Engineering the Next Civil War

If the average gun owner had to pay a $400 tax each year for each gun, it's likely that the gun owner would decide to dispose of some or all of his guns. With fewer guns in existence, the cost of the gun tax would increase the following year. Eventually, an equilibrium would occur where our country would have far fewer guns and far fewer deaths.

Y'know, for someone who claims to be an engineer, Scott Dixon is pretty much cause-and-effect impaired beyond redemption. Engage him in comments and deconstruct his foolishness if you like--when someone proposes evil, I feel no obligation to attempt civil discourse. He presumes to teach but has proven himself incapable of learning.

So here's my only rebuttal:

How about "No"? And that's non-negotiable.

Your move, Scott.

State Error Infuriates Gun Owners

Actually, it kind of amused me...

It's gratifying to see the "Authorized Journalists" are tightening up the lag time following when mere bloggers report on something...it's still reactive, but it's getting better.

100 Bottles of Beer on the Deck...100 Bottles of Beer...

Chinese crew used beer bottles to fight off pirates

The true black-hearted scurvy dogs are the ones who prohibit human beings from having proper tools for defense. Anyone think their bodyguards carry bottles?

[Via Joe G]

The Good Samaritan

Click on title link for ABC News video about this story:

Woman Sued for Rescue Effort in Car Crash
Legal Experts Say California Ruling Could Make Good Samaritans Hesitate

I've had several occasions in the past to help those in need--and on two of those occasions placed myself in harm's way to intervene. But I have to say, the way things are going, I have a personal issue with the "sheepdog" analogy floating around the RKBA camp.

I don't see myself that way, have no desire to try and act like a hero, and don't consider the protective benefits society in general gets from me taking care of Number One. If it happens as a side effect, fine and good, but that's neither my intent nor my motivator.

It's too bad, but that's what people get for not taking care of themselves and criminalizing me taking care of myself. My goal is going to be to get away from danger. If that means I have to stop anyone trying to prevent me from doing that, again, that's a side effect, not my goal.

But isn't that inconsistent with all this "Three Percent" whoop-de-do, as detractors characterize it?

Not at all.

If it comes to that, it will mean I can't get away--all escape routes will have been sealed. At that point, I'll have some pretty ugly and terrifying choices to make.

So will you.

For now, we can either prepare for the possibility or we can deem it ridiculously improbable and remote, and disparage those who do.

[Via Steven K]

We're the Only Ones Through a Glass Darkly Enough

A day after he was lauded at City Hall by his City Council colleagues on one of his last days on the council, state Sen.-elect Hiram Monserrate was the center of attention for all the wrong reasons yesterday - charged with assaulting his girlfriend after accusing her of cheating, police sources said.

Karla Giraldo, 30, needed 20 stitches to close a gash by her left eye, inflicted when Monserrate broke a drinking glass and struck her in the face, Queens prosecutors said.

And typical of "Only Ones," here's how Hiram feels about guns and those of us who don't leave our women in stitches:

New York and particularly the city has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the country. I would like to emulate what we have in the city to the state. We should be the society that no one has guns. I’m a firm supporter of gun control, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that we have the toughest laws against trafficking in illegal guns and supporting litigation against companies who bring cheap handguns into our city.

Any questions?

[Via Declan]

We're the Only Ones Crotchety Enough

NYPD: Cop 'fooling around' with gun shoots wife in groin

Love "Only Ones" style? I'm not even gonna ask.

She should have snatched it away from him.

And I do apologize for that.

[Via Declan]

This Day in History: December 21

In London, the British Parliament passes a bill calling for the confiscation of all American vessels and the impressement of their crews into service in the English Navy.