Mike writes In Praise Of The Single Six Revolver.

Heh:

After Nashville motorist T. Allen Morgan got a speeding ticket in Coopertown — a town known for its heavy-handed traffic enforcement — he tried to pay his ticket like a good citizen.

But he added a little note on his check which angered Mayor Danny Crosby. The mayor refused to accept the check, sparking the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to launch an investigation Monday.

Crosby told Morgan that he had to either write another check that didn’t have the words “for speed trap” written in bold letters or face the charges in traffic court.

At the request of District Attorney General John Carney, the TBI is investigating if Crosby acted illegally by denying Morgan’s payment, TBI spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said.

“As mayor of this city, if I accept that check from that gentleman, I’m admitting we run a speed trap, and that’s a bald-faced lie,” Crosby said Tuesday.

Aunt B. thinks she has mutant foxes over in Nashville way. Or coyotes. West and North Knoxville have been experiencing problems with coyotes recently. In fact, one night a friend’s two dogs (one very small and one medium sized) got out of the fence and went wandering. The little dog didn’t come back and the medium dog returned and for a few weeks kinda twitched funny. Another friend heard a few yipping on his property and both barrels of his 12 gauge scared them off.

They seem to be coming around more often and have lost their fear of people. That’s probably because people aren’t inclined to shoot them on sight any more. To keep them away, any large dog would work. ‘Yotes are opportunists and not suicidal. Any dog that weighs considerably more than them (such as an 80lb Labrador) will probably dissuade them from hanging out too much. And, of course, a good varmint gun would take care of them too.

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

It’s that time of year where the Brady Bunch releases their state rankings on state by state gun laws. Good news:

From 2004 to 2005, only four states changed their “grade” – and three of those grade changes were demotions. And most state legislatures are currently considering firearm related legislation – but the majority of legislation are bills pushed by the gun lobby that threaten to increase firearm violence rather than decrease it.

Heh. And details on why:

The states that saw a grading change include Florida, which went from a “D” to an “F+” as the first state in America to pass a “Shoot First” law, sanctioning the shooting of innocent bystanders in the name of self-defense; Alaska, which went from “D-“ to “F+” for passing a law mandating that private businesses allow guns on workplace property; Kansas, which stripped local governments of the right to regulate firearms and droped from a “C+” to “C-“; and Illinois, which took positive steps to strengthen background checks at gun shows and required child safety locks be sold with new handguns and moved from a “B+” to an “A-.”

The Herald and Review:

Let’s be clear about our position. If there was evidence that an assault weapons ban would decrease crime, lower the murder rate or make any other positive contribution, it would be difficult to oppose.

But that evidence doesn’t exist. In the 18 months since the federal ban expired, national crime rates have not increased. When the ban was in existence, it did nothing to deter criminals from acquiring the most fearsome weapons.

Actually, it’d be very easy to oppose if it lowered the muder rate. You know, that pesky second amendment and all. Still, good for the paper for noting there was no impact on crime.

Continuing the theme of all talk, no action comes news that New Mexico’s Governor vetoed an anti-eminent domain bill:

Governor Richardson has vetoed eminent domain legislation.

The measure was intended to prevent state and local governments from using their powers to take property for private development projects.

Richardson said yesterday a number of community officials opposed the measure.

He says the legislation would bring New Mexicans more harm than good.

Well, unless they own property.

HL is building a 9mm AR too. We need pics.

I concur with his assessment. ADCO Firearms are awesome to deal with. I ordered a magazine block from them and got it three days later with no problems or follow up calls as I usually have to do with gun related vendors.

The first lawsuit to be dismissed due to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act occured in LA:

PROTECTION OF LAWFUL COMMERCE IN ARMS ACT FORCES DISMISSAL OF JUNK LAWSUIT AGAINST GLOCK, RSR . . . Today, in a 58-page decision, Los Angeles-based federal district court Judge Audrey B. Collins became the first judge in the nation to dismiss a junk lawsuit based on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, signed into law by President Bush in October. The judge dismissed a public-nuisance lawsuit filed against Glock and the distributor RSR brought by victims and family members of the now infamous “Jewish Daycare Center” shooting in Los Angeles in 1999 by Buford Furrow, a crazed homicidal maniac. Furrow illegally obtained and criminally misused a Glock pistol originally sold by Glock to a Washington state police department. RSR never owned, sold or possessed the firearm. “It is fitting that this case was the first ever dismissed based on the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act because the facts made this case the poster child for passage of common sense legal reform,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel.

