Two, actually. Me and the kids were at Petsmart while the Mrs. finished up some stuff. The kids like to go look at fish, vermin, birds (but I repeat myself) and other critters they have there. We’re watching the rats when Junior says Those two are jumping. I look down and see two mice in a cage (BTW, per the sign, these were fancy mice, whatever that means) and they are jumping. Each mouse is jumping to the water dispenser thingie because they can’t reach it. I tell Junior that it looks like the mice are thirsty. About that time, an employee walks by and I point out that these two mice can’t reach the water. The employee opens the cage and lowers the water dispenser thingy. Then, both mice drink water for five minutes straight. Who knows how long they’d gone without water.

We must keep people from diddling themselves! For the children.

I think it’s a back door gun control scheme! After all, three-dimensional devices designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs are useful for cleaning sound suppressors.

And by absorb the cost they mean turn people on welfare away.

A blog chronicling someone who has raised a coyote pup found in the wild. Nice pics.

Via Ben.

Andrew Elder:

The Motion Picture Association of America has offered a university “toolkit” that schools can use to monitor their students’ file-sharing activity, ensuring that they don’t download copyrighted movies. But the MPAA has been made to take the toolkit down. Why? Copyright violations, of course.

I might invest in a company that makes Taser-proof clothing. But, really, how long before someone passed a law banning it? A week?

Heh.

Seen at Mr. C.’s:

The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. “Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?” “NO Ma’am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.”

I think it qualifies as fake but accurate.

I dunno. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitt “I’ll say whatever it takes to get elected” Romney announced he was wrong in the past and is now a Baptist.

Ryan at Red’s Trading Post advocates contacting your Senators to oppose the confirmation of Michael Sullivan to head ATF. I concur. A successful politico from Massachusetts isn’t exactly someone I trust to enforce gun laws.

Cavalry arms discreet rifle case.

Update: Reader emdfl says that Sports Authority hockey stick bags do the same thing for a fraction of the price. See here, here and here.

Me neither.

The Second was wearing a sweater and a white T-Shirt (you know, a wife beater as they’re called in these parts) underneath. It was a little warm so we took off the sweater. We’re getting ready to go visit the in-laws so my job was dress The Second. I’m changing his clothes and say Let’s take off that wife-beater. Then Junior looks up and says Wife beater. She said it plain as day. For the next few minutes, she’s all wife beater all the time. Wife beater this, wife beater that. Then, I compound the problem by noting that all The Second needs now is a Bud-Light. And Junior starts talking about Bud-Light and wife-beaters.

Careful what you say. They’re always listening.

The Survivalist Blog looks at survival guns.

Stuff you can’t make up:

Ottawa is facing a multimillion-dollar bill to find work for border guards who can’t – or won’t – carry guns, newly released documents show.

Or, you know, you fire them.

But an internal analysis indicates that between 25 and 30 per cent of those guards will be unable or unwilling to carry sidearms – as many as 1,440 employees.

Fire them.

The agency has agreed in principle to accommodate guards who prefer work that does not require sidearms, or who fail the training program because of physical problems, such as poor vision.

Fire them.

There’s a name for unarmed guards: witnesses.

Ok, now that Name Your Blog Muhammad Day is over, we’re back to normal. I got a few emails asking me if we’d been hacked. Heh!

The NYT has a fairly good (and by that, I mean they’re not shitting their pants because guns are involved) piece on Robert Levy and the Heller case:

They started by interviewing dozens of potential plaintiffs in Washington.

“We wanted gender diversity,” Mr. Levy said. “We wanted racial diversity. We wanted age diversity. We wanted income diversity.”

The lawyers picked three men and three women, four white and two black. “They ranged in age from 20s to 60s,” Mr. Levy said, “with varying incomes and varying occupations.”

The appeals court knocked five plaintiffs out of the case in March, saying they did not have standing to sue because they had never tried to register a gun.

Mr. Levy called that ruling a Catch-22. “If you want to apply for a license or permit for a handgun, you have to prove ownership of a handgun,” he said. “Where do you get one? You can’t buy a handgun in Washington, D.C., and federal law says you can’t buy a handgun in any state except where you reside.”

Mr. Levy said his team had anticipated the issue. The remaining plaintiff, Dick Anthony Heller, a security officer, was turned down by the Washington police when he tried to register a pistol he had bought while living elsewhere.

Along with carefully selecting the plaintiffs, the lawyers working with Mr. Levy shaped their case in a second way, consciously keeping their distance from some groups that support gun rights.

There’s a lot more. This case has been years in the making and, obviously, very well thought-out and planned. Hats off to these guys.

I find it odd that Mr. Levy has never owned a gun.

Speaking of California, the ATF sent out it’s ATF State Laws and Published Ordinances. Ride Fast notes some numbers:

California, 67 pages, about 120,600 words of regulation.
Massachusetts, 18.5 pages, about 32,400 words.
Nevada, 6.5 pages, about 11,700 words.
Vermont, 1.05 pages, about 1890 words.

Looks like the NICS database for mentally defective expanded from 175K to 400K with the addition of California. I guess that proves there are more crazy people in California than in the rest of the country?

David Hardy: This sorta thing is why I didn’t take umbrage at the bill proposed a while back to change things. It didn’t add anyone to the prohibited persons list. It would have expanded the number of names on the list, but anyone who had been committed but was able to get a firearm because they weren’t on the list would be liable for a felony charge anyway.

David Codrea doesn’t dig it.

Sebastian: I’ve said before that I consider NICS to be a minor infringement, and I’m not certain it’s worth burning political capital to eliminate it in the current political climate.

Clayton Cramer has more analysis.

TOZ-35.

Another blog named Muhammad relays their tale.

So says Michael Silence. I don’t really have an issue with the number of Tasers. Rather, I take issue with the fact police tend to use them when it’s not necessary.

From DAMIT, we learn that staring at boobs ten minutes per day will increase a man’s lifespan. I think the scientists got their marching orders wrong.

Alrighty, then.

Love the headline: AMNESTY GUN BUY-BACK REMOVES 106 GUNS FROM SAN FRANCISCO STREETS.

Actually, a more accurate headline would probably be AMNESTY GUN BUY-BACK REMOVES 106 GUNS FROM LAW-ABIDING PEOPLE. CRIMINALS KEPT THEIRS. THEY’RE NOT STUPID, YA KNOW.

David Petzal:

The person who put the two words together was Wayne LaPierre, the then (and current) Executive Vice President of the NRA. In 1995, in a fundraising letter, Mr. LaPierre referred to agents of the BATF and FBI as “jackbooted thugs.” The resulting uproar caused some NRA members to resign, most notably the first President Bush, who was an NRA Life Member.

Actually, no. LaPierre was quoting John Dingle (D – MI).

Some Honor Guard service members were escorting the body of a soldier back. Their medals set off the metal detectors at the airport. TSA had them strip down. Way to go guys.

Some gun group statedthe NRA supported a gun control bill. Turns out, they did not.

Courting the NRA endorsement. And the NRA is seeking a viable candidate. I found this odd:

Arulanandam said NRA officials have met privately with each of the GOP candidates, except /20~ p@\/1.

I’d like see them endorse Richardson in the Dem primary, though. But they don’t do that.

Me and the Mrs. did some shopping this weekend. I tried on a fleece pull-over in the middle of the aisle. As I’m taking it off, the conversation goes like this:

Me: [pointing to the shirt I’m wearing under the fleece] would you hold this down while I take this off?

The Mrs.: You don’t want people seeing your belly?

Me: No, I don’t want people seeing my .45.

In other news, I guess she thinks I’m getting chunky.