Carnaby reads the gun guys so you don’t have to. Here he addresses Gonzo dancing in the blood of the dead. And here he addresses Gonzo’s hysterics over (gasp!) politically incorrect self-loading firearms.

Is this you:

There are two gun owners who VCDL is trying to get in touch with ASAP; both were arrested at a National Park and Philip Van Cleave can’t find their names or email addresses anywhere.

The VCDL is looking for you:

If you are either of those two individuals OR if you have a similar story at a National Park and have not contacted me about it within the last two months, please do so ASAP by emailing president@vcdl.org.

Sebastian on the whining from VPCer Sugarmann:

But Josh, buddy, seriously… take the spin and go with it. I mean, you wouldn’t want to ruin Paul Helmke’s fundraising efforts by getting the notion out there, among yours and Brady’s donors, that HR2640 wasn’t actually a gun control law, would you? If that’s the case, that means you guys haven’t won a victory in, what is it now? 14 years.

Well, nationally. They still have NY, MA, and others.

Seen at Jeff’s:

The bill also carries language backed by the National Rifle Association limiting the sharing of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives data on gun manufacturers, sellers and buyers with local governments and law enforcement.

Gun control critics opted not to challenge the provision offered by Rep Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., and similar to provisions included in the ATF budget since 2003.

The campaign of lies didn’t work. Good.

Awesome BB gun:

Link since embed goofs up the website.

I’ve pondered buying the Drozd before just because it looks cool. And now it comes with a shoulder stock. It’d be a fun little toy.

Via Mad IT Guy.

Yeah, that’s right. They’re not letting up:

Well, CeaseFire NJ is not letting up with their campaign, “Put the gun down, Elmo!” — which is sure to cause some headaches. The group is calling on Americans to send a letter to Sesame Workshop CEO Gary Knell.

Err, yeah. Because Busch caved to PBS like two weeks ago.

The Gun Guys: Yesterday’s pants-shitting hysteria today!

Like many people in Knox County I was shocked to read the editorial in the Knoxville News Sentinel today. The title is, “Is county mayor’s office out of control?”

How convenient. After five years of being the chief cheerleader for the County Mayor now the editorial staff of the News Sentinel wakes up and smells the coffee. This occurs after some serious investigative journalism from WBIR television in Knoxville which has accounted for the resignations of three people very close to the County Mayor. To the Sentinel’s credit reporter Scott Barker has also followed the story closely.

Better late than never but the question does arise, what took so long? Knox County Commissioner Paul Pinkston spoke with WNOX’s Hallerin Hill Tuesday morning and suggested that the Mayor’s office had wined and dined various members of the local press in Knoxville to gain favor. Pinkston also opined that columns concerning the Mayor written in the Knoxville News Sentinel appeared to have been written by Mayor Ragsdale’s right hand man Dwight Van de Vate, the Communications Director for the Mayor. You can hear Commissioner Pinkston’s interview with Hallerin Hill here.

As everyone awaits the audits of the troubled P-cards there is apprehension about the audits of the privately funded “Hospitality fund” which is used for entertainment. Will this audit prove that there was an effort to garner favor with the local press by expensive meals and drinks?

Much more at Knoxviews here and here.

Today the prosecutor in the Duke rape trial confessed “there is no credible evidence that Mr. Seligmann, Mr. Finnerty or Mr. Evans committed any of the crimes for which they were indicted.”

From Breitbart.com

“We all need to heal,” Nifong said. “It is my hope we can start this process today.”

Nifong’s apology came as a judge began considering whether to hold the former Durham County district attorney in criminal contempt of court for his handling of the case.

Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III has already concluded there is probable cause to believe Nifong “willfully and intentionally made false statements of material fact” to the court during a hearing in the case last fall. If he finds Nifong in contempt after an Aug. 30 hearing, the now-disbarred former prosecutor could face up to 30 days in jail.

The case started with a woman’s allegations that she was raped at a March 2006 lacrosse team party where she was hired as a stripper. Nifong won indictments against three team members, but the charges were later dropped, and state Attorney General Roy Cooper went a step farther by declaring the three men innocent victims of Nifong’s “tragic rush to accuse.”

So the apology comes as Nifong is facing the music. He should serve time.

Move over Mojito, there is a new drink in Knoxville. It is called the Mayor’s Pink Lady.

Whether it was invented at Regas or the Bistro has yet to be determined but the new update on an old drink has taken Knoxville by storm. It is especially popular with those denizens of the sixth floor of the City County Building.

It is one part vodka plus three parts Pepto-Bismol blended and served over crushed ice with a lemon twist.

Earlier, I said:

I’m betting on the man

Should be interesting. I can’t see a computer being bluffed off a hand or slow-played, which is important against a human.

