Now I've seen (almost) everything!

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Topless. Open. Carry.

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I've known this intuitively ...

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... but I didn't know it had a name!

Follow me down a logical path for a moment. Currently Utah law places no restrictions on a permit holder’s ability to carry a firearm however they choose. They can carry a handgun in their pocket, or an M1 Garand slung over their shoulder (bayonet and all). With this legislation the state would narrow that right to “holstered or encased, whether visible or concealed.” What, then, prevents Rep. Paul Ray from having his delicate sensitivities further offended a few years from now and removing the word “visible” from the code? Does open carry now become illegal in Utah? No. A better solution is NOTHING becomes illegal and Rep. Ray either amends the HB 276 or is outed for the civil rights infringing hoplophobe that he appears to be. Not in my state Rep. Ray, not in my state.

Why does any of this matter? Because of the Overton window.

It's always been my opinion that it is the extremes of an issue that define the state of the issue. Don't think so?

Does anyone think that the GLBT community would be in as good a shape today if there hadn't been men dressed in leather and sequins having a gay old time in the gay parade?

Likewise, the only way that we advance the state of the 2nd amendment is if the next expansion of our rights is better than the extreme. And if we give up the extreme end of our firearms rights, we simultaneously make it more likely that the floor for our rights gets lower, too.

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I'm not sure what the NRA, et al ...

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... hope to accomplish on this one:

On Wednesday, the high court heard oral arguments in Bruce J. Abramskiv. United States. The justices will decide whether to overturn an appeals court decision that said Mr. Abramski broke federal straw purchasing laws when he bought a gun with the intent to resell it to his elderly uncle, even though neither man is prohibited from ownership.

I read the arguments transcript and it seemed like a bunch of cat-herders trying to maintain order. Of course, a large part of the problem was the justices trying to make some sense of the GCA (which is nigh impossible).

As to the arguments of the case, I'm sure that the plaintiff (and the NRA, since they've joined him) believes he's been wronged (I do, too) but the constitutionality of the case seemed to me to be a case of legal-parsing and minutia.

It seems to me that the purchase and subsequent transfer to Abramski's uncle was handled about as legally as it could have been (I believe that Abramski could make the case that by going to the dealer in to have a NICS check done, he implicitly transferred the firearm to the dealer).

Seems like a rather dubious way to make your bones in the ATF.

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Maybe it's time ...

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... for a meeting in a dark alley:

World War II veteran Frank Whitney is fighting taxpayer-funded attempts by a New York village to seize his private property.

Politicians vote for these things. If you can't find anyone who agrees, then maybe you need to be more ... forceful.

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I can't really say ...

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... I'm opposed:

Missouri state Representative Rick Brattin, said Friday the controversy over lethal injections forces families of murder victims to wait too long for justice so he introduced his bill Thursday to add “firing squad” as an execution option.

I can't think of a single murder victim that went in a compassionate way. Why should their murderer get that consideration?

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Carrying the gun ...

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... wasn't the worst that he did!

Parents were in line to pick up their children.  A driver, Steven Thomas, asked another driver, Randall Eugene Deford, to back up so he could pull around. An argument began and that's when Deford pulled out a High Point 9 mm pistol and started waving it around. 

I believe that we're winning when fully half the comments are on the man's choice of firearm!

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Hey ...

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... schadenfreude is schadenfreude!

An anti-gun policy is driving yet another business from a Beaumont mall where a man recently had his AR-15 confiscated.

Derek Poe owns Golden Triangle Tactical, a gun shop inside Parkdale Mall.  He made national headlines after being arrested after carrying the rifle through the shopping center.

Other tenants now say the mall's “illegal crackdown” – including the posting of signs on some entrances – is costing them business.

I wrote about this the other day, and while I believe it's the mall's right to ban firearms on their property, CBL was trying to 'ban'  guns instead of 'BAN-ban' guns.

So it's nice to see this bit of schadenfreude.

It's also nice to see that maybe, just maybe ... open carry is not the kiss of death that some Fudds would have us believe.

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First comes 'nearly-strict' ...

