Chris says the local alt-weekly rag didn’t get it right – shocking. And they don’t like blogs. It’s OK because I don’t like alt-weeklies. Well, except when I’m moving or have a new puppy. And I have to say that I don’t get Nemesis Boy either.

He can’t spell (or at least he can’t type)

He’s not funny

He makes an effort to be inflammatory but that effort rivals the intellectual wit of grapefruit that’s been left out in the sun for a day too long.

I don’t get it. Maybe someone could ‘splain his appeal to me?

You know, that group that Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is a part of:

The Mayors Against Guns further claim that they “respect the rights of law abiding citizens to own guns.” No they don’t.

Let’s face it. The City of New York has done just about everything it can do in the form of imposing strict gun control. The only thing Mayor Bloomberg can do to prove his anti-gun worthiness is try to enforce gun control in other cities. Do you think the people of Atlanta, Georgia appreciate Mayor Bloomberg’s influence on their gun laws?

As you peruse through the rest of the Mayors Against Guns website, you will see all the telltale signs of an anti-gun mentality. One example is the number of people killed by firearms each year in America: 30,000. The website won’t tell you that the number of lives saved by firearms each year in America is over TWO MILLION. The website also lists various anti-gun legislation but no legislation that supports concealed carry or Stand Your Ground laws.

If Mayor Bloomberg and other mayors across the country were serious about reducing crime, they’d be looking at the single common denominator in all crimes: Criminals. We know that approximately 60-70% of serious offenders are rearrested within 3 years of release from prison. Enacting more laws for people who already disobey the law is absurd. You can’t reduce crime by keeping guns “off the street”. You have to keep criminals off the street.

Rather than focus on the cause of crime, however, anti-gun mayors prefer to focus on you, the law abiding citizen. Their goal is to enact more laws that make it more difficult for you to own and possess firearms. Anti-gun mayors from New York and Los Angeles are going to show mayors in Anchorage, Denver, and Providence how it’s done.

A teacher in Florida was suspended for having a toy gun to school to be used as a prop in a play.

My ass. Some Republicans are fond of saying that deficits don’t matter. And, generally, they’re correct. The government’s books contain many non-cash items (such as social security liabilities and environmental clean up estimates) that may or may not reflect the true potential costs and that may or may not actually be paid (such as those environmental clean up items – they’ve not cleaned up for years and who thinks they’ll start now?). But it still doesn’t look good for a party that touted fiscal responsibility and accountability (and all those other bilities) to spend like drunken sailors.

David Hardy has all kinds of snippets from the report on the excess at the ATF:

He also created an agency Executive Protection Branch, so that he could have bodyguards. For a time they even stayed with him when he worked out in the gym, until he realized there were several of them working out at the same time as he did, anyway. They escorted him on trips, including his commute to HQ.

Joe Huffman says:

The full report includes such items as demands for remote controlled doors, and wood flooring in the directors office that alone cost over $62,000. The millwork alone for the other wood in the office would cost $243,000. That doesn’t include the executive bathroom which involved telephone, TV flat panel and radio speakers to listen/view news, quartzite tile floor to match the floor in the building atrium, a bench with a water resistant wood seat, tile wall “in horizontal straight stacked layout vs brick,” and sconces. The conference table cost $28,000. Don’t get me started on the bodyguards, motorcades, and the gym.

All this while agents in the field were using expired body armor and complaining of not having enough people, and other safety equipment.

Frank Cagle, an ordinarily conservative guy, endorsed Democrat Harold Ford, Jr. in a rather backhanded way. I disagree. If you want to send a message to the Republicans you don’t do that by voting Democrat. If you vote Democrat, you send a message that you like Democrats. Instead, if you really have to get your protest vote on, either vote for a real conservative or don’t vote. If you vote, for example, for a guy that has no chance of winning and who, honestly, probably scares your average republican instead of the party-backed candidate, that’s a better message than voting for the opposition.

That’s Major Heartless Libertarian to you.

What 1,000,000 rounds per minute looks like.

Michael Bane offers a page from the anti-gunners playbook:

What the movement against alcohol, as well as the movements against abortion and tobacco, managed to do that the movement for gun control didn’t — at least until recently — was figure out a message that would trump the classical liberal assumption that liberty is paramount.

In other news, a gun controller has admitted to being against liberty.

Outside the office just now is a plane flying overhead with a banner behind it. The banner has a picture of an aborted baby and the caption Abortion is Terror. Not a real tasteful way to get converts, there guys.

