Google won’t allow guns and gun parts to be bought with their new paypal type service.

TriggerFinger has two items on the Parker v. DC case:

Statement of Facts

Appellant’s brief in Parker v DC

In the beginning, I referred to the Internet as Al Gore’s Internet, since he invented it err took the initiative in creating the Internet or some other bogus claim. Then, after Veep Cheney referred to it as The Internets, I started calling it Al Gore’s Internets. Now, enter Ted Stevens (Insane Babbling Old Geezer – Alaska):

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

I’m not quite certain how to incorporate that bit of dumb-assery into my blogging on Al Gore’s Internets vernacular but, rest assured, I’m working on it.

Remember, these guys who run the country are about as tech-savvy as a bottle of Dr. Pepper Berries & Cream. And they’re much closer to missile launch buttons than you and me.

There’s a big Senate race to replace Bill Frist in my state. So, here’s what I found on the candidates with respect to the gun issue:

Ed Bryant says on his website:

I support the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees our right to keep and bear arms.

As U.S. Attorney for West Tennessee, appointed by President George H. Bush, I’ve seen how gun-control laws only penalize law abiding Tennesseans and do nothing to stop a person intent on committing a violent crime with a gun.

In Congress, I was proud to have served on the House Judiciary Committee where I worked to protect the gun-ownership rights of law-abiding Tennesseans and earned a lifetime rating of “A” from the National Rifle Association, as well as their endorsement for each re-election.

On the issues notes:

Voted YES on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.

Bob Corker’s site says:

As Senator, I will protect the Second Amendment’s guarantee of our right to bear arms and reject attempts to limit the freedom of law-abiding gun owners. The best way to stop crime is to capture and imprison criminals—not to impose new burdens on law-abiding citizens. During my tenure as Mayor of Chattanooga, we cut violent crime in half in 3 years by putting repeat criminals behind bars.

On the issues says:

Protect the Second Amendment’s guarantee. (Jan 2006)

Harold Ford, Jr.’s site says nothing. But On The Issues says:

* Supports Second Amendment rights. (Jan 2006)
* Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers. (Oct 2005)
* Voted YES on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse. (Apr 2003)
* Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1. (Jun 1999)
* Rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record. (Dec 2003)

Odd, I think, since with the exception of decreasing the waiting period, he’s as pro-gun based on these sites as the others. Ford also says:

But I’ve got a message for all of the Republican spin doctors tonight: We’ve got two guys atop this ticket named Bredesen and Ford who love their God, who love their guns, who support the Second Amendment and who understand that everybody ought to have a chance to make their future and their children’s future better.

And the KNS quoted Ford’s opponents as stating Ford’s votes would essentially end gun shows

Van Hilleary’s site says nothing. On The Issues says:

Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.

I guess he may be as pro-gun as Ford, at least based on voting record. And he gets the award for worst web presence.

Based on the candidate’s web presence, it seems there’s little info on the Republicans. No specifics on what they support or do not support. The only bit of hard data seems to be a scant voting record for Ford and Hilleary. Seems to be little difference between Corker and Bryant. Ford’s and Hilleary’s outlying factors are nay votes to decrease the waiting period so I’d say Bryant and Corker edge them out.

Seems there’s a lot more info out there with respect to Harold Ford because he’s somewhat of a media darling. I didn’t find much on the other candidates.

I think I’ll send these guys (or their campaigns) a questionnaire about gun rights and see if they respond. I doubt they will respond to this anonymous gun nut but it’s possible so leave any questions you have in comments.

So, any of you bloggers out there who support these guys (you know who I mean) let me know what you found. Or let me know how to contact these guys or their campaigns.

Update: Cross posted at NSH.

Update: At AC’s, Mickey White writes:

Gun Control, H.R. 2122.
This legislation would clamp down on gun sales at gun shows, which for the purposes of this bill are defined as any event “at which 50 or more firearms are offered or exhibited for sale, transfer, or exchange” or at which there are ten or more vendors. Under this bill, a person offering a firearm for sale who is not himself licensed is prevented form selling that firearm directly to the buyer. The licensed vendor must complete a background check before the transfer of the weapon. (June 18, 1999 Congressional Record, pages H4656-57, roll call 244) Ed Bryant voted for this gun control bill.

Emphasis added for folks that need to be told that. Indeed, he did. Is this the same bill Ford supported? ETA: No, it is not. Ford voted no. Looks like Ford may be smart on gun shows while Bryant is not.

