Huh:

In an apparent case of road rage, a motorist shot a driver to death who threatened him with a baseball bat.

Road rage, self-defense? What’s the difference?

Or please God, don’t make me vote for /20~ p@\/1

It’s disappointing. I want Fred to win. But it appears that it’s over barring some miracle. I said the same thing about South Carolina, so it’s time to realize that the miracle just ain’t gonna happen. I hope he can turn it around but that’s unlikely. Fred is not media friendly. He takes complex positions on issues that don’t fit neatly into soundbytes. He doesn’t have catchy jingles. And the media can’t go with that. As Bob Krumm said, Since the media only print sentences don’t talk in paragraphs.

If Fred drops, then who? Err, nobody. I don’t like anyone in the Republican field. So, like I did last year, I’ll waste my vote on the crazy libertarian guy in protest. For the second election in a row, I would rather waste my vote on the crazy guy than any contender the establishment offers.

The only other thing I have to say is I hope it’s not Romney. I mean, a Romney v. Hillary or Romney v. Obama is no choice at all.

Bob Krumm on lessons learned. Additionally, Bob is advocating contributing to Fred and Bob is putting his money where his mouth is.

AC has extensive thoughts as well.

Update: Glenn has more, including: Some people think it’s time to teach the party a lesson. Fine, but I thought 2006 was supposed to do that. Did they learn anything?

Apparently not.

Update 2: In comments, Xrlqy Wrlqy reminds me that this is also a game of longball:

If you think I’m exaggerating when I say the next 20+ years, consider the infamous Ninth Circuit. Nearly all the judges on that circuit who make it so notoriously whack are Carter appointees. Think long and hard about that before throwing your vote away in November.

You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a pink AR-15 these days.

But by the color of their skin or whether or not they have a vagina.

Ruger has issues with politically incorrect self-loading rifles?

Speaking of, I often hear the black rifle crowd yammering on about how the NRA doesn’t look out for them. I dunno, have you read any recent issue of American Rifleman? It seems to me to be peppered with ads for EBRs and EBR accessories.

Michael Bane has a podcast interview with John Lott. It is here.

Over at Pattycakes.

Lemme ‘splain. No, there is too much. Lemme sum up.

See, if you think that there is a rational and lawful basis for jury nullification, you’re retarded. If you think that judges should decide the law while juries decide the facts, you’re just following orders and a Nazi. Does that cover it?

Any way, my thoughts are that juries should be fully informed on matters of fact, law and, hell, legal strategy. But the courts don’t do that. In fact, if a lawyer looked at jury and said Guys, you can just decide this is bullshit then what’s going to happen to him? We can’t, after all, have the people judging the law. There’d be anarchy!

I refer you to this bit:

Yeah, the cops have discretion aplenty on whether to arrest or merely warn you. The Prosecutor’s office has discretion aplenty on whether to charge you for a crime or crimes (and what charges to bring, and what penalties to ask for). The judge is a tinpot god in his own courtroom.

But if the JURORS show the slightest bit of independent thought, civilization will collapse into flaming ruin.

I find jury nullification is a valid means of essentially countering particularly odious laws, like say prohibition or someone getting sentenced to 30 years for selling weed.

The other issue that gets bandied about by people who are not fans of jury nullification is that you, pesky troublemaker, took an oath to uphold the law! And if you renege on that then you’ve perjured yourself. Having read a sample oath, I don’t buy that argument. I see no prohibition in there stating that judging the law is verboten. Even if it did, taking an oath to uphold the law is not going to override my moral convictions. And I’m not saying I’d lie to get on jury.

Past ramblings here, here, and here.

Today, we celebrate a man who has done much to advance a righteous cause. Hats off to you, Mr. John Moses Browning, and happy birthday.

Ok, two quotes. First, Jody in comments here:

I think there’s a difference between a libertarian and an anarchist. Unfortunately for libertarians, many anarchists don’t know the difference.

And Tam:

The last time we had a populist moralizing evangelical in the White House, we gave away the Panama Canal…

Heh and double heh.

Happy B-day, bitter.

Anti-gunners have to do it. And the press just repeats it. Example one:

Lawmakers have tried and failed at getting this bill passed before, but last year’s shootings at Virginia Tech have led several groups to make another push.

