This time, the homeowner was not killed but a police officer was shot.

A Minneapolis police SWAT team kicked in the wrong door yesterday during an early morning raid, prompting the man of the house to grab his gun and open fire on the officers who entered the house.

“He took out his shotgun and he said if they are bad guys I’ll shoot, I’ll scare them away,” Dao Khang, the brother of the homeowner, Vang Khang, tells the Star Tribune. “He fired first, he told me it was two shots.”

Dao Khang says his brother was trying to protect his wife and six children. No one from the family was hit during the exchange of gunfire. Vang hit two officers, but the Pioneer Press says they were protected by ballistic vests and helmets.

“I must’ve heard over 20 or 30 shots, I swear, it was scary,” Ruth Hayes, the family’s next-door neighbor, tells WCCO-TV. “It was like 30 SWAT guys out here … it was crazy it was just like havoc.”

Well, police are not known to be the best of shots. I’m glad that no one in the family was killed. The police are, of course, covering their butts:

Minneapolis police say they are not to blame for a mistake that sent a SWAT team into the wrong house over the weekend.

And this: Police haven’t decided whether they’ll try to charge Khang with a crime. KMSP-TV says the Khang family is consulting with a civil attorney.

Try him for what? Defending himself against invaders who failed to identify themselves? And I hope the Khang family sues the crap out of them.

Really? I guess it must have been someone else who got the wrong address, kicked in the door, and got all Ninja on an innocent family!

“It was bad information that came on the informants end, not on the police end,” said Jesse Garcia, a Minneapolis Police spokesman.

Garcia said after the informant gave police three addresses they did their homework.

Well, I guess they had a one in three shot of not being wrong. Any way, the informant works for you. You guys failed to adequately investigate and you terrorized an innocent family.

Shame on you all.

Update: Radley has more.

Paul Helmke is issuing bogus challenges to candidates:

I challenge them to stand up and support meaningful action to reduce gun violence in America.

So do I! Put violent criminals in jail and keep them there. Gun control only impacts the law-abiding.

I challenge them to work for a strong and permanent ban on military-style assault weapons.

That was done in 1986. Of course, you constantly and disingenuously conflate semi-automatic rifles with military weapons, even by insinuating that the weapons soldiers carry in Iraq are freely available here in the US. And that is a lie.

I challenge the candidates to support the NICS Improvement Act of 2007.

Well, yeah, but the NRA supports that bill too.

I challenge the candidates to support the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007.

Paul thinks it’s common sense to deny someone their civil liberties without due process of law.

I challenge the candidates to support legislation to require background checks for all gun sales in America.

He then yammers about how the Columbine killers and drug dealers get their weapons at gun shows. Crime guns that came from gun shows are less than 1% of total crime guns. And the Columbine killers did not get their weapons from gun shows. They used two straw purchasers, who happened to go to gun shows. Those two were not prohibited persons and could have bought them anywhere.

I challenge the candidates to support legislation to limit bulk purchases of guns.

Another measure that only affects the law-abiding. The Omaha shooter had only one gun. The VA Tech shooter had two and VA has a gun a month law.

Fortunately, politicians are not listening to Paul. No one is vying for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership endorsement. Gun control: what we do instead of something.

Thirdpower has his own challenges for Paul:

I challenge the Brady Campaign to stop misrepresenting what different firearms are capable of.

Never happen. Without hysterical misrepresentations, they have nothing.

Sebastian can smell the desperation.

Ravenwood has a question about shootings. I think it’s got more to do with the recent mass shootings.

See-through AR-15 lower. With a matching upper, that’d be awesome.

Meanwhile, here’s Oleg’s AR-15 gallery.

Video of AK-47 v. M-16.

Michael Bane notes misinformation about the NRA from an anti-gunner. Meanwhile, Thirdpower notes that pro-gun conspiracy sorts are spreading misinformation about the NRA too.

Alphecca notes that anti-gun shill Kristen Rand says the second amendment says something other than what it says. And there’s a counterpoint op-ed written by a student from Virginia Tech.

Over at DefRev, they note the Army’s comparison of XM8,
Mk16 SCAR-L, HK416, and M4 Carbine.

Update: Here’s The Army Times on the tests:

The M4 carbine, the weapon soldiers depend on in combat, finished last in a recent “extreme dust test” to demonstrate the M4’s reliability compared to three newer carbines.

Weapons officials at the Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., exposed Colt Defense LLC’s M4, along with the Heckler & Koch XM8, FNH USA’s Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle and the H&K 416 to sandstorm conditions from late September to late November, firing 6,000 rounds through each test weapon.

