GRE Round Up for August 4

Here's the latest from my Gun Rights Examiner colleagues--please note I'm not linking you to everything they posted during my hiatus, only their last offering, so check their main pages for columns they may have written during my absence:

Anthony Bouchard/Cheyenne:

Matt Mead for governor, the next liberal champion to be adored by the media

"The media that loves Obama is now falling all over Matt Mead"... A surprise? NOT SO MUCH. Along with all the Casper Star Tribune praise...Keep Reading »

Dan Bidstrup/Denver:

Facing facts

Last month I gave out a vehicle for engaging business owners who prohibit guns in their establishments. It consisted of a cover letter asking for...Keep Reading »

Sean McClanahan/Des Moines:

Upcoming gun shows in Iowa for 2010

There are several opportunities in the coming months for Iowans to visit a gun show and exploit the non-existent “Gun Show Loophole.” In...Keep Reading »

Rob Reed/Detroit:

The myth of the mandatory 'CPL renewal' class

One of the biggest myths concerning Michigan's Concealed Pistol License law is the belief that Michigan...
Keep Reading »

Steve D. Jones/Fort Smith:

Law enforcement influencing open carry legislation

The Arkansas Municipal Police Association’s annual convention begins today in Texarkana, lasting until Friday, August 6. During this convention,...Keep Reading »

Liston Matthews/Knoxville:

More home invasions, Part 5 - is there an epidemic?

It seems there continues to be reason to comment on home invasions. This time, I will mention two reported in the...Keep Reading »

John Longenecker/Los Angeles:

Safer Streets 2010: Author Sonia Wolff's Gun Essay, Part II.

Where we last left off in praising Sonia's effort in Part I, I was talking about how gun ownership does not change...Keep Reading »

Dave Workman/Seattle:

Lead ammo ban sought from EPA threatens gun owners, game agencies, say critics

On Tuesday, a coalition of environmental groups petitioned with the Environmental Protection Agency asking that...Keep Reading »

I do hope you realize the importance of sharing these links and show these guys your support by doing so...?

While you're at it, be sure and check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

• Jesse Matthewson/Cochise County Libertarian
  
• Kent McManigal/Albuquerque Libertarian
• Kevin Wilmeth/Anchorage Libertarian
• Anthony Martin/Conservative

That Must Be the Reason

See, it's not because someone who would do such a heinous thing is an @$$hole--it's because everybody else is a racist. [Read]

Does this mean we can't blame the rampage on "hatriot" speech?

Environmental Impact

Authorities identified the third victim of a bear attack in a campground near Yellowstone National Park as a 21-year-old man from Colorado. [More]

Does Colleen Kollar-Kotelly know about this?

Doesn't somebody need to do a study first or something...?

[Via Ed M]

Passing the Ohio Bar

Akron police are looking for a man who robbed a Newton Street bar and pistol-whipped several patrons just after midnight Tuesday. [More]

What the...???

Somebody should have told this ignoramus that guns in bars are, as yet, still illegal in Ohio.

Too bad Jackie-boy the manly-man wasn't there to put the perp's face on the pavement.

A Matter of Perspective

Should Gun Safety Be Taught in Schools? Perspectives of Teachers [More]

The only ones who would answer "No" are unqualified to teach it.

Public Service Announcement

An important light is about to go dark.

Help.

Journalists continue spreading VPC's 'machine gun' confusion

Anyone with basic knowledge of the issue would suspect the gun in question was really a semi-auto, as opposed to a submachine gun and that the staff writer simply doesn't know the difference. And that's just what the Violence Policy Center wants them to think... [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column looks at an old trick that still works on the self-styled "opinion-making class." The bottom line is, they're either ignorant, in which case they're engaging in journalistic malpractice, or they're evil, willfully propagating lies to advance a statist agenda.

Also tune in to today's Trigger Sports Live! and check out how few "free state" political opportunists are willing to take a stand on the Second Amendment.

I trust regular readers will share the link?

