Continuing their record of stellar performance.

Oops, sorry:

The director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has written to U.S. Rep. Bill Sali to say he’s sorry about the way the agency handled the Idaho Republican’s inquiry into a training slogan.

Last week, Sali accused ATF of offering misleading accounts of how the federal agency ended its use of the “Always Think Forfeiture” training slogan, which had angered some Second Amendment activists who thought it reflected a bias against law-abiding gun owners.

“I apologize for any confusion our response may have caused you or your staff,” wrote Michael Sullivan, the acting director of the agency, adding that he hoped his letter would give “a clearer picture of the sequence of events surrounding this issue.”

The dispute began when Sali claimed credit for ATF’s decision to stop engraving “Always Think Forfeiture” on Leatherman pocket tools handed out to trainees. But the bureau had already decided in March to stop using the phrase after other members of Congress complained.

Oh, we were just confused that the term Always Think Forfeiture meant, uh, Always Think Forfeiture. Glad that’s cleared up.

Via David, who says: Honesty is not something you should have to hope for. It’s something honorable men and women demand of themselves.

This time, they’re bringing in the God squad!

I hopped over there to check out the reasoned discourse^tm. This post on the idolatry of the gun is amusing. It’s not amusing because of all the bearing false witness with statements like representatives refuse to regulate guns as consumer products, which I guess is like sinning for the cause, eh, reverend? It’s because she says that the gun seduces with false power and teases with illusive security. And that is particularly amusing when it’s her sort that believe these idols cause death and mayhem all by themselves. These evil idols cause evil all by themselves! Guns are the devil!!!!

I wonder if the good reverend can exorcise the evil spirits out of guns?

Update: Speaking of anti-gun reverends

Update 2: She has exorcised her blog post: Down the memory hole!

Count the lies and misrepresentations at CBS news.

Let’s see:

Did not ban possession

Actually, The National Institute of Justice could not “clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence.”

I possess several weapons that look like assault weapons and I pose a danger to no one.

Fourth grader in MA suspended for taking empty shell casing to school. It was a memorial day souvenir.

Colt.

Ouch!

BTW, are the Democrats embarrassed yet?

Sebastian is correct, most people don’t really care about the whole gay cooties issue. KAG, noting everything happening today, can’t believe that the one issue some people pick is gay marriage.

In a post about Barack Hanson Obama’s book that Kevin is reading so I don’t have to spit hopechangefaith allover myself, comes this wonderful quote from Scalia:

What in the world is a ‘moderate interpretation’ of the text? Halfway between what it really says and what you want it to say?

Now, with twice the propaganda and ten times the Reasoned Discourse^tm!

Breda goes to the range.

The Akins folks have filed a second lawsuit in their case.

The Boston Globe has a piece on may issue concealed carry being onerous. No, really:

Gun owners are complaining that local police chiefs have too much leeway in considering applications for the state’s concealed weapons license, creating a frustrating patchwork of gun regulations that vary from town to town.

In a letter to the state attorney general’s office, gun owners say that police chiefs throw up roadblocks that are unnecessary, and possibly illegal, for gun owners to obtain a Class A license that allows the holder to carry a concealed handgun or own rifles with a large capacity for ammunition.

Wow! The otherwise anti-gun Globe printed that?

You’ll recall Steve Bailey, who allegedly made an illegal straw purchase and then wrote about it, writes for the globe. Complicit in that allegedly unlawful transaction was John Rosenthal of American Hunters and Shooters Association.

BTW, I wonder if ATF’s investigation into Mr. Bailey has concluded? I haven’t heard from the guy in while.

Gothamist:

An off-duty police killed one of two men who attacked the desk clerk of a luxury building in Chinatown late last night. Detective Martin Carrano, 36, was also stabbed in the neck and back; his injuries, as were the desk clerk’s, were non-life-threatening.

Good thing someone was armed. In NYC, only the police and the rich and famous are lawfully armed.

From guav, who emails: Of course, if NYC allowed CCW and he had been a “regular” citizen who was armed, he never could have stopped the attack—he probably would have started firing wildly in all directions, killing the attack victim and several innocent bystanders in the process before being disarmed by the attackers and shot with his own weapon.

Someone breaking the law to get guns in New Jersey:

FedEx employee accused in NJ gun-selling scheme

Police in Jersey City arrest two men in an alleged gun-selling scheme.

Authorities say 28-year-old Patrick Dolan of Keyport stole 11 guns while working for FedEx. FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz confirmed that Dolan works for the company and says FedEx is cooperating fully with authorities.

