If you haven't already done so you should make yourself heard on the issue of firearms in National Parks. Our opponents are not quiet on the topic and we must not be either. Here is what the bigots are saying:

The NRA Wants Loaded Guns in Parks. What do YOU Want?

That's right, guns in parks. LOADED guns in parks. For some reason, the NRA thinks it's a great idea to let anyone and everyone possess loaded weapons in our national parks. Visitor safety? Who cares, right? You care. And you know that our current policies are smart and sound, and protect the rights of gun owners and visitors' safety equally. Allowing loaded guns in parks poses a threat to wildlife, park visitors, and puts our already over-burdened park rangers at even greater risk. The Bush Administration has opened up the regulations for comment. If they want comments, let's not disappoint them. Submit your comments TODAY and tell them to keep the current regulations in place. Take action!

Here is what they are suggesting people say on the topic:

Millions of visitors visit our national parks each year. They visit the parks because they offer a glimpse into America's heritage. They offer the unique opportunity for families to experience peace and reflect in a safe environment. But opening the national parks to loaded weapons could change that forever.

Today's national security threats make the protection of these iconic places and the millions of people from around the world who visit them a serious concern deserving of special vigilance. Requiring guns to be stored and unloaded is no more onerous a limitation on the rights of law-abiding citizens than requiring them to be searched or pass through a metal detector to enter a federal building.

We cannot put the safety of visitors at risk because of the political agenda of one organization. I urge you to keep the current regulations in place.

There is a big difference between the interior of a federal building with armed law enforcement close by and the deep woods of some national park. Here are some hints. These are actual pictures I took in a National Park:

Here is the actual proposed regulation change.

Here, here and here is the best advice I have seen on what to say to our Washington D.C. servants.

Here is the electronic submission form.

Do the right thing and don't let the bigots win this one.

Update June 24, 10:00 AM: The event is now 88% full. There are only nine positions still available.

The day before yesterday (Saturday) I opened up registration for staff to select their positions in Boomershoot 2009. This is the last weekend of April which is over 11 months from now.

Yesterday (Sunday) at 2:02 PM I opened up registration and sent an email to participants of Boomershoot 2008.

Later in the day I sent out email to gun bloggers that had expressed an interest.

By noon today the event was over 75% full.

Today at 4:37 PM I sent an email to the Boomershoot announcement list telling them registration was open.

Currently the event is 84% full with just 12 positions still available.

Sign up soon if you want to attend.

Here is the email I sent to the announcement list:

Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 4:37 PM
To: BoomerShoot@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [BoomerShoot] Boomershoot 2009 registration is open.

 

Sign up here: http://entry.boomershoot.org/

 

Yesterday I sent out email to 2008 participants and the event is now over three-fourths full. Sign up soon if you want to participate.

 

The position numbers are unchanged since last year.

 

Prices went up this year. The cost of the ammonium nitrate, the primary ingredient in the explosives, went up by a factor of over 3.5. The prices of the other components also went up. I don't need to tell you about the price of gasoline which makes trips to the site for preparations and site improvements much more expensive.

 

I thought the price for the 2008 dinner was high at $26/plate. When we were confirming the prices for 2009 we were told $30/plate. This caused a several week delay in opening up registration for 2009 as we looked at numerous cheaper alternatives. We didn't have any good options. We haven't completely given up and Barb and I will be talking to people over the 4th of July weekend when we are in Orofino. We might still find something else but we don't know for certain. We have locked in the $30/plate price and if we can find something better this summer we will give you a refund.

 

Boomershoot improvements planned for this year are:

 

1) Extending the target area at the 375 yard line so more targets can be placed at one time.

2) Enlarging the shooting berm so it is more comfortable for shooters.

3) Increasing the number of targets.

 

One of the constraining factors on the number of targets for Sunday was storage space. Because we held back a large number of targets for "cleanup" that took additional storage space on Saturday night. We have moved cleanup to Friday night. Hence the storage space that was used for cleanup will now be available for additional targets for the main event on Sunday.

 

Keep this in mind when/if you sign up for cleanup. It will not be on Sunday afternoon as it was in the past. It will be sometime Friday evening with the possibility of extending until after dusk when we may do some after dark fireballs.

 

There will probably be a few targets left over on Sunday which will be exclusively for staff use. Some of my staff do not do any shooting during the main event so this is their only chance to shoot boomers.

 

See you next April. It will be a blast!

