A few local elections had some surprising results. A few incumbents thought safe lost. I wonder if this pattern will continue in national politics?

A list of gun-related contests from around the internet.

New from Tactical Solutions. Good niche. The Advantage Arms 22 conversions are nearly impossible to find.

What are these idiots thinking:

Let’s pretend you are a member of a gun club. Keith Olbermann attacks you because you’re going to allow right-of-center folks to come to your shooting range to shoot guns & very possibly say less than pleasant things about far left policies & socialism. Why would you cave to Keith Olbermann? He’s not your friend. He doesn’t even believe in the Second Amendment and declared SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia as the “Worst Person in the World” for writing the Heller opinion.

Apparently, if you’re on the board of Elstonville Sportsmen’s Association, you vote to cave to Keith Olbermann. Really?

Via Alan, I’ve seen this mentioned before:

In February, the White House released its “Annual Report on the Middle Class” containing new regulations favored by Big Labor including a bailout of critically underfunded union pension plans through “retirement security” options.

The radical solution most favored by Big Labor is the seizure of private 401(k) plans for government disbursement — which lets them off the hook for their collapsing retirement scheme. And, of course, the Obama administration is eager to accommodate their buddies.

I rather doubt it. I’ve not seen any sort of bill or push to make this happen but it seems enough people are concerned that it’s an option. But it seems to be a big bogeyman that a lot of folks float out there. These claims are usually tied to some proposal.

This would be catastrophic for a few reasons. First, a good portion of funds invested in the market are now government property. Second, if you tried to take money from folks’ plans, they’d just take their money out of the plans. And third, they’d probably kill you for trying.

After all, they want to take over and leave everyone alone. Interesting look at words that people view positively or negatively. Militia is less popular than socialism. And states’ rights beat progressive. The progressives will be along soon to tell us about code words and racism.

Pics and a video at Laurel’s.

To tell them how they can keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists. The answer is you can’t. You can, however, make it harder for the law-abiding to get guns, which is the goal.

A look at the record setting sniper’s gun.

Two men, one with a grenade and one with a gun, board a bus and proceed to rob folks. Passengers kick the guy with the grenade out the door then beat the gunman to death. Bravo. H/t guav

This is my shocked face:

A conservative think tank and criminal defense lawyers are forming an unusual alliance to try to get Congress to quit writing criminal laws so loosely that they subject innocent people to unjust prosecution and prison.

A new study by the Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers finds that nearly two dozen federal laws enacted in 2005 and 2006 to combat nonviolent crime lack an adequate provision that someone accused of violating the laws must have had a “guilty mind,” or criminal intent.

“It is a fundamental principle of criminal law that, before criminal punishment can be imposed, the government must prove both a guilty act and a guilty mind,” the groups said in the report.

Even when Congress includes a “guilty mind” provision in a law, “it is often so weak that it does not protect defendants from punishment for making honest mistakes,” or committing minor transgressions, the report said.

Well, one source of revenue is about as special as it gets.

Good for the ACLU. Some of us knew that two years ago.

A phaser. It’s more set to tickle than kill. But still popping a balloon is pretty cool.

A Henry 22 from NRA here.

Breaking. No injuries.

Update: News is saying it may have been an aerosol can.

Michael Silence rounds up flood relief efforts and charities.

It was not stolen. You lost it.

Mayor Bloomberg:

If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown, or maybe a mentally deranged person, or somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.

Well, you were right about the anything.

The latest Shooting Illustrated had instructions on how to build an AR15. I was a bit surprised by that since those sorts of projects don’t usually make the gun rags. I haven’t found an online version yet. I will note that my preference is to use vice grips that have the lips covered in tape to drive the pins instead of hammers and punches. Fewer scratches that way.

Everyone told me it wasn’t the Taliban but it was the Talibubba.

Looks like a Pakistani has been arrested in relation to the failed car bombing in Times Square.

Update: In comments, Nylar notes that the guy used the car show loophole.

An interesting omission.

For the NRA meeting in Charlotte, Breda is putting together a little social get together. If you plan on attending, get thee hence and RSVP. I hear some folks you may have heard of might be there.

Some of us who couldn’t wait shelled out $200 for one when they first came out. Others waited and got them for $20.

Pics and a report. And a video of why I never want Mr. C. shooting at me.

Greg:

I am truly amazed that even the most hell-bent-on-being-biased newspaper could muster the nerve to print something so mind-blowingly idiotic.

A comparison that I’ve made many times before.

Other than the feds requiring it, yes:

If you invented a device that could make any firearm both safer and more accurate, you’d probably expect to win praise from both sides of the political spectrum, and make a fortune in the process. You might even expect the federal government to pass regulations requiring such a safety device for all firearms and making it difficult or illegal to operate a firearm without one. You would be wrong.

Via Oleg, comes this charming bit on the NRA annual meeting. First, he’s wrong. NRA doesn’t ban guns there. The rules and laws for the venue, however, do. Being in North Carolina, carry laws are pretty strict compared to other carry states. But enough people have complained about it this year that, hopefully, going forward NRA will factor in carry laws and the venue before committing to a city.

Also, metal detectors? Really?

David Hardy on where we’re at.