The piece at the NYT that I linked earlier was headlined: Tennessee Gun Bills Poke at Democrats, Washington

Now, it’s entitled: Tennessee Expands Gun Rights

I did a quick google and found out why.

Mitchell is making 20 round 9mm magazines for Berettas, Sigs, and XDs that fit flush with the weapon’s grip. Some sort of new spring design.

This year, your mom gave you $100 per year with which to rent movies. Which of the following is a budget cut?

a – Next year, you get $90.

b – You tell your mom the cost of movies went up, so you’ll need $110. She gives you $105.

If you picked a, congratulations. You understand basic math and home economics. If you answered b, you should apply for a job on the Knoxville News Sentinels’ editorial board:

We are in difficult times, but the budget cuts the Republicans made had less to do with the economy than with political power, and it showed a callous unwillingness to invest in the future of this great state.

Current budget is $27.8B. The governor proposed $30B. An increase is a bit odd given that revenues for the state are declining. No worries, says the governor, we’ll just run up the charge card. If my income is less, I spend less. Not more. The state should do the same. Those evil legislators want to cut $200M from it.

A state employee sent out a racist email. Said employee worked for a GOP senator. Many calls for firing the employee. But being a state employee, that’s probably not going to be easy. MKS runs it down.

A little frightening:

Antiterrorism training materials used by the Department of Defense teach that public protests should be regarded as “low-level terrorism,” according to a letter of complaint sent to the department by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

Unhealthy:

I can’t do it. I can’t talk about guns or weapons without feeling sick and sad, even fearful.

A fabrication:

Using gun as defense seldom works to defend

Via Robb.

Seen at Joe’s, a police department instructs its officers correctly with respect to open carry laws.

Folks are wondering what it’s all about. It’s about setting up a potential legal challenge and, as our governor said, has little to do with guns. I am not a lawyer so take the following with a giant grain of salt. Most folks seem to think the bill won’t really accomplish much, at least in the short term. And they’re probably right. The bill is about establishing a legal challenge to the commerce clause. Currently, there may as well not even be a commerce clause because the courts have ruled that, essentially, anything that is involved in interstate commerce even incidentally can be regulated. And that includes guns. They are regulated under tax law and as part of congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce. For instance, let’s say you mined ore from the earth, on your land, with your bare hands and made a machine gun. In theory, that’s lawful because US firearm laws specify the items to be regulated had to be involved in interstate commerce. But in reality, you’re looking at ten years in club fed despite not really being involved in interstate commerce in any significant manner. The clause may as well not exist. And this doesn’t just apply to guns but other things as well. Couple that with the tenth amendment, and you have the basis for a challenge. Shane wonders why guns and not other stuff. My guess (and I’m no lawyer) is because there are enumerated constitutional protections to gun ownership.

So, what will the result be? At some point, a group of smart crackers is going to create a very narrowly defined case to challenge a federal gun control law within the parameters of the new law. In Montana, which has a similar law, a group of people are going to make a single shot, 22 rifle without a license. Then send ATF a letter asking if they can sell it. When ATF says no, they will sue.

A few interesting bits about Tennessee law is that NFA items are illegal in Tennessee but it is an affirmative defense to possession of these unlawful items that you have paid an NFA tax stamp and gone through the NFA process. So, when R. Neal says:

The gun fetishists want to legally own sawed off shotguns and silencers and armor piercing bullets and stuff without having to apply (and pay for) a federal license. Fortunately, machine guns and grenade launchers and nuclear weapons and the like are excluded.

He’s likely wrong. Tennessee law still says that possession of shotguns, suppressors, and stuff is illegal. Though I can’t find anything in TN law about armor piercing ammo.

One interesting bit is that the TFFA does define sound suppressors as accessories and therefore exempt from federal rules. But TCA says possession of silencers is illegal, with going through the federal process being an affirmative defense. So, there is a bit of inconsistency there. And I don’t know that it matters if there is ever a distinction drawn between sound suppressor and silencer. I doubt it. But I’ll let a lawyer deal with the inconsistency.

Also, Tennessee does its own background checks and does not use the federal NICS system. So, gun sales are still subject to background checks.

So, seems a lot of bluster for nothing, as of now. That could change though, with an effective legal challenge.

This did not happen because guns are banned in Chicago:

Seven of 11 pistols stolen from a police department in the Mississippi Delta have been recovered in Chicago, federal prosecutors said Wednesday in court papers.