When the test was completed, ATEC officials found that the M4 performed “significantly worse” than the other three weapons, sources told Army Times.

Officials tested 10 each of the four carbine models, firing a total of 60,000 rounds per model. Here’s how they ranked, according to the total number of times each model stopped firing:

• XM8: 127 stoppages.

• MK16 SCAR Light: 226 stoppages.

• 416: 233 stoppages.

• M4: 882 stoppages.

In Japan, they experienced a mass shooting. Japan has some of the most stringent gun laws (and sword laws) in the world. And, in fact, possessing arms other than shotguns is mostly illegal. So, the press there wants to make guns more illegal.

Jackie Mason on gun control:

The NRA reports that 47 senators have asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to remove prohibitions preventing law-abiding citizens from transporting and carrying firearms on certain public lands.

This piece, complete with PSH, comes to us from the paper of record:

Barely touched on in the coverage of the two latest gun rampages is how the disturbed shooters could so easily obtain assault rifles — weapons designed for waging war.

Barely touched on because it’s untrue. An assault rifle is a select fire weapon that fires more than one shot per pull of the trigger. The shooters in these cases used semi-automatic rifles that fire one round per pull of the trigger.

The Omaha killer took his stepfather’s rapid-fire rifle from a closet to pick off Christmas shoppers.

Doing the Brady Campaign’s work for them, the NYT continues to conflate semi-automatic rifles with machine guns.

Guns are ubiquitous in this country, and the gun lobby is so powerful that this year’s toll of 30,000 gun deaths makes barely a political ripple.

Yes, it’s the NRA’s fault!

Until recently, the nation did have a law designed to protect the public from assault rifles and other high-tech infantry weapons.

No, it didn’t. The ban on weapons that look like assault rifles banned aesthetic features that new semi-automatic rifles could have. The ban did not impact high-tech infantry weapons, whatever those are.

In 1994, enough politicians felt the public’s fear to respond with a 10-year ban on assault-weapons that was not perfect but dented the free-marketeering of Rambo mayhem. Most Americans rejected the gun lobby’s absurd claim that assault rifles are “sporting” weapons.

PSH alert for Rambo reference. But the whole premise of this editorial is based on misinformation so why not throw in some hysterical emotional appeals? And, if the public was for it, why, then, did all those politicians get voted out of office after the ban passed? And why did the House vote to repeal the law?

Instead of asking how could this happen, the country needs to know who is going to stop it.

Well, gun control won’t stop it. After all, we had the assault weapons ban in 1999 when the Columbine attack occured.

Looks like Katie Allison Granju has set up a new blog for locals.

Joe has some quotes. I like Huckabee’s quote.

While you’re at Joe’s, maybe you can explain this one to him. Or to me. Because if I understand it, they’re saying gun control is a failure so we have to do it harder.

Bloglines seems to be broken. So, all the cool stuff I saved to blog about today has disappeared. So, no cool stuff for now because I forgot.

You come and go.

Glenn looks at the role of commas in the second amendment. People often do this, on both sides of the debate. As insty notes, the commas really don’t amount to much and states ratified different versions with different comma structures.

Volokh asks you to find the non sequitur.

Meanwhile, for all your second amendment grammar questions, don’t forget The Unabridged Second Amendment.

This morning, the local talk radio was running a poll on presidential candidates. /20~ p@\/1 was leading the pack by a huge margin. Then, the host said something like these /20~ p@\/1 people must be out texting and emailing and getting the word out about this poll. Then /20~ p@\/1 supporters called to tell the host that, no, that’s not what happened.

My thoughts are that supporters of /20~ p@\/1 are very likely politically active and aware. As such, they’re probably just more likely to listen to those types of radio shows.

And if Fred Thompson doesn’t get his shit together soon, I may be forced to vote for /20~ p@\/1.

Heh.

Romney:

Just as the President said, he would have, he would have signed [the assault weapons ban] if it came to his desk, and so would have I.

He’s also telling whoppers about NRA endorsements he received. He did not receive them, of course.

And Bruce has a question for the gun grabbing governor on weapons of unusual lethality.

Over at survivalist blot. I’ve thought about putting spare parts for my various AR-15s in the pistol grip. Probably not a bad idea.

Over at polling report, most people can actually read and comprehend the second amendment. And people don’t support banning handguns. People tend to think gun laws should be more strict but I’m guessing most people don’t know what the gun laws currently are.

Update: I didn’t notice but Horse in comments notes they incorrectly quote the second amendment.

In Knoxville, a man shot a burglar with an extensive criminal record as he was fleeing. Seems the burglar kicked in the door while a 13 year-old was at home.

