Furthering the discussion prompted in Joe's post here (read the comments) I point you to a must-read (and a real knee-slapper IMO)-- a recent piece by Williams, in which he catalogs just a few highlights from the never-ending string of end-of-the-world predictions coming from "authorities" on climate and economics.

(And we gun owners are often called paranoid)

I grew up hearing many of these prophecies of doom, and what's a kid to do other than believe them in a time when there was no opposition in the media, and a time (then as now) when the public schools were parroting them as gospel?  What's a kid to do with a mind full of such doom and gloom, other than become cynical about the world, fearful and somewhat hopeless about the future?

Those who perpetrate such idiocy, besides being liars and scoundrels, are practicing child abuse.  Most of the people so abused will never realize that they're being abused-- they'll just live in fear of the world and in hatred of their fellow ("Earth destroying") human beings.  I finally figured it out, and it's part of why I'm now in such vociferous opposition to the lefty-loon-cultists who spread this trash.  I can't get my childhood back, but I can help fight the continuing abuse.

"Oh, but can we afford to ignore these dire predictions?" you might say.  OK.  Can we afford to ignore the fact that you <i>may</i> be a child rapist?  Do we have to wait for you to actually rape a child in front of witnesses before we incarcerate you?  Wouldn't that be unfair to your potential victim(s)?  Shouldn't we save your potential victims in advance?

Stupid, isn't it?  This country was founded to protect human rights-- not save the planet from dwindling resources, or to control the weather, etc..  With our freedom protected-- our ability to act in our own interests, unimpeded and un-harassed, we will have the best chance of successfully overcoming life's challenges.

The Bill of Rights was never thought necessary by the Federalists, other than as a tool to placate Anti-Federalist resistance to the new constitution. While rejection of militia-powers amendments demonstrates that the Bill of Rights did not address each and every Anti-Federalist concern, the Second Amendment did at least address a different concern: the individual right to arms.

Demands for a bill of rights prevailed in five of seven constitutional ratifying conventions. The only provisions common to all were freedom of religion and the right to arms. New Hampshire’s convention demanded recognition that "Congress shall never disarm any citizen, unless such as are or have been in actual rebellion."

Alan Gura
Robert A. Levy
Clark M. Neily III
February 24, 2008
Respondent's brief on Writ Of Certiorari to the United States Court Of Appeals for the District Of Columbia Circuit.

There are two items that I have been feeling guilty about since returning from the NRA convention:

1. I didn't thank Jeff @ Damnum Absque Injuria for all the rides he gave me while in Louisville. He also straightened out a few legal issues where I, and occasionally others, wandered off into the wilderness where we didn't know what we were talking about. I really appreciated his contributions to my enjoyment of the event.
2. I didn't post the complete story of the startup of the Palouse Pink Pistols in conjuction with The Lewiston Pistol Club and Fred Phelps. I told Bitter, Kevin, and Sebastian the short version on Sunday night but, being a detail person, I have been feeling guilty for not getting all the minutiae out for everyone to read.

My involvement with the The Pink Pistols

Most all of my readers should know what the Pink Pistols is all about. But before there was the Pink Pistols there was Cease Fear. I was a "foot soldier" in the earliest days of Cease Fear (named by Ray Carter as a play on the name of the anti-gun group Washington Cease Fire). Some of that back story can be found here and here. It was also during my time with Cease Fear that I came up with The Jews In The Attic Test.

After the Pink Pistols took off some people I knew from the gun clubs in the Moscow Idaho area (where I live) formed the Palouse Pink Pistols (and here). I was asked if I would like to help out. I'm straight but the Pink Pistols don't reject membership on the basis of sexual orientation and I happily agreed.

Coincidentally with the formation of the Palouse Pink Pistols Fred Phelps showed up in Moscow for some reason. Also coincidentally, I was the IPSC match director for one month at the Lewiston Pistol Club when the designated person and their backup were both out of town on match day. I took full advantage of the alignment of the stars.

I needed four stages for the match. Three I could design myself and the fourth had to come from a list of "Classifiers" from the USPSA. I designed the stages with a Pink Pistols theme. The stages were Palouse Pink Pistols Practice, Queer Alley, and No Rest For The Wicked.

The names might have been enough, but the stage descriptions removed all doubt about what this was about.