Told ya so:

In a match of wits between man and machine this week, a software program running on an ordinary laptop computer fought a close match, but lost to two well-known professional human poker players.

The contest, which was billed as the “First Man-Machine Poker Championship” and which offered prize money totaling $50,000, pitted two professionals, Phil Laak and Ali Eslami, against a program written by a team of artificial intelligence researchers from the University of Alberta. They gave it a name that probably no gambler would ever choose as a nickname, Polaris.

Poker is thought to be a more difficult challenge for software designers than games like chess and checkers. Computer scientists have to develop different strategies and algorithms to deal with the uncertainties introduced by the hidden cards held by each player as well as difficult-to-quantify risk-taking behaviors such as bluffing.

Heh:

Biden reaches out to ‘gun lover’ guy from CNN/YouTube debate

[…]

In an interview with Reason magazine, Townsend later invited Biden up to Clio to discuss the matter.

Despite questioning whether or not Townsend was mentally qualified to handle his “baby” during the debate, Biden said today that he emailed Townsend and gave him his phone number, saying he would be happy to get together the next time he is in Michigan.

Biden even told The Crypt he would be happy to go hunting with Townsend, though the senator said he couldn’t equal Townsend’s firepower.

“All I have is a 20 gauge and a 10 gauge shot gun. It won’t match his automatic weapon,” Biden said.

Townsend called the Bushmaster “a good varmint rifle” in his interview, saying he uses it to hunt coyotes.

Still, Biden, who helped craft the 1994 assault weapons ban, said Townsend would have to lose the Bushmaster before they went looking for varmints together.

Still got the hoplophobia, huh? The Bushmaster is not an automatic weapon. It’s a semi-automatic.

Via insty.

The story so far: Some dude calls his guns his babies.

This creeps some lefty out.

Gun nut says: people call their nice cars, motorcycles, and the fruits of other expensive hobbies their babies. What’s the big deal?

Lefty says: guns are designed to kill!!!!

Au contraire, mon cracker. A gun is designed to propel a projectile. Said projectile may (or may not) be designed to kill. Most ammo is designed for that. But some ammo is designed for long range accuracy, some for launching other projectiles, some to be quiet, some for target shooting, some for practice, etc. I’m being smarmy for a reason. It is this:

Regardless, the intent to kill rests on the person and not the object.

Now, that is not to minimize guns nor imply they are happy, fluffy bunnies full of happiness. The primary purpose of them is to kill. So, as gun owners, don’t forget that.

Yesterday, millions of guns and their owners didn’t kill anybody.

Seems ATF finds Red’s Trading Post taking pics as a credible threat. That got some press coverage. And a mention at Instapundit.

The ATF’s push is nonsensical but it continues a trend of bad things for the agency in the last few years, like:

A circuit court smacks them down for their ruling on model rockets;

An agent testified under oath that the NFRTR (the NFA weapons database) was corrupt;

Having budget issues due to mismanagement;

Being investigated for breaking he law at Virginia gun shows.

And they’ve had funds cut for some of their rather, err, dubious programs.

The ATF Director has resigned over excessive and lavish spending.

The now former head of the ATF ordered staff to do his nephew’s homework.

And employees are coming forward with allegations of mismanagement.

And getting smacked down for disregarding the law.

In case you ever need to launch a golf ball 500 yards, here’s a golf ball launcher attachment for your rifle. Via joe.

Everyone sent me this pic of the three Israeli chicks ordering ice cream. With their evil, spray firing bullet hoses of death on their backs. How do they have those magazines attached to each other?

Want to blog but are afraid the controversial nature of your topics will cause your provider to dump you? Have no fear.

SanFran:

Specifically, they would prohibit the possession or sale of firearms on city property, require firearms in residences to be in a locked container or have trigger locks and require firearm dealers to submit an inventory to the chief of police every six months.

That sounds familiar. Rather like the gun controls in DC that were recently struck down. As to why:

The violence that has been generally confined to more crime-plagued neighborhoods crossed into a major tourist area Monday afternoon, with a shooting that left one person dead and put bullet holes through the front window of a popular restaurant.

Well, you can’t go shooting tourists!

And what’s the point if … new restrictions won’t do much to stop the gun violence escalating on city streets, one sponsor of the new laws said after the vote.

Seems with the recent and many losses of the anti-gunners, they’re pulling out all the pants-shitting hysterics:

The Smoking Gun: NRA Admits it Does Not Support Criminal Background Checks for All Gun Sales

Stop Handgun Violence, a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of gun violence, today released on-the-record quotes from a National Rifle Association (NRA) spokesperson confirming that the NRA does not support uniform background checks for all gun purchases or the use of the government’s anti-terror watch list in precluding gun sales.