I’ve never really supported the law but this looks like a decent result from it.

A child was tragically killed by a stray bullet. And the anti-gunners are dancing in the blood of the poor girl:

A visitation was held Tuesday for a Chicago teenager killed by a stray bullet. Starkesia Reed, who was an honor role student, was hit by gunfire while standing near the window of her family’s home in the city’s Englewood neighborhood last Friday morning. The 14-year-old’s killers have not been caught.
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This shooting not only devastated Reed’s family, but it terrorized the entire block. Seven other homes were hit by stray bullets in the 6700-block of South Honore. The shots were fired from an assault weapon. Community activists are calling for a renewed ban on assault weapons.

How do we know that? If the shooters haven’t been caught, there’s really know way to know what kind of gun it was. It could have been an illegal machine gun. More:

Members of the group Cease Fire marched down Reed’s block Tuesday calling on neighbors to become more involved and the city to provide more funding for a program they say is working.

“That was a 45-percent reduction in shootings. We know the program works, and it needs to be funded by the state, the city and the counties so we can get the right resources in these communities,” said Rev. Robin Hood, Cease Fire.

Which program was working? It is implied that the program is the assault weapons ban, which we know has been shown to have had zero effect on crime and homicide.

An anti-eminent domain bill was overwhelmingly defeated in Missouri:

The House overwhelmingly rejected an amendment that would have banned the use of eminent domain for taxpayer-funded developments by private developers.

By a vote of 129-26, the House rejected the amendment, which had been offered to a broader bill imposing restrictions on a program that provides tax breaks for private developers, called tax increment financing.

Such a bill may be useful in defeating land grabs like this one:

Lawsuits were filed Tuesday aimed at stopping an affluent suburban village from using the legal concept of eminent domain to take over a privately owned golf course.

“This proposed condemnation may be the most extreme abuse of eminent domain in the country,” said John Wilson, a Deepdale Golf Club member named as a plaintiff.

The village’s mayor said the federal and state lawsuit were a “pre-emptive strike” and no decision has been made on whether to proceed with a takeover of Deepdale, considered one of the finest golf courses in the country.

[snip]

But in North Hills _ a 2.8 square mile community of 1,800 residents on Long Island’s “gold coast,” where housing prices begin in the millions _ members of the Deepdale Club are rallying to save their 175-acre facility from being taken by village officials.

The federal suit questions the village’s right to seize the property through eminent domain; the state case challenges the village’s alleged abuse of zoning law to cut secret deals with private developers.

I tend to doubt a golf course where houses sell in the millions could be considered blighted under any reasonable measure.

If you want a 10 round AK magazine for bench shooting, no need to go buy one. Just turn one of your inexpensive 30 rounders into one.

Billll in the comments section here:

When dildos are legislated into oblivion, only legislators will be called dildos.

Laurie Kellman:

Suffer from springtime allergies? You could be among the first affected by the USA Patriot Act poised for final congressional passage this week.

Besides terrorism, the bill takes aim at the production of methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that cannot be manufactured without a key ingredient of everyday cold and allergy medicines. The bill would impose new limits next month for how much relief a person can buy over the counter.

And beginning Sept. 30, it’ll take a flash of ID to buy that medication.

But I thought the Patriot Act was for terrorism? I was assured it wasn’t just a law enforcement wish list. More:

Beginning 30 days after President Bush signs the law, expected sometime this week, purchase limits go into effect. One person would be limited to buying 300, 30-mg pills in a month or 120 such pills in a day. The measure would make an exception for “single-use” sales – individually packaged pseudoephedrine products.

Yup, they’re going to ban high-capacity pill bottles.

Go find out. Me, 49/50. Stupid rulers of Egypt.

Apologies for the rambling nature. No real point here other than to kick out some random thoughts.

I’ve been pondering the possibility of the end of life or civilization as we know it. Not from a conspiracy theory or religious perspective but from events I find likely or at least possible. Such as:

Natural disaster – Ice age, major seismic shifts, global warming, etc.

Interstellar event – Meteor hits us, black hole opens up next door, the universe decides to unbang itself.

