OK, gun-loving readers, which is it:

EOTech vs. Aimpoint? And which models and why. Or another brand, if you know of a good one.

All help appreciated.

Hidden Clause Would Force Lawmakers to Read Legislation

Update: Maybe we should try to get a law passed that requires Congress members to pass, with 70% proficiency, a test on what each law says or they can’t vote?

A 69 year-old woman was tragically killed in Tennessee a while back because some idiots tossed a large rock from an interstate overpass. Pretty open and shut, you would think. However, the prosecutors are trying to charge the killers under a law that says it’s first degree murder if the killer used a destructive device. They argue that a rock is a DD. This could have some serious implications.

A DD, as regulated under the 1934 National Firearms act, is:

1) any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas (A) bomb, (B) grenade, (C) rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, (D) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, (E) mine, or (F) similar device; (2) any type of weapon by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell which the Secretary finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes; and (3) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device as defined in subparagraphs (1) and (2) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled.

Such devices are highly regulated federally. I did a quick search of the Tennessee Code Annotated for Destructive Device and found no definition. However, I know that Tennessee Code merely mimics federal law with respect to Class III weapons. It would stand to reason that, since the other firearms rules are referenced specifically in the TCA, that the definition of a DD would be the same.

They are improperly charging these hoodlums to get the first degree murder conviction. After all, my car, a spoon, and a key can be used as weapons.

The New Republic ranked Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen a top prospect for Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. As long as he doesn’t get all Howard Dean on us and change his longstanding pro-gun position, I’d vote for him. I voted for him as Governor. You have to love a guy who signed shall-issue Class III into law and played hardball with our socialized medical system. And he’s a Democrat.

Kevin has a good piece on the VPC, England and more.

Reasonable Nut on the alleged Hmong racism that may have lead to the shooting. He notes that it is odd that among 20 hunters, there was only one gun reported. If true, it shoots a rather sizable hole in the claim that the dead folks shot first, if you ask me.

The Journal Sentinel doesn’t know much about guns or deer killing:

Some will immediately raise the issue of gun control. The SKS 7.62mm semiautomatic assault weapon, the kind of rifle Vang was carrying, is ill-suited for hunting deer. It is apparently too underpowered to kill a deer with a single shot, the goal of hunters who want to avoid needless suffering.

The 7.62 is adequate for deer hunting.

Former President Clinton, by executive order, barred SKS rifles manufactured in China and Russia. The Bush administration, according to a national gun control group, has specifically allowed their importation from some other countries.

Actually, that would Bush 1 and not Clinton.

Should they be banned by executive order altogether?

Actually, I’m still trying to figure out where executive order authorized the president to do anything, much less ban the importation of something. I thought Congress regulated commerce. Meanwhile, the VPC is calling on the president to ban all gun SKS imports.

Apparently, there have been other incidents in the past of Hmong hunting on private property without permission:

Hunters have complained the Hmong do not understand the concept of private property and hunt wherever they want. The tension once led to a fistfight in Minnesota.

The Brady Camp and JoinTogether continue to dance in the blood of dead people. In the event that it turns out that Vang was actually attacked and defended himself (unlikely, since police are reporting he hunted down the other hunters), would that change the Brady statement?

Update: Shooting another hole in the self-defense angle:

Vang said he continued firing as the group scattered, and at one point chased one of the hunters and shot him in the back, only to find the man had no gun, the document states.

It’s not defense if you chase them down and shoot them in the back.

The Council Bluffs mayor has signed breed specific legislation into law:

Kelley McAtee said she and others met with Hanafan last Thursday to request his veto of the ordinance. McAtee said the mayor expressed concerns about some parts of the ordinance, though he told them he couldn’t veto just parts of the ordinance, it would have to be the whole thing, she said.

So, despite concerns, you’d sign it anyway? The city currently has no plan to fund the ordinance, which will be expensive. And they have now way of ensuring people will comply.

Just wanted to wish all of Say Uncle’s readers a happy Thanksgiving a day in advance!

I’ve always hated watching television, especially shows that require you to come back next week to see what happens. After getting married though, the television is on more than it ever was in my house. I mean, I used to sneak and watch Xena (mostly just to see Gabrielle and…mmm….Callisto), but that was it beyond movies.

