Bitter has the skinny on various non-profit set ups. Will be important for learning about how various anti-gun groups work.

A couple of guns made from wood.

Must have been hit with a .50 caliber.

I kid.

My sources tell me that Kansas is soon to be friendly to machine gunners.

Update: News source:

Starting July 1, Kansans will be able to own machine guns, other fully automatic weapons, sawed-off shotguns and silencers.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a bill Monday legalizing their possession.

Looks like the endorsement from the American Hunters and Shooters Association is not quite paying off.

The other day, I was trying to think of that psychological term where a person attributes their own unacceptable traits or feelings to other people. Turns out, I was wrong and douchebag is not a psychological term at all. It’s called projection.

Left of the Dial: I say if you can’t hold your liquor maybe you shouldn’t be packing a weapon.

To lawfully drink and to lawfully carry a firearm in our state, you must be 21 years of age.

And report a gun crime in their city:

At his residence at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, Zalmay Khalilzad displays a banged-up AK-47 assault rifle from Saddam Hussein’s arsenal: a souvenir from a war Khalilzad supported and a regime he helped topple.

Possession of an unregistered NFA weapon is illegal.

A new letter on suppressors and repair here. Don’t read too much into it because they’ll change their mind next week, not tell you, then arrest you for it.

A correction at the bottom of an article in the New York Times:

Because of an editing error, an article on Tuesday about efforts by state lawmakers across the country to pass new restrictions on guns referred imprecisely to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. While it supports some firearms restrictions and enforcement of legal regulations on gun ownership, it is not an “antigun group.”

Somebody wrote that with a straight face?

Even the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership realizes gun control is a loser!

Actual headline: Clinton, Obama chase elusive gun votes.

Uhm, they’re not elusive. Just be pro-gun.

Mag prices to go up 40%? Uh, why?

Gun bloggers at the 2A Blog Bash will get to hang with reps from FNH USA, makers fine PSH-inducing products like the FiveseveN and the PS90.

And, hopefully at this shindig we’ll be witnessing the release of the civilian version of the FN SCAR?

Chris has a long read on the issue. Pack a lunch.

I concur:

ATF has no business attending gun control news conferences

Should a federal agency advocate a position on gun control? I think not. In fact, I think I’ll call my congress monkey and tell him that.

Update: Press coverage here.

In SC, handgun carry permit data to be kept secret. I’d like to thank the Tennessean and Christian Trejbal at the Roanoke Times for helping get this legislation passed.

No, really:

Colt’s grip on military rifle criticized

M4 does poorly in Army’s own test

A look at combat rifles

Update: BTW, an issue I’ve addressed before is that there is no motivation for American gun makers to get it in the military rifle game since there’s no civilian market for such weapons due to our gun laws making their possession illegal.

Tam:

The reason I loathe the Dem’s candidates is because of their politics, not their genetics.

Judging from my referral logs this weekend, it seems like the rest of the world was figuring out that Barack More Cowbell Obama used to be on the board of the anti-gun Joyce Foundation. The Politico notes what we gun bloggers have known for years now:

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.

But before he became a national political figure, he sat on the board of a Chicago-based foundation that doled out at least nine grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to groups that advocated the opposite positions.

The foundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”

Obama’s eight years on the board of the Joyce Foundation, which paid him more than $70,000 in directors fees, do not in any way conflict with his campaign-trail support for the rights of gun owners, Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Obama’s presidential campaign, asserted in a statement issued to Politico this week.

LaBolt stressed that the foundation, which has assets of about $935 million, doesn’t take “detailed policy positions,” but rather uses its grants to “fuel a dialogue about how to address public policy issues like reducing gun violence.”

Really? You mean paying millions of dollars to fake grassroots groupsis designed to fuel dialogue? How about we look at one of their flagship groups that got $650,000: Gun Guys. And this group is an utter failure at even generating dialogue.

At UT.

Their new graphic:

Heh.

