Time has a map of the United States with population density histograms.

anybody else get the feeling that voting machines aren’t quite ready for actual use? The early voting in Florida is done on machines and the machines are revolting.

Broward Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney said it’s not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly.

Well, at least the mistakes cut both ways so it will average out. Oh wait, every instance they’ve found has skewed votes for the Republican candidate.

Mauricio Raponi wanted to vote for Democrats across the board at the Lemon City Library in Miami on Thursday. But each time he hit the button next to the candidate, the Republican choice showed up.

But at least somebody is monitoring the problem, right? Um…

[T]hey don’t know how widespread the machine problems are because there’s no process for poll workers to quickly report minor issues and no central database of machine problems.

Setting aside the Diebold conspiracy theories, the machines just don’t work very well. At least with paper ballots, there’s a paper trail.

Speaking of what government does, how’s this:

When two unshaven men wearing camouflage pants and plaid shirts walked into Cappy’s Chowder House in Camden on Thursday afternoon, owner Johanna Tutone thought she was about to feed a pair of hungry duck hunters.
After the men presented badges identifying themselves as federal fish-and-wildlife agents and said they had come for her 150-year-old stuffed gull, Tutone concluded it had to be a prank.

“I thought they were joking,” she said. “I thought any minute someone would come up the stairs and say, ‘Gotcha!’”
But the men were serious. Based on a complaint they had received from a customer, they told her they had come to confiscate the stuffed Greater Black Backed Gull that has been perched upstairs in her restaurant for more than 20 years, mounted under glass and surrounded by an ornate frame.

But, maybe, people are paying attention:

A quarter century after the Reagan revolution and a dozen years after Republicans vaulted into control of Congress, a new CNN poll finds most Americans still agree with the bedrock conservative premise that, as the Gipper put it, “government is not the answer to our problems — government is the problem.”

The poll released Friday also showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans perceive, correctly, that the size and cost of government have gone up in the past four years, when Republicans have had a grip on the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House.

Discretionary spending grew from $649 billion in fiscal year 2001 to $968 billion in fiscal year 2005, an increase of $319 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Queried about their views on the role of government, 54 percent of the 1,013 adults polled said they thought it was trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. Only 37 percent said they thought the government should do more to solve the country’s problems.

It’s a pity the Reagan revolution died when Republicans suddenly found themselves in charge.

Terry Frank has an interesting post this morning on First Amendment rights. The story is about a Christian student who has been punished for opposing homosexual adoption on religious grounds. The ADF (Alliance Defense Fund) is suing Missouri State University on behalf of student Emily Brooker.

MSU student Emily Brooker faced an “ethics” committee after school officials informed her that she stood accused of a Level 3 grievance for violation of the School of Social Work’s “Standards of Essential Functioning in Social Work Education.” The Level 3 grievance is the highest level of grievance that an individual can bring against a student. University officials told Brooker she had violated three of the “Standards of Essential Functioning”: Diversity, Interpersonal Skills, and Professional Behavior.

One of Brooker’s MSU professors, Frank G. Kauffman, assigned to his students a project promoting homosexual foster homes and adoption. The project required the entire class to write and individually sign a letter to the Missouri Legislature in support of homosexual adoption, a letter Brooker refused to sign due to her religious objections.

On Dec. 16, 2005, Brooker faced a two-and-a-half hour interrogation by faculty members, who allegedly asked her personally invasive questions such as, “Do you think gays and lesbians are sinners?” and “Do you think I am a sinner?”

The question I have is would there have been a difference if Emily Brooker was a Muslim? I have a feeling that MSU professor Frank G. Kauffman would not have filed a Level 3 grievance for violation of the School of Social Work’s “Standards of Essential Functioning in Social Work Education” if Brooker was a Muslim. Do we have freedom of religion in this country or are some religions more “free” than others?

G = Guns

We got some snakes. Our new lot lines up to a field and a creek. So, it’s not surprising we’d have some legless lotmates. The Mrs. hates snakes. I step outside on the back-porch with The Second this Sunday to see Politically Incorrect Dog engaged in an epic battle with what is probably the biggest black snake I’ve ever seen (I’m guessing it was a good four feet long). And by epic battle, I mean Politically Incorrect Dog is playing with it as though it were some sort of self-propelled stick to be fetched and released and fetched again. I call the dog in, put The Second down, alert the Mrs., and get the Walther P22. I don’t mind black snakes as they eat vermin (including other snakes) and are not venomous. But at the time I was not 100% sure that’s what it was. And I’m not risking a 0.01% that I am wrong. I get back out and he’s gone. Not a trace. I was almost convinced he was gone never to return and then it occurred to me he might be in the dog house. Crap. Well, I’m not crawling in there looking for him. So, I get a garden hoe and attach a mirror to it so I can look around the corner (yes, the dog house I built has rooms – gotta keep the wind out, ya know). No snake. And no snake killed. It’s win-win.

The second snake wasn’t so lucky. Yesterday, I was at work and the Mrs. called to tell me she just hacked a brown spotted snake (her description – I have not yet examined the carcass to determine what kind it is but I’m guessing copperhead) to death with a hoe. Again, with the hoes. She said she was out in the yard checking something and noticed the gnarly, 2 feet long beastie and wasn’t taking any chances. So, she went to the garage, grabbed the hoe, and hacked him into bits. She said she was wearing shorts and flip-flops and, in between hacks, was dodging an understandably annoyed snake.

I say to her: I’ve gotta get you to the range. The old Walther P22 would have dispatched the alleged copperhead with minimal fuss and risk.

The Second, who is 5 months old, likes to sleep on his belly. He sleeps more soundly and for a longer period of time on his belly. When he sleeps on his back, his naps are short and he gets cranky due to lack of sleep. Trouble is, since he’s a big boy, he has a bit of trouble rolling from his back to his belly. He can roll from his belly to his back just fine. So, when we lay him down for nap time, we place him on his belly. So did daycare. Until two weeks ago.

You see, appropriate sleeping procedures vary from decade to decade. One decade, parents are told baby sleeps on his tummy. The next, it’s on his back. And this flip-flops all the time. That’s what my parents tell me. Apparently, this is the decade where it’s on the back. When The Second first got in daycare, they asked us to fill out a form telling them it was OK to let him sleep on his belly, which we did.

Now, some arbitrary state agency with nothing better to do has decided that parental permission isn’t good enough. No, you see, The Second needs a note from his doctor stating that the daycare staff can put him in his crib on his belly. Yes, that is correct. Let me repeat the stupidity: In order for him to be placed on his belly and get an adequate nap, parental consent isn’t good enough. You need a note from a doctor. If baby rolls on his belly by himself, that’s fine. But he can’t be placed there.

We call the doc and say Hey, doc, this is really stupid but can you sign a note saying it’s OK for the second to be placed on his belly for nap time? Doc says Well, I would but current guidelines say I shouldn’t. So, I can’t really. I’m not sure what guidelines he meant but I’m sure it’s some other arbitrary state agency with nothing better to do.

