On last night’s The Simpsons, Marge used the word blogosphere.

Reuters on gun ownership in Yemen:

“I have cannons, missiles, Kalashnikovs, anti-aircraft guns and hand grenades,” said community leader Mohammed Naji, sitting cross-legged in his house in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. “This is a part of our culture, and a tribesman can give up everything except his gun.”

Though not everyone in Yemen has an arms cache the size of Naji’s, almost every household has at least one gun. Arms possession is particularly common in the north and northwest of the country.

With stuff like that, it’s time to blame the weapons:

Ethnic vendettas are a common problem in Yemen, resulting in the deaths of more than 2,000 people annually, according to government figures. In one example, revenge killings between the Hajerah and Annis tribes in Ibb and Thamar provinces, south of Sana, claimed the lives of more than 30 people and wounded 100 more in early July 2005. That particular vendetta, centred on a land dispute, has flared up intermittently for the last five years.

The crime rate in Yemen is soaring, with shootings almost daily to resolve disputes – or even just when tempers rise. The Ministry of the Interior reported that 34,655 crimes were committed in 2005, and government studies have blamed this high crime rate on the proliferation of firearms in the country.

Then the piece expressess disappointment about the fact the .gov there did not pass weapons laws. And we find that folks aren’t obeying the existing gun laws.

Another gun blog carnival!

Apparently, you folks with blogspot in your url are still tripping the spam filter. Sorry but everytime I tell it not to do that, it resets it eventually. *sigh*

This month, this award is presented to Baltimore City Police Officer Natalie Preston for being a total ass.

Via Xrlq.

Rich has a must read with the Tale of Two Daughters. Good for Rich on being a helluva guy. Of course, I already knew he was.

Tam, in light of a new nanny law, proposes some of her own:

Not wearing a sweater when it’s really cold outside: Class A misdemeanor.

Running with scissors: Class C misdemeanor.

Putting something in your mouth when you don’t know where it’s been: Class B misdemeanor.

Not listening to your mother: Class E felony.

Heh.

Quick poll on your red dot sight preference for a rifle.

Tennessee Tax Revolt emails:

Please act TODAY and Click HERE to EMAIL Governor Bredesen, Speaker Naifeh, Speaker Wilder, Senator Ramsey and Representative McMillan to tell them this is a Golden opportunity to reduce the Sales Tax on Groceries.

Urgent: PLEASE Email Governor Bredesen with the link below. Governor Bredesen and the Tennessee General Assembly will decide next week how to spend an unexpected $266.5 million surplus (Tennessee Taxpayer Overpayment). A very small part of this surplus can be used to make a huge difference by reducing the sales tax on groceries.

Clearly, your head is up your ass or you don’t know how to use Google.

JS Online welcomes the NRA but details some differences of opinion:

What we do have a hard time buying is that military-style, semiautomatic weapons are essential to the right to hunt. Yet in backing a federal ban on such weapons, we find ourselves accused of trying to outlaw all guns. These rapid-fire weapons are a favorite of organized gangs and mass killers and a peril to law officers. So as we see it, the NRA’s successful lobbying to lift that ban aids the bad guys.

Sorry, sparky, but semi-automatic weapons banned by the assault weapons ban were not military-style. It was a ban on weapons that looked like military-style weapons. And, of course, it has nothing to do with hunting. And I’d like to see a stat on the statement that These rapid-fire weapons are a favorite of organized gangs and mass killers and a peril to law officers because the last I checked, these weapons were used in significantly less than 1% of crimes.

You may wish to take some time to learn about an issue instead of just repeating the anti-gun lobby’s talking points.

Ditto for NRA’s opposition to closing the gun-show loophole in the Brady Law, which requires licensed gun dealers to check with the FBI the background of buyers to ensure that they aren’t felons or otherwise ineligible to own firearms. The rule does not apply to unlicensed dealers, who proliferate at gun shows, which, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, thugs and gangsters do frequent. So do suspected suppliers of foreign terrorists, court documents suggest.

Say it with me: there is no gun show loophole. Sales at gun shows are subject to the same rules as sales elsewhere. Unlicensed dealers that exist are illegal. You are no doubt referring to the private transfer provisions, or as I like to call it, engaging in lawful commerce.

The NRA has campaigned – successfully, overall – to have each state enact a law permitting the carrying of concealed weapons. Wisconsin has been a holdout, however.

I don’t see the problem and Wisconsin will have it, mark my words.

We actually agree with the NRA that the law might do some good, by allowing license-holders to defend themselves. But we also note that such laws have done some ill elsewhere, leading to unjustified shootings or to harm to license-holders trying to thwart crime. In our judgment, the threat of the bad is greater than the promise of the good.

Then let’s see a cite for that because nothing I’ve read about CCW (and I’ve read a lot) indicates that trend. In fact, it tends to have little impact on crime either way.

Beyond Wisconsin asks:

What do you think of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution?

We were just wondering, with the NRA in town and all.

What d’ya think?

Here it is …

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Well, go tell them.

We conservative sorts tend to like to allow the states to handle things as opposed to the feds but that pipe dream died long ago. Another issue is states v. cities:

Some new changes being considered at the statehouse would call for statewide gun laws only, and no city gun laws.

[…]

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Jim Aslanides of Coshocton, said that if gun laws are made only at the state level, gun owners will be better able to be aware of them and comply.

“Because you have a modge-podge of different ordinances that vary from place to place, it becomes confusing and almost impossible to adhere to,” Aslanides said.

The much-debated Columbus assault weapons ban would no longer apply if the state legislation

While I’d be happy with the result (i.e., no lame ban on weapons that look like assault weapons), it takes the authority from the locals which sets my little l libertarian feelers into a bit of tizzy. Thoughts?

