Kyle from South Park:

Yeah, it just proves we need to learn not to profile just one race of people. Because, actually, most of the world hates us.

A felon with a gun. I wonder if the ATF will come by my house to ask me if I witnessed this one?

M1A. A Scout Model, I believe.

Well, The Second just had his first, err, well . . . let’s just say his lipstick was out.

Sarah Brady is blogging. Be nice. You can make your smarmy, witty retort without being a jerk, you know.

Via PGP.

Update: oh yeah, details on the straw purchase of a high-powered sniper rifle here.

Update: Numerous reports of comments going down the memory hole.

Context.

go to jail. Though there is no evidence he drew down, the man probably should have kept the weapon holstered.

Last nights South Park introduces the newest terrorist weapon, the snuke.

Has to be seen to be believed.

I am speechless.

Here, I wrote of the bill to repeal the DC gun ban:

I would not want this bill to interfere with Parker heading to the supreme court.

Alan Gura of Gura & Possessky, PLLC (or at least someone claiming to be confirmed via email that it is him) comments there:

We urge everyone to contact Congress and urge your Representatives and Senators to REJECT the Huchison and Ross-Souder bills.

These bills will destroy the Parker case, plain and simple. They are totally unnecessary — if we win, they will be pointless, and in the unlikely event that we lose, there is plenty of time to respond legislatively.

There are many ridiculous and harmful laws on the books that were not addressed in our case which Congress can and should repeal to fully implement the Parker decision. We have suggested language, which may yet be introduced, that would enable Congress to vote on the D.C. gun bans without hurting Parker.

Anyone who believes that mooting Parker will avoid a Supreme Court showdown on the meaning of the Second Amendment is delusional. Inaction by our community has led to losing the Second Amendment right at the federal level in 47 out of 50 states, because nobody controls the criminal defense bar.

Considering the aggressive way in which criminal defendants are now making Second Amendment claims, the circuit split, the DOJ’s pro-individual rights position, the level of debate in the legal academy, and the seven decades of Supreme Court silence on the topic, it is just a matter of time — and not much of it — before the issue goes to the high court.

It is Parker, or the next case. Plain and simple. You’re not going to like the next case.

It is nice that Sen. Huchison and NRA have expressed a desire to be supportive of Parker. Let’s see some conduct that is consistent with that position. This bill doesn’t cut it.

If you agree, then call Sen. Huchison, call your Senators and your Representatives, and by all means call NRA, and let them know that you understand this issue.

Thanks,
Alan Gura
Lead Counsel, Parker v. D.C.

P.S.: As for en banc, it will probably be a few months before we find out. We will probably be ordered to respond to the en banc petition. We’re confident of prevailing at any en banc rehearing and after that, if need be, at the Supreme Court.

Update: BTW, for you locals, Corker and Alexander are co-sponsors of the bill.

Some folks take issue with the gun snobbery over at Insty’s:

I do take exception to the gun snob comments about the Beretta 92. That’s the civilian version of the M9. I could not hit squat with the service .45 I carried in the 1970s while on duty in Germany. The weapon was a rattle trap, which was no doubt part of the problem. However, a couple of the NCOs told me my accuracy problem “isn’t entirely the weapon’s fault.” Hah. Well, I agreed. I was adequate with a rifle, but the pistol? Yes, I can see the barn’s broadside. No, I cannot hit the barn’s broadside — not with my service .45.

But the Beretta I had in Iraq was something else entirely — I managed to qualify sharpshooter with it. I know, the superior gunfighters out there will dismiss that as the sorry effort of a chronic poor shot. However, I came within two rounds of qualifying expert. That’s a huge change. I had confidence I could hit a target.

I don’t particularly care for Berettas. They’re fine guns (assuming you don’t have an 1980s model – there was a defect in the slide causing it to crack). But I just don’t dig them. The cool thing about the Beretta compared to, say, Sigs/Glocks/H&Ks is that it has a fixed barrel. So, you don’t need a Linear Inertial Decoupler (fancy gun nut term for spring in a tube) to cycle the action when you put a suppressor on it.

My preference is for Sigs and Glocks. Here they are:

I like Glocks because they are indestructible, reliable, low maintenance, and, honestly, I could care less if I scratch one. I like Sigs because they are reliable and they simply feel good in my hands (they’re slightly less indestructible and low maintenance than a Glock).

And, you JMB diehards, I just don’t like how 1911s feel. They’re fine guns. But, in my hands, they feel like I’m shooting a brick. Well, except that new Sig GSR. That’s one fine 1911.

Via Sebastian, who says: It all comes down to what works for you.

Update: And how could I forget the Kel-Tec:

Another Update: Dr. Strangegun sets me straight in comments:

92s don’t have fixed barrels. They stay aligned with the frame because the 92 uses the locking block system.

In VA, they passed a law that prohibits anyone but law enforcement officers from trying to make an illegal gun purchase from a firearms dealer. More here.

AC has an analysis on the negotiated bill to prevent taking guns during disaters.

