I mentioned before how this site was scrubbed by Google. No big deal really in terms of readership but it has affected my ad revenue. It seems that I am not the only gun blogger scrubbed by them.

I’ve seen a few Google ads for gun stuff lately. I know in the past there was some stink over their anti-gun nonsense. Now, I’ve seen ads for NRA certified instructors, gun safes, and Front Sight (a top notch training center). Anyone know?

Kevin tries to take me to task with the strawman. See, when I express opposition to some random tax (of which there are thousands), I am also required by, err, I dunno what to come up with a way to pay for crap that might otherwise be funded by the taxes I oppose. In other words, I should be glad to be taxed and thankful for our infrastructure. Or damn the taxes and the infrastructure. What Kevin doesn’t seem to grasp is that I oppose taxes only slightly more than I oppose a bunch of crap the .gov wastes money on. So, yes, kill a bunch of it. I could write a list and it would basically include most things that start with Department of, social security and a great many more. But there are things they do that I support. There is a potential for balance but we’re tilted in the wrong direction.

He also states a real boner, that taxes are flat.

I was going to discsuss Dwight Lewis’ simplistic and flawed anti-gun piece in the Tennesseean but Nathan Moore already did.

I’ve discussed The Market and Guns before. Ronnie Barrett sums it up:

…When politicians say “we’ll ban sales of this caliber or that rifle to anyone except the police department and the military” who do they think will be making those items? We don’t have a “U.S. Springfield Armory” anymore – the government shut them all down years ago. If we could only sell to the military, every firearms company in the United States would fail. The industry condition is that fragile….

Head sets us straight on parts counts to stay legal when building an AK.

Looks like the Denial of Service business finally got squared away. Malkin has a summary.

R. Neal got to spend the day at WATE to see how TV news was made. He has a fairly long and detailed post about it.

Sorry for the light blogging but it may continue a while longer. In the meantime, here’s a bunny with two pancakes on it’s head:

In Arizona, a veto of such a bill was almost overridden:

The Republican-led Arizona Senate narrowly voted against overriding Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano’s veto of a bill that would have prohibited the imposition of firearms restrictions during a declared state of emergency.

“This is America. This is not a police state,” said Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City. “This is the governor by her veto trying to take her authority over the Second Amendment.”

Meanwhile, today’s asshat is Oklahoma State Representative Mike Shelton:

During states of emergency, I think police need total control. They don’t need to worry who has guns and who doesn’t. If the governor calls for Oklahomans to relinquish their guns, the public needs to do so

From their cold, dead hands.

Update: Left out an important word at first. Thanks to publicola for the heads up. The bill was not overridden.

Mr. Completely has updates to the scheduled event, including dates and hotel info. Too early for me to commit yet but it sounds fun.

Win a Sig!

You can do cool stuff when you cut your rifle scope open.

In Connecticut, a gun dealer was arrested by the ATF for what are largely clerical errors:

The 22-page affidavit lists numerous, mostly record-keeping, violations. Sullivan charged that D’Andrea on 11 occasions failed to report multiple gun sales to the same person; on 34 occasions failed to get certification of the 90-day state residency requirement before selling guns to aliens; and on 32 occasions failed to insure that all of the questions on a required ATF transaction form were answered before the gun was transferred.

D’Andrea is charged with disposing of firearms without making entries into his record books; making false statements and representation on required forms; failing to conduct required background checks on purchasers; transferring guns to people who failed to certify they were not prohibited from buying guns; failing to report multiple sales to the same person; failing to report the theft or loss of firearms; and receiving or possessing firearms that are not registered.

Keep in mind, this guy was in business for 30 years. There’s also the fact he may have sold a gun to a felon. But, instead of going after that, they’ve thrown a bunch of technical violations in. I find that overreaching.

Update: Jeff says I’m full of crap. Actually, he doesn’t. He says that:

If (that’s IF) the allegations are true, that’s a hell of a lot of violations — remembering that the investigation only started a couple years ago. Sorry, Uncle, but I’m not impressed, either, with the argument that he’s been in business for 30 years. If so, he should bloody-well know better by now what the state and federal laws require of him.

Indeed it is a hell of a lot of violations. And that’s what the ATF seems to focus on. Rather than saying the guy didn’t do background checks and sold guns to felons (which most folks would say is pretty bad), the ATF opted to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the guy. That seems to be standard operating procedure when the real issue should be going after the egregious violations and not the technical violations.

I blogged the run up to this thing but others beat me to covering the issue. I figured it’d be more of the same pie-in-the-sky nonsense that has not worked in the past. Looks like I was right. Bruce says of Boston’s mayor:

No doubt, he’ll be sure the mention the decrease in the nationwide violent crime rate that has happened concurrently with more and more states loosening their restrictions on the rights of law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons for self-defense purposes.

