In Jersey, of course.

Kevin sets me straight:

Turn in your Southern Boy card. An ass-whippin’ is what your momma gave you for misbehavin’, followed by another when your daddy got home. An ass-whuppin’ is what you get in a fight if you come out the loser.

Candyland shark.

Spelling.

Ahab discusses rimfires as survival tools.

Cool. Can I get one in AR?

Commenter rb responding to my question about why atheists try to convert:

I stopped associating with atheist groups years ago because the vast majority were liberal. I also stopped trying to convert people years ago because:

1) It’s a waste of time, and

2) There’s a danger that a newly converted atheist will become a liberal.

heh.

Rich gay philanthropists secretly coordinating donations to tip statehouse races away from bigots. Man, the rightwing loonies are going to love this.

Gill and Trimpa decided to eschew national races in favor of state and local ones, which could be influenced in large batches and for much less money. Most antigay measures, they discovered, originate in state legislatures. Operating at that level gave them a chance to “punish the wicked,” as Gill puts it–to snuff out rising politicians who were building their careers on antigay policies, before they could achieve national influence. Their chief cautionary example of such a villain is Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who once compared homosexuality to “man on dog” sex (and was finally defeated last year, at a cost of more than $20 million). Santorum got his start working in the state legislature. As Gill and Trimpa looked at their evolving plan, it seemed realistic. “The strategic piece of the puzzle we’d been missing–consistent across almost every legislature we examined–is that it’s often just a handful of people, two or three, who introduce the most outrageous legislation and force the rest of their colleagues to vote on it,” Gill explained. “If you could reach these few people or neutralize them by flipping the chamber to leaders who would block bad legislation, you’d have a dramatic effect.”

…

With that in mind, he assembled a bipartisan team of political operatives and tested his theory in 2004, quietly targeting three antigay Colorado incumbents; two of them went down. Through the combined efforts of a host of progressive interest groups, including many supported by Gill, Democrats captured both chambers of the legislature for the first time in forty years.

Les alerts us to the introduction of a ban on weapons that look like assault weapons. It is H.R. 1022. It says it’s a re-authorization so I assume it mimics the old one. You can read all about how useless the old one is here.

As Les says: This is exactly why I’m only buying semi-autos between now and the end of 2008. Well, and a suppressor.

The other nasty bill (H.R. 297) should be called the We Don’t Need No Due Process of Law bill. This bill is particularly nasty:

One of the major criticisms of H.R. 297 is that, if it became law, the records of individuals who were never convicted of an offense preventing them from obtaining a firearm but had been arrested for such an offense would be included in NICS. This would make them legally unable to purchase a firearm, even if they were never convicted of the crime for which they were arrested.

In other words, H.R. 297 would make the so-called attempt to improve NICS a legal instrument of injustice. McCarthy, Dingell and their supporters may try to persuade some alleged gun rights advocates that if they accept H.R. 297, they will have nothing further to worry about regarding gun control legislation during the 110th Congress. It would be interesting to see what fools get suckered in by this line of argument. True blue Second Amendment supporters will not. They will stand on principle and hold their ground.

You got that? Your rights will be eliminated without a conviction.

Update: In comments, Xrlqy Wrlqy says:

Maybe I’m missing something, but after reading HR 297 from top to bottom, I’m frankly at a loss as to why anyone thinks it would prohibit anyone from purchasing a gun who isn’t prohibited from doing so now. NICS already contains some arrest information, but per the FBI, “Currently, under federal law, the NICS cannot preclude the transfer of a firearm based on arrest information alone unless independent state law otherwise specifies[.]” What specific section of HR 297 does Mr. Snyder believe would change that result?

I read the text and I too do not see which provision provides for that. However, Mr. Snyder has forgotten more gun laws than I’ve ever known. Will do some digging.

Since we’re talking about it, I have a question about the more practical things that come from death. I have a will and a living will and insurance and all that. But it occurs to me: What happens to my blog when I die? Or, for that matter, my various email accounts? I also need to make a list of my various accounts and passwords so that in the event I croak, my wife can access things like Google ads and whatnot.

How do you guys do that?

Maybe I need to do an If You’re Reading This, I’m Dead post and set it to post at a future date. So long as I’m alive, I can keep delaying its publication. But if I keel over, it will publish. That way, at least you’ll know. And, you know, that will surely result in a spike in traffic and a subsequent increase in ad revenue. And my wife will need to have a way to collect that. So, we get back to getting her access to stuff.

Carnaby. Whoops. You’d think I’d know better since I have multiple bloggers here. Stickwick Stapers:

I don’t understand how atheists face death, either that of loved ones or their own. Do they put off thinking about it until the inevitableness and finalness of death is around the corner?

I’m not an atheist. But I’m rather unsure about this whole eternal life business. Heaven or Valhalla or even Hell seem quite unlikely to me, as described. I’m sure a particularly religious person would tell me that said descriptions are likely metaphorical for something we cannot comprehend.

I said here:

About once every few years, I go through this phase wherein I ponder the nature of the universe. As opposed to the rest of the time, when I could apparently give a fuck less because I got shit to do.

And that’s how it is. I don’t sit around and ponder death because it’s depressing and, of course, the result is uncertain. And I’m certain atheists don’t ponder it because it would be quite depressing.

That said, if there’s an afterlife, that’s cool. If there’s not one, no big deal. I didn’t exist 100 years ago and it didn’t bother me then. If I don’t exist 100 years from now, it won’t bother me then either.

