Saturday, March 5, 2011

Paranoid Joe Huffman

In response to my claims that genocide "can't happen here," Joe had this to say.

I think you are correct, "It can't happen here." But the reason for that is that the most likely victims are those that happen to own firearms. The ownership of firearms changes your attitude and your relationship with your government. With that attitude change and the presence of firearms in the hands of the most likely victims those most inclined to commit genocide are severely discouraged from doing so. You might challenge my assertion that the most likely victims are those with firearms but look at all the great genocides committed within a population (not across cultures such as whites against American Indians or the Japanese against the Chinese). All of them that I can think of were committed by leftists and other statists upon those that resisted their authority. Gun owners, as a group, are more self reliant and oppose the big government involvement associated with leftist governments. Just look at the violent rhetoric and actions of the anti-gun people in this country. There are far more people advocating that gun owners kill each other, themselves, and their children than the other way around.

You claim it "won't happen here"? You are correct but you don't understand the real reason. It is because the gun owners won't let it happen. We regard the protection of innocent life as a responsibility of gun ownership. The lefists regard genocide as just part of the cost of achieving and maintaining power.
His other answer about Washington D.C. was pretty flimsy too, but I wanted to concentrate on this one.

He said, "You might challenge my assertion that the most likely victims are those with firearms."  Yes I might indeed. This sounds like more than paranoia. This sounds like paranoia and egocentrism. It's not uncommon for the gun rights extremist, like Joe, to think the world revolves around him.

He said, "You claim it "won't happen here"? You are correct but you don't understand the real reason. It is because the gun owners won't let it happen."

Aside from the comical condescension, what he apparently believes is pretty funny too. Imagine the federal government with the largest military spending ever known to man, coming after the gun owners. Those gun owners, banding together perhaps someplace in Idaho to make a stand, would fight off the stealth bombers, nuclear and chemical weapons, all guided by the most advanced satellites. These intrepid warriors would emerge from the ashes free and victorious.

That's Joe's vision, and not only Joe's. Thousands read his blog every day.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Gun Manufacturers

via Robert Farago

Chris Brown wrote a wonderful article for Media Matters about the false advertising used by gun manufacturers.

The gun lobby ceased to be about hunting and hunters long ago, but maintaining that image is a critical marketing tool for the NSSF and the NRA. The NSSF's idea of a modern hunting rifle are AR platforms, such as the M-16 civilian variant AR-15. The blurring of the lines can be explained by the gun industry's need to sell new firearms products to the eroding percentage of the population which owns firearms, when the firearms currently owned by Americans have very long lifetimes. While NSSF may present AR-15's as the modern hunting rifle don't expect them to redo the logo anytime soon. 
The individual gun owners who spout all the NRA buzzwords, perhaps shouldn't be the primary focus of gun control laws. Even the FFL guys who make straw purchasing easy by turning a blind eye, or worse, perhaps are nothing more than pawns. The real guilty parties are the gun manufacturers. They produce more product than can be consumed by the law-abiding. They build into their sales strategies the fact that their products are flowing from the factory to the FFL to the individual owner, and too often to a criminal. These are the guys who pitch guns like the KSG shotgun that Robert was talking about as quail guns.

What's your opinion? Do you think more needs to be done about the producers of these weapons? Do you think they need to be limited more or controlled better?

Please leave a comment.

Mississippi Youth

via Dog Gone of Penigma

Yahoo News reports.

A 15-year-old boy was beaten and branded with hot metal after a confrontation with a 12-year-old girl at a party in Mississippi where teens had been drinking, authorities said Friday.

Five people are charged in the case, including the 12-year-old girl.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie said Denise Randall, 46, was hosting the party in the east-central Mississippi community of Meridian last weekend when the victim bumped into the girl. Someone then called the girl's 15-year-old boyfriend.

Sollie said the boyfriend arrived and held the victim, who was not identified, at gunpoint while he was beaten and branded with hot metal.
What's your opinion? Are these typical young people, using guns, vengeance and torture? Where do you think they learn that stuff?

Please leave a comment.

Iowa - Breathalyzer for Gun Carriers


Fox News has the story.

A new bill advancing through the Iowa Senate would compel gun owners to take a breathalyzer test if an officer suspects they're intoxicated while armed.

Under the proposal, anyone who declines would automatically forfeit their firearm permit.
Isn't Iowa that place where they just relaxed the requirements for getting the CCW permit? Maybe it's one step forward and two steps back for the pro-gunners over there.