Looks like Stacey Campfield’s tax on masturbation is heading to committee:

This bill will tax porn and porn items (things you have to be over 18 years old to view or purchase),strip clubs and escort services. The tax would raise 50 million dollars and would be dedicated to allow the state to drop the sales tax on whole foods (Foods that are more healthy, fruits, vegetables, non processed meats and non processed canned goods,ect.) down to one percent in year one and down to zero in year two. The estimated drop in porn sales is only 3%.

I’m gonna go ahead and call the $50M bogus. Did someone do a porn study? A strip club study? Show me the numbers, man. Estimated drop of 3%? Want to bet?

And, you know, porn is free on Al Gore’s Internets.

I like Newt Gingrich. He, like Fred Thompson, reminds me of a time when Republicans were cool. You know, back before they were just big spending democrats who happened to cater to the religious right instead of the coo-coo-banana left? Remember those days? I do.

Anyhoo, Newt on guns. He says the AWB was crap (he’s right) but citizens shouldn’t be allowed to own machine guns and tanks. Well, Newt, citizens can own both of those.

Seen at the Geek’s, Zumbo writes to Congress. I’m reprinting it here:

March 28, 2007
An Open Letter to the
United States Senate

Dear Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen:

It recently came to my attention that one of your colleagues, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, has chosen to attack firearms owners using remarks I wrote in mid-February as his launch pad. As you probably know, Sen. Levin has been making anti-gun speeches every week for the past eight years because of a promise he made to the Economic Club of Detroit in May 1999.

Mr. Levin has an agenda, and he should have spoken to me before using my name in one of his speeches, especially since his remarks were entered into the Congressional Record. I would like my remarks here entered into the Congressional Record as well.

Sen. Levin is only one of 16 members of the Senate to vote against the Vitter Amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. This amendment prohibits the confiscation of a privately-owned firearm during an emergency or major disaster when possession of that gun is not prohibited under state or federal law.

Eighty-four senators voted for that amendment, inspired by the egregious confiscation of firearms from the citizens of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2005. Those seizures, you will recall, led the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association to join in a landmark civil rights lawsuit in federal court that brought the confiscations to an abrupt end.

The taking of private property without warrant or probable cause – even firearms – was considered an outrage by millions of American citizens, and yet Sen. Levin joined 15 of his colleagues in voting against this measure. It is no small wonder that Sen. Levin gets an “F” rating from gun rights organizations. He would have American citizens disarmed and left defenseless at a time when they need their firearms the most, when social order collapses into anarchy and protecting one’s self and one’s family is not simply a right and responsibility, it becomes a necessity.

That in mind, Sen. Levin must know that almost immediately after I wrote those remarks, I recanted and apologized to the millions of Americans who lawfully and responsibly own, compete with and hunt with semi-automatic rifles. I took a “crash course” on these firearms and visited with my good friend Ted Nugent on his ranch in Texas, where I personally shot an AR-15 and educated myself with these firearms.

Some of us learn from our mistakes, others keep making them. Legislation to which Sen. Levin alluded, HR 1022, would renew the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” and dangerously expand it to encompass far more perfectly legal firearms. For the Congress of the United States to even consider such legislation is an affront to every law-abiding firearms owner in this country.

This legislation that Sen. Levin appears to endorse is written so broadly as outlaw not only firearms, but accessories, including a folding stock for a Ruger rifle. As I understand the language of this bill, it could ultimately take away my timeworn and cherished hunting rifles and shotguns – firearms I hope to one day pass on to my grandchildren – as well as millions of identical and similar firearms owned by other American citizens.

It is clear to me that the supporters of this legislation don’t want to stop criminals. They want to invent new ones out of people like me, and many of you, and your constituents, friends, neighbors and members of your families. They will do anything they can, go to any extremes they believe necessary, to make it impossible for more and more American citizens to legally own any firearm.

In his final paragraph, Senator Levin misrepresents what I said. I never spoke in favor of a general assault weapons ban. Again, I immediately apologized for my blog statement that was exclusively directed toward hunting and not gun ownership.

I will not allow my name to be associated with this kind of attack on the Second Amendment rights of my fellow citizens.

A few weeks ago, in a letter to Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, I promised to educate my fellow hunters about this insidious legislation “even if I have to visit every hunting camp and climb into every duck blind and deer stand in this country to get it done.”

I will amend that to add that I will bring my effort to Capitol Hill if necessary, even if I have to knock on every door and camp in every office of the United States Senate. In promoting this ban, the Hon. Carl Levin does not speak for me, or anybody I know.

Sincerely,
James Zumbo
Cody, Wyoming

Senator Hutchison’s presser:

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act of 2007, a bill to restore Second Amendment rights in Washington, D.C.

“The constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens do not end when they cross into the borders of the District of Columbia,” said Sen. Hutchison.

“The gun ban has been proven ineffective by the trend of increased violent crime in the District. The citizens of Washington, D.C., deserve to have the same right to defend themselves and their families in their homes that lawful Americans enjoy.