 

 

Joe Huffman

Boomershoot Event Director

Many Americans at the time of the constitution’s ratification feared that this national government - to be run by an equally unprecedented office of "President" - would become a new source of tyranny, replacing the British crown they had just overthrown. Accordingly, they sought protections from potential tyranny, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the right "to keep and bear arms." While, to some, the notion may seem quaint today, the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the individual right to bear arms ensured that the new national government would not be able to oppress the American people. That guarantee cannot now be read out of the Bill of Rights simply because times have changed.

Lawrence G. Keane
Brief of The National Shooting Sports Foundation, inc., as amicus curiae in support of respondent.
[For people that claim the U.S. is a "living document" that need not be amended to change the meaning ask them if that applies to the 13^th Amendment as well.--Joe]

You can get live blog coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court action this morning if you go here. No guarantee D.C. v. Heller will be released. It could be later this week instead.

Update: Nothing on D.C. v. Heller today. Maybe later this week. Additional hints from the above link:

10:12

Tom Goldstein -  The only opinion remaining from the March sitting is Heller.   The only Justice without a majority opinion from that sitting is Justice Scalia.

10:14

Tom Goldstein -  The Court has announced that it will release opinions against at 10am Wednesday.   Because seven opinions remain, it will almost certainly have one additional day.   Based on past practice, that day likely will be Thursday.

Gun bloggers planning to attend Boomershoot 2009 should send me an email at JoeH@boomershoot.org. I posted about this last month and several people expressed considerable interest but didn't actually say yes.

General announcement of Boomershoot 2009 registration will be made soon. The event fills up very quickly and I want bloggers planning to attend to get a fair shot at getting a position.

The gun control legislation enacted in the District of Columbia in 1976 that banned handguns in the city (“D.C. Gun Control Law”) is an effective law enforcement tool that has promoted the public health and safety by reducing the level of handgun violence in the District of Columbia (“District”). Criminological studies evaluating the effects of the D.C. Gun Control Law have proven that it has reduced the rate of firearm homicides and suicides committed in the District.

Albert W. Wallis
Brief of professors of criminal justice as amici curiae in support of petitioners.
[Typically the District of Columbia, even with the draconian gun laws, has the highest murder rate in the U.S. So one has to wonder just how violent the people of the District of Columbia would be if they could own firearms. One must also wonder why just across the river in Virginia, with far easier access to firearms and the right to bear them in public, those people have such a low rate of violence. It is also worthy of note that they refer to firearm homicides and suicides, not total murder and suicide. I take this to mean they are only concerned if someone is killed, justified or not, with a firearm. Murders by people armed with knives, baseball bats, and broken bottles are not of interest. But this is a brief of professors, they don't work with the real world, that should explain a lot.--Joe]

As widely reported the city council of Montesano passed an ordinance banning gun owners from city parks. The mayor wisely vetoed it. Send your thanks to him. I did:

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2008 2:21 PM
To: 'mayor@montesano.us'
Subject: Thanks for vetoing the ordinance discriminating against gun owners.

What was the council thinking? Once they had established a precedent of discriminating against constitutionally protected individuals carrying firearms were they then going to expand the list of undesirables to Jews, homosexuals, and people involved in mixed race marriages?

Thank you for doing the right thing. 

Joe Huffman
Kirkland, Washington

Joe Waldron sent a copy of this by Julia Gorinto to an email list I'm on. A small sample:

The very ownership of a gun for defense of home and family implies some assertiveness and a certain self-reliance. But if our man kept a gun in the house, and an intruder broke in and started attacking his wife in front of him, he wouldn't be able to later say, "He had a knife--there was nothing I could do!" Passively watching in horror while already trying to make peace with the violent act, scheduling a therapy session and forgiving the perpetrator before the attack is even finished wouldn't be the option it otherwise is.

...

In short, he is a man begging for subjugation. He longs for its promise of equality in helplessness. Because only when that strange, independent alpha breed of male is helpless along with him will he feel adequate. Indeed, his freedom lies in this other man's containment.

There is lots of very powerful stuff in there. Some useful concepts for when you write letters to the editor and politicians.

On July 2^nd (presumably this will be post Heller decision) Stephen P. Halbrook and Don B. Kates, Jr. under the auspices of The Independent Institute will be putting on an What the Second Amendment Means Today in Oakland California.

California in general and to a great extent Oakland in particular is extremely hostile to gun ownership. I wonder if the politicians will get the hint that they are on the wrong side of the issue.

