Permitting the Right: Nuts to That

Nelson was sent to a mental-health center for a 96-hour evaluation in September 2003 over fears he would harm himself. He was evaluated and released with no finding of mental illness or need for treatment.

Last year, he applied for a permit to acquire a weapon. The Callaway County sheriff denied the request, citing a section of law barring people who were committed to a mental-health center from obtaining a permit.

My thoughts on the mentally ill and guns has not changed since writing this.

I'm glad Nelson had the will and the resources to fight this beyond the sheriff, the small claims court, and the circuit judge. If he hadn't he'd still be disarmed.

Amy Blame the Gun

Yes, criminals will continue to acquire firearms (legally and otherwise) and commit gun crimes with them. The issue we have yet to address is that of law-abiding citizens purchasing guns that later cause the intentional or unintentional death of the gun owner or someone else.

There it is, folks, in a nutshell.

I'm the Only One Litigious Enough

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent who stars in a popular online video that shows him shooting himself in the foot during a weapons demonstration for Florida children is suing over the tape's release, claiming that his career has been crippled and he's become a laughingstock due to the embarrassing clip's distribution. Lee Paige, 45, blames the video's release on DEA officials in an April 7 federal lawsuit filed against the U.S. government.

Welcome back, Mr. Paige. I consider you the Founding Father of WarOnGuns' ongoing "Only Ones" files...

Newsflash, pal. You are a laughingstock. If anyone is going to sue, it ought to be the video's owner. Where does DEA get off confiscating and then erasing the original tape? By virtue of its exposure, including being featured on national television shows, I'd say the owner deserves substantial compensation.

[Via The Smallest Minority and Nicki]

Absolutism 301; Felons

[I]f a person cannot be trusted with arms, he cannot be trusted in society. Any law that attempts to make exceptions to that, especially if based upon prior restraint, is not a good law in principle or practice.

If a person walks among us freely, then he should be able to defend his life from unjustified attack. If we deem him unsafe to defend himself then we should not release him into society.

I couldn't agree more.

China Supports Police to Legally Use Guns

Yes.

Of course they do.

The Eloi of the Month Award...

...goes to Bonnie Topa of Hartford, CT.
God, these people are petty and vindictive...

Cops, Cars and Guns

Cars and trucks, not guns, are becoming the No. 1 threat to police officers.

Traffic accidents have killed 429 officers nationwide this decade, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Nearly one in five was hit by a vehicle.

In contrast, guns have killed 351 officers, the memorial fund says...

The number of police killed in traffic -- whether driving their cruisers or standing outside them -- has risen 40 percent in 30 years, while gun deaths have declined 36 percent, Mendelsohn said.

See the journalistic sleight of mind being performed here? When vehicles are involved, the officers are killed by "traffic accidents." When guns are involved, they're killed by...uh..."guns."

Nothing to Fear

Responsible gun owners have nothing to fear from a bill in the General Assembly that would help to close a loophole in state law governing illegal trafficking in guns...The legislation would put the responsibility for a gun's safe-keeping squarely with the owner. Specifically, it would require owners to store guns to avoid "a substantial and unjustifiable risk" they'll be stolen. The bill would also require gun owners to report a lost or stolen firearm to police within 72 hours.

Read another way: Responsible gun owners have nothing to fear from a bill that will make them responsible for something they're not responsible for. Honest.

Sniff Dogg in Taser Scare

Authorities used a Taser gun on a dog on Monday who bit his owner and two other people in South Philadelphia.

What?

Snoop Dogg in Gun Scare

Clubbers at Gas, who had waited hours for a glimpse of Snoop Dogg, panicked and hit the floor when shots were heard at around 2.30am - but it turned out the noise came from rocks being thrown at the doors by guests who had been denied entry earlier.

But the editor can't write "Snoop Dogg in Rock Scare." That just wouldn't generate the desired hysteria.

We're the Only Ones Drunk Enough

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was arrested in connection with the accidental shooting death of his friend following a night of drinking, authorities said...

"He was carrying his gun in his hand back into the house," Ansara said. "They were just playing around, and somehow the gun ended up pointed toward the victim's head, and the trigger was pulled, and he was struck once."

The gun ended up pointed...the trigger was pulled...he was struck...

Not the drunken cop pointed the gun, the drunken cop pulled the trigger, the drunken cop fired a shot that struck...

See? I knew it was the gun's fault!

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Peace Through Strength?

A SriLankan Airlines flight to New Delhi from Colombo on Thursday night was delayed after an undeclared revolver was found in the possession of the Norwegian peace delegation led by International Development Minister Erik Solheim.