A friend of mine since middle school emails:

Hey, old man! Sorry I haven’t kept up with you lately. Hope the wife and rugrats are all well.

I was reading your blog this-afternoon and thought I would pass on a couple of quick thoughts while I had the time. I’ve met Mr. Ford and Mr. Corker both this election cycle. Mr. Ford was near the polling place near my son’s karate studio. I stopped and took a moment to see what was going on. He was glad-handing. I met the guy and talked to him for a few minutes. He seemed nice enough.

Next, I met Mr. Corker at the Weigel’s just up the street from my house. He also was campaigning. My first thought after meeting him was “What an asshole!” He’s the kind of guy who looks right through you as though you’re not there. He really didn’t seem very sincere, more like a used-car salesman.

I for one, will be voting for Mr. Ford on the basis of that impression. I’ve ceased listening to campaign ads and political slogans years ago. I’ve checked his records on the voting websites, and while I don’t agree with everything he’s done, he’s hardly the crook/schnook the RNC and Corker portray him as.

You know me, I’m a die-hard conservative, but I swear, I wouldn’t vote for Corker for dogcatcher, much less Congress.

Now, let me be clear: This dude is as conservative as they get, only without all the homo-hating, in-your-face God stuff. He’s my kind of conservative. In high school, he was the President of the Alex P. Keaton Fan Club and (in 19fucking88) was campaigning for (no bullshit) drafting Richard Nixon to run for president. I shit you not.

What do you think would happen if, say tomorrow, China nuked North Korea? I mean, other than the devestating loss of life. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. Just asking because that region just got scary and, well, it could get worse before it gets better. And China doesn’t exactly fart around.

In Memphis. Here:

Do you think teachers should be allowed to carry weapons at school?
Yes: If they have a permit to carry a weapon they should be allowed
Yes: I think it will help control violence in school
No: It is dangerous to have a loaded weapon in a school
No: It will only add to the problem

The past year or so has been bad for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The story so far:

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.

Now, some more bureaucratic goodness:

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

And there may be somewhat of an internal revolt at the agency. David Hardy posts an email from a group called ATFers United against Mismanagement and Misconduct. I received the same email. I hoped it was true but had my doubts. The group has no webpage, their email address was from Yahoo or something, and the letter was in all caps. But, if true, some guys inside the ATF are unhappy with management. Go read the letter and judge for yourself.

Update: But it may explain the increase various Google searches I’m getting from the ATF. I say increase because the ATF pops in on occasion here all the time. And there are some guys from there reading who are friendlies. Marc’s getting them too.

Frank Cagle, a small government libertarian Republican sort, has endorsed Harold Ford, Jr:

I intend to vote for him in November and urge you to do the same. Do it to save conservatism in America. If you can’t vote for him, abstain. That works as well. Are you worried about not showing party loyalty if you don’t vote for Corker? Don’t. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind Corker’s campaign manager, Tom Ingram, will be voting for Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen in the same election. If it doesn’t bother Corker, it shouldn’t bother you.

Part of the reason why Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam’s participation in Mayors Against Guns is important is because of the group’s ties. The group received $175K from The Joyce Foundation. The Joyce Foundation has funded plenty of anti-gun groups, even the hysterical ones. Here’s a round up of who they have funded and it reads like a who’s who of anti-gunners.

The Joyce Foundation likes to funnel their money to many groups so it appears as though the movement is grassroots. But many of these groups aren’t groups at all but are many websites owned by the same guy. Here’s another listing of anti-gun groups supported by The Joyce Foundation. And supposedly the American Hunters and Shooters Association is funded by them too.

So, likely inadvertently, the mayor has aligned himself with the anti-gun movement whether he likes it or not.

Tam:

Also, it seems that the Norks are busy finding out the hard way that, if it comes to choosing which is the more important trading partner, Beijing is going to pick Bentonville, Arkansas over Pyongyang any day of the week.

Les Jones (in comments):

Tennessee is an amazing place, isn’t it? Here, even liberal Democrats own guns and even conservative Republicans of a certain age have smoked dope.

The Long Haul:

Army: Troops to stay in Iraq until 2010

The U.S. Army has made plans to keep the current level of troops in Iraq for the next four years.

Gun Control NOT on Dem’s Agenda. I don’t believe them.

Kewee has some more photos from the gun blogger gathering.

As does her other half, Mr. C.

With respect to school shootings, gun laws are a hot topic again.

guns aren’t in the president’s vocabulary. More accurately, gun bans aren’t and the WaPo seems to not like that.

