The Brady Bunch continue their efforts to scare people from visiting Florida and are putting up posters such as this:
The new law -- actually just a reaffirmation of rights under existing law -- goes into effect tomorrow. We shall see if the "streets run with blood...".
What say we put up some posters of our own in places such as Chicago?
You know, in the past couple months I've been answering mini-polls of my thoughts (often called memes) by various bloggers and I have. Most of them have had to do with music or sci-fi books or the like.
You folks who visit me are pretty damn smart and you know your American history. My history bookshelf is rather lame. Oh, I have some books I think are pretty good but I'll bet that you all have much better.
Rather than just pass this on to other bloggers, I want to involve you folks, my readers. It's not music or some genre fiction. It's American History.
Let's say you are (rather wisely) home schooling your kids. OR, you are an American history teacher in high school or 1st-year college. You want to present a reading list of relatively balanced reading; American history books that haven't been "de-constructed" by the left. What would you give our children to read?
I can tell you what is on the stack for me, but my library is sadly lacking. I have books such as The Wars of America by Robert Leckie, which is not nearly so critical as you might think, although his liberal bias shows through now and then.
I'd have O Strange New World by Howard Mumford Jones. I'd have Common Sense by Thomas Paine. The Glory and the Dream by William Manchester would be included. One of my favorites, The Bill of Rights: Original Meaning and Current Understanding by Eugene W. Hickok, Jr., would be there. For recent history, In the Time of the Americans by David Fromkin. Man, there's so much more.
But this is a Meme for you! Walk over to your bookcase and tell us what 3-4 books you would give your children to read to learn about American History. I'll be watching closely and YES, I will buy some of them. And yes, maybe a bunch of school systems should buy them. Don't give me left or right wing polemics. Let us know what you would like to see your kid reading for history class.
If you need to think of this in some "end-of-the-world" scenario, what American History books would you want the escaping human spaceship to carry with it?
Update: Lot's of good suggestions so far. Several bloggers have also taken up the meme so check out Tom Wright, and Ian Hamet.
With the Democrats hopelessly mired down in left-wing special interest politics and the Republicans apparently falling apart at the seams, maybe it's time for an intelligent 3rd party candidate to start planting seeds for 2008. By then, moderate America might welcome a change from having to choose between the usual idiots the two standard-bearer parties nominate. I sure would...
Update: As usual, Acidman says it perfectly. But I'll still vote, even if I throw it away on some obscure candidate with no-chance.
It's odd enough to contemplate that, yes, there actually are gun stores in New York City. There's even one right in mid-town Manhatten selling shotguns for the descriminating buyer. From TheDeal.com:
If you think it strange that a room full of heavy weaponry is on open display in midtown Manhattan, then you obviously aren't familiar with the world of "bespoke" firearms. Most knockaround Joes looking to bag a few mallards or Canada Geese are content to bang away with a standard-issue Winchester or Remington. But the refined sportsman, the kind who shuttles between white-winged dove hunts in Sonora and pheasant shooting in the Cotswolds, would sooner wear chinos to Alain Ducasse than be spotted wielding such crude hardware.Enter outfits like Holland & Holland. Founded in London in 1867, the firm has always specialized in making custom weapons for the discerning gentleman. Be warned: the buy-in isn't cheap. The Royal, a side-by-side shotgun for which the firm is best known, starts at around $75,000. Adding extras like deluxe engraving, highest grade walnut for the stock and forend, and extra barrels to swap in, can push the price above $100,000. A carrying case alone can run five grand. And this at the lower end of the spectrum. Some pieces on view in the New York showroom were priced above $200,000. In addition, hunters often like to buy matching pairs of guns.
Just so you know, starting today, Cam Edwards and NRA News moves from Sirius Satellite channel 141 TO channel 144. Set your dials accordingly. The show is on from 3 PM - 6PM Eastern Time and naturally, I do my Weekly Report segment there each Tuesday at about 3:20 (I'm the first guest on Tuesdays).
Needless to say, the editorial staff here at Alphecca International gets a pile -- piles in fact -- of letters. Here's one that just came in from someone we haven't heard from in a while...
Dear Jeff,I know it's been quite some time since our previous correspondence but I want you to know I still consider you a dear friend.
I'm writing today to warn you --again-- that we are in a global warming emergency state and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense. There could be more droughts, dust bowls. You know, it's amazing to hear these facts, I mean, the Andes have no ice caps on the mountains in winter. The glaciers are melting. I mean, for the United States not to be part of the Kyoto treaty is unforgivable.
Just because Kyoto would wreck the economies of the US, Britian, Germany, et al while recent industrial giants like China and India and Mexico would not have to reduce their pollutants at all doesn't mean that President ... I'm sorry, I suddenly felt a little faint for a moment. We all need to make sacrifices to prevent global warming and I for one will be glad to do my part by turning the air conditioning up to 70 degrees in my 20 room estate in Malibu Beach.
I'm also going to instruct my limo driver to turn off the engine while he waits for me when I'm shopping at Bloomingdale's or Bergdorf Goodman.
I also promise to only fly in my personal jet for really important things like picking up that caviar I really love that you can only find in France.
I hope you'll help me spread the word. As always, because I just know you're a great admirer of mine, I'm enclosing a photo of myself. I hope no one tampers with it as they did the other ones.
Very truly yours,
Babs
You'd think a program such as the NRA's Eddie Eagle, a coloring book warning children to stay away from guns and to tell an adult if they find one would be welcome in a liberal community. WRONG! From the Racine (WI) Journal Times:
Eddie Eagle - a feathered National Rifle Association cartoon character who teaches children how not to handle guns - could actually be harmful, says an alderman opposed to a Police Department plan to use Eddie in programs for children.The City Council will decide Tuesday whether the Racine Police Department can order hundreds of coloring books from the NRA for no charge and use them in conjunction with lectures the department holds with children.
[...]
Opposition Alderman Pete Karas, who is leading the charge against the police department's efforts, said the booklets are harmful and ineffective, teaching children that guns are for adults, which could further a child's interest in the weapons.
"These are things that usually aren't brought up to children," Karas said. "This is an introduction."
But the NRA's Eddie Eagle can help children of all ages know not to touch guns, to leave the area where they found the gun and to find an adult, "and that's the only thing the gun program teaches," said Sgt. Bill Macemon, Racine Police Department spokesman.
Karas isn't so sure.
"At first glance you look at this and say it's OK," he said, "(but) by making kids aware of guns ... they may, in essence, be harming children, especially those who are contemplating juvenile suicide or juvenile homicide."
And of course, if you read the quotes from him again, it would seem that schools shouldn't broach the subject of cigarettes and warn kids about them because cigarettes are for adults and if children hear about them, they'll... You get the idea.
The article itself is quite fairly balanced, with numerous quotes on both sides of the issue, including the usual hysterical ones from WAVE.
Stephen Oravecz is the political editor of the Ohio Tribune Chronicle. He's also a total damn fool. Yesterday, he tried to defend his position that it's all right to publish the names and addresses of CCW holders:
For those who missed it, the column talked about a new bill in the Ohio Legislature that would restrict media access to the list of people who get a license to carry a concealed weapon. I said the public, not just the media, should be able to see the list and questioned a provision in the bill that would let people keep their names secret even from the press by signing an affidavit claiming they fear they would be attacked.Here's what some readers had to say and my responses, which will probably just convince gun owners I still don't get it.
READER: "Yes in a free society people do have the right and access to public records. And whether it was wrong or right to restrict access to the names of people with CHL's to the media, it does not mean that the media has to play the misguided role of being an advocate by publishing names of CHL holders. Why just single out CHL holders and publish the names of anyone who legally buys a firearm?''
RESPONSE: I make a distinction between owning a firearm - a constitutional right - and carrying a concealed weapon - which I consider a privilege.
He goes on:
READER: "You just don't get it is right! You haven't read the bill. It does allow media access, but you have to know the person's name. ''RESPONSE: I did know this, but it is meaningless because to discover who's on the list, reporters would have to submit long lists to overworked sheriff's offices who will argue correctly that they do not have to reply to such fishing expeditions. Granted, the proposed law would allow the media to check on a limited number of people who were involved in a specific instance.
He blathers on but I think you get the point. I really urge everyone to never buy a copy of the Tribune Chronicle and don't ever click through to one of the advertisements on their website. He's entitled to his opinion but we're entitled to not support that opinion financially.
It's a slippery kitchen counter we're on. First they came for our kitchen knives and now it seems that forks will have to be next:
A Green Bay, Wis., man is charged with killing his neighbor with a fork, according to police.Investigators said Gordon Senecal was taking care of Todd Charles' 15-year-old pit bull over the weekend when an argument broke out between the two men.
The men began fighting at Charles' home and Senecal was stabbed with a large serving fork, police said.
Senecal was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Enjoy your soup...while you can!
An Internet video newscast called the Voice of the Caliphate was broadcast for the first time on Monday, purporting to be a production of al Qaeda and featuring an anchorman who wore a black ski mask and an ammunition belt.The anchorman, who said the report would appear once a week, presented news about the Gaza Strip and Iraq and expressed happiness about recent hurricanes in the United States. A copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, was placed by his right hand and a rifle affixed to a tripod was pointed at the camera.
The origins of the broadcast could not be immediately verified. If the program was indeed an al Qaeda production, it would mark a change in how the group uses the Internet to spread its messages and propaganda. Direct dissemination would avoid editing or censorship by television networks, many of which usually air only excerpts of the group's statements and avoid showing gruesome images of killings.
Welcome to the September 27th edition of my media review concerning firearm ownership and the Second Amendment.
This past weekend the 20th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference was held in Los Angeles. You'd never know it though unless you caught the one brief write-up in the Los Angeles Times:
Paul Wilder avidly defends the right to bear arms, and he's heard all the insults. Crazy, trigger-happy, gun nut — to name a few.Standing outside a hotel ball room near LAX on Saturday where 400 gun rights advocates from around the country gathered for the 20th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, Wilder tried to explain the stigma that he and his fellow devotees of the 2nd Amendment were up against.
"There's this perception out that we're all rednecks who want a shootout in the OK Corral, but I'm a schoolteacher, and there are attorneys and doctors and people of all walks of life here," said Wilder, 44, who also edits books. "We're just average citizens who want our views heard."
Attendees at the two-day conference, which is held in a different city in the country each year, ranged from Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Assn., to individual gun owners such as Wilder who were interested in learning about issues for gun owners.
For many of California's grass-roots firearms activists, the two-day event was a rare chance to hear from leaders of the national movement.
"It's definitely invigorating," Wilder said. "It's tough; we're kind of fighting in the trenches."
Apart from trade shows, Wilder said he had never seen so many gun rights people in the same room.
It was a day of lectures, briefings and awards for local gun clubs.
There were tables filled with gun books, pins, mugs, belt buckles and lighters.
Mike Varner, 41, of San Jose summed up the prevailing view: "They say guns are bad; we say guns are tools. With proper training, [a gun] is no different from a knife. It's a way to protect yourself."
It's interesting that (as I mentioned last week) the Brady Bunch continues to get their anti-gun message out and some newspapers are hanging on their every press-released word. From the Palm Beach Post:
Peter Hamm takes his family on vacation to Delray Beach every year, and plans to do it again this Easter. But make no mistake, Hamm says, Florida come Saturday will be a much more dangerous place.That's why the spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says the Washington-based group plans to counter a state law going into affect at end of this week. The law allows citizens to use deadly force to protect themselves — be it in the driveway of their homes, in their cars or even on a public sidewalk.
Or is it more likely that -- as usual -- your campaign of fear is the same empty, false rhetoric that your anti-gun crowd always employs? What hypocrisy!
So here are the billboards the Brady Bunch are planning to put up in Florida:
A red-and-black billboard planned for at least one highway site states: "Visitor Warning. Florida residents can use deadly force. Please be careful." A silhouette of the state of Florida is superimposed over a handgun. The Brady organization — named for James Brady, who was shot in the head during an attempt to assassinate President Reagan in 1981 — also plans to hand out fliers at Miami International Airport and place ads in newspapers in Chicago, New York, Detroit and Boston."We understand and respect Florida is a tourism-based economy," Hamm said. "We don't want to unnecessarily alarm anyone, but we think visitors should know what the law is on the books starting Saturday."
The campaign conjures up a violent image of Florida that state officials had long worked to erase since a rash of tourist killings about a dozen years ago. Some opponents say Florida is going to return to the Wild West, where arguments were settled in gunfights.
As I said last week, the law still applies the test of "what would a reasonable person have done" to any defensive shootings. That's not mentioned in the article.
The Brady Bunch types are fond of claiming that most cops support their claim that people shouldn't be allowed to own or carry firearms. We, of course, know that to be false as this survey (link goes to download page for PDF) by the National Association of Chiefs of Police shows.
The 17th annual survey questioned over 22 thousand Police Chiefs and Sheriffs. It showed that a staggering 93.6% of them support the right of citizens to buy and own firearms for sport OR PERSONAL DEFENSE. On top of that, over 63% support concealed-carry and think it would help reduce crime. They apparently aren't too concerned over how many guns someone buys, either, since they oppose limiting law-abiding citizens to one gun per month by a whopping 72.8%. Further, 96% of the respondents believe that criminals obtain most of their guns from illegal sources, directly contradicting Brady Bunch claims that more gun control and firearm registration, etc., would reduce armed crime.
Folks, these are the law-enforcement professionals and they clearly and overwhelmingly support the right of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves with firearms. It's not surprising that the Brady Bunch don't quote much from that survey!
Hypocrisy isn't limited to the Brady Bunch. This past Sunday, Jim Kouri, Vice President of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, wrote in Mens News Daily:
The mainstream news media have been aware that several antigun proponents are carrying concealed firearms but have failed to expose this hypocrisy. This writer's efforts to discover how many other anti-gunners are also packing heat -- a right they wish to deny other citizens -- met with limited results.Not only does Schumer carry a handgun, the New York City Police Department also provides armed escorts for the good senator. In fact, the Government Accounting Office -- the investigative arm of the US Congress -- slammed Schumer's use of police resources for personal protection. It's clear that Schumer believes he's special. He wishes to ban private citizens' ownership of firearms, while he enjoys layers of protection.
"No wonder Chuckie Schumer shoots his mouth off so much -- he's able to protect himself," says a 25-year police veteran.
Also, a check of Pistol License records shows that Senator Schumer possesses an "unrestricted" pistol permit, a rarity in New York City. Licenses are distributed in different categories in the Big Apple: Target Permits allow only use of a firearm at a licensed firing range; Premises Permits allow weapons to be kept in a home or apartment; Restricted Permits allow the gunowner to carry their firearms concealed but only within the purview of their job (security, jewelers, armored car guards, etc.). So it's evident that Senator Schumer has two sets of rules -- one for Americans and one for himself.
And then we have Senator Diane Feinstein on the Left Coast who possesses something more rare than a conservative Republican in San Francisco -- an unrestricted concealed weapons permit. Apparently without shame, she participated in a citywide gun turn-in program that was intended to create some kind of statue from the donated guns that were to be melted down. One of her police body guards let it slip that she contributed a cheap model for the meltdown, while retaining her .357 magnum revolver for her own personal self-defense.
In last week's report I mentioned the new UN report listing England, Wales, Scotland, Australia, et al as being the most dangerous in the civilized world. In that survey it was revealed that in unarmed England, you're twice as likely as in the United States to be a victim of violent crime. Yesterday I mentioned another survey just released showing that in gun-totin' America, crime remains at a 30-year low. From CNN:
The nation's crime rate was unchanged last year, holding at the lowest levels since the government began surveying crime victims in 1973, the Justice Department reported Sunday.Since 1993, violent crime as measured by victim surveys has fallen by 57 percent and property crime by 50 percent. That has included a 9 percent drop in violent crime from 2001-2002 to 2003-2004.
The 2004 violent crime rate -- assault, sexual assault and armed robbery -- was 21.4 victims for every 1,000 people age 12 and older. That amounts to about one violent crime victim for every 47 U.S. residents.
By comparison, there were 22.6 violent crime victims per 1,000 people in 2003. The Bureau of Justice Statistics said the difference between the rates in 2003 and 2004 was statistically insignificant.
Property crime declined 50 percent from 319 to 161 per 1,000 households, the study indicated."Though the downward trend in crime rates has stabilized, violent and property crime rates in 2004 remain at the lowest levels recorded since the survey's inception in 1973," wrote Shannan Catalano, the lead Justice Department researcher on the project.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales attributed the low crime rates to aggressive enforcement of existing gun laws.
Federal firearms prosecutions increased by 76 percent between 2000 and 2004, according to justice officials.