Then I discovered HGTV and I’m almost a junkie. It’s sad, really.

Other than that and adult cartoons (South Park, King of the Hill, etc), I have a hard time watching anything else. Except Overhaulin’ on TLC. Have you ever watched that show? My wife used to shudder when I turned it on, and now she even loves it. Is it the cars? Is it the whole prank thing? Is it Courtney? I don’t know. But if you like seeing untold amounts of money being spent on a complete car rebuild hosted by a hot chick (and some guy), you’ll probably like Overhaulin’.

Mike, in a read guaranteed to offend somebody, tells the Democrats that they can woo the South in the same way they’ve sewn up another demographic.

In an update to the hunter incident, the suspect (Chai Vang ) is claiming he was fired upon first after being called racially insensitive names. The suspect also has a history of waving guns around.

The story just doesn’t jive. Triggerfinger thinks so too.

Dan Ra^ther stepping down in March. He won’t be missed.

No doubt caused by the Internets.

Overall, blog traffic is down. That goes for my blog as well as others. I blame the election having ended. It got me to thinking about the nature of blogs (others and this one). Honestly, I don’t seem to enjoy it as much as I used to and the impact of that on my writing is obvious (at least to me). The blog has gone from longer posts about life, the universe and every thing to shorter posts and random commentary thrown in here and there. I still like to blog but, instead of writing about things that I want to, feel forced to add content daily regardless of whether or not I have anything insightful or relevant to add that hasn’t already been said. I repeat myself a lot. I’ve gone from thinker to linker. And the number of comments is also down which may indicate lost interest.

I may need to expand my horizons. I figure I need a new direction. I blog about guns roughly 30% of the time, which is probably dull to you non-gun readers. Politics doesn’t hold my interest much because it’s all more of the same and, to be honest, I don’t like the direction it’s going. Blame this guy or that. This issue or that. It doesn’t seem to matter which party is in control, the leviathan swells. There is no third party that has a legitimate chance of changing that. The partisan hacks continue to be hacks. Some bloggers have hung it up, some aren’t updating and some are still going strong.

I don’t know what direction SayUncle will be moving in. Maybe some readers will have some suggestions. I’m not saying that I’ll stop blogging or even that blogging will decrease. I’m just unsure of what’s going to happen. Sometimes, I just don’t feel it but write anyway. I’m also considering expanding the number of contributers. If interested, leave a comment with some links to your blog or stuff you’ve written. For the record, there are actually three bloggers here: myself, MX5 and Thibodeaux (And where the Hell are you guys?). Some people don’t seem to realize that and link to stuff here and credit it to me, even though the second line of each post names the author (maybe I should bold it or make it flash, or something.

So, there you have it. Stuff may change, or not. Or it may stay the same, or not. That was your non-update update. Any questions?

In the past, I’d have read something like this and briefly thought about how screwed up it is. Now that I am a father, such treatment of children fills me with rage and the thought of this incident enters my mind every few minutes.

Some people should be shot.

Local columnist and sports writer Gary Lundy has passed away at the age of 49. Sympathies to his family. He’ll be missed.

A large cross visible from the interstate and located on private property was ordered removed by an Anderson County judge:

“I had a big let down today because it was on private property,” Potter says. “It wasn’t on public property. It was on private property but the government can come in and tell us where we have to put a cross when the Constitution says they can’t do that.”

However:

Anderson County code states that a structure shouldn’t be able to fall on someone else’s land.

I suppose you could make a smaller cross.

Given the tragic hunting trip shooting, the SKS is in the spotlight. Here’s an article detailing some history of the rifle. It gets one point wrong:

Ted Sellers with Northwest Outlet in Superior said even before the expiration of the assault weapons ban the rifle was legal, provided the magazine fired less than 15 rounds.

I don’t think that’s the case. The AWB limited detachable magazine capacity to 10. The SKS typically has a fixed magazine, though after market detachable mags are available.

Another article on the SKS, filled with some hysteria, but points out that the SKS is popular due to its low cost. A buddy of mine ran a gun shop once and I remember when you could buy them in bulk for about $50 each. Since then, Bush 1 banned their import from China and the prices have risen. The article states:

In fact, this gun is not a sporting weapon at all; it was conceived and first built a half-century ago as a tool to kill people, and too often, that’s how it is still used today. The SKS may not be in the same firepower league as the notorious AK-47, but it is easily modified into an illegal high-capacity fully automatic.

