priorities, and House Republicans are committed to the American Values Agenda, policies that stress the core values on which our nation was built,” said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt.

House Republican leaders have put together a package of “pro-freedom” bills slated for votes this summer and fall. Two of those measures are H.R. 5092 and H.R. 5013, bills that are also among NRA’s top legislative priorities.

These bills are the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) Modernization and Reform Act of 2006 and the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act. Hate to break it to you guys, but we gunnies don’t want more gun laws. We want less. In fact, here’s an informal poll of what we want. Most items in that poll involve repealing something. So, get on that NRA, if you want me to get behind you. Start with the sporting purposes language, as it would probably be the easiest.

Then try the Hughes Amendment. This one could be easy as the majority of folks incorrectly think that, since the assault weapons ban expired, machine guns are legal any way. The media and anti-gun groups shot their was on that so it should be easy to market.

Kevin reports that blogger Gunscribe made the news:

Tim Tyrrell Sr. went to the City Council meeting on Monday with a loaded 40-caliber Glock handgun on his hip.

And that’s perfectly legal.

Until now, council members haven’t been concerned enough about their safety to ban anything other than cell phones from the council chambers.

Even though plenty of angry citizens march down to city hall on a regular basis, there are no metal detectors at the door; no signs asking people to leave their guns at home.

Tyrrell was trying to make a point about the concealed weapons ban on the council agenda: Even if Mayor Coleen Seng’s proposed ban were to pass, nothing would prevent people from carrying around unconcealed weapons. (He did not testify at the meeting; the council won’t have a public hearing on Seng’s proposal until July 31.)

Tyrrell is a disabled veteran and firearms instructor who writes a blog called “From the Heartland.” He has debated the gun rights issue with Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady, and even called Casady before Monday’s meeting to let him know he’d be packing heat.

Seriously:

A city man is charged with violating state wiretap laws by recording a detective on his home security camera, while the detective was investigating the man’s sons.

Michael Gannon, 49, of 26 Morgan St., was arrested Tuesday night, after he brought a video to the police station to try to file a complaint against Detective Andrew Karlis, according to Gannon’s wife, Janet Gannon, and police reports filed in Nashua District Court.

Make sure if you do that, you send a copy to the press first. More:

“They were waiting for a warrant to seize the cameras and the tapes in my house . . . because they said having these cameras was against the law. They’re security cameras,” she said, adding, “They said they could do that. They could seize my apartment.”

The police are saying security cameras are illegal?

And just a stupid idea:

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don’t pay.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning approved a bill sponsored by committee chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, authorizing at least $2 million toward the establishment of an office in the IRS criminal investigation unit to prosecute unlawful sex workers for violations of tax laws.

Err, why not just go after them for tax evasion like everyone else? A special office for such is just fucking stupid.

Tam says to stock up now. Folks are telling her the prices are about to go up again. Is ammo made from oil?

One of the compromise bills to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms act was mandating that locks be sold with all handguns. The house has voted to get rid of that:

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to overturn a recently enacted law requiring safety trigger locks on all hand guns sold in the United States.

The Republican-controlled House handed a victory to opponents of gun control by a vote of 230-191.

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Colorado Republican, argued that the added cost of the trigger locks is passed on to gun owners and that they “do not stop accidental shootings.

She’s correct. Smart parenting and the four rules stop them though.

Sure, it’s in poor taste and crude, but damn is it funny.

Les warns that war has broken out. He notes:

It turns out governments are easier to punish than terrorist groups.

New hunting rules for TN will go into effect next season. One of those rules is that:

All centerfire rifles for hunting of deer, bear and boar. The current rules only allow .24 caliber and larger.

So, you’ll be able to hunt with 5.56Nato and your AR-15.

From Can’t Make This Stuff Up:

I admit that I would be a tad cross if I came home from work and discovered that the police had staged a D-Day style assault on my home under the mistaken impression that somebody I never heard of lives there. So I have a lot of sympathy for Steven Blackman, a Fort Worth, Texas, resident who wants to know how to get the stink of teargas out of wall-to-wall carpeting.

In an update to the muzzleloader ruling in Wyoming, reader gattsuru writes:

Found it on FindLaw [PDF].

Not quite sure what to think of it. I’m of the opinion that people we can’t trust with a muzzleloader shouldn’t get out of jail – I’ve been slashed by kitchen knives more often than I’ve been shot by a muzzleloader, that’s for damned sure, and I know knives are a bit easier to get a hold of. I just can’t see a single-shot gun being dangerous enough to justify the costs of applying the law, nevermind when you start comparing what an archery kit or even a bb gun could do. And having different definitions of ‘firearm’ as you cross state borders doesn’t make me happy, either.

The case looks interesting. Harris was not a poster child for the pro-gun side : he was convicted for robbery and aggravated robbery (can’t find out the exacts of those incidents), so I’d wager he wasn’t the ‘normal guy’ who got hit by a restraining order or standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also pretty clearly violated the big four rules of safety (and a couple of common sense) when he brought the gun to his shoulder and aimed through the scope at traffic (do not aim at anything you do not want to destroy, people!).

