More rubble .....

I saw this on Kevin's site, and thought I needed to spread it around:

As far as I can tell, none of the software on which the entire concept of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW) is based has been examined, reviewed or tested by anyone save the people who wrote the code in the first place. This is a staggering omission of scientific oversight and correction. Nothing like it has happened in the history of science. [emphasis added]

Money quote!

Nobody checked the computer software to make sure it was accurate. And I can't see that it'd do any good.

You have a theory about AGW, but you can't prove it, so you write a computer program to simulate what you think happens with CO2, but you have to tell the computer that CO2 causes AGW (assuming the theory is true), of course you do such a shitty job with the program that no one can check the program because you're not a programmer you're a fucking scientist, dammit and lo and behold when you run the program, you get AGW!

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

We are so fucked.

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Why does the FBI need a 20mm supressed rifle?

This is worse than those .50 cal rifles that all the worst criminals are using (says the Brady bunch) h/t thefirearmblog:



And the really good part? They make explosive tipped rounds for these (since they're from a Vulcan Cannon!).

Does anybody think this is a good idea?

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The rubble starts to pile up

CRU has decided to release all the data they have left on their AGW studies (h/t Ace):

"These guys called climate scientists have not done any more physics or chemistry than I did. A lifetime in engineering gives you a very good antenna. It also cures people of any self belief they cannot be wrong. You clear up a lot of messes during a lifetime in engineering. I could be wrong on global warming – I know that – but the guys on the other side don't believe they can ever be wrong."

Hmmm, sounds like someone's incredulous. It is interesting that AGW seems to be some nebulous kind of science, while engineering is hard as hell (like the difference between Wall Street and Main Street, but I digress).

The link also mentions that we need to learn something from this escapade in order that the money spent wasn't a waste. My theory is we (that is, the politicians) won't learn anything, and no matter what, the money was wasted.

Utterly wasted.

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Viva la difference!

It's interesting how the media treats firearms:

Quintin T. Pride, 1517 18th St. NE, had a fully automatic gun and a bag of crack was found near him, the report said.

Here's a report about an actual machine gun (probably a sub-machine gun, but I digress), and there's nothing more said about it.

Hmmmm ......

I wonder if an SKS would be reported as an evil assault weapon?

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Spreading the word.

David has a new post up at Gun Rights Examiner ...... go look, cuz there's a cool pic by Oleg!

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And the hits keep on comin'. Updated!

More from Vox's site, the Europeans start to realize the gravity of Climategate:

Our hopelessly compromised scientific establishment cannot be allowed to get away with a whitewash of what has become the greatest scientific scandal of our age.

And there's more at the links.

And this major kerfluffle only makes sense with regards to the science and the government.

Drug companies, if they want to sell their wares in this country, must prove their wares are safe, and show their work. Why shouldn't global warming climate change socialism activists who hide behind Science be held to the same standard when it comes to so much more of our economy?
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Update: This found at Hot Air:

Zorita’s point is well taken. The bullying atmosphere in Academia on AGW has ruined the credibility of the effort — and not just at the University of East Anglia. Any PhD student in the field would have known on which side the bread would be buttered, and would be unlikely to commit career suicide by producing contradictory data. The actions of the IPCC authors created an atmosphere of groupthink, paranoia, and toadyism, not science or truth. Any results coming from this arena have to be entirely suspect.

The AGW movement has been exposed as a religious belief and a political cash cow, not science.

Does the NRA really want to help?

So here's the deal. All kinds of crap flowing about the Tiarht amendment that 'caused' the Ft Hood shootings, or 'prevented' the FBI from properly investigating that goat fucker Maj Hasan, or any number of OMG scenarios that allowed a suspected terrorist to buy a firearm. !!eleventy1!! I and many other bloggers have detailed the fallacies to the arguments.

Anyway, I noticed in a Christian Science Monitor piece about the Ear Worm Bloomberg that Rep Pete King (R-NY) seems to support Bloomberg's contentions about letting terrorists buy guns (!!1eleventy!1!!), and I noticed that Rep King is the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security.

So I thought to myself, how is the best way to communicate with Rep King about this while being not his constituent? I could contact a rep on the committee who is from my state (GA, but not my rep), or I could contact my rep and have him talk to the other GA rep to have him talk to Rep King (which might take care of three birds with a single stone), but I thought that to be too uncertain.

So I tried to find out what Rep King's NRA rating is, and I found out - it's a members' only area! WTF?!

I can find out a Gun Owners of America rating without being a member, why not the NRA?

Because they suck, and they don't really care about all firearm owners, just the ones whose fights the NRA thinks they can win.

Sad, really ... the premiere gun rights' organization isn't really doing anything but raking in more money with which to raise more money.

If I were the NRA, as soon as I saw such crap in print from Rep King, I'd be visiting his office, explaining things to him. And if I can set out a convincing case on why the Tiarht amendment didn't cause or prevent anything, shouldn't the NRA be able to do better?

This is reason #213 why I'll not be joining the NRA.

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Ok, this isn't too bad!

Found at Ace's place:



Sweet, huh?!

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Heh .... ya don't day?!

We knew it all along, but nice to see it pointed out:

The Baltimore Sun lambasted Sen. Richard Burr's (R-NC) proposed S. 669 -- Veterans' Second Amendment Protection Act -- in an editorial called "Guns and the mentally ill" published on Nov. 16.

The next day, it was forced to post a retraction. Actually, the paper's editorialists didn't write the retraction, Burr did in a blistering point-by-point rebuke that, essentially, exposed The Sun's opinion-mongers' as being heavy on the opinion, but light on the facts.

It's amazing that the media has been reporting all these years on gun-related issues, yet knows nothing about them or the laws governing them.

Typical.

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Are hey tiring of the 5.56mm?

Saw this on my morning news feed:

Well, the BullDog 762 just went operational, and Defense Review is going to keep an eye on it to see how it performs in the U.S. military Special Operations (SpecOps) arena against hostile enemy personnel. Hopefully, it will assist its operator in his dynamic ballistic problem solving processes.

'Ballistic problem solving processes' - wonder what that means?!

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About the Cooper QotD

I've noticed that the Cooper quotes I've been running are for personal use, not for publication. For this reason, I will discontinue the Cooper quotes.

I invite you to get them yourself (link at left sidebar) and study them .... there is wisdom for the ages there.

Mea culpa

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Cooper QotD

In a recent paper, we listed a number of reasons for which men fight. One reader took exception to us in that we did not list liberty as a primary motive. As in all philosophic discussion, much depends upon semantics, so I suppose the first thing to do here is to define "liberty" so that we can examine our position. In my view, liberty is that condition which exists when men make their own laws, either directly or indirectly, and are protected from bureaucracy or despotism by unbreakable rules.