What's your opinion? Wouldn't controlling for drunkenness among gun carriers be a good thing? If they're sober and responsible, what would they have to object to?

Please leave a comment.

The Confederate Flag and Racism

Norwegianity had some interesting remarks about this one.


In a rare moment of sanity, an Oregon school has suspended a bus driver for displaying the Confederate flag in his pickup.

Nothing says "nigger, nigger, nigger" like the Stars'n'Bars. Germany banned the swastika after WWII but the Confederacy never really surrendered, and has never stopped fighting racial equality in these United States. Look at every civil rights vote ever and then tell me I'm wrong.
What's your opinion? I've long held that there's a strict relationship between conservatives, gun owners and racism. When you throw in that Southern Confederacy nonsense it naturally increases.

What do you think? Like a lot of other things in the gun debate, why is it so difficult for gun owners who are not racists to admit that many of their confreres are? Can they blame people for painting with a broad brush when they deny all? Isn't such denial another way of painting with that same broad brush?

Please leave a comment

Rep. Paul Broun on HR-45

via Winston Dorian

A few observations of my own:

1. the main theme: Obama is coming for your guns
2. point 5 at 1:55 is the old pro-gun lie which misuses the word "ban"
3. at 2:33, in quoting the Bill of Rights, he omitted the first part of the amendment.
4. restricting the 2nd Amendment rights is tantamount to "you have no rights."
5. after a flurry of silly and alarmist exaggerations, at the 4:00 he said, "send your most generous contribution." The whole thing is a pitch for the National Association for Gun Rights.

Friday, March 4, 2011

The Eastern Cougar is Extinct

via Desdemona Despair I wonder how long ago it was that hunters and gun owners were shooting at this wonderful animal.


The Service initiated the review as part of its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. The Service will prepare a proposal to remove the eastern cougar from the endangered species list, since extinct animals are not eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The proposal will be made available for public comment.

The Service's decision to declare the eastern cougar extinct does not affect the status of the Florida panther, another wild cat subspecies listed as endangered. Though the Florida panther once ranged throughout the Southeast, it now exists in less than five percent of its historic habitat and in only one breeding population of 120 to 160 animals in southwestern Florida.

Right Wing Ex-Hippies

via Get Off Our Planet. I love what this guy has to say.

As I get older it really cracks me up seeing all these people who live very liberal lifestyles developing ultra-conservative views as they get older. Hippie Republicans?? I don’t get it. If anything I’m getting more liberal as the years go by (ask most people who have known me for years if that is a good thing… in my case they will say it is).

A lot of people think that becoming more conservative as you age goes hand in hand with maturity. I just call it lame. Becoming more close-minded, intolerant, and crotchety as you get older isn’t good no matter how you look at it. And yes, that is how I see you conservatives. You don’t want the government off your backs as much as you just want the freedom to be ignorant, assholes, or both.

Arizonans Want More Gun Control

In an incredibly surprising result, the MAIG sponsored poll came up with the good news. If this keeps up, I'm gonna have to stop bashing Arizona.

A poll commissioned by the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns says that sizable majorities of Arizona voters support several specific gun-control measures, similar to findings in four other states that also were surveyed.

Among the findings, 83 percent of the 600 registered voters polled in Arizona favor a law requiring all gun buyers to pass a background check.

Among gun-owners, the number was 75 percent in Arizona, the group reported.
What do you think? Did they use trick questions to get the results they wanted? That's what the gun defenders always say, isn't it? Why is it so difficult to believe people want common sense restrictions? Why is it so difficult to accept that even gun onwers, in large part, agree with this?

Please leave a comment.

Why We Need CCW Permit Holder Transparency

From the Boston Herald talking about the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's opinion that the 1.3 million holders of Firearm Owners identification cards is public record.

— An investigation by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel published in 2007 found that 1,400 people who were given concealed-carry licenses in the first half of 2006 had earlier pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies but qualified for guns because of a loophole in the law.

—In Memphis, Tenn., The Commercial Appeal found at least 70 people in the Memphis area who had concealed-carry permits despite violent histories including robbery, assault and domestic violence. A firestorm erupted after the newspaper posted an online database in 2008 of names of all concealed-carry permit holders in Tennessee.

Legislatures in Florida and Tennessee have since voted to make information on permit holders private.

