The Ninja in yesterdays story tells why he was taken down by the ATF

“One of the guys yelled I had a gun, tackled me and asked where my gun was,” Ransom said.

After telling agents he only had his keys, wallet and cell phone on him, Ransom said the agent pinning him to the ground responded that, being trained officers, they would not mistake any of those items for a gun.

Trained officers?!?! Like Mr “I’m the only one professional enough”?

They were right that he had a gun

This is my rifle
this is my gun,
this is for fighting
and this is for fun!

Just maybe the agent had “gun envy”.

In an update to this, looks like Comedy Central did censor Mohammed.

Presented without comment, the AP:

A Marine reservist returning home after eight months in Iraq was told he couldn’t board a plane to Minneapolis because his name appeared on a watch list as a possible terrorist.

But I loves the similes too

Bruce called me out in comments:

I’m afraid I have to issue you a HARP citation (Humorous Analogy Repetition Penalty). Only 16 days separate this post from your most recent use of the the “cock-flavored lollipop” analogy. As good as it may be – the analogy, that it is, not the confection – Blogging Etiquette guideline #241.5/e calls for a full 30-day cool-down period between such posts.

Well, when you get up to over 8,000 posts, you’re bound to repeat yourself. Plus, there are plenty of similes, analogies and other lame sayings that I like to use. Such as (and, no, they’re not all similes):

Like a monkey fucking a football – something odd looking or a task performed with great ineptitude

Dumber than a soup sandwich – self explanatory

You can’t polish a turd – to describe putting positive spin on bad news

Bonus: From the Bloodhound Gang and hard to use in conversation: Like a Kenny Loggins’ record no one’s ever gonna to hear you and Like the Jim Jones Cult, I’ll take you out with a punch.

So, what are your favorites?

Chris has a long post about Glocks and Safety. Money quote:

A Glock with a properly set up trigger WILL NOT FIRE ACCIDENTALLY; only negligently.

Indeed.

Ah, Massachusetts:

Attorney General Tom Reilly has learned that gun dealers recently began selling Glock handguns to Massachusetts consumers, after the company represented that the handguns were in compliance with the Attorney General’s Handgun Sales Regulations.

AG Reilly’s Office has notified Glock, Inc. that the “extractor indicator” device which the company recently added to its handguns is not an effective load indicator and, therefore, does not comply with the handgun regulations. The AG’s Office reached this determination after consulting with firearms experts. In response, Glock has recalled all handguns shipped to dealers and distributors in the Commonwealth and ceased in-state sales.

Or you could just encourage people to treat all guns like they’re loaded.

As always, the handgun regulations do not pertain to firearms used by law enforcement or military personnel as part of their official duties.

But I thought it was for safety and we don’t want cops and military folks to have unsafe weapons. Like you and me, only better.

The Attorney General’s Handgun Sales Regulations fall under the state’s consumer protection law and protect consumers and their families from unsafe handguns. The regulations require all handguns sold in Massachusetts to include certain safety and child-proofing measures and safety warnings.

Err, no. It’s about gun control not gun safety. Why would you exclude police from such safety measures were it for, you know, safety? If it were about safety, you’d educate folks on firearms safety.

The Attorney General’s handgun regulations are intended to protect responsible gun owners and their families from firearms that are unsafe by design or manufacture. AG Reilly recognizes that there are many people in the Commonwealth who legitimately own firearms for hunting and sporting, and that those individuals use them in a responsible manner.

Glocks are not unsafe by design or manufacture and to intimate otherwise is a lie.

I caught tonight’s South Park episode. A note in the show said Comedy Central refused to air the image of Muhammad. However, they (Comedy Central) had no problem showing Jesus taking a dump on people and wallowing in feces, which I’m sure South Park’s creators knew they would. Now, we’ll see if CC caves to Christian groups who are certain to complain. And, for reference, in the episode Super Best Friends, an image of Muhammad was shown. See:

Now, it could have been a joke and Comedy Central didn’t actually refuse but I doubt it. Barring that, they’re pussies.

Update: And I like how they made fun about the lack of jokes and being all preachy.

A bit back, some readers gave me some grief over the fact I said I didn’t advocate the ATF being completely disbanded. Scaled back and scrutinized definitely but not disbanded. If we’re going to have gun laws (and we are), someone needs to enforce them. One such reason why they’re useful is I’m certain they had a hand in this:

Authorities have taken four men into custody in Honolulu because federal agents said the men were trying to smuggle a shipment of weapons through Honolulu International Airport to Indonesia.

Honolulu was the center of an international arms deal worth more than $3 million, according to agents with the Homeland Security Department and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

The deal was stopped with the help of the American company that was supposed to supply the equipment.

