Dr. Phil Follow-Up

“Oh, I hate the idea,” Carol says. She has a 7-year-old who’s been asking questions. “He asked me, ‘If I do something wrong, are they going to pull guns out on me?’ What do you tell a child like that?”

You tell him "No, of course not." And then you take him to the range, teach him about guns and how to shoot them, explain how you and daddy will protect him and that other good grownups can too.

Good Lord, Carol, assuming you let him, he's supposed to be a man one day. It's your job to teach him how. What kind of hysterical mommy's boy weakling do you want your son to be?

Dr. Phil actually did better than I was prepared to give him credit for:

You know, I have to say, and I’m not sure where I come down on this, but I can say, if something happened, if I was in a classroom or somewhere else, and somebody came in shooting, boy, I’d sure wish I had a gun.

Well then you are sure. Why not say so?

As for Linda Bridges of the teacher's union, no surprises there.

You know, we hire nurses to do medical procedures at schools. We hire teachers to teach. We should hire security guards or police to do law enforcement functions.

Self defense becomes "law enforcement," an exclusive province of the state.

Sometimes, you can judge a book by its cover.

Almost There, Matt

The common declaration that no one "needs" a handgun infuriates me even more. I can't deny it – it's true. No one needs a handgun, short of the obvious exceptions of police officers, military personnel, and a few select other professionals. I'll grant that right now.

You were doing pretty well there until you got to that part, Matt Gurney.

Do a bit more learning and thinking about why that may not always be so, and you may well turn out to be that "articulate spokesmen" you're hoping for.

A Professor of Constitutional Law

Yeah, so is The Lightworker. No wonder we're in the mess we're in.

[D]espite our best efforts, more people will die.

Yeah, there's only one side to that equation, right, Mary Cheh? What secret knowledge are you holding back from us that makes you so authoritatively certain more lives won't be saved?

We'll see how well her ideal liberal academic framework of carry prohibitions, magazine capacity limits, microstamping, theft reporting requirements and other predator-favoring nonsense holds up when things fall apart and people get desperate.

I can just see Mary confronting the opportunistic and warning: "STAND BACK! I HAVE A LAW DEGREE!"

Oh, and as an aside: Kathie McLay, would you please put that sign down? Some would say you're making us look bad.

A Brother in Need

"Not getting on this island was not an option," David Culpepper said. "We have a brother in need."

Damn straight. And what a great name.

I love seeing this spirit. It feel like America.

We're the Only Ones Wacky Enough

A judge in Las Vegas has dismissed a firearms charge against US comedian Jerry Lewis.

I'm delighted charges were dismissed. I don't even mind that his rep apparently lied about the gun and they let him off anyway.

I just want to make sure that this isn't because celebrities are "Only Ones," and that you and I will be given the same break.

YouTube Bans "Assault Videos"

YouTube is to ban footage showing weapons being used to intimidate people on its website in the UK.

I'll bet that's not true.

I'll bet you'll still see footage of state enforcers using weapons to keep civilians in line with their rulers' wishes. See, it's the difference between "assault videos" and "patrol videos."

YouTube said it was necessary to reflect "local laws and sensitivities"...

Ahh...kind of like The Lightworker's one Second Amendment for urban areas, another for rural...? That is, of course, until "local laws and sensitivities" can be preempted with centralized rule...

They said Bill Clinton was the first black president. Perhaps Barack Obama will be our first British one.

[Via David Hamel]

Feds Remind Wyoming Just Who the Boss Is

A federal appeals court in Denver, CO, has ruled against Wyoming in a lawsuit over a state law that seeks to allow people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to regain their gun rights, according to The Billings Gazette and Associated Press...

The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office has said that Wyoming courts expunged 63 misdemeanor convictions from 2005 through last October 2007. Only one person with an expunged record had gone on to receive a state-issued concealed weapons permit as of last October...

The ATF said that conviction records weren’t truly expunged if they were kept on the books for any purpose.

Here's BATFU all worried about technicalities again, and willing to see you die in the name of procedure.

Anybody have info on the 10th Circuit Appeals Court panel judges involved, or the district Judge Alan Johnson, who initially ruled against the state? Like who appointed them? I'll need to look around when I get some time, but for now can't help noticing one of the Wyoming District Court's three missions is:

To represent the District of Wyoming in a manner that will instill trust in the Judiciary.

Oops. Flubbed that one up, Alan.

And there's one other question I don't hear too many raising, so would appreciate any and all who wish to add their voice in asking:

Why aren't the Brady Campaign and anti-gun politicians who have been going nuts over DC been consistent in their demands for "home rule"? You'd almost think that's just a convenient ploy to gin up outrage with, that they really don't give a damn about it unless it serves their purposes...

[Via Jeffersonian]

This Day in History: September 21

The Committee of Accounts produced an accol from the Committee of Berks County amounting to two thousand and seventy pounds, nine shillings, advanced and paid for the riffle companies and Col. [William] Thompson.

Ordered, That this be referred back to the Committee, who are to examine and pay the accot.

Ordered, that the President write to Genl Washington and request him to order Col. [William] Thompson immediately to send to the Congress an account of the expenditure of 5,000 dollars paid him by order of the Congress on the 29th July, being in advance for the service of a Battalion of Rifflemen under his command.