Now then, I have fought through a couple wars and a larger number of fighting situations and I have never yet encountered a man who felt that he was fighting for liberty. That doesn't mean that this cannot be a motive, but I did not list it because it seemed so very unlikely to me. I think we could say that the colonists at Bunker Hill were indeed fighting for liberty. I think the Boers in South Africa were fighting for liberty, but I don't see anyone doing it now. Singhalese are not fighting for liberty. The Iranians are not fighting for liberty. The Somalis are not fighting for liberty. The Serbians are not fighting for liberty. Moreover, no American I ran across in the Pacific war nor in Korea felt he was fighting for liberty, and I don't think that anybody on either side in the Vietnamese affair thought that he was.

Thus it is that I do not regard the idea of liberty as a primary motivating force in man's history of combat.

I did leave out one major consideration and I will hasten to insert it now. That motive is hatred. Hatred is a big one, and it appears more often than the rabbit people would like to admit. In my own limited experience in the Pacific war, hatred was the primary motivating emotion of the American forces.
- Jeff Cooper

More supports being knocked out

I got this from a commenter at Vox's site, and it's a great read:

Following an extensive theoretical analysis, two German physicists have determined that the term greenhouse gas is a misnomer and that the greenhouse effect appears to violate basic laws of physics.

Wow, I thought that the global warming cultists had all the science down?!

So after reading this, I came up with an experiment. Get an Arizona university to build 3 greenhouses in a solar-neutral site, fill one with regular air, and the other two with more, or less than the 'normal' amount of CO2 ...... see how temperatures differ.

Science is so simple ........

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I've got this ear worm ....

And his name is Michael Bloomberg:

A federal law repeatedly supported by Congress interfered with the FBI's ability to find out about Hasan's purchase of a handgun. Knowledge of that purchase might -- and should -- have triggered great scrutiny. And it could have saved lives.

Oh my God! If I hear this crap about the Tiahrt amendment preventing the feds from finding out about Nidal Malik Hasan one more time, I believe I'll shit myself.

Currently, a holder of a Federal Firearms License (FFL) is the only person who is required to run a background check on an individual wanting to purchase a firearm.

Private individuals wanting to sell weapons out of their collections don't have to (even at a gun show).

Criminals don't have to (even though that's illegal).

FFL's only. They have to run the purchaser against the NICS database, which is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Please note that this is a check for criminal status.

The NICS checks the purchaser for deficiencies to owning a firearm - the FFL will have the purchaser fill out form 4473 (pdf), answering questions 1-15 (including 12a-l, and 13) personally. The NICS checks this information. If it comes back clear, the NICS gives a transaction code and some other information for the FFL to record on the form, and the sale goes through. FFL and firearms purchaser are happy, the government doesn't keep any information they don't need, and God bless America.

Please note that the FFL is not required to run a check against the FBI Terrorist Watch List, or the State Department List of Terrorist Nations, or the Richard Nixon Hit List, or the Organizing for America Good Cookie List.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System. And this is where the FFL learns if the purchaser is eligible to purchase the firearm, because his crimes will be listed there (hopefully .... garbage in, garbage out). Not his accusations, or his might-do-something-bad-one-day, or his he's-had-a-bad-hair-day-three-days-in-a-row, or she-voted-Green-Party-so-let's-watch-her.

A crime ..... a disqualifying crime. This is why you don't see very many criminals trying to buy from an FFL.

Now, Bloomberg can make somewhat of a point by pointing out that the FBI used to have access to firearms purchase information for 180 days after the sale. So what if Hasan had bought the weapons 190 days prior? Yes?!

The Tiahrt amendment denied access to gun purchase data because there's no real reason that they would need that. In order to be productive, then the FBI would have to be allerted by the FBI everytime an FFL ran a NICS check from the FBI on someone buying a firearm. Notice that the FBI is the first stop in this convoluted process.

Now, since there are only three answers that NICS can give a FFL dealer, the proper flow of imformation might be helpful. An FFL can be told that the sale is approved, denied, or delayed. If the answer is delayed, the FFL can wait 3 business days, and if he gets no more information, then the sale can go through.

That's where the FBI should be sharing the information that they have. If they've got someone on their watch list, the terrorist bubbas need to be having the NICS boys put some kind of placeholder in the NICS database, letting the firearms bubbas know to alert someone if the subject tries to purchase a firearm .... at least they'd have 3 days to either shit or get off the pot. If the relevant information is properly shared, then everyone at least has a chance to get things straightened out. But understand, if the FFL doesn't hear something in the 3 days, then the sale goes through.

The problem isn't that the NICS boys aren't sharing with the other kids, it's that the other kids aren't telling the NICS boys to be looking.

Of course, our FBI had Hasan under investigation, but didn't think he was violent .... so a fat lot of good this system would have done for the soldiers (and the one civie doctor) at Ft Hood.

Bloomberg, you're a fucking idiot.

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Ok, I can understand the drugs ....

If you're going to have something in your house, it needs to not be drugs:

Further investigation revealed shotguns, rifles and crack cocain [sic] were in an area accessible to the children.

Yeah, I get the drugs ...... and it is New York, so there are likely pretty stupid gun laws.

But interestingly, I had this same conversation with my wife recently. Since I don't have a gun safe, I store my big rifle on a high shelf (unleaded), my .22 in the closet (with no bolt), and if I'm not wearing my Hi-power, it's in the nightstand or my desk drawer. So it is accessible to my 5 year old sometimes.

But I've also taught my daughter about weapons, and she knows to come and get me if she finds one. I'll also show her any of my weapons whenever she wants to see them.

Much to my chagrin, she's not interested!

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Cooper QotD

"Fear of death will not prevent dying − but it may prevent living."
Anonymous

passed along by - Jeff Cooper

Happy Thanksgiving!

Take this time to be thankful for family and friends, as I am for mine.

Be careful and safe!

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PS - Here's a video about what really happened hat first Thanksgiving!

Cooper QotD

We talked recently with Karin van Graan at Engonyameni in the Eastern Transvaal. She told us she couldn't put Danie on the phone at the time because he was out with a party of pistol hunters. They had tagged a blue wildebeest (which is a very hard animal) four days previously with a 44 Magnum and they were still on his trail. Pistol hunting is certainly a worthy pastime, but obviously not for everyone. The fact that you can row across the Atlantic (with a certain amount of luck) doesn't make rowing across the Atlantic a good idea.
- Jeff Cooper

JPFO Alert

What would Thanksgiving be without our veterans?

Truth gets spoken

NJ Atty Gen has started looking at 'less-lethal' force via committee:

The idea is that stun guns will give police an option other than bullets and will therefore save lives. But it's important to note - as Milgram did - that these are "less lethal" weapons, not "non-lethal." Stun guns can kill or cause severe injuries.

So someone in authority is noticing that a stun gun is pretty dangerous - good for her.

BTW, isn't 'less-lethal' sorta like 'less-pregnant'?!