Officers haven’t filed any charges against Harry Smith, 58. Smith, who has a gun permit, shot Coffey once in the head with a revolver as Coffey ran from the house at 103 Copeland Road, Dooley said.

Shooting someone as they are fleeing is, generally, a no-no despite whatever public service it may have been. Also, in Tennessee we don’t have gun permits, which seem to imply a permit for ownership. We do have handgun carry permits, which is likely what they meant.

Update: In comments, MarkF points out that the burglar was ‘fleeing’ toward a grandmother. If by ‘fleeing’, they mean running towards, then that changes the scenario substantially.

In Iraq, in a move of horrendous stupidity, the powers that be have disarmed female police officers:

The Iraqi government has ordered all policewomen to hand in their guns for redistribution to men or face having their pay withheld, thwarting a U.S. initiative to bring women into the nation’s police force.

[...]

Critics say the move is the latest sign of the religious and cultural conservatism that has taken hold in Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s ouster ushered in a government dominated by Shiite Muslims.

Disarming the police is, well, stupid.

Via Guav.

Adam Groves is having a poll on Tennessee politics here. And here’s info on the poll.

Shortly after the mall shooting, there were the church shootings. Then threats of another that, thankfully, never came to fruition. Kopel looks at copycat killers.

You’ll be missed.

Sig 250 modular:

The P250, a modular pistol that allows the shooter to change caliber and size at will

Nifty.

I concur.

Seen at David’s:

Alvin Police Chief Mike Merkel said there are three things shoppers need to know if they are trapped in a chaotic shooting situation inside a mall.

First, stand still.

“They’re going to pick out individuals who are running to or away from them,” Merkel said. “Standing still may keep you from becoming a victim.”

It also makes you an easy target. My advice can be found here and here.

So, a news team in Chicago was staking out gun shops in the Chicago suburbs then following people who made purchases back to their homes in Chicago to confront them with their illegal gun. Nice. A choice between breaking the law or being unable to defend yourself is no choice at all.

Two Idaho senators put his confirmation on hold. Now John “My booger hook is on the bang switch” Kerry is asking they remove their hold on the confirmation.

From Sebastian, we learn of the weapons the psychopath brought with him:

* Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle, purchased January 9 in Aurora.
* AK-47 assault rifle, purchased November 17, 2006 in Aurora.
* Beretta .40 cal. semi-automatic handgun , purchased January 4 in Colorado Springs.
* Springfield Armory 9mm semi-automatic handgun, purchased September 11 in Denver.

Additionally, he had a 22 pistol in the car.

Earlier reports say he died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound. So, what exactly did he have? Who knows.

Update: Oh, still think we don’t have a de facto firearms registry?

Thirdpower notes the rats are leaving the sinking ship.

You know, I tend to like politicians better once their party abandons them and they’re no longer beholden to them.

Now, I know men often have nicknames for their, err, you know but that’s a new one.

Despite the misinformation and PSH from the press, a cop keeps his cool.

We’re used to supporters of /20~ p@\/1 invading our posts with copy and paste messages of his greatness. But they’re so, uhm, belligerent about him as to turn people off. They’re that way in the real world too. Last night I was driving home down Alcoa Highway. In the left lane (naturally) was on old Ford truck. On the back of the truck was painted Old and in the way. And a giant (I’m talking yard sign size) /20~ p@\/1 for president poster.

I took a picture with my cell phone, through my window, while trying to drive. Needless to say, it’s not good and posting it would be pointless.

Triticale is not doing well.

Well, last weekend, no one was shot!

Scum.

In Tennessee, we have a nifty little law that was signed by Phil Bredesen that states:

The sheriff or chief of police of the city of residence of a person purchasing any firearm, defined by the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. 5845 et seq., shall execute within fifteen (15) business days of any request all documents required to be submitted by the purchaser if the purchaser is not prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to § 39-17-1316.

What that means in English is that if you, a law-abiding citizen, want to purchase an NFA weapon (machine gun, suppressor, etc.) then your local chief law enforcement officer is required by law to approve the transfer if you are not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm. But, in another case of those who enforce the law not knowing the law, the sheriff of a town refused to approve the transfer initiated by a dealer citing that the Assistant District Attorney thinks NFA devices are illegal:

One of my customers submitted his Form 4 to the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Department for the CLEO signature, and was turned down by the Sheriff. The Sheriff said he would double-check with the Assistant District Attorney this morning, to ensure he was correct.

The customer called me to tell me that the ADA advised the Sheriff to deny the signature, based on TCA 39-17-1302 (Prohibited Weapons).