This Day in History: August 4

August 4, 1778 - Continental soldiers and 34 men of the Wyoming Independent Company, under the command of Colonel Zebulon Butler, march into Wyoming Valley and establish "Camp Westmoreland" at Wilkes-Barre. [More]

More Thoughts on Straightarrow

Not only was I saddened by the news about our friend, I was frustrated that the timing and logistics of my special assignment precluded a better tribute on my part.

Fortunately, others weighed in. Here are related posts from:

• Sipsey Street Irregulars
• Say Uncle
• Shooting the Messenger
• Curses! Foiled Again!
• Captain of a Crew of One
  

If I missed anyone, please let me know and I'll add a link.

I've since received further correspondence from his wife and daughter. Good people. That's hardly a surprise.

BATFU "Cannot Imagine How the Printed List Was Made"

Received via email [click graphic to enlarge]:Yeah, I can't imagine either.

Smash Jewish Gun Controllers Now!

No, this isn't an anti-Semitic rant from a hate-motivated supremacist. It's an appeal from Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership to help finance their new documentary, "No Guns for Jews."

They can't continue to provide innovative groundbreaking educational efforts without our support, nor should we expect them to.

"Someone else" can't be counted on to help. They never can be.

Click here to learn more.

The Big Appleseed

Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times covers the Appleseed Project. [Read]

I met him with Mike V and some others one evening in my hotel lobby while I was attending the Second Amendment March and Restore the Constitution Rally, and he seemed professional and committed to being objective. I could find points to contend here, but all in all think he was pretty fair and balanced.

[Via WRSA]

Grinding America Down

James Simpson shares a trailer for an important new video about a directed agenda for tyranny. [Read and watch]

We're the Only Ones Ethical Enough

FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Wednesday that he does not know how many of his agents cheated on an important exam on the bureau's policies, discussing an embarrassing investigation that raises questions about whether the FBI knows its own rules for conducting surveillance on Americans. [More]

"It's own rules."

Cool. That makes ignoring this pesky thing all the easier.

Besides, I thought unless something became politically too hot to handle, it all fell within "established department protocols."

Imagine being so confident you could break the rules you'd cheat on your own people. I wonder why that was apparently viewed as doable?

Fortunately, we're only talking about "a few bad apples." I'm sure after Director Mueller and the IG complete their count, we'll find most of them are merely "confused" instead of rotten, aren't you?

Funny, though, how we can't use that same excuse when one of we mere mortals aren't clear on the rules...

UPDATE: Yeah, that's about what I figured their "rules" were...

[Via Ed M]

"Pro-Gun Democrats"

U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester both said Monday they support confirming Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice. [More]

Aid and comfort.

See, to me, this is a betrayal and nothing less than an enemy action.

I'm sure those who equate the deadly serious business of restoring recognition of our unalienable rights with a chess game will tell us about about all the "good" things these two opportunists have done, and will also make "limited political capital" excuses.

Moral capital is unlimited, but it rarely factors into the dialog.

ISPC Pan American Shotgun Championship draws competitors from around the world

Regular readers will recognize reporting events like this is quite a departure from what I usually cover. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column explains why I've been away for over a week. I've been covering the 2010 IPSC Pan American Shotgun Championship for American Trigger Sports Network at the Park Mammoth Resort Rockcastle Shooting Center in KY.

All this plus I got to interview Rand Paul.

Take a look and, hopefully, you'll share the link.

This Day in History: August 3

"The whole town in some great confusion, not knowing what they should be at, some moving their goods out to the lines, the officers all bringing their luggage into the town. Constant fatigue for the men, horses and oxen; no rest by day or night... When I look over the list of my friends on both sides of the question, my heart shudders at the thought, what numbers must be slain, both so obstinate, so determined. Well may we say, what havoc does ambition make! Cursed Frenchmen! they [the Americans] would not have come, had it not been for you." [More]

Well, I'm Back

I'll let you know about the special assignment I was on in my GRE column, which I now have to write.

Comments are now back on.

