Two Personal Developments

My editor at GUNS Magazine is going to bump one of my articles in the queue to make way for "A Very Sound Policy," which focuses on Virginia Tech's weapons prohibition policy and the comments of its spokesman, Larry Hincker. Still, it will be a while before it hits the stands--magazine columns are poor places to discuss breaking news stories, but this one couldn't go ignored.

Also, I just got off the phone with Leslie Eaton of The New York Times. As I mentioned earlier, I contacted major newspapers and TV networks asking why they weren't talking about this in their coverage. I had requested we conduct the questioning via email so I'd have a context record to fall back on--I guess I'm just a tad wary of dealing with "The Gray Lady"-- but was informed they were having delay problems with their email system.

Ms. Eaton seemed pleasant and earnest, confessed she "had no idea" about some of the information I was conveying, so we'll see. One of the things she was looking for was if I thought this would increase the likelihood for more or less "gun control." I opted for the pessimistic side, so let's everybody hope I'm wrong.

I even suggested she call NRA to see if Wayne LaPierre's school gun ban endorsement applies to colleges, which she did, but so far, they haven't responded.

There's no guarantee, of course, that The Times will use any of this.

Larry Hincker's Words Should Haunt Him Forever

I agree.

And as for news outlets picking up on this, I've done what I can to email the major newspapers and networks, that is, the "authorized journalists" who would have us believe they are so much more reliable than mere bloggers for getting people information they need to safeguard their liberty. If they don't report on this, it's not because they don't know about it--it's because it doesn't serve their agenda.

Is Shooting Grounds for Gun Control?

"ABC News" has a poll up. Go take it. Yeah, it's "non-scientific," buy you know perception is everything...

Speaking of polls, The Citizens Journal has one of its own.

[ABC News tip Via 1894C]

Europeans Blaming Heston

With a view to Monday's deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, European newspapers are blaming the lack of gun control measures in the United States and implying that Charlton Heston is indirectly responsible for the scope of the killings.

Now seems as good a time as any to resurrect this old GunTruths poster:

We're the Only Ones Closer to Mayhem Enough

Would someone remind me, again, why the Town of Wallkill thinks it needs a police department, or, more to the point, why it believes it can run a police department effectively?

Last week we learned that a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun used in a shooting just off North Street in Middletown probably came from, drum roll, the Town of Wallkill police evidence room.

Perhaps we have, right here, what should be the new front in the gun-control fight: Register the guns in the police evidence rooms! Permits for the pistols in the evidence rooms!

Here's more on a story we commented on two days ago. "Only Ones" and "mayhem"? Since when?

[Via Declan]

Red's Under Fire: From More than the Feds

Once many gun dealers backed the National Association of Stocking Gun Dealers, whose efforts helped put so-called "kitchen-table gun dealers" out of business. The immediate effect was to loosen competition.

But it also loosened the schedules of thousands of overburdened agents at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Gee, selling rope to hang the competition? Finding out an organization you depended on had an agenda of its own to take care of its preferred backers? Who ever heard of that?

Mountain Man Custom Jewelry Gun and Pawn Inc...allowed its license to lapse in January. Soon, there was an agent knocking at the business' door for the first time in more than 20 years. A three-day audit earned its owner, Gary Painter, his first warning.

Mr. Painter, it seems like only a week-and-a-half ago, you were deflecting attention to Red's Trading Post. But that's OK--it looks like Christy Newlan of Main Street Pawn and Collectibles has taken over the finger-pointing.

Christy and Joe Waldron of CCRKBA, it would seem:

"There are people that would argue the ATF is using this to intimidate gun dealers," Waldron said in a telephone interview. "If the ATF goes after a dealer, I am going to assume those gun dealers are doing something they shouldn't be."

Why, Mr. Waldron? Why would you automatically assume BATFU does not have such an agenda, and side with them over dealers, particularly at a time when Red's is fighting for its life?

If it's your and CCRKBA's position that ATF activities are constitutional, I'd appreciate hearing you out. If it's your and CCRKBA's position that citizens found in violation of state and federal gun edicts are presupposed guilty, and the enforcement agencies presupposed acting legitimately, please flesh out your thesis.

Should we assume you meant every word, or that you were misquoted and your statement was taken out of context?

This Day in History: April 17

April 17, Washington writes the New York Committee of Safety. New York has not yet come down decisively on the side of independence, and merchants and government officials are supplying the British ships still in the harbor. Washington, angry at the continued communication with the enemy, asks the Committee if the evidence about them does not suggest that the former Colonies and Great Britain are now at war. He insists that such communications should cease.