Bitter notes gunnies have money:

Researchers found the average lifetime outlay for firearms, ammunition and other gear totals $20,219 per person. When purchases for licenses and lodging, food and fuel, magazines and meat processing, dues and contributions, and other associated items are added, the average lifetime grand total rises to $109,568 per person.

A new report spells out the most dangerous cities:

A surge in violence made St. Louis the most dangerous city in the country, leading a trend of violent crimes rising much faster in the Midwest than in the rest of nation, according to an annual list.

Here’s a link to buy the actual report. Brick, New Jersey is the safest but, err, that doesn’t grab headlines. Violent crime (danger, I suppose) is based on rates for murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

New Jersey also made second most dangerous with Camden, which topped (or bottomed?) the list last year.

The KNS reports that four Tennessee cities made the top 100 dangerous cities. The are Memphis (359 of 371), Nashville (333), Chattanooga (315) and Knoxville (297). The KPD disputes the list claiming it is flawed:

Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV was not immediately available for comment. KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said the study appears flawed as far as Tennessee numbers are concerned.

Law enforcement agencies in Tennessee use a more comprehensive and detailed crime reporting system than that used in most other states.

“It’s like comparing apples to oranges,” he said. “All Tennessee law enforcement agencies use an incident based reporting system, versus the Uniform Crime Report system that most law enforcement agencies in the county use.”

In Tennessee, four separate crimes will be reported if, in a single incident, a house is burglarized, the homeowner stabbed, the house vandalized and the homeowner’s car is stolen. “But in the uniform crime report system, all of that is reported as a single crime, the most serious one.”

The FBI has recommended the incident based system as more accurate, but only a few states have adopted it so far, DeBusk said.

Keep your booger-hook off the bang switch:

A man found dead on an Oakland street early Saturday morning from a gunshot wound may have accidentally shot himself a short time earlier while robbing a Pinole liquor store, according to investigators.

[...]

During the hold-up of Appian Liquors, Williams initially placed the handgun on the counter so he could grab cash from the register, Oakland police detective Sgt. Phil Green said.

But as Williams placed the gun back into his waistband, he squeezed the trigger and shot himself, Green said.

Richard W. Hatzenbuhler in a Boston Herald letter to the editor:

gun control is something that politicians do instead of doing something

But maybe it should have. Eeew.

Via fish or man.

An AK with a bolt release? Nice.

Colt Python. Woohoo.

The Carnival of Cordite is up.

Since Say Uncle likes to rebuild firearms, I thought of him when I saw this. All he needs is $32,000 and he may redefine the modern neighborhood watch.

Well, you can use our copy when we’re done:

I mentioned here that Harold Ford, Jr. was a slacker. So is Bob Corker:

Pierce says that by the last year of Corker’s term, the mayor was hardly ever around, having abandoned his post for a run at the Senate. “The mayor was elected to serve four years, but he only served three,” Pierce says, adding that Todd Womack, Corker’s mayoral spokesman who is now communications director for the Corker campaign, ran the show in Corker’s absence. “Most of the council referred to Todd Womack as ‘mayor.’ ”

6,000,000 people in this state and these are the best two we got?

Joe Huffman:

I used a statement from security researcher Christopher Soghoian for the quote of the day a couple days ago. He said airport security was really “security theater”. Even before I had made that post the FBI had raided his home

And why:

It’s not that he’s trying to compromise airport security. It’s that he’s pointing out that airport security already is compromised, or, as his site used to read, “The TSA Emperor Has No Clothes.”

The NYTimes reports that the big-tent Democrats now have room for righty candidates, most notably some people who take gun rights seriously.

Democratic officials said they did not set out with the intention of finding moderates to run. Instead, as they searched for candidates with the greatest possibility of winning against Republicans, they said, they wound up with a number who reflected more moderate views.

I have a friend who believes this country is going to hell. He sees the left-right schism getting wider and says it will eventually break out into civil war. I tell him there can’t be a civil war between right and left for one simple reason: the left has no guns. Bless his heart, his response is always “I’m trying to change that.”

Caught the latest Corker ad. Or should I say the latest anti-Ford ad. It said something to the effect of:

Ford has missed 365 votes.

But has managed to take 59 private junkets.

Now, all the other negative ads that were tacky, but this one could be hammered home. And I wonder why they didn’t start it sooner:

Ford: He doesn’t go to work. Just like John Kerry.

It could work. Because it’s verifiable and it doesn’t involve porn money. But it could be racist. I don’t see how but I’m sure somone is looking into it.

Yeah, it’s slow. The deal is that the server’s primary drive appears to be failing, so all accounts will be migrated from there to other servers. Propagation time after the move is typically very fast, so you should not notice anything at all. Well, that’s what they tell me.

Pro-Gun Progressive notes:

In this post, Kevin Drum (who’s never actually responded to my requests for a position statement on gun control) mentions gun control as an example of a failed social policy that liberals actually had the brains to back away from.

Shorter Kevin Drum:

Well, we can still think guns are bad.

But we need votes.

So, stop acting anti-gun.

Over at The Gun Blogs, XD45 writes:

The first step to taking your legally owned guns passed in the U.N. yesterday (Oct 26th). This is truly disturbing as you can imagine; not only was the U.S. the only nation that voted no, but that this is a solid foundation for the anti-gun lobby to go forward with their agenda.

From the article:

United Nations member states voted Thursday to create an international treaty to curb the illicit trade in guns and other light weapons, despite strong opposition from the United States and other big powers.

On Thursday, a vast majority of delegates to the U.N. General Assembly’s first committee endorsed the resolution calling for the establishment of a treaty to stop weapons transfers that fuel conflict, poverty and serious human rights violations.

As many as 139 countries voted in favour of the resolution while 24 abstained. The United States, the world’s largest supplier of small arms, was the only country that opposed the resolution.

Other major arms-manufacturing nations that oppose the treaty but did not participate in the voting include Russia, China, India and Pakistan.

Err, so the US was not the only country that opposed the resolution. More:

“No weapons should ever be transferred if they will be used for serious violations of human rights,” they said in a letter to the delegates who are currently attending the General Assembly session.

Supporters of the resolution said they hoped that it would help close loopholes in laws that allow the flow of small arms to conflict zones across the world, and thus give rise to violations of human rights and undermine development.

Seems everyone is up in arms (heh) over a potential victory for the Democrats sometime soon. So, they’re talking about their The DiFi/Schumer/Pelosi/McCarthy Contingency Fund (the guns they buy if the Democrats take control because they fear a ban of, well, everything).

Well, knock it off. It’s like you’re admitting you’ll be defeated. The Dems aren’t gonna go gun-grabbing right of the bat. They learned not to do that back in 1996 when they lost after the Assault Weapons Ban passed. Even Bill Clinton acknowledged such. They likely won’t go gun-banning due to political expediency. So, if they do, keep the pressure on politically.

