We're the Only Ones Precautionary Enough...

Bowyer stated he was conducting a "press check" to ensure the small handgun he carried with him while off-duty was properly loaded...

It was.

When I press their triggers, my loaded guns fire, too.

CITGO's Resolution

I received the following email from Bruce McCall, Customer Service Representative for CITGO. You remember the story.

Dear Mr. Codrea,

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you, but we wanted to make sure that we investigated this incident thoroughly. I would like to update you on what we have learned and what actions have been taken following the robbery at the CITGO station in Gary.

The owner of the station has made a public apology to the robbery victim, replaced her stolen money and met with Gary Mayor Scott King to discuss ways business owners can work more effectively with city and police officials. This meeting has had a positive result -- according to the police chief, the Gary Police Department intends to sponsor a series of sessions for local gas station owners and employees.

Since the station owner has taken these actions, CITGO Petroleum Corporation will not de-brand this retail outlet. Remember, CITGO does not own or operate any of the more than 13,000 branded locations. Actions such as those of the attendant do not reflect the commitment that CITGO has to the communities where we do business.

We appreciate and share your concern over such matters. Rest assured that we do not take these things lightly.

Thank you for your time and concern,

Bruce McCall

I think Mr. McCall deserves credit for following through with this reply, especially since it would have been easier to just ignore me.

There Is Nothing Perplexing About the Second Amendment

That is, if you can read.

Nicki helps de-perplex things.

(Yes, I admit that's probably not a word, but it sounded better than "unperplexify.")

"I Sent You a Boat, I Sent You a Helicopter..."

"I was hoping and praying that everyone [would stay] still and calm, and hoped that there would be no violence," McLaughlin said last night.

"He ordered several children and their father to go up the aisles getting purses and wallets," McLaughlin, 48, said."

A predator is threatening children at gunpoint, for God's sake, their fathers are helpless to do anything but obey, and all the pastor can do is "hope and pray."

These parishioners and their minister remind me of the old joke about the flood victim.

[Thanks to Bill Clark]

Some Good Questions

Schools and taverns and police stations and restaurants and kindergartens and government buildings and jails and airports (well, just past the security checkpoints; up to there they're OK) all are on the prohibited list.

So here's the question: If permit-holders are safe and reliable enough to be handed permits, why aren't they safe everywhere? Why can they not go into the federal courthouse in Madison, but they can wander into the Wausau Center mall or through the heart of downtown?...It's obvious that lawmakers aren't sure. They hope licensees will be trustworthy, but they're not willing to bet the lives of schoolchildren or cops on it. They're not willing to bet that one of these fine and upstanding citizens won't have one too many at the local watering hole and open fire.

More snide innuendo and hysteria from a smarmy, bedwetting statist, but it does inadvertently illustrate the drawback of permits. Ceding this authority to the very people we are ultimately supposed to be able to protect ourselves from is so wrong, but we've been sold the bill of goods that this is "incremental progress."

[Thanks to HZ]

A Question of Guilt

Ten men from Georgia and two from Kentucky and Alabama pleaded guilty in Atlanta today to federal charges relating to the unlawful manufacture, sale, and possession of machine guns.

The story doesn't tell us who they hurt, or where the US Attorney's Office got the Constitutional authority to have any say in the matter. If I find out, I'll be sure and let you know.