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Cooper QotD

It was interesting to observe the Attorney General coming forth to "accept full responsibility" for the atrocity at Waco. One wonders what that means. When one accepts responsibility, one accepts appropriate punishment for one's transgression. The Japanese have a long tradition of the proper means of accepting responsibility. It is conducted by means of a short, sharp knife. I have such a piece in my armory and I would be glad to part with it in a good cause, such as appropriate use by the Attorney General. - Jeff Cooper

Hee hee hee .....

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Is there anything on the scale worse than 'fraud'?

Vox Day has a good post (among a lot of them out there) on one of the worst of the stories coming out of the global warming kerfluffle:

As bad as they are, the hacked CRU emails are actually turning out to be less damning than the comments made by the unfortunate programmer who was saddled with the responsibility for trying to transform the morass of data collected by the climatologists into something that was actually coherent and usable.

I had a discussion with my son the other day about AGW, and he asked me if I thought the earth wasn't getting warmer? I told him I agree that the earth was getting warmer, I just didn't think humans had anything to do with it.

After thinking about it for a minute, he agreed.

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JPFO Alert

What are you doing December 15th?

Great .... here we go again

Mick Bloomberg has hisself another boogey-man:

... Ryan Woodard, 22, was peddling guns out of his girlfriend's apartment on Hendricks Avenue, on the same block as a day-care center.

He said many of the buys were made at gun shows -- the same kinds of venues where Bloomberg has been complaining just about anyone can pick up a weapon.

Nice touch about the daycare center.

So this gentleman was merely engaging in the entrepreneurial spirit of America, buying low and selling high ...... what's the problem? At least he hasn't asked for a gub'mint bailout yet.

And I'm sure that the authorities won't chase down those gun show sales .... might find out that they were legal.

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Cooper QotD

In that connection, let us turn back the clock a bit. In the year 1369, Edward III, one of England's truly great monarchs, issued the following order:

"Cause public proclamation to be made, that everyone strong in body at leisure time on holidays use in his recreation the bow and arrow and learn and exercise the art of shooting − forbidding all and singular on our behalf that they do not after any manner apply themselves to the throwing of stones, wood, iron, handball, football, bandyball, cambuck, or cock fighting; nor to other such like vain plays which have no profit in them, under pain of imprisonment."
Edward Rex, Westminster, 12th day of June

After observing the public hysteria which seized the media here in Arizona in connection with the recent basketball season, I can't but think we have been going backwards for quite a long time. - Jeff Cooper

Cooper QotD

Things do not promise well in the land of the Magna Carta. The new policy in British jurisprudence is to assess fines on the basis of the wealth or income of the offender. Thus a reasonably successful man may be punished severely for an offense which would draw no more than a token fine from a proletarian. Truly the
class system is alive and well in Socialist Britain. - Jeff Cooper

Ah, the surety of a protective order (updated)

Bumped .... update below.

Lawdog has a very good post on the value of a protective order. Perhaps Mrs Moore in Des Moines should have read about it:

Polk County Judge Karen Romano ordered Randall Moore, 38, to hand over any guns to county law enforcement by Oct. 26 and to have no contact with his wife. Moore signed the document, agreeing to abide by the order.

On Wednesday, Moore is accused of killing his wife, TereseAnn Lynch Moore, with a shotgun and injuring Des Moines police officer Todd Roland.

Lawdog's point is that paper makes lousy armour.

He's right ..... it's pretty lousy against someone who's intent on doing harm. Better that you have the tools to protect yourself - now it doesn't matter how well the paper does at armouring.

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Update: The family has decided that the popo need to enforce the law better-

The family of a Des Moines woman allegedly shot to death by her estranged husband has issued an open letter asking for better enforcement of laws for domestic violence victims.

Gee, I seem to remember the perp signing the order and agreeing to abide by it. Huh.

I suppose we'll be handing out scarlet letter tattoos next.

Feeding trolls

I'll admit to being an internet novice, but I had always heard 'Don't feed the trolls!'.

Never worked ..... there was always someone there to throw them some chum.

Now I've noticed that some gun bloggers are going to start deleting comments from one of the more virulent trolls. I always thought that our tolerance of someone espousing their views was one of our strong points.

If a troll cries wolf and no one listens, how much harm has he done?

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Cooper QotD

I have had a chance now to look at the Auto Ordnance double−column slimliner, and it looks good. The bulk is surprisingly low for a double−column pistol, and if this piece stands up to hard usage it may actually be the preferred personal defense weapon of the future. - Jeff Cooper

Naturally

Knoxville libraries have done the typical panty-wetter thing to do:

After a patron wore a holstered guns into its Fountain City branch, the Knox County Public Library system has posted signs prohibiting handguns and any weapon at all its branches.

Despite their protestations, of course they allow weapons. Weapons like ....

Pocket knives
Pens and pencils
Keychains
Studded belts
Combat boots
Canes

And that small list doesn't count what you can get behind the librarian's desk.

Breda can fill you in on how one might need a weapon at a library.

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Well, it does happen

Ok .... it does happen, but not like they say:

A Houston windshield repairman has admitted to helping manage a part of a broader conspiracy to traffic more than 300 military-style weapons across the border, part of a plea deal requiring him to tell federal agents about the ring that supplied weapons to Mexico's fearsome Zetas drug cartel.

Now, I've got a few bones to pick about all this Zeta crap. The true Zetas were soldiers from Mexico, and were specially trained at Ft Bragg(?) at the College of the Americas. They went back to Mejico and some went to the highest bidder - drug cartels. So all the 'Zetas' aren't really Zetas.

But the ones who are Zetas can surely get hold of real weaponry - select-fire rifles, light and heavy machine guns, even explosives.

So much crap ..... so little time.

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Dear God, will they never stop?!

Scotland has decided that airguns need to be banned:

Powers allowing airguns to be banned in Scotland are expected to be handed to Holyrood, it has emerged.

I agree that even one death is tragic, but airguns?

Adherence to the 4 Rules cures just about every firearms eventuality - what Scotland, and just about everywhere else, needs is a blow to the head with the fucking common sense stick.

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I hate to say you were told, but ...... you were told.

David Codrea's latest Gun Rights Examiner column:

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column once more talks about something that not only won't the "Authorized Journalists" tell us about, but what they actively sneer at as unfounded paranoia.

Yeah, I know ......

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I might smell a lawsuit

A high school student in Kalifornia is expelled for having unloaded hunting shotguns in his truck:

The Willows Unified School District board of trustees has expelled a 16-year-old for having unloaded shotguns in his pickup parked just off the Willows High School campus.

Not on school property?!

They make a fair case of the schtupid 1000' radius around schools, but as soon as they voted to expel my kid, I'd be filing suit the next day.

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Cooper QotD

When money becomes the objective, truth is abandoned.
The Guru - Jeff Cooper

So much to talk about

In Saratoga Springs, a couple of retail recreational drug distributors were arrested with 2 legal weapons:

While both weapons are legal under state penal code, law enforcement agencies noted this week that possession of weapons by criminals known to be dealing drugs is cause for concern, as the weapons could be used to defend a drug-dealing business from rival dealers.

