Over at B-Krumm’s joint, Braisted on the governor wanting the authority to take weapons in an emergency:

I don’t think that the Legislature should uniformly strip the Governor of the power to protect all citizens in the event of a crisis.

As I said there, Confiscation of weapons would not “protect all citizens in the event of a crisis.” It would only ensure that mobs were more powerful and more dangerous. Or, rather, that individuals would be powerless against mobs.

Update: and the Hitler references are stupid.

AC notes:

It appears that Phil Bredesen has a a beef with Senate Bill 1597 which would prohibit the Governor from confiscating weapons from law-abiding citizens or restricting the ability to purchase guns and ammunition during times of natural disaster or declared emergency. The Governor currently has this authority.

Republican Leader Mark Norris is receipt of a letter from Mary Freeman, the Governor’s Director of Legislation, requesting he “consider halting further action” on Senate Bill 1597. The missive states that the administration “disagrees with the intent of this legislation and therefore cannot support it.”

That, my friends, is infinitely disturbing. Why do you think we have the right to bear arms? For times of peace and tranquility?

It is disturbing. I find it pretty deplorable that the administration would entertain the notion of confiscating arms or restricting their sale during a time when said arms are most likely to be needed. I also find it quite odd as Bredesen has been pro-gun and even signed into law SB1658 which states:

The sheriff or chief of police of the city of residence of a person purchasing any firearm, defined by the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. 5845 et seq., shall execute within fifteen (15) business days of any request all documents required to be submitted by the purchaser if the purchaser is not prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to § 39-17-1316.

The bill in question is here.

The governor can be reached at:

Governor’s Office
Tennessee State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243-0001

Phone: 615.741.2001
Fax: 615.532.9711
Email: phil.bredesen@state.tn.us

Seems that the .gov would rather let Angel Raich die an agonizing death than smoke a little weed. Jed says it for me:

You know the drill; even if the state in which your reside and smoke has legalized medical use of marijuana, the feds can still bust your ass. It is a disgrace and an abomination that the federal government is spending our tax dollars to go after people who are sick and dying. Neither Angel Raich, and others like her, nor those who grow pot to supply these people, are a in any way a public harm or threat. So why do we treat them like criminals?

In The War on Drugs, drugs are winning.

One you’ve seen a bit of lately and will continue to see more of.

Xrlq noted the comparisons here. Now, GLN wants some info. He notes:

Parker v. District of Columbia challenged D.C. law based upon its effective prohibition of ownership. The short story is that you had to register your handguns sometime in 1976 or 1977. After that date you could not legally register any handgun, so no new handguns were legal.

Additionally, young people were prohibited from ownership as transfers are not allowed. Legal registrations required you to be 21, so all registered handguns in D.C. are now owned by those over 50.

This implementation of a firearm ban most resembles the Hughes Amendment to FOPA 86. Since May 19, 1986, no new full auto firearms have been added to the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFA 34 database).

Any law that imposes registration on firearms and then a subsequent law prevents adding to that registry is a target.

Repeal of online gaming ban sought:

Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the powerful House financial services committee, is working on legislation to repeal the sweeping ban that was passed in Congress last year against online gaming, he told the Financial Times in an interview.

Mr Frank called the ban, formally known as the Unlawful Enforcement Gambling Act, one of the “stupidest laws” ever passed and said he wanted to “repeal” the law.

Also, former NY Senator and poker player Al D’Amato has joined the Poker Players Alliance as chairman.

Over at Traction Control, there’s more second amendment links than you can read.

Now that The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership has a blog, their lies can be addressed in comments. I find it particularly amusing that, so far, every post I’ve read over there has significantly more pro-gun comments than anti-gun. Any way, Helmke is bleating about judicial activism in the Parker case. Have at thee.

Take the hint, guys. No one is buying what you’re selling.

Courtland Milloy has a screed against the new found freedom in DC to freely own a handgun carry it from one room to another. He cites (incorrectly) the Kellermann study:

Several studies have shown that a gun in the home is up to 22 times more likely to be used for suicide or to kill a family member than to fend off a burglar.