He also notes this ridiculous assertion:

The problem is we don’t have a national policy on guns,” Menino said after the summit ended with a news conference and a signing of the statement of principles.

Has this guy read any gun laws? David Hardy has the text of the presser. He says it’s more of the same. Ayup.

In the presser, Bloomberg says:

The fight against illegal guns is one that reaches beyond our borders and today’s Summit opens the dialogue with leaders across this country who have made safety in their neighborhoods and on their streets a top priority. This is not a question of ideologies or a referendum on the Second Amendment. This is about public safety and making sure that illegal guns never make their way into the hands of criminals and onto our streets. Today, we shared our most innovative strategies for fighting illegal guns and we’ve created a plan to move forward to build the broadest coalition of leaders possible.

The trouble is, of course, that illegal guns in New York is almost all of them. With the exception of a few other localities, that is not the case every where else. Period. And you’re not going to change that.

Denise has a lot more.

Generally, people don’t like the fact they pay taxes and they don’t like the fact that they will die. So, a glorious idea is to combine two of the shittiest things ever into one craptacular package:

This [estate taxes – ed] is a perfect issue for Southern progressives. Half of the super-rich families are based in or have close ties to the South. And Southern populists — a large part of the Southern electorate, who are progressive on economic issues — hate the idea of the super-rich not paying their fair share to make government work. (The fight for the estate tax was actually started by Populists as a response to the excesses of the Robber Barrons.)

Paying their fair share? And somehow when you die you should be forced to make amends for, err, all those years you were in the higher tax brackets. Give me a break. Even more ridiculous is the intro to the bit:

The essence of the American dream is that every child born should have an equal shot at success, and that every person should pay their fair share of taxes, right?

The rich don’t think so — which is why their political minions on the right are pushing to abolish the estate tax, to ensure the Paris Hiltons of the world never have to do honest work or contribute to society.

Actually, no American dream I know of includes paying taxes. And how is that someone else being rich impacts someone else’s fair equal shot at anything? Life is not a zero sum game. The Paris Hilton’s of the world don’t have to work because their predecessors took risks and worked hard. I hope some day that Junior is a spoiled little rich girl, only without the whole dirty movie thing, of course.

If Southern Progressives want issues, they should avoid the ones based on class warfare.

A bit back, I linked to a blog survey. I thought no one would take it but some of you did. The average Uncle reader who would take a survey is a dude, between 31-40 years old, lives alone, makes between $30k and $120K per year, works in computers, is a libertarian, and reads between 11-15 blogs. I’m glad this blog is one of them. You can see the results here.

Finally got the $20 electronic hearing protection to the range. Impressions are that they’re not bad. They are definitely not as good as Pro-Ears but are better than standard hearing protection. They amplify soft sounds so you can hear people talk and make out the sounds of folks in other lanes loading magazines; and the block out loud sounds. In comments to the initial review, reader Fred wrote:

I reordered after your comment and they just arrived.

First impression is negative. I put the batteries in (a bad design in my opinion) and the indicator light turns on. I put it back together and the indicator light won’t turn on. Something seems to be sensitive to the stress when the cup is snapped in. It may be a defect only with this particular set, but . . .

Incidentally, the instructions are wrapped up with the warranty in the bottom of the package. Rather, mine were. They may also have problems with their packaging process.

I don’t know whether I’ll bother to send them back under warranty since I have to pay to ship. I’ll probably just not deal with them again.

Perhaps he got a lemon or I got a top performer. My impression is that they are worth the $20. You get what you pay for so don’t buy these thinking they’re as good as Pro-Ears. They are not. But they are quite adequate and better than regular hearing protection.

AC tells us that Representative Susan Lynn is blogging.

Another review. I didn’t know they came in OD green.

Terry Frank brings to light a sad pitiful comedy bit from local radio veteran Phil Williams on WNOX NewsTalk 100. I missed it but it doesn’t sound funny at all.

Terry explains what happened:

Williams began the show by mocking the details of the shooting incident involving Knoxville City Councilman Steve Hall. Williams relayed details of a mock incident where he had stepped outside to fix some signs or something, and he heard a voice say “Hey, Mister Big Talker.” He then proceeds with his “mock” story that he heard two shots and goes on to say that he’s ok.

Terry recommends people contact Vice-President Ed Brantley by email at ed.brantley@citcomm.com or by calling him at 865.212.4529.