Or from police busting in the front door with a battering ram.

The article is written such that it looks like the reporter was trying to be more objective on how the firearms were portrayed, and they did a good job until the district attorney piped up and said 'assault weapon'.

Give the link a read ..... see what you think.

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Man with NFA items arrested

A Missouri man was just arrested after a call to police for stalking, but he had an interesting array of weapons:

.... Smith and Wesson air weight .357 revolvers and a loaded speed loader and four loose .357 rounds.

Police also found a loaded Walther P22 pistol with a silencer, a partial box of 90 rounds of CCI subsonic .22 long rifle ammunition, three knives, including a switchblade, Sig Sauer P250 .9mm with silencer, 9mm ammunition for the Sig Sauer pistol, and a M6A2 5.56mm self loading rifle with a silencer and a magazine containing 30 rounds of ammunition for the rifle

Police found an envelope in the glove box containing licenses for all the firearms.

I think it's interesting that there seems to be such a focus on the number of rounds he had ..... not that many at all by enthusiast standards.

But it is interesting that he had some NFA items (three suppressors), and licenses for the weapons. No word on whether the suppressors were legal or not.

Also note that the AR type weapon was called a 'self-loading rifle', not an assault weapon ...... progress?

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JPFO Alert

I think I'll post these email alerts as I get them - got this one today.

JPFO alert.

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Cooper QotD

The recent marketing attempts to sell laser pointers for pistols should be viewed askance. We tested such devices here at the Ranch some years ago when they were much more expensive than they are now, and we discovered that the principle disadvantage of the laser is that it is slow. When you present a pistol properly and pick up the flash sight−picture, you do it in one smooth stroke. When, on the other hand, you present a laser−equipped pistol you must hunt around for that orange dot on the target, which takes more time than the
acquisition of the flash sight picture. The time increment between the two systems is admittedly slight, but one wonders why one should install an expensive gadget in order to create a slight disadvantage. - Jeff Cooper

This is what's wrong with the justice system

This is why the justice system is so screwed up.

Why do we as a society find it necessary to add all sorts of ancilliary charges to the one that counts - he shot a woman.

Common sense would dictate that he used a - gun?! Charge and punish him for the act against another human being.

'Ah, but pm, we have to take him off the street for a long time.'

Then make the punishment for the crime (of shooting someone) sufficient.

I've long thought that the classifications for murder should be streamlined; murder should be murder, or the intentional taking of another human life. There shouldn't be an 'aggravated' murder, of 'felony' murder, or 'especially wicked' murder ....... murder is murder. And I feel the punishment for murder should be death. Period.

But don't get me started ......

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I think I threw up a little in my mouth

For your edification, an example of how the leftards try to frame the issue.

I know it'll hurt ......

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Cooper QotD

In that connection, I notice a rebirth of shooting sticks in both Africa and Europe. I have a pair I whittled out when in junior high school, but never found to be of much use in the woods. Carrying a rifle has always been enough of a chore in itself without carrying awkward accessories. In unforested, high grass country, the portable rest may have some use. I have never hunted such terrain, but
the high grass of what is now called Namibia did call for the repeated use of the tree rest when I was there last.

All these matters will be fully considered in "The Art of the Rifle" at such time as I get around to writing it. - Jeff Cooper

Feminism rulz!

Seems like the Brits have the 'right' idea about women and firearms:

According to the 2008-09 figures, of the 144 women caught, 88 were cautioned, 47 were charged and five were handed youth reprimands.

'Now madame, you must be mindful of those nasty guns ..... they can bring you no peace.'

Of course, since they consider pepper sprays and the like as firearms, we can't be sure of how many actual firearms violations we're talking about.

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NFA shenanigans

Found an interesting document from the BATFE while doing something else this morning, and it made me think about an earlier post.

So the ATF has always told us the purpose of the National Firearms Act is to raise revenue, but here we have their own document stating the purpose is to

limit the availability of machine guns, short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles, sound suppressors (silencers), and other similar weapons that were often used by criminals during the Prohibition Era.

Not what we were told? Unpossible.

And of course, they then admit that the NFA was expanded in 1986 to cover even more weapons.

Doesn't limit sound something like infringe?

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This one's strange

A retired college professor is killed during a home invasion robbery:

The retired Brigham Young University professor who died Monday in a home invasion collected high-powered firearms, some of which may have been automatic, a neighbor said.

What is not specifically mentioned is that any of these weapons were actually stolen.

As for missing NFA weapons, wouldn't the BATFE be able to determine whether any of his registered collection are missing? Oh that's right .... the NFRTR hasn't been that accurate.

Need input .....

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This sounds like a good idea

South Carolina makes up for electing Lindsay Graham:

South Carolina shoppers will get a second chance to buy tax-free guns.

The state Revenue Department sent out a reminder Wednesday of the upcoming "Second Amendment Weekend."

The 48-hour tax break begins just after midnight the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Now that's a stimulus I can get behind!

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Oops! (with Update)

Victim selection FAIL:

The employee was able to confiscate the guns during the fight, and both men ran away.

Nice to hear!

Update: That one's not as bad as this one! h/t Say Uncle

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Cooper QotD

On a recent and delightful visit to Finn and Berit Aagaard in Texas I discovered that the Clifton bipod showed up well at the recent Keneyathlon at the Whittington Center. I have never had occasion to use a bipod on a live target, there being nearly always too much grass or intervening vegetation to permit firing from a position that low; however, I have taken several field shots from the prone position, and if you can use prone you can use a bipod, especially one that vanishes when not in use. - Jeff Cooper

Yeah, police!

Georgia law enforcement is getting the rough criminals off the street:

The hearing on the charges against a West Point, Ga., city councilwoman who authorities allege illegally served alcoholic beverages at a bridal shop she owns in Columbus was postponed Tuesday for a second time.

Wow .... mimosas served a a bridal shop! Ruralown is safe!

And the woman maintains that the clerk at the courthouse said she didn't need a license to serve.

I agree - serving a mimosa in a bridal shop sounds normal, even celebratory (and we know that as far as weddings go, the groom is the last piece of the puzzle!).

And as far as needing state permission to serve alcohol, that's something the state came up with.

It's my opinion that the entities involved here should drop the matter as quickly and quietly as possible.

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Militia and teenagers

My last post got me thinking.

Why could a parent not challenge a student's suspension on the basis that the right to firearms is an individual right (in light of Heller), that there is ample evidence of teens as young as 16 being in the military, and the student had the parents' permission to have the firearms, and they were safely locked in the vehicle?

Just a thought ....

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Zero tolerance crap

Another example of how schools are completely losing touch with reality:

Administrators searched the 17-year-old student’s car about 1:30 p.m. after receiving information from another student about the location of the guns.

A rifle, a pistol and ammunition were found in the vehicle. The guns were not loaded at the time. The student had left the guns in the car after going shooting during the weekend.

And this was in Alaska?! St Sarah, save us!