In Chicago this weekend, 32 people were shot. Which is odd because of all that gun control they have, including a ban on the guns that were likely used in all the shootings.

Ok, he’s not really a chick but he looks like one.

One crime = four charges.

WSJ’s Arthur Brooks:

According to the 2006 General Social Survey, which has tracked gun ownership since 1973, 34% of American homes have guns in them. This statistic is sure to surprise many people in cities like San Francisco – as it did me when I first encountered it. (Growing up in Seattle, I knew nobody who owned a gun.)

Who are all these gun owners? Are they the uneducated poor, left behind? It turns out they have the same level of formal education as nongun owners, on average. Furthermore, they earn 32% more per year than nonowners. Americans with guns are neither a small nor downtrodden group.

Nor are they “bitter.” In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were “very happy,” while 9% were “not too happy.” Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.

In 1996, gun owners spent about 15% less of their time than nonowners feeling “outraged at something somebody had done.” It’s easy enough in certain precincts to caricature armed Americans as an angry and miserable fringe group. But it just isn’t true. The data say that the people in the approximately 40 million American households with guns are generally happier than those people in households that don’t have guns.

The gun-owning happiness gap exists on both sides of the political aisle. Gun-owning Republicans are more likely than nonowning Republicans to be very happy (46% to 37%). Democrats with guns are slightly likelier than Democrats without guns to be very happy as well (32% to 29%). Similarly, holding income constant, one still finds that gun owners are happiest.

Why are gun owners so happy? One plausible reason is a sense of self-reliance, in terms of self-defense or even in terms of the ability to hunt their own dinner.

Many studies over the years have shown that a belief in one’s control over the environment dramatically adds to happiness. Example: a famous study of elderly nursing home patients in the 1970s. It showed dramatic improvements in life satisfaction from elements of control as seemingly insignificant as being able to care for one’s plants.

A bit of evidence that self-reliance is at work among gun owners comes from the General Social Survey. It asked whether one agrees with the statement, “Those in need have to take care of themselves.” In 2004, gun owners were 10 percentage points more likely than nonowners to agree (60% to 50%).

I knew gun owners spent a lot of money (guns aren’t cheap) but I was unaware that we were so darn happy.

Via Ben.

The pipsqueak’s blog turned 1.

Ouch!

More from the past.

AC is back!

The pilot whose weapon discharged on an airplane is about to be fired.

He’s going to be fired because TSA’s asinine policy that requires a pilot to unnecessarily handle a gun and insert an object near the trigger. See here, here and here.

If I understand all the yammering on the blogs, it seems those who vote Democrat are upset over the recent Hillsy v. Barack 867-5309 Obama debate. It seems (and, once again, I did not watch) that the moderators focused on issues such as whether or not Hillary Clinton is a liar because she misspoke about taking sniper fire; and whether or not Barack A-Wop-bop-a-loo-op a-lop-bam-boo Obama really looks down on gun-toting, religious crackers (one blog, and I forgot where, called it Crackerquiddick – heh). You know, unimportant things.

See, they did this instead of focusing on the issues. Which is apparently code for repeat prepared statements about diversity and hope and change and compassion and Free Health Care that we’ve all heard at least 17 times already this week. You know, real debate! At this point, the two differ on their views about as much as two guys on death row have differing opinions about the death penalty.

Apparently, there’s a more sophisticated way to say vote for me, you cousin-humping rednecks.

In the country of California, Mark Vargas installed some solar panels. Trouble is that, in a colossal case of failure to plan, his solar panels were installed in the shade of his neighbors’ redwood trees. But get this:

Richard Treanor and Carolynn Bissett of Sunnyvale, Calif., were criminally prosecuted because redwood trees in their backyard cast shadows over their neighbor’s solar panels.

A judge ordered in December that two of the trees be trimmed back. The couple have had one trimmed, hoping that will satisfy the judge.