Police say Dolan and 32-year-old John Sozomenou of Aberdeen were selling the guns at a housing project for prices ranging from $300 to $500.

That’s kinda odd since I thought all the guns in the north east came from the evil gun show loophole or because those nefarious gun makers were just flooding the streets up there with them.

A new gun blog called the Arsenal. A sample bit is buying a 22 pistol. Cool.

Lots of teh st00pid today:

Failure to stop or hooking? What’s the difference.

Canadian airport security freaks out over gun shaped necklace charm.

Insensitive? Maybe. Inaccurate, nope. Tragic, yes.

Huh?

The Brits called parliament today. They want their guns back. From reader Magus.

Ok, who mixed the explosives?

It helps to let go of the flashbang!

Brave talk from a guy sitting behind a keyboard.

In what has to be the dumbest thing resulting from the right wing blogosphere, Rachel Ray (who is kinda hot) was dumped as a spokeswoman for Dunkin’ Donuts because she may have had an explosive strapped to her chest. Oh, no. That’s not correct. Turns out, she was just wearing a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh. And apparently it looked radical Islam enough to rile people up who have no idea what a keffiyeh even is.

Thanks for proving that conservatives can be as stupid as the kos kids.

Just the other day I was lamenting the cussing (of which I found out later Dave Kopel does not approve). And holy fucking shit, if it’s not Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month!

Seen at Radley’s:

The only problem with living in a libertarian utopia is that you’d have to live with a bunch of libertarians.

A defense weapon.

I’m sure she spray fired it from the hip!

Doug Pennington of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership:

Brady does not advocate banning guns

Unless they’re assault weapons, 50 calibers, FiveseveNs, Saturday Night Specials, handguns in DC, guns that don’t have non-existent smart technology, sniper rifles, regular capacity weapons, guns that don’t microstamp ejected casings, colored guns, guns you want to carry, etc. I mean, it’s a long list. But other than all that, they don’t advocate banning guns.

Tom King on microstamping.

Well, everything is bigger in Tennessee.

Win a Sig250.

I have to confess that I don’t much see the point in a modular gun when you can just buy another gun. But still, it’s a Sig!

David Hardy has the story.

After a good bit of time in the press dedicated to mainstreaming survivalism, now it’s for crazy rednecks again.

Commando Arms Mark 45

Wild Bunch Match Guns.

Ryan Jerz:

Mass shooting? I’d say this qualifies as a slight misrepresentation of the facts. By the accounts that have been published locally, the guy did not enter that bar hoping to wipe out a ton of people.

He was shot while reloading. That seems to imply that he wasn’t done yet. I’m glad the guy who shot him didn’t wait to verify that he was done.

And I do maintain a list of these incidents and someone always says something like well, you don’t know if this one case or that one case would have been a mass shooting. Of course I don’t. But I’m glad we don’t have to find out if they would have been.

The AK-15!

Wall of Beretta’s:

Sometimes, st00pid does hurt.

Another mass shooting stopped by a carry permit holder:

In the small town of Winnemucca Nevada a man bent on performing a mass shooting at a bar was stopped by an armed CCW permit holder who happened to be in the right place at the right time. The alleged mass murderer had already killed two victims & had injured two others with gunshot wounds, but while he was reloading he was shot & killed by an armed CCW permit holder who was also at the bar.

Mass murderers stopped by armed citizens seems to be a theme.

In Tennessee, House Speaker Naifeh keeps killing the bill that allows handgun carry permit holders to carry where alcohol is served.

Remember the guy that appeared to be pointing a gun at a kid in Chicago that was caught on Google street view? Poof, gone.

Don’t tell Tom Eblen, but: NRA endorses Governor Schweitzer.

And his political party affiliation would be . . . ?

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a presidential primary going on. No, really. You may have missed it. But apparently Hillary made some comment about assassination and it caused everyone to lose their minds. And part of the everyone includes a lot of Democrats who are Barack Barracuda Obama loyalists. Apparently, Democrat folks are now breaking out the Lewinsky videos. And that just makes me laugh. Some Democrats are now what Republicans were back in the 1990s.

Up next, is that Barack As Seen on TV Obama has slipped up a few times:

He said there were 57 states
His uncle liberated Aushwitz
Honored our fallen, who were apparently resurrected and in the audience that night
His parents conceived our savior (what, he resurrected the dead?) during the march on Selma or some such

Dude, as a politician, the memory must match the tape. Period. It’s a good thing you didn’t misspell potato(e) or your career would be over. I can’t decide if I really care so much about these gaffes. I mean, they guy campaigns like 20 hours a day and has been doing it a while. He could be tired. If there’s something more to it than that, I might be worried since, you know, if he wins he’ll be the guy with the button.

