Commissioner Mike Walker has been blogging since Al Gore invented the internets.

How to tell if your local police range accepts federal funds: They open it up to the public once per year and let you sight in your shotguns. The sheriff in The City (My The City) does that too. See, if you accept federal funds for your range, the range must be open to the public. So, instead of following the spirit of the law and opening the ranges up, they follow the letter of the law and open it up only once per year.

Me and the family went to the Foothills Fall Festival, a pretty big to-do here in The City (My The City). Every year, they shut down a couple of blocks in down town to traffic, get some musical acts, some arts and crafts booths, a few bounce houses for kids, and all manner of good food including funnel cakes and ribbon fries (ribbon fries are awesome, by the way). We parked near down town and went and looked at the various nifty items for sale at the crafts area (including bat boxes and can-jos). We saw a 1,000 pound pumpkin and some tractors. And then, I crossed the line into a (gasp!) public park. At that point, I was violating the law since The City (My The City) opted out of park carry and I had my G-30.

Up to that point, I was on public streets and in a coffee house. In the latter, I was surrounded by hipster doofuses (doofi?). I didn’t know we had those in The City (My The City) as I’d never seen one before.

Anyway, at some point I looked up and realized I was actually in a park. I didn’t really notice entering the park until I was there. I’m a criminal.

Blount County takes the TN Attorney General at his word on the whole parks become schools thing when it comes to carry permits.

No way this guy had a gun in on school property. That’s illegal.

MKS reports that Blount County schools have a new policy that states that the press shall not bring cameras to board meetings without the consent of the executive committee.

In The City (My The City):

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office has opened to the public its firing range at the BCSO’s training facility on two dates in September and October.

The public range days are being offered to individuals interested in honing their shooting skills in preparation for the upcoming hunting season. Only rifles will be permitted.

You love kimchi or hate it. There is no in between. I happen to love it. If you happen to hate, I won’t try to convince you otherwise.

That said, in The City (My The City) there is a market called, interestingly enough, The Market. Good meat selection, seafood, and locally grown veggies. I’m a fan.

Stopped in a bit back and they had kimchi. I struck up a conversation with the owner about it and how I make my own and how it’s a lot of work. He explained to me that one of his regular customers came in and said her husband, who had a terminal illness, served in Korea. And he said he wanted some good kimchi. The owner took it upon himself to track down some one local who could make it. And he did. He started selling it for her. I bought some that day in the event that it was good, so I could stop making my own. It was good. Delicious. I’d buy it all the time.

Today, I swing by to get some kimchi. And they don’t have any. I ask about it and the guy behind the counter (different guy) says that the FDA told them they couldn’t sell it anymore because the supplier was not a licensed manufacturer. Of course not. The supplier of good kimchi was a Korean lady.

Government: Keeping the world safe from good food.

Looks like there’s some sort of protest scheduled in Knoxville. The Blount County Democrats (both of them) plan on counter protesting.

The county I live in says that there’s no need to ban guns in parks because it’s already prohibited. Another case for preemption. Park carry in Tennessee is becoming a complex patchwork that no law-abiding citizen can possibly keep up with. The state should extend Tennessee’s preemption with respect to parks.

Neighboring city of mine bans guns in parks. Word is Pigeon Forge did not.

I see preemption coming.

Update: Looks like Pigeon Forge went the other way.

Looks like a ban is on the agenda for the county. The City (My the City) already passed such a ridiculous ban. I see thes ridiculousness getting pre-empted next year. HCP folks will have to start carrying around maps of where they can and can’t go if this keeps up.

Tomorrow, gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp will be having a meet and greet over at Gunny’s range and gun shop.

Just wait.

Today, on the drive in, there was a Homeland Security van driving (really slowly, actually) through my subdivision. Odd, that.

A poll at the local rag: Do you favor banning guns in Maryville city parks?

As I’ve said before, I’m actually glad various localities have opted out of the park carry business. One, you know who your allies are and, two, this law will probably be revised and preempted next session.