Oh, and to atheists everywhere: What’s the deal with the atheists who try to convert? Not all of you do but there are some of you who do. Why do you do it? It makes little sense to me. I understand why religious people try to convert atheists. They don’t want you to go to Hell and they want you to have eternal life instead of oblivion. But I see no motivation for converting a believer to non-belief. When you try to convert the religious, are you just trying to prove something or are you just being a dick?

Well, my wife would be mad because the bottle had water in it.

In this post, I mentioned that the nut job Sulejmen Talovic went on a shooting rampage was a Muslim. Then, I noted that the right wing blogs were wondering why this fact wasn’t mentioned much in the press.

Persimmon’s PC radar went up and, first, I was accused of not knowing that Muslim was not an ethnicity but a religion. I’m fully aware, which is why I also stated he was a Bosnian immigrant. Then, persimmon made a good point in that I don’t know if this guy was religious or not. It is a valid point. And I am willing to buy that Sulejmen Talovic may not have been actively religious. The source that I found regarding his religion was Wikipedia, which links to other articles. This article mentions his ethnicity and religion and the source is his aunt. He may or may not be actively religious, of course. I should note that in the course of the 5 minutes it took me to type this, that the word Muslim was deleted and added back to the Wikipedia entry. A bit of a Wiki controversy.

So, simple question: Is it really that far out of the realm of possibility that this could have been a pathetic little Jihadi getting his Fatwah on? Why does it offend someone’s delicate sensibilities when a particular nutjob’s religion is mentioned to the point that we are not to mention it at all?

Now, I’m more inclined to believe the lone-gunman, nutjob theory in this case. That said, how much info do we need before we can label something terrorism? According to Rich:

We don’t know why Sulejmen Talovic decided to start shooting up the local mall, so it would be inappropriate to mention domestic terrorism, primarily because Talovic is a Muslim and you can’t call Muslims terrorists, especially if they are because you might offend other Muslims who aren’t terrorist, and who might express their injured feelings by kinapping and beheading a random bystander, and that kind of thing just gets in the way of diplomacy, doesn’t it? Nick Lay, on the other hand, isn’t a Muslim, so it’s OK to throw the label of terrorist around in his case.

The more accurate (and politically incorrect) question is: At what point do we label something Islamic Terrorism? After all, there are religious terrorists of the Christian right variety, the Irish Catholic variety, and a whole host of other varieties. I don’t know when one can make that distinction and be politically correct, but in this case I am not willing to rule it out. Period. Because, as Tam noted:

If you’re a young Islamic male and you go and kill people in Israel or Iraq, you’re a terrorist.

If you do it in America, you’re just a crazy loner.

Heh.

I was wrong. I thought the whole man made Global Warming issue had been thoroughly fisked and dissected. I thought the hockey stick had been reduced to splinters.

How was I to know that things would get goofy on an unimagined scale? How goofy you ask? There is now a call to try Global Warming Skeptics for War Crimes. Or should that be “thought crimes”? Welcome to the far left extremist world of 1984. Leo Rosten once wrote, “Extremists think ”communication” means agreeing with them. ” And what if you don’t?

Far left extremists say you should be arrested and tried. Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts wrote, “When we’ve finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we’re in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards — some sort of climate Nuremberg.” Roberts has called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry”.

Okay, Roberts is a full blown nutcase. No way anyone respectable could believe in arresting people for thought crimes. Right?

Er. Not exactly.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Ellen Goodman writes, “Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.”

Dennis Prager writes, “the Ellen Goodman quote is only the beginning of what is already becoming one of the largest campaigns of vilification of decent people in history — the global condemnation of a) anyone who questions global warming; or b) anyone who agrees that there is global warming but who argues that human behavior is not its primary cause; or c) anyone who agrees that there is global warming, and even agrees that human behavior is its primary cause, but does not believe that the consequences will be nearly as catastrophic as Al Gore does. If you don’t believe all three propositions, you will be lumped with Holocaust deniers, and it would not be surprising that soon, in Europe, global warming deniers will be treated as Holocaust deniers and prosecuted.”

I wonder if the ACLU will step in to defend the First Amendment? Or will they step in to prosecute “the bastards”?

Another is in the works. This one targets carjackers:

Spurred by violent crime in Memphis and elsewhere, Tennessee legislators have filed several bills to expand the legal rights of people to use deadly force when threatened by would-be attackers.

One would specifically allow people in motor vehicles to kill or “cause serious bodily injury” to attackers — both inside or outside the vehicle — who they believe are threatening to murder, rape, kidnap, rob or carjack the car’s occupants.

That bill was filed Rep. Ulysses Jones and Sen. Reginald Tate, both Memphis Democrats. “I’ve heard a lot of support for this. It’s time to give citizens the opportunity to protect themselves. Right now, we’re at the mercy of what I call ’scum’,” Jones, a Memphis Fire Department paramedic, said Tuesday.

There are a total of 11 bills in the works in Tennessee to expand use of force provisions.

Grey’s Anatomy star Kate Walsh has a video shilling the anti-gun propaganda. It’s full of the standard misrepresentations and willful ignorance.

I guess, as a gun blogger, I should say something about it. A crazy guy walked into a mall with a shotgun (despite the mall’s signs saying that guns were not allowed – go figure) and started shooting people. He also had a handgun, which is illegal for him to own since he is under the age of 21. He killed five and injured four. He was prevented from shooting more people by an off-duty police officer, who also thankfully ignored the No Guns Allowed sign.

The shooter was named Sulejmen Talovic, a Bosnian immigrant and Muslim. There are allegations from the right that the media is intentionally not covering the fact that this guy was a Muslim and that he may have been living out some Jihadist fantasy.

Despite the laws the guy broke, the Brady Campaign is pushing for more laws.

The pro-gun side says concealed carry kept it from being far worse.

