At our vacation condo, Junior was confused by the telephone. See, she’s never seen one with a cord attached to it before.

Of course, she’d never seen commercials before a couple of months ago.

The city (my the city) is getting a mobile command center. I don’t know what that is or why Maryville needs one but they’re putting their drug and Homeland Security money to use.

But the Shooters’ Carnival is done for.

Photoblog at the Norfolk City Council Meeting.

In other news, CAOCOO is back.

101 = hundreds.

And the four to one ratio indicates no bias at all.

Red’s reports record ammo sales.

David has a round-up of protests in the news or rather not so much.

Cam notes the Two Mom March and has more.

More chicks and guns.

And a few dudes too. And video.

Courtland Milloy:

The Violence Is Rooted in the Culture, Not the Gun Store

[…]

During my visit to Realco, several young African American men were checking out large-caliber firearms in a display case. I asked some of them why they wanted a gun.

“Protection,” one replied.

“You never know who you might run into,” another said.

Nobody mentioned shooting tin cans with Dad.

Well, shooting tin cans is indeed fun but one’s duty to protect themselves is much more important. And:

This fight is not so much over guns as culture. Largely rural, conservative whites are protecting a gun-loving lifestyle because they care more about it than they care about the loss of black lives to gun violence in urban areas. And if you want to fight that culture, you have to have a culture to fight with.

Ya know, you may have had me had you not states something that stupid. It’s not that I don’t care or care less about the loss of black lives. It’s that the propositions by gun control advocates will impact me, a law-abiding man, and will not prevent young black men from killing other young black men. And we rural, conservative whites have a gun-loving lifestyle because we choose to defend ourselves and, unlike DC where guns are banned, there is not as much violence here in these rural parts.

Ya know, I concur with the Nuge that Obama is a piece of bleep and Hillary is a worthless bleep. Though, I’m not sure what a bleep is.

But seriously, Nugent, the gun-waving and implied threats aren’t doing anyone any favors.

Ya know, if Joe Lieberman were to actually become AG, I’d ponder leaving the country. Last thing we need is a law and order guy who is also a big government nanny-statist in that office.

Via, well, everyone comes this:

The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.

U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world’s 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said. [but the anti-gunners tell us that gun ownership is at historic lows – ed]

“There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people,” it said.

You say that like it’s a bad thing. In other countries:

India had the world’s second-largest civilian gun arsenal, with an estimated 46 million firearms outside law enforcement and the military, though this represented just four guns per 100 people there. China, ranked third with 40 million privately held guns, had 3 firearms per 100 people.

Germany, France, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil and Russia were next in the ranking of country’s overall civilian gun arsenals.

On a per-capita basis, Yemen had the second most heavily armed citizenry behind the United States, with 61 guns per 100 people, followed by Finland with 56, Switzerland with 46, Iraq with 39 and Serbia with 38.

France, Canada, Sweden, Austria and Germany were next, each with about 30 guns per 100 people, while many poorer countries often associated with violence ranked much lower. Nigeria, for instance, had just one gun per 100 people.

“Firearms are very unevenly distributed around the world. The image we have of certain regions such as Africa or Latin America being awash with weapons — these images are certainly misleading,” Small Arms Survey director Keith Krause said.

So, places prone to mass violence have fewer weapons? Who knew? Last bit:

Weapons ownership may be correlated with rising levels of wealth

The Mrs. calls and says Junior’s school offers a service where a private agency will take fingerprints, pictures, descriptions, etc. of Junior to be retained in the event she (God forbid) goes missing. I’m not opposed to the idea (provided it’s not some state mandated thing) and think if parents want to do that on their own that is fine. She calls me and the conversation goes a bit like this:

The Mrs.: I just wanted to make sure you were OK with that.

Me: Sounds fine to me.

The Mrs.: Because you’re kinda weird about stuff like that.

Moi? No idea what she’s talking about.

Oh, and I’ll save you the trouble: it’s a scam. Seems dude shows up, gives you a kit to do this yourself and you keep the kit in a safe place, and then he tries to sell you life insurance.

Ya know, a felony conviction can end your right to vote or buy guns. But, you know, given that owning a three-dimensional device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs in Texas and carrying a slingshot in New Jersey are both felonies, I’m not so much a fan of the idea. Perhaps it should include only violent felonies.

Gunner has returned to blogging. It’s a loss for his education but a gain for blogging.

PGP attended one.

The ladies I linked to yesterday had a third compatriot who went shooting. She wrote about it too. She feels conflicted. A few notes:

I felt very comfortable with the revolver in my hand. Too comfortable?

You shouldn’t so comfortable that you become complacent. That could lead to an accident.

It didn’t cost me anything, and that bothered me. Easy to rent. Easy to load. Easy to fire. (This disturbed me.)

Yet the gun did not turn you into a psychotic death-dealer, did it? Why be disturbed.

I feel compelled to do this again, but outside and with a larger caliber.

Excellent. You’ll be back.

And, no, I am not the gun lobby. I’m not even a member of the NRA.

A live journal of a woman getting into shooting.

Laura Washington:

Be consoled that you are winning the battle.

So, why didn’t you join the Pink Pistols?

Either way, we win. Heh.

Update: this particular paragraph is quite amusing:

What a blueprint for a culture, that of the NRA. Paranoid people who imagine murderers and evil government agents are at every street corner, waiting to strike at innocents, and therefore arm themselves to the teeth, which legitimately terrifies their neighbors and helps produce exactly the kind of distorted world that the gun extremists believe already exists–i.e., a world in which everyone is deathly afraid of everybody else.

Yet, your anti-gun ilk want to arm up because they’re afraid of who? Loser.

It’s a shame the sentences didn’t also include tarring and feathering.

Or will you gun nuts stop correcting me all the time. Via thirdpower, who notes the inconsistencies.

So, today the Rearend Jesse Jackson and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership are supposed to be doing some protests, which is what you do when you’re ineffectual in the political realm. People who are effective do something other than try to get cheap media time. They’re protesting, err, not sure what. But it’s because guns are bad and people can buy guns. Except in Chicago, which is odd because that’s where he’s protesting.

Some on the gun rights side have said we should buy ammo. So, I did. I bought a couple of boxes of 9mm Winchester White Box.

Seems the good Rearend is planning on protesting DSA, who import and make a lot of goodies like the TP9 and some pretty sweet FALs.

If you wish to support them, go here and buy a shirt.

Update & PSH alert: Yeah, but today there will be more guns in the hands of the law-abiding. And this idiot really thinks that real grassroots is the gun lobby? It’s called projection.

Update: JJ’s talking points.

Women go to the range for the first time. With pics.

Via Robb.

Update: more here.

Sylvester Stallone circa 1998: Until America, door to door, takes every handgun, this is what you’re gonna have. It’s pathetic. It really is pathetic. It’s sad. We’re living in the Dark Ages over there.

Then why does he have a concealed carry permit. In LA, where they only give them to the rich and famous.

Like you and me, only better.

Et tu, Bernie Mac?

Via David.

I’ve said it before (here and here). Rustmeister concurred. Now, he notes:

Now, from Red’s Trading Post comes this news on how the ATF is pushing gun dealers to adopt an automated system for their 4473’s.

Looking a bit more feasible now.

Phelpsy Welpsy: It’s not a hypothetical, darling.

Alan Korwin:

Activists should be aware that as the “Parker” case heads to appeal at the Supreme Court, it may no longer be the “Parker” case. The pleading for certiorari will be titled “District of Columbia v. Heller” another of the original plaintiffs.

Asked why the change was made, an insider with knowledge of the case suggests, “D.C. has switched to Heller probably because Parker is an African-American female and Heller is a less sympathetic figure as a white male. Our side will probably keep the name Parker when responding to the D.C. cert petition, and ultimately, it’ll be up to the Supremes.”

I thought it was because Parker moved out of the District and now lacks standing so another plaintiff stepped in.

Old Bloom County: Funny.

New one (called Opus): not so much. The WaPo could have just said We’re not running it because it isn’t funny.