Here is what TCA 39-17-1302 says:

“39-17-1302. Prohibited Weapons.
(a) A person commits an offense who intentionally or knowingly possesses, manufactures, transports, repairs, or sells:
(1) An explosive or an explosive weapon;
(2) A device principally designed, made or adapted for delivering or shooting an explosive weapon;
(3) A machine gun;
(4) A short-barrel rifle or shotgun;
(5) A firearm silencer;

Unfortunately, the DA did not continue reading the law or he would have realized that:

(b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the person’s conduct:

(7) Involved acquisition or possession of a sawed-off shotgun, sawed-off rifle, machine gun or firearm silencer which is validly registered to the person under federal law in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Records. A person who acquires or possesses a firearm registered as required by this subdivision shall retain proof of registration.

If you’d like to contact the Sheriff’s office, you can find that info here.

I recommend the dealer contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and report a crime.

Update: Here’s contact info for the DA’s office.

Bitter said she’d post the AP stylebook on guns. Countertop beat her to it. Note that anti-gun buzzwords/propaganda like Saturday night special (which is racist) and assault-style weapon (which is made up).

I noted yesterday on the Sullivan confirmation that: Sorry, folks, but it’s a done deal. Mark it.

Today, Ryan reports:

I just came across the following article, Idaho Senators block ATF Pick. It appears that Second Amendment Senators Mike Crapo and Larry Craig have put a hold on Sullivan’s confirmation.

It’s a hold but I’d still bet he gets confirmed.

Still, the significance of Craig and Crapo putting the confirmation on hold indicates that at least some in congress are listening to complaints of ATF abuse. From the AP article:

Idaho’s senators are blocking President Bush’s nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying the agency has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws.

Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo placed separate holds on the nomination of federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan, the acting ATF director for more than a year.

Crapo’s spokesman, Lindsay Nothern, said the senator’s office has heard from a number of gun dealers, gun owners and others in Idaho who “have concerns about ATF policies regarding gun sales and even (gun) ownership. Maybe the federal government is getting a little too aggressive with people who haven’t done anything wrong.”

Good.

I was unaware that Buddhist was a synonym for sheep.

A liberal on gun control:

That, in turn, tells you something about the psychology and politics of the issue — that on both sides its a form of identity politics; on the controller side, a means of expressing dislike of gun culture and various aspects of American folkways, a kind of liberal version of sundry ineffective “tough on crime” nostrums from the right.

Thirdpower has more. New scary gun term: assault ammunition.

Seen at AC’s: Could the Huckabee ideological portfolio be a harbinger of a new ideological coalition based on social conservatism and economic progressivism?

Good God. I hope not.

Stacy bought herself a Walther. Plates fear her.

that shoulder thing that goes up.

Why, just last week, Hillary was attacking Obama for not showing up to vote for gun control. This week, she’s attacking him for supporting handgun bans.

I have to admit I’m unsure why her campaign devotes time attacking Obama. The guy cannot win. I like Sarcastro’s Obama Haiku.

Update: Obama disavows the questionnaire. And, from his own book:

I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manfuacturer’s lobby.

Another one of those people who believes there’s some sort of urban exemption for the second amendment. And that seems a bit, well, racist.

USA Today:

The man who killed four people at a church and missionary training center died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound, police said Tuesday.

And:

Murray, who lived in Englewood, Colo., and was the son of a neurologist, arrived at the church with an assault rifle, two pistols and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

So, did he have two pistols, an assault rifle and a shotgun? Or do they not know the difference between a shotgun and an assault rifle?

LAYERS of editorial oversight!

Via the doc, comes this quiz:
Read the rest of this entry »

I guess Xrlq was incorrect. Registration does lead to prohibition.

Len Savage of Historic Arms is no stranger to really annoying the ATF and suffering for it. Via Ryan, comes a bit by Savage entitled Am I an enemy of the US Government? A must read for looking at ATF’s tactics. There’s also an interview with him.

So? I can’t carry one into a .gov building either.

Even more stuff:

Shooter killed himself. After he was already full of holes. Gunnies seem upset by that. Not sure why. So fucking what?

The press notes that Jeanne Assam was fired from her job. Gunnies seem upset by that. Not sure why. So fucking what? Reader Helvetix seems to think someone is lying as Jeanne seems to have been merely suspended.

The women say she’s a hero who also has nice hair.

Guav:

And I want to be clear about something here: Gun rights advocates such as myself are not saying that the solution to public shootings is “more guns.” We are not saying that the solution is “let children bring guns to school.” We are not saying that the solution is “arm everyone.” Nobody is talking about adding guns to the population, or “putting more guns on the streets.”