The NRA notes that the anti-gun American Hunters and Shooters Association is up to no good:

You may have recently received a postcard from an organization purporting to represent the interests of hunters and sportsmen. This postcard is nothing more than a blatant deception intended to mislead Missouri’s hunters and sportsmen. The organization that sent it, the American Hunters and Shooters Association Foundation (AHSA), is simply a front for a number of anti-gun groups. In fact, AHSA’s leadership is so extreme that it supports banning guns, gun rationing, registration, and licensing. The postcard, which claims NRA opposes protecting public hunting lands from developers, is as absurd as AHSA’s claims that it is a pro-gun organization.

If America gave a rat’s ass what the world thought, we’d use the metric system.

The online poker ban is stupid. It had the effect of devastating a few British companies and the Brits aren’t taking it lying down. There will be a summit:

Britain’s culture secretary on Friday compared the U.S. crackdown on online gambling to the failed alcohol ban of the Prohibition as she prepared to host an international summit on Internet gambling next week.

Tessa Jowell warned that the U.S. ban on Internet gambling would make unregulated offshore sites the “modern equivalent of speakeasies,” illegal bars that opened in 1920s America when alcohol was banned.

U.S. Congress caught the gambling industry by surprise earlier this month when it added to an unrelated bill a provision that would make it illegal for banks and credit-card companies to settle payments for online gambling sites. President Bush signed the law Oct. 14.

The decision closed off the most lucrative region in a market worth $15.5 billion this year in “spend” value – the amount gambling companies win from their clients, or the amount gamblers lose.

First of all, Britain has a culture secretary? Well, it’s broken. Hope you kept a receipt.

As I said, it’s a stupid law and I agree with (shiver) British culture secretary. But I don’t really see the US government giving much of a damn about an international gambling summit.

For a while, the 9MM AR-15 was all the rage. Soon, it may be the 45ACP. Here’s a guide to how it’s done.

Seen at publicola’s:

“Police in the western Michigan community of Wyoming entered two classrooms at Lee Middle and High School on Thursday and announced there was a threat to the school, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

Students, who were unaware police were conducting a drill, were taken from the classroom into the halls, patted down by officers and asked what they had in their pockets, the newspaper said.”

“Some of these kids were so scared, they just about wet their pants,’ said Marge Bradshaw, a parent with four children in Godfrey-Lee Schools. ‘I think it’s pure wrong that the students and parents were not informed of this.’

Officers wore protective gear, including vests and helmets, and carried rifles that were unloaded and marked with colored tape to indicate they were not live weapons, the newspaper said.”

Gotta acclimate the kids somehow.

35. Officially, middle-aged.

Here it is. A conservative? Moi? I can’t be. I know a French word.

I guess libertarian or South Park Republican or Neo-libertarian would confuse, err, everyone who doesn’t read blogs, which is most folks.

No really. Not me, actually, but my words. Tonight, tune and tell me how it goes.

Update: Hmmm, wonder if they show text from the site? Maybe I’ll add some dirty words to the post I think they’ll show to see if they notice? Nah, I kid.

David Hardy:

Enactment or failure to enact Brady’s legislative priorities had no correlation to murder rates. If a state were to go from F to A, from virtually no gun control to everything on Brady’s agenda, the only result would be a joyful press release from Brady.

Teehee.

By the way, I feel the need to point out the following:

I don’t think the manner in which New Jersey’s court OK’d gay schmarriage is acceptable. Just like I didn’t think Gavin Newsom was right when he allowed gay couples in San Fran to get hitched. Newsom broke the law. NJ made it up.

However, I’m not dissatisfied with the result of either.

The system is broken. But even a broken system yields a good result occasionally.

Bitter notes that The Shooting Wire is taking on the anti-gun mayors:

Without belaboring a point, their organization is, indeed, one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Neither, however, does it represent the end of the firearms industry or the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

It represents another obvious sign that the profession once described as the Fourth Estate, journalism, has now decided that it is no longer proper to simply report the news. It is incumbent upon serious journalists to steer the poor sheep of the electorate in the correct direction. As I heard it said earlier this week, the Fourth Estate seems to be looking suspiciously like a Fifth Column movement, naysaying and downplaying anything that might look even remotely like the United States is anything other than the global bully.

Well, the fourth estate here in Knoxville is silent. In their defense, they’re also generally silent on the mayor’s alliance much less that the Knoxville mayor is a member. And all that liberal stuff isn’t applicable has Mr. Haslam is allegedly a conservative.

Uncle often posts on this blog about drug raids gone wrong– cops kicking in the wrong door and horribly abusing a whole bunch of innocent people. Sometimes, though, raids go off without a hitch. They find the right house, the right people are home and there are even drugs present. And looking at the times things go right tells us a lot about why these raids are so bad.

Cops in Texas kicked in the door to a woman’s home, shot her dog, and set her house on fire. All for… two joints. The police are bragging that they followed protocol after finding traces of marijuana and coke in her garbage, but as the Agitator says:

if “protocol” means forced entry, flash grenades, and killing someone’s pet all over traces of marijuana and cocaine in the garbage, I’d say it’s probably time to rethink “protocol.”

Thanks to Drug War Rant for the link.

I noticed this morning a Coming Soon sign for Starbuck’s. In Alcoa, Tennessee. Jebus, the invasion is almost complete.

Terry Frank says:

It’s pretty simple. If you believe marriage is between one man and one woman, then you need to vote “Yes” on Amendment #1. And if you believe the marriage vote isn’t really that important, then just look at this week’s New Jersey Supreme Court ruling. For the second time, black robes have ignored the will of the people and forced a legislative body to act on same sex unions.

I like Terry and we generally agree. But this is one issue in which we do not. My thinking is this:

It’s pretty simple. If you believe the state constitution should not be used for such stupid reasons, Vote “No”. In other words, keep your grubby mits off my constitution.

The reason the constitutional amendment is there is because those that oppose gay marriage know they are losing and will lose eventually unless the constitution is amended. This can be done legislatively but it’s doomed as society is trending toward supporting gay marriage.

As co-blogger Brutal Hugger said here:

Every poll shows that opposition to marriage equality correlates strongly with age. The future is clear, and nobody rationally doubts that America will eventually have marriage equality. The question is can we get there now or do we have to wait a couple decades for the bigots to die of old age. I’m guessing the latter, but as the slim majority becomes an overwhelming minority in state after state after state, momentum on this issue is going to shift pretty fast.

I wonder how those 49 Senators feel about being on the wrong side of history.

The Constitutional amendment is merely a stall.

And, Terry, the very core of marriage is not necessarily children. I know plenty of married people who are quite happy and do not have nor want children. And you are correct that marriage is a religious institution. That is why I think the state just needs to mind it’s own business (church & state and all of that).

It wasn’t me but whoever edited Bill Haslam’s wikipedia entry, I salute you.

Update: Gone now. That was fast. But here’s the old one.

Another botched raid:

Outrage as cop shoots teen, says it’s accidental

…

In a crowded three-bedroom apartment in central Harlem, partygoers drank, chatted and danced until their jovial moods were interrupted by members of the NYPD claiming to be responding to a report of a dispute with a firearm. According to eyewitnesses who attended the party at 419 E. 93rd Street last weekend, the police arrived at the wrong residence and were overly aggressive with the partying teenagers who they assumed to be in a possession of a handgun.