The latest is here. Apologies for not linking to these in a while but I don’t recall getting the emails.

I’m testing out the new Yahoo! Mail Beta for my personal (i.e., non-blog) email. It’s nice, feature rich, and looks slick. The problem is it’s slower than a Geo Metro full of obese clowns going up hill.

Rhineland Arms is making a 5.7 upper receiver for the AR-15. Sweet!

Bellisiles is the victim of a witch-hunt!

The Washington Times:

The gun industry and shooting enthusiasts fired back at the anti-gun lobby yesterday at an international conference on illicit weapons, saying any global restrictions will affect sport hunters.

“If you do something at this conference that impacts even a few hunters, sport shooters or legal firearms owners, you do it to all of us,” said James Fulmer, a fan of antique muzzleloading rifles from Friendship, Ind., at the midpoint of the United Nations Small Arms Review Conference.

The two-week conference is meant to take stock of the global efforts to curb the trade on illegal arms and draft a plan of action for the future

I’m not a big fan of the sportsman reasoning for defending gun rights but the sentiment here is true. More:

The conference is not looking at legal civilian ownership, but is examining ways to limit the flood of weapons into unstable regions.

Oh . . . Really?

One of the cool things about the new job is the dress code. It’s a jeans company. This means that I, being the business casual-professional sort, had to go by more jeans. I am apparently shrinking. I always bought pants and jeans in size 34×34. I bought a couple of pair this past week in that size and they were too long. So, I had to switch to 34X32. Notice, it’s the length getting shorter and not the waste size getting smaller.

Either I am shrinking or the folks who make jeans are cutting them differently now.

From OK So I’m Not Really A Cowboy:

People on the left talk a good game. About freedom and empowerment. About prosperity and harmony. Which is all fine and good until you realize that they intend this to happen by instituting government control of all aspects related to the above. But what really gets me about them is that they turn a blind eye to the negative (but all-too-often expected) consequences of their illogical actions. The gun control debate is a perfect illustration of both their disconnect from causality and their inherently statist outlook. Which is–perversely enough–the reason I became a gun owner.

Read it all. For tidbits like:

First I saw the stupidity of anti-gunnies and then I became a firearms enthusiast

Via Kevin, who has a lot more.

Full-auto shotgun.

Ben emails this:

We all know the scene: the departmental coffee room, with the price list for tea and coffee on the wall and the “honesty box” where you pay for your drinks – or not, because no one is watching.

In a finding that will have office managers everywhere scurrying for the photocopier, researchers have discovered that merely a picture of watching eyes nearly trebled the amount of money put in the box.

Melissa Bateson and colleagues at Newcastle University, UK, put up new price lists each week in their psychology department coffee room. Prices were unchanged, but each week there was a photocopied picture at the top of the list, measuring 15 by 3 centimetres, of either flowers or the eyes of real faces. The faces varied but the eyes always looked directly at the observer.

In weeks with eyes on the list, staff paid 2.76 times as much for their drinks as in weeks with flowers. “Frankly we were staggered by the size of the effect,” Gilbert Roberts, one of the researchers, told New Scientist.

I wonder what the impact of a picture of someone holding a gun would be?

I kind of liked the guy until I got to point four:

I would place a full time assistant DA, with a cop or two, at the entrance to every gun store, to check whether or not someone is buying ammo for a prohibited person, or whether they themselves are prohibited (since Milwaukee is going wireless, all ADA’s doing this will be equipped with laptops with access to NCIC, CCAP, etc.). If we catch a prohibited person, they’re going federal.

Seems he’s all Libertarian, except when it comes to guns.

I have used Verizon as my cell phone provider about 4 years now. Never really had an issue until recently. When I left my last job, I was no longer on their cell plan and transferred my phone to the wife’s plan. This will be important later. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I noticed my voice-mail stopped working. If you called, it’d just ring forever. And my battery stopped holding a charge. After a night of charging, it’d show low battery by lunch time. So, I needed to get the phone fixed.

I called the Verizon rep I used to work with and she said to take it by a Verizon location that had a service tech. Apparently, some stores are just set up for sales and have no service folks. So, I look up the Verizon locations in the phone book and start calling. I call and get a message about contacting customer service, hit some key, etc. I just wanted to know two things:

1) Does this location have a service tech?

2) Directions there.