From Palouse Pink Pistols Practice:

START POSITION: In pickup A, door shut, driver’s side window open with loaded gun on the seat.

While returning from an anti-Fred Phelps (owner of the web site http://www.godhatesfags.com/) rally in Moscow Idaho you see something suspicious on the side of the road and park your pickup behind a pickup that was apparently filed with drunk frat boys who are now tying someone to a fence post across the road. Three of them are approaching you and the closest one to you has a tire iron in his hand and tells you, “Move along, it’s just a couple of fags.”

On signal engage T1, T2, and T3 with two rounds each through the open window (door may be open or closed). Engage T4 and T5 with at least two rounds each. Set gun down and use the ‘dropped’ knife of the attacker to cut the hostage free (-10 procedural for each cut on the no-shoot). Set the knife down, pick up gun and engage T6 and T7 with at least one round each. Between the signal and the last round fired the shooter must shout “Pick on someone your own caliber!” (-10 procedural for failure to perform).

From Queer Alley:

START POSITION: Standing in front of T1 with your right hand on the down range shoulder of the no-shoot.

One night you and your companion are returning home from the protest against Fred Phelps visit to town. You walk by a narrow alley. A thug grabs your companion and starts to push them into the alley where you notice several other thugs are waiting for you. You engage them before they engage you. PP1 and PP2 represent the headlights of the car they are using for light.

From No Rest For The Wicked:

The story line is that you had let your guard down and two armed scumbags got the drop on you. They have told you they don't like the color of your skin, eyes, your sexual orientation, the shape of your head, and the way you part your hair. After they take your money they are going to make some creative changes to your appearance. Just before they get you up against the wall a strange sound (which sounds a lot like an IPSC timer) distracts them for a moment. You take advantage of distraction and make some creative changes in their appearance. You must alternate between them to make sure neither of them has a extra moment to modify your features.

For the final stage I chose one essentially at random from the USPSA list. My criteria was that it had to be one we had the proper equipment for and that we hadn't shot for at least a few months. I choose Steel One. In another instance of the stars magically aligning just right the start position of this stage was, "Standing in Box A with back to targets, toes of both feet against rear fault line of Box A, hands on knees."

At the time no one believed me and perhaps no one even today will believe me but this is the complete truth. Until I was reading the stage description and everyone started laughing as I demonstrated the start position I had no idea this stage was also "in theme".

Realizing the formation of the Pink Pistols and our themed pistol match was newsworthy I contacted the Lewiston Morning Tribune. They didn't send any reporters for the match but they did contact me and the founders of the Palouse Pink Pistols for phone interviews. This is the article that appeared in the paper a few days later. The AP picked up the story and published a shorter version of it. That lead to me being contacted by Matt Rosenberg who wrote an similarly themed editorial for the Seattle Times a few months later.

The big lesson I would like for people to learn from this story is that gun owners can get favorable press. Boomershoot with all the potential hazards of  "assault weapons", "snipers", "sniper rifles", and "bombs" has been successfully pitched to the public as what it really is. People from all walks of life who are, in essence, having an early 4th of July celebration of freedom. In the same way with all the hazardous of "vigilante justice", "cowboys", and "angry red-necked white guys" potentially associated with a pistol match where people shoot at human shaped targets we were able to get it portrayed, as it actually is, just ordinary people having fun and practicing to defend innocent life from bodily harm.

It wasn't that hard, it didn't take that much extra work, and the positive media coverage reached 100s of thousands of people.

I've thought about making this comparison for quite some time but never got around to it. Tech Paladin does the topic justice.

It must be hard to keep moral up when they are being crushed. Even as they are waving the white flag they are saying they are going to win:

While the Brady Campaign is waving the white flag in the long-running debate on whether the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms or merely a state's right to assemble a militia, it is hoping that losing the "legal battle" will eventually lead to gun control advocates winning the "political war."

"We're expecting D.C. to lose the case," Helmke said. "But this could be good from the standpoint of the political-legislative side."

I won't consider the war over until we start putting some of these people, the politicians, and the police in jail over this deprivation of rights that has been going on for decades.

I can always tell when I get a call from someone in the U.S. military.  They've planned the call, so they get right to the point without humming and hawing or getting off onto irrelevant tangents.  They're always lucid, and communicate easily.  They know and use the standard phonetic alphabet (really important with a bad cellular connection):

Alpha
bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliette
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-ray
Yankee
Zulu

(Memorize these.  There are only 26 of them and they can save you from communication errors over and over)

Plus they're always patient and respectful.  No exceptions.

