I expressed amazement that Wendy’s was using a Violent Femmes tune to peddle food. Well, Brian Ritchie (who I viewed as God-like just under 20 years ago) isn’t happy either. He left a comment about it at a Tennessee blogger’s joint. Gordon Gano sold out. Well, can’t blame the guy for wanting a buck or two.
Via NIT.
Stewart Brand, ardent environmentalist and founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, predicts changes in common environmental wisdom on four hot issues:
Over the next ten years, I predict, the mainstream of the environmental movement will reverse its opinion and activism in four major areas: population growth, urbanization, genetically engineered organisms, and nuclear power.
Predicting a shift in opinion in these areas is just a polite way of saying that the current thinking on them is wrong. And he’s right. The current mainstream enviromental stance has got it wrong on all four issues, especially the GMO food and nuclear power.
Interestingly, he doesn’t say why he thinks the consensus will shift on these issues. He just thinks the rational environmentalists will eventually convince the romantic environmentalists. In the long run, I think he’s right– people will eventually realize that we can achieve the great benefits of GMO food and nuclear power in (relative) safety. There’s just too much to gain. Predicting it will happen in the next 10 years, though, is probably overly ambitious.
HR1096 by Ron Paul. This bill gets rid of the sporting purpose nonsense, among other things.
I dig it but it won’t pass.
Via R. Neal, comes this bill by blogging rep Stacey Campfield called the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act. It’s similar to a Montana bill I discussed here only it has teeth.
From the bill:
A personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Tennessee and that remains within the borders of Tennessee is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce. It is declared by the legislature that those items have not traveled in interstate commerce. This section applies to a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured in Tennessee from basic materials and that can be manufactured without the inclusion of any significant parts imported into this state. Generic and insignificant parts that have other manufacturing or consumer product applications are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition, and their importation into Tennessee and incorporation into a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured in Tennessee does not subject the firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition to federal regulation. It is declared by the legislature that basic materials, such as unmachined steel and unshaped wood, are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition and are not subject to congressional authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition under interstate commerce as if they were actually firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition. The authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce in basic materials does not include authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition made in Tennessee from those materials. Firearms accessories that are imported into Tennessee from another state and that are subject to federal regulation as being in interstate commerce do not subject a firearm to federal regulation under interstate commerce because they are attached to or used in conjunction with a firearm in Tennessee.
It excludes machine guns and destructive devices. But this means that firearms, sound suppressors, short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns, and any other weapons would not require National Firearms Act registration per state law if they were made in state and marked accordingly.
I find it odd since Tennessee law generally mimics federal law. And, of course, Tennessee law bans sound suppressors, short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns, and any other weapons with registration of these items as NFA items being an affirmative defense to their possession.
I think, mainly, the bill’s intent is to nip the ATF’s crackdown on do it yourselfers in the bud. Because for NFA toys, it doesn’t do much.
Update: If it passes, seems to me that one could go in the firearm business without all the red tape currently required by the feds.
Les Jones has a video of Kel-Tec’s new RFB (Rifle Forward ejection Bullpup). It’s a 308, bullpup rifle that ejects brass out the front. This eliminates the problem of brass hitting left-handed shooters in the face that other bull pups have. As an added bonus, it takes FAL metric magazines. Sweet. Here’s Kel-Tec’s info on the gun (in PDF).
Remember, gun nuts, we’re the ones that are paranoid. Not them.
And Mike Faulk says Opposition Doesn’t Mean Annihilation:
Ironically, those attacking Zumbo the hardest give the anti-gun crowd plenty of cannon fodder. It’s a shame. Surely his lifetime of advocacy for that which most gun owners hold dear, the right to bear arms, should count for something. The big picture of Zumbo’s career promoting the Second Amendment should overwhelm a mistake of expressing an unpopular opinion in a less than artful way.
Yup. We are too quick to pull the trigger some times.
Tam:
Poor Lefties; they’ve been playing on astroturf so long that they don’t know grassroots even when fed a mouthful of divot.
The rhetoric is kicking up on weapons that look like assault weapons.
Update: more here.
Are “assault weapons” causing a problem on the street? No. Most experts define an assault weapon as a weapon capable of fully automatic firing. Assault weapons are machine guns and submachine guns. That type of weapon is not what I was being asked to address.
Another use of the term “assault weapons” appeared in the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban where it was used to describe semi-automatic firearms that have mostly cosmetic features normally associated with military firearms. These semi-automatic weapons were called assault weapons because they “looked” bad, not because of what they could do.
So, fewer than 3% of murders were committed with the guns McCarthy’s bill would most restrict. By contrast, 6.0% of all murders are committed with hands and feet (that includes pushing).
