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November 2006
And the latest from the UK...
18 hours of rioting left Great Britain's largest detention center in ruins... so authorities released 150 persons awaiting deportation since there was nowhere to put them. 'The place is completely uninhabitable, they have trashed everything, so there's no way any of them can stay there.'
Permalink · non-US · Comments (4)
Men are from Mars, women are from...
An interesting review of an interesting book.
It's by two female law enforcement firearms instructors, and apparently starts from the premises that women and men learn to shoot differently. It sounds like a heck of a conversation starter at, say, an academic reception. "I was just reading a book that suggests that women learn to handle themselves in a gunfight somewhat differently from how men do. You know, the "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" thesis."
UPDATE: check out the comments. We've someone online who studied under them.
Permalink · women & guns · Comments (1)
"Ninjafication" of law enforcement
SayUncle has a proposal. We should scrap "militarization" of police, since militarization can imply discipline, training and responsibility, and substitute "ninjafication."
Meanwhile, Slate has an article on the concept of "contagious shooting" by law enforcement (or to be precise, the NY Times' use of the term), and Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has a piece on ninjafication in Popular Mechanics.
Ohio gov says he'll veto pre-emption
A spokesman for Ohio governor Robert Taft says he will veto any pre-emption bill.
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (3)
British study: robbers enjoy violence
The Daily Mail reports on a study of convicted British robbers... 36% of whom had been arrested more than fifty times...
"Robbers increasingly carry out their vicious attacks for 'kicks' and street credibility rather than cash, a chilling study reveals.
The research, based on interviews with 120 sentenced criminals, said many simply had a desire for brutal violence rather than financial gain. ...
"It's for the fun. 'Cos the point of street robbery is to get them to fight back, innit? I'd give him a couple of slaps and tell him to fight back," said one criminal. "If he won't fight back, we just give him a kick and go."
Sometimes, theft was only an afterthought, with the crime being prompted by "anger and the desire to start a fight", the report says.
"I picked a fight with someone on the street. They were the first people I come across," said one thug. "I started hitting one of them and calling him names and said, 'What are you looking at?' and stuff like that. Then I can't remember how, but I started hitting him and then I just jumped on him. Punched him, turned him over, went through his pockets."
Brady Campaign on Huffington Post
The head of Brady Campaign has a post at the Huffington Post about its plans & hopes.
One new one: "restricting sales of military style weapons and the ammunition that's used in those weapons."
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (10)
Pre-emption passes Ohio Senate
Ohioans for Concealed Carry reports that the pre-emption & CCW changes have passed the State Senate, and been reported out of committee in the House, and will with luck be passed this week. (Whether the governor vetoes may be another question).
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (0)
Politics and whatnot
The Hill has an interesting perspective on how the Democrat/progressive/left/liberal (or whatever title you'd prefer) learned to play the game while it was a minority in Congress... a useful perspective for their opponents, who now must play the game. Go for the cause, rather than partisan gain, try to gain beachheads in both parties, etc..
Permalink · Politics · Comments (0)
Negotiations in Ohio
The Columbus Dispatch reports on negotiations over gun legislation in Ohio.
It sounds as if statewide pre-emption is the issue, and the Highway Patrol wanted, in exchange, a requirement that CCW permittees carry openly while in vehicles. Highway Patrol agreed instead to an increased penalty for failure to inform an officer, during a traffic stop, that the permittee has a firearm.
Does seem a tempest in a teapot, since I doubt there has ever been a case, anywhere in the US, of a permittee drawing on an officer, let alone doing so in a traffic stop. Fugitive felons do that, but fearing that someone (already checked out and found to have no significant criminal record) might murder an officer to prevent getting three points on his driving record is a bit much.
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (3)
More on SWAT shooting in Atlanta
Reason Online is noting that the story about the Atlanta raid that ended with the SWAT team shooting 88 year Kathryn Johnson ... is getting even worse. The warrant was apparently based on claims from an informant that he'd purchased crack there ... but the informant says he never did, and later was pressured to falsely claim that he had.
The report is that it was a "no-knock" warrant. As Reason notes, the department is probably hosed no matter what it does, at this point. Bottom line is they charged into a house and snuffed a grandmother when she had been doing nothing wrong. This is a pretty bad bottom line.
From there, we get to either (a) the informant is truthful, and he never told the PD what they say he did so the whole thing was BS, or (b) the informant is untruthful, and they're raiding houses and shooting people over what untrustworthy informants are reporting. (OK, I know they do that, but they're not supposed to admit it).
Via Instapundit.
Article on guns in parks
Human Events has an article online relating to the proposal to allow CCW permittees to carry in national parks, and on CCW licensing in general.
Article on use of shotguns in war
Here's a pdf file from Army Lawyer, on the legalities of use of shotguns in war. It mentions the German WWI protest over use of the Winchester 1897, and threats to execute any soldier captured with one, and the American response (which after arguing legalities said the US would retaliate against their troops if they tried -- those were days when the game was played for keeps).
I found the historical discussion of use of shotguns equally interesting. And the note that in jungle fighting in Malaysia, the British found that at 30 yards, the shotgun was twice as likely to get a hit as a rifle, and I gather substantially more likely to get a hit than a submachine gun.
No-knock raids and shootings of civilians
Radley Balko has some interesting thoughts.
"The apologists say that if the warrant is legal, and the police have the right to be there, you're pretty much screwed. If the police storm in and you -- not being a drug dealer and consequently having no reason to think the police might break into your home -- mistake them for criminal intruders and meet them with a gun, you are at fault....
On the other hand, if the police break into your home and they mistake the blue cup, TV remote, the t-shirt you're holding to cover your genitals because they broke in while you were sleeping naked, or the glint off your wristwatch for a gun -- and subsequently shoot you (all of these scenarios have actually happened), well, then no one is to blame. Because, you see, SWAT raids are inherently dangerous and volatile, and it's perfectly understandable..."
Permalink · General con law · Comments (3)
Pro-gun Democrat's take on Michael Moore
Here it is. BTW, an interesting note, borne out in my experience:
"My wife practices in some of the most dangerous areas of law (child custody, divorce and termination of parental rights), and our lives have been threatened more than once. I can watch out for those people; it's the ones who don't vocalize their intentions that worry me. You are welcome to rely on the government to cover 100 percent of your life, but I plan on exercising a little personal responsibility."
I've never known violence to break out over anything but domestic law. In those fields, I've known one attorney beaten up in the courthouse, someone caught trying to sneak a dagger into juvenile court, and had a former partner, now on the bench, say he'd had to twice call security to break up courtroom brawls. As he said, on the criminal bench you can call a person every name in the book and send him to jail for 20 years, and he shrugs it off. Make a ruling about parenting, and all hell breaks loose.
Professor cleared of bringing gun aboard aircraft
An Ohio State University prof has been cleared of charges for bringing a gun aboard an aircraft. The federal magistrate found that he did so by mistake, having forgotten it was in his carryon.
(Since he was flying to Boston, he may have been lucky to get stopped!)
More on Bloomberg group mayor pleading to gun charges
I'd earlier blogged how mayor Frank Melton, of Jackson MS, a member of Bloomberg's mayors' group, had plead guilty to illegal gun carry.
Just found this on the FULL set of charges against him. Frankly, the mayor sounds like a mental case, and rather on the dangerous side.
"The most serious of the charges facing the mayor and his bodyguards involve the damage of the duplex on Ridgeway Street in Virden Addition last month. Neighbors allege Melton and unnamed minor boys in his company used sledgehammers to break open the front of the home rented by Evans Welch....Melton and Wright are charged with burglary for allegedly entering the house armed with deadly weapons with the intent to commit a crime."
And that's just the short version. Read the whole thing...
[Udate: abbreviation corrected, thanks...]
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (6)
Richmond Times-Dispatch on Webb, Allen and parks
Here's the story.
Via Extreme Mortman.
Allen v. Webb on guns in National Parks
I'd mentioned earlier outgoing Sen. George Allen's introduction of a bill to allow firearms in National Parks. The NY Times went predictably berserk. "Senator Allen’s bill is, of course, being cheered by the gun lobby, which sees it not as an assault on public safety but as a way of nationalizing the armed paranoia that the National Rifle Association and its cohorts stand for." Some blogs have chimed in: "And LASTLY, and probably what jumped out at me the most, is the plea to call Frist and get this "rushed" through the now lame-duck Republican Congress. THIS is how the Republicans are spending their time and energy? To make sure people can shoot people and animals in a park, hiding behind their "everyone is out to get me" self-defense argument?"
Hmmm.... Jim Webb, the Demo who defeated Allen, had an interesting response: "Webb promised in an Oct. 30 campaign letter to introduce similar legislation, citing his enjoyment of target-shooting and the fact that he has had a concealed-carry permit for years."
I suspect he's going to make some heads spin in coming years. The media, and many others, see the world as knee-jerk left vs. right (with both arbitrarily defined). Guys like him don't fit that mold.
Thanksgiving tale
This goes back, oh 10-20 years, to a Thanksgiving with what was then my family. Ladies at dinner were my late ex, her late mother (lot of it going around lately) and her cousin. Males were myself, my son, and the cousin's son. As will become apparent, the ladies were VERY naive.
The cousin's ex husband, Claus, had been a cook in the Army and was skilled with a carving knife. After the turkey was carved, the following conversation ensued.
Cousin: Did you ever see Claus bone a turkey?
My ex: Yes! Nobody bones a turkey like Claus bones a turkey!
[We three males look at each other and begin biting our lips].
Her mother: Yes, when Claus boned a turkey, it was a work of art.
Ex: What are you three chuckling about?
Me: Oh, uh, nothing really.
Cousin: When it came to boning a turkey, I've never seen anyone who could match him.
Ex's mother: His turkey boning was just an art.
Ex: What ARE you three laughing about? What's so funny?
Me: Don't mind ... uh ... I'll explain later.
Cousin: I remember one Thanksgiving. Claus had just gotten through boning the turkey, when....
Permalink · Personal · Comments (1)
Documentary update
I'm not going to be doing much blogging today ... working on the documentary.
It should have been done, but -- the firm that is doing the creation sent me a draft DVD about two weeks ago, and it had some video glitches. Nothing that prevented the message from being relayed, and I suspect most viewers wouldn't even see them, but I could.
So I got back to them. I and have waited for two weeks, sending emails and calls during the time, asking what in the heck is up.
In the meantime, I'm experimenting with encoding it myself -- but each run ties down the fast computer, which is much easier to use for blogging, for about three hours!
Permalink · documentary film · Comments (1)
NY Times on proposal to allow carrying in Nat'l Parks
I guess it was a slow news day, so the NY Times ran a predictable editorial on the bill, introduced by outgoing Sen. George Allen, to allow firearms carry in national parks.
What was it the emperor Julian said of the gladiatorial games -- he would stand the brutality, but not the boredom? Let's see, the 2nd amendment is a collective right, the bill is being cheered on by the gun lobby (I don't see signs it's noticed it yet), the NRA and its cohorts stand for armed paranoia, if people feel insecure in the parks they should pay more taxes for more park employeees to protect them.
Reminds me of the famous painting of a NYC perspective, where NYC dominates 90% of the world view, there's a little strip representing the rest of the country, and dots of foreign countries beyond. From the NYT standpoint parks = city parks. Main risk is mugging. From the rest of the country's standpoint: National Parks, esp. mean thousands of wilderness acres, where risks include things like bears,venomous snakes, and the like.
Permalink · media · Comments (2)
Cherry Tree, IND debate over reverse arms laws
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that a councilman in Cherry Tree, Indiana, has proposed a Kennesaw-type ordinance. Well, not quite -- sounds like more of a resolution that the local government provide safety training.
Whoops...
New York prosecutors just discovered a little problem in the recent exercise of "let's see what additional gun laws we can enact in New York."
It's a Class C felony to threaten to use an illegal, loaded, gun against another person. But somebody botched the drafting of the new law, and now it makes it a misdemeanor to do the same in a home..
Mayor Against Illegal Guns pleads guilty to illegal gun carry
Perhaps the ultimate case of "rights for me but not for thee..."
Mayor Frank Melton, of Jackson MI, is a member of Bloomberg's mayors group, and just plead guilty to illegally carrying a handgun onto school, and church, property.
The story also notes that he really, really, really, likes to carry. As in he's tried to pack on airplanes and in the US Capitol. Not that I'd complain ... but that's a little hard to reconcile with being a charter member of an antigun organization!
Hat tip to Dan Gifford.
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (2)
Massachusetts, Brady, and reasonable gun laws
Let's see... Massachusetts has police permit requirements for obtaining any guns, including rifles, storage requirements, effectively a long waiting period (it takes weeks to get the permit), a year's mandatory imprisonment for first-offense carrying without a permit or with an expired permit, limits on large magazines, etc., etc.
But Brady Campaign hasn't folded its tent there and proclaimed it's gotten enough. Instead, it's calling for more.
"Dan Vice, a staff attorney with the Brady Campaign, which advocates for gun control, said Massachusetts needs to establish a statewide registry of legally owned guns. He also urged the state to restrict gun purchases to one per month.
"The good news is Massachusetts has been a model for the nation, but much more can be done," he said. "
UPDATE: I should have said that carrying with an expired permit can land you in jail for a year. The first prosecution under the law as I recall, back in the 70s, was of a fellow who had a carrying permit, but had let it expire. He decided to pawn the gun, in order to buy a class ring, and got stopped on the drive, with the firearm in plain view and the permit expired. He got the year in jail.
Insight from Canada
EnterStageRight has it.
"Security of the person is non-negotiable. It is the prime given. It is the excuse government uses for nearly all its other actions. The thing about security of the person is that it is ultimately not something that can be delegated. Anyone who demands under any circumstances that a person delegate that authority 100% by disarming whether voluntarily or under duress is either running a protection racket or planning something very, very bad. Maybe even Pol Pot bad."
An interesting adaptation of Hobbes, who, nearly four centuries ago, originated the concept of "inalienable rights." Hobbes argued that men instituted government for group protection, to end the state of nature where every person had to protect themselves (and were in turn free to attack and rob others, subject only to the risk that the person might defend and kill them). His Levithan managed to annoy almost everyone. Royalists were angered that he found the source of sovereignty in popular will rather than divine right. Republicans were angered that he considered the delegation of power to the government (in his time, most likely a king) irrevokable.
Hobbes considered that the people might give up just about any right (starting with the "right" to victimize others by crime) EXCEPT self-defense. Why? Because they had empowered the government precisely to protect them and make self-defense unnecessary. Anytime it was necessary, the government had failed in its central purpose. The one right remaining, of protection, could not be bargained away, because it was the only thing the subject had received in exchange for making the deal. Thus a subject could not alienate, voluntarily bargain away that right, no matter what the government offered in return and no matter how much he wanted to.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (0)
Favorable article on self defense
The Memphis Commercial Appeal has an article favorable to self defense.
"People are scared, very scared," says Chris Fowler, 56, who co-owns Top Brass Sports. "And I understand."
He understands because he sees the looks on their faces.
When Vietnamese immigrants were being victimized in Parkway Village, many came to Top Brass for training -- so many, in fact, that Fowler brought in a Baptist missionary to serve as an interpreter.
"I've had Arabs, Pakistanis, Hispanics, and they're all U.S. citizens," Fowler says. "These people have stores, businesses. They've been robbed and they don't want to break the law."
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (1)
More on Knoxville self defense
Last week, I posted on the story of a Knoxville county commissioner who got the drop on an armed robber -- who foolishly tried to stick up a guy wearing a "Friends of the NRA" cap.
Instapundit is reporting that the robber he stopped is being charged with murder, for having killed a Walgreens truck driver in the course of an attempted car-jacking. More here and here.
UPDATE: this is grand. Instapundit reports that the local alternative paper ran an editorial attacking the commissioner -- he'd once offered a firearm with every vehicle he sold, was now engaged in "showboating," had now "shown himself to be a danger to himself and others" and a "National Rifle Association wetdream." "The whole scenario is somehow suspect ... The grand jury could put Lambert under oath to get his story straight and decide whether and what crimes may have been committed."
And the article appears just in time for the guy he defended against to be charged as a murderer. Oh, yes, payback is a cast-iron ***** at times.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (0)
Worst burglar ever
From Instapundit -- security cam footage of the worst burglar ever. Rather like a real-life Roadrunner cartoon. It builds to the climax, when he realizes that breaking into the convenience mart is only half his task ... he also has to figure out how to break out!
Permalink · Crime and statistics
922(o) -- or NFA -- held void for vagueness as applied to LEO
A district court has ruled in US v. Vest, dismissing the indictment (pdf file). The charge was possession of a machinegun in violation of 18 USC 922(o) and without proper registration under NFA, and the defendant was a police officer.
Apparently, he got the MG for use in official duty, certifying it as such (getting around 922(o)'s ban), and registering it as such. The prosecution argument was that 922(o) makes an exception for possession by a police dept or under authority of such a dept, and that that didn't cover personal ownership by an officer, but only by the PD.
Court found the requirement void for vagueness as applied (that is, under these particular circumstances, not under any possible circumstances).
Permalink · National Firearms Act · Comments (3)
Remarkably clumsy
A New Zealand policeman responds to a domestic violence call and decides to subdue the aggressor with nonlethal means.
He begins with his stun gun, unfortunately manages to stun himself. After recovering, he tries again ... and fells the aggressor's teenage son. He keeps trying, gives up, goes to the pepper spray ... and hits the fellow's teenage daughter.
The aggressor finally surrenders, perhaps motivated by fear for the other bystanders.
Former Sen. Edwards, Walmart, and why DC is the way it is
Hmm... former Senator John Edwards, a serious critical of Walmart, is said to have tried to buy a Playstation 3 at that retailer.
His explanation: he knew nothing of it. He just happened to mention wanting one for his kids, a staffer overheard, and he instructed a campaign volunteer to go out and get one. The volunteer in turn called Walmart and dropped Edwards' name in an attempt to pull strings and get one.
I'd believe it. But it tells you a lot about national politics. A moderately big figure (former senator, unsucessful VP candidate) has only to be overheard wanting something, and his staff rush to satisfy him and kiss up (even at personal expense of several hundred bucks). They hand it off to a volunteer, who deems it a sacred quest. The volunteer figures he can drop the boss's name and get special consideration, over a game system, of all things.
If you want to know how the corruption/scandal cycle works in DC, just figure this is a tiny example. They guy on top is treated as a demigod, and starts to believe it.
Permalink · Politics · Comments (2)
You couldn't make this stuff up...
So much for international organizations....
As far as I can deduce, a fellow wrote the Wharton School of Business, as a rep. of the World Trade Organization, and got put on a panel relating to investment in and development of Africa.
He proceeded to give a presentation to the effect that the only hope lay in "full private stewardship of labor." He "acknowledged that the stewardry program was similar in many ways to slavery, but explained that just as "compassionate conservatism" has polished the rough edges on labor relations in industrialized countries, full stewardry, or "compassionate slavery," could be a similar boon to developing ones." He went on to explain that AIDs and other diseases would be wiped out as soon as major companies realized they were killing their possessions.
It says something for conferences of this sort that no one asked questions, and the audience seems to have been unsure whether they were being hoaxed or not. Wharton did eventually figure out it was a leg-pull.
Can anyone here do a good forgery of UN stationary? I'd like to attend a conference on genocide as a UN representative, explaining how it is necessary to keep the victims disarmed because they might kill the aggressors, contribute to civil unrest, and by survival contribute to global warming.
Permalink · UN · Comments (3)
Grave rage and assault with a rake
A visitor to a cemetery finds a worker relieving his bladder upon the visitor's mother's grave. As might be expected, the visitor found this rather inappropriate. The worker finds his anger unacceptable, and tries to brain him with a rake. Story here.
Reminds me of a tale told by my late ex father in law, which was a student of classical languages (founded the U of Md. classical languges department). Scholars had been puzzling over a fragmented inscription found in a late Roman cemetery, trying to read all sort of meaning into it. He solved it. It read to the effect of "Be careful what you're doing up there -- remember we're down here and have to drink it."
Permalink · non-gun weapons · Comments (0)
Legislation to allow carry in Nat'l Parks
An email on the subject is in extended remarks. Note that it talks about allowing CCW, but as I recall the ban on carrying in (most) Parks relates to all carrying, not just concealed.
More here.
Continue reading "Legislation to allow carry in Nat'l Parks"
SAF sues libraries over internet blocking programs
The suit is over use of internet blocking programs that prevent library uses from accessing pro-gun online magazines. Press release is in extended remarks.
Continue reading "SAF sues libraries over internet blocking programs"
Ithaca Guns back in Business
A comment to an old post on Ithaca Guns points out they are back in business, new website here.
BTW, the post got some comment from folks seeking approximate mfrg dates for older guns. I always suggested googling Itaca Guns and serial number or serial number range. If you could get some serial no's with dates you could then approximate your own gun's age. Might be able to get that data from the new business, too, although they may have had to turn their records in to BATFE and not kept copies.
More from Massachusetts
Bitter and MassBackwards are going to town on Massachusetts, where police are busily filing records on gun owners, but apparently have no time to enter felony arrest warrants into the computer systems. It's enough of a problem that New Hampshire authorities are complaining: when Mass. criminals pay them a visit, and an NH trooper makes a traffic stop, he has no way of knowing whether the guy he pulled over is a fugitive from a felony rap. A bill that would require swift entry of the warrants into the NCIC system has been proprosed -- but has little chance of passage.
More self defense in Knoxville
Instapundit reports another "there are parts of Knoxville that I'd not advise you to invade" moment. In this one, a state senator holds four would-be burglars at gunpoint. Three were juveniles, and the senator gave them cookies to eat while waiting for police.
UPDATE: thanks, link corrected.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (2)
New 2nd Amendment challenge in Texas
Second Amendment Fdn. and a private plaintiff have filed a case in Fed. District Court in Texas (as in the Fifth Circuit/Emerson). Complaint in pdf is here.
Plaintiff is an American citizen who lives in Britain. Challenge is to 18 USC 922(a)(9), which states that a person who is a resident of no state can only buy firearms for lawful sporting purposes, which presumably excludes self-defense.
Kozinski ruling on 4th Amendment
Both Instapundit and the Volokh Conspiracy are discussing a recent 9th Circuit opinion, in which Judge Kozinski upheld a judgment involving over $100K in punitives for police 4th Amendment violations. (As my friend Prof. Joe Olson noted, this is one more proof the country NEEDS Kozinski on the Supreme Court. Clue to Repubs: if there is an opening, it'd be hard for Demos to object very forcefully to him).
The facts are pretty eggregious. A guy leaves town, tells neighbor to watch his house. He's in a divorce proceeding, mentioned that he has an order of protection against the wife. Didn't mention that the judgment had just been entered, awarding her the house. She shows up and moves in. Neighbor calls police.
WIthout a warrant, police break thru back door, hold her at gunpoint, handcuff her and two friends, keep her in cuffs for an hour, treat her pretty impolitely, and finally let her go. As Kozinski notes, it would have been simple to ask her what she was doing there, or get the neighbor to call the ex husband to ask if she had a right to be there, or to ask her divorce attorney the same. Failing all that, they could at least have sought a telephonic warrant (and probably been turned down). The jury made the call, and there was nothing wrong with its ruling.
He ends up by suggesting that an appropriate response to the judgment would have been to write a check and send it with a letter of apology. The citizens of the city had spoken thru the jury, and there was no real basis for appeal. He sets it for a hearing on whether to give the lady double her costs as a penalty for a frivolous appeal.
UPDATE: my own take on why he isn't on the Supremes--the conservative movement really has two components, the rules-conservative (the world operates on rules and organizations to enforce them; if left alone things will go to hell) and the libertarian-conservative (rules and organizations are inefficient and abusive: if left alone people will do very nicely). They have relatively little in common except that liberalism hacks them off (I think maybe because liberalism involves essentially no rules as to matters of morality, which offends rules-conservatives, and unlimited rules as to anything else, which offends liberarian-conservatives).
Kozinski is libertarian-conservative, most of the Bush admin. is rules-conservative. It's probably something deeper than reason, pure instinct. They see him as ... well, his heart's in the right place, but a bit of a loose cannon. Better a guy who looks good in a suit, as it were. He might even (shudder) limit part of the war on terror (nevermind that the Supreme Court hardly ever touches that issue, it'd still be the way a non-con-law white house type saw the issue).
Permalink · General con law · Comments (7)
Debate in Denver tommorrow
The Denver Press Club will host a debate tommorrow (Wednesday) at 7 PM, between Arnie Grossman and Dave Kopel. Press release here.
UPDATE: an email from Independence Institute:
The debate between Second Amendment expert and II Research Director David Kopel and gun control advocate Arnie Grossman has moved. Please join us on Wednesday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the Colorado Suites on the third floor of the Denver Athletic Club, at 1325 Glenarm Place. The debate, which CSPAN will tape for later national viewing, is free of charge. However, seating is limited.
Please rsvp to [email protected].
[UPDATE in light of comments: working on the documentary. Got it done as a movie, but in compressing for DVD the firm doing the work had some trouble with transitions. There are two solutions, and I've been waiting for five days for them to get back to me on which one. Hopefully, I'll have it by end of the month.]
Parker v. DC hearing reset
It's now set for Dec. 7th, 9:30 a.m., courtroom 22 in the annex bldg.
New Sen. Jim Webb and the Second Amendment
Bloomberg.com has a incoming Senator Jim Webb (D-VA).
I'd agree he is going to stand out. A Demo who is, so far as I can see, very conservative (and probably acceptable to the Demos only because he didn't like the war in Iraq, and they wanted a chance at another Senate seat). A Marine with the Navy Cross *and* Silver Star, who likes the Confederacy, refused to shake John Kerry's hand for decades, etc., etc.
Of relevance: "Webb may be a novice politician but he's also a natural. He was careful to keep his most conservative leanings well camouflaged during the campaign. He is, for instance, an absolutist on Second Amendment rights -- the right to keep and bear arms -- but he made sure the subject seldom arose as he campaigned in the liberal suburbs of northern Virginia."
TV station offers quick "refresher" on self defense
How many errors can you count?
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (8)
Parker challenge to DC gun law -- oral argument reset
Parker v. DC was set to be argued today, but I'm told DC's attorney had an attack of appendicitis and it had to be reset. No word on the new date.
My paper on NRA and US during WWI
Just found a link to a paper I wrote a few years ago, on NRA's involvement in American tactics in WWI (it was significant, perhaps pivotal) and rifle tactics until then. Believe it or not, there had been a serious push to essentially eliminate marksmanship (down to inventing devices that would triggerlock a rifle unless elevated in accord with an officer's instructions, and proposals to eliminate the front sight). During WWI, British and French tactics called for preventing troops from shooting during an advance, since then they would be tempted to go prone and the assault would bog down. Close with cold steel, and nevermind the barbed wire and machineguns! Worked great at the Somme and other fights -- 40,000 casualties in the first day.
And the US might have gone into WWI the same way, if the Secretary of War had his way. But then there was the NRA president, a personal friend of Woodrow Wilson, and a competitive shooting champion named Pershing....
Supreme Court hands down first decision of the Term
At the Volokh Conspiracy, they're discussing the first decision of the current Term -- in which the Supremes opened by reversing the 9th Circus, I mean Circuit. Sounds like they're off to a good start.
It involves a guy sentenced to death in, oh, 1982. Defendant was a burglar who beat a 19 year old woman to death with a dumbell. His argument against the death penalty was that he had become religious during a prior incarceration (it doesn't sound as if the treatment stuck very well). The question presented hinged on the constitutional sufficiency of the jury instructions.
Permalink · General con law · Comments (0)
Knoxville stickup ends rather suddenly
A fellow tries to stick up a county commissioner in Knoxville, and finds the pol gets the drop on him.
Via Instadpundit, who remarks "There are some areas of Knoxville that I would not advise you to invade."
UPDATE: the robber might have gotten a clue as to what he was up against from the fact that the intended victim was wearing a "Friends of the NRA" cap.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (0)
Uproar in Britain as .22 rimfire cartridge found
UK's Guardian reports law enforcement is in an uproar after a .22 short cartridge was found lying in a doorway.
"The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself. [To fire itself, it must have been one remarkable cartridge].
Mr Khan said that if it had been struck hard enough or exposed to heat it could have gone off. ..."How can you feel safe when you are finding things like this on the street?
.....
The bullet has been examined at a Metropolitan Police laboratory and details about it kept for future reference. [Lab report: "This is a .22 short."]
.....
Police are treating the unattended ammunition as a crime."
Hat tip to Dan Gifford.
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Election and next term
The Brady Campaign is rejoicing. The New York Times announces that New York (led by Chuck Schumer, the "giant of Brooklyn") is back in power and that Rep. Charles Rangel, likely future chair of Ways and Means, "sketched out an expansive federal agenda: Teaming up with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on gun control, passing new tax incentives for urban job programs, and redirecting federal money to New York in return for the outsize tax collections that the federal government makes here."
Yup, this is the same spiel where he uttered the famous “Mississippi gets more than their fair share back in federal money, but who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?” Of course NY comes off worse than MS in terms of federal taxes collected vs. those spent. Federal income tax is progressive -- individuals, and states, with high incomes payment. Federal civilian expenditures are (hopefully) the other way round -- less goes to rich states and more to poor. Apparently the NY delegation finds that liberal financial principle objectionable when applied to them.
UPDATE: Here's an article from the LA Times on the new Demo majorty and the gun issue.
Permalink · Politics · Comments (3)
Bit of Friday night levity
First, a YouTube animation of Calvin and Hobbes. The morning comics will never be the same.
Second, proof that the Aussies share the British sense of humor. A story about a fellow caught in a romantic interlude with a sheep. Note how they carefully blanked out the face of the victim, and her mate, to maintain their anominity.
Permalink · humor · Comments (0)
Helen Chenoweth, rest in peace
I've heard that Helen Chenoweth, former member of the House from Idaho, and as might be expected, pro-gun, has died after a car rollover in Nevada. She'd stepped down from her seat in 2000, fulfiling a promise that she'd serve a max of three terms.
Ideas for new political parties
Wikkipedia has a page devoted to frivolous political parties.
I particularly like the Rhino Party of Canada (at one point the country's fourth-largest party), whose platform included:
repealing the law of gravity,
reducing the speed of light because it's much too fast,
paving Manitoba to create the world's largest parking lot,
tearing down the Rocky Mountains so that Albertans could see the Pacific sunset, or moving them one metre west as a make-work project,
making all sidewalks out of rubber to prevent inebriated people from hurting themselves when they fall down
adopting the British system of driving on the left; this was to be gradually phased in over five years with large trucks first, then buses, eventually including small cars and bicycles last,
selling the Canadian Senate at an antique auction in California,
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Gun control debate at Harvard
The Record, an independent paper at Harvard, has a short account of a debate involving Saul Cornell and Mark Tushnet.
{Hat tip to Prof. Joe Olson].
CNS on elections and firearms issues
A short story on the take from both sides.
My own input: apart from the Clinton years, over the past three decades, the question has been which side gets to be ignored/betrayed by Congress. Somewhere in my files I have the copies of the Carter-era memos where Treasury is telling the White House somebody has to tell the antigun groups that we aren't gonna lift a finger, and that has to come from someone of higher rank than me. Then of course we had Reagan, and the Firearm Owners' Protection Act went thru ... uh, after *six years* of waiting, and with the MG ban attached.
A place I could join, someday when there is time
The Dull Men's Club. If you find watching paint dry too exciting for your taste, they have time-lapse video of grass growing, or grapes drying into raisins. Together with the sense of fulfilment that comes from driving nonstop around traffic circles and the joy of binge tooth flossing (great for a date!),
New MA governor
The new Mass. governor, Deval Patrick, used to head Justice Dept's Civil Rights Division.
At the Volokh Conspiracy, David Bernstein notes that, in that capacity, he tried to prosecute people who engaged in entirely legal pamphletting and contact with legislators. His theory was that by engaging in freedom of expression and petition, trying to stop building of halfway houses, etc. in their neighborhoods, they were undermining the Fair Housing Act. He compared pamphlets to baseball bats: they “are perfectly legal too. But if you wield one to keep people out of the neighborhood, we are going to use the bat as evidence of your intent to violate the civil rights laws.” (via The Bitch Girls).
I just found out that he's also the one who cleared sniper Lon Horiuchi in the shooting of Vickie Weaver."Patrick made the recommendation despite a report by a task force assembled by Patrick’s boss, Attorney General Janet Reno, that found numerous problems with the FBI’s handling of the standoff, and called the protocol used by the FBI’s Hostage Rescue unconstitutional under the circumstances."
Sounds as if MA has found its natural choice for governor. The government may suppress freedom of speech if it might hinder its programs, and if it happens to shoot a lady without justification, well, you can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs.
Two stories put British experience in perspective
Two stories from the Daily Record (UK):
1. The Minister for Justice hails new laws against airgun sales. "The laws effectively ban the sale of airguns at car boot sales, from corner shops or any store not approved by the police.... The Executive called for tougher laws following the death of Glasgow toddler Andrew Morton in March last year. Jamieson said: "Following the tragic death of young Andrew, the First Minister and I began discussions with the Home Office and police to find ways to tighten the law on these weapons. Today marks the culmination of that work.... I hope that Andrew's family will be able to take some comfort from the fact that their campaigning on this issue has contributed towards a further tightening of the UK's gun laws to reduce the likelihood of future deaths and injuries.""
2. Three thugs, repeat violent offenders, get a whopping 20-25 years each for stabbing and burning to death a 15 year old. The three were "part of a criminal gang who terrorised people in Pollokshields, Glasgow, for years.... All the killers have long criminal records. Baldy was jailed for four and a half years in 1995 for attacking a man with a baseball bat. And he was freed from a 30-month sentence for serious assault just three months before Kriss's murder."
self defense and right to medical treatment
Gene Volokh has an interesting discussion of self-defense and the right to experimental medical treatment.
FDA approval of a new drug involves (a) determining that it is safe and (b) then determining whether it works. His point relates to the second step. If a person is terminally ill, shouldn't they have a right to choose any treatment declared safe, even if the effectiveness has not yet been proven? If, as is likely (testing takes years) they die before effectiveness is proven, it's rather a moot point. At most, the government is "protecting" them from trying to save their life, because there is still a chance that they'd have wasted money on an ineffective drug.
Pro v. antigun count
At the Volokh Conspiracy, Dave Kopel has an early-evening count of the electon impact on gun issues. Net result: a tiny loss in the Senate (1.25 votes), a larger but not disasterous loss in the House (14 votes). It's interesting how many major races involved essentially a pro-gun and anti-war Demo vs. a pro-gun and pro-war Republican. (Virginia and TN being clear examples, with the Demos running conservative, pro-gun types who are Demo in little more than oppositon to the war in Iraq).
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Judge Leslie Lewis goes down
Over at the Bitchgirls, Bitter notes that Judge Leslie Lewis looks like she lost (i.e., majority voted against retaining her as judge). She's the Utah judge who gave a lecture on the evils of deer hunting, had a spectator who left ordered back into her courtroom, lectured him and when he attempted to reply, in civil tones, had him seized and confined.
Canadian conflict over mandatory sentences
A controversy in Canada over mandatory sentencing.
"Real Menard of the Bloc Quebecois demanded that Toews produce Canadian studies to show that there would be any reduction in offences.
Toews scoffed that Menard supported the gun registry — which the minister said did nothing to fight crime — but opposed tougher sentences.
The two got into a shouting match.
“He wants more guns out there,” said Menard."
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Constitutional right to self-defense
At the Volokh Conspiracy, Prof. Volokh has a discussion of use of lethal force in self-defense as a constitutional right.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (0)
Note for film-makers
If filming a scene in a public place, involving a woman handcuffed in a car, bloody bodies all over, and an actor viciously pistol-whipping the remaining victim....
Inform your local police first. If a squadcar happens to drive past the filming scene, there may be misunderstandings.
Mass murderer Buford Furrow
Clayton Cramer has some interesting insights on the killer at the Jewish Community Center a few years ago.
Apparently he was committed to a mental institution (generally requiring a judicial finding that he was a physical danger to self or others) in 1998. He'd cut himself, and told police he had a drive to commit mass murders at a shopping mall. While being evaluated in the institution, he threatened to stab two other patients.
Instead of being committed, he was released, then charged with felony assault after he attacked an attendant trying to get committed again. He said he wanted to be committed because he had a compulsion to commit a mass murder. At the sentencing, he told the judge about his compulsions... and was given six months in the clink, with orders to take his medications while on parole.
The Ninth Circuit solution was, of course, to uphold a suit against a gun manufacturer....
Continue reading "Mass murderer Buford Furrow"
Permalink · Crime and statistics · Comments (2)
Political telemarketers
I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but I've been getting 2-3-4 pre-recorded calls a day, disembodied voices urging me to vote for my party's candidates. I find those quite annoying.
Got the same before the primary, when the local party was touting some hitherto unknown as a challenge to Randy Graf. All it did was to firm me up to vote for Graf as the fellow who wasn't tying up my telephone. I encountered Graf later and mentioned it, and he said his campaign had gotten so many responses like that that they resolved never to try it.
Anyway, if you want the NRA endorsements and grades, here they are.
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ATFE director names chief of staff
Acting Director Michael J. Sullivan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE) has announced the appointment of Brian A. Benczkowski as chief of staff.
Benczkowski was majority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, underr Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wisconsin). Before then he was with DoJ's Office of Legal Policy and Sen. Dominici of New Mexico.
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Carnival of Cordite
The Carnival of Cordite is up.
Major stories include Clayton Cramer's gun self-defense blog and notes from Michael Bane, where he handicaps the election from a conservative/libertarian view.
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Another case of use of arms in civil rights struggle
From the obit of Samuel Bowers, the Klansman who died while serving a life term for murder:
"When the Dahmer family awoke to honking horns in the pre-dawn hours that January [1966] morning, two carloads of Klansmen were waiting outside. They firebombed Dahmer when he exited the home, according to court testimony during a four-day trial in Forrest County Circuit Court in 1998.
Dahmer was able keep the Klansmen at bay with a shotgun while his family fled, but flames had already seared his lungs and he died in his wife's arms about 12 hours later."
Permalink · civil rights struggle
Lawsuit in Buford Furrow slayings
There's been a lawsuit filed against an FFL in connection with the 1999 serial killings of Buford Furrow in California. The press report isn't clear (it refers to failure to complete "federal registration" forms) but it sounds as if the allegation is that the FFL didn't fill out a 4473. Whether that means entirely failed, failed partially, and whether he ran a background check or not, isn't clear from the story.
7 years -- I wonder what angle they plan to take on the statute of limitations? That's 2 years in most states, 3 in some, as I recollect. The story suggests that they may argue that it runs from discovery of the wrongful action, and they only recently discovered the 4473 issue.
Permalink · Gun manufacturer liability
problems with Commonwealth games
The Guardian has the story.
"Glasgow's bid team is hoping a solution can be found by staging the event on a secure Ministry of Defence site or police firing range. However, judges who visited the city last month said any facility must not be situated miles away from other events.
Ferguson told BBC Radio Scotland that no final decision had been made on how to handle the problem. 'There are obviously issues about shooting, with the kind of incidents that we've seen here,' she said. 'We're also very conscious that we win medals in shooting too, so all of that has to be weighed up. We're trying very hard to come to a reasonable and sensible conclusion on.'
...Manchester was granted such a dispensation for the 2002 Games, but the city refused to build a range and events had to be staged almost 200 miles away in Bisley. This meant a separate competitors' village was needed, about which athletes and officials complained. Judges for the 2014 Games have already said such an arrangement would be unacceptable for Glasgow."
Update: Glasgow accuses its Canadian rivals of dirty tricks:
"Last night, the director of Glasgow's bid hit back at a Canadian documentary which branded the city as one of the most violent places in the world.
Derek Casey, a former chief executive of the UK Sports Council, said he was 'astonished' at the claims made in the programme which compared Glasgow with Iraq and Afghanistan."
An unusual CCW case
How can a person carry a concealed weapon while totally naked? Here's how.
Back from court in Holbrook, AZ
A rough trip and a rougher hearing, but still it was nice to visit a courthouse where--
1. If you look like an attorney rather than a criminal defendant, security tells you not to bother going thru the metal detector.
2. There is a sign above the drinking fountain saying don't spit your chewing tobacco into it, use the wastecan.
3. The judge enters the courtroom by the back door, stands beside the bench and puts on his robe, then goes onto the bench and jokes that this rather reduces the drama but he'd rather not waste the time of going into chambers.
Gun control: this election's non-starter
A perceptive article in the Univ of Chicago Maroon.
"Rather, it seems that the silence on gun control is the result of Democrats finally realizing that no one actually gives a s**t about gun control because, frankly, it is irrelevant."
[Hat tip to Joe Olson]
Brady files FEC complaint against NRA, GOA
News release here, but no details. A general guess: under the various finance campaign laws, a nonprofit can advocate the election or unelection of a candidate, but only in messages to its members, not in any aimed at the general public.
UPDATE: Second Amendment Fdn. has filed a complaint against Brady, on the same grounds, pointing out that their press releases, circulated on the internet and by wire service, also reach their nonmembers.
VA Senate race
Countertop has his take on the Allen-Webb race in Virginia, Lively comment section, too. (Via Instapundit).
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Light blogging Thursday & Friday
I've got to drive to Holbrook, AZ for a hearing on Friday. If that sounds simple -- it's a six hour drive each way. I'm in the southern part of the state, 60 miles from Mexico. Holbrook is way up north, below the Grand Canyon. No regular airline service -- nearest such is a hundred miles away, and a ticket costs more than it would cost to fly to the east coast.
Kopel on elections and the gun issue
Dave Kopel has a post at National Review Online, regarding the upcoming elections and the firearm issue.
His thoughts are essentially: if the House goes Demo, there will be antigunners in the relevant leadership slots and thus risk. If the Senate goes Demo, Harry Reid is pro-gun, as are, to greater or lesser degrees, a majority of the Demo senators, which should give insurance.
I know he's got a good read on the local race for the House. Randy Graf won the nomination, fighting the GOP establishment's last second pick, and winds up with the national GOP withdrawing all support. The Demo candidate is leading by 8-10 points and will likely win.
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Historical quirk about BATFE
Just realized, from this outline of BATFE history:
The agency starts out as the Alcohol Tax Unit of the IRS. In 1934, it is assigned enforcement of the National Firearms Act. It stays the Alcohol Tax Unit.
In 1952, it becomes the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division. Still no mention of firearms.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 adds explosives to its responsibilities, and so it is renamed the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division, later the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Explosives is nowhere to be found in its title.
Finally, in 2003 it gets renamed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
It appears that for some reason 20-30 years pass between the agency being assigned a field, and that being reflected in its title! Even the agency has problems with it, since the webpage proclaims that in 2003, when it became ATFE, "In addition, the agency's name was changed to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to reflect it new mission in the Department of Justice."
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Steve Halbrook releases paper re: Saul Cornell
Steve Halbrook has released a paper (here accessible as a link to Dave Kopel's post critiquing Prof. Saul Cornell's interpretation of St. George Tucker's 1803 edition of Blackstone.
There--is that sufficiently academic? (grin).