Author Archives: Joe

The European perspective

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There’s some serious talk going on about increasing the oppression of gun owners in Europe:

Against the backdrop of deadly school shootings in Finland and Germany, European Union legislators Thursday overwhelmingly backed tough new gun control rules they said they hoped would prevent Europe from becoming a gun-friendly culture like the United States.

Under the new rules, hammered out in 18 months of negotiations between the European Parliament, national governments and gun advocates, individuals age 18 and over will be able to buy and own a firearm, provided they are not deemed a threat to public safety. Individuals under 18 will only be able to obtain a gun for hunting or target shooting under the supervision of a licensed adult.

To plug holes in the current system, in which the registration of guns is not consistent across the 27-member bloc, each member state will be obliged to set up a computerized database of firearms, including details about their model, caliber, serial number and the names and addresses of both the seller and the buyer. The data must be kept by authorities for at least 20 years.

European legislators of all political stripes said the new rules were essential to prevent Europe from embracing the gun culture of the United States, where the right to bear arms is written in the constitution.

“We in Europe have a different culture than in the United States and we do not consider the freedom to buys weapons a human right,” said Gisela Kallenbach, a German member of the European Parliament from the Green group, who helped draft the proposed law. “All European cows are registered Europe-wide, so why not guns, if it can save lives? Civil liberties can be sacrificed if we can prevent people from being killed.”

How appropriate. A German who wants to sacrifice civil liberties to prevent people from being killed. That was done once before by the Germans in 1938:

§1
Jews (§5 of the First Regulations of the German Citizenship Law of 14 November 1935, Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 1333) are prohibited from acquiring, possessing, and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons.  Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority.

The only question is, which lives will they be saving? In 1938 it was the Nazi lives that would be saved by sacrificing the civil liberties of the Jews.

When someone takes a weapon from you it’s an exceedingly rare circumstance that your safety will be increased. It’s someone else’s safety that might be increased.

What’s the problem with registration? Registration is a problem because those records were used by the Nazis to find all the Jews with firearms and experience with firearms. Firearms registration fails my Jews in the Attic Test. Firearms registration enables scenes like this:

The European Union doesn’t want to be a “gun-friendly culture”, instead they want to be tyrant-friendly culture. How many tens of millions of people must be murdered before they learn their lesson?

Bryan Miller update

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My QOTD and commentary got some attention from Sebastian at Snow Flakes in Hell. Sebastian also posted a comment on Miller’s blog with a link to my posting. That apparently got Miller to stop by for a visit:

[Update: I was wrong. It was someone else from New Jersey. Thanks to Sebastain for pointing out my error. I was able to verify Sebastian is correct. I didn’t think there were any progun people left in that state.]

[Update2:  I have deleted part of the orginal message at the request of the real visitor.]

Also of possible interest is it’s not the first time Miller came for a visit. Notice the referrals? He came to visit me from each of the following pro-gun blogs:

Did you see where he visited boomershoot.org after reading about Ted Nugent’s “threat against Hillary and Obama”? And he specifically searched for my comments about him: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Joe+Huffman%27s+comment%3A&btnG=Google+Search.

And that’s just what I can determine from my little outpost in an obscure corner of the Internet. Imagine what the total extent of his efforts on the topic must be. I find it difficult to believe him when in response to the Supreme Court granting cert in D.C. v. Heller, “For me, the announcement was a Ho Hum moment.”

Since he showed such an interest in my blog I paid him a little visit and left a comment in response to another pro-gun commenter, CavTrooper, who said we didn’t have any legal recourse against people publishing anti-gun propaganda:

Posted by JoeHuffman on 11/29/07 at 8:53PM

Actually we do have legal recourse. Miller and his ilk are engaged in a conspiracy against civil rights. Check out 18 USC 241 and 18 USC 242 for government employees acting under “the color of law”.

No actual harm need to have occurred. Just that they conspired to oppress, threaten, or intimidate us with unconstitutional laws. It’s no different than if they conspired to pass laws prohibiting people with dark colored skin from being outdoors during the night (Miller’s idealogical cousins might claim it’s a “reasonable restriction” because it’s too easy for dark skinned people to commit crimes in the dark).

