The magazine ban has passed the IL senate. It will now be heard by the house.
Author: Sebastian
Odd Ways to Off Yourself
We hear quite a lot of calls for gun restrictions based on the fact that they are great instruments for people committing suicide. I think this method is probably a bit more effective:
A man cut off his own head with a chainsaw after stabbing his 70-year-old father to death in their apartment in the German city of Cologne, police said.
Clearly easy access to chainsaws is to blame. Also, does anyone else notice that these really bizarre news reports always seem to come out of Germany?
Mouse Troubles
It seems I may have rodents again in the house. The normal response previously would be to watch my friend’s cat for a weekend while the friend was gone. Bitter is allergic though, so I may have to look for alternatives.  The problem with traps is I have to remember to check them, and I’m kind of absent minded about things like that. They need to make a trap that beeps when it has a captive.
Maybe I should pick up a black rat snake the next time I see one while hiking. I’d be willing to bet they are effective at dealing with rodent problems, and I’m sure Bitter isn’t allergic to them. But I doubt she’d want to visit in that case. I doubt my neighbors would appreciate the rodent reducing utility of having a giant contstricting reptile in the neighborhood either.
Feinstein at it Again
Diane Feinstein, who really wants to make sure their party loses in 2008, are pushing for making 50 caliber rifles NFA weapons. Another bit of “reasonable” gun regulation we’re asked, with righteous indignation, why we won’t endure.
Light Posting Because of Lost
Sorry for the light posting. I had the gun club meeting last night, and then, of course, Lost, so not much of a chance to queue some filler. Last night’s lost episode was excellent, and as Brad pointed out in the comments, it turns out that Ben’s father is Lazlo from the movie Real Genius.
Ben killed his father because he spent all his time making repeated entries into the island’s sweepstakes. He had calculated that he’d win 32.6% of the prizes. Or maybe because he drank too much. I’m getting my plots confused.
Quote of the Day
From Dave Hardy, commenting on the third amendment over at The Volokh Conspiracy:
The only bill of rights provision that was outmoded by the construction industry.
I’m In!
I am now a proud member of the Falls Township Rifle and Pistol Association. Facilities include trap range, with manual and automatic throwers. Indoor 25 yard pistol range. Outdoor 25/50/100/200 yard rifle range. 25 yard plinking range. It’s NRA and CMP affiliated, which is nice. I’m hoping to get some CMP stuff through the club.
Now the real question is whether to maintain my membership at Classic Pistol, in Southampton. Classic Pistol is, without a doubt, the best indoor range in the area that’s not members only. Full auto is allowed, as well as rifles of any caliber. Pistol lanes are up to 15 yards, rifle up to 25. I think I’ll probably maintain it, and only drop it if I’m not using it enough. Since I can shoot there without being a member, if I don’t go enough, it’s not worth it to maintain the membership.
I’ll extend an open invitation to any of my readers to go shoot as a guest if you’re ever in the area.
Fort Dix Six Trained in Poconos
Looks like the Fort Dix Six trained at a Pennsylvania Game Commission range in Gouldsboro, PA, the PGC Shooting Range at State Game Lands 127. See this article in the Pocono Record, with map locations of where they lived. Also see this article, where a local shooter describes them as lousy shots, who were breaking range rules and never bothered to clean up their mess.
From one of the suspected terrorists:
“You are in the mountains in the Poconos … In Pennsylvania. It is about two hours away from here. We went there for a week walking in the mountains and shooting in the open shooting range.â€
The video showed 10 young men in their early 20s “shooting assault weapons at a firing range … while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic ’Allah Akbar’ (God is great),†the complaint said. The 10 included six of those arrested, authorities said.
Scary stuff. I repeat the call for shooters in Pennsylvania to be vigilant, on the look out for people that look out of place, and are breaking the range rules. Report suspicious activity1. Carry at all times, if you have a license to do so.
Pennsylvania Game Wardens have just been put on the front lines of War on Terror. Hopefully they will step up patrols of public shooting ranges. Welcome to asymmetric warfare in the 21st century.
Hat tip to Nathaniel for the links
1Use your judgement here. I think everyone would agree that someone on the range taking video of themselves shouting “Allah Akbar!” would fall into the realm of suspicious activity. Anyone flagrantly breaking range rules, or being unsafe would fall under this as well. We must take care not to be unfriendly to new shooters.
New Lost Theory
I’m thinking that anyone who kills someone on the island dies. Think about it. Desmond has consistently foreseen Charlie’s demise, but Charlie seems to be destined to die. Anna Lucia killed someone, and she’s dead. The reason the others wanted John Locke to kill his father is to see if he’d die. If he doesn’t, he must be special.  Sawyer killed Locke’s father instead, so now we’ll have to see if Soyer dies. Who else has killed someone on the island?  Mr. Eko has. He’s dead. Juliet has, not dead yet.  So has Sun. Sun’s going to die because she’s pregnant, and pregnant women die on the island.
Maybe there’s someone who doesn’t fit here that I’m not thinking about. Â Another thing I wonder is what happened to Michael and his kid.
Fort Dix Six Were to Train in Pennsylvania
Check out page 9 and 10 on the affidavit:
DUKA told CW-2 that the DUKAs go target shooting with firearms, but cannot go to regular gun ranges becausenone of them are legal residents of the United States. DRITAN DUKA showed CW-2 a video on DRITAN DUKA’s cell phone which depicted individuals shooting firearms. DRITAN DUKA stated that this activity took place in Pennsylvania.
I’m wondering where? We certainly have enough private land in the state that people could use to shoot. There are also PGC public ranges, which are quite often, especially in rural parts of the state, unused for the better part of a day. This would seem risky though, as they are regularly patrolled by game wardens, and I can promise you, anybody shouting “Allah Akbar!” at any PA gun range in earshot of another shooter is going to get the police called on them.
SHNEWER specifically named the United State Army base at Fort Fix, New Jersey and a nearby United States Navy base. SHNEWER explained that they could utilize siz or seven juhadists to attack and kill at least one hundred soliders by using rocket-propelled grenades (“RPGs”) or other weapons. SHNEWER further explained that they could train for the attack in Pennsylvania.
Shnewer was quoted as saying, “There is a nice area where we can train … in Pennsylvania … It is two hours away from here.” Shooters in Pennsylvania need to be vigilant about this stuff. Use your local public ranges. Watch for suspicious activity. I think these guys probably would have set off alarm bells to anyone who came across them “training”. If you’re unsure about someone on the range, call a Game Warden. Also we must monitor the media response. Once the anti-gun crowd learns of this, they are going to be quick to blame Pennsylvania’s “weak” gun laws.
Hat tip to Clayton Cramer