As a result, they said, only six percent of all violent incidents in 2004 involved use of a firearm, compared to 11 percent in 1993. The number of incidents of violent crime involving a firearm in 2004 was 34 percent lower than in 2000 and 73 percent lower than in 1993.
"These historic lows are a reality thanks to the dedication and hard work of law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and corrections officers across America," Gonzales said in a statement. "We will continue working each day to protect all Americans from crime and to bring justice to those who violate the law."
I'll be on Cam's NRA News this afternoon and until then, I really do thank you for stopping by!
If you read my Weekly Report last week you know that in a bunch of countries where the government disarmed their law-abiding serfs, -- Scotland, England, Wales, Australia come to mind -- crime has skyrocketed and indeed, those countries lead the "civilized world" in violent crime. Here, in the lowly Cowboy Country, where more and more states allow law-abiding citizens the right to own and carry firearms, crime remains at an all-time low:
The nation's crime rate was unchanged last year, holding at the lowest levels since the government began surveying crime victims in 1973, the Justice Department reported Sunday.Since 1993, violent crime as measured by victim surveys has fallen by 57 percent and property crime by 50 percent. That has included a 9 percent drop in violent crime from 2001-2002 to 2003-2004.
(The title of this post would be obvious to those who read last week's report)
Regarding the forced and illegal confiscation of firearms from New Orleans residents, Countertop Chronicles raises a very good question. I think it's Mayor Nagin and Police Superintendent Compass. Here's why: The Times reporters didn't say, "according to some police officials, guns were being confiscated,". They had a direct quote, in quotes, from Compass, in the story:
No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.
I'm only bringing this up to play devil's advocate, not because I think there was any real constitutional standing (federal or state wise) that should have led to such a repressive and ill-thought-out step. I suspect that these are the issues, and the lies that will be told in the coming months, that will be heard in court.
What a twisted situation authorities create for themselves when they try to invent law on-the-fly or circumnavigate our freedoms and then attempt a cover-up.
Nah, I'm just fuckin' wit ya: THAT will never happen. Today's latest -- I guess it's "human interest" -- turgid ramblings has absolutely no possible point to it other than to add to the CSM's stack of anti-gun screeds:
SAN DIEGO - I was in the arms of my son the first time I fired a gun. How Roman and I arrived at that moment is something I'll still be trying to figure out probably 'til the day I die.I have my reasons for hating guns. Several years ago, a friend's little girl lost her eye in a BB gun accident. A couple years after that, our neighbor across the street - a university professor - was killed, along with two of his colleagues, when a graduate student shot them at San Diego State University.
[...snip endless blather...]
Amazed by the raw power of the weapon, I recoiled - at the force of the bullet leaving the chamber, but even more so at the realization of the consequences of a force like that. The target trembled, but it was me that was shot through - with an awareness of things most tender and terrible.
I doubt it was carried nationally, but one ABC TV affiliate in South Carolina had a segment on Sunday about women learning to protect themselves:
Firing a gun may be fearful or intimidating, but one local club believes it's important. On Sunday, The Palmetto Gun club held it's Women on Target- training session. A program that teaches women how to handle a firearm. Only ladies were allowed to attend, hoping to make women feel more comfortable with guns, without being intimidated. The program is designed to teach safety guidelines for guns, ammunition use, and the proper way to shoot. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions, including what size gun they should own and how to shoot in self-defense.While some think it's scary, for others, like Lorna Winnen of Goose Creek, it's smart. Learning the safe use of firearms may have saved her life. "I did have an incident where I was victimized with what could have been a very violent crime with a person with a handgun." Winnen believes she escaped injury because of her previous gun training. "Being around firearms I knew that the gun was not positioned to fire, had I not attended classes such as this one here, I probably would have been a victim."
I have a few days off and I want to rent some DVDs. I only have rabbit-ears on my TV but folks are always telling me about the cool stuff on HBO, etc. The local video store has lots of TV series on DVD and VHS. Any recommendations? I don't want anything too heavy and would actually prefer comedy or "light" dramas. Or Sci-Fi!
New Orleans Mayor Nagin was inviting everyone back into New Orleans just a week ago inspite of hurricane Rita meandering nearby. It wasn't until President Bush made a TV statement and called Nagin saying that maybe folks should wait before returning that he (Nagin) reversed that course. Now we've seen that Bush's advice was sound. Will all the whiny-ass liberals give Bush credit for changing Nagin's mind and probably saving lives when the levies were breached again?
Sunday is done and now I look forward to a few days off -- the first time since last February. Anyway, besides this Tuesday when of course -- of course! -- I'll have my Weekly Check up and be on Cam's show, I plan to relax a bit. I always say that I'll be posting lightly and by now you all know that's bullshit since those are the times I post the most. Still... Here's what I'm reading at the moment:
Anyway, one of my loyal readers, Wrangler5, tipped-me-off to (and I should have seen it), Michael Bane's excellent post about the priority of gun makers. Interesting, as are the comments.
Captain Ed at -- naturally -- Captain's Quarters -- is rather more sceptical than some about the charges against Frist. I'm telling you folks, between Frist and Delay and Bush, the Republicans are insuring that the 'effing Democrats will rule this country in 2008.
Geoffrey and Gordon are just plain on a roll so click and start reading. Did I tell you that I had actually met him?
...Which I briefly mentioned in the last post, from the Colorado Daily News comes a nifty article on Cowboy Action Shooting. Okay, it's not that long but I do like when newspapers give attention to the shooting sports and organizations such as SASS without going all anti-gun. Anyway, check it out.
Even if it was an accident, this is incredibly rare:
The Scituate Police and the Plymouth County District Attorney's office are investigating a shooting death Friday at Scituate Rod and Gun Club.Bridget Norton-Middleton, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney, said the victim was a man in his late 50s or early 60s.
She said his death appears to have been an accident.
"At 12:50 p.m., we received a call and we went to the Rod and Gun Club,'' said Scituate Police Chief Brian Stewart.
Stewart said the man was dead when the first officer arrived at the club.
Stewart would not give the cause of death. He said more information would be released pending notification of family members.
There was no answer Friday afternoon at Scituate Rod and Gun Club.
Brian MacFee, membership secretary at Marshfield Rod and Gun Club, was shocked to hear of the death.
"We've never had a shooting here,'' said MacFee, noting the club has existed for 75 years.
"People bend over backwards to be safe. We've got to be very careful, almost to the point of fanaticism.''
From my own experience, about the only injuries I've ever gotten was a blood-blister in the web of my thumb and index finger from unfamiliarity with a hammer action on someone's gun or a quirky slide.
I can also tell you that the bunch of us who go to the range most Thursday evenings NEVER drink before or during. EVER. It's an unwritten rule for those who love the shooting sports and appreciate simple safety. Any newcomer who even broaches the subject is roundly chastised.
Move over Miss Manners, now there's an Auntie Gun Nut.
Well, since Carnaby Fudge throws the gauntlet my way I guess I'd better come up with something...
1) How much music do I have?
I probably have about 75 CDs, most of them not very new as there isn't much on the radio these days I'd pay money for. Usually I just stream music at work or listen to the radio at home. To be honest though, music isn't much of a factor in my life these days.
2) What was the last CD I bought?
A couple months ago I picked up the Emerson, Lake and Palmer Greatist Hits or whatever it's called. Mostly I bought it because I couldn't get their version of Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copeland out of my mind.
3) What am I listening to right now?
Nada. I've got the insufferable Chris Matthews Show on in the background as I put up these posts.
4) Five songs I listen to that mean a lot to me?
None, or too many. Instead I'll tell you that I keep going back and listening to albums by Jimi Hendrix, the later years of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, the first four Led Zeppelins, in all cases because I wish I could play guitar like these guys. One great Tull album, Benefit from when I first had, um, sex, and, oddly enough, a disk of Technotronic remixes that I always liked called Trip on This! The question was for five but let me add a sixth, almost anything from ZZ Top.
5) I’m passing this meme on to:
This time round I'm going to toss this one to the least suspecting,
a) Bitter Bitch,
b) American Drumslinger, and
c) Benjamin at Reasonablenut.
We'll see what these gun-totin' folks like to listen to...
Oh, they might, from each other, but rarely from a legitimate sale. Of course, the big lie told by the Brady Bunch and other foolish gun grabbers is that if we only had more gun control and registration, etc., etc., that that would somehow prevent thugs from getting guns. Folks, most of these mutants could never pass the NICS check system and besides, they don't just walk around with cash waiting for an honest deal. Most of the guns they have are stolen; from burglared homes or businesses. From the Star Gazette (PA), here's an example:
Four Philadelphia men have been charged in the Jan. 29 theft of 188 firearms from a Westfield sporting goods store that they allegedly broke into twice that same night.John James Jr., 33, and Joseph Malkowski, 22, were arrested in Philadelphia on Thursday, investigators said. John Malloy, 27, and Joseph Wojtiw, 26, already were in state custody on unrelated charges, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
All were charged with a variety of crimes including conspiracy to steal, unlawful possession of stolen firearms and unlawful transport of firearms with obliterated serial numbers.
[...]
According to an indictment filed in federal court in Williamsport, Colon, Malkowski, Malloy and Wojtiw on Jan. 29 forced their way into Ackley & Son Sporting Goods on Route 49 and stole the firearms.
[...]
Later that night, all five returned to the store and stole additional firearms, ammunition and cash, the indictment states. During the initial investigation, police said the thieves climbed a utility pole to cut a phone line tied to the store's burglar alarm system, rendering it useless.
[...]
Police initially identified the missing weapons, worth an estimated $100,000, as more than 100 handguns, plus civilian versions of the AK-47 and M-16 military-style assault weapons. The civilian version of the M-16 is known as the AR-15.
The five suspects also were involved in transporting the firearms to Philadelphia, said Thomas A. Marino, U.S attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and Mark W. Potter, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia Division of ATF.
Of the 188 firearms stolen, most were assault-type rifles, law enforcement officials said.
The indictment also charged that Wojtiw and Malloy used a Dremel-type tool to obliterate the serial numbers on the handguns in Philadelphia.
By the way, if 100 of the 188 guns stolen were handguns, then how do the police come to the conclusion that "most" of the weapons stolen were "assault-type rifles"? Or was that just an editorial scare tactic by the reporter?
Gun control laws only keep guns out of the law-abiding citizens who need them, not out of the hands of the mutants.
I talked a lot about the problem of street gangs in my Weekly Report last Monday. They're starting to slop up from Massachusetts into Nashua, NH. From the Nashua Telegraph:
Nashua has never been immune to the problems that plague American cities – mainly drugs, and the havoc they bring – but it has typically avoided the type of gang activity that has appeared just south of the border in Lowell and Lawrence, Mass. Law enforcement officials here say tough laws, their own efforts and various other factors have helped inoculate the city against street-gang violence.During the last year or so, however, the signs of a growing gang problem have sprung up around the city, spray-painted on walls and walkways, and printed in newspaper headlines.
A local chapter of the Latin Kings, a national gang known for violence and a propensity for paperwork, made its debut in the city last year, when several members were charged with beating and stabbing a colleague who quit the group. Police also busted up a local drug ring whose members had adopted gang trappings.
[...]
City police credit themselves, in part, for keeping gangs from spreading to Nashua sooner, and say they will do their best to discourage gangs that are here.
"I feel as though we have a good handle on it here and it certainly is not as much a problem as it is in Lawrence or Lowell," said Detective Lt. William Moore, head of the narcotics division.
The department’s Problem Oriented Policing Unit tracks and investigates gang members and activity, with support from school resource officers and their uniformed colleagues. POP Unit supervisor Sgt. Scott Childs said he has heard people as far away as New York City comment on Nashua’s approach to crime.
"The way the courts handle things here, the way the police department handles things with a zero tolerance. . . . We are not here to fool around," Childs said. "We just have a reputation that has carried us a long way."
[...]
New Hampshire’s laws and court system have helped keep crime relatively low throughout the state, officials say, because New Hampshire punishes crimes that some states would let slide.
"An act that you commit in New Hampshire is probably going to get you hit a lot harder than it would in the commonwealth (Massachusetts) or even over in Vermont,” state Department of Corrections chief investigator Mark Wefers said. "This is not the right place to commit a crime.”
The state’s lower crime rate also perpetuates itself, as police have more time for proactive, preventive measures. Gang members accustomed to the anonymity of a large city find they attract closer scrutiny in Nashua, Moore said.
Some small amount of gang activity has also surfaced in a couple of the larger towns in Vermont (well, there aren't that many, actually) such as Rutland and the cops here have also been non-stop harrassing them. The problem in Vermont is that after the cops arrest these thugs, the Vermont courts let them off with a slap-on-the-wrist.
One point that goes unmentioned but I'd like to suggest. In Vermont, NH, and Maine, a goodly part of the population owns firearms because these states haven't neutered their RKBA laws the way NY, CT, and MA have. So while these cockroaches can prey on each other, they often steer clear of accosting residents, although when residents are away, their homes are targets of burglar activity.
You know, just as idle fantasy, we have so many different hunting seasons in these parts, how about adding another one for gang-bangers? Not that I really think that should be done [He says to cover himself -ed.] but seriously, would anyone in this world give a rat's-ass if they all went away?
Well, it's Sunday and I have to be at work in a couple hours. Looking around at the headlines hasn't inspired anything in me but fortunately others are chatting up interesting stuff so why don't we take another stroll through the neighborhood...
James at Hell in a Handbasket always travels with clean socks and the correct change. Don't tell Homeland Security...
Of the many comments on the proposed edict by the Vatican to have an outright ban on gays in the priesthood, I think Song of the Suburbs has it about right.
After seeing the devastation to two large cities in a month, Denise at The Ten Ring wonders if our cities are getting too big.
Victor at Publius & Co. will be riding in the Lance Armstrong Tour of Hope. You can support this worthy effort by Victor and his girlfriend with a donation here.
Peenie Wallie reports on a remarkable shot!
I thought things in New York City were hunky-dory but Mark in Mexico says it ain't so. I wonder if MSM and their constant claims that the hurricane response in NOLA was "racist" are fueling more violence around the country...
Bruce at mAss Backwards reports that a NH man won't be charged for rightfully shooting a mutant. They know how to deal with things there. See the post I'll be putting up after this one...
Spiffy pictures over at Bad State of Gruntledness of an IFO. If you don't know what that is, think of what a UFO is.
Robert (Blackfork) sent me a photo of how one of his friends prepared for Rita:
I would not be adverse to seeing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour run for president in 2008.
For your reading pleasure this Saturday, we start off with Individ explaining how hurricanes work. Interesting, until he gets to the math and then I'm lost...
Say Uncle reports on more feeble attempts by the Brady Bunch, this time to prevent "Castle Doctrine" in Michigan.
Hey! TFS Magnum is celebrating her first blogoversary! Go give her your "congrats". And is it blogoversary or blogaversary, I never did know...
Chapter 17 of the Colossus Spy Novel is up. You can read all the chapters here although like all things blogospheric, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Update: Read it here instead as the "top-down" version.
Cinomed's Tower doesn't think much, either, of the new war on pornography. And he's got an NRA inspired bumper-sticker that's rather...*ewe*...
Well, I thought my BFG-50 was cool but if the Second Amendment really meant anything these days, look what Bill Quick wants!
Eugene Volokh has a warning about Texas law for those who might consider looting there.
And wrapping up, Resurgemus dot com discovers that fame is fleeting for an "Instalanche". Trust me, I know... Quite graphic.
The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District in Louisiana yesterday sided with gun rights groups and issued a restraining order to stop authorities from confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."This is a significant victory for freedom and for the victims of Hurricane Katrina," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the 3 million-member National Rifle Association.
"The court's ruling is instant relief for victims who now have an effective means of defending themselves from the robbers and rapists who seek to further exploit the remnants of their shattered lives."
The federal court's ruling came just one day after the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation jointly filed a motion to halt the seizures of firearms from private citizens who are not breaking the law.
The groups described the action by the New Orleans Police Department as "arbitrary," "without warrant or probable cause," and thus unconstitutional.
Well, okay, it's not new but I detect someone -- whose name shall not be mentioned on the web -- might be putting up some posts there so while, at someone's request, I removed the name of another website I always enjoyed, I'm pleased to add Nation of Riflemen, written by The Gun Guy, to my blogroll. I for one, am quite happy now.
Enter Florida at your own risk. That's the message supporters of gun control are sending in an ad campaign designed to warn visitors about Florida's new law allowing victims to shoot first in self-defense without fear of prosecution.The law, passed by the Florida Legislature in the spring and signed by Gov. Jeb Bush, takes effect Oct. 1. That's the day the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence will start its newspaper ad campaign in London, Chicago, Boston and Detroit and hand out fliers to arriving passengers at Miami International Airport.