—The Indianapolis Star found hundreds of people convicted of felonies or other "questionable" cases in which people were subsequently granted concealed-carry permits, often over protests cases from local law enforcement officials and in some instances where it appeared the state police had a legal obligation to deny them.
What's your opinion? Doesn't the secretive nature of these records play right into the hands of those who really shouldn't have permits? Wouldn't more accessible and transparent information help to uncover those hidden criminals pretending to be law abiding?

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Message from Mayor Cory Booker

via Dog Gone of Penigma

I was dubious about the mayor's claims that Newark has improved when he came out with them last year. But, even if that's exaggerated hype and misrepresentative of what's really going on in Newark, what Booker is asking for concerning background checks is right on the money.

America’s gun laws are designed to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals, the mentally ill, drug abusers, and other dangerous people. But the background check system these laws depend on is broken, making it far too easy for guns to end up in the wrong hands.

In my city of Newark, we’ve shown how a dedicated police force and an engaged community can reduce gun crime and make it harder for dangerous people to get guns. But we need our leaders in Washington to step up and help us get the job done.

That’s why I'm asking you to join 550 mayors from across the country in calling on Congress and President Obama to fix our broken background check system.

Sign the petition to Fix Gun Checks and tell your elected officials where you stand.

The Tucson killer bought a gun despite a history of drug abuse and mental health issues. That is tragically reminiscent of Virginia Tech, where the shooter passed a background check even after a judge declared him mentally ill.

In fact, we’ve seen this kind of failure again and again. Dangerous people have slipped through the cracks in our gun laws ever since Congress passed the first Gun Control Act back in 1968, after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

It’s time for Congress to fix gun background checks and stem this tide of violence by taking two critical steps:


* Get all the names of people who should be prohibited from buying guns into the background check system.

* Require a background check for every gun sale in America.
What's your opinion? Is the country about ready to do something about this sloppy background check system? Why do pro-gun folks oppose this again?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Who Could Have Seen This Happening?

Let's see....kids, gunloon parents....tragedy:
DENVER — A rural Colorado community, not far from the Kansas border, was left shaken this week after a 12-year-old boy was taken into custody on suspicion of killing his parents and wounding his younger brother and sister on Tuesday night.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Pushing Beer on a Gun Blog

Mike W. said:

Dogfish Head's seasonal brew "Aprihop" starts hitting store shelves this month. This is one of their beers I've yet to try. I'll have to remedy that. This is afterall my "year of the beer" per one of my New Year's resolutions.
One of the worst combinations out there is alcohol and guns. Irresponsible bloggers like to mix them. It's bad news.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Transformation

via One Sided War   This is what happens after reading Mikeb302000 for six months.

The President's Speech

via Rising Hegemon

Liberal Viewer on Fox News

The Frankfurt Airport Shooting

Yahoo News reports.

Two U.S. airmen were killed and two others were wounded at Frankfurt airport when a man opened fire on them at close range with a handgun, the first such attack on American forces in Germany in a quarter century.

President Barack Obama called the Wednesday shooting an "outrageous act."

The alleged assailant, identified as a 21-year-old Kosovo man, was taken immediately into custody and was being questioned by authorities, said Frankfurt police spokesman Manfred Fuellhardt.

Family members in Kosovo described the suspect as a devout Muslim, who was born and raised in Germany and worked at the airport.
So, what went wrong here? There were armed police in the area, but as it usually happens in these cases, they're unable to help unless they just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Was it that the airmen were not armed themselves or the bus driver? Would they have been able to intervene before the attacker got off his shots?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Another Unintentional Shooting in Texas

Ohh Shoot reports.

22-year-old Adan Mascorro, of Redwood, Texas was cleaning his .22-caliber handgun when the gun unintentionally discharged. The bullet struck Adan in the hand and continued on and struck his friend, Bernardo Samangio, who was standing nearby. Bernardo was hit in the chest. The pair drove to the medical center in San Marcos. Bernardo needed to be transported by helicopter to Brackenridge Hospital in Austin. He remains in the hospital but is hoping to be released sometime this week.
Young Adam Mascorro will be back in action very quickly. In gun friendly Texas, they don't even mess with your 2nd Amendment rights if you kill someone by accident.

The fact is guys like this are a menace to society. They're a danger to themselves and others. They should pay for their sins by suffering the MikeB is King Rule formerly known as the one-strike-you're-out rule.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Police Turning to Volunteers

via Dog Gone of Penigma with the following intro.

