Some days are more interesting than others.
Liberals/progressives/etc. want to increase taxes on things to discourage such items and/or activities. Examples include the NFA of 1934 which taxed firearms and certain safety equipment, huge taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, And of course there are the frequent demands for huge taxes on ammunition and sometimes on gasoline and other fossil fuels.
What this makes crystal clear is those same people use the tax system in a way that is consistent with a belief that there should be fewer rich people and more poor people. They place huge taxes on “the rich” and want to eliminate taxes on “the poor”. If they really wanted to reduce or eliminate poverty shouldn’t they be taxing it? Sort of like the demand for taxes on guns and ammunition to “pay for the costs of gun violence” shouldn’t there be taxes on poverty to pay for the cost of supporting the poor?*
* No. I’m not entirely serious about this. Only a little bit serious.
New York adopted one of the toughest gun control laws in the U.S. — banning the sale of assault rifles and banana clips. Many of the state’s county sheriffs hate the law and some say they won’t enforce it. The fight over gun rights and gun safety has become a hot issue in sheriff races, as local law enforcement officials seek re-election in rural counties.
Brian Mann
September 10, 2013
New York’s Gun Control Law Gets Even More Controversial
[“Assault rifles?” “Banana clips?” Gun rights versus “gun safety?”
The ignorance is strong with this one.—Joe]
My gun control plan: a program where rednecks can trade their gun for a penis pump. That should ease the need for a weapon.
Jose Soto (@therealjosesoto)
Tweeted on February 15, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]
@gunpolicy Of course we will – if you can form words into sentences. We publish rebuttals all the time.
— Stuart Leavenworth (@SacBeeEditBoard) September 7, 2013
[Stuart Leavenworth writes opinion pieces for the Sacramento Bee. His Tweet was in response to this Tweet:
Dr. Geren Wintemute is wrong (again) on #guncontrol in @SacBeeEditBoard: http://t.co/bqhrmTenPV. When will they publish OUR viewpoint? #2A
— Firearms Policy (@gunpolicy) September 6, 2013
It’s good to know what Leavenworth thinks of gun owners. I wonder what his boss would say if Leavenworth said something similar to a gay/Jewish/black rights group.
Leavenworth is a ignorant, prejudiced, bigot. He just doesn’t know it. Yet.—Joe]
The police are not “the only ones qualified to handle guns”.
This appears to be a training issue:
When one of the women involved in the brawl took off running across the street, the officer jumped out of his patrol car and pursued her on foot and approached the woman in the parking lot of a nearby business.
In the lot, the woman refused to show her hands and show she was not armed, prompting the officer to draw his firearm. While drawing his gun, the officer unintentionally fired one shot, striking the woman in the leg.
Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
There have been many times I’ve had a gun go off unexpectedly but only when I was planning to shoot anyway. Your training should include drawing a gun without actually firing. And when you do plan to actually shoot you draw while keeping your finger off the trigger until the sights are on the target.
If the economy is important then government shouldn’t be attacking such a successful industry.
Created by OnlineMBA.com
But the evidence indicates our government does not care about the economy as well as being hostile to gun ownership.
From the Seattle Police Department:
A 53-year-old man set off an intensive three-hour search by police Friday after he was spotted growling, performing martial arts moves and brandishing a machete outside a dollar store on Lake City Way.
…
Officers found the man near 125th and Lake City Way, arrested him, and seized what one officer described as a “big machete.” Police intend to book the man into the King County Jail for a weapons violation, and are still looking for other victims the man may have threatened.
You can be certain the police were glad to possess firearms when dealing with this guy and his victims would have been safer if armed as well.
Via Zero Hedge:
Bill, in a comment here, says, “a 1911 costs essentially the same, in gold, as it did in 1911, and 1945, and 1960, and 2000.”
I’m not sure what conclusions can be drawn from this other than holding onto dollars is a futile attempt to retain wealth.
From the Seattle Police Department:
Around 1 pm Thursday, two teens were sitting on the steps of Franklin High School when a woman climbed out of a blue Audi parked on the street, approached the teens, and asked to use one of the teens’ cell phones.
One of the teens reluctantly handed her iPhone over to the woman, who walked off with the victim’s phone, climbed into the Audi and sped away.
The victim immediately went inside the school and called 911.
Patrol officers spotted the Audi near Rainier Avenue and S. Othello Street, pulled the car over and contacted the two 18-year-old women inside.
One of the women in the car then pulled the victim’s iPhone out of her purse, handed it back to officers., and said [s]he had taken it because her phone had died and she needed a new one.
Officers booked both women into the King County Jail, where they’re undoubtedly enjoying the jail’s excellent cell coverage.
Interesting response. Did the thief actually believe she was entitled to replace her phone in this manner? I think a case can be made that people have been getting “free” stuff from via government theft for so long that some believe they are improving the system by removing the middle-man.
So the police are not obligated to help, can sue you if they do, and you get to pay for the privilege.
Such government shenanigans are part of the drive behind “stand your ground” laws. With the police often unable to help, or even openly hostile once they do, self-protection becomes a necessity. Legal protections like stand your ground laws are essential. They provide that in the absence of police assistance, or under the threat of police litigation, one can keep their life without losing their liberty.
C.D. Michel
September 2, 2013
When Police Sue You
[The back story is that a woman called the cops because of a man in her house (who she presumably knew) who had been using illegal recreational drugs for days. The cop shows up, gets beat up, shoots and kills the man, then sues the woman.
One has to wonder; Would the woman have been better off just shooting the man herself then calling the cops to take the trash out?—Joe]
Bing Crosby is a famous singer and actor to people of a certain age, performing from the mid 1920s to the mid 1970s. He was a number of musicals and comedy shows, both movies and TV. Very talented guy.
This is his 1943 rendition of the then-well-known song, singing with the Andrews Sisters, a popular trio from the era.
Therefore be it enacted:
I. Limitation on Use of Force in Self-Defense.
A. The victim of attempted murder, rape, robbery or other violent offense is not justified in using force to resist unless the said victim is unable to retreat from the person attempting the violent offence.
B. A person attempting to prevent the commission of murder, rape, robbery or other violent offense against another person is not justified unless the victim is unable to retreat from the person attempting the violent offense.
C. This Act shall be entitled “The Violent Criminals’ Protection Act of 2013.”
David Hardy
September 5, 2013
“No retreat” law repeal
[Hardy is a very pro-gun lawyer who has written (or ghost-written) many briefs on firearms cases for the Supreme Court. The above is him mocking the anti-gun people.
There is more at the post that is worthy of your time. It gives you a great deal of clarity into the apparent mindset of those who oppose “Stand your ground” laws.—Joe]
Robb Allen recently tweeted:
People listen to you better if you speak calmly, use proper grammar, and have your gun pointed at one of their vital organs.
— Robb Allen (@ItsRobbAllen) September 5, 2013
This reminded me of something Al Capone once said:
You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.
I’d suggest Capone had been reincarnated as Robb Allen but Capone was a syphilis infected, booze running, Chicago mobster and Robb lives in Florida*.
*Robb is also a really nice family guy who writes software for a living.
We’ll never match Bloomberg dollar for dollar, but we don’t have to. The hearts and minds of the American people certainly aren’t for sale to a billionaire mayor from New York City.
Chris Cox
September 1, 2013
Mayor Bloomberg is the best friend of 2nd Amendment advocates
[What is just as interesting to me about the above quote is that it, and about half of the opinion piece by Emily Miller, has been removed. Even Emily’s name was removed! The full opinion piece was there and more of it can be seen here.—Joe]
It doesn’t take much to cause me to break out into a sweat. A tiny bit of exercise and I start sweating. Even the spices in the mildest spaghetti sauce will cause my forehead to start sweating.
It turns out my fear of heights triggers an increased heart rate and sweat—just from looking at this picture I took when I was in Yosemite last month:
Update: Here is a cropped version of the same picture:
Visualize where his center of gravity is versus his right foot. He’s taking a picture so he isn’t using much more than his proprioception and ears to maintain his balance.
Now give me a towel to wipe the sweat off.
I had to look away after taking the picture. It made me way too uncomfortable.
Barb wanted to look over a similar edge about 50 yards away. When she got within about eight feet I asked her to stop. It was making me too uncomfortable. She got down on her hands and knees and continued. As she got to within about two feet I again asked her to stop. She stretched out and looked over to my extreme discomfort. She pulled back and said, “That’s a long way down.”
I don’t know why she is smiling unless for some bizarre reason she likes my sweat.
I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle.
Alfred Hitchcock
Via Robert J. Avrech in Hollywood on Hollywood
[I’m not convinced that all actors should be treated like cattle. But when actors start expressing views and getting involved in things that they either know nothing about, or worse, have firmly held erroneous beliefs, then I understand the sentiment.—Joe]
PETA is now promoting the idea that eating chicken will result in a small penis and other problems.
Well sure– If the idea that animals are essentially equal to humans doesn’t stop us from eating animals, then we might as well take the penis angle, because apparently people care more about penises (and sex) than practically anything else. It’s bound to get a few more, uh, members.
This is part of a long term trend. Leftists used to attack people they don’t like by calling us “fags” or “queers” but since they now have to pretend that they’re promoting the rights of homosexuals, they have to turn to other methods of distraction. Hence Markley’s law, and the recent PETA story is part of the same trend of using sex as a cultural/political lever.
A common phrase used back in the 1960s and early ’70s (the Vietnam war period) was “Girls say yes to guys who say no”. It’s an appeal to young, horny men, telling them straight up that they’ll get laid more if they at least pretend to help support the Progressives and the communists.
It’s a common theme among communists, to get the vulnerable young people on board, and sex is a powerful lure. Charles Manson used young women as bait to sucker young males into the group, and Sun Myung Moon, Jim Jones, the Heavens Gate Cult and others in a long line of socialist predators (but I repeat myself) followed very similar tactics. Islamists, we are told, will be treated to a harem of dozens of virgins if they die in the great and glorious jihad (and Allah will be super happy about your killing people too, but seriously; virgins!). They could just as well promote a new scientific study which finds that reading American freedom blogs will result in sexual dysfunction, and so the 72 virgins in heaven might go unsatisfied, and we wouldn’t want THAT to happen would we? If they haven’t done it already, they will.
Nothing changes. PETA has just put a slightly different twist on it, but their new spin has a lot of precedent. It is a good one though, as the left has also been trying to make us fear our food, our water, our air, and our neighbors, and this gimmick hits on at least two fronts.
And so I say to PETA; Good one, guys! Right on! You’re in good company. Keep up the good work. You’re completely insane, sure, but you’re giving it the old college try, you’re learning from your predecessors, and that deserves some respect.
Parenthetically; if animals raised for slaughter are as good and have rights the same as people, then people are no better and have no more rights than animals raised for slaughter, which is the whole point of organizations like PETA even if most of their members are clueless kids just trying to get laid. Remember it.
It’s not that many who support gun control want to live in a world without criminals having guns, they want to live in a world without people like you and me.
Sebastian
August 29, 2013
It’s Never Been About Crime
[There is a lot of evidence to support this thesis. Others have come to the same conclusion a well. Cam Edwards, here, is one. Alan Gottlieb once also told the Microsoft Gun Club (now “The Gun Club at Microsoft”) Chuck Schumer didn’t hate guns so much as he hated our culture.
Think about that. This isn’t really about guns. This is about destroying the individualist culture. The concept of the individual and individual rights is one of the fundamental differences between western culture and all others. And these people want to destroy it.—Joe]
As I reported last February the shipping container at Boomershoot Mecca had a rust problem and was developing leaks. The sides were rusting too. And the color just didn’t match the surroundings very well. It needed to be repaired and painted.
Here you can see some of the evidence of decay:
And how it doesn’t really fit in with the surroundings:
After several failed attempts on my part to get someone to fix the roof and paint the sides Barb L. (if you want something done drop her a hint and stand back) found someone. I sent them a partial payment a couple weeks ago and this morning I received a text message to my cell phone with this picture:
I haven’t inspected it yet but I’m pleased with what I see so far.
Update: Here are some more pictures that came in on the morning of September 3:
