The BBC has a bit on the militarisation (what, Brits don’t like the letter Z?) of the US police:

Professor Peter Kraska, an expert on police militarisation from Eastern Kentucky University, says that in the 1980s there were about 3,000 Swat team deployments annually across the US, but says now there are at least 40,000 per year.

[snip]

Dr Kraska believes there has been an explosion of units in smaller towns and cities, where training and operational standards may not be as high as large cities – a growth he attributes to “the hysteria” of the country’s war on drugs.

[snip]

An NTOA study of 759 Swat team deployments across the US, found half were for warrant service and a third for incidents where suspects had barricaded themselves in a building – 50 were for hostage situations.

When criminology professor David Klinger looked at 12 years of data on Swat teams in 1998, he also found the most common reason for calling out teams was serving warrants, but that the units used deadly force during warrant service only 0.4% of the time.

There was a time in this country where, when faced with arresting someone, police would cowboy-up and head over to the suspect’s door. They would then knock and announce themselves. Now, thanks to the advent of indoor plumbing and the fact you may flush your stash, the police often send in their SWAT teams, complete with GI Joe gear and ninja masks. And it’s not a matter of a low percentage of deadly force, it’s about whether or not deaths of have increased. Ask Anthony Diotaiuto or these folks. Well, you can’t. They’re all dead.

And this quote from the piece struck a chord:

The problem is that when you talk about the war on this and the war on that, and police officers see themselves as soldiers, then the civilian becomes the enemy.

Ayup.

Jeff has the latest on anti-gun bias in the media.

Bob Krumm:

Vampires have their stakes and werewolves have their silver bullets, but there is nothing man has yet devised that can kill a government program.

Heh.

Reader Pete emails:

Since you brought up the topic of women and guns……..we – “we” being Central Florida Rifle and Pistol Club, Inc. in Orlando – are hosting our third Ladies’ Day at the Range this April 8th. As an NRA-affiliated club, last year we did NRA’s Women on Target program, this year we’re going on our own; the WOT program doesn’t allow minors, and we want to reach those below age 18 (accompanied by parent or guardian). Last year we had 76 participants, this year we’re hoping to break 100.

Here’s a link to their flier too.

More women are packing:

More women, from soccer moms to professionals like the ones at the Blue Ridge Arsenal gun range in Chantilly, Va., are packing heat for sport, self-empowerment and protection.

“I am a short, chubby housewife,” said Jaque Blundell of Arlington, Va. “I’m not as scared of the bad guys, because the guns are my great equalizer.”

The gun industry is catering to women with everything from more girly guns and apparel to all-female hunting trips and free ladies nights at the range. It’s clear the feminine touch is adding up to big business.

“A quarter to a third of all our customers here are women shooters,” said Keith Weaver, who works at the Blue Ridge Arsenal.

Five years ago, the National Rifle Association offered just 13 firearms training classes for women. Today, there are more than 200 nationwide.

Don’t tell egalia.

Now, I know that for most, Enron encompasses all that is evil in the corporate world. But this is misleading:

Enron tried to do an end-run around accounting rules by dropping a plan to sell assets in a failed water business for a $1 billion growth strategy, instead, a former accountant who handled the company’s books said on Monday.

An end-run around accounting rules? Those evil, evil folks. What they did:

An accounting rule that took effect in January 2002 would have required Enron to book losses of $700 million or more.

That was the difference between the inflated value of Wessex, Enron’s British water utility, and its true value. Had Enron maintained its plan to sell Wessex and other Azurix assets, the new accounting rule would have forced the energy company to reconcile the book values with true fair market values.

Management realized that by selling the entity, they would have realized a huge loss. However, if they kept it, no loss would be incurred. There was nothing nefarious that I could see in this particular case.

Also interesting to me were these two tidbits:

The charges against Lay, Enron’s founder, include an allegation that he lied to outside auditors in October 2001 by claiming Enron planned to invest in Wessex rather than sell it so the energy company could avoid the writedown. Lay told analysts in a late October 2003 conference call — a few weeks before the company sought bankruptcy protection — that Andersen had examined the issue and determined no writedown was necessary.

Both men say there was no fraud at Enron and negative publicity coupled with diminished market confidence fueled the company’s swift descent into bankruptcy protection in December 2001.