The new law ''may lead to the reckless use of guns on the streets of Florida cities,'' the one-page flier reads. The ads will warn that after Oct. 1, visitors ''face a greater risk of bodily harm in Florida,'' said Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Washington-based advocacy group.
The fliers urge tourists to take precautions, such as: ''Do not argue unnecessarily with local people,'' and ''keep your hands in plain sight'' if you are involved in a traffic accident or a near-miss.
[...]
The governor's office blasted the campaign as a gimmick to inflame public opinion with false information.
''We think this is ridiculous,'' said Alia Faraj, the governor's spokeswoman. "Florida's crime rate has reached a 34-year low and the 80 million visitors who came to our state can attest to that. It's tragic that they would use gimmicks like that to scare people.''
The measure expanded Florida's ''castle doctrine'' law -- named after the philosophy that ''a man's home is his castle'' -- which holds that a person has a right to shoot first in self-defense in his home.
Perhaps pro-2A types should start a campaign in Chicago or Washington DC passing out fliers warning potential tourists that these cities are incredibly dangerous because the criminals own the streets and know that all the residents and visitors -- unable to defend themselves -- are just sheep waiting for the slaughter.
...Which I was just yesterday, the commercial liability insurers have won a victory in Florida over Taurus Firearms. From Gainesville.com:
TALLAHASSEE - Gun makers' commercial liability insurance policies do not cover them against damages some cities and counties are seeking for medical costs and other services related to gun violence, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.The seven justices unanimously ruled against Taurus International Holdings and Taurus International Manufacturing Inc., based in Miami but owned by Forjas Taurus, a Brazilian company.
Taurus is among a number of arms makers that have been sued by cities across the nation. It has policies from several insurers and sought a court order to require that they defend the suits.
A federal judge in Miami previously held the policies do not cover such cases.
Taurus asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta to reverse that decision. The appellate court, however, found the issue was a matter of state law and asked the Florida Supreme Court for a decision.
The Florida justices based their ruling on policy clauses that exclude coverage for bodily injury and property damage occurring away from the gun makers' premises and resulting from products outside their physical possession.
This brings up a question for you readers: What coverage or requirements do your personal or homeowner insurance policies place on the firearms you own?
Church of England bishops are calling for Christian leaders to apologize publicly, at a gathering attended by senior Muslims, for the war in Iraq.Acknowledging that the British government is unlikely to apologize for the "gravely mistaken" war, the bishops suggest that churches should do so by making a "public act of institutional repentance."
For those, like myself, who aren't familiar with muzzleloaders, the New Bern Sun Journal (NC) has an interesting article on muzzleloaders well worth a read. Here's a quote:
One of the fastest-growing outdoor sports is deer hunting with muzzleloading rifles. That's partly due to the tremendous growth of whitetailed deer herds in many states and the provision of special seasons reserved specifically for primitive weapons. It's also a reflection of innovations in muzzleloading technology that make "smoke poles" much more reliable and hunter-friendly. In fact, modern black powder guns are so close to centerfire rifles in how they function that some folks feel that they should no longer be classified as "primitive" weapons. Are those people right?Regardless of where you stand on that issue, you have to acknowledge that today's muzzleloading rifles have a long and colorful history. Their heritage includes such notables as famed gun designer, James Purdey; the original Renaissance man, Leonardo de Vinci; and a North Carolina gunsmith, Henry Ball.
Hand-held muzzleloading weapons had become common in Europe by 1375 but were basically small canons. Matchlock ignition systems allowed the development of guns that were lighter, more manageable and less affected by foul weather. They still required that a lit match be applied to a small amount of powder in a priming pan so the resulting flash could ignite the main powder charge. Frequently the initial spark would be all that would happen - giving rise to the description of an ineffective person as a "flash in the pan."
Update: Now that I think of it, for the novice, what would be a good first muzzleloader to break into the sport with? Say, something under $300...
We already know that these fucking mutant Islamic terrorist creeps are here in the US. Fortunately, local authorities were able to halt plans by several of them to attack us. From Yahoo/AP:
LOS ANGELES - Three men charged in a terror investigation were planning shooting rampages at Los Angeles-area military sites to retaliate for what they called the oppression of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to court documents.The men were indicted last month on federal charges of conspiring to wage war against the U.S. government through terrorism. All three — Levar H. Washington, 25, Gregory V. Patterson, 21, and Hammad R. Samana, 21 — have pleaded not guilty.
Appearing in Los Angeles Thursday, FBI Director Robert Mueller praised local police agencies that uncovered the alleged plot in July while investigating a string of gas station robberies.
"Terrorist threats against the city and county of Los Angeles ... were prevented," Mueller said.
According to an FBI affidavit unsealed recently, Washington told authorities he was the leader of a "council" of Muslims who planned to carry out operations in Southern California as part of a jihad, or holy war, against the United States.The suspects allegedly targeted military recruitment centers in Southern California, estimating that 10 attacks could kill as many as 40 people, the affidavit said.
[...]
All accepted the possibility of dying in an attack, with Patterson believing "the ultimate goal is to die for Allah in jihad," according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors contend the men were working at the behest of Kevin James, a California State Prison, Sacramento, inmate who founded the radical group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS. Washington converted to Islam while imprisoned there for a previous robbery conviction.
James, 29, is scheduled to be arraigned next week. All four face counts of conspiring to wage war against the U.S. government, kill armed service members or murder foreign officials, among other charges.
Jim and others have been live blogging hurricane Rita over at Smoke on the Water.
Blue Flypaper wrote this:
...She certainly isn't as bad as some of the others on the list...Alphecca...who would just assume have me taken out with an (illegally modified) semi-automatic into the back of my head...
And just to drive her crazy (crazier?) I've added Blue Flypaper to my "BlogFriends" blogroll. Heh.
The ride grew bumpy, going from the dirt road to the highway to Wright's Grocery Store outside Oglethorpe, and Mamie Luke was concerned that her loaded .357 Ruger Blackhawk revolver was sliding around the seat of her truck.Luke set the pistol across her lap, its 7½-inch barrel pointed toward her friend Simon Smith in the passenger seat, then put both hands on the steering wheel and kept driving. To this day, Luke and Smith don't know why the revolver went off, putting a bullet in Smith's side and nearly killing him.
A Georgia jury decided that under state law, Luke's auto insurance company must help pay Smith's $70,000 medical bill. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's decision to deny the insurance company's motion for a new trial.
"Guns don't usually go off by themselves. I guess that's what the common juror in Georgia understands," Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. said at oral arguments on Friday.
The 11th Circuit's decision signals that Georgia insurance law agrees with the jurors: A bumpy truck ride and an accidental gunshot add up to a big check from an insurance company.
The possibility that the revolver was cocked, or that the ammo was old is irrelevant although certainly if the hammer was back, it wouldn't take much to "pull" the trigger, such as even the movement of Luke's clothing catching the trigger as the truck bumped around. Why she should even be riding with the gun sitting in her lap instead of in the glovebox or on the floor is beyond me.
Anyway, I guess that not everyone should own a gun; certainly not her.
Hopefully my knee will be better tomorrow and I'm hoping to go to the range tomorrow night with the Serbu BFG-50 and do an accuracy check. The latest bunch of ammo is at the gun store and I want to put this cool thing through more paces. You can read the previous reports:
I know I have to send it back to Mark Serbu in a couple weeks and I am REALLY not looking forward to that. I want to OWN this gun.
I 'effing love this gun!
Pardon a non-gun related post for a change. As I had said last weekend, I decided to plow through James Blish's Cities in Flight, the collection of four of his books of future history. I am well aware (and it was obvious) that the books were not written in order. The first two, They Shall Have Stars and A Life for the Stars were good reading. I can overlook the lack of believable science because that's part of reading fiction.
Earthman, Come Home was abysmal and I had to keep checking to be sure that there weren't pages missing and that I had failed to read explanations for what was happening. The character of City Mayor Amalfi was preposterous, seeming to know all and hatch impossible plots. The problem is that the reader wasn't included in anything so it read like a bad mystery where the author simply pulls clues never given out of a hat.
In addition, and I realize that part three was written before They Shall Have Stars, is that the hero and protagonist of that, Chris deFord, is summarily dismissed in Earthman... with one lone sentence saying he had been executed for some fiasco during the time not covered by the author. Now, Blish did edit and make changes for when the books were collected into one volume and the reader deserved more explanation than that. Part IV, The Triumph of Time, was hopelessly silly and by the end, Amalfi is some sort of "god" as the universe comes to an end.
Frankly, I expected much better of Blish. Of course, it's easy to be a book reviewer 50 years after the books were written.
Anyway, I'm home because my Gout went wild yesterday and I spent the night writhing in pain and got no sleep. I still can't get to sleep (I can't even make it down the stairs to my front door) so I've dragged out another double volume I picked-up at the used bookstore, Vernor Vinge's Across Realtime, comprised of the novels The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime. I'm going to try to relax and enjoy it today; this is the first time I've read anything by Vinge.
One last thing: Last week I was asking for suggestions about sci-fi books that explore the formings of government on distant worlds. Also, I've been wondering what to do with my old "pets blog" Tarazet, another stupid name that I mispelled when applying for a domain (I had meant to choose Tarazed, which now, alas, is taken). I don't have the time or interest to continue it as a pet blog but I'd rather do something creative. A reader driven novel. You, the sci-fi and libertarian folks would suggest the plot elements, twists, etc. I (or with your help) would write the chapters. Granted, I'm not a writer, at least not a fiction writer [But you play one on TV --ed.] but I'll do well enough to make this fun.
Don't go there yet since it's still the remnants of the old blog. I'll redesign it. Then, I'll put up posts where you offer your suggestions on everything from why the human protagonists left (or escaped) Earth, who the main characters should be, what the new planet they decide to colonize will be like (naturally it will be called Tarazet) and how they go about forming their own government, down to what the "constitution" should be like. You'll help choose the obstacles, the different factions that form within the colony, and more.
As you, the contributors, suggest (or vote on) plot elements, the chapter will be written -- sort of in "real time" if any sci-fi novel could be characterized that way. None of us will know how it ends since we'll all be doing it chapter by chapter as we go along.
I hope, when it starts (I have next week off and will get it set-up then) that you'll all participate. I think it'll be fun; the ultimate "blog novel". Stay tuned here and I'll let you know when it's ready to begin. I NEED to do something creative and I want you all a part of it. Heck, almost a thousand of you stop by everyday; all of you are creative, I'm sure, and if we pool that talent, something spiffy should result. Until then, as always, thanks for stopping by!
We now return you to gun stuff (just start scrolling...).
I love linking stuff like this (first item) to show the difference between the red and the blue parts of the country. From The Spectrum:
ENTERPRISE - The Enterprise Future Farmers of America will have a drawing for a Thompson Encore muzzleloader rifle at the Enterprise High School homecoming football game on Friday. Tickets are $1 each and may be purchased at the game, at the Cotton Wood Convenience store, at Brackens Hardware store or by phone at...You do not need to be present to win. The gun is on display at Hurst in Cedar City, and tickets are also for sale there.
There could be some changes in Ohio's CCW law, one of them welcome because it concerns the right to privacy. From the Chillicothe Gazette (OH):
A bill making changes to a law that allows Ohioans to carry hidden guns was introduced Tuesday with a major departure from the idea as first proposed: a procedure to allow holders to keep their name from the media.Under the proposed bill, an applicant for a concealed weapon can sign a sworn statement saying the release of their personal information could lead to a criminal attack and prevent authorities from releasing their name.
Sponsoring Rep. Jim Aslanides, a Coshocton Republican, last week proposed withholding the lists altogether but allowing reporters to ask the issuing sheriff if a specific person had a permit to carry a hidden gun.
[...]
Once an applicant signed a statement that he or she feared a criminal attack or one against a family member if the information were disclosed, or an official document such as a restraining order was provided, the issuing sheriff could not disclose personal information, including the applicant's name, to the media.
Under the bill Gov. Bob Taft signed into law last year, sheriffs were required to release a list of those holding permits to the media upon request.
However, some concealed weapons advocates said releasing the information could cause them to become targets of burglars and other robbers.
It is, of course, nobody's buisiness whether you are carrying concealed for personal protection or you have a pacemaker or you take allergy medicine.
The other part of the proposed change would say that there is no difference in how a person carries the firearm when in a motor vehicle. From the Ohio News Network:
The bill also would allow permit-holders to carry hidden guns in their cars, removing a requirement that the weapon be in plain sight or locked up, said Rep. Jim Aslanides, a Coshocton Republican who sponsored the original concealed-carry bill that Gov. Bob Taft signed last year.
Okay, bumble bees, paper wasps, honey bees, and some of those tiny bees that seem to ignore you are fine. BUT: I hate hornets and yellow jackets. Period. I can totally sympathize with Kristen. Read it and offer her your moral support (or advice). Show the blogospheric empathy!
Oddly enough though (or maybe not since I'm already odder than most people,) spiders don't bother me in the least. I have many living in corners of my home and we leave each other alone. The baby spiders appear out of nowhere, hanging on their thread, in front of your face. They seem to look at me and then scurry back up to the ceiling. I think they catch and eat other bugs and that's all right with me. The big (or ground crawling) ones they don't catch, my cats do. Of course, we don't get the nasty-ass ones around here that some people do.
Welcome to the September 20th edition of the Weekly Check on Media Bias regarding guns and the 2nd Amendment. I'm often tempted to just refer everyone to all the posts I put up all week long but I realize that some of you only stop by on Tuesdays so this weekly gig is actually meant to re-cap what has gone on in the past seven days.
For me, the most interesting story broke yesterday (see my previous post) wherein a new UN report declares that England is the most violent country in the developed world. I use England collectively to include Scotland, Wales, etc. From the BBC:
Scotland has been named the most violent country in the developed world by a United Nations report.The study found that, excluding murder, Scots were almost three times as likely to be assaulted as Americans.
Victims of crime in 21 countries were interviewed by the UN, but senior Scots police officers criticised the study.
The survey concluded that 2,000 Scots were attacked every week. That figure is 10 times the number recorded in official police figures.
The figure for Scotland dwarfs that of other developed nations such as Japan, where people are 30 times less likely to be attacked.
The study, based on telephone interviews conducted between 1991 and 2000, said 3% of people in Scotland had suffered an assault, while the figure for England and Wales was second highest at 2.8%.
Both Australia and New Zealand had the next highest proportion of assaults among their population at 2.4%, exactly double the level reported for the United States.
That's small comfort to a woman who's been raped, a man who has just been slashed with a knife, a teen who was shot or stabbed but didn't die. To me, violence is violence and according to this report, you are far more likely to be a victim of it in England than you are in the United States.
How that violence is committed is also irrelevant when you really get down to it. Does a victim really care whether they were shot, or stabbed, or beaten with a baseball bat?
One thing has struck me about this story. The nations experiencing the most violence are, in order:
1) Scotland
2) England and Wales
3) Australia and New Zealand
Here in the United States, the two cities that perennially rank near the top in violence and murder are Chicago and Washington DC.
What do those cities and countries all have in common? With the exception of New Zealand, which allows limited firearms ownership, the others have banned handgun ownership. The result has been that criminals have become emboldened because they know that it is unlikely their intended victims will be able to fight back.
It's interesting to note that while violent crime in general in the US has declined, the other trend in the US has been for states to allow greater freedom for citizens to conceal-carry firearms.
In the meantime, the disarmament in England and Australia has been somewhat a recent experience and there the trends are towards higher levels of violence. Folks, if it walks like a duck...
Aside from knives and guns and such themselves, there are two other factors to take into account. First, both in England and Australia, as well as many parts of the US, thugs are arrested, serve little if any time in jail, and are turned back out into the streets. My own feeling is that, regardless of the cost, more prisons must be built to hold all of these anti-social mutants and then there will be space enough to make them do real time. And it should be hard-time, not TV and gyms and all the other "fixin's" that in some cases actually represent a better life than on the streets.
The second factor I notice from the report, and this again applies to both England and the US, is that much of the crime is committed by gang members. Hence, you notice the age group of 15 to 25 as being the most represented of perpetrators. We have many more large, urban areas in the US so the problem is worse here. Gangs don't happen on their own. Kids are finding something in these gangs that they aren't at home -- structure, dicipline, and a sense of belonging. I've harped on this before but the simple fact is that in most cases, these kids come from homes lacking in parental supervision.
While poverty might play some part, it would be foolish to blame it for all of the gang proliferation. There are millions living (unfortunately) in poverty who don't turn to gangs and crime. When we saw pictures of looting in New Orleans recently, those looters represented a fraction of all the others remaining in the city who were not looting. And by the way, many of the victims of crime and looting in New Orleans were themselves impoverished.