We are a long way from getting Federal Prosecutors from enforcing 18 USC 241/242 in these cases but it took a long time for the KKK to be prosecuted also. Getting the Supreme court to explicitly state it is an individual right is the first step to seeing these bigots brought up on the felony charges they deserve. One step at a time…

Thanks for stopping by Bryan. Come back anytime. And don’t be shy about visiting in real life either. Boomershoot is a real blast.

Quote of the day–Bryan Miller

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But, first, a little background – for those of you who have more to do with your time than memorize old, obsolete and unused Constitutional dicta – the 2nd Amendment reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

As I said, Ho Hum. How seriously must I (or anyone, for that matter) take a sentence so overwhelmingly categorical, yet which has never been used to overturn any gun regulation, ordinance or law in the 200-plus years since it was adopted?

Bryan Miller
November 29, 2007
Supremes take on 2nd Amendment – Yawn
[It’s overwhelmingly categorical and never been used to overturn a law since it was adopted, therefore we shouldn’t take it seriously and can enact laws that violate it without concern to the constitutionality of the law. Interesting logic. So, Mr. Miller, do you advocate treating the 13th amendment in the same way?

Section. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

If so then I claim you, Bryan Miller, as my slave. Maybe then you will suddenly recognize the utility of the 2nd Amendment. Or maybe since the 13th amendment is only 142 years old it’s too recent to discard. If it needs to be 200-plus years old before we can start ignoring it then I’ll let my great-grandchildren know that your descendants gave up their 13th Amendment rights on your say so. As my descendants, with guns, take possession I’m sure your descendants will “thank” you for giving up your 2nd Amendment rights earlier. The point is that just because a law hasn’t been overturned recently the constitutional provision against such laws is obsolete.

And, Mr. Miller, it’s obvious you haven’t read this book which demonstrates the Supreme Court has upheld the legal tradition and historical record of private gun ownership, self defense, and armed self defense, since the country began.

My take on Miller’s “yawn” response is that is the best spin he can put on what he thinks is impending doom.–Joe]

Plugging their ears and shouting LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA

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Uncle sent me a link to this story:

Preventing gun crimes will be the focus of a summit Monday that is expected to draw dozens of police officers and civic leaders from around the state to Seattle.

Mayor Greg Nickels, along with Harborview Medical Center’s Injury and Research Prevention Center, is hosting the conference in an effort to draw up better strategies to reduce violent crime and stop criminals from obtaining firearms.

It’s expected to draw about 150 people, including police, prosecutors, church leaders and school officials. During the one-day conference at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center, they’ll hear from experts who will share how efforts elsewhere have worked.

The thought crossed my mind that it would be interesting to attend but there wasn’t information on how to sign up. But after reading the next paragraph I realized it wouldn’t be good for my blood pressure (links added by me): 

The Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based non-profit that advocates for more restrictive gun-control laws, provided grant money to pay for the conference.

Other speakers include: Garen Wintemute, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of California-Davis; Police Chief Scott Knight of Chaska, Minn., who is chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police firearms committee; and Nina Vinik, legal director for the Legal Community Against Violence.

Still, it might be interesting to attend for a little while. But then I read the comments to the article and discovered all I needed to know:

Posted by Dave Workman at 11/28/07 7:33 a.m.

I was advised that my name came up early in this discussion, so it seems only right to clarify some things for TerryP (thank you for your kind remarks) and others.

Gun rights advocates were deliberately not invited to this event, which is “Invitation Only.”

I certainly was not invited to participate. But there is more to this: I’m a member of the working press, senior editor of ‘GUN WEEK’ a national-circulation firearms newspaper and it is rather disappointing that Gun Week was not invited to cover this event for its readers.

Mark Taff, executive director of the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, had been extended an invitation by a local state senator, but that invitation was apparently nixed by someone in the Mayor’s office.

They have no interest in hearing anything other than their predetermined agenda. This isn’t a “conference”, it’s a conspiracy against rights and they should be arrested and be given a fair trial.

Bullet effects video

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BulletFootage-5000.wmv (3.27 MB)

I wish I had a camera that would take video like that of my boomers.

That watermelon is pretty cool though.

[Thanks to Joe D.]

Quote of the day–Lyle Keeney

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Where there are grazers there will be predators. They said that on Discovery last night in a documentary on undersea micro environments. I think it applies to human society as well.

Lyle Keeney
November 26, 2007
In the comments.
[Yup. There probably are some thresholds due to family and tribal type bonds but as soon as you get a large enough population of “not us” available as prey the predators materialize. I don’t think the anti-gun bigots grasp that concept. It appears that they believe it’s the availability of weapons not the availability of prey that “creates” the predators.–Joe]

Firemen are now looking for your guns

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Via Bruce.

All in the name of the War on a Noun:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people’s privacy.

Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don’t need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning.

[…]

When going to private residences, for example, they are told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States; unusual chemicals or other materials that seem out of place; ammunition, firearms or weapons boxes; surveillance equipment; still and video cameras; night-vision goggles; maps, photos, blueprints; police manuals, training manuals, flight manuals; and little or no furniture other than a bed or mattress.

Still and video cameras? Photos? Maps? Discontent with the United States?

I would get so many “hits” it would peg their meters even before they got to the guns, ammunition, and explosives.

There’s talk of impeachment

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Moscow is reputed to be the most liberal city in the entire state of Idaho. Half the town population are students attending the University of Idaho. Add in the socialist professors who think they are the anointed and you end up with some very liberal politics. For the most part it isn’t a problem because there isn’t all that much damage the city government can do when the state politics are so conservative. However Mayor Nancy Chaney feels she needs to do something about all those guns:

MOSCOW (AP) – Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney wants all cities in Idaho to be able to restrict guns in city facilities.

She has asked Representative Shirley Ringo, a Democrat from Moscow, to introduce legislation that will give Idaho cities the ability to ban guns in their facilities.

Chaney has been looking at ways to restrict guns in Moscow facilities since a May shooting rampage in the city left four dead and three wounded. Among the dead was Moscow police officer Lee Newbill. He was the first Moscow police officer killed in the line of duty.

Chaney says some area residents and city employees are concerned about their safety during public meetings. She says she’s not looking for a citywide gun ban, but for the city to be able to restrict weapons in such places as city hall.

The attorney general last September told Moscow officials that cities in Idaho don’t have legal authority to enforce gun bans in their facilities.

We feel we need to do something too. What I have heard so far is tough to report on a family friendly blog but after you filter out all the obscenities you are left with the word “impeach”.

When seconds count mandate a cell phone

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Via reader Rob:

Montclair State Unveils Mandatory ‘School Phone’

Students Must Carry And Pay For GPS-Based Cell Device

MONTCLAIR, N.J. (CBS) ―

College students at Montclair State University are all talking about a new requirement that will require students to have a cell phone.

CBS 2 HD has learned more on this required feature that is forcing students to dig into their wallets.

At Montclair State, there is no excuse for being out of touch.

“‘School Phone’ I use for campus e-mail, different things like that,” freshman Angela Vuocolo said.

That’s right.

First-year student Vuocolo said ‘School Phone’ — as in a Sprint-operated cell phone — is now mandatory for all students. It’s the first program of its kind in the country.

The cost: $420 a year for a base plan which is bundled into the tuition bill.

It includes just 50 peak voice minutes a month, but unlimited text messaging to any carrier, unlimited campus-based data usage, and student activated emergency GPS tracking.

“What it does is allow students to have an extra pair or group of people watching over them when they’re going from one location to another,” Montclair Police Department Chief Paul Cell said.

The positive impact is already being felt across campus.

“It makes me feel comfortable,” MSU freshman Ricky Bodtmann said. “I guess if people want to feel safe.”

As Rob pointed out, “It makes them FEEL safer. I’m thinking that the phone won’t stop a bullet.”

And it won’t do much good against a knife or superior strength either. If safety were the goal that $420/year would be better spent on a gun, ammunition, and some range time. But this is New Jersey where, “When it comes to firearms, the citizen acts at his own peril.“

Quote of the day–Marko

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I believe that forced charity is no charity at all, and forced virtue cannot claim credit for itself anymore than a eunuch can claim credit for chastity.

Marko
this i believe.
November 21, 2007
[Via Tam. It’s a great post and covers numerous important topics. I think son James will appreciate it greatly.–Joe]

As if that will help

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Guns are already illegal so now they are about to make them even more illegal:

TOKYO, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Japan’s parliament on Monday passed legislation strengthening gun control following a spate of shootings by gangsters, including the assassination of a city mayor in April and the recent murder of a hospital patient in a case of mistaken identity.

The revision of the firearms control law is the first since 1995, and imposes heavier punishments for gun crimes committed by members of organised crime gangs.

After the new law takes effect, which is expected by the end of the year, possessing a gun as part of organised crime syndicate will result in a sentence of one to 15 years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million yen ($46,100). The current provision is for a prison sentence of one to 10 years.

Under the revision, possessing more than one gun would become a crime, and would carry a prison term of between one and 15 years.

Just One Question.

Interesting findings

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I doubt that many teenagers will be able to convince their parents of this but it could make for some very interesting dinner time talk:

Early sex may not lead where we think it does.

Teens who start having sex at an early age may be less likely to engage in delinquent behavior in early adulthood than teens who wait until they are older to have sex, a new U.S. study finds.

The conclusion contradicts the widely held belief that early sexual activity is associated with later drug use, criminality, antisocial behavior and emotional problems.

We got a very surprising finding, particularly that early sex seems to forecast less antisocial behavior a few years later, rather than more,” said lead researcher Kathryn Paige Harden, a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia.

“There is a cultural assumption in the United States that if teens have sex early, it is somehow bad for their psychological health. But we actually found that teens who had sex earlier seem to have better relationships later. Now we want to find out why,” she said.

“Our hypothesis as a result of this finding is that teens who become involved in intimate romantic relationships early are having sex early and more often but that those intimate relationships might later protect them from becoming involved in delinquent acts.”

So many variations of such a discussion between parent and teenager are going through my mind that I couldn’t possibly unscramble them.

Posted in Sex

This is a fight we must win

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We must win or else life under such a regime will not be worth living:

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A British primary school teacher has been arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet by letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad, her school said on Monday.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons told Reuters they feared for her safety after receiving reports that young men had already started gathering outside the Khartoum police station where the Liverpool woman was being held.

Teachers at Unity High School in central Khartoum said Gibbons, 54, made an innocent mistake and simply let her pupils choose their favorite name for the toy as part of a school project.

Police arrested Gibbons on Sunday at her home inside the school premises, said Unity director Robert Boulos, after a number of parents made a complaint to Sudan’s Ministry of Education.

Boulos said she had since been charged with “blasphemy,” an offense he said was punishable with up to three months in prison and a fine.

[…]

Gibbons, who joined Unity in August, asked a girl to bring in her teddy bear to help the second grade class focus, said Boulos.

The teacher then asked the class to name the toy. “They came up with eight names including Abdullah, Hassan and Mohammed. Then she explained what it meant to vote and asked them to choose the name.” Twenty out of the 23 children chose Muhammad.

I can’t help but wonder

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Have “the times changed” in the last few decades? Or has this sort of thing being going on for a long, long time? If it has changed, why did it? Was it the independence of women having greater earning power? Or was it social acceptance of female sexuality? Something to do with the availability of birth control and/or good health beyond menopause? How would one design a study to answer those questions?

Older white women join Kenya’s sex tourists:

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) – Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64.

They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is “just full of big young boys who like us older girls.”

Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex.

Allie and Bethan — who both declined to give their full names — said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya’s palm-fringed beaches.

[…]

“It’s not love, obviously. I didn’t come here looking for a husband,” Bethan said over a pounding beat from the speakers.

“It’s a social arrangement. I buy him a nice shirt and we go out for dinner. For as long as he stays with me he doesn’t pay for anything, and I get what I want — a good time. How is that different from a man buying a young girl dinner?”

Yeah, I know, the “hard figures are difficult to come by” phrase made me laugh too.

Posted in Sex

Quote of the day–Hillary Rodham Clinton

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There are big differences between me and Sen. Obama on healthcare. I have a healthcare plan that covers every single American. He does not. I have a healthcare plan that will leave no American out. He, by his own admission, leaves at least 15 million people out.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
November 25, 2007
Clinton, Obama dial up the healthcare heat
[And there is a big difference between both of their plans and what the U.S. Constitution says. The Constitution does not give the Federal Government the authority to engage in this kind of activity. That both senators are advocating unconstitutional action is proof neither of them are fit to be on the public payroll in any capacity. That includes dog catcher and “sanitation worker”. But the reality is that Henry Kissinger wasn’t just speaking about the administration he was working for. It applies to nearly all politicians.–Joe]

Being treated like cattle

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If you were just the least bit selective in your data collection you could great really paranoid about big government. Check out this story (via email from Tony) Children herded like cattle into Maryland courthouse for forced vaccinations as armed police and attack dogs stand guard. And Local 2 Investigates Police Secrecy Behind Unmanned Aircraft Test.

Instead of paranoid, I think we should be “very skeptical”, “keep your powder dry”, and keep your training up to date.

If for some reason it ever becomes necessary to take down one of those planes do it while it is on the ground. If it’s already in the air then take out the communication gear on the ground.

I’ve often said the socialists think of the common person more as cattle to be dehorned, vaccinated, milked, and slaughtered than as people. The “central committee” or the “enlightened leaders” need to keep watch and do what is best for the common good. The right of the individual is unimportant next to the right of society as a whole. It’s time give up on these outmoded ideas and work for good of the collective. Those that resist are outlaws or insane and society is completely justified sending them to the work and reeducation camps. It’s for the good of society.

Yeah, right. And that is Why Boomershoot.

Update: This post is starting to get legs. The vaccination story above is obviously bordering near hysterical. I figured there was a grain of truth in it and the whole forced vaccination concept bothers me. Here are some more dispassionate versions of the same story:

Most of the articles just barely, at best, mention the protesters. The Christian Science Monitor has the best coverage of that angle:

But protesters outside the courthouse say that the summons to the courthouse amounted to a campaign of intimidation, and that parents weren’t adequately informed of their rights as parents or possible risks to their children.

“I think it’s offensive that the government would forcibly vaccinate kids. Individual rights are a good thing, and when you’re dealing with health issues, informed consent is an important value,” says Donna Hurlack, a Virginia gynecologist protesting outside the courthouse.

“There was a feeling of intimidation. Children were basically put in that building, lined up and given vaccines without any information given to parents about how to monitor their children for adverse vaccination reactions,” says Barbara Loe Fisher, president and cofounder of the National Vaccine Information Center, which advocates for more parental rights in immunization.

None mention the police and dogs but I found one picture that confirms that angle (from the Associated Press article above):

My best take on it is that the facts reported in the original article I linked to were probably correct. Yes, the spin on it was extreme but his point is valid. It was a forced vaccination. People were threatened with jail (point of a gun) if they didn’t comply. They were being treated a lot like cattle.

Quote of the day–Phil Goldsmith

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We have our great role model out there in the NRA. They know how to do their job and mobilize people.

Phil Goldsmith
November 25, 2007
Why gun control has no shot–Governor’s effort to pass new restrictions runs into organized and effective opposition, as usual
President of CeaseFire PA
[In that spirit they should take us up on offers to go to the range together, learn how and why we socialize over guns, and why we oppose victim disarmament laws. They could join the NRA, read the magazines, participate in competitions, attend the annual meeting, Friends of the NRA dinners, and become firearms instructors. They could learn a lot from us.

Some of the most basic things they lack are a way to even join their organization let alone any benefits if someone were to join. And what existing events can they connect with people that might want to join? They have a lot of disadvantages compared to our side. We should fully exploit our advantages. These bigots need to be politically exterminated.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Oleg Volk

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If it keeps your daughter safe who cares about the color?

Oleg Volk
November 23, 2007
[And, of course, you know there is an Oleg Volk picture associated with this so click on the link above. Via Roberta.–Joe]

Wireless, remote control cannon hit simulator

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If you are into the battle reenactment scene Ozark Pyrotechnics, Inc. now has wireless Cannon Hit Simulation kits for sale.

This might be the way to realize one of my Boomershoot fantasies. That is where I mock the people unable to connect with targets using their rifles by pulling my iron sighted pistol from it’s holster and while standing popping off targets at 375 yards away.

The real story of Thanksgiving

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Of course it’s not the modern day socialist view of the Pilgrims, but it’s not the totally capitalist version as told by Stossel either. Amateur historian Clayton tells gives us the details.