“This requires both a legislative and judicial remedy. I hope the Parker case goes before the Supreme Court and that the court asserts that the right to bear arms is an individual, and not a collective, right as the D.C. Circuit and Fifth Circuit Courts have affirmed.”

The District of Columbia enacted the Firearms and Control Regulations Act in 1976 that banned handguns and required rifles and shotguns to be registered and stored unloaded and either locked or disassembled, giving it the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. Prior to the gun ban’s implementation, the murder rate in the District was on the decline. Following the ban, the murder rate began to rise while violent crime was decreasing nationally. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, in 2005, the most recent year from which statistics are available, the District of Columbia led the nation in violent crime.

This comes up every couple of years. With Parker v. DC, it might actually get done. But I would not want this bill to interfere with Parker heading to the supreme court. My source says:

As I understand it, the goal is to put this legislation on the table to be enacted after a SCOTUS review of Parker, so that it would not interfere with the Parker decision.

Well, in theory, it wouldn’t be needed then.

Over at Insty’s. I like how the Webb incident is shedding light on DC’s stupid, stupid gun laws. If this happened a couple of years back, there may not have been Parker v. DC.

Bredesen is exploring toll roads to pay for TDOT. This is despite TN’s surplus. Let me be the first to say fuck that. Toll roads are inconvenient, delay traffic, require me to keep change/method of payment in my car, and are generally a pain in the ass. Here’s an idea: use the surplus or cut spending.

Reader Jon is reporting the site is slow to load. I haven’t experienced that at home or the office. Anyone else having trouble?

I ordered a book from Amazon that was published by Two Plus Two. They publish poker and gambling books. Anyway, I get the book which is unread. After page four, it skips to page 37. Later in the book, I find pages 22 – 36. But pages 5 – 21 aren’t there. I send an email to the feedback link at their site and ask if I could get the missing pages and if this was a common problem.

In a couple of hours, I get a response telling me to send them the front cover and they’ll send me a new book. Excellent customer service!

A Firefox extension that allows you to log in to multiple gmail accounts. Sweet.

Seen at NSH:

I’m told the blogosphere is going to eat our lunch. Well, the blogosphere, for the most part, spends its infinitely expanding gas talking about what we – newspapers – write, not what some blogger reported. If newspapers disappeared tomorrow it would be like pulling the fuel rods from a nuclear reactor: the lights would go out and the blogosphere wouldn’t produce a single BTU of intellectual heat.

Listen up, Sparky:

The significance of blogs is not that they break news. It’s that they criticize the news and opine on the news. See, years ago, some journalist could print the talking points of some activist group, display obvious bias, or mislead readers and the only thing that would happen would be a few folks might send a letter to the editor that would probably not get printed. Now, you guys have to kinda watch out for that. That’s the point. Like R. Neal said about blogs: it’s letters to the editor without the letters or the editor.

What is it with gun bloggers and poker?

Creative.

A to the C:

It just seems funny how folks seem to hold to authentic conservatism or libertarianism before or after they get into office, but never during.

Pollen angels

But I laughed my ass off.

San Francisco has banned plastic grocery bags. This is to save the planet. You may remember it wasn’t that long ago that only eco-terrorists asked for paper bags. People would turn in horror and explain how a living tree had to be sacrificed to make that paper bag.

Today we are much wiser. Paper bags are back. We understand that trees are a renewable resource and actually using plastic grocery bags is eco-terrorism. We just didn’t know. Of course really eco-conscious people bring there own burlap bags.

Let me clue you in. There is no right answer. No matter what you do someone will say it is not enough. The reality is we live in a world of Hobson choices.

Let me tell you the next eco-scare that will take about five years to come to fruition. Compact fluorescent bulbs will be banned. California is currently considering banning incandescent lights bulbs because the planet has a fever. Even though most people know compact fluorescent bulbs contain mercury they will buy them because sheeple are followers. Better to do what you are told than to think for yourself.

Do you think the people in California will start recycling programs for Compact fluorescent bulbs before they ban the incandescent bulbs? Probably not. Sheeple have to be led.

Fuck the census bureau. Sitting on my desk right now are the following forms:

No shit. And, per each form, YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW. Title 13, United States Code, requires businesses and other organizations that receive this questionnaire to answer the questions and return the report to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This, in addition to registering in every state, dealing with unemployment in every state, licenses in every state, compliance audits from random fed/state/city entities, misc. bullshit in every state, etc. And that’s not counting income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes (for every state and many cities – on that note, I’d personally like to say fuck Alabama), quarterly filings, and other crap that requires a return of some sort.

Now, I know people in government* don’t understand this but us folks in the private sector got shit to do. Our shit, unlike your shit, generally adds value. This is time not spent doing shit that, uh, matters. Why not get this info from, say, the 4,392 other forms I send to the other people in government? Bastards.

My assistant is gonna be pissed.

* note: not applicable to the ones that actually provide a valuable service, like police, fire fighters, military, etc.