We're the Only Ones Precautionary Enough...

Bowyer stated he was conducting a "press check" to ensure the small handgun he carried with him while off-duty was properly loaded...

It was.

When I press their triggers, my loaded guns fire, too.

CITGO's Resolution

I received the following email from Bruce McCall, Customer Service Representative for CITGO. You remember the story.

Dear Mr. Codrea,

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you, but we wanted to make sure that we investigated this incident thoroughly. I would like to update you on what we have learned and what actions have been taken following the robbery at the CITGO station in Gary.

The owner of the station has made a public apology to the robbery victim, replaced her stolen money and met with Gary Mayor Scott King to discuss ways business owners can work more effectively with city and police officials. This meeting has had a positive result -- according to the police chief, the Gary Police Department intends to sponsor a series of sessions for local gas station owners and employees.

Since the station owner has taken these actions, CITGO Petroleum Corporation will not de-brand this retail outlet. Remember, CITGO does not own or operate any of the more than 13,000 branded locations. Actions such as those of the attendant do not reflect the commitment that CITGO has to the communities where we do business.

We appreciate and share your concern over such matters. Rest assured that we do not take these things lightly.

Thank you for your time and concern,

Bruce McCall

I think Mr. McCall deserves credit for following through with this reply, especially since it would have been easier to just ignore me.

There Is Nothing Perplexing About the Second Amendment

That is, if you can read.

Nicki helps de-perplex things.

(Yes, I admit that's probably not a word, but it sounded better than "unperplexify.")

"I Sent You a Boat, I Sent You a Helicopter..."

"I was hoping and praying that everyone [would stay] still and calm, and hoped that there would be no violence," McLaughlin said last night.

"He ordered several children and their father to go up the aisles getting purses and wallets," McLaughlin, 48, said."

A predator is threatening children at gunpoint, for God's sake, their fathers are helpless to do anything but obey, and all the pastor can do is "hope and pray."

These parishioners and their minister remind me of the old joke about the flood victim.

[Thanks to Bill Clark]

Some Good Questions

Schools and taverns and police stations and restaurants and kindergartens and government buildings and jails and airports (well, just past the security checkpoints; up to there they're OK) all are on the prohibited list.

So here's the question: If permit-holders are safe and reliable enough to be handed permits, why aren't they safe everywhere? Why can they not go into the federal courthouse in Madison, but they can wander into the Wausau Center mall or through the heart of downtown?...It's obvious that lawmakers aren't sure. They hope licensees will be trustworthy, but they're not willing to bet the lives of schoolchildren or cops on it. They're not willing to bet that one of these fine and upstanding citizens won't have one too many at the local watering hole and open fire.

More snide innuendo and hysteria from a smarmy, bedwetting statist, but it does inadvertently illustrate the drawback of permits. Ceding this authority to the very people we are ultimately supposed to be able to protect ourselves from is so wrong, but we've been sold the bill of goods that this is "incremental progress."

[Thanks to HZ]

A Question of Guilt

Ten men from Georgia and two from Kentucky and Alabama pleaded guilty in Atlanta today to federal charges relating to the unlawful manufacture, sale, and possession of machine guns.

The story doesn't tell us who they hurt, or where the US Attorney's Office got the Constitutional authority to have any say in the matter. If I find out, I'll be sure and let you know.

Judges vs NJ Lawmakers

The case represents the most serious clash in decades between the Legislature and the courts. Lawmakers had passed the bill despite testimony from the judiciary that arming probation officers would destroy their "neutrality."

That's actually pretty dang funny.

I love it when statists turn on each other.

Seeing Crime Guns Destroyed Gives Solace to Victims' Families

Look up the word "deodand" and tell me we're still not living in medieval times.

UPDATE: the ten ring has more.

We're the Only Ones Confirmed Enough...

A policeman died when his own gun fell on the floor and fired a bullet into his chest yesterday...The victim had earlier been reported to have committed suicide but the report could not be confirmed.

As straightarrow observed about another suspicious death in the Phillipines:

I will bet you he was Catholic. Suicide would prevent him from burial in consecrated ground. Accident would not.

Mama lied. The priests will know it, the police will know it, but most probably, just like here, if it causes no further harm to anyone will go along with the "accidental" story out of respect for the mother.

Own a Gun, Languish in Jail

"Reverse onus" bail rules -- already used in cases of suspected murder and terrorism –- require the defence to prove why the suspect should be allowed bail.

