Carnac Speaks!

A shameless opportunist who won't hesitate exploiting this to attack the rights of his overwhelmingly peaceable countrymen...

Anyone want to place bets?

UPDATE: Here's the felony complaint.

When the Silos are Depleted

California's three major public pension funds are underfunded by more than half a trillion dollars...[More]

This has inspired me to come up with a new saying that sounds like it ought to be an old one:

When the trough is empty, the hogs go feral.

Be a heck of a thing, wouldn't it? In so many ways...

GRE Round Up for Apr. 6

There's some good stuff being turned out. I hope you're availing yourself of it, and importantly, sharing these links via emails, on blogs and forums, with your local newspaper editor, etc.

A common complaint is media bias and absence of representation for "our side."

These people work hard to change that and ask for nothing from those of us their labors serve other than to help spread the word. I hope no one thinks that's too much to ask.

Here are their latest offerings:

Liston Matthews/Knoxville:
Inner City Gang-Rape

Kurt Hofmann/St. Louis:

Firearms Freedom Act still picking up steam

Chris Woodard/Tucson:
Obama exposed? Did Michelle let the cat out of the bag?
Arizona gun rights still moving along


Go. Read. And please share these links.

You're doing that, right?

Foolproof Control

"It does stop people from coming out and acting the fool"...[More]

Perhaps.

But it hardly seems effective at stopping much else.

So much for a disarmed surveillance state being the answer. Not that those who rule have sufficient incentive to get the question right--yet.

Forget it Jake, it's Chi-Town.

[Via CF]

Freedom from Fear

“People should be free from the fear and the potential for violence firearms represent,” said Democratic Assembly Member Lori Saldaña of San Diego, in a statement. [More]

So Lori's plan is to ensure if they do encounter the potential for violence firearms represent, they'll be absolutely paralyzed in helpless terror! Right before they're killed.

That's because like a good California Marxist, she knows the function of government is to rule and tell people what they can and cannot do.

See, when you can command a massive police presence to protect you from the repercussions of your actions, you don't need to worry about whether the peasantry can protect itself. I'd say something about the potential for violence their firearms represent, but we all know California "Only Ones" would never abuse the privileges of authority.

Boy, that ABC 10 I-Team: top drawer propagandists, no? They have me so convinced Lori's a champion of human liberty, I'm ready to start waving the red, white and green...

Hey, any bets some on "our side" will blame the open carriers for making this happen?

[Via William T]

AZ FFA

I've been occupied with other matters, so I'll rely on Dustin's Gun Blog to give us a summary of the Arizona Firearms Freedom Act and the Arizona State Firearms Preemption Act, signed into law by Gov. Brewer. [Read]

Here's what I have written about this effort:

• Website offers rallying point for 'Firearms Freedom Act'
• ATF to Tennessee: We're above your law
• ATF to Montana: 'You will respect our authoritah!'
• Gun groups fire back at feds with Firearms Freedom Act lawsuit
• Don't surrender so quickly on Firearms Freedom Acts
• NRA to Firearms Freedom Act supporters: You're on your own
• New Hampshire 'Firearms Freedom Act' threatens government violators with criminal penalties
  

UPDATE:

Kurt Hofmann and Chris Woodard have more in their Gun Rights Examiner columns. Click on their name links to read their commentary.

We're the Only Ones Blacked Out Enough

There exists dash-cam video of Masters' shooting. There are also police interviews of other witnesses, and the police report itself. But the public and the press are as unlikely to see any of those as they are to learn the officer’s name. That's because the Fairfax County Police Department—along with the neighboring municipal police departments of Arlington and Alexandria—are among the most secretive, least transparent law enforcement agencies in the country. And local political leaders don't seem particularly concerned about it. [More]

So what will it take to make them "particularly concerned"? And why should we be "particularly concerned" about them?

[Via Mama Liberty]

We're the Only Ones Seasoned Enough

During the arrest, the officer placed a pepperball launcher on top of the cruiser.

The officers drove off with the launcher still on the car and it fell off somewhere in route to jail. [More]

Cool. I'm sure they've made some kids very happy. Let's just hope the recovery effort doesn't end up "following department protocol," where only one side goes home at the end of their shift...

[Via William T, who writes "Finders keepers, sez I..."]

The Failed State

W-III send this link along with the following commentary:

This report...is most assuredly worth the read. The report answers some questions about drug trafficking in Mexico and just how uncommitted the Mexican government is to stopping it. Also says something about the so-called US/Mexico gun problem as well as illegal immigration, but you’ll have to read between the lines for those two. Confirms what I‘ve been saying for some time as to whether the Mexican government is actually a friend of the United States.

Is 'Gun Safety' Prescribed by Kaiser Permanente Based on Science or Politics?

The "Safety Guide" is a tool for promoting that agenda, and a useful one, because it carries the weight of perceived medical authority, to which many simply defer without question. Being a peer, Woolley doesn't have to, and he demonstrates how the "defensive value of guns" is "glaringly omitted" from the tract, that their "deterrent value is ignored," that some households have higher risks than most, that claims are carefully worded to produce a desired reaction, that evidence is inconsistently evaluated, and that the whole damned effort smacks of a legislative, rather than a medical agenda. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column diagnoses an epidemic of hoplophobia in the medical community and isolates a likely pathogen.

Open wide, say "ahhh" and share the link?

This Day in History: April 6

On April 6, 1778, a large party of British, mostly "Greens" and "Highlanders," landed on the south side of Shark River Inlet and destroyed both salt works there. The troops were reported to have been 135 in number; while they were at work on the second building, they were surprised by a body of 15 mounted militiamen, who routed them so badly that the British sank two of their own flat-bottomed boats in re-embarking. [More]