The company I assume was H&K since the list of goodies is their stuff:

882 Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine guns (pictured)
800 Heckler and Koch 9mm handguns
16 Heckler and Koch sniper rifles

The guys claim they were buying them on behalf of the Indonesian government. Maybe they were. We’ll see.

Update: But they still do stuff like this:

ATF agents are always on alert for anything suspicious — including ninjas.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents, on campus Tuesday for Project Safe Neighborhoods training, detained a “suspicious individual” near the Georgia Center, University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said.
…….
After being held in investigative detention, he was found to have violated no criminal laws and was not arrested.

“It was surreal,” Ransom said. “I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling when I heard someone yell ‘freeze.’”

Ransom said he thought a friend was playing a joke before he realized officers had guns drawn and pointed at him.

ATF agents had noticed Ransom’s suspicious behavior and clothing and gave chase, apprehending him, Williamson said.

The kid was heading to a pirate vs. ninja event on campus. And, no, I don’t know what that is.

Seen at Carnaby’s:

Section 5845(f), Title 26, United States Code, regulates certain weapons as “destructive devices” which are subject to the registration and tax provisions of the National Firearms Act (NFA). Section 5845(f)(2) includes within the definition of “destructive device” any type of weapon which will or may be readily converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel of which has a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter. However, section 5845(f)(3) excludes from the definition of “destructive device” any device which is neither designed or redesigned for use as a weapon and any device, although originally designed for use as a weapon, which is redesigned for use as a signaling, pyrotechnic, line throwing, safety, or similar device. The definition of “destructive device” in the Gun Control Act (GCA), 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44, is identical to that in the NFA.

ATF has previously examined “potato guns” or “spud guns” as described above and has generally determined that such devices using potatoes as projectiles and used solely for recreational purposes are not weapons and do not meet the definition of “firearm” or “destructive device” in either the NFA or GCA. However, ATF has classified such devices as “firearms” and “destructive devices” if their design, construction, ammunition, actual use, or intended use indicate that they are weapons. For example, ATF has classified such devices as “firearms” and “destructive devices” if they are designed and used to expel flaming tennis balls.

So, it’s classified based on which particular projectile it’s intended to be loaded with. Seems sort of, err, random since the actual gun is the same in either case, rather like a squirt gun can also be a flame thrower. By the way, check out Spud Tech for all your potato gun needs.

I have finalized plans for the Blogger Shoot, which, contrary to what some think, does not involve shooting at bloggers. Everyone is invited and here are the details:

Who: Invitation is open to all. Bloggers, readers, lurkers, reporters, gun nuts, hoplophobes, or anybody else.

What: Spring Time Blogger Shoot. We will have the entire indoor range to ourselves.

When: Sunday, April 23, 2006. Arrive at about 4:45p.m(ish) and we will begin shooting at 5:00 and last at least until 6:00

Where: Coal Creek Armory, you can find a map and directions here

What you need to know: The four rules of firearms safety:

1. All guns are always loaded

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy

3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire

4. Be sure of your target and what’s behind it

What you need to bring: $10 for range time is all that is required. However, some additional recommendations are:

Glasses, if you wear them

A hat with a bill (such as a baseball cap). This will prevent any warm brass from bouncing off your forehead

Comfortable shoes and clothing

Additional money, in case you need more targets, ammunition, or have the urge to buy something

If you wish to bring your own weapon, that’s great. But it is not required. There will be plenty there for you to shoot. If you do bring your own, pistol calibers only

An open mind: Listen to what the Coal Creek staff have to say and follow their instructions. It’s for safety’s sake.

Future event: There is planning underway for a second outdoor shoot later in the spring to give folks a try at various non-pistol calibers.

Thanks to the folks at Coal Creek for giving us the space.

If you plan on attending, leave a comment or shoot me an email so we can get a decent count.

I’ll post this announcement again in the future.

Via Brittney who apparently bought this bullshit, S-townMike writes:

I’ve been waiting to see if the conserva-tive bloggers would start promoting shooting local looters on the heels of last week’s tornadoes as they did in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last year, but the silence on the right with regard to “shoot first and let God sort ’em out” has been deafening in this case. Last year we could not get them to shut up their calls for mowing kids down over a pair of Nikes. But now the logic does not seem to be applicable when looters are stealing chunks of houses. But wouldn’t shooting looters rather than arresting them send a much more powerful message to other potential looters (many of whom were no doubt snarling the traffic southward down Gallatin Road all the way to Briley Parkway this past weekend)? So, what’s with the silence? I won’t say that the difference in conservative outcry has anything to do with the difference in the race of the looters we are seeing on television from those we saw in New Orleans, but the rightwing seems a lot less frenzied at these white-boy looters.