Seriously, in a state with as self-reliant a culture as Alaska, this should not be happening. But school policies are designed so as not to have to exercise judgement, simply follow the 'policy'.

Zero tolerance - last refuge of trained monkeys.*

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*apologies to trained monkeys

The non-lethal less-lethal not-as-lethal Taser use-of-force

Michigan police have demonstrated what a crutch crock Tasers are:

Bolick then ran into his house with that officer and a second officer, who had arrived separately, in pursuit. After a struggle in which the officers fired their stun guns two or three more times, they took Bolick into custody, Herald said.

Although an ambulance crew was on the scene, Bolick died at the house around 9:45 p.m.

To me, it sounds like the guy was probably on some kind of drug, prescribed or otherwise, and that could have set the stage for the death. But I have no doubt it was the use of the two Tasers 'two or three more times' that did it.

I realize the dilemma that officers face on the streets; but I also know that if I punch a law enforcement officer in the face, the consequences here in Ruraltown won't be pleasant for me.

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Citizens get it

A citizen writes a short letter to an editor:

A military base being a "Gun Free Zone" is preposterous. We arm our soldiers and send them into battle, but they can't defend themselves on their own bases!

I would be nice of the next president had enough sense of freedom to get rid of this schtupid rule.

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Some people want to deny human nature

Coming from the Baltimore Sun, this should be no surprise:

That's why it's somewhat bizarre that North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr is standing behind legislation he introduced last March that would restore gun ownership rights to veterans designated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Justice as "mentally incapacitated" or "mentally incompetent."

On the 4473 form, the question is 'have you been adjudicated a mental defective', not 'someone says you're crazy'.

So the Baltimore Sun would deny the right to arms to the very people who have fought for the right? Scary, not to mention exceedingly stupid. If you're that fucked in the head to not be able to handle a firearm, you shouldn't be running around in public.

They also have these insane statements to make:

If, however, the nation wants to honor those who died at Fort Hood, they could scarcely do better than to stand behind gun purchase background checks that can help spare their families' lives

Yoo hoo, fucksticks! Maj Hasan bought both firearms recovered legally, undergoing an instant background check ..... just in case the Baltimore Sun doesn't realize, a Major in the armed forces is exactly who is demonstrably qualified under the nations' byzantine gun laws to purchase and own a firearm. If he weren't, he probably wouldn't be an officer, now would he.

As another tragedy, the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech that took the lives of 32 innocent people, also demonstrated, a ban on gun purchases by the mentally ill can't be effective if authorities are not made aware of who they are.

Mr Cho also bought his weapons legally, also undergoing an instant background check (instant background checks advocated by the Brady bunch, btw) - it's not his fault that the 'authorities' weren't sharing the necessary information in which to make an informed decision.

Fucksticks one and all ....... my head hurts.

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Cooper QotD

July is not one of the better months − too hot in the northern hemisphere and too cold in the southern. It also is the month when the wilderness areas are at their worst clutter, with city people scampering around throwing pop cans in all directions. Nonetheless, it is the month in which we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in which it was set forth unmistakably for posterity that human rights are not granted by man but rather by God, and that when any government or institution threatens those rights it is the duty of the people to abolish it. That is an idea especially pungent at this stage of America's political devolution. - Jeff Cooper

Let the scrumming begin

Looks like the pile-on has started:

The former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection called Monday for the U.S. to reinstitute the ban on assault weapons and take other measures to rein in the war between Mexico and its drug cartels

Everyone is getting in on the action. I suppose it's a good thing that Democrat leaders admit they don't have the votes to pass this garbage.

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Wow .... hi-tech really hits

FN Herstal has apparently made a significant advance in firearms:

Firearms manufacturer FN Herstal has designed and built a Black Box that, when attached to a weapon, counts rounds fired, measures burst rate, and detects stoppages--information it then stores to facilitate more effective maintenance.

This could be interesting as it concerns weapons trials with the military, especially if a manufacturer can show how much better their weapon is.

Stay tuned ....

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Cooper QotD

I have never been taken with the idea of selling a gun. When you possess a firearm, you possess something of importance. If you trade it for cash, you have lost it − and the cash in your hand will soon be gone. Sell something else!
- Jeff Cooper

Unpossible!

Police are the Only Ones® qualified to have these weapons, aren't they?

That's changed since one of the guns was stolen from an officer's car last month.

What?! Surely not?!

So now there's a police-supplied fully automatic weapon in the hands of a criminal. Seems like civilian owners of these weapons take better care of their heavy weaponry.

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Hollywood learns?

Jessica Biel has this to say about her new role in 'The A-team':

"I haven't done a lot of M4 machine gun shooting in my life and I'm doing that now a lot, it's amazing to understand how to run those weapons."

Because the M4 was developed after the '86 machine gun ban, so real M4's are restricted to military and law enforcement (which is not to say you couldn't build one on a transferable receiver).

She also has this to say:

I'm getting to understand those weapons a little bit better, it's always challenging.

Not so challenging as to be impossible - good on ya for at least being open-minded about it.

Now, this begs the question - is she amazed about how to 'run the gun' or about how much FUD the Hollywood elite has dispensed over the years?

And you're using an M4 assault rifle, not a generic assault weapon. Just to clear that up for you!

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WTF?!

Found this at protein wisdom:

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.

I have nothing to add.

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Wait, I'm confused

I thought that criminals got their guns from gun shows?

I can't imagine that criminals get their criminally-obtained guns by being ..... criminals?!

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Here we go again

Now we know where Mexican drug cartels are getting their guns:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says Washington is the No. 4 source of illegal guns in Mexico.

And we thought the 90% canard was done with ......

I for one want to see how they can deduce that the guns actually came from Washington state, as opposed to having initially been sold in Washington state.

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Another perspective

Weer'd Beard has a good overview of some of the fallacies of gun control and our gun laws.

Only problem with his arguments is that he uses common sense and rational thought, rather than fear, uncertainty and doubt!

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Cooper QotD

Have you noticed how modern adventure action depends to a huge extent upon the notion of the unarmed victim? If the adventure writer could see himself clear to fit out his protagonists with proper firearms and the skill to use them, however, he might not have any plot to work with. I note specifically that no guns were permitted on the island featured in "Jurassic Park," except in the hands of the PH, who naturally wasn't there when needed. - Jeff Cooper

Gun Rights Examiner

Today's edition, in which a citizen intends to challenge the local gun ban, by announcing in the paper that he's coming, at what time, and how he's going to be carrying.

Keep your eyes open!

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More motorcycle madness

Found on the 'tubes:



Pretty good, huh?!

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aw

Untrustworthy Only Ones®?

I thought that Only Ones® were the only ones that were trustworthy:

A total of six .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatics were missing for four years, Police Chief Anthony Riello said yesterday. He said the department-issued sidearms went missing because six officers — three retirees and three summer special officers — failed to turn in their weapons after leaving the department.