So, I looked the number up in the phone book and gave the local office a call. But guess what! I found no way through the phone system to actually contact a person who was at the Knoxville Verizon. The local phone number just kept me in the corporation’s telephone limbo. I tried four times. I had to call a customer service 800 number. The person we finally reached was not local and couldn’t answer either question. Seems to me a local office should be reachable by the number in the phone book to answer such questions as mine and hours of operation. I decide to go to the office anyway. I get there, and there is a young lady who is pointing people who walk in to register at the computer screen for service. Yes, there is a person who tells you to use a computer to get service at the Verizon service center. Why this person, who I have no idea why they’re even there since the computer system automates anything you want to do and she can be replaced with a sign, can’t also answer a fucking phone is beyond me.

So, undeterred, I get my shit fixed and decide to look at new phones since mine is many years old and there are fancier models out there. They have a few good deals where you commit to a service plan and get a phone at a particularly low rate (or even free). But, again, guess what! I, as an existing customer, am ineligible until some arbitrary date in the future for any of their specials. You see, Verizon would rather piss on existing customers instead of taking a bit of a ding on the price of an overpriced telephone. The thing that really pissed me off is that the arbitrary date in the future is based on when I transferred my phone from my former company’s plan to my wife’s plan. At that time, I did not get a new phone or any new service. Just transferred. As of that date, I am apparently a new customer despite having used them for four years. So, the time I had with them prior to the transfer meant nothing.

Yes, some folks will say I should have read the contract (and I know that and I did). I just assumed that they’d actually, you know, take care of an existing, long-time customer. When that arbitrary date hits in the future, I’m dumping Verizon. I’d do it now but then I’d be hit with cancellation fees.

Seems us gun enthusiasts may scare the HR Department:

Then he was interviewed by one last person.

For 40 minutes he was peppered with questions like:

* Do you have a problem anger managment?
* What would you do if you didn’t get the promotion you expected?

Terry Frank also has notes from the Republican debate:

I was seated directly behind Mayor Haslam. Two interesting notes here: Carolyn Jensen, face-lady for Sen. Bill Frist, leaned over to the Mayor following the opening remarks and remarked that “he” is doing well, “isn’t he?” The “he”, of course, being Bob Corker.

It seems Corker has the backing of the-powers-that-be / good ol’ boys around here.

Each of these pictures was taking roughly one month after birth, wearing the same robe. So, which one’s junior and which one’s the second?

My kids look a lot like each other. And they both look like me. Poor things.

Read the rest of this entry »

The carnival of cordite is up at Mr. Completely’s place. I never got the memo so nothing there from me.

GLN at The Gun Blogs:

The UN literature keeps on talking about the ‘rights of the State’. This basic starting point shows a complete divergence from what makes America free.

There’s more.

I didn’t make it but Rich did. And he blogged it.

Kim has more. Initially, the UN apologists were stating this had nothing to do with Americans owning guns and this was about illegal trafficking of small arms (which they implied meant rockets and such). As report after report has indicated, those apologists were absolutely wrong.

If the assault weapons ban did not have a sunset provision, this is what would be happening federally:

Earlier this year the New York State Assembly passed Assemblyman Lavelle’s bill (A.2466) to expand the State’s current ban on assault weapons (modeled after the federal ban which expired in 2004) to prohibit more of these deadly guns including guns that have been modified to bypass the ban while still functioning like military-style assault weapons. On June 7, 2006, Cuomo announced his support for strengthening the assault weapons ban as part of a five-point proposal to fight gun violence.

Essentially, it will be a ban on all semi-automatic rifles. More:

“Andrew Cuomo truly understands that in this post-9/11 world, law enforcement need effective measures, protections and tools to help us keep New Yorkers safe,” stated Michael J. Palladino, President Detectives’ Endowment Association. “We recently lost two of our undercover detectives – James Nemorin and Rodney Jay Andrews – while they were doing their jobs taking illegal weapons off the streets. They were both gunned down in cold blood. In their memory, the Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA) vows to continue our fight against the needless proliferation of non-sporting firearms and the easy access to deadly assault weapons. We are here to say that we need more assistance from Albany in tackling this critical issue and we believe Andrew will be there to help us.”

Were they gunned down with modified, copycat weapons that look like assault weapons?

“We owe it to the brave men and women who risk their lives to protect us to prevent that military-style, cop-killing weapons are simply unavailable for civilian use,” stated Andrew Cuomo, New York State Attorney General candidate. “When New York was attacked by terrorists, President Bush came to this city and vowed to stand solidly behind our police. Since then he has allowed the most basic, life-saving, common-sense protection for cops to just lapse. It is up to us to stand up for police, where the federal government is “standing down.” I will stop at nothing to work with ensure that these lethal weapons never return to the streets of New York.”