Tam puts on her tin foil hat.

Nagin in contempt. The judge forces the city of New Orleans to pay the NRA’s legal bills.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership responds to the Justice Department telling Bloomberg to knock it off:

“The response by the Bush Administration’s Justice Department to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking come across as an effort to silence the messenger rather than respond to the problem of a rise in violent crime,” according to Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

No, the response comes across as telling a mayor he has no authority in other states to break the law by having agents of his city engage in illegal firearm transactions known as straw purchases. More:

Mayor Bloomberg, along with Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, helped start a Coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which now represents over 150 mayors. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence launched its own Campaign Against Illegal Guns in March 2006 and has been working to support the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and the other mayors to stop illegal gun trafficking.

That would be the anti-gun group that Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is a member of.

The AMA wants movies that feature smoking to be rated R. Bob Krumm says we shouldn’t stop there, let’s restrict any movie that shows unsafe behavior.

Sure, the FBI lost 354 firearms but their record with computer security is a bit better:

The FBI said that 160 laptop computers were lost or stolen in less than four years, including at least 10 that contained sensitive or classified information — one of which held “personal identifying information on FBI personnel,” according to a report released yesterday.

Why Big-Dollar Guns Are Worth The Money

New S&W Revolvers

Tam’s 6.8SPC AR-15. I dig that forearm as it’s not just acres of rails.

NK sends the following image:

This is Hiram Maxim’s bump-firing, semi-automatic lever action. Looks like the recoil of the weapon cocks it. NK says:

This particular design was actually produced in England in 1885 and was adopted by the Turkish army who were already very happy with their standard lever-action Winchesters.

My sources tell me that if you’re in the process of initiating a National Firearms Act transfer and tax payment, do not use the forms on the ATF website. Apparently, the PDF files contain a few errors and ATF will not process them. That’s government for you: inconveniencing you for their mistakes.

Pink eye is running rampant at day care. Groan.

Via Dr. Helen, comes an interview with, err, Dr. Helen. On the cause of kiddie violence, she says:

Youth violence is a very complex construct and experts and others tend to want to blame one thing, a video game, the Internet, or TV as the “cause” of why kids kill. This simplistic “one solution fits all” approach is easy, just get rid of X and kids will stop being violent. But it is simply not true.

Back when I was in prison*, there was a man that had worked with delinquents for two decades. Back then, we called them delinquents - I think they call them happy, fluffy bunnies now so as not to offend them or their parents. Particularly the parents, who get outright ornery when you tell them that their son (who is a three time, violent felon and sexual predator) may have some issues. The man I worked with was a licensed social worker with a graduate degree and before that he was a drill sergeant. No, really. One day, I said to him: What’s wrong with kids these days? They’re too quick to shoot each other or stab each other or club each other from behind. He says, and I am not making this up, that: Kids today are afraid to take an ass-whippin’.

He went on to say that, in his day and mine, if two teenage boys had a conflict, they’d meet on the playground after school and settle it. He’s right, we did. But no one ever got killed. No one ever went to the ER. We had black-eyes and were sore but we got over it pretty quickly. Then, the next day, we were friends again. Now, he says, kids are afraid of that. They don’t want to fight, because they’re scared of a little ass-whippin’. They’d rather attempt to kill someone than get their ass handed to them.

Could be. I had my ass kicked a few times and I seem OK.

* I worked there but I may as well have been doing time. Not a pleasant experience.

Update: In comments, Ken opines:

But if no distinction whatsoever is made between degrees of violence, or the ends to which it is put, then there is no reason for an adolescent to draw a distinction between “fighting back” and murder. Both are equally condemned, so why take half measures?

I suppose teaching the notion that all violence is equally bad, though understandable, could have some unintended consequences. But I don’t know that anyone intentionally teaches that but policies like zero tolerance make it somewhat believable.

Challenge The Man^tm and get demoted:

Two senior officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who opposed many questionable management and spending decisions by the agency’s former director are being moved to lower-ranking positions effective Thursday, officials said.

Deputy Director Edgar A. Domenech, who also served as acting director last year, is being moved out of ATF headquarters to lead the agency’s Washington field office. The assistant director for field operations, Michael Bouchard, will become an assistant to Michael J. Sullivan, a U.S. attorney who is temporarily running ATF.

The transfers are widely seen within ATF as demotions. They come seven months after the sudden departure of Carl J. Truscott, the former director, who clashed with Domenech and other senior executives over spending and management practices.

It’s been a rough couple of years for ATF. Here’s some past coverage of some of the agency’s problems:

Insiders criticizing the agency.

A circuit court smacks them down for their ruling on model rockets;

An agent testified under oath that the NFRTR (the NFA weapons database) was corrupt;

Having budget issues due to mismanagement;

Being investigated for breaking he law at Virginia gun shows.

And they’ve had funds cut for some of their rather, err, dubious programs.

The ATF Director has resigned over excessive and lavish spending.

The now former head of the ATF ordered staff to do his nephew’s homework.

And there may be somewhat of an internal revolt at the agency. David Hardy posts an email from a group called ATFers United against Mismanagement and Misconduct. I received the same email. I hoped it was true but had my doubts. The group has no webpage, their email address was from Yahoo or something, and the letter was in all caps. But, if true, some guys inside the ATF are unhappy with management.

Someone really needs to clean this agency up. My preference, of course, would be to shut it down but that’s not going to happen. It seems lately, though, that the rot is coming from the inside.

Triggerfinger has some more analysis of the case in DC that is challenging their gun ban.

