Copywrong

Clayton Cramer has a post up on copyright law, and how Righthaven screwed him with it. I’ve never been of the opinion that our current copyright laws are well suited to how we use and consume information in the 21st century, but there are too many vested interests who’d like to keep everything the way is. One reason I’m considering establishing an LLC to run the blog.

Bob Mensch Appealing Conviction in I-78 Incident

So reports Capitol Ideas. Mensch was convicted of disorderly conduct for displaying a handgun to another motorist during a running confrontation down I-78. Mensch denies displaying the gun, claiming the driver mistook a cell phone for a gun. We have a photo of Senator Mensch’s cell phone, so you can see that it’s an easy mistake to make.

All kidding aside, we wish Senator Mensch good luck on his appeal.

Western Mass. Tornado

I know that my alma mater is safe from today’s tornado in Western Massachusetts, but I wonder how the Smith & Wesson facilities are doing. I learned to shoot on their range. We got home late, so I am not completely up-to-speed on what happened and where. If anyone has any reports from up there, I’d love to hear them.

More Full Auto Fun Coming

I’ve barely had a chance to edit my videos. The major part of my liquidating work is nearly done, but it’ll be hellish until it is. I’m technically on payroll until the end of the month when I cash out with severance, but for June I probably won’t have as much to do, and given that we’re already pushing our landlord’s patience on our lease, which officially ended yesterday, that’s looking more certain.

In the mean time, Lucky Gunner is publishing the stats from this weekend, along with a bunch of pictures, including one of me on the M16 with some brass in the air. I guess if you’re going to host gun bloggers, the lesson is to bring enough ammo and BBQ.

Saving Lives – Not the Goal of Some Law Enforcement Agencies

Jake has more information on the shooting by the sheriff’s deputy in Virginia that caused a major interstate system to be shut down for the better part of a day. It turns out that the sheriff for which the deputy worked had information that he went rogue and was planning to kill his ex-wife. You’d think information like that would call for a regional alert that all law enforcement agencies should be on the look out for an out-of-jurisdiction officer and maybe even get some protection to the intended target.

Nope, not when it’s your staffer. Instead, the sheriff called one local department where the intended target lived (not where she was shot) and left a message for a supervisor. That’s right, he left a message. And this is while he ordered his own dispatch not to issue an alert to other agencies. Seriously, go read more at Jake’s place. That sheriff has some serious questions to answer from the victims and their families.

Getting the Message Out

As much as people blog, I really hate that gun owners don’t do more letters to the editor in their regional papers. Take this letter from Marion Hammer down in Florida:

Sue Carlton is calling out St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster for respecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners and not joining a New York City gun control organization that lobbies against the rights of honest citizens.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s organization, Mayor Against Illegal Guns, is not about illegal guns; it is a front for gun control activities against law-abiding gun owners.

She proceeds to outline the many ways that MAIG has lobbied for gun control which have nothing to do with illegal guns. Believe it or not, but letters to the editor are still a great way to communicate. While newspapers might be on the decline, they still reach a broader audience on a daily basis than the vast majority of blogs do in 6 months. And, for purposes of Google-magic, newspaper content is often ranked higher than regular websites.

Next time there’s an anti-gun piece in your local paper, respond to it. When the message is from someone local, it makes a bigger impact.