Sebastian points us to this piece of extreme bigotry.

I think the good guys have a better response to the demand for one gun a month restrictions. The background details are here but the one line response we need to hit these guys with is:

How do you propose to enforce one gun a month?

Which do I have to check at the door, my Fourth Amendment rights, my First Amendment rights or my Second Amendment rights?

Mike Brown
Troy Idaho Attorney
July 16, 2008
Borne arms
[This was on the topic of guns being carried to city council meetings, inside the state capital, and other public meeting places. Mike is the founder of Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance. He is also a top notch handgun shooter.--Joe]

Don Gwinn of The Armed School Teacher has just announced he got the 11^th position at the Gun Blogger Summer Camp. Congratulations Don!

I'll see you in a few weeks.

H/T to Tam (who will also be attending) for the link to Gwinn's announcement post.

I had said before that even with the Heller win the gun bigots will scream and yell, and refuse to obey the law as long as they can. They are doing just that:

The proposal, which maintains some of the city's strict gun ownership rules and adds more regulations, was immediately criticized by gun rights advocates threatening more legal action.

Handguns will still be banned, except for self-defense in the home, city officials said at a noon news conference. Sawed-off shotguns, machine guns and short-barreled rifles are still prohibited.

Keep in mind that their definition of a "machine gun" is any gun that holds 12 or more rounds.

And the difference between what was declared unconstitutional and what they are proposing is minimal. Imagine if some Jim Crow law was declared unconstitutional and the bigot revised their laws in a similar manner:

Police will register one handgun per person for the first 90 days after the legislation becomes law, city officials said. A six-month amnesty period will be set up during which residents can register guns already in their possession.

...

"We have crafted what I believe to be a model for the nation in terms of complying with the Supreme Court's Second Amendment decision and at the same time protecting our citizens," interim Attorney General Peter Nickles said.

...

The new legislation also modifies existing law to clarify that firearms must be stored unloaded and either disassembled or secured with a trigger lock, gun safe or similar device, officials said. There would be an exception for guns in the home that are being used against the "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."

...

D.C. residents who want to register handguns must complete an application from MPD's firearms registration section, pass a written firearms test and provide photos, proof of residency and proof of good vision. They also will be fingerprinted

A model for the nation?

I think the Supreme Court should issue varmint licenses and put a bounty on these bigots heads. That should be the model for the nation.

I have had a tendency in my young life to occasionally run my mouth with abandon (my wife is shaking her head at that); however I have been fortunate in the majority of this situations to be able to back up my mouth with skill or plain old dumb luck.

The more I read Joe’s archives, the more I realize I’m going to need a lot of the latter to win our friendly wager.

Caleb of Call Me Ahab
July 15, 2008
Pride goeth...
[Caleb will be at Gun Blogger Summer Camp with me next month. In a long email thread among some of the bloggers with the subject "My dad can beat up your dad" Caleb ended up challenging me to a bet on our shooting abilities. I can only recall accepting two bets in the last 35 years (I won both). I just don't bet unless I'm pretty close to certain that I'm going to win. This was the most risky bet I have accepted in the last 35 years. Based on the cards face up on the table I've got a better hand but but one never knows until all the cards are turned over. That will occur on August 24^th.--Joe]

New Jersey is so repressive toward gun owners that the only way I would willingly go into that hell hole is if I could buy tags, or preferably a license for varmints, to harvest politicians:

The 20-year-old sales clerk at a shop at Menlo Park Mall and former Middlesex County College student had a pellet handgun in the car, according to an indictment filed last week in Superior Court, New Brunswick.

...

Under a new state law, Narciso's possession of the weapon qualifies as a Graves Act offense. Narciso could face what prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys call a "hard three," meaning three years with no prospect of parole.

This wasn't some cheesy Internet quiz of some sort. This was something that my company paid big dollars for and followed up with a nearly full day of "training" to explain the results to us. Everyone in our organization had to participate. Mandatory training they said. Okay, whatever.

I was surprised. They really nailed a bunch of things for me. View the results for yourself here.

