All that data that Bloomberg and Helmke say cops don’t have access to but they should. Well, turns out the ATF does give the data. But don’t take my word for it, since I’ve said it a lot. Take the word of ATF Director Michael Sullivan, who says:

“During the past several weeks, numerous questions and articles have arisen in the media, regarding the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to share firearms trace data among members of the law-enforcement community. With the recent tragic events surrounding the senseless criminal use of firearms; I felt the need to clarify this important issue.
…….
Our agency routinely shares trace data with state and local law-enforcement agencies in support of investigations within their respective jurisdictions. Once a requesting agency receives law-enforcement-sensitive trace data from ATF, it becomes the agency’s data to disseminate and share with other law-enforcement entities as it deems appropriate.

Let me be clear: neither the congressional language nor ATF rules prohibit the sharing of trace data with law enforcement conducting criminal investigations, or place any restrictions on the sharing of trace data with other jurisdictions once it is in the hands of state or local law enforcement.

Now, will Bloomberg and Helmke admit the real change they want? Which is to get unfettered access to the data in support of civil suits against gun makers, even though said suits are illegal.

I saw this Diet Mountain Dew commercial (didn’t get to the remote fast enough) where some dude in NYC is giving a puppet show from his window. A message stating that puppet shows from windows were illegal in NYC (turns out, it really is illegal) flashes on screen. Then, some police guy ordered the SWAT team to take him down. So, they swarm his house. I should note that, in PC fashion, the SWAT team members did not have guns. It’s obviously a bit of funny at the expense of stupid laws. But is it really funny? I mean, stuff like that really happens and I don’t find it amusing at all.

So, you’re a couple of criminals, who are also illegal immigrants (but I repeat myself). You decide that a home occupied by only an 11 year-old girl would be an easy target. Kids are easy to take from. Well, unless that 11 year-old girl was Patricia Harrington, who had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine. Unfortunately, these two had killed someone earlier.

Update: Word is, in comments, the story is fake and a number of years old.

Update 2: Snopes says undetermined.

Here.

You’ve seen people fire their weapons in the air in celebration over in the middle east. What goes up and all that. Seems the Army actually studied how dangerous that is.

My referral logs tell me that two posts of mine (Don’t Scare White People and Mass murderers v. armed citizens) are apparently getting quite a bit of play via email. Anyone know why?

Last year, our government received 2177 applications for secret warrants to spy on people in America. They granted all but one. And that one was only denied in part.

It’s ok that the gov rubberstamp spying on us because the people empowered to invade our privacy are all trustworthy. Oh wait.

A March audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine concluded that some FBI agents had demanded personal data without official authorization, and improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances. It also found that the FBI for three years underreported to Congress how often it used national security letters to ask businesses to turn over customer data.

Over at The Bivings Report is an interesting post on the “Top 6 Political YouTube Videos so far the Cycle“.

Since that post there is another candidate for inclusion. The Joe Biden “Ram it down his throat” YouTube.

The bill banning the confiscation of firearms and prohibiting their sale during emergencies is on its way to the Governor:

A bill that would prevent a governor from seizing privately owned firearms or ammunition during a state of emergency is a step closer to becoming law.

The measure – HB1285 – sponsored by Rep. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville, is headed to the governor for his consideration after unanimously passing the House on Monday. The companion bill was unanimously approved in the Senate last month.

That version passed after its sponsor, Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris of Collierville, and Gov. Phil Bredesen reached an agreement on its language.

Bredesen said he doesn’t disagree with the premise of the bill but noted that he wants to guard against an erosion of executive power when a governor needs it most.

Via Blake, who should, you know, blog.

Update: Spoke to soon. Blake did blog it. He asks that you email the governor and has the contact info.

I always knew it was but, according to most sources, it may as well be shall issue. Chuck notes that a push for real shall-issue died in the house:

Alabama’s concealed carry, a statewide permit, depends on the local sheriff to set the regulations and even if you meet the requirments, the sheriff still doesn’t have to issue.

Of course, Alabama has reciprocity with many shall-issue states (like Tennessee) so you could get an out of state permit. The guys at packing.org note:

I know of no Sheriff who doesn’t Issue to all who qualify. Counties are not required to conduct a background check on applicants, but most do. That’s why AL reciprocity is so limited with other states.

After the London Tube bombings, New York City instituted random bag searches in its subway system. At random times (mostly rush hour), cops are posted at random stations (mostly the big ones) and they stop some percentage of people with large bags (backpacks or bigger, it seems). People can decline to be searched if they want.