The Apex of the Triangle of Death is selling signs to advertise your bitterness:

They have other signs available too.

There is an interesting article on the status of Akins and his accelerator in the Tampa Tribune.

I hope the ATF gets kicked in the teeth by the judge and jury.

Violent criminals who may view women as easy targets find their jobs far less taxing in communities such as Washington, D.C. Researchers conducting the Institute of Justice Felon Survey confirm the common-sense notion that those wishing to do harm often think closely before confronting an individual who may be armed.

M. Carol Bambery
Brief of amicae curiae 126 women state legislators and academics in support of respondent.
[I found 10 quotes to add to my database in this brief. I'm proud to say that of those 126 women state legislators 12 of them were from Idaho.--Joe]

Petitioners implicitly claim that a typical citizen of the District who can pass a criminal records and mental records background check (such as the National Instant Check System) is at serious risk of committing murder. It is hard to imagine how such a population could be considered fit for home rule.

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.

From our friend Howard in Israel, we get news.

Friends:
 
What really is a tactical ceasefire?
 
I'll answer my own question.
 
It is a 1,000% increased police presence downtown for fear of Hamas terror shifting from Gaza to Israel proper.  Of course we cannot hit back at Hamas in Gaza if there is an attack, say in Jerusalem.  Hitting back would violate the ceasefire.
 
Now armed terrorists are on the Gaza border, literally next to the fence building defensive positions and planting explosives. Prior to 06:00 a terrorist near the border would be shot.
 
Howard

At 06:00 the ceasefire took effect, thus giving Hamas a chance to regroup, rearm, and entrench in preparation for their next string of attacks.  Meanwhile, the missiles have been coming in daily.  Imagine what we would do if, say, the Canadian government had been launching daily missile attacks into the U.S. for the last several years.

"Why can't we all just get along?" you might ask.  Answer; because we're unwilling to face the fact that some people have no interest in getting along.  When we try to get along with them, we're encouraging them to take advantage of our weakness as they will see it.  There should be peace talks alright, after the enemy has been defeated beyond all hope.  The "peace talks" that actually amount to peace are the ones that take place as part of the surrender agreement.  It's all been said before of course, but the True Believers in Washington will discount it as the ravings of the unfaithful.

"All we are saying is give peace a chance" seems to be the motto of the day, borrowing a lyric from John & Yoko.  This form of "giving peace a chance" is in reality nothing more than "giving the enemy a chance" to kill you.

In case you ever wondered.

Scientists have more data and another hypothesis as to why female primates make noise during sex:

Female chimps often cry out during sex to attract nearby males, but they keep quiet when other females are around so they don't alert their competition, a new study finds.

The function of copulation calls made by female primates (a group that includes lemurs, monkeys, and apes, such as humans and chimpanzees, our closest relatives) has been debated for years.

Interesting... so if your female partner is noisy during sex it means she wants more males to join in the fun. I'll bet that is going to make for some interesting pillow talk.

The District’s handgun ban is a reasonable and constitutional restriction because handguns are less effective than other firearms for self-defense. Although they are designed to be more lethal than other firearms, handguns are smaller and harder to shoot accurately.

Daniel G. Jarcho
Brief of Violence Policy Center and the police chiefs for the cities of Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Seattle as amici curiae in support of petitioners.
[Yes, several police chiefs publicly announced their bigotry, ignorance of guns, and stupidly signed on to the brief from the VPC. If not for the seriousness of the matter and that some people might actually believe them the entire brief would be entertaining. Just the two sentences above are open for fisking on the following points:

• There is no constitutional exemption for protection for "less effective" arms.
• Handguns are not designed to be more lethal than other firearms (I thought the VPC wanted .50-caliber/"assault-weapons"/semi-autos/normal-capacity-magazines/"Saturday-Night-Specials" banned because it they were the most lethal).
• Handguns are carried by virtually all law enforcement officers in the U.S. because they are effective for self-defense.

Reading the brief I just have to shake my head in wonder at nearly every sentence. They are ignorant of the history firearm technology or hope their revision of it will not be noticed by others. Sometimes consecutive sentences contradict each other. They live in an alternate reality and/or they have mental problems.--Joe]

"We don’t appreciate being heels," Clark* said, pointing out the pain it takes to tell an elderly widow who is living alone "that even though your husband bought the gun legally and registered it properly, you can’t keep it. Why that makes an innocent citizen a crook."