He was, however, clearly told by a sheriff that a muzzleloading, black powder weapon was not a firearm. And the court’s main holding, which keeps their whole case together, was that anyone of normal intelligence would assume a muzzleloader to be covered by the “firearm” law (while I think it’s safe to assume most sheriffs aren’t of normal intelligence, it’s not good when the courts admit it).

I’d have rathered they throw out the previous ruling, and instructed the state to instead have him tried for public disturbance or anything about bearing a weapon in public, but I dunno if that’s possible or what the relevant statutes are.

I’m not a lawyer.

I have issued a clarification and recension in this post on WATE’s sensationalistic reporting. I’m doing this post separately so that as many readers see the update as saw the original.

Blogs: We take our corrections seriously, unlike others.

I seem to get in a hurry when I type and commit all sorts of typos. Sometimes I forget to spellcheck. The way I usually find this out is when another blog links to me. Of course, some folks correct my mispellings when quoting me.

You may recall my SUV Bleg from a bit back. Well, it looks as though we’re tentatively going to go with the Volvo XC90. Anyone have experience with them?

Now that Chancellor John Weaver has ruled to grant a 180 day stay on his previous ruling on the Knox County Charter new questions arise. Are term limits back in place? Were they ever gone?

For the first time in this entire process I now agree the election for Knox County Commission seats is so flawed it should be voided and moved to November in a special General election. The Primary election for County Commission could be held in September or October in another special election.

There are several other reasons. The most important is that there are too many levels of voter disenfranchisement. Since the Charter is valid and never reached the point of being invalid the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that decreed term limits are in place for the offices of Knox County Mayor and Knox County Commissioners stands. The Supreme Court ruling must be obeyed.

What other choice is there than to void the election for the Knox County Commission seats?

There are nine ineligible candidates for Knox County Commission who are term limited and cannot serve. This is 50 percent of the Commission seats. The election cannot go forward under these conditions.

This persistent lack of leadership from all levels of local government has tarnished this election. People will stay home and this will affect the Primary Election for US House and Senate seats further disenfranchising voters. The apathy and disgust created in the Knox County Commission election cannot be allowed to spread to other elections.

The SCOTUS gets one right, I think. Actually, it’s a bit confusing:

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The ruling, a strong rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies, was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, who said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and international Geneva conventions.

Said Justice Kennedy:

“Trial by military commission raises separation-of-powers concerns of the highest order,” Kennedy wrote in his separate opinion. “Concentration of power (in the executive branch) puts personal liberty in peril of arbitrary action by officials, an incursion the Constitution’s three-part system is designed to avoid.”

Allah says:

So if they try him, they have to take him to federal court — but they don’t have to try him? What?

SCOTUSBlog says:

More importantly, the Court held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda.

Cam Edwards has more from the event.

Per the law, muzzleloaders have historically not been classified as firearms. The significance of this classification is that muzzleloaders are not subject to background checks, can be bought without going through a firearms dealer (i.e., you can mail order them), and felons can own them. In Wyoming, that just changed:

Supreme Court Says Muzzleloaders are Legally Firearms

The ruling comes in an appeal by a convicted felon who says he thought he was allowed to own a black powder rifle. Such rifles are excluded from the federal definition of firearms.

A spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department says the ruling will come as a blow to some Wyoming residents who have felony convictions in the past but who are now dedicated black powder hunters.

No details on the case. Anyone know?

Jeff at Alphecca got a mention in the British press. I’d consider it an honor to be labeled the lunatic fringe by the British press. If they think you’re crazy, you’re doing something right. These people have amnesty for illegal kitchen knives, for Christ’s sake.

David Codrea:

Kalashnikov Backs Weapons Control

Of course he does.

He’s a communist.

Voolfie tells us how to talk to gun control advocates.

Chris talks about buying a used gun and how to check them out.

Jersey thinks one gun a month is a good law.

Rustmeister smacks down a Memphis TeeVee station.

The US at the UN on guns:

The United States said on Tuesday it was willing to endorse a set of principles aimed at keeping small arms out of the hands of groups intent on human rights abuse, genocide or breaking UN arms embargoes.

But Washington would not back a formal agreement such as an international treaty imposing controls on weapons transfers across national boundaries, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Robert Joseph said.

The folks at Common Dreams are crying about the NRA’s level of influence.

It’s a gun buyback program but for knives, only in the UK where they apparently are afraid of their shadows.

So, do you like links to gun news in one big post like this or in a bunch of small posts like I usually do?

Heh.

R. Neal has a handy voting guide up. In other news, he endorses two Republicans, John J. Duncan, Jr. and Phil Bredesen.

I love mangos. Here’s a handy guide on how to cut them.

Check out this lame, sensationalist report about the Knoxville .gov buying pricey SUVs. I guess when there is no news, you just make a story up.

Update: Jim took issue in comments noting that:

I’m sorry. Perhaps I misunderstood.

When you say “I guess when there is no news, you just make a story up,” that appears to me that you’re accusing us of making up the news. That would be reporting what is not true.

There is nothing in the report that is not true.

As for sensational, that’s in the eye of the beholder. There are some people who are glad to know how their tax dollars are spent.