Looks like there’s a bill to expand the defense for deadly force in the works:

Representative Todd wants to build on an existing law passed back in 1999. In Tennessee you can already use deadly force if there is reasonable belief your life is in danger. But Todd wants to broaden that law and close what he calls loopholes. Giving the citizen every bit of legal protection when, if threatened, they can shoot to kill.

“I want to make sure its spelled out so there is no other interpretation but that, and I think that’s key,” said Todd.

It might be going too far since a firearms instructor isn’t too keen on the idea:

“Tennessee state law is already pretty much in favor of the individual,” said Chief Instructor at Range Master Tom Givens.

Givens says Tennessee gun laws are solid enough.

“I wouldn’t want to see it broadened to the point its ambiguous. Tennessee state law is pretty simple right now. It’s easy to teach, easy for the laymen to understand.”

Yeah, I feel that too. I started feeling them earlier than most.

A third mayor has quit Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group:

A third mayor has bowed out of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun mayors’ coalition, saying he is in favor of disarming criminals, but “not at the risk of losing our Constitutional freedom.”

SAF learned from the staff at Gun Week that Rio Rancho, NM Mayor Kevin Jackson has withdrawn from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, without having attended a single meeting of the group, which now reportedly involves more than 150 mayors.

You locals may want to call Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and point this out to him. He can be reached at:

Phone: 865-215-2040
Fax: 865-215-2085
mayor@cityofknoxville.org

Does anyone know if Bill Haslam has attended any of the meetings?

You know the caterwauling from the anti-gun groups that goes something like no one should have guns but police because they’re, like, all trained and stuff. And regular Joes lack that training.

Well, for comparison, in the last 28 months SayUncle has lost zero guns. The FBI has lost 354.

Glockity.

Via Jeff.

Blogitude feels snubbed. Though I met him, I couldn’t recall the blog name when I got home. Sorry about that.

I prefer the term propaganda but it’s the same thing. William R. Tonso has some phrases anti-gunners like to use and the origin of those phrases.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

SayUncle says: Let’s not hot link.

Little swamped, hence the late start. Blogging to be sporadic for a bit.

Local bloggers got together for some discussion and drinks. Mostly drinks. Some thoughts:

Barry has the top 10 surprised from the evening.

Mountain publican, who as far as I know drove the farthest to get there, says it was like the Star Wars bar. Han shot first.

Dr. Helen notes that no violence erupted.

It’s news to me has more.

Pics and more pics.

CE Petro has thoughts.

Update: I can’t read the whole internet every day but here’s some more:

Michael Silence has a nice recap.

Doug has a lot to say.

No one believes you when you use the verb organize to describe an action by Libertarians.

A long time commenter has a blog called An Idiot’s Blog. Look, Cetme porn.

The anti-gun groups vilified Barrett saying that their rifles could be used to shoot down planes, nevermind that said task would be damn near impossible. Now it seems that a man of middle-eastern decent tried to get into Barrett’s facilities:

A statewide alert was issued Thursday for subjects who asked questions of Barrett Firearms Manufacturing employees and tried to enter the facility, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department.

According to a release issued today, the subjects trying to enter the facility were described as being of Middle Eastern descent.

The sheriff’s department is working with the manufacturer and the Department of Homeland Security concerning the situation. Extra patrol of the facility is underway.

Deputies were called to the plant, which manufactures the military’s M107 .50-caliber sniper system, Thursday morning to gather information about the Wednesday afternoon incident.

Junior has apparently discovered she has lungs. She likes to scream now, often for no reason. It’s a bit annoying for us and for the dog it’s excruciating. So, the other night she starts screaming. I say to her: Let’s not scream inside. We use our quiet voices in the house. She says outside. I said she could go outside and scream all she wanted. So, she did. She was standing on the front porch screaming at random intervals while me and the Mrs. were watching from the door having a good laugh. So, if you see a child outside screaming, that’s probably why.

I’m no rock star. I appreciate the accolades from Glenn. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Dr. Helen was a fan. Would it kill you to leave a comment, or something? One of the things about this blog is that I have a lot of readers who comment. But I have a lot who do not. And if you guys would leave the occasional comment, I’d appreciate it. I just like to know a little about who’s reading and what they think. Even if they think I’m wrong.

The good doctor asked me how I chose topics to blog about. Fact is, I have a short attention span (look, a monkey). I blog about whatever is in front of me at the time I sit down to blog. I don’t say to myself Self, you need to blog about trade relations with Mozambique and then do so. I just decide that I want to blog and I write about whatever happens to be there. And I’m usually reading gun stuff when that happens.

A few things on meeting other bloggers:

There were no laptops (that shocked me).

There was very little discussion of politics.

Every few seconds, someone’s camera flashed.

Dr. Helen doesn’t like to be called Dr. Helen.

I was only called crazy once.

Glenn writes a lot, quickly. I pull in my driveway and the dude’s already posted like five entries. We left at the same time.

And when you have the blog fest on the west side of town, there are substantially fewer hippies.

Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham continues to be uninterested in what the citizens have to say. And has, in fact, been outright hostile:

Mayor Jerry Cunningham apparently believes he must vilify those who disagrees with him. This kind of arrogance towards citizens is inexcusable and can not be tolerated by the citizens.

Here’s a letter that was written to the local paper about the mayor’s antics:

Our Mayor, Sheriff Berrong, Deputy Ledford and Ron Dunn of the Sheriff’s Office have said that our citizens’ group turns facts into fiction. They degrade our complaints by calling them “dishonest and disgusting.” Citizens for Blount County’s Future has never demeaned our duty officers. Our criticism has been directed at top management for excessive expenditures. According to the state of Tennessee’s Annual Audit Report ending June, 2006, well over $80,000 was spent by the Sheriff on travel. Couldn’t some of this have been used for raises for deputies? Couldn’t drug fund money be spent on various purchases, again freeing up budget money for payroll increases? The taxpayers are not to blame for underpaid law enforcement. We do not control our tax money once it’s been turned over to the Sheriff. Now, is that fact or fiction?

