New Jersey doesn’t usually grant carry permits, unless you’re rich, a politico, a policeman, or someone calls in a favor. However, a judge ruled recently that:

A Warren County ship captain may carry a concealed weapon in New Jersey waters and ports, state Superior Court Judge John Pursel ruled Wednesday.

The judge cited the post-Sept. 11 world of terrorist threats and the recent rise in the terrorist alert system as part of the reason for his decision to grant the carrying permit.

Authorities fear the ruling could lead to similar requests from other civilians who would normally face a daunting task in obtaining a New Jersey carrying permit — permits that are tougher to obtain than those in other states, such as Pennsylvania.

Good. However, what about the average citizen?

An article at ESPN.com tackles the question. We’re not the psychotics the Brady Campaign would have you believe. One quote:

You meet the nicest people at a shooting range.

Indeed you do. The range is probably the easiest place in the world to strike up a conversation because everyone there is interested in shooting.

We apparently have domestic terrorists:

Forget duct tape.

With America at war and Americans at risk, this group of young Campbell County men figured their homeland security plan ought to include some heavy artillery.

But guns, ammunition and survival kits cost money, and the newly formed American Independence Group was not in line for any government grants.

So, AIG President Ronald Eric Myers hatched a plan to rob a Campbell County bank and a pawnshop and, if the group had any spare time, torch a hotel full of Hispanics, a FBI agent testified Thursday.

I’ve already forgotten duct tape. This is rather scary. Further in the story, we learn that the two are charged with attempted bank robbery and possession of an AK47 rifle, which is odd because the AK47 rifle is banned by the 1994 assault weapons ban.

Three schools in Blount County were identified as failing the benchmarks established by No Child Left Behind. The KNS says, spinning not so good news into kind of OK news, that only half as many failed this time.

But don’t worry, the wheel tax will save them. Oh, it’s not for schools?

The KNS also has this excellent No Child Left Behind Primer, it’s worth reading. I like the concept of No Child Left Behind in that it does establish standards. However, all my teacher friends assure me those standards are not very helpful.

People like you are not the final arbiters of what are legitimate uses of firearms.

AWBSunset

Via Bubba, we welcome to the following to the Rocky Top Brigade:

Dropstones, a recent Tennessee transplant.

Tennessee Talk, where Kate discusses Tennessee in the news. Maybe she figure out why it’s always for something stupid.

Domestic Psychology, a personal blog.

John Brown, who is to the right and is also a columnist for the University of Tennessee school paper.

Michael Silence, who is a reporter for the local city news paper.

And finally Argus, a Navy guy at Pearl Harbor.

The army err navy amasses. Soon, we will strike. All your base are belong to us.

Welcome all.

There is one month remaining before the sunset of the Assault Weapons Ban. Proponents of the extension are out in force. The Million err Twenty Four Moms our out in force as are New Jersey congressmen.

It has not expired yet not is it guaranteed to. Contact your congressmen and tell them to kill it. Write, email, phone, carrier pigeon or fax. Need contact info? Go here or here or here.

JoinTogether writes:

The halls of the U.S. Capitol are empty this month as Congress has adjourned for the August recess without extending the Assault Weapons Ban. If President Bush and Congress continue to stall, the ten-year-old Ban will expire on September 13, 2004. Just as our children are returning to their schools, assault weapons will be returning to their streets. While your Members of Congress are at home this month make sure they get the message that you do not want assault weapons in your community!

It’s expiring. Good news indeed. However, the ban has not been shown to have any impact on firearm violence. When you rely on the children as a talking point, you’re really reaching.

Since the ban was passed, overall gun deaths have decreased by nearly twenty-five percent and child and teen deaths from firearms have dropped fifty percent. Sixty-three percent of gun owners favor the ban and an overwhelming majority of registered voters also support it.

And, in that same time period, 16 states adopted shall-issue conceal carry or stopped restricting carrying weapons. Correlation does not equal causation.

In other news, Armalite is offering its customers the opportunity to pre-order post-post-ban rifles. The Brady’s are trying to say that this is illegal. It’s not illegal because Armalite has not manufactured the rifles yet.

