In addition to publishing the names of concealed carry holders and comparing them to sex offenders, he’ll endanger people because he doesn’t like their bumper stickers. I wonder if he’ll get some pre-paid postage again?

A senate staffer working for James Webb was busted trying to get a pistol into the senate building. It was the senator’s gun. I guess the senator was taking advantage of the recent Parker v. DC decision? Nah, he’s one of the privileged who gets to disregard laws for little people. Anyway, if you’re just going to violate the law willy-nilly, you may as well do it big and go ahead and get the machine gun.

Silly people in Parker had to actually, you know, sue to make progress in this area.

Heh.

I need some legal advice. I also need some guidance.

Per Randy Neal’s request to me to not link Copyrighted material from YouTube on KnoxViews I requested via email permission from Community Television of Knoxville (CTV) to continue to provide Knox County Commission meetings on YouTube as I have done for several months now.

I received a reply email from David Vogel, the General Manager of CTV. It read, “Please remove all segments of the Knox County Commission Meetings that you have uploaded to YouTube, until proper copyright clearance has been obtained.”

I replied back that I did not recognize the alleged Copyright per the fair use doctrine of Copyright law. I ask what I had to do to receive permission from CTV to continue to post the County Commission meetings on YouTube. I also requested that CTV provide the service I have been providing for several months. I explained I did not want to provide this service as it was very time consuming and I hoped that CTV would decide to take this off my hands.

Today I received from Mr. Vogel an email stating, “As a non-profit corporation, CTV has the same rights under the copyright laws as any other company. CTV owns the copyright to any program produced by its employees. As the copyright owner, CTV maintains its right to exercise all privileges of copyright, which includes the right to exclude others from making and publishing copies of its programs and the right to exclude others from making derivative works using its programs. If someone edits or changes a CTV program, this constitutes a “derivative work.”

As a matter of policy or choice, CTV will allow others to publish copies of our programs under certain conditions. In order to make and publish unedited and completely unchanged copies of our programs, a Permission Request must first be submitted in writing, along with a copy of your personal identification (eg. driver’s license or passport). As a general rule, we do NOT grant permission to publish edited or changed versions of our programs (derivative works).”

I replied to Mr. Vogel that the Knox County Schools already has an Internet Archive of school board meetings and asked him if there was a way for CTV to do the same with Knox County Commission meetings. Mr. Vogel responded and said there were exploring this with the same firm that does the Knox County School Board meetings. He explained there was no time table as yet.

That is the background so let me explain my problem. CTV does not “produce” Knox County Commission meetings. They “film” the meetings. Today’s meeting may be historic on both the Storm Water issue and the Metro Government issue.

What should I do? I understand Mr. Vogel’s position and I don’t know the fine details of Copyright Law or what the right thing to do is. I feel that the idea of Copyrighting a public meetings is ludicrous. I see this as a violation of my First Amendment rights. But I may incur legal action if I continue. How can anyone Copyright a Knox County Commission meeting?

If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

Via PGP comes a run down of the Democrat party platform on guns from 1956 to 2004 (It’s at DU so if your moonbat quotient is exceeded for the day, you may want to wait until tomorrow). Meanwhile, I present to you a well-known Democrat on guns:

By calling attention to ‘a well regulated militia’, the ‘security’ of the nation, and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms’, our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the Second Amendment will always be important.

I’ve linked before to silencertests.com. Now, there is SilencerResearch.com. I’m still trying to decide which suppressor I want. Three candidates:

Gem-Tech Trinity. Pro: Designed to be a single solution to three areas (subguns, handgun and rimfire). Has many different mounting systems for many different applications. Con: pricey at $525 not counting mounting solutions. Not the quietest 9mm can. And the different mounting systems are all pricey too. I’ve seen no info on its performance with rimfire calibers.

AAC Evolution 9. Pro: Supposedly, the quietest 9MM suppressor around. Has built in device for use on recalcitrant (i.e., Browning style or non-fixed) barrels. Con: Even more pricey (at $795). Not designed for a subgun and needs a special gizmo to work on fixed barrels.

Gemtech Outback: Pro: Least expensive ($325). Super quiet. Con: It’s only for 22 calibers. It’s a con but, honestly, I’d probably put more 22 through it than anything else.

Any advice? Decisions, decisions.

Boobs. And not just one, there’s two.

Darren Seiber. Fresh from making the same tired joke about guns compensating for penis size [What about my wife’s gun? -Ed.], comes proof of an utter inability to do the slightest bit of research:

However, the truth of the matter is, that Texas gun laws are no less lax than that of other states.