Unnatural (i.e., man-made) disaster – Nuclear war and subsequent winter, splitting some subatomic particle we shouldn’t be splitting, some group of scientists decide to splice tyrannosaurus rex DNA with a koala which creates the koalasaurus rex who breeds fast, swarms the land, and likes to dine on tasty humans.

Socioeconomic – Some sort of food shortage, running out of oil (say, are we after the peak oil curve now?), some political wing in power decides to engage in brutal suppression of the earth’s population, massive and coordinated civil uprising.

The first three, I’m not worried about so much because there isn’t a heck of a lot I could do about them. They’d just happen and we’d have to deal with it (or not because we won’t be around). And they could pretty much happen at any time with or without warning. Kinda random like that. Well, except maybe some of the man-made incidents which I would hope we’d have some restraint in.

The Socioeconomic possibilities are where I struggle with a general lack of faith in people. These are items that the human race could likely anticipate and work to prevent or deal with after it happens (work on fuel alternatives, kick up food production, etc.). But would people, on a large scale, do that? I tend to doubt it. Look at the looting and general mayhem where people just went and got theirs in the aftermath of Katrina or the LA riots. Also, the socioeconomic possibilities seem the most likely to me in the short term.

Seen at Liberty1st:

This bill would require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name and address with the operator or provider prior to posting messages on a public forum website.

The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

Yeah, right.

Via David, we learn of a new twist in civil suits:

A mechanic wounded by a gunshot should pay the man who shot him at least $250,000.

That was the verdict Thursday of a Sedgwick County jury, following legal battles that have paraded through both the criminal and civil district courts.

The lawsuit ended nearly 18 months after a jury in a criminal trial found that Dan Herpolsheimer of Mulvane shot Keith McGinley in self-defense.

McGinley sued Herpolsheimer, who responded with a counterclaim for battery and trespassing.

Now, McGinley stands to lose another $500,000, because Thursday’s verdict allows Herpolsheimer to seek punitive damages, which can equal up to three times a jury award.

See, one man shot another in self-defense. The guy who was shot sued. He lost. The guy acting in self-defense counter-sued and won. Good.

Bombs going into Iraq may be coming from Iran. Now looky here, Iran. We’re already close and you may way want to knock that crap off. It’s clear our relationship with you is strained and you don’t much care for us. You may want to reconsider this course of action because, sure we’re busy in other parts of the region, but you’re right next door. Just sayin’.

Update: Or maybe not:

Here’s what seems to have really happened: having tried this half-assed story in the UK and had it fall flat, the Pentagon waited a few months then gave it to Ross as a briefing from the usual “anonymous sources” and Ross duly regurgitated it whole without doing a single fact-check or further research.

I can buy that there’s no hard evidence that the Iranian government was involved but I don’t think I’d rule that possibility out.

Ben asks:

What constitutes the offense where you would not rely on the authorities?

As a general rule, I don’t think I’d rely on the police for much. That doesn’t mean I would not call them either prior to or after handling something on my own but rather responsibility for dealing with such things are something I am prepared to do. For example, in the event of a home invasion, I’d have the Mrs. call while I investigated or I’d call after it was over merely so they could provide backup and recommend a good cleaning service.

I’m certain that what Ben means to ask is something to the effect of At what point do you take the law into your own hands. I’d like to think that I would always act lawfully in the event someone caused intentional harm to my loved ones. And I likely would. However, if that was exhausted and the result was not satisfactory, I’m not sure I’d let it slide.

It’s quite catchy. Marc has a range report with his.

Ok, title was too long because I wasn’t sure if the plural of dildo is spelled dildos or dildoes.

Via Knoxviews, comes this bit by our favorite hack, egalia:

Apparently, lawmakers in this impoverished red state can’t find enough serious problems to address, so they’ve turned their minds to sex, specifically sex toys.

Yes, some idiots are trying to ban dildo(e)s, vibrators, and presumably pocket pussies.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. I concur with egalia that this is ridiculous. Like Tennessee’s war on porn, it’s just a bunch of legislators with nothing better to do prying into the lives of people for no reason other than, well frankly I don’t know. Do they have something better they could be doing? Kinda stupid and unnecessary.

