A friend just gave me his old Franchi 20 guage over/under shotgun. I've never even shot a shotgun before but I NEVER turn down a gift like this (actually like anything...). Looks to be in very good condition and is about 20 years old.
I'll buy some shells tomorrow and try it out. I can't find a model number on it but I'll post some photos of it on Friday when I'm back in action here. Anyone know much about the Italian gun maker Franchi? I'm somewhat sure this wasn't an expensive gun since he got it when he was 16-years-old but still, it seems nice with walnut stock and checkering and some ornamental engraving on the metal sides by the breech. Okay, here's a quick photo of the "mechanical part" of it:
What the heck, I'm not taking up any shotgun sports or hunting but it should be fun and is a welcome addition to my meager gun collection.
Ya' know, I really feel bad (really, awfully bad) for Blue Flypaper since while (*ahem*) she is ordering me to disarm, I seem to be accumulating more guns than ever. I'm SO sorry to disappoint her and end-up on her black list. Dang! And just when people were starting to like me.
I know, I know... Now you all are going to shun me. I feel so alone. I think I'll go polish my guns...
Bogged down with some personal matters to attend to. I'll be back in a few days. There won't be a Weekly Report tomorrow.
By the way, I'm working on the big range report of the Serbu BFG-50 and want to include a couple short MOV and AVI clips. I have them at a seperate server where it won't tax my bandwidth too much. If you have advice on how to do the link to them (especially so a thumbnail still shows on my page) please email me or leave that advice in the comments. We only had 10 rounds last week but I'm picking up another bunch tomorrow night. I'll be back at the range Thursday night for round two and hope to have it all up Friday. I can only tell you that everyone who shot the gun so far had a BIG smile on their face. You'll see... Thanks!
Also, please welcome two new additions to my blogroll:
Maggie's Farm is a fine New England blog that supports gun rights, has intelligent political positions, and is well written. I especially enjoyed this post about how hurricane Katrina is all President Bush's fault...
And,
Marcel and French Frie, a very witty french blogger and his cartoonist friend presenting original -- and also intelligent -- commentary. Here's an example.
I'll be back on Thursday and as always, thanks for stopping by.
Even if you don't believe in God, say a prayer tonight for the folks in the gulf-coast who are about to be slammed by one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the United States.
I don't know what I believe in but I will bend my knee tonight and pray that ALL the folks in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will survive this terrible storm. Conservative, liberal, anti or pro-gun, leftist or rightist, I hope you all come out of this in one piece.
May whatever God is out there, please protect them during this storm and provide for them afterwards.
Heh. Someone is warning me to disarm!
Pretty good parody. I wonder which one of you is behind that blog...
Here's my response:
Come and take it from me!
We went to the range last night. The Serbu BFG-50 is a hoot. I'm gathering up folks' photos, clips, etc and will put up a post tonight.
My work schedule has been hairy lately and continues through this weekend. I'm behind on everything including your emails but will try to get to them all tonight.
A few quick meanderings since I have to be at work shortly.
Ace Pryhill reports that Jerry Falwell might actually support some rights for gays. You know, like being able to have a roof over their head.
John at ARGGHHH!!! presents the rules of a gunfight.
James at Hell in a Handbasket gives a perfect example of why I call them "mutants".
Benjamin at ReasonableNut has a bone to pick with the NRA regarding property rights.
Ted at Rocket Jones has a theme song for his blog.
TriggerFinger is all over DC vs Baretta so follow his links to his analysis.
Confederate Yankee shows that Bush IS a uniter!
Forbes Magazine's online site has been presenting a series this month on the 20 most important tools in the history of civilization. Apparently their judges put the rifle at #7:
Forbes.com readers, editors and a panel of experts rank the rifle as the 7th most important tool of all time, in terms of its impact on human civilization.For as long as humans have created tools, they've made projectile weapons. Our ancestors made spears, slings and bows and mastered their use in hunting and warfare. But the rifle put all those tools to shame, boasting unprecedented accuracy, power, reliability, and range. Rifles have won wars, tamed continents and overturned empires.
The history of firearms stretches back more than a millennium. Gunpowder may date back as far as the 4th century, when it was invented in China--perhaps by someone trying to mix sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter into medicine. The Chinese first used the stuff in weapons--including rockets and cannon--about 600 years later. In 1267, legendary English scientist Roger Bacon published a recipe for gunpowder, and by the late 1300s, handheld, muzzle-loading pistols were common in Europe. Long-barreled muskets started appearing in the 1400s.
Users of these early firearms had to deal with soot clogging their barrels, and may have eventually discovered that if they cut curved grooves in the gunk while cleaning, it would impart a spin on the projectile, making it more accurate. By 1498, craftsmen were cutting grooves directly into the metal of a weapon's barrel. But it wasn't until 1747, when an English physicist named Benjamin Robins proved that "rifled" barrels performed better, that the practice really took off. By the mid 19th-century, rifled barrels were common.
Talk show host Larry Elder is a firm supporter of the Second Amendment and has just released a movie on DVD titled, Michael & Me. That link (or click the image below) takes you to the Amazon listing. Here's the description from there:
Michael Moore is a talented, provocative filmmaker, who challenged America's so-called gun culture in "Bowling For Columbine." Television and radio talk-show host Larry Elder tried-for a year-and-a-half-to interview Michael Moore. Larry wanted to ask him one basic question: "You tell us how many gun deaths there are in America, but how many Americans are alive because they were able to use a gun for self-defense?" Moore concludes that America has "too many guns." But does it? Larry made this film in an attempt to answer that question. Political pundits divide the country into blue states and red states. The red states feel alienated by the likes of liberal demagogues like Michael Moore. Many Americans own firearms, don't support additional gun control laws, live in one of some 34 states that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons, and support the Second Amendment. This film speaks to them. For these people, this film might be "The Passion"…of the Second Amendment.
There's a column today by Mr. Elder in the Jewish World Review where he says about the movie:
"Michael & Me" asks why, if America possesses "too many guns," is the murder rate among Japanese Americans actually lower than in Japan? And why, in England, with severe gun restriction, is the English murder rate growing, and the violent crime rate — assaults, car thefts, hot burglaries — now exceeding ours?As Moore did in his entertaining film "Roger & Me," I sought out the director — some might say "ambushed" — in order to ask him a few questions. (You'll have to see my film to find out what happens.)
My film interviews victims of crimes, those who protected themselves with firearms, gun owners, criminals, police officers, authors and academicians. Texas State Representative Susanna Hupp describes how she witnessed her mother and father executed by a gunman in a restaurant. The film also interviews Jane Doe, who, two days before she got raped, attempted to purchase a handgun — only to be thwarted by California's 10-day waiting period.
Some believe that the Second Amendment only confers a collective right — as part of a state militia — rather than an individual right to keep and bear arms. The film notes that the Founding Fathers clearly intended the Second Amendment to serve as a bulwark against possible tyranny by government. Why would the Founding Fathers limit the right to "keep and bear arms" to a government militia if threatened with tyranny by government?
Alan Dershowitz said, "Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming that it's not an individual right or that it's too much of a safety hazard don't see the danger of the big picture. They're courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don't like."
In yesterday's Weekly Report I led off with the disturbing story out of Virginia that ATF agents were harrassing buyers at a gun show and performing "residency checks". The journalist for that story (and also, hopefully the show's promoter) will be on Cam Edwards' Show this afternoon. You'll want to listen and you can stream it at that link.
Also, it appears the MuNu server is fried so many of your favorite bloggers are down right now. Hopefully things will get fixed shortly.
I've also decided, at the urging of many including Mark Serbu of Serbu Firearms, to discontinue taking donations via PayPal, so my tipping points are gone. My thanks to all of your kind donations but I guess it ends here. PayPal has been very anti-gun and has cancelled accounts if used to legally purchase anything even related to firearms. As Mark correctly points out to me, "We (pro-gun people) need to start hitting the antis where it hurts." I agree and I should have done it a long time ago but being somewhat mercenary.... If anyone wants to continue making donations, just email me and I'll let you know my PO Box address.
More on the evilness of anti-gun PayPal in a future post.