Many gang members do not come from "poor" families, simply "bad" families where the parent or parents can't or refuse to monitor what their children are doing. The mutants who shot-up Columbine came from intact, middle-class homes but obviously their parents were clueless that they were actually building and storing bombs in their bedrooms!
I guess my point is this: If authorities and citizens are really serious about reducing crime in any place or country, then society needs to rethink what the role and responsibilities are of parents in raising children.
Lastly, society needs to get REALLY tough with gangs, regardless of age and size. A concerted effort needs to be made to target, break-up, and lock-up youth gangs. To that end, some localities are doing just that. From the Tampa Tribune (FL):
A sustained assault on street gangs in northwest Hillsborough County by a task force made up of federal agents and county deputies resulted in the arrest of more than 100 suspected gang members and the seizure of nearly $1 million in property.[...]
In all, 105 suspected gang members were arrested, 52 of whom had confirmed gang affiliations. They faced a total of 325 criminal charges, some of which are federal. Deputies seized about $700,000 in illegal drugs, $36,600 in stolen property, $85,000 in vehicles and $9,500 in firearms.
Charges included attempted murder, robbery, theft, home invasion, drug possession and trafficking, assault and battery. Some were juveniles, but most were in their mid- to late teens and 20s.
Most of those named on warrants have been arrested, the sheriff said. Some were illegal immigrants and may be deported, he added.
Gee said some larger communities across the nation have let the gang problem get out of hand and it has overtaken them.
The number of members fluctuates because of the turnover, he said. Recruitment remains a concern, he said, with gangs appealing to disaffected youths, offering them acceptance and companionship.
"We're seeing some as young as 13 years old," Gee said. "When you're seeing members this young, it's a serious problem for our country."
Gang membership is up across the country, he said.
"We've gone after it here," he said. "We're trying to get in front of the issue before it gets any worse ... before it becomes unmanageable."
Mostly, local gangs deal in illegal drugs or robbery, and many of the assaults are on members of opposing gangs, such as an incident this month when four members of the Norte 14 gang attacked a rival gang's house, abducted a pregnant woman and raped her.
More than 350 people have been arrested by Tucson police in a three-month series of crackdowns that targeted violent crimes, juvenile offenders, guns and drugs.
Police also seized more than 160 firearms in the effort, which targeted the South Side.
The deployments, between May 27 and the first week of school, focused on stopping juvenile crime, reducing violent crime and enforcing laws against offenses like curfew violation, to prevent young people from becoming suspects or victims of violent crime.
Locations targeted by officers were areas known for disturbances, places frequented by youths and party locations, according to the Tucson Police Department.
Some in the media are coming to realize the value of firearms for self defense. Another piece I mentioned a few days ago was this Detroit News editorial:
...But for days, there was no law in New Orleans and no government to speak of. All rules were off.While the politically correct version of what happened is that desperate people looted stores for food and water, that's only part of the story. Bands of armed hoodlums roamed the city, smashing their way into businesses and homes, carting off jewelry, liquor, televisions and other goods that had nothing to do with survival.
People were murdered, raped, stripped of their meager provisions.
Those with the best chance of surviving were the ones who had shotguns, rifles and pistols stashed away in closets and drawers.
Homeowner John Carolan ran off a mob of young men armed with knives and machetes and intent on stealing his generator by firing a few rounds from a .357 Magnum over their heads. "They scattered," he told reporters.
After looters poured into a nursing home and carted off the food, water and medicine, administrator Peggy Hoffman told the Associated Press, "we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."
Lots of Americans are thinking about shooting lessons today.
The tiresome question, "Why does anyone need a gun?" now has its answer.
Order can deteriorate in this country to the point where nothing stands between the law-abiding citizen and the marauding mob except blue steel. It happened in New Orleans. It can happen anywhere else in America at anytime.
It will be harder now for the anti-gun lobby to convince Americans to dismantle even more of the Second Amendment.
As I've pointed out many times, one reason a person needs to take some responsibility for his own defense is that the police can't be everywhere and response times can be as much as 20 minutes. Turning back to England, sometimes you can't even reach them:
A TERRIFIED worker who dialled 999 when masked gunmen burst into a post office today was told that police lines were busy.The woman locked herself in the back room when the raiders crashed through the ceiling next to the counter at the post office in Bolton Road, Pendlebury.
She was instead put through to the fire brigade when she dialed 999, who spoke to the police for her.
She had dialled 999 from a phone in a safe room and whispered to a BT operator who tried to connect her to the police.
It is believed the woman retreated so fast into the safe room the robbers did not know she was there.
But all lines to Greater Manchester Police were engaged and instead the operator connected her to the fire service control room at headquarters less then a quarter of a mile from the post office on the same road.
The call was taken by operator Jan Finch.
She said: "The BT operator said could we handle a call as all lines to the police were unavailable. The woman told me that she had opened up the shop just before nine o'clock and was setting up the computer system when two men had crashed through the ceiling. She had heard rubble falling then saw one man in a black mask with a gun. She crawled into the safe room and locked the door.
I'll be on Cam's NRA News this afternoon and as always: Thanks for stopping by!
Well guess what countries still top the UN's list of the most violent?
A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America.England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest.
The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults.
Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.
The attacks have been fuelled by a “booze and blades” culture in the west of Scotland which has claimed more than 160 lives over the past five years. Since January there have been 13 murders, 145 attempted murders and 1,100 serious assaults involving knives in the west of Scotland. The problem is made worse by sectarian violence, with hospitals reporting higher admissions following Old Firm matches.
[...]
The study, by the UN’s crime research institute, found that 3 per cent of Scots had been victims of assault compared with 1.2 per cent in America and just 0.1 per cent in Japan, 0.2 per cent in Italy and 0.8 per cent in Austria. In England and Wales the figure was 2.8 per cent.
Why all states should have the "Castle Doctrine" law: From the Macon Telegraph (GA):
MACON, Ga. - A Mercer University law student shot and killed a man who broke into his home, police said.Frederick Taylor, 21, and his companion, Adrienne Warren, 22, were in the upstairs bedroom early Sunday morning when they heard glass break, police said.
Warren stayed upstairs and called 911, while Taylor went downstairs. He saw the intruder at the bottom of the steps, said Macon police Sgt. Cornelius Pendleton.
Taylor shot and killed the intruder about four minutes after the initial 911 call was made, police spokeswoman Melanie Hofmann said. The intruder was shot in the upper torso and pronounced dead at the scene, she said.
The burglar had no identification on him and has not been identified, officials said.
The Bibb County District Attorney's office will determine whether Taylor will face charges, Hofmann said.
If criminals such as burglars don't want to get shot, they should find an honest, legal profession instead.
Okay, that's the tough talk. Obviously a homeowner DOES need to feel that they are actually under threat. If they yell "halt" and the intruder doesn't, that is a threat but if the mutant takes off running out of the house, then I don't think there's justification for shooting him.
Also, the homeowner needs to identify whoever has broken into their home. After all, it could be a concerned relative who hasn't heard from you in some time and is trying to determine if you are alive and well.
Florida's "Castle Doctrine", which is also being considered for Michigan, does not relieve you of ALL responsibility. It uses the "what a reasonable person would have done" clause.
My point, though, is that DAs and juries should not be allowed to second-guess someone who defends themselves when the facts indicate that the homeowner feared for his life. Taylor and his friend did phone 911 so it's obvious that they were scared of what was happening down on the first floor of their home. Once the burglar was in the home, he clearly should have heard that the home was occupied and gotten the hell out of there if he was not planning to harm anyone. Instead, he continued to the stairs even after he heard Taylor approach the top of the stairs. In my opinion, at that point Taylor was justified in shooting him.
With a hat-tip to the (hopefully only semi-) retired Countertop Chronicles comes an almost positive story about hunting from the New York Times:
GREEN MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST, Vt. - Chomping wad after wad of Bubblicious Strawberry Splash gum and giggling as she tickled people's necks with a piece of grass she pretended was a spider, Samantha Marley could have been any 9-year-old girl.A couple of things set her apart, though. She was cloaked in camouflage from boots to baseball cap. And propped next to her on the seat of a truck was her very own 20-gauge shotgun.
[...]
She had won a "dream hunt" given away by a Vermont man whose goal is to get more children to hunt, and she had traveled about 200 miles from her home in Bellingham, Mass., and was missing three days of school to take him up on his offer.
[...]
The dream hunt - all expenses paid, including taxidermy - was the brainchild of Kevin Hoyt, a 35-year-old hunting instructor who quit a job as a structural steel draftsman a few years ago and decided to dedicate himself to getting children across the country interested in hunting.
Mr. Hoyt also tries to speak at schools, but he says that of 114 he has contacted, only 10 have invited him in."When I contact the schools they say, 'Is this to promote hunting?' " Mr. Hoyt said. "And actually I lie right through my teeth. I say, 'No, it is to explain hunting.' "
He added, "I hate to stereotype, but most teachers are liberal, tree-hugging, and they're not real sympathetic to the cause."
Dana Calkins, principal of Boltz Junior High in Fort Collins, Colo., said she never returned Mr. Hoyt's calls because "it's kind of like religion to me: whatever the family value is around hunting, that's their own business."
"I just think it has all the makings of a controversy," Ms. Calkins said. "I guess I just feel like there's enough violence in the world."
With a hat-tip to one of my faithful readers, Jim, comes a pro-gun editorial from the Detroit News, a paper not exactly known for being 2nd Amendment friendly:
As New Orleans flooded and whatever civil society the city could lay claim to disintegrated, those left behind needed two things: a powerful will to survive and a gun.Hurricane Katrina might end up being the best friend the Second Amendment ever had.
Gun dealers across the country are reporting increased sales. People who saw on television what happens when government can't deliver on the promise of protecting its citizens are buying firearms as an insurance policy against anarchy.
That assurance of government-provided security has convinced individual Americans to gradually trade in their unrestrained constitutional right to bear arms.
But for days, there was no law in New Orleans and no government to speak of. All rules were off.
While the politically correct version of what happened is that desperate people looted stores for food and water, that's only part of the story. Bands of armed hoodlums roamed the city, smashing their way into businesses and homes, carting off jewelry, liquor, televisions and other goods that had nothing to do with survival.
People were murdered, raped, stripped of their meager provisions.
Those with the best chance of surviving were the ones who had shotguns, rifles and pistols stashed away in closets and drawers.
After looters poured into a nursing home and carted off the food, water and medicine, administrator Peggy Hoffman told the Associated Press, "we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."
Lots of Americans are thinking about shooting lessons today.
The tiresome question, "Why does anyone need a gun?" now has its answer.
Order can deteriorate in this country to the point where nothing stands between the law-abiding citizen and the marauding mob except blue steel. It happened in New Orleans. It can happen anywhere else in America at anytime.
It will be harder now for the anti-gun lobby to convince Americans to dismantle even more of the Second Amendment.
Of course, they'll try to spin this to say that were there no guns to begin with, the looters wouldn't have been armed and dangerous. But thieves, murderers and the rest of the rabble have always been more ingenious at procuring weapons than law-abiding citizens.
No amount of gun control laws will keep the dark side of this society from arming itself for evil purposes.
To twist the old bumper sticker, Americans will give up their guns when they can be certain all the guns have been pried out of the cold, dead fingers of all the bad guys.
Until then, they'll prefer to keep a little heat in the house.
I'm already missing Kim du Toit mightily. I hope everything works out for him and the Mrs. Hopefully when things improve, he'll come roaring back to the blogosphere.
I stumbled across an interesting editorial from the Jacksonville (NC) Daily News:
One of the perennial issues facing Americans, especially lawmakers, is gun control. Those of us who defend private ownership of firearms are continually battling those who wish to restrict guns in private hands.Opponents of gun ownership approach their goal from many directions. Some of their proposals seem at first to be common-sense measures whose aim is to protect us from ourselves. One of the most recent of these measures making the rounds in state legislatures is something called "safe storage" of firearms.
These laws require gun owners to keep firearms locked in some way so curious children cannot get to them. Thousands of children a year find their parents' firearms and play with them, sometimes with tragic results.
On the surface, so-called safe-storage laws are designed to prevent such shootings. But by paying close attention to the words used by the backers of such laws we can surmise they have bigger goals in mind.
Even if the results are accurate, of greater concern is the apparent disdain some public health researchers have for others' rights. And this is where their language gives them away. According to one media report on the survey, John Vernick, co-director of Johns Hopkins' Center for Gun Policy and Research, worried that although 18 states and the District of Columbia have safe-storage laws, there's no way to tell how well they're enforced. "They're great, and we absolutely need more states with laws. But often they seem to get enforced after it's too late, when a child has shot himself, or someone else," he said.Any time a person, especially a child, is accidently shot it's unfortunate. But what would Vernick have police do, check every house to ensure guns in the home are unloaded and locked up? Vernick would likely deny that was his intent, but activists have been known to step on others' rights in their quest for their version of a perfect society.
A free society must balance liberty and safety with individuals taking responsibility for any injury their actions cause others.
Safety and children's activists blithely declare that any death is one death too many. Such simplistic thinking (or fund-raising rhetoric) sounds logical but if we apply it to the examples I've just given then we would all be required to live within a walking distance to where we work and shop. America would become all cities and no suburbs or rural areas. None of us would ever enjoy a quick dip in the pool during the hot Summer months, either at home or at an inn or hotel.
We could still live where we wanted to live if there were a mass-transit option run by the government. Of course, buses and trains are also subject to accidents. We could ride bicycles if we wanted to live a couple miles from where we work but then again, they're rather dangerous too and -- again! -- any death is one too many.
I guess my point is that we live in a world where a person's safety cannot be promised or guaranteed. If it were, it would be because we're all in safe stasis by floating in computer controlled cocoons similar to what you saw in the world of the movie, The Matrix.
Let me offer my own thoughts:
1) It is reasonable to assume that life is fraught with risk.
2) Risk to life, and the struggle to survive, is the primary reason why humans evolved to a smarter, more agile form from the lower orders of apes.
3) We can try to eliminate some of that risk but we cannot vanquish all of it.
4) Eliminating all risk to ourselves would bring our evolution to a halt. It would also mean that all innovation, creation, exploration, [All this rhyming, Jeff, sounds like Jesse Jackson... --ed.] medical cures, scientific breakthroughs, sports, and everything else we know of that seperates us from the pre-programmed ants would cease to exist.
5) #4 above would not be a good thing for us!
People die from ski accidents. Should we ban skiing? A tiny fraction of people are allergic to some vaccines. Should we ban vaccines and take our chances with the various strains of the flu, whooping-cough, polio, malaria, and everything else that threatens us every day? After all folks, isn't "any death one death too many?"
Personally, I say "no". There will always be deaths. They can come from milk allergies, bathtubs, pets, stairs, and everything else that surrounds us.
Guns are dangerous. They're supposed to be so. Some mutants mis-use them for evil purposes. Many more folks use them to protect, defend, and feed themselves. There will always be some wrongful deaths caused by bad criminals using them but that is not a reason to ban them or regulate them to the point where their ownership and use is meaningless and impossible to comply with.
In a perfect world, gun owners would (as most of us "red-state" owners do) teach their children safe gun handling. But that is not something you can regulate or even enforce. It's a personal measure that responsible parents follow. Requiring all gun owners to keep their firearms neutered renders them almost useless when they are most needed.
I think back to the story of four mutants beating a co-worker at their restaurant to death with baseball bats (in Florida last year) and I'd really hate to see Baseball disappear from the American way of life. If only the victims had had a firearm to defend themselves... But what good would it have been if it had been locked-away?
I would hate to see a (granted) tragic death of a child by a firearm cause all of us to lose our right to defend ourselves from the wolves at the doorstep.
Freedom is perilous. It allows us to have some free will in the course of our lives even though it also means that some of us will be hurt. Hurt, pain, bumps and bruises, they are all part of growing up and frankly, they are also part of being an adult. Sometimes the bumps and bruises are mental but they still hurt. We are trying to banish that from our children but if we do, they will be all the more painful when our kids experience them as adults. It might sound cold on my part but physical or mental black & blues prepare us for the life ahead of us. And unfortunately, death does, too.
Life is risky. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. It always will be, too. It's what keeps us going, striving, creating. If you give in and let the government pretend to know better then they gladly will. Politicians LOVE to control every facet of our lives. Power is the only reason they got into politics in the first place. Any politician who claims otherwise, that they wanted to "help humanity" or some such bullshit is totally a LIAR. Period. For proof, I offer the liberal Democratic bastards who kept at Judge Roberts about the "commerce clause" in the Constitution because they want to CONTROL EVERYTHING we buy or use or do, regardless if it crosses a state line. By the way, Robert's answers weren't all that satisfactory.