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... and then full strict scrutiny:

The regulation at issue would ban firearms and ammunition in a tent on the Corps’ sites. This ban poses a substantial burden on a core Second Amendment right and is therefore subject to strict scrutiny.

Joe believes this will usher in nationwide constitutional carry; I have my doubts (not that that would be a bad thing!).

What I find more interesting is how this would affect the Hughes amendment and 922(o).

Jesus H Christ ...

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... can this bitch not stop whining?

And on Nov. 6, 2013, my 37-year career as a firearms journalist came to an abrupt end.

Why? Because I wrote an 800-word column for Guns & Ammo magazine exploring the distinction between regulation and infringement as it applies to constitutional rights. As discussions of the Second Amendment go, the column was innocuous.

There is sooooo much that Metcalf spins to his benefit in this article that has already been debunked that it hardly bears repeating.

But ... really? Do you honestly think that if you plead your case about how the mean old 2A absolutists and nut jobs got you fired that someone will have pity on you?

Listen up, Schmuckatelli ... you fucked up and you're not the least bit repentant, I suppose because you think you did nothing wrong.

And that's why you"re not likely to get much sympathy from me.

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Remember that 1st rule of policework?

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They really mean it:

"[Officer Gilette] approached on foot on the driver's side, moved around the vehicle to the passenger side of the vehicle," Captain Rod Light, of the Yakima Police Department, told KNDO. "Opened the door, discovered the suspect was armed with a handgun."

However, it wasn't actually a handgun.

In reality, Arias was holding a disassembled Airsoft gun, which shoes soft plastic pellets, that he was trying to put together.

So now, if you're only holding the parts of a firearm you're subject to being shot.

Is it time yet?

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A remembrance ...

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... of Daddy Hugh:

They believe that in future householders may choose to pass on a house with an outstanding mortgage to their children, who will pay off the rest. ‘In Japan, the 40-year mortgage is the norm,’ said one Government source.

If you were ever suffering under the delusion that bankers are your friends, allow me to disabuse you.

To a bank, a mortgage is nothing more than a product to be sold; first to you (as the home buyer) and then to someone else (who actually holds the debt). The bank is just a middleman - he takes his cut and moves on to the next buyer in line. And as long as mortgage loans can be had by those who have no business getting into that kind of debt, there will be loans tailored to that person.

So what if the term is 40 (or 50 or 60!) years?

My dad, at the ripe old age of 72 bought a new house and got a 30 year mortgage for it. But he also had to roll his old house into that loan. 'No problem' said his 'banker'; we'll tailor a loan just for you.

Daddy Hugh, I feel certain, would never have done that to my dad.

Daddy Hugh was one of the first people my parents met when they moved to the town where I grew up. He was a member of the church where my dad played the organ, and he also worked at the local bank (back when there was such a thing as a local bank). Daddy Hugh was our banker. I feel quite sure that he was involved in helping my parents get their first mortgage, and I'm sure that the bank held him a bit responsible for the repayment.

If you had a problem with the loan, you went to Daddy Hugh. If you were going to be a little late with a payment, you could talk to Daddy Hugh. If you forgot to take your payment to the bank, you could give it to Daddy Hugh at church.

Because Daddy Hugh was our banker.

Nowadays, you have to have some serious scratch to get that kind of service at a bank, assuming it's available at all.

I remember Daddy Hugh helping me and my brother open our first savings account, and telling me how important it was that I keep up with my passbook. This was how people growing up in my time learned financial responsibility - with the help of your banker.

God bless you, Daddy Hugh.

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I'll never understand ...

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... the mind of the anti-gun.

I was party to, recently, a Facebook discussion in which a friend of mine (whom I went to high school with) mentioned that her dear husband got her two new pairs of boots and a Ruger for Christmas. Of course, the discussion veered quickly towards the Ruger; what kind was it? what caliber? have you shot it yet?! I asked if it (SR22) had the threaded barrel so she could join the dark side and get a suppressor.

Then, out of the blue, another friend (whom I also went to high school with) piped up that she didn't even know what a Ruger was prior to that discussion, and that she hoped that the pistol owner wouldn't take it to any bars.

What. The. Fuck?