I suppose this is fair, since the weapons belong to the department ..... no sense spending dollars you don't have to by outfitting your whole department permanently.

But it does bring up an interesting question: if they were trustworthy by virtue of their position and training before, why does the officers' training suddenly go away when they leave the department?

Could it be that the training doesn't really matter to the Republik of Massachusetts?

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Cooper QotD

In what may be the ultimate parody of the age, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has prepared a medal to issue to the BATmen of Waco (so help me!) I have seen it pictured in the press. It is in the form of a star. Shouldn't we refer to it as the "Herod Star?"

- Jeff Cooper

Well, it is Kalifornia!

Ok .... this probably breaks at least a few of California's insane gun laws, but I don't really see a problem:

A 36-year-old Redondo Beach woman accused of fencing her father's guns along with stolen firearms was arrested at her home Wednesday by Long Beach Police.

Hmmmm, 'fencing' seems like a harsh term for selling something you presumably own.

The article mentions that the woman was selling to people 'off the street' at all hours. Federal law does not proscribe this (it's the infamous 'gun show loophole' you hear about). If you own a gun, you can sell it. Sounds to me like she was liquidating her father's collection.

And out of 24 weapons seized, 2 ....... 2 .... were stolen - all though it's not clear whether the woman stole them, or they simply had been stolen at some point. But why sweat the details, right?

After all, journalists wouldn't lie, would they?

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What would you do?

I was listening to Vicious Circle #25 (again!), and a thought's been whirling around in my brain, having to do with Title II/Class III NFA items.

Since the purported reason the NFA exists is to raise revenue (the only way it's legal), I suggest a strategy that rests on increasing revenues actually collected. I have a couple of scenarios.

First, the Hughes amendment of 1986 must go. There is no difference between an imported semi-automatic and one that has the requisite # of domestic parts to qualify as 'not imported'. And here is where the increased revenues come in.

We must, as a free country, be allowed to make new fully automatic weapons and engage in trade, thereby increasing revenues. Along with that, the tax amounts should be adjusted downward, to encourage more traffic in class III weapons, as such:

1. Destructive devices tax to remain $200.
2. Full auto weapons to come down to $50-75
3. Supressors need to come down to $20
4. Short-barrel weapons need to come off the NFA list

Or maybe tax amount equal to a % of the purchase price up to a maximum of a small amount (smaller than is currently the case).

Or cank the Hughes amendment, allow the making (or purchase) of new full auto weapons, and take SBR's and suppressors out of the NFA (these items would still be subject to the normal excise tax, and you can make an OSHA/environmental health argument for supressors).

I've seen select-fire FN FAL's available (new to qualified law enforcement) for around $2000. This will be a plain-jane model, typically carbine length. And you can get an M-16/4 style for around the same.

But a transferrable FAL will be upwards of 5 grand. And due to the Hughes amendment, the supply has been fixed; an economists' nightmare.

And there would not be any shortage of economists who will make it known that allowing free trade in these weapons will generate much more in tax revenue than they are currently generating.

And when the BATFE balks, then we can start asking pointy questions, like 'You only want revenue, not a de facto ban on a class of weapons, do you?'. Especially since there are only (I think) 2 instances of legal full auto weapons ever being used in a crime.

And ammo manufacturers should get on the boat as well, because there's no greater need for ammo than with full auto weapons!

And I think that it's time for the NRA, GOA, JPFO, and SAF to get their asses in gear and make this happen. Someone needs to generate rational talking points that are quick (sound-bitey) and make sense. They also need to have rebuttal arguments ready for the inevitable shit-storm the Left will unleash. And have designated congresscritters to speak to the media ...... ones who can make the arguments and not do anything stupid on camera.

You know, do the things you'd expect advocacy groups to do.

Input, please! Expand, revise and extend these remarks!

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Felon with what?

A convicted felon with a gun? Unpossible!:

Stickney's sentence also includes time for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

I thought this couldn't happen?

Listen, Brady thugs ..... criminals will have what they want, no matter how many laws you pass to deny them.

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Gun Rights Examiner

David Codrea has this article in today's Gun Rights Examiner:

‘There are really only two rules in life,” he tells us, “1. Do not initiate, or accept, force,” and “2. Keep your word.”

Might have to add to my reading wish list.

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Cooper QotD

Ian McFarlane, our man in Botswana, reports that the bureaucracy in that third world country has performed as expected by lousing up its new hunting regulations. They took so long to decide on what everything that was to be done was going to be done that it was impossible for the outfitters to sign up clients in time. They have now gone back to the previous system, which worked very well, but, of course, invited tinkering by the pencil pushers.

The African nations realize, of course, that hunters are a better source of income than tourists, but when you start turning things over to committees it is unreasonable to expect good results.

- Jeff Cooper

A reasonably good report

Here's one that looks good on the surface, but indicates how our constabulary has drifted to justify it's own existence:

According to the criminal complaint, 27-year-old Christopher Eagle allegedly told police he brought a handgun to the home of 19-year-old Adam Sellers and exchanged it for heroin on Oct. 30.

He stole the pistol from his brother, and traded it for drugs; now he's a 'trafficker'.

There's really a lot wrong with this, once you think about it.

The alledged perp stole, and bought drugs, but in todays society, that's not 'bad' enough. We have to add other charges like trafficking (one gun?). because he 'trafficked' in stolen property, and that property was an evil gun!

This fellow did what drug addicts do ....... they steal to support their habit.

Wonder what would happen if drugs were decriminalized, and cheap?

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Sometimes you just can't run

This didn't show up in my news today, so I've stolen it from Kevin:

Investigators said an intruder who was trying to get into the home of a mother of three Tuesday night was shot and killed.

Sometimes you just have to say 'None shall pass'.

It helps if you have the means to make it stick!

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image by Oleg Volk

Unpossible

From the indychannel.com comes this unpossibility:

Police confiscated dozens of guns and more than 10 pounds of marijuana Thursday from a man they described as mentally unstable.

Questions 12e and 12f on form 4473 are germane in this case: is he addicted to drugs, and has he ever been adjudicated a mental defective, because if he bought these weapons from a dealer, he may have met the letter requirements, but certainly not the spirit of the law.

I agree with David Codrea - if you can't be trusted with a firearm, then you can't be trusted without a custodian.

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Gun control activists really don't get it

From the Chicago Tribune comes this nugget:

"There is some strange notion that handguns are safer in the hands of police officers than anyone," said Northbrook activist Lee Goodman, noting the high stress levels associated with the job.

So now they're saying that even Only Ones® aren't allowed to have off-duty weapons!

I know it's tedious, but this bunch isn't smart enough to win ......

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They just won't stop

Those wacky Mexicans ...... they just never stop!

Mexican officials want a ban, saying that 90 percent of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives originate in the United States, including most assault rifles.

Well, at least they're getting closer to the truth, just not close enough. With all the caveats and conditions to that statement, you'd almost think there was some sort of conspiracy or something.

