The View From North Central Idaho

I saw this while looking over daughter Kim's shoulder when she was studying for her class Riddles and Paradoxes: How the Culture of Markets Shapes our World: Past, Present, and Future.

The Functions of Government

1. To promote competition and provide a system of laws, courts, and method of enforcing contracts (infrastructure for free markets).
2. To play an allocative function of producing goods and services.
3. To redistribute income and assist the poor.
4. To provide stabilization of the economy to keep inflation and unemployment low

Which of these four items are found in the U.S. Constitution? I agree with number 1 but the others are out of bounds. Some other governments do claim these to be within their legitimate areas of power. We call them socialists, communists, tyrannical, genocidal, and losers. Perhaps the Power Point slide deck I found this in or the instructor in class makes the point that this isn't within the legitimate domain of our government but a quick scan through the slides certainly doesn't make it obvious.

It appears one can assume we have a discrepancy in philosophical viewpoints. Kevin illustrates it with cartoons better than I can with words.

Ths happened in the state of South Idaho, not North Idaho where I am:

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — An eastern Idaho woman whose boyfriend impregnated her 9-year-old daughter has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Isabel Chasarez, 27, must serve at least one year in prison before she is eligible for parole, 7th District Judge Brent Moss ordered Tuesday at the sentencing hearing.

Chasarez pleaded guilty in August to failing to provide proper prenatal care for her daughter.

Her 38-year-old boyfriend, Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, pleaded guilty to rape in September. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28 and faces life in prison.

The girl became pregnant at age 9, sometime between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30 2007, authorities say, and gave birth in April.

It looks as if the authorities are handling the case appropriately but I'm still shocked that the egg donor was unable or unwilling to protect her offspring.

I've reported on this before here and here. The couple has been sentenced now. It could have been up to six years in jail but they were given just three months, a $350 fine, and are to be deported from the country. I agree with:

Analysts here say their punishment is meant to strike a balance — by showing that expats must respect local laws, while maintaining the Emirate's image of being welcoming to Westerners.

I don't agree with the law but I think the judge did the right thing.

Last Saturday most of the gun bloggers at the Rendezvous went to the range. Other reports and pictures from range day are here:

• gbr-iii-saturday-101108-range-day
• Gunbloggers Rendezvous III
• GBR-III Fabrique Nationale
• GBR-III Range Day or Bust
• Gun Pr0n: Boom!
• GBR-III Update: The Packing Rat goes Full Auto
• GBR-III Update: Range Day, with Gun Pr0n
• We're Either Dedicated or Crazy
• David’s Trigger Time
• GBR Day 3
• it goes boom
• Finally

Yes. As nearly everyone else noted, it was on the cold side of comfortable. The temperature was about 35 F and when we arrived the winds varied from 10 to 20 MPH.

Derek deals with the cold and wind.

These were not the best of conditions for long range shooting but this range is for long range shooting and I wanted to do some long range shooting. I had not shot my .300 Win Mag since the year before at this same range. This range has targets out to nearly 1000 yards and this, more than anything else, is why I wanted to go to the Rendezvous.

Traction Control brought his Barrett .50 BMG and was setting up at the very end bench. This minimized the impact of the vicious muzzle blast on other shooters. I set up on the empty bench next to him but stood behind the line when someone was shooting the .50 to avoid the vicious muzzle blast. This extended the time for my set up as I measured the wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, the inclination to the various targets, and used my laser range finder to get the exact range to each of the targets. I was still making measurements and taking notes as everyone else went through two cycles of shooting and shutting down the range to change targets. I then used my HP-41CV calculator running a special version of Modern Ballistics to compute the necessary sight angle between the scope and the gun for the elevation. I didn't bother with measuring the incline for the targets at 523 yards and under because they were all less than 8 degrees and the resultant shift in scope settings would be less than 0.1 MOA from assuming no inclination. By the time I was finally ready to shoot there was very little wind from side to side so I didn't bother to run the numbers through the calculator.