This practice has been derided as security theater and rightly so. It looks like the police are doing something, but the procedures don’t actually increase safety or security. In theory, looking in bags makes us all a little safer from bombs in bags. In practice, people who don’t want cops snooping in their bags do what I do– leave the station and enter the subway via a different entrance.

The only thing produced by random bag searches is less privacy for the people who are honest enough to submit to voluntary searches.

Speaking of kid’s activities, we’re going to get Junior started on swimming lessons. It occurred to me that I have no idea how to teach someone to swim.

Seen at David’s:

On Wednesday, April 26, 2007, I received an email (attached) from Mr. Bert Guy advising that “In light of the recent unfortunate incident at Virginia Tech”; a “Corporate Decision” had been made not to allow the display or sale of guns at the show. Furthermore, the email went on to say that, the Show had been changed to a Sporting Goods and Accessory show only.

The Second, who took his first steps a bit back, is getting around quite a bit now. He’s not quite running amok but getting around wherever he needs to get.

Last night, Junior started gymnastics. She had a big time. She did flips, jumped on trampolines and did some stretching. We’d tried this about a year ago but she couldn’t quite pay attention long enough to participate (she gets that from me). Now, she’s good about staying focused and only wanders off occasionally.

Good news, David Codrea reports that Red’s Trading Post Granted Injunction to Continue Operations. Background here.

My kinda hardware test.

No thanks. Though Bloomberg and his cronies are trying.

In light of the VT massacre, The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership’s Paul Helmke is making the rounds. He’s hitting the rotary circuit:

Helmke would like to see a national dialogue about what he called the country’s gun problem and hoped that the NRA would get involved in that discussion.

I’m certain the NRA would, if you actually meant it. But you do not. Your proposals only place additional hurdles on the law-abiding. Up next is his opening salvo in the supposed dialogue. Short version: more restrictions on the law-abiding. Long version:

“Pass the NICS Improvement Act, introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy. This legislation provides funding incentives for states to provide appropriate records to strengthen the information in NICS. —

I would not be opposed if it was attached to the BATF modernization act that has been kicked around for a couple of years.

Require background checks for all gun sales, not just those from federally licensed dealers. —

Ah, the evil gun show loophole or, you know, lawful commerce among the law-abiding.

Rescind the requirement requiring that records of Brady background checks be destroyed within 24 hours of purchase approval. —

Impose a backdoor registry to go with the one we already have? No thanks.

Impose a waiting period under the Brady Law, to allow time to do accurate and complete review of appropriate records. —

Waiting periods have shown to have no impact on crime but resulted in at least two cases of women not having a gun when they needed them.

Reinstate the Federal ban on ammunition magazines of larger than 10 rounds that expired along with the Federal assault weapons ban in 2004, and pass a ban on military-style assault weapons. —

Well, we all know that is one stupid law and it had no impact on crime. Here’s why.

Repeal the so-called “Tiahrt Amendment,” which as an annual appropriations rider bars the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from sharing data on the sources of guns used in crimes. —

A lie. Police agencies investigating crimes have access to the data.

Require that new semi-automatic handguns be equipped with technology to allow police to quickly match shell casings found at a crime scene to the handgun from which they were fired. This technology, known as”microstamping,” would enhance law enforcement’s ability to rapidly solve gun crimes.”

Microstamping is a pipe dream. Forget about it. Mr. Helmke, for this to be a dialogue, what are you willing to trade for these pipe dreams?

And Helmke hits the blogs, asking: Gun Violence: What Are We Going To Do About It? Well, I’m going to buy guns. See, here’s the important part: None of your proposals target gun violence. They target gun ownership.

So, the feds are building a case against an alleged Washington Madam and her prostitution ring. Trouble is, she’s naming names. She says the clients will support her contention that she provided only escorts and not boinking. Of course they will. No one wants to get caught being a hypocrite. I think it’s awesome. If I were her, I’d name one prominent client per day until the case went away.

I’d heard rumors that Wolf was going to start making 6.5 Grendel. Well, confirmed.

Ooh, little bitty Aimpoint. The Aimpoint Micro is 3.6 ounces and fits in your palm. Heck, now you can have an Aimpoint serve as a back up for your, err, other Aimpoint.

Seen at Silence’s:

Interest in self-defense has boosted inquiries about handgun carry permits in Knoxville, firearms instructors say, although Virginia Tech wasn’t the main impetus.