She explains why a call to Mike Hammond may not accomplish much:

Don’t bother contacting Operations Manager Mike Hammond. In addition to serving as Operations Manager for WNOX, he serves on County Commission in Knoxville and has a vested interest in seeing that his friend, political ally, and incumbent County Mayor Mike Ragsdale stays in office.

Has Phil lost the ability to know what is funny? Phil was not in today. There were no apologies from the station on either the Hallerin Hilton Hill radio program this morning or on the Phil Williams show which had guest host Jay Kersting this afternoon.

I have often criticized local newspapers and television media. One of the newspapers I often criticize is the Metro Pulse.

Not today.

In today’s unsigned editorial in the Metro Pulse, “Litigating commissioners threaten the whole Knox government” there is a fascinating analysis of the lawsuit brought forward by the “Hell no we won’t go five”. Hat tip to Betty Bean for the best name for the “It’s all about me five” also know as the, “Let’s play chicken with the Charter five”. Diane Jordan, David Collins, Billy Tindell, Phil Guthe, and John Griess supposedly decided to file a lawsuit to “seek clarification” about the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling on term limits for Knox County Commissioners. They did this supposedly to help the Knox County Election Commission. It’s all about helping.

Both the Knox County Election Commission and the Knoxville News Sentinel have said how much they feel this lawsuit will help bring “clarification” to the matter.

Bullshit.

What it does show is how compromised this town really is and how compromised the local media can be.

The Metro Pulse editorial today delves into what the lawsuit is really about. It is about who else the law states must be term limited. It is about the Sheriff of Knox County. The Charter does not mention the Sheriff and he is exempt along with a few other offices because of the Charter.

Give the Metro Pulse it’s due, there are some strong statements in this editorial:

“The specious lawsuit brought by five term-limited county commissioners seeking to invalidate the Knox County Charter represents an uncharacteristic dereliction of duty on their part.

In a transparent attempt to cling to office, five commissioners have resorted to a claim that would cast doubt on the validity of just about every act of county government since the Charter took effect in 1990. In doing so, they have violated their oath of office, which includes a vow to defend the Charter of Knox County. That violation alone could well be grounds for their removal from office even before their terms expire in August.”

What the editorial does not address is who is behind this “specious” lawsuit and what the end game is? Is this from the desk of Mike Arms or possibly one of the many PR flacks in the Ragsdale camp? Is it an eleventh hour ploy to change the Charter to term limit the Sheriff? That would make Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale very happy because the single greatest impediment to Metro Government in Knox County is Sheriff Tim Hutchison. Mike Ragsdale must have Metro Government in Knox County to run for Governor.

One thing you can say about elections in Knox County. They are not dull. Hat tip to the Metro Pulse for an interesting editorial.

To Michael Silence, who is going to have double-bypass surgery.

Speaking of Death Matches, guess who won:

I got me a KEL-TEC P-3AT. Fugger has the stats on it. I’ll tell you my impressions. This gun is tiny. It is easily smaller than my hand. With the Uncle Mike’s (no relation) pocket holster seen above, it easily fits into front or rear pants pockets with no printing. It’s polymer and seems quite durable. It’s also a breeze to take apart.

At the blogger shoot, I shot it for the first time. The gun is so small that I don’t see how it’s possible to effectively shoot it one handed. So, I didn’t try. I put three magazines worth of 102g Remington Golden Sabers through it with no problem. When I switched to the cheap plinking ammo after I was satisfied it would handle my carry load, I had one failure to feed on the second magazine and one failure to feed on the fourth magazine. After that, no problems at all. I put 50 rounds of plinking ammo through it with those two problems. I’d say it was a matter of breaking it in. After those two FTFs, it was perfectly reliable.

This gun is not pleasant to shoot. It’s a small, light pistol and that makes it bounce around quite a bit. After shooting, my index finger was a bit sore. I bought a Hogue slip-on rubber grip and put it on to absorb recoil next time I shoot. If you buy the smallest size Hogue, you still have to cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom of it to get it to fit without covering the magazine. But this isn’t a gun you get because it’s pleasant to shoot. It’s a gun you get to conceal easily.

Accuracy was about what I expected out of this tiny pistol. Best group was about 3 inches at seven yards (with the Golden Sabers) and average groups were about six inches. This pistol isn’t made to for minute of angle, it’s made for minute of ass hole. So, I can’t complain.

If you want a pleasant to shoot, accurate gun, this is not it. However, if you want a reliable pistol that’s about as big as a pack of cigarettes (and much thinner) that you can stick in your pocket, this is your gun.

Update: A couple more things:

Unfortunately, the weapon only comes with one magazine and additional magazines are $20. If they’d up the price and ship them with two, no one would complain.