R.I.P. Straightarrow

I am briefly checking in from my hiatus to convey some very sad news.

Straightarrow (Charles H. Sawders) passed away on July 19--I just received a message from his wife.

I wish I had the time right now to compose a proper memorial to a man who shared so much wisdom and insight with us.

This Internet is an amazing phenomenon--I have lost a friend I never met in person.

I have no profound words, and I think he deserves some. I'm just sad.

My prayers are with his family.

UPDATE: As some of you may have noticed, I temporarily reopened comments during my hiatus so some of you could also leave a tribute. I'll be closing them off again later today, as I will not have time to moderate comments over the next week.

I found this obituary notice:

Charles Sawders
65, of Doddridge, Ark., died Monday, July 19, 2010, in Vivian, La.

Mr. Sawders was born March 4, 1945, in Bakersfield, Calif. He was a pipe fitter and a Baptist.

Survivors include his wife, Cathy Williams Sawders of Doddridge; three sons, Hunter Sawders of New Jersey, Christopher Sawders of Brownswood, Texas, and Steven Turner of Doddridge; three daughters, Shelly Bowen of East Dorsett, Vt., Veronica Jenkins of Comanche, Okla., and April Doeppers of Omaha, Neb.; his mother, Fran Boon of Duncan, Okla.; one brother, Jack Boon of Florida; one sister, Cherri Quinn of Portales, N.M.; 12 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and a number of other relatives.

Services will be 10 a.m. Friday at Olive Branch Methodist Church, Doddridge, with the Rev. Walter Burnett officiating. Burial will be in Olive Branch Cemetery under the direction of Hanner Funeral Service.

Visitation will be 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Online registration is at hannerfuneralservice.com.

You may leave memories and comments that become part of the obituaries by registering and logging onto this site.

Here is the Hanner Funeral Service visitation page link. Then click here to sign the register book.

UPDATE 2: Hiatus resumed, comments now closed. Please leave additional condolences in the register book.

UPDATE 3: I've returned from my trip. Comments now reopened.

Hiatus

I mentioned this the other day: Posting is going to be problematic for me over the next week (+) due to both out-of-state family coming in later today, followed by a special project I'll be working on from Tuesday through Sunday that could preclude doing anything else.

If I do post anything in the interim, it will be at my Gun Rights Examiner page, so check there first. Also, if you want to hang around there and check out archived articles and pass the links along, I won't mind, especially since I won't be earning much else from there while I'm not posting new stuff.

Ditto for my GRE colleagues and other Liberty-oriented writers, all accessible via the "More Gun Rights" and "More Examiners" link lists in the left sidebar on this page.

Please hold off on emails and news tips until at least Aug. 2, and please understand if I don't get to anything sent during this break.

I'll turn comments back on here when I'm once more up and running.

We're the Only Ones Dazzling Enough

Unlike tasers, the Dazer Laser is not being sold to the public. [More]

Because you and I can't be trusted with light. We're not "Only Ones," so we might abuse/misuse it.

And the neat legal trick about that is, the government can then point to weapons not being "in common use," so that pesky clause about "shall not be infringed" doesn't apply!

If you don't believe me, just ask "conservative" Justice Scalia!

Shut up, Coxe--who asked you?

We're the Only Ones "That's the Ticket!" Enough

A disgraced Florida Highway Patrol trooper will spend 364 days in jail for writing hundreds of phony tickets to motorists who were never pulled over for traffic offenses. [More]

Misdemeanors, y'see. Under a year sentence, so a "prohibited person" provision don't kick in.

Now you try lying to the "Only Ones" in their official police reports and see what happens.

[Via Ernie S]

We're the Only Ones Inappropriate Enough

An East Palo Alto police detective who suggested in a Facebook post that people who openly carry unloaded firearms should be shot engaged in "inappropriate behavior," the police department announced Tuesday. [More]

Gee, ya think...?

Now what's going to be done about it?

[Via Carl S]

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Project Exile, a program that has been successful elsewhere... [More]

I guess if the media (and the NRA) keeps repeating that, it must be true.

