Per this:

Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson yesterday said that the state needs to ”get serious” about fighting crimes committed with guns by passing stricter laws.

Johnson’s statements came at a press conference where Metro police announced they were destroying 1,750 guns of many varieties and calibers confiscated by officers in the past several months.

Apparently, the volume of guns destroyed and citing serious offenses are used as a basis to demand more severe punishments for gun crimes. Finally:

”Right now, it is a very low-grade misdemeanor to possess a weapon with the intent to go armed.

Packing is a serious offense?

Couple says $43,186.51 water bill ‘shocking’

”The bill showed that I had used 9 million gallons of water from Aug. 7 through Sept. 8. And I am really not sure how anyone could use that much water.”

Here’s a link to a petition regarding Breed Specific Legislation in the UK.

I should say that this petition is aimed at getting one breed exempted. I think they should just oppose BSL.

Bill Hobbs has links to articles tying Saddam to the Oklahoma City bombing, the 1993 WTC bombing, and Al Qaeda.

Yesterday, I decided I’d actually watch Bowling For Columbine. At a guess, I figure I started watching it about 30 minutes into it. I caught the bit about the NRA and the KKK. Moore essentially uses this logic:

The NRA and KKK were started in the same year. Shortly after these two organizations were formed, there was a ban on black people owing guns. That’s all the information he gives. Period. No specifics.

Though I’m not a fan of the NRA, I did a little digging. Per the NRA, they were formed in 1871 by former union soldiers. The KKK was formed in 1866.

So, Moore has lied once.

The KKK was formed in Tennessee. The NRA was formed in New York. Moore makes no attempt to state this. He doesn’t say they were both formed in the same place but he does imply it by not mentioning otherwise.

Not a lie but definitely a half-truth.

The ban on black people owning guns is oversimplified. He doesn’t state where the ban occurred. Gun control’s early origins are definitely motivated by racism. I can find that in the 1870s, there was not a ban in Tennessee (where the KKK started) but there was legislation passed stating that guns owned could only be Colts. Colts were expensive and poor blacks couldn’t afford them. There was no ban. (source the book Lost Rights).

So, Moore has lied twice.

In addition, it should be noted that the NRA (founded in 1871) never really got involved in legislation until 1934, in response to the Gun Control Act of the same year. The NRA’s site claims they never lobbied until 1975. I tend to doubt that but 1934 seems like a good number. Prior to 1934, the NRA promoted the shooting hobby.

Three strikes, Moore was out. I turned the TV off. In a 3 or so minute segment, Moore lied three and a half times. I felt no need to watch the rest.

Bubba has been threatened with a lawsuit (sort of) but go there and click the links for some stories about puppy mills and pet stores.

Les tells you how to get one and some pointers about the law that he learned. I would add that the reason Tennessee pushed for a carry permit and not concealed carry was because, in the past, if you carried concealed and revealed a gun, it was a crime called brandishing. The push (lobbied by the TFA) was not necessarily for open carry but in the event that you’re at the store, reach up for a can of beans, and then your gun is exposed. Then you’re guilty of brandishing and it’s not your fault.

Bull Dog + Laser Pointer = Lots of Fun

Bull Dog + Laser Pointer + Berber Carpet = Annoyed Wife

Per Yahoo news:

Italy is cracking down on dangerous dogs after a spate of pit bull attacks, but its new law ordering muzzles and insurance for no less than 92 breeds has met with howls of anger.

The law, ushered in by urgent decree, orders owners of dangerous dogs to take out insurance against a possible attack and to muzzle their animals in public places or face a possible three months in prison or a fine of up to 206 euros ($232).

Pit bulls are predictably under scrutiny but the new law also targets other popular breeds like Saint Bernards and collies, and opponents say it is poorly planned.

And someone who gets it:

“The problem is not dog breeds but individual animals that have been badly treated,” said Ciro Troiano of the Italian Anti-Vivisection League, adding that muzzling a dog taught it nothing and could in fact worsen its behavior.

It’s not breeds, it’s mistreatment of animals. There is also no scientific way to prove that a dog is one breed or another. The only criteria is appearance.

Wince and Nod.

Hell in a Handbasket

Via Publicola:

At 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, morning a state of emergency was declared in Northampton County.

Tuesday, Gov. Mike Easley declared North Carolina to be under a state of emergency…Effective as of 8 a.m. today, the sale, consumption, transportation or possession of alcohol is prohibited in Northampton County ‘except possession and consumption is allowed on a person’s own premises.’ Additionally, ‘there shall be no sale or purchase of any type of firearm or ammunition, or any possession of such items along with any type of explosive off owner’s own premises.

In a state of emergency, it is important to ban guns and booze? Abysmal.

New post at the Carnival entitled Flinch or the phobic reaction to recoil.