Cops + wrong house + poor gun safety = bad combination.

An anti-gun group had a day of remembrance in Utah. They noted that:

According to The Gun Violence Protection Center, in 2005 Utah received a grade of D- for its laws shielding families from gun violence, from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Utah has no child access prevention laws, no gun safety lock or safety design standard laws, no limitation on assault weapons and magazines or “junk” handguns, no requirement for a license to purchase a gun, no requirement to maintain gun sales records or to register the ownership of a gun, no requirement for background checks on “private” gun sales, and no required safety training for handgun buyers.

But here’s the thing about Utah: in that year it had a homicide rate of 2.3, the 42nd lowest in the country (the absolute lowest rate was Vermont, which allows concealed carry without a permit, and the highest rate, 35, was the District of Columbia). In total violence crime it was 47th — only Vermont, New Hampshire and South Dakota had less violence.

A police raid involves Dead Dog, $5K in Damage, Guns, and Grenades. All that for two joints.

Cam Edwards notes that the Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor is also a part of Mayors Against Guns. He asks:

I’m really surprised the Tulsa media hasn’t gone after Taylor on this.

Well, Knoxville’s press hasn’t covered the fact that Mayor Haslam has joined the group either. Speaking of Knoxville, Les says:

The ultimate goal of the group seems to be to end most private ownership of firearms. If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider that the group is in favor of the California microstamping law. That bill would have outlawed the sale of all semi-automatic hanguns unless they imprinted their make, model, and serial number on spent cartridges. No such gun exists, so the sale of all current semi-automatic handguns would have been outlawed in California had it passed.

If you’re in Tulsa, call your mayor. If you’re in Knoxville, call your mayor and the local press.

A new twist on the If you could only have one gun, what would it be post. My answers:

1. Rimfire Handgun – Walther P22*
2. Rimfire rifle – Ruger 10-22*
3. Centerfire hunting rifle – Savage 110
4. Centerfire carbine (either hunting or defensive) – AR-15*
5. Shotgun – Beretta Xtrema
6. Battle rifle – M1 Scout rifle
7. Milsurp rifle or handgun – Don’t really want one but, err, SKS
8. Pocket gun/Concealed carry handgun – Kel-Tec P3AT*
9. Open carry handgun/service pistol/general duty sidearm – Glock G30*

* – I already got one.

In the comments to this post, Triticale writes:

The dealer in Milwaukee who has had the most guns traced to them, some of which were used in crimes, has been alleging for years that they have had a hard time interesting the police in any suspected straw-buying. Refusing to sell a firearm to an individual who passes a background check because they look like someone who might be buying on behalf of a criminal is potentially a civil rights violation. When the large number of traqces first hit the news some years back, the dealer and we activists started raising questions. After a while the news story was revised and it was acknowledged that “some” had come to police attention without having been used in the commission of a crime, and 40 out of something like 1400 had been used in a murder.

Remember this when those folks that want to ban gun ownership rant about those evil gun dealers.

Evan Wolfson, former director of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund marriage project and current director of Freedom to Marry, wrote a leter to the NYTimes. This is the guy who has been at the forefront of this issue since before you knew it existed. He’s also trained a lot of the lawyers still working on it. When the good guys win, you’ll have him to thank. On the other hand, if you hate freedom, you know who to blame. Evan taught me a lot about this issue and how to think about it constructively.

To the Editor:

Re “New Jersey Court Backs Full Rights for Gay Couples” (front page, Oct. 26):

The unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court ruling opening the door to marriage equality for gay people is a resounding recognition of the equal needs and common humanity of committed same-sex couples and their children.

The court said these American families are entitled to equal rights and responsibilities under the law.

As the Legislature moves now to carry out the Constitution’s command of equality, we are confident that legislators will see that the right way to end discrimination in marriage is indeed to end discrimination in marriage, not repackage it.

The easiest next step is not to cobble together a separate new system with two lines at the clerk’s office, but rather to end the exclusion from marriage itself with two simple words, “I do.”

That the Zogby and Rutgers-Eagleton polls show a majority in New Jersey supporting gay couples’ freedom to marry should make it easier for legislators to do what’s right.

Evan Wolfson
New York, Oct. 26, 2006
The writer is executive director of Freedom to Marry.

Looks like someone will be fielding an American made Steyr Aug type rifle.

Tam on the middle class:

This is maybe the only nation on the planet where the guy in the $500,000 house with a new Benz in the driveway and the single mom making $8/hr at the Food Lion and living in a single wide will both sigh and turn up the volume to listen in when the TV announcer says “A new threat to the Middle Class!“, thinking he’s talking to them.

Read it all. Chick needs to write a book or something. I’d buy one.

In The War on Civil Liberties err Drugs.

Note the blog ad in this post.

Sean Braisted:

According to Melhman, some states keep records on who purches (sic) guns, and the RNC then purhcases (sic) the data to target potential voters. Why is this hypocritical? Because the Republicans, via John Ashcroft, refused to allow the FBI to cross check potential terrorists against the list of names given for criminal background checks used to purchase guns. Ashcroft even wanted to destroy records of background checks, rather than have them be used to fight terrorism

Recall that:

Federal law prohibits ATF from establishing “any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions and dispositions.” Instead, ATF relies upon federal firearms licensee (FFL) records to trace firearms recovered in crimes through its National Tracing Center. Inaccurate or incomplete record keeping makes the tracing of firearms involved in violent crimes virtually impossible.

Sean is comparing apples to oranges (feds v. state). I guess the state can do it but I know the Feds cannot (even though they do any way just in a roundabout way).

Still: States are selling info on your gun purchases to political parties. Be afraid.

Before I stated I’d bet one beer that Corker will win. I still think so.

Ford supporters know they’re in trouble because the Democrats are now breaking out the Corker is a racist stuff. Heck, now he’s KKKorker and there are photoshops of Klansmen with Corker signs (Godwin, call your office). And some of the accusations seem silly (I’ve not heard the ad but on the surface, that sounds like quite a stretch).

And Ford hates the gay cooties too. But not enough for some people.

Glad I bought that extra fridge for all the cold beer I’ll be getting.

Update: Good for Late for Dinner for asking people to tone down the KKK stuff. It doesn’t help.

Update 2: I’ve now listened to the drum ad but, on the laptop, can’t even hear the drums.

A while back, I found it amusing that The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership was showing up in my Google ads. I noticed their ad text said Sensible Gun Laws. So, I Googled up sensible gun laws and the first hit was for the pro-gun Doctors For Sensible Gun Laws. Number 2 is The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership. Seems The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership maybe trying to get their misleading Google on.

I generally don’t like Google Bombs but ask that my fellow gunbloggers post the following links on their page:

sensible gun laws

sensible gun laws

And, while we’re at it, let’s add:

ban all guns

ban gun ownership

After all, that is their goal. Don’t be fooled.