Just don't ask "Where?"...

[Via retrotruckman]

A Yachting We Will Go

Jeff Greene's yacht tore up coral reef, left unpaid fines up to $1.87 million [More]

and

Sen. John Kerry skips town on sails tax [More]

Oh, you right-wing extremists.

The only reason you oppose such men is because you're racist and you hate poor people.

[Via Ed M]

Helen Mirren illustrates Hollywood hypocrisy on guns

Do a Google search on terms "Helen Mirren" gun and see for yourself. She's "bad@$$"! She's "awesome"!

Now do a search for "Helen Mirren" Oxfam. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column looks at yet another "movie star" enjoying benefits guns provide to them. Just so we understand it's all make-believe...

This Day in History: July 23

[More]

GRE Round Up for July 22

Here's the latest from my Gun Rights Examiner colleagues:

Anthony Bouchard/Cheyenne:

Ron Micheli attacked by D.C. based union SEIU

Chicago style union thuggery makes an entrance into Wyoming. You say - "Not here, it can't happen in Wyoming"...Think again. SEIU, the...Keep Reading »

Sean McClanahan/Des Moines:

The Second Amendment Foundation reports live from the UN Arms Trade Treaty Prep Committee

At first glance, the following report from the Second Amendment Foundation might not seem to be pertinent to Iowa residents. Think again. First, the... Keep Reading »

John Longenecker/Los Angeles:

Safer Streets 2010: Editors DO get the Second Amendment.

Yes, editors are getting it. Even the Los Angeles Times seems to understand the purpose of the second amendment when it writes that its health is the...Keep Reading »

Dave Workman/Seattle:

Next big 'gun rights' battle may be over knives

The next major battle in the right to keep and bear arms may have nothing at all to do with firearms, but with... Keep Reading »

I do hope you realize the importance of sharing these links and show these guys your support by doing so...?

While you're at it, be sure and check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

• Jesse Matthewson/Cochise County Libertarian
  
• Kent McManigal/Albuquerque Libertarian
• Kevin Wilmeth/Anchorage Libertarian
• Anthony Martin/Conservative

Wrapped Around the Axle

Just now getting to posting for today. Sorry, time's up. You folks sending me emails/tips, please understand, I do the best I can but sometimes life just gets in the way.

Speaking of which, I'm not planning on posting over the weekend--my sister is coming in from out of state and visiting with her will be my priority. Then, next week, I will be very busy with a new project, so I may not post at all--or may find I can check in occasionally--I just don't know yet.

Best bet--please hold off on all emails until Aug. 2. And please have mercy after that, because I'm sure there will be a thousand new ones in my inbox by then.

Oh, and that includes comments left here--they require moderation, so I'm probably just going to turn them off in the interim.

For now, I plan on a new GRE post tomorrow and then will be playing things by ear.

Non-Sporting Use

The Case for the Guerrilla Sniper Rifle [Read]

Western Rifle Shooters Association looks at the right tool for a job.

Professor thanks 'four black men and a gun'

As the saying goes, slaves don't own guns. The Second Amendment is the ultimate right of all free men. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner looks at a counterweight to what we typically expect from both the black and the academic communities when it comes to respecting a right to armed defense.

Also count the years with me on yesterday's Trigger Sports LIVE!

Can I count on my friends to help me share this link?

This Day in History: July 22

I am in a great measure a stranger to the expedition against Detroit, and intirely so, to that against the Senecas. Agreeable to the Direction of Congress, I sent General McIntosh and two Regiments to Fort Pitt, but whether an expedition is immediately intended against Detroit, or whether those Troops are to remain as a defence for the Western frontier, I do not know. The parties of Indians and others, under Butler and Brandt, have already done considerable mischief on the North East corner of Pennsylvania; having cut off the inhabitants, and destroyed the Settlement of Wyoming. [More]

GRE Round Up for July 21

Here's the latest from my Gun Rights Examiner colleagues:

Sean McClanahan/Des Moines:

Iowa Public Radio talks about the new gun laws and gets it almost right

Iowa Public Radio released a story today about the upcoming changes in the Iowa gun laws. Highlighted in the story... Keep Reading »

Steve D. Jones/Fort Smith:

Arkansas Senators vote for perjurious Supreme Court justice

Related article: Open letter to Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor During the past several years, I have become acquainted with the military academies... Keep Reading »

Dave Workman/Seattle:

America continues to ‘Fight Back’ and one editor really ‘gets it’

(Shameless plug acknowledgement.) A couple of years ago, this writer teamed up with Alan Gottlieb, founder and... Keep Reading »

I do hope you realize the importance of sharing these links and show these guys your support by doing so...?

While you're at it, be sure and check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

• Jesse Matthewson/Cochise County Libertarian
  
• Kent McManigal/Albuquerque Libertarian
• Kevin Wilmeth/Anchorage Libertarian
• Anthony Martin/Conservative

We're the Only Ones "Murphy's Law" Enough

He did far more than that. Murphy and other deputies made an unwarranted entry into a home, and then into a locked gun safe. Murphy's uncensored, darkly disturbing observations and behavior following his Code-3 arrival at the rural home of longtime SLO County resident Matt Hart were picked up by Murphy's and other deputies’ own recorders. Those recordings provide a rare, frighteningly revealing, behind-the-scenes perspective of how one local law enforcement agency views the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and other laws its personnel are sworn to uphold. [More]

What oath?

[Via photogeek]

We're the Only Ones Dwarfed Enough

A Massachusetts police officer resigned after leaving his beat to see a dwarf porn star called "Bridget the Midget" and lied about the visit during an investigation into the incident, local media reported Tuesday. [More]

Funny--I don't remember one named "Horny"...

A promising career tossed and cut short...

[Via William T]

A Matter of Propriety

"We don't think it is appropriate to have guns in churches," Danny Loar, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops — the church's public policy arm in Louisiana said Monday. [More]

You might want to ban crosses while you're at it, Danny...

[Via retrotruckman]

The Eyes Have It

Ald. Stephen Hipskind said Darlene Heslop rolled her eyes and sighed while attending a June 14 committee meeting. [More]

I see interested citizens can contact the good alderman and ask him a question.

The only one that comes immediately to mind is "What the hell is wrong with you?" followed by an eye roll...

[Via HZ]

Snouts in the Trough

It was the first council meeting since the Los Angeles Times reported July 15 that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637 -- with annual 12 percent raises -- and that Bell pays its police chief $457,000, more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck makes in a city of 3.8 million people. Bell council members earn almost $100,000 for part-time work. [More]

And naturally, Mayor Hernandez knew nothing about that meth lab on his property.

Nice work if you can get it. But then, you can't.

I don't suppose it would do any good to call the Bell tip line and report criminal activity? Other than to give them a good laugh?

[Via Plug Nickel Times]

We're the Only Ones Sorry for Your Loss Enough

A man says he called Loganville police to his home for help and ended up being beaten by officers. Kenny Dixon said Friday that he arrived home Wednesday to find that his son had committed suicide. [More]

In lieu of flowers, the family requests not to be worked over...

We're the Only Ones Blowing You (Away) Enough

Essex County authorities said Gaymon was apparently unarmed when he was shot once in the chest by the undercover detective, who has not been named...Gaymon’s sister, Kelly Gaymon Armstrong, today said of her brother, “all you have to do is blow and he’ll fall to the ground. [More]

Looks like it.

'Bouquet Bandit' demonstrates conditioned sheeplike compliance of victims

So much for deterrence. So much for "the security of a free State." [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column looks at the squandering heirs of Liberty.

Share this link?

This Day in History: July 21

I am much obliged to you for the last Papers & the agreeable News they contain. American Prospects brighten every Day; nothing, I think, but the speedy Arrival of a strong British Squadron can save the Enemie's Fleet & Army at N. York; indeed as to their Fleet, I trust the Blow is already struck. [More]