Shameless Plug: May I Be Frank?

Unauthorized carrying of firearms aboard commercial airliners is a federal felony. Would you or I be “asked”? And still unresolved is the issue of Melton traveling with two armed bodyguards, and why TSA could produce no evidence of their being trained and certified to carry weapons on planes.

"May I Be Frank?" is my Rights Watch column for the April 2007 issue of GUNS Magazine, on sale now at earnest newsstands throughout the Republic.

BONUS: See page 98 to find out how you can win a S&W Model 29 .44 Magnum with a 61/2" barrel, target trigger and hammer, full nickel plate, Cocobolo checkered wood grips, and mahogany presentation case with cleaning rod and sight adjustment screwdriver ($1,195 value).

Finger Bang

A TEENAGER who made a gun gesture behind the back of Conservative leader David Cameron is appearing in court today charged with possession of cannabis.

The 17-year-old youth was arrested after police searched a house in Wythenshawe on Saturday morning.

Yeah, that sounds like probable cause to get a warrant--I'm sure they'd have done the same if the "victim" had been an ordinary subject.

Right, Mr. Cameron?

Cameron intimidating journalist with double-barrel finger point


Cameron offering to take on all comers


Cameron threatens visitor in kitchen


Cameron prepares to use the Five-Point-Palm Exploding Heart Technique

When There's No Second Amendment...

...government doesn't need to concern itself with the First.

If this passes, it'll be time to stand on the steps of City Hall and read passages from "Huckleberry Finn."

This Stalinist crap in the name of political correctness will have crossed a major line in the sand.

"My Idea Didn't Work"

If that last word still means anything, however, then we are all, in fact, culpable. Who turned Thomas Hamilton into a beast? God isn't talking. That leaves the rest of us. I cling, nevertheless, to one near-instinctive conclusion from 11 years ago. Guns breed guns. When they enter a society they multiply like a pestilence.

Let's concede that all the bans have failed. That doesn't mean we should also fail to ask a practical question. Britain has become a security state in recent years. Nobody strolls unmolested through customs these days. There are terrorist suspects, so they say, at every turn. So why, precisely, are handguns still getting into this country?

45superman brought this to my attention the other day, asking if I could figure out this guy's point. Without giving it the time-consuming fisking it deserves to show what utter tripe it is, here's the nutshell version:

I think what he’s saying is that he’s an idiot who doesn’t have the first idea what he’s talking about, but he still hasn’t grokked his culpability for contributing to the deaths of people who might otherwise have been able to defend themselves. And even though he admits he’s wrong, he doesn’t seem inclined to reverse course—and hints that maybe if we applied what doesn’t work locally to include EVERYBODY…

Typical fascist “intellectual” POS with blood on his soul but too fanatical to admit it- may he rot in hell.

We're the Phony Only Ones...

A troubled ex-NYPD cop, who stocked an arsenal of weapons in his suburban home, was charged with impersonating an officer after he used a phony badge to pull over a Long Island driver who cut him off, police and the suspect's lawyer said yesterday.

And with NYPD enforcing citizen disarmament, we can't even lift a finger against him...

I may need to start a new category for cop impersonators: The Fauxnly Ones.

[Via 45superman]

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

A Gun Dean Twofer

Will congressional Democrats follow the Pied Piper of gun control?

Big battles on American civil right to bear arms looming on Capitol Hill

We're the Only Ones Deep in the...of Texas

The head of the Texas Youth Commission resigned Friday amid allegations that high-ranking officials at an isolated state juvenile prison molested young male inmates.

Why did they miss the Group Grope? What we have here is failure to communicate...

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

This Day in History: February 26

On this day in 1813, New York Patriot Robert R. Livingston dies.

New WarOnGuns Poll: Zumbo and Petzal

See the left margin for the new poll. How do you want to see the current firestorm resolved?

Results of last week's poll:

I, Terrorist

WarOnGuns is the bottom left "terrorist" link. Others include The Washington Post (go figure that one!), Outdoor Life, NRA-ILA, Remington, A Keyboard and a .45, Nuge Board, Blog O'Stuff, Guns and Game forums, Gun Law News, and The Firing Line (active links are on my blogroll).

I didn't link to this total loon because she's obviously screaming for attention, so why give her what she wants? Still, I'm not so far removed from enjoying boyhood cruelty that I can't have fun pointing and laughing, particularly when there's a good chance it'll be noticed and give Li'l Missy here a hissy fit.

And Now on to the Important News

I thought now might not be a bad time to examine someone who has called for the government to impose more disarmament edicts on you and me. This is from "A Judgment Call," my March 2005 "Rights Watch" column in GUNS Magazine:

Gun control advocate Britney Spears annulled her quickie Vegas marriage within hours on the grounds that she "lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to marriage." Nine months later her understanding had evidently ripened, because, oops, she did it again, marrying a backup dancer who had fathered a two-year-old and a newborn with another woman.

Based on her support of an "Open Letter to the NRA," it is Britney's opinion that a host of additional gun restrictions should be enacted. After all, you may not have the mature judgment to safely possess guns.

On Forgiving Jim Zumbo

Surely we can do better than 17 signatures to date. [More]

That was tongue-in-cheek in case you're wondering. These are touchy times, and the issue is radioactive. Still, I never got into this game because I thought I'd end up popular.

Actually, I really don't mean to pile on and I'm staring to incline towards taking the foot off his throat--at least mine. First, Claire wrote a piece that I agreed with.