During the training they gave us these four little soft plastic blocks that looked very much like Lego's. They were a training tool and as the training started people were sort of playing with them as the instructor talked. Then someone had the blocks fly apart and scatter across one of the tables. "A block explosion!", the instructor announced. Her assistant went to the white board and recorded the explosion. Someone asked, "What does it mean?" The instructor said they didn't know for certain but they keep track of them to see if we can figure something out. There were no more block explosions all day.

The one person to have a block explosion was also the only person in the room with a ATF license to manufacture high explosives. You should have heard the people in my group laugh when instructor called it a block explosion. No one else in the room understood the significance like they did.

England took a wrong turn. The evidence is so glaring obvious that I'm sure most of them, at some level, realize it as well:

In May this year, the Met launched Operation Blunt 2, another high-profile initiative to tackle knife crime – again using special stop and search powers in high-risk areas and airport-style metal detectors. The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, announced a £5m package to tackle violent crime. Since then, 27,000 people have been searched, 1,200 arrested and 500 knives seized. Of those arrested, 95% have since been charged with weapons offences, the Met said.

Uncle has more evidence.

The problem is, even with the overwhelming evidence, they have too much invested in the decision. It's too psychologically uncomfortable to admit they were wrong. It takes a great deal of character strength to admit you were wrong when you have invested 100's of millions (billions?) of pounds and who knows how many lives lost in a scheme that was counter productive to your stated goal. They don't have the strength of character to do that. Very few people would. It's particularly difficult when you have social support for your conviction. There will be more and more proselyting for this failed belief system until they hit a very firm and undeniable dead end. That will likely be a exceedingly repressive police state. Getting themselves out of that will not be easy or pretty.

I'm so glad we managed to avoid that path into the abyss.

Presumptuous paternalists argue that Americans should be deprived of guns because gun owners are their own worst enemies. A lot of Americans would reply: We can't trust ourselves, but we can trust you?

Steve Chapman
July 13, 2008
Is buying a gun a suicidal act?
[Nice! The other day Sebastian said we need to be ready to counter the suicide angle. I think this is excellent response.--Joe]

Don Kaul has written dozens of columns supporting gun restrictions. He now says he has given up:

I've given up on gun control. That battle is over. We've lost. I no longer think it's an achievable goal and if I were a politician I wouldn't lose an election over it.

It sounds as if he is still a bigot. He just isn't going to advocate for legislation to support his bigotry. That's good enough for now. Someone in his neighborhood should offer to take him to the range and offer him a chance to join the winning team.

As I mentioned the other day I expected something in todays Idaho Statesman about anvil launching (like we do at Boomershoot). The story is here.

One of the more serious problems with our modern society is that the evolution of man has changed directions. The lesser intelligent people multiply much faster than the more intelligent people.

Doug Huffman
[This is something my brother told me over 20 years ago and I put in my collection of quotes. Today he sent his kids and me this link on a related topic.--Joe]

Speaking of the Brady Bunch... I found this entertaining. There is much more but this should be enough of a teaser:

The Race Car Ban of 2006 bans all compact cars with two or more of the following racing features:

Four valves per cylinder
Aerodynamic spoiler or wing that protrudes conspicuously above the trunk lid or rear deck
Air dam
Hood scoop
Chrome exhaust tip
Levitation lights
Afterburner


The Race Car Ban would also ban the following race cars by name:

Honda Civic (all models)
Subaru Impreza WRX
Mitsubushi Lancer (all models)
Honda S2000
Volvo S40
Mazda 3 and Protoge
Toyota Corolla
Scion (all models)
Saturn Ion
Bentley Speed 8
NHRA Top Fuel dragster
Caterpillar D9
Boeing 737
Airbus A380


In order to reassure car owners, the bill's sponsors included a long list of non-race cars that are not affected by the legislation:

BMW 3-series
Cadillac CTS-V
Cadillac Escalade
Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe
Ford Edsel
Ford Model T
Ford Mustang (without wing and spoiler)
Ford F-150
Hummer (all models)
Jeep Cherokee
John Deere Tractor
Kenworth T2000
Sopwith Camel


The bill also makes it a felony to own a car manufactured after Sept. 14th, 1994, that has a fuel capacity of more than ten U.S. gallons of fuel.