To use the hateful rhetoric of the Brady Campaign, this psychotic plans on buying multiple receivers on September 14, 2004.

On the way to work, I saw a late model Ford station wagon that had two bumper stickers. On the left was a Gore Lieberman 2000 bumper sticker. On the right was a Bush Cheney 2004 bumper sticker. Possible explanations:

Captain Ed:

The Left spent the entire campaign shouting “Bush Lied — People Died!” as a disqualification for the presidency. Now that we’ve determined that Bush didn’t lie, that he represented the intelligence given to him accurately, will the Left hold John Kerry to the same standard? He lied about his Cambodian missions in order to lend credence to his testimony about witnessing systematic atrocities by American servicemen in Viet Nam, leading to our withdrawal — and the genocide that followed.

Kerry lied, millions died. Millions died.

Is that the leadership that the Left endorses?

Ouch. Now, it is quite a stretch to say that Kerry’s actions caused millions to die, and I doubt that is the point. The fact that Kerry has maintained the lie after basing the entirety of his reason for public service on it makes it abysmal.

Meanwhile, Instapundit reports the lack of media coverage and has a good round up of the whole thing.

Via XRLQ

Update: More ouch:

And the Post manages to write an entire editorial about the veracity of the Swiftvets without even noting that their first charge scored a direct hit this week.

Weely gun links are up.

Despite this claim, why is the Texas State Rifle Association (a group of civilians) teaching our soldiers how to shoot? And with assault rifles.

Eminent domain is inherently bad because it can (and often is abused). In this case, the plan is to take by force someone’s private property and give it to other private individuals:

Three streets [Marine and Ocean Terraces and Seaview Avenue, known as MTOTSA] in the redevelopment zone designated as Beachfront North, phase II, remain, that are slated for eminent domain. Plans call for the properties to be bulldozed and replaced with townhouses and condominiums

Taking someone’s property to build homes and town houses? How does that benefit the public good? What about the private good?

Howard Nemerov rips the VPC a new one regarding its selective use of its supposed studies and other statistics. Worth the read.

The KNS reports:

A Holocaust denier booted from his Sevier County home – and the country – should get a shot at arguing against his deportation, a federal appellate court has ruled.

Whether Ernst Zundel, 65, will actually be allowed to appear in U.S. District Court in Knoxville remains unclear, however. Zundel is in solitary confinement in a detention center in Toronto, Canada, where he is accused of being a threat to that country’s national security.

Zundel is a German-born graphic artist and publisher whose 1980 pamphlet “Did Six Million Really Die?” rocketed him to infamy as a Holocaust denier and – as some allege – a neo-Nazi.

The man is obviously a moron but he should be allowed a proper trial. Of course, other than the deportation claims, they really don’t have much on him. Free speech includes the freedom to say hateful, stupid things. To continue:

Zundel was eventually deported to Canada, where officials are trying to send him back to Germany. He faces hate crime charges there in connection with his writings, which include the book “The Hitler We Loved and Why,” and his Web site (ed. – website link removed because he’s a bastard)

Some more of that Canadian free speech I keep hearing about. Or is it healthcare? I forget.

This one is pretty lame:

How many rounds of ammunition are needed in a single clip to hunt or target shoot?

Federal law now allows up to 10. After that, the marksman or hunter has to manually replace an ammo clip to load 10 more. It takes about three seconds, less with practice.

In 32 days, the 10-year-old federal assault weapon ban expires, allowing hunters and marksmen to save that extra three seconds by having magazines that can hold 15, 20 even 70 rounds of ammunition for a continuous spray of bullets to pulverize a target or decimate large game.

What does hunting have to do with it?

These large-clip, rapid-firing assault weapons certainly can be used for target practice and hunting. But their real value is in man-to-man combat, exchanging rounds in a firefight. Their prevalence in Iraq is what makes things so deadly for U.S. troops. If Iraq had an assault weapon ban, the U.S. casualty count would be much, much lower.

Again, trying to imply the assault weapons ban applies to military machine guns, it doesn’t. And the comparison to Iraq is intellectually dishonest on so many levels. Do they really think a ban would curb the insurgency? That may be the dumbest thing I’ve read today.

