The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
This one comes to us from No Looking Backwards:
“Once again, an illegal gun has struck down an innocent family man, and once again a young man may pay for his actions for the rest of his life”
That’s from Suffolk County DA Dan Conley. Bruce says “Uh-huh. The gun did it.” Read the whole thing.
Apparently the TSA has caught several other potential shoe bombers, and various other potential terrorists, and just let them go. And these are the boobs the Brady’s want me to rely on for my personal security? No thanks.
Via Eric, who has more to say about it.
I’m sure someone will say that more laws needed.
Hmmm….
Maybe the problem is the proliferation of shoes. Especially the high-capacity thick-souled variety….
Worrying about the bombs instead of the bombers? Where have we heard that one before?
After a bit of research and consideration, I’ve decided that I am opposed to ratification of the LOST treaty. Tyler Cowen has a good post about why it doesn’t make sense economically, along with links to other critiques. Tyler also brings up the argument that’s had me wavering on the issue:
The real issue these days is stopping the Russians from claiming most of the Arctic, at least the sea lanes, and this is why the Bush administration now supports the treaty. We’ll then have international support, or at least the pretext of such support, for telling the Russians they can’t colonize the Arctic. That’s it, that’s the whole real reason for supporting the treaty and jumping into bed with the UN. But hey, I can sympathize with stopping the Russians.
But I think I agree with Tyler that stopping the Russians isn’t worth signing on to a UN boondoggle. There have to be better ways to deal with the Russians.
Credit for this goes to DaveM55 on PA Firearms Owners Association:
You can carry in a house,
you carry with a mouse.
You can carry in a car,
and even in a bar.
You can’t carry in the court,
but you can around the port.
You can carry eating supper,
you can carry an AR upper.
You can’t carry in the school,
but you can carry playing pool.
You can carry more than one gun,
you can carry while you run.
You can carry with your brother,
you can carry a real big mother.
You can carry in a boat,
you can carry with a goat.
You can carry hollow point ammo,
you can carry wearing camo.
You can carry it under a shirt,
you can carry till it hurts.
You can carry it unconcealed,
you can carry in a hayfield.
You can carry in a tree.
it’s good to carry you will see!
Kim du Toit is getting his Cruffler license. So far I’m up to four pieces gotten with the license, and I don’t think I’ve spent 1000 bucks yet. Not to mention trade discounts at MidwayUSA and Brownell’s.
From Scully in the comments:
And I think Hillary is a complete idiot that would be doing personal bankruptcy law in Toad Suck, Arkansas if she hadn’t stayed married to Bill.
So how does Philadelphia respond to a spate of officer shootings? Tougher laws against criminals? More police officers on the streets? No. This is how they respond.
Don’t get me wrong, for former criminals that really do want to start a new life, I think they need to be able to get jobs. But this is not a crime control measure, it’s a feel good measure. Until Philadelphia gets serious about crime control, rather than just feeling good that something is being done, nothing is ever going to change.
Not much going on in the pro-gun world today, but if you’d like to take a gander at the kind of infighting that is going to seriously hold back our cause, take a look at the PA Firearms Owners Association forum for the latest example.
Disagreement in our movement is inevitable, because if there’s one thing we all have, it’s an opinion. As pissy as I might get at some pro-gun groups sometimes, when I think they are right, I will cheer them to the high hill. When I think they are wrong, I will say that too. But we’re all on the same side, albeit with different public voices and different levels of intensity.
I have my disagreements with some of the pro-gun groups here in Pennsylvania, but I appreciate the work they do. When I hear pro-gun people on our state decrying these groups, seemingly upset that they are building invaluable relationships with state legislators, I get very very worried, because those kinds of relationships are how you get things done in politics. Grassroots do matter, because the ability to deliver votes is what makes a politician pay attention to you, but you need leadership, and you need those legislative relationships if you want to get anything done.
Robb Allen finds out that Motor Voter can be used by illegal or non-citizen immigrants to register to vote, because immigration records are seldom checked. 8 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were registered to vote.
One thing that separates me from most progressives is that I do not worship at the altar of Democracy. I don’t find low participation rates in elections as a sign our Republic is about to crumble, nor do I believe in encouraging people to vote.
I do believe in encouraging people to pay attention and get educated about what’s going on our country, but I’d prefer people who can’t even be bothered enough to get a voter registration, fill it out, and send it in, not be voting in our elections at all. If you don’t care enough to spend the time to register to vote, you don’t care enough to educate yourself on the issues, get involved, or do much else other than ignorantly pulling a lever. Somehow progressives tend to believe that more participation is a good thing. I do not agree. I think we’re a much healthier public with a smaller pool of informed voters than we are if we just encourage everyone to ignorantly pull a lever for one fool or another.
Bitter talks about a rousing endorsement Virginia State Senator Devolites-Davis has gotten from Mayor Bloomberg. She’s running full steam anti-gun in Northern Virginia, which apparently has warmed the mayor to endorse the fellow RINO:
The key issue is guns, where Ms. Devolites Davis has broken with her party to support increased background checks for gun owners, and the National Rifle Association has even endorsed her Democratic opponent, J. Chapman Petersen. …
Ms. Devolites Davis’s campaign said she has supported efforts to keep criminals from buying weapons at gun shows and has backed allowing local governments to ban firearms on school property. Most importantly for Mr. Bloomberg, however, would be her vote against a bill in the Virginia legislature outlawing the sting operations that New York City conducted against gun shops that engaged in illegal straw purchases. …
I hope Petersen creams her in the election. There was a time when the endorsement of the Mayor of New York City would be the kiss of death in a southern election. Let’s hope that’s still the case.
UPDATE: David has more, including the fact that Davis’ daughter was convicted of armed robbery.
UPDATE: Jacob has video.
UPDATE: Countertop is planning on helping out Petersen’s campaign.