You know, I read about some of the horror-show crap that some states make their residents go through just to get a carry permit and I again thank God that Vermont doesn't have any of that nonsense. Neither does NH, even for non-residents. After filing a simple form, a letter from my town's constable, and $20 dollars, within a few weeks I got my non resident pistol/revolver CCW license from them yesterday:
Welcome to the August 23rd edition of the Weekly Check on the Bias by media regarding firearms and the Second Amendment. Let's get right to it.
It's not uncommon at gun shows to have a few ATF agents prowling around looking for violations of the law. In fact, it's their job. But what happened in Virginia a couple weeks ago seems way over the top. From Crosswalk.com:
The federal agency that regulates U.S. gun dealers stands accused, along with at least three Virginia law enforcement agencies, of trying to shut down legal gun shows through alleged intimidation of gun buyers and sellers. The law enforcement organizations also allegedly broke the law by sharing gun buyers' information with members of the public.Annette Gelles, owner of gun show sponsor Showmasters.us, told Cybercast News Service that at least 30 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) along with nearly 500 Virginia State Police, Henrico County Police and Richmond City Police officers were assigned to the ATF operation targeting her gun show on Aug. 13 and 14 at the Richmond International Raceway and Fairground Complex, outside Richmond, Va.
[...]
Gelles explained that, when gun dealers took the paperwork to the Virginia State Police on-site office to complete the background checks on prospective buyers, ATF agents copied the names, home addresses and telephone numbers of the applicants.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, told Cybercast News Service that he has received numerous complaints alleging that as handgun buyers were waiting for their National Instant Check System (NICS) background investigations to be completed, ATF was secretly conducting the so-called "residency checks."According to the complaints he received, Van Cleave said officers were dispatched to the homes of the prospective gun buyers to speak with family members, asking for example: "Gee, did you know your husband was going to a gun show today? Do you have his cell phone number? Did you know he was buying a gun?
"If people weren't home they, in some cases, went to neighbors" to ask the same questions, Van Cleave said.
"I'm not an attorney but, I'll tell you what, in my opinion that would be a violation of federal law," Van Cleave said. "To go off on a fishing trip with that information, much less sharing information like that with neighbors, there's no way that's legal."
[...]
Gelles and her attorneys were in Washington, D.C., Aug. 15 to meet with ATF officials and seek an explanation for what happened over the weekend. After talking with several people in the ATF headquarters, Gelles said she finally spoke with a supervisor, whom she would not identify, who assured her that ATF "is out of the residency check business, effective immediately."
She was hesitant to give further details about the meeting in the event that a lawsuit is filed over the agency's actions.
This is creepy. It's especially creepy since Virginia is known as a relatively gun-owner friendly state. What specific type of operation was going on isn't known. The only things I can think of are:
1) They were attempting to identify gun runners or smugglers.
2) They were looking for suspected terrorists.
If one or both of those were the case, law enforcement certainly went about it in a heavy-handed method. The story details several cases of the agents trying to intimidate legitimate gun buyers. Indeed, just the presence of so many cops and agents was enough to cost the show operator almost half of what she usually earns from these shows.
Furthermore, the "residency checks" are absolutely outrageous. If I go to a show and legally buy a gun, it is NOBODY'S BUSINESS. Not my family, not my landlord, not my neighbors. I've really never heard of such an aggrievous abuse and violation of the right to privacy that is supposed to be coded into the NICS legislation.
Remember when certain newspapers were publishing the names of CCW permit holders in Ohio? That was wrong but at least in those cases, the neighbors had to have bought and read the paper to obtain such information. Here, agents went knocking on doors and offering it to them.
I really think some better explanation should be required of the ATF and the various Virginia police agencies that took part in this operation. Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it from ever happening again? The simplistic explanation that the ATF is now "out of the residency check business" isn't enough.
Yesterday, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel had an editorial saying:
...In contrast, the "resolved" clause is mild - merely, putting the County Board on record as supporting efforts by the state Legislature "to enact legislation that will regulate the sale of handguns, rifles, shotguns and machine guns to convicted felons and minors." The mild language no doubt helps explain why the resolution enjoyed unanimous support.Yet, County Executive Scott Walker vetoed the resolution, saying it would be too burdensome for law-abiding gun owners. He said the county should focus instead on getting people off the streets who commit gun crimes and addressing "the symptoms (sic) that lead to more violence in our community."
Well, we're happy to report a bit of news buried by more headline-grabbing topics as the County Board rushed to recess for August. The board overrode Walker's veto - and unanimously.
The criminal justice system is striving as best it can to get gun criminals off the street, and indeed the community, including Walker, must do a better job of addressing crime's causes. But one contributor is the easy access of weapons to criminals and minors. Public officials mustn't be so beholden to the gun lobby that they won't take even modest steps to keep guns out of the hands of those prohibited from having them.
The force behind the resolution is a group called Mothers Against Gun Violence, which consists of mothers of slain children. In that organization's behalf, state Rep. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) has commendably drafted a bill that would require the registration of firearms every time ownership changes - a needed step that would enable the authorities to better trace guns used in crimes.
Registration is always the first step towards confiscation. History has shown that. And it is a burden on law-abiding gun owners both in time and money. If a dad buys his son that first .22 caliber rifle for Christmas, does he then have to "register" it as a transfer? What nonsense.
Meanwhile in Minnesota, two churches are still fighting the legislation allowing the law-abiding to carry concealed weapons. Any religious institution (or business, for that matter) can post a simple sign prohibiting CCW in their buildings but apparently that isn't enough. From the Duluth News Tribune:
David Lillehaug, attorney for the Edina Community Lutheran Church, and Marshall Tanick, representing the Unity Church of St. Paul, argued that requirements to put up signs using a specific size, typeface and language were infringing on the churches' religious messages. Such requirements make the state an editor over the churches' message, Lillehaug argued.Assistant Attorney General Thomas Ragatz argued that the law mandates that those signs contain state language and also allows churches to add religious language. He said that using the state-mandated, religiously neutral words is not a substantial burden on the churches and does not cause them irreparable harm, two legal standards the churches must prove in order to get the injunction.
Lillehaug and Tanick argued that religious institutions shouldn't be prohibited from banning guns in their parking areas, either. Those areas are used to further religious missions when people talk about services on the way to their cars or when a church holds a fundraiser or services in a parking lot, they argued.
Ragatz argued that when a church is holding an activity in the parking lot for a religious purpose, it may ban guns under the law.
Lillehaug and Tanick also argued that by not allowing landlords to ban tenants and their visitors from carrying guns, the law burdens religious organizations. Edina Community Lutheran Church lets a child care center use its space, for instance. And Unity Church sometimes allows space to be used as a homeless shelter.
The argument that landlords ought to be allowed to ban tenants and visitors is wrong in my mind because I presume that the churches are not actually charging the homeless for staying there overnight, therefore they're not really "tenants". Are they renting the space to the child care center? I wouldn't think it mattered since the owners, that is the churches, still have the property posted with the signs. We can assume that the child care operators aren't carrying themselves as there are very young children around. I'd welcome clarification on all of this from readers since I'm not a lawyer (though I play one on TV) nor have I read all of the current bill.
This past Friday the National Black Police Association met in Canada to discuss gun violence in black neighborhoods. Inside Toronto covered the meeting. I do feel the pain of such areas where street gangs are out of control but the problem is that laws passed and more laws passed will not rid those areas of firearms anymore than they've rid them of drugs. Here's a typical quote:
"This gun thing has been a scourge in our communities. I liken it to something as bad as the AIDS epidemic or drugs," said Ron Stalling, a 32-year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service, who was among the more than 700 police officers attending an international conference presented by the National Black Police Association in Scarborough this week.
Mike Franklin, a commissioner with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in the Brixton and Lambeth area of southwest London in the U.K., talked about the success of a gun amnesty in the area that encouraged community members to take a stand against guns."The first thing we had to do in the community was to empower people to say no to guns," he said. "We decided to enable our community to voice their disgust with the guns, murders and killings."
During that 30-day amnesty, 28 firearms and 3,500 rounds of ammunition were taken off the streets, Franklin said.
"We learned that communities can solve this problem," he said, noting that people have to overcome their fear and know that it's okay to express an anti-gun view.