I see his point and hereby rescind the comment I guess when there is no news, you just make a story up. The point I was trying to make (and absolutely should have been more clear about) is that:

When something they investigate doesn’t really seem that newsworthy, they report it anyway. I stand by that. I don’t think said SUVs are that overpriced, to be honest. Have you priced them lately? And they are, despite people’s complaints, convenient and utilitarian. The tone of the article was, in my opinion, sensationalistic and blown out of proportion.

Apologies to Jim for being unclear.

Looks like The American Shooters & Hunters Association has removed any doubt that they are not a complete sham of an organization.

Some people think the question of whether homosexuality is biologically determined has some bearing on whether it’s ok to discriminate against gays. Legally, there might be something there, but morally and socially, it’s all the same to me. Bigotry is never cool, even if you can twist up some limp rationalization for your hate.

The people that say gay people choose to be gay never identify the mechanism of that choice. They make it sound like there are guys who wake up one day and decide to fall in love with men. They make it seem like lesbians should just learn to love men. It’s a strange viewpoint, and those that hold it describe people so unrealistic that you wonder what kind of person thinks anybody else is wired that way.

Here’s another bit of evidence that homosexuality is all about the nature, not the nurture.

Do you every wonder just how goofy the people over in England can be? I do. Ever wonder about where some of the goofy ideas the UN comes up with?

Maybe they come from places like the The Euston Manifesto.

Here are a few snippets:

A. Preamble

We are democrats and progressives. We propose here a fresh political alignment. Many of us belong to the Left, but the principles that we set out are not exclusive. We reach out, rather, beyond the socialist Left towards egalitarian liberals and others of unambiguous democratic commitment. Indeed, the reconfiguration of progressive opinion that we aim for involves drawing a line between the forces of the Left that remain true to its authentic values, and currents that have lately shown themselves rather too flexible about these values. It involves making common cause with genuine democrats, whether socialist or not.

3) Human rights for all.

We hold the fundamental human rights codified in the Universal Declaration to be precisely universal, and binding on all states and political movements, indeed on everyone. Violations of these rights are equally to be condemned whoever is responsible for them and regardless of cultural context.

It is worth a read and there is some good stuff in it. There are still Utopian dreamers. Do you think we will see some of this “manifesto” in future UN proposals?

Didn’t the human race already figure out that socialism doesn’t work?

Cam Edwards:

A remarkable thing happened at the United Nations yesterday. We, the United States, told the world “no”. The messenger was Robert Joseph, the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Speaking before the dozens of nations that have gathered for the review conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Joseph told the world in no uncertain terms where the United States stood.

“The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and there will be no infringement of those rights,” he proclaimed to the dignitaries and functionaries. “The United States will not agree to any provisions restricting civilian possession, use or legal trade of firearms inconsistent with our laws and practices.”

Now, if this sounds familiar, it should be. It was five years ago that UN Ambassador John Bolton said something similar during the first conference on small arms. Then, as now, many countries wanted the conference to discuss and implement controls on the civilian possession of firearms.

One quibble regarding the quote The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and there will be no infringement of those rights. Well, no infringement unless it comes from our own government, of course.

It’s not real comforting to know that the US Senate is only one vote from abject stupidity.

GLN rounds up coverage of the UN anti-gun summit.

Ned Ferguson, who I thought was MIA, notes that the .gov can shut down churches using eminent domain:

Churches are tax exempt, hence virtually any “use” except a church generates greater tax revenue for the government and therefore makes the property subject to seizure. See how easy that is?

He even has a sample.

Since some readers (including one who is going through the same thing) have asked:

No smoking since Monday morning at roughly 6:30a.m. Kind of jittery, chewing lots of gum and eating the shit out of candy and, well, anything else I can get my hands on. If I start turning into a fat ass, maybe smoking isn’t so bad. Kind of a toss up in terms of what’s worse for you, I suppose.

Also, I’ve made it this far and not killed anyone. It’s a good thing.

I dig the looks of the Sig X-Five 226.

Take the poll: Do you believe the U.N. is trying to outlaw gun ownership in the U.S.?

Via Josh

I’ve covered the plight of Sunshyne Video (link is not work safe) before. Sunshyne is a local adults only store and, according to local politicos, a den of debauchery and iniquity. They’ve had a heckuva time battling the local Adult Entertainment Board, which is a sham of a political body (see my posts here, here and here). I even interviewed the owner, David Anderson, here. Heck, I even link to their blog (link is not work safe) some times.

Well, yesterday I happened to be in that direction (I never knew where the place was) and decided to stop in. I went in and expected to see naked, dancing women and live sex shows because that’s what the local press and politicos keep telling me was there. They had none of that and I was disappointed. All I saw were three-dimensional devices designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs, dirty movies, and a variety of novelty items. Oh, and a sign that said No Public Restroom, which is a good thing to have if you sell porn.

I introduced myself to David and told him who I was. We had a good laugh and he told me they’re still fighting in court due to not having a license to be an adult business because the sham adult business board won’t give them one. He also told me that each employee has to be approved by the local adult business board, which obviously is intended to make it hard on (heh) such businesses to get help. He was trying to get someone approved now.

By the time we got done talking, I had no time for browsing.

Good luck in the fight, Dave, and tell us how it goes.

Blogcritics takes a look.

