ABA Journal:

Mark Levy, counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Kilpatrick Stockton who chaired the firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Practice, has died in an apparent suicide at the firm’s offices this morning, Legal Times is reporting, citing lawyers at the firm. According to Above the Law, the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Mark Levy argued on behalf of the Clinton Department of Justice for the Brady Bill that required waiting periods and background checks on the purchase of handguns.

A new kind of spam is hitting the blog. They’ll actually use the name of a frequent commenter (they’re particularly fond of straightarrow), copy a comment verbatim, then add something like ‘great post’ at the end. And the URL for their name will be some spam site. Anyone else experiencing that?

Today, we register Junior for kindergarten. Can you believe that? Me neither.

Trouble with the S&W M&P pistols from the LA Sheriff’s department.

The M&P is on California’s list of safe guns.

Well, can you field strip a weapon with your feet?

Lots of stuff from Rivrdog. Keep scrolling.

A bill in TN to require someone subject to an order of protection for domestic violence relinquish their firearms has advanced in the senate. That’s right. No conviction, no jury of peers, just an order of protection based on one person’s word over another.

in government controls. Says Spitzer:

This prompts a simple question: Why do we buy guns from companies that permit their products to be sold to bad guys?

In this era of government ownership of financial institutions, we are getting more used to the notion that government as an economic actor can exercise its power in differing ways. After all, firms that received TARP money are subject to a bevy of pay restrictions—wisely constructed or not—and were forced to cancel showy parties and retreats.

If we can use a capital infusion to a bank as an opportunity to control executive compensation and to limit use of private planes, why can’t the government use its weight as the largest purchaser of guns from major manufacturers to reward companies that work to keep their products out of criminals’ hands? Put another way, if it is too difficult to outlaw bad conduct through statutes, why not pay for good conduct? Why not require vendors to change their behavior if they want our tax dollars?

But then, who would you buy guns from? All of them or none of them? Companies cannot control what happens to their guns once they ship them. After all, it’s not actually like any gun manufacturer is complicit in their products being sold to bad guys. In fact, there are pretty strict rules they follow to sell only to qualified licensees and .gov agencies. This sounds good on paper to some government sorts but it’s really not going to be effective.

But it’s funny to hear Spitzer going on about bad guys. I mean, aren’t Johns and money launderers bad guys? Consider the source.

Orrin Hatch says gun owners are misrepresented.

Seems Josh Sugarmann is all sad because the Obama administration isn’t pursuing the gun control. I’m thinking maybe Obama meant some of his campaign rhetoric on guns now.

Also, what is that thing in the picture? Seriously, what the Hell is that?

Whenever “bill of rights” is used a suffix, it usually has nothing to do with rights and is often because someone thinks you’re too stupid to make your own decisions. The latest is the credit card holders’ bill of rights.

Lost in the whole Mexican Gun Canard thing is this bit of truth from ridefast:

Even if every single gun, knife and throw able rock in Mexico came from a single gun shop in southern California, it does not justify one more gun restricting law in the United States.

How many and who owns them?

Wait, what?

Pirate time.

Cruise ship captain issues handguns to crew. Crew fends off pirates.

And if that doesn’t work, pirates can apparently be repelled with deck chairs.

In DC, they’re giving people tickets for parking in their own driveways.

Crossbow upper for an AR. Or you should just buy a crossbow.

And a bayonet for a pistol?

Precision rifle clinic: Day 1

A report and lots of pics from Kevin.

Squeaky has posted a photo set here.

I’ve noticed a bit of chatter about atheists getting organized. It’s like they’re forming churches or something. Which is odd because I thought one of the branches of atheism was the anti-theists which tend to be more anti-church. The local talk radio had a bit on it this morning and the NYT did too.

Since it’s going to kill us all unless Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo do something, you should probably know a bit about it. So, that’s where labrat comes in giving you the skinny on the level ZOMGness.

More facts on N1H1 here.

And here’s a map. News this morning reported a case in Tennessee.

Also, I read an article that Twitter of all things is leading to panic. Ah, the internets. And it’s safe to buy pork products.

Citi is asking permission from the Treasury to pay bonuses.

The second amendment news round up.

A bill in Texas would exempt weapons made there from federal gun laws:

A bill by state Rep. Leo Berman exempting Texas-made firearms, gun accessories and ammunition sold within the state from federal regulation and law — including registration — was heard in a House committee on Monday.

The bill also provides for the Texas Attorney General’s office to defend Texans who run afoul of the federal government because of this law.

Montana has passed a similar bill already. Other states, including Alaska, Tennessee and Wyoming, have similar measures in the works.

In Iowa.

Rustmeister: The Journey of Cigar Discovery Continues.

Also, a handy FAQ on cigars, including building your own coolerdor and fridgerador for mass storage; and recommended cigars based on price range.

Unfortunately for some, this guy. He’s taking his students to lobby for gun control. Note the tolerance.

On the blog here, I have a category called Notes to Self so that I can leave myself notes about things. That does no good when you forget. You see, I forgot how much it can suck to put on Chapstick that’s been sitting in your car in the hot sun all day.

It’s funny. It happens every year. Remember the list that ranked cities by violent crime? Somebody always says something like notice how so many are southern? or that they’re mostly all red states. As though that proves that we red state yokels are all violent. Turns out, all 15 of the top cities in that list went blue.

Michelle shot her first CMP Match.

Israeli woman with M-16.

Red light cameras were never meant to decrease accidents. Just to raise revenue.