OK law makes it illegal to fortify home if you have drugs:
bill that makes it unlawful for “any person to willfully fortify an access point into any dwelling, structure, building or other place where a felony offense prohibited by the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act is being committed, or attempted, and the fortification is for [...]

Look at me! I’m unconstitutional. Soon to be a collector’s item.
Tom Humphrey:
Basically, the majority said that illegal drugs are not subject to taxation under the state constitution, which authorizes taxes on “merchants, peddlers and privileges.” The tax is on possession, they reasoned, not sales so the possessors are not merchants or peddlers. And since possession [...]

Tennessee is one of ten states that prohibits those with handgun carry permits from carrying where alcohol is served, and that includes all of Tennessee’s neighbor states except NC. None have experienced the problems that whiners like Nashville Police Chief Serpas tells us will happen:
How many of you have been to a softball game and [...]

Time:
The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
“Judging by every metric, [...]

The outright fabrication of blaming US for the fact that Mexican drug gangs are getting machine guns and grenades at US gun shows continues.
Meanwhile:
“The 5.7 x 28, armor piercing (AP) rounds are not available for sale to the general public and are probably coming from the Mexican military,”
Last week Gen. Ángeles Dahuajare announced [...]

Seen at GunPundit:
The country’s new homeland security chief said Friday that the Obama administration is mapping out a crackdown on the flow of firearms smuggled to Mexico’s murderous drug gangs operating along the Texas border.
Janet Napolitano said she had directed the Customs and Border Protection service “to find guns going south [...]

Remember that mayor whose dog was killed when the police put on their ninja clothes and kicked in his door because someone mailed him some weed? Well, turns out that:
1) Police concluded that maybe that really wasn’t his weed (duh – who mails 30 pounds of illegal drugs and doesn’t plan on getting caught).
2) [...]

People like Xrlqy Wrlqy in comments say to me that my definition of a loophole would pretty much render the term meaningless. I think that’s bullshit. The term loophole usually implies some attempt to circumvent a law. The non-existent gun show loophole does not. Therefore, the argument made by some (i.e., changed) is [...]

That’s a term we hear used a lot from police with respect to policy. It’s a nice way of saying pressuring under color of authority. And DC is once again about to go over the line with its gun laws:
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced several new [...]

On a bill introduced in VA to allow lawful CCW holders to carry on campus, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership breaks out the hysteria:
But Gilbert’s bill is a bad idea and would cost lives, according to Brian J. Siebel, senior attorney with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
College students often drink heavily [...]

Seems like Bredesen is finally getting it:
Gov. Bredesen says it may be time to shut down the state’s tax on illegal drugs because of a recent appeals court opinion the so-called “crack tax” is unconstitutional.
It is a stupid law.

In Australia, the gun controllers claim:
Gun Control Australia said a surge in young shooters could lead to a rise in violent crime.
“Guns and puberty are a dangerous mix,” said president John Crook.
“Targeting juniors increases the likelihood of gun addiction.
“The trouble [...]

Seen at DAMIT’s:
This is such a divisive issue. I’m a little surprised that the third option didn’t get more votes. It seems that gun control is SO divisive, people can’t be rational about it.
Seems to me that according to recent surveys and your own poll (with only 3% calling for gun control) that it’s not [...]

The week before I left for Camp Perry a guy was killed at a horserace here in Smith County, Texas. His murderer shot him eight times and walked away through a crowd of over 600 people that were watching the horses.
Now…there is no horseracing in Smith County. According to [...]

Sometimes when someone tries to do something good they get confused and screw up something else. This is often referred to as the law of unintended consequences. Case in point would be Senator John McCain’s new bill to crack down on child pornography on the Internet. No one wants child pornography on the Internet but [...]

From the LA Times, we can see one more cost of the drug war: a creeping culture of corruption among the agents charged with policing the line between US and Mexico. Illegal drugs provide the funds to bribe border control agents, but it’s not just drugs that get in– it’s also illegal immigrants [...]