Pete notes Citizen Against Government Waste isn’t a fan of the drug czar:

As the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), established in 1988 by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, approaches its eighteenth year of existence, it continues to demonstrate its inability to either achieve its core objectives or function efficiently.

…

The government also exhibits its obsession with containing marijuana use by continuing to throw unnecessary funding and unavailable resources towards tracking down and persecuting patients using medicinal marijuana in states that have legalized the substance for medical use only. Not only does this undermine federalism, it also proves that the government is incapable of exercising any kind of fiscal restraint.

Ayup.

Head is really calling it quits. Bummer. Your blog will be missed.

Including Dick Cheney.

Michael abandons his ordinarily calm demeanor and yells at the left.

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

You Tube has a business plan?

The next step past New Jersey’s demand for smart guns is “smart ammo“.

Well someone has come forward and patented it.

Meyerle is patenting a design for a modified cartridge that would be fired by a burst of high-frequency radio energy. But the energy would only ignite the charge if a solid-state switch within the cartridge had been activated. This would only happen if a password entered into the gun using a tiny keypad matched one stored in the cartridge.

When they are sold, cartridges could be programmed with a password that matches the purchaser’s gun. An owner could set the gun to request the password when it is reloaded, or to perform a biometric check before firing. The gun could also automatically lock itself after a pre-set period of time has passed since the password was entered.

The system would undoubtedly cost more than a conventional gun, but many firearm enthusiasts would surely pay a premium for such added security.

We likely would pay a premium, because some danmed politician will force us to.

From the UN Gun Summit:

We believe that no armed group outside of the State should be allowed to bear weapons. We also believe that regulating civilian possession of Small Arms/Light Weapons will enhance our efforts to prevent its misuse. In our view, the issue of ammunition should also be addressed in the context of the Program of Action because in the absence of ammunition, small arms and light weapons pose no danger.

So you know what we’re up against.

Police tasered a 61 year-old, disabled vet at a protest.

Guy Montag went on a date set up via a conservative dating service. Turns out, it was a reporter who wrote an article on such a service. Go read and he has sooper seekrit links to the article to bypass registration.

Tam gave hers a paint job!

GLN has some info and links to coverage of the event.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics:

Large state and local law enforcement agencies with 59 percent of the nation’s sworn officers received 26,556 citizen complaints about the police use of force during 2002, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The rate was 6.6 complaints per 100 full-time sworn officers. Eighty-four percent were made against large municipal departments, BJS said.

About eight percent of the complaints were officially sustained, that is, there was sufficient evidence to justify disciplinary action against the officer or officers; 34 percent were not sustained; 25 percent were unfounded, meaning the complaint was not supported by facts or the alleged incident did not occur; 23 percent ended in exonerations because the police actions were lawful and proper and nine percent ended in other dispositions, such as complaint withdrawal, etc.

Seems bigger cities have more complaints.

At least not this session:

Legislation to make it easier to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun is dead for this legislative session, the bill’s chief sponsor said Friday.

Rep. Deborah Hudson, R-Fairthorne, said she wanted more time for the Attorney General’s Office, the Delaware Police Chiefs Council and the National Rifle Association to produce a compromise bill.

Glen McAdoo:

It has taken me about 30 years, and what’s happened lately, to come to the conclusion that it is not liberals, but conservatives that ultimately may become the real threat to the Second Amendment and the Constitution in general. That’s argumentative, I’ll admit.

I don’t disagree. Seems a great deal of gun control lately is passed into law by supposed conservatives. Mr. McAdoo also says:

I can remember a time, not so long ago, when I adamantly supported a ban on assault weapons. But given the fact that many rapid fire automatic weapons can be converted into, or considered assault weapons, such a ban is not effective and only inflames those who believe that gun laws are being adopted that only serve to restrict the rights of law abiding citizens, diminish Second Amendment protections, and do nothing to protect the public. So, I’ve changed my mind.

I like his sentiment and am glad to see a liberal oppose the ban on weapons that look like assault weapons. However, I have no idea what the bolded part is supposed to mean.

Marc Folco:

The global gun control talks get underway in New York City tomorrow when the United Nations opens a two-week conference where world leaders intend to curb the international arms trade through a binding arms trade treaty. On the surface, it appears to be a treaty among nations to reduce the illegal trafficking of small military arms and light weapons in order to curb civil strife in some countries by establishing general guidelines for the manufacture and import and export and possession of those firearms.

But to Americans, who are too smart to swallow this façade, it’s no doubt a worldwide assault on the private ownership of firearms by peaceful, law-abiding U.S. citizens by super ceding our national and state laws and our Constitution, and those of other nations. Recommendations being reviewed at the conference will reduce the availability of guns to civilians in all societies, including banning the advertisement and promotion of small arms to civilians.

Josh Sugarmann:

Before the ban, the publicly available tracing data was used by city officials and law enforcement agencies to determine the sources of illegally trafficked firearms and identify the top guns traced to crime. When the info ban was first put in place for fiscal year 2004, it even banned the release of the number of guns manufactured in America. This was quickly reversed–because the gun industry wanted the information. The bill now goes to the House floor and then on to the Senate.