Maybe you (liberals and leftists) want to live in a THX 1138 world but I do not. I own guns and I always will and if the world changes and decides that I can't own them, I will use them to prevent that and if I die, well fuck-it, I won't have to live in the horror-show ultra-controlled world you will be trapped in.
Life involves some risk and death. That's the cause of our evolution and the only reason we have our cool hands, good eyesight, useful brains, and a smidgen of freedom. Eliminate that risk and we become like the ants. Nobody is going to step-on me.
I have a rare day off tomorrow and it's supposed to rain all day. I need a book recommendation from you. I wonder if there is a good sci-fi book about colonizing a new planet and the struggles of setting up a government there? I've enjoyed greatly the Allyn Steele books so something along those lines would be welcome. Tomorrow morning I'll go to Borders...
Update 9/17 10:30 AM: Thanks for all of your suggestions. Most of those I've already read and they were very good indeed. I decided not to drive to West Leb this morning and instead went to the local used bookstore and picked up a good condition paperback copy of James Blish's Cities In Flight which has all four novels in one volume. I'm going to dig into it after I finish blabbing here at Alphecca. This search for "starting over" on a new planet did give me an idea for something that I will flesh-out and propose later this weekend so stop back tonight or tomorrow. I think you libertarian sci-fi nuts like me will want to participate.
And no, it wasn't in San Francisco. From the Montgomery Advertiser (AL):
Mayor Bobby Bright is unapologetic and stands firm behind comments he made this week about the need for residents to buy guns and learn how to use them to protect themselves from criminals.It is a solid concept for people to protect themselves since the criminal justice system is not working, Bright said.
"In my opinion, people need to buy a weapon, buy a gun, ed-
ucate themselves on how to use that gun and they need to use that weapon to protect themselves from the criminal element out there," he said Thursday."I will not back away from that concept. It is a sensitive issue. It is simply me as the mayor wanting and caring enough about our citizens here to tell them this may be the best way they can help us protect themselves."
Bright said he will not budge from his stance.
"We have got to put the career criminal on notice, we are not going to take it anymore," he said. "They are not going to walk in and walk out and rob our innocent citizens in Montgomery."
Apparently this is not the first time Bright has advocated this but I wonder if more officials will jump on the 2A bandwagon in light of the looting scenes we saw in NOLA. Not that we'll ever hear stuff like this in Chicago, DC, or San Francisco. Still, Montgomery has a population of over 200,000 people so we're not talking about some tiny "burb" in Maine. And yes, I know it's a rather conservative town...
Update: Mayor Bright was just on Cam Edwards and says he has the full support of the Chief of Police. Of course, since he appointed the Chief of Police...
It is not particularly surprising that Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston), a virulent anti-gun advocate, has advanced a proposed ordinance to ban so-called assault weapons in Cook County.It is the chilly reception the proposal is receiving from a County Board comprised of 12 Democrats and 5 Republicans that is the surprise.
Suffredin’s proposal was referred to the Board’s Health and Hospitals Committee for review. IllinoisLeader.com has learned that the Suffredin’s ban, thought to be an agenda item at the Cook County Board’s September 20 meeting, will not be called in committee.
According to a source in county government, Committee Chairman Commissioner Jerry “Iceman” Butler has no interest in calling the ordinance preferring to let it die in committee. Butler is reportedly upset that the political hot potato was referred to his committee as opposed to the more logical choice of the Law Enforcement Committee.
“He thinks Suffredin is trying to sandbag him and he doesn’t want any part of it,” according to one county government observer who spoke with IllinoisLeader.com on the condition of anonymity.
Suffredin’s proposed ban would augment the list of banned firearms in Cook County. According to Suffredin, the assault weapons ban, as it stands in Cook County, only pertains to those weapons listed by name or type. His proposed amendment to the existing ordinance retains the list, but updates it to include specific models of weapons not found in the existing ordinance.
Proponents of the Suffredin proposal argue the need for the broader ban locally in the absence of the federal assault weapons ban which expired in September 2004 and was not reauthorized.
Canadians shouldn't blame their southern neighbour for the spike in gun-related violence in Toronto, says the U.S. ambassador in Ottawa.Any urge to point the finger at the U.S. for weapons smuggled across the border is simply misguided, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins diplomat said Thursday. "I don't think it's fair," he told The Canadian Press in an interview.
Canadians seeking a scapegoat should look in the mirror, he suggested.
"The majority of guns coming from the United States are purchased by Canadian citizens," Wilkins said.
"(This is) in violation of our state laws - and (they're) smuggled back across the border in violation of your laws."
Interesting that the 2 billion dollar Canadian gun fiasco, er, registry didn't solve the problems for our neighbors up North.
Since I know next-to-nothing about shotguns, I thought I'd put this emailed question from a reader out to you:
I've got a Luigi Franchi-Brescia, the whole reason I came to this site is because I typed in a search on google to find out how to work the firing mechanism on my shotgun. In Missouri we can only use 3 shells at a time, so I put the shells in, but I can only get two to shoot, the third I have to manually eject buy sticking my finger in the loader and pressing on the thing that catches the shell on the right side of the gun.
Here's a story about the guy who's sold me most of the guns I own. Rick's Gun Shop in East Burke is excellent. Maybe not the cheapest but his service is always good. Glad to see he's getting some attention from the local media. BTW, The Caledonian Record IS about as conservative as they come, in case you were wondering why they'd do a story like this.
I would have emptied a couple magazines filled with Federal HydraShock.
Once again, John shows that size counts! I presume that's a "no smoking" section...
I'm taking these segments from the transcript of yesterday's proceedings as they relate to Roberts and any hints of views he might have on matters that relate to gun control. This is from the interrogation by Sen. Feinstein:
FEINSTEIN: I won't go there. Let me go somewhere else.Commerce clause, the 14th Amendment, Lopez, which began a chain of about 36 cases, striking down major pieces of legislation. It's not easy to get a bill passed here. I mean, there are hearings, there are discussions, there are markups, there's one house, there's another house, there's a president.
It goes through most of the time scrubbed pretty good before it gets to the president.
Gun-free schools -- struck down in 1995, an impermissible use of the commerce clause.
'96, Moses Lake, Washington -- shooting in a school. '97, Bethel, Alaska, principal and one student killed. '97, Pearl, Mississippi, two students killed and seven wounded by a 16-year old. 1997, West Paducah, three students killed, five wounded.
Stamps, Arkansas, two students wounded. Jonesboro, '98, four students, one teacher killed; 10 others wounded outside West Side Middle School. Edinboro, Pennsylvania, one teacher killed, two students.
And on and on and on -- an impermissible use of the commerce clause to prohibit possession of a weapon in schools.
Now, at what point does crime influence commerce?
ROBERTS: Well, I think it does.
And one of the things that's important to understand about the Lopez decision is the court analyzed it -- and, again, I'm not taking a position on whether it was correctly decided or not.
FEINSTEIN: Right, right.
ROBERTS: But as the court analyzed it, one of the things about the act was that it did not have what's known as a jurisdictional requirement. It didn't have a requirement that the firearm be transported in interstate commerce -- a requirement that I think it would be easy to meet in most cases, because guns...
FEINSTEIN: But the firearm is transported in interstate commerce -- maybe not when that student had it, but to get to the student, the firearm has been transported in interstate commerce.
ROBERTS: My point is that the fix in Lopez, all that the court was saying was missing in there, or what was different about Lopez than many of the other cases, was that lack of a jurisdictional requirement.
And if the act had been -- as I understand the court's analysis, the act had required that, which I think, again, it's fairly easy to show in almost every case.
ROBERTS: As you say, these guns are transported in interstate commerce. Then that would have been within the Congress' power under the commerce clause.
I think it was an unusual feature of the legislation that it didn't have that requirement, as so many laws do. As you know, it often says in interstate commerce. And that's -- at least as I understand the Lopez decision -- what made it unusual.
FEINSTEIN: That's very helpful. You might get it back again someday, with that fix.
Let me turn to something else...
SESSIONS: We have talked about the commerce clause and there has been a lot of criticism of some of the cases.I think there have only been two significant commerce clause cases maybe in the last 40 years, Lopez and Morrison. Senator Feinstein and you had a nice exchange about Lopez. I would certainly agree with your analysis.
Had the Congress placed in there a requirement that the firearm had been traveled in interstate commerce, I believe that statute would have been upheld. We could pass it again with that simple requirement, and virtually every firearm will have traveled in interstate commerce. A few states have manufacturers.
When I was a federal prosecutor, I prosecuted a lot of those cases. As a young prosecutor, I was sort of an expert at it in the '70s, and I proved sometimes the interstate commerce by simply putting an agent on there saying there was no gun manufacturer in Alabama. Or it said, Made in Italy, on it. I remember I got that affirmed one time as proof beyond a reasonable doubt that it was not made in Alabama.
So Lopez, I believe, is a good decision.
Also, with regard to crime, I would note that we've always had that nexus with interstate commerce. As a federal prosecutor, it's not prosecution for theft, it's prosecution for interstate transportation of stolen property. That's the federal crime. Theft is prosecuted only by the state courts unless it's theft from an interstate shipment. That's a federal crime. It's not stealing an automobile, it's interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. ITSMV is the federal crime.
The Hobbs Act, the Extortion Act to use against politicians, you have to have an interstate nexus. And I've had cases where bribery was proven, but we were not able to prosecute it federally because it did not have an interstate nexus. RICO, even arson cases have to have it there.
So I just want to make sure that -- let me ask you this.
In general, wouldn't you agree if someone in Pennsylvania picks up a rock and murders their neighbor, that is a crime unreachable by federal prosecution under traditional interpretations of commerce clause and the reach of the federal government?
ROBERTS: Well, again, barring special circumstances of the sort you were talking about, that's generally something addressed by state authorities.
SESSIONS: We need to get this thing straight.
We have some people complaining we are federalizing too many crimes and then complaining that we are striking down some that go too far. States should prosecute these cases locally and effectively, and should do that -- guns in schools, and guns and that kind of thing.
In the Violence Against Women Act, that was a commerce clause case, where a woman was raped and then sued the people who assaulted and raped her. She wanted to sue in federal court under the Violence Against Women' act.
What the court held there was, as I read it, the court limited Congress' power to provide for civil damages, money damages. She could sue that rapist in state court, but not for money damages in federal court. Is that the holding of that case?
ROBERTS: That's my understanding of what the court held in the Morrison case, yes.
FEINGOLD: Let's go to something else then. I'd like to hear your views about the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. This is an amendment where there's a real shortage of jurisprudence.You mentioned the Third Amendment where there's even less jurisprudence, but the Second Amendment's close. So I think you can maybe help us understand your approach to interpreting the Constitution by saying a bit about it.
The Second Amendment raises interesting questions about a constitutional interpretation. I read the Second Amendment as providing an individual right to keep and bear arms as opposed to only a collective right. Individual Americans have a constitutional right to own and use guns. And there are a number of actions that legislatures should not take in my view to restrict gun ownership.
The modern Supreme Court has only heard one case interpreting the Second Amendment. That case is U.S. v. Miller. It was heard back in 1939. And the court indicated that it saw the right to bear arms as a collective right.
In a second case, in U.S. v. Emerson, the court denied cert and let stand the lower court opinion that upheld the statute banning gun possession by individuals subject to a restraining order against a second amendment challenge.
The appeals court viewed the right to bear arms as an individual right. The Supreme Court declined to review the Appeals Court decision.
So what is your view of the Second Amendment? Do you support one of the other views of the views of what was intended by that amendment?
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, I mean, you're quite right that there is a dispute among the circuit courts. It's really a conflict among the circuits.
The 5th Circuit -- I think it was in the Emerson case, if I'm remembering it correctly -- agreed with what I understand to be your view, that this protects an individual right. But they went on to say that the right was not infringed in that case. They upheld the regulations there.
The 9th Circuit has taken a different view. I don't remember the name of the case now. But a very recent case from the 9th Circuit has taken the opposite view that it protects only a collective right, as they said.
In other words, it's only the right of a militia to possess arms and not an individual right.
Particularly since you have this conflict -- cert was denied in the Emerson case -- I'm not sure it's been sought in the other one or will be. That's sort of the issue that's likely to come before the Supreme Court when you have conflicting views.
I know the Miller case side-stepped that issue. An argument was made back in 1939 that this provides only a collective right. And the court didn't address that. They said, instead, that the firearm at issue there -- I think it was a sawed-off shotgun -- is not the type of weapon protected under the militia aspect of the Second Amendment.
So people try to read the tea leaves about Miller and what would come out on this issue. But that's still very much an open issue.
FEINGOLD: I understand that case could come before you. I'm wondering if you would anticipate that in such a case that a serious question would be: Which interpretation is correct?
ROBERTS: Well, anytime you have two different courts of appeals taking opposite positions, I think you have to regard that as a serious question. That's not expressing a view one way or the other. It's just saying, I know the 9th Circuit thinks it's only a collective right. I know the 5th Circuit thinks it's an individual right. And I know the job of the Supreme Court is to resolve circuit conflicts. So I do think that issue is one that's likely to come before the court.
Over at Free Republic, some kids do the right thing when when they find a gun. Good for them. Someone taught them safe gun handling, probably their parents.
From the Advocate in Baton Rouge:
Even into the third week after the hurricane, McClain was selling more guns in the morning than he would typically sell all day.McClain and Aronson said the number of first-time buyers was not as high as it was the summer Baton Rouge had a serial killer on the prowl, when McClain estimated 80 percent of the new customers were first-time gun buyers.
Nevertheless, McClain said his safety classes filled up as well.
McClain said he saw a lot of people who lost their guns in the flood or didn't have access to them. Many were from Jefferson and Orleans parishes and didn't want to go back into the city without a weapon.
The National Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, local sheriff's offices, police departments from around the state, the State Police -- all were looking for guns and additional ammunition, McClain said.
[...]
Asked about whether he felt racial animosity played a factor in the surge, McClain pointed out he had many black customers in the store, and the atmosphere was one of support and camaraderie.
As did others, McClain said that, rumors aside, he thinks the surge was simply for personal safety and protection.
"Anytime that you have civil unrest … it adds a lot of anxiety," McClain said, adding that even benign images, such as gas lines or empty store shelves, can add to the stress.
It's not just for kids anymore... From the Wausau Daily Herald:
If you had looked down the barrel of a shotgun Wednesday at the Wausau Skeet & Trap Club you might have been surprised who was squinting back. Not a man filled with testosterone, but a gum chewin', gun totin', red hat wearin' lady. That's right, a lady. In a red hat.Who said getting older has to be boring?
Six members of the Silver Foxes Red Hat Society - all over 60 years old - decided to take up arms Wednesday just for fun. The trap club's typical weekday shoots ended in August, so the Silver Foxes had the trap shooting range all to themselves.
"My son said I'd fall on my butt," said Joyce Matakovich of Wausau. "I'm just used to BB guns - shooting squirrels out of my feeders."
Matakovich and her friend Phyllis Lehmann, also of Wausau, hit their stationary targets with their first shot.And neither of them got knocked on their butts by the kickback delivered by the 12-gauge shotgun.
Hitting the moving clay pigeons proved to be more of a challenge. Each missed on their first handful of attempts.
That's when Trap Director Jim Sonnentag of Brokaw stepped in. Count to three, ladies, as the clay pigeon flies through the air and squeeze the trigger on three, he said. It's all about the timing.
"It's like dancing, 1-2-3, 1-2-3," Lehmann said as she bounced a few steps.
During the confirmation hearings, Sen. Russ Feingold asked Judge Roberts if he thought the Second Amendment was an individual right.
Roberts said that it had been decided as such by, I believe, the 5th Circuit but not by others. He said he couldn't comment because it might wind up before the Supreme Court. Fair enough...
A controversial art exhibition in Manhattan has people asking: Can a weapon be art?"A Knock at the Door" features stamps depicting a gun to President Bush's head, a straightjacket made from an American flag and what appears to be a suitcase bomb. The artists have received mixed reviews from both the art police and the real police — a few have been questioned, detained and even charged with crimes related to their work.
Even those who support the exhibit have questions about some of its displays.
[...]
"From our point of view, and I think from a lot of Americans' point of view, it's a slap in the face," said Michael Burke, who lost his brother in the terrorist attacks four years ago. "It's meant to appeal to those who agree with it and they look at it and they chuckle, and [to] everyone else it's meant to be offensive to."
The LMCC says it sensitive to the issues surrounding Sept. 11. One of its studios overlooks Ground Zero, where the council lost its office — and one of its artists — in the attacks.
But it's hard for many not to get the shivers after looking at the suitcase bomb, especially with the artist, Chris Hackett, facing firearms charges after the discovery of a weapons cache in his studio when police responded to an explosion caused by one of his other projects.