“The carjacking really kicked it off,” said Sgt. Mike Lett of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, referring to the January torture and murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. Lett teaches the required course for handgun carry applicants at the sheriff’s training facility.
—–
And this: College campuses won’t be added to a proposal to allow Tennesseans to carry handguns in public parks and recreation areas – at least not yet.

Some editorial monkey wrongly notes:

Police rely heavily on databases when looking into gun ownership. Under the new bill, police would be forced to directly contact gun manufacturers in order to obtain gun ownership information. Time is a critical component when investigating crimes, especially those involving guns.

Trouble is, it’s not true. And, if it were true, it would be illegal at the federal level. And Tam tells us that the police aren’t that high tech anyway. It’s also a good read about how gun transactions really happen versus what, say, hysterical editorial writers and conspiracy twits think happens.

Since so many laws get passed and so few seem to know a thing about them, I proposed a bill a while back:

No Senator nor Representative in The State can vote for or against a bill unless said legislator can pass, with at least 85% proficiency, a multiple choice exam about the bill in question.

I wasn’t kidding. Here’s why:

Even the members who sponsor bills often are not very familiar with the bills. One thing that becomes very apparent as you watch videos from the Tennessee Legislative web site is how many bills are “carried” by a single lawmaker. These are the lawmakers who sponsor the bills and push them through the committee process. Some lawmakers carry over 100 bills. There is absolutely NO WAY a single lawmaker can be knowledgeable about this many bills. They must rely on expert witnesses and lobbyists who, in many cases wrote the bill. Many sponsors automatically defer to expert witnesses.

AC says:

This may be a representative democracy but we have to be wary of exactly who our legislators are representing.

Ayup. So, how do I go about proposing a bill?

I also think congressmonkies should be required by law to do their own taxes.

Scotland has strict gun controls but is the most violent developed country.

Meanwhile, Switzerland has six million people and at least two million guns, yet the “gun crime rate is so low that statistics are not even kept.” And they get machine guns issued to them by their government.

Update: On the Swiss, Braisted says not so fast. The article is six years old and, since then, there has been an increase in gun deaths there. He also notes:

I don’t point this out because I’m necessarily a fan of new gun regulations (except for closing the gun-show loophole), however, I do say this because I’m tired of the MEME that more guns = less crime. There are lots of factors to gun violence, guns are one of them. If we got rid of all the guns, I think there would be a drop in crime.

Say it with me: sales at gun shows are subject to the same laws as sales not at gun shows. And, as the UK, Scotland, Canada & Australia have shown, banning guns does not lead to a drop in crime. A ban is typically followed by an increase in crime, particularly violent crime and a decrease in gun deaths.

AP Headline: Virginia governor closes gun loophole.

Only not the gun loophole you’re thinking of and, err, he didn’t close anything. What he actually did was issue an executive order requiring that a database of people banned from buying guns include the name of anyone who is found to be dangerous and ordered to get involuntary mental health treatment. I guess Virginia could, like Tennessee, have it’s own check system but if it does it is the first I’ve heard of it. The article says the info goes to a police database which then goes to the NICS. What did he actually do? Based on press coverage, I couldn’t tell you. But I’m guessing he’s requiring someone (judges, social workers, etc.) to report people so they can be put in some database.

Someone help me out here?

Also:

Virginia has supplied more than 80,000 mental health records to the federal database. Twenty-eight states do not supply any records, either because they lack the technical ability or are barred by privacy laws.

Update: Ravenwood clears it up:

Virginia Democrat Governor Tim Kaine just issued an executive order that retroactively takes away the gun freedoms of serial killer* Cho Seung-Hui, and any other Virginian who’s been remanded to outpatient treatment.

His order is, according to the VCDL, probably unconstitutional. Decrees usually are. Seems VA, like TN, has its own instant check system too.

Update 2: Actually, under federal law, I think Cho was a prohibited person any way.

Kucinich wants to ban handguns. But admits to owning one. In other Kucinich news, his wife is smoking hot.

Carnaby reads the hysterical twits so you don’t have to. You remember Elayne Boosler? Me neither.

Well, last time someone proposed fighting back in a school shooting, they were pretty quickly criticized by some for being irresponsible. Now, not so much. I saw no criticism of their plan in this article. What’s different? One important lesson to teach your kids and loved ones:

The role of police and security officers “is not to be there, but to get there.”

There’s other good stuff there. Read it.

Sam Donaldson to host a Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership fund raiser. You remember Sam Donaldson said that gun owners have their guns to shoot the paperboy and the relative coming home late at night.

Couric pitches softballs to anti-gunners and hardball to pro-gunners.