Why the Four Rules are Important..

Took the AR out for the first time tonight to run it through its paces. I apparently missed something sticky when I cleaned it as the hammer locked back after charging and wouldn't go forward. I fiddled w/ it for a bit to try and get it do dislodge. After a bit of this and continuously jiggling the trigger, the hammer dislodged and it discharged the round. It stuck a few more times after that, becoming easier to dislodge each time.

At all times, the barrel was kept pointing towards the back berm.

Always follow the four rules.

Nobel Peace Prize to be Renamed

It will now be known as the Nobel "Anyone But Bush" Prize.

I wish I could say I was surprised but knowing the past history of winners, I'm not.

Joyce Foundation on Chicago Teen Beating

"We should ask our elected officials why military-style weapons and ammunition are legally available to civilians."

Ellen S. Alberding is president of The Joyce Foundation

These lowlifes take a tragic murder of a teen who got caught and beaten to death in a gang riot and use it for their crusade of banning anything even remotely associated with firearms.

To top it off, a couple of the comments are from Joyce Foundation employees through the FSA.

There's is nothing people like this won't do. They readily admit to lying to push their agenda. They spend millions of dollars to publish 'studies' that can be shredded by even the most junior Grad student, and start dozens of organizations w/ memberships in the single digits to proclaim 'grassroots support'.

They are scum and nothing else but.

Via IllinoisCarry.

Turns out Paul Helmke of the Brady Campaign can't help but dance in the blood of the victim either.

I hope all their members and supporters are proud.

Another Victory in Illinois

Via IllinoisCarry, Armed and Safe, and Chicago GRE:

Ill. court OKs storing guns in car consoles

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- The Illinois Supreme Court says gun owners can carry weapons in the ordinary storage boxes built into their cars.

The question was whether a compartment for items like CDs and sunglasses also meets the legal definition of a "case" for carrying guns. Illinois law lets people carry guns in their cars so long as they are stored in a case or other container.

The court ruled Thursday that a car's storage box is good enough.

The ruling was prompted by a Peoria case in which a man had been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for carrying two pistols in his car's storage compartment.

It may be a small victory, but even a 'small' victory is major in Illinois.

The full decision.

Quote of the Day

From CowboyBlob who also stole it:

I've HAD IT with people comparing Obama to Hitler! Hitler got the Olympics, after all.

Best Recruiting Ad Evar..

From the USAF 2000:

Bloomberg Breaking the Law: Round II

So first he hires PI's to go out of state to try and entrap gun stores into breaking the law. The result? A bunch of civil lawsuits forcing shops to close, a letter of reprimand to him by the BATFE, a new law specifically targeting Bloomberg's actions, and not a single criminal charge pressed against any of the shops.

Bloomie apparently considered that a victory as he has now done the same thing at out of state gun shows, hiring PI's to go to various states and try to buy guns from "unlicensed firearm dealers" and exploit the 'Gun Show Loophole', nevermind the fact that these same transactions can occur outside of any show. And all of this right before the upcoming election.

I'm going to guess that again there will be no criminal charges against the alleged sellers.

More at SIH.

You're Just a Big Dumb Poopie Head

That's the response from the only MAIG Mayor in Texas, Ricard Ward of Hurst, to blogger Texas Fred's usual eloquence. :)

This is followed by the usual "I'm a Gun Owner But...." and "They're not an anti-gun group, really" talking points.

Nevermind the fact that they're still parroting the 450 number even though it's now well below 400.

All Your Gun Lobby Belong To Us

In a comment thread regarding how to increase the percentage of firearm owners belonging to various firearm rights organizations, this comment was made:

That is because those organizations idealogy deal more than about guns, when that stops, I know a lof of people, including myself, that would consider.

Note it wasn't just the NRA that was mentioned but the SAF, etc.

I asked for a clarification on just what non-gun 'ideologies' were being dealt with.

Several days later, on a different thread discussing McDonald and Sotomayer, this same individual replied:

you asked about idealogy and the NRA, read the above comments...when talking about gun rights we should stick to gun rights.

Now note how the goalposts got moved to mentioning ONLY the NRA and claiming that the comments from a few individuals, some of whom were members, represented the 'ideology' of the entire organization.

We see this mentality fairly often. Anything even remotely associated with firearms is under the guise and control of the NRA. Laura Washington and her 'wheelbarrows full of cash' meme was a prime example. Back in June we had Snuffy protesting the NRA at an event that the NRA wasn't even present at nor affiliated with.

So are these alleged people just completely unaware of the dozens of other national and state groups that are also available to gun owners or are the arguments against gun ownership so weak that the only thing they can do is lump all of the groups together into one big ad hominem boogeyman? A little of both? Neither? What?

How can we inform the general gun owning public of their choices and encourage them to become members of (at least) the organization that fits their personal firearm ideology whether it be NRA or GOA?

Selective Correlations

According to Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL5), the ban on handguns and semi-auto's in Chicago is not enough. He correlates the expiration of the AWB w/ a rise in youth homicides. Of course he doesn't show that these youth were actually murdered w/ "Assault Weapons", only a spurious correlation. He also throws out plenty of stats on how many CPS students were shot and killed the last two years in the same city that bans most firearms and registers the rest (unless you're an Alderman named Mell that is).

Let's look at some correlations that he ignores and are more directly associated:

Chicago Public HS drop out rate: 50%

% of murders directly gang related: 50%

% murders w/ prior criminal history: 91.4%

% victims w/ prior criminal history: 72.5%

5x the murder rate of the rest of the state where firearms are common.

Murder Capitol of the US numerous times since the Handgun Ban passed.

Chicago homicide only started dropping when the national rate did in 1993.

% Murders by types of weapons used, 2008:

Nationally: 66.9 , Chicago: 80.8

Hmmm. Perhaps it has something to do with other things besides firearm ownership?

My usual statement for Chicago:

"Sure, I'll support more gun laws for you, as soon as you have your constituents write the names of every family member and neighbor that belongs to a gang and has a gun hidden on a sheet of paper. Let me know when you're done and we'll hold a joint press conference to name names and start to really bring the cycle of violence to an end."