Violent offences in England and Wales reached record levels in 2004-5 with police recording one million crimes - up 7% from the previous year.[...]
Total recorded crime fell 6% to 5.6m incidents, but gun crime was up 6%.
Mike Sherman, a 30-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service who retired 10 years ago, maintained that investing in the community is key."Our approach has to be dealing with communities. I am really encouraged to hear the nexus of the solution is in the community," Sherman said, adding, "Guns are not a solution, but guns are not the problem. Guns are a symptom of the problem.
Lastly, I know you all are waiting for the first range report on the BFG-50 that Serbu Firearms sent me and that I picked up Friday night. [Very pleasant] Family obligations kept me from the range this past weekend but Thursday night we're all heading out there. I wish I'd been able to take this week off from work...
I'll be on NRA News this afternoon and as always, I thank you for stopping by.
It's what's for dinner. From News.com.au:
PICTURE this: French hunters stealing out at night in pairs, one with a torch to light up the eyes of their prey, the other armed with a .22 calibre rifle equipped with a telescopic sight and a silencer.Their quarry? Invaders from the United States - bullfrogs, to be precise, that bellow like cows and typically weigh in at a hefty 600 grams.
This is France, to be sure, but the end game of this hunt is not sauteed frog legs.
These marksmen are ecologists, out to exterminate the bullfrogs - a.k.a. Rana Catesbeina - which are threatening the local ecosystem.
"A man living in Vayres (30 kilometres, 20 miles east of Bordeaux) stocked his pond with them in 1968 as a joke, and a few years later every stretch of water in the region was full of them," said Luc Gueugneau, who works in the government agency overseeing wild animals and hunting.
That's the impression you would get reading this story from Canada:
The restricted semi- automatic rifle seized after last week's jewelry heist and police pursuit has a history as an easy-to-carry maiming machine."In the gang context, the AR-15 could be deemed a status symbol because it's small and light and compact in terms of assault rifles," said Marko Jugley, a gun owner and executive member of the Maple Leaf Marksmen Rifle and Revolver Club in St. Catherines.
The rifle's cartridges are also lightweight, allowing users to carry more ammunition at a time. That ammunition packs a nasty punch.
Wednesday's heist left two men dead -- one of them Sean Patrick McGrath, 37, of Montreal -- and two in hospital. One of the survivors, Akili Roberts, 25, of Montreal, is charged with robbery.
...Not that they want to but the law is the law. From the Detroit News:
While Michigan's law does not allow anyone with a concealed weapon into schools, bars, sports stadiums and other facilities, it does not include such municipal facilities as libraries. So it's legal for anyone with a valid permit to carry a firearm in those facilities.Now trustees must vote on changing the policy so it doesn't ban weapons, a move that Supervisor Carl Solden said he supports.
"I don't think that we can in all good conscience supersede state law," he said. "The CCW permits allow people to carry firearms and, frankly, I don't want to put the township in a position to have to defend a lawsuit based on that," Solden said. "Ferndale has already spent money doing that and lost."
In 2003, the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from protesters fighting to keep guns out of Ferndale Public Library, thus upholding the Michigan Court of Appeals' decision that local governments can't include further restrictions to the law.
"We have to change things whether we agree with the law or not," he said.
I'm due at a wedding this afternoon or I'd already be gearing up for the range. Hopefully tomorrow. But I thought I'd share some initial reactions with you.
Incidentally, when I say that "even my cats have guns", you'd better pay attention. Here's Crispy muzzle-to-muzzle with the brake:
I'm thinking that one day after work this coming week a bunch of us will be heading to the range to blow stuff up. My local gun store, the Shooter's Shop, has ordered more ammo for me. There will be cameras capable of short videos and I might take Countertop up on his offer to host those, since I already exceed my bandwidth at Hosting Matters every month. Of course, he's busy angling for his own.
By the way, I also put a deposit down on the Taurus. My thanks to you folks for that. They're on back-order, or actually not yet released but are due to be shortly. And I only have four payments left on the Alphecca Limo. That will free-up $355 bucks a month. Life is good around here!
Message on my answering machine yesterday evening:
"Hello, Jeff. This is Harry at the gun shop. That, uh, ...whatever the hell it is, is in..."
As I indicated a couple weeks ago, Mark Serbu of Serbu Firearms has kindly sent me a scoped BFG 50 Carbine. It's a loaner for me to evaluate and have some fun with. I'll be picking it up this evening and hope to give it (and myself) the first workout on Sunday. Needless to say, there will be plenty of reports and photos of mass destruction in the following weeks...
This past week has been a busy one, what with my Weekly Report detailing how some gays in Florida deciding to not be victims of bashing any longer. Then yesterday, the story of a man weighing the question of arming himself. Zendo Deb at TFS Magnum has been following the new legislation just passed in North Carolina (but not yet signed by the governor) to allow courts that issue restraining orders to also inform potential victims of abusive spouses that they have the right to apply for a permit to arm themselves. Here's a quote From News 14 Carolina:
Courts in North Carolina might soon be required to give something extra to battered spouses seeking a restraining order -- information on how to apply for a concealed weapon.But many people believe the measure could end up causing more problems by bringing guns into already volatile relationships.
"It ups the violence level,” said June Kimmel, who is with the North Carolina Council for Women. “And I don't think we ought to be in the position of suggesting to people that they arm themselves, because that also gives them a false sense of protection that they don't really have with that gun."
"In my experience, if you've got a fire out there, I don't think you put it out by throwing gas on it," said Bart Rick, a Seattle-area sheriff who chairs the National Sheriffs' Association domestic violence committee. "When I read this … I went 'Whoa.'"
I am not claiming that all restraining orders are legitimate. Indeed, many are ploys by the claimant and their lawyer. But a court order is a court order and the law-abiding will obey the order and fight it legally, not by showing up at the claimant's doorstep at 2 AM in the morning, drunk and abusive.
June kimmel of the North Carolina Council of Women is exactly the type of liberal activist that would probably prefer that battered women remain battered, that they stay victims. "Upping the violence?" Is she really suggesting that the abused woman just lay down and continue to get kicked and punched and (often) killed? That's the same logic the UN has been using to try and enact worldwide gun-control so that victims of genocide aren't armed and allowed to defend themselves.
The new legislation doesn't require anyone to arm themselves. The judge isn't tossing a .38 special over the bench to the claimant, just offering information on an option that might help them.
As for Sheriff Bart Rick, he's a fool. He says you don't fight fire with fire. I won't bother explaining to him that his analogy is incorrect as any Forest Service fire-fighter will gladly attest but instead suggest that if a battered woman (or man) isn't allowed the simple right to defend themselves, then the raging fire of their spouse is likely to destroy them. Out of control fires don't generally stop on their own.
An elderly gentleman living in Chico, California no longer felt safe. He began the process of obtaining a concealed-carry permit and was pretty much there. Then, he had a change of heart and writes about it. From the Chico News & Review:
The shooting test required 30 rounds, 15 in regular light and 15 in subdued light. Qualifying means 26 slugs in a still paper target measuring 7.75 inches by 11.75 inches at 21 feet. In spite of less than perfect distance vision and a slight hand tremor, I scored 27 with my trusty .38 special snub-nose revolver.Next, I tackled the probing application form and had it almost finished for the sheriff to sign when a growing sense of ambivalence made me pause. I pondered what I had learned and thought about all the trouble I could get into with a handgun. Maybe with my gun so readily available, I'd use it before I absolutely had to if I suddenly encountered danger. Yet hesitation could mean becoming a victim, perhaps of my own gun. Also, shooting at a person is different than shooting at a target. In a crisis situation, adrenalin starts pumping big time, meaning my hand could shake enough so I'd miss that crucial first shot. So many split-second uncertainties.
Then I thought about how much I would hate to kill somebody, yet only wounding an assailant would mean a certain lawsuit. I decided to leave my gun at home. Many others decide differently because I also learned the range routinely scheduled extra classes for all those seeking permits to carry.
I'm now hoping to level the risk field a bit with pepper spray, plus maybe get a dog.
Secondly, if you are going to carry a gun, you MUST be mentally prepared to use it -- as a last resort, of course -- if necessary. If you don't think that you can, leave it home because otherwise you will certainly die in any armed confrontation.