Careful with those matches. They might hit that strawman you just built.

I’m sure that people are pondering this law is a sign things are in we gunnies’ favor:

If you create a gun-free zone, you’re liable for any harm it causes

10 years ago, you’d have never heard of it.

Robb concurs:

The big thing I see and hear is the concept that Gun Free Zones are useless. Anywhere. Everyone seems to be on the ball that an armed good guy is not the problem and is the only one who will obey the rules anyway.

I have a feeling we’re about to see a significant shift in gun rights. Just a hunch.

I hope. I doubt, now, you could even get traction on a federal gun law.

How will this look on youtube:

When a robber started taking cash from his register over the weekend, Dunkin’ Donuts employee Dustin Hoffmann fought back by clobbering the man with a ceramic mug. But Hoffmann admits he was less worried about the stolen cash than how he might look on the video-sharing site YouTube.

“What was going through my mind at that point was that the security tape is either going to show me run away and hide in the office or whack this guy in the head, so I just grabbed the cup and clocked the guy pretty hard,” Hoffmann told The Record of Bergen County for Tuesday’s editions.

Via reader Paul.

Guav emails: Tomorrow on RadioInsideScoop.com, Larry Pratt of the GOA and Brian Siebel of the Brady Bunch will debate whether easier access of Americans to deadly weapons—or more limited access—makes us safer.

Xrlq in comments:

Funny, I always thought registration was supposed to lead to prohibition, not the other way around.

Shills for Romney. Sorry, but NRO just lost any conservative street cred they had. And this:

Fred Thompson is as conservative as Romney

Err, no. Hillary Clinton is as conservative as Romney. Kucinich is slightly less conservative than Romney. As far as I’m concerned, if the nom is Romney or Giuliani, then the Republicans may as well run Hillary Clinton.

AC notes we’re winning the war on drugs:

• Use of any illicit drug dropped approximately 24%.
• Marijuana use decreased approximately 25%.
• Steroid use dropped by approximately one third.
• Ecstasy use dropped approximately 54%, cutting usage down to less than one half of what it was in 2001.
• Methamphetamine use decreased approximately 64%.

Good. Let’s release the POWs. Oh, wait. Nevermind:

teen painkiller abuse rising

Seems they’re just switching. I forget, it’s the war on some drugs.

Sorry, folks, but it’s a done deal. Mark it.

Heh.

Mika Brzezinski on mass murderers and armed citizens when told that One person with a gun can make a big difference:

You know, that is the most inane statement I have ever heard.

Well, Jean Assam and at least eight other instances say you’re wrong.

Seems the same psychopath shot up both churches. Thanks to Jean Assam, there was not a third.

In an update to this, a lot of good resources from comments:

A firearms glossary.

Guncite.

Volokh’s he Journalist’s Guide to Gun Policy Scholars and Second Amendment Scholars

And, of course, Wikipedia.

Update: How could I forget Gun Facts.

Update: Another one.

At Glenn Beck’s.

The Brady Bunch opposes toys, just in time for Christmas.

US Citizen has info on the lady, Jeanne Assam, who stopped the murderous psychopath.

Now, the press seems to be telling the story about her though before they were not. Turns out, she’s a former police officer and carry permit holder who volunteers to provide security at the church service.

Kevin notes:

If what I heard on the radio this afternoon is correct, there were three armed security people at the church in Arvada, Colorado. Only one willingly engaged the shooter, calmly walking towards him, firing the entire time. Jeanne Assam fired approximately twelve rounds, and took down someone armed with rifle, shotgun, and pistol and who was reportedly wearing body armor. He killed two and wounded two or three more, but he was stopped by someone with a gun.

(update: see Kevin’s correction in comments)

Bruce notes:

Near an entryway in the church, Bourbonnais came upon the gunman and an armed male church security guard who was there with his gun drawn but not firing, he said.

Bourbonnais said he pleaded with the armed guard to give him his weapon.

“Give me your handgun. I’ve been in combat, and I’m going to take this guy out,” Bourbonnais recalled telling the guard. “He kept yelling, ‘Get behind me! Get behind me!’ He wouldn’t hand me his weapon, but he wouldn’t do anything.”

Quote of the day:

“First, I called him ‘Coward’ then I called him ‘S—head’ ” Bourbonnais said. “I probably shouldn’t have been saying that in church.”

Oh, wait:

Police arrested a man wanted by the law at the Harrisburg gun show. He was trying to buy a firearm, but one dealer realized something was wrong. “He was wanted,” said show manager show manager Nick Jubinski. “State Police came over, picked him up and arrested him.”

