So, Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham was blindsided that the local Rubbermaid plant decided to lay off 200 people. By blindsided, you’d think he meant shocked or concerned. But he’s more concerned because Rubbermaid didn’t tell him:

“I am very surprised that any company would have handled the manner in the way that this company chose,” he said in a press release.

“In the past, other companies, when they have even downsized, have had the courtesy to visit with the different governmental entities relative to these kinds of things inasmuch as it affects so many live,” he said.

Well, first of all Sparky, the local government did know because police were there when Rubbermaid fired everybody.

Video here. Via US Citizen.

Let the nitpicking begin!

The CDC has released a study of violent deaths:

Guns were used in nearly half of the slayings studied in the most comprehensive examination of violent deaths in the United States.

More than half of those deaths were due to suicide while 30 percent were the result of homicide, according to a study released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The remainder were from undeterminable causes, such as poisoning, and accidental discharges of a firearm, according to the study of nearly 16,000 violent deaths in 16 states.

African-Americans and Native Americans were killed at rates about 50 percent higher than whites, while Asians had violent death rates about 60 percent lower than whites.

The Hispanic violent death rate was about 15 percent lower than that of whites.

Males were more than three times more likely to die violently than females, with an overall violent death rate of 31.9 per 100,000 people.

Men were most commonly murdered because of an argument or during the commission of a crime. Women were most commonly killed by a current or former intimate partner.

Men were also the suspects in 90 percent of the cases where more than one person was killed and women were the victims in 74 percent of murder-suicides.

Just half? The antis always tell us it’s like almost all of them. Interesting. Other than that, nothing new really.

Is suicide really a violent crime?

Ain’t that the truth. Good luck to Dr. McIntyre. Once a TeeVee station finds out how much you spent on groceries, you’re doomed.

In Philly, they passed a bunch of gun laws that are illegal due to pre-emption. The mayor has said enforcement goes into effect now. This will get interesting. Sebastian has the skinny.

In Nevada:

Gov. Jim Gibbons temporarily surrendered his concealed weapons permit after it was found he hadn’t completed required qualification training for each of his nine handguns, a newspaper reported.

Ruger has recalled the SR9: We have determined that some Ruger SR9 pistols manufactured between October 2007 and April 2008 can, under certain conditions, fire if dropped with their manual safeties in the “off” or “fire” position. The pistols will not fire if the manual safety is in the “on” or “safe” position.

The spa for men that I got a sneak peak at here. Looks like they’re taking appointments now.

You may or may not have noticed but every afternoon the site goes down for a bit. That’s because, according to my host provider, the site is getting barraged with referral spam. Beyond my control. Hell, I thought I’d gotten rid of them by finally banning trackbacks and pingbacks. But they’ve found a new way to be a pain in the ass.

Somebody really needs a nice refreshing glass of Control Your Shit juice.

Sebastian:

I believe 2008 is either going to be the year we will look back on as the pivotal year that sent the gun control movement to join the temperance movement in the dungeon of political irrelevance, or it will be the year when gun owners snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Which path we take is entirely up to us.

Go to Dustin’s for the skinny:

There is a new online debate titled “Critical Mass Journalism Project: Guns on Campus.” Currently the anti gun folks are the majority of entries, all spewing the same predictable rhetoric with absolutely no basis in fact. I encourage everyone to join in on the discussion, because we can only share the truth if we open our mouth. Just click “add something new” to make your own contribution. You can also make comments on items already there.

I agree. Let them.

And let them lie while they’re lie-in: There seems to be a great misunderstanding on the part of the author of the article, “Protest Easy Guns Not Welcomed On Our Campus.” The author seems to think that protesteasyguns.org simply wish to push an agenda and use the tragedy at Tech to further its cause. This is absolutely false.

He then goes on to list the agenda.

Ya know, if you want to get a lot of people all riled up on the Internet, then advocate methods of zombie killing that they don’t approve of. I guess, also, if you’re gonna be killing zombies, it helps to do it to music. So, what songs are good for zombie killing? My choices would be:

Hatebreed – Destroy Everything – Duh, if that don’t make you want to kill zombies, nothing will.