It was a theme heard often in D.C. today, and surprisingly, it seems to gall policemen more than anybody else.

"You’re not controlling guns, you’re controlling people," said Sgt. Jimmy King, a veteran robbery squad investigator.

"Honest citizens, the little old lady who’s not hurting anybody anyway is the real victim. We’re not stopping these bums killing each other, us, or committing armed robberies."

...

Like most officers, King believes the court is the real answer.

"The court is not enforcing the laws we already have on the books," he said, explaining: "There’s a law on the books today which allows a five-year additional sentence for any crime committed while armed, but it’s not enforced."

King’s sentiments were echoed throughout police headquarters and by officers on the streets.

"I don’t know why they bother to make new laws, they don’t enforce the old ones," said Fourth District Officer Andrew Way as he wrote a parking ticket yesterday.

Earl Byrd
D.C.’s Gun Registration
Wash. Star
Dec. 2, 1976
*Officer David Clark, one of two officers in charge of registration for the Gun Control Section of the D.C. police.
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 in D.C. v. Heller.
[The police in D.C. were not always parroting what the Mayor told them to say.--Joe]

In response to this (re: The Left)

"Ideological descendants of Marx and Rousseau now lead the Democratic Party and they have turned it into a disloyal opposition to an increasingly accommodating GOP.

...a pseudo-intellectual sinkhole filled with perverse, tried-and-failed ideas repulsive to the majority of Americans."

Kim comments today:

"Tried-and-failed"… I must remember to use that one the next time I have to explain to some Lefty puke why socialism is a really bad idea."

It won't work.  History will not touch a socialist.  All past failures happened because the wrong people were in charge.  It's like trying to convince someone that his perpetual motion generator will never, ever work.  He knows, from direct observation, that it came extremely close on his last try.

That no one else ever made it work is proof of nothing.  There is a first time for everything, and our inventor knows, deep down, that he has the right idea.  The right idea will work.  Somehow it will work.  It must.  Then the major problems of the ages will be solved.  Just... need.... to keep... tweaking.

The problem with the socialist and with the perpetual motion inventor is they both fail to understand basic laws of nature.  Their theories violate those laws.  End of story.

The perpetual motion inventor I can tolerate-- he stays out of my face.  I can laugh at him from a distance and he'll leave me alone.

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
D.C. versus Heller
Brief for the Institute for Justice as Amicus Curiae in support of respondent.

In this country the people have the guns. This gives them the ultimate power. And this is likely to be confirmed on Friday by the SCOTUS. That isn't the case in some places:

Robert Mugabe gave warning yesterday that he would not cede power if he loses next week’s election to the Opposition in his most explicit statement yet of his refusal to respect the result.

State-controlled media reported his comments to supporters at an election rally, the latest in a series of increasingly menacing threats as Zimbabwe counts down to the June 27 presidential run-off poll. Mr Mugabe’s military-backed regime has been carrying out a campaign of violence aimed at wiping out the opposition vote.

“We fought for this country, and a lot of blood was shed,” Mr Mugabe told his supporters. “We are not going to give up our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint fight with a gun?”

Good question. Ask that the next time someone tells you that we don't need the 2^nd Amendment because we have the 1^st Amendment.

Phil and to a certain extent I have been reporting (and here) on the bigoted Seattle Mayor Nickels who wants to defy state law and ban concealed carry on city owned property.

The Apex of the Triangle of Death (aka the NRA) is giving some attention to this guy. Jump on their suggestions. Do what you can to put an end to this kind of intolerance.

A few months ago I made something I received via a Google alert on sex my QOTD because it applied to not only to sex but to many other things as well. Ms. Block had her own Google alert, noticed my post, and commented on my post. Cool!

I sent her an email thanking her for stopping by for a visit and I ended up on her email list for notifications of things such as her book (Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage) signing yesterday afternoon in Seattle. I decided to go because the kids were attending a play (a musical--I seldom like musicals) and the Father's Day activities weren't happening until the evening. Barb was unavailable being at work in Moscow Idaho so I went alone.

I found Ms. Block to be very energetic, funny, and quick witted. It was a real pleasure to hear her talk. I added a few comments which seemed to be well accepted. One was in regard to a book that discussed sex and the evolution of women. Here is more information on that book, Sex Time and Power. This was a great book. A lot of it was speculation which has the high probability of being wrong but it was very intriguing speculation.