More on the outrage over the illegal gun confiscation at Crosswalk.
Gay Orbit reports that the armed services have stopped booting gay soldiers. Suddenly they need us. Or are they just going to "defer" kicking them out?
I've been listening to the confirmation hearings for Judge Roberts. The Republicans toss mostly "comfy cushions" at him and the Democrats froth at the mouth. In one case, D-Sen. Joseph Biden spent about 10 minutes yakking away before even asking a single question, then he wouldn't allow Roberts to finish a single answer because he was "almost out of time".
I would love to hear just one of them ask Roberts, "Judge, do you believe that -- as does the First Amendment and most of the others -- do you believe that the Second Amendment refers to an individual right?"
There, that wouldn't be asking about a specific case, just a general question about the Bill of Rights that would tell me A LOT about whether I want him on the bench or not.
Update 4:40 PM: Fair is fair. Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions is -- in my 1st Amendment protected opinion -- the stupidest person I've ever listened too. This asshole couldn't proof-read fucking M&M's. What mutants elected this feeble-brained earthworm to the Senate?
Update 6:39 PM: Piece of shit Schumer keeps harping on the commerce clause and how an article doesn't have to cross state lines to "qualify" as something that should be regulated by government under the interstate commerce clause. Folks, this could cover guns, medical marijuana, and everything else in our lives. Thank God Roberts refuses to give piece of shit Schumer the answer he wants to extract.
Ya' know what? Let's have a quick and vulgar poll: Your answers in the comments. Who's the biggest turd? Chuck Schumer or Ted "the lifeguard" Kennedy?
In 1775, England's General Sir Thomas Gage attempted to disarm colonial patriots in the battles of Lexington and Concord. It resulted in "the shot heard round the world." Gage then promised the Boston Selectmen that if all citizens turn in their arms they would be permitted to leave with all their possessions. Most of them did, but they were prevented from leaving anyway. Indeed, Gage's breaking of his word helped spark the American Revolution and it was partly from the resulting outrage of firearms confiscation that many of the colonies specifically declared the right of their free men to bear arms. This right was later incorporated into what we now call The Bill of Rights.
Welcome to the September 13th edition of the Weekly Check on the Bias of media regarding firearms and the Second Amendment. The big news -- by now widely discussed -- was the forced confiscation of firearms from those law-abiding residents of New Orleans who chose to remain in town following Hurricane Katrina. These hardy souls have been at the mercy of roving gangs of looters breaking into homes to steal anything of value. As the New York Times calmly reported:
No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.
In the nearly two weeks since Hurricane Katrina, the government of New Orleans has devolved from its traditional status as an elective kleptocracy into something far more dangerous: an anarcho-tyranny that refuses to protect the public from criminals while preventing people from protecting themselves. At the orders of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the New Orleans Police, the National Guard, the Oklahoma National Guard, and U.S. Marshals have begun breaking into homes at gunpoint, confiscating their lawfully-owned firearms, and evicting the residents...[...]
In the rest of the city, some police officers abandoned their posts, while others joined the looting spree. For several days, the ones who stayed on the job did not act to stop the looting that was going on right in front of them. To the extent that any homes or businesses were saved, the saviors were the many good citizens of New Orleans who defended their families, homes, and businesses with their own firearms.
[...]
The good gun-owning citizens of New Orleans and the surrounding areas ought to be thanked for helping to save some of their city after Mayor Nagin, incoherent and weeping, had fled to Baton Rouge. Yet instead these citizens are being victimized by a new round of home invasions and looting, these ones government-organized, for the purpose of firearms confiscation.
Why was the confiscation not only illegal but also ill-advised? From Cox News Service:
For days after the storm, the several dozen people who did not evacuate from Algiers Point said they did not see any police or soldiers but did see gangs of intruders.So they set up what might be the ultimate neighborhood watch.
At night, the balcony of a beautifully restored Victorian house built in 1871 served as a lookout point. "I had the right flank," said Vinnie Pervel. Sitting in a white rocking chair on the balcony, his neighbor, Gareth Stubbs, protected the left flank.
They were armed with an arsenal gathered from the neighborhood — a shotgun, pistols, a flare gun and a Vietnam-era AK-47. They were backed up by Gregg Harris, who lives in the house with Pervel, and Pervel's 74-year-old mother, Jennie, who lives across Pelican Street from her son and is known in Algiers Point as "Miss P."
Many nights, Miss P. had a .38-caliber pistol in one hand and rosary beads in the other.
[...]
There are gas lamps on the columned porch that stayed on during the storm and its aftermath. The militia rigged car headlights and a car battery on porches of nearby houses. Then they put empty cans beneath trees that had fallen across both ends of the block.
When someone approached in the darkness, "you could hear the cans rattle. Then we would hit the switch at the battery and light up the street," said Pervel. "We would yell, 'we're going to count three and if you don't identify yourself, we're going to start shooting.' "
They could hear people fleeing and never fired a shot.
Another story, this one from the Baltimore Sun:
For nearly two weeks, Patrick Pearson guarded his suburban neighborhood against the unknown. His arsenal consisted of orange cones, tiki torches and a rifle. He stopped anyone trying to gain entry. He slept little and ate less."I had to use every skill I had to keep these people safe," said Pearson, 45, a former Marine who lost 12 pounds in the chaotic week after the storm. But over the weekend, for a few hours, he let his guard down. The New Orleans Saints were playing their season opener, and he was going to watch.
[...]
Pearson's brief respite before the television is but one instance of the normality returning to New Orleans. A few bars and restaurants along Bourbon Street have opened for business. Several hotels are accepting guests. Joggers and dog walkers can be seen in the grass along levees that are drying out. The international airport is expected to resume limited commercial service today.
Electricity and running water have returned to some sections of the city, though many neighborhoods are still flooded and there is much work to be done before the city is functional again. The streets are littered with debris, and the air reeks of stagnation. Uprooted trees and fallen branches line the roads.
That's the kind of toughness that built this country. Indeed, it's that refusal to give in to an oppressive government that helped America gain it's independence from England in the first place.
The one thing that struck me through all of this is that all the newspapers (meaning the biggies like the New York Times and the Washington Post) that reported on the mandatory gun confiscation never issued a single editorial decrying the violation of one of the pillars of the Bill of Rights and even Louisianna's own State Constitution. You can be sure that if it was any other enumerated right, such as free speech or voting rights, their op-eds would be shouting indignation in bold print.
There was other news this past week...
The Second Amendment Foundation commissioned the Zogby Poll to find out whether people think it better to control crime through gun control or through border control. The results speak for themselves:
By a three-to-one margin, American citizens think border control is far more important to national security and fighting crime than gun control, a nationwide Zogby survey has revealed.The survey, commissioned by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), found that 70 percent of the respondents believe border control is more important, while only 23 percent favor more gun control. Seven percent of the respondents were undecided. The survey was conducted Sept. 6-7, by randomly contacting more than 1,150 households around the country. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percent, Zogby said.
"An overwhelming majority of American citizens think it is far more important to stop the flood of illegal aliens into this country than it is to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners," said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb. "Disarming American citizens is not now, and never has been the solution to violent crime, especially when it appears that a growing number of those violent crimes are being committed by people who are in this country illegally."
According to the Zogby survey, a majority of respondents in every sub-group -- including 60 percent or more in most groups -- says border control is more effective than gun control. Those most likely to agree include three-fourths or more of residents of rural areas, people with annual household income of $15,000- $34,999, high school graduates, and those with some college education, and four-fifths or more of Republicans, 18-29 year- olds, and Born-again Christians, the survey revealed.
People with household income less than $15,000 (38 percent) are more likely to support gun control, the survey said. Approximately one-third of Democrats, Hispanics, single adults, and residents of large cities agree, as do 28 percent each of college graduates and residents of the West region.
"Even those in categories that lean more favorably toward gun control are in the minority, according to the results of this survey," Gottlieb noted. "The results are pretty clear. Americans believe their constitutional right to bear arms should be protected, and that illegal immigration must be controlled, not the other way around."
Back in August I first reported the story of ATF agents and Virginia police acting badly at gun shows. Now, the promoter may join several attendees in filing suit. From Crosswalk:
The owner of a gun show targeted by federal law enforcement for a half dozen undercover enforcement operations may join with some of his customers in filing a federal class action civil rights lawsuit against the agencies that participated in the operations.[...]
"More people have had their rights violated at my shows than at Annette's show," Elliot said, referring to colleague Annette Gelles, who owns the Showmasters Gun Show, which was the target of another ATF Task Force operation last month.
"They've been pulled over when they left the building and had their guns taken away from them," Elliot continued. "In one case, we had a guy with a valid concealed-carry permit who had his gun confiscated. He had to go to ATF headquarters the next day to pick that gun back up."
As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Richmond and Henrico police officers, acting under instructions from ATF agents, conducted "residence checks," going to certain gun buyers' homes to confirm their residence information. Records obtained through another FOIA request of the Henrico County Police Department support the allegation that some officers shared confidential information about gun buyers with their relatives and, possibly, with neighbors.
"There are a whole lot of people now starting to speak up about things that went on and happened to them and some of the stuff that just wasn't right that ATF did, along with other law enforcement people," Elliot said. "Some are starting to talk and some don't want to talk."
The VSP documents also list 43 guns as "confiscated," a figure that Elliot questions.
"How many of those guns stayed confiscated and how many were actually returned to their rightful owners?" Elliot asked. "We know of at least three."
Attorney Richard Gardiner is an expert on federal firearms laws. He previously told Cybercast News Service that the behavior Elliot described would potentially rise to the level of civil rights violations.
"I think you would have an action against the state and local agents or officers for violation of your federal statutory rights," Gardiner said. "You can recover against individual federal agents for violation of your constitutional rights but not your statutory rights."
Elliot and Gelles are seeking co-plaintiffs for a likely lawsuit against all of the law enforcement agencies involved in the ATF Task Force.
It will be interesting to see if those law-abiding citizens in New Orleans who had their firearms confiscated will also file suit. In an emergency, it is more important than ever that Americans believe that government will protect their rights, not infringe on them. Else, the powers that be will consider itself to have license to infringe more and more with each succeeding event.
What if they held a rebate and no one came? Smith and Wesson is finding that out. From the Charlotte Observer:
Smith & Wesson, trying to reduce firearms accidents and boost the gun maker's sales, is offering a $25 rebate to handgun buyers across the country who complete a safety course.Few customers, though, seem to be taking the nation's oldest gun manufacturer up on its offer, judging from the company's affiliated dealers in Charlotte.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly known as Handgun Control Inc., has historically called for increased safety training for gun owners. The group, however, criticized Smith & Wesson's offer as an attempt at image-polishing while the company and other gun manufacturers fight federal legislation that would require all gun owners be licensed and pass a safety course.
Springfield, Mass.-based Smith & Wesson is one of the world's largest manufacturers of handguns. It posted sales of $124 million in its most recent fiscal year.
Industry officials say a steady decline in firearms accidents for decades shows that mandated safety courses aren't necessary, and Americans don't need a license to exercise a constitutional right to bear arms.
As part of its "Protecting the Homefront" campaign, Smith & Wesson will send $25 to a customer who buys a Smith & Wesson firearm and submits proof that he or she completed a gun safety course postmarked by Sept. 30. The buyer also gets a baseball cap with the company logo.
Secondly, the implication that folks don't want to learn gun safety is false. Many states require that permit holders take a safetly class so they already have. Many more gun owners have also taken mandatory hunter-safety classes that include safe gun handling. I'm willing to bet that if you polled gun owners, 4/5ths of them will have had safe gun handling instruction.
The Brady Bunch again reveal their ambition to require the licensing of all gun owners and no doubt universal firearm registration as well. The gun industry is correct in it's response: Rights are not priviledges and shouldn't need sanction by the state or federal government.
I'll be on Cam Edwards' NRA News this afternoon and until then, thanks so much for stopping by!
Seems like just a few days ago I was praising Wal-Mart. There's a mistake I won't make again. From the Boston Globe:
BATON ROUGE, La. -- As fearful residents rush to stock up on guns, Wal-Mart, one of the region's biggest suppliers, abruptly stopped selling them at 40 stores scattered throughout the Gulf Coast.The move infuriated some Wal-Mart customers in this fiercely progun region, some of whom said the big chain left them without protection as the violence increased after Hurricane Katrina.
''We had a lot of chaos," said Donald Goff, who was sitting in a white pickup outside a local Wal-Mart store. ''They should be open to sell guns. They should not be doing this to people."
Smaller stores are eagerly filling the void. Spillway Sportsman, near Baton Rouge, sold 172 guns in one three-day period after the hurricane, when normally it might sell 15. One mother came in to buy her first gun after she and her two children, ages 9 and 12, witnessed a slaying on the streets of New Orleans, said Scott Roe, Spillway's owner.
''Her comment was, 'I was a card-carrying, antigun liberal -- not anymore,' " Roe said. ''She said, 'I'm going back home, and I am not going back unarmed.' "
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Karen Burk, attributed the company's decision to pull guns from the shelves to ''some very fluid circumstances and changing situations" in the region. She did not elaborate far beyond that. ''We're trying to take care of our customers and community and be a responsible retailer at the same time," Burk said.
In addition to its decision to stop gun sales at 40 stores, Wal-Mart also has placed severe restrictions on gun sales at some other stores in the area. Executives ordered the guns removed from their glass display cases and put into a vault instead. At those stores, customers who want to purchase a gun must select it through a catalog.
Burk said the retailer has no date set to return guns to the stores.
Refusing to sell firearms to law-abiding people who need -- or feel they need -- them is beyond the pale. In an emergency, with crime rampant (which it was even before New Orleans flooded) it is vital, as vital as flashlights and water, to give folks the means to protect themselves and their loved ones.
And in other nearby cities where the population has suddenly doubled with homeless, jobless victims of Katrina, it is a sad fact that some will turn to crime. Most won't but some will. The permenent residents have the right to take necessary precautions. Wal-Mart has shown that they don't give a damn about them. Shame on Wal-Mart. Hunting season is coming up; a boycott is called for, I think, by all 2nd Amendment supporters. Spread the word!
From the Norwalk Advocate (CT):
BRISTOL, Conn. -- A Bristol man was arrested Saturday in the fatal attack on a city woman.Michael Foster, 37, faces several charges including assault, burglary, assault of a person over 60 and possession of a pistol without a permit. Selina Brewster, 36, died in the attack.
Police said Brewster ran screaming into a neighbor's home early Friday morning and was followed by a crow-bar wielding man, later identified as Foster. He allegedly beat Brewster until Victor Ventrello shot him in the head with a .22-caliber rifle he keeps in a closet, police said.
Brewster, a nurse, died on the Ventrellos' floor after fleeing. Police said Foster also beat Brewster's live-in boyfriend, identified as David Fongemie by the Hartford Courant.
Foster was airlifted to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center with gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder. He was arrested just before 2 p.m. Saturday.
"We couldn't hold the door closed. He got into the foyer and started beating her with a crowbar," Victor Ventrello, 66, told the Courant in a phone interview from a relative's house Friday afternoon. He said the attacker hit his wife in the arm with the crowbar.
Owning a firearm is not just about protecting yourself, your home and family, it's also about being able to come to a neighbor's aid. In this case, it was too late and Brewster died from her wounds but the principle still stands.
HOLLYWOOD - The dangers of guns is the subject of two new movies. "Lord of War," directed by the New Zealander Andrew Niccol, opens Friday. "Dear Wendy," directed by the Dane Thomas Vinterberg, opens Sept. 23.[...]
"Some people think 'Lord of War' is a political film," Niccol says. "I think it's a truthful film, and the truth is political. The U.S. is by far the biggest exporter of arms in the world. It was true during the Clinton administration, and it's true during the Bush administration. It's bipartisan."
Vinterberg says "Dear Wendy""is primarily a story about being young and alienated and wanting to create a better life by a desperate solution. It's a political allegory and satire dealing with the American gun culture."
"The Wild West mentality is still strong in America," Niccol says, "especially if you go to a place like Texas, where it's alive and well, or maybe unwell: 'No one's taking away our guns.' In New Zealand, no one has a handgun, and they aren't saying, 'Gee, I wish I had one.' I hope the United States takes note that the murder rate is lower where gun availability is lower. It seems obvious to me."
And to show what a total fool Niccol is, note that the states with the highest murder rates are the ones where it's hardest to get a concealed carry permit. Anyone in Vermont can carry a gun. How come we have such a low murder rate? New York City, Chicago, Milwaukee, Washington DC -- You can't carry there and two of those cities don't allow handgun ownership, period. How to explain the high rates of violent crime and murder there?