Junior starts kindergarten this week. We (and by we I mean mostly the Mrs.) have been doing the prep stuff. Last night was open house where we got to go meet the people who will be shaping Junior’s life. Frankly, they were not the most organized bunch and I really question some of the things they did. For instance, yesterday was open house. And this morning was document day, in which I had to haul over various documents showing proof of immunizations and such and pay some fees. Why they can’t combine open house with document day and save me 45 minutes of time, I do not know.

Also, one of the documents was a computer usage agreement. In this agreement, Junior agrees not to look at porn and bomb making instructions on Al Gore’s Internets. And she has to sign it as though it’s a contract. For a five year old. I guess we gotta introduce them to legal contracts at some point.

Next issue I had was the ridiculousness of paying for stuff. We had to pay a supply fee, buy a tote bag, and get a prepaid meal card. Now, one would think that the school would be set up to handle common transactions in a convenient manner. You’d be wrong. I have to write one check to the school. One check to the cafeteria. And one check to the PTA. I guess they don’t have an accountant or bookkeeper to sort that out. I wrote three checks today, which is more checks than I’ve written in the last five years.

Speaking of the supply fee, that really annoyed me. In addition to paying a $40 supply fee, we also had to go buy supplies like markers, pencils, hand sanitizer, and tissues. So, we buy supplies. Pay a supply fee. And, of course, I’ve paid property taxes in The City (My The City) for a while that I thought were there to partially fund the schools. But then, it gets better. You see, those supplies we bought? Yeah, they’re community supplies. They’re not Junior’s supplies. They’re for everyone. I figure it’s a good way to teach Junior about taxes. Or communism.

The tote bag seems like a scam to me. Sure, it’s only $5 but it looks like it cost $1.25 for Chinese kids to sew it together. All the kids have the same bag. Between that and the community supplies, I’m not getting a big individualist groove from the school. I think that will be a problem for Junior, who tends to take after me. Also, we were sternly warned that the bag is for school supplies only. Sorry, Sparky, I paid for it. It’s mine. I’ll use it for whatever I choose.

It also makes me wonder. I’m guessing that not all parents can readily afford these expenditures. And it might be a particularly undue burden on some of them. I guess that’s why we all pick up the tab on supplies. But what about the fees and such?

Complaints aside, her teacher and assistant seemed to be nice folks. And the school’s renovations were nice. And they have a lot of interesting items and activities in store. This is going to be fun. But I’ll still complain about it.

The Daily Times:

Maryville City Council unanimously ‘opts out’ of handguns in parks, public places

Typical nonsense about people losing their shit at little league games and other unfounded nonsense. And a new one:

Councilman Tommy Hunt said he does not want a situation where the police don’t know who the good guy is or who the bad guy is. He mentioned a case in New York where a young policeman off duty and not in uniform was chasing a thief and, because he was carrying a gun, was shot to death by other police officers.

Brilliant!

In The City (My The City), not much expected to happen, other than lame headlines from the local fish wrap.

In Nashville, a place I’ve never heard of called Tootsies is, and I am not making this up, using metal detector wands on patrons. Yeah, that’ll be good for business. Talk about over reacting. Rich notes:

Oddly, they weren’t as concerned with the criminals who were carrying into their bar for the last 20 years. At least, not enough to spend money on metal detectors.

Yeah, when you fear the law-abiding more than criminals, you’re the one with the problem.

Meanwhile, we await the rivers of blood flowing in the streets due to the new law.

The local paper has a piece on Whitechapel, a local metal band that has had some recent success. They call them death metal. I thought they were more metalcore. But who the Hell can possibly keep up with all the genres and sub-genres of heavy-metal?

So says The Daily Times:

Maryville and Alcoa government officials have indicated they will opt out of a new law allowing people to carrying guns in public parks, according to Parks and Recreation Director Joe Huff.

The issue was discussed at a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting Tuesday.

Huff said he hopes Blount County Commission will also ban guns in parks. The state Legislature recently passed legislation allowing handgun permit holders to take their guns to parks, but gave local governments the right to opt out. The law was sent to the Governor and would go into effect on September 1 of this year.

The city and county governments can be contacted here. Also, if cities keep doing this, it seems like a good way to get the state to pass a law preempting local control of the guns in parks issues. And Campfield reports that the legislature is looking at expanding the state’s preemption powers.