Anthrax is not the only terrorist weapon sent through the mail. Congress must close the loophole that allows gun makers to evade federal regulation and sell untraceable assault weapon kits that terrorists and other criminals can purchase by mail and assemble at home. An assault weapon without a serial number is a terrorist’s dream.

Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Guns and Terror
Copyright 2001
[They are either ignorant or lying. The receiver of the gun (the part with the serial number) cannot be mail ordered and delivered to your doorstep. It must always be transferred to the retail customer though a face-to-face transaction with a FFL who does a background check. Even if it were possible what difference would that make to the terrorists we face? How would a gun without a serial number benefit them? And what sort of law do they think will prevent a terrorist from removing the serial number from guns that do have serial numbers? As near as I can tell these people either have crap for brains or they think everyone they talk to does. They dance in blood wherever they can find it and urge others to splash themselves with blood and participate in their delusions and perverse obsession with the destruction of liberty. They use whatever means will get traction no matter how misleading, deceptive, or useless to their implied goal of building a safer society.--Joe]

Yesterday I received a call from Tim Woodward at the Idaho Statesman in Boise.

He said his column in the paper is about answering questions from the readers and he received a question about anvil launching. Was it an "Idaho thing?" A web search yielded Boomershoot and our anvil launches. He wanted to know more of the history. I told him what I knew and forwarded his email address on to the guy that does our anvil.

His column with the results of his research will appear on Sunday.

Despicable.

The ACLU joins the NRA as the advocates of cowards, sneak thieves and psycopaths. I challenge Mr. Peck to identify where in the 2nd Amendment or any Federalist Paper is found the right to bear arms for "self protection."

You will soon be receiving the bloody shoes of the victims from across the nation.

The illegal guns that flood Cleveland and Detroit and Chicago come from your redneck gun shows and gun shops. I understand now why Nevadans need 8 or 10 guns: people this offensively stupid must have thousands of enemies. Add to that throng the families of the kids that get killed every day just because you need those pistols to feel like men. You're pathetic weaklings.

It's sad that when it comes to guns, what happens in Vegas bleeds throughout the rest of the country.

esquared
7:34 AM July 11, 2008
A comment to the article: Only in Nevada: ACLU opposes gun control--State affiliate bucks national stance, supporting the right to bear arms
[I think the article needs some comments to counterbalance those of this bigot. The ACLU blog post on the 2^nd Amendment is up to nearly 1000 comments now with no significant sign of sympathy for their position.--Joe]

Steve Chapman appears to have all his facts correct but overlooks what I think are the most important points. Yes, all the gun control laws failed to make people safer. Yes, shall issue concealed carry laws did no harm. Yes, legal scholars concluded the NRA was right all along. But that isn't what made the difference. Facts and reason have never been the most significant factors in politics.

What made the difference was the gun grabbers getting their asses handed to them in elections. It started with the 1994 national election a month and a half after the so called "assault weapon ban" was passed and was sealed with Al Gore lost his home state in the 2000 election. From there it was still a fierce battle but astute observers on both sides could see, baring some major upset, who was going to win. September 11, 2001 came and both sides tried to take advantage of the event. Gun owners came out on top. The next major event, hurricane Katrina, proved such a disaster for the gun grabbers that there was no doubt which side had the momentum.

Another significant factor was the militia movement in the mid 1990s. It faded away in the late 90s when the ballot box appeared to be having the desired results. The politicians realized gun owners were preparing for war and dialed down their hate filled rhetoric. If the soap box and ballot box didn't work the cartridge box was being readied for use. They heard the whispers from the gun ranges, gun shows and any other place where gun owners gathered. The shout of defiance had changed even though Heston still used the old one. And the new one was not said from the podium with the television cameras running. It was a deep growl which could only be heard if you were standing close enough. But the politicians got the gist of it anyway, "You can have my gun when you reanimate Your Cold. Dead. Hands."

Tam says she is going to drive to summer camp so the TSA goons won't grope her and steal stuff from her luggage. Goons seems to be an accurate description of TSA behavior I see here. The text of the story is here. It was all over a bottle of contact lens solution.