Really? Tried buying a gun in DC, Illinois, Massachusetts, NC, MD or NY? Also, this is wonderful:

We are wrong because guns are wrong. They are deadly, unethical creations that do not save or secure any number of lives that could build a reliable statistic. Instead, there are mountains of statistics telling us otherwise.

Guns are ethically neutral. And, depending on who you believe, guns in the US are used defensively between 700,000 times and 2,000,000 times per year.

And from that, we go to making shit up:

Take, for instance, this statistic: for women, having a gun in the house increases the chances of being murdered by 172 percent. If that’s not good enough, chew on this for a while: one study showed that people who attempt to use a gun in self-defense are four times as likely to die. Having a gun in the home does not make you safer. It is not an imaginary insurance policy.

Now, I’ve read probably every gun statistic on the planet and I’ve never heard that one. I even spent five minutes trying to Google it. Can’t find it. Someone let me know if they locate a source but, for now, I’ll go ahead and call it bullshit. Also, a Florida study concluded that active resistance to crime (preferably while armed) was the best course of action.

Other whoppers in the story: blaming male dominance and America is the leader of gun fatalities.

And, at the end, the source for his statistics is the International Action Network on Small Arms. So, this idiot just parrots the made up talking points of an anti-gun group.

I love, particularly, the rather unsophisticated manner in which he implies the bogus gun statistics for the world as applicable in the US.

What a complete and total dumb ass.

The Roanoke Times, on their brilliant idea to post the names and addresses of people who have concealed carry permits:

Oops. We screwed the pooch. Sorry about that. Please buy our paper again

Heh:

The Population of the nanny State, being composed of irresponsible rednecks, rejects, and retards, must not be allowed to have Arms.

On Eminent Domain:

“Cities use code words,” explained Supervisor Chris Norby, a longtime foe of eminent domain abuse. “In the 1950s and 1960s, governments used the term ‘urban renewal,’ but critics knew that it was widely called ‘Negro removal.’ These days, we’re looking at forced gentrification,” as cities try to redevelop poorer areas into wealthy areas.

Well, I think it’s more poor removal.

A sound suppressor for a, wait for it, tank. Not very practical but as an added bonus: it looks like a penis.

A sound suppressor made of wood.

Traction Control praises Henry Repeating Arms. I had a similar experience with Smith and Wesson.

The ACLU has won another battle against censorship. The Children’s Online Protection Act sought to make the entire internet safe for little children by restricting online speech that is “harmful to children”. All adult-themed material is by definition harmful to children.

Thankfully the court struck down the law and told parents to protect their own kids instead of gearing up the full force of law and bureaucracy to make sure nobody sees any penises. Love that ACLU.

Seen at KDT’s, this is disturbing on many levels:

A German judge has stirred a storm of protest here by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim woman’s request for a fast-track divorce on the ground that her husband beat her.

In a remarkable ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu, in which she said it was common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote, sanctions such physical abuse.

Wow. Multicultural sensitivity at its most perverted. If it keeps up, society there will reach the point that it so culturally sensitive that it cannot survive.

Tock.

Just sayin’.

Update: I’m not advocating military action against Iran. But the whole Iran situation will come to a head. And this is one more step toward that.

Les has the lowdown. Seem kinda spendy.

I was the luckiest man on Earth. Me and the Mrs. exchanged vows. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long but it really has. We have a good life with two wonderful kids, a beautiful home and a slightly annoying Politically Incorrect Dog. I wouldn’t trade it for any thing.

I love you, honey.

And no jokes about five years being the wood anniversary.

An open letter to gun store clerks. Heh. My response is usually: then why do you sell this shit?

Property rights. I love ’em. Seems in Texas, they’re pushing a bill that forces employers to allow employees to keep weapons in their car. Sebastian says that’s not cool:

It’s true that employers are preventing employees from exercising a right, but employers are generally free to do this. Employers may dictate how you dress, what time you come to work, what you may or may not say on behalf of the company, what you can or can’t say in the workplace or to customers.

Here’s where I disagree. And it’s not because I’m the gun-nuttiest gun nut of all time but rather it’s because of one simple thing: My vehicle is my property. No matter where I park it. It’s my little portable home. I control what’s in it. And my employer will not tell me what I can and can not have in it.

Banning them on-premises, however, is a different ball of wax.

Confessions of an ex-Zumbo.

Congrats to Jeff, Gunner and Gun Law News for their press coverage on the Zumbo affair! Not a bad piece.