Greg notes the AR shortage is coming to a close. I concur. Last week, I was at both Coal Creek Armory and Gunny’s and noticed they both has AR lower receivers and AR rifles in stock. I didn’t look at rifle prices but the lowers were priced at about the $150 mark.

The paper in The City (My The City) has a poll:

Will you feel safer in bars and restaurants now that the guns bill has passed?

Well, I’ll really feel the same. HT to linoge.

So, I asked earlier why they make me get a cashiers check as part of closing. So, at closing, I decided to ask. The title guy said it was required by state law. I asked if cash would have been OK and he said it would have been.

Also, we went to a local bank to close. The bank had nothing to do with the transaction other than, apparently, the title guy or mortgage lady rented a conference room from them that was convenient for us to get to. Heading into the bank, I was met with this sign that caused me to stop and laugh out loud:

From Misc

Wow. Relying on a sign. Why not put up a Robbing is Prohibited sign? And there’s the fact that their other sign prohibiting weapons does not appear to comply with Tennessee State Law which has requirements for signs prohibiting the otherwise lawful carrying of weapons by permit holders.

Regardless of that, I won’t be doing any business with BankEast.

Update: Heh:

Why didn’t they just staple a sprig of wolfsbane and a few cloves of garlic over the doorway while they were at it?

The local talk radio this morning did an hour on the ammo shortage. They even had the proprietor of Gunny’s on the show. The Gunny basically said that all his suppliers tell him the shortage will ease up in May. Err, well, it’s May.

As I type this, Al Gore is dumping some Global Warming on us. In April.

Les has one. It was a pretty small show but there were plenty of people there. I sold a few things I was no longer using. Prices were ridiculous on ammo and anything black and semi-automatic. A Bushmaster with a rail system was going for over $2K. Well, it wasn’t going. It was sitting on a table with that price on it. I spent $60 on 50 rounds of Golden Saber 230 grain 45 ACP. And that was a good deal given that regular price was $80. I used to buy that for about $36.

Handguns were still reasonably priced but magazines were spendy. It was $75 (IIRC) for those 31 round Glock magazines.

Still, it was The City (My The City)’s first gun show. And I’d call it a success.

Les has the details.

Annual physical. Doc’s office littered with various gun magazines. I love this town.

Jack McElroy on the Commercial Appeal publishing carry permit holders’ names, notes some perceived good that has come from the information:

In recent years, reporters have used the database to reveal that permits were being issued to ineligible people with restraining orders and criminal backgrounds.

Yes, we here at SayUncle noted that an error rate of a whopping 0.084% existed. And:

The Tennessean in Nashville and the Daily Times in Maryville also have put the database online, but then have removed it in the face of complaints.

Never knew my local paper did that. Anyone confirm?

The Maryville Police would like a word with you.

In Knoxville and Maryville. If you’re reading this, stop. Go be safe.

My wife reports that our grill cover has disappeared.

Saw a billboard for Blountopia this morning on the way in. It was hard to read so good thing they used regular font on the bottom. Checked it out, not much there. They have a blog, not much there either.

My local paper: Park to see concealed guns in 2009

Err, how? If they’re concealed, I mean.

I’ve mentioned our local porn store before and it’s various trouble in dealing with the local yokel good ol’ boy network that thinks you shouldn’t look at dirty movies. And also how it was a landmark everyone ignored. I was heading to a secure and undisclosed location the other day and noticed that there is now a quilt shop where the porn store used to be. I wonder if they moved or eventually got tired of dealing with all the local legal wrangling and closed?

Seen at AR-15.com, it looks like Gunny’s is having a match:

GUNNY’S FIRST ANNUAL
GET OUT OF THE SNOW INDOOR MATCH
31 JANUARY 2009

Format: This is a one day tactical pistol match with 6 stages, with typically 12-24 rounds per stage. IDPA targets and scoring is used, though typically, no cover, concealment, or magazine retention requirements. No extreme physical stuff, but your skills will be tested and you will have a good time.

