Ian Argent – Page 9 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Crazed gunman brings the crazy

If you don’t have CNN on next to you; here’s what’s happening at Discovery Channel HQ. Short of it – One James Lee allegedly stormed into the lobby of Discovery Channel HQ with metallic canisters strapped to him and waving a handgun around. (Link to a live blog – most recent at top)

His brand of nuttiness seems to be “environmentalism”; claiming that the channel that brings you Whale Wars needs to “stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants.”

Another “bitter clinger”, apparently.

(Also, side note: Sebastian, no Whale Wars category?)

UPDATE: Shot to death per AP via Yahoo. Bomb did detonate, no other injuries.

NJ Firearms Forum plug

One of the places I can be found arguing on a forum is the NJ Gun Forums, which is a pretty handy resource for shooting in the Garden State. One of the things I found there was this handy google maps mashup showing the location of our hidden rebel bases guns stores and ranges across New Jersey.

Dick Morris on President Obama

Admittedly, he’s probably no fan of President Obama (given his ties to the Clinton’s), but his take on Obama’s problems versus President Clinton’s at about the same time is highly interesting. President Clinton returned to the center after ’94; can President Obama do the same if he loses a friendly Congress in ’10?

(Edit: I should have looked closer – while Dick Morris was a member of the Clinton White House team, he’s currently referring to Republicans as “we” in other posts.)

Reasonable Gun Control?

When I saw the headline for this article (Midway considers stronger gun laws) I thought we would get the normal blather from the “reasonable restrictions” crowd. When I read it, however, it looks more like what I would consider “time, place, manner” restrictions that would criminalize not an object or a person, but a (potentially) dangerous behavior. The people interviewed for the story classify this as “gun control”. Would you support this kind of “gun control”?

Bret Schundler finds his sword

Or was handed it… At any rate, he appears to have done the honorable thing and fallen on it.

On the other hand, that article has been … revised … since I first saw it. The initial version I saw included no mention of the contractors, and had a summation paragraph that stated that the reason the application was in flux at a late date is that Schundler cut a deal with the NJEA that Christie disavowed, having instructed Schundler beforehand that there would be no deal.

Mr. Harriman, call your office

A couple of Danes are planning to visit the High Frontier using a rocket, catamaran launch platform, and submarine, all of their own design, funded by donations and sponsorship. Wonder if they’ll remember to bring the stamps with them this time?

H/T Tam

Update on the blind NJ man who shot himself

The judge ruled on August 19th that Steven Hopler may retain the firearms currently in his possession and did not revoke his FID card, as long as the firearms are securely stored and Mr. Hopler completes a firearm safety course and undergoes an alcohol evaluation. Mr. Hopler was not granted his request to have the prosecutor’s office return the other firearms that are in that office’s possession, though he may re-open his petition after completion of the court-ordered training and evaluations.

The original NY Times article from 1994states that Mr. Hopler is “totally blind”. In addition, it states:

Mr. Hopler’s appeal to State Superior Court resulted in a ruling in his favor. But Judge Reginald Stanton, sitting in Morristown, added some stipulations: Mr. Hopler cannot load the weapons, shoot them or even leave home with them. And he must make sure that the guns are secured when they are not on display

So it would appear that Mr. Hopler may have been in violation of the original judge’s order.

A proposed amendment to the US constitution (Updated)

I would like to suggest the following amendment to the US constitution:

No person shall be convicted of a felonious crime or subject to lengthy term of imprisonment or loss of civil rights, or ruinous fine, or a sentence of death, save that either:
1)The intent of the accused to knowingly commit the specific alleged crime be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in open court
OR
2)The felonious actions of the accused be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in open court to have resulted in actual bodily injury, actual physical harm, or death, to another person

The goal here is to require intent for non-injurious crimes; no more strict liability.

(Edited to add the italicized words – the accused must have either meant to commit a crime or the injury must have been serious enough to merit a felony indictment. Please pass the BATFE and Sen Lautenberg some Kleenex)

Who gets to vote?

My last post, I noted thatÂ (anecdotally)Â Â the majority of parents in the Camden City school district were ineligible to vote for being immigrants or felons. Should this be?

I know a bunch of youÂ out there are in favor of restoral of rights for felons after leaving the pen, because if they were too dangerous toÂ have a gun, they shouldn’t have been let out. I agree with that.Â Â If we allow them to have guns, why stop them from voting? “Because they’ll vote for the other side” isn’t a valid argument here. They’re out, they’re paying their taxes (even if they’re under the income tax limit, they pay property tax and sales tax, which are local taxes). Shouldn’t they get some input into the political process,once they’ve served their time?

How about for legal aliens? (If you’re here illegally, get your butt home and jump though the proper hoops. I have too many friends who have gone through the tortuous procedure to become a resident alien legally to feel any sympathy for the queue-jumpers). At least for local (city/county level) elections?Â There’s too many potential policy implications for state-level voting for me to feel comfortable letting non-citizens vote at the state level, and, of course, input into national decisions is a privilege of citizenship. At the local level, though?

The floor is open for discussion.

Another problem with “Vote the Bums out”

A friend of mine teaches in the Camden City NJ school district, and pointed out one interesting factoid: the majority of parents in his district can’t vote in school board elections, either because they are immigrants or because they are felons. That makes it rather hard for them to “vote the parasites out” if they are so inclined. And if you can’t threaten to throw the bums out, the bums don’t have to listen to you.