I’m 31 years old. This morning, I get up and make some coffee. Then mess around on the web for a bit. Intent on letting the wife sleep in, I go get my second cup of coffee and head out to the garage to monkey about. I walk past the front of my car and then it feels as though someone just hit me square in the center of my chest with a baseball bat. It hurt so badly I fell down onto the hood of my car. I was having a heart attack.

It’s amazing as you sit there fairly certain that you’re going to die what thoughts pop into your head:

Is there a God?

Is there a Heaven or Hell?

What will it be like, dying and all that?

Will it hurt? Will it suck? Tickle? Leave a mark?

Have I done enough with my life for people to remember me for who I was?

I wish I’d had kids.

I thought absolutely none of the above. Not one single question about the nature of life, my accomplishments, death, God, the universe, or anything spiritually minded pop into my head. Zilch, nothing. I had two thoughts: 1) my wife will find me dead, hunkered lifeless over the hood of a 2001 Chrysler Sebring Convertible, wearing only my bathrobe. It’s gonna be one shitty morning for her. And 2) I started running through in my mind how much life insurance I had on myself and could it provide for my wife. I was amazed at how quickly I could do math in my head when I was close to death. I was content that she had enough (financial advisors say get your annual salary times 10) and we had prepared for the worst.

I soon realized, to my surprise, I wasn’t dead. I got up. The distinct feeling of being hit squarely in the chest with a baseball bat was now a dull throb. It still hurt, but was tolerable. I went to the living room and sat on the couch to collect my thoughts for a couple of minutes. I went through the entire heart attack playbook that they teach every white male from about the age of 12 on. I looked for aspirin. I tried to remain calm. I thought of symptoms from the same playbook: left arm numb, cold extremities, jaw sore. I had none of those. I didn’t fit the heart attack playbook. I decided that I wasn’t going to be one of those guys you read about who dies suddenly then you find out from his wife he had chest pains a week before his death but was too stubborn to go to the hospital.

I awoke the wife. I calmly explained in the most assuring, caring and sincere tone I could muster that I was gonna fucking die. Actually, I didn’t. I told her I needed her to drive me to the hospital and why. She was worried, of course. We had a moment I don’t care to elaborate about. I brushed my teeth, put on shorts, a shirt and hat while she got dressed. And we were off. We were going to Fort Sanders because the wife doesn’t trust Blount Memorial.

For future reference, if you’re driving slowly in the fast lane beside another car, the car behind you that is tailgating you may well have someone with a medical emergency in the passenger seat. This is not the time to tap your brakes to prove some sort of point. Get the hell out of the way. The irony of your WWJD sticker is clearly lost on you.

The emergency room on the strip is an interesting place in the early a.m. hours after UT just beat Florida. But that’s another story. We arrive, the wife fills out a form and writes in big letters under Reason for Visit: Chest pain! She underlined and put the exclamation point. That worked because they quickly take me to a room. Never underestimate the power of assertive punctuation. A doctor comes in and explains to me the possibilities of what may have happened, what they’re going to do, and for me to stay calm. He said it could be the worst (a heart attack); or a pulmonary eruption (which is bad, it’s what that reporter in Iraq died from); a host of other unpleasant things; or nothing.

They take six vials of blood. They do an EKG. They X-Ray my chest. The doctor, being a nice guy, didn’t wait until all the tests were done. He’d come in one at a time as they were done and tell me the news. EKG was fine. Chest X-Ray was normal. All blood samples came back negative. I was the picture of health. Not a thing wrong. We were there for two and a half hours. I was praying that it would be nothing. And praying hard. All the soul searching I failed to do when I thought I was going to die was being done now. The wife and me talked and planned things we needed to do.

Diagnosis: Chest wall pain. Your ribs have little muscles between them that allow the rib cage to expand when you breathe. Apparently, my rib muscles decided that they would spasm for some reason. This can be caused by moving in a funny manner or any number of other reasons. The doc tells me that when someone is backing their car up and they put their arm on the passenger seat and turn around is when it happens most often.

I then said to the doctor: I have cramps? Yes. All my soul searching and revelations were caused by cramps.

The incident made the wife and me closer and made me reevaluate some things. I still have the throbbing pain in my chest that should pass in a few days. It was an interesting Sunday at the SayUncle household and one we won’t forget any time soon.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Not that I’m gloating or anything.

Knoxville’s own Pat Gang now has a regularly appearing column on the strategy page. Check it out.

So, what do you do when hooker shows up at your door uninvited at 6 in the morning? I dunno but it sounds a lot like a Tarantino movie plot.

Having moved into a new subdivision development has provided some interesting topics of discussion, such as the fact I am slowly annexing my neighbor’s yard through the use of strategic mowing. But I digress.

