Devolites Watch

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WarOnGuns will update this graphic as the evening progresses. See "Last Reported" in the graphic for the time it was updated and posted on the official Virginia State Board of Elections website. So far, so good.

UPDATE: FROM WBDJ7

In one of the most expensive and hotly contested races of the year, Republican Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis lost to Democratic former Delegate Chap Petersen in Fairfax County.

I'm going to bed. Turn the lights off, will you, Jeannemarie?

Why DON'T We Know Where the Candidates Truly Stand?

If voters want to know exactly where candidates stand, they are going to have to nail them down to specifics. You can claim to support the Second Amendment and still vote to outlaw 90 percent of the firearms on the market or in private possession.

Exactly. As far as I know, there's only one who will roll up his sleeves and actually start going after federal gun laws. (Incidentally, were you aware of Ron Paul's current fundraising blitz? He set a one-day record for the GOP--and this is the guy who only has a handful of internet spammers in his corner according to GOP establishment mouthpieces like Rush Limbaugh.)

But the incrementalists caution it's too soon to expect the candidates to talk plainly about guns and freedom. We radical absolutists need to just be patient, because all our crazy talk is just going to scare people. Oh, yeah, and Ron Paul doesn't stand a chance, so we need to just do the pragmatic thing and support the Republican choice, whoever that turns out to be.

I saw this same scenario play out in California. Tom McClintock was a faithful friend of gun owners. But the establishment wanted a "sure win" and went with a celebrity, as the mighty "gun lobby" hid in the shadows and didn't dare show their faces. And we ended up with the bans on .50s and lead ammo, and microstamping .

Before any critic steps up and opines McClintock "didn't stand a chance," be prepared to offer evidence, as opposed to just your say-so, contradicting the CNN/Gallup poll that demonstrated McClintock beating the democrat opposition by a solid 19% had the party convinced Arnold to drop out.

Look--it's real simple. You--yes, you--can either, right now, get behind Ron Paul's campaign or not. Rationalize it any way you want, but the fact remains--there is one, and only one candidate whose stance on the Second Amendment is clear and consistent. And those who want the status quo--or those who would counsel you can't have real liberty because it's too extreme a goal to shoot for--are the ones advising you to pick "not."

IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR FRED HEADS:

Even Fred Thompson doesn’t think he will become president. Chatting off-air to a television reporter, a stunningly candid off-the-cuff quip from the Hollywood actor cemented the impression that his heart is not in the 2008 race.

Tell me of one team that ever won a championship with that kind of pre-game resignation and defeatism. That means the GOP fare will be either Mitt or Rudy. I'd like to hear something that makes sense from any "activist" gun owner who won't throw their support behind Ron Paul in the primaries now. We literally have nothing to lose.

Finger Bang II

Henrick Vierula, 19, and Stephane Laurence-Pressault, 18, are being charged with disturbing the peace and mischief after participating in a stunt that involved entering an Ottawa mall and staging a mock gunfight, using their hands as guns.

Thank goodness there's no real crime involving dangerous criminals for Ottawa police to concern themselves with here, right? And you gotta wonder at the type of citizen nazi who prides himself on being a police state informant.

I wonder if Canada is like the UK, where getting arrested for finger gestures is based on who you are?

Albany Anti-Gunners Have Soares on Their Seat

District Attorney David Soares has agreed to serve on a new Gun Violence Task Force for the city of Albany, as the Common Council named the final seven members of the panel Monday.

All 13 of their seats have been filled. With this, no doubt.

Tough Talk

Teachers union leaders say they are not backing down from tough talk about school safety in the wake of an incident in which a Union High School student brought a gun to school.

Ooh--"tough talk." That'll impress a school shooter. Right before he gets you to give him a tough scream, tough plea, and tough sob in mindless animal pain and terror. One of the things that "really grinds my gears" is the word "stakeholder." Unless it applies to Abraham Van Helsing standing over an open coffin, I'm afraid it just sounds like so much socialist agenda-driven manipulative psychobabble. We all know there's only one thing that will stop a school shooter. A tough, that is an armed, response. Isn't that right, tough-talkin' Wayne? Isn't it past time you went back to your "stakeholders" and revised your tough advocacy of Harris-Klebold Empowerment Zones?