Here are my notes:

October 11, 2008

Apparent Elevation (based on air pressure): 3500'
Wind: 10 to 20 MPH 45 degrees

Target	Range (yards)	Incline (degrees)	Sight Angle (MOA)
Paper	197	0	4.87
Plate 1	342	-	7.83
Plate 2	412	-	9.51
Plate 3	523	-	12.38
Plate 4	637	8	16.63
Plate 5	957	11	27.19

Having done all this I finally took my first shots at the paper target:

Five shot group at 197 yards at the upper A-zone of a USPA target.

I should have put a orange target dot on the center of the 'A' to have a better aiming point. It was difficult to get the cross hairs centered on the outline as I couldn't see the 'A' itself. As it was I just concentrated on the horizontal because I was uncertain as to my windage zero but not my elevation zero. I expect most of the vertical was my fault and not the gun and/or ammo. Still, it was a less than 3/4 MOA group and I was satisfied with it.

I adjusted my windage zero and took some shots at the closer plates. I connected every time and was rewarded by seeing the plate swing and hearing a loud "thwack-clang" sound. I then asked Phil to spot for me as I adjusted for the 957 yard plate. The plate was difficult for a lot of people to find. Here is the context as seen through a 300 mm (think of it as 6X telescope) camera lens:

Plate and drum are in the upper left quadrant.

Close up of the 957 yard plate and 55 gallon drum.

A 55 gallon steel drum is about 22" x 34" and based on that the plate appears to be about 30" x 16". My mil-dot reticle estimates agree with this. The wind was very low but even a 3 MPH wind would result in a miss if I aimed dead on at this range. I waited until the wind appeared to be zero and pulled the trigger. Phil reported it hit just a bit to the right of center and dead on for elevation.

A first round hit at nearly 1000 yards. The geek wins!

The rest of the day was anti-climatic for me. I shot at the 957 yard plate a few more times but I ignored the wind and got hits only about half the time. I shot 10 rounds out of Traction Control's .50 (I brought my own ammo) and got 7 out of 10 hits on the drum. The .50 has a much better BC (1.05 on the 750 grain A-MAX versus 0.533 on the 190 grain Sierra Match Kings I was shooting) which helped on windage but I suspect that gun didn't have the inherent accuracy because the target was bigger and I got essentially the same hit ratio.

I emptied a magazine (four rounds) into each of the closer plates and knocked down the 523 yard target with my last shot. As it appeared everyone remaining from the Rendezvous was waiting on me I packed up and left. I was done as soon as I got the first round hit on the 957 yard plate. That was all I was really interested in anyway.

By the end of the day the apparent elevation had changed to 3700 feet but I ignored this as it made only about 0.1 MOA difference at 957 yards. Had it warmed up 10 degrees to 45 F that would have made a difference of 0.28 MOA in the same direction and I would have taken two clicks off of the scope setting for the most distant target to account for both.

Update: The picture below is from last year and the target is out of focus but it does give a sense of the size of the target as seen in a 14X scope. The drum is 2.5 Mils to the right of the plate which is almost centered in the crosshairs.

2007 view of the 957 yard target at the Reno Range.

Jeff Knox and friends have created a website/forum for helping gun rights activists. Here is what he has to say about it:

GunVoter.org is a grand experiment and, we hope, will become a valuable tool in the activists toolbox.

This is your site and it will only work if you participate. Just snooping around now and then doesn't help other activists any at all. We need you to share your thoughts and knowledge as well as learning from the posts of others.

In this area we ask that you introduce yourself, let users know where you live, what you do, what your interests are, and what's important to you. Tell us what clubs you are a member of and what organizations you support.

I also want to encourage every user to go to the forum zone for your state, tell us what you think of your Senators and your Representative or, if you don't know where your politicians stand on gun rights, ask a question so you and others can find out.

Something else that would be very helpful for all of us is if you would add to and correct the thread under your state listing pro-gun organizations and their contact information. We got that information courtesy of our friends at GunLawNews.com and know that it is incomplete and that some of it might be out of date. We need you to help us get it accurate. Then we need your help contacting those groups to invite them to participate here on GunVoter.org!

You don't need to be an expert or a professional to post on this site, just interested and concerned.

Please don't leave the site without contributing to the community in some way, whether just an introduction post, a question about legislation or a politician, or information about some candidate you support. Every post has value. Please participate in the project.

Thanks for being here and thanks for being a GunVoter.