A house in the lot next to mine is well under way and it has caused me considerable grief. The following has occurred as a result of the construction:

When they were preparing the lot for framing, the pulled out some of my sod. When they finish placing sod next door, I plan on taking some of theirs to replace mine.

The bobcat driver dug up one of my sprinkler heads by mistake. I discovered this by turning on my sprinkler system and, to my surprise, a thirty foot column of water shot into the air. This annoyed me (and soaked my father in law). I bought a new sprinkler head and replaced it.

They have left various boards, cinder blocks, and assorted tools on my lawn. This has killed my grass in sections. Now, when I come home, I inspect the yard to make sure it is free of debris. They have also dumped clumps of dirt (from the bobcat) onto portions of my lawn, killing more of my grass.

Without my permission, they used my hose and my water. I wouldn’t mind but they lost the sprayer head for my hose (I figure it’s buried in the yard) and bent my hose in several spots.

The latest was last night. I’m preparing to mow and walk to my side yard and see an extension cord running from my outside outlet all the way across their lot. I follow the cord, and it just ends. Apparently, the got their equipment but left the cord. I then notice that there is no power hookup box on the lot. I assume that in addition to providing all the water needed for the house, I’ve also probably paid for all the electricity used to build the house.

I took the 100 foot extension cord, bundled it up, and placed it in my garage window for them to see. I want them to see that I have it and I want them to come get it. I may prepare a bill for them, I haven’t decided. I am currently content holding their extension cord hostage.

I am a petty man.

Lawmakers in hell er New Jersey are pushing for legislation to ban pellet guns that look real:

The bill Assemblymen Gary Guear, D-Mercer, and Peter Barnes, D-Middlesex, introduced – which is similar to legislation pending in the state Senate – would ban the sale or possession of any air, gas or spring-powered gun that is designed to look like a real gun.

It also would make the sale of such a device punishable by a fine of as much as $15,000 and five years in prison and possession punishable by a fine of as much as $10,000 and 18 months in prison.

Les Jones ties Clark to the Waco fiasco.

AlphaPatriot calls crap on the ninth circuit.

Andrew travels time. Oh and send him some carnival entries.

Barry goes for a walk.

Jeff on Clark. And remember, Michael Moore supports clark which is just bad PR.

Buck talks about a caucasion only club.

Chuck came back and disappeared again. Hunting and all that.

Kevin shows us a hottie with a gun.

Guy Montag debunks the whole government is closed is costing us money nonsense:

Sounds like they are both falling for “fedmath” . .

Fedmath, it’s a wonderous thing.

Per the KNS:

A half-dozen Knox County sheriff’s deputies fired 28 shots at a suicidal man wielding a pellet gun and bearing a target on his chest, superficially wounding him with a single round.

28 rounds and one hit. And these guys are professionals. Site alignment, trigger squeeze, fellas.

After TDOT’s new slogan, Bredesen wants a new state slogan because the old one (Tennessee Sounds Good To Me) doesn’t do it for him. How about:

Tennessee, you can’t get here from there.

Tennessee, thank God for Mississippi.

Tennessee, where we get more Free Federal Money™ than everyone else.

Tennessee, we don’t like you because you’re successful.

Tennessee, who needs education, we have football.

Tennessee, come have a look around but don’t stay.

Seriously, I take pride in my state but it seems to me we have better things to do than devote resources on some catchphrase.

SayUncle correspondent Mike brought the following to my attention. After the recent Dyersburg hostage situation, the local news did the obligatory how did he get the gun story. No links, as this was broadcast on Memphis TeeVee.

Kilpatrick had been shopping for a gun for a while. The reporters interviewed two gun shop owners where Kilpatrick had been shopping for guns. Neither shop sold him the gun. The reporters concluded that he bought the gun on the street.

In short, because no evil gun shop was involved, it’s not really a news event. But we hear very few stories like this which illustrate the street market for guns.

A couple of folks (and this comes up periodically) post advice on how to get Instalanched. It’s tough. Facts, I am in the same geographical area of Insty. I have met him on at least three occasions. I belong to the same blogger club as Glenn. And Glenn has bought me exactly one beer. And none of these things have gotten me huge amounts of traffic. I’ve only had two Instalanches. I only email him things I think he’d be interested in. Yet, the two Instalanches I got were not the result of me emailing him (maybe one was, I don’t know for sure – I blame Bubba). He has linked to stories I’ve emailed him about four times, without mention of me. And of my 45,000 plus hits, 16,000 were probably from those two Instalanches. So, 36% of my hits are attributable to Glenn posting this and this.