The doubts this fellow has about his own abilities makes me think he is making the correct choice to use a spray and a dog.
I do want to point out one thing, though. No normal law-abiding person WANTS to kill another human being. I can assure you (rather, him) that the mutants preying on folks such as this guy will have no compunction about shooting or stabbing him. They won't blink an eye.
The drug-crazed or alcohol-fueled thugs and gang-bangers out there don't have any mental brakes that stop them from mugging, beating, raping and killing elderly men and women. When someone like that attacks you, they will not be having second thoughts or doubts. If you draw a gun in such a situation, you must be ready and able to shoot them. You can't show mercy because they will show none towards you.
John Lott reports that Walt Disney is "de-gunning" the lyrics of songs in their movies.
Confederate Yankee notices that Hawaii might go seperate but equal. Or something like that...
The "dog-days of Summer" are here and the news gets a little slow. None-the-less, Welcome to the August 16th edition of the Weekly Check on the Bias of media regarding guns and the Second Amendment.
This week wraps-up the series of photos taken by Robert Langham, most for the Texas State Rifle Association Calendar. Actually though, here's one of the artist/photographer himself:
We'd like you to sign up your teenager for a sport. This is both a team sport and an individual sport. In this activity your teen will learn and be required to move from place to place on a 600 yard sporting field with a fairly complex set of sports equipment. They will be required to master that equipment in every way. They will learn to displace from yardline to yardline under time limits with all their gear while listening to and following rigorous instructions from the referees. This sport will require them to develop concentration, organization, and discipline to a high degree. This is a timed sport. They will be under constant mentoring, coaching, and scrutiny of adults who themselves will be ranked according to their expertise in this sport. They will learn not only their sport but the rules and scoring of their sport. They will receive constant feedback in real time on their every turn at this sport, and exactly evaluate and score others. They will even learn to evaluate weather conditions which might affect their performance. While doing this they will also be responsible for feeding, watering, and sunblocking themselves during these all day events. At the end of the day winners will be declared, based on their performance.All sports equipment alluded to will be provided for free. Your teenager will be paid to go to the weeklong National Matches in August. This sport has never had a fatality and even the smallest of chance of minor injury is rare. Be assured that they are safer doing this sport than in a public school classroom.
Now, who wants to sign their teenager up for Junior NRA Highpower rifle?
Here is Katie Wilkins shooting at the Texas Highpower Championship at Waco.
Now THIS is excessive. I pulled this photo out of thin air. Two .22 pistols, a Dan Wesson I paid too much for and a Ruger Mk I that my dad gave me in the 60s. They are on a chair next to my reloading bench. Accessory tray miraculously floating in from one side and a shot up target. I used one silver card, bent, catching the late sunlight coming in. Custom light balance, Coolpix handheld. I hated it but I used a Leatherman tool (he's on the "do-not-resuscitate" list after backing Kerry), and some various bits and pieces. The tin lid that all the cleaning stuff is in is a 30 round .50 cal can top from 1945. That's what they gave us one day to shoot at Ft Hood shooting Barretts.Photo set up and shoot time, less than 10 mins.
...Durango's fondness for guns today is a legacy of that Wild West. Guns are inextricably bound to La Plata County's culture, past as well as present.Just ask Megan Westervelt, a recent graduate of Durango High School: "Our whole history is guns. We're here where we are because of guns."
Today, you'll find at least one gun in about 75 percent of all homes in the county, Sheriff Duke Schirard says.
Schirard handily won office in 1994 in an election decided partly over concealed weapons. Shortly after he took over, the sheriff issued the highest percentage of concealed-weapons permits in the state. Now, he tallies 675 permits countywide.
"We're just Second Amendment kind of people around here," Schirard says.
Guns figured in 58 percent of Colorado's murders in 2003, as well as in the town's one homicide this year: April's fatal shooting of Lori "Star" Sutherland.
But thousands of guns are employed for hunting elk, shooting skeet, blasting prairie dogs and warding off coyotes.
"Farmers and ranchers still view guns as just another tool they use," says state Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus.
Westerners grow up with firearms, trading BB guns for rifles as they reach adulthood. Fathers pass to sons, and now mothers pass to daughters, the art of shooting. Over time, firearms become family heirlooms.
The next story in today's hit parade is about pistol-packing gays. It comes from the Miami Herald:
''I love this one, because the bullets just fly out and you don't have to reload,'' he said, ejecting a clip from a nickel-plated .45-caliber semiautomatic Smith & Wesson."And if some redneck decides he's going to harass or harm me, he'll be thinking twice about it pretty quickly.''
Raised in rural Pennsylvania, Jackson is an avid hunter who keeps a gun on his boat, in his car, and on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But he's allowed his membership to the National Rifle Association to lapse since he heard about the Pink Pistols.
In fact, Jackson wants to start a local chapter of the nationwide organization of gay gun owners who believe that packing heat reduces their chances of becoming hate-crime victims.
The Pink Pistols have more than 7,000 members in the United States and British Columbia, many of whom feel alienated from conservative gun rights organizations like the NRA.
[...]
''A lot of gay people want to feel protected, but when I first tell them about the Pistols, they laugh hysterically for five minutes,'' Jackson said. 'When I ask them, `Why haven't you considered getting a gun?' they just say, 'Well, because I'm gay!' ''
''It's a ridiculous stereotype,'' he said. ``That we're too queeny or that guns scare us. I don't have to be straight to have good aim.''
One sour note: He dropped his NRA membership. I think that is wrong. Look, I link to both the NRA and the Pink Pistols and a lot of other Pro-2A groups and support them all. Obviously, as a commentator on the Cam Edwards show, I'm not exactly objective BUT, the fact is that there would be no Pink Pistols if it weren't for the National Rifle Association because it is the NRA, as the "600 pound gorilla" lobbying organization that has spent about 134 years fighting for all of our gun rights. If they didn't exist, we would all have been disarmed a long time ago. All organizations supporting our gun rights deserve OUR support.
Turning South of the border, apparently because Mexico makes it tough to own guns, only the criminals have guns... From the Brownsville Herald (TX):
Mexico’s strict gun control laws are contributing to an illegal gun market and easier access to weapons, according to U.S. law enforcement officials that are close observers of a recent upswing in border violence.Since January, more than 600 people have been killed in an ongoing war between rival drug cartels using high-powered handguns and assault rifles fighting for control of drug smuggling routes on the Texas-Mexico border.
Federal gun seizures show that a majority of weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico were smuggled into the country from the United States or bought through other sources in a lucrative black market.
Mexican law requires its citizens to apply for a permit from the Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA) before they can buy a handgun or rifle for hunting or self-defense.
[...]
At the same time, Mexican law also prohibits gun owners from carrying their weapons in public...
[...]
Ignacio Corona, a Mexican and Latin American Cultures professor at Ohio State University, said those and other gun laws put Mexico’s honest citizens at a disadvantage.
“All the weapons are in the hands of the bad guys,” he said.
But at the same time, Corona said it is difficult to predict how changes in Mexico’s gun laws would change the situation.“If it was more lax,” he said, “perhaps it would be worse because there is no education in the culture on how to use the guns properly.”
I suspect that changes in Mexico's gun laws wouldn't change much at all since it is (as it is everywhere else in the world) the "bad guys" as Corona puts it that are causing all the mayhem. Still, it would be nice if the law-abiding were able to protect themselves.
The tone of this article seems to suggest that it is lax gun laws in the US that cause gun problems in Mexico. NO, it is criminals in Mexico that cause crime in Mexico. Still, that argument seems to be de rigueur these days as Canada wants to blame the US, too:
While the country's violent crime rate is dropping, the number of gang-related killings in the past decade has jumped threefold.Two more men were killed in Toronto over the weekend and two teenagers were left wounded. So far this year, 34 people have been shot to death in Canada's largest city.
Both Toronto police and Mayor David Miller blame the flow of illegal firearms from the United States. But statistics obtained by The Globe and Mail suggest federal border guards are seizing fewer firearms than in previous years.
The Canada Border Services Agency says it has intercepted only 318 guns so far this year.
The president of the Coalition for Gun Control, Wendy Cukier, says the numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt."What's down is the number of guns seized. You have to be careful because that's a small percentage of the guns coming into the country," she explained to CTV.