I want to know what percentage of the total come from this country, and what percentage come from, oh, say Russia ..... or Pakistan. Or how many come from the Mexican military (who's supplied by the United States government).

I thought we'd fought this battle ......

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Get out .... get out now!

The firearms situation in the UK has officially gotten out of hand:

A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".

Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.

So what, exactly, is a subject supposed to do upon finding a gun?

If it were me, I'd save it for the inevitable hard times coming!

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Citizens have the right

I saw this at Say Uncle's site this morning, but didn't look at it until later:

There is “no reason” James Cap, a quadriplegic who is physically unable to hold a gun or pull a trigger, should be denied a firearms ID card — a requirement for the purchase of any gun in New Jersey, a judge in Somerville said today.

Seems that the judiciary is starting to understand the nature of the second amendment.

You may not wish to avail yourself of the rights afforded you. That's ok, but instead of denying the rest of us of the right, how about you have a nice, tall glass of STFU?!

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Reporting the news

No, not me reporting the news, reporting the news to the FCC.

I posted about the hatchet job that NBC in Chicago did the other day, and I filed a complaint with the FCC on that report.

I just filed another complaint on ABC's report last night about how the NICS 'failed' in Nidal Hasan's handgun purchase, a report that had the flow of critical information backwards.

I realize that it probably won't do any good ...... what do you guys think?

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Does the GOP need more Sozzafava's, or more Paul's?

I've seen lots of articles and blog posts in the past few weeks, too many to look up and link to right now (trust me, they're there) about how the GOP needs to be less socially conservative and concentrate on fiscal issues.

Seems to me that's the definition of a libertarian.

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Interesting developments

From Syracuse.com:
Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded the race in the 23rd Congressional District last week after receiving two pieces of grim news for his campaign: He was down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night, and he had barely won his stronghold in Oswego County.

As it turns out, neither was true.

I know he conceded, but Hoffman did so based on faulty information and shoddy electioneering.

Wonder how those absentee ballots will shake out, huh?!

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h/t - Hot Air

Strawmen always get away

I saw this article (from a pro-gun site) and thought I'd expound a bit.

Federal, as well as some state laws, prohibit what is known as a 'straw purchase' of firearms. A straw purchase happens when a qualified buyer purchases a firearm for an prohibited person.

Now, I can understand the law, and except for my libertarianism, I can basically agree with the purpose. But the law doesn't take into account many things.

I have personally made a straw purchase. About 5 years ago, I purchased a bolt-action .22 rifle for my 14 year old son. The observant reader will note that a 14 year old is what is known as a 'prohibited person' according to federal law. But I'm almost positive that I told the counter clerk at Walmart (historically not the best-trained) that it was a gift for my son. This statement would be a clear indication of my intent to make a straw purchase. But it went through anyway.

How about the guy who buys a pink Crickett .22 for his 6 year old daughter, so she can learn safe firearms handling?

Straw purchase.

What about the woman who buys her husband a new pistol for Christmas?

Technically a straw purhase.

What about the construction supply business that gives away a shotgun at a customer appreciation breakfast?

Straw purchase.

And here's another twist. If you're the dealer, you have to mind-read to know the straw purchase from the legitimate. OK, I'll admit that there are clues (some pretty blatant) that you can see, but a sophisticated buyer? Forget it - can't be caught.

And we hear of all these straw purchases ....... how many straw purchasers are ever prosecuted?

I'm just sayin'.

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Victim disarmament works ... for criminals (or jihadists)

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Neither Smith nor the other victims of Hasan's assault had guns because soldiers on military bases within the United States generally are not allowed to carry them. Last week's shootings, which killed 13 people and wounded more than 30, demonstrated once again the folly of "gun-free zones," which attract and assist people bent on mass murder instead of deterring them.

The gentleman who promulgated this shitty policy was our friend, Mr Clinton.

More disgusting is that the next president had at least 6 years to change the policy, but didn't.

14 victims are thanking you from Heaven (hopefully).

Dumbasses.

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Cooper QotD

Nothing is interesting if you are not interested.

- Jeff Cooper

Not really surprising

It should come as no surprise to those who know first-hand about military intelligence:

Both fellow students and faculty were deeply troubled by Hasan’s behavior — which they variously called disconnected, aloof, paranoid, belligerent, and schizoid.

Sounds about right.

I'd like to think that the powers that be would figure out what they've been doing in the name of tolerance and diversity, but I don't think they're that smart.

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h/t - Hot Air

Church clings

h/t SayUncle - He has this interesting article from Chattanooga, about a church that is hosting a CCW class:

"Since the economy (slowed), people are more scared," she said. "Where people felt safe before, they're not feeling safe anymore."

It's not the first time for a church to do this; still, it's rare enough that it's nice to hear about it.

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Cooper QotD

A group of us old codgers recently got to kicking around the important questions about the reasons men fight. Fighting, of course, can be hazardous to your health, and when one puts himself deliberately at hazard he must have a reason. We came up with the following tally:

1. Protection of the home. This is probably the best reason, and cannot very well be faulted on either political or religious grounds. Men fight their best when they see strangers invading their native fields, farms and cottages.

2. Religion. Absolute faith in absolute truth is more powerful than self−interest, and when God is on your side you need have no fear of death.

3. Professionalism. Elite units, such as Napoleon's Old Guard, the British Grenadiers, the United States Marine Corps, the Spanish Legion, have always distinguished themselves out of a sense of group superiority. They were taught from the first that they are better than other people, and it is then necessary for them to demonstrate that fact beyond doubt.

4. Loot. Men have always fought for fortune, and as much as it is frowned upon in some circles, the loot motive lead the armies of the steppes to conquer the world.

5. Escape and Excitement. The life "of quiet desperation" which seems the lot of so many can be alleviated by running away to sea or joining the Foreign Legion. Men do not often choose to die for the sheer excitement of it, but once they have fallen into the cauldron they often do very well.

6. Patriotism. The love of country is a difficult thing to identify, especially when one is called upon to fight at vast distances from one's country. Nonetheless, political idealism has often served as a very good motive. The American Expeditionary Force in World War One is a good example. It must have been pretty complicated for a doughboy to explain to a Frenchman or a Belgian just what he was doing in Europe, but he must have had some notion that he owed his life to the Stars and Stripes.

7. Pride. Pride is not quite the same as professionalism since it is an individual matter. The Medieval knight, the Renaissance duelist, and the fighter pilot are examples.

8. "Peer Pressure." This is the lemming instinct, "Everybody is doing it." I do not believe that this motive stands up well in the face of terror, but it can certainly get people in the right place to experience it.

- Jeff Cooper

More on media weapons incompetence

I posted initially here but David Codrea has posts from some of his Examiner buddies, and I link them here:

Howard Nemerov

Dave Workman

Kurt Hoffman
These guys are good ..... I only wish there were enough hours in a day to read them all.

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Interesting .....