Also, the trigger pull on it, while consistent, is not crisp and it’s also not a true double action. It requires cocking, similar to various striker fired handguns.

The Geek has a little comparison of the two weapons. Looks like someone stole my Death Match format.

Over at Knoxviews, rikki has some choice words for the Tennessee Supreme Court regarding their recent term limits:

Somebody needs to make sure these Justices understand what a mess they’ve made. State law forbids amending a ballot within 40 days of an election. The Supreme Court did just that, in effect. How do you sue the State Supreme Court for violating state election law?

Are arbitrary dates and deadlines and procedural niceties really more important than the right of every Knox Co citizen to participate in a coherent election in which their vote actually counts for something? The courts keep saying yes. I disrespectfully disagree. Contemptuously, even.

My thoughts about the ruling are that, sure, it’s a pain in the ass, it’s inconvenient and a lot of folks won’t be too happy. But the law is the law and it should be followed. Period. Arbitrary dates and deadlines and procedural niceties may not be that important in the giant scheme of things but they are the law of the land and no amount of belly-aching for the candidates of choice will change that. Thems the breaks. After all, if we disregard those things, we may as well not have them. The court could have offered some guidance or withheld the decision until after elections but that wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting.

And I’m fully aware of the irony that this is coming from me, your local libertarianish sort.

Reader Carl forwards this from the Tennessee Firearms Association:

Gun ranges in Tennessee seem to be under attack by local zoning officials. These local zoning officials are often motivated by public pressure. Usually, that means that the gun range is in trouble unless the gun owners of this state and range members ban together to fight local government. This is one of the main reasons that the State of Tennessee passed a stronger range protection act in 2004.

Most recently, a sporting clays range in Bradley County, Tennessee, (Flint Springs) has been under attack. Papers filed in Chancery Court in Bradley County, Tennessee, reflect that the range is situated on a 175 acre farm in the rural part of the county. In 2003, the Bradley County Planning Commission issued a permit authorizing the use of the land as a shotgun only shooting range. No restrictions were placed on the number of members that the club could have nor on the days or hours of shooting.

On February 2006, according to court filings, the Bradley County Planning Commission voted to revoke the 2003 permit. The court pleadings reflect that non-shooters had been complaining about the noise and that those complaints garnered more attention by the county when the number of members in the club increased over time. Those complaints appear to have influenced the county to “reconsider” the permit and then to revoke it allegedly on grounds of misrepresentation.

In March 2006, the County filed with the court a petition seeking an injunction to close down the range. At a hearing in the matter occurring on April 21, 2006 and again on April 25, 2006, the Court denied the county’s efforts to close the range. Instead, the Court issued an order prohibiting the county from closing the range based upon the county’s revocation of the use permit until all administrative and court proceedings were concluded.

This is going to be an potentially expensive fight for the Flint Springs Sporting Clays club. If you are interested in helping in this fight, financially or otherwise – individually or as a club, please feel free to contact Flint Springs Sporting Clays, LLC through the clubs website.

http://www.flintspringsclays.com/contact.htm

Who knows when your club will be the next one in the sights of a local government?

Not blogged about it because it infuriates me. But apparently some Campbell County deputies tortured some drug dealer and it was caught on tape. I haven’t listened to it as I can’t really stand to hear that crap. I perused the transcripts and it’s quite hideous. Blogs covering the issue are AC, gunner, Blake, and Brittney.

The powers that be like juries stupid. How else would you explain that time the jury wasn’t told that someone charged with growing weed was doing it for medical purposes under state law? Now:

Jurors in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui asked for but were denied a dictionary Tuesday for use during their deliberations on whether the Sept. 11 conspirator should receive a death sentence or life in prison.

Before their lunch break, the jurors — and Moussaoui — filed into the courtroom to hear the response of Judge Leonie Brinkema to the request to have a dictionary in the jury room.

Brinkema told them that sending a dictionary in would be like adding additional evidence in the case, but she invited them to come back if they had questions about specific definitions. And she warned them against doing their own research, including looking up definitions.

Why is that? Seems you’d want a jury to be as informed as possible. Knowledge is power, and all.

Don’t get me wrong, Moussaoui is a sack of turds and I personally wouldn’t be heart-broken if someone beat him about the head and neck area with a Ball-peen hammer until he stopped fidgeting. Heck, I’d even do it. But let the jury do its job.

I had a client once that made processed the zinc to make pennies. They knew what they made but told me they thought the .gov broke even making them. Now, it turns out, pennies cost more to make than they are worth:

. . . the metals used in a penny cost about 0.8 cents, and it costs another 0.6 cents to make the penny.