Criminally prosecuted and threatened with fines of $1,000/day because their neighbors put solar panels in the shade of their trees. Wow. And, seriously, there’s a law that covers that. Governor Moonbeam signed it back in 1978. Mark Vargas was rewarded by the state despite being stupid enough to install solar panels in the shade. More:

“I still think it is sad that we couldn’t have figured it out between neighbors,” Vargas said. “I offered to pay to remove the trees.”

There’s no figure it out you want X and your neighbors wanted exactly the opposite of X. There’s no figuring that out. Unfortunately for your neighbors, there’s also no shortage of stupid in California law.

Update: I think I’d go find one of those spotted owls and let it live in the trees.

I’ve said before that, on a handgun, I don’t want one that has a magazine disconnect safety. I think California and Massachusetts require them on guns (police excepted, of course). Well, here’s one reason why:

The officer was struck with the bat as he walked out of his office and fell backward in a daze, Dyer said.

As the officer tried to draw his firearm, the weapon’s magazine clattered to the floor, Dyer said.

The student with the bat approached the officer again, the chief said, prompting the officer to reach for a second firearm attached to his ankle.

I want it to go bang when I pull the trigger, whether there’s a magazine in it or not.

Here’s a livejournal from a guy who everyone thought was the Virginia Tech shooter (I’ve linked him before). They thought it was him because he’s 1) Asian (they all look the same, you know) and 2) he was a gun owner (we’re all crazy and shoot things all the time, you know). Anyway, a year later, he goes back through some things from that time, including his place getting raided and various press interviews. Interesting stuff:

Interview

Now, congress is calling for an investigation into Big Football!

You can feel safe or, you know, be safe.

GunPundit interviews Kyle Cassidy on his book Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes.

Barack Lollapalooza Obama’s appeal summarized.

Judge to Mayor: Knock that shit off.

If they enforce the illegal laws anyway, remember TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 242

Over at the NYT, David from war on guns continues to do battle though he’s surrounded by anti-gunners.

My move to a new server is now complete. If you’re seeing this, then you’re here. If you’re not, well there’s no point in me talking to you.

No, I kid. But it wouldn’t surprise me.

BTW, the new Wal-Marts don’t sell guns, I don’t think. And the new one in Maryville definitely does not.

Too much to list!

I mentioned before how the site seems to go down in the afternoons and it’s due to referrer spam. Well, my host provider (the wonderful people at HostMatters) are moving me to a new server. So, access to the site may occur or may not. You’ve been warned so if you type a long comment telling me I’m wrong, you may want to save it somewhere before hitting submit.

Cool but scary at the same time. With video.

Technology: Stop it before it kills someone!!!

If you weren’t paying attention, then you didn’t notice all the racism. See, we’re not a post racism society*. Part of the reason is that everyone sits around with their racist decoder rings looking for racism. Even when it may or may not be there. But accusations of racism these days are rather like car alarms. You hear both so much that you don’t even pay attention to the noise anymore. A few examples:

If you call Barack Chirac Obama an elitist, you’re a racist! Seriously?

Bill Hobbs did a post reminding Barack Tiberius Obama who is boss was. That boss quite clearly from the link meant the people. Then ZOMFG it’s a slave reference!

And ZOMFG! someone called Barack Gwen Stefani Obama a boy! But, you say I call people boy sometimes and I don’t mean nothing racist by it. I looked at my wife last night and said ‘that boy ain’t right’ and he was a white dude trying to push a rope. Doesn’t matter because Boy, in that context, is a racist remark, period. We don’t have to give you a reason, it just is! Dammit. And this is great:

The GOP clearly intends to yell “n*gger, n*gger” or “b*tch, b*tch” for the entire campaign in a desperate attempt to divert attention away from the complete mess they have made of the country.

Not really since the Dems are doing it for the GOP. I mean, I keep reading lefty blogs that say if you don’t vote for Hillsy, it’s ’cause you’re a misogynist. And if you don’t vote for Barack a² + b² = c² Obama, it’s ’cause you’re a racist.