The non-disclosure language prohibits ATF from releasing information related to crime gun traces performed by the agency except in connection with a bona fide criminal investigation.

Actually, the data was mostly used to launch the bogus anti-gun maker lawsuits.

Bloomberg on government efforts to influence what we eat and how much exercise we get:

some people may call that too intrusive

You think?

Out of town on travel and at a hotel. This means tonight will be the first full night’s sleep I’ve had in over 6 weeks.

Zzzzzz.

Lefty gun huggers are crawling out of the woodwork, and what’s even better is that lots of them are women.

Next weekend I’m hosting some hippy types in upstate New York. What typically happens on these weekends is that the men do a bunch of shooting. The women run away or watch (and cheer when the men hit the clay pigeons!) and maybe pop three or four rounds on the .22. Generally, the women won’t go near the 12-gauge or anything that looks scary.

After much discussion, we’ve decided to inaugurate a women’s-only shooting class. It will be taught by a female friend of ours who has been shooting since she was 7 and is a better shot than any of the men without professional shooting experience. It will be women only, although I’ve weasled an invite to “supervise”. I’ll actually just be listening and learning. It’s going to be a fun class.

In an effort to encourage more lefties to pick up guns, here’s a comic about peace crusaders and their love of guns.

Don’t tell some people but the army is happy with the 5.56 Nato:

The U.S. Army completed a study of current 5.56mm M855 round, in response to complaints from troops that this ammunition was in adequate in combat. Troops reported many instances where enemy fighters were hit with one or more M855 rounds and kept coming. The study confirmed that this happened, and discovered why. If the M855 bullet hits slender people at the right angle, and does not hit a bone, it goes right through. That will do some soft tissue damage, but nothing immediately incapacitating. The study examined other military and commercial 5.56mm rounds and found that none of them did the job any better. The study concluded that, if troops aimed higher, and fired two shots, they would have a better chance of dropping people right away. The report recommended more weapons training for the troops, so they will be better able to put two 5.56mm bullets where they will do enough damage to stop oncoming enemy troops.

The study did not address complaints about long range shots (over 100 meters), or the need for ammo that is better a blasting through doors and walls. The army had been considering a switch of a larger (6.8mm) round, and the Special Forces has been testing such a round in the field. But a switch is apparently off the table at the moment. The U.S. Marine Corps is doing its own study, but has not finished it yet.

Seems if you’re using two shots, you may as well use ammo that gets it right the first time. Now, you say, Uncle, I thought you dug the 5.56 Nato, being the AR nut that you are? I do in fact, if you use hollow point ammo. Ball ammo, which the military requires, tends to ice pick (which this report confirms by stating If the M855 bullet hits slender people at the right angle, and does not hit a bone, it goes right through) and is not effective unless you use big heavy ammo. Smaller rounds are effective if you use ammo that fragments or expands. It’s also why 9mm ammo is adequate in a civilian gun but the military version lacks oomph.

Via Granted.

I was once a heavy smoker. Then I became one of those drinker-smokers (who smokes when drinking) for a long time. Then, in the last couple of months, I kind of started doing it more and more again. That was mostly due to the lack of a job and more free time than in the past. The occasional smoke with a beer became one with morning coffee. Then one after lunch, etc. until I was smoking more. A lot more.

So, I’ve decided it’s time to just plain quit entirely. That means no more occasional smokes or I’m just one stressful situation from taking it up again. The issue is that, even though I can cut down, I can’t just plain stop completely, mostly because I fucking love to smoke. I basically want to quit because Junior is old enough to start figuring out what I’m doing on the back porch after dinner. And, let’s face it, it’s bad for you.

And, of course, as I type this I’m sitting on said screened in porch at 10:16 on Sunday (kids and wife in bed) enjoying a glass of Knob Creek bourbon and smoking. Said quitting should commence tomorrow.

I have a friend who quit for three months. I went by his house for poker one night and he had started again. I said Dude, you quit for months. Why’d you start again? I thought you had it beat. He said Because smoking was all I thought about. I can’t spend the rest of my life wanting something so bad I can’t stand it. That’s sort of what I fear. See, with the occasional smoking thing, I’d not worry about it because I knew when I got home, I’d pop open a frosty cold Sam Adams, sit on the screened-in porch and smoke. I would smoke eventually, just not all the time. And there are so many activities that are associated with smoking, such as morning coffee and this glass of Knob Creek. Maybe I’ll take up the occasional cigar. Or chew gum. Or, you now, crack.

I went to the doctor and asked about Zyban since others recommend it so highly for quitting smoking. My doctor (and this is why I love my doctor, who is a good ol’ country boy with an MD) said: You just need to cowboy up and quit. You can do anything for two weeks and after that, it’s gone. He’s not a fan of Zyban, I suppose. He also explained that cigarettes give you a fairly intense rush (you don’t notice it but your body does) and said a good way to quit is to level that rush. He said the patch was good for that and to avoid the gum because it mimics the rush. The patch gives a steady dose of nicotine throughout the day and, basically, you get over the habit part first and that is followed by getting over the nicotine addiction part. I think getting over the habit is more important than getting over the drug addiction part.

So, I bought the patch. One problem is I can’t get them to roll up tight enough to light. Any ideas?