What is amusing about a lot of the criticism though is that Bush loyalists are being critical of I wanna Barack and roll all night Obama for his inability to speak articulately? Now that’s funny. I don’t care who you are.

The Daily Times:

Beginning July 1, registered sex offenders in Tennessee must tell authorities of any e-mail, user name or instant messaging screen name they use.

Illinois Makes it Illegal to Commit Illegal Gun Transfer Illegally to Minors Who Can’t Legally Have Them Because it’s Illegal

Just one more law!

The Second really digs the movie Cars. Like, a lot. Too much. On Monday, for instance, we watched it three times and it’s a two hour movie. And when we wants to watch the movie he starts saying the word Cars over and over.

Cars Cars Cars Cars Cars Cars

Anyway, he was saying that the other day. The Mrs. looks at Junior and says: I don’t think he knows any other words.

Junior looks at the Mrs. and says: He knows bubbles.

David offers some advice.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership tells a fib in the press. You’d think those layers of editorial oversight would kick in to figure that out. But you’d be wrong.

The following could not have happened:

String of shootings in New York City leave 8 hurt: Unpossible since carrying a gun is illegal in NYC. Unless you’re rich and famous, of course.

A British student has been arrested in the US for attempting to buy a gun for a dare using fake ID, US police said.: Unpossible, we all know that you can walk right into any US gun shop, buy a machine gun, and send it to Mexico!

Oakland is drowning in guns: Unpossible in #1 ranked for gun control California!

Gun ownership up in Scotland: Unpossible since there are all those gun laws to prevent that.

Mr. Eblen penned an article singing the praises of the American Hunters And Shooters Association. Apparently, people let him know that this group was a sham. And he responds with this tripe:

As expected, I heard an earful about my column last week on a new gun group that opposes the National Rifle Association’s hard-line views and allegiance to the Republican Party.

NRA loyalists from around the country sent me e-mails echoing the organization’s claim that a small rival, the American Hunters & Shooters Association, is just a “front” for gun-control activists. They said that anything that weakens absolute Second Amendment freedom is a slippery slope that will lead to the nation being disarmed.

I believe just the opposite is true — and I think many gun owners realize it.

You just believe and also probably feel. The difference is that those of us who pay attention actually know that the American Hunters And Shooters Association is a sham group. And in a huge twist of irony that is so obvious to anyone with two brain cells and who is not a journalist, the AHSA is exactly what it accuses the NRA of being. It is a group set up by the DLC to give Democrats some pro-gun credibility.

The NRA endorses based on issues. Here in Tennessee, they endorse more Democrats than Republicans. How many Republicans as AHSA endorsed?

Remember, we’re just paranoid for thinking that regulating our self-defense guns is a predecessor to going after your sporting weapons:

Mayor David Miller wants to close recreational shooting ranges in Toronto, along with giving the city power to block gun manufacturers and wholesalers from opening new plants or warehouses.

“Nobody can deny that hobby directly results in people being shot and killed on the streets of our city,” Miller said of sport shooting yesterday, amid debate on a possible gun bylaw.

Seems the old fight about 5.56 Nato being ineffective has taken a new twist. Now, it’s not the round so much as the 14.5 inch barrels do not deliver enough oomph. And, of course, criticism of the US military round. SayUncle’s free tip to solve the problem: JHPs.

Yeah, some argue that would violate some arbitrary rules of war. But I think beheading people does too.

I hear the SKS 47 is very rare.

Gun free zones and the ketchup bottle

With apologies to George Lopez for the joke.

Doom and gloom at the border:

U.S. should focus on stemming gun flow, Mexico says
Drug-trade in Mexico kept alive by U.S. demand
Still No. 1; But that’s not a good thing – it’s in gunrunning
The hunt for guns; Fed agents busy trying to stymie local weapons trading
Mexican drugs: a smarter approach

Hey, you know what would keep those guns out? Give up?

A fence.

Just a thought.

Heh:

When police spotted a gun-wielding suspect lurking in the shadows of a suburban front room, their response was swift.

Armed officers burst into the house, shouted at the owner to lie on the floor, and ordered him to surrender his weapon.

But efficiency turned to embarrassment when the “gunman” turned out to be a life-sized model of the video game character Lara Croft, complete with trademark outsized pistols.

Says David Hardy:

Word is circulating that a number of ATF supervisors, from field up to high HQ levels, Assistant Directors and such, are being effectively suspended (effectively, but without using that term) while higher powers look into their competence and allegations of abuse and/or fraud. The Inspector General is said to be taking a role, and some of those involved in matters like Red’s Trading Post are under the microscope.