First, the gun is probably no easier to convert than any other semi-automatic. Second, it is almost functionally identical to a civilianized AK47 in that it fires the medium powered 7.62X39 round and is capable of semi-automatic fire (one shot per trigger pull).

Even in its original semiautomatic mode, the gun is an apparent favorite of cop killers and wackos. SKS rifles have been used to kill at least five police officers this year. At least eight other officers have been killed by SKS-wielding gunmen since 1998. The guy who sprayed the White House with bullets 10 years ago used the SKS.

Remember, apparent usually means we’re too lazy to check. Because the actual favorite of cop killers is the common handgun, usually the cops own handgun.

Here’s some more history on the SKS.

The Trainer has been documenting his customization of his own SKS.

So, what we have is a popular hunting rifle that is going to be targeted yet the anti-gun groups claim that they’re not coming after your hunting guns.

So, you decide to look up how to wash pillows and what’s the first thing you see?

Jeff has the latest.

One post ago (like an hour or so), I said the media hadn’t gotten the memo from the VPC. Nevermind that the SKS was not covered by the assault weapons ban. Well, here it is:

SKS assault rifles like the one reported to have been used to murder five hunters and wound three others in Wisconsin over the weekend are a primary threat to police, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) reported today. So far in 2004, at least six law enforcement officers have been slain by SKSs. In the wake of the shooting, the VPC called on President George W. Bush today to use the Administration’s executive authority over firearm imports to fully ban the import of all foreign-made assault rifles. Such an action would not require Congressional approval. The Bush Administration has specifically authorized the importation of SKS assault rifles from both Yugoslavia and Albania.

No reference to bullet hoses? Is this because it was pointed out that the SKS is a popular hunting rifle?

A dispute over a tree stand results in five deaths:

The incident began when two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land in Sawyer County when they saw the suspect in one of their hunting platforms in a tree, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.

It’s not known who shot first, Zeigle said.

Both hunters were wounded and one of them radioed to the cabin a quarter mile away. Other hunters responded and were shot. About 20 shots were fired, but it’s unclear who shot them, he said.

The dead included a a teenage boy and a woman, Zeigle said. A father and son were among them, he said. Some of the victims were shot more than once.

The shooter used an SKS, which the report refers to as a common hunting weapon. Obviously, they didn’t get the memo from the Violence Policy Center that this is an assault weapon even though it was not covered by the assault weapons ban. The VPC includes SKS rifles in their assault weapons statistics. I’m sure the media will correct this issue soon.

All this violence over a tree stand? The spin will start and a push for a more restrictive ban will be forthcoming. So much for the sportsmen angle.

I don’t like Katz in general for a variety of reasons. One of which is that I can’t see owning a pet that requires me to keep a box of turds in my house. The other is that they are shitty friends. In a righteous fisking, another pit bull blogger XRLQ points that that Katz:

Knows nothing about dogs.

Knows nothing about numbers.

Expects dogs to behave in very un-dog-like fashion.

Seems to be surprised at the result of a fight between a Lab-Pit mix and a Pekingese.

Ironically, Katz paints a horrific picture of the dog in this story before pointing out that ascribing human characteristics of morality to dogs is a fallacy. The facts are that the woman whose dog was killed either had a defective leash or she was incompetent in putting the leash on the dog. Her dog attacked a properly restrained dog. The properly restrained dog defended itself and its owner.

Begging to Differ points out that vicious dog laws present a consistency test for libertarians. Actually, I’d say it depends on the particular vicious dog law. Those laws that require that the dog be, you know, proven vicious present no such test. However, such laws based on breed do. Breed specific legislation is largely ineffective.

Additionally, Stitch in Haste chimes in noting that no dog is pre-disposed to violence. I tend to disagree. The more accurate statement is that no breed is pre-disposed to violence toward humans. Some pit type breeds were bred to be aggressive toward other dogs as they were bred for fighting. However, socialization will usually take care of this. Dogs are inherently territorial any way and, in the right circumstances (over food, territory, and sex) all dogs can be aggressive to other dogs, like the Pekingese above was. You have to train that out of them.