Oh wait! Maybe Niccol wants to compare countries. I've decided that it is an effort in futility to compare specks of land such as Denmark or New Zealand with America because the US is 3000 miles across and has a much more varied mix of peoples, cultures, and mores. You're comparing apples and oranges with the US, which is more like the whole produce section of a supermarket.
I think it better to examine things state-by-state since each is so different that the availability of guns and the impact of or on crime become clear. What it shows is that it isn't the guns, it's the prevalence of people, drugs, poverty, unsupervised teenagers, lack of morals, and many other factors. The fact is, though, you could confiscate every gun in the country and you will still have drugs, poverty, etc., and -- yes -- crime. To simply say that more guns means more crime and murder is simplistic and false.
Life goes on in New Orleans. Not a blogger, but Chris Rose is a reporter hunkered down there who writes like one. Interesting.
James at Hell in a Handbasket on whether he's come to terms with 9/11.
Over at Confederate Yankee, it's The Kayne West Show.
Countertop is thinking of taking his lawyering skills elsewhere. My advice: We need lawyers in Vermont, too! Probably doesn't pay as much as elsewhere but for a gun nut, it's the place to be.
Eric Scheie has more on rebuilding New Orleans. Some human spirits never throw in the towel. That's how America came to be in the first place.
Tom Bowler at Libertarian Leanings eviscerates a WaPo piece on bipartisanship following 9/11 and Katrina.
The public editor of the New York Times finds past coverage by the newspaper rather lacking concerning poverty and dependence on the levee system in New Orleans.
On a much lighter note and because I'm into this stuff, Weird Events has a piece on spiritualist Daniel Dunglas Home. Just in case you wonder why I'm always mentioning Coast-to-Coast AM...
Political cartoonist Glenn McCoy sums it all up:
Especially to your employment, as many bloggers have found out. Over at 802 Online, which is sort of the "hub" of Vermont blogs, Cathy Resmer has a series of posts detailing one woman's firing over her blog entries. What made it especially tough is that her husband is currently serving in Iraq.
I've always kept my job and family out of Alphecca; granted this isn't a "personal" type blog, but you all know the horror stories of folks who haven't.
Over at The Volokh Conspiracy there are opposing views about the legality of the New Orleans gun confiscation with this post by David Kopel and this one by Orin Kerr. Eugene weighs in, too. Or just go there and start scrolling.
Update: Dave Kopel has more at Reason Magazine.
Apparently, when you're at Olive Garden, you're not like family. I've already stated the need for pork chop control but now we seem to need meatball control, too. From WGAL TV (PA):
Talk about your tossed salad and flying meatballs.A night out at a Colorado Olive Garden Restaurant landed six people in jail after two families who've had a long-standing beef with one another brawled inside the restaurant.
Valerie Baca, Lawerence Bettale Jr., Rene Bettale, Lawrence Bettale Sr. and two teens were arrested after an off-duty police officer used a stun gun to control the fight.
Westminster, Colo., police said two families who have been feuding were seated near one another Wednesday night and it came to a boiling point when one of the families was leaving and made a snide remark or gesture to the other family.
Police said bottles were broken, furniture was thrown, food was flying.
An off-duty police officer had just walked out of the door when the fight broke out, so a person ran out to get him, said Stephanie Topkoff with Westminster Police Department.
The officer tried to tame the fighting families and eventually had to use his stun gun, Topkoff said.
The group now faces charges of assault, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
Streets awash in pasta sauce...
It's starting to look like Dodge City...
Nobody's a hero when carrying a sub...
We must limit hi-cap grinders...
Not that I would ever want to be in Los Angeles but here's a conference I'd like to attend, or at least stream on the web. From Yahoo:
Nationally-syndicated talk show host, author and filmmaker Larry Elder will speak during the 20th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference luncheon on Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Los Angeles LAX Marriott hotel.The Sept. 23 - 25 conference will also feature appearances by National Rifle Association President Sandra Froman, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne La Pierre, Second Amendment Foundation President (SAF) Joe Tartaro and Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA). The event is co-sponsored by SAF and CCRKBA, with support from other organizations.
This year's keynote address will be delivered by Eugene Volokh, one of the nation's leading experts on firearms regulations. A former clerk for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Judge Alex Kozinski on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, he teaches copyright and free speech law, the law of government and religion, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy at UCLA Law School.
Elder produced and stars in the documentary film Michael and Me, the story about his pursuit of liberal anti-gun filmmaker Michael Moore. The film spoofs Moore's own movie, the highly criticized Bowling for Columbine and even mimics Moore's production style. Elder, whose syndicated talk show airs on KABC in Los Angeles, is also a columnist with the Creators Syndicate.
"We're thrilled that Larry Elder will be joining us for the conference," Gottlieb stated. "He is a great speaker, an authority on gun rights, and certainly one of the nation's leading on-air proponents for responsible firearms ownership and personal protection."
While New Orleans kicks out everyone, even those homeowners whose houses survived with little damage, and confiscate all of their guns, things are different in Gulfport, Mississippi. From the Roanoke Times:
GULFPORT, Miss. - "Owner Home And Will Kill"The plywood sign with spray-painted words was propped against the front of the house, with a hunting rifle positioned inside so that it could be seen from the street. Like many homeowners in the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast, Billy Bova's message to looters was clear.
"I hope to never have to do it - it'd be a terrible thing - but I will," the former Roanoke resident said. "I'm not kidding. Neither are my neighbors. Everybody's got guns here, son. Hell, it's the South. We're in this thing together."
[...]
Since then, Bova, who lives seven blocks from the beach, and his neighbors have worked to clean up their homes, yards and streets. The yellow cottage where Bova and Edwards live escaped with little damage, although they lost most of their trees, including his favorite one.
"That really pissed me off," he said. "It was a white dogwood. That's the official tree of Virginia."
From sunrise to sunset, he and his neighbors take chain saws to the centuries-old magnolias, pines and oaks that snapped or were uprooted, falling across houses, fences and cars and blocking the streets.
At nightfall, when the curfew comes, they get their arsenal of shotguns, handguns and automatic assault rifles and sit on their porches or patrol their neighborhood.
Telephone lines were down and cellular phones often didn't work, so there was no 911 system to respond to gunfire in the night. Police told residents "to do whatever we had to do to defend our lives and property," Bova said.
Just stumbled across this during a Google search and it gives new meaning to getting an ice-cream pop. From KOIN TV (OR):
An ice cream man used a gun to scare off a potential robber in Vancouver, and police say he did the right thing.[...]
t may seem odd for an ice cream man to be armed, but Sanders says the gun came in handy last Saturday.
"Right up here at the top of this bridge is where the guy flagged me down," Sanders said.
He pulled over, but instead of ice cream the man wanted a ride. Sanders said no.
"As he was walking away he turned and ran towards my vehicle trying to go in through the sliding door which was locked. At that point I grabbed for my .380, chambered a round. Then he'd already come in the window. I pointed it at him and he said, 'Oh s***,' and he takes off running," Sanders told KOIN News 6
Police arrested 20-year-old Brandon Kearney and charged him with robbery. They say he had a knife on him.
Investigators say Sanders, who has a valid concealed weapons permit, acted appropriately.
"You have an individual, who can at some points, I'm sure, carry large sums of money, who might feel he's vulnerable in some of the areas," Officer Ron Stevens said.
Bill Quick reports that a move is under way to allow homeowners to actually defend themselves from the barbarians at the gates.
Huge hat-tip to Acidman for pointing out this travesty:
Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.
But that order apparently does not apply to hundreds of security guards hired by businesses and some wealthy individuals to protect property. The guards, employees of private security companies like Blackwater, openly carry M-16's and other assault rifles. Mr. Compass said that he was aware of the private guards, but that the police had no plans to make them give up their weapons.
Now he wants to deprive legal owners of the only protection remaining to them, the Second Amendment, so they too can be raped and robbed in the shelters. How much you wanna bet those guns are NEVER given back to their legal owners?
...And yesterday I was just talking about shooting cars. There was a machine gun meet in Florida on Monday and at least one newspaper wasn't afraid to report on it without going anti-gun. From the Hernando Today (FL):
Setting up on a fire line at the sportsman's club, about 70 shooters sported several different types of firearms. Some shooters armed themselves with World War II era German machine guns. Others carried AK-47 assault rifles or AR-15s, the civilian equivalent of the M-16 rifle, the weapon used by the American military.One man held a Thompson submachine gun, a costly weapon that goes for about $25,000.
Oscar Bowman of Orlando was armed with a German MG42 machine gun from World War II. What it cost: $30,000.
Bowman said he comes to almost every machine gun shoot. Bowman, who works as an aerospace engineer in his other life, has been shooting machine guns for years.
"I was always into guns," he said.
One of the main attractions at the event was a Humvee mounted with a mini-gun on top. The mini-gun fired .308-caliber rounds.
"When he shoots this, it sounds like a mad sewing machine," Rickert said.
Wayne Parker, of St. Petersburg, said the mini-gun was used for demonstration purposes for his company, A-1 Tactical Ordinance.The St. Petersburg company sells weapons and equipment to law enforcement personnel, he said.
"I've been in weapons most of my life," Parker said.
Several people milled around the Humvee, parked at the end of the firing line. At 10:30 a.m., Parker climbed into the armored vehicle and into the turret. In seconds, the mini-gun roared to life, sending thousands of round downrange in a matter of seconds.
Several people jumped as the sound of the mini-gun ripped through the air.
"You gotta love the mini-gun," said David James of Spring Hill, who attended the event just to watch.James, his wife Kathleen and daughter, Jackie, have been to several of the shoots. James said he and his family were just there to watch Monday.
James served in the U.S. Army in the late 90s. It reminds him of his days when he was attached to the 10th Mountain Division, he said.
"I like the .50-caliber (machine gun)," James said. "I was a .50 gunner."
By mid-morning, a car and a pickup truck lay ruined downrange from the gunners. At 10:42 a.m., the car caught fire, sending black smoke in the air.
One man with a grenade launcher aimed towards the truck.He fired. The grenade lobbed 50 feet past the truck. Red smoke rose in the air.
The gunner turned around, shaking his head.The truck was still fair game.
It'd be cool to do it at night, with tracers, too.
A screenwriter shoots his unsold scripts. No, really! From the New York Times:
In the dim light of a shooting range, a figure clad in black baggy trousers and a black T-shirt is carefully loading a .45-caliber pistol. He adjusts his glasses, plants his feet and aims straight ahead.After firing a gun at a script, Tom Benedek photographs the results.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Five ear-splitting cracks ring through the cavern, and a flurry of paper - like tiny white feathers - wafts to the floor.
"That's 'Ivory Joe,' " says the screenwriter Tom Benedek, who has just pumped bullets into one of his 22 unproduced scripts. "It's a rewrite of an adaptation I did after 'Free Willy' for Lauren Shuler Donner," he adds, referring to a well-known producer. "A romantic comedy-drama."
Me, I stick to targets, water bottles, and empty soup cans. That's all the release I need... Less to clean up, too.
Update 9/9: So what ARE some of the cool things you folks have shot up at the range?
Apparently their pension plan is and that's never good news. From the AP:
LONOKE, Ark. - North Carolina-based Remington Arms Co.'s chief executive has sent a letter to the company's 1,000 Lonoke employees saying the company's long-term survival could be in jeopardy because of pension plan problems."Our company is facing one of its biggest financial challenges of the past 25 years," chief executive Thomas Millner wrote in a copy of the letter obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper of Little Rock.
Millner said the pension plan is receiving low interest rates and returns on its investments. He said the company is meeting its legal obligations regarding the plan. The Remington Arms pension plan covers all non-union employees hired before June 1996 and all union employees hired before September 1997.
The rifle and shotgun company's pension plans had assets of $109.6 million at the end of 2004, according to its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By the end of that year the company had accumulated benefit obligations of $138.9 million, which benefit plan experts say indicates a shortfall of at least $29.3 million.
Charles Rink, manager of the Lonoke plant, said he has heard the shortfall could be more than $48 million. Millner said in his letter that the plan's multi-million dollar future liability could be beyond the company's ability to fund from its earnings.
Remington Arms had a net loss of $3.2 million in 2003 and $4 million last year after combined earnings of more than $53 million the three previous years. It's debt has grown from $157 million in 2000 to $203 million last year.
Glenn Reynolds has an indepth post with many commentaries on the lessons learned from Katrina. Very interesting reading.
The denizens of The Ten Ring spent the Labor Day Weekend shopping for guns. In a related note, three of us from work spend Labor Day at the range. Did you know that .223 FMJ goes through 3/16th angle iron like butter? Cool...
The Spoons Experience notes that one liberal newspaper columnist is reassessing his position on guns in the wake of events in New Orleans.
There's a new organization called the Handgun Club of America targeted specifically towards owners of -- you guessed it -- handguns, a number estimated to be around 60 million people. They'll be offering gun and ammo reviews, legal commentary, advice, and more. Check it out!
Ah yes, one way to keep guns ON the street is to have gun buy-back programs... From the Journal Times (WI):
RACINE - Project New Life had hopes of getting guns off the street when it bought several weapons in a program that began last Wednesday.Unfortunately, someone had other plans in mind.
Seven guns, collected during a buy-back program, were stolen from Project New Life's administrative office at 1733 Douglas Ave. on Sept. 2 or Sept. 3, said Sgt. William Macemon, public information officer with the Racine Police Department.
"Sometime overnight, the rifles and shotguns were stolen,' Macemon said. "Our Gang Unit is currently looking into it."
The Rev. Elliott K. Cohen said Wednesday an individual the church was assisting had access to the office and had taken the guns. Rather than a burglary, Cohen is calling it an unfortunate incident.
"We work with people that find themselves in difficult situations. We're working to get the guns back," Cohen said.
So far, the guns have not been returned, he said.
The person who stole the guns had a parent murdered, no job, and a baby on the way, Cohen said.
When Mark Serbu of Serbu Firearms offered to let me play around with the BFG-50 Carbine, I didn't know what to expect. Everyone warned me about the recoil or shockwave or the loudness. I gave it a first look when it came. I've now had it out to the range twice. I'm happy to report that firing the BFG-50 is more fun than sex. Okay, maybe I need to get out more but I have to tell you, for a lot less than a Porche, a day at the range with this gun is just about the most exhilarating experience a firearm enthusiast can have without joining the army.
(Me!)
I'm happy to report to you that it's nothing like what I expected. It's better! Recoil wise, the muzzle brake obviously does a good job because it's not bad at all. One guy who fired it, Jim, said he'd rather fire this than his 30-06. I can tell you that having fired another friend's Krag 7mm mag, I'd rather fire the Serbu BFG-50, too. One guy, a cop, owned another brand and says he sold it because of the recoil. He tried it out and said that if he'd owned the Serbu, he'd have kept it.
So recoil just isn't a problem. What about loudness? Frankly, my friend's .223 caliber ARs are just as loud. You really should be wearing both ear plugs and muffs. It's not louder than many guns although the "pitch" is, um, deeper.
I can tell you this, everyone who shot this gun wound up with a huge grin on their face! Here's links to a couple clips:
Jeff smilin'...
Scott smilin'...
Lot's more to come, folks, including accuracy reporting, the ease (as I found out) of cleaning the Serbu BFG-50, and more. I gotta tell 'ya, this gun is fun!
Welcome to the September 6th edition of the Weekly Check on Media concerning guns and the Second Amendment.
The dominant story of the past week was, of course, Hurricane Katrina. The images of destruction, the helpless stranded, the misery, were all overwhelming. We've seen things such as this before but usually beamed to us from other parts of the world; usually from impoverished nations experiencing similar catastrophies or reeling from war and genocide. No doubt we've all grimaced and said to ourselves, "it can't happen here". It did. It has. Last week, New Orleans became a third world nation.
The purpose of any government is to protect its citizens. It took a week for help to reach New Orleans and much of it was too late. Bands of armed thugs roamed the streets, looting at will while what was left of the police force stood by helplessly. Given the circumstances, I do not define "looting" as the desperate folks grabbing food and water and other needed supplies off of store shelves. That's just trying to survive. Unfortunately, we also saw some mutants using the opportunity of chaos to steal TVs, DVDs, abusable drugs, and more. Those lootings weren't confined to broken-into stores but also to peoples homes, many occupied by residents who couldn't or wouldn't evacuate the city. From Canada.com:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - When night falls, Charlie Hackett climbs the steps to his boarded-up window, takes down the plywood, grabs his 12-gauge shotgun and waits.He is waiting for looters and troublemakers, for anyone thinking his neighbourhood has been abandoned like so many others across the city. Two doors down, John Carolan is doing the same on his screened-in porch, pistol by his side.
They are not about to give up their homes to the lawlessness that has engulfed New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
"We kind of together decided we would defend what we have here and we would stay up and defend the neighbourhood," says Hackett, a U.S. Army veteran with a snow-white beard and a business installing custom kitchens.
