David Hardy: In short, when it really comes down to the wire, the Administration turns its back on the Platform with which it won election.

Well, it’s a trend with this administration.

Remember, you’re crazy to want a gun in a park what with all the animals made from Nerf running around:

in 2006, national parks were the scenes of 11 killings, 35 rapes or attempted rapes, 61 robberies and hundreds of other violent crimes.

David Hardy has an endorsement. Sebastian has some input. And for people like me, Sebastian has the skinny on how the elections work. Sadly, the NRA doesn’t include instructions in those wheelbarrows of cash they send me.

Dorothy Tillman, who opposed Florida’s self-defense laws claiming they would lead to open war on black males, was arrested in Alabama for disorderly conduct.

Looks like Akins is suing the US and ATF.

Ray Schoenke, of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, has decided to abandon all pretense of actually being a pro-gun group. Seems to be screaming that they want to be relevant. I’d address the screed but Sebastian already has: Wait, am I reading something by AHSA or the Brady Campaign? Hard to tell.

Remember, they tell us it’s not a precursor to confiscation:

A heavy afternoon rain blurs the sky as three black sport utility vehicles pull up across from a one-story stucco house on Pinole Valley Road.

The man inside just turned 60 and recently was placed under a psychiatric hold as a suicide risk, says one of the five state agents. Records show he owns 15 guns, including two assault weapons. Under state law, he must give them up for five years. He hasn’t.

“This guy could have a pure disdain for police,” Special Agent Supervisor John Marsh says. “It’s almost like the boy with the CrackerJack box. When we get to the door, we never know what surprise is going to be inside.”

What they find, after he lets them in, are handguns, rifles and shotguns strewn about several rooms, others locked away in a garage gun safe. There are 58 weapons in all, many of them loaded, Marsh says. The man is agitated, but the agents settle him down. An hour later, they shuttle the firearms to their vehicles, barrels up, then drive off.

“Pretty typical,” Ignatius Chinn, a veteran firearms agent, says.

Next stop: the home of a Richmond man. “He likes to fight, likes to hit his wife, likes to show off his guns,” says one agent as he briefs the others.

Such seizures from “armed and prohibited” gun owners are growing more common across the state, officials say, after the launch last year of a new state computer system that links gun ownership records with a database of people who are banned from keeping them.

It’s true. Peruse my archives. Anyway, their latest starts with the phrase Our View and at the Tennessean Our View and guns means they support gun control. So, let’s count, once again, the inaccuracies:

Loophole creates easy venue for criminals to lock, load

What loophole? Sales at gun shows are subject to the exact same regulations as sales not at gun shows. So, let’s get to the real issue at hand which is private party transfers. What are those? Well, that’s when I as a private citizen decide to sell you a gun I no longer want.

Since the Brady Law was signed in 1993, background checks have been required on purchasers of firearms at stores, and it has helped law enforcement monitor and prevent some gun crimes.

If it has helped, then name one; or at least name a stat or a trend or something. I will. Since 1994, only 135 (of 1.4M) people have been charged (0.0096%) for attempting to illegally purchase guns. Only 1,400 were arrested. And only 9,500 were even investigated. Per the Bureau of Justice Statitistics, 0.7% of crime guns were bought at gun shows. Note, I’m not against background checks but they’re effectiveness is generally overstated.

The most noteworthy of these came in 1999, when 17-year-olds Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and an 18-year-old female friend bought two shotguns, an assault rifle and a TEC-9 assault pistol from private sellers at gun shows. Harris and Klebold used the weapons to shoot 26 students at Columbine High School, killing 13 and later themselves.

And closing the alleged loophole would have stopped this somehow? After all, they violated (not counting murders) 17 firearms laws.

The young woman later said she could not have helped buy the guns had she been required to undergo a background check.

You mean Robyn Anderson, whose story changed more times than I’ve changed the oil in the car? The Robyn Anderson who showed ID at the gun show? And there is the fact that Harris was 18 when the shooting happened and could have bought rifles and shotguns anyway.