I still think a bunch of people should show up with Sharpies at the mayor’s office and ask to look at the budget.

Update at their site. They’re asking the ATF to reconsider and have cited the ATF’s own rulings. They are also asking for you to write a letter (and they have a sample letter).

Background info here.

Update: BTW, I hope the ATF reconsiders. I really want one of these things.

Update 2: The law says single function of trigger makes a machine gun. The ATF has changed that to single function of trigger finger.

Also, if you write a letter, send a copy to your congressmonkey.

Cam Edwards has a piece up at Townhall.com:

According to the Daily News, none of the gun dealers Bloomberg is suing broke federal law and took part in straw purchase transactions. The letter also took Bloomberg to task for conducting these stings “without proper law enforcement authority,” though there is no indication that BATFE or the Justice Department would seek to file charges against Bloomberg or his civilian private investigators. Instead, the letter warns that Bloomberg’s operations could put the city at risk of legal action.

Stirring piece:

Like me you will remember vividly the horror we all felt back in 1996 when 16 children and a teacher were shot dead at a school in Dunblane by a deranged man with a gun. Politicians reacted in haste to the call for ’something to be done’. A partial ban on hand guns was implemented immediately, followed by a total ban as one of the first measures taken by the new Labour Government in 1997.
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As I am sure your officials will tell you, there was absolutely no evidence to suggest that by banning legally-licensed cartridge pistols and closing legally-operating shooting clubs, we would all sleep safer in our beds. Yet today there are more hand guns on our streets than 10 years ago.

Seems a Tennessee Senator is wanting to liberalize our liquor laws and wants to allow gambling establishments. I’m all for it. There’s likely a lot of Tennessee dollars that go to casinos in Tunica and to the casino at Cherokee, NC.

Says Braisted:

Legalize it, regulate it, and tax it…the liberal philospy(sic) of life

Actually, I thought it was If you can’t tax it or ban it, fuck it up to the point where no one wants it anyway.

Well, I always said Kit has a nice can.

This just in:

The federal government will not file criminal charges against any of the 15 out-of-state gun dealers accused by Mayor Bloomberg in a federal lawsuit of selling guns illegally, the Daily News has learned.

In a stern rebuke to the city’s high-profile crusade against illegal guns, the feds warned the Bloomberg administration that it could face “potential legal liabilities” if it continues to conduct sting operations that fall within the jurisdiction of federal agents.

Only if it continues? The law has already been broken. Charge the dude. More:

According to a letter sent to City Hall, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and various U.S. attorneys’ offices have determined the city’s findings against the 15 dealers “do not rise to a level that would support a criminal prosecution.”

The letter – sent Tuesday by Michael Battle, director of the executive office for United States Attorneys at the Department of Justice – also scolded City Hall for engaging in sting operations involving persons “without proper law enforcement authority,” saying that could put the city in legal jeopardy. Battle added that City Hall could “unintentionally interrupt or jeopardize” criminal probes.

Asked if the Bloomberg administration plans to stop conducting the sting operations, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said, “Not necessarily.”

“The city hasn’t violated any laws,” Skyler said defiantly, adding that the city will continue to pursue its civil lawsuits against the gun dealers.

Yes, it has.

Anna Nicole Smith has died.

Last night, the Mrs. says she’s going to take the kids with her to the in-laws for dinner and for me to have some alone time. Cool. She tells me to take it easy and enjoy myself. So, I get in and plop my skinny ass on the couch. And stay there for about two hours, catching up on some TeeVee.

The Mrs. and the kids return. She says: I took out the trash.

Me: Oh, is trash day tomorrow. I forgot.

She says: Did you make the kids’ lunches for tomorrow?

Me: Err, no.

Her: [groans].

Me: Obviously, our definitions of take it easy and enjoy myself are different.

The US government has seized $55M from NETeller:

NETeller execs have announced that the U.S. government has seized “not more than $55 million” in U.S. funds and that those seizures will result in ongoing delays in repaying customers what they are owed.

While NETeller continues to make efforts to find a way to repay its U.S. customer base, there is no timetable for payment.

NETeller’s Ron Martin said, “The return of funds for our U.S. customers is a top priority for NETeller.”

This guy has withdrawn his money.

I mentioned how the mayor of DC may have put down the crack pipe and said the DC should drop its gun ban. In comments there, folks have opined that this is a trap and serves to either:

1) get everyone who unlawfully has a gun to register them so that the police can come get them later.

or

2) trying to invalidate Parker v. DC as being moot.

Could be.

Seen at Insty’s:

The Fulton County district attorney will seek felony murder charges against at least one of the Atlanta police officers involved in a botched drug raid that resulted in the shooting death of an elderly woman, said the officer’s attorney. . . .

On Nov. 21, narcotics officers went to the home of Kathryn Johnston in southwest Atlanta to execute a “no knock” search warrant. Johnston was killed and the three officers were injured in a ensuing shootout.

“No knock” warrants are frequently issued so police can get inside before suspects can destroy or dispose of drugs. When the officers kicked in the door, the elderly woman apparently fired five shots from her own revolver.

Johnston’s friends and family members contended the woman, who kept the gun for her protection, was a feeble and frightened woman who rarely ventured outside after dark. And they say that she was never involved in any drug activity. Her family says she was 92, while authorities say she was 88.