It looks increasingly like Andersen was not as involved in this as folks thought. In fact, I’d say they were lied to and if you lie to your auditors about some complex transactions, they’ll never know otherwise unless they find stuff by sheer luck. Does make it appear that Andersen was sort of a victim here. And they fell hard because of this.

Junior has recently discovered that she can come and go as she pleases. We have two dog doors, one from the kitchen to the screened in porch and one from said porch to our yard. Sitting in the den, I heard the distinctive flap and, sure enough, she was outside. No big deal since the yard is fenced in but we’ve had to start shutting the door. This has politically incorrect dog a bit distraught now that he can’t come and go as he pleases.

Seen here:

Senate Bill 2672, the Tennessee Castle Doctrine Bill sponsored by Senator Don McLeary (R-Jackson), seeks to expand the right of self-defense. The bill would extend that right to permit a person to use the same deadly force now allowed in a person’s residence to the immediate area and buildings around the residence and to other dwellings and vehicles. The bill, also known as the Stand Your Ground Bill, is scheduled for a hearing in Senate Judiciary Committee this week. “All law-abiding citizens have an innate right to self-defense, whether they are in their home, their barn, or their car,” stated Senator McLeary. A person’s home is that person’s castle is a long-recognized principle that has been eroded away over the years. This bill will help restore our self-defense zone. “Individuals have a right to stand their ground. There should never be a duty to retreat when you are confronted by someone who is threatening your life or a loved one just because you are in an outbuilding or in your vehicle instead of being inside your home at that particular moment. If enacted into law, this will reverse the pendulum swing that for far too long has swung in the direction of protecting the rights of criminals over the rights of victims,” concluded Senator McLeary. Senator McLeary’s bill would expand the Castle Doctrine to include the buildings and curtilage around a dwelling – including a temporary dwelling, such as a mobile home or tent – and to vehicles which would allow a person the use of self-defense against carjackers. His bill also expands the use of self-defense when protecting a third party, such as a relative or an invited guest who is staying in someone else’s home. It would also require an aggressor who is injured by someone who exercises the right of self-defense and who sues in civil court to pay all legal costs.

I thought the majority of states, including Tennessee, already had such a law on the books. I’m not sure if the recent increase in the number of these being passed is for clarification or if the pro-gun sources that said that weren’t correct. And I like how an aggressor would be forced to pay all legal costs.

The NFA Owners Association is looking to hit the big time:

The site has been a little slow, I have been very busy, and “our” issues have gotten far too little attention in congress of late.

This post is about changing that.

We now have a core group who are volunteering to take on the burdens associated with taking NFAOA to the next level, leading up to eventual incorporation!

Once we are incorporated we will be a much more formal organization, and hopefully more effective on the legislative front, with a funding mechanism to support our own professional lobbyist.

To move in this direction and be “fair” to the members, we need to have an election.

So I am calling for nominations and additional volunteers!

We will need a President, Secretary, and Treasurer.

The NFA community does need a political voice since the NRA cringes whenever you talk about machine guns.

One of these. Nifty.

Seen at ar15.com:

If it sounds to good to be true, it’s the ATF.

Heh.

Gun Law News has the skinny on an interesting (and full of shit) court opinion. In part:

Along came MKS Specialties who got a hold of some cut up M-14 receivers (perfectly legal). They take that scrap metal (of a certain, politically incorrect history and shape), weld together functional receivers, add a few parts and produce a semiautomatic firearm.

The BATFE jumped in and said the MKS M-14 is an NFA weapon by virtue of how they interpret the law. Under civil asset forfeiture law, they grabbed an MKS M-14 owned by William K. Alverson.

The BATFE claimed that, because the M-14 was originally designed to shoot automatically, the MKS M-14 was an NFA weapon.

Alverson responded with an expert who testified that it would take six hours to convert the weapon to full-auto operation. Unfortunately, the Eighth Circuit had already held that if you could convert a semiautomatic rifle in 8 hours in a fully equiped (sic) machine shop, the gun would qualify as an NFA weapon.

