2008 – Page 117 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Home Invasions in UK

No, not by criminals, but by government officials.

I once got a letter from the township stating that, because of sewage system problems in my neighborhood, they were coming around to inspect sump hookups to make sure no one was illegally dumping sump outflow into the sewer system.

My sump hookup was fine, but I rather incredulous that township code enforcement presumed they could demand to enter my home to look for evidence of a crime without a warrant.Â They stopped by while I was at work, but left a note stating that I was to call and arrange an appointment.Â I tossed it in the trash can and never heard another peep from them.

In the United States, I had the law on my side, and was ready to demand the township get a warrant or go to hell.Â The poor Brits are at the mercy of bureaucrats, it seems.Â Still, I wonder how many of my neighbors let the inspectors in thinking they had to.

Peer Review

Joe Huffman finds a web site that looks at a possible inverse relationship between the Brady Campaign State Rankings and violent crime.Â What happens in the comments isn’t something you’ll see the other side doing.Â Ever.Â Joe points out he came to the same conclusion with the 2004 Brady rankings.

Having no correlation may not be as good as an inverse relationship, but it’s still pretty damning to the gun control agenda.Â If it can’t be shown to affect crime, why bother?Â I still say their transition to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Suicide is a strategic move, but at least it’ll make them a bit more honest.

Home Defense In New Jersey

An elderly man shoots a home intruder in Ocean County, New Jersey.Â You can tell that New Jersey isn’t Arizona or Texas by this:

The gun used in the shooting was registered to the homeowner, Mohel said.

The New Jersey statute outlining when it is justifiable to use deadly force within a private dwelling is extremely nuanced and built on a long history of case law, said Ronald F. DeLigney, first assistant Ocean County prosecutor…

… As the investigation continues, the homeowner could be charged in the shooting, authorities said. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to present a case against him to a grand jury will be made by the Prosecutor’s Office.

I would imagine that even in New Jersey, you’d be hard pressed to find a Grand Jury who would be willing to sign off on a bill of indictment against an elderly man who shoots a home invader.Â Let’s hope that the Ocean County prosecutor does the right thing and charges the people who are at fault; the burglars.

Morton Grove Ban Repealed

The Villiage of Morton Grove, IL has formally repealed its ban on handguns.Â Earlier, I had blogged that they expected to do it, now it’s a done deal.

Congratulations Mr. Heller

Dick Heller managed to register his revolver with the DC police.Â This was only the first step in a very long battle to give the second amendment real meaning, and this is a moment which is a stunning defeat for the gun control movement, and Mayor Fenty.Â It is a good day.

Be sure to tune into Cam’s show at NRANews.com to see their coverage of the event.

Hat tip to Of Arms and the Law

Why Is Anyone Surprised?

There have been several news articles mentioning the low turnout for registration of firearms in D.C.Â Considering this is an amnesty, meaning you can bring guns that you might already have down to the police station, and the police will register them and make you legal, I’m not the least bit surprised by the low turnout.Â Pretty much the only people in DC that have guns right now are police and criminals.Â The criminals aren’t going to register their guns, and the police don’t have to.

In addition, semi-automatic pistols are a lot more common these days than revolvers, so I suspect the fact that DC is, in contra to the Supreme Court ruling, continuing to ban them also plays into this.Â DC residents have no where to lawfully aquire a gun, even if they did want to register one.Â I also suspect many people are figuring this whole game DC is playing with its residents’ second amendment rights might soon be coming to an end.Â You can bet if I lived in DC, and stored my guns out of state, I would not be eagar to bring them into The District under the current unconstitutional framework set up by DC City Council.

Irresponsible Journalism

I’m rather shocked to find that a police officer was willing to break one of the cardinal rules of safe gun handling: “All guns are to be treated as if they are loaded.” This means that you do not leave one in a room to see what kids do with them.Â I’m also incensed at this:

The gun was placed in a toy crate and the kids were allowed into the room, one group at a time.

I don’t know about you guys, but my kids’ toy crate isn’t a place I’d think to store a gun.Â Is it possible that perhaps the kids thought it was a toy gun, rather than a real Glock 32?Â I mean, even if I saw a gun in a toy crate, my first instinct would not be “real gun” though you can bet I’d investigate a realistic looking gun in a toy container.

Delaine Mathieu, and Seargant Fryar should be ashamed of themselves.Â You can teach adults to safely store firearms without breaking the rules of safe gun handling by putting a gun in the kids’ toybox.Â You wouldn’t think a bunch of internet gun nuts would have to point that out to them.

UPDATE: The Brady Campaign is also promoting unsafe gun handling with children.Â There is no greater good excuse for the ignoring the four rules.Â The rules exist to prevent accidents, and to the extent that the shooting community has drilled these concepts into the heads of gun owners, accidents have declined.

UPDATE: Apparently this journalist wasn’t the first rocket scientist to think “Kids and Guns.Â Let’s put them together and see what happens!”

Just Say No

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting (thank God) delegate to the House for Washington D.C. wants people to just say no to “the gun culture”.

As registration of guns began today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) called on residents to refuse to buy into the gun culture by just saying no. The Supreme Court has spoken, the District has acted and now it is up to citizens to do their part, she said. “If the great majority of residents, who supported our gun ban, meant it, now is the time to show it. I challenge every resident not to buy a gun. Don’t buy into the gun culture in our streets by bringing it into our homes with the gun you buy. It’s up to us now.”

I don’t think Norton has the first clue about the “gun culture”.Â You see, I am from this culture, and so are many of the people I know.Â Yet we are all good citizens.Â What Norton is basically saying is that if you buy a gun you’ll either end up shot or end up a criminal.Â She’s basically saying that DC residents are too irresponsible and criminal to own guns.

Carry Permit Holders

Someone pointed out that The Brady Campaign managed to corner the market on Carry Permit Holders as a search term. Well, not we in the gun blogosphere are getting our google-fu on.Â Watch as we drive them down the list!Â Robb is also getting his carry permit holder google-fu going.

More Examples of Prejudicial Views on Gun Owners

Over at Joe Huffman’s.Â Â To be somewhat fair, though it doesn’t diminish the point, a lot of these folks are just anti-American, and express that through anti-gun attitudes.Â Hell, I’m almost convinced one of the only reasons Canada’s gun laws are worse than ours is because having less restrictive gun laws would be too American and we can’t have that in Canada.