It’s one study. The study showed it to be 43 times more likely. And the study is misleading because included in the number are murders of one criminal by another who live at the same house. Also, the study completely discounts any defensive gun use that does not result in someone’s death (which is estimated to occur between 750K and 2M times per year, depending on who you talk to). If you’re going to use bogus statistics at least get the bogus statistics correct.

The rest of his screed compares gun owners to children.

By a score of $750, Aquafina wins.

Conversely, hats off to IBM repair service. It went like this:

Monday: I call. They tell me a box is on the way
Tuesday: Get box. Ship it
Wednesday: They get box. Call me with damage assessment
Thursday: I should get my laptop back

Excellent service.

I’d like to give a shout out to my homey, Christian Trejbal.

I see from my logs that you’re reading this post. No doubt, looking for the evil midnight bomber what sends mailing labels at midnight.

Stick around, you might learn something. Such as: yes, you are allowed to publish public information but that doesn’t mean you’re not an asshole. It does mean you’re an unethical nitwit.

In other news, no extra police patrols were ordered for the 135,000 concealed carry permit holders whose name and address you published at The Roanoke Times.

And you’re still a pussy.

Update: They’re fast at The Roanoke Times. They read this post too.

Not here but here.

One of the worst decisions by Knoxville Mayor Haslam and his administration was the approval and installation of Redflex Red Light cameras. But much worse than that decision was the decision not to change the Yellow Light timing to ensure traffic safety.

Whether this was oversight, incompetence, or greed will be difficult to ascertain. The engineering department of the City of Knoxville has stated it is too expensive to change the Yellow Light timing. Some think it is about the money. The Redflex system has already earned over two million dollars with a portion of that money going to the City of Knoxville.

One man has decided to go over the head of the Haslam administration and take this to the Tennessee General Assembly. That man is Rep. Joe McCord, the Republican from Maryville. Rep. McCord has introduced a bill that will require Yellow Light durations to be set at 5 seconds at all intersections where cameras are set up to photograph motorists.

In a story in today’s News Sentinel McCord was reported as saying, “he has heard reports that the yellow lights on Knoxville’s monitored intersections are set at 3 seconds to boost ticket revenue.”

Thank you Joe McCord for standing up for the people that have to drive on Knoxville’s streets. The first goal should be safety not revenue.

Rep. McCord’s bill mandates, “that the yellow, or caution, light be set at 5 seconds at all intersections where cameras are set up to photograph motorists. Another portion of the bill would forbid local governments from contracting with private companies to operate red light camera systems.”

Effectively this would end the contract between Redflex and the City of Knoxville.

I wonder if the Yellow Light duration will be changed now? Well Mayor, what do you think?

Christian Trejbal, the pants-shitting editorial writer who published a list of concealed weapons permit holders in Virginia and compared them to sex offenders, continued his pants-shitting:

Extra police patrols were ordered Tuesday at the home of a newspaper editorial writer after a suspicious package was delivered there following a storm of criticism of a column he wrote about concealed weapons permits.

What was in the package? Mailing labels:

The brown cardboard box about 15 inches by 15 inches was full of mailing labels similar to those used by mail delivery services, Sisson said. He said the package had been delivered by a DHL truck and left at the front door.

Pussy.

Clayton Cramer notes that Parker is about as good as it gets for a test case:

4. Unlike many of the right to keep and bear arms cases that have worked their way up through the courts over the years, where the defendant is a criminal of some sort, or at least an unsympathetic character, such as Dr. Emerson in USA v. Emerson (5th Cir. 2001), we have squeaky clean plaintiffs on this case, so the Court doesn’t have to worry about releasing a criminal if they make the right decision.

5. Rather than directly challenging the bearing of arms, or the right to own some rather unusual or exotic weapon, this case involves the right to have a loaded and functional handgun in your home for self-defense. This is about as much of a no-brainer as there can be for the courts. While the decision doesn’t directly challenge the constitutionality of a handgun registration law, it does make it clear that the current DC strategy of prohibiting new registrations for handguns is unconstitutional.

Via Les, who I’d also like to strangle for giving me an ear worm.

A few common phrases in the English language come from firearms usage. I, of course, use the one that sounds dirty. Ahab discusses gun-induced grammar.

If you’re in Knoxville this weekend and want to go make fun of some hippies, they’ll be congregating. If, like me, you have errands to run in that general area and wish to keep them away, I recommend some Hippie Repellent.