When: Saturday, 31 January 2009
On-site registration begins at 8:00 AM. Shooters meeting at 9:00 AM
First shots fired at 9:30 AM

Where: Gunny’s Indoor Range
2208 East Broadway
Maryville, TN
865-233-3471

Guns: If your gun is legal in IDPA, or in USPSA Limited/Limited-10/Single Stack/Production, then it’s fine for this match. . No optics or compensators. Magazine wells, long heavy dust shrouds, bull barrels and oversize magazine releases are permitted, however the gun must fit into the IDPA test box

Magazines: Extended magazines are permitted, however “All pistols are limited to 10 rounds maximum in the magazine, regardless of magazine capacity.” You may carry as many magazines as you wish.

Gear: Gear must be basically IDPA or IPSC Production/Limited legal. No race rig holsters, etc. Holster and magazines to be behind the centerline of the body

Ammo Requirements: 80-120 rounds NOTE- round count is an estimate. Always bring extra.

Cost: $60

Lewis Scoring System: Prizes will be awarded to 1st and 2nd place in Gold, Silver, and Bronze Divisions (assuming a full field). Remaining prizes to be awarded based on order of finish. Awards presentation will take place within 45 minutes after the last shot is taken. Presuming there are 60 shooters, there will be a $3500 prize table with EVERYBODY going to the table at least once.

In The City (My The City):

Blount Countians voted strongly against a half-cent sales tax increase Tuesday.

The countywide referendum was defeated by nearly 13,000 votes with 30,871 people voting against it and 18,124 people supporting it, according to unofficial returns.

Good.

Past coverage here.

In The City (My The City), a local man had $34,750 worth of guns stolen:

A Maryville gun collector came home Wednesday to find someone had burglarized his residence and stolen about 100 guns which were valued at $34,750.

William Ellis Spurgeon, 4760 Sevierville Road, had been away from home since Sunday. When he returned at 11:08 a.m. Wednesday he noticed a sliding glass door located on the side of the house standing open, according to the police report.

After closer inspection, he noticed pry marks around the lock area of the door.

He immediately went to check on his gun collection, which was located in a closet in the basement of the house, which is located beside Spurgeon Greenhouses. He found about 100 guns missing, along with several boxes of ammunition.

A list of items the burglars made off with:

Guns stolen included Colt .45-caliber WWII commemoratives, Colt Detective Series, Cobra Action Scout .22-caliber, Colt Gold Spike, four .22-caliber derringers, Smith and Wesson .44-caliber Magnums with 6- and 8-inch barrels, six Smith and Wesson .351-caliber Magnums, two nickel-plated .44-caliber Magnum pistols with 6-inch barrels, Smith and Wesson .357-caliber Magnum Texas Ranger, bone handled pistols, Rouger .44-caliber Magnum Red Hawk Super, two .44-caliber nickel-plated black powder guns, a Winchester 30-30 John Wayne Rifle and a 30-30 President Roosevelt Rifle.

I early voted today. Usually when I early vote, I walk right in and right out. Today, there was a bit of a line. That could indicate higher turnout this election. Beats me.

Also, seems McCain/Palin finally got someone to put out some signs.

I’d tell you how I voted but you could probably guess.

Nothing too exciting to note except that, honestly, can we have paper ballots for those who want them? Folks over the age of 70 aren’t too good on these newfangled voting gizmos. And everyone else has to wait on them. Just sayin’.

It’s odd. But I tend to follow the local goings on in The City (My The City). But I had no idea there was a proposed 1/2% sales tax increase on the ballot. It is, of course, for the children^tm. I got spam in the mail from Blount Countians for Educational Excellence telling me I should support this tax increase for a variety of reasons, including that a lot of taxes are paid by out of towners anyway. And they’d get all the kids ponies. Ok, I made that last part up. They want to raise money for schools. Like they always do. For the children^tm. The city and county governments should live within their means. Instead of blowing millions for a Civic Arts Center that no one will use and should be considered a free gift from the taxpayers to Maryville College, they could have funded schools. Anyway, the answer is no.

Their membership list is veritable who’s who of local yokel good o’ boys and girls.

Reading the local paper daily, I had no idea this was on the ballet. I even searched and found a single letter to the editor.

I’d say Maryville.