It’s a veritable cornucopia of logical leaps and fallacies. See, we gun-toting right-wingers were out there advocating shooting children over sneakers. And, of course, it’s all because those kids were black. Mind you, Mikey here doesn’t link to any blogger advocating shooting little black boys over shoes and that’s likely because he couldn’t find any respectable blogger who did that. No one I know of advocated for that but rather advocated that the residents of NO defend their own lives and livelihood since civil order completely broke down, not random shooting of looters. Also, he can’t even link a news source about the local looting but posts some screen cap that references one person arrested for burglary instead. I have never heard of any post-tornado looting and the only incident I know of is the one from the screen capture Mikey-poo posted. I conclude that there was probably an isolated event or two and not widespread taking of property and that there weren’t roving bands of armed gangs that warranted defending yourself from. And, of course, in Tennessee it doesn’t exactly look like the law enforcement community broke down the way it did in New Orleans.

And, of course, there is the utter ridiculousness that silence on the issue is an endorsement of a particular position. Had such looting been as widespread, had civil order broken down, and had the incidents been reported widely in the press, you would have seen folks comment on this issue. And they, like me, would have said that folks need to defend themselves from looters. But the fact is, there is no issue here and he made it up to score cheap political points. His non-analysis of a non-event is about as useful as a cock-flavored lollipop.

So, Mikey-poo, let’s see some respectable bloggers advocating killing them all and letting God sort them out. Or a respectable blogger advocating killing kids over Nikes. Otherwise, you’re a liar. And all this from a guy who claims to have a Ph.D. in ethics. Obviously, it’s the study of and not the application.

Zendo Deb looks at an unflattering press piece about the Pink Pistols, complete with lame references to shooting straight.

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

Pete has a long post on the drug war.

WATE:

Tennessee revenue collections in March were $33 million more than the budgeted estimate.
Franchise and excise tax collections, along with sales tax collections, accounted for most of the increase.

Franchise and excise tax collections were almost $21 million more than estimated, while sales tax collections were $11 million higher than estimates.

Overall, the state collected $746.6 million through March.

Finance officials are projecting the fiscal year will end up with a surplus exceeding $177 million.

Remember this when the income tax starts rearing its head again. It’s not a revenue problem.

The folks at Subguns.com are posting pics from the Knob Creek Shoot. Just keep scrolling.

Glenn and Helen interview Harold Ford, Jr.

Via GunLawNews, comes a bit by The Outdoor Wire (scroll down a bit) on an act to modernize and reform ATF. Some highlights:

H.R. 5092 revises the current enforcement system , including expanding the currently limited options for administrative penalties applied to licensed dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms. Todatm for most violations, BATFE has only two options: issue FFL holders a warning, or revoke the license. 5092’s “modernization” would allow a series of clearly-stated fines and/or license suspensions for less serious violations; limiting license revocation to serious criminal violations that could potentially block criminal investigations or put guns in the hands of criminals.

Equally significant is 5092’s apparent intention to clarify the standard for violations. The proposed legislation allowing penalties for “intentional, purposeful violations of the law” but not for simple paperwork mistakes. The bill also improves the due process under which BATFE imposes these penalties; allowing for appeal of BATFE penalties to a neutral administrative law judge – rather than to an employee of BATFE itself. A frequent criticism from observers is that BATFE is incapable – or unwilling – to hear appeals in an unbiased manner.

In 1986, Congress passed the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, believing these problems were corrected with that passage. Instead, the government has ignored the FOPA, even arguing in court the changes were “without practical significance.”

…

H.R. 5092 also speaks to one of the continual criticisms of the BATFE by gunsmiths: the Bureau spends too-much time and effort investigating gunsmiths instead of investigating “real” criminals.

H.R. 5092 would focus BATFE’s enforcement efforts on violations of firearms, explosives, arson, alcohol and tobacco laws, rather than non-jurisdictional areas.

Simply put it would clarify BATFE’s purpose by directing efforts toward criminals, removing the firearms industry from what they now characterize as their status “low-hanging fruit” for ATF enforcement efforts.

Another baby step.

As Nate said in comments, with the exception of a few target pistols, I don’t know of any modern pistol designed, made or intended to be fired with one hand. Most folks use a two-handed shooting stance. Are all handguns now AOWs? Seems they could be with the looseness of this ruling.

Remember the DEA Agent who claimed he was the only one professional enough to handle a weapon right before he shot himself in the leg while talking to a class of kids? Well, here’s the detail. Well, the Smoking Gun notes that:

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent who stars in a popular online video that shows him shooting himself in the foot during a weapons demonstration for Florida children is suing over the tape’s release, claiming that his career has been crippled and he’s become a laughingstock due to the embarrassing clip’s distribution. Lee Paige, 45, blames the video’s release on DEA officials in an April 7 federal lawsuit filed against the U.S. government.