Evoking 9/11 again? Oy.

The Nuge:

Never has there been such an upsurge in crime since they confiscated all your weapons. Why don’t you arm yourselves? You Limeys have a zipper that’s locked in the closed position, because you don’t have a constitution. You’re rewarded for shutting the fuck up.

Seems with all the yammering about flag burning, gay marriage, and other pointless issues making the floor of congress, that we are hot and heavy in the election season. Now, some are trying to energize the gun base:

The National Rifle Association is pleased by Tuesday’s announcement by House Congressional leaders to include gun ownership rights as part of their 2006 “American Values Agenda”.

“On behalf of our four million NRA members nationwide, we deeply appreciate the House Republican leadership for recognizing the fundamental importance of protecting law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist. “We strongly encourage and endorse these pro-gun bills as part of the their “American Values Agenda.’”

“Family, faith, patriotism and hard work bind us together as Americans. Our laws should reflect those priorities, and House Republicans are committed to the American Values Agenda, policies that stress the core values on which our nation was built,” said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt.

House Republican leaders have put together a package of “pro-freedom” bills slated for votes this summer and fall. Two of those measures are H.R. 5092 and H.R. 5013, bills that are also among NRA’s top legislative priorities.

These bills are the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) Modernization and Reform Act of 2006 and the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act. Hate to break it to you guys, but we gunnies don’t want more gun laws. We want less. In fact, here’s an informal poll of what we want. Most items in that poll involve repealing something. So, get on that NRA, if you want me to get behind you. Start with the sporting purposes language, as it would probably be the easiest.

Then try the Hughes Amendment. This one could be easy as the majority of folks incorrectly think that, since the assault weapons ban expired, machine guns are legal any way. The media and anti-gun groups shot their was on that so it should be easy to market.

Kevin reports that blogger Gunscribe made the news:

Tim Tyrrell Sr. went to the City Council meeting on Monday with a loaded 40-caliber Glock handgun on his hip.

And that’s perfectly legal.

Until now, council members haven’t been concerned enough about their safety to ban anything other than cell phones from the council chambers.

Even though plenty of angry citizens march down to city hall on a regular basis, there are no metal detectors at the door; no signs asking people to leave their guns at home.

Tyrrell was trying to make a point about the concealed weapons ban on the council agenda: Even if Mayor Coleen Seng’s proposed ban were to pass, nothing would prevent people from carrying around unconcealed weapons. (He did not testify at the meeting; the council won’t have a public hearing on Seng’s proposal until July 31.)

Tyrrell is a disabled veteran and firearms instructor who writes a blog called “From the Heartland.” He has debated the gun rights issue with Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady, and even called Casady before Monday’s meeting to let him know he’d be packing heat.

Seriously:

A city man is charged with violating state wiretap laws by recording a detective on his home security camera, while the detective was investigating the man’s sons.

Michael Gannon, 49, of 26 Morgan St., was arrested Tuesday night, after he brought a video to the police station to try to file a complaint against Detective Andrew Karlis, according to Gannon’s wife, Janet Gannon, and police reports filed in Nashua District Court.

Make sure if you do that, you send a copy to the press first. More:

“They were waiting for a warrant to seize the cameras and the tapes in my house . . . because they said having these cameras was against the law. They’re security cameras,” she said, adding, “They said they could do that. They could seize my apartment.”

The police are saying security cameras are illegal?

And just a stupid idea:

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don’t pay.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning approved a bill sponsored by committee chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, authorizing at least $2 million toward the establishment of an office in the IRS criminal investigation unit to prosecute unlawful sex workers for violations of tax laws.

Err, why not just go after them for tax evasion like everyone else? A special office for such is just fucking stupid.

Tam says to stock up now. Folks are telling her the prices are about to go up again. Is ammo made from oil?

One of the compromise bills to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms act was mandating that locks be sold with all handguns. The house has voted to get rid of that:

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to overturn a recently enacted law requiring safety trigger locks on all hand guns sold in the United States.

The Republican-controlled House handed a victory to opponents of gun control by a vote of 230-191.

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Colorado Republican, argued that the added cost of the trigger locks is passed on to gun owners and that they “do not stop accidental shootings.

She’s correct. Smart parenting and the four rules stop them though.