Now, shall we talk about your average college student?  No thanks-- I'm in a good mood and don't want to spoil it.

STI just announced the GP6 has been approved for import and the first shipment has sold out before the boat even reached the shore. They are suggesting it will be an excellent USPSA Production division gun.

From their website:

With the GP6, STI International, Inc. delivers a compact SA/DA polymer pistol which serves equally well either on or off duty. With its integrated tactical rails, it is equally suitable for Military, Law Enforcement or Civilian carry.

Built on a light weight, highly durable polymer (Polyamide GF 30) frame, the GP6 incorporates integrated tactical rails and textured side panels, front and rear straps. The GP6’s all steel slide is tri-topped with front and rear cocking serrations and features a fixed 3 dot sight system. The controls consist of ambi-thumb safeties, an ambi–slide release, firing pin safety, and a user configurable magazine release for equal ease of use in either right or left handed configuration. The barrel is 4.25” in length featuring an innovative rotational lock up system. Long term durability testing units have fired more than 110,000 shots without any change in internal geometry. The GP6 comes standard with a storage case, 2 magazines, and sight keys.

The GP6 is currently available exclusively in 9mm.

In competition I shoot a STI gun, I carry a STI gun and you should too.

I wasn't going to do this because I was very busy when the NRA offered me another wheelbarrow full of cash. But Sebastian has a good point. I'll add a link from some of my other websites soon.

Barack Obama on guns. It's not a pretty picture for gun owners. And of course he claims he supports the Second Amendment. But he voted and campaigned against gun ownership before he was for it then he whined about people clinging to their guns. And don't forget that he thinks cities and communities should be able to make their own gun laws that meet their circumstances and needs. That concept has just as much merit now as it did decades ago.

Via a link to a young woman with a Tommy Gun from Uncle I found the more interesting (for me) video on guns in Hollywood and in particular the Miami Vice scene. I made a post on that scene 20 months ago and it still gets residual hits nearly every day from all over the world.

Pennsylvania’s longstanding constitutional recognition of an individual right to bear arms in defense of self and state and its colonial and early state history inform any inquiry into the meaning of the Second Amendment. The impetus for adding the Bill of Rights to the Constitution came from the states, among which Pennsylvania was an important motivating force. The right to bear arms in self-defense is as important today as ever. The Second Amendment recognizes an individual, and fundamental, right to own a gun for self-defense.

John P. Krill
February 11, 2008
D.C. v. Heller
Brief for amicus curiae the President Pro Tempore of the Senate of Pennsylvania, Joseph B. Scarnati, III, in support of respondent.
[It was 7:00 AM this morning, I was half asleep, almost listening to the news when I heard something about the Supreme Court and the D.C. ban. I jumped out of bed and ran to the computer to get more news. Google News didn't have anything and I anxiously watched the SCOTUS blog live for information. Nothing on Heller today. But the ruling is expected be sometime this month. Until then I'll be quoting D.C. v Heller briefs every day.--Joe]

Phil has the details. I'll be there if I'm available.

Bigots like Mayor Greg Nickels must be confronted and put in their place. Imagine the uproar if it was Jews or homosexuals that would be ordered to leave or be charged with trespassing if discovered on city property. That is the attitude we must have and we must communicate to these people. We must make it politically untenable for these bigots to spout their venom in public.

I'll let you know if I hear anything new.

In many cases, firearms confiscation followed only after the groundwork was laid by purportedly "reasonable" regulation and registration of firearms. History illustrates just how readily the standardless "reasonable" regulation of firearms invites large scale abuse by the state and ultimately paves the way for wholesale confiscation of arms and the mass slaughter of the disarmed (much like the massive censorship that likely would arise under a rule permitting "reasonable" regulation of speech and press).

Daniel L. Schmutter
February 8, 2008
D.C. v. Heller
Brief of amicus curiae Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership in support of respondent.