You may recall:

Youngsters in a suburban Fort Worth school district are being taught not to sit there like good boys and girls with their hands folded if a gunman invades the classroom, but to rush him and hit him with everything they got – books, pencils, legs and arms.

“Getting under desks and praying for rescue from professionals is not a recipe for success,” said Robin Browne, a major in the British Army reserve and an instructor for Response Options, the company providing the training to the Burleson schools.

Not anymore:

The Burleson school district has “reassigned” Greg Crane, the teacher who was behind the training that taught students to fight back against an armed attacker. Mr. Crane was formerly a police officer and developed the idea when he asked his wife, a teacher, what she would do if her classroom were to be attacked and she didn’t have an answer.

Via Bitter

Get your indoctrination on:

As the first bell rang, students bounded into hallways wearing twig- and branch-imprinted jackets or sporting fatigues stamped U.S. Army.

Principal Christine Moschetti said the school asked the students to don the martial clothing to show support for “the fight against drugs.” She wore a leafy, oversized camouflage T-shirt that she had bought at Wal-Mart for $5.

Camouflage Day at Marshall was tied to a national anti-drug campaign called Red Ribbon Week that began Monday. The week commemorates a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was slain on duty in Mexico in 1985. Organizers with National Family Partnership, a Florida-based group, said thousands of schools nationwide are participating through such activities as encouraging students to sign drug-free pledges or sponsoring spirit weeks. Events at some schools are similar to those found in a high school homecoming week, with students asked to wear different outfits each day to promote different themes.

Well, we gotta get our kids acclimated to the ninjafication of police.

You may recall that it was alleged Shaquille O’Neal may have been involved when the police raided the wrong house. It’s confirmed.

Mayors against guns will have a meeting:

A coalition of mayors meets Thursday in Chicago to exchange strategies for fighting illegal guns and for winning tougher state and federal gun laws.

But, remember, Mr. Haslam just wants to deal with illegal guns. Apparently, the wants to do that by making more guns illegal:

Mayors say they struggle to stem the flow of guns from states with lax gun laws.

Mr. Haslam, that’d be Tennessee they’re talking about there. More:

The city officials meeting today will discuss strategies to get guns off the street:

•In Milwaukee, Barrett met in May with a local gun dealer whose shop sold more guns used in crimes than any other dealer in the USA, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The dealer, Badger Outdoors in West Milwaukee, agreed to install security cameras and ban the use of cellphones (so that “straw buyers,” purchasing guns for people who can’t pass background checks, can’t communicate with those they are buying for.)

•In Trenton, police set up checkpoints to search cars for illegal guns. Of 375 guns confiscated last year, Palmer says, half came from Pennsylvania, where laws are less restrictive than in New Jersey.

•New York City sued 15 gun dealers in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia in May for allowing straw purchases. Private investigators hired by the city posed as gun buyers and wore hidden cameras.

And recall that Bloomberg’s sting:

•His agents likely broke the law by lying on ATF Form 4473

•Jeopardized existing investigations

•And the ATF is investigating the sting

Are these the kinds of things you want in Knoxville, Mr. Mayor? Random roadblocks looking for illegal guns and suing dealers?

The NRA: “You can have press conferences all day,” says Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president. “Until you provide 100% enforcement of the existing laws, (criminals are) going to laugh at you, and … go about their business.”

Update: More from the NYT:

What Mayor Bloomberg consistently wants to do is impose New York City-style gun laws on the rest of America.

Closed on the old house today. By my calculation, me wife and I had to sign our names to roughly 157 forms. Each form needed a copy with original signature for sellers, buyers, buyer’s agent, seller’s agent, title agency and some random dude just outside the window. So, I figured we signed our names roughly 8,763 times. My math may be off.

Why can’t some real estate person get a clue and create one good form with everything on it that everyone signs once?

Today’s Metro Pulse has an editorial titled “Sleuth Not,
County Commission should stick to its legislative role, leave law enforcement to the ‘laws’”.

Really? So when the Knox County District Attorney Randy Nichols refuses to enforce the law Knox County Commission should look the other way? I find that incomprehensible. The Metro Pulse editorial closes with, “The commissioners should get back to their duties as legislators and stop wasting their and the public’s time. They were elected to serve on a legislative body, not as a board of gumshoes.”

If you listen to this radio interview with Chad Tindell, what do you think should be done? Tindell says that Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s Chief of Staff Mike Arms pressured Tindell to not press charges against Tyler Harber or Arms would give the emails stolen from Tindell to the Knoxville News Sentinel. There is a legal term for what Arms did. It is an actionable crime with harsh penalty.

In Frank Cagle’s column in this weeks Metro Pulse Cagle writes that Mike Arms has called Tindell’s statement Monday the 23rd on AM 1180 a “complete fabrication.” Cagle writes, “OK. But Arms is known for his temper. I also have a list of about a dozen people who have had their jobs, careers, businesses or reputations threatened by Team Ragsdale. You have seen the memo forbidding county functions at a Mike Chase restaurant because he had the temerity to oppose Ragsdale in the recent election.”

How clear does it have to be? We have a problem in Knox County that the two Mikes that occupy the sixth floor are above the law. What makes them so special?

New Jersey has just become the latest state to move toward civil unions. The NJ Supreme Court just handed down an opinion saying

the Legislature must either amend the marriage statutes to include same-sex couples or create a parallel statutory structure, which will provide for, on equal terms, the rights and benefits enjoyed and burdens and obligations borne by married couples. We will not presume that a separate statutory scheme, which uses a title other than marriage, contravenes equal protection principles…. The name to be given to the statutory scheme… is a matter left to the democratic process.

All the rights and none of the dignity is not an acceptable result. I would like to see the legislature do the right thing and end civil marriage discrimination. I doubt they’ll do it, but that is the hope.

The latest Republican National Committee ad (scheduled to air tonight during The World Series on Fox) will assert that:

Harold Ford, Jr. can’t say the word Ask
He has a big schlong
He doesn’t, err, eat at the Y (if you know what I mean)
He may have once talked loudly during a movie

As for Bob Corker, well, he can’t dance.

What? It could happen.

Trollphylactic: I preemptively call myself a racist.

Update: Ford also doesn’t tip very well.

And can get uppity.

Look behind you.

Over at Ben’s here and here.

Over at Arfcom it’s post pictures of your most expensive gun day.

Speaking of Poppa and Honey, my dad on my mom’s pending 60th birthday:

I can’t believe I’ll be sleeping with a sixty year-old woman . . . again.

Picking what to call grandparents can be trying but, ultimately, the kids decide. My dad wanted to be called Poppa. And that worked because it was easy for a young child to pronounce. My mom, on the other hand, wanted to be called Grandmother. Not sure why, because that’s hard for kids to pronounce. I think it’s because my mom’s side of the family is a bit, err, country. And everyone called my grandparents on her side mamaw and papaw (it’s a Southern thing).

Needless to say, Junior never could not pronounce Grandmother. But she’d say Poppa all the time. Poppa this, poppa that:

The Wife: Say poppa!