The inability of lawmakers to close the loophole after these details emerged attests to the strength of the pro-gun lobby, which fought hard after Columbine against tighter gun restrictions. Only five years after Columbine, the ban on military-style assault weapons was allowed to expire, and the nation has since witnessed the horrors of mass killings at Virginia Tech and, just two weeks ago, Northern Illinois University; incidents wherein a single gunman wielded automatic weapons capable of killing many people in a matter of minutes.

This one has it all! Blaming the gun lobby! And blaming the ban on weapons that look like assault weapons. None of the weapons used at Virginia Tech or Northern Illinois University were covered by the ban on weapons that look like assault weapons. But let’s try to blame the ban anyway by using the words in the same paragraph.

A study published last June in Injury Prevention, an international journal for health professionals, tracked purchases at gun shows across five states. The study found frequent undocumented gun sales between private parties and “straw purchases,” wherein a person with a clean record buys a weapon for someone with a criminal record. Such straw purchases are illegal everywhere, but it seems clear that an “anything goes” climate has been created for gun shows that allows these transactions to go unnoticed.

Never read the study. Will have to check it out. Though, on the surface, I wonder what is meant by frequent since guns bought at gun shows are used in such a minuscule percentage of crimes. And also what is meant by undocumented since, per federal law, a registry of firearms is illegal.

Still, a strong federal law is needed, if only to prevent interstate transportation of illegal weapons, and that means closing the loophole. Gun owners and dealers who are peaceable and law-abiding should have no problems with the minor inconvenience imposed by the Brady Law. Congress should make it apply to everyone.

Of course, the bill would only affect the peaceable and law-abiding. And I’m certain, as a commenter there pointed out, that peaceable and law abiding fans of the First Amendment wouldn’t mind the registration and licensure of printing presses either, right?

Update: Turns out, I’ve seen the study at Injury Prevention. It’s the one where Wintemute walked around a gun show and then opined on what he saw. That is to say, it was not a study at all.

Looks like all the bleating in the press lamenting that Democrats were not talking about gun control paid off. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, she says she wants to ban weapons that look like assault weapons and ban private transfers of firearms.

In Knoxville:

Authorities this morning said a 16-year-old Knoxville boy was killed during a weekend home break-in that prompted a gun battle inside the residence.

Jamodd Mack died in the 2:24 a.m. Saturday break-in at 1304 Iredell Ave., said Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

Mack and another person allegedly forced their way into the home through a back door, DeBusk said. Inside the home, Mack, who was armed with a handgun, was fired upon by a man who was visiting the woman who lives in the house, DeBusk.

Well, his recidivism rate was reduced to zero.

You better hope you have some politicos private number or you may be screwed:

For three hours, Leon Dixon waited for Detroit police to arrive while he hid in his bedroom from the intruders downstairs.

Several times he called 911 for help, whispering to avoid detection. He even tried the Northwestern District police station directly, but said he was told officers weren’t available because they were in the middle of a shift change.

[…]

Scared, Dixon said he eventually decided to call Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. “I told her she was my last resort,” he said.

Watson said she called Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and the mayor’s office directly to get police to respond. Jewelry and his daughter’s piggy bank were among the items taken, he said. The suspects have not been caught.

To get the police to show up, he had to call a councilwoman.

In which I annoy my single feminist reader

So, as a joke, the WaPo says some sexist things about women. Women are not amused and start nagging err harshly voice their displeasure.

What stereotyping? Right now, this same thing is happening everywhere people are married.

Sorry, Aunt B, could not resist.

Uncle and I disagreed on a civil rights issue over in England. That is an oxymoron, are there civil rights in England?