Cukier, who is also a professor of justice studies at Ryerson University, suggests that border officials may be so preoccupied with other priorities such as nabbing terror suspects crossing the border, they're missing the gun smugglers.
What both Mexico and Canada should be focusing on is the mutants, the drug-cartels and the street gangs and ridding themselves of both. THAT will reduce the market for stolen illegal firearms and the criminal misuse of them.
The US rightly doesn't blame Canada for all the marijuana coming from there but instead works to prevent it. As US Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins puts it:
Ontario should be looking closer at its own security when it complains about illegal weapons being smuggled from the United States, the new American ambassador said Thursday."That is a shared responsibility," David Wilkins said after a private meeting with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. "I've heard more than one Canadian official say it's mostly Canadians bringing the guns across. Not hundreds of thousands at a time, but three or four at a time."
Curt Amey and his club have increased interest and increased membership, so they’re celebrating by firing their guns in the air.Amey, along with many others, has watched the Brandon Gun Club enjoy a resurgence this year and a major boom in its enrollment. Amey, the club’s president, says membership has increased from 27 members a year ago to 111 this summer.
“We took it a new direction of making it more fun,” Amey said of the club, located just a few minutes south of Brandon. “We went out and rallied up some people knocking door-to-door that like to hunt and like to shoot but have never come out to the club before. We changed the direction of the club from people who just want to shoot trap to being able to shoot just about anything you want.”
This might be called the "spanning the globe" edition of the Weekly Report. In another story I first reported on last Friday, some folks in Russia admire US gun laws:
Successful use of long-stemmed guns is depressingly rare. Burglars have already broken in while you're still fiddling with the key to the case to get hold of your favorite gun. It is not allowed to carry such guns, or have them assembled and uncovered in a car. As for a "rubber bullet" pistol, an attempt to use it for self-defense often only infuriates the attacker.As a result, the public in Russia is increasingly leaning towards a more liberal law on weapons. For the last half a year the State Duma has been discussing the possibility of giving the people real firearms, as is done in the United States, for one.
American statistics are the main argument of Russian firearms advocates. According to the U.S. Justice Department, 34% of all criminals were wounded or detained by armed civilians, while 40% have altogether given up an idea of an attack for fear of reciprocal fire. In those states that allow citizens to carry concealed arms, the level of murders is lower by 33 %, and of robberies by 37%.
Advocates of legalizing firearms in Russia often refer to the experience of neighboring Latvia: After the relevant law was adopted, street crime dropped by 80%, and the Latvian police force has been cut.
San Francisco take note!
As always, your comments are welcome and I'll be on Cam's later today. Thanks for stopping by!
You're an author or artist. You'd like to "pre-register" your work with the US Copyright Office. You can do that via the internet which would prevent others from using leaked or stolen material that you've created. Sounds like a plan, huh? Just one problem: The US Copyright Office website will only allow you to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer as your browser. From ARS Technica:
The battle over web standards may be moving to Washington, DC. The US Copyright Office is currently looking for feedback on plans to restrict a new website to users of Internet Explorer. At issue is an upcoming site where people could preregister commercial works in progress (e.g., movies, books). That would allow novelists, for example, to sue if parts of their book were leaked prior to publication.Right now, plans are for the site to support only Internet Explorer, starting with version 5.1...
[...]
Currently, the Copyright Office uses Siebel 7.7 as its CRM software, which is not certified to work with browsers other than IE and Netscape 7.0.2. An update to version 7.8 is in the offing, which will add support for Firefox 1.0.3 (and Mozilla 1.7.7), but according to the Copyright Office, it will not be deployed in time for the launch.
Those who deal with corporate intranet sites coded for a single platform are familiar with having to use IE to get around. However, having a publicly accessed government website available only to users of a single browser is inexcusable. It doesn't matter whether it's Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or Konqueror. Government services provided online need to be accessible via a multiplicity of browsers and operating systems.
I'm sure that eventually the department will upgrade whatever they have to in order that all browsers can access the site but really, this sets a bad precedent. Consider that many authors and artists tend to be "counter-culture" when it comes to their computer equipment. Many, just on general principle, probably use Firefox or Safari, etc. That would describe me...
Well, with a title like that, I'm sure that 90% of my readership is thumbing the scroll-wheel on their mice. Too bad. I know that anytime I put up a "non-gun" post, everyone falls asleep but it's my blog and I'll pass out the Sominex if I want to...
I don't cook much. Hardly at all. I eat out A Lot and that is one reason (besides the cost of my stupid habit of smoking) that I'm always broke. None-the-less, I do prepare some lame, bachelor type things. I cook burgers. Rare of course. All meat, but especially beef, only tastes good if eaten rare. I never mention my family here and won't do that now but there is someone in it who really chars beef (and everything else) to the point of shoe-leather toughness. Never-mind that the taste is ruined, too.
When I was a kid, we went to the local butcher who supposedly ground the beef himself. It tasted so good raw. Yup. I ate raw hamburg as a kid. But then again, when you're a kid, you will put almost anything in your mouth, including your fingers after playing in the dirt. Kids are always sick; who knows if it was the unwashed hands or the raw meat.
Nowadays there are no real butchers. Most of us get supermarket hamburg that was ground in some midwest processing plant where ghod knows what part of the E. coli intestines were included in the package. For that, I cook medium.
But steak is different. It isn't contaminated. It's pure beef muscle. It needs to be eaten rare. Rare is perfect for a big juicy steak. I like T-Bone myself. Hard to find although oddly enough, BJ's seems to have them. Go figure. Overcooking loses all the juices, the tenderness, the taste. It absolutely (but not literally) kills me to see people ruin wonderful steaks by overcooking them and then trying to chew them and complaining that they're tough!
I'm sorry but there is such a wonderful taste to red or bright pink beef that I cannot grasp how anyone could want it all gray and charred and ugly and tough. If you ever ruin a perfectly fine steak that way in my presence, I will be forced to shun you for the rest of the evening.
Other things I "make" include tons (okay, dozens) of Tortellini every week. I love it with an olive oil and vinegar dressing (although butter is fine, too). I boil a dozen hard-boiled eggs each week. Hard-boiled eggs must only be cooked until the yolk is hard but the innermost part of it is -- not runny -- but, er, syrupy. I'm not sure that's a word, syrupy but what the hell.
I cook pasta of various sorts, mostly elbows and those twisty things and then baste them in over-cooked butter (when it gets slightly brownish and smells intoxicating) or cool them and pour some sort of bottled salad dressing on them ("Ranch" is nifty for that, or some parmesan variety). Incidentally, I always cook pasta in salted and olive-oiled water.
Naturally I also cook lots of TV dinners but that requires nothing more than a microwave oven. My cats use it all the time to quick-heat their Friskies.
I've always used really crappy pots and pans. I thought pots and pans were all alike. Man, I was wrong! A couple weeks ago I caved-in and bought a bunch of (expensive to me but probably cheap and laughable to you true chefs out there reading this) Revere Ware copper-bottomed pots and pans.
What a difference! They heated up (on my rental electric stove) so quickly and cooked the food so much quicker. Just in eveness of cooking and speed of cooking, they are worth every modest penny I paid for them. I've used them for two weeks now and yesterday, I tossed my decrepit old Woolworth's junkware.
Getting back to MEAT! I just can't deal with vegetables. I am not receptive to them. I will tolerate (okay, maybe broccoli and asparagus are okay, and tomatoes and --of course- potatoes) some things but not go out of my way for them. I probably have scurvy. I'm not big on fruits, either, although I do like peaches, especially if skinned and cut-up and sugared.
Ghod's honest truth: If I go for more than a couple days without beef, I go through withdrawal. I actually get addict craving for it. I have to have it. I start dreaming about having it.
Yeah, yeah, pork and chicken and (I really like) lamb are nice and all that but BEEF is what I need. My gout feels otherwise but to hell with that, I'll survive. A painful toe is a small price to pay for gnawing the bone of a T-Bone steak. It's what's for dinner in my house.