Junnier later told federal investigators that officers had lied to a magistrate judge about sending a confidential informant to Johnston’s house to purchase drugs in order to get the warrant.

Good.

Hillary Clinton on all those profits big, evil oil is pulling down:

I want to take those profits and I want to put them into a strategic energy fund that will begin to fund alternative, smart energy; alternatives and technology that will begin to actually move us toward the direction of independence.

Now, I’m all for energy independence. But I love me some capitalism more. And if you take those profits, they’ll just shut down.

A first production run AK in a museum. In other news, the AK has its own museum?

Chris has a good piece on Who’s at fault for the M16? Snippet:

There are a hell of a lot of people who REALLY hate the AR family of weapons, the 5.56 nato round, and the M16 in particular.

I’ve addressed this hatred before; and there are some valid issues, some not so valid issues, and some issues that were once valid, but aren’t anymore.

Data retention bill in congress:

All Internet service providers would need to track their customers’ online activities to aid police in future investigations under legislation introduced Tuesday as part of a Republican “law and order agenda.”

Employees of any Internet provider who fail to store that information face fines and prison terms of up to one year, the bill says. The U.S. Justice Department could order the companies to store those records forever.

You are assumed to be up to something and we must watch! More:

Details about data retention requirements would be left to Gonzales. At a minimum, the bill says, the regulations must require storing records “such as the name and address of the subscriber or registered user to whom an Internet Protocol address, user identification or telephone number was assigned, in order to permit compliance with court orders.”Because there is no limit on how broad the rules can be, Gonzales would be permitted to force Internet providers to keep logs of Web browsing, instant message exchanges, or e-mail conversations indefinitely. (The bill does not, however, explicitly cover search engines or Web hosting companies, which officials have talked about before as targets of regulation.)

No offense, but you’re not anonymous out there. If the feds want to find you, they will. Hell, they showed up at my house based on posting to Al Gore’s Internets.

Mayor Barry says drop the DC handgun ban. No, really.

On travel. So, some random stuff that was actually typed last night. Blogging from the past, spooky, eh?

Took long enough:

Five months after the Second Amendment Foundation called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for obstruction of justice relating to Bloomberg’s rogue “sting” operation against gun retailers in five states, the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has confirmed in a letter that an investigation is underway.

SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb said today that a letter he received from W. Larry Ford, Assistant ATF Director for Public and Governmental Affairs, confirms that the agency “is investigating the matter in order to determine if violations of federal firearms laws occurred.” Ford could not offer details in his letter, explaining to Gottlieb that the agency cannot comment on “an open investigation.”

“We’re delighted that ATF is taking this matter seriously,” Gottlieb said. “Mayor Bloomberg dispatched private investigators to several states, where they apparently made straw gun purchases in an effort to file civil lawsuits against gun dealers. The mayor refused to turn over alleged evidence obtained during this vigilante operation to ATF or other proper authorities, and instead exploited the affair to advance his own political agenda.

or now that Bob Krumm isn’t running for office, he’s a bit more loose with the, err, dirty words?

Via Georgia Packing, An Alaska mayor has quite Bloomberg’s Mayors against guns group (second letter):

Guarding Second Amendment rights was not a part of mayors’ coalition

This is in response to some recent questions about my involvement in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition. I recently withdrew my name from the coalition after initially agreeing to sign on.

I do support the efforts to strengthen laws and prosecute individuals who dispense or use illegal guns, and getting them out of the hands of criminals. However, upon further review of the coalition, it appears they may have a different agenda than I anticipated.

I am concerned the coalition is working on issues that conflict with the beliefs we share in Alaska about legal gun ownership, and I’m also concerned gun ownership advocates are not part of the full discussion within the coalition. We cannot afford to risk protecting our Bill of Rights and the rights of legal gun owners.

Because of these conflicts, I have written to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chair of the coalition, and have asked him to remove me as a supporter of the coalition.

We do have a problem in Anchorage with youth violence, gangs and their use of illegal guns. We are working with our gang task force, the Police Department and other means to eliminate the violence.

We’ll continue to fight that problem without infringing on the rights of legal gun owners.

—- Mayor Mark Begich

Anchorage

Good!

Alphecca has some discussion. I’ve been a fan of Richardson as well.

Sweet.

The NRA has a page up listing the mayors who joined Bloomberg’s anti-gun group. They also have contact info and how to be heard. Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is a member of the group. So, if you local yokels haven’t called the mayor in a while, do so at:

Phone: 865-215-2040
Fax: 865-215-2085
mayor@cityofknoxville.org

David Codrea interviews David Hardy.

The local newspaper is suing the Knox County Commission for:

. . . allegedly breaking the law by holding secret meetings and making backroom deals while appointing replacements for term-limited officeholders last week.

As to why:

The News Sentinel is seeking to void all the appointments made by commissioners, have a permanent injunction laid down by the court requiring that all future deliberations be made in public, and that the case be expedited.

Good. There is, as far as I can tell, nearly universal outrage at the way the term-limited office holders have been replaced. And that method is the Good Ol’ Boy Method, with relatives replacing the current seats. I don’t even live in Knox County and it annoys me.

More at Knoxviews.

There’s a real battle brewing over the better caliber: The 6.5 Grendel v. the 6.8 SPC. I could do a death match but Tam and Colt CCO done did it. Says Tam:

In other words, 6.5 is already shaping up to play Mac to the SPC’s IBM.

Says the Coltster:

“Betamaxed” describes in one word just about how I see the future of the 6.5 catridge, with the parallel that the Betamax itself was actually ‘better’ then VHS, as the 6.5 is the more accurate, at least potentially. Likewise, 6.5 has the “Holy Damn, that’s expensive” sticker shock to go along with it. Your average consumer sees a $900 6.5 Grendel upper, and buys a 6.8×43 SPC.