Droid – Fueled by Hate – Ditto

Billy Joel – Piano Man – Because that song just pisses me off.

When your record on guns can only hurt you in a national race, what do you do? Create a shill group, of course:

Today, our campaign announced the membership of our Pennsylvania Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Obama Steering Committee. Avid hunters and anglers from around the state, the committee members lauded Obama for his understanding of and respect for Pennsylvania’s hunting and fishing traditions and his strong record on conservation.

As Sebastian notes:

Oh, you mean protecting hunting and fishing by shutting down most of this Nation’s gun shops?  Or by screwing pistol hunters by banning their firearms?  Or by banning all semi-automatic firearms?  Is that how he supports hunting and fishing?  By voting against a bill to prevent gun manufacturers from being sued out of business by cities like Obama’s home of Chicago?

Barrack William Jefferson Obama is looking to benefit from a shill group that asserts he’s pro-gun. This of course goes completely against his actual record. Rather like how Ray Shoenke of the American Hunters and Shooters Association did a while back. Barack Jamiroquai Obama doesn’t have much of a record but what is there is adamantly anti-gun.

Of course, someone was smart enough to get on this a while back: Sportsmen for Obama.

Guav on samurai sword bans and other things.

Life would be easier if we banned children.

The Hill has an interesting bit on how McCain has to mend some fences with gun rights folks:

“John McCain still has some work to do to give them a comfort level,” Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA, said during an interview with The Hill. “Truth be told, he’s not there yet.”

Cox said McCain and the anti-gun control group have endured some “high-profile disagreements” in the last several years that have left many gun owners concerned about his candidacy.

Specifically, McCain played a leading role in crafting the campaign finance reform law that bears his name and that also enraged many lobbying groups. The NRA was one of the most outspoken.

Of the three presidential candidates, McCain is the only one to sign on to the Heller brief.

David interviews Clayton Cramer.

So, how exactly do you accidentally draw a weapon. Accidentally point it at someone. And accidentally shoot someone. And then accidentally shoot someone else? Srsly.

Learn the rules.

Win a Glock in Philly.

If I had any doubt that it was TSA policy that caused the discharge on a commercial airliner, it has since been removed:

Via Ravenwood.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League now has a blog.

I was unaware that 1) people bleached their poopers; and 2) that there was an expert on journeys there. Thanks Tam.

Sig 225s for $260.

Yes, I know the second amendment doesn’t give a right but still this is impressive.

The gun ban is now as dead with no hope of recovery:

The California State Supreme Court has ruled that Proposition H, the draconian gun ban proposed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors violates California law. This exhausts all possible avenues for appeal by the Board of Supervisors. Proposition H would ban the manufacture, distribution, sale and transfer of firearms and ammunition within San Francisco. The National Rifle Association was the lead organization fighting this ban.

Brady Bunch will soon claim victory.

I kid. But seriously the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will be discussing BATFE’s budget at 2:00 PM ET. If you have time.

Sad but true edition:

The real problem is that our culture worships at the altar of democratic governance. Power to the people, and all that. Not enough stop and think that maybe the people, when they act collectively through voting, are actually pretty collectively stupid.

Law-enforcement once again raided a compound populated with people whose religious views were found to be icky by other people. The bad part about it is that the authorities were preventing journalists from seeing what was happening on the property. And that’s shady. Someone should watch the watchmen. The good news is that nobody was set on fire.

Update: KAG has more and notes a shift from ignoring to doing too much.

Update 2: In comments, everyone is telling me that it goes beyond their religious views being icky and their views amount to abuse. I don’t disagree. Still, I’m happy that no one is on fire.

It’s getting harder and harder to come up with middle names for Barack Mojo Nixon Obama. And no one even comments on them anymore. Is teh funny gone?

* first person to get the reference gets the satisfying feeling that comes with being the first person to get the reference.