This is scary. I wonder just how long before the gun-fetishist vigilantes begin 'helping', bringing along their personal firearms, not because the situation requires a weapon, but 'just because they can' and using that to throw their weight around as having quasi-official status.

The New York Times has the report.

Roman Sarkisian easily passes for your average Fresno police officer: crew cut, tight-set jaw and “just-the-facts” demeanor.

“I like to do law enforcement stuff,” said Mr. Sarkisian, 23, an immigrant from the republic of Georgia who is studying criminology at the city college here. “I like helping out putting bad guys in jail.”

But Mr. Sarkisian is not a police officer, and he does not carry a gun or a Taser. He is a police volunteer, part of an experiment by departments across the country that enlists trained amateurs to perform a broad — and occasionally dangerous — array of investigative duties like collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, searching for missing persons and looking into long-dormant cases.

Hamstrung by shrinking budgets, the police say the volunteers are indispensable in dealing with low-level offenses and allow sworn officers to focus on more pressing crimes and more violent criminals.
What's your opinion? Is this a good initiative or not?

Please leave a comment.

Utah Concealed Carry Permits


From 2009 to 2010 the number of Utah permits issued to Texans more than doubled to 5,678 from 2,173, according to Utah's Bureau of Criminal Identification. Of the 66,371 permits Utah issued last year, more than 70 percent went to out-of-staters, bureau figures show. All this was while the overall number of concealed licenses issued in Utah declined.
The ease with which one can get a Utah permit to carry a concealed weapon in other states is incredible. It is not even necessary to ever have fired a gun.

There is good news, though.

Brian Malte, director of state legislation for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said he worries that some people are getting Utah permits because they want to skirt background-check provisions in their home states.

"What are they hiding?" Malte asked.

Aware of the loophole, Utah is moving to tighten requirements. A bill recently approved by the Utah House and Senate would require out-of-staters seeking a Utah permit to first get one from their home state if their state recognizes the Utah permit. The proposal followed decisions by Nevada and New Mexico to stop recognizing Utah permits.

"We didn't want to have a cottage industry of issuing concealed weapons permits for the whole United States," said Utah state Sen. John Valentine, author of the measure.
What's your opinion? Are they coming to their senses even in the wild, wild west?

Please leave a comment.

More on Shawna Forde

via Norwegianity from Crooks and Liars



I guess the liberal folks at Crooks and Liars, along with just about everyone else, are in favor of this Capital Punishment decision. That's too bad. I oppose the death penalty in all cases, it doesn't matter how heinous or ugly the crime is. Government sanctioned pre-meditated murder should not be part of a modern society, period.

The video report of the third part of the trial was interesting. For mitigating circumstances they presented the usual abused childhood evidence, which in this case was indeed heavy. But, what about the fact that she didn't kill anyone? She herself did not pull the trigger. Besides being opposed to the death penalty, I'm especially opposed to the felony-murder type of prosecution in which the prosecutor charges everyone involved with the worst part of the crime. I admit she was more involved than a getaway driver, by all indications she was the leader, but still when talking about a capital offense we cannot paint with the old broad brush.

What's your opinion? Isn't it possible she herself intended to rob only and not kill anyone and her husband went rogue? Wouldn't that have been the proper defense?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Man Who Would Be King

From an Anonymous fan, responding to this part of my post.

"So, applying the one-strike-you're-out rule, we've got to include the seller of that gun, the one who handled it when in "accidentally" went off all by itself, and of course, the organizers of the show."
Let's call that rule by what it is - it's the "MikeB is King rule". You just want to be able to rule over other people...too bad you aren't king and you aren't going to be king - EVER!!!
I may never be king, but I can sure rename my one-strike-you're-out rule. The MikeB is King rule. It has a nice ring to it.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Travis Unholz - Prince of a Guy

The Orange County Register reports.


In a deal that will end his law enforcement career, a sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty Monday to injuring his wife and then violating a protective order by attempting to obtain a gun. 

Travis Christopher Unholz, 36, of Trabuco Canyon pleaded guilty to one felony count of attempted possession of a firearm in violation of a protective order and one misdemeanor count of domestic battery with corporal injury, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

He had denied felony counts on both those charges earlier this month but took the offer from prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one of them as a lesser charge. Unholz was sentenced to 19 days in jail and three years of formal probation, including participation in a 52-week batterers treatment program.