A salesperson learned about the suspect’s wanted status on the phone through the Pennsylvania Insta-Check system.

Vendors like Jack Shuttleworth are required to dial before dealing. “We don’t dare sell any gun without doing a background check on it,” said Shuttleworth.

But The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership tells me that gun shows are where criminals go to get guns and that gun shows are supermarkets where terrorists get their 50 caliber sniper rifles to shoot down planes.

Really:

Former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey is shifting his position on Washington’s 31-year ban on handgun ownership as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the issue.

Ramsey says there needs to be reasonable control over guns, but he says handgun registration can provide that control.

Registration, no thanks. But it is an improvement.

The government is checking out blogs:

The second product is the New Media Hot Sheet which is distributed every Thursday afternoon. It is a weekly review of what is consuming time and space in the Tennessee focused blogshere (sic).

In that case, you guys should know your constituents don’t seem to like you very much.

So, we knew that Shelby County Mayor Wharton and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam were members of the Joyce Foundation funded group Mayors Against Guns. But now, there’s a new edition. Via Rustmeister, seems Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan is also a member of this sham group.

Other mayors have figured out the group is a sham and quit. These guys should follow suit. Past coverage of this group here, here, here, here, here, and here.

1903 Colt.

Taurus 608.

Against movies?

It was, in fact, me who let the dogs out.

Woof, woof, woof, woof.

There’s the snarky gag version here and it pretty accurately reflects how the press deals with guns. I was asked by someone in the press who is familiar with guns if there was a journalists’ guide to firearms since. This person noted your average reporter likely didn’t have much knowledge of guns. Could be a good resource, if done right.

So, let’s create one. I’d say topics could include types of firearm actions, assault weapons, gun shows, etc. This really wouldn’t be difficult since we gunbloggers have already written this stuff and likely just need to compile it. For instance, here’s info on the assault weapons ban.

So, who’s in? Keep it factual, brief, and not particularly political.

Update: here’s a decent start.

Seems some whackjob decided to shoot up a church. However, an armed woman decided to end said whackjob’s plans. Ahab notes that:

Colorado state law requires that an armed security guard who is not a member of law enforcement must be in possession of a concealed carry permit. I am currently in the process of determining whether the guard at New Life was an off-duty cop, or a civilian volunteer with a carry permit. Because no media have referred to the guard as an off duty police officer, my hunch is that he (or she, I suppose) is just a regular concerned citizen like us.

As Glenn said: People don’t stop killers. People with guns do

Well, armed citizens have a reasonable record at stopping mass murderers:

1 Tyler, Texas: Shooter on the loose. Mark Wilson hears the noise and grabs a gun. He intervenes and saves the life of one man (who turns out to be the shooters’ son). He also drew fire from the murderer and likely saved more lives. Sadly, Mr. Wilson was murdered on the scene.

2 Tacoma, WA: Brendan “Dan” McKown was delivering a bank deposit for Excalibur Cutlery, a mall gift store, when gunshots scattered shoppers at noon in Tacoma. Dan McKown was an armed CCW holder. Witnesses state that McKown stood about 20 feet from the gunman when he faced him and drew his own pistol before being shot. Whether he spoke to the gunman is unknown. “Our understanding is that Dan drew his weapon and confronted the gunman,” his stepmother, Beverly McKown, said during a news conference Tuesday at Tacoma General Hospital. “Dan is always one who believed in protecting people and he put his life on the line for other people,” McKown’s father said. “His actions and the actions of others like him may have prevented additional casualties by confronting the aggression and possibly changing the gunman’s action early in the conflict.”

3 courtesy of Mr. Burnside Pete Odighizuwa. He’s the man who killed three innocent people at the Appalachian School of Law. But was likely stopped by two armed students who had to run to their cars to get their guns. There’s some dispute as to what caused Pete O. to surrender because he was also out of ammo.

4 Another, via comments, was the Utah mall shooting:

An off-duty police officer having an early Valentine’s Day dinner with his wife was credited Tuesday with helping stop a rampage in a crowded shopping mall by an 18-year-old gunman who killed five people before he was cut down.

He was off duty. Good thing he disregarded the mall’s no gun policy that day. And another one:

5 In Pearl, Mississippi:

Vice Principal Joel Myrick held his Colt .45 point blank to the high school boy’s head. Last week, he told me what it was like. “I said ‘why are you shooting my kids?’ He said it was because nobody liked him and everything seemed hopeless,” Myrick said. “Then I asked him his name. He said ‘you know me, Mr. Myrick. Remember? I gave you a discount on your pizza delivery last week.”

