I’m so sorry, but this is the problem with the gun debate — it is that it’s a constant center-right debate. There’s no left in this debate. Everyone on the left is so afraid to say what should be said, which is the Second Amendment is bullshit. Why doesn’t anyone go at the core of it?
Bill Maher
April 2013
Starting at 2:20 in this video:
[No Bill. The left is bullshit.
And the core of “it” is Molon Labe.
H/T Tyler Durden in Guest Post: The Goal Is To Destroy All Constitutional Culture.—Joe]
The hatred of folks who vote for civil rights will continue until “full progress” is reached. In other news, water is wet.
Phil
April 23, 2013
Here It Comes
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Focusing on assault weapons played right into the hands of the NRA, which has for years been saying that Obama wanted to ban guns. Gun control advocates ridiculed that idea—then proposed to ban the most popular rifle in America.
Adam Winkler
Professor of Law
UCLA School of Law
April 17, 2013
Who Killed Gun Control? The gun-control bill is dead. Why?
[No one has ever accused the gun control people of being too logical, smart, or internally consistent.
Even in Winkler’s own article there is some inconsistency. You would think that as a law professor he would know that the Heller decision says that weapons in common use are protected. Therefore when in the context of the “assault weapon ban” he says, “The courts have … approved of restrictions on assault rifles” you have to wonder if his brain is working right, because he also says the ban covered “the most popular rifle in America”.
[Shrug]
As near as I can tell “gun controller” is synonymous with “crap for brains” so what should I expect?
H/T to Thirdpower for the email.—Joe]
I believe that comment sums up the gun grabbers pretty well… I’m from the city and I didn’t think.
Hawk
April 21, 2013
Comment to Schumer/Obama astroturf rally
[It’s not that they don’t think at all. It’s that they restrict their thinking to a very small domain that doesn’t include the potential benefits of gun ownership or the potential disadvantages of restricting gun ownership.—Joe]
I don’t much care for country music but this one is okay.
Via Don S. from the gun email list at work who says, “This made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and sent a chill down my spine! So COOL!!”
Bad people in power WILL NOT STOP. They will continue to do bad things to us until we stop them…. and stopping them will require the use of force. All other discussion on the matter is window dressing.
Dan
April 21, 2013
Comment to Quote of the day—Senator Charles Schumer
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
@linoge_wotc Why can’t #radical #gun #nuts like you ever seem to get your hands on a big enough gun? #3inchdick
Brian Lydon (@brianchicago76)
Tweeted on January 23, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via still another Tweet from Linoge.—Joe]
We have foot soldiers everywhere answering the foot soldiers of the NRA and the gun owners of America, and I am telling you, we are going to win this fight a lot sooner than you think.
Senator Charles Schumer
April 20, 2013
Schumer Cheers On Gun Control Advocates In Midtown
[Dream on.
Our activists outnumber theirs 100 to 1. We have the facts on our side. We have the Bill of Rights on our side. And most importantly we have rational people on our side (compared to Joan Peterson and many others).—Joe]
The truth is that most of the people who threatened to filibuster the background check bill aren’t afraid of the NRA. They’re on its side. They don’t need to be intimidated or even persuaded.
Paul Waldman
April 19, 2013
Gun control fight just beginning
[I realize it is hard for the anti-gun people to comprehend but it’s the truth.
It’s not about the NRA making money from gun sales. It’s not about the NRA buying off politician. It’s not about the NRA threatening to oppose a politician that votes the wrong way. There is no Triangle of Death as they claim.
People actually believe that people have the inalienable right to keep and bear arms and that it must not be infringed. The Bill of Rights says this. The Supreme Court of the United States has confirmed this.
The facts actually support the claim that guns are used to save more innocent lives that they used to take innocent life.
These strongly held beliefs and facts are why there exist politicians on our side. This is why we are winning.
And, most importantly, this is why the anti-gun people are on the wrong side of history and will be swept aside as we push forward to reclaim our infringed rights.—Joe]
I have a bunch of open tabs in my browser and I only have a few minutes before I’m leaving for 10 days to put on Boomershoot. I’ll have some time to make a few blog posts but I want to clear these up before I go.
It’s rare but sometimes they really do say the incredibly stupid things that we accuse them of:
Rep. Jackson Lee: ‘Don’t Condemn the Gangbangers’ – We Need Gun Legislation
Jackson Lee took the House floor on April 9 to argue in favor of increased gun control legislation, “Don’t condemn the gangbangers, they’ve got guns that are trafficked — that are not enforced, that are straw purchased and they come into places even that have strong gun laws.”
“Why? Because we don’t have sensible gun legislation.”
Jackson Lee continued by saying that current gun laws need to be enforced, “I’m going to agree with my friends on the other side of the isle. Our Republican friends, let’s enforce the gun laws that we have – – who would run away from that. That’s a sensible proposition. Put a resolution on the floor of the House – – let’s enforce gun laws that we have.”
Yes. She said that. Blame the gun not the criminals.
Yes. She said that. Put a resolution on the floor to enforce existing laws.
Her babblings should qualify her for dementia medicine trials.
I could only see four out of the ten weapons being in the category “you won’t believe are legal”. And then only if you don’t understand the 2nd Amendment. They had to be desperate for content:
10 Weapons You Won’t Believe Are Legal
- Flame Thrower
- Miniguns
- Katana
- Cannon
- Crossbow
- Grenade Launchers
- Nunchucks
- Umbrella Sword
- Speargun
- Chain Whip
There has to be more to this than what I have had time to dig into.
Judge: lawsuits can proceed against theater owner in Colorado massacre
A federal judge refused on Wednesday to dismiss wrongful death and personal injury claims brought against a movie theater chain on behalf of victims of last summer’s mass shooting at a suburban Denver screening of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.”
U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson ruled that Cinemark
USA, owner of the theater where 12 people were shot
dead, could potentially be found liable for damages under a
Colorado law that holds landowners responsible for activities on their property.
What? The best I could come up with for a plausible grounds for claiming the theater was responsible was if the plaintiffs believed they were disarmed and unable to protect themselves. And I think that is only about 10% chance of being the case.
Yes. Some people blamed the 2nd Amendment for the Boston bombing:
What bothers me most about today is that we’re getting used 2 it. ENOUGH. 2nd amendment must go. Violence has 2 stop. Culture MUST change.
— Jay Mohr (@jaymohr37) April 15, 2013
I once had a boss suggest that I was making so much money at time and a half on weekends that I shouldn’t fly back to Idaho to visit my family. I should just hire a hooker to give me blow jobs under the desk while I continued to write code. I laughed and went home for the weekend.
It turns out there might actually be a market for that sort of service:
Silicon Valley’s other entrepreneurs: Sex workers
In a quiet cafe outside San Francisco, “Josephine” — a local prostitute — arranges a collection of t-shirts across the table. They’re emblazoned with phrases like “Winter is Coming” and “Geeks Make Better Lovers.” She wears them in her online ads to catch the eye of the area’s well-off engineers and programmers.
“I’m trying to communicate to them that I understand a little bit what it’s like to be techy, nerdy, geeky,” she says. There’s another thing Josephine and her clients have in common: Like many of the techies she caters to, Josephine views herself as an entrepreneur.
Not one to let a crisis go to waste it is no surprise Frank Lautenberg is the first to come out with this:
As a result of Monday’s bombing in Boston, New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg will introduce legislation requiring background checks for the sale of explosive powder. Lautenberg is also filing the bill as an amendment to the gun legislation currently being debated on the Senate floor.
I don’t suppose Lautenberg, Schumer, et. al. would care but some of the more sane politicians might be interested to know that flour, coffee creamer, and many other powders can be made to explode as well.
But the biggest loser will probably be consumers of Tannerite. The proposed law would require a permit to mix explosives.
And since black powder has been made since the 7th Century the recipe composed of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal is well known and the processes are very low tech. Precursor materials to make the potassium nitrate can be as common as urine. It is also in some toothpastes. Sulfur is a common element, is found in many fertilizers, as well as occurring naturally. And of course charcoal is easy to come by. The government can’t seem to significantly reduce the availability of recreational drugs or firearms, and you can be sure black powder is going to be available in the black market they create.
Lautenberg and company do not have public safety in mind. They have control in mind. The more laws there are the more control exists over the people. In this case Ayn Rand certainly knew what she was talking about.
All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington.
President Barack Obama
April 17, 2013
Senate Votes to Block Expanded Background Checks for Gun Sales
[Yes. It was shameful that so many people put so much effort into attempting to infringe upon a specific enumerated right. This forced millions of other people to put their own effort into stopping that attempt. The entire country, especially the politicians, had important other things to do and we had to take time out to fight the statist scum.
When they spend so much time, stealing our time and resources in the process, on such a destructive task It is hard to imagine that our political opponents want anything other than the destruction of our entire country.
Shameful doesn’t even begin to describe it. Criminal and treasonous come much closer.
But this just might have been their last stand.—Joe]
Via an email from Squirrel Hunter:
I think this was a wonderful idea. The list of signatures should be used to prohibit them from ever voting or holding public office.
This should be clear and convincing evidence people would sign a petition to fine everyone $10,000 and blow up every bridge in the state.
Arguing with @csgv about constitutional law is like arguing with Stevie Wonder over color palettes.
Robb Allen (@PantsFree)
Tweeted on April 17, 2013
[I strongly suspect this was in regard to this conversation Linoge was having with CSGV.
While there is a lot of truth to what Robb and Linoge are saying it’s also true that the U.S. Constitution deliberately gave the Federal government more power than it had. The Articles of Confederation before it did not give it enough power and failure was imminent. So there is a grain of truth in the CSGV saying, “… the Union could only be preserved by strengthening the federal government”.
What the CSGV appears to completely overlook is that while the Constitution increased the power of the Federal Government it also severely limited it’s powers. Those limits are mostly ignored now and again one could argue failure is at least foreseeable if not imminent.
However in the present case the solution is not more power. As President Reagan said, “… government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.”—Joe]
I’m setting aside the tears that come from looking at the pictures and reading the articles and just channeling “Spock” as best I can on something I know a little bit about.
The first thing I noticed from watching the video and then from the still photo I found at the Los Angles Times is that this looks like a crude homemade bomb.
Here is a cropped version from the Boston Globe YouTube video:
This is a full two seconds later from that same video:
See all that flame? And it looks as if there is still fuel burning in the cloud two seconds after the explosion.
I’m almost certain that no commercial or military explosive produces that much flame. Something like that would be totally banned in the mining industry.
That may mean there was a great excess of fuel in the explosive composition. Boomerite has an excess of oxygen which makes for easier detonation. Maximum power comes from a balance of oxygen and fuel. Some explosives are naturally oxygen or fuel rich. For example TNT is fuel rich. During WW II they would add ammonium nitrate which is (under the proper conditions) an explosive that is oxygen rich. The excess oxygen in the AN increased the power of the detonation by consuming the excess fuel of the TNT.
With that much flame persisting that long after the explosion occurred means huge amounts of power was wasted in light and relatively slowly expanding gases. This was not a military grade explosive. Getting the most bang for the least weight is worth the cost of getting the oxygen balance right.
This means it’s a homemade explosive.
Another possibility is that it wasn’t really a detonation at all but rather a deflagration. For example gun powders typically do not detonate. They “just” burn very rapidly. The flash you see at the muzzle of your gun at night (and sometimes even in bright sunlight) is composed mostly of burning particles of gunpowder. Confine the powder in a strong closed container, such as a pipe, and you get an explosion when the container bursts.
From the sound of the explosion and the speed of the blast product development I’m leaning toward a deflagration.
Mr. Completely sent me an email asking if I could “rule either in or out that readily available reloading powder could have been used”. My answer to that question is that I think it is definitely possible.
Update April 16, 6:20 AM: At least one source says:
…the devices used gunpowder as the explosive and were packed with ball bearings and other shrapnel to maximise injuries.
Update April 16, 1:25 PM: Rick Boatwright has an excellent analysis which points to black powder being the explosive.
Apparently when I’m woken up in the middle of the night and asked to roll on my side because I snore when I sleep on my back I ask, “Which side?”
If you were to believe all the lies told by the anti-gun people about bumping into a shopping cart in the aisle at Safeway causing mass shootings you might expect a different outcome. The most plausible outcome in their world view would seem to be I would just shoot them with the gun next to the bed and continue sleeping on my back.
Perhaps Heinlein was right about being armed and politeness.
zombies aren’t REALLY taking over instead of assault weapons try penis implants..you’ll be fine with “regular guns” #dontbedumb #guncontrol
Lisie G (@GreekSiren87)
Tweeted on January 21, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via still another Tweet from Linoge.—Joe]
If universal respect for the right to keep and bear arms saved just one nation from just one genocide wouldn’t it be worth it?
It should be very telling when people claim a gun control debate is balanced when the line up looks like this:
This balanced panel of experts will debate U.S. gun reform as Goucher College’s Spring 2013 President’s Forum presentation on Monday, April 15, at 8 p.m. in the Hyman Forum of the Athenaeum:
- Colleen Barry, associate professor and associate chair for research and practice, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Sen. James Brochin, Democrat, District 42, Baltimore County
- Josh Horwitz, executive director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
- Jeffrey Swanson, professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Duke University School of Medicine
- Gayle Trotter, general counsel, Independent Women’s Forum, and a conservative writer and political commentator
I commented on Barry and Swanson here.
Josh Horwitz’s title and organization tells you everything you need to know about him.
Maryland State Sen. James Brochin says he supports an “assault weapon” ban. So that puts him on the anti-gun side as well.
It’s only Gayle Trotter on the side of gun rights against five anti-gun people.
The anti-gun people think they need five people to be the balance of one person advocating for gun rights. Yeah, I suppose that is about right. One woman (with a gun) is about the equal of five anti-gun people trying to take her down.