In my experience, small dogs tend to be the worst behaved dogs and it’s not their fault. The owners tend to tolerate certain behavior that they wouldn’t tolerate in a large dog because the smaller dog can’t really do damage nipping or mouthing a person.

Jed asks for a new term for people who say they support the Second Amendment, but argue for gun control. I’d say liar. Or, you know, yesterday’s Democrat party. Democrats are changing, just ask this guy.

But not this guy:

Americans are split in their approach to the problem, with advocates on one side for gun control and the powerful NRA on the other for little control.

So, if I’m for gun control, I am an advocate. If I oppose it, I am part of a powerful lobby? He advocates bans, which is blatantly against the Constitutional rights he professes to love.

NPR is doing the assault weapons thing.

And today’s idiot is Doug Griffin:

Finally, guns kill more people than abortions do. That’s a fact. Yet the right to own one is guaranteed in the Constitution. I don’t hear any pro-lifers protesting guns. Quite the contrary. It’s been my experience that most of them own guns and many were probably for the expiration of the assault weapons ban. If you claim to be pro-life, how do you explain that obvious flip-flop?

Does he really want to be on the record making such stupid and easily refuted argument?

On exercising your rights:

I believe it was Robert Heinlein who first said, “An armed society is a polite society.” He meant armed as in packing heat. As in loaded and trained. As in cocked and locked.

Heinlein did not mean, “A society armed with information, dialogue, smarts, verbal-power-that-dispels-liberal notions, an Ayn Rand background, a memory for past LewRockwell.com articles, or an intense knowledge in Libertarian ideas.”

There’s a point where you must stop honing your argument about your rights and learn how to defend your rights. And that point is always far sooner than you or I think it is.

Or, as we say in Tennessee, shit or get off the pot.

XRLQ alerts us to an eminent domain ban in Anaheim:

It is the policy of the City of Anaheim that the power of eminent domain not be used by the City Council or Redevelopment Agency to acquire property from private parties, for the express and immediate purpose of conveying such property to any other private person or entity for commercial uses, when there is no public purpose for the acquisition except the generation or increase of sales tax or property tax revenues to the City.

Good.

First, we have Uncle Tom. Then Likudnik. Now, Aunt Jemima.

Update: Hitler is always a good one too. As is lying about Hussein comparisons.

Medic Mom provides a good little round up of gun links. She forgot someone, though.

$30 wheel tax is on its way to my home county.

The local news is all ga-ga over a road construction project in Knoxville that was completed seven months early. What about the Alcoa Highway bridge, which should have been done last year, I think? Or the bridge on Asheville Highway that should have been done two years ago? Or the never-ending orange barrels that litter I40 for as long as I’ve been driving?

A few times I have opined that I think people, particularly police, carrying non less-than-lethal weapons may lead to unnecessary use of those weapons. In other words, if one has a taser or pepper spray, they may use it when it is unnecessary whereas the finality of using a gun would not result in its misuse when lesser force will do. To wit, police tasered a 75 year old women and a six year old.

Triggerfinger on Seegars v. Ashcroft:

Whether it is reasonable to expect someone wishing to challenge a law to face prosecution for violating that law if their challenge fails is questionable, but it is an established principle with a reasonable goal. Legislatures sometimes provide for an expedited Constitutional challenge to a questionable law, but that was not provided for in the assault weapons ban. Since most of the plaintiffs in Seegars neither owned handguns, nor sought to register them, nor carried them within the city, they did not face a credible and specific threat of prosecution.

This, I think, is why a lot of laws go unchallenged. Who wants to lose and spend years in jail? It’s also why yours truly won’t challenge the Hughes Amendment banning machine guns made after 1986 and why I wouldn’t have challenged the assault weapons ban. Apparently, I’d have to actually break the law to have a legal standing in the case and, given the courts’ rulings on second amendment issues, I’d likely lose and spend ten years in jail. Not a risk a family man would take.

Stay tuned to Triggerfinger for updates on the case.

Gun ranges near neighborhoods typically don’t go well together. This is typically due to the fact the ranges, no matter how safe they are, just aren’t politically correct. I can’t figure out why people continue to build subdivisions near existing ranges then move to have the range shut down. Benjamin over at Reasonable Nut details the potential for using eminent domain to shut down a gun range.