The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Looks like our folks did a good job for RealCo, the Prince Georges County gun shop that was under attack by the Rainbow Coalition. The Other Sebastian got there a bit late because of work, but still managed to debate a DC City Councilwoman.
The big problem with gun rights activism, especially in the face of an organization like Rainbow PUSH, which has the money to bring in there own protesters, is that we all have jobs, and have to make a living.
I was considering crashing the Philadelphia Brady event, seen here. Not crashing as in showing up and being obnoxious, but just listening to what they had to say and dutifully reporting it to all of you.
But I’m just finishing up my work for the day now, and this time of day it takes a while to get into the city from where I am. Given that I was out all morning yesterday, I was doubting I was going to be able to get out early enough today to make it over there.
I am working on making my contribution to the August 28th events though, which I will talk about later.
It looks like the PICS outage could end up being delayed. Of course, I’d still like to understand why there needs to be a multi-day outage at all. There’s no reason, other than sheer incompetence, why this should require several days.
I really wouldn’t want to be the guy who has to clean this up:
At that point, a 58-year-old employee shot Mies once in head with a shotgun.
Generally, at close range, you can only can shoot someone once in the head with a shotgun, because after that, they will no longer have a head to shoot again.
The NGLTF is calling out Senator Craig for his hypocrisy, which I think is only appropriate, but I do think the are going a bit far here:
“And by the way, why are Minneapolis tax dollars being used to have plainclothes police officers lurking idly in airport restroom stalls?â€
Because people complained about lewd acts occurring in them. I won’t complain about NGLTF calling out Craig for hypocrisy, he deserves that, but let’s not go so far as to defend sex in public places. If I’m in an airport bathroom, and some guy starts peeping into my stall, and making hand gestures, then gets into the stall next to me, and starts with a “wide stance” that involves his foot and/or hand in my stall, you can bet it’s going to make me a little uncomfortable. I don’t think it helps build tolerance of gays to suggest that the police shouldn’t be investigating reports of lewd acts in public restrooms.
Sylvester Stallone, a Brady Campaign stalwart, who’s said “”until America, door to door, takes every handgun, this is what you’re gonna have… It really is pathetic… We’re livin’ in the Dark Ages over there,” turns out to have a CCW permit, issued by the celebrity-loving LA County Sheriff.
Oh, and listing four handguns that he will be packing.
California has a discretionary permit system that the Brady Campaign upholds as a model for the nation. It’s always been the case that in these types of systems, the powerful and connected can get licenses to protect themselves, while the ordinary folk are left hung out to dry. As much as I might agree with the no issue systems of Chicago and Wisconsin, they are at least honest; no one gets a license, period. In the states, such as New Jersey, California, New York, and Massachusetts, the gun permits have become political patronage.
Anyone who takes Sly Stallone’s views on the gun issue seriously at this point is a fool.
UPDATE: Sigvald made the point that these statements were years ago. This is true, but this was a year ago. It’s a 2006 Brady event where Sly was in attendance. This would have been after he was issued a concealed weapons permit, so you have to wonder if he was packing to the event.
I agree with Rep. Rohrer on this part here:
“As House Republican Game and Fisheries Committee Chairman, I have yet to see any convincing reason for Pennsylvania gun owners and hunters to preclude the logical conclusion that this procedure is anything other than poorly planned, routine maintenance as reluctantly acknowledged by both the Rendell administration and the state police,” said Rohrer. “However, I am deeply concerned about the potential and irrevocable damage that this short-notice, PICS shutdown will have on reputable firearm dealers, especially family-owned gun shops, during one of the single busiest retail seasons of the year.”
I agree with his assessment that this was never a conspiracy to screw gun owners on the part of Rendell. I would be surprised, in fact, if his office even knew about it until the complaints starting rolling in. I am no fan of our Governor, but I’m not prepared to blame him for instigating this in order to stick it to Pennsylvania Sportsmen.
Read the whole release. I continue to wish that Rep. Rohrer represented my district. Pretty clearly he is a friend of Pennsylvania gun owners.
There’s a definite routine to blogging, generally.  Morning, noon, and night basically, and my dentist appointment this morning disrupted morning, and also morning work, which cascades into everything else.
Tomorrow is do something pro-gun day. It doesn’t really matter what it is. Just remember to do something as a “screw you” to Jesse Jackson and Paul Helmke.
The only good news that can come out of this is that a lot of people will have to confront that this kind of behavior, while not necessarily the norm among homosexuals, isn’t particularly rare, either. Unfortunately, homosexual legislators, whether open or closeted, do a lot of stuff that reminds you that homosexuals really aren’t like the rest of us. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) lover was the result of Frank answering a personal ad so vulgar that I won’t quote it–and then his lover ran a prostitution service out of Frank’s apartment. More recently, Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sending lascivious emails to pages less than half his age, and Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) having an affair with a page less than half his age. All of these actions make an adulterous affair seem downright classy by comparison.
Well, considering that heterosexual politicians are generally worms when it comes to sex scandals, I’m not really shocked that the gay politicians are going to represent the very worst that the gay community has to offer.
Senator Craig should go ahead and resign, and let Governor Otter name a replacement who can serve out Craig’s term with dignity and respect for the people of Idaho. (I’m available!)
I agree that Craig should resign, and let the governor appoint a successor.
With friends like this, who needs enemies? It’s worth noting that he’s on the NRA board of directors.
UPDATE:
“I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, ‘fidget’ with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes,†the report states.
Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.
“My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,†Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.â€
Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.
“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,†the report states.
Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could … see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.â€
Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.
“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. … Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.â€
I couldn’t make that up if I tried! It’s a well known fact that Snowflakes in Hell does not frown upon gays or their lifestyle choices, but we do frown upon gay life style choices that involve guy-on-senator sex in the stall of an airport restroom. Based on this report, it would appear Larry Craig is an old pro at men’s room gay encounters.
We also frown on this kind of maneuver:
Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states.
Kudos to the undercover officer for having the stones to haul his ass down to the station and process the arrest, as would have happened to any of us.
The real victim in all of this is, of course, Craig’s wife and family. I have to admit this all sounds very familiar, but I suppose at least Larry didn’t nominate his boy toy to a prominent anti-terrorism position, when he was by no means qualified.