I'll bet they wouldn't bat an eye over five pounds of flour or powdered sugar which would, if properly applied, bring down any commercial passenger plane in existence.

What TSA Really Stands For.

Amicae therefore contend that depriving women of the right to possess a handgun in the privacy of their own homes reflects at best an insensitivity to women’s unique needs created by their inherent gender characteristics. A handgun simply is the best means of self-defense for those who generally lack the upper body strength to successfully wield a shotgun or other long gun. To therefore deny half the population a handgun, as the District and the Office of the Solicitor General urge, evinces the "blindness or indifference" to women that only perpetuates women’s vulnerability to physical subordination.

M. Carol Bambery
Brief of amicae curiae 126 women state legislators and academics in support of respondent.
[About 70% of my firearms students are women wanting to get their concealed carry permits. As I have said before getting women out to the range is one of the things we must do to win the battle against the anti-gun bigots.--Joe]

Some countries take their prohibitions against sexual freedom very seriously. In some places you could get up to six years in jail for having sex with someone not your spouse in a public place:

A British businesswoman is facing up to six years in a Dubai jail after she was allegedly caught having sex on a beach.

Michelle Palmer, 30, was arrested on 5 July, along with another Briton believed to be a male tourist.

The Foreign Office confirmed that two British nationals had been arrested and the case was under investigation.

The Sun newspaper said Ms Palmer had been charged with having sex outside marriage, indecent behaviour in public and being drunk in public.

If you want to partake in Dr. Joe's cure for everything I suggest checking the local laws first. Getting your daily dose in prison might not be as healthy or as pleasant as the stuff you get on the outside.

Son James sent an IM to me today with this link:

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below).

This bracelet would:

• Take the place of an airline boarding pass
• Contain personal information about the traveler
• Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage
• Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

The conversation with James then went something like this:

James:
  may be taken out of context or blown out of proportion depending on what sources you consider credible *shrug*
Joe:
  My bet is I could smuggle a knife through security and get out of the bracelet before I ever got on the plane.
James:
  oh yeah, there's all sorts of ways you could subvert the bracelet
  plus, the bad guys could figure out a way to set off the bracelets themselves, thus immobilizing any resistance!
Joe:
  And something that is going to immobilize a Sumo wrestler is probably going to kill an 80 year old little old lady with a heart problem.
James:
  yeah, basically the plan has FAIL written all over it
Joe:
  Another way to defeat the bracelet would be to wrap it in aluminum foil. You would disappear off of the location monitoring device and no radio or laser could trigger the shock.

While some of the gun bloggers are off sweating at a summer camp in the North Carolina heat you should not feel sorry for yourselves. You should go to your own summer camp on the opposite coast during some of those same days (August 23 - 31):

This course will encompass how to patrol, recon, ambush, and raid, and will involve individual and small unit tactics, leadership, planning, operations orders, warning orders, and rehearsals.

One of the ultimate expressions of this was done during the Vietnam War and was know as MACV-RECONDO school . This school was set up by Project Delta (yes, the guys who later founded Delta Force) and then turned over to 5th SFG. This was the basis for LRRP/Ranger type operations in Vietnam. This course will be modeled after that school but with a modern backdrop and modern planning procedures.

There will be instructors from the actual Vietnam Recondo school along with modern experienced Rangers and Special Forces personnel. Outside of the military nothing like this has ever been offered before. Others have done fantasy camps, no one has run the real deal. Most active duty infantrymen never get a chance for this level of training!

This course will be a 24/7 immersion conducted out of a "fire-base" with large military tents and cots, in a training area of more than 800 acres. Food will be provided. The missions will go from very small unit recons, to two-element ambushes, to multi-element raids, with QRF or "hatchet force" operations as well. Basically, 5-6 man to full-class operations. All students will be involved in leadership and planning. This class is not just about tactics-the leadership and planning portions are as important as tactics, as is working as a team. Stress will be induced through the rapid pace: this is a learning tool for leadership and teamwork that cannot be overemphasized.

Do it now before a new administration declares this sort of thing to be a domestic terrorist training camp or some such thing.