Without action by our congressmen, the U.S., too, will be without an assault weapon ban. The current ban isn’t fool-proof. Some assault weapons manufactured before the ban still are allowed. Legal, semi-automatic weapons can be illegally modified to operate in violation of the law.

The current ban isn’t a ban on any gun. It’s a ban on what cosmetic features guns can have. And, for the record, ALL assault weapons manufactured before the ban still are legal to own.

But it clearly has kept thousands of more dangerous weapons off the streets. Scientific polls of registered voters invariably show more than 70 percent favor extending the ban.

And how are those two statements related? The ban has kept the weapons out of the hands of law abiding collectors. Criminals, who by definition disobey laws, are not going to obey this one (like you said in the above paragraph). Additionally, the studies you allude aren’t credible and there are studies that show the opposite.

And their conclusion:

You know what is crazier? Letting this common-sense ban fall victim to a relative handful of gun supporters who earnestly believe the ban somehow weakens our important and necessary 2nd Amendment.

It doesn’t.

So, if I understand this right, you’re telling me that infringing on my second amendment rights doesn’t, you know, infringe on my second amendment rights? Moron.

Jerry Parsons in a letter to the editor:

I know how to get a 99.9% “yes” response on a question about gun control. You merely ask anybody “Are you in favor of a law that will keep dangerous guns out of the hands of criminals?” I also know a way to silence 100% of the lawmakers, activists and other believers in unicorns. You merely ask them, “Could you please define a law that will keep dangerous guns out of the hands of criminals?” The response would be universal silence, as there is not, never has been, nor ever will be such a law, and criminals do not obey laws.

He goes on to say:

Even the most ardent supporters of the assault gun ban admit that it has been totally ineffective, so why does The Times keep pushing the gun control myth?

Indeed.

You may remember this post of mine that pointed to a site called Winning An Argument. I challenged their argument on the assault weapons ban and never heard from them. Today, I get this email from a contributor to the site:

In a recent post on the popular liberal blog Daily Kos, the site’s primary author attributed some of the success of his site to his decision to “immediately shut the door on…Republican commentors.” His idea was “to create a ‘safe zone’ for liberal political junkies.” No matter how successful the Kos site has been I don’t think it was the right decision. I don’t think anyone – including bloggers – should try to insulate themselves from people who disagree with them. Unfortunately, this is increasingly the trend among blogs of all stripes.

In my mind, the only way to move forward is to constantly test our ideas against our harshest critics. We should be willing to learn from those criticisms and, if necessary, change our positions.

That is why I am inviting you and your readers to come to our liberal blog – Winning Argument – and prove us wrong. I welcome any opinion expressed in any way you want. There will be no censorship. Check it out:

Winning Argument is a little different than a lot of liberal blogs instead of just providing commentary we explicitly try to prove positions. I plan on promoting especially thoughtful comments – even conservative ones – to the main section of the site.

Thanks for your consideration.

First, Kos is a partisan hack. Second, I applaud the site for getting away from that whole bush lied, selected not elected, or whatever cool little hippie saying the moonbats are using these days. However, to win an argument, they may want to address when their arguments are challenged. And they may want to brush up on how to argue. Getting your talking points from issue driven hacks is usually not the way to go.

Congrats to Andrew on the new edition to his household.

I just thought that women’s Olympic wrestling would be, you know, hotter.

I want to buy one of the AR-15 sling adapters listed here. Trouble is, you click on their buy button and takes you a list of retailers. I have searched their sites (those that have websites) and can’t find the item listed. Anyone know a good source?

Triggerfinger has a round up rebutting some of the stats that anti-gunners like to use regarding the supposed assault weapons ban.

Breed Specific Legislation in Council Bluffs, which I’ve covered before, was not passed. Good.

Alan Keyes:

I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and I think it would require some serious justification in my mind before we would curtail the rights of gun owners. I was appalled when I heard that my opponent was one of these people that believe if a burglar breaks in your house you don’t have the right to use some means of self defense against an individual that might threaten your life.

Alex Halperin, of The Financial Times, writes:

On paper, both John Kerry and George W.Bush support the extension of the US assault weapons ban. In practice, neither has done much to make it happen – thanks to the power of gun politics in the US.