Joe Biden on the stimulus package utter failure to stimulate anything other than the pockets of wealthy campaign contributers:

everyone guessed wrong

No. Some folks got it just right. The Geek reminds you:

Some of us were at tea parties wearing Gadsden flags like superman capes, telling y’all that you’re wrong, wrong, wrong.

Heh. A letter to the editor about the dogs in bars bill.

Guns and teh st00pid. Go watch and be amazed. Honestly, can you not put a tripod down range? And here’s a pretty dumb bit of gun handling too.

The NRA has recently become more active on Al Gore’s internets. A few resources:

NRA Blog has been covering various events and is a great resource.

NRA Videos over at youtube has started the Grassroots Minute.

And check out American Hunter, which should be obvious.

And let’s not forget Guns and Hunting.

Interesting/rare firearms

Chicks and guns: suppressed RFB again

This is why I travel with a firearm.

Cool pic of a tornado forming.

And if that’s not enough, here’s a video of one.

The NYT talks about Tennessee’s recent gun bills. Quotes the Paper of Making Up The Record:

“The Republicans are trying to embarrass the Democrats,” said John G. Geer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

“They want to put these proposals on the table not only because they believe in guns, but they want to force the Democrats to come out as anti-gun,” Professor Geer said. “You can see the attack ads forming already. The Republicans have won this issue.”

Yes. Also, the high focus on gun rights this past session was not just to poke the Democrats with a stick. After all, more than half of these guys seem to support the gun bills. It was basically catching up after the former speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D-balled) spent years killing the bills with parliamentary techniques.

NICS check continue to climb.

SayUncle correspondent WizardPC will be blogging some at Walls of the City.

I.C.E. Combat Focus Shooting Course to be taught at Coal Creek Armory.

test results negative.

Today is a good day.

Phelps is correct: Obama has a pop quiz. And there are reports that the security forces in Iran have opened fire on protesters. Also, the little tyrant in North Korea is waving is nuclear arms in the air.

Will there be hope or change?

I did a mini-review of it here. I also said I’d let them know about the issue. I did. And I received the following today:

Thank you for those pictures and input – we have entered a new order today and will hopefully get it shipped out to you today – along with a SASE to send that defective holster back. We appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention and apologize for any inconvenience. Thanks and have a great day!

I continue to be impressed with their customer service.

Chattanoogan notes the Democrat Party Chairman Asks Local Action To Keep Guns From Parks, Restaurants. Good thing we have preemption in the state. Letters to the editor here.

A police officer reader gives us the skinny on Tasers here. Worth the read.

And takes me to task for being anti-LEO. Which I am not. I do, however, frequently criticize their techniques and judgment. And I simply think Tasers are overused and are often used when unnecessary (some times with deadly consequences). That’s not being anti-LEO.

Buying socks.

It’s something I’ve discussed before. In recent years, both houses of congress, justice department, SCOTUS, etc. affirmed the second amendment. More states have concealed carry than don’t. AWB not renewed. And quite a few other pro-gun victories. People seem more friendly to gun owners. And people who have never shot before want to go shooting. Issuance of handgun carry permits is at a record high.

I’ve often attributed it to grassroots activists who, with Al Gore’s internets, seem to have gained a knack for working together. But I’ve also realized something else is having an influence. Cable/satellite TeeVee. In a recent episode of Mythbusters (posted earlier about some safety concerns), Jamie was pulling out a .50 caliber and made a comment about how if you were a gun enthusiast, the 50 caliber was awesome. Then, the show Timewarp did an episode on automatic weapons.

All kinds of educational programs on cable TeeVee deal with weapons and guns. Mail Call, Timewarp, Mythbusters, Tales of the Gun, and there are even hour long shows devoted to the history of a particular gun. People didn’t have this stuff piped into their homes 30 years ago. Now, they do. People became acclimated to guns instead of afraid of them. And people see them and realize what gun nuts knew all along: guns are fucking cool. And when handled appropriately, they’re safe.

I caught the Mythbusters episode this weekend wherein they test if you can bend the trajectory of a bullet after it was done in some Angelina Jolie flick. Seemed quite unsafe to me, even though they did take additional steps. But more importantly, Kari don’t go shooting when you’re six months pregnant. Lead, noise, and other things that likely aren’t good for baby.

Famous last words: What are you going to do?

That’s the headline. Except that the gun in the pic is actually a Streetsweeper.