However, noon has passed so egalia once again draws on the powers of the almighty political hack. Notice her little graphic with the elephant and the reference to Bush? And the title of the post is Lawmakers (R) Seek to Outlaw Dildos. Kinda funny since the bill was put up by Charlotte Burks, who happens to have a D after her name. Now, I know egalia’s aware of that because she mentions it. But I suppose this notion that evil has a name and it must be Republican is so firmly ingrained into her tiny little noggin that it must be the inescapable conclusion that the Democratic party is over-run with Republicans. Can’t let the facts get in the way of some good hackery.

Anyway, here’s hoping this ridiculous mindset where people are mad that someone, somewhere may be enjoying themselves stops. There’s stupidity on both sides of the aisle so call them on it.

Update: According to MS Word, it’s dildos but I imagine the plural form doesn’t come up much in conversation, much less written word. And War on Dildos is catchy.

Update 2: I guess the devices designed to stimulate the, err, stink chute are OK? You know, the gay ones?

Or bad taste:

Rachel Corrie Pancake Breakfast

The AP:

Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation Monday banning nearly all abortions in South Dakota, setting up a court fight aimed at challenging the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

The bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman’s life. It would make no exception for cases of rape or incest.

I think abortion is a disgusting, hideous and deplorable practice. But the only way to make it worse is to criminalize it. But the law isn’t really a law:

Rounds issued a written statement saying he expects the law will be tied up in court for years and will not take effect unless the U.S. Supreme Court upholds it.

So, can you really pass laws pending approval? Or is this merely a ploy to challenge Roe?

Doug Thompson:

In recent weeks, the FBI has issued hundreds of “National Security Letters,” directing employers, banks, credit card companies, libraries and other entities to turn over records on reporters. Under the USA Patriot Act, those who must turn over the records are also prohibited from revealing they have done so to the subject of the federal probes.

[snip]

Just how widespread, and uncontrolled, this latest government assault has become hit close to home last week when one of the FBI’s National Security Letters arrived at the company that hosts the servers for this web site, Capitol Hill Blue.

The letter demanded traffic data, payment records and other information about the web site along with information on me, the publisher.

Now that’s a problem. I own the company that hosts Capitol Hill Blue. So, in effect, the feds want me to turn over information on myself and not tell myself that I’m doing it. You’d think they’d know better.

Sure, there may be legitimate security concerns but there’s no way to view this as anything other than harassment. More frightening is that this would never have been found out had the author not owned the hosting company.

Via Michael.

The AP:

Treasury Secretary John Snow notified Congress on Monday that the administration has now taken “all prudent and legal actions,” including tapping certain government retirement funds, to keep from hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit.

In a letter to Congress, Snow urged lawmakers to pass a new debt ceiling immediately to avoid the nation’s first-ever default on its obligations.

“I know that you share the president’s and my commitment to maintaining the full faith and credit of the U.S. government,” Snow said in his letter to leaders in the House and Senate.

Treasury officials, briefing congressional aides last week, said that the government will run out of maneuvering room to keep from exceeding the current limit sometime during the week of March 20.

Or, you know, cut spending. Party of smaller government, my ass.

Well, which is it? Per dictionary.com, it’s either résumé or resumé. Per my spell checker, it’s résumé. Yet when put the little squiggly marks above the e (i.e., é), email programs tend to garble it into unrecognizable characters and I’m not certain an HR director somewhere would have any idea that I was trying to use proper spelling and may think I’m an idiot. Thoughts?

I’ve been sticking with resume to avoid technical mishaps.

Looks like Armalite is getting into the handgun business.

Brutal hugs

Food Court Team Six

Feces flinging monkey

Lets be Blount

Meanderthal

The Trigger

TN Political

Unspecified Chatter

Backroad Blog

Anyone home?

Friday, I was home alone with Junior. Went out to give the dog food and water. As I was gathering the bowls I hear click. Junior had locked me out of the house. I pleaded with her to unlock the door. She just laughed, sat in the floor and took her pants off (yes, she’s still doing that). Fortunately, we have a keypad on the garage that opens the garage door so all I had to do was walk around the house to get in. In the event I hadn’t had said keypad, not sure what I would have done. Call the police? A locksmith? Tell them my 20 month old locked me out of the house?

Still, I found the whole situation hysterically funny. And she did it to me again on Saturday.

She’d been playing with the locks on bedroom doors. Never a big deal because we have those pointy push pins that open up our interior door locks. However, it never occurred to me she’d lock me out of the house. So, for all you parents out there, don’t walk out of the house unless you’re guaranteed access back in. That could have been bad.