It’s been six weeks since the second was born. Those of you with kids will know what this means. Those without will not. It’s also a time when women tend to be extra, err, fertile. So, and I shit you not, we have the pill, spermicide, condoms and plan on acting Catholic (you know, worshippers of Cathol?) for a while.

On travel. Blogging may be light or sporadic.

Eh, what’s the diff? You’re with us or against us, right.

David Hardy has more on our favorite anti-gun, pro-gun group:

Read somewhere they started with half a million in the bank. Pretty hard to find that, when you have no members at the outset.

Sticklers for paperwork:

A librarian is in administrative trouble for demanding that the police actually follow procedure and get (gasp!) a warrant before she released private information about a patron to the police.

On occasion when I send a letter to the editor or some such, I get a favorable response. Mostly, though, I get people either too invested or too stupid to realize their mistakes (mostly the former but enough of the latter to note). But David scored a couple of small victories with Bill Schneider Responds and Bob Confer Responds. Good job.

Kit has a suppressor mini-FAQ. I dig the evo-9. Anyone know if it will also work on fixed barreled pistols or rifles?

Ravenwood on accidental tasering:

I think this kind of mistake happens all the time. Just the other day I went to change the channel on my TV, and grabbed my gun instead of the remote. I shot the screen three times before I figured out why it wasn’t changing.

Heh.

People deal with unexpected events in different ways. Most people are familiar with the five stages of grief. Here are the six stages of grief with our local rulers leaders on County Commission.

DENIAL — No way. It has to be a joke. They would never sue to invalidate the Charter. No one would ever vote for them again. What judge would even take the case?

ANGER — %$@^##& Commissioners! Take an oath to defend the Charter and then sue to invalidate it.

BARGAINING — Someone with standing will appeal the ruling. The Supreme Court will intervene.

DEPRESSION — Xanax, anyone got an extra Xanax?

ACCEPTANCE — What’s the use. This place is just as corrupt as Memphis.

HUMOR — They want a huge travel allowance raise? Haaaaaaaaa. Snort, giggle, heh, that’s a good one.

Read the rest of this entry »

I see you guys from ar15.com coming in for a visit. Unfortunately, the link is from the restricted board. What are you dudes looking at?

Nylarthotep has info on a arms control survey and its bias.

George Bush (yes, that one) issued an executive order that is anti-eminent domain:

It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.

It has a list of exclusions but it’s a start.

Wow. First thing he’s done right in years. Via the geek and carnaby.

Update: It has a clause that kind of makes it useless. One of the Volokh’s has the skinny. Via Jon.

I’ve been critical of Taser use before but this one is quite odd:

Officers responding to a welfare check of a man in a tree in Kitsap County accidentally shot the man in an attempt to use a Taser on him.

The man had been holed up in the tree for hours. An officer used his Taser on the man and after it had no affect, the officer asked another officer to Taser the man. The other officer accidentally used his gun instead of his Taser and the man in the tree was shot.

Poor training? A cop stretching the truth? Incompetence? Beats me.

Update: Whoops. No one is dead. Headline changed since I screwed up.

Saw on the news yesterday at the barber shop that the city (my the city) of Maryville was planning on using eminent domain to take some land for a school. I’ve seen nothing on Al Gore’s Internets. Anyone see anything?

Voolfie looks at gun death stats.

He wrote a piece on guns in PA that is as ridiculous as you’d expect from a member of Ceasefire NJ:

WHAT DO politicians do when they’re under pressure from press and constituents, but lack the clout, skill or patience to do real heavy-lifting?

They propose meaningless half-measures, call them “first steps,” feign concern, gather similarly challenged colleagues and talk of the need for compromise. It’s the politicians’ dance that bamboozles and avoids responsibility

Well, we agree on that. More:

Well, watch out, Philadelphia. Here it comes. This time the dance will be about the growing scourge of gun violence.

We’ll soon hear that a watered-down and time-limited one-handgun-a-month bill is on tap, which will do little, if anything, to save lives. Pols’ sweat will be saved, but not our tears.

It appears that Philadelphia legislators have dumped the statewide one-handgun-a-month bill gaining public support by leaps and bounds for a Philly-only bill that would “sunset” in seven years. The new bill, like cotton candy, looks and tastes good – but it’s ultimately unfulfilling.

Even if you had your way, it wouldn’t matter. One gun a month bills do nothing to stop crime. Ask the CDC. And, as Bryan’s state of New Jersey has proven, criminals just get guns from out of state when restrictions are placed on their purchase. More:

The problem is the unfettered flow of guns onto Delaware Valley streets from Pennsylvania gun shops. It’s estimated that five of every six guns recovered from crimes are illegal. Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms data and law-enforcement testimony confirm the virulence of Philly’s illegal gun market.

The market’s already illegal? And you think one more law will stop that? Idiot. More:

The sensible thing to do is limit the illegal movement of guns from gun shops to the street via the existing statewide one-handgun-a-month-bill (S-1002 and HB-871).

There is no bill that will do what you said as long as people do it illegally.

Their website is back and notes KT Ordnance raided by ATF – Not taking any orders. Also, there was a press mention regarding the raid:

Federal agents seized inventory and paperwork in a raid of a gun parts manufacturing company here last week, the company’s owner said.