USA Today:
A $1.4 billion anti-drug advertising campaign conducted by the U.S. government since 1998 does not appear to have helped reduce drug use and instead might have convinced some youths that taking illegal drugs is normal, the Government Accountability Office says.
The GAO report, released Friday, urges Congress to stop the White House’s National Youth Anti-Drug [...]

Seen at Radley’s:
Armed game wardens seized 10 exotic fish from the tank of a popular Chinese restaurant, leaving its owner shaken and outraged.
“They treated me like a criminal,” said Cuong Ly, who escaped from Vietnam 25 years ago. “I lived under communism and I felt like I’m back there again.”
Ly, 45, said his pet koi [...]

Bill, on the overturning of Tennessee’s illegal drug tax, notes:
Although a judge has ruled that the Tennessee law requiring drug dealers to pay state taxes on their cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is unconstitutional, the state says it will continue to collect the tax because the ruling applies only to one individual alleged drug [...]

I’ve covered the Tennessee tax stamp on illegal drugs for a while. Via the five people who emailed this to me this morning, comes the Tennessean:
A Tennessee judge has ruled that a state law requiring drug dealers to pay taxes on their cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is unconstitutional.
The ruling by Davidson [...]

Michael Silence notes:
Tennessee’s tax on unauthorized substances such as cocaine and marijuana and some alcoholic beverages brought in more than $1.7 million in its first year, according to revenue officials.
The tax, which is modeled after a 13-year-old North Carolina tax aimed at fighting illegal drugs, has resulted in $1,714,565 in collections and nearly $32 million [...]

I’ve covered Anthony Diotaiuto before. He’s a casualty in the war on drugs. In a pre-dawn raid, he took 10 rounds to the chest for less than one ounce of marijuana. Now, the police act as if they’ve got something to hide:
Attorney William Scherer III wrote in Tuesday’s lawsuit that the city [...]

Via Dr. Helen, comes this:
Adolescent ownership and use of firearms is a growing concern, and results from the Rochester study suggest the concern is well founded.
By the ninth and tenth grades, more boys own illegal guns (7 percent) than own legal guns (3 percent). Of the boys who own illegal guns, about half of the [...]

Pete reports that weed is now the drug of choice for financing terror:
Saudi security sources said Sunni insurgents have been smuggling illegal drugs from Iraq to Saudi Arabia to finance insurgency attacks against coalition forces.
The sources said the drugs being smuggling now tend to be cannabis.
“In the space of one year, border police [...]

Joe has covered the drug bust in Utah, where cops used dogs, helicopters, assault rifles, and ninja outfits to arrest a bunch of kids who were at a rave for drugs. Malkin says that people are overreacting.
Phelps has video and notes:
Listen to the last bit of audio on the video that was being taken. [...]

Montgomery Adviser:
Montgomery City Councilman Glen Pruitt is considering proposing a city ordinance that would ban the animals from the city limits.
“I want us to be proactive. I don’t want to open the paper and see where a child or senior citizen has been hurt or injured by one of these dogs,” Pruitt said.
He believes this [...]

I mentioned that Oregon politicos were pondering requiring prescriptions for cough medicine to prevent the meth epidemic (EPIDEMIC, AARRGGHH!). Well, they did it:
Oregonians just got “safer” today (and don’t worry, YOU’RE next!) with the passage of a new law to make “certain cough medicines” (”certain”, as in the ones that actually WORK that have [...]

It’s good to see the MSM addressing the serious concerns regarding the war on drugs. It’d be nicer if we could get our politicians to seriously look at it. John Tierney:
It’s the same pattern observed during Prohibition, when illicit stills would blow up, and there was a rise in deaths from alcohol poisoning. [...]

In Oregon, you may soon need a doctor’s prescription for Sudafed:
Oregon would be the first state in the nation to fight the spread of methamphetamine by requiring prescriptions for some cold medications under legislation that passed the House on Wednesday.
The 55-4 vote sent House Bill 2485 to the Senate, which unanimously approved a companion bill [...]