Now, both of my friends live in the same town in TN (they're close to Oleg) and they're much closer to one another than I am. It's possible that the one friend has knowledge that the other is disposed to carrying a firearm into bars (I have no such knowledge). And it might have been a familiarity comment, said in jest. But really ... where did that come from?

Putting aside the fact that TN allows holders of a carry permit to carry in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol (if they aren't partaking), why is the gut reatcion that a firearm owner will automatically do bad things just because they have a gun? Don't answer; I already know why.

My pistol-packing friend, as far as I can remember, is a responsible, rational human being. She's married, has a great job and has never been in trouble with the law. If she decided that she wanted to carry a firearm for protection I have no reason to doubt that she would seek the proper training and permits and that if she was going to carry into an alcohol establishment she would refrain from drinking.

I guess it's a function of the liberal thought that any freedom will be abused and must be contained.

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I'll weigh in ...

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... on the latest gun control failure:

A federal judge on Monday stripped away a key element of Chicago's gun ordinance, ruling that it is unconstitutional to prohibit licensed gun stores from operating in the city.

U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang found that the city failed to convince him that banning the sale of guns by licensed dealers was necessary to reduce gun violence.

 What I found more exciting was that Judge Chang used what is effectively intermediate scrutiny to judge this case, seeming more than willing to afford the 2nd amendment the same stature that is afforded the 1st and 4th.

THAT is the big deal!

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Why would any party ...

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... want to claim someone so intellectually bankrupt?

We now have a couple states — Colorado and Washington — that have gone into the business of effectively encouraging drug use. By making weed legal, they are creating a situation in which the price will drop substantially. One RAND study suggests that prices could plummet by up to 90 percent, before taxes and such. As prices drop and legal fears go away, usage is bound to increase. This is simple economics, and it is confirmed by much research. Colorado and Washington, in other words, are producing more users.

Yoo hoo ... Schmuckatelli ... Colorado and Washington are doing no such thing.  What they are doing is acknowledging the reality that the drug war in unwinnable, people will smoke marijuana whether it's legal to or not and it just might help a few folks.

But keep flapping your gums, Brooks ... no one but the NYT readership is listening.

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He could always ...

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... start writing for the NYT:

He is unsure of his next move, but fears he has become a pariah in the gun industry, to which, he said, he has devoted nearly his entire adult life. 

The 'he', of course, is Dick Metcalf ... the 'pre-eminent' gun journalist. It is more than ironic that the Left decries the mechanism that they attempted to inflict upon Phil Robertson.

I said little about Mr Metcalf, but he is truly disconnected from firearms owners if he actually thought that his pronouncements would go unnoticed.

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Aaron's monthly opportunity ...

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... to win stuff.

Share it, pass it around ... it pisses off all the right people!

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This case should get thrown out ...

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... but I don't have that much confidence in the judiciary:

Civil libertarians are criticizing Ohio police for arresting a driver because his car contained a compartment that could theoretically store illegal drugs, though no drugs were found at that time.

I know this arrest is a bit old but the law is so stupid I'm just now getting to it. This law is so egregious it should be immediately thrown out and used as an example of  just how failed the drug war is.

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I've told everyone I've ever worked for ...

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... I don't get paid, I don't work:

The hospital is strapped for cash not because its not making money, but because Leday says a new Medicare payment facilitator named Novitas Solutions is taking too way long to pay out Medicare claims to the hospital.

Leday says he’s owed nearly $3 million in payments from Medicare and can’t make payroll.

 Ah, the 'benefits' of government involvment.

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You keep using that word ...

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... I do not think it means what you think it means:

WES MOORE: You know what's interesting? You talk about your kids and the big challenges for Obamacare and the rollout. How do we get the young and the healthy to sign up for health care? Which it was a dynamic prior to Obamacare. How do we get the young, how do we get the healthy, to -- that's the reason they came up with the plan.
SNYDERMAN: I made my kids sign up. Because I just said this is your patriotic duty.

 Patriotic duty my hairy ass. Nancy Snyderman is a dyed-in-the-wool statist, which is why she's the medical editor of one of the major media networks. There is no government intervention that she disagrees with.

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Happy New Year!

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I hope yours is filled with happiness and success.

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