A current events quiz, of which I am one of the 6% to score 100%.

A good letter to the editor refuting gun controllers.

Mr. C. has a report with pics.

Nifty. Not sure exactly what it is though.

Short skirt, long rifle.

Cannons!

Kel-Tec SU22 with suppressor.

Confederate Yankee:

Denying terrorists the means by which to carry out their attacks is something we can all get behind on both sides, but I can’t find anything in King’s bill to suggest that Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad or Scott Roeder would have been effectively denied access to firearms even if King’s proposed bill was already established law.

The Tennessee Firearm’s Association’s head, John Harris, is not a registered lobbyist. Oh teh noes. He says it’s because he doesn’t lobby:

Harris said he is exempt from registering as a lobbyist because his primary responsibility is writing a newsletter for the association’s membership, and because he doesn’t initiate conversations with lawmakers.

“I can go over and listen all I want to, and that doesn’t make me a lobbyist,” he said. “I’m advocating to my members.”

“I try to limit my activities over there to monitoring what they are doing, and writing reports,” he said. “And showing up when I have a legislator call me and say we’d like you to be in the audience for purposes of testifying.”

Speculation was that the cops there had been duped into attending. Bredesen spokesperson Lydia Lenker says that was not the case. But:

Todd added, however, that he did understand “some of them attending over there didn’t know what the meeting was about.”

Campfield says the quote above indicates he was correct.

Edward Rubin, dean of the Vanderbilt University Law School, says:

we hardly ever read of armed private citizens intervening effectively. How effective is an armed citizen likely to be if that person is in a bar and — quite legally and legitimately — under the influence of alcohol? How reliable will the person’s judgment be in that situation? How likely is it that this citizen will be steady enough to engage in a gun battle without further endangering innocent bystanders?

First, you’re not being truthful. The bill does not allow someone under the influence of alcohol to carry a weapon. It would remain illegal. Next, instances are posted daily here about armed citizens acting in self-defense. Other places track it as well. Not to mention that defensive gun uses are estimated at between 700K and 2.5M per year. And the Florida State University department of Criminology released a study indicating that people who employed self protection strategies reduced their likelihood of injury when compared to nonresistance.

The reason you don’t hear about them is because most instances do no result in the death of anyone.

Clenched fist salute: ACK.

From Stuff

Snagged from Yahoo. Links to Snickers’ facebook page.

Nutjob kills a doctor who performs abortions. Another nutjob kills a military recruiter. In the press, speculation followed by inundation of the first nutjob’s ties to extremist groups. No speculation about that latter’s potential ties to extremist groups. Note that as of now, the latter may not be tied to such a group but the lack of speculation about it in the press is indicative of, well, you’ll figure it out.

Similarly.

Should lawmakers overturn Gov. Phil Bredesen’s veto of guns in bars?

Jeff Woods hikes up his skirt and asserts that, based on about four instances out of 340K, that authorities who may be looking for dangerous criminals only need to look at the handgun carry permit records.

David Hardy: 7th Cir goes other way in Chicago case

That’s the incorporation case. Stay tuned.

Update: Opinion

More: Affirmed. Says second amendment does not apply to states. Cites odd militia language.

My conclusion: Seems they just didn’t care for Nordyke and ignored it. And put the ball back in the hands of the supreme court.

Update: More from Volokh.

So reports Bill Brassard.

Attorneys with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence today are asking the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, PA to throw out the lawsuit by the National Rifle Association against the City of Pittsburgh or they’ll hold their breath until they turn blue.

Bredesen is none too happy that the Tennessee Firearms Association wants names of the law enforcement officers standing behind him during his veto ceremony. I’m still figuring they were ordered to be there for the political posturing. But Bredesen gets his righteous indignation on at the premise that citizens demand accountability from public officials:

To single out these law enforcement officers: let’s ask their names; let’s ask their addresses just smacks of intimidation. It’s not American; I don’t think it is Tennessean, I think they should stop it.

Let me explain it to you, Sparky. These officers, like you, work for me. I pay your salary. And theirs. You and those officers are my employees and, frankly, I have some requirements for my employees . I expect them to respect my rights. And I expect those of my employees who are elected to vote the way I want them to. Or I will take appropriate action (like not voting for those elected officials, writing letters, supporting opponents, legal action, etc.). When a citizen demands accountability from public officials and employees, it’s not intimidation. It’s being a good citizen. And it’s very American and very Tennessean. That you don’t understand that difference shows how little you understand what it is to be American or Tennessean.

But, still, I think it’s a safe bet that the officers were ordered to be there. I understand that happens a lot.

Update and bump: Campfield:

It is now coming out that several of those police chefs may not have been as excited about the governors over ride on the gun bill as he would like people to believe.

We are now finding out they were all in town for some convention or other and were asked to come over and meet the governor during a break. Of course most of them went. When they got there they were all piled in together and finally told what it was about just shortly before the signing of his veto with them as the backdrop.

They did not come to the event knowing they were about to be used.

Mythbusters investigates whether a bad grip on a big bore revolver can cause the loss of digits. Video here.

Caught that on the DVR last night. The youtube is fast.

Tennessee is one of ten states that prohibits those with handgun carry permits from carrying where alcohol is served, and that includes all of Tennessee’s neighbor states except NC. None have experienced the problems that whiners like Nashville Police Chief Serpas tells us will happen:

How many of you have been to a softball game and you’ve seen people mad as heck because of a call? When emotions are out of control or alcohol or drugs are at play, how do you think people are going to make rational decisions?

Can you have drugs and alcohol at a local softball game? Aren’t those illegal? And drinking while strapped would still be illegal.

But, good news, the override is underway.

Bitter asks what we Tennessee gunnies are to do since it’s an off election year.

NRA Blog: A Virginia community recently held its first Women on Target® Instructional Shooting Clinic

And there’s the NRA’s Women’s Wilderness Escape.

Dave Kopel: Sotomayor vs. the Second Amendment, Part II:

Yet Judges Sotomayor, Pooler, and Katzman simply presumed–with no legal reasoning–that the right to arms is not a fundamental right.

I am the featured blogger over at Ammoland this month. I did a brief interview.

USCitizen reports a new group over at Mark Levin’s.

A sequel to Heathers!

New data is out. Most crime (and all violent crime) is down. An increase in burglaries, that looks to be in the North East. And people steal fewer cars.

77% agree that the second amendment means exactly what it says.

Councilman to make local police memorize the second amendment.

Dr. Helen tells us the new bible for diagnosing the crazy is out. Seems to be a continuation of the field’s trend to classify normal behavior as some sort of condition (to be treated, of course). The Doc notes it is written by a few, in secret, and with little oversight. What could possibly go wrong?

Gun sales are at record highs. Ammo prices are through the roof. Yet a maker of hunting rifles is about to go under:

Later this morning, Knight Rifle will officially release the news of their decision to cease manufacturing. The official announcement to Knight employees was made last Friday, but officials have avoided speaking with the media in an attempt to keep the lid on the story until June 1.

The trend of high gun sales has not exactly trickled into the hunting market.

I often wonder how a news paper can publish something so wrong and stupid.

A good, detailed review of the FN SCAR. Lots of pics.