I was unaware the Rusty was taken to the hospital. Squeaky reports he’s doing well.

Back on Monday, we had a pretty good discussion going about hate crimes. Frequent Lean Left commenter LarryE expands on this theme:

The usual (flawed) understanding of “hate crimes” legislation is that it would make the hate itself, rather than any actions based on the hate, the crime. It’s that misunderstanding that leads people to fear that “hate crimes” will lead inexorably to “thought crimes,” to people being prosecuted strictly for their opinions.

The thing is, I don’t know of anyone who’s proposed anything approaching that, i.e., proposed a law to make hate itself illegal. “It’s now illegal to be a bigot.” Besides the Constitutional issues, it’s absurd on its face to seriously entertain the notion of being able to simply outlaw racism or ban sexist or homophobic remarks or whatever – or at least it’s absurd to think any such law would actually achieve any of those ends or even be enforceable. So let’s drop that particular misconception and focus on the real argument, one which, as is explicit in the very phrase “hate crimes,” refers to “crimes motivated by hate.”

The whole thing is worth a read.

At The Hill:

Details of the compromise were still incomplete late Wednesday, but a bill is to be introduced Thursday that would narrowly enforce a June Supreme Court decision rejecting the District’s decades-old handgun ban.

A vote on the bill could occur this week, but is more likely in September. Such a delay could give opponents of such a deal time to organize against it.

Republicans have filed a discharge petition to bring a broader D.C. gun-rights bill, sponsored by Ross, to the House floor. The goal was to capitalize on the Supreme Court decision and put pressure on conservative Democrats to buck their leadership on the issue.

Looks like that pressure NRA was putting on Pro-Gun Dems earlier is paying off.

Apparently, you get offers of organs.

Mayors dogs killed in drug raid. This one is a bit odd. Seems the mayor had 30 pounds of weed mailed to him:

“My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs,” Calvo said. “They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don’t think they really ever considered that we weren’t.”

And a bit of like you and me only better:

“You can’t tell me the chief of police of a municipality wouldn’t have been able to knock on the door of the mayor of that municipality, gain his confidence and enter the residence,” Murphy said. “It would not have been a necessity to shoot and kill this man’s dogs.”

Well, now that this has happened to somebody important, maybe something will be done about it.

One of the UU guys that stopped the shooter left a comment at Walls of the City.

Bitter on why a professional web presence should matter to NRA.

I should note that the offending blog is offering good coverage of the National Matches at Camp Perry.

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre on HopeChange!

I wouldn’t say I support McCain, so much as I oppose Obama.

Transadvocate:

feeling torn between my affiliation with both what i’ll call “gun culture” and the “trans community™”.

Like Chris said:Only on the interweb, could you find such a group of people arguing with each other.

Mike’s latest acquisition.

A good read on carrying a concealed handgun in our neighbor state. And restaurant carry.

Sebastian has thoughts.

I thought it was a parody. But it turns out it really is Barack En Vogue Obama’s new ad.

These people really, really scare me.

Sticking with bad movie sequel themes.

NRA has a statement:

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia’s gun ban, the District, Mayor and City Council are being sued again over the District’s thinly veiled attempt to continue its restrictions on firearm ownership. D.C. residents Dick Anthony Heller and Absalom F. Jordan, Jr., in conjunction with lawyers for the National Rifle Association (NRA), filed a complaint against the District of Columbia and Mayor Adrian Fenty challenging D.C.’s Firearms Control Emergency Amendment Act of 2008.

Kinda puts to rest the conspiracy theories about how NRA didn’t want Heller to win so they could stay in business, eh?

Mark Souder:

Considering the Supreme Court’s broad decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, I’m surprised that The Post would continue to raise the tired old canard of home rule […]

Moreover, when Congress chose to delegate home rule to the District in the 1970s, it specified that legislation enacted by the District must be “consistent with the Constitution of the United States,” and it “reserve[d] the right, at any time, to exercise its constitutional authority as legislature for the District, by enacting legislation for the District on any subject.”

The time is now for Congress to step in to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans.

Local man who is a felon is challenging his arrest for having a gun. Unfortunately for him, this guy is a killer, a felon, and had a machine gun hidden in a wall. Oh, and that whole bit in Heller about how it should not be read as invalidating laws banning felons from possessing firearms.

Seems that Paul Helmke, Keith Olbermann, and Kevin Drum are all butthurt because the NRA (which actually has members, resources, and stuff) engaged in a bit of deception.

Now, what is funny is that I’ve seen no evidence that Mary was actually working for NRA. But we’ll see.

PGP is equally nonplussed about the whole thing.

The other amusing bit is that this shows a serious weakness in the anti-gun groups. They simply will take whoever will join (including bigots, UFO nuts, and those prone to violence). If you have a pulse and time, they’ll take you. However, a group that actually has operating capital and actual members has a pretty developed election process to weed out that sort of stuff.