A semi-hysterical piece on the now defunct assault weapons ban starts:
It’s been nine months since President Bush lifted the national ban on the sale of assault weapons.
The president doesn’t make law nor lift laws. The ban had a sunset provision and expired after ten years. Bush did not lift the ban. [...]

It’s also lucrative for the state. The Tennessean reports:
Tennessee modeled its program to collect taxes on illegal drugs after North Carolina’s, but early returns indicate that the Volunteer State’s 6-month-old effort has been more successful.
A report released yesterday showed that Tennessee had collected about six times more taxes on controlled substances as did its [...]

Bill Hobbs notes that The Tennessean swallowed a press release hook, line and sinker. Bill notes the drug tax is costing more than it’s making (something I’ve already pointed out here many times). However . . .
Bill also says:
The Tennessean editorialized in favor of the tax on illegal drugs on April 14, 2004, [...]

A reader sent me a scan of the Tennessee Department of Revenue Unauthorized Substances Stamp (note: Background on Tennessee’s Illegal Drug Tax can be found here). Here it is:

It has a what I assume is a serial number. I also assume that means this is only the 127th one they [...]

Ben Livingston was tracking his efforts to purchase tax stamps on illegal drugs as required by Tennessee law. It starts out with this opening email:
I am interested in purchasing the new illegal drug stamps that Tennessee now offers. I called this morning to purchase some of these, but I was told I could not [...]

Reader Tim Sheehy wrote this and I said I’d publish hit so here you go.
This 4th of July be sure to:
Buckle your seatbelt,
Behave for the traffic cameras,
Patiently wait at the sobriety checkpoints and hold your tongue if you feel the police officer at that checkpoint is too inquisitive,
Don’t light up that cigarette to relax [...]

I was a bit surprised by some of this:
Gun Control: With regard to private citizens owning firearms for sport or self-defense, 93.6 percent of the respondents supported civilian gun-ownership rights. Ninety-six percent of the police chiefs and sheriffs believe criminals obtain firearms from illegal sources and 92.2 percent revealed they hadn’t arrested anyone for violation [...]

I’ve discussed Tennessee’s asinine illegal drug tax many times before. It’s only use seems to be taking people’s property without due process of law and there are reports that the tax stamps aren’t actually being sold. Tennessee Rep Stacey Campfield alerts us that:
Tennessee Center for Policy Research has a new study out today [...]

In Tennessee, a 60 year-old man recovering from cancer smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain and depression. He has since been arrested and had his money and cars seized and a lien placed on his house. All this without due process of law, which is blatantly unconstitutional. The fifth amendment states that [...]

WATE reports that Lawyers say Tennessee’s illegal tax law is ripe for abuse:
Defense lawyers say a new law allowing authorities to tax illegal drugs allows officials to bully people not convicted of crimes into paying thousands of dollars.
Tennessee’s Department of Revenue has collected nearly $400,000 in taxes.
Another $$11 million in taxes have been levied, [...]

Here I’ve been trying to step up the blog output, and I’ve already hit the wall. Things are crazy at work today, so I don’t know how much I’ll get to post today.
In the meantime, here’s an interesting tidbit. SayUncle has blogged a couple of times about Tennessee’s tax stamps for illegal drugs. [...]

In New Jersey, they are looking to pass a bill that will allow the confiscation of property from people who have illegal guns:
The legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Louis Manzo, D-Jersey City, authorizes the forfeiture of “motor vehicle, building or premise” if a firearm is found in it that is not possessed legally per state law [...]

Having solved all of the county’s other problems, there will be more legislation against local adult businesses:
Knox County Commission Monday unanimously passed an ordinance that requires adult businesses to get a new license. However, it’s not as far reaching as you may think.
[boo-hooing and crying about the ordinance not going far enough snipped - [...]