Update: More here. And if you’re not a fan of the prior hippie repellent, here’s an environmentally friendly alternative.

Salt Lake Tribune:

College students can now opt for a gun-free environment

Actually, no they cannot. See, some folks don’t obey the law or the rules. If those folks choose to introduce a gun into your supposed gun-free environment, there’s no way to stop them.

In the event you ever decide to break into my home, bring a balloon.

Politically Incorrect Dog has some rather odd idiosyncrasies. One of those is that he is terrified of balloons. If you wish to keep him out of a room, put a balloon in it. Or you can keep him confined by placing balloons in doorways.

In the event he can’t avoid balloons and is in their proximity, he tucks his tail, ears down, and issues a low growl while staring at it. All traits of a spooked pup.

Since we have kids, we’re now buying a lot more balloons than before so he’s having a rough time.

Just find it odd, is all.

Via Ben, I learn of two taxpayer groups in my fair county.

Citizens for Better Government

Citizens for Blount County’s Future: They don’t have a website that I have found. But they get some Google love. If they want a website, have them shoot me a line. I’ll set it up and host it.

PGP has the latest.

Standard Mischief notes that the NRA has put all the Katrina gun confiscation videos on YouTube. Good.

Freedom from information:

Congress members routinely herald the Freedom of Information Act as a pry bar for the press and public to lift the lid on secretive government operations, sometimes exposing fraud and always buttressing the spirit of transparency.

That agent of access, however, is stopped at the doors of Congress — which exempted itself from the very law it passed 41 years ago to keep the executive branch in check.

As federal agencies labor to respond to thousands of requests for documents each year, Congress returns none.

And don’t ask to look in their freezers either.

Jay G, who posts some times at the site formerly known as NGD and now Toys in the Attic, has started his own blog about being trapped in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.

Bitter had her gun seized in Texas, of all places. She has it back though.

She’s on to us again:

Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton told Democrats Tuesday the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” is back, using a phrase she once coined to describe partisan criticism.

Of course, since we’re openly recruiting, it’s not surprising.

Seen at Radley’s:

The city’s SWAT team, along with celebrity cops and camera crews from Armed & Famous, broke into the wrong home during a search for two fugitives and kept an innocent woman handcuffed for 30 minutes, according to legal documents.

Oops, wrong house . . . again.

Late in a tourney, five players. I’m the big stack. I’m in late position. I get:

K♣Q♣

I raise it up to three times the big blind. Two callers. Flop:

2♣ 4♥ Q♦

A caller (the short stack – I have at least 20 times his stack) minimum raises. Though the small stack, he’s in no danger of being blinded out yet. Other player folds. Action to me and I think he has a good hand and figure we’re in a kicker war. I put him all in. He flips over 4♦ 2♦. I catch a queen on the river and win. He says: Nice suck out. I say Yeah, but I didn’t call a pre-flop raise with deuce four.

I did suck out. But, ferrchrissakes, who calls a raise with 4♦ 2♦? Even as a short stack, there are better hands to make a move with.

You know it’s big when Matt comes out of semi-retirement to opine:

“Republican appointee” does not necessarily mean “pro-individual right.” It frequently means “statist.” Judge Henderson, the dissenter in Parker, is a Bush I appointee.

I think any appointee is generally a statist. That’s how they get the job.

Will the Supreme Court take the case? One aye. one nay.

My thoughts: coin flip, with a sleight favorite to yes.

People keep pointing out that there is now a divide among the circuits. Well, there has been since Emerson, which concluded there was an individual right to arms. The Supreme Court didn’t take it then. But now we have some new judges and one of those (the chief justice) understands Miller. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, the opposition lies and misleads.

The antis are spinning this one as hard as they can. I think I know why: It’s dangerous now. Years ago, if this case made it to the SCOTUS, I don’t think they’d have upheld individual rights. Today, I think they might (Scalia, Roberts, Alito, & Thomas are likely yays – and surely they could pick up one more).

Pro-Gun Progressive concurs:

Seems they’re really angling for the SCOTUS showdown. I’m not entirely uncomfortable with the idea; while I part ways with Alito, Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas on a lot of issues, I have to think we’re in good shape with those four votes re: the RKBA.

Publicola has some issues with Parker.