We're the Only Ones Taking It On the Chin Enough

The policeman was sitting with his chin on the barrel of his rifle. The rifle accidentally went off and the bullet hit his chin and pierced his head.

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Permitting the Right: From the Mouths of Antis

Yesterday I linked to an article about a minister who claims attempts to mandate "no guns" in churches violates the separation doctrine. The post allows comments, and no shortage of enuretics use them to take the obligatory swipe at gun owners and the concept of bearing arms--invariably offering sweeping and unsubstantiated opinions and characterizing anyone who disagrees with them in a negative light.

I generally avoid these things, but one guy struck me as particularly ignorant and obnoxious, so I asked him:

If someone DOES bring a gun to church, what exactly are you prepared to do about it?

His partial response:

I'd do the same thing you would do if someone brought a gun to school, or anyone of the other places that the concealed carry law will be exempt from.

Thing is, aside from his expectation of what I'd do, he's right.

He'd do nothing. He'd be helpless. Just like Susanna Gratia Hupp was when she left her gun in the car and the madman who invaded the cafeteria did not.

And so would most gun owners with CCWs, I'd wager. After all, if someone goes to the time, effort and trouble to obtain a license, they're probably the type who follows the rules. These people are the very definition of "law abiding," and probably wouldn't want to risk losing their permit or getting into legal trouble by flouting the law.

Now, if you have a CCW and you wouldn't disarm just because you're in a forbidden zone, why get a license in the first place if you intend to break the law whenever you deem it "pragmatic"?

No Safe Harbor

Counterfeit goods. Guns. Humans. If you're trying to slip any of those through local ports, officers have you in their well-trained sights.

Nice cheerleading piece, Josh Grossberg. I like the way it squares with reality:

More than 6 million shipping containers arrive here at...U.S. ports annually. Only 2% are inspected. The rest remain sealed as they are shipped throughout the country. It would be easy, some fear, to take a container, stuff it with explosives, a chemical weapon or a nuclear device and inject it into the nation's economic bloodstream.

Hey, if we can't go back to sleep, can we at least have some more Kool-Aid?

Permitting the Right: D-Day

Sailorcurt likens incrementalism to Allied opposition of Hitler, pointing out that D-Day did not cause the immediate surrender of Nazi Germany. As much as I enjoy reading his opinions, I don't believe this analogy works, and here's why.

The tactics used to achieve the strategy of defeating Germany involved making concessions and decisions due to logistics, resources, manpower, terrain, the weather, battlefield conditions, etc. They did not involve making concessions to Hitler.

And as D-Day was used as an example, we saw there some troop transports going off course and landing on the wrong beachhead.

I'll accept this analogy if someone can show me where Eisenhower sought Nazi permission. Otherwise, it seems the Allied strategy--the unconditional surrender of Axis powers--was pretty much an example of "absolutism."

Concealed Gun Law a Violation of Church/State?

History shows us that when shootings take place in a church, it is by people that come off the street and start shooting. If this law stands, then it will make it illegal for "religious" people to defend themselves.

The state has no right to determine what and who can go into a church; this is a decision of the church. If this law stands, then it will give the government a crack in which they can invade the church.”

So naturally, the Wichita Eagle editor who posted this takes a swipe at both Christians and guns with the Landover Baptist Church graphic.

I guess they realize they can heap all the ridicule they want on Christians with guns and remain safe. I do note the Landover crowd does nothing to offend the Fatwah crowd...

We're the Only Ones Corrupt Enough

Relying on hours of secretly recorded conversations of the officers, federal prosecutors spent almost three weeks presenting evidence that the officers robbed drug addicts in West Baltimore to reward their sources on the street and line their own pockets.

Prosecutors sought to show that King and Murray abused the tools of their trade - department badges, unmarked cars and department-issue guns - by stealing drugs and money, distributing heroin, cocaine and marijuana to their informants and sharing in the proceeds when the drugs were sold.

Hey, you can't make an omelette without breaking some heads...I mean, eggs.

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

We're the Only Ones Drunk and Mean Enough

Reports say the sergeant who lives with his family at his mother-in-law's house came home drunk and beat up his wife and daughter.

After police seized the gun, the sergeant, still drunk went to the Arima police station where he threatened the investigators.

What the hell YOU lookin' at?

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

Backup Second Amendment Saturday

Stan is having trouble with Blogger (Really? I wouldn't know...), so he's posted this week's 2A commentary over at his backup site.