June 2012 – Page 8 – Shall Not Be Questioned

My Favorite Cold Remedy

I came down with a cold this Friday, and Sunday the cough got bad enough that I started taking my favorite medication, which is Nyquil Cough. Apparently Nyquil is basically high-fructose corn syrup and alcohol, which I was surprised about because it tastes pretty bad. I figured it was artificially sweetened. Nope. About 20g of pure sugar carb per dose, and I was taking one to two a day for the past couple of days. Ooops. Now I know to check medicine.

In other news, I’m looking for a drug in pill or gelcap form that just has cough suppressant in it without the anti-histamine. But I can’t seem to find just cough medicine anywhere. I’m guessing because the kids abuse it, so they mix it with something else that will mess up the high. Except that kids abuse Nyquil cough too. I hate that these days you can’t seem to just buy single function OTC drugs. It’s either got to have anti-histamines or acetaminophen in it, neither of which I want. I’m pretty convinced this is the reason. Could we introduce something that kids can get high off of that doesn’t involve having to suffer through colds with crappy medicines?

Ingratitude

You’d think with Obama stocking the federal courts with people who will redact the Second Amendment clean out of the Constitution, and running the numbers up for guns going to Mexico to create a pretext for a new Assault Weapons Ban, our opponents would show more gratitude than this:

Whether they want to believe it or not, Obama is their last great hope, in that, if he wins re-election, they have some. There’s a good chance they can reverse or severely limit Heller and McDonald in that instance. You’d think with that on the table, they’d just play along with the charade.

Bad News For Municipalities?

There is a very easy solution to the problem of municipalities and gun regulations: don’t break the law. Why is this such a leap or so radical? Because, as our Supreme Court has said, firearm regulation is a matter of statewide concern, it is a matter that is the exclusive prerogative of the state legislature.

Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, who backed the local initiative, said the bill would invite frivolous lawsuits.

Mayor Gray apparently doesn’t appreciate the idea that he will not be able to break the law with impunity. There is an alternative I can propose for the Mayor: if he is so concerned with taxpayer dollars going to waste, we can easily run a bill that will hold him and his council personally responsible for the lawbreaking, like they do in Florida. How’s that sound?

This Week’s Bob: VPC In Denial on Falling Crime Figures

I was starting to think the Baghdad Bob thing was getting old, but the other side continues to deny reality in utterly hilarious ways. Following up on reports that crime has dropped, VPC has chosen the path of utter denial, suggesting we have to take a more nuanced view:

VPC More Nuanced

The more nuanced view is that you’re losing, and rapidly descending into the dustbin of history where your cause rightly belongs.

Bagdad Bob Anti-Gun Meme VPC Crime

Quote of the Day: Training Edition

SayUncle responds to a post by Caleb on training thusly:

Itâ€™s like thereâ€™s this weird dynamic on this training issue where on one side you have people who think all training sucks and as long as they have theirÂ ~~lucky rabbitâ€™s foot~~Â err gun in their pocket, theyâ€™re ten feet tall and bulletproof. And on the other, you have people who eat, sleep and poop training because theyâ€™re high-speed, low-drag mall ninja wanna be supper troopers who think everyone who doesnâ€™t work out and train is one cell level above an amoeba in terms of functioning.

I’d be willing to bet the vast majority of people who successfully defend themselves don’t have much more than the basic training requirements for their state. I would never pooh-pooh training, and even though I think HTH training is a good idea, I can’t say that I’ve taken a course. For one, training is expensive, and for two, training takes time, and time and money have been in short supply for two years. Caleb notes:

The great majority of defensive gun uses donâ€™t involve a shot being fired. Most of them are in the home, draws/reloads arenâ€™t a factor, and you know what â€“ the level of training of the good guy isusuallyÂ not relevant. Those are all great justifications for not getting professional training, because after all you probably wonâ€™t need it. Thatâ€™s the honest truth. But odds are youâ€™re going to go your entire life and never need your gun. $400 for a magic talisman seems a little steep to me.