Jeff Knox

From Nevada Appeal (ignore the error about Biden being the presidential nominee instead of the vice presidential nominee):

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware said Friday that Nevadans shouldn’t listen to claims he and Barack Obama would take away the right to bear arms.

“I get a kick out of, sometimes, the NRA saying we’re going to take your shotguns away,” he said in a telephone interview with the Nevada Appeal.

...

“Both of us believe strongly in the Second Amendment,” Biden said. “We do not believe in registration. We do believe in limits on some of the weapons. You can’t have your own flame-thrower or bazooka. And legislation in relation to assault weapons doesn’t affect hunters or sportsmen.

“We are two Democrats who voted against gun control,” he said.

But, Biden said, there is room for common-sense laws relating to such things as carrying concealed weapons.

That's right. You shouldn't listen to what people are saying about his record. Listen only to what he wants you to hear. "Assault weapons"? Concealed carry? You're just a hunter. You don't need to concern yourself with those things. We'll send those people off to the prison camps first and you don't need to worry about them because your gun is a good gun. Those other guys have bad guns.

It's not a stretch to think that terrorist groups have been coming to the United States, buying them, shipping them back to Afghanistan or Iraq and killing US soldiers.

John Rosenthal
October 18, 2008
Founder of Stop Handgun Violence
Logan twice missed passenger's weapons--R.I. man got pistols, shotguns past security
[As if terrorist groups can't get guns in Iran, Syria, or any other Mideastern country much easier. Rosenthal will say whatever he thinks he can get away with which will have the effect of reducing the ability of people in this country to exercise their specific, enumerated, right to keep and bear arms. Quoting Rosenthal after someone breaks a gun law is like quoting the KKK after a non-white breaks the law.--Joe]

The NRA website has the details. The basics are:

This week, in a testament to his anti-gun record, Barack Obama also received a presidential endorsement from the Brady Campaign.

So, once again, the Brady Campaign and NRA are in total agreement—Barack Obama is, by far, the most anti-gun presidential nominee in history and he certainly deserves the endorsement of one of the most outspoken anti-gun organizations in the country.

NRA-ILA has repeatedly documented Obama’s anti-gun stance; but if any doubt remains about Obama’s true position on the Second Amendment, his endorsement from the Brady Campaign should dispel it.

Voting for Obama will be asking for a return the era of Bill Clinton only worse. Bill Clinton and his policies were significant motivators for me to buy my first gun. It was Diane Feinstein that motivated me to manufacture my own explosives. You don't want to know what Obama will motivate me to do.

Chris says it's for Boomershoot. But the maximum range of targets at Boomershoot is only 700 yards. Therefore I think it might be for more than just Boomershoot. I'm thinking my evil plan might be working. Hmmm... so that would mean it is about Boomershoot, even if it isn't for Boomershoot.

Daughter Xenia called me a few minutes ago. She was crying and could barely talk. She was crossing the street as she walked to class and a car turned a corner, didn't see her, and missed her by a couple feet.

Other than the psychological aspects she is fine but it sure makes you think. What a difference a few seconds can make...

Update: Xenia has more details.

Sometimes it is amazing what one, essentially, insignificant, unknown person can do. "Joe the Plumber" is in the news right now and may be "a bone in the throat" of Obama. I even got a text message from my old boss asking, "Are you watching the debate?" I replied, "No. Should I be?". He responded that "Joe" was what the debate was about. Since I don't have a TV it wasn't until the next morning that I figured what was going on.

On a much smaller scale my barely read blog occasionally gets attention from people of power. That's pretty cool. But what really amused me was what happened yesterday.

