BREAKING NEWS: GUN CONTROL LAWS AFFECT LAW-ABIDING!!!

The number of licensed gun owners in Massachusetts is falling.

In the past six years, gun licenses have dropped by 25 percent, a decline driven by more restrictive laws, higher fees and a gradual change in culture, according to law enforcement and gun owners.

Predictably:

Some in law enforcement are applauding the decline, but caution that there are still plenty of illegal guns on the streets.

No, duh. How ya doin' on decreasing those? Making any progress?

Chief Crowley (we've met this authoritarian spokesthing before) weighs in:

"The average citizen who has a gun 24-7 I don’t believe has the experience, knowledge and training to know when and if they should use a firearm."

No, of course not, Chief. They're not "Only Ones," with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, like you.

The Path of Least Resistance

A 41-year-old man stormed a beauty salon and bludgeoned four grandmothers with a hammer, fracturing one's skull, before making off with less than $90, police said...The women, aged 56 to 76, did not resist but were beaten anyway...

So take a tip from Detective Kevin Coffey:

You've heard it before and now here it is again: Never resist if you are the victim of a robbery. Do exactly as you are told to do in order to minimize your chances of being injured and to speed the departure of your assailant before he gets other ideas. The assailant, in most cases, doesn't want to hang around much longer than you want him to...

He must know better than us, because:

Kevin is the media's favorite expert on travel safety and related topics. Most likely you recognize him from appearances on Oprah, 20/20, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, The Travel Channel, Court TV, The Today Show or countless other broadcasts. He is regularly quoted in the written press, including: USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Fortune, Inc., as well as in many trade publications.

No surprise this guy is the darling of the "authorized journalists," is it?

Too bad those grandmothers didn't heed his advice, though, because they did have access to "(HAIRSPRAY, KEYS, PURSE) as a weapon," but in fairness to media favorite Kevin, this wasn't a rape prevention situation. Still, why wouldn't he advise free people to train themselves to deploy the most effective means of personal defense known?

After all, he carries a sidearm.

Oh but I forget...he's an "Only One"...

I'm the Father of "The Only One"

Interesting excuse making.

Here's the post he should have commented on.

Dad seems to be focused on who rode the bull and that his son shot himself in the leg, not the foot. Fine--I have no problem accepting that version over the one reported by the "authorized journalists."

But funny: They've changed the story and deleted the quote I copied that was posted at that time on that link.

Still, the whole reason this was a story in the first place was due to the negligent discharge. And "The Only One" responsible for that is the negligent operator.

And I stand by my comment: If it had been you or me or anyone not connected to the local LE establishment negligently discharging a firearm in a public place that serves alcohol, I have no doubt we'd have been arrested and charged.

And justifiably so.

New Trial Ordered for Kwan

Per Len Savage:

Found buried in todays edition of Seattle Times...

Don't think you got redirected to the wrong page if the headline you see involves a decapitated snake (and why that guy didn't just call in the Noble, OK PD for professional snake dispatching is beyond me). No, you need to scroll down through "Local News" to the next story to find:

A federal judge has granted a new trial to Albert K. Kwan, a Bellevue gun collector who was found guilty of illegally possessing a short-barrel rifle after a three-day jury trial in June.

Imagine that: the jury wasn't told parts need to be connected to make a whole. And while I see nothing about Kwan's acquittal on machine gun possession charges, I do see plenty of innuendo suggesting he's a shady character somehow involved in murder--that and a liar.

That goes with being an "authorized journalist," I guess. But funny--when Kwan was convicted, they had no problem reporting it not once, but twice. And again with all that nasty innuendo.

And what has Mr. Kwan been evidently wrongfully convicted of?

Investigators who searched his home...seized several weapons, including...a Heckler and Koch pistol that could be attached to a shoulder stock, making it a short-barreled rifle.

If that's all it takes, I might be guilty, too. I could take the stock off one of my rifles. I'm sure I have some bolts and a clamp somewhere in the garage I could use to attach it to one of my pistols--it wouldn't be very pretty, and I wouldn't want to use something so poorly modified, but it would certainly seem to meet the government litmus test.

I guess a government with unlimited resources can afford to throw them at anyone it sets its mind to. And if you anger the beast, it will set its mind to bringing you down.

New and Improved

Jeffersonian suggests the following "product improvement for the Only Ones":



Perhaps, but I do see a potential legal problem. Just as I pointed out several years back in "Smart Guns-Dumb Lawsuits":

...they would still be deemed negligent for not including such warnings in Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese and Tagalog.

I mean, our diversity is our strength. Right?

[Image via Funpic]

Considering Kennesaw

GeorgiaCarry.org President Ed Stone said he is pleased to see Kennesaw take steps to change its ordinance, but said the organization would pursue legal action if the city failed to act.

Here's more information on a story WarOnGuns talked about a couple days ago.

[Via Ed Stone]

This Day in History: August 12

The court martial of George Washington's second-in-command at a crucial stage in the War of Independence was the culmination of a tense relationship between the two men and ended General Charles Lee's military career.