Gun Laws and Violent Crime

Quote of the Day

I’m not buying a Kirkland MP5 at Costco.

I prefer to buy my submachine guns from the vending machine at the gas station.

Grey
September 7, 2024
Comment to Prosecutors Call for AID for ATF

I am reminded that my brother purchased his first gun, a brand new .357 Magnum revolver, at a grocery store in Moscow, Idaho.

I also remember when guns were sold in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog and would be delivered via the U.S. Postal Service. I do not remember anyone buying a gun from the catalog, but I remember seeing the guns in the catalogs. At that time machine guns were also available.

The violent crime rate must have been out of control, right?

Here is the US violent crime rate by year from 1960 to 2008 (via Copilot, I don’t know why it would not produce data for any years past 2008):

The Gun Control Act of 1968 ended mail order sales of guns. That really put a dent in the violent crime rate, huh? And how about that “assault weapon ban” from 1994 to 2004? Yeah baby! That was some good lawmaking there.

I look forward to the return of the state of gun laws prior to not just 1968, but 1934. As I have stated before, my goal is to have machine gun shooting sports in high schools in less than ten nine years.

Vaporware

Quote of the Day

We intend to have the world’s very first steady-state combination reactor up and creating electrical power within the next 10 years.

Takaya Taguchi
CEO of Helical Blend
August 31, 2024
Japan to launch world’s first steady-state nuclear fusion reactor (interestingengineering.com)

Okay… That sound great. But why are other organizations still spending billions to try and maintain break even energy production for a few seconds?

The answer may be later in the article:

However, he mentioned certain challenges in the execution of the plan. It includes difficulties in raising 1 trillion yen to build the pilot reactor, establishing high-temperature superconductivity technology for coils, and establishing security rules to get local construction approval.

Ah yes… that little problem of needing high-temperature superconductors. People have been trying to solve the problem for as many decades as the steady state fusion problem.

In the software world we use to call this vaporware.

Prosecutors Call for AID for ATF

Quote of the Day

“Law enforcement cannot do this alone. We need to engage software developers, technology experts and leaders in the 3-D-printing industry to identify solutions in this fight.

Lisa Monaco
U.S. Deputy Attorney General
September 6, 2024
Law enforcement leans on 3D-printer industry to help thwart machine gun conversion devices (msn.com)

See also ATF demonstrates 3D-printed ‘machinegun conversion devices’ (msn.com).

How about, “No.”?

Not an acceptable answer? How about, “HELL NO! And screw you and the horse you came in on.”

In a few years machines guns are going to be legal. Even if it were practical to stop the 3-D printing of machine gun parts, which it is not, the successful convictions they make will be thrown out after the law gets ruled unconstitutional.

The ATF has been shooting dogs and innocent people in their war on guns of decades now. And most of those laws they have been using as excuses for their abuses are being declared unconstitutional. If the federal prosecutors are looking for something to do, they should be prosecuting the thugs in the ATF.

Do Not Surrender to Our AI Overlords Just Yet

Quote of the Day

Newer AI models are now being trained, more and more, on content either generated by itself or other AI models.

A researcher that works with Monash University, Jathan Sadowski, recently described a hypothetical self-trained AI as an “an inbred mutant, likely with exaggerated, grotesque features.”

More recently, a study was published in Nature that tested the capabilities of AI trained on itself, and the results were concerning.

By the 5th cycle, the degradation had become stark, and by the 9th, it was almost completely nonsensical.

Benjamin Carter
August 27, 2024
Model Collapse: Why AI Is Probably Getting Worse, And It May Be Fatal (msn.com)

See also AI Appears to Be Slowly Killing Itself (msn.com).

One of the truisms of machine learning is that result cannot be any better than the data used for learning. And, in fact, it can only be some fraction as good as the input data. Hence, if your learning is 90% as good as in the input and your input was based on AI output which was only 90% as good as the original source, your second-generation AI cannot be expected to be any better than 81% as good as the original.

A Little Over the Top

This is a fun read:

Gun clubs are becoming the new bingo halls for seniors. They’re places to meet friends, learn new skills, and swap stories. Who knew that gun oil could be the new smell of friendship? These clubs often organize social events beyond shooting, creating tight-knit communities for older adults.

It is a little over the top, but that appeals to my inclination to rub the noses of anti-gun people in a different view of things.

There is a New Kid On the Block

Quote of the Day

We are going to make the case to the American public that he [Biden] is wrong, anti-gun liberals are wrong, and that the right to self-defense is fundamental to every law-abiding American.

