July 2007 – Page 4 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Harassment in Maryland

If you think Maryland will just be harassing criminals with this new initiative, you’re nuts.

Leading officials from Maryland, the District and Prince George’s County will announce a set of initiatives today aimed at cracking down on gun trafficking, tightening laws that govern firearms use and improving information-sharing among law enforcement agencies.

The effort will focus on stepping up inspections at firearms shops, increasing the number of sting operations at gun shows and ensuring that people on parole or probation sign notices acknowledging that they are prohibited from owning firearms, authorities said.

Ah, the old “targeting gun shows” routine. Â Where have we seen that before?Â Of course, we know criminals don’t target gun shows themselves, so this is going to be another case of authorities harassing legal gun buyers.

I’d also like to know how that signed piece of paper is going to keep the criminal from obtaining a gun and shooting someone.Â I’m pretty sure that criminals really don’t care whether they are prohibited from owning a gun or not. Â But hey, at least they are doing something, right?

Sticking it to Fast Eddie on Tolls

Congress is moving to restrict tolling on I-80, which was the centerpiece of Rendell’s deal to fund transportation in Pennsylvania.Â For once, folks, Congress does something useful!

â€œThe amount of federal money transferred from the state motor license fund to mass transit funds in Pennsylvania is unprecedented compared to the rest of the country, further underscoring the inequity in the state governmentâ€™s transportation agencies,â€ said Peterson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. His congressional district has numerous counties through which I-80 passes.

I don’t doubt that the amount of money is very high.Â SEPTA, as an agency, is a total cluster fsck.Â They put the M in mismanagement. Â So now it looks as if there’s a good chance the feds are going to say no to tolling I-80.Â Any day that starts with Ed Rendell getting screwed is a good day in my book!

AK-47 Sales in South Carolina

Showing that the smaller papers are more prone to avoid the pants shitting hysterics of the big city papers, The Rock Hill South Carolina Herald manages to produce a pretty balanced article:

Take a drive along Cherry Road, and you’ll see David’s Pawn Shop advertising the weapons on its marquee, “AK-47s Now In Stock.” Owner David Dresner said he started selling the Romanian-made weapon recently, and it’s been a big hit with collectors and for those taking target practice. Some individuals also use the guns for hunting, he said.

But I thought they didn’t have a legitimate sporting purpose?

Dresner said the AK-47 he sells is a semi-automatic rifle just like the ones used by Iraqi police allied with U.S. troops in the Middle East. It looks similar to the famed Russian AK-47, a fully automatic machine gun made popular during the Cold War. Those guns, however, are only sold to individuals specially licensed by the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, he said. And they carry a $25,000 price tag.

Good to see this mentioned. I doubt the Iraqi police are using semi-autos, but they appear to get the distinction.

“AK-47s should not be available for sale. There’s really no argument,” said Zach Ragbourn, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign, the nation’s leading gun-control lobby. “They’re designed to attack people, period. They’re not for hunting or a fun collector’s item.”

Well, it wouldn’t be a “balanced” article if it didn’t get a few Brady mis-characterizations in there. Designed to attack people? I’ve spent a lot of time with my AK-47, and it’s never once tried to attack me. Maybe there’s something wrong with it.

But not fun? Zach, Zach, Zach. I know you’ve commented on here once or twice, and I know you guys are occasional readers, so I’ll make you an offer: I’ll take you guys out to shoot both my Kalashnikovs, and if you still think it’s not fun, afterward drinks are on me.

Ragbourn said the term “assault weapon” was coined by the gun industry years ago as a marketing tool. He said any weapon capable of firing multiple rounds in a split second shouldn’t be offered on store shelves.

“A 100-round magazine is not a cosmetic feature,” he said. “It’s nothing but a bunch of lead in the air in a short amount of time.”

I’m pretty sure that term was invented by politicians. Assault Rifle was invited by the Germans (Sturmgewehr) in World War II. But what we shoot aren’t, they just look like. I don’t have a 100 round drum magazine. They take too long to load, and then take too long to shoot, because we’re not talking about machine guns here. You knew that right? Of course you did, but you hoped no one else would.