Federal officials wouldn’t comment on the June 7 raid at KT Ordnance, which sells nearly finished gun parts over the Internet.

“We haven’t been charged with any crimes and obviously what they found here didn’t violate any laws, because I would have been arrested on the spot,” said KT Ordnance owner Richard Celata, 45. “They confiscated all my inventory, paperwork and made copies of my hard drive.”

So, no charges yet they’ve taken inventory and everything else? That’s not good. More:

The so-called 80 percent market of gun products is a legal undertaking that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is well aware of, Rhoades said. And Celata is well known because he’s one of the leading manufacturers of those products, but there are several other people selling similar gun parts.

“They’ve been wanting to shut down the 80 percent built market for a while, but they’d have to change the Constitution to do that,” Celata said. “Or they can just raid you and scare everybody away.”

Yeah, the crackdown on DIYers is just beginning.

GLN has a big round up of gun related news stories.

The Geek notes that gun rights concerns are being Loftily Dismissed.

Clarion Ledger:

Jackson Mayor Frank Melton said Wednesday he cannot abide by the law if it restricts where he can carry his guns.

“I want to follow the law. What I’m telling you is that I can’t live like that,” he said. “I do have the right to protect myself.”

That might become a problem for the mayor.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood sent subpoenas on Wednesday to three Jackson television stations ordering them to turn over any videotapes showing Melton carrying weapons in public. The subpoenas say the videotapes are to be used in an “ongoing criminal investigation” and that the material can be presented to his office and ordered news executives to appear before a Hinds County grand jury on Aug. 7.

I’m all for you protecting yourself. And for anyone else protecting themselves. Surely, he feels the same way:

“I’m not another citizen. I am the mayor of Jackson,” Melton said. “It’s appropriate that I have a chance to protect myself.”

Fuck you and your office, Mayor.

Can notes this guy is one of Bloomberg’s anti-gun buddies too.

An angel gets its wings.

We now have people that want to do away with the Knox County Charter because they think that less government is better government and it is such a pain and a difficult duty to have private acts passed in the Tennessee Legislature that dumb ideas like the “Jobs Now Program” or the 5 million dollars to a Blount County industrial park would be impossible to do with private acts. According to this line of thought doing away with the Charter is a good thing.

That is muddled thinking. Home Rule is a great advantage and we need to keep it. Keeping government local is what Home Rule and the Charter is all about. We have the right to control the laws of our County. That is why we need the Charter.

The charter is not the problem. The Weaver ruling is the problem.

This whole issue could have been fixed in a single day. Weaver could have suggested that Knox County hold a Charter commission meeting. Add one phrase, Constitutional Offices are defined in the State Constitution. Send the amended Charter to the Secretary of State. We are done.

But nooooo, that’s not the way we do business around these parts. Let’s put every Knox County taxpayer at risk, risk the bond rating, have hundreds of lawsuits, drive everybody crazy, and at the end of the fools errand declare victory and stop to admire and reflect upon the imaginary leadership of the County Mayor and County Commission.

An excellent analysis of why Weaver’s ruling is flawed can be found here.

Why should Weaver’s ruling be overturned? There are many reasons. One of the most important is that of severability which means you do not throw out the baby with the bath water. The legal definition of severability is, “A clause in a Charter that allows that any portion of the Charter deemed to be unenforceable does not affect the validity of the rest of the Charter.”

The Jarvis decision to have this Charter fast tracked to the Tennessee Supreme Court is the right decision. Weaver’s ruling must be appealed as soon as possible and overturned. It must be overturned because it is a bad ruling. What ever popularity the Weaver ruling had it has lost any appeal when people now understand how the Charter actually benefited them. Whether you like or dislike Adult Book Stores or Strip Clubs most people in Knox County do not want one next to their home. The same could be said for a Methadone Clinic or a Homeless Shelter. Do you think people now understand the value of the Charter? The Charter allows a more local input into local ordinances.

When you vote this August exercise manual term limits. Say to these incumbents who ignore the law and sue to invalidate the Charter, “I got your term limits right here” and vote for their opponent. They do not deserve to serve.

I mentioned it here. David has more on them, including:

AHSA’s president, John Rosenthal, founded “Stop Handgun Violence,” and is as big a gungrabber as you will find. Their Board of Directors include honchos from Crime Guns Solutions, ex-BATF careerists who worked to give ammo to the gun maker lawsuits. CGS exec Gerald Nunziato had this to say:

““If it wasn’’t for criminals, there wouldn’’t be a gun industry in this country. The only people [NRA and other gun-rights groups are] protecting are criminals.”

WKM in comments:

How sad society has become that the well mannered kids are the ones that stand out now.

Ayup.

Heh:

Miami Heat wins NBA finals, Carolina something-or-others win NHL finals.

Took The Second Child to the doctor this week. He’s healthy, which is great. He’s also in the 75th percentile on height (compared to junior who is 25% – together, they’re average). He’ll be tall and she’ll be small. Also, his head was in the 100th percentile, meaning his head is bigger than just about all other kids’ heads. That explains the longer labor this time.

The phony Fudds are at it again. Saving Hunters From the NRA:

On the negative side, some OWAA members criticized the new group as being “in favor of gun control.”