I feel sorry for the guy. That doesn't mean anything I say or do will change things, but like I said in two separate comments at Say Uncle's:

Me, I don’t forgive unless forgiveness is sincerely asked for, backed up by a profound apology and concrete actions to undo the damage and make restitution. On this score, I’m much more likely to welcome Mr. Zumbo back into the fold. I haven’t seen anything from Petzal except his acting as a rallying point for the Fuddites who are now getting national media attention.

and

I’m much more able to forgive poor dumb Zumbo–I’m honestly starting to think the guy was more ignorant than arrogant, he appears thoroughly chastised, and he’s begging for a chance to redeem himself. I’m not that heartless that I can turn from that without a degree of sympathy.

Until I see similar contrition and atonement from Petzal, I see no reason to consider him anything but a cornered collaborator using bluff bravado and revisionist deception (which Unix-Jedi has brilliantly exposed) to save his skin.

Zumbo is toast. I see no point in continuing to beat his hanging corpse like a piñata. If he does want another chance and people give it to him, I won't rail against them or him--unless he proves himself undeserving.

Petzal is another matter. He was an enabler of tyranny in our hour of need. His response has been one of arrogance and equivocation, daring the hounds that have him at bay to charge in, and that's probably due in no small part to knowing what the pack will do to him if he shows weakness.

You're right, Mr. Petzal--some of us do have long memories. Some of us were fighting this with all resources at hand when you abused your privileged forum and did your utmost to convince your sporter audience that we were disposable--while the federal ban was being debated in the media, and just short months before its passage.

How could partisans not have long memories when it comes to collaborators?

This Day in History: February 25

On this day in 1779, Fort Sackville is surrendered, marking the beginning of the end of British domination in America’s western frontier.

Revenge of the Fuddites

Some outdoors writers drew a different lesson from Zumbo's horrible week.

"This shows the zealousness of gun owners to the point of actual foolishness," said Pat Wray, a freelance outdoors writer in Corvallis, Ore., and author of "A Chukar Hunter's Companion."

Wray said that what happened to Zumbo is a case study in how the NRA has trained members to attack their perceived enemies without mercy.

Right. Anyone following this knows NRA was days in responding, and it was the grassroots that led all the way. But I guess the "authorized journalists" at WaPo need to believe they're in a crusade against a monolith, as the alternative, that the yeomanry are capable of mustering themselves to the green across the land when there's a threat, is too terrifying a prospect to consider--and certainly not an idea they want to implant in the minds of their readers.

So they trot out an apologist for AHSA and present him as the voice of responsible sportsmen. You'd better believe this is an attempt to divide and draw battle lines, and we owe it to ourselves to know who's on our side and who is a fifth columnist working to serve us up.

A fellow blogger who I have a great deal of respect for thinks we need to stand down. I disagree. This fight is just starting to get interesting, and it's time to find out who making money off the gun community understands and supports what it's all about--and pressure sponsors to withdraw all aid and comfort to the enemy.

And remember, the Trolley Square shooter used an unplugged chukar gun.

[Via 45superman]

We're the Only Ones at "A Place for Friends" Enough

Police officers were told to log off the popular Web site MySpace.com when they’re on duty.

Officials blocked access to the Web site on the department’s internal computer network because officers were spending too much time visiting the popular social networking site during work hours.

So their management views them as kids with no self control? They can't be told not to do something, they actually need to have access blocked? Because if its not they'll sneak and continue to steal from the taxpayers when they're being paid to work?

Yet they're "The Only Ones" trustworthy, responsible, mature and trained enough to publicly bear arms?

Good grief.

[Via joefm]

We're the Only Ones Incompetent Enough

Jay. Mac sums this one up better than I could in his email notifying me of this story:

This one is hard to stomach- a cop got a top priority call to respond to a 5 year old child being abused. Instead of going over straight away he fingerprinted a driver with expired tags, wrote him out with a ticket and then went. He “believed” that priority call was just routine. It took him 24 minutes to respond even though he was only 3 miles away.

An IA investigation found him incompetent. Not the first time either- he failed to respond to calls before, and seems to be obsessed with traffic stops.

Needless to say, he hasn't been fired- just reprimanded and suspended.

I actually fault the cowardly neighbors as much, if not more, than the derelict "Only One." I could not be a witness to child abuse and neglect to intervene. But of course, the laws where I live would make things problematic should I decide an escalation of force threat was necessary to stop violence...

This is what happens when individuals abdicate personal responsibility and control over their lives to the collective. Sheep bleating for a keeper who comes in his own sweet time.

How did that rhyme go?

Knife Rights News Slice Vol.1 Number 2

It is the one month anniversary of the launch of Knife Rights and it seems like a good time to update you on progress to date.

Doug Ritter brings us up to date on this new organization, including:

• The SHOT Show launch
• Where are the caps and membership cards?
• Will you be at the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis?
• What Knife and Gun Shows will you be attending?
• Are you going to fight to eliminate anti-switchblade laws?
• Time is running out to join Knife Rights and win a custom knife

Follow the title link for this and lots more information.

This Day in History: February 24

On this day in 1803, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, decides the landmark case of William Marbury versus James Madison, Secretary of State of the United States and confirms the legal principle of judicial review--the ability of the Supreme Court to limit Congressional power by declaring legislation unconstitutional--in the new nation...

In writing the decision, John Marshall argued that acts of Congress in conflict with the Constitution are not law and therefore are non-binding to the courts, and that the judiciary’s first responsibility is always to uphold the Constitution.

This Can't be True...

In Philadelphia last year, 2,004 people got shot, up 31 percent over 2001, according to an article in the Inquirer that attributed the figures to the Police Department.No, no, no.

I keep telling you people, this isn't supposed to be happening!

TSA's Job is Security, Not Customer Service

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Good one, Clark Compton!