Pesky berry ninjas

R. Neal brings to our attention the police reaction to Floridians poaching berries:

For berry patrol, each deputy dons green fatigues or camouflage, army boots, a black motorcycle helmet or military “Bonnie Hat,” heavy duty gloves, and a belt with bush necessities: automatic pistol, taser, pepper spray, baton, night-vision goggles, infrared binoculars, high-powered flashlight, cell phone, bullet pack and infrared strobe light, “so that violators don’t notice when we signal a helicopter,” says John Gibson, a member of the unit.

To roam the badlands, the deputies use six all-terrain vehicles and six 4-by-4 off-roaders. Most impressive are two Ford F250s, with their 38-inch tires, heavy duty winches and satellite antennas. They hit speeds of 90 mph, though speeding in dense brush is generally avoided, Gibson adds, “because it’s hard to stop them once you get them going.”

Each off-roader comes with a laptop, printer, and GPS mapping capability. (“It’s easy to get lost in the bush,” Robinson says. “There are no road signs – well, no roads either.”) Twelve-gauge shotguns are stowed in a floor case; collapsible, AR-15 “Bushmasters,” as the semiautomatic rifles are known, are fixed to the ceiling for easy access.

And then there’s the Encore – a jeep, normally built for the military, that can drive for miles through swamps, submerged.

I’ve addressed how the militarization of our police force concerns me before. This is just another example. You don’t use shotguns as flyswatters.

A district court in South Carolina once ruled, basically, that a pistol with a vertical fore grip is not an Any Other Weapon because it’s still a pistol:

25. Title 26, United States Code Section 5845(e) defines “any other weapon” as:

… any weapon or device capable of being concealed from which
a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosion
… Such term shall not include a pistol or revolver having a
rifled bore, or rifled bores, or weapons designed, made or
intended to be fired from the shoulder and not capable of
firing fixed ammunition.

26. A “pistol” is defined in Section 5845 as

A weapon originally designed, made and intended to fire a
projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one
hand, and having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of or
permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock
designed to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and
extending below the line of the bore(s). 27 CFR 178.11
(emphasis added).

27. Even after being modified with grips, the pistols are still “pistols” as defined above and not “any other weapon” as defined by 26 U.S.C. section 5845(e).

Despite this, the ATF says that such a pistol is an Any Other Weapon:

ATF has long held that by installing a vertical fore grip on a handgun, the handgun is no longer designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand. Therefore, if individuals install a vertical fore grip on a handgun, they are “making” a firearm requiring registration with ATF’s NFA Branch. Making an unregistered “AOW” is punishable by a fine and 10 years’ imprisonment. Additionally, possession of an unregistered “AOW” is also punishable by fine and 10 years’ imprisonment.

The ATF seems to be asserting that, basically, if it’s not something else, it must be an any other weapon. In other words, such pistols do not meet the definition of an AOW but they don’t meet the legal criteria for pistol either. Hence, the ATF just picked one.

To make this clear, if you own, say, a Glock 17, which has a rail for accessories, and you own one of these, which happens to fit that accessory rail, and you attach it, it’s equivalent to possession of an illegal machine gun.

Publicola has more.

In New York, since they can’t sue gun dealers, they want to fine them $100K per occurrence in which they sell illegal guns. That’s what they say but what they mean is they want to fine a dealer who lawfully sells a weapon then later that weapon is discovered to be illegal because it wound up in the hands of a criminal. After all, if dealers were selling illegal guns, that’s already illegal.

Publicola has more on whether or not felons should be allowed to own guns.

Let me know if you get any 412 Precondition Failed errors. Everything seems to be working now just want to make sure it is for you guys too.

The NRA writes:

After denying the illegal confiscation for months, on March 15, 2006, Mayor Nagin and the NOPD conceded in federal court that they do have seized guns stored in locked steel containers. The city then agreed in court to a process by which law-abiding citizens may file a claim to receive their confiscated firearms.

However, a New Orleans official handling the gun confiscations stated that no guns have been returned because the NOPD requires background checks, and the city has not set up a process. The official acknowledged, “We’ve been told it was going to happen weeks ago…and still hasn’t been done.”

Kinda funny for a commercial.

Heck, I’ll take half that. Or a quarter.

No rising temperature since 1998? And 60ish climate experts reiterated the near impossibility to seperate the various causes that are contributing to climate change.

Remember, close your eyes, put your fingers in your ears and repeat I can’t hear you because this stuff, you know, isn’t debatable you holocaust-denying, flat-earthers.

Apparently, using the word porn in a post title (as in gun porn – like this one) has affected the security mods. Let me know if you still get the 412 error. This may increase spamminess on the site but we’ll see.