Speaking for Amerika

"People tend to try to make this sort of a big-city issue," said John Feinblatt, the criminal justice coordinator for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "But there's nobody more articulate than Chief Knight, who really speaks for small town America. Most members of law enforcement are in small towns. So he sort of speaks for America."

Bloomberg's flack said it. I believe it. That settles it.

An Idiot's Interpretation of "Common Sense"

Once more, 45superman saves me the trouble of wading into the muck.

Everybody has his site bookmarked and blogrolled for daily visits, right?

Help the UN Make Liberia Gun-Free!

In an effort to help make Liberia a gun-free nation after 14 years of civil war, the Liberia Action Network on Small Arms (LANSA), is calling on Liberians to join ongoing campaign by the UNDP Small Arms Control Programme to make Liberia a gun-free society.

Per the US Department of State:

[C]rime rates are still high, and resources for responding to emergencies of any kind are minimal. Liberia's local and national police forces are in the process of being reconstituted and still lack adequate capacity to prevent or to investigate criminal activity.

Sounds like the perfect set of conditions for heeding the UN's advice and giving up the means of defending yourself and your family, doesn't it?

Shouldn't Prescriptions be Tested for Efficacy?

DuRant encourages all pediatricians to talk with parents about safe gun storage practices. The safest practice would be to remove guns from the house, but if parents are unwilling to do that, they should lock them and store the ammunition separately, he said.

And your qualifications to make these claims, Robert? And if a physician passes your advice on to a patient and someone gets hurt because of it, will their malpractice insurance cover them?

I can think of a couple different scenarios to test out your prescription. Maybe we could start with the Tueller Drill.

We're the Only Ones Jilted Enough

Memphis Police Officer Jeremy Kyle kicked in the door of his ex-girlfriend's house...

Officer Teresita Watson told detectives that Kyle walked into her bedroom and pointed a gun at her and another man who was with her.

The other man shot Kyle in the chest, detectives said. Kyle died at the scene.

I don't get the headline, which says the jilted boyfriend shot her, but the story says the new boyfriend's gun is the only one that was fired...even though earlier it implies Kyle's gun was fired in a struggle for it.

But I also don't get sleeping around with serial lovers while the kids are upstairs...

[Via Andre Campos]

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

We're the Only Ones Virtual Enough

In making snap decisions about whether to shoot a potentially armed suspect, police officers are far less influenced by racial bias than students or community members forced to make the same decision, a large study has found...

In one experiment, participants watched a video screen as a series of 50 threatening images flashed by...

They shot at about 13 percent of the unarmed black men and roughly the same number of the unarmed white men. By contrast, the civilians shot at about 35 percent of the unarmed black men and 29 percent of unarmed white men.

I'd be interested in seeing how they came up with their test populations--and if comparable levels of experience and training were factored in. I'd also be interested in seeing how this is working out in real life.

[Via Dennis Walker]

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

Kent McManigal vs. France

This provides an instructive insight into the government-dependent mindset. Unless we can reverse course and culturally embrace principles of individual freedom and responsibility, these attitudes will be as pervasive here as they are there. Our urban areas have probably already arrived.

This Day in History: June 4

The first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made on June 4, 1776.