Found this on SailorCurt's blog this morning:


Call letters for this station, WMAQ, aired on Nov 9, 2009

This is important. We firearms owners simply must not let this shit go unchallenged.

I've been using this link to the FCC to report various shenanigans that my local stations engage in (even when it's a national news story).

You could try (in order of effectiveness):

Calling your senators
Calling your congresscritters
Calling the NRA

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BTW - my complaint # is 09-C00172186

How awesome am I?

Stolen from Darleen @ protein wisdom:

No One Could Have Forseen on That Day That German Ally America Would Be Led By Man of African Descent - B.H.Obama

How about this, President I-just-can't-get-the-fuck-over-myself; it was, and always has been, inevitable that someone with your heritage was elected president, just as it's inevitable that a woman is elected president.

Just like it was inevitable that, had things been left alone, slavery was destined to collapse under its own economic weight.

Fuck-stick.

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Happy Birthday, United States Marine Corps!

Born this day at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, 1775.

Fair winds, and following seas!

Semper Fi.

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Cooper QotD

It is a painful subject, but has anyone at all seen anything resembling an autopsy report on the four BATmen who were killed in the opening assault? If they would tell us what exactly killed those people we would be better able to decide the critical issue of who shot first. - Jeff Cooper

How about that!

h/t Uncle - I saw this article, read it, and was able to see someone make some sense out of the weapons' claims by the media:

.... the simple fact of the matter is that Hasan’s reliance on a gun the uneducated media told him was a powerful “cop killer” quite possibly saved lives at Fort Hood.

I'm shocked, shocked that the media doesn't know what they're talking about.

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ATF hits a snag

h/t Uncle - BATFE agents in the Ohio area just had their case killed:

A judge found the actions of federal agents who refused to show Zanesville residents a warrant when asked are "completely unreasonable and unjustified."

I don't think the judge went quite far enough; he should have censured the government attorney who even brought the case, and officially called the ATF out on their gross misconduct.

But I'm awake now ......

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Safety first

Found on a motorcycle group I'm a member of:



Be careful out there!

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I have little to add

Wonder how the voters in NY-23 think about the fucking liar they just elected:

Breaking campaign promises is not unusual for politicians... it's a cliche. This is almost certainly a record though. Mr. Owens broke no less than 4 promises in his first 24 hours in office.

As I've mentioned before (a couple of times) the Republican leaders in NY-23 need to resign, immediately, for foisting that turncoat, no-loyalty-having bitch Scozzafava upon the electorate.

Immediately.

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Cooper QotD

[take the address information here with a grain of salt]

The media, with full aid and comfort from the administration, are endeavoring to sweep the Waco atrocity under the tug. We must not let that happen! The best treatment of the episode I have seen appears in the periodical "The New American," Vol. 9, No. 12 for 14 June, 1993. This is a magazine that I rarely see, but I suggest you go out of your way to obtain a copy.

Their address:
"The Review of the News Incorporated,"
770 West Hill Blvd, Appleton, WI54915.
Extracts:

"Make no mistake about it; Gun control laws increase the power of government and the criminal element over the average citizen, and serve no other purpose. The Branch Davidians hadn't assaulted anyone. They lived peacefully in the community. Except for the federal gun laws, they would all still be alive."
"FBI Director William Sessions asserted that `the American public expects that law enforcement will deal with those people who have broken the law.' He is right. And that explanation includes − and indeed should begin with − those federal officials who violate both the spirit and the substance of the constitution they are sworn to uphold."

- Jeff Cooper

h/t WND - thought this was another interesting Only Ones® incident:



What I thought was interesting was that the Only One was black, all the witnesses were black, the councilwoman was black, and the cameraman was ..... white.

Seems like the citizens are waking up to how badly some officers are abusing their authority.

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Man, you fight like a girl

Wow ..... just, wow!



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Education is better now?

Saw this on Ace's site ...... it's an 8th grade test from 1954.

I'll admit I couldn't pass it. I seem to remember that Rush used to quote a test from the late 1800's (?) that just kicked my ass.

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Cooper QotD

Down in Texas recently, we discovered the magnificent "hill country." We had heard rumors, but we had never visited before and we can attest that what is said about this marvelous region "is all true, and more and better besides." High, green, rolling and well−watered, it is uncluttered with people and thickly populated with wild game. In addition to the native Texas white tails, there are fallow deer, sikh deer, axis deer, aoudad, mouflon, black buck, and nilgai. In contrast to the usual visualization of Texas, there is so much water that it
sometimes gets in the way. The wild pigs are threatening to get the upper hand. The occasional towns are strongly Germanic in tradition and given to beer, pretzels, wurst and umpah music.

I refuse to tell people how to get there. Better they should find out for themselves. - Jeff Cooper

Trying to help the cause

Found at Snowflakes in Hell:



Interesting that the CBO scored the Republican alternative as costing only $61 billion, while saving $68 billion ....... hmmmm.

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Radical Islam

I believe that all thinking Americans should read this piece by Mark Steyn:

We use rhetorical conveniences like “radical Islam” or, if that seems a wee bit Islamophobic, just plain old “radical extremism.” But we never make any effort to delineate the line which separates “radical Islam” from non-radical Islam. Indeed, we go to great lengths to make it even fuzzier. And somewhere in that woozy blur the pathologies of a Nidal Malik Hasan incubate.

Because no matter how you slice it, or praise it, or talk about how wonderful it is, that dog shit on the bottom of your shoe still stinks.

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Just what I'd expect

In spite of the fact that I think he was a weak, weak conservative, this kind of thing is just what I'd expect from Pres Bush.

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Keynesians and gun control

I read several blogs during the day (see my blog roll). At Snowflakes in Hell today, I saw yet more willful stupidity from an anti-gun psychophant, MikeB:

....disarming bad guys by denying availability should not be in dispute.

I simply cannot fathom what the depths of idiocy that gun-ban'ers reside in must be like.

I don't think that anyone, including the National Rifle Association, the Gun Owners of America, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership and the 2nd Amendment Foundation, disputes that bad guys should not have firearms. I don't think that bad guys should have firearms; my wife doesn't think bad guys should have firearms; my relatives don't think bad guys should have firearms. No one except bad guys think that bad guys should have firearms. But you know what?

If bad guys want firearms bad enough they are going to get them, no matter how 'unavailable' they are. If the military and the police are the only people to be allowed firearms, then that's where bad guys will get firearms.

If anti-gunners are somehow able to collect and destroy all firearms on earth, then bad guys will start using knives to commit crimes.

If they can't get knives, they'll use baseball bats.

If they can't get baseball bats, they'll use sharpened sticks.

If they can't get sharpened sticks, they'll use rocks.

Which is why gun control idiots are like economic Keynesians. Their only solution is more of the failed policies of the past, only they need to do it harder. And when that doesn't work, we need more of the same, only much harder.

And so on and so on and so on ..........

Keynesians are just stupid, with their animal spirits.

Gun control'ers are borderline evil, because their goal isn't about guns ..... it's about control.

pm