He is also barred from owning or possessing any firearms, and a protective order was issued prohibiting him from having any contact with the victim or his two children for three years, prosecutors said.

It's a violation of federal law to posses a firearm after a domestic violence conviction, which will effectively end Unholz's law enforcement career.
This guy is a perfect example of the kinds of people you find among lawful gun owners. The overall percentage is low, but not nearly as low as they claim. Unfortunately, brutal, wife-beating, low-lifes are to be found in all groups. Perhaps among gun owners the percentage is actually higher than in the population at large. The testosterone-driven aggression, the adolescent belligerence, the terrible difficulty with authority, all lend themselves to anti-social behaviour.

I wish I had a nickel for every time one of the gun defenders said they don't know a single gun owner like that, that being anything negative like the description I offered above or anything else. They swear they don't know one who drinks too much or has a problem with anger.

Well, I give you former-officer Travis Unholz, exhibit A.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Guns on Campus - Texas Style

The USA Today published an op-ed which questions the wisdom of the upcoming Texas legislation allowing guns on campuses.

Statistics show that students are safer on campus than off, and college students are far more likely to be crime victims when they're away from campus. One reason legislators in most states have rejected guns-on-campus laws is probably because most were once college students themselves and can remember the binge drinking, drug taking and the bad judgment common at an age when science says brains haven't yet fully developed and the propensity for risky behavior is at its highest. The one state where college students are allowed to pack heat on public campuses statewide is Utah, where the influence of the Mormon church is strong and college drinking is lower than in other states.
Of course the die-hard gun defenders think owning a gun makes people more responsible. I guess in some cases that's true, but the kinds of shenanigans that college-age people get up to is much too powerful to be deterred by something like that.

It's interesting what was said about Utah.

What's your opinion?

Please leave a comment.

Wentworth Confused About Drinking on Campus

via Chris Brown at Media Matters.

PolitiFact Texas reports:

State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, played hardball with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews last week, when the pair scuffled over whether suds are allowed on college campuses.

Wentworth, discussing his legislation that would allow concealed handguns on college campuses, balked when Matthews wondered whether "booze and guns" are a healthy combination.

"We don’t have bars on campus in Texas," Wentworth said on the Feb. 22 segment.

Matthews: "You don’t?"

Wentworth: "It’s against the law in Texas. That’s exactly right."

Matthews: "It is?"

Wentworth: "Yes, sir. No alcohol allowed."
The fascinating story goes on to show that it's not exactly like the good Senator said. It makes one wonder, aside from the stupidity of the lie, why Wentworth would be trying to paint such a picture of campus life in Texas? Maybe he's hardpressed to respond to the most common complaint about guns on campus.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Why It's Difficult to Take Gunloons Seriously

MikeB tells the story of gunloons at a gunshow behaving badly.

In comments, commenter "P" tells us the apocryphal story of scary black men secretly loading guns at a gun shop:

There was two patrons who were very odd acting and kept handling every shot gun on the rack furthest from the counter. Even the clerk noticed it and got my attention and I walked back to that area of the store. As I approached they seemed quite furtive and after a couple of whispers left the store. The clerk followed them out and had a conversation with them and they took off to a bus stop. When he returned I was trying to put the guns they had been handling back in order. As is my custom every gun I touch was opened to check the action. The third or forth gun I opened had a live round in the chamber. I immediately called the clerk over and we went through every gun on the rack. These a-holes had loaded nine shotguns intentionally and put them back in the rack.
From the state that brings us scholarships for white males only, we get the latest lunacy:

Students in Texas could soon be allowed to bring their guns into class under new legislation the notoriously gun-friendly state is poised to adopt.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Odd Suicide at the Gun Range

Zorroy offered the link to this one. "Hey, Mike--I know how much of a kick you get out of these gun range suicides, so thought you'd be interested in this odd story:"

A man is in critical condition after shooting himself in the head five or six times at a Panama City gun range.

The Bay County sheriff's office says the shooting was self-inflicted but doesn't know yet if it was accidental or on purpose.

The man walked into Jays Guns and Accessories on Highway 390 near the old airport to use the range just before one o clock. First responders got the call half an hour later that someone had been shot multiple times in the head.

Paramedic's rushed the man to Bay Medical.

Jays Guns and Accessories is divided into a gun shop and a shooting range. Major Tommy Ford of the Bay County Sheriff’s Department told NewsChannel 7 no one was in the range with the man at the time.