I noticed I had a hit from Handgun Control Inc. who was doing a search for "Joe Huffman". Apparently I am known, by name, to the biggest, baddest, anti-gun bigots in the country:

Domain Name		sct.com ? (Commercial)
IP Address		65.242.56.# (HANDGUN CONTROL)
ISP		Verizon Business
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  District of Columbia City  :  Washington Lat/Long  :  38.9042, -77.032 (Map) Distance  :  2,071 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft Win2000
Browser		Firefox Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.17) Gecko/20080829 Firefox/2.0.0.17
Javascript		version 1.5
Monitor		Resolution  :  1024 x 768 Color Depth  :  16 bits
Time of Visit		Oct 16 2008 12:45:39 pm
Last Page View		Oct 16 2008 12:55:48 pm
Visit Length		10 minutes 9 seconds
Page Views		6
Referring URL		http://www.google.co...2US261&q=Joe Huffman
Search Engine		google.com
Search Words		joe huffman
Visit Entry Page		http://blog.joehuffman.org/
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffman.org/
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time		Oct 16 2008 3:45:39 pm
Visit Number		370,096

Further investigation revealed that on March 21st of this year they did a search for ""@stopthenra.com" -www" and found me. On May 14th they did a search for '"north central idaho" gun' and found me again. They have done several searches for "Dennis Hennigan" (Brady Campaign attorney) and found my blog.

And yesterday after specifically doing a search for my name they added my blog to their RSS reader. I feel so honored. Hello Sarah, Jim, Dennis, and Paul! I have Just One Question for you. Think about that for a while...

Yesterday was apparently good day to be noticed because New York City got my opinion on the issue of microstamping (Google ranks my blog post #1 with a search phrase of "microstamping research"):

Domain Name		nyc.gov ? (U.S. Government)
IP Address		161.185.151.# (City of New York)
ISP		City of New York
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  New York City  :  Brooklyn Lat/Long  :  40.6525, -73.9554 (Map) Distance  :  2,162 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; InfoPath.1)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1024 x 768 Color Depth  :  32 bits
Time of Visit		Oct 16 2008 1:55:43 pm
Last Page View		Oct 16 2008 1:55:43 pm
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.joehuffman.org/content/binary/MicrostampingSEM.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.joehuffman.org/2008/02/18/MicrostampingResearch.aspx&h=515&w=516&sz=38&tbnid=9x03aBEr7zUJ::&tbnh=131&tbnw=131&hl=en&prev=/images%3Fq%3
Visit Entry Page		http://blog.joehuffman.org/2008/02/18/MicrostampingResearch.aspx
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffm...tampingResearch.aspx
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time		Oct 16 2008 4:55:43 pm
Visit Number		370,120

Sometimes I feel rather impotent (in a way Viagra can't help) in regards to what is happening to freedom and gun rights in this country and the world. Even Boomershoot, which I consider my greatest accomplishment, seems like too little but when I think of my impact in terms of what it was 10 years ago or compared to the impact of the non-professional gun bigots like Robyn Ringler I'm doing fairly well. I'm not a Wayne LaPierre, Alan Gottlieb, Alan Gura, Joe Waldron, Dave Kopel, David Hardy, or an Ashley N. Varner. But other gun bloggers and I are doing okay for not being on the payroll (the wheelbarrows full of cash aren't part of the official payroll) at the Apex of the Triangle of Death. I don't know if it is enough but we are having an noticeable impact.

Update: I was also quoted in a newspaper last week which may have been the reason the Brady Bunch became interested in me.

Yeah, my blog was down for most of yesterday. All my websites that use ASP.NET were down. It was a problem with my web provider. I need to finish migrating to another provider but I haven't. Maybe over Thanksgiving or something...

A billion here, and a billion there, and pretty soon it adds up to real money.

Senator Everett Dirksen
[I should have posted this two weeks ago.--Joe]

There is no doubt that an abused woman is at much greater risk if her abuser has a gun. However, research shows no heightened risk to an abuse victim who lives apart from the abuser and who has her own gun. An abuser’s being armed creates a 7.59 odds ratio for increased risk of femicide. Living alone and having a gun yields an odds ratio of 0.22, far below the 2.0 level necessary for statistical significance. Jacquelyn Campbell et al., Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships, 93 AM.J.PUB. HEALTH 1089, 1090-92 (2003). Petitioners and their amici relentlessly cite variants of the first figure, but ignore the second figure.

David B. Kopel
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.
D.C. v. Heller
[Typical. Crow about the dangers but none of the benefits of firearms.--Joe]

So what did you expect when the security theater people didn't improve security? Did you believe they would give up and spend the money on something effective? Of course not. Instead they make you the entertainment--Genitals, breasts not obscured in airport security trial.

The back story is here, here, here, here, here, and here.