Via an email from Kevin I receive a this link about a couple of books. One book is about a couple that attempts to have sex for 100 consecutive days and another that attempts to go for 365 days straight. While interesting I'm disappointed they didn't succeed in their efforts and they basically gave up after they past their goal lines:

Today, the Browns report they have sex approximately six times a month, or double their frequency before their adventure. The Mullers decline to discuss their habits, except to say that they fall well within the national average. And, Brad said, the sex is better. “It made it much easier to be open to the idea, more spontaneous,” he said, “So you don’t go back to that always gaming for it and always trying to get out of it.”

Wimps.

A friend of mine claims it's a rare day when he didn't have sex once in the morning and once at night with his various girl friends, as they came and went, and now with his wife.

Barb and I are somewhat restricted by our distance from each other but still, on a monthly basis, we easily surpass the Browns and probably the Mullers.

Dr. Joe wonders if they are getting sufficient treatments to even maintain their present health. I would recommend at least doubling the dosage.

The Seattle PI had an opinion piece where they said:

Mayor Greg Nickels' plan to forbid guns on a host of city properties is a measured response to the gunshot injuries to two people at Seattle Center during the Folklife celebration.

...

The city would ask people legally carrying concealed weapons not to bring the guns into city parks, community centers and other city facilities. Anyone discovered with a gun could be asked to leave under trespassing statutes.

...

He represents his city well on the issue.

I responded in the comments with:

Posted by Joe Huffman at 6/9/08 10:30 p.m.

I have Just One Question for the editorial board and the mayor:

Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?

This yielded a response of:

unkanny at 6/10/08 12:24 p.m.

Airports, airplanes. Divorce court. You're welcome.

My response:

Posted by Joe Huffman at 6/10/08 4:05 p.m.

unkanny said,
Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?

Airports, airplanes. Divorce court. You're welcome.

Do you have any data to support your claims?

I can and do leagally carry a concealed weapons at most aiports. So you are ignorant if you believe there are restrictions in most areas of most U.S. airports.

Your claim in the case for airplanes is refuted by just one example: The planes hijacked on 9/11/2001 had weapons restrictions enforced which made it extremely difficult for the victims to fight back.

As for divorce courts supply us the safety data number before and after weapons restrictions were implemented and then we can discuss it.

I don't expect a response but we'll see...

Update: No response to my reply but I added this comment to the thread:

Once Mayor Nickels has established a precedent of discriminating against constitutionally protected individuals carrying firearms perhaps he will expand the list of undesirables to Jews, homosexuals, and people involved in mixed race marriages.

Bigotry is an ugly thing. Don't let Nickels and the PI editorial board get away with it.

Snoqualmie Pass is getting snow today. Probably not so much that I can't make it home on Friday but of interest because its so unusual for this time of year. It is snowing in Moscow Idaho (my home) and the Boomershoot site too. Maybe I should schedule Boomershoot 2009 for July 4^th so the snow will be light enough the roads will be plowed and people can make it without snowmobiles.

Crank up those coal fired power plants and rev the engines in your trucks while waiting at traffic lights--we need to head off the next ice age.

Either Al Gore has crap for brains and/or his motivation is solely for political gain.

Update: Daughter Kim says not to blame Al Gore:

From: Kimberly
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:10 AM
To: Barbara Scott; James Huffman-Scott; Joe Huffman; Xenia Joy

I apologize for the snow it was my fault I cut the dogs hair yesterday

Update2: From my weather advisory email alert:

OROFINO/GRANGEVILLE REGION-
135 PM PDT TUE JUN 10 2008

...SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM PDT WEDNESDAY ABOVE 3500 FEET...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 3500 FEET...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM PDT WEDNESDAY.

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING ABOVE 4000 FEET AND OVER THE WHITE BIRD GRADE ON HIGHWAY 95. ELEVATIONS DOWN TO 3500 FEET...INCLUDING THE CITY OF GRANGEVILLE...CAN EXPECT TO SEE ACCUMULATIONS UP TO AN INCH.

A SNOW ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

This could mean certain types of crops in the area will be killed by the cold.

Something the global warming doomsday people ignore is that, typically, farm yields are better with abnormally warm weather than abnormally cold weather. Hence to be on the safe side of things we should try to push things in the direction of excess heating rather than risk excess cooling.

I don't have a T.V. in my Seattle area bunker so the only shows I watch are DVD sci-fi stuff with James (we just started the third season of Farscape).