The Christian Science Monitor:

In an interview after the conference, Mr. Milonopoulos voiced his dissatisfaction: “I’m grateful to the Bush administration for bringing these issues to light through a national conference, and inviting a wide variety of groups, but there needs to be a new approach beyond the dialogue that we heard [on Tuesday]. The first thing I would do is renew the federal assault weapons ban.” After the Columbine shootings in Littleton, Colo., school-safety experts called for metal detectors to keep weapons out of schools, surveillance cameras, improved school design to reduce potential hiding places – and new laws to curb access to guns.

Really? Well, we had the ban in 1999 and Columbine still happened.

And USA Today has anti-gunner Kristen Rand, who says the US is behind on gun control:

USA TODAY’s editorial “80 years of school killings leave long trail of grief” argued that events such as the execution-style shootings of 10 Amish schoolgirls are probably “unstoppable.” The fact is that such mass shootings are preventable, but the United States lacks the will to do what needs to be done: Ban handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons, and regulate the gun industry to control the firepower available to civilians (Editorial, Thursday).

So much for the whole we want only reasonable restrictions and not bans shtick.

The Nietzsche Family Circus. Not sure why, but it makes me laugh.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms illustrated. Or, you know, the contents of my pantry.

Late for Dinner says good for Haslam:

To his credit, Haslam would not back down. He said he doesn’t understand why anyone would not want illegal guns off the street, and invited Gill down to the KPD evidence room to see what they were talking about. Good for Mayor Haslam.

As I said there:

The issue isn’t that he wants to target illegal guns (most politicos do and its not a bad thing). The issue is that he has allied himself with an organization that is clearly anti-gun and has targeted lawful gun dealers.

This was yesterday’s Wizard of Id cartoon:

Did I miss something? I don’t get it.

And some radio.

While perusing around Al Gore’s Tubes of Internets, I discovered that Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam was part of an anti-gun group. I wasn’t happy about it. In East Tennessee, this could be political suicide. So, I hopped back on Al Gore’s Tubes of Internets and wrote about it on my blog and over at No Silence Here, a blog at the local newspaper’s site. See here, here and here. As a result of that and some gratuitous links from Glenn Reynolds, Steve Gill talked to Haslam about it on the radio (audio here) and Haslam was put on the defensive. So, there was a bit of backlash from my effort. I poked the mayor with a stick.

But I’m disappointed. If you don’t read the blogs on Al Gore’s Tubes of Internets or listen to Steve Gill, you have no idea this is happening. I handed the local newspaper the story on a silver platter. I posted the story on their blog. I know that some local TeeVee folks read that blog and my blog. But, not a peep any where in the local press. Your average Knoxvillian (who’d likely not be happy about this) doesn’t know it happened.

But the local newspaper has some hard-hitting stories on beefcake, planting trees, and chainsaw sculpting.

I’m used to the press ignoring gun stories, particularly positive ones. But this lack of coverage seems odd. What’s up with that?

GLN notes that the Violence Policy Center is upset that Bush’s school violence program doesn’t contain any gun control.

Kopel looks at arming teachers:

The good news is that, since Columbine, police tactics in school attacks have dramatically changed. At Columbine, the armed “school resource officer” refused to pursue the killers into the building, and kept himself safe outside while the murders were going on inside. Even after SWAT teams arrived, and while, via an open 911 line, the authorities knew that students were being methodically executed in the library, the police stood idle just a few yards outside the library.

This was touched on at the Gun Blogger Conference by retired law enforcement officer Rivrdog. He noted that the trend in law enforcement is to contain the threat and not confront it. This is bad when people in the threatened area are being killed. Additionally, someone opined that the new officer creed of go home tonight is what has lead to this strategy and to the militarization of police.

My thoughts: tough shit. You signed up for the job knowing what you were getting into. So, get your ass in there and save some kids.

In Nashville, a private donor fronted the money to give teachers a bonus that was tied to performance. The teachers rejected the idea.

Update: In comments, Brittney says:

They’d rather give it to the students

That would be a fine and noble endeavor. But I think the the union rep is full of it:

Marsha Warden, school board chairwoman, said that if giving money directly to the students is something the union membership wants to do, that is an idea it could broach at a later date.

And:

Merritt’s new plan was never mentioned as an option the membership wanted to explore, said Pedro Garcia, Metro schools director.

The tone of the article seems to be Oops, we got bad press. Now, let’s cover out butts. I could be wrong, of course.

Over at Tam’s.

David Hardy has made one and posted a trailer.