From the Land of "Braveheart"

Glass Control. [More]

Aye.

Brazil Nuts

“People here fear the police and their guns more than they do the (drug) dealers,” Rocinha, Brazil, slum dweller Denise do Espirito Santo told The Washington Post about the national referendum to ban private gun ownership.

"Brazil Nuts," my Rights Watch column for the June 2006 issue of GUNS Magazine, is now online.

I'll See Your 25 and Raise You 30

As parliament considers an amendment to tighten gun control laws, the head of Cape Town's Red Cross Children's Hospital, Sebastian van As, has called for the gun-licensing age to be increased to 25 years to reduce the alarming number of children killed or maimed by gunfire.

Yeah, that'll work, van Ass.

GUNS Magazine, June 1956

First I'll show Tim how to clean his rifle. Then we'll do some target shooting. Next we'll go out in the desert and I'll show him the proper way to carry his .22. Then we'll do a little hunting. A gun must be treated like a woman-with respect, love and lots of caution.--Robert Ryan

When was the last time you heard a major Hollywood star speak about guns and kids like this for the record? Yet this was a monthly feature 50 years ago, with actors and politicians endearing themselves to their fans and constituents as they disclosed their affinity for guns and the shooting sports.

It's too bad the people from that era weren't also in touch with the deeper implications of gun ownership, but it was a different time and no one was prescient. Pity. We can only wonder if things would be different had some back then sounded an alarm, but in truth, without the attacks of our time, such voices would (and did) not carry far.

The June 1956 issue of GUNS Magazine is now online.

Also in this issue:

• How to Become a Gun Engraver
• Why Bullets Kill
• Better Arms for the Better Half
• and much more, including the classic ads of the period.

This Day in History: June 2

On this day in 1774, the British Parliament renews the Quartering Act, allowing Redcoats to stay in private American homes if necessary. The Quartering Act, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act and the Boston Port Act, were known as the Coercive Acts.

Beyond Insanity

When it came time for city leaders to take the microphone, their solution was less than reassuring: a gun buyback program by which, in theory, people will be handing over guns responsible for the wave of shootings.

In the insane world of the Boston Globe, guns are responsible for shootings, not people.

The new tack of the antis is to admit the "buybacks" don't work (duh), but to justify them anyway by lauding how they galvanize the Eloi to work together with the Morlocks in a Kumbaya partnership.

We're the Only Ones...Yes, I Always Take a Magazine With Me When I Fly...

A U.S. air marshal removed himself from a Southwest Airlines flight set to depart Midway Airport on Thursday after he accidentally dropped a clip of bullets on the floor of the plane, revealing his undercover role to fellow passengers, airline officials said.

Well at least his gun didn't go off all by its own self, thank goodness...

[Thanks to HZ]

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Government in Action

A former Idaho Falls prosecutor could spend up to five years in prison after being sentenced Tuesday for stealing weapons from the city of Idaho Falls to sell them.

That Lord Acton, him plenty smart fella.