The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
According to Roland Browne:
“It’s just the same really as pushing tobacco products onto kids,” Mr Browne said.
“It’s the American gun culture being pushed into Australia.”
“It’s just what we decided we were going to move away from in 1996.”
I guess I’ll have to reconsider all the time I spend in Australia trying to push guns on kids!
Happy blogoversary to Dr. Helen, who also points out an interesting “study” that shows conservative brains are different.
Ryan presents a somewhat differing view than I’ve been espousing here in terms of HR2640.  I say somewhat different because I do think the current law is completely inadequate, and that more still needs to be done, even after HR2640 “restoration of rights process” is in place.
But as much as I do wish we could have gotten more, I still think HR2640, on the whole, is a small push in the right direction. Any means to address a firearms disability, even if it’s fraught with trouble, is better than not having any recourse at all. I consider HR2640 to be half a step back and a step forward.  Not as far as I’d like to go, but I’ll take what I can get out of this Congress.
SayUncle has more from people who believe we can’t be trusted.  Can you say “projection”? I knew you could.
Thirdpower takes on some anti-gunners and ends up chatting wtih Gary Mauser. Good show. It’s interesting to me that they accuse a lot of second amendment scholars of being gun lobby stooges, when a lot of the time there’s either no association, or very little.
But, of course, we’re not the only ones who do this.
… when they pry it from my cold dead hands. Well, I actually have a smaller LCD model that’s more energy efficient, but if I did have a plasma TV, well, you know…. cold dead hands.
I’m glad Countertop is dedicated to helping me overcome my inherent issues with the idea of eating squirrel. Given that I seem to be collecting friends who view squirrels as delectable lunchables, I may have to give this a try at some point.
The subject of my very first post, Loretta, was a recent convert to the idea of eating squirrel. She had been converted to it by my friend Carrie, who I had previously been pursuing before Bitter. She is the sister of a friend of mine, who also also speaks highly of dining on tree rat.
So we really have quite the squirrel eating happy family going on here at Snowflakes in Hell, so I will have to reconsider my belief that squirrels not fit for human consumption.
Via Syd of Front Sight, Press:
 By an overwhelming 81-10 vote, the Senate passed Sen. Vitter’s amendment to prevent any funding to foreign organizations that infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of lawful American citizens. Any organization that adopts a policy anathema to the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment would no longer be eligible for U.S. financial assistance—including the U.N.
That’s quite a margin.  But this is still an entirely symbolic victory. We’re still a ways off from being able to repeal the meaty chunks of federal gun control laws, unfortunately.
Via John Lott, on Mexican gun laws:
Gun control advocates claim that the problem is guns from the US. Here is my question: Why is it that if the Mexican’s can’t control the drug trade, they are going to be able to stop the drug gangs from getting the guns that are necessary to protect their drug businesses?
I think the whole gun issue is mostly developing a bargaining chip that can later be used against the United States.
All I can say is, I’m glad I live in Pennsylvania. California isn’t the only state to institute approved handgun lists.  Also playing this game are Massachusetts and Maryland. Bitter has a Massachusetts compliant SIG, which basically involves drilling a hole in the chamber so you can see brass in it.  Stupid feature for stupid people, and it adds about 200 bucks to the cost of the gun.
But those features only work for people who would know enough to check the standard way, by actually checking the chamber.  It’s just a way to make selling firearms in the state more of a hassle, so fewer do, this driving up the price. Higher prices mean fewer legal gun owners, which make more onerous restrictions politically easier.
Don’t believe me? California has banned lead bullets for hunting. This is serious folks. The slippery slope is real.