With Barb I watch DVDs/on-line stuff like:

• Bones She is extremely smart, likes guns, and is hyper-rational--where was Temperance when I was a freshman in college and looking for a mate?
• Columbo He's like a puppy dog wagging his tail and digging holes in the yard--but what the murders don't know is that he's placing land mines (from the episode "How to Dial a Murder").
• Medium Just accept the premise and enjoy the show.

Barb and I might have to add Swingtown to our list of things to watch while in bed (together).

The following review came to me from someone who picked it up from a email list they subscribe to. This was in response to a comment where someone said they had never been to a party that they didn't know what was going on before they arrived.

I thought it did a pretty fair job of portraying reality without being hostile to swingers. The biggest thing I noticed was that, as with nearly all Hollywood, the time scale was sped up dramatically. From the time a newbie couple was told by people they had just met they were swingers until they decided to participate there would be a lot more time and talking involved rather than just a few glances and walking off to the back bedroom with the experienced couple.

I do know of a case where a couple had monthly parties and the next door neighbors asked why they were never invited. The hosting couple told them to just show up next time--without telling them the nature of the party. The neighbors did show up, figured things out after a half hour or so and left--never to ask about attending again. So, I know it does happen.

The bottom line is I think the writers know a lot about swinging. I think they either have been involved or did a lot of research with people who are or have been involved. I think in order to make the show interesting they will, of necessity, have to introduce stress of some sort into the characters and situations. In the pilot they introduced characters who will enable them to do that. The reality of swinging is not the utopia we would like it to be (neither is monogamy or anything else). The writers of the show will have to exaggerate reality some and create conflicts to make things interesting. I believe it's possible they can do this without making swingers out to be immoral perverts and I think they have made a good first step toward that goal. I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Man catches girlfriend's sex romp on mobile call:

The court was told that the girl named Toni Milton sat on her cell phone by mistake while having sex with her old flame, and thereby unknowingly dialled the number of Neil O’Brien.

She came to know about the blunder only when she heard the muffled sounds of O’Brien.

Not knowing who was on the other side, she said “Hello”, and heard O’Brien shouting in rage.

"I take it we’re finished, then?" British tabloid The Sun quoted O’Brien as shouting.

Angered by what his girlfriend had done, O’Brien drove 15 miles to her home, beat her up in her bedroom and smashed up her possessions.

Just wait until your cell phone GPS can be queried remotely and without your permission.

How can an individual be free if he is unable to secure his own home? Never did the founding fathers intend our citizenry to be reliant on an overreaching, all inclusive government to protect our individual rights. Rather, the powers of the government were to be limited so that the government served the people, not that the people served the government.

Jeanette M. Moll
Ohio Concealed Carry Permitholders and the U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation.
D.C. v. Heller brief for amici curiae in support of respondent.

Via the Para website:

You can help send your favorite gun blogger to summer camp at Blackwater USA with world class shooter and instructor Todd Jarrett... and have a chance to win a invitation for yourself as well. Para USA, along with Blackwater, USA is sponsoring a weekend of first class instruction at the most exclusive training facility in the United States.

The top ten gun bloggers in our contest will get an invitation to shoot a special Para pistol and learn the secrets of a World Champion from Todd Jarrett. Blackwater USA is hosting the event at their facility in North Carolina. Gun Blogger Michael Bane and a video crew will record the event for Down Range TV.

Best of all, by voting for your favorite gun blogger, your name will be put into a drawing for an invitation to this exclusive event. That’s right 10 gun bloggers, and maybe you could spend a weekend learning the shooting secrets of the best shooter in the world.

The Para-Blackwater Gun Bloggers weekend will be August 22-24, 2008. Invitees must provide their own transportation to Norfolk, Virginia. Firearms, ammunition, accessories, room and board during the event will be provided by the sponsors. Participants must be 21 years or older and legally able to own and shoot a handgun.

Act now, voting ends July 1st! Winners will be annouced in early July. You may only vote once in this contest.

You want to see Todd Jarrett blow up a car by shooting at it, don't you?

And I'm sure I can find excuses why you shouldn't vote for anyone else, for example, that last time I talked to Kevin he had has a project he has to finish up in late August anyway so he won't be able to make it.

Barb has to work that weekend so we will be celebrating our anniversary another weekend anyway.

Pretend you are a democrat and vote early, vote often, and vote for ME!!! I'm listed as "The View From North Central Idaho" near the bottom of the list.