I hope so. And it’s about time. The ATF continues its stellar performance. Past episodes include:

OMB cracks down on ATF’s letter rulings (you know, we mean it this week but next week maybe not)

ATF raids the wrong house

ATF agents peddling anti-gun propaganda

Always think forfeiture

Retaliation against whistleblowers.

Ignoring congressional recommendations.

Trouble with their database and lying about it.

Criticized by congress for going after clerical errors instead of, you know, real gun crime.

Unethical and illegal actions from field managers.

Lying in court and getting slapped for it.

Bullying bloggers

Lying (or time-traveling) to make a case that one of their auditees is harassing them.

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

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

Having budget issues due to mismanagement;

Being investigated for breaking he law at Virginia gun shows.

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

The ATF Director has resigned over excessive and lavish spending.

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

And employees are coming forward with allegations of mismanagement.

And getting smacked down for disregarding the law.

Dr. Helen had a spook from the IRS. IRS did the right thing and acknowledged their mistake.

If the state of Tennessee makes a mistake, you will pay for it:

SayUncle v. Professional Privilege Taxes
SayUncle v. Professional Privilege Taxes 2
SayUncle v. Professional Privilege Taxes 3

Coincidentally, I received this years bill on time and with no problems.

Joe is looking at putting together a day for bloggers at Boomershoot:

Hence I have decided to make Thursday April 23rd 2009 Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day. On this day gun bloggers will be given media credentials and a special behind the scenes tour of and participation in Boomershoot 2009. If the individuals involved want to actually mix explosives and package the targets they will need to fill out some paperwork at least a couple months in advance.

Need to build a rifle? TriggerFinger has a post for you.

Masada:

These are cool. Basically, it’s a quick detach and re-attach barrel for Ruger MKs. A suppressor added gives it the look of an integrally suppressed MK.

Sebastian has a write up and a pic.

Michael Bane tells us to expect more NFA goodies on his show. Cool! Also, he has a righteous rant against the arbitrary NFA laws in this country. Read it all. Then come back.

Sticky area. NFA weapons tend to frighten people. One of the things mentioned by some NRA guys I talked to in Louisville was that your average Congressmonkie would crap their pants if they realized that pre-86 MGs were still transferable. I think suppressors are more easily winnable because noise reduction can be shown to be beneficial in areas where there are disputes over shooting ranges close to residential areas.

The Pistol/Short Barreled Rifle/Any Other Weapon rules are completely arbitrary. And Chris Byrne wrote a piece a bit back on how not to have your life ruined by ATF entirely due to that issue.

In Manhattan.

via Glenn.

What’s the NRA for:

He’s got a point; they’re not out there at the bleeding edge, they’re in there buyin’ coffee for the regulators. –But somebody’s got to and better NRA than the Bradyites. Way better.

Squeaky gets a new rifle. Everyone needs a 10/22.

Yuri takes his girl to the range.

And Ahab has video from a bowling pin shoot.

They’re now up on youtube.

And Jindal for president.

The Diplomad Goes to a Gun Show:

One of my great beefs with condescending liberal politicians, such as Hillary, is that when they seek the votes of gun owners they talk about hunting and the joys of plinking tin cans on a summer afternoon. It is as though the Second Amendment addresses some lesser “right,” some vague “right to have fun,” a “right” granted and subject to rescinding by the state.

In Fort Worth:

A college violated some students’ constitutional rights by not allowing them to wear empty gun holsters as part of a nationwide protest over campus bans on concealed weapons, a student claims.

Brett Poulos said that although he asked permission before last month’s demonstration, a Tarrant County College official said empty holsters could not be worn anywhere on campus. Poulos said he was told students could protest only in the “free-speech zone” — a 12-by-12-foot concrete platform.

Free speech zones? Thought the whole country was a free speech zone.

Giving permit holders a bad name.

Sebastian notes that the M16 parts allegedly bought by Olofson are magazines and bolts. That would mean they weren’t M16 parts at all.

Nifty. Via ninth stage.

Practical Shooting in the Pittsburgh Tribune:

Practical shooting traces its roots to combat pistol shooting, though it can involve rifles and shotguns, too. And it still draws military marksmen and law enforcement types, said Alan Meek of Virginia, an area 8 director.

But it’s evolved to become a sport enjoyed by all types of people, he said.

When I was at the NRA Convention, I mentioned to Joe I’d like to try practical shooting. He explained a bit about it. And I grabbed some literature there. Also, one of the guys I met named Paul is going to introduce me to some locals. Looks fun.

United States Practical Shooting Association webpage.