So now that the “Mosquito” is being used in America, do you still think it is acceptable? Our civil rights are colliding with technology. This will be a slippery slope. The sound from this device doesn’t harm people, at least in the short term. So is it acceptable to harass people with technology? The case could be made that a stun gun doesn’t harm people. But if you stun someone who is not attacking you I would bet you would be charged with assault.

Where should the line be drawn?

QUEENS (CBS) Teenagers who hang out inside one apartment building in Jamaica, Queens are getting an earful these days.

A new security device called “The Mosquito” has been installed in the lobby of a building on 170th St. where there have been chronic problems with noisy teens.

The wall-mounted device emits a high-frequency screech that can only be heard by people aged 13 to 25. Most older people cannot hear it.

“It sounds like when you put a microphone close to the TV,” said Jerry Brown, one of the younger residents, who admits the noise bothers him “a little bit.”

The building superintendent said the mosquito has kept the lobby free of loitering teenagers, so far.

Foreign journalist discovers trespassing illegal, should pay attention to what he’s doing.

Update: more here.

Smith!

Manish emailed me:

Relationships in a Web 2.0 World

So I was talking to a friend on the phone:

Friend: I’ve been having a terrible day […] me and Bill broke up last night

Me: Yes I know

Friend: How do you know?

Me: Bill already changed his Facebook profile

Heh!

Last week, I noted that the Seattle Post Intelligencer (which is still a stupid name for a newspaper) was lamenting the fact that politicians aren’t talking about gun control. Now, the NYT is getting in on the why, oh, why aren’t politicians doing more to make life harder on gun owners truck:

The Democrats Get Gun Shy

After the shootings at Northern Illinois University earlier this month, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made statements about guns. Still, gun control has hardly been a big subject in this year’s presidential primary. It isn’t just the presidential candidates who have tried to finesse the subject. Congressional Democrats have also been wary.

It’s real simple. The former want to get elected and the latter want to keep their jobs.

For example, a major and seemingly non-controversial bill to change the way the federal government manages public housing programs made it to the House floor for final debate this week. But the measure was suddenly pulled back. The reason: Republicans had offered an amendment focusing on the fact that many public housing authorities across the nation have long chosen to ban firearms. The amendment sponsor decried this as a form of discrimination “against the poorest in our nation.”

Are you advocating we disarm poor people?

The Democratic leadership — well aware that the gun issue is a potent one in a lot of swing congression (sic) districts — was in no mood to fight on this particular political terrain.

Well, they are the party of . . . something.

The retreat was not an isolated incident. Guns are being systematically raised in bill after bill lately by Republicans, with Democrats showing no sign of the resolve they brandished over a decade ago to enact the now defunct ban on high-powered assault weapons.

That’s because the good guys (ahem, we crazy gun nuts) are winning. People no longer buy what the gun control lobby is selling.

Another long-sought, non-controversial measure ­to overhaul the nation’s neglected health care pledges to American Indians also had to pay obeisance to the gun issue. The only way the Senate bill could make it to passage this week was with the inclusion of an amendment (easily adopted 78-to-11) that bans health care funds from being used to decrease gun ownership among the tribes.

Are you advocating that, in addition to the poor, we disarm minorities?

The Democrats’ shift dates to Al Gore’s defeat in 2000, when he was an outspoken supporter of renewing the assault weapons ban. After his loss, Terry McAuliffe, the national Democratic chairman who is now chairman of Senator Clinton’s presidential run, bitterly warned future party candidates that gun control was a third-rail issue they should avoid.

“I believe we ought to move it out, let the individual communities decide their gun laws and how guns ought to be treated,” Mr. McAuliffe advised, virtually parroting the gun lobby. “It has had a devastating impact on elections because the NRA has targeted and spent millions of dollars distorting individual members’ views and Al Gore’s views.”

If Al Gore had stuck to his NRA Life Member days, he’d be president.

The discouraging political fact this year is how faithfully Democrats are adhering to the McAuliffe doctrine in the Capitol and beyond ­– even as the national calm is interrupted repeatedly by gun rampages at universities and shopping malls.