A group called Protest Easy Guns is planning to bus people in from all over the state for a demonstration Monday on Capitol Square. They’re planning to lay down on the front lawn of the state capitol to drive home the impact of the Tech shootings.

The implication being, of course, that somehow closing the Evil Gun Show Loophole would have stopped the VT massacre. That, of course, is not the case.

Example two:

This is a lie designed to help him make his case. By lumping the federally restricted sawed-off shotgun in with the political construct “assault weapons”, he elevates both to “oooh, scary” status and lends credence to his argument.

It’s chicks and AR week apparently:

She has more videos here.

Ryan looks at some software for FFLs

Kilby’s bill to ban the ownership of Politically Incorrect Dogs will not make it out of committee:

Senator Kilby thanks all those who have contacted his office to oppose the legislation. He very much appreciates the information that has been shared with him and the fact that our fanciers, enthusiasts, and concerned dog owners did so in a polite and respectful manner.

Cool. We were heard. And hats off to Kilby!

Via Aunt B.

Their new gun law states that people without permits can keep weapons in their cars.

Joe has a list. IIRC, the 223 was not included due to its popularity.

Joe notes some of the good about it.

PGP is running for office! As a Libertarian. Isn’t that like the opposite of progressive?

And light blogging alert. Stuff to do.

Model PC-13

Noveske low profile.

FAL

A Taser that can be fired from a shotgun.

Doing mine. Not fun.

Where I live, if I hear gun shots then I figure it’s farmer Bob up the way trying out his new shotty or a neighbor dispatching some varmint. Squeaky doesn’t.

They issued a much harsher statement on Heller here. Good stuff

Not only do worshipers of /20~ p@\/1 infest your comments when you mention his name. So do ƒ£µ0r1Ð3 detractors. See here. Comments from folks who I don’t recognize as regulars telling me how wrong I am.

To all you AR haters:

EX-SOVIET Georgia’s army began to switch from the Russian-designed Kalashnikov to the modern US M4 rifle, pro-Western president-elect Mikheil Saakashvili announced.

“Today is a historic day for the Georgian armed forces: we start to switch to Western armament. From today, we will use the best weapon in the world – the M4 assault rifle,” Mr Saakashvili told troops at a new military base at Gori, in the north of the strategic former Soviet republic.

Mr Saakashvili, who has angered neighbouring Russia by pressing for NATO membership, said on Rustavi-2 television that the armed forces were purchasing “new armoured vehicles which meet the NATO standards, and new artillery, which also meet NATO and Western standards.”

Looks like they want to be able to hit barns.

I hear the Olofson case (malfunctioning AR goes full auto) will be covered by Lou Dobbs on CNN.

Founder of anti-gun group sentenced for gun crime.

Bloomberg wants to micro stamp you too:

He advocated for a state law that would require gun makers to equip weapons with high-tech bullet tracking, but also pushed for DNA testing of anyone who is arrested.

Mexico is upset that guns are getting into the country. They blame the US, of course. The US recently decided to give trace data to the Mexican .gov. But this is bullshit:

Officials said that many of the weapons – including powerful handguns and semiautomatic assault rifles – are purchased legally at shops and gun shows, and that Houston and Dallas are two of the top sources. The guns are typically carried south across the border by multiple couriers whom some officials referred to as an “army of ants.”

Even black-market military-style weapons, such as .50-caliber machine guns, bazookas and grenades, have been seized in raids.

.50-caliber machine guns, bazookas and grenades are all either 1) illegal in the US or 2) heavily regulated in the US. They’re also, generally, unlawful to export of course. So, Mexico’s weapons of this sort are likely coming from somewhere else. But ATF to the rescue:

In Mexico City, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the goal of what officials are calling Project Gunrunner is to dry up the cartels’ arms supply in the U.S. by punishing gun dealers who knowingly sell weapons to “straw” buyers who then resell them illegally.

Or just look for the dealers who sell .50-caliber machine guns, bazookas and grenades because they’re likely already breaking the law.

School slayings down.

One of the politicos in the city (my the city) decided a few years back that fluoride had evil spirits in it or something. So, there was a successful push to get rid of fluoridated water. No shit. With kids, me and the Mrs. had to start buying fluoride drops for the rugrats to keep their teeth healthy. Anyway, someone got some sense and the water will soon be fluoridated again.

Welcome back to civilization.