There’s nothing new there. The NRA has always said private sales are private. Dealers are regulated, not people. And the NRA has also always opposed the terror watchlist nonsense. You know, because of due process of law and innocent until proven guilty and all of that.

The press release lists as a contact John Rosenthal. You know that guy who may or may not have conspired to engage in a straw purchase with the Boston Globe’s alleged journalist Steve Bailey.

Seems the guy who asked Joe Biden about his baby (Jered Townsend) got a bit of a write up:

Townsend called the Biden response “kind of off-kilter,” adding: “I think he hurt himself. A lot of people who are out there said, ‘We are all gun owners. He lost my vote.’”

[…]

“Whatever,” Townsend retorted Tuesday. “I’m not the one on stage trying to get the presidency, making myself look like an idiot. … And if I did make myself look like an idiot, I don’t care.”

While Townsend’s means of asking his question probably shocked your average Democrat, Biden’s response that this guy was crazy and looking at him like he had cooties probably damaged Biden (and Democrats) with gun owners. And they had been making waves lately with shedding their gun banning image. But this ain’t a post about that, it’s a post about this:

Why did CNN choose that video? My understanding was CNN chose the questions to be aired. And do you think there weren’t other people asking about gun control in a much less dramatic way? In a way that might not scare your average liberal? And this is the video they showed?

Well, can’t read too much into it since the also let a snowman ask about global warming.

As Sebastian says: The ATF accusing anyone of intimidation is almost laughable.

But it’s true. The ATF seems to think that keeping tabs on their activities and taking their pictures while they’re investigating whether or not i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed is intimidation.

David has some of the documents and notes:

[ATF] had threatened him that he needed to cease all blogging and keep their agents and inspectors free from being photographed or observed, or they would go to the judge and file a complaint of harassment.

Why are they afraid of being observed?

And a note: seems a few folks radar goes off whenever they get a web visit from ATF or DOJ or Treasury. It’s not a big deal, really. I have a few that read here (hi, guys!) and, while I’m sure some are keeping tabs on me, I know at least a couple who are friendlies.

Don’t get me wrong, there is reason to be alert and to recognize intimidation. I mean, I’ve had them show up at my house (here’s some entries about why). I invited them in, offered them coffee, they made goo-goo faces at my little girl and we had a not entirely unpleasant chat. Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact that I told from the get-go I had consulted three lawyers. But, and this is the important thing, there was no reason for me to be a person of interest. At all. The entire purpose of their visit seemed to be Ha ha, we found you. And my response was Ha ha, so what?

Paul “reasoned discourse” Helmke:

Based on a handwritten legal opinion issued last week by a Judge in Winnebago County, Illinois, the state of Illinois could now allow 10-month old children who get FOID cards to keep 9mm pistols in their baby carriages as long as the holster covers the gun and the ammo clip is in a separate pouch

The only problem is that is made up. The first ruling says that complying with the law is legal. And the second proves that anyone can get a Firearms Owner Identification Card. That’s some fine reasoned discourse you got there Pauly (can I call you that?).

It’s rather odd that Helmke is poking fun at Illinois, since The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership ranks Illinois with an A-.

Only that’s not true. The Influence Peddler notes: Biden is wrong to claim credit for being the first.

More interesting is that the ban on weapons that look like assault weapons was written (and I am not making this up) by staffers who bought a gun buyer’s guide and picked the weapons that looked mean.

But just in case you wanted to know what happened if you shot a propane tank.

Ooh, Saiga Shottie. Rivrdog wants one.

Shootings with handguns cannot happen in England. Those are banned there.

But I have found a way to improve the world’s greatest sandwich: add a slice of onion.

Terry Frank links a new video from YouTube. What would Patton say?

I see from my logs that the Boston Globe is checking us out. I wonder why that is?

Oh noes! Joe Biden thinks that if you own an evil black rifle, you’re not mentally qualified to own a gun. Wait. So, wanting to own one means you’re not qualified to. We can apply the same not-logic to presidentin’: Biden wants to be president therefore is not mentally qualified to be one. But don’t worry, Joe, the odds of you actually becoming president are about the same as me actually becoming president. Only, I won’t spend millions of someone else’s dollars to figure that out.

And Richardson, ordinarily a friend to gun owners, quickly lost his cool and went on about gun shows.

Update: Glenn notes: The big news isn’t the diminution in Biden’s already microscopic chances of becoming President, but the collateral damage to other candidates and the Democrats’ brand. It’s hard to win swing states if gun owners hate you. Biden just exacerbated a problem the Democrats have been trying, with some success, to ameliorate.

Ayup.

BTW, I must have some serious mental deficiencies:

Update 2: Video:

Any excuse to post pics.