I think for the carrier, you have a duty to be competent. You should be able to perform all the motions necessary for self-defense with safety and reasonable competence. I don’t think that necessarily has to involve working your way through all the coursework at Gunsite or Insights, though if you decided to do that, it certainly isn’t a bad idea. But if you choose that route, you should choose it for you, not because you have any duty to. Once you talk about going to one of these schools for some of their basic courses, you’ll end up with more self-defense training than many police have, who are orders of magnitude more likely to need their gun than you are.

The Gun Control Crowd’s America

Veterans with distinguished service history end up with SWAT teams called on them:

He saw about 25 officers in full body armor and Kevlar helmets, carrying M4 assault weapons. SWAT and explosive ordinance disposal teams were on all sides. Streets were barricaded for blocks. The veteran knew how to surrender with the least chance of being hurt. He put his hands over his head and spun around so they could clearly see he was unarmed. â€œI looked down and saw 10 jiggly red dots all over my chest,â€ he said, appearing afraid at the memory. â€œI crumbled.â€

All for the crime of having three pistols in the District of Columbia, an act that in the rest of America, is not remotely a crime, and is supposedly constitutionally protected.

â€œThey immediately zip-tied me tighter than I would have been allowed to zip-tie an Iraqi,â€Â Sgt. CorriganÂ said, pulling up his dress shirt cuff to show his wrist. â€œWe had to check to fit two fingers between the tie and the Iraqiâ€™s wrist so we werenâ€™t cutting off circulation. They tied mine so tight that they hurt.â€

Read the whole sad thing. This is going to be a multi-part series from Emily Miller. Got anyone in the office or a family member who loves themselves some gun control? Show them this article and ask them if this is the America they want, because what happened to Sgt. Corrigan is what gun control is. This is exactly what it boils down to.

Fudging Hiding the Philly Homicide Numbers

One has to wonder if there was a little tomfoolery going on at Philadelphia Police Department this morning and afternoon. Wyatt noticed something amiss this morning in the numbers the city was claiming for homicide rates.

The official homicide count in #Philly is 161. Now why would the PPD website claim it is only 153? Fuzzy math, Mayor Nutter?

— Darth Wyatt (@DarthWyatt) June 11, 2012

Huh. Isn’t that interesting? When I went to the city’s reporting website several hours later, the daily reporting numbers of murders were removed completely and the only 2012 data was in PDF form for the week prior. Commence minor Twitter conversation about the city hiding their numbers after they have been on a streak of averaging a murder a day.

Shortly thereafter, the data reappeared; this time it was correct. In all likelihood it was a glitch. It happens on the web. However, given that the separate descriptive text for graphic also disappeared, it seems a little odd. Mix it in with the fact that Chief Charles Ramsey has insisted upon using fuzzy math to avoid acknowledging the rising murder rate during the last three years, it seems the timing of it is a tad too convenient. It’s a city with leaders who say that it’s not fair to actually count all homicides in the final tallies, nor is it reasonable to question their failed campaign promises of fewer dead bodies.

It’s amazing how the city is running at 163 murders in 163 days (there was one this morning not counted in Philly stats yet) with 29 more murders than this time last year still has the nerve to try and convince their residents that homicides are down by nearly 10%.

Bad News for Anti-Gun Folks

Violent crime is down for the fifth year in a row. Meanwhile, more people are buying and carrying guns than ever. So much for that little theory of theirs.

Push for Restaurant Carry in North Carolina

Sean in North Carolina has a link on how folks can help with the effort. Restaurant carry bans are particularly annoying, and only result in guns getting left in cars. It’s not a net public safety enhancement. The correct way to do this is directly regulating drinking while carrying, which the North Carolina bill does.

Mexico No Threat to Second Amendment, Says Ambassador

From Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the United States:

â€œThere is an urban myth out there that somehow the Mexican government … is seeking to lobby against and destroy the rights enshrined in the Second Amendment,â€ said AmbassadorÂ Arturo Sarukhan. â€œThis isÂ gobbledygook.â€

So I guess this is a figment of my imagination then. I have to hand it to the Mexican Ambassador, I don’t know if he’s gotten lessons from the gun control people in this country in talking out of both sides of the mouth, but if not he would seem to be a natural at it. Next he’ll be telling us we must destroy the Second Amendment in order to save it.