Update 8/15: Since one commenter brought up the subject of cookbooks, I thought I'd let you know that I only own three but they serve (ha-ha) me well. I have Margaret Rudkin's Pepperidge Farm Cookbook (1963), and The Lobel Brothers' Meat (1971) and last but not least, the 1944 version of The Good Housekeeping Cook Book. All very basic and easy to use. Nothing fancy -- well, most of it actually IS fancy for the likes of me.
Durango, Colorado sounds like my kind of town. Interesting story from the Durango Herald:
Durango's fondness for guns today is a legacy of that Wild West. Guns are inextricably bound to La Plata County's culture, past as well as present.
Gun use spans generations and puts a spin on life.
Three generations of Hendricks women stand on the family's ranch with guns drawn. From front, Judy, 63, Wendi, 38, Krii, 20, and Ashley Masters, 16. "I think every woman in America should own a gun," says Krii Hendricks.
Just ask Megan Westervelt, a recent graduate of Durango High School: "Our whole history is guns. We're here where we are because of guns."Today, you'll find at least one gun in about 75 percent of all homes in the county, Sheriff Duke Schirard says.
Schirard handily won office in 1994 in an election decided partly over concealed weapons. Shortly after he took over, the sheriff issued the highest percentage of concealed-weapons permits in the state. Now, he tallies 675 permits countywide.
"We're just Second Amendment kind of people around here," Schirard says.
I've been at work yesterday and will be today as well so my posting is almost nil. Fortunately, others have been busy...
Confederate Yankee has a post up titled The Genocidal Pacifism of Cindy Sheehan. That alone should make you want to read it. Dale Chan at Weekend Pundit offers an Iraqi's message to her.
James at Hell in a Handbasket explains why he feels that Glocks are not for beginners. I had once expressed similar reservations.
Craig at Lead and Gold has been looking at the aftermath of turncoat FBI agent Robert Hanssen first in this post and then in this update.
Over at Castle Argghhh! Barnacle finds a letter offering praise and questions for Rev. Fred Phelps. Interesting comments, too.
Massachusetts is having their tax-free weekend (no sales tax) right now and I guess they had something similar in Texas because Aubrey Turner was nearly attacked by a knife that jumped him in the aisle. He survived! Me, I live about 1/4 mile from New Hampshire where everyday is sales-tax free.
Captain Holly at The Warren has posted some gorgeous photos of a trip Friday Deseret Peak. I have to say that the advent of the compact digital camera has really transformed the ease with which we can take and instantly post pictures on the web. If the Internet is a loaf of bread, digital photography is the brilliant idea to slice that bread.
You know it's a slow news day when I have to travel half-way around the world to find a gun control post... Getting a permit to own a rifle in Russia is an arduous task. With skyrocketing crime, some are pushing to make it easier. From RIA Novosti:
It took me several days to obtain a gun license from the Interior Ministry. I had to collect documents from the psychiatric and narcotics dispensaries confirming that I am not on their records. I also had to pay a modest state tax: 110 rubles (a little less than $4) for a hunting rifle, and 30 rubles for a gas pistol (slightly over $1). Then I had to undergo check-ups at several doctors: GP, surgeon, ophthalmologist, and ear-nose-and-throat doctor (a nice woman who ran to the corner of her office and whispered, trying not to move her lips: "Why do you need a pistol?" I passed the test.)After that I had to submit a request to a regional police licensing department. Several days later a district police officer came to see me in order to check whether I had a metal case to keep the weapons. I had bought it in advance and screwed on to the wall, as it ought to be. After a month-long inquiry into whether I had any previous convictions - and, I believe, my civic loyalty - I eventually received a license allowing me to buy a gun.
However, it transpired that I could buy and keep it, but not carry it. To be able to carry a gun, I had to be a member of a hunting-and-fishing club. To join, I had to pay another 1,000 rubles ($35), and pass a test. In order to pass this test I had to know, among other things, the differences between hunting hare and hunting bear. An obvious answer that the consequences for the hunter may be different did not go down well with my strict examiners.
In the end I bought a smoothbore, 10-cartridge, Saiga semi-automatic rifle, a clone of the famous Kalashnikov, for 12,000 rubles (about $430). The only difference between the two is that Kalashnikov is failsafe, whereas the Saiga, as it transpired later, sometimes gets jammed because of the poor quality of "civilian" cartridges. This year, 15,000 Muscovites bought guns like mine.
In total, the number of legal owners of guns in Russia has gone up 10 times over compared with the Soviet era. But this has not reduced the crime rate. Every year criminals still kill an average of 65,000 people a year, the same number as before.
Successful use of long-stemmed guns is depressingly rare. Burglars have already broken in while you're still fiddling with the key to the case to get hold of your favorite gun. It is not allowed to carry such guns, or have them assembled and uncovered in a car. As for a "rubber" pistol, an attempt to use it for self-defense often only infuriates the attacker.
As a result, the public in Russia is increasingly leaning towards a more liberal law on weapons. For the last half a year the State Duma has been discussing the possibility of giving the people real firearms, as is done in the United States, for one.
American statistics are the main argument of Russian firearms advocates. According to the U.S. Justice Department, 34% of all criminals were wounded or detained by armed civilians, while 40% have altogether given up an idea of an attack for fear of reciprocal fire. In those states that allow citizens to carry concealed arms, the level of murders is lower by 33 %, and of robberies by 37%.
Advocates of legalizing firearms in Russia often refer to the experience of neighboring Latvia: After the relevant law was adopted, street crime dropped by 80%, and the Latvian police force has been cut.
First, the widely reported story, this version from the Evening Sun:
...The incident is part of a worrisome trend in law enforcement -- more officers are being killed in traffic accidents. Twice in recent years -- 1999 and 2003 -- car crashes topped guns as the No. 1 killer of on-duty officers.While year-to-year variations are common, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks fatalities, said the trend becomes apparent when the numbers are spread over many years. For example, in the decade ending last year, 477 officers died in auto accidents. That was up 29 percent from the 369 of the previous decade and 40 percent from the 342 killed the decade before that.
There's no single reason for the increase. Some is due to more police cars on the roads -- 52 per 100 county and city officers in 2003 compared with 49 in 1997, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. There also are more deaths from high-speed chases.
Advocacy groups say there are other reasons too.
Suzie Sawyer, executive director of Concerns of Police Survivors Inc., believes more criminals are using their vehicles to run down officers, though she has only anecdotal evidence. Her group provides emotional support for relatives of police officers killed in the line of duty.
A report from MSNBC Tuesday that “more officers are being killed in traffic accidents” than by guns leaves the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) wondering, “Where’s Ted Kennedy on this threat to the police?”Senator Kennedy was pointman during recent debate on gun legislation in the Senate, arguing for more restrictions on firearms and so-called “cop-killer bullets.” That legislation, to protect gun makers from frivolous junk lawsuits, passed despite the senator’s hysteria-laden rhetoric.
“As recently as 2003,” said SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb, “more cops were killed by cars than guns, according to the MSNBC report. Where’s Ted Kennedy and why isn’t he demanding that auto makers be sued into financial oblivion, the same way he wants America’s gun industry to be devastated?
“If anybody is an authority on lethal car crashes,” Gottlieb said, “it would be Ted Kennedy, whose carelessness in July 1969 cost the life of Mary Jo Kopechne, a passenger in the car that Kennedy drove off of a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island. She drowned, and Kennedy fled the scene. It’s no wonder why so many gun owners in this country have bumper stickers affixed to their cars and trucks declaring ‘Ted Kennedy’s car has killed more people than my gun’.”
Should we ban cars? After all, there is no Constitutional right to have one, as there actually IS with firearms. Banning cars would save 45 thousand lives every year and reduce public expenditures on roads and highways, accident and traffic violation investigations, medical costs caused by automobile accidents, not to mention cleaning up our air, water, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Of course, folks would then have to live within walking or biking distance from where they work but after all, isn't a death one death too many? Isn't being forced to live where you work a small price to pay to eliminate all auto deaths? Don't the ends justify the means?
People die while playing sports, skiing, swimming, even cheerleading? Don't we, as a civil society, have the duty to eliminate all possible risks to ourselves? Shouldn't heart-busting food such as potato chips and ice cream and french fries be banned? Or should we, as liberals would pine for, simpy regulate them or litigate them out of existence?
Naturally, I consider the answer to my questions to be a resounding, "NO!".