Well, that and ammo availability are major factors. Sure, your 6.5 Grendel will shoot the tits off a gnat. But the 6.8 is compatible with mil-spec uppers and I can find ammo for it. And it comes in at about half the price.

Sebastian thinks they’re on the side of good. Well, at least not the side of evil.

A bit back, I thought Giuliani may have seen the light on guns. Or rather, he may have realized that to win in the red states with some adultery under his belt, he’d have to get some pro-gun street cred. Looks like that wasn’t the case. He apparently thinks that there is a right to arms but some sort of “densely populated area” exception that squares his support for New York City’s excessively restrictive gun laws. Well, restrictive if you’re not a politician or famous actor.

Seems Rudy has taken the Howard Dean let the states decide position.

David Hardy has a transcript:

GIULIANI: It’s part of the constitution. People have the right to bear arms. Then restrictions have to be reasonable and sensible. You can’t just remove that right. You got to regulate consistent with the second amendment.”

I suppose that $439 in licensing fees, stipulations that all but prohibit the transport of arms, begging the powers that be for permission to own, and waiting up to a year are consistent with the second amendment? I’m not impressed.

Update: Sebastian has some quotes. My fave:

“This is an industry that is profiting from the suffering of innocent people. What’s worse, its profits rest on a number of illegal and immoral practices. This lawsuit is meant to end the free pass that the gun industry has so long enjoyed.”

I was looking for this post yesterday but forgot where I saw it. Any way, Joe Huffman on why the second amendment protects and individual right to arms and not this collective rights mythology.

Countertop has moved off of blogspot. He’s now here, though the content is, err, sparse. Good.

Jeremy Burnside, whose article I criticized here, has been engaging me in comments. It was civil, until he took his ball and went home. Or, you know, said Uncle. If you leave a comment, be nice.

Update: Weird. One of his examples is Peter O. and guns, apparently, made Peter O. evil. Peter O. is Peter Odighizuwa who was the mutant who went on a shooting rampage at the Appalachian Law School. Peter O. was likely stopped by an armed citizen.

The other example he mentioned died in a triple murder suicide.

Thanks to Cam for the tip.

I often say to myself: Self, there’s simply no way you’d ever score a cushy job as a blogger for a political campaign or interest group or any other sort of respectable paying blog-gig because you’re a crazy-ass gun nut. That, and you’re an accountant.

But there’s hope. Seems some lefty with a history of saying some crazy things is now blogging for The Breck Girl.

Because they email you stuff like this.

Me and some friends have a weekly [redacted] game. A bunch of guys sitting around drinking and [redacted]. We had one a bit back and one of my friends calls me up and says he’s got another player. I said Great, bring him on. My friend says He’s black. Is that OK?

There was a bit of silence. I was stumped. Is that something you have to ask these days? I really was uncertain how to respond. I, of course, have no problem with it but, obviously, at some point that was an issue for the guy. I, after recovering a bit from the awkwardness of that question, said that I had no problem with any new player. I surely have no problem with them based on skin color. Bring him on. I could use the [redacted]. I guess it may be an issue for some folks as racism is not a thing of the past.

Whenever we have our [redacted] game, we have a Hispanic dude that plays with us every week. No one ever asked if it was OK if he could come. And I hate Mexicans*.

* that’s a joke, for people that need to be told that sort of thing.

Michael Bane has started DownRange.tv. It’s a video channel for gun stuff on the internet. Check out his review of the Sig 556.

Les has the skinny on SigSauer nomenclature. I thought everybody knew that?

Fodder’s blog is one year old.

The 6th circuit:

It cannot be seriously contended that any reasonable peace officer, or citizen, for that matter, would believe that mild profanity while peacefully advocating a political position could constitute a criminal act

Now, I cuss. A lot. And I don’t do it mildly. I wonder how they define mildly? It looks like I may need to find out since Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham is an asshat. If you have a problem with the mayor, he wants you to shut up:

Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham is dealing some harsh words these days against what he sees as the county’s version of an insurgency – vocal citizen action groups that he says spout persistent criticism without offering any help or solutions.

Cunningham decries “harbingers of gloom and doom” who harp about taxes and county spending practices but decline invitations to “come in and look at the budget and give constructive ideas.”

I don’t have to have a solution to know that something sucks. And, here’s a proposal, I’ll come in with big fat red Sharpie and take it to the budget for you. Says Linda King of Citizens for Blount County’s Future:

“We look for waste and abuse of money,” she said, “and if he thinks people shouldn’t do that, I have a problem with that.”

Good thing she is since the powers that be are only looking for ways to spend our money.

I’ve noticed this before too:

If a story says “some people” or “some parents” feel one way, but only quote one parent, the reporter’s only found one or two parents who are complaining.

Well, some people think that’s stupid.

That I watched. I caught the Superbowl last night. I noticed what I thought was booing too for a player named Muhammed. Glad to hear they were yelling his nickname Moose.

Also, the commercials sucked just like last year. Well, except that one Bud-light commercial where the couple driving pick up the hitchhiker. That was funny.

The announcers made it a point to note that special legal action or some such was needed to let Tank Johnson play. See, Tank has a habit of getting arrested. He’s been arrested twice: once for assaulting a police officer and once for illegal possession of guns. The announcer pointed out that Tank had 6 unlicensed firearms and 500 rounds of ammo. That’s not a crime in most places but he lives in the city of Chicago. The announcer pointed out the gun crime but not the fact that Tank tried to assault some police officers. Since he’s an important football star, they make special arrangements for him so he can go play football. Isn’t that nice. I wonder if your average Chicagoan could do that? Like you and me, only better.