Junior: Poppa!

The Wife: Say grandmother!

Junior: *blink*

And on it went. One day, we’re over at Poppa and Grandmother’s. And Poppa, wanting grandmother for something, yells Hey Honey. Ever since then, Junior calls Grandmother Honey. So, that’s why my little girl calls her grandparents Poppa and Honey. Honey doesn’t seem to mind.

Chris asks Which is it:

Weird ellipses in a quote of Ford from this Tennessean article:

“I was there,” the Memphis Democrat said. “I like football, and I like girls. I don’t have … no apologies for that.”

WMCTV quotes him as:

“I was there,” he said. “I like football, and I like girls. I have no apologies for that.”

So which is it? Bad grammar or good grammar?

At the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, I poked fun at Kevin for his longish posts. Let’s face it, most blog readers do so from the office and can’t devote several minutes reading long posts. Anyhoo, his latest is here. And I’ll have to read it later.

Meanwhile, here at SayUncle, we cater to your short attention span. Look! A monkey.

In PA, it’s win-win:

No matter who wins Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race, the National Rifle Association probably won’t be complaining.

On gun issues, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and Democrat Bob Casey Jr. could be twins.

Santorum earned an A-plus and an endorsement from the NRA – whose leaders campaigned with him yesterday. Casey got an A, the highest mark for a nonincumbent.

Good.

In Harris Co. Texas, they can’t ban gun carry in parks.

Lately (and entirely due to this blog), I’ve been getting a few requests from reporters to talk to them (I’ve had them in the past but they seem more frequent now). For example, one lady from the Wall Street Journal wanted to talk to me about the poker bill. I told her I blogged about it but was probably not the best and referred her to some poker players I know. Now, I have one from a New York paper that wants to talk about the Mayors Alliance Against Guns. My inclination generally is to decline for the following reasons:

So, it is with reservation that I even consider talking to the press. Am I paranoid? A bit. The downside, of course, is that I am missing the opportunity to speak truth to power. So, what are your thoughts?

The NRA has a site about the violent gun confiscations that occured in New Orleans. The site is called Give Them Back. They have video.

And I think it sums up the 2006 election year:

I want the Republicans to lose but I don’t want the Democrats to win.

Looks like Bruce has decided to live free and not in Massachusetts. Congrats.

Ammo prices up and will keep rising:

In case you haven’t noticed, the price of ammunition has been rising slowly, and it is not about to stop. Not by a durn sight. The reason is that the prices of the metals that go into almost all ammo—lead, copper, and zinc—have risen exponentially.

I’m confused. What would Washington DC need gun detecting sensors for? I mean, guns are banned there. So, there shouldn’t be any gun shots.

More:

The crack of gunshots can be heard nearly every night in some of the District’s deadliest neighborhoods — and no longer just by the people within shooting range.

The sounds are being picked up by the police department’s newest tool: ShotSpotter, a network of noise sensors that identifies and pinpoints gunfire. Over the past few weeks, the technology has guided police to three homicides in Southeast Washington, and in one case officers got there rapidly enough to make an arrest.

[snip]

Scott D’Angelo, who lives half a block away, said he heard the gunshots that morning but did not call police. He said that the sound is frequent in his Anacostia community and that he does not call 911 every time he hears the familiar pop.

You must be hearing things. Maybe it was a car backfiring?

It strikes:

Sen. Sam Brownback has put a hold on one of Presient (sic) Bush’s federal judicial nominees because she once attended a commitment ceremony for a gay couple.

Not officiating, mind you. She was merely in attendance.

I don’t think it’s contagious.

The WaPo:

GAO Calls Radiation Monitors Unreliable

The Department of Homeland Security’s plan to spend $1.2 billion deploying next-generation nuclear-detection equipment at U.S. ports and border crossings cannot be justified, given test results that showed the devices are unreliable, congressional investigators warned yesterday.

I did some work for DOE many years ago. They had these little green plastic squares that supposedly measured exposure to radiation. You wore it when you were there and, quarterly, it was sent off to tell you how much you’d been exposed to. At one facility, they (being some sort of inspector) opened some of the detection devices up to check them out. They were empty inside. They were nothing, just little plastic squares.

A Gallup Poll:

Since 2000, the percentage of people who view having a gun as making a house more dangerous has fallen from 51 to 43 percent, while at the same time the percentage that view a gun as making a home safer has gone up from 35 to 47 percent.

Progress.

Chris has some with pics. He also, in reference to said SKS mods, notes How not to have your life ruined by the ATF. Good advice but it begs the question:

Has anyone ever been charged under USC 922(r)? I personally know of no one. It seems to me that proving parts were made in America or were not would be difficult.

Over at the Media Blog they note that Reuters asserts:

More than 30,000 people die from gunshot wounds every year, through murder, suicide and accidents.

They note that Reuter’s number hasn’t changed for 6 years (from an article in 2000). Quips Nathan Goulding:

This means that one of two things is true. Either, the rate of people killed by guns has not increased over six years — very good news. Or, Reuters is relying on six year-old data. Whichever is the case, Reuters is simply opining on gun control, and is using the recent school shootings as an opportunity to do so.

Well, this got me to thinking it was time for a trip to the CDC website. Some numbers (they only had data for 2000 to 2002 on the site).

Deaths weren’t more than 30,000 people are shot to death in murders, suicides, and accidents in 2000 or 2001 per the CDC. And Reuters doesn’t mention that well over half of gun deaths each year are suicides. And they don’t mention the 700K to 2M times per year that guns prevent violence.

And Reuters used the number provided to them by anti-gun “researcher” David Hemenway. You remember him? He said guns cause road rage.

Over at ProgressiveU (a liberal blog), Redneck Hunter is talking pro-gun:

FABLE I: A gun in the home makes the home less safe

FABLE II: The Second Amendment to the Constitution does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms.

FABLE IV: “Gun control” laws prevent crime.

You know what, there’s a lot. Go here and scroll.

All guns are always loaded:

Two men were injured Saturday morning at the Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show at Expo Square when a vendor accidentally discharged a shotgun.

…

Joe Wanenmacher, the gun show’s manager, said the vendor was examining a double-barreled .410-gauge shotgun that he thought was loaded with a snap cap. A snap cap is a nonlive round that allows the handler to dry-fire the weapon without damaging the firing pin or the firing pin holes.

From the LA Times, we can see one more cost of the drug war: a creeping culture of corruption among the agents charged with policing the line between US and Mexico. Illegal drugs provide the funds to bribe border control agents, but it’s not just drugs that get in– it’s also illegal immigrants and anything else the bad guys want to sneak into America.

Their … tactics were so well developed that smugglers could have moved “nuclear weapons” over the border, said Asst. U.S. Atty. Marina Marmolejo.

A while back, I bought the Mrs. some, err, underthingies online from Victoria’s Secret. It was win-win, she gets new stuff and I get stuff like this emailed to me.