In other words, obey citizen disarmament edicts or get thrown into a hole with the most violent scum on the planet--and survive as best you can until we get around to formally convicting you.

This is nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism.

About Marion Barry Being Robbed...

As I commented on Blognomicon:

This whole story doesn't smell right.

Are we to believe Barry doesn't know street hoods when he sees them? That he gave them a few dollars to carry groceries?

They came back and he invited them in?

Why do I cynically suspect he wanted a drug deal, and they saw an opportunity?

The fact that he says he has "no animosity" and is pledging to "advocate non-prosecution" makes me wonder if he's trying to buy silence if they are caught.

"There is a sort of an unwritten code in Washington, among the underworld and the hustlers and these other guys, that I am their friend," Barry said at an afternoon news conference...

That part I'll buy.

An "Honest" Person

I have no problem being monitored. It's because I'm not a terrorist and I'm not involved in terrorist activities. If monitoring would reassure my government of this fact — monitor away, please...I'm also a responsible gun owner, and the government is welcome to know about my legally owned firearms. I take my Second Amendment rights seriously, as all sportsmen and collectors should. Why should honest people be concerned about the government knowing how many guns they have?

If such a thing is definable, this is quite possibly the most "un-American" commentary I have ever read.

William Fowler, I won't even wish that your chains set lightly.

[Via KABA Newslinks]

Blowing the Whistle on Gun Murder

[Use BugMeNot to bypass site registration.]

Meantime, the gun-murder rate in Jamaica is among the highest in the world. But nobody mentioned that. In fact, the word "Jamaica" can't be found in any of these penetrating analyses, even though police will tell you off the record that 80 per cent or more of the city's gun crime is Jamaican-related.

Looks like somebody else is noticing that elephant in the room. The gutless blood-dancing politicians, the hand-wringing enuretics and the manipulating social engineers would have the gullible public believe it's all about inanimate objects.

Some are so paralyzed at the prospect of being charged with bigotry that they'll sabotage the truth. Others just have an agenda.

This would make an interesting statistical analysis for John Lott, who demonstrated media bias against mentioning defensive gun use. How many articles about "gun crime" mention the demographic and cultural trends wherein most of it takes place?

A Welcome Correspondence

I got the following email out of the blue yesterday from someone I have never heard from before. With the author's permission (he prefers to remain anonymous), I am presenting it here for two reasons: It supports much of what we have come to understand about federal law enforcement mentality--and the state worshippers who admire them; and because the kind words the writer had for this site come at a time when I'm struggling with whether or not it's worth the effort.

When you consider how a gun show can draw tens of thousands, and yet look at the pathetic site visit statistics this and most other gun blogs draw, it's easy to get discouraged. Take a look at the blogroll in the left column. There are many fine sites with great material being brought to you regularly by people of insight, talent and dedication. I encourage you to pick a few that you enjoy and visit regularly, and tell those bloggers you appreciate their work. Why not also tell your friends about these sites, and occasionally send them links to posts you find important, funny or interesting?

Dear Mr. Codrea:

I have been reading your web log for several months and I am heartened to know that you are out there dissenting in the face of the power mongers who want to take away our freedom. I live in Chicago, where police-state tactics are accepted as the normal way to do things. A few months ago a supposed friend told me he thought that his acquaintances in BATFE (or, as you put it, BATFU) were "cool" because they were "above the law" so they could break laws with impunity, where people who were not government agents would be arrested. These characters actually bragged to him that they could get him out of any trouble with a local cop and have any charges dropped as long as he didn't do something to personally antagonize the cop. So I found myself looking at another example of the blind worship of power.

I'm no longer surprised by the kinds of stories I read on your website. Most people seem to have absolutely no concept of the principles this nation was founded upon. What I like about your website is that you take an intelligent, thoughtful approach to the issues. Too many people focus only on the issue of guns, missing out
on the bigger freedom picture, and display knee-jerk reactions that follow the NRA party line or that of some other organization or individual they consider infallible.

Your website is a breath of fresh air in a world where our rights are routinely violated, and even many people who vaguely sense that something is wrong do not understand the concept of individual liberty. Thank you for carrying the unadulterated message of liberty.

Sincerely,
A Friend of Freedom

What, Me Weird?

Nicki tagged me to confess to 5 weird things about myself. I've always believed weird is in the eye of the beholder, and truth be known, am proud of my misfit status. I mean, in a culture that rewards the likes of Paris Hilton and Sniff Dog with celebrity, who with a shred of self esteem or intelligence would want to fit in?