We're the Only Ones "Doing the Jobs Americans Won't Do" Enough

A former Houston police officer has been sentenced to just more than three years in prison for hiring illegal immigrants as guards and then arming them.

So why isn't the ACLU all over this? Oh, yeah, I forgot.

Don't worry, migrantes. Eliot Spitzer'll help.

[Via 45superman]

[More from "The Only Ones" Files]

We're the Only Ones Authorized to Crack the Code Enough

It's known in police circles as professional courtesy, and now there's a website where cops complain about other cops who won't extend that courtesy.

The "authorized journalists" take note of what lowly bloggers have been talking about for some time.

I'd like to address something posted on the "Only Ones" Entitlement Site that I didn't cover the first time out. On their "About Us" page, they state:

Should we be given breaks on tickets that normal people would be given a break?
Yes. Best Buy employees get an employee price (which is awesome), Subway employees get free subs, military people get free hops on planes, airline employees get the jet around the world for free ($50 is free). Every profession gets some kind of 'perk'.

Is it fair?
No, but when is life ever fair.

Best Buy is a private company, and the employee policy is authorized and overseen by management. Ditto for Subway and the airlines. As for the military, that too is authorized by command--you don't think an enlisted man can just hop on any flight he wants, do you? If we were to truly apply their analogy, it would mean a Best Buy employee could--on his own authorization, determine whatever discount struck him as "fair" based on his own say-so, and give it to a friend who works for a different electronics company. That's called employee theft, and people get fired for it all the time.

As for when life is fair, allow me to shed some light--when Constitutional laws apply equally to all citizens, regardless of their station, profession or circumstances of birth. There's a document that covers government rules of conduct on this, particularly Amendment XIV. These self-entitled whiners ought to try reading it some time (and as long as they're there, they might want to check out the Bill of Rights, too, especially if their job required them to take some kind of oath or affirmation).

Damned if You Do...

...and damned if you don't.

BATFU told Red's Trading Post they needed a computerized acquisition/disposition system. At no small expense they got one, and have been told it meets all the arbitrary requirements of the moment.

But BATFU is still gonna revoke their license. So there.

I'd like to take a moment to offer two comparisons of support for Red's from links on Ryan's blog under the heading "Red's Trading Post News":

The first has been described as an 800 lb. gorilla, an organization with paid staff, millions of members, a feared power on Capitol Hill, that takes in untold millions in gun owner contributions.

The second is an obscure blogger that most will never hear of.

Anybody notice something backwards going on here in terms of level and quality of effort vs. influence and resources...?

Not particularly looking for any special love here, just kind'a sayin'...

"It"

Kenny Antrobus wants to add one item to the artwork, soccer trophies and family photographs that are a reminder of the daughter he lost at Trolley Square: the handgun that killed Vanessa Quinn. "If I had it, I know it wouldn't kill anybody else," said Antrobus, of Cincinnati.

I can't pretend to know or understand the level of sustained grief that goes with losing a child--or the emotional and often irrational need to do something, anything, when of course, there's nothing we can do to bring back our loved ones.

The handgun, of course, did not kill, nor does "It" have volition to kill again. A deranged and evil person is solely to blame. It's interesting he doesn't want the handgun used to save further victims from being killed, which is probably just as well, since using the same logic, it is free to save again.

This Day in History: November 6

Silas Deane, Connecticut delegate to the Continental Congress, leaves for France on a secret mission on this day in 1776. The Committee of Congress for Secret Correspondence, consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, John Dickinson, John Hay and Robert Morris, instructed Deane to meet with French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, to stress America's need for military stores and assure the French that the colonies were moving toward "total separation.”