Some links to Ms. Block's web presence:

http://www.open-marriage.blogspot.com/
http://www.jennyonthepage.com/

She also writes on the blog The Huffington Post such as this post.

I've added her blog to my blogroll but it appears she is only blogging to promote her books and other writings and not so much about the psychology and sociology of sex in our society which is more of my interest. But at least I will get links to that sort of material.

The Miller court’s approach, which focused only on the relationship between the regulated arms at issue and the Second Amendment’s militia purpose was flawed because that approach would only allow individuals to possess arms suited for military use. Such an approach is obviously troublesome if it would allow private ownership of modern military arms.

Richard K. Willard
D.C. versus Heller
Brief amicus curiae Of The Heartland Institute in support of respondent.
[Indeed! Miller should be expanded to include arms suitable for private self-defense. That isn't what Willard has in mind but that is what I'm hoping the SCOTUS concludes. Of course Willard, in supporting D.C., is also troubled that individuals should have the right to defend themselves against anything. One can only conclude the relationship between the state and the individual is that of a rancher and his cattle. The rancher dehorns the cattle so they cannot easily defend themselves or seriously injury each other. The rancher takes it upon himself to defend the cattle from predators, provide their food, care for the sick, and to slaughter them as it may suit him.--Joe]

For the Framers, the lesson of such uprisings was that "the rebellion of a people against a government established by themselves is not justifiable, even in an extreme case, and can only result in dishonor to the state, and calamity and disgrace to those who participate in it." 1 Josiah Holland, History of Western Massachusetts 299-300 (Springfield, Bowles & Co. 1855) (emphasis added). Thus, in the Framers’ experience, it was not the possession of arms for personal uses apart from militia service (or against the government) that preserved ordered liberty. It was the States’ access to militias and similar state-controlled forces to protect their citizens that was essential. Modern experience confirms that view.

Jeffrey A. Lamken
January 2008
Brief supporting petitioners of amici curiae American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Ceasefire NJ, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, Methodist Federation for Social Action, Clifton Kirkpatrick in his capacity as the stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Educational Fund to stop Gun Violence, Freedom States Alliance, American Jewish Congress, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Gray Panthers, Gunfreekids.org, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Illinoisvictims.org, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence, Jenna Foundation for Nonviolence, inc., Karla Zimmerman Memorial Foundation, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Council of Jewish Women, New England Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, DC Statehood Green Party, North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Education Fund, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, Renée Olumbuni Rondeau Peace Foundation, Root (Reaching Out to Others Together) Inc., Union for Reform Judaism, Virginia Center for Public Safety, Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, and certain individual victims and families of victims of gun violence.
[I suppose they are forced to believe that if they hope to remain consistent. But I'm appalled so many Jewish organizations could sign on to such a belief system. Hitler was elected. The government of Germany of the 1930's and early 1940's was established by the people of Germany. Don't the people that advocate the above doctrine realize what they are saying? There is no case in which the state should be forceably overthrown. Whatever the state decides is also moral and acceptable. They are saying the German Jews, the millions of Russians, Chinese, Laotians, etc. who were murdered by their own government had no right to defend themselves. It was their duty to passively accept their own annihilation. These people have mental problems and must be defeated.--Joe]

Some people are "math challenged". I tend to agree with Heinlein on the topic but regardless I am of the opinion that nearly all people can learn simple arithmetic if they are given the lesson in practical everyday terms. One such lesson came to my attention via email and I have duplicated it below:

To My Dear Wife,

You will surely understand that I have certain needs that you, being 54 years old, can no longer satisfy. I am very happy with you & I value you as a good wife. Therefore, after reading this letter, I hope that you will not wrongly interpret the fact that I will be spending the evening with my 18 year old secretary at the Comfort Inn Hotel.

Please don't be upset - I shall be home before midnight.

When the man came home late that night, he found the following letter on the dining room table:

My Dear Husband,

I received your letter and thank you for your honesty about my being 54 years old. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that you are also 54 years old. As you know, I am a Math teacher at our local college. I would like to inform you that while you read this, I will be at the Marriott Hotel with Michael, one of my students, who is also on the tennis team. He is young, virile, and like your secretary, is 18 years old. As a successful businessman who has an excellent knowledge of Math, you will understand although it may appear that we are in the same situation, there is one mathematical difference: 18 goes into 54 a lot more times than 54 goes into 18.

Therefore, I will not be home until sometime tomorrow!