"I don't want to kill anybody," he says, "but I'd sure like to scare 'em."
[...]
"Last night I had to draw down on some people," Carolan says. A car with what sounded like a crowd of drunken, partying kids came through and stopped.
"I had to come out with a flashlight in one hand, pistol in the other," he says, crossing his arms like an X. "I said: 'Who are you? Do you live here? What are you doing here?' They said, 'We're leaving."'
[...]
In the first few days, they were especially fearful. Looters smashed windows and ransacked a discount store and a drugstore a few streets over. Three men came to Carolan's house asking about his generator and brandished a machete. He showed them his gun and they left.
"It was pandemonium for a couple of nights. We just felt that when they got done with the stores, they'd come to the homes," Hackett says. "When it's not easy pickings, they'll go somewhere else."
Notice that Carolan didn't need to actually shoot anyone and Hackett stated that he was just looking "to scare" any miscreants. That's how it generally works about a million times a year in this country. Showing that you can defend yourself is sufficient.
According to the New York Times, Carolan did fire a couple warning shots:
John Carolan was sitting on his porch in the thick, humid darkness just before midnight Tuesday when three or four young men, one with a knife and another with a machete, stopped in front of his fence and pointed to the generator humming in the front yard, he said.One said, "We want that generator," he recalled.
"I fired a couple of rounds over their heads with a .357 Magnum," Mr. Carolan recounted Wednesday. "They scattered."
In the end, survival often comes down to just you and the right to bear arms. From CNN:
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- The 21st century was swept away here. The winds and the floods and the disasters that followed took it.Some strange, more primitive time took its place, amid the useless computers and cars of the modern world. Those stranded were left behind to forage for food and water, share what little they have with neighbors, and find somewhere safe before night falls.
[...]
"We've all got guns," said Katha Fields, who lives down the street. Weeks ago, when this city was a place of tourists and jazz and jambalaya, she was a tour guide. Now, she and her neighbors gather at dusk, weapons at hand, and keep watch.
I will give credit to both these AP reports because there was no editorializing that "Gee, can't we all just get along and why do they need guns?" Sometimes, only a firearm can save your life or your possessions.
Others, not directly within the disaster zone are learning, too. From the Houston Chronicle:
LAFAYETTE, LA. - Rumors of rapes, robberies and other crimes spiking with the influx of New Orleans hurricane evacuees have incited a run on guns at stores across Cajun Country.Gun dealers from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge say they can't keep up with demand for small revolvers, semiautomatics, shotguns and stun guns, many being purchased by women and first-time gun owners, despite police denials that the crime rate has jumped.
"We have now officially sold more handguns than we normally sell in a year in the last three days," said Will Hall, lead salesman at Lafayette Shooters.
Manager Doug Brown estimates the store has sold 300 guns over the past three days, with people traveling as far as 100 miles to buy them. He said the spike was prompted by rumors of increased crime in town, recent TV images of New Orleans looting and the Big Easy's reputation for crime.
"A lot of people sit there glued to CNN and see nothing but negative images, and they're seeing all the crowds of people showing up here, and it's kind of fueling a frenzy," Brown said. "It's not a good situation."
In Lafayette, there were reports that 14 people were raped and two killed in the Cajundome, that others were mugged in the Wal-Mart parking lot and that Lafayette Shooters had been robbed.
"It is out of control. There's rumors all over the place," said Lafayette police Lt. Bill McGovern. But, he added, "Everything's fine here. The population has just about doubled in the past 72 hours, so they're just nervous with all the new people in town."
Guy Johnston was purchasing his first gun.The 27-year-old Tulane junior said he grew up in New Orleans and has become frustrated with the increasing crime there. Even before the hurricane, he said, he was robbed three times.
"I've avoided getting a gun for a long time and I'm not totally excited about it, but I really do feel like it's unavoidable now," Johnston said.
Well, there was one other story that I've been tracking and it does have something to do with the above. Owning a firearm does carry a serious responsibility to use and store it properly and safely. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released a study showing that not everyone does the latter. What's interesting though is that the vast majority DO! But you wouldn't know that from reading USA Today:
About 1.7 million U.S. children live in homes with loaded, unlocked firearms, according to the largest survey ever done on home weapons storage, out Tuesday in the Pediatrics online journal.[...]
Eighteen states have laws dealing with proper storage of guns to limit access by children, says Jon Vernick, co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University's school of public health. But the laws vary in strictness — 7 states make it a felony under some circumstances to give minors access to weapons — and they vary in the ages of kids covered, he says.
There's little known about how well these laws are enforced, Vernick adds. "They're great, and we absolutely need more states with laws. But often they seem to get enforced after it's too late, when a child has shot himself or someone else."
Two studies show accidental gun deaths and teen suicides decline in states with these laws, Vernick says.
The Pediatrics report says that of 1,400 children and teens shot to death in 2002, about 90% were home when it happened.
"It's a frightening problem," says Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a lobbying group that favors limiting gun ownership.
The gun storage survey may underestimate kids with access to firearms, says CDC's Mercy, because women tend to underreport the presence of weapons at home, past studies show. About 60% of survey participants were women.
Gun ownership has declined in the past decade, says Barnes, because the USA is increasingly urban and fewer adults hunt.
About 1.7 million U.S. children live in homes that have loaded and unlocked guns, according to what is being called the first comprehensive national survey of gun storage in homes across the country.The study, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, found that 2.5 percent of children live in homes with loaded and unsecured firearms. Estimates from the early 1990s had put the percentage at 10 percent. The new results suggest a decline, but that doesn't mean there's cause for celebration, said Catherine Okoro, a study author.
In any event, in a home where children live, safe gun handling MUST be taught. That's common sense, the type that can't be legislated. Guns must not be left loaded and unattended by adults. Children -- in homes with guns or not -- shouldn't be left unsupervised and maybe that's the real message here. Whether it's a firearm or a swimming pool or a book of matches, it all comes down to the parent. That's what raising children is about.
I never leave this baby laying about:
I do. Always have since they usually have good prices on ammo. Anyway, on one of the "talking heads" shows this morning I heard that Wal-Mart had sent a convoy of trucks bearing water to New Orleans the day before Katrina hit and were planning to give it out free. Supposedly, officials turned them away. I can't verify that but I can direct you to Wal-Mart's website where they are donating a hell of a lot and setting up distribution centers in the ravaged areas to give out free supplies of essentials to victims. Here's what they're doing. I'll just quote a bit of it:
* We continue to send emergency relief convoys to New Orleans, including more trucks containing water.
* Shipments of beds are being delivered to the Houston Astrodome.
* Two mobile Wal-Mart Donation Centers opened this morning in Lafayette, La. and on the west side of the Dallas convention center, which is serving as a shelter to thousands of evacuees. Company teams are also working to set up more of these Wal-Mart Donation Centers, which will provide food, diapers, toothbrushes, baby wipes and other personal items free of charge to those in need.* Wal-Mart is donating two trailers full of water and basic necessities to the New Orleans police force.
* Emergency Prescriptions Filled Free for Evacuees With No Money: Evacuees with emergency medicine needs and no money may go to any Wal-Mart pharmacy to have their prescriptions filled free of charge, even if they do not have a copy of their prescription. People who have been displaced and are temporarily residing in other areas may receive a seven-day supply of free medication. Nurses and doctors who have authority to write prescriptions and are treating patients in special needs shelters as part of the recovery effort can send their patients' prescriptions to Wal-Mart stores to be filled. Pharmacists are also prepared to handle situations where people do not have their prescriptions with them...
By the way, I hear that Target is doing good too, so shop there as well.
Update 9/12: I take it back! See this post! To hell with Wal-Mart!
The Brazilian government is trying to disarm everyone in Brazil, which suffers from the highest rate of gun deaths in the world. They've had a gun buyback program in place for a year and will host a referendum in two months calling for a total ban on civilian gun ownership. Murder accounts for 91% of all gun deaths there with suicide a distant second at 3%. I'm therefore a little suspicious when I read this:
A government disarmament campaign has helped cut gun deaths in Brazil, which has the worst record in the world for such killings, for the first time in 13 years, the Health Ministry said on Friday.The report was released seven weeks before a referendum on banning guns and arms sales in Latin America's largest country, which is gripped by rampant crime.
It said gun deaths fell by more than 8 percent to 36,091 in 2004 compared with the previous year.
The report said more than 443,700 guns were collected in a disarmament campaign launched in mid-2004, in which the government pays compensation to people who hand in weapons with no questions asked, and this had helped cut the death total.
BRASILIA - (AP) [Sept. 2] -- Congressional investigators recommended the impeachment of 19 legislators linked to a corruption scandal that has rocked the government of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.Among the 19 designated on Thursday was Rep. Jose Dirceu, Lula da Silva's powerful former chief of staff. Dirceu resigned in June amid charges he knew that the government Workers Party had taken more than $24 million in undeclared bank loans to pay the campaign debts of its allies in Congress.
Those accused face expulsion from Congress and could become ineligible to hold public office for a period of eight years.
A corruption scandal centred on Brazil's governing Workers Party has been gathering momentum on a daily basis since it broke two months ago.There have been several resignations of members of government as well as Workers Party officials in the wake of the revelations.
[...]
But the great paradox of the situation is that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas's grip on power seems undiminished.
Lula has said he had no knowledge of illegal payments to allied parties in return for their support or the use of undeclared election funds.
However, few people believe this denial. Even an emotional speech by Lula in the presidential palace, during which he shed tears and mentioned the strength of his mother's character, failed to alter the opinion of many.
The newspaper columnist Clovis Rossi, writing in Folha de San Paulo, said: "No one can stand the president's empty and chaotic speeches any more."
Lula's predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has asked: "If he really knew nothing about everything that went on, how did he become president?"
The culture in Brazil is also rather unique. Until recently, discovering your wife's infidelity was sufficient grounds for murdering her, or at least having a jury downgrade the charges against you in court.
Even if the statistics are real, I don't think gun-grabbers in other parts of the world should draw too many conclusions just yet, based on 12 months reporting. Maybe the Brazilian soaps -- a passion in that country -- were especially spicey this past year and all the criminals stayed home...
Did President Bush really shun international help for the victims of Katrina? From News.com.au:
Accustomed to being a rich donor rather than on the receiving end of charity, the United States initially seemed reticent about accepting foreign aid, but later said it would take up any offers. The hurricane devastated New Orleans and other parts of the US Gulf Coast, killing hundreds and possibly thousands."Anything that can be of help to alleviate the tragic situation of the area affected by Hurricane Katrina will be accepted," said US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"America should be heartened by the fact that the world is reaching out to America at a time of need," he said.
Earlier, President George W. Bush said in a television interview that the United States could take care of itself.
"I'm not expecting much from foreign nations because we hadn't asked for it. I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country's going to rise up and take care of it," Mr Bush told ABC's Good Morning America.
Mr McCormack said there had not been a change of position over accepting foreign aid and White House spokesman Scott McClellan also said the United States would take up offers of help.
The State Department said offers so far had come from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Britain, China, Jamaica, Honduras, Greece, Venezuela, the Organisation of American States, NATO, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, South Korea, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Assistance ranged from medical teams, boats, aircraft, tents, blankets, generators and cash donations.
By the way, aside from the United Arab Emirates, I don't see any assistance offered -- even if just some cheap oil -- from our friends the Saudis or Kuwait.
After bailing out half the countries of this planet time-and-again, it's about time some of them returned the favor; we need it and Bush should be welcoming it.
Just remember, I wanted Joe Lieberman for President.
Here's some excellent advice for Cook County Commissioner, Larry Suffredin, from the Illinois State Rifle Association:
The ISRA is urging Cook County Commissioner, Larry Suffredin, to take a trip to New Orleans this weekend to garner support for tightened restrictions on private firearm ownership.Suffredin, a staunch gun control advocate, is the author of a proposed county ordinance that, if passed, would result in the banning and forced confiscation of legally purchased firearms from thousands of law-abiding Cook County residents. Despite growing public opposition to the ban, Suffredin plans to move forward with his unprecedented assault on the rights of law-abiding citizens.
"I think it would be fitting if we could lift Suffredin and his posh Evanston home and drop it smack in the middle of New Orleans' flood-ravaged lower Ninth Ward," commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. "I can just see Larry now, sitting on his veranda, trying to fend off looters and 'gators with green tea and granola bars. Yes, it's a silly visualization, but it illustrates just how out of touch Larry Suffredin is with the world lying beyond his cobblestone street."
"Horrible events like Katrina's aftermath can bring out the worst in even the best of people," continued Pearson. "What we are seeing now in New Orleans is the worst being brought out in people who were pretty bad to start with. The only things preserving the shred of civility remaining in New Orleans are firearms owned by law-abiding citizens. The only obstacle to a total breakdown in social order is the armed citizen, standing on his veranda with firearm in hand, serving as a reminder to the lawless of just who is in charge."
To underscore this, here's what one cop in New Orleans yesterday said to a reporter there:
"Hope you got a pistol," suggested one of the policemen, the sleeves of his T-shirt rolled up to expose a massive dragon tattoo and the name Armand. "It's going to be mayhem here."
A few weeks ago in my Weekly Report I showed how Canada was blaming the US for all the guns in Toronto, a city seeing waves of gang violence. Well, that didn't pan out for the geniuses there so now they're blaming local gun shops:
The Ontario government and Toronto Police Service are working together to get more guns off the streets of the province's biggest city.Toronto has seen a deadly spate of gun violence this summer. Attorney General Michael Bryant says there will be "blitz" inspections of gun businesses to ensure they're storing their guns safely. Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says half the illegal guns on the city's streets come from robberies of gun shops or gun owners.
Hey Jerk, how about a "blitz" of inspections on the fucking mutant members of these gangs? How about a platoon of cops storming them where they meet, where they live, and where they congregate? Stop harrassing the law-abiding and the gun stores and go after the real crime problem. It's the gang members you should be "inspecting" and if you catch them doing something wrong or illegally possessing firearms, throw them the fuck into jail and make sure your judges sentence them to stay the fuck in jail.
There, hope that helps.
I love when an election is nearing and all these politicians on either side of the aisle try to prove how pro-2A they are. Remember the pathetic John Kerry lunging at any possible photo-op where he could show a gun in his hand?
In Virginia, that's how the governor's race is shaping up. From the Roanoke Times:
...[the] Republican nominee for governor surrounded himself with GOP lawmakers and a National Rifle Association official to announce the formation of a "Sportsmen for Kilgore" committee that will handle that task for him."Protecting the Second Amendment is not just some issue I stumbled upon in an election year," Kilgore, a Scott County native, told a small crowd of supporters at Box Tree Lodge in Vinton. "It's how I was raised and it's who I am."
Kilgore, the former attorney general, considers gun rights a defining issue in his election battle with Democrat Tim Kaine, the lieutenant governor. Kaine unveiled his own sportsmen's committee with a flourish last week in Franklin County, blasting clay pigeons with a 12-gauge shotgun. Kilgore said his rival's skeet-shooting exhibition can't improve his record on gun rights.
Kilgore not only contrasted his "A" rating from the influential NRA with Kaine's "F" rating. He also had Chuck Cunningham, the NRA's director of federal affairs, at his side to reinforce the message. Cunningham called Kilgore "an unfailing and untiring friend to Virginia's gun owners and sportsmen."
[...]
ichmond activists who participated in the 2000 Million Mom March for gun control in Washington, D.C. Kaine, then Richmond's mayor, authorized public funds to bus marchers to the event, but later reimbursed the city.
Kaine has said that he acted out of sympathy for families of violent crime victims. But Griffith, the House majority leader, cut Kaine no slack.
"His first instinct was that guns are such a scourge that we ought to spend taxpayers' dollars to support this movement to take away your gun rights," said Griffith.
Kilgore criticized Kaine for joining Richmond's city council in 1999 in seeking a report on the feasibility of suing gun manufacturers, an idea that Kaine said he ultimately opposed.
Kaine campaign spokeswoman Delacey Skinner likened the attacks to those that Republicans used four years ago against Warner and Kaine.
"The bottom line is that Tim Kaine supports the Second Amendment and he's not going to propose any new anti-gun laws," Skinner said. "No amount of shrieking by the Kilgore campaign will change that."
Virginia being a proud, gun-rights state, it is ludicrous for any statewide politician to say anything BUT that "...he's not going to propose any new anti-gun laws." But what if someone else does? Or the Democrats retake Congress and they do? Or Kaine supports something that he claims isn't "anti-gun" but is just "commonsense gun control"? You know how these phonies cloak their schemes...
Glenn Reynolds (and many others) have a wealth of ways to help hurricane victims and other links.