6 another: A knife-wielding grocery store employee attacked eight co-workers Friday, seriously injuring five before a witness pulled a gun and stopped him, police said.

7 Allen Crum, an armed citizen, was deputized when Charles Whitman climbed a tower and started shooting people. Read Mr. Crum’s account here. He used a borrowed rifle.

8 Kenneth Gage.

I like the odds more when good people are armed.

Add number 9 to the list.

This guy is a special kind of vile. He posts several whoppers about the ban on weapons that look like assault weapons, like:

Ban On AK-47 Assault Rifle Used In Omaha Mall Rampage Was Lifted By GOP Congress In 2004

Not so. AK-47s have been banned since 1986. And the WASR-10 was not covered by the ban.

And: For 10 years, the AK-47 semiautomatic assault weapon used in the deadly Omaha mall shootings was illegal in America

Again, nope.

The AK-47 is not used for hunting

Really?

Basically, everything the guy said was crap and easily refuted. Other folks pointed that out. Instead of doing the honorable thing and correcting the errors, Marc McDonald asked the pro-gun side to stop leaving comments. After all, we can’t have those pesky facts getting in the way of our opinion.

Cowardly liar, indeed.

This weekend, while I was at my secure and undisclosed location, a lot of stuff about the Omaha shooting came my way. And I just now got to it.

Joe has a first hand account from a witness there:

Honestly, and as God as my witness, when I saw him shooting and as watched for a few seconds trying to figure out what he was going to do and what I should do, the thought that when through my mind was, “If I had a gun, I have a perfect shot.”

Yes, a perfect shot. I had a full side profile, I was close, and no one was visible behind him execept a wall. I had a clear shot during the second round of fire. I told this to every cop I came in contact with.

The next question everyone seemed to ponder is what type of gun is it? First, the press reported that the rifle was an AK-47, which is wrong. Next, it was reported that it was an SKS or an SKK. And, well, no one really knew what an SKK was. Now, AC has a pic.

Murdoc has a post discussing the weapon. Noting the press has a picture of an SKS. My opinion? Well, based on the pic at AC’s, I’m going with a WASR-10. It is a Kalashnikov variant that complied with the assault weapons ban. They look like this. The weapon was not banned by the assault weapons ban.

More from PGP.

Lastly, Indeed.

Christmas edition.

Dragunov recall reported by CDNN.

Update: While you’re there, AR mags are $7.99.

How spammy was it? Since disabling trackbacks and pingbacks, my average daily spam count has gone from about 700 per day to about 2 per day.

Paul Helmke of The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership:

If this is something that can take a 30-round clip and fire them off quickly, it should be banned. This is a weapon of mass murder

That would include your Glocks, Ruger 10/22 plinkers, Mini-14s, and, basically, any magazine fed weapons, which is most of them.

Reasonable restrictions, indeed.

Only, this one was started by the good guys:

Delaware County attorney C. Scott Shields says Mayor-elect Michael Nutter’s “stop-and-frisk” proposal for getting illegal guns off Philadelphia’s streets is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Shields, the mayor of Rutledge Borough, plans to sue the city himself if Nutter implements the policy – just as soon as he gets done suing Upper Darby Township for what you might call its “take-and-keep” approach to gun control.

Shields is representing township resident Mary Welsch, who claims in a federal lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez that police illegally took her deceased father’s guns from her house, then refused to return them without a court order.

Via David.

It’s that time of year again where we, collectively, are supposed to sit back and reflect upon things that are important and goodwill toward man and all that other hippie, tree-hugging crap that makes us feel better about ourselves. Continuing the tradition, I opt to do the opposite and tell you why you suck. And by you, I don’t mean you specifically but you in the general sense. I’m talking about the Festivus tradition of The Airing of Grievances. So, the first grievance I have is The Airing of Grievances. I feel obligated to air said grievances and, of course, must suffer through other people’s airing of grievances.

My other grievance is this: order from the damn menu. When you go to a restaurant, they’re set up to serve stuff that is actually on the menu. That’s why they have menus. Your choices generally only consist of how you want that cooked and your option of sides. That’s what they do. All else, you takes your chances. When you order something that is different, you’ve messed up the system. So, stop. Other parties at your table now have to wait an extra three or four hours while a cook, who doesn’t speak English, and a waitress, who probably didn’t write your custom order down, try to decipher what exactly it is you’re getting at. If, say, a joint serves a salad and that salad comes with the little shavings of red cabbage and you specify that you don’t want the shavings of red cabbage, odds are you’re getting some because that’s how they mix the salad that they made in bulk five hours ago. Don’t act surprised when you find some red cabbage in your salad and get hostile and demand they take it back. Because now, they’re probably spitting in your food. And, while minor adjustments like that usually work out OK for you, don’t use subjective terms such as light ice and expect their definition of light ice to jibe with yours. Use concrete terms such as the number of cubes or how far up the glass you want the ice to go. And if you make more than two adjustments, forget about it. The Army Corps of Engineers probably can’t figure it out and neither can your cook or waitress.