Ricker disputed that, of course, saying AHSA only wanted to get guns out of the hands of criminals and that hunters didn’t need machine guns to hunt.

Ricker also noted that America has 80 million gun owners, but the NRA only has 4 million members. He interprets this as a failure by NRA to represent gun owners and hunters because the vast majority has not joined.

NRA has been frequently criticized for its ultra-narrow focus on protecting Second Amendment rights even if it meant supporting the election of conservative, mostly republican, politicians who work hard to destroy the last wild habitat available to hunters. NRA does not support Wilderness designation and even supports more roads in roadless areas so hunters can have more access with jeeps and ATVs.

Thalif Deen:

The National Rifle Association (NRA), the most powerful pro-gun lobby in the United States, is leading a campaign to literally flood the Sri Lanka Mission to the United Nations with letters and postcards protesting an upcoming conference on small arms.

Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, president-designate of the two-week long conference beginning Monday, told IPS that the NRA campaign is totally misguided because the meeting is “not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws”.

At last count, his Mission had received over 100,000 letters, post cards and email messages — most of them arriving at the staggering rate of about 4,000 per day — all of them with an identical anti-U.N. message in what appears to be a rigidly coordinated letter-writing and hate-mail campaign for which the NRA is notorious in this country.

Hate mail? Really? Or, you know, concerned folks voicing their opinions.

Other people’s children, that is.

Me and the Mrs. took Junior to Splash Country yesterday. For you non-local folks, it’s a water park operated by Dollywood. We had a good time. Now, not all kids can be perfect like mine so let’s talk about your kids and how I hate them. Well, OK, not you specifically but you in the general sense. And not your kids that I hate, really, but your parenting or lack thereof. And not hate so much as generally annoyed by them.

First thing I noticed about your kids is they can’t read. We were at the water park and they have this special section for small kids (think toddlers) that is about 1.5 feet deep max. There are also a various water guns set up to squirt other folks and little fountains that shoot out of the water. This is not the place you should take a kid who is starting to grow whiskers. He should be wearing his big-boy pants and riding the big boy rides. There are signs with the height requirements and some of the features say anyone above a certain height must be accompanied by a kid. But pimply faced, hairy kids with cracking voices were every where. As my dad would say You’re big enough to whip a bear with a flyswatter. You don’t need to be in the kiddie pool.

Second thing I noticed about your kids is that, well, they’re fat. Not sure why it is but there were a lot of morbidly obese kids at the water park. I don’t mean obese as in baby fat and kinda cute. I mean I saw an eight year old with stretchmarks. I saw two sisters who were maybe nine years old and both were rather rotund. Seriously, I think if about four specific kids had simultaneously gotten out of pool area, the shift in water volume would have created a small scale tidal wave.

The third thing I noticed about your kids is that they’re inconsiderate shits. There’s a water slide at the kiddie pool and Junior and I would ascend the ladder, wait our turn, and go down the slide together (remember, I had to be accompanied by her). Now, quite a few of the other kids (who were all unsupervised) would just run to the front, cut in, and hop on the slide. The lifeguard lady tried to stop this at the start but eventually just gave up. Learned helplessness I suppose. On our last trip up, there was another father there with his little girl. He mentioned to me that one particular inconsiderate shit had gone down the slide three times while he waited. He pointed her out. Then, she came for the fourth cut in. This particular father had a jarhead haircut and a USMC tattoo and he’d had enough. He gently grabbed the kid’s arm and told her she needed to wait her turn like everyone else. She did and other parents applauded. Now, Junior was starting to catch on to the line-cutting thing and kept trying to run up to the slide. I’d pull her back and say Let’s wait our turn, honey. I’m trying to teach her a lesson and it is don’t be an asshole.

The fourth thing is your kids are kinda dumb. There were rocks and things on the edges that were slick and they kept climbing up there. The lifeguard would shoo them away. And they’d do it again. One kid fell. Also, there are various water cannons stationed at various spots. You can grab one and shoot away at other folks. This is fine if you want to shoot me, after all I came to get a bit wet. However, shooting at a mother carrying a baby that is just a few months old or shooting at a toddler who can barely walk is just fucking stupid.

So, generally speaking, I don’t like your kids much.

There’s some Father’s Day gifts at the Gun Blogs.

CBC:

Some gun and hunting groups are boycotting Air Canada after the airline imposed a $50 surcharge on passengers who check their firearms as baggage.

The one-way handling fee went into effect on June 5 for tickets purchased on or after April 14, adding $100 to the cost of a return trip.

Air Canada says the surcharge will cover the cost of making sure firearms are declared, unloaded and secured in a case that cannot be easily broken into during transport.

BTW, I’ve not flown with a weapon since pre 9-11. Looks like I may start traveling some again. Anything new I need to be aware of in this post 9-11, freedom isn’t free era?

Today’s must read is How to make your wife hate guns.

Triggerfinger has a ton of updates on the Parker case, a gun rights case in DC.

Xrlq has an AR-15 (and trouble at the range). No pics?

This time, at Ravenwood’s in the SBR flavor.

Not here, but here and here. I’m taking Junior to Splash Country.

HEO has a list.