I find it amusing.

People say to me Hey, Uncle, don’t you find these dirty tricks to be, well, dishonest? Sure. But then the anti-gunners have staked all their political capital on being dishonest (assault weapons, blood in the streets, and a whole host of other pants shitting hysteria they peddle). So, don’t really mind so much. They are my enemy. I want them destroyed. And any lawful means will do. And I like seeing their tactics of deception used against them. It’s some fantastic irony.

I’d love to know what sort of inside dirt Mary has on these groups.

From an insurance company.

Joe Horn walkthrough.

So, a pro-gunny infiltrated an anti-gunny group:

Mary McFate was a prominent gun control activist. Mary Lou Sapone was a freelance spy with an NRA connection. They are the same person. A Mother Jones investigation.

This is the story of two Marys. Both are in their early 60s, heavyset, with curly reddish hair. But for years they have worked on opposite ends of the same issues. Mary McFate is an advocate of environmental causes and a prominent activist within the gun control movement. For more than a decade, she volunteered for various gun violence prevention organizations, serving on the boards of anti-gun outfits, helping state groups coordinate their activities, lobbying in Washington for gun control legislation, and regularly attending strategy and organizing meetings.

Mary Lou Sapone, by contrast, is a self-described “research consultant,” who for decades has covertly infiltrated citizens groups for private security firms hired by corporations that are targeted by activist campaigns. For some time, Sapone also worked for the National Rifle Association.

But these two Marys share a lot in common—a Mother Jones investigation has found that McFate and Sapone are, in fact, the same person. And this discovery has caused the leaders of gun violence prevention organizations to conclude that for years they have been penetrated—at the highest levels—by the NRA or other pro-gun parties. “It raises the question,” says Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, “of what did she find out and what did they want her to find out.”

She’s apparently quite a busy lady.

Update: From our s00per seekrit gun blobber meeting, Thirdpower says:

She became a leader of Pennsylvanians Against Handgun Violence and later a board member of Ceasefire Pennsylvania.

So they had a mole, a bigot, and a UFO nut.

Heh.

Update 2: Sebastian:

Hey Peter, Doug… Paul is a Republican. From a very pro-gun state. Haven’t you found that to be a little suspicious? Just sayin.

Double heh.

In your face

So, a bunch of smug people decide every once in a while to clog streets and intersections in major metropolitan areas. The folks at Critical Mass want you to know how hip and green they are so much so that they’re willing to be total assholes about it. So, like a bunch of open carry activists, they decide to be a minor curiosity to your otherwise uneventful day. Now, I appreciate the plight of the Heck’s Angels but can you guys be, say, less douchebaggy about it?

In New York, such douchebaggery got one Heck’s Angel face-planted. Now, being a douchebag is typically not a face-plant worthy offense. Still, I can’t help holding back a minor giggle while wagging my shaming finger at the officer involved. Said officer who should be charged with assault.

ChrisB in comments regarding a bunch of gun nuts having a debate with the transgendered:

Only on the interweb, could you find such a group of people arguing with each other.

Praise be unto Al Gore for his internets.

During traffic stops. I’d like to see Nagin in the same cell as Fenty.

Another case of criminals posing as police raiding a house.

Toy guns from the past that you’ll never see made today.

You’re both wrong: Real men carry single-action CZs.

It’s like five months ago all over again.

Back in February, Chris wrote an epic primer entitled So, you want to buy a 1911? A basic primer.

To which, PDB wrote the much shorter Glock Primer.

Now, Xavier has penned A Guide To Your First 1911.

And Ahab has a guide for Glocks/Beretta/etc.

Heh. Every thing old is new again.

But they all come back.

Kim has announced he’s giving up blogging. Again.

What can be done to Fenty?

Personally, I’d like to see some upstart FBI agent arrest him for deprivation of rights under color of law.

Tom in comments:

Hate crimes are, in a very real sense, a form of terrorism, because the target is much wider than just the people you directly attack/harm. You’re attempting to intimidate or otherwise “send a message” to an entire group. In a certain sense, the people you kill are the collateral damage, while the survivors are the intended victims.

I concur. That said, you’ve established motive. Should be used as evidence to prosecute. Case closed.

Now, do I think a hate crime should carry excessive sentences? No. Because you’re then punishing thought. Look what the Hell is happening in Canada if you want to go down this road.

I don’t think Tom disagrees.

Another issue with hate crimes is they seem to be crimes that can only be committed by white men.

Aunt B. says it can be considered domestic terrorism.

And all you people who are saying the church shooting was Rush Limbaugh/Bill O’Reilly/Karl Rove/Insert Right Wing Bogeyman’s fault are morons. And you people seeking to reinstate the fairness doctrine for this reason are totalitarian morons.