An email from Joe Waldron to the WA-Guns email list:

The Attorney General has issued Opinion Number 2008 -- 8 that defines
state preemption as it applies to Mayor Nickels attempt to ban guns on
Seattle city property.

In a nutshell, the AG says "preemption means preemption."

The AGO reads in part:

The question: "Does a city in Washington have the authority to enact a
local law that prohibits the possession of firearms on city property or
in city-owned buildings?"

The answer: "The answer to your question is no. RCW 9.41.290 "fully
occupies and preempts the entire field of firearms regulation" and
preempts a city's authority to adopt firearms laws or regulations of
application to the general public, unless specifically authorized by
state law. Accordingly, RCW 9.41.290 preempts a city's authority to
enact local laws that prohibit possession of firearms on city property
or in city-owned facilities."

He then uses a dozen pages of legalese to explain why the Cherry and
PNWSPA cases (state Supreme Court decisions that went against us) do not
apply here.

AG Opinions are published on the AG's web site at
http://www.atg.wa.gov/uploadedFiles/Another/About_the_Office/AGO_Opinions/AGO_Opinion_Archives/Indices%20Yearly%20Report%202007.pdf

AGO 2008-8 is not posted yet, but should be shortly.

In all, to these non-lawyerly eyes, a well written stick to poke in
Mayor Nickels' eye.

Another win for the good guys.

We need to thank Senator Morton (R-7), Representative Van De Wege (D-24)
and those other legislators who made the formal request to the AG for
this opinion.

And now for the down side: We can expect a frontal assault on
preemption in Olympia when the legislature goes back into session in
January. They've tried it before, and didn't have quite the number of
votes they needed to pass. With ACORN & Co working overtime to register
fraudulent voters for the presidential election, we can anticipate
Democrat gains in the 2009-2010 legislature. That MAY be enough to push
them over the top.

Joe W

I'd like to remind you that I'm a guy who has actually gone nose to nose with Obama on gun rights issues. The Obama I know cannot even begin to identify with this nation's outdoor traditions. The Obama I know sees you, the law abiding gun owner, as nothing but a low-class lummox who is easily swayed by the flash of a smile and a ration of rosy rhetoric. The Obama I know is a stony-faced liar who has honed his skill at getting what he wants - so long as people are willing to give it to him.

Richard Pearson
October 15, 2008
Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson Issues Open Letter to Nation's Sportsmen Regarding Obama's History in the Illinois Senate
[H/T to Sebastian. See also GunBaNObama.com. And that totally ignores his anti-First Amendment activities and his apparently complete disregard for the U.S. Constitution as a whole. See also The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate. That book will really open your eyes. He won at least two of his state legislative offices by kicking his opponents out of the race--Chicago politics at their finest. You can be sure he will bring change you can believe in to Washington D.C.. There is also his close relationship with Reverend "Snuffy" Pfleger (not to be confused with Reverend Wright) and so many other unsavory things that people that should know greatly fear his rise to power.--Joe]

... on the Glen Beck radio show.  If you know Glen Beck at all, you know he's a capitalist.  He gets it.  In discussing the "Bail out" scam, he asked McCain why he voted for it the second time, after having opposed it earlier and after decrying earmarks and pork.  Now, I'd say it was a dumb question, because there is no possible decent answer other than, "I'm a sucker and I have no principles.  What can I say?"  Taking probably his best way out, McCain answered, and I paraphrase;

"Everyone was telling me it was the right thing to do."

Now that's leadership, baby!  Wow, what balls!  Everyone told him to do it.  And just who is this Everyone person?  I'd like to meet him.  We've known McCain for a long time, so this is nothing unexpected.  Apparently this Everyone person is a lot smarter and a more forceful decision-maker, 'cause he turned McCain around on a dime.

We are so screwed.

And for those who think it untimely of me to bring this up right before the election; I see it as a matter of how quickly we're gonna get screwed, so it's hard to keep a dog in this fight.  Frog-in-the-pot model and all.  It's McCain's to lose.  Hopefully this Everyone person, whom he trusts more than himself, will give him some better advice in the coming weeks. 

Say Uncle says Frightening, Third Power says Baghdad Chicago, Mike Vanderboegh says be careful what you wish for, Dave Codrea says:

Mary Mitchell's America is a police state.