Cris Cox
Senior Advisor to The Secure Our Freedom Alliance
September 3, 2024
New gun group launches to fill NRA vacuum (msn.com)

Cris Cox, if you don’t remember, is the NRA’s former political director and chief lobbyist.

Here are a couple of The Secure Our Freedom Alliance’s ads:

I wish them well.

No Vice is Too Low

Quote of the Day

Theirs is a rot that goes deeper than the marrow of their bones.

There may have been a time when the Left in the US had some integrity to their belief but decades of embracing the premeditated death of innocents have corrupted their souls to where no vice is too low for them to commit in their pursuit of power.

I used to wonder how the Nazis or the NKVD/KGB killers could be so beastial in their actions, but reading how they didn’t spring from the maw of Charon fully formed but rather they gave away their souls bit by bit in exchange for a modicum of power and bread, I see that this is where we find ourselves today.

Our foes on the left would gladly kill any of us if it means they could rule over the abattoir.

Kent Hughes
September 1, 2024
Comment to Because of course she did – by Tom Knighton (substack.com)

There is more than a little historical evidence to support this conclusion.

Prepare accordingly.

The Real Goal of Gun Control

Quote of the Day

A lot of people foolishly believe that the gun control movement’s motivation is a misguided but good faith desire to stop criminal violence.

While that’s true of some people who have been personally affected by gun-related crime, for the party leaders and financiers of the left, it’s not really true. If stopping crime were the big concern, they wouldn’t embrace so many policies that quickly release violent criminals back into society.

Criminal violence isn’t the real target, the fact that broad gun ownership is a check on the erosion of other liberties is. What is happening in the UK and Brazil right now is much harder to do in the US. Millions being armed is a major deterrent to it.

Everything the modern American Democrat party does makes sense when you realize the goal is to turn us into docile and harmless western europeans.

Kostas Moros @MorosKostas
Posted on X on September 1, 2024

And what happens after becoming “docile and harmless western Europeans”?

Prepare and respond appropriately.

Sorry About Your Suspended Account

Quote of the Day

I am gun owner with many hours of range and tactical practice and a concealed carry license. You do not need an automatic weapon to hunt. Or to “protect” yourself. Stfu, you impotent crybaby losers. I’m sorry about your small weiners.

Makingthebestofshit (@Zoey_Lifts)
Tweetted on May 15, 2022

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

They are sorry about something that doesn’t exist? There is something quite fitting about that. I’m sorry their account doesn’t exist either. It makes further mocking difficult and less effective.



Allied With the Criminals

Quote of the Day

Incredibly, only about 8% of violent crimes [reported and unreported] in those cities result in someone being arrested. Only 1% of property crimes, both reported and unreported, result in arrests. These are just mind-boggling numbers. When criminals have a 92% chance of not being arrested, prosecuted or convicted, they don’t fear the consequences of committing more crimes.

The irony is that, as Biden refuses to criticize these district attorneys who are refusing to prosecute violent criminals, he also wants to make it more difficult and costly for law-abiding citizens to be able to protect themselves.

John R. Lott, Jr.
August 23, 2024
Shooting Straight with John Lott | An Official Journal Of The NRA (americas1stfreedom.org)

Wow!

Criminals have a 99% chance of getting away with property crimes. It is almost as if the politicians are communists and believe these criminals are their natural allies against property owners.

Prepare appropriately.

Hopes and Dreams vs. Court Victories, Guns, and Ammo

Quote of the Day

Well I decided you guys are very annoying so I’m hoping you will leave. I hope #HarrisWalz2024 win I hope they win the House and the Senate and pass huge gun reforms and get someone to go from door to door and take all of the guns and we can be like the UK and you will only have knives to defend yourselves with.

It will be awesome.

I will be dreaming about it.

Terry Posts ❤️💛💚💙 @Tplusthree
Posted on X (and here) August 23, 2024

Just keep on hoping and dreaming Terry. That’s all you are going to get because we are doing things like winning court cases, teaching new people to shoot, and stocking up on ammo and guns.

Oh! And making explosives.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

National Debt Will Turn Us Into Gaza

Quote of the Day

A halfpinion looks at either the costs or benefits of a plan but not both.

Gaza residents were brainwashed to have a halfpinion about how to deal with Israel. October 7th was them getting the “benefit” too many of the residents wanted.

Now they are experiencing the “cost” side.