It’s not necessary to put it in a machine shop for a random number of hours when a key ring and a shoestring will convert an M1A to automatic fire. Seems rather arbitrary to me and the shoestring method would work on a number of other weapons too. I can also convert my AR-15s to full-auto fire with a few hours in a machine shop by drilling a hole and changing out the blot and fire control group. Looks to me like the ATF and the court is wrong on this one. But, more importantly, this creates case law that could classify a whole host of rifles as potentially being NFA weapons or machine guns.

Update: Over at subguns.com, Brian S. says:

IIRC, the BATF’s primary beef was that the M14 receivers were not demilled to their standards, and thus never lost their MG status. I know, the whole “once an MG, always an MG” is not defined in the USC, either… However, everything isn’t going to hell in a handbasket as the article suggests. There have been plenty of rewelds that the ATF is OK with, provided that the receivers were demilled to their standards in the first place and the mods preventing any of the auto parts from being installed done before rewelding.

The NRA announced an agreement with New Orleans regarding the gun confiscations:

NRA has negotiated an agreement with New Orleans regarding the firearms seized from lawful firearm owners during and after Hurricane Katrina. The issue is pending before the federal court in the case NRA v. Mayor Ray Nagin. On March 15, 2006, lawyers for both sides informed the court that positive settlement negotiations were occurring.

I want the details. And those details better include no less than some folks going to jail over it. If it’s merely that the city agrees to return the weapons, it’s not good enough. The NRA has them over a barrel and they should act like it.

They also tell folks who had their guns taken how to go about getting them back.

The ChicTrib:

Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. Rod Blagojevich led an anti-violence march Saturday in Englewood, calling on legislators to ban assault-style weapons in Illinois.

One of two children killed this month in the South Side neighborhood was struck in the head by bullet from an AK-47-style rifle converted to fully automatic use.

“It is a very sad comment that we bury another child today,” Daley said, about two hours before 10-year-old Siretha White was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Blagojevich said he would again speak to lawmakers who voted against a bill that would ban ownership of assault-style weapons in Illinois.

“These are the weapons of mass destruction and all you have to do is come to Englewood to understand that,” Blagojevich said.

Uhm, converted AK-47s are already banned in Illinois and the United States. Wow, WMD references? Getting a bit desperate with the rhetoric.

Xavier has a sombering tale of why parents should educate their kids about guns, even paintball guns. Basically, the kid either wasn’t too bright or was ignorant and it cost him. And, of course, the press coverage blames the paintball gun.

David Hardy:

Charity Navigator gives the NRA Foundation four stars. Among other things, the amount of their income devoted to fundraising is 5% and to administration 5%, with the result that nearly 90% is disbursed to programs.

By way of comparison, the NAACP legal fund gets one star — fundraising and admin. costs are 16% and 7%. Brady Center (their legal arm) gets one star–fundraising and admin. are 15% and 6%.

I mentioned before a bill to end TBI checks (and save me $10 each time I buy a gun). Well, that fine news organization Volunteer TV is trying to scare folks over the bill:

Lawmakers in the State House are considering a bill that would get rid of the $10 fee you now pay for a background check when you buy a gun.

But could that move make you less safe?

Volunteer TV’s Stephen McLamb takes looks at both sides of the argument.

The legislation would hand over duties for background checks from the TBI to the FBI. Some say the federal check would leave out many state records and give approval for guns to people who wouldn’t get them currently.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation currently does all gun background checks in the state, in most instances with little wait for customers wanting to buy a gun.

Why would it make you less safe? Because:

Crisp says one of the biggest problems is the fbi’s ability to check state records.

“The databases that the TBI has in regard to orders of protections and restraining orders and things like that it’s my understanding they check a few more databases than what the FBI would be checking,” says Chief Crisp.

Did it occur to anyone that maybe the FBI databases had more info than the state? It’s possible. And remember where the article said:

Volunteer TV’s Stephen McLamb takes looks at both sides of the argument.

Well, I’ve read the article twice and only see one side of the issue.

The latest is up.

Meet S.620. An effort to reauthorize the assault weapons ban. It’s the same as the old one, including AG study provision and the 10 year expiration. Introduced March 14.

Update: Nevermind. Stupid me, didn’t pay attention to the date. Looks like one died in judiciary committee though.