I notice she acknowledged force was used. I note she says "Forget it" for any rights-based disagreement, removing any will but hers from the decision.

How many men who disagree is Mary willing to see destroyed to enact her totalitarian agenda? Anybody not think creatures just like her enabled killing fields?

This wretched harridan is nothing less than a domestic enemy. The Chicago Sun-Times, which gives her a platform, is an instrument of subversion.

Anyone who thinks such as these will ever allow us to peacefully coexist is a fool.

All over what Mary Mitchell says:

Secret Service, sheriff's deputies, Chicago Police officers and plainclothes officers are scattered throughout the area.

Frankly, I felt like I had just entered the safest zone in America.

For the first time -- in a long time --while on the South Side, I didn't worry about leaving my car parked on the street or about walking back to it several hours later in the dark.

Obviously, law enforcement is doing what needs to be done to ensure a presidential candidate's safety.

But it does make me think.

Obama's neighbors have been forced to give up certain of their personal freedoms in order to ensure his safety.

Unsuspecting pedestrians are questioned when they go around the barricades. Similar to a gated community, guests who visit Obama's neighbors have to identify themselves.

Although I'm a journalist, the presumption on the part of the Secret Service is the same as it is for the Fruit of Islam who guard the Nation of Islam headquarters a few blocks away.

An agent rifled through my purse and searched my backpack.

More than a few dog-walkers strolled past without so much as a backward glance at my outspread arms as the agent checked me with a hand-held metal detector.

Aldermen and activists who are struggling to stop the bloodbath on the South Side may have to resort to the same aggressive policing that is being used to protect Obama.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the city this year because of street violence.

It is a crisis.

And a crisis requires drastic intervention, not rhetoric.

There's no telling how many guns would be taken off the street in gang- and drug-plagued neighborhoods if police were to set up roadblocks and search everyone going into those areas.

For those of you who argue that what I am proposing violates basic civil rights, forget it.

When you go to an airport or into most schools, you have to walk through a metal detector.

This is Chicago, not Alaska.

Wow! Just wow!

Any other words I am inclined to say could be used against me...

If a domestic violence report is filed, the police should forcefully search for any and all weapons owned by the alleged abuser. The police should have broad discretion and lean on the side of protecting women and not worrying about a batterer's "gun rights". If a woman's charges of domestic violence are unwarranted, then a gun owner can get their rights restored later -- that's why we have a court system and procedures.

Mike of Gun Guys
April 4, 2008
With So Many Men Owning Guns, Domestic Violence Is Difficult to Prevent for Justice System
[And the reason we don't violate a person's rights on the basis of a single accusation is because we have a court system and procedures. If someone is not fit to own a gun then prove it in court where the gun owner has a chance to defend themselves. If these guys applied the same logic to the First Amendment they would change their tune. On the first accusation of them using their website to lie about the NRA or gun owners their website would be taken down, all their computers confiscated, and they would be forbidden to talk to the media. They could try to prove the charge of libel was unwarranted later in court. If they were lucky their First Amendment rights would be restored sometime within the next year after spended tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

See also my other comments about this same post here.--Joe]

This particular rights violation session wasn't as bad as some. As Barb said, "They were pretty good about guns here. Much better than Denver." I can't find where I wrote up my Denver experience but here is someone else's experience. I have to agree but it's still aggravating to be searched by government agents without a warrant or probable cause.

As I was researching this post I reviewed the TSA website again. I may have gotten lucky when TSA let me get through with three of my STI magazines in carry-on baggage. They saw them in the x-ray and pulled the bag off for further inspection while a police officer watched. They examined each of the magazines for ammunition, asked if I was law enforcement, and told me to have a nice trip.

The TSA says this about firearms parts:

You may only transport firearms, ammunition and firearm parts in your checked baggage. Firearms, ammunition and firearm parts are prohibited from carry-on baggage.

I guess it depends on what you define a firearm part to be.

Obama is trying to trample on the first amendment. And then Obama saying, "Don't tell me words don't matter" in combination with saying people with "traditional values" cling to their guns and religion.

