Zoiks. Via Bruce.

Headline: Residents know their rights, but are a bit hazy on the details

First sentence: The U.S. Constitution grants many freedoms, including freedom of speech, the right to bear arms and protection from unlawful search and seizure.

The Constitution doesn’t grant freedoms. It assumes they exist and limits the .gov’s ability to impact them. It doesn’t say you have a right to X; rather it says Congress shall make no law. So, the press is a bit hazy on the details. Still, it’s not amusing that people don’t seem to know rights that are enumerated.

In other news, we have a SWAT Team?

Aunt B.:

Most feminists agree on the basic principle that feminism is about recognizing and forcing others to recognize women as fully human, equal participants in society. How we go about that, what “fully human” means or what “equal participant” might entail are all up for grabs.

I think forcing is a bad choice of a word. And is also a bad choice in policy. I think the better plan is to convince rather than force. Forcing tends to put people off.

Uh oh:

Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a “strange odor,” local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

GOA reports on S. 456 which they say would allow prosecution for minor gun infractions under RICO. Here’s the bill.

Update: Sebastian says ehh, not so much.

At ProgressiveU: Ten things to know about Concealed Carry Permitholders (#2)

Update: Jon in comments reports that here’s #1 and #3.

That’s funny.

I feel your pain.

Seems some folks think that if you’re on a government watch list, you shouldn’t be allowed to buy a gun. By that logic, if you’re on a terrorist watch list, you should be in jail. I mean, since we’re bypassing due process of law, let’s do it right, right?

So, I noticed a trend. Whenever I left the room for any reason and the kids were left alone, The Second would start crying. Without fail. Every time. It was obvious that Junior was doing something to make him cry, like take a toy or just generally be mean. So, I explained to Junior that if I left the room again and The Second started crying that she’d be the one in trouble. Hasn’t happened since.

I guess maybe it could be unfair as, you know, I can’t prove in a court of law she was up to something. And I suppose he could start crying for other reasons but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Alan Korwin notes some new gun laws around the nation.

The US: Shame on all you drug producing countries for selling us all those drugs!

If they’d stop making them, we’d surely stop buying them.

Seems his record isn’t that stellar.

PGP notes a letter to the editor:

On page 75 there is this statement: “The panel knows of no case in which a shooter in campus homicides has been shot or scared off by a student or faculty member with a weapon.” But Appendix L states of the Pearl, Miss., school shooting: “the assistant principal retrieves a .45 pistol from the glove compartment of his truck and subdues Woodham.”

Appendix L also discusses the Appalachian School of Law shooting in Grundy that, though not stated in the report, was ended when two students armed themselves and confronted the shooter.

This fact was widely reported in the mainstream news media. Could this exhaustive review and report have actually overlooked the fact that they were unaware of an incident that was reported in their own findings?

Noted Poker Authority Ed Miller notes that the IRS has issued a bulletin stating that effective March 2008, tournament directors are to withhold taxes from tournament winnings. The impacts on poker tournaments (notably satellites) would be substantial. But, then, that is the point. To make it hard to play poker.

Here:

Translation: We tweaked the numbers to make them say whatever we wanted them to.

Rich has been covering it and apparently was to be on the radio this morning. The one day I don’t listen and someone I know is on.

I have a terrible sense of direction. I couldn’t find my own ass with two hands and an ass map. But LawDog comes to the rescue telling me how figure out where to go without the use of a compass. And a way to do so at night.

Heh.

Kopel on Significant Developments in DC Case on Handgun and Self-Defense Bans notes:

It appears that DC has decided that its long-gun self-defense ban is constitutionally indefensible. The most logical inference is that DC (despite statements by the Mayor at press conferences) has concluded that it cannot convince the Supreme Court that the Second Amendment is not an individual right. DC is retreating to position that the individual Second Amendment right is not violated by a handgun ban, as long as individuals can possess other guns.

Excellent. The list of authors reads like a who’s who of shooty goodness.

An unsigned idiotorial* in Daytona:

The number of concealed weapons permits issued annually in Florida more than doubled over the past five years. Do you feel safer?

If you’re one of the 73,179 people who got a permit last year and now have a gun tucked away, maybe. For the rest of the population, probably not.

Gun proponents make much of the fact that Florida’s gun-related crime is on the increase. They don’t make the obvious leap — the spike could well be tied to the sheer numbers of weapons flowing into the state. They also fail to acknowledge that Florida’s violent crime rates fluctuated widely in the 20 years since the state Legislature liberalized concealed-weapon laws, requiring the state to grant permits to most people who asked. (Florida’s law, known as “shall-issue,” became a national model; by 2004, most states had the same law.)

So what good are all these guns? In recent years, the state has logged between 1,800 and 1,900 handgun deaths per year. In 2004, the last year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control, only 11 of those deaths were due to “legal intervention,” and most of those shootings were by police officers in the line of duty.