All questions of whether this passes the Constitutionality sniff test aside, it’s stuff like this that really erodes what little faith in government I have, (…and that ain’t much, folks.) If they’re this astoundingly inept when writing legislation about an industry I’m familiar with, then they are probably also equally clueless when writing legislation to muck up other industries I don’t know anything about, such as agriculture or banking. Now that’s scary.
Read David Hardy’s take on the incident I shall no longer mention. And then I’m done mentioning it. And I mean this time. Just like I meant it the last four times.
SayUncle: Let’s get the question everyone is wondering out of the way: are you retarded?
Senator Finney: Uh, no.
SayUncle: You sure? That looks like drool? *offers wetnap* I mean, I hit myself on the finger with a hammer and I haven’t been the same since. You sure you didn’t hit yourself in the head? Like, maybe a few times?
Senator Finney: No, can we get on with it please?
SayUncle: Sure. You want to use the legislative process to get an answer to the question of whether the universe was created by a “Supreme Being.” What’s up with that?
Senator Finney: My goal is to formally prod the Department of Education into a dialogue about the teaching of evolution in school science classes without also teaching the alternative of “creationism,” or “intelligent design.”
SayUncle: And you figure the best way to do this is to look like a dumb ass and make your constituents also look like dumb asses? We did elect you, after all.
Senator Finney: *blinks*
SayUncle: I mean, it seems to me that you’re trying to force the state to assume a position on religion via legislative fiat. That’s kinda dumb and, you know, maybe unconstitutional.
Senator Finney: Unconstitutional?
SayUncle: What’s next? Mandating that the egg came before the chicken?
Senator Finney: Uh, the chicken came first. But I would mandate that the chicken came first.
SayUncle: Uh, no. The egg came first. See, the chicken is only a few tens of thousands of years old. And before the chicken was around, there were these things called dinosaurs. And they laid eggs. So, egg wins.
Senator Finney: There were no dinosaurs.
SayUncle Really? I
Senator Finney: Yeah, God put those bones there to test our faith.
SayUncle: I thought they died because Noah didn’t have room on the arc.
Senator Finney: No. They are a test of faith.
SayUncle: But if you mandate a state position on faith, there’s not really any left to test now is there?
SayUncle: Don’t you have any thing better to do? You know, like fix the budget, Tenn-Care, reform corruption?
Senator Finney: The state has a vested interest in addressing complex social issues . . .
SayUncle: *interrupts* Like curing cancer?
Senator Finney: Err, yeah . . .
SayUncle: Have you thought about banning cancer?
Senator Finney: You can’t ban cancer.
SayUncle: No shit. You can’t legislate God into existence either.
Senator Finney: Will you untie me now?
SayUncle: Sure.
Looks like it was set up by a pro-gunner to make the Bradies look dumb. Of course, they do that on their own and don’t need help. Kevin predicted it.
Leave the lying to the Brady Campaign and anti-gunners. It’s what they do, not us.
Zumbo’s fall highlights a fundamental concern of the NRA and many champions of military-style firearms, according to people who follow the organization closely. They do not want American gun owners to make a distinction between assault weapons and traditional hunting guns such as shotguns and rifles. If they did, a rift could emerge between hunters, who tend to have the most money for political contributions to gun rights causes, and assault-weapon owners, who tend to have lots of passion but less cash.
There are expensive and moderately priced version of each. Assault rifle owners don’t have less cash, they just have less tolerance for the NRA’s ass-dragging. I’m not a member of the NRA. But, once per year, I send them a check or don’t depending on how I feel they’ve handled the gun issue (hint: sporting purpose, guys).
Now, hunting weapons can be pricey and hunting gear can be too. But, in terms of guns, evil black rifles can get pricey. To wit, the running price tag of my 9mm AR-15 when all is said and done (this is from memory, so I could miss something – and I’m waiting for a tax stamp):
Lower Receiver 120
Mag Block 120
Magazines 75
EOTech Holographic Weapon Sight 350
YHM Railed Forearm 110
YHM Forearm Mounted Flip Up Front Sight 80
YHM Flip Up rear sight 80
Vltor mod stock 170
Tango Down VFG 25
Surefire G2 Nitrolon 32
Mount for Surefire 19
Upper receiver 425
9mm buffer 16
9mm hammer 12
Lower Parts Kit 50
NFA Tax (short barrel) 200
Gunsmithing (cut barrel and re-crown) 65
GG&G Single point sling adapter 15
Sling 6
Total 1,970
Not counting a suppressor and adapter (another $800ish) that I’ll get in the future. And I go through more ammo than a fudd. And I probably forgot something.