Bob Corker’s campaign has been awful. He’s not engaging, not charismatic, not showing up, and generally not been around much. I guess his plan was to sit back, keep his mouth shut, and wait for Harold Ford, Jr. to do something stupid. It took a while, I bet Corkie’s folks were sweating.

From news you can’t make up, comes Shaq may have been involved in one of those police raids where they raid the wrong house. If true, maybe a bit of celebrity will draw some attention to this nonsense. Seems it’s not been mentioned in the press but it will be interesting to see if it’s true.

Komo News:

Kwan legally owns more than 100 pristine and historical machine guns. But during a search of Kwan’s home in January 2005, agents found one – an M-14 – that they said was illegal.

Kwan’s attorneys argue that the M-14 in question required substantial modification by federal agents – including use of a rotary tool with a cutting wheel and the installation of new parts – before it could be fired automatically. Therefore it didn’t meet the legal definition of a machine gun, they argued.

A: Whenever they say it is.

Rebecca Ferrar And Matt Lakin of the News Sentinel have a column Saturday in the KNS that corroborates charges made by Tyler Harber in the three part Betty Bean column in the Halls Shopper News.

While there is a deep well of both comedy and drama in the 33 pages of emails that explores the soap opera like atmosphere of the KNOX GOP these emails ask the larger question, how can there not be an investigation of Tyler Harber?

Monday at 2:00 PM Knox County Commission will vote on whether the Commission should investigate Tyler Harber’s employment with Knox County. 13 votes are required and Friday Knox County Commissioner Lumpy Lambert said on AM 1180 that 9 votes are available and the remaining 4 votes may come in over the weekend.

People years from now will ask how this whole thing blew up so badly. It appears that the desire for the KNOX GOP mailing list was a powerful lure and when this prize collided with Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s temper there was an explosion. If Mayor Ragsdale had not called Chad Tindell and lost his temper, as Tyler Harber alleges, perhaps this whole affair would have not ignited.

Many people will be upset no matter has this is resolved. Now Knox County awaits the decision of County Commission. What will they decide?

Updates:

In today’s News Sentinel an article by Matt Lakin quotes Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison as saying that a law was broken in the theft of emails from former Knox GOP Chairman Chad Tindell.

Terry Frank informs readers of her blog that two local radio hosts who were subjected to Team Ragsdale dirty tricks have written a letter to Knox County Commission. Lloyd Daugherty and Kelvin Moxley tell of how Tyler Harber went to the Knox County Health Department and attempted to obtain their medical records.

Betty Bean spoke this morning on the Lloyd Daugherty radio program on AM 1180 that, “former GOP head Chad Tindell was “threatened” by Mike Arms, Chief of Staff to County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, regarding the possible investigation of the County Mayor’s office stemming from allegations made by former Ragsdale employee, Tyler Harber.”

This story did not run this morning in the News Sentinel but may run on Tuesday.

Bacon.

The Geek says of Saul Cornell’s book on the second amendment:

Despite my reservations concerning Prof. Cornell’s work, given his Joyce Foundation funding, I’d always extended Prof. Cornell a certain grudging benefit of the doubt concerning the presumption of good will and academic integrity, but after reading Holbrook, I can no longer do that.

When it comes to history and the foundation of law, it seems that the Forces of Organized Gun Bigotry simply cannot find a leg to stand on without resorting to flagrant distortion.

Indeed. The one thing that the antis simply cannot get around is that there is absolutely nothing from the time of the founding indicating the collective rights model. Collective rights meaning no rights at all, really. In fact, you likely won’t find anything supporting the collective rights model until about the 1940s, would be my guess. They keep tilting at that windmill though. Guess they just make it up.

Kevin has run down reminds us that they never stop.

Tam discusses Harold Ford’s trip to the range:

After a perfunctory session on the range with a stainless Smith revolver, they came out and settled up.

A stainless Smith revolver? Well, had Mr. Ford snagged the full-auto, short-barreled 9mm AR-15 off the wall and sent several hundred rounds down range with a grin on his face, he’d have gotten my vote.

Each time you move from one domicile to another, your volume of stuff will double.

As evidence:

In 2000ish, the Mrs. moved with me into my condo. To get her stuff, we rented a U-haul (smallish) and got all her stuff there.

In 2002, the Mrs. and I decided bought a house and moved from our condo. We decided that moving yourself sucks so we hired movers. This move required two men and one truck and they made one trip.

In 2003, we bought a bigger house (babies will do that). We hired two men and one truck. It took two trips. We doubled our stuff.

This weekend, we moved to a bigger house (last time I’m moving for at least a decade). We hired four men and two trucks since we figured we’d want to avoid two trips. Well, it took four men and two trucks two trips. We doubled our stuff again.

Other stuff:

I was organizing the basement and realized how many boxes of Christmas decorations we had (Seriously, the boxes take up an entire wall of my basement and that’s just Christmas – not the other holidays). New rule: The Mrs. is free to buy any Christmas decorations she wants. But for everyone one she buys, she must throw two away.

Also, the new pad has a rec/bonus/playroom for the kids. It was the first time we had all of the kids’ toys in one spot. It was ridiculous. Same rule: For every new toy bought, throw two toys away.

Ammo is heavy.

Gun safes are heavier.

Watching these guys move my stuff, I was thankful to have a Master’s Degree. Remember kids, guys with Masters Degrees don’t move big screen TeeVees.

You may recall Paypal and their typing monkeys being, well, not helpful. Here’s their latest email:

Thank you for reporting this email to PayPal. You received a fraudulent email that was designed to mislead you into divulging your PayPal account password. Emails initiated by PayPal will always address you by your first and last name or the name of the business associated with your PayPal account.

If you clicked on any link contained in the email and then typed in your PayPal account password, your password may be compromised. Please change your PayPal account password and security questions. Also, please review your most recent transactions for any discrepancies.

Err, no it wasn’t. Stupid people.

Times Dispatch:

Airline officials told the two Richmond bounty hunters it was OK to bring their weapons aboard.

Then, they had the two arrested.

Now, an Arizona jury has told Southwest Airlines to pay Thomas Hudgins and Leroy DeVore a total of $9 million in damages.

More:

They checked with airline officials over the phone, at the ticket counter and at the jetway about their weapons, showing them papers that made clear they were not government officials, and were told they should bring the guns with them in their carry-on baggage, their lawyer, Richard Gerry, said.

But as the plane approached Phoenix, the captain radioed that he had two men with weapons on board, though adding that they had not threatened the flight, Gerry said.

I know from experience not to listen to customer service or the ticket people.

Marc went to the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. He has video and pics.

The Carnival of Cordite is up!

So is the Second Amendent Carnival!

And RINO Sightings, for your non-gun-blogging needs.

In comments here, a reader posted his email exchange with the mayor Haslam’s office about his membership in Mayors Against Guns. It’s reprinted here (read from bottom up):

To: Mayor
Cc: cchesney@cityofknoxville.org
Subject: Still really disappointed
Date: Oct 11, 2006 2:57 PM
Nice try Cathy Chesney but you didn’t come close to touching on the issue which was about Haslam JOINING Mayor Bllomberg’s “Alliance of Mayors Against Guns.” Mayor Bloomberg is a very virulent anti gun person and supports all kinds of anti gun legislation. While the “Statement of Principle” leaves something to be desired, I am more concerned that Mayor Haslam has JOINED Bloomberg’s anti gun AMAG.