1. I catch and release insects from the house whenever possible, rather than kill them.

2. Contrary to the impression some have from my writing, I'm actually quite humble in person.

3. I once tried to fight a malevolent ghost. No kidding. And I don't even believe in ghosts, but have no other explanation for what happened.

4. I sometimes dream that I can fly after taking a running leap. But I'm never more than a foot or so off the ground, leaning forward, kind of doing a perpetual ski jump.

5. Here's probably the biggest weird statement about myself I could make: I'm really not that much into guns. That's why you don't see "gun porn" here, or ever see me write about technical matters. For me, the passion is in the principles involved.

I tag anyone who wishes to add a comment to this post.

Illinois Makes Progress in War on Freedom

Stiffer gun and drug laws are among hundreds of new Illinois laws that take effect today.

One law requires trigger-lock mechanisms to be included with the sale of any gun. Another bars people from buying stun guns or tasers unless they have a Firearm Owners I-D card...

Another new law says cold medicines that can be used to make methamphetamine must be kept behind the counter and sold only to people with a valid I-D.

Look for a rise in "gun deaths" and meth use.

News like this always makes me think of a passage from "One of the People," Philadelphia Federal Gazette, July 2, 1789:

"What should we think of a gentleman, who, upon hiring a waiting-man, should say to him—'my friend, please to take notice, before we come together, that I shall always claim the liberty of eating when and what I please, of fishing and hunting upon my own ground, of keeping as many horses and hounds as I can maintain, and of speaking and writing my sentiments upon all subjects.' A servant must be a fool, who would not suppose such a master to be a madman... Let these truths sink deep into our hearts: that the people are the masters of their rulers and that rulers are the servants of the people..."

We're the Only Ones Celebratory Enough...

The suspect, identified as PO2 Orlando Antonio, was collared by fellow policemen after he was caught firing his gun in Tondo, Manila.

Orlando, Orlando.

Didn't anyone tell you about masking tape?

Cancerous Bloomberg Pledges to Metastasize

"We will take our message to Albany, to Washington and to every capital of every state that permits guns to flow freely across its borders," said Bloomberg.

"And to those who distort our laws to aid and abet hardened criminals, know this," he said, punching the air for emphasis. "We will not rest until we secure all of the tools we need to protect New Yorkers from the scourge of illegal guns."

I wonder how that sounds being screamed in its original German?

My "favorite" point from this story--and one that we ignore at our peril:

Gun control advocates said that as the Republican mayor of the country's largest city - and one of the GOP's most generous donors - Bloomberg could be uniquely positioned to influence the national gun control debate.

Presumptions About "First Gun Death of 2006"

Reading the lead paragraphs, my immediate thought was "I'll bet he was involved with gangs."

Not more than five hours after ringing in the new year, a 21-year-old man was gunned down in the driver's seat of his Cadillac DeVille yesterday.

Dillan Yhanike Anderson of North York was pronounced dead at Sunnybrook hospital after he was found slumped over in the driver's seat of his car in an alley...

"What's a 21-year-old from New York doing in a Cadillac in a Toronto alley late at night?" I asked myself.

"Here we are just into 2006 and already there is another mother planning to bury her son," said homicide Det. Steve Ryan.

Now I started to feel bad for being presumptuous. Det. Ryan's spin evokes visions of June Cleaver grieving over a slaughtered Wally. Still:

Mayor David Miller said he was disappointed to learn of yesterday's murder.

"Every shooting fills me with sadness and this one again appears to be connected to the gang and the gun trade. It tells me that the things we're doing are the right things -- we just have to get them moving."

So my instincts were right? Anderson probably was up to something? And does anybody else find it creepy the way the mayor took the opportunity to publicly dance in fresh blood to hawk his citizen disarmament agenda?

"I think someone approached the vehicle and shots were fired from outside the car," Ryan said.

Yep, gangland hit, alright.

And there's one more "surprise" twist in this case:

Anderson was known to police. In 2003 Anderson and a 17-year-old were arrested in connection with the robbery and shooting of a man near Jane Street and Wilson Avenue. The victim in that case survived.

Dillan, my man: say it ain't so!

Would it be presumptuous and wrong of me to speculate about that victim?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Should auld acquaintance be forqot,
Tho' they return with scars?
These are a noble hero's lot,
Obtain'd in glorious wars;
Welcome, my Varo, to my breast,
Thy arms about me twine,
And make me once again as blest,
As I was lang syne.

[Auld Lang Syne (Original)]