Anyway, glad the Colts won. Actually, that’s not true. I’m glad Chicago lost. No Superbowl Shuffle this year, eh?

In England, stuff you can’t make up:

Jump up and down and shout to beat street crime

Witnesses to violent street crime should try to ‘distract’ attackers by honking their car horns or even ‘jumping up and down’. That’s according to Labour’s Police Minister.

Active resistance (preferably while armed) is usually the best method. But that’s basically illegal in England.

Tam has what she claims is a poem. I don’t think so since it doesn’t rhyme.

There’s one here by Jeremy M. Burnside:

Guns kill people: Abolition is the only way to stop the madness

Well, if guns are abolished, there will be a lot more people getting killed. Trust me.

On New Year’s Eve, my friend and rowing teammate was killed by a gun in Dunbar. Regardless of who pulled the trigger, I blame the gun.

And I blame cars whenever someone is killed in an accident.

Guns were invented with the specific purpose to kill. People were not.

Actually, humans are designed to kill. Our primary sense is sight, our eyes face forward, and we have teeth designed to eat meat. We (like say lions) are designed to kill, no matter what you may think. But, that’s not relevant here. What is relevant is that what happened to your friend, while tragic and not something I wish on anyone, simply isn’t a good enough excuse to infringe on the rights of people.

Suffering a tragedy doesn’t make one an expert. Policy should not be made my people who have suffered emotionally.

Update: Weird. One of his examples is Peter O. and guns, apparently, made Peter O. evil. Peter O. is Peter Odighizuwa who was the mutant who went on a shooting rampage at the Appalachian Law School. Peter O. was likely stopped by an armed citizen.

The other example he mentioned died in a triple murder suicide.

Thanks to Cam for the tip.

Greg “Lumpy” Lambert, John Griess, and R. Larry Smith gave surprising answers this morning on the “Inside Tennessee” Television program concerning the debacle that occurred Wednesday as 12 term limited government office holders were replaced in a process that has yielded one lawsuit and almost universal citizen outrage.

WBIR’s John Becker asked, “Was the process fair?” Lumpy Lambert, “Yes”. John Griess, “Yes”. R. Larry Smith, “Yes”.

Becker then asked “Did we get the best people possible. The best nominees possible for each District seat? Lumpy Lambert, “I believe so”. John Griess, “It wasn’t a requirement of the Supreme Court that we get the best but that we make appointments and we fulfilled that requirement and obligation”. R. Larry Smith, “I think we could have done better”.

You can see the interview here.

I linked to this post a bit back. Via PGP, the comments have really kicked up. Looks to me like the good guys are representin’, yo.

More shockingly, aired on CNN.

update: I don’t think the law generally supports you going after the bad guys once they retreat.

Hola, Amigos. Been a while since I rapped at ya.

When life gets complicated, it’s always the small, habitual pleasures that slip– things like reading blogs and keeping up with friends I don’t see on a daily basis. And once slipped, it’s these things that don’t get picked up so easily again.

But I need some advice, and I thought the gunnies around here could help. Because I am a lawyer and because I am into guns and because I train in various knife arts, people often ask me what they can carry where. I never have answers because weapons laws are a thicket of overlapping state, local and federal stupidity. My goal in the next couple weeks is to correct that and to answer some simple questions for a friend who has applied for a handgun permit.

To start, I’m looking for a weapons law primer, preferably one centered on NYC and/or the surrounding states. I have the general lay of the land, but I want to have definitive answers when people ask how to get their gun from home to the range and back into storage without committing multiple felonies.

So, what’s the best book in this area?

Well, I personally have always been a fan of either:

or

Update: Kristopher in comments:

Ban genocide prevention devices.

Heh.

Punxsutawney Phil predicts global warming will kill us all. In six weeks.

Bill says it’s not dead yet.

Apparently, the ol’ blog was down last night due to a cut cable or some such. I didn’t notice because I was busy losing at the local satellite hold-em tournament.

The Second has started crawling. That means I get to spend this weekend installing baby gates. He did it last night for the first time. I arrive at day care this morning and tell the teacher that he’s crawling. She says Yeah, he started that this week. So, it wasn’t his first time. Kind of a pitfall of daycare that you may miss a few firsts.

In Nashville, it’s illegal to warm up your car:

Many people start their cars in the morning before a commute to warm it up before they use it, but one man was given a ticket for it, and he said police have gone too far.

Steve Hatfield said he and his business partners were warming up their cars Thursday morning in the parking lot of their Hermitage bar when a Metro police officer, they said, started writing tickets.
Click here to find out more!

“Basically, what they told me was, it’s illegal to warm your car if you’re not in it. And it is a violation, and I do have a ticket stating that,” Hatfield said.

Guys, it’s cold out in the winter. People like toasty cars. I guess Nashville has taken care of its other crime problems.

AC on the loss of the libertarian right:

Now, I’m no libertarian. I believe the ideology of libertarianism to [I assume this should be is - ed] the Marxism of the Right. However, it is an important ideology to study and reach towards with the understanding that submitting yourself entirely to the dogma will result in political, society and moral decay.

Of course, submitting yourself completely to any ideology is generally bad. A little bit of libertarianism is good. Hell, a little bit of communism can be good (roads?). I think the key to where people identify themselves is which particular thing is more important to them. I come down on the side of freedom for the individual taking more of a precedent than, say, the collective we. Hence, I tend to identify myself as libertarianish.

Kills rodents without chemicals.

The SAF has filed a motion to hold Nagin & Riley in contempt.