When I last spoke to Glenn in person, I asked him how many emails he received daily. His answer was 300 – 400. That’s a lot. He has a considerable amount of sorting (ahem, deleting) to do. There is probably some truth in that you have catch him when he’s online. Otherwise, if he steps away for an hour, he got about 30 emails and he can’t read them all (he has a job, ya know).

Plus, it helps to send him something he’s interested in. The basic Glenn posts can be broken down into the following categories:

Heh! – a joke or something witty someone has said.

Indeed – some new way of cleverly saying something he’s already said or agrees with; or that supports the same thing he’s said or agrees with.

Pack not a herd – usually involve tales of people en masse righting a wrong.

Hating France – well, you know.

Gun stuff – stuff about guns, which coincidentally is hit or miss. Sometimes he blogs gun happy, lately he doesn’t blog guns so much.

Poking idiotarians with a sharp stick – Sometimes go in the Indeed or Heh! category.

Read the whole thing – something he likes but is too long to post all of.

Picking on the BBC/NYT/Other media – He likes these.

Blogging v. Journalism – he likes these too.

Anything mentioning Postrel, Volokh, or his three cylinder car.

The critical of Glenn post that’s disguised as a joke but is really a suck up.

Another blogger opined recently when we were talking in real life that Glenn’s not really a blogger so much anymore as he is the center point for blogging. He’s more like Yahoo! for the Blogosphere. There’s probably some truth to that.

In short, post something he likes and if you happen to time it when he’s on, you may get one. And if he doesn’t link to you, it’s probably not personal. And it probably helps if it’s well-written and insightful.

I’ve pondered this post a bit, deciding to not post it. I’ve reconsidered as it may bring attention to what could happen. Al Qaeda, in essence, must have some sort of pride thing. They have a history of one-upmanship. The three attacks attributed to them (that I know of) have been successively more severe.

The 1993 WTC bombing. I have read accounts that this was an attempt to bring catastrophic losses but the bomb wasn’t big enough. The other thing I have heard (put on your foily hats) is that the trucks were actually loaded with sarin gas. Sarin, though easy to make, is heavy and difficult to distribute. The plan, I’ve been told, was that the truck was loaded with it and backed up to a major intake unit of the ventilation system to essentially suck the sarin up the building. The people who have told me this are friends who worked as government agents and in law enforcement. I have no reason to doubt them, since both independently mentioned this to me, without the other knowing. And they worked for separate agencies. Later in 1993, others with alleged ties to Al Qaeda were arrested while making bombs and they planned to take out other major NY landmarks and kill Senator D’Amato.

2000 USS Cole Bombing. A bit bigger (and more gutsy) than the 1993 WTC bomb.

And, of course, September 11 was bigger.

Al Qaeda has a history of increasing the amount of damage with each attack. This could be good or bad for the US. The likelihood of something bigger than 9/11 is probably small with new security measures and such. But if they do one-up 9/11, it will be absolutely devastating.

But Al Qaeda has not engaged in small attacks on US soil. It would not be difficult for a terrorist nut job to waltz into a Wal-Mart with an AK47 and a bomb strapped to his chest. Kill a few people and detonate the bomb when the cops arrive. If that occurred, people wouldn’t shop at Wal-Mart for months. It’d hurt us. I tend to think Al Qaeda will not engage in this type of thing since their MO seems to be doing something bigger than the last one.

I think that maybe in the future Al Qaeda will either realize that the likelihood of successfully launching a massive act of terrorism is small and may resort to smaller, localized attacks to put people on edge. Remember, the sniper in DC was small scale but had people terrified. Or they may successfully pull off another big one.

So, that’s my $0.02 on potential terrorism. The reason for my hesitation in posting this is I’d hate to read of smaller attacks on US soil and somehow thing I inspired the idea. However, it’s safe to say that my audience wouldn’t do such a thing.

Hurricane’s coming and Congress is closed. Strangely, no one has noticed.

I am late but Happy Constitution Day. You’ve never heard of it, of course, because it’s not important anymore.

The VTP is up over at CJ’s. Apparently, he didn’t get my email.

Via Les, comes this:

A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house.

The police state they identified themselves and knocked (pounding was the description given by the new widow) before entering. But the man thought it was a home invasion. Another victim to no knock (or partial knock) warrants.

“We did the best surveillance we could do, and a mistake was made,” Lebanon Police Chief Billy Weeks said. “It’s a very severe mistake, a costly mistake. It makes us look at our own policies and procedures to make sure this never occurs again.” He said, however, the two policemen were not at fault.

Not at fault? I think that is utter crap. There was a time in this country when serving a warrant required knocking on your door and waiting for you to answer (or, if you failed to answer, announce the entry). But thanks to the war on drugs, courts have ruled that because you can flush your weed down the toilet, judges can issue no-knock warrants.

Update: Neither myself nor Les noticed this article was dated 2000.