Et tu, Brittney?

I’m not blogging much today (you know, stuff) but there’s a lot of gun blogging happening at The Gun Blogs. Like an excellent pictorial review of SKS and some sights (along with resources) and Blackfork on high power competition.

Rustmeister fisks the bit I mentioned here where bed-wetter Fern Siegel proves he’s ignorant, hysterical or about as smart as a box of rocks.

Congrats to a visitor from the Anglo Irish Bank in the UK for being visitor #1,000,000 to saysuncle.com (referred by Gun Law News). S/He either liked or hated what they saw as they were here for about 11 minutes.

From the CNN Transcript, Nancy holds forth an illegal weapon to make a point:

GRACE: You know, it`s amazing to me — with us, Chief Inspector Joseph Fox with the Philadelphia PD. Sir, it`s an honor to have you on. It`s amazing to me a freak like this killer can walk the streets, double- fisted, sawed-off shotgun which owning one, having one in your possession – – this is a sawed-off shotgun from a case I prosecuted a long, long time ago. A sawed-off shotgun can easily be concealed up your sleeve, inside a coat, down a workout jacket, like this guy had on. Having it alone is a crime.

Then why do you have it? Ms. Grace, do you happen to have a tax stamp for that weapon? If not, you’re a lawbreaker if you own it or possess it. Granted, holding it temporarily does not necessarily constitute possession but, given most departments have a policy of destroying crime weapons, how did you get it? I know of no exemption in the law for media types. Who owns that weapon?

Not much activity over at The Gun Blogs lately (other than me). Why is that? I thought you guys would dig it (and you said you would in a poll) and that non-bloggers would like a place to blog.

Was it something I said?

Alan Gottlieb:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s lawsuit against 15 alleged “rogue” firearms dealers in five states is political grandstanding run amok.

The press and prosecutors in those five states ought to be asking Bloomberg why, if his investigators had positively identified these retailers and caught them in an illegal act, was the information not turned over to the proper authorities, including the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives?

Instead, the headline-hunting Bloomberg launched a civil lawsuit in what should be, if he is to be believed, a criminal action.

There’s a reason for that. The private investigators New York hired to conduct this sting must have made deliberately false statements on federal firearms purchase forms. That’s a felony. They should be prosecuted. If Bloomberg sent them to do this, he’s an accessory, if not a conspirator.

He is correct. It is also an admission that NY’s gun control laws aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

This just in: Pictures of guns are dangerous as is gun-themed interior decor. And by dangerous, I mean merely cause fits in hoplophobic bed-wetters.

The NRA is getting tough with law enforcement officials. Politically, this may be a bad move for them but it’s a good idea for rallying the base.

Defense Review has the skinny on the BHI SOPMOD AK. It’s the AK that wants to be an AR.

I’m increasingly convinced that Chuck ‘I understand the Red States’ Schumer is retarded.

I’d love to but I have no idea where to start. But DeFens says it’s not hard.

Ayup:

California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer seems to have clued in to the fact that Americans don’t want to ban the private possession of firearms. Unfortunately, instead of being persuaded to find alternate subjects over which to harass the people of his state, he’s turned sneaky. Now, instead of pushing overt bans, he’s touting a trio of bills that would use bureaucracy and petty regulation as vehicles for choking off the sale of firearms.

Read the bill summary, they’re a hoot.

I’m going to go ahead and call Bloomberg’s latest (you can past coverage here) antics of sending private investigators to investigate gun shops in other states for the purpose of suing them a victory for gun rights. Why, you may ask? Simple. It essentially shows that NY’s stringent and draconian gun laws are not having the desired affect. Since folks are unwilling to deal with the real issues after their ideas fail, they must have a scapegoat. In this case, that scapegoat is SC, GA, VA, etc. The facts are that NY has some of the most stringent/draconian gun laws in the country (in third place, with DC first and Chicago second) but they still have a significant number of gun crimes. Since they passed the laws, there must be some reason those aren’t working and it must be due to the failue of other states. Otherwise, they’d have to admit their laws are not an effective means to their end.

Today, Junior learned two valuable lessons. Lesson 1: Don’t stick your fingers in the automatic bubble making machine. Lesson 2: Don’t eat sand.

The not so valuable lesson she learned is that, when it rains, the dog poops closer to the back porch.

Or (in my best The Tick voice) the righteous ass-pounding of justice is kinda icky:

I’m sorry, but those who wring their hands over state executions, while laughing at the idea that prison gang bangs are a convict’s just reward, lose their right to claim human rights as a motivating force for their objection to the death penalty.

Amen. Now, it’s no secret I oppose the death penalty but not for that hippie tree-hugging most folks do. I oppose it because it is disproportionately applied to minorities (specifically the poor). So, my opposition is not due some human rights claim.

Police, it seems, are killing more and more family pets. Radley details a couple of incidents. One that rather frightened me:

The three officers chasing a suspect “acted in reckless and callous disregard for the constitutional rights” of Cynthia Peters and Mark Parr when they shot the couple’s 1 ½-year-old pit bull Blu on July 27, 2005, according to the suit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Blu was in the couple’s fenced yard on Sixth Street when the officers opened the gate to pursue a suspect, then shot the dog 11 times with pistols and a shotgun. When Parr ran up and asked the officers, “Why’d you shoot my dog?” police “pointed their guns at him, kicked and punched him and threw him to the ground,” the suit said.

Seriously? That is beyond reason to willfully shoot a family pet with such fanatical zeal. Then to threaten the family? That is inexcusable. I’d have put 11 rounds in someone myself.

Eight parents in Knoxville have had warrants issued for their arrest because their kids missed some school. Gimme a damn break.