I could turn the "equation" around and ask, "If one person is able to save his life or his loved ones' lives, isn't the right to bear arms justified? After all, isn't a life saved worth preserving the ability to permit others to potentially save lives?" A life saved is certainly as compelling as a life lost.
The freedom to pursue happiness, the freedom to own what you want to, and even the freedom to live where you want are not actually "free". Neither are Constitutionally protected freedoms. If we attempt to regulate "free-speech" so no one is ever offended (as is attempted on liberal college campuses today), I suspect we'd all be bored to death within a few weeks. Certainly we bloggers would be out of a hobby.
The right to bear arms is much like that. Yes, we could all turn in our guns. Then only criminals would still have them and the killings would continue unabated. In fact, they would probably increase as they have in England and Australia. Never mind the usefulness of guns for hunting and sport. Defensive uses (most of them just "showing" the gun) prevent countless crimes everyday. You would never know that if your sole source of news comes from Mainstream Media such as the New York Times and the Washington Post and TV networks such as CBS and ABC.
Knives are used to murder. Should all knives be banned as they would like to do in England? Would you all be willing to only eat hamburger instead of steak?
Despite the failure of Prohibition, shouldn't we continue to try to ban all alcohol and it's consumption? How many car crashes, illnesses, medical expenses, lost days at work, spousal abuses, et al, not to mention the staggering costs of all of these, would we save by banning booze? Trust me when I tell you it would dwarf the cost of allowing the Second Amendment to survive.
Now, do we blame the booze companies and car companies for making potentially deadly products because some fools will misuse them? I'm tempted to say, "Of course not!" again but we all know that greedy trial lawyers are working just towards those ends. The perpetrator, the misuser isn't to blame since if the product wasn't "made" than the crime or abuse wouldn't have happened, right?
That was the purpose of the bill the Senate recently passed; to protect gun makers and sellers from frivolous lawsuits. The bill would still allow civil suits if either of them (maker and seller) was negligent. But if all they did was manufacture or legally sell a firearm, then that is not enough to hold them liable if some mutant commits a crime with one. My hope is that such legislation will be duplicated to encompass more products. Put the blame for abuse back on the shoulders of the abuser.
And I actually thought I was going to save my breath...
Lots of good stuff up on a variety of topics so head on over there.
I finally have a day off and I'm taking it easy and plan to read C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner.
I didn't realize that Condi was being that closely scrutinized.
[Forget it, Jeff, you're no James Taranto --ed.]
When Islamic terrorists murder innocents, Arab leaders are nearly silent. When a Jewish terrorist murders innocents... Good column by Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe:
Zada was immediately labeled a terrorist and widely condemned. ''A reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist," one Middle Eastern leader called the massacre. Another said he was ''deeply shocked and distressed by the murder of innocent people." A senior cleric expressed his ''disgust and severe condemnation at the despicable act . . . a murder that is impossible to forgive."Israel and its supporters complain with reason that Arab terrorism against Jews is too often shrugged off or excused by Arab and Muslim leaders, or that a murderous attack will be condemned in English for international consumption, while the government-run local media extols the killers in Arabic. But when the terrorists themselves are Jews -- admittedly a rare event -- do Israel's defenders live up to the standard they expect of others? How many of the statements quoted above, for example, would leading Israelis have been willing to make?
All of them.
It was Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who described Zada as a ''bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist" and Shimon Peres, the vice prime minister, who referred to the attack as ''the murder of innocent people." The cleric who pronounced Zada's ''despicable act . . . impossible to forgive" was Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel.
Equally harsh was the judgment of the Yesha Council, the organization of Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. Though passionately opposed to the Gaza evacuation, it denounced Zada as ''a terrorist, a lunatic, and immoral." Especially noteworthy were the words of Rabbi Menachem Froman of the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, who spoke at the funeral of two of the victims. ''We the Jewish people in the land of Israel share in the pain and suffering" of the mourners, he declared. ''All people who believe in God . . . express their outrage at such an act."
Indeed, so horrified were Israelis by Zada's bloody crime that, as the newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Sunday, ''No cemetery will accept Jewish terrorist's body." (Zada was lynched by Shfaram residents in the wake of his attack.) The defense minister banned an interment in any military cemetery, saying Zada was ''not worthy of being buried next to fallen soldiers." Neither his hometown of Rishon Letzion nor Tapuah, the settlement to which he had recently moved, wanted his grave to be within their borders.
From the Austin American Statesman:
TULSA, Okla. — Williams Cos. Inc. has backed out of a federal lawsuit that challenges a new Oklahoma law that allows employees to keep firearms in their cars at work, leaving Houston-based ConocoPhillips as the primary plaintiff.Whirlpool Corp. and The State Chamber had earlier opted out of the litigation. The law has been blocked pending the lawsuit.
In a written statement it released Tuesday, Williams Cos., said that continuing to pursue "this isolated issue through the courts would require a disproportionately large dedication of company time and resources.
"We believe we can better serve our employees, shareholders and customers by directing those resources to more productive activities," the Tulsa-based natural gas company said in its release.
Williams Cos. spokesman Kelly Swan said the company's decision to drop out of the lawsuit was not in response to any public criticism.
Last week, the National Rifle Association called for a nationwide boycott of ConocoPhillips.
As if anyone is really listening to the solidified fossils known as "The Stones." But They decided to offer their own comments about American politics in a song on their latest album. Sorry, I just yawned... Now, no doubt worried over admonitions from their marketing department, they are claiming they weren't actually bashing Bush. From the Washington Post, a bunch of crap:
The Rolling Stones' upcoming album contains a song seemingly critical of President Bush, but Mick Jagger denies it's directed at him, according to the syndicated TV show "Extra.""It is not really aimed at anyone," Jagger said on the entertainment-news show's Wednesday edition. "It's not aimed, personally aimed, at President Bush. It wouldn't be called 'Sweet Neo Con' if it was."
The song is from the new album, "A Bigger Bang," set for release Sept. 6. There is no mention of Bush or Iraq. But it does refer to military contractor Halliburton, which was formerly run by Vice President Cheney and has been awarded key Iraq contracts, and the rising price of gasoline.
"How come you're so wrong? My sweet neo-con, where's the money gone, in the Pentagon," goes one refrain.
The song also includes the line: "It's liberty for all, democracy's our style, unless you are against us, then it's prison without trial."
"It is certainly very critical of certain policies of the administration, but so what! Lots of people are critical," Jagger told "Extra."
A representative for the Stones said the group had no further comment about the song.
Two kind folks today hit my "tipping point" and donated $45 dollars. I've added it to my "Taurus Pistol Fund" but really it also helps me pay the Hosting Matters bills around here. I just renewed all of my domains and next month my half-year website bill is due. Thank you all so much!
From the Green Bay Press-Gazette:
Some local law enforcement agencies are joining the Wisconsin Anti Violence Effort against a new concealed-carry act even before it’s introduced.“We are not anti-gun, anti-hunter or anti-NRA,” Green Bay Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle said at a press event held by WAVE at the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay. “This is an officer-safety issue and a community-safety issue. Green Bay, Appleton and Brown County are very safe communities, and concealed carry is a very dangerous proposition.”
Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, said he plans to finish drafting the Personal Protection Act “in a couple of weeks.” It would give “law-abiding citizens over the age of 21” with no felony record or violent misdemeanors the right to carry a concealed weapon upon undergoing a training and safety course comparable to that offered by the National Rifle Association, he said.
His argument that this is an "officer safety issue" is nonsense since in reality (and has been shown in other states that have recently allowed CCW) there is virtually no increase in incidents against cops. Indeed, it is the law-abiding that apply for the permits and they are almost never implicated in crime, as statistics have proved. As for communities becoming less safe, how could allowing those who wish to protect themselves endanger others? Logic would tell you that a town becomes safer. The drop in crime in states that allow CCW prove that.
Here comes the clincher:
Appleton Police Chief Richard Myers called the concealed-carry issue “political” and said if Wisconsin does pass a concealed carry act, the public could expect “a more aggressive style in policing.”“If we already have such safe communities, why would we want to change that?” Myers said.
And by the way, if their communities are already "safe" then why are the cops carrying guns? Why do they need night patrols? Maybe some of these "safe" cities should consider reducing their property-tax loads by reducing the size of their police forces because apparently they aren't needed.