And, while reading Kim’s, I saw this:
The Zumbo Incident is as dead as last year’s politician’s promise, and beaten to death more than the JFK assassination. That will be all on that topic, I think: please drive through.
I concur. I’m done with it. The only reference to Zumbo in the future from me will be its proper use as an internet verb ranking up there with Fisk and Dowdify.
In Uganda, forced disarmament is going about as well as can be expected. Remember, it’s for their own good.
If your only exposure to the Zumbo incident was The Washington Post and the various lefty blogs, you would think that what happened was:
But you would be wrong. That’s not what happened. A summary of what really happened is here in handy-dandy time-line format.
What really happened is he referred to AR-15s as terrorist rifles and stated that hunters ought not lump themselves in with a group of people who terrorize the world. Well, some bloggers and the folks at AR15.com and FR didn’t care for that and threatened boycotts. Zumbo’s apology illustrated that he didn’t understand the complaint (and that he doesn’t know shit about guns) and made it worse. Then, sponsors pulled the plug.
The NRA didn’t show up to the party until it was over and then they only issued a presser stating they severed ties with Zumbo. The didn’t put a single baby on a spike.
Lapeer County, MI Sheriff’s Department needs some money. So, they’re auctioning off an M-16. Not the fake kind that the pants-shitting anti-gunners are trying to ban. I mean, a real select-fire, machine gun. Sweet. Go bid.
A while back I said someone should start a pro-gun internet money transfer service since PayPal is run by ninnies. Well, someone did. Gearpay.com.
I have not signed up and can’t attest to the service yet.
Some asked so here’s a pic. Not for squeamish. Despite what some said, no alcohol was involved . . . well, until after.
Not today. Was busy. Sorry.
Nobody should be surprised that a current poll shows lots of Americans think Bush screwed the pooch in Iraq. When I hear that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how Bush is handling Iraq, my only real question is who are the 31 percent who think Bush is doing a good job, and how can we keep them away from sharp objects?
Dig a little deeper into the numbers and you’ll see that those 31% are almost all Republicans. Two-thirds of Republicans think Bush is doing a heck of a job over there while more than 90% of Democrats can see what a mess he’s made. The only people left who will support him are the party loyalists.
Full swing, glanced off of a spike. I’ll let you guess how that went. Let’s just say: You ever seen a hot dog come out of the microwave?
God damn, that hurts.
Update: Hard to type. I have pics but don’t want anyone to lose their lunch. Broke the tip of the bone clean off. Probably lose the nail.
The gun-fearing and generally stupid left looks at Zumbo. See, the anti-gunners dismiss outright that one might lose credibility and favor by referring to owners of politically incorrect rifles as terrorists. It’s all about how poor Zumbo is just a victim of extremists and nutjobs. Nothing to do with his choice of words.
Update: In other news, Zumbo made the Washington Post?
And I love the reference to his apology. Or, rather, his non-apology that apparently no one at the WaPo read.
Update 2: The WaPo trots out anti-gunners disguised as gunnies:
“This shows the zealousness of gun owners to the point of actual foolishness,” said Pat Wray, a freelance outdoors writer in Corvallis, Ore., and author of “A Chukar Hunter’s Companion.”
Wray said that what happened to Zumbo is a case study in how the NRA has trained members to attack their perceived enemies without mercy.
Yeah, right. I expect disingenuous hacks to lie about the NRA’s involvement. I don’t expect the media to print it though. The NRA responded several days after this whole thing was done and over. This incident was the result of blogs and message boards (like FR and Arfcom). No NRA prompting or involvement. David is correct that:
So they trot out an apologist for AHSA and present him as the voice of responsible sportsmen. You’d better believe this is an attempt to divide and draw battle lines, and we owe it to ourselves to know who’s on our side and who is a fifth columnist working to serve us up.
And Wray is a shill for the anti-gun American Hunters and Shooters Association.
The story was unpopular with a lot of people, but nowhere in it did I endorse the ban, as some are claiming.
And:
When I wrote it, black guns were not nearly as important a part of shooting as they are now. We can’t afford to sacrifice them, just as we can’t afford to sacrifice .50-caliber rifles (which I wrote about positively a couple of issues ago in a story called “Way Out There”).
In case you’re wondering, I’ve been using black rifles since 1965, when I hunted woodchucks with one of the very first AR-15s sold commercially by Colt. I’ve worked over many a prairie dog town with one AR variant or another, and if Les Baer were to send me one of his rifles (a heavy barrel flattop in .223, please), I would not send it back. I currently own an M1A. I don’t know if that qualifies or not.
Most important, you shouldn’t construe any of this as an apology. It isn’t.
I gotta give it to the guy for his balls out honesty and being unapologetic. Unlike Zumbo, he’s believable.
Good enough for me. As I said, stand down.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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