America has this same halfpinion disease. That’s why our national debt will turn us into Gaza fairly soon.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Posted on X August 24, 2024

The same “disease” affects the gun control nuts too.

Less Horrified at Their Fates

Quote of the Day

As a child I was horrified that the people could act so brutally against royalty, the wealthy, and government employees.

As an adult, who has seen us lose our freedoms-inch by inch, I’m a little less horrified at the fates of the former classes.

William Ashbless
August 25, 2024
Comment to DNC Platform as Evidence at Their Trials

I don’t know how things will turn out. I see too many paths depending on too many variables to make any kind of prediction or to have a significant influence. I have resigned myself to giving whatever nudge I can in the direction of fair and just trials for the perpetrators. But mass psychology being what it is, and the thin veneer of rationality our species has means that is likely a low probability outcome.

Second Amendment Foundation’s 50th Anniversary

Almost 30 years ago (I think it was the summer of 1996) Alan Gottlieb invited me to bring my family to dinner at his place with his family. It was a very special evening. Our kids were near the same age has his and I learned a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff from Alan and Julianne. One of the things that stuck with me was that Alan’s college major was nuclear engineering.

He told me of the history of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the Second Amendment Foundation. Also, it was a member of the Microsoft Gun Club (now, The Gun Club at Microsoft) who registered the domain names saf.org and ccrkba.org before most people knew the Internet existed. He gave the domain to Alan’s organizations when it was time to bring their message to the web.

Now, today, the Second Amendment Foundation is 50 years old.

SAF CELEBRATES 50th ANNIVERSARY – Second Amendment Foundation

Today, Monday, Aug. 26, marks 50 years of the Second Amendment Foundation’s (SAF) unwavering commitment to defend, secure and restore the Second Amendment rights vital to the defense of liberty.

From a landmark victory at the United States Supreme Court to triumphs in state courthouses, SAF has scored numerous successes in the past half century, including the all-too-important McDonald v. City of Chicago decision handed down by the Supreme Court in 2010. SAF’s win in McDonald has been critical to the fight against modern gun control, as it paved the way for legal action against states and municipalities for violations of the Second Amendment.

“The goal when I created SAF was to get a case all the way to the Supreme Court,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We did that in 2010, and that momentum hasn’t stopped. SAF has been part of more than 260 lawsuits since our founding and we currently have more than 55 active cases across the nation. This includes one case – Garland v. Vanderstok – that will be argued before the Supreme Court in October.”  

Although SAF has won numerous critical pro-Second Amendment cases since 1974, the organization has shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, in 2022 SAF brought on board a new Executive Director – practicing attorney Adam Kraut – to lead the organization into the next half-century.  

“When Alan started SAF 50 years ago, he laid out a comprehensive vision to fight for our right to keep and bear arms,” Kraut said. “Over time, he and those who joined him built a solid organizational foundation that was effective in winning where it matters. I think we continued to build on that foundation and have a tremendous team to lead the organization into the next 50 years. I’m looking forward to the challenge of continuing to build on the work Alan started.”

Over the past 50 years, SAF has been at the forefront of numerous legal battles, challenging unconstitutional firearms regulations such as “assault weapon” bans, magazine capacity bans, young adult carry laws, “sensitive places” restrictions, red flag laws, prohibited person and many, many more. Through aggressive, strategic litigation, SAF has successfully challenged restrictive gun laws across the nation, dismantling barriers that impede the right to keep and bear arms for all Americans.

Cracked Up

Quote of the Day

It always cracks me up when I come back from the farm to see that a whole bunch of twidiots who substitute guns for their penises have spent the whole day tweeting at me, thinking their comments upset me because they know that people like me will take their precious guns away. 😆

Savi (@SavionWinter)
Tweeted on April 7, 2022

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

Yes, 2022. I have a long queue of Markley’s Law examples.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with anyone telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

And… it cracks me up that his account no longer exists.

One Lawsuit at a Time

We are on a path to concealed carry any state we want to visit:

Federal Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction In Challenge To California’s Non-Resident Concealed Carry Ban (msn.com)

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners, challenging California’s prohibition on non-resident concealed carry permits. U.S. District Court Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, partially granted the motion for preliminary injunction, setting the stage for further legal proceedings.

Even a Biden appointed judge admits we have the constitution on our side!

See also SAF SCORES VICTORY IN CALIFORNIA NON-RESIDENT CARRY CASE.

We are making progress… one lawsuit at a time.