Oh, wait! Here's some crime now:
David DeBauche of Green Bay is charged with murdering his wife and her parents on his 41st birthday late Saturday night on a vacation property near Mountain in Oconto County, a criminal complaint said.Amy DeBauche, 37, David Jensen, 63, and Jane Jensen, 60, all of Green Bay, were shot with a shotgun in the head and neck, the complaint said, some time after Jane Jensen had called 911 to report her daughter’s husband was there with a gun.
The mother of a Milwaukee man gunned down for $62 in cash said she wished Wisconsin had the death penalty to exact it against her only child's killers.
The all day meetings at work have been going well. The partying at night even better... Anyway, light posting continues...
The Jewish News Weekly has a profile of Sandra Froman explaining how she became a gun-rights advocate. Here's a quote:
Just as there are no atheists in the foxholes, there are no gun control advocates locked in their apartments with a large, menacing burglar attempting to batter his way in.That was Sandra Froman’s experience nearly two decades ago. Her shouting, banging on the wall and even cranking the stereo to 11 didn’t scare off the would-be intruder, but he eventually proved inept enough at his chosen profession that he abandoned his effort to enter her domicile.
Still, the minutes of sheer terror left an impression on the San Mateo-born and raised Froman, and it would prove to be a life-altering moment.
“The next day, I went to the gun store. I didn’t even know where the gun store was — I had to look in the Yellow Pages. I was determined to protect myself,” said Froman, who became the National Rifle Association’s first Jewish (and second female) president earlier this year.
Froman knew as much about guns as she did about crop rotation in Djibouti, so the gun store clerk suggested she take a safety course. In time, she became quite proficient with her Colt .45 1911 model semi-automatic handgun. Yet when she told a fellow lawyer at her firm she was going to the range to pop some holes in a target that weekend, he looked at her bug-eyed and voiced his opinion: “You’re dangerous.”
It almost happened. From the Corvallis Gazette-Times:
Even in a town as small and out of the way as Bly, local folks find it hard to believe that Islamic militants might think they could train with assault rifles on a sheep ranch without anyone noticing."Ridiculous,'' said Marilyn Thomas, who runs the Pit Stop convenience store in Bly, a tiny ranching community in the high desert of south-central Oregon
"I'm from Chicago, where I didn't even know my neighbors,'' she said Monday in a telephone interview. "Here they know what you're going to do before you do it. And if you don't do it they get mad.''
A six-page complaint unsealed in a New York court alleges that Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, a British-born citizen of Indian descent, spent a month at a sheep ranch outside Bly in December 1999 as a representative for a religious leader in London to see if it would serve as a base for training Islamic militants from London and the United States to fight in Afghanistan.
A fax outlining a recruiting brochure for the camp said people could train in "archery, combat, martial arts and rifle and handgun,'' according to the complaint.
Authorities have said the camp never materialized beyond a dozen people taking target practice in a cinder pit. Even that was abandoned, for unknown reasons.
Aswat is the fourth person arrested in connection with the camp. The complaint does not identify the religious leader who sent him from London or his contact in Seattle, but closely tracks charges brought against Muslim cleric Abu Hamza Al-Masri and James Ujaama of Seattle. Ujaama pleaded guilty to lesser charges and authorities have said he agreed to cooperate in the investigation.
Aswat is accused of violating a federal law prohibiting conspiracies and preparations for killing, kidnapping and maiming people or damaging property in a foreign country.
Bly is an unincorporated town of a few hundred people located 50 miles east of Klamath Falls. Its name comes from the mispronunciation of an Indian word for a place where two rivers come together. The high school closed in 1968, and the town has been struggling to survive since a lumber mill shut down about 20 years ago.
Though a few miles outside town, the ranch is near a highway and surrounded by scattered rural homes, making it unlikely that sustained assault rifle fire could go on without someone taking notice, Bly residents said. They took notice in 1999 when people in Middle Eastern dress living at the ranch came to town.
An unidentified witness cooperating with prosecutors who was promoting the training camp idea to an unidentified religious leader in London described Oregon in a fax as a state that supported militia activity and firearms, and "looks just like Afghanistan,'' according to the complaint.
Call it "religious profiling" if you want. I don't see any Greek Orthodox strapping on suicide bombs. Lutherans aren't flying planes into buildings. Catholics aren't planning to poison our water supplies. If they do, then we'll profile them too.
CONCORD — Four teens were arrested Sunday for allegedly shooting pedestrians with a BB gun as they drove through the downtown.Police said the motivation behind the shootings "appears to have been boredom."
Officers stopped a gold colored Honda AP Pilot on Storrs Street and Pleasant Street Extension at 9:52 p.m., police said. They saw orange plastic BBs on the passenger side on the car, later finding a clear, battery-powered BB gun.
Police said at least two Concord pedestrians were shot with BBs, one in the neck and the other in the leg. Injuries were minor.
The four face a charge of misdemeanor reckless conduct. They are free on $1,000 personal recognizance bail.
I'm up early. The next two days will be spent at my company's quarterly Manager's Meetings. Fortunately, others are posting some good stuff:
Over at Say Uncle, Gunner offers a compelling reason to support the NRA's boycot.
Les Jones goes yard sailing (as we say in New England.) Technically I suppose it should be "yard saling" but that isn't a word... Nifty pictures!
You'll find some pretty flying photos at Head's Bunker, taken from a plane much to small for me... Well, actually I've never been in any airplane. And yes, I know a plane is much safer than my car, but my car doesn't have as far to fall...
Heartless Libertarian finds rampant ignorance about guns on TNT's Wanted. He doesn't think much of the writing, either.
Countertop Chronicles is trying to organize a mid-Atlantic Blogshoot. Needless to say, it won't be held in Washington DC.
Speaking of photos, A Coyote at the Dog Show dug-up his "time capsule" to find one of himself.
Did I mention [Yes, Jeff, twice in the past week--ed] that there won't be a "Weekly Report" this week?
Bruce at mASS BACKWARDS has the early report, with photos, of the first Northeast Bloggershoot. Wish I could have been there.
The Village Voice has a pretty good animated cartoon about the recent SCOTUS ruling. Even on dial-up (as I am) it only takes about a minute to load. Well worth it.
Last week I rented the old movie The French Connection and had the pleasure of watching Gene Hackman again. I guess it sat in the back of my mind because I got out of work a couple hours ago, came home and had a beer and found my old VHS copy of Mississippi Burning and it reconfirmed my view that Hackman is simply one of the best living actors today. And... It wasn't that long ago that my cousins and I watched Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, where Gene Hackman pretty much gave a clinic on acting. I still remember the scene where he has Morgan Freeman tied-up in the jail and he's leaning over Freeman's shoulder and... Well, if you've seen it, you know.
There are a lot of great actors, drama and comedy. Men and women. I would watch Gene Hackman doing a dog food commercial. He's astounding. Why the hell doesn't he have more awards (than the French Connection) to show for it?
Guy gets in accident and speeds away. Cops find him at home, missing a few screws:
When officers went to his home, McClain was apparently in the basement and prepared to keep officers back with a 4-foot sword and a large mallet."One of the statements that he made is that, 'I got 1,000 years of power. Come and get me,'" said Deputy Chief Chris Jahnke, of the Royal Oak Police Department. "And they looked down and he has this metal chain (and a) mesh guard (or) vest on, along with these leather gauntlets on his arms."
After dodging swords, chains and the mallet -- which were being thrown up from the basement -- officers used a stun gun to subdue McClain and arrest him, the station reported.
Okay, the guy really should have taken the time to learn NJ's repressive gun laws:
A Delaware man learned a couple of lessons when he had his car valet parked Thursday at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa:Don't leave a gun in plain view when you turn over the keys to your car, and know the laws when you're visiting another state.
When a casino parking attendant got in Linwood Wilson's car at about 2:20 p.m. Thursday, he noticed a gun, so he called police.
Officer John Miller found a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic weapon in the car and arrested Wilson on charges of unlawful possession of a weapon.
The only state I ever visit is New Hampshire and I have their non-resident pistol/CCW license for that.
On the NH Lottery website they have this:
