So, to get someone out of Cali and in TN, Tam has offered a lower. I offered an LPK and stock. ParatrooperJJ has offered up an upper. And emdfl has offered up a couple of magazines.

So, what are you waiting on?

The AP:

When criminals need guns, they have plenty of options in a country with nearly 100,000 licensed gun stores. But drug dealers and other crooks don’t shop just anywhere. They have their favorites.

In Compton, Calif., gangsters preferred Boulevard Sales & Service, a shop police said was so felon-friendly, some salesmen offered tips on how to buy a gun despite a criminal record.

In Philadelphia, shady gun buyers sent girlfriends to a suburban pawn shop, Lou’s Loan, where the staff wouldn’t raise a fuss if a young woman came by a few times a month to purchase cheap handguns. [because women don’t buy guns, right? – ed]

And on the outskirts of New Orleans, killers-to-be armed themselves at Elliot’s Gun Shop. Over the past five years, the store was the source of 2,300 weapons later linked to crime, including an astonishing 125 homicides, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In fact, government figures show that an extremely small number of gun shops account for a spectacularly large number of weapons used in crimes.

Is that because those dealers live in high crime areas? But:

“I’ve never run into a situation where a dealer has intentionally violated the law,” said Richard Gardiner, a Virginia lawyer who represents gun dealers. If guns are being bought at these stores by criminals, “it is because they are being exploited by people who know how to beat the system.”

Indeed. Why would a dealer be alarmed if a young lady came in and bought a gun? Is she prohibited and does she have the cash are the only questions that need answering before the dealer sells to them. Gun dealers are not the gun police. That is the ATF’s job. And if a salesman is offering tips on skirting the law, that is a problem.

RangerUp (an advertiser here on the left) wants to get one of their models in Maxim magazine. They need your help. So, go here and read.

It starts. I want this:

To look more like this (note: crappy photoshop):

So, it’s time to begin the NFA process. I stopped by Coal Creek Armory yesterday to figure out where to start. And that start is go get fingerprinted on some government form at a police station (you know, like a criminal). And to also get two 2X2 passport photos of my noggin. I’ll do that next week.

It’s a pity this guy didn’t try this with his, err, dudes. At least then, he’d be out of the gene pool.

Looks like it needs another wheel.

Sweaters are gay.

So, R. Neal reports 15% savings from switching to CFLs. Sounds excellent. So, here’s the deal: Save bedroom lamps, practically every light in my house is a can light. Anyone know of any CFLs made for can lights? I am, of course, some number of years away as the last house had can lights too and we changed maybe two out in two years. They last a while.

I’ll still get some CFLs for the lamps though.

Update: Excellent pointers in comments. And the issue is compounded as my can lights are on dimmer switches. Also, we also have a lot of ceiling fans (at least one per room). I suppose regular CFLs will fit those and look OK?

See? It works.

From the post below:

Think about your neighborhood; think about the use of eminent domain on your house. How do you explain these things to our children?

Indeed.

In the city (my the city) they need more high school. One option was to build a new school and another was to expand the existing school. The trouble with the latter plan is that city would have to take land and homes from about thirty people in the subdivision next to the school and there is apparently some dispute with a local company who has filed suit against the city. So, that, of course, is what they’re considering:

“At some point in time, we have to have land,” said Casteel, who later said some nearby land has been promised to the school system.

Then take the promised land and not that of homeowners. More:

“I don’t ever see us going to a two-high school system,” he said.

This issue was covered at Knoxviews a bit back by Flower71. I assume she also wrote this letter to the editor:

Historic neighborhoods will be destroyed. The environment will be damaged. Trees and homes that have been cherished for nearly 100 years will be taken. You can’t replace historic neighborhoods once they are destroyed.

Think about your neighborhood; think about the use of eminent domain on your house. How do you explain these things to our children? When I explained to my children, who have grown up in this historic neighborhood, about the plans for MHS expansion, do you know what they said? “Mommy, someone needs to call the police!” “They can’t tear down peoples houses.” My other son said, “Mom, lets call the President of the United States!”

Or rather, the repeated, continuous flash in all its cordite scented glory. Excellent.

SAF tells us why.

A whole 2.8 seconds? Bitch, please.

Phelps righteous fisking:

Due to extensive libel, the press shall be regulated more closely. All paper has to be serial numbered and all paper dealers have to keep records of paper purchases. States will have the ability to require people to obtain licenses to possess paper, and municipalities and states will have the right to prohibit the use or possession of paper in their jurisdictions. Anyone who manufactures paper without a license has committed a felony. Because of problems with tracking ink back to individual users, all ink in California is now required to have a unique chemical tracer added. No ink can be manufactured or imported into California until the industry figures out how to do this.

There’s more.

You be the judge. In other news, I need to get me some them heat seeking, incendiary rounds that can cook game.

DC will decide if it wants to appeal Parker v. DC. At first, there was speculation that they would not because of the likelihood of failure and that failure resulting in massive future challenges of other gun laws. If they do not appeal, though, then DC will have to comply and allow its residents to purchase and keep in their homes functional handguns. Both prospects are a failure for the gun control movement.

The third possibility is that they appeal and win. However, the chance of that is fairly remote. It’s not remote due to strong second amendment support in the court, it’s remote because DC’s gun laws are so ridiculous that they can’t stand much of a challenge. You can’t have handguns. If you have a rifle or shotgun, it must be locked up, unloaded, tied to a rock, and thrown in a river. Ok, I made the last two up but the effect is the same. Also, in DC, if a weapon can hold more than 12 rounds, it is a machine gun. So, your lever action, tube fed Winchester is a machine gun.

I can’t help ponder the irony of that.

If they don’t appeal, Sebastian wants to know what options residents really have for getting guns. I said before that:

What say a bunch of us gun bloggers and readers pool our money and open a gun shop in Washington, DC?

But I’m guessing their city council won’t let someone open a shop.

Chris Cox on trace data.

I’m looking for the it ain’t fair and don’t dis me provisions in the constitution and can’t seem to find them. In other news, the only thing more useless at fighting crime than gun control is candlelight vigils.

How to get active for the cause.

Move to TN from Cali, get an (almost) free AR-15. In comments here, Tam told Josh if he moved to TN that she would give him an AR lower. I upped the ante and said I’d throw in a stock and a lower parts kit. So, all he needs is an upper.

Tam as Chamber of Commerce.

The guys at arfcom are offering AR-15 lower receivers marked with the stars from the state flag.

OSHA wants to regulate ammo manufacturing to the point where, well, it’d just be hard to make ammo. OSHA has extended the comment period. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to tell them how stupid that is:

According to OSHA, you may submit comments, identified by Docket No. OSHA-2007- 0032, by any of the following methods:

* Electronically: You may submit comments and attachments electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Follow the instructions on-line for making electronic submissions.
* Fax: If your comments, including attachments, do not exceed 10 pages, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-1648.
* Mail, hand delivery, express mail, messenger or courier service: You must submit three copies of your comments and attachments to:
OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2007-0032
U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625
200 Constitution Avenue, NW.
Washington, DC 20210
telephone (202) 693-2350 (OSHA”s TTY number is (877) 889-5627).

Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and the docket number for this rulemaking (Docket No. OSHA-2007-0032). All comments, including any personal information you provide, are placed in the public docket without change and may be made available online at http://www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA cautions you about submitting personal information such as social security numbers and birthdates.

NRA even has a sample letter there.

Now, it’s OK to have extra shoestrings in the house.

Tired of being made fun of for ruling that the shoestring pictured above is a machine gun, the ATF (without any prompting whatsoever) issued a retraction that basically says a part that is designed and intended solely for the purpose of converting a semi-automatic rifle into a machinegun is now *not* a machinegun *until* it is added to a firearm. This ruling is quite odd. You see, federal law defines machine guns as:

Any combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting weapons into machine guns;

Any part designed and intended solely and exclusively for converting a weapon into a machine gun;

Any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled if the parts are in the possession or under the control of a person;

The ruling seems to undercut federal law which does not dictate that a weapon and parts must be assembled to be a machine gun. I am trying to figure out what purpose this serves. I think it’s because they grew tired of being made fun of. But this particular ruling seems to run counter to prior rulings to the point of maybe jeopardizing the ATF’s prior legal strategies for persecuting err prosecuting gun crime.

The ruling was sent to Brian Blakely, who originally brought the shoestring issue up. He has commentary at subguns.com. The ruling is here.

And people say to me Hey Uncle, why are you picking such nits regarding this law? And I say To illustrate how fucking stupid some gun laws are. When it comes to guns, the enthusiast acts at his peril.

That’s funny, right there.

Alphie alerts us to this story (with pics) on how to smuggle salad dressing onto a plane. Short answer: when they throw it in the trash, just take it out. Good thing he didn’t have toenail clippers or he may have taken the plane down.

How stupid is it? Even the local newspaper thinks it’s stupid. The KNS on the ‘card your grandmother’ law:

There is a perception — wishful thinking, perhaps — that the new law will help curb underage drinking. It might do that initially, while there is a lot of emphasis on producing IDs, but both business concerns and the state should monitor this over the long term. If they can show that it does curb underage drinking, it will be a plus in considering renewing the act next year.

Another flaw is the act’s contempt toward local authorities, particularly city and county beer boards that traditionally have punished those caught selling to underage customers. Said Knoxville City Councilman Rob Frost earlier this month, “In my opinion, the best decisions are made on the local level.”

And this is why we need more gun control.

Or, you know, you could move to a free state.

If you believe they’re an alternative to the NRA, you’ve been fooled.

In other news, not only is John Rosenthal (President of American Hunters and Shooters Ass.) disingenuous, he’s also a felon:

During the show a reporter, Steve Bailey of the Boston Globe, explained how he and Rosenthal had attended a gun show in New Hampshire over a year ago. The trip was supposed to prove how easy it was for criminals to buy a handgun in New Hampshire. They actually found that it was not possible to do so without violating several laws.

Rosenthal explained that when he tried to purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer, he was told he could not because he was not a resident of New Hampshire. Bailey and Rosenthal then explained how they brought a New Hampshire resident with them, supposedly a prison guard, who was able to pass the background checks and purchase the gun for them. Bailey even stated on Finneran’s show that the Boston Globe paid for the gun. When asked by the hosts of the show if he had committed a straw purchase, Rosenthal admitted that he had indeed conducted a straw purchase to prove a point.

See, if you break existing laws you can buy guns. So, we clearly need more laws. To, you know, break.