Michael Silence had these observations on his web blog and I have to agree with him:
Then the mayor has picked the wrong group to join. For example, they oppose H.R. 5092, the BATFE Modernization and Reform Act. The oppose just about every pro-gun bill coming down the pike.
They support microstamping. They support maintaining a registry of gun offenders. They support suing gun dealers.

HR 5092 was a bill to reform the BATFE, formerly known as BATF or “Burn All Toddlers First,” after their PR scheme at the Branch Davidian;s home in Waco Texas was burned to the ground, killing some 80 women and children. Micro stamping would drive the cost of ammunition out of sight as it calls for EACH individual bullet to be stamped with a unique number. President Bush has already signed the bill to prevent Bloomberg and his cronies from filing frivilous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and FFL dealers. Nobody sues General Motors when their cars are involved in a deadly accident, and suing gun manufacturers for misuse of their products by criminal doesn’t make any sense either’ however, Mayor Bloomberg supports these ideas.

The “Statement of Principles” is nothing more than a piece of “feel good” legislation but the major problem is Haslam JOINING Bloomberg’s “Alliance.” It would also be intersting to know what Mayor Haslam’s definition of an “illegal gun” is. Guns are inantimate objects and cannot in and of themselves break any laws. It takes a criminal to misue a gun.

Your response did nothing to allay my concerns. I just can’t fathom why Mayor Haslam would join an anti gun alliance. This certainly won’t sit well with many of us in Knoxville or Tennessee.

Sincerely,

William Noll

—–Original Message—–
From: Mayor
Sent: Oct 11, 2006 10:12 AM
To: wsnoll@peoplepc.com
Subject: Fwd: really disappointed

The Mayor signed a Statement of Principles against illegal guns. This is an effort to protect our citizens and our neighborhoods from violence as a result of illegal activities including possession of illegal firearms. I have attached the Statement of Principles for your review. The U.S. Conference of Mayors is working to help Mayors across the country with problems in our cities and this is just one of those initiatives.

Thank you for your interest,
Cathy Chesney
Office of Policy Development
215-2029
cchesney@cityofknoxville.org

>>> Bill Noll 10/10/2006 12:54 AM >>>

Dear Mayor Haslam:

I realize that you and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York are both republicans but it seems a dumb stunt to join his “Alliance of Mayors against Guns.” We expect New Yorkers to be anti gun but not those in Tennessee. Bloomberg has waged war against legitimate gun dealers to include his infamous “sting” to entrap law abiding gun dealers. To support such a violation of our second amendment rights is a travesty. If Bloomberg would spend more time and money chasing down criminals as opposed to law abiding gun dealer, the crime rate in NYC would go down. To sum it up, it’s not the gun, it’s the criminals. Of course I suppose it is asking too much for you not to follow in the anti gun footsteps of Mayor Victor Ashe who sponsored a number of “gun buybacks” in Knoxville. You’re a smart guy but joining Bloomberg’s Alliance against Guns is not the smartest thing you have done recently. It’s still the criminals, not the guns. I’m quite disappointed to learn you have this anti gun bias.

William Noll

Moving. Busy. Not much blogging. I’m not saying I won’t. I mean, I might if I get the chance. But don’t bet on it.

Meanwhile, here’s some AR porn.

And it’s a good idea to brush up. So, go read Volokh’s testimony on the second amendment. You may be quizzed.

And, of course, for those times when that pesky constitutional stuff isn’t cutting it, check out gunfacts for all your hoplophobe-lie-dispelling needs.

Preparedness: Are you ready?

Blink and you’re dead:

Minutes ago, I talked about the divide between hunters and shooters. Maybe this will wake the hunters up:

Installing more metal detectors and locking school doors is all well and good, but it’s not enough. Unless our leaders also examine the hunting culture in rural America—where most mass school shootings take place—and its role in these disturbing incidents, little will change.

That’s right, guys, you’re one of us now.

Update: Kim has more. So does bitter.

Lest ye doubt this is an important issue, check out the anti-gun American Hunters and Shooters Association.

I criticized the local news for not covering the fact that the Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam belongs to an anti-gun group. Rich, who happened to be at the News Sentinel when I had my panties all bunched up, says:

On the day in question, both the A and B sections of the paper were running long, and stories were getting bumped and trimmed to fit. I sat in on the final budget meeting of the day, and while Uncle’s story never came up, it was clear that there simply wasn’t room for another story. Add that to the balancing issues I discussed earlier, and you can understand more about how the story about Knoxville’s top bachelor made the cut.

It’s not a perfect business; there’s always going to be compromise.

So, what about the next day? Or the day after that? Or, say, today? Or tomorrow? Remember, your average Knoxvillian still likely has no idea. Further, Rich says:

But here’s the thing that Uncle is forgetting; the KNS did publish a story about it. They published Uncle’s story via Michael’s blog. And assuming that the blogs are archived just like the rest of the online content, any searches on Haslam and Bloomberg will pull up Uncle’s post. Think about that for a second. A private citizen, writing anonymously, can publish a hard news story on a MSM website.

While I applaud Knoxnews for allowing anonymous folks to publish news, it is a matter of distribution. I don’t know what the Sentinel’s distribution is. Nor do I know how much traffic their website gets. But I’d say more Knoxvillians read the dead tree version and main website than read Michael’s blog. Their site has a Google rank of 7. Michael’s blog has a Google rank of 6. So does my site. Their main page is read much more and I know this because when their main page links to me, I get more traffic than when Michael’s blog links to me.

So, my original point remains: The average Knoxvillian has no idea that their mayor belongs to an anti-gun group funded by the Joyce Foundation.

CATO is going after ATF abuses:

When the Republicans took control of the Congress in 1995, there was talk of abolishing the ATF for its appalling role in the Waco incident. (For background, read this and/or watch this). But the GOP “grew in office” as they say, and steadily expanded the budget of the ATF and then approved the construction of a fancy new headquarters. There is still oversight, mind you. The ATF director wanted a $65,000 conference table and the Bush administration put a stop to that. Bush’s people cracked down and said “You guys have to make do with a $33,000 table!”

It’s about time someone did. Via Bitter.

Bane on hunters v. shooters:

I believe the hunting and shooting markets, long considered a single entity, have been diverging, which would be no big deal except that the firearms industry has 100% allied itself with the hunting side of the market to the exclusion of the shooters. As the markets have diverged, so have the things in our best interest split. In some cases, those interests are in direct conflict; for example increasing hunting access versus building shooting ranges. More troubling is the fact that the hunting side of the industry focuses on traditional hunting arm, rifles and shotguns, while the shooting side of the industry is overwhelming interested in self-defense handguns, “black” rifles and competition firearms.

Or, as I like to call it, Me v. The Fudds.