The 10-year-old ban expires on September 13, highlighting an issue both men have avoided.

In 1994 Mr Kerry backed the law prohibiting sales of various types of semi-automatic weapons. But, like all Democrats, he and his aides know the price of tangling with the gun lobby. Former president Bill Clinton has said that the assault weapons ban cost 20 Democratic members of Congress their jobs and helped the Republicans sweep Capitol Hill in 1994.

The National Rifle Association, for its part, boasts that it mobilised gun owners in such key states as Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri, rallying enough votes for Mr Bush to win in 2000.

So Mr Kerry has hardly mentioned extending the ban even though the Democrats’ election year platform calls for it. In a symbolic Senate vote to extend the ban this year, Mr Kerry voted in favour, but since then he has courted gun owners by posing for photographs with a shotgun and in hunting gear.

That being said, I used to think that it was brilliant politics on the part of Clinton to have the foresight to ensure the ban expired in an election year. However, it seems those politics may be its undoing.

Gunner, recalling my post comparing the names of house paints to porn stars, emails a link to this fun little quiz. Is it the name of a My Little Pony or a porn star?

Of course, My Little Pony could be a euphemism for, uhm, something.

Since opinion pieces that oppose the assault weapons ban are rare, here’s a link to one:

Chicken Little arrives every four years in a feather-ruffled flurry squawking about some kind of impending doom. This year she is incited to a level of hen-ish hysteria by the encroaching expiration of the federal “assault weapons” ban.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is all for extending the ban on 19 military-style firearms, coos Chicken Little. He suspended his campaign back in March so he could go to Washington and cast one of the few Senate votes he found time to make in the past year. No one should read anything political into that.

But that bad ol’ President Bush, clucks the harried hen, he said he’d sign an extension of the ban, but he isn’t doing anything to force those nasty, gun-loving, NRA-co-opted Republicans to bring it to a vote.

Chickie needs to pipe down and revisit what the president did say about the ban, adopted by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1994. Bush said he’d sign the extension if it made it to his desk. He never promised to pressure lawmakers into getting it to that point.

This is just one more example of how hysteria and ignorance can warp understanding of an issue.

The uninformed make audacious claims: “If the ban expires, it will become legal to buy dangerous, rapid-fire guns most commonly seen in action movies.”

First, all firearms are dangerous, which is why it is so important to teach children never to think they are toys. But this line from a Statesman Journal editorial, which ran last month in the Salem, Ore., newspaper, equates the firearms covered by the ban with machine guns.

Even if the ban is lifted, John Q. Schnutz still will not be able to purchase fully automatic machine guns, which are highly regulated.

I can add action movies to the list of rhetoric used by proponents of the ban, which has included automatic weapons, bullet hoses, spray fire weapons, people killers, and weapons of mass destruction. And the following quote dispels the misconceptions that most media types try to shove down our throats regarding the ban:

The 1994 crime bill forbade the manufacture and import of certain guns that Congress defined as “assault weapons.”

These firearms were classified by how they looked and not by how they operate. Cosmetic and ergonomic features like telescoping stocks, bayonet lugs, pistol grips and flash suppressors that give the firearms a military-style appearance were banned even though they are mechanically indistinguishable from traditional sporting rifles.

The provision that banned “high-capacity” ammunition magazines is also scheduled to expire Sept. 13, although the House bill calling for the ban’s extension does not mention high-capacity magazines.

The ban did “not” outlaw ownership of semi-automatic guns. Banned “assault weapons” have always been available on the secondary market, and owners of those guns don’t break any law by reselling them.

Indeed.

The Evil Loophole Gun Show is in Raleigh this weekend. Any of you all planning to go?

Welcome back.

Bubba has a picture of a billboard advertising a local gun show. The problem with the billboard is that it says at the bottom in big letters: Randy Weaver Ruby Ridge.

Assuming that since Randy Weaver is an isolationist and will not actually attend the gun show (RK Shows, who is having the show doesn’t list him on their site), Bubba wonders what the point is. As do I.

Update: Countertop informs me in comments that Weaver is making the gun show circuit.

Update 2: Ace reporter Michael Silence did some actual, you know, journalism and confirms that Weaver is coming to the gun show.