Sebastian – Page 629 – Shall Not Be Questioned

More Class from the Other Side

Josh Horwitz is now comparing James D’Cruz to Dylan Klebold. The fact that each of these stories shows new quotes which we have not yet seen is a good sign our opponents are all sharing the information on James’ Facebook:

The best case scenario here is that D’Cruz is strikingly immature and incapable of handling the serious responsibilities that come with gun ownership. The worst case scenario is that he’s a ticking time bomb in need of psychiatric care. In either case, he’s a poster boy for why we should prevent handgun sales to those under 21 years of age.

So he’s strikingly immature because he likes to quote movies and books? D’Cruz’s only gaffe here is that he either didn’t realize, or wasn’t coached, that being a plaintiff in a high profile civil rights case was going to put him under the microscope of unscrupulous people who would take anything they could out of context to smear him. I will grant, it is probably is something beyond the comprehension of someone under thirty, just how treacherous a game politics can be.

The notion that James Madison drafted the Second Amendment to guarantee the right of violence-obsessed teenagers to buy handguns and carry them in public–divorced from any type of civic or military duty–is asinine.

Well, good thing James is preparing for a career in our nation’s military then eh? Or did you miss the picture of him in that snappy JROTC uniform that was right next to the one in his Halloween costume that you guys cribbed?

Everything Old is New Again

Tam talks about this phenomenon as it relates to the gun world.

EZ-Pass Unintended Consequences

So we were told that the EZ-Pass system would make things more efficient, and with fewer toll workers to pay, more of your toll dollars could go to road maintenance. But one problem with EZ pass is that it hides costs from the consumer:

When Tolls Increase …

… on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in January, drivers aren’t going to see the new fares on their tickets, our friends at the Patriot-News report this morning.

The argument for snookering drivers?

Tolls are increasing 3 percent a year, so PTC officials say they’ll save money by not printing up a new batch of tickets every year. Besides that, about two-thirds of Turnpike drivers use EZ-Pass, and thus, probably neither know nor care how much they’re paying anyway.

When I paid with the ticket on the PA Turnpike every day, I knew exactly what the tolls were for pretty much all the exists out to Reading, because I forked over the change with ticket every day. Now with Z-Pass, I couldn’t honestly tell you what the tolls are on the PA Turnpike. This is going to give transportation authorities a lot more leeway in boosting tolls, since a majority of people will hardly notice. Sure, you can look, but it takes effort to find out.

This isn’t very libertarian of me, but I tend to disfavor tolls as a means for paying for roads. It’s not practical to toll every road, and for those of us who have to take toll roads, we pay for our road with the toll, while our tax dollars pay for the roads everyone else gets to drive on. To me roads are a public resource, and funding them with tax dollars is my preferred way to pay for them.

Shooting in New York City

From Forbes, at the only range left in Manhattan:

Part of the West Side’s appeal is the thrill of the forbidden–firing a weapon in New York City, which has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. “That restriction makes it more desirable,” says Leung, who has been co-owner since 1994, along with Bob Derrig, 71, a former dispatcher for an alarm company. The range also teaches self-defense courses and sells survival-kit “go bags.”

I think we’re going to change that, as well as ensure that Mr. Leung gets some competition.

Another Newspaper Company Signs with Righthaven

This time it’s Media News Group, which means these papers here are now on the black list. I will be removing all links to these papers. If they want to live in the dark, they are welcome. I have no intention of helping drive traffic and Google-fu to their site.

Is Gun Blogging Getting Harder?

I think this might be a consequence of winning: gun blogging is getting harder. As the idea that the Second Amendment is an individual right is percolating into the body politic, there seems to be less and less Second Amendment related news out there. Interestingly, I’ve noticed a significant uptick in positive shooting sports coverage from the media, which I don’t write about much here because it is either of local interest, or a bit off topic for what we generally talk about here. I prefer to comment on policy issues rather than do shooting sports news.

That’s not to say the controversy is over, but the media doesn’t seem to be as interested in it anymore. Overall that’s bad for gun blogging, but not nearly as bad as it is for our opponents, because I believe the reason coverage of this issue is down is because no one gives a crap about pushing gun control anymore, even the media. I suspect the reason isn’t necessarily that reporters are coming around, so much as they are tiring of the issue, and it’s one that’s not likely to go anywhere.

So if media acquiescence, and perhaps to some degree surrender, on the gun issue makes blogging harder, so be it. In the mean time hopefully things will get easier when we begin pushing our legislative agenda when all the various legislative bodies come back from their recesses or begin new sessions.

Armed Baristas

The Brady Campaign would have you believe something like this could never happen. I guess that’s one less Coffee joint they can frequent now. I would guess after a while, Peet’s gets a little old. Either way, if I worked in a retail food service job, there’s no way I wouldn’t be armed at all times. It’s one thing to not carry to avoid ruining a good career, but if you’re some coffee joint paying minimum wage or barely over, in an industry where robberies aren’t unheard of, I certainly wouldn’t risk taking a bullet for that kind of career.

Storing Duty Side Arms

The Pittsburgh-Post tribune has an article up about problems with how police are storing their firearms. Cops need to have firearms fairly ready for action, even off duty, yet the number of incidences is low. It’s interesting how the police brass don’t want to dictate to their officers exact methods for storing firearms, but it’s funny how many of them will turn around and tell civilians they need to be kept under lock and key at all times.

“Is Rendell French?”

So asks Robin Quillon of the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. I guess not all papers in Pennsylvania are enthusiastic about the Governor’s veto. That was in response to Rendell’s quote:

â€œWhat this would do is expand the Castle Doctrine to outside the home, to a city street, for example, and eliminate the principle of law that weâ€™ve had since English common law: The duty to retreat.â€

As I mentioned in a previous study of English Common Law, the duty to retreat only applied to individuals who had become involved in an affray. Under Common Law, one could use deadly force to stop a felony without having to retreat, so someone trying to rob you, or who had broken into your home by night could be responded to with lethal force without any further qualifications. If Ed Rendell would like to go back to this, I’d have little issue. Many states still use this more traditional standard, such as Virginia.

Knife Rights Go Big Time?

I had to read the header at the top of the article twice just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, because it’s that hard to believe the New York Times has written a two page article on the Knife Rights movement without getting completely hysterical. Talks about the success so far in Arizona and New Hampshire of getting knives deregulated and preempted.

If gun control is ridiculous, knife control is ten times so, because most people have more dangerous knives in their kitchen drawer than knives that are typically banned or restricted. Plus, I agree the Second Amendment protects the right to have bladed instruments just as much as it protects the right to have a firearm. It says to keep and bear arms, after all, not keep and bear guns.