Handgun death rates tell another tale: Florida’s rate in 2004 was 10.6 gun deaths per 100,000 population — drastically higher than any of the 10 states that still have tough concealed-handgun laws, with the exception of Maryland, whose rate was 12 deaths.

And how many are committed by someone with a concealed carry permit? I mean, since that’s what you’re implying here.

They end with: At some point, however, Floridians (and their elected representatives) should face reality. The state’s gun-friendly culture hasn’t made it any safer; in fact, most evidence points in the other direction.

No, it doesn’t. Because you’re correlating an increase in a group of lawful citizens not involved in shootings with an increase in shootings.

* btw, brand new made up word.

The ASP pistol is an odd bird.

Or you know.

In light of comments here regarding NRA and gun rights and who is doing more and selling out and what not, listen up:

There are all kinds of us gun nuts. And we don’t all agree on everything. I don’t agree with Pro Gun Progressive on many issues because I’m not generally a liberal. I don’t agree with Clayton Cramer on most things involving homosexuality. I don’t agree with Kim du Toit on the virtues of the 1911. I don’t agree with a lot of gun blogs right-wing cheer leading. But I do agree with them about the gun issue.

I am much more gun nut than a lot of folks. You could say that I’m more GOA than NRA when it comes down to the issues. But here’s the deal: the NRA is the 800lb gorilla when it comes to guns. And they are effective. Sure, I (and you) have had issues with them. And I’ve criticized the hell out of them. A lot. But they still have my support. Just like the aforementioned bloggers who I may not generally agree with. So, let’s not start poo-pooing the NRA because they’re getting into the new media game. Yes, we can raise legitimate concerns about them and criticize them at length. But if there is a rift in the pro-gun community, it hurts us all. You can cheer lead the GOA or JPFO all you like. But they’re not very effective at, err, much. Even though I’m more inclined to agree with GOA.

Yes, the NRA compromises by having their attorney seemingly argue that he wants registration. But that is incidental to the big picture which is that a case is going to the Supreme Court. A winnable case, even. And it’s going to take small steps for the long term victory. Small victories add up, such as the recent adoption of CCW laws in the vast majority of states.

Remember, if you drive a truck in ten miles, it’s still ten miles to get out.

Like Sebastian said a bit back:

To me the NRA is like an annoying little brother; he sure does annoy you sometimes, and you wish he wouldn’t go off and get himself into trouble that you felt compelled to get him out of. But when the chips are down, family is family, and you do what you have to do.

Update: And don’t take this post to mean that I (or you) should constantly be affirming NRA with perpetual rah rah rah go team fight eagerness. Rather, remain critical when warranted but try not to be openly hostile. We’re winning and we should keep it that way.

That’s what Joe says. He has a message for her.

And I like this quote from Clayton Cramer:

Still, her announcement that she was going to stop allowing comments doesn’t particularly upset or surprise me–this is a common response of gun control advocates, who soon discover that we knuckle-dragging Neanderthals don’t just outnumber them, but we’re smarter than they are–way smarter.

I call bullshit:

A Collier County man is having second thoughts about selling his AK-47 online because of the buyers the rifle has attracted this week. He says most of the people that responded to his Craigslist.org posting are convicted felons.

And how do you know that? The guy claims to do background checks. Really? How do you without access to NICS? Or are you really spending $19.99 a pop to have some agency do them? You know, for a $1,000 gun (which, by the way, way too much for an AK).

And MSNBC bought this story?

Step one: pick issue.

Step two: repeat Brady Campaign & Violence Policy Center talking points.

Well, at least that’s what Matt Sedensky did. We have all sorts of misleading scary phrases like spray of bullets, high-powered assault weapon and weapons of choice for gangs. All of that, of course, is misleading. Additionally, Matt pulls some real boners like:

And when the guns, once found solely in the hands of soldiers, are aimed at officers on patrol, there’s little authorities can do to escape.

Err, semi-auto rifles have been in the hands of civilians since there have been semi-auto rifles.

Federal officials don’t compile statistics on the number of crimes involving assault weapons like the AK-47, and municipalities’ numbers across the country are patchwork.

Err, yeah they do. And it’s a very small number.

The guns are readily available on streets, Baixauli said, or can be ordered by mail for under $200.

Mail ordering guns is illegal, unless you go through a federal firearms dealer. And if you can find a $200 AK, I’ll take all you got.

The AP: Getting out the Brady Campaign’s propaganda so Brady doesn’t have to.

More here and here.

Blake went and snapped some pics from the event.

Game day. Lots of beverages to be consumed.

Sarcastic Update: go vols.

Sarcastic Update 2: From my brother-in-law: Well, we’ll get to see how UT does next year. When Fulmer’s gone.