The NRA’s Chris Cox has written a letter to acting ATF Director Michael Sullivan on ATF abuses. It is here.

DC Gun Case:

We have just received DC’s Merits Brief and Joint Appendix.

Update: In other news, 172 combined pages is a brief?

Update 2: Lots of familiar names quoted, like Kellermann, the VPC, Cornell. Good, those are easily refuted.

I’m not all hip with the newest fashions on Al Gore’s Tubes of Internets. But WTF is Twitter? I mean, other than a site that takes longer to load than my attention span can deal with.

AC compelled me to ask.

Tam:

Yes, you’re reading it right. On CNN this morning more people were interested in who got custody of Britney’s kids than in who got custody of “The Button”.

So, in my truck I got one of those mirrors that automatically gets a few shades darker whenever your dumb ass forgets to dim the brights when you come up on my tail. However, I noticed yesterday it didn’t work when the Sun was blazing away behind me on the drive. Anyone know how these things work?

Just curious.

Update: That was fast. Answer in comments.

All the misinformed assault weapons hysteria in one convenient location! Interesting to me is the author: Robert Spitzer is Distinguished Service Professor of political science at SUNY Cortland and author of “The Politics of Gun Control.”

Ruger has a pistol built on the 10/22 action.

Boy, were my predictions hopes wrong. I actually figured it would be Huckabee then McCain.

I was completely wrong on the Democrat primary. I thought (snark aside) that it would be Clinton, Edwards, Obama.

My thoughts? I hope Iowa isn’t indicative of the rest of the country (though they have a history of predicting eventual winners). Big government liberal v. big government Evangelical liberal doesn’t exactly give me hope. Huckabee is good on guns, though. And Obama is horrid on guns.

The good news is that Iowans voted for not quite the worst candidates. I mean, it could have been Romney and Clinton. Or Giuliani and Clinton. I guess there’s that to be thankful for.

And this time I didn’t make any serious predictions. Usually, in these political contests, I make beer bets. I’m 100% on my bets for political races (I lost one beer to an American Idol prediction) but this year, I could not get a feel for it. Still can’t.

Lee Gaillard says the second amendment is obsolete. It beats relying on the collective rights mythology. Repealing it would be impossible.

Rustmeister has more.

So does Greg.

So, there was a /20~ p@\/1 rally in World of Warcraft. Seriously.

Tam recaps the year in snark. That’s quality snark, right there.

When they are critical of easy access to guns, they really mean any access to guns.

Kevin notes something interesting about the robbery stopped by a CCW holder this week:

Why was this defensive gun use a failure?

Well, if you use the criteria of the anti-gun forces, specifically that of Dr. Arthur Kellermann, a successful defensive gun use must result in a death.

Nobody died.

Buckeye Firearms notes there is no leftist anti-gun media conspiracy. They’re just that stupid.

Kevin has a list.

Pit bull foils home robbery:

A pit bull stopped five people from robbing a home and may have saved his owners life.

Christopher Payne told Bibb County sheriff’s deputies when a group of people tried to rob him his dog Dino attacked and scared off intruders.

120 pounds is awful big for a pit bull.

Robb has one. I doubt that antis would go for it, you know, because it makes sense. But then, where I live, there is no waiting period.

Speaking of house guns, some AOWs grown local.

S&W Model 10.

Sebastian is having a Garand ol’ time.

NRA has done another mailing in Iowa.

R. Neal:

There are people over at Music City Bloggers seriously arguing in comments that the Constitution does not guarantee anyone the right to vote. OK, then.

Then, err, find it in the constitution for me. I’m sure it’s right there beside the right to privacy, near the section that guarantees the right of the state to bear arms, just above the right to free health care for everybody. I’ll spare you the search, the right to vote is not enumerated in the constitution. That is, however, not to say there is no right to vote. Rather, it’s just not an enumerated right:

The Constitution contains many phrases, clauses, and amendments detailing ways people cannot be denied the right to vote. You cannot deny the right to vote because of race or gender. Citizens of Washington DC can vote for President; 18-year-olds can vote; you can vote even if you fail to pay a poll tax. The Constitution also requires that anyone who can vote for the “most numerous branch” of their state legislature can vote for House members and Senate members.

Note that in all of this, though, the Constitution never explicitly ensures the right to vote, as it does the right to speech, for example.

Like privacy, voting is one of those unenumerated rights.

Update: BTW, we require ID for all sorts of things (including civil rights). Why is voting different?

Another update: BTW, here’s an interesting list of things not in the constitution.

For the Republicans:

1) Thompson (ok, not so much a prediction as a hope)
2) McCain
3) /20~ p@\/1 (oh crap, I almost spelled it out)
4) Huckabee
5) Some big government liberal, there’s so many (again, not so much a prediction as a hope)

For Democrats:

1) Hillary Clinton
2) that black guy
3) There’s more?
4) Yes, that guy with the pretty hair
5) No shit?

Update: Heh, in comments Jon says my #3 Democrat should be Giuliani. That’s funny.

Robb has a nice little recap of our sockpuppet that I mentioned yesterday. Says Robb:

Both Alex and NRAFOUREVER posted from Lewisberg, PA. At one point, two comments left by both Alex and NRAFOUREVER indicated the same IP address. From his comments, Alex was not beneath ad hominem attacks and due to his complete inability to actually argue a point, I firmly believe that Alex & NRAFOUREVER were either the same person or at least in collusion. This is not 100% proof. It is only what I think is likely.

Ayup. Occam’s razor.

Recall that the sheriff didn’t know the law and did not sign approval for NFA weapons, despite being required by state law to do so. There’s been a bit of an update. Seems a guy submitted paperwork a bit back and was approved with no problem. The guy then did it again and was denied.

The AP:

A federal judge has agreed to postpone a trial for a lawsuit that the National Rifle Association filed against city officials for seizing hundreds of guns in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.

Last week, NRA attorneys said the lobbying group needs more time to search for hundreds of gun owners whose firearms were confiscated by New Orleans police following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier agreed Friday to reschedule a Feb. 19 trial for the case. A new trial date is expected to be picked during a telephone conference with the judge later this month.

Bill lets judges carry weapons in gun-free zones.

Yee-Haw! My Vote Cancels Out Y’all’s!

Via Tom.

Yuri has set up a gun blogger group on Google. See here.

Mr. Completely says plans for Gun Blogger Rendezvous 3 are underway. And don’t forget that in May, gun bloggers are getting together at the NRA convention. I hope to be at both this year and may even be (gasp!) giving a presentation at the latter, which sucks because I am 1) horrible at public speaking and 2) hate it.

Seems congress has wagged their finger at the ATF a couple of times for going after dealers who commit technical errors (i.e., writing a Y instead of spelling out Yes) a couple of times. But ATF continues to disregard those reprimands.

HOV Positive.