"The employee of the shop was watching from the shop side separated by the wall. There were no other customers in the store and no other subjects shooting in the range area at the time."

Authorities haven't released much information about the man yet, but we do know he is in his mid twenties and carried an out-of-state driver's license.
Odd, to say the least. Do you think it's possible to shoot yourself repeatedly in the head?

Bloomington Gun Show Accident

via japete

"Accidental" discharges can happen to the most experienced.

Two men were injured in an accidental shooting Saturday morning at the ECA Gun and Knife Show at Bloomington’s Sale Barn.

An attendee at the show was handling a mini-14 semiautomatic rifle at about 11:15 a.m. As the patron was laying the rifle back on a vendor table, the gun accidentally discharged, said McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery.

“The round went through a post, through a person and then into another person,” Emery said.
So, applying the one-strike-you're-out rule, we've got to include the seller of that gun, the one who handled it when in "accidentally" went off all by itself, and of course, the organizers of the show.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Jon Stewart on the Abortion Haters

The Third Amendment

I've often referred to the 3rd Amendment as an example of ideas which made sense at the time of the writing of the Bill of Rights, but which have no meaning today. I feel this applies also to the 2nd Amendment, but admittedly, the 3rd is a clearer example.

Zorroy provided this link to a wonderfully humorous Onion article which makes the same point in their satirical way. But, oddly, he accompanied the link with this: "The Third Amendment is not irrelevant--the government requiring people to house and feed soldiers in their homes would be an intolerable abuse."

From The Onion:

The National Anti- Quartering Association, America's foremost Third Amendment rights group, held its annual gala in Washington Monday to honor 191 consecutive years of advocating the protection of private homes and property against the unlawful boarding of military personnel.

"This is a proud day for quarters-owners everywhere," said the organization's president, Charles Davison, in his keynote address. "Year after year, we have sent a loud and clear message to the federal government and to anyone else who would attack our unassailable rights: Hands off our cottages, livery stables, and haylofts."
In early 19th-century America when troops were moving from say, Pennsylvania to Virginia, this amendment made some sense. Today it doesn't.

In a similar way, in the very early days of our nation, when standing armies were a concern and when the federal government had exactly the same weapons of war as the civilian population, the 2nd Amendment made some sense. Today it doesn't.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Political Football

Penigma said:

...the 2nd amendment pretty clearly was enacted as a protection against that. Equally clear, though, is that such a protection is moot and when used to justify the extension of our "gun culture" it runs counter to the best interests of all of us. I would not see the right to bear arms stripped, but neither am I so foolish as to think it is anything more than a political football used to "gin up" those who put a little too much importance in being able to walk around with a .45 on their hip talking about liberty while they vote to deny such liberties as they desire to many others.

I responded:

Pen, Thanks for that wonderful description. I go a bit further myself in disparaging the value of the 2nd Amendment in today's world, but essentially you said it just right for me.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Anti-Abortion / Pro-Gun States

via Norwegianity from Crooks and Liars

If we changed the heading to "Pro-gun States" no one would notice.


The weird thing is how the pro-gun crowd is constantly harping about their rights. They also claim to not be racist or homophobic, so I guess it boils down to this, gunowners, gays, blacks and fetuses all have rights. Women do not.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Arma Virumque Cano

Laci explains it all.

Since my Latin was rusty after over 35 years, I thought it would be “Armed Man and Dog”, which would be something more like “Armatus canus virumque”.

It actually comes from the beginning of Virgil’s Aeneid:


arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit

“I sing of arms and the man, who, at first (exiled by fate) from the shores of Troy, came to Italy and the Lavinian shores…”


I still like “armed man and dog” as a perfect description of the US.

I like that "armed man and dog" too.

I am the NRA

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Getting Your Fetish from Auto to Home is Hard

Alabama:
BCSO said Jones told investigators that he had removed his Glock .40 handgun from the glove box of his truck and was walking through a screened porch area attached to the main house when he tripped and fell.

Jones had reportedly shot himself in his left leg just above the knee. His wife was upstairs bathing their young son when he called her for help.
Jones' wife ran to her husband where she tried to secure the gun, however, their son reached the gun first. As Aleisha Jones tried take the gun away from the boy the pistol fired one round. The bullet struck the child's mother in the neck.

So, How's that CCW Working for You?

Goshen, IN:
But when Jay Byler turned to help Brooklyn take off her snow gear, a gun that he had taken from his truck and placed in his coat pocket to safely secure in their house, apparently dropped out of his pocket and discharged.

A bullet struck Karlee in her head and she died.
This represents perhaps the greatest "victory" for the NRA--the fact this guy will get off with nothing but sympathy.  A man who becomes a meth addict and neglects his kids is probably going to lose his children to family services.  But some dude with a gun fetish that winds up killing his kid gets sympathy.

US/UK Comparison

Comparing 2006 figures.

In the United States, the annual rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 population is 3.36.

In the United Kingdom, the annual rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 population is 0.08.

To put it plainly, you are about 40 times more likely to be a gun homicide victim in the US than the UK.

In the United States, the annual rate of homicide by any means per 100,000 population is 5.62.
In the United Kingdom, the annual rate of homicide by any means per 100,000 population is 1.8.

So, when you hear gunloons like the dishonest Joe Huffman claim international comparisons mean nothing--it simply isn't true.

Qaddafi's Bodyguards

Dan Lewis provided us with another fascinating fact. To sing up for his daily e-mail, go here.


With the events in the Middle East -- the nightmare of dictators -- unfolding before our eyes, one may wonder how despots like Libya's Moammar Qaddafi manage to stay alive, let alone in power. Dedicated security details are the norm, but for Qaddafi's contingent, there's nothing normal. His security consists of roughly three-dozen women -- all allegedly, virgins -- hand-picked by Qaddafi himself to serve as his guards.

Ashley Cole in "Accidental" Shooting

Ashley Cole shot and injured a trainee with an air rifle at Chelsea's Cobham training ground.

The incident happened in the Chelsea dressing room last Sunday, while the England defender was reportedly carrying his rifle around.

Cole, who did not realize that the gun was loaded, accidentally shot at Tom Cowan who was at Cobham on a placement programme.

The News of the World reported the accident and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is apparently livid with his star defender's silly antic that caused a bleeding wound.

A source told the paper: "It's truly inconceivable that a Premier League footballer could bring a gun to the training ground.

"But Ashley pulled the rifle from a box and started larking about with it in the changing room.

"Cole didn't know the gun was loaded but it's a disgrace. His behaviour beggars belief."
Those Brits sure do talk funny, but when it comes to professional athletes doing stupid shit with guns, we're all the same.

Does this mean that air-rifles are allowed in the U.K.? Maybe they need to tighten up on their gun laws.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Maine Gun Culture



You don't suppose these guys are the only ones with the sick fascination for guns that's described in the video? No, they're not. The gun culture from coast to coast is well populated with young men like this. They learned it from their older brothers and their fathers. It's a sickness and the only medicine is better gun control laws.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Student Kills Teacher

I guess we'll be seeing more and more of this, huh? Is this just the price we must pay for "freedom?"

Huynh allegedly argued with the instructor Wednesday before leaving the classroom, returned with a firearm and shot Herrera in the head at near point-blank range, Lt. Paul Vernon of the Los Angeles Police Department said at the time.
What's your opinion? Don't you think teachers have a difficult enough time getting through to students without worrying if they have guns or not? Is this what Wayne La Pierre means when he says "the ones with the guns make the rules?" How does that work when students argue with teachers?

Please leave a comment.

Pennsylvania Gun Statistics

via Dog Gone of Penigma from Moms Against Guns.

Their facts page is chock full of interesting facts and figures.  I liked this one.

  • PA is the #1 source state for recovered crime guns in Camden and Trenton, NJ.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Michelle Malkin is Something Else

via Norwegianity from Crooks and Liars with excellent commentary by karoli.

More on the Girandoni Air Rifle

Richard sent me this by e-mail in reference to our post of last week.

The Girandoni Air Rifle was in service with the Austrian army from 1780 to around 1815. The advantages of a high rate of fire, no smoke from propellants, and low muzzle report granted it initial acceptance, but it was eventually removed from service for several reasons. While the detachable air reservoir was capable of around 30 shots it took nearly 1500 strokes of a hand pump to fill those reservoirs. Later, a wagon-mounted pump was provided. The internal bellow was made from leather and were prone to tearing. The reservoirs themselves proved very difficult to manufacture using the techniques of the period, made from hammered sheet iron held together with rivets and sealed by brazing, and were always in short supply.

In addition, the weapon was very delicate and a small break could make it inoperable. Finally, it was very different from any other weapon of the time and any soldier using it needed to be highly trained.