As said before, I was contacted for the story. I told the nice lady I’d be happy to chat via email but that’s the extent of my talking to the press. And here’s why I don’t talk to the press. I might change my policy for foxnews since they did respect Gun Law News request to not be identified.

Apparently, sitemeter.com (sort of the standard for blog traffic measuring and what I use because my internal stats package picks up everything) is installing spyware or some such. You can avoid that by using various spyware removal programs or Firefox. You’ve been warned.

I’d dump it but it’s just so darn handy.

Thanks to Georgia Packing for the heads up. Jeff has more.

SKS mods. That’s a lot of work on an SKS right there.

The Editorial staff of the Knoxville News Sentinel has penned yet another in the series of “Can I carry your water Mr. Mayor” Editorials. Except this time it is a different Mayor, it is Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam. Bonus points for also carrying the water of the Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen IV.

The subject of this waste of ink and paper is how the defeat of a bill in the General Assembly that would require 5 second Yellow Lights where there are Red Light cameras is a victory for public safety. It is not a victory for the people, it is a victory for the revenuers.

C.E. Petro at “Thoughts of an Average Woman” has more as does Joe Powell at “A Cup of Joe Powell”. Over on KnoxViews a poll shows 97% of 77 respondents prefer a 5 second Yellow Light over a 3 second Yellow Light.

The Red Light cameras from RedFlex Inc. have been a stunning success. With over 62,000 violations the City of Knoxville and RedFlex are in the money with much more money just around the corner. Both the News Sentinel and the City of Knoxville know that increasing the Yellow Light duration from 4 seconds to 5.5 seconds reduces Red Light tickets by 96%. You can read the Virginia study here that proves just that. It also makes intersections safer, something that Police Chief Owen says he wants. Yet for some unknown reason he will not support a safe Yellow Light duration.

Which is worse in this Editorial? The glee the News Sentinel has that the bill was “properly killed”, or the closing line, “It would have been better for the lawmakers to seek those answers directly from city officials before trying to make a circus out of a serious traffic issue”? What kind of writer uses “properly killed” in an Editorial about public safety? The News Sentinel goes on to say, “The Tennessee Legislature certainly has better things to do than second guess and micromanage Knoxville’s decision to use traffic-light cameras to ticket speeding motorists.”

Let’s be clear about this. This is not “micromanagement”. The Tennessee Legislature had to step in because the Mayor and the Police Chief have put revenue over public safety. Yet the pressure from the public is beginning to show. The Sentinel quotes Police Chief Owen, “Owen said he was not necessarily opposed to a longer yellow-light time if it can have a positive effect on reducing accidents, although he acknowledged the matter was more for traffic engineering than law enforcement. Let traffic engineering follow it up, then, perhaps giving the benefit of any doubt to motorists and increase the yellow-light time where warranted.”

So what exactly does Police Chief Owen mean? Does he mean if enough people are hurt then the traffic engineering people will increase the Yellow Light duration? Do people have to get hurt for the City to do the right thing? We live in a place of unaccountability. Neither the Mayor nor Police Chief Owen have any accountability for public safety, only the few people in the City traffic engineering department? Wonder if those poor people in traffic engineering are under orders from high above?

It’s the fact you can’t stick them in a stripper’s garter.

Ever done something stupid? Who hasn’t?

Cheated on your wife?

Missing a finger because you didn’t see the sign on the mower that said don’t stick your finger by the blades when they’re moving?

Feeling a bit hypocritical because you travel the world by plane telling people to conserve energy while your residence consumes more energy than a household of 8?

Want to fine TeeVee stations for playing Girls Gone Wild commercials?

Feeling misunderstood for wanting the state to decide if God created the world?

No problem.

For the price of only $10, you can buy one Stupid Offset and it will completely erase the impact of one stupid thing you’ve done. It’s true.

Snake oil sold separately.

stile over at The Gun Blogs:

Although it wasn’t asked for he has my forgiveness. We are a community and like any community we can’t expect to get along all the time. Unfortunately, I can see this as a dividing line between the hunters who have their sport and the shooters. This is the time when we all have to be aware of the attacks that our way of life is coming under. Hunters are loosing lands that they can hunt on while shooters are having a hard time finding ranges due to closures. Why is this continuing to be an issue? Mr. Zumbo has apologized. Time to move on. Mr. Zumbo should take another chance and make himself heard again and his prior sponsors should give him the opportunity to do so.

I concur.

Update: Speaking of, Mr. Completely has invited Mr. Zumbo to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous.

What happens after a gun fight, from notes at the Front Sight Training Academy. Via KDT.