Actually, I find it quite encouraging. They can be taught!

And another newspaper (the Post-Bulletin) also parrots that candidates are avoiding promoting gun control. Literally, parrots. It’s a reprint from the Post Intelligencer.

In an election year, they are shocked that politicians are pandering to a large group of voters. It’s actually pretty simple: Gunnies vote. Meanwhile, I see that no one is sucking up to anti-gunners nor is anyone seeking an endorsement from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership.

Nothing new on the charges but the guys at AR15.com note that you can help CavArms:

Here is how we can help right now.

Kevin from AGP Arms www.agparms.com

Will post details on CavArms (CA) lowers he is going to sell, with ALL profits (100%) going to CavArms

Rusty has the scoop.

Too bad I don’t care for 1911s or I’d have to buy an STI just for this:

This promotion is available only to citizens of the USA. Unfortunately, citizens of California are not eligible for this promotion.

In other news, they’re giving away a 1911.

Via Joe.

You’ll recall STI also stopped sales to California.

33M think they’re NRA members?

Bitter has hers.

As someone who only recently joined The Triangle of Death, can someone explain briefly how voting, running, etc. works (i.e., who can run, who can vote)? I really don’t know.

Needless to say, pack a lunch:

The Parker v District of Columbia decision handed down on March 9, 2007 by the D.C. District Court of Appeals was a monumentally significant piece of jurisprudence, but it was most emphatically not “judicial activism” in any way, shape, or form. It was the proper application of Constitutional law, which is the duty and purpose of the federal courts. It is, unfortunately, not something the courts have a stellar record on.

The gun banners say guns kill 30,000 per year. We know that over half those are suicides so we pro-gunners point that out. Those numbers, IIRC, come from the CDC. However, the Justice Department has different numbers that puts gun homicdes at about 12,000.

Update: Robb looked at this a bit back.

Headline of the day:

N.Y. Times To Gun Owners: Be Reasonable You Crazy Freaks

Another fisking comes from Jacob who notes the NYT is blaming the gun lobby!

Update: And in Virginia: They study gun owners like you would a gorilla at the zoo.

Update 2: Tam brings the snark.

Seems a group aimed at stopping teen drinking is lying about Tennessee’s proposed bill to allow folks to order wine.

Another gun debate forum. This one is set up by the guy who runs TopGlock.com and who transferred the P22 used at VT and sold the NIU shooter some magazines.

Received via email, comes this:

TENNESSEE FIREARMS ASSOCIATION KNOXVILLE CHAPTER

THE MARCH MEETING WILL BE HELD ON TUESDAY EVENING MARCH 4, 2008

Our guest speaker is Sgt. Keith DeBow from Knoxville Police Department, training academy. The subject will be the revised training for officers regarding persons with carry permits and advice for those who have carry permits in dealing with police officers. This is a follow-up to the incident that Trevor Putnam spoke about to our group at our December 2007 TFA Chapter Meeting.

This is your chance to find out what information is being given to the Knoxville Police as it does directly affect all of us that have carry permits. It is in our best interest to know both the law and what the rules of engagement are for the local police. Although this may affect only KPD officers, the information we receive may well assist us if we are confronted by LEO’s from other agencies.

Wonder if ColtCCO will be there?

Actually, hats off to the KPD. They do seem to be making an effort at this.

Greedo, a tragic victim of gun violence:

In 1977, this assault weapon found its way into the hit movie Star Wars. This was a propaganda coup for the Gun Blobby, indoctrinating a whole generation of children into desiring these deadly weapons. In this absurd and violent story, the fictional character Han Solo savagely murdered Greedo, a law enforcement officer, with this weapon. NRA-shill George Lucas tried to make it look like “self-defense” in his “special edition” version of Star Wars. But the VPC was able to put a stop to that with our “Han Shot First” campaign.

Or rather, they’re losing.