In other news, years of pandering to identity politics is biting the Dems on the ass.

* Note: there really is real racism but none of this is it.

I often wonder how some people can look themselves in the mirror. One of those people is Janet Reno. In her case, it might be a bit harder since she always sees Ernest Borgnine looking back at her.

But, buck up little camper, at least you weren’t set on fire.

Let’s make it more illegaler. That’ll show ‘em!

So, from my referral logs last night, I learn that the anti-gun Democratic Leadership Council’s shill group diguised as a pro-gun group American Hunters And Shooters Association has endorsed Barack Machine Wash Warm Obama for President. Gasp! Swoon! Of course they did. That’s what they were created for.

Update: A reminder from Sebastian:

Let’s remember how Obama supports the shooting community again:

• Advocating that handguns be banned
• Advocating a comprehensive ban on all semi-automatic firearms
• Sponsoring legislation that makes it harder to get a license to possess a firearm, which is required under Illinois law.
• Voting against a measure as US Senator that prevents firearms manufacturers being sued out of existence because their products can be used by criminals.
• Banning any ammunition that could be used in an “assault weapon” which would include many sporting cartridges.
• Banning all firearms sale within five miles of a school or park, meaning there would be very few places in the United States where guns could be sold.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the VT tragedy. The Brady Campaign used the opportunity to beg for money. Of course, on the day of the shooting, they had a donate button complete with new graphics before the bodies were cold.

And it seems the Brady Campaign’s political stunt on the anniversary was not well-received.

And for whatever reason, the Brady Camp is trying to associate the non-existent gun show loophole with VT?

Or murder training?

“As far as I am concerned, the laws are valid and we will act as if this whole conversation with the D.A. just didn’t take place,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

Source.

We bloggers have been talking about this for a while. But the pilot whose firearm discharged likely due to TSA policy has made CNN:

David Codrea, that is.

Here’s his bit for the NYT.

Gunny’s is apparently open for business. And their website is much improved. So says an email I received.

To want a gun.

Trust me, it will happen.

On big brother:

You know, I’ve gotta tell ya’ll – with every city, town, and slightly populated area with an intersection making kissy-faces at Redflex, my rebellious streak has gotten worn down. Let’s face it. Robo-Smokey is the unstoppable wave of the future.

RedBlueAmerica looks at the candidates and guns.

A good read on how one woman became a gun person.

Philly DA says their recent gun laws are on their face, illegal acts. Well, arrest the perpetrators.

Update: NRA pursuing a restraining order.

PGP on Hillsy and Barack Cheryl Tiegs Obama pandering to gun owners:

It’s like watching two Klansmen argue over which one likes minorities more.

Heh.

Is that a synonym for factually deficient?

Apparently, MSNBC won’t run the Mayors Against Guns ad because it’s controversial:

“How could the network call something controversial that all three candidates agree about,” he said. “All three cands have called for the gun-show loophole to be closed.”

Because we’ have to admit all three candidates are ignorant on the issue. I think McCain has since recanted, not sure though. Sales at gun shows are subject to the same federal regulations as sales not at gun shows.

Jay has more.

And did you know that Oliver Willis was still around? I didn’t. I guess at some point everyone stopped making fun of him and so I wasn’t exposed to his special brand of stupid anymore.

When losing, claim you’re winning.

The story so far: CavArms sold polymer lower receivers for AR-15s. The receivers were injection molded off site. CavArms reached an agreement and got an approval letter from BATF stating that the method of off site production was OK! ATF randomly changes it’s mind without telling anyone (like they do a lot) Then, they raid CavArms.

Now, the latest:

ATF has initiated Civil Asset Forfeiture for all of the firearms seized in the raid. The list includes firearms that belong to employees, customers, and were here on consignment. We are not going to let them take it all unchallenged, we have retained counsel specializing in asset forfeiture and will be talking with them this week. We will update with more information as it becomes available.
[…]
In Civil Asset Forfeiture, the Government sues the property, and you have to respond as a claimant proving you have a legal right to it. That is the jist of it….google it and you will find a lot of stuff.