In an update to Tennessee’s tax on illegal drugs scoring its first booty, I have additional correspondence from someone alleging to be Jerry [redacted]. He tells me that the police first entered the home looking for a runaway girl. They then entered the home the following day by kicking the door down. [...]

I blogged here about Tennessee’s tax on illegal drugs claiming its first booty. A man claiming to be Jerry [redacted](the person whose house was seized for non-payment of the tax that they won’t even let you pay) left some comments there:
The house is worth about $90,000 and I owe $71,000 on it. They taxed [...]

Mark reports that Tennessee’s taxes on illegal drugs are working as expected:
A Bloomington Springs house and the land it sits on yesterday became the first real estate in Tennessee to be seized for unpaid tax on illegal drugs. The property belongs to Jerry [redacted], and the tax is for the marijuana crop that law officers [...]

Regarding Tennessee’s tax on illegal drugs, a commenter over at Michael Silence’s blog writes:
The Department of Revenue claims that to date nobody has attempted to voluntarily pay this tax. I would like to point out that this is untrue.
I attempted to voluntarily pay this tax on January 6, but all of my attempts were rejected [...]

Any of my Tennessee readers know the street value of 42.5 grams of marijuana in Knoxville? Actually, can someone translate that into some useful measure for me too (such as joints)?
I’m not up on drug values since I don’t do drugs but I am thinking of heading down to the local Tennessee [...]

I’ve yammered about Tennessee’s stupid new law requiring those that deal in illegal drugs to buy a tax stamp before. It serves only as a tax on stupid people or as another crime to charge someone with in the ever expanding war on drugs. Surprising to no one, is the fact that drug [...]

Preliminary side-note: I received a ton of email pointing me to this story. What was funny was that four of the emails had the subject line Like you and me, only better. Heh, I may have started a meme. Now, on to the story. Via The Geek, Matt, Justin, Gunner, [...]

A local man, returning with cash given to him by his dying father, was pulled over. He had $19K in the trunk that he told them about. The police told the man he’d donate that money to the drug task force. He sued to get his money back and won. Read [...]

Bill Hobbs notes that Tennessee will start taxing illegal drugs next year (I’ve mentioned this before). Says Bill:
This actually works – and is a pretty good idea, though it sounds a bit odd at first. The law will require sellers of illegal drugs to pay excise taxes, just legal businesses. Most drug-pushers won’t comply, [...]

Mrs. Uncle is doing the shopping thing and yours truly is babysitting. Junior is sleeping and blogging will be light this weekend. Some gun stuff of note:
JoinTogether continues to dance in the blood of the dead:
The Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort extends their deepest sympathy to the families and victims of the horrifying and deadly [...]

First up, the new seat belt law would allow police to pull you over if they see that you’re not buckled up. Under the old law, they’d ticket you for it only if they pulled you over for something else. Gov. Bredesen, who says he’ll sign the bill, said:
”I understand the issue of [...]

Reader Drake emails this article:
The Legislature is considering new taxes and some fee increases, but it’s unlikely most people would pay them.
One new tax would apply to drug dealers.
Sen. Randy McNally, a Republican from Oak Ridge, proposes to tax marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. Those who step forward to pay the [...]

After all, we all know that those drugs support terrorism commercials were a bunch of evil Republican nonsense designed to scare children:
A U.S. Navy ship operating in the Persian Gulf has captured millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs aboard a smuggling boat that authorities said was linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network of [...]

Apparently, Limbaugh’s lawyers are saying that politics are playing a role in his probe. Sure, that’s probably true. But the fact is he was using drugs illegally. And I’m sure that politics had nothing to do with Rush’s treatement of the various Clinton scandals.

It occurs to me that I have mentioned weed on my blog quite a bit lately. I should point out that I don’t do illegal drugs and legalization is not an important issue to me. I oppose the war on drugs because of the violations to civil liberties it presents (confiscating property, no [...]