I was going to sit down and do a post on what you need to build a 9mm AR-15 or convert a 5.56 Nato to a 9MM. But Marc beat me to it a while back and I somehow missed it. So, go read how to Build Your Own 9mm AR-15 Lower. He has pictures and everything.

Speaking of 9mms, Marc also notes little difference in FPS between a 9mm AR and a Glock handgun.

I noticed Brutal Hugs feed hadn’t updated in a while. Click on the page and see this:

Well, kids, we’re taking things down a notch. Long story short, a customer complained to my boss about some of the stuff here. We’re still not sure what the specific complaint was, but until everybody calms down, we’re going to chill.

Lesson learned: Don’t use your Brutal Hugs email for work stuff.

We’ll be adding some stuff back over the next few weeks.

Keep smiling,
IS

Bummer.

Via Bitter, comes Parker and Stone’s official statement regarding the pulling of their Scientology episode:

So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!

-Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu.

Heh.

ABCNews has some summaries of various documents from Hussein’s archives that indicate there was a connection with Al Qaeda and OBL. And that Hussein was misleading the UN by hiding parts of the WMD program that he didn’t have.

I’m thinking about turning El Nino into a short barreled rifle (pay the $200 tax, get law enforcement sign off, yada yada). Now, through the magic of photoshop and my first real effort photoshopping an image and not just inserting text, I present what El Nino would look like with a 10.5 inch barrel:

And before I butchered it:

The bill is here. What it does:

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to update certain procedures applicable to commerce in firearms and remove certain Federal restrictions on interstate firearms transactions.

Specifically:

1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT INTERSTATE FIREARMS

2 TRANSACTIONS.

3 (a) FIREARMS DISPOSITIONS.–Section 922(b)(3) of
4 title 18, United States Code, is amended–
5 (1) by striking “rifle or shotgun” and inserting
6 “firearm”; and
7 (2) in subparagraph (A)–
8 (A) by striking “located,” and inserting
9 “located or temporarily located,”; and
10 (B) by striking “both such States” and in-
11 serting “the State in which the transfer is con-
12 ducted and the State of residence of the trans-
13 feree”.
14 (b) DEALER LOCATION.–Section 923(j) of such title
15 is amended–
16 (1) in the first sentence by striking “, and such
17 location is in the State which is specified on the li-
18 cense”;
19 (2) by striking “ `curios or relics’ ”; and
20 (3) by adding at the end the following: “A li-
21 censee may conduct firearms transfers and business
22 in compliance with applicable State and local law
23 with any person not a licensee at any location at
24 which the licensee may conduct business under this
25 chapter.”.

In other words, it replaces shotguns and rifles with firearms, which would mean you could purchase handguns out of state. And firearms dealers, it seems, would be able to ship firearms to individuals instead of just to other FFL holders.

With no buyer, Winchester will shut down this month. Bummer.

Blake says Republican Conservatism is officially dead. Time of death March 16, 2006 at 11:17 a.m.

Update: Offical cause of death: Cranial, rectal inversion.

Been a bad year for the ATF. So far:

A circuit court smacks them down for their ruling on model rockets;

An agent testified under oath that the NFRTR (the NFA weapons database) was corrupt;

Having budget issues due to mismanagement;

Being investigated for breaking he law at Virginia gun shows.

Now, it looks like Congress is trying to reign them in some more. From AR15.com, comes the appropriations bill for the ATF. A few interesting things:

Provided further, That no funds authorized or made available under this or any other Act may be used to deny any application for a license under section 923 of title 18, United States Code, or renewal of such a license due to a lack of business activity, provided that the applicant is otherwise eligible to receive such a license , and is eligible to report business income or to claim an income tax deduction for business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

So, no funding for investigating FFL holders who suffer from a lack of business. And more:

Provided further, That no funds made available by this or any other Act shall be expended to promulgate or implement any rule requiring a physical inventory of any business licensed under section 923 of title 18, United States Code: Provided further, That no funds under this Act may be used to electronically retrieve information gathered pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 923(g)(4) by name or any personal identification code

Seems congress is really reigning them in.

Now, I don’t live in Bob’s district but I would vote for a candidate who says:

when civil order breaks down, guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens aren’t the problem, but they can be part of the solution to restoring order.

The KPD got $2M from a drug dealer through confiscation of assets.