The way this stuff works is NOT how they tell you it works in high school civics class. I keep reading posts from people about “well the way things are supposed to be is…!” Well it’s not. The way things are supposed to be and the way they actually are, are two different things.
[…]
In Criminal Forfeiture, yes and you have to be convicted. In Civil Forfeiture you have to prove your innocence, or the innocence of the property as not being used in the commission of crimes, etc.

Tam on the religious weirdos in Texas: The seriously outgunned (by a ratio of several hundred to zero) religious weirdos in the facility, which has been downgraded from “compound” to “ranch” to “retreat”, claimed they were terrified that they were going to be attacked. And given the track record (no pun intended) of mechanized law enforcement against nut-fudge religious types in Texas, can you really blame them?

I’m just glad no one was set on fire.

Lions in Chicago? Of course, you can’t have a gun to shoot them either.

Woke up today and my internets were broken. Upgraded to WP2.5. Me no likey interface.

Heh.

Jimmy Naifeh (the speaker who kills Tennessee’s pro gun bills) is up for re-election. Meet his opponent, Rory Bricco. He’s quite pro-gun.

Small and odd guns.

Some guy named Cliff Lyon is spamming the pro-gun blogs and linking to his post at One Utah in which he takes Alan Korwin to task for asserting:

Guns save hundreds of thousands of lives a year.

Says Cliff: This is the beauty of the internet. Unsupportable public comments and the people who make them can be taken to task and a permanent record established.

Well, I’m not Alan Korwin (and you could ask Alan on his blog) so I don’t know to what he was referring. However, it could have been a number of sources. He may have referenced the Department of Justice (about 700K); Gary Kleck at the University of Florida (2.5M) ; John Lott; or the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey. Pick one.

Lyle welcomes 8 to it.

Les Jones is flashlight blogging: A Maglite is a gateway drug to a serious flashlight addiction. Surefires, Streamlights and Fenixes are the hard stuff. I’ve got one of each now and I’m still looking for the perfect light.

Heh.

Howard Nemerov has a must read on the bias against guns in the press, particularly the press being All AK-47 All The Time!

Now, I poke fun of Barack Smurfette Obama by always giving him a random middle name to make fun of the fact that we can’t mention his middle name without being called racists. But I’d never go that far.

Sebastian on why we need castle doctrine: Because when you’re cleared of any wrongdoing in a self-defense case, the scumbag ought not be able to sue you.

It must be that the NRA is a shill for Republicans.

Let’s ask Bill Richardson, who you’ll recall some discussion of getting NRA to change its position of not endorsing during primaries.

Come to think of it, if Richardson was still in the race, I’d pull the lever for him over McCain.

Thirdpower notes that Illinois State Police refuse to release FOIA requests for Steven Kazmierczak’s Firearms Owner Identification Card. He was the NIU shooter. The state AG recommended it be released. Now, it could be standard operating procedure to break the law and not comply with such a request. Or it could be that they’re covering their butts since they approved a FOID for a person who may have been prohibited by law from owning a firearm.

Marko wrote the excellent Why The Gun Is Civilization. It shot up all over the internet and was mis-attributed to a marine major. Heck, even Neal Boortz read it on the air and attributed it incorrectly. But now, the gun-toting scientologists are using it in their advertisements.

Apparently, and I found this quite interesting, the stolen and mis-attributed version omits one word.

On the bright side, I guess Marko is kinda famous.

They’ve set up a youtube channel and are really pushing this fictitious gun show loophole thing. They’re also reminding everyone that McCain buys this gun show loophole nonsense.

Hot chicks from Kit.

