Good to see people in the hunting and fishing community getting it. My big fear is that people won’t take this threat seriously until it’s really a threat. Things have a habit of turning quickly.
Category: Guns
OCIW Alive and Well in Korea?
The US Army abandoned this concept, but it seems the Koreans are prepared to deploy it. I can see the usefulness of an airburst grenade, but I don’t see why this should be general issue. In the US Army, my understanding is that only one member of a four man fireteam is typically equipped with a grenade launcher attached to his M4. It’ll be interesting to see how the Koreans do with this in Afghanistan, but that doesn’t look like something you’d enjoy carrying over that terrain.
No Right to Know
Looks like there’s a bit of a concealed carry permit crisis brewing in Indiana, with an Indiana newspaper threatening to publish all the gun permit records in the state. Caleb is getting a little bit of revenge on them too. As I recently told an anti-gun commenter, I don’t have a problem with the state keeping aggregate statistics on permitting, and to be honest, until newspapers started publishing names, and sometimes even addresses, in the paper, no one really thought too much about whether the records were published or not.
Suppose I were to propose that the public has a right to know your magazine subscriptions? You might be a sexual deviant, and molest children, you know. Shouldn’t we have a right to check your mail? See what you’re downloading? Do you have high speed internet service? Are you frequenting services known to aid in the facilitation of child pornography? It’s a serious crime, and we need to keep children safe, no? OK, OK, we’ll just make you get a license to access porn on the internet. Keep the children and child molesters away. But then why not allow that list to be published? I mean, your neighbors have a right to know, right?
Back in the Gun Control Saddle
Looks like Richard Aborn is back in the gun control issue after being handed a “humiliating man-beating” on election day. For those who don’t know, Richard Aborn was president of Handgun Control Inc. (which would later become the Brady organizations) during their glory days when they were actually achieving something legislatively.
Refining Boomershoot
Looks like Joe Huffman has been trying to refine the formula to Boomerite, which is how they convert ammunition into explosions out in Idaho every year, and has turned Joe into a bit of a rock star. Hey, explosions work for those guys too.
The Elite in New York Have Always Had Access
SayUncle notes that Goldman Sachs execs seem to be getting pistol permits in New York City. Good thing they are rich bank execs, because a New York City pistol permit costs 170 bucks every three years. Now, if they want a license to carry a gun, they have to be connected, but no doubt a wealthy bank exec will have no trouble. Ordinary Joes might have a lot more.
Another MAIG Mayor Convicted
Mayor Shiela Dixon of Baltimore is among the latest criminal members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. She was stealing gift cards from the poor. She beat the felony rap, but was convicted of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary.
Clearly we need to do something about keeping illegal guns out of the hands of Mayors Against Illegal Guns!
Lautenberg Introduces PROTECT Act
Press release here. He’s calling for NICS audit records to be kept for 10 years if your name happens to match up to someone or some alias on the terrorist watch list, which as we know would have been the late Senator Kennedy. For the rest of us lucky folks, the records will only be kept for half a year. You will have no way of knowing that you’re on the list, or that your purchase records are being kept and scrutinized by the government. Not being a Senator, you will also have no way of getting the name off the list. Lautenberg is also reporting some misleading information about how the NICS system currently operates:
The 24-hour destruction requirement hinders the FBI’s ability to verify that gun dealers are conducting background checks properly and to retrieve guns from those who are prohibited from having them.
The destruction requirement only applies to records that have been cleared by NICS. In other words, only for people who have no criminal record. In addition, it only requires that identifying information be destroyed. For the purposes of verifying that a background check was conducted, the system is permitted to store an anonymized identifying token, which can allow matching to the number provided on ATF Form 4473 for purposes of verifying the dealers are conducting the background checks properly.
This is another one of those things there can be no negotiation on. NICS is not to be used as a backdoor registry for firearms. Its purpose is to conduct background checks on sales, and the standard should be a an up or down answer within a reasonable amount of time. Can you imagine the response if this proposal was for logging and keeping track of abortions?
Animal Rights Groups Oppose Valley Forge Culling
The Wildlife Society Blog points out that animal rights groups are suing NPS to prevent a deer culling at Valley Forge National Park. Apparently they have never driven through the park. There are way, way too many deer in Valley Forge National Park. On any given day, I would say I see more deer than people.
I do not approve of the methods that the NPS is employing to thin the population. I would much prefer that NPS use local hunters, as we have been doing in various township in my area. But something has to be done about the deer population in the park. It is obviously out of control for anyone who spends any time there. It’s particularly obnoxious that it’s a Connecticut based group that’s filing the suit. I would encourage anyone who ends up with a damaged car or hurt in an accident to send the animal rights whack jobs the bill.
NJ One-Gun-A-Month Fixes
A bill has been introduced to fix all the problems with New Jersey’s gun rationing scheme, namely to allow exceptions for retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers, and also to allow exceptions for police, and for inheritance.
The sponsor of the measure is none other than Fred Madden, who is responsible for this mess in the first place. While I appreciate he’s trying, like a petulant child, to wash the crayon of the wall, it’s not going to prevent his punishment from being meted out next election day.