Hobbes believed that the primary purpose for which societies are formed was to enhance the ability to protect oneself, and as such, the first law of nature could never be compromised, altered or diminished by any contract establishing that society. This right was so fundamental that it was deemed unalienable: "A covenant not to defend myself from force, by force, is always void."

James R. Schaller
D.C. v. Heller
Brief of International Scholars as amici curiae in support of respondent.
[Having not read Hobbes (shame on me) I have always said this differently. Instead I have said, "Self defense is a right all species on this planet have claimed for all time." This brief is interesting for other reasons as well. They explain in great detail how the anti-gun bigots who filed briefs in support of the D.C. gun ban are also liars.--Joe]

Amici have no fears that upholding the rights of law-abiding citizens to possess handguns and other functional defensive firearms in their homes will endanger law enforcement officers. Police in the District are killed at a rate about six times higher than the national rate, a statistic that hardly suggests that the District’s ban on law-abiding citizens protecting their homes has helped protect the police.

David B. Kopel
D.C. v. Heller
Brief of The International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA), The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI), Maryland State Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police, Southern States Police Benevolent Association, 29 Elected California District Attorneys, San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association, Long Beach Police Officers Association, Texas Police Chiefs Association, Texas Municipal Police Association, New York State Association of Auxiliary Police, Mendocino County, Calif., Sheriff Thomas D. Allman, Oregon State Rep. Andy Olson, National Police Defense Foundation, Law Enforcement Alliance of America, and The Independence Institute as amici curiae in support of respondent.
[Kopel rocks with the numbers in this brief. This is an excellent source for exploding many of the fallacies used by the anti-gun bigots against us.--Joe]

A critical step in interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection of the privileges and immunities of national citizens and of life, liberty, and property is to understand the evils its Framers sought to remedy. Among the many evils those Framers sought to cure, the systematic violation of the freedmen’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms was prominent.

The evidence of such concern is extensive. While Congress was drafting and considering the proposed Fourteenth Amendment and two pieces of interim legislation -- the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill -- it received considerable testimony and evidence regarding the disarming of freedmen by state and local governments and militias.

Steven M. Simpson
February 11, 2008
D.C. versus Heller
Brief for the Institute for Justice as Amicus Curiae in support of respondent.
[There is some really good stuff in this brief explaining the 14^th Amendment was initiated because the right to keep and bear arms was being infringed upon by the states. This is setting the stage for applying the 2^nd Amendment to the states and cities.--Joe]

The Second Amendment’s historical self-defense purpose should be used to define the scope of its protections. In our view, the Second Amendment protects the right to own firearms of a kind that are commonly used for self-defense by law-abiding individuals. We do not doubt that the government can outlaw private ownership of unusually destructive or exotic weapons. But private ownership of all handguns cannot be prohibited because handguns are the kind of weapon best suited for and most commonly owned for the purpose of self-defense.

Richard K. Willard
D.C. versus Heller
Brief Amicus Curiae Of The Heartland Institute in support of respondent.

Son James sent me this link--British government vows tougher knife laws. My response was, "Its not Great Britain. Its not mediocre Britain. Its pathetic Britain."

A small sample of the pathetically stupid:

Until now, warnings were given to most of those under the age of 18 found with knives. With the change, anyone 16 or over who carries a knife with a blade longer than 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) will be prosecuted. Those convicted face a penalty of up to four years in prison.

"Young people need to understand that carrying knives doesn't protect you, it does the opposite — it increases the danger for all of us, destroys young lives and ruins families," Brown said.

And a sample of the police state being implemented:

London's new mayor, Boris Johnson, has also vowed to crack down on knife crime. His proposals include airport-style metal-detecting arches at train and subway stations. London police recently began an aggressive new program to search anyone they wish for knives without having to justify their suspicions beforehand.

Nor may the government justify a ban on a particular firearm simply by claiming to allow the possession of others. While it is a dubious proposition that Petitioners allow individuals any firearms for private home use, the government’s compliance with the Constitution by allowing rifles would not permit the government to violate the Constitution by banning handguns--any more than the government could prohibit books because it permits newspapers and considers them an "adequate substitute."

Alan Gura
Robert A. Levy
Clark M. Neily III
February 24, 2008
RESPONDENT’S BRIEF
On Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit