Another one for the Million Moon March

They accepted my most recent submission. Check it out here.

"Make me safe from armed violence"

I have been laughing about this ever since I thought of it last Thursday while at work. I just got a good guffaw out of finally finding it there now. I guess their goons aren't old enough to remember 1980.

Tags: gun control, global arms control, million moon march

The Dick Cheney Thing

Everyone has already read about Dick Cheney accidentally shooting a fellow hunter during a quail hunt recently. My only comment on this is that many hunters only use their gun(s) once or twice a year. They do not go to the trouble of handling a gun every day to train themselves to have safe handling skills. I say this as someone who used to be a gun owner just so I could hunt. Safe gun handling requires everyday routines that are drilled into one's head so that such safe handling comes to be automatic.

I have nothing against the folks who use their gun only to hunt. I just think if you're going to hunt, you should make sure to handle your gun more often than only when you actually do hunt. This would cut down on a lot of so-called hunting "errors."

We are sorry for the inconvenience

I have been working on setting up new digs at eponym.com. Once I get everything worked out I will probably stop using this blog, although it will remain here for archival purposes.

Eponym supplies its own comment and trackback system, so any commentors there will have to post anonymously unless you want to register as a reader of the site.

BTW, is anyone else annoyed at having to do word verification to post to one's own blog? I thought that was the whole point behind having a username and password. I guess they're trying to put a stop to spamblogs, but still, that's a pain.

Any posting I do this week will be cross-posted to both blogs. The new one is at blogonomicon.eponym.com.

Border agent busted for smuggling illegal aliens

I have to blame Mr. Codrea for starting my hobby of watching for stories like this:

He was supposed to protect the borders from illegal immigrants, instead a former U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer will be sent to prison for letting them into this country for a price.

42-year old Fabian Solis was sentenced to 36 months in prison for conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into the Unites States for money.

Meanwhile, near San Diego:

An incomplete tunnel was found in the same area where investigators recently found one of the longest passages discovered beneath the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said.

The 3-foot-wide tunnel extended from just south of the border fence in Mexico to a point about 23 feet into the United States, ending at a concrete levee, Border Patrol spokesman Richard Kite said.

A patrol agent noticed a distortion in the road running along the border fence, and agents digging in the area found the tunnel Thursday, Kite said.

"It was only about 6 inches below the asphalt," he said.

Two air marshals busted for cocaine trafficking

From KRPC, Houston:

Two air marshals were arrested in connection with using their positions for drug trafficking, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday.

A tipster told FBI agents that the men, whose names were not released, were buying and selling drugs as they flew around the country as air marshals.

The federal government hired thousands of air marshals after Sept. 11, posting the undercover, armed agents on board random airplanes.

Because they carry guns, the marshals bypass metal detectors and X-ray machines. [How convenient that must be for them.--ed.]

The air marshals arrested Thursday were scheduled on an overnight flight, possibly to Las Vegas. They were arrested before making it to the airport.

Agents searched the northwest-side home of one of the men. The search warrant, which details what was found, is sealed.

Both men worked with other law enforcement agencies before becoming air marshals, sources told KPRC. One of them was a Drug Enforcement Administration agent until 2002, when he joined the air marshals.

Why were their names not released? Because air marshals often travel incognito and revealing their names could endanger their future careers?

tnx to Diane's Stuff

An unexpected gun encounter--the good kind

Today we celebrated my dad's 65th birthday, and at one point during the party, his wife (technically my step-mother, although since I never actually lived in the same house as her, it doesn't seem right to refer to her that way), anyway, she told me, "Hey, I have something I thought you'd like to see." She handed me a lightly-framed revolver which seemed to have excessive fluting on the cylinder. A couple of people got to witness my stream-of-consciousness observations (I lost my usual self-reserve and began thinking out loud).

A nine-shot .22 revolver. Is it a Harrington & Richardson? No, a High Standard. I didn't know High Standard made this kind of gun. It doesn't have a loading gate. Okay, I got it figured out (cylinder swings open). Double action. (Held gun to sunlight coming through window). Barrel's kind of dirty. A little rust on the cylinder & hammer. If I clean it up can I shoot it?

"Sure, you can shoot it anytime you want."

She went on the tell me that the gun was about 40 years old. Next weekend I plan on cleaning the old gun up and putting some rounds through it.

Another nice thing is that my dad has inadvertently built a very nice pistol range. Since the drought has completely dried up his small stock tank, he has dug it out and shored up the banks and the dam. It is now about 22 yards across a flat bottom with sloping sides almost all the way around about 8 feet high. So until it starts raining again I'll have a nice place to do some pistol plinking.

I've already done some cursory internet research on the gun and learned a little, like it has an aluminum frame. I'll see if I can dig up some better information before I talk about it again. In the meantime, here is a picture of this model revolver that I Googled up from the Kim Du Toit archives. The one I held today doesn't look as nice as this one. It has lost a lot of finish from the sides of the end of the barrel, apparently from being repeatedly drawn from its holster over the years. That's what the wear looks like to me, anyway.

Million Moon Update

The War on Guns has a Million Moon Update. Check it out for a list of all the latest members and their pictures in the Million Moon Brigade.

Tags: gun control, global arms control, million moon march

Death threats against Hudspeth County deputies

From San Antonio Express-News:

State and federal officials are investigating death threats against Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies and their families that local officials believed are tied to a recent standoff on the Texas-Mexico border.

Chief Deputy Mike Doyal said Wednesday that two deputies and the wife of third officer were warned that they should 'stay off the river' or they and their families would be killed.

Sheriff Arvin West said he believed the threats came from men connected to the Jan. 23 standoff between Texas lawmen west of El Paso and armed drug smugglers dressed in Mexican military-style uniforms. He declined to provide other details.

'All I can say for sure is that it was someone in Mexico,' West said.

Doyal said three unidentified men threatened the wife of one of the county's 12 deputies.

Andrea Simmons, an FBI spokeswoman in El Paso, said Wednesday the FBI is aware of the threats but does not have a role in the investigation.

West, who said area drug traffickers know just about everything about his deputies, was among a contingent of Texas lawmen who testified Tuesday at a congressional hearing about Mexican military incursions into the United States.

Perhaps because Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West announced on national radio that, "With or without federal assistance, we're going to put a stop to it." (Heard on NPR). He was referring to recent border invasions incursions.

In other border news, Governor Rick Perry (TX) has announced a new initiative called Operation Rio Grande. Part of this involves shifting Texas DPS officers "to provide more border security, but not necessarily hiring new officers." Not good enough. Hire more officers, for God's sake. Maybe then the Border Patrol can stop resorting to billboard advertisements to draw in applicants.

Other better news from this article is about some positive things that have happened since Operation Linebacker was announced back in December. I noticed especially that Kinney County, a very rural county of 1,363 square miles with about 20 miles of international border, only has 4 law enforcement officers for the entire county. This area is pretty much a free zone for drug smugglers and Operation Linebacker has apparently helped them significantly. Kinney County, with State Highways 90 and 131, provide easy access to both Del Rio and Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras.

Meanwhile, back in Nuevo Laredo, drug runners attacked the offices of the newspaper El Mañana:

The day after two hooded men burst into the lobby of their building, sprayed their newsroom with automatic weapons and tossed a grenade, reporters at El Mañana did their best to maintain a veneer of normalcy.

Monday night's attack injured one reporter, who remained hospitalized in stable condition.

By Tuesday, the pockmarked walls at the city's leading daily were filled and painted. Windows and doors were replaced, the shattered glass and debris swept away.

But the swiftness of the cleanup belied the nervousness reporters felt and the muzzling of a free press that some predict will affect other Nuevo Laredo news organizations.

"There's a psychosis of fear in the newsroom," said one reporter who witnessed the attack. "The goal for the day is to get in, write as quickly as possible and get out."

El Mañana, like other city papers, already had been censoring its own coverage to avoid provoking the drug cartels that are fighting for control of the area's smuggling routes.

"There is no point in investigating narcotrafficking," Ramon Cantu Deandar, the paper's editor, said Tuesday. "That's an international problem that not even the authorities have the will to fix."

It's common knowledge that most of the homicides in Nuevo Laredo — averaging almost one a day so far this year — are carried out on behalf of either the Gulf Cartel or the Sinaloa Cartel.

The newspaper covers the facts of a slaying, but never blames the cartels and never prints names. Cantu said it now would scale down its coverage even further, relegating the violence to its inside pages.

"We're going to cover the killings, but not highlight them on the front page," Cantu, the editor, said. "We're in the middle of a war here, and we need to be more careful."

What could have finally triggered (no pun intended) this attack?

The gunmen arrived less than two weeks after El Mañana hosted a seminar for the Inter-American Press Association on covering drug trafficking.

Cantu didn't blame the conference, but added: "Yes, it was seen as a provocation for the mafias, for the narcotraffickers."

Julio Muñoz, the IAPA executive director, said by phone from Miami that it's too soon to know a motive for the attack, but it could be payback for the seminar, in which journalists discussed how to stay safe while covering drug trafficking.

They discussed how to stay safe while covering drug trafficking. I guess the drug thugs showed them that there is no way to stay safe there, unless they just type up weather reports and stay away from the icky stuff like drug running, murders, and such.

Reporting from the safe side...

Tags: border security, Texas

Second Amendment Saturday at Free Constitution

It's Second Amendment Saturday at Free Constitution. Go read!

The Anti-PC League

I would just like to mention that I have joined The Anti-PC League.

Readers of this blog have probably learned by now that my sense of humor is often, well, somewhat offbeat, and sometimes bleak.

As the good Doctor once said, "I'm very serious about what I do, but I'm not always serious about how I do it."

There is a lot of humor to be found in poking holes in PC-ness, but the matter of "political correctness" is deadly serious. "Political correctness" is a form of thought control. It shapes how people speak, and by doing so, shapes how they think.

I will endeavor to remain as politically incorrect as possible.

Just a happy guy with a pipe

They accepted my latest submission. Here 'tis.

"No more arms for atrocities"

Check out all the comments at The War On Guns for more submissions.

(That sardonic chuckle you hear in the background? Yeah, that's me).

Tags: gun control, global arms control, million moon march

The Million Moon March Continues

Read Million Moon March: A New Tack for new information.

I have submitted a new picture in this vein and will update later on its status.

Mr. Completely's Rimfire Roundup #1

The first Rimfire Roundup is now up at Mr. Completely. Check it out.

Zim speaks up...

Eventually I must answer everything with absurdity. Well, almost everything.

Further reading: Million Moon March Gallery

Tags: gun control, global arms control

Heard on NPR today...

I listen to NPR a lot. But then I've said that before. (Sigh...)

Today the reporter was talking to some French guy, I guess he's supposed to be somebody important. The reporter drew a parallel between current embassy burnings due to Islamic facism and...

...brace yourself...

...Christians burning Beatles albums because John Lennon said they were "bigger than Jesus."

As far as I know, the albums had been purchased legally and the owners were therefore free to do with them as they pleased. Also as far as I know, they didn't use them as kindling to torch the British embassy.

Tags: NPR, Islamofacists

Concealed Carry in Wisconsin isn't going away

I meant to post this yesterday, but other things interfered.

This link is to an op-ed in the University of Wisconsin The Badger Herald. Written by a senior there and pro-CCW. Which is why I think that it won't just be going away in Wisconsin.

Tags: concealed handgun, Wisconsin

DBR

That is, Damaged Beyond Repair (a familiar term used often in a previous job of mine). Today my irony meter was rendered DBR. In reference to this post. A picture that condemns censorship and shows a woman who is empowered to protect herself from rape, and they reject it. Of course, I did expect it to be rejected, but still, I am numb with sardonicism.

Further reading: Gallery Updates at The War On Guns.

Tags: gun control, global arms control

Mr. Completely's Rimfire Roundup

Mr. Completely is planning a weekly Rimfire Roundup--a carnival of all things rimfire. Follow the link for details.

Just for the record...

I couldn't give a rat's sphincter for the Superbowl, or any other professional sports, for that matter. Except, perhaps, for women's gynmastics, which for some reason I find strangely compelling.

I will be watching episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop which I taped last night, and catching a couple of Monk reruns that I missed when they were first shown.

I have already helped my daughter catch up on her weekend homework, so I'm all set.

Arrested for entering the wrong house

But of course, that's because he was a bounty hunter. Why aren't police who enter the wrong house given equal treatment?

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The hired gun might have a tough time getting paid for this job. Robert Turner, a 37-year-old bounty hunter, was looking for a woman wanted for failure to appear in court.

But the address she gave was an old one, and the home he entered now belongs to a police officer.

Turner was arrested Wednesday on a charge of breaking and entering. His bond was set at $5,000.

Seems only fair.

THE PC MANIFESTO V3.0 - 2005 Update

The Anti-PC League has produced V3.0 of The PC Manifesto. Very funny. Unfortunately, it's also true.

The things I gotta do sometimes...

I have just spent the past 12 minutes locked in the bathroom--the door knob seemed to implode when I turned it, and nothing worked. Everyone else in the house is asleep. Fortunately, I had my trusty Swiss Army Knife in my pocket, and was able to dismantle the doorknob and work it open, eventually.

More Lefty-Friendly Handguns from H&K

I like to post about guns that are friendly to southpaws, partly for my own reference and partly because other lefties may be interested (how many lefties read this blog, I wonder). The vast majority of these I don't own and have never handled, so I can't comment on them. I just provide the information. Here's another pair that I just learned of: The H&K P2000 and P2000SK. At a cursory scan of their website, it looks like just about all of their handguns have an ambidextrous magazine release. However, these two models also have an ambidextrous slide release. The SK model is the more compact, and is available in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .357 Sig.

Concealed carry in South Dakota

It looks like CCW licenses in South Dakota will no longer be public knowledge:

The South Dakota House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday that would afford confidentiality to people who apply for and receive concealed weapons permits.

Only police could have access to that information and share it with other law enforcement agencies. The data are kept by the secretary of state.

Rep. Margaret Gillespie, D-Hudson, said driver's license records are secret and concealed weapons records should be, too. She questioned why the public needs to know who carries hidden handguns.

But Rep. Bill Thompson, D-Sioux Falls, said the information can come in handy. Thompson said he always reads the names of applicants in the Argus Leader. The Sioux Falls-based newspaper routinely publishes a list of those people.

Thompson, a retired teacher, said he once saw the name of a student he considered mentally unstable and informed the school principal.

Gun records should not be public, argued Rep. Larry Rhoden, R-Union Center.

Rhoden, who is the House majority leader, said people without weapons permits can also be threats. The U.S. Constitution allows the right to bear arms, he said.

'To have a false sense of security, because somebody has not applied for a firearm, that they don't have a firearm is totally off the mark,' he said.

Exactly. Armed criminals aren't required to publish their names. Why should armed law-abiding citizens?

I can take this opportunity to mention an odd quirk in the Texas CHL law. An entire list of all those who hold a CHL is not publicly available. However, anyone can request such information on a specific individual, for which they will get a yes or no answer. If anyone other than a criminal justice agency requests this information, the CHL holder is notified and given the name of the person or agency who made the request. (ref. Texas Concealed Handgun Laws Frequently Asked Questions [pdf file]).

We have not had any problems with people being "outed" in Texas, as far as I know. But we are working on getting rid even of this measure of non-anonymity.

UPDATE: A version of the Stand Your Ground bill seems to be moving forward in SD, as well.

Tags: concealed carry, self defense

Finally! Kel-Tec gets some street cred

This article is about the recent accidental shooting by Virginia politician John Reid (no injuries, just an AD). Here is my favorite paragraph:

Police concluded it was an accident. The bullet escaped when Reid was trying to unload his handgun by releasing the magazine, and the slide slipped. A bulletproof vest hanging on Reid's office door stopped the bullet. No one was hurt, but the incident prompted a swift apology from Reid and words of concern from Gov. Tim Kaine about public safety at the Capitol.

Yes, it "escaped." I got a sudden mental image of Reid yelling to the cops, "It went thataway!" Boy, that paragraph is so full of mistakes. We should have a law requiring mandatory gun education for "journalists" so they know what the heck they're talking about, for a change. I think Mr. Reid needs a refresher course, as well.

But to the title of this post. Follow the link and see which eeevilll scary black pistol they used to illustrate the story. Just for once, it's not a Glock!

Tags: concealed carry, Glock, Kel-Tec

Statisticians more likely to come up with bogus results to prove their bias

UPDATE: John Lott has some comments, and links to some other commentors. He mentions details which were not stated in the news report I read. What immediately leaped out at me was this: "and whether they have had a gun in their car at least one time over the last year." Yes, at least one time in the past year. This is utterly meaningless. They may as well have asked if they'd had a passenger in their car at least one time in the past year, or if they had driven with their windows down at least one time in the past year. Mr. Lott also makes another interesting statement: "The paper also has some funny results. For example, Liberals are apparently much more likely to engage in road rage than conservatives and the difference is larger than the difference between those who did and did not have a gun at least one time in their car over the last year. This variable is apparently never investigated, but presumably they are also concerned about liberals being allowed to drive cars."

UPDATE 2: Nicki at The Liberty Zone has torn them a new one. (tnx to The War On Guns).

I'll just quote the whole thing:

PARIS, Feb 1, 2006 (AFP) - Americans who pack a gun in their car are likelier to get aggressive than unarmed drivers, according to a study reported in next Saturday's New Scientist.

A survey of 2,400 drivers carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health found that some 23 percent of drivers with a gun in their car admitted to making aggressive gestures to other road users, compared with 16 percent of those who did not have a weapon.

They were also likelier to tailgate the car in front, the study found.

'Riding with a firearm in the vehicle was a marker for aggressive and dangerous driver behaviour,' it said.

The researchers said the findings shed worrying light on an aspect of gun ownership in the United States. Over the past two decades, many US states have eased restrictions on carrying weapons and police no longer have the right to ban someone they consider unsuitable from owning a gun, they noted.

'Our findings indicate that the people driving around with guns in their cars are not among the most responsible and best-behaved people on the road,' researcher Mary Vriniotis told the British weekly.

'In the interests of injury and violence prevention, it probably makes more sense to tighten rather than relax restrictions on gun carrying in motor vehicles.'

The study is published in a specialist journal, Accident Analysis and Prevention.

Bullsh*t.

This survey proves that people who claim to carry a gun in their car also claim to make "gestures." (That is, some people just like to look tough).

If asked, I would have provided no useful information.

Global Gun-Grabbers Operation Feelgood

Because all it will do is make a lot of sheeple feel good.

But it can be turned against them. Go to The War on Guns: The Million Moon March to see what I'm talking about.

UPDATE: I knew Oleg Volk would have one that expressed my sentiments. Question: Why exactly do they want the name and address of anyone? That's rhetorical, of course. (I did not supply them even with a fake address, and submitted under the name "Jackie Hollowpointe"). Please visit the link above for more updates on others joining in. And add your own image!

Tags: gun control, global arms control

I have performed a service for humanity

Someone actually came to this blog after Googling "devo pop muzik." They found this link. I hope it set them straight.

On the other hand, someone also came here after Googling "pyrodex pellets in a Kentucky Rifle." For shame, sir, for shame. Just pour some black powder in there and leave the pellets for the infidels and their bastard guns.

WI Governor Jim Doyle to join the Ann Richards Ex-Governor's Club.

Click here for details.

Tags: concealed carry