Sugarman Not too Pleased With NICS Deal

Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center, takes the a look in the gift horse’s mouth, and doesn’t like what he sees. Hey Josh, the Brady Campaign figured out that they could spin this as a victory to their supporters and donors, and were lucky to have the media gobble up the notion like they are wont to do with anything you guys tell them. It even tricked enough gun owners to get the NRA in hot water with its constituents.

But Josh, buddy, seriously… take the spin and go with it. I mean, you wouldn’t want to ruin Paul Helmke’s fundraising efforts by getting the notion out there, among yours and Brady’s donors, that HR2640 wasn’t actually a gun control law, would you? If that’s the case, that means you guys haven’t won a victory in, what is it now? 14 years.

Preemption: It’s not Just for Philly Anymore

Looks like other towns are violating Pennsylvania’s preemption statute.Â Actually, violations of preemtion are all over if you look.Â I never pay attention to it. Â If one of the local townships wants to try to enforce it on me, I’ll gladly take them to court.

Caught at a National Park with a Firearm

If you’re a Virginian, and just had this happen to you, VCDL wants to talk to you.

Deranged Cat Owners

Much to Bitter’s dismay, I am a cat lover, rather than a dog lover. She’s trying to convince me of the merits of having a small dog. I actually have no real problem with dogs, I just prefer cats. A small dog would be fine, as long as it’s not a foo foo dog. If Bitter wants a foo foo dog, she has to walk it :) But despite my preference for felines, I’m not this crazy:

I recently paid $11,000 in veterinary bills for my cat, Fritz. I’ve been hesitant to tell friends about this expenditure, which I know seems extravagant. But after hearing a radio financial guru answer questions from two callers about tapping their 401(k) accounts for veterinary bills, I realized I am not alone.

Read the whole thing. If you’re my cat, and the vet estimates 11 grand, it was nice knowing ya cat! I can always get another one that looks just like it. But seriously, people understand why they have to suffer to get medical treatment. Animals don’t. That why we don’t put them through prolonged pain.

I could not help wondering how poor families with fixed budgets and work schedules cope with such matters. How do parents tell their children that they cannot afford to treat a beloved pet? And how do vets deal with clients who refuse to pay much of anything for a sick pet, perhaps requesting euthanasia for an otherwise healthy animal?

Having a pet die is part of growing up, and actually, I think a pretty important lesson for kids. I had more than a few pets growing up, all dead now, the small ones buried in the back yard after my mother vacuum sealed them, so dogs wouldn’t dig them up. Every once in a while, I would dig them up, and see what they looked like. I have to wonder if the new owners of the house have done any landscaping yet, and wondered why there are bags of goo buried in the yard.

Hat tip to Rand Simberg

Look! Chicks with M-16s

You gotta love the Israeli Defense Forces.

Specter Causing Trouble

Via John Lott (who’s book I’m finishing up, and will write a review on shortly), Senator Specter is trying to inflate his own sense of importance again:

Specter, who championed their confirmation, said Tuesday he will personally re-examine the testimony to see if their actions in court match what they told the Senate.”There are things he has said, and I want to see how well he has complied with it,” Specter said, singling out Roberts.

The Specter inquiry poses a potential political problem for the GOP and future nominees because Democrats are increasingly complaining that the Supreme Court moved quicker and more dramatically than advertised to overturn or chip away at prior decisions.

Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who served as chairman during the hearings, said he wants to examine whether Roberts and Alito have “lived up” to their assurances that they would respect legal precedents.

Hey, GOP leadership, are you regretting throwing Pat Toomey under the bus yet? I am. I’ve always voted for Snarlen Arlen, because the other choices have been worse, but I’ve never enjoyed it.

Road Rage Genocide

Eric takes the Inquirer to task for classifying a felonious violation of numerous state gun laws and laws against murder as a “road rage incident”.Â Race is coming into the issue.Â Â This could get ugly.

People might take this as a racially charged remark, but so be it: black males are shooting other black males on a daily friggin basis in the City of Philadelphia, and police are having a hard time getting anyone to come forward to finger who’s doing it, or cooperate in investigations.Â A white guy shoots a black guy, and suddenly there’s outrage, and there must be justice.

Sorry, but if Philadelphia communities don’t start treating black-on-black violence in the city with the same energy and vigor as incidents like this, the body count will continue to increment.Â Treating murder as a racial issue is the road to hell for the city.Â Let’s not go farther down that road than we’re already going.