Memphis police chief is supporting a gun law. He uses as a prop a Sig 551 to show the scariness of such evil weapons (like the one that was stolen in Memphis). These weapons have never been used in a crime that I know of. Because they are new machine guns (which are banned for civilian ownership) and Sig doesn’t sell them to the public. Alphie has more.

The downside of the tubes: Building landing strips for gay Martians.

Co-blogger #9 has written extensively about YouTube and its potential effects on politics and society. Well, there’s one thing on there that I can’t stand and Brittney reminded me about it. See, I hop on YouTube on occasion to watch old music videos and the like. And I search for songs for which I have never seen the video. And I was shocked and happy to learn that one of my favorite songs of all time had a video. Cool! Then I realized that it did not. Seems people like to just film themselves lip-synching to someone else’s tune. No, I’m not upset about copyrights and whatnot. I just don’t care to watch some guy lip-synching and doing it poorly. As to one of my favorite songs of all time, here’s the video of some guy no one knows mouthing the words:

People say to me: Hey Uncle, no one wants to take your guns. I’ve never, ever heard any politician say they want to take away my hunting rifle. This is a false argument created by gun lobbyists like the NRA. And I can say: Really? Then why do they have a plan?

I’ve used UPS to ship guns for repairs and to ship gun parts quite a bit. Seems the feds busted one of their drivers for stealing and then reselling guns.

Over at a new (to me) blog called Grappling with Guns:

I am a democrat.

I am also a gun owner and possessor of a concealed handgun permit in my state of residence.

I am also a college professor.

I am not (yet) a member of the NRA, but based on much of the current debate about gun control, I may join.

Sponsors! Last year, there was Brownell’s. This year, it’s Natchez.

Over at West, by God comes another response to my little thought experiment on gun laws (see my post here for background). A taste: Take away BATFE’s ability to capriciously write policy. Or, heck, just put their policy decisions under review.

This again. So, we have this terrorist watch list. I don’t know how you would know you were on it unless you were detained at an airport. Now, there’s a push to ban people on this list from purchasing guns. Now, no one (except terrorists) wants armed terrorists. But, from what I have read, most people who are on the list are usually guilty of having a similar name to some other person. And, of course, being put on this list doesn’t require a conviction or due process of law.

In other news, anyone else find it frightening that we keep such lists?

Sebastian has more.

I know that people get a bit antsy when there are mass shootings. Then they starting pointing out how England banned this or that after a mass shooting and they haven’t had one since. But no one ever points out that crime with firearms in England has doubled since then.

That’s a lot of S&Ws.

Here kitty, kitty.

Double barrel revolvers.

Romie PSL

Custom steering wheel.

Weekend fun.

In Arizona, drivers with cell phones are viewed as more of a threat than drivers with guns.

An account of the incidents that lead to the death of Kathryn Johnston. Abysmal.

The Rep has the dope.

Seriously:

Told to express emotion for a creative-writing class, high school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.

Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.

I am without words, which is good since they’d arrest me for them.

The machine guns stolen from police in Memphis (see here) have been recovered. Good.

And since the Gun Blogger Rendezvous is in Reno.

I gamble. Not a lot but often enough. I enjoy it and I only play with an amount of money I am willing to lose. If I engage in a game, all the money I take to the table I consider already spent. Never gamble more than you’re willing to lose. I’m not encouraging you to gamble and assume no responsibility if you lose money. Now, with those lame disclaimers out of the way, here’s Uncle’s brief intro to gambling.

The way you win is to stake money when the odds are in your favor. And that doesn’t happen often or, with many games, at all. And staking money when the odds are in your favor consistently over time. The classic example is in poker and you have a flush draw with two cards to come. If you hit your draw you will win. In the pot, there is $100. Assume your opponent will do one of two things: (longish post, you’ve been warned.)

Read the rest of this entry »

In response to this, AC says:

Average white folks are not extreme. They are not as informed. They do not share your anger. They have not become radicalized and chances are you don’t want them to be.

Ayup. AC also touches on one other point which is that we don’t want a bunch of radical white people. When a bunch of white people get scared, people die.

CNN:

A police officer and a former officer pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid last fall. Another officer still faces charges in the woman’s death.

It wasn’t a botched drug raid. It was a criminal assault carried out by those entrusted to uphold the law. A few new (to me) details:

The charges followed a November 21 “no-knock” drug raid on the home of Kathryn Johnston, 92. An informant had described buying drugs from a dealer there, police said. When the officers burst in without warning, Johnston fired at them, and they fired back, killing her.

Fulton County prosecutor Peter Johnson disclosed Thursday that the officers involved in Johnston’s death fired 39 shots, striking her five or six times, including a fatal blow to the chest.

He said Johnston only fired once through her door and didn’t hit any of the officers. That means the officers who were wounded likely were hit by their own colleagues, he said.

This case is a symptom of a disease. Hopefully, it will lead to a serious look at drug war tactics in this country. But I’m not holding my breath.

You always hear about the GAO finding fraud. But you never hear of anybody getting fired for it.

Oooh, 0.5 MOA AR-15 in the making.

Simple. Alienate those who otherwise agree with you because they disagree on one issue.

In response to my question here on what gun controls pro-gunners could live with, Armed Canuck has a lengthy (as in grab a drink) response: Reconstitute the Militia.

Clayton Cramer looks at the bill to close it (HR 297):

As I said on a radio broadcast this morning, I support the concept of improving state reporting of disqualifying mental illness problems, but the devil is in the details. So I have been reading over HR 297, and I am having trouble finding where “this bill would allow the FBI to obtain massive amounts of information” about individuals. The bill doesn’t even require states to provide information–it only sets standards for how much money the state can receive for improving its reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System based on its level of data that it reports.

Jeff has a transcript. The only one who called for more gun control was Biden. (note: by more, I don’t include the mental health records as more. That law is already in existence but there’s no reporting requirements). And five of eight admit to having guns at some point.

The media blamed businesses in the wake of the VT massacre.

Another idiot threatens violence against a lawmaker. At least this lawmaker packs heat.

John Stossel:

After the 1997 shooting of 16 kids in Dunblane, England, the United Kingdom passed one of the strictest gun-control laws in the world, banning its citizens from owning almost all types of handguns. Britain seemed to get safer by the minute, as 162,000 newly-illegal firearms were forked over to British officials by law-abiding citizens.

But this didn’t decrease the amount of gun-related crime in the U.K. In fact, gun-related crime has nearly doubled in the U.K. since the ban was enacted.

Increasing revolver firepower.

Les Jones has a must read

Some bloggers and others are describing what it was really like to find themselves being robbed at gunpoint. It’s probably a good idea to read those accounts before forming an opinion about how a person can be expected to react.

Les has a round-up. Fact is, you don’t know what you’ll do. Too much to consider and lose. If I was robbed, I’d just hand over my wallet. If I were in fear for my life, that’s a different story.

Breaking:

ATLANTA (AP) — Three current and former police officers have been indicted in the shooting death of an elderly Atlanta woman during a botched police drug raid.