Past Airing if Grievances here.

I’ll stop being pseudonymous/anonymous if you stop being sensationalist, biased twits beholden to the establishment.

Deal?

Pocket Rifles: here and here.

Get them some armor.

Deb says we hate our government:

Congress’ Approval Rating at 20%; Bush’s Approval at 32% Both the legislative and executive branches of government are very unpopular. They didn’t ask about the courts.

More stuff. Seems the press is reporting the weapon as SKS, AK-47, and an SKK. I don’t know what an SKK is. And that it takes 7.66 ammo. I don’t know what that is either. I’m guessing that ammo doesn’t exist. However, there is an SKK which looks to be an SKS with a small detachable magazine, similar to the SKS-D. I heard some of the 911 tapes this morning and the shooter fired more than 10 rounds in the course of the tape, indicating he either reloaded pretty quickly or had a modified magazine.

AC is angry at the press for lying. More here. I don’t know that they’re lying so much as ignorant and, of course, unwilling to remedy that ignorance.

Sebastian is angry at the press for other reasons.

Tam notes the same old song and dance.

Bill of rights.

Coffee mug for gunners.

Bush is a long time ally of NRA? That’s odd because, last I checked, Dubya wasn’t even a member.

Tune into WATE “The News Station” tonight at 6:00.

You will laugh your ass off.

Resident WATE firearms expert Tearsa Smith shows the weapon from the Omaha Mall shooting. She correctly describes the SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle and it is correctly captioned.

But what picture is under the caption?

Guess. No, you are mistaken.

The picture is of a Winchester lever action rifle. I swear. I am not making this up.

Be very quite, so I can get this on YouTube.

We have a lot of fun with Tearsa and her mastery of firearms. Honestly, it could have been a soldering iron and she would not know the difference.

the not getting it edition:

It is frightening to see such educated men so thoroughly defend the right to bear arms.

Or maybe it was a man-eating cow?

Some asshat named David Nason:

NEBRASKA, the farming state with the highest per capita gun ownership in the US, began the year with LB-454, a new state law allowing people 21 years and over to carry a concealed handgun pretty much wherever they go.

Applicants must pass a routine police check, complete a basic handgun training course (most are run by ex-cops) and pay $US100 ($115) for a five-year permit. It’s as simple as that.

Nebraska marked the end of the year yesterday with a bloodbath at the Westroads shopping mall in Omaha, the state’s largest city. Eight people were shot dead and several others are fighting for their lives.

And you’ll notice that the killer had no such permit, was under the age of 21, and didn’t use a handgun. He was also prohibited by law to even be in possession of a gun. So, the two are not related at all. Yet, the implication is that CCW laws caused this crime. David Nason is an idiot or thinks his readers are.

Ahab has more.

For a friend. But where in Knoxville can one get Lowenbrau?

This morning’s talk radio featured two Mormon guys educating East Tennesseans about Mormonism. It was, obviously, an attempt to stir up some, err, something about Mitt Romney’s pending speech to The God Squad. Most of the callers would call in and ask questions to these two guys that were designed to be gotchas. You know how many angels fit on the head of a pin and do you guys really think God lives on another planet kinda nonsense that would have caused holy wars 800 years ago.

Anyway, to all you folks out there arguing about how silly one religion is compared to another, step back a moment. Let’s take a 30,000 foot view of things. You can’t really criticize one religion as silly for believing that billions of people were brought to earth in DC-10s or that God lives on another planet. And then tell me with a straight face that whatever particular magic your God did was real. Just saying.

The AP:

She told the Omaha World-Herald that the night before the shooting, Hawkins and her sons showed her an SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle — the same type used in the shooting. She said she thought the gun belonged to a member of Hawkins’ family. She said she didn’t think much of it — the gun looked too old to work.

Not an AK, as reported over and over and over after the story first broke. And it’s not a weapon that was covered by the assault weapons ban. Up next:

Records in Sarpy and Washington counties showed Hawkins had a felony drug conviction and several misdemeanor cases filed against him, including an arrest 11 days before the shooting for having alcohol as a minor. He was due in court in two weeks.

So, the shooter was a prohibited person also?