Cool:

OutdoorsFan Media, a division of InterMedia Outdoors, is the outdoors industry’s leading news company and is currently seeking an editor for its new title TacticalGunFan.com. Ideal candidate will have a strong history of newswriting and/or editorial experience. Knowledge of firearms crucial — knowledge of tactical firearms preferred. Candidate must be able to produce accurate, well-written copy on tight deadlines.

Roberta has a couple of them.

Not going so great:

WA has more guns now than before the 1996 Port Arthur massacre – a reversal of a near decade-long downward trend in weapon ownership.

The jump coincides with a scathing national report, which found many firearms owners were failing to properly store them, including high-powered weapons left unlocked in cases, cars and cupboards.

And this:

Inadequate security was to blame for more than half the gun thefts in Australia.

And criminals were to blame for all of them.

Actually, most crime guns in California are traced to, uh, California. I guess it depends on your definition of majority.

Speaking of trace data, all that info we were told would be banned by the evil gun lobby is available here. Via Joe.

Car full of weapons!

We learn from Oleg that Kit and John are hitched. And someone live blogged a wedding.

I dig it:

Anyone ID this gun?

Mayor Nutter is good for gun sales.

That’s pretty good.

Michael Silence has a weekly column in the local newspaper on blogs. The first installment is here:

Because I’ve followed blogging since 2002 and have been blogging since 2004, some misguided and ill-informed editors thought the column would be a good idea.

They got my URL wrong so readers of the paper will be going to a spam page.

I didn’t know Sean Braisted was videoblogging.

Tam discovered something I realized long ago:

Write something good on a Monday morning and it can get noticed, linked, emailed, spread around; if it gets good enough word of mouth you can wind up basking in the glory of an Instalanche or some other bigtime linky love… Friday night? Not likely.

Yup. I sit on stuff on the weekends and post it on higher traffic days.

Looks like it. And the blog is gone.

Nice shot. Or five.

And this report from the floor.

Well, ours is bigger.

Or something.

At Gun Debate Critic.

Update: And Milwaukee.

Bwahahaha.

Yes, I got it.

Glad to see police departments going with 45ACP!

1911s from the convention.

In Queens: Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and District Attorney Richard Brown met with law enforcement and community leaders to discuss the increase in shootings at the Redfern Houses in Far Rockaway and what can be done to prevent them.

Apparently, there’s an effort to make men feminine. Now, I’m not all scared of gay cooties and I don’t fear metrosexuals. Hell, I’ve been known to have a pedicure and manicure myself (my dad will be along in a minute to make fun of that too). So, I got some girling it up street cred.

But this fashion trend of putting men in skinny clothes and having them apply lipstick is too much. Who seriously thought this would be fashionable? Or even remotely popular?

BTW, Breda’s title: I would not hit that. That had me laughing. And it had me thinking about a post here from a bit back:

Ah, euphemisms for doin’ it. And, ladies, if you wonder what men are doing when they’re quiet on the couch and appear to be in deep thought, it’s thinking of those.

Then we listed some, like:

But, you know, what would you come up with for not hitting it?

Not hitting it jokes are definitely harder, once you get past sports analogies.

Brugger & Thomet TP9 from DSA:

ARs from somebody:

In Baltimore.

A TeeVee station is crapping it’s pants over tannerite. They used some of Joe Huffman’s boomershoot footage without permission. Ry wrote them a letter.

Any of you lawyer types who want to send Joe some info about this please do.

Update: Joe sent them a letter.

10 Self Defense Myths.

Mostly, they start in Hollywood.

Seriously, I think the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon franchises probably account for 80% of gun myths. And gun nuts for the other 20%.

Olofson responds to Sebastian’s piece on his case.

AR-15 in 308 from DPMS for under $1,000.

Gun bloggers were at NRA Con, and Greg went to a special operations industry trade show.

It’s interesting but I met so many people there. And I can’t remember them all. But here’s a few more.

I met Jacob of Gun Legislation & Politics in New York. He has some write-ups on the convention here, here and here.

I also got to hang out with Tom King of Gun Talk. Tom is a nice guy and he’s about twelve feet tall. I asked him what it was like tilting at windmills err talking about guns for a New Jersey paper and he said his blog was the second most visited page on their site. Cool.

I also got to spend some time with Mike W. who thinks we need to remind convention attendees about the rules of gun safety. Tam concurs.

And I met JR. He’s got some gun porn from the show here, here, and here. Also, a write up on the American Values speeches here.

Update: I see Squeaky is having the same issue.

More from Crime, Guns and Videotape who think the short barreled rifle charge is bogus.

$100K for a shotgun.