Women and guns at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The AP reports that Wal-Mart has reached an agreement with Mayor Bloomberg’s group. From what I read at first in the AP bit, it looks like Wal-Mart has just agreed to continue following federal law. No big deal. Then, another report said Wally World would set up its own trace system to do what FBI and ATF already do. And now, reports are that they will film gun sales.

Ahab says it’s a registry.

NRA statement here correctly notes it’s a bunch feel good hooey that will accomplish nothing.

Sebastian has their contact info and has written a letter.

It may not sell a lot of product but it’s the basis for about 65% of all sitcoms.

Barack Monosodium Glutamate Obama was neck and neck with Hillsy last week. Now, Hillsy is rumored to be up 20 points.

When asked why, Obama replied with I dunno, you dumb cousin-humping redneck.

R. Neal on the guns in bars bill:

Yes, that’s just what we need. More yahoos with more guns in more places.

Yes, because everyone with a permit to lawfully carry a firearm is a yahoo. Been writing Obama’s stuff?

Anyway, most of our neighbor states have such a provision and no increase in violence at restaurants has been reported.

When Barack Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt Obama isn’t reading from the script, he can really pull some boners:

So I said, well ya know, when you’re bitter, you turn to what you can count on. So people, ya know they vote about guns or they take comfort from their faith, and their family, and their community, and they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country, or they get frustrated about how things are changing. That’s a natural response.

So, if I understand this correctly, his attempt to correct his first gaffe results in him repeating the gaffe again?

Seen at Jeff’s:

Gun control is the only kind of policy that we have where the proponents of it will point to its utter failure as evidence that we need even more of it.

Fine for selling realistic looking toy guns: $800K

They had one in Memphis. It resulted in some traffic and drug violations. I feel safer.

Something you don’t see every day.

Shorter St. Petersburg Times editorial: Be reasonable, you crazy mother fuckers!

Seriously, they think calling people zealots is going to win friends and influence people?

An armed society is a polite society.

Via USC, comes this piece in the AJC. And a slideshow here.

Meet the Ninja Dognapper.

As part of Hillsy’s anti-crime plan, buried at the bottom: Other provisions would target identity theft and online child exploitation. Clinton also renewed her call for reinstating the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.

The rest of her plan is full of other pipe dreams as well.

This time, from Doug: Gentlemen’s Top Cuts combines sexy women, sports, hot wax, trimmers, scissors, shampoo, massage, beer and general pampering in classy environment for men.

To Terry Frank who will be blogging at WBIR. Other bloggers will be joining WBIR as well.

Bloggers now working with the media? It’s official: bloggers are now part of the problem!

At the Tennessean:

House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh’s recent actions on self-defense votes in the Tennessee General Assembly were hypocritical and ignored the will of tens of thousands of law-abiding Tennesseans.

Here’s why. Speaker Naifeh enjoys round-the-clock security detail courtesy of Tennessee taxpayers — even in restaurants and bars. But yet he believes that “regular people” neither deserve, nor need, the God-given right to self-defense in restaurants.

The truth is, Mr. Naifeh isn’t the first politician to claim to be pro-gun but then vote against gun rights. He joins the ranks of Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Al Gore who made bogus claims supporting the Second Amendment while voting against the rights of law-abiding men and women. Speaker Naifeh uses talking points distributed by Washington, D.C., gun-control groups to convince people that improving the self-defense rights of law-abiding Tennesseans would increase crime. If you’re having a flashback, it is because those were the same bogus predictions that were offered during the right-to-carry debate more than a decade ago.

But the facts paint a different story. According to FBI statistics, since right-to-carry legislation swept across America, crime rates have decreased. Furthermore, the 34 states that have restaurant carry laws, including six of Tennessee’s eight border states, report no problems in this area. In fact, not a single state has proposed a repeal of its restaurant carry law.

Defeating Naifeh, IMO, should be a priority for gun right folks in TN. Unfortunately, defeating Naifeh in his district is almost impossible. Beating him as speaker is likely the way to go.

How’s that working?

A new one in Milwaukee?