Barb and I are sitting in the Reno airport waiting for our plane. I'm pretty sure I'm the last of the gun bloggers to leave town. Barb and I had dinner last night at the Black Bear Diner with The Conservative UAW Guy, his wife, Mr. Completely, and Keewee. Back at Circus Circus I chatted with them and Ride Fast, the last hanger ons, about airport security theater until about 21:00 when most of us said our good-byes. Mr. Completely, Keewee, Barb and I had breakfast together this morning and the Gun Blogger Rendezvous was over.

I have a few pictures and will post more later, particularly about our day at the range, but for now here is an odd gun I saw at the museum today with Barb. This gun was part of an exhibit on bootleggers:

Sawed off pistol. (Click for bigger.)

[Please excuse the poor photo quality. I used my cell-phone camera.]

I noticed one of their exhibits was mislabeled and they seemed very grateful when I corrected them. A device used to clean wheat had original markings saying it separated wheat from wild oats. But was labeled as tool for separating wild oats from chaff. <shrug> Just me being nit-picky as usual.

The real cure for our environmental problems is to understand that our job is to salvage Mother Nature. We are facing a formidable enemy in this field. It is the hunters... and to convince them to leave their guns on the wall is going to be very difficult.

Jacques Yves Cousteau
[This is widely attributed to Cousteau but I have not been able to find the context. Regardless this is a very mild version of what a great number of people believe. What they don't understand is that hunters and other shooters raise more money and do more for wildlife preservation than, probably, any other group. Bigotry is an ugly thing.--Joe]

Say Uncle says he knows the guy quoted in the newspaper article. The article is about the NRA ad being correct when it says Obama voted for a bill that would have outlawed most common hunting ammo. Obama and others on the left say the NRA ad is a lie. The reporter quotes a gun blogger as a reference to support the NRA's claim. I know that guy too.

That blogger would be me and this blog post.

Sebastian also noticed.

What I noticed was that the headline to the article wasn't something to the effect that "NRA is right--Obama tried to ban hunting ammo" but instead, "NRA ad draws fire for dubious claims".

What media bias?

Lack of sleep (up very late talking to other bloggers) combined with Barb wanting to use my computer meant I haven't really posted anything about the rendezvous. Sorry, it's not going to get much better for a few days.

Check out what others have been saying:

• GBR-III Update: Nice Hat! (this is the picture I should have taken of Ashley. I only got a couple before she left and both were crap compared to this one)
• GBR-III Update: Range Day, with Gun Pr0n (picture of me preparing to shoot--a story I promise I will tell before long)
• We're Either Dedicated or Crazy
• GBR-III Saturday 101108 - Range Day
• GBR Day 3 (lots of pictures--See previous posts as well)

There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and more frequently fall into than that of defrauding the government.

Ben Franklin
[Socialized medicine anyone?--Joe]

What the District’s current firearms laws do is manifest "gross indifference" to the self-defense needs of women. Effectively banning the possession of handguns ignores biological differences between men and women, and in fact allows gender-inspired violence free rein. Those biological differences should, under these limited circumstances, be influential to the Court’s decision.

M. Carol Bambery
Brief of amicae curiae 126 women state legislators and academics in support of respondent in D.C. v. Heller.
[A lot of people in the gun rights community worry about the aging of the gun owning population and the need to get young people into the culture. Just as important and, in a logical sense, an easier sell is to get women into the culture. Defense of self and defense of your family is a very powerful argument.--Joe]

Barb and I arrived in Reno a little to late to get on the visit to Cabelas and the NRA presentation from Ashley Varner. I did participated in the show and tell and Barb came in for the tail end of that just before went to dinner.

I'm am now sitting in the corner listening to discussions of how bad Obama is and how the race is closer than the national polls indicate. I certainly hope so.

Oh, and David gave me a Serenity poster. Cool!

I am a new NRA member. I have been a citizen for only fourteen years. I believe in the Constitution and the Second Amendment, and when I see Obama, I see Communism, and I am afraid. I believe he is going to win the election. Do you have any plans in place if this happens?

Ly Chho
October 9, 2008
A question for NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.
Via Kevin Baker.
[Kevin reports Mrs. Ly Chho, was born of Chinese parents in Cambodia, raised and schooled in Taiwan, and hence "she should know".--Joe]