It’s called security theater. It shows the guy inside that the police are serious, that he can’t win, and that he should just give up. It’s also very very fun to get decked out in surplus military gear and take the surplus M113 the feds gave you as part of their homeland security program for a ride. I mean, they gave it to the department right? Might as well use it!
Year: 2008
Legality of DC Police State Checkpoint
Europeans Misunderstand America
They think the next election will be a blowout for Obama, and that America is a force for evil. I wonder if anyone sought out the opinion of european jews for that poll, well, at least the ones that europeans didn’t kill or drive off the continent. There’s plenty of evil to go around in this world, and Europe sure as hell isn’t exempt, and damn sure doesn’t get to look down on us.
Best… T-Shirt… Ever
If you’re of the Jewish persuasion, and like guns, this is for you. Pretty clearly she’s clinging to religion and guns out of a sense of bitterness, and all on the same t-shirt.  If you want to buy one of those, you can here. If you’re Jewish, I’m going to bet your chances of being victim of an anti-semitic hate crime go down if you’re wearing that. Just a guess.
Quote of the Day
From Rick Hills of Prawfsblawg:
In my experience, intellectuals (as a class) are ideologically intolerant, easily offended by ordinary humor, and pretentious in their prejudices, which they disguise as universal truths.
I couldn’t agree more. Hat tip to Instapundit (I think)
VCDL Open Carry Dinner
Remember that VCDL open carry dinner we posted about a month ago? Seems the reporter left out some important context. Go to the VCDL Web Site and scroll down to watch the video. It seems it was a bonafide VCDL event, compete with a state delegate. I would have updated on this sooner if I had known.
InBev Eyeing up Anheuser-Busch
Thanks to reader Wai for sending this along. This would not be good for gun rights, as A-B is a big contributor to shooting and outdoor related activities, and there’s a good chance that if they are acquired by a new Belgian master, they might not look too kindly on supporting gun rights.
This is why fighting gun control internationally is going to become more and more important.
Comments Go Poof
According to Thirdpower, the old comments over at the Brady Campaign Blog have gone poof, before Reasoned Discourse set in, have all gone poof. I’m not much of a betting man, but if I were, I kind of wonder of these slides from my presentation, which you couldn’t see on the video, but could hear me referring to, had something to do with it.
I’m willing to bet the Brady Campaign is pretty fanatical about controlling their message. What advocacy groups need to understand is, there’s no doing that in new media. You speak with the message you have, and hope others follow it, but you don’t get much control. Others will argue, and disagree. A few days of studying the gun blogosphere will find as much disagreement as agreement.  But what happens if you’re trying to penetrate new media with a message that’s based on obfuscating issues and deception? It’s not easy, that’s for sure.
Study on Gun Death Rate and Background Checks
I’m going to suggest this is likely a case of correlation not equaling causation, but expect the Brady’s to be touting this high and low. They mention 17 states as having state and local checks, but according to the DOJ, only 13 states have local POCs for firearms background checks, so the sample size is rather small. States which have local POCs:
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Virginia
Of course, that nearly 2/3rds of the states are there are generally pro-gun is something to consider. Another thing to consider is there’s a class of state that has state checks for pistols, and uses NICS for long guns. Maryland falls into that category. Since most crimes and suicides involving a gun involve a handgun, I think a study should include those as well. I’m not sure where they are getting 17 states from, and only 21 states relying on federal checks, since the DOJ states differ, and say it’s 28 states. I haven’t read the study though.