1 Hour 36 Minutes

That's how long it took for a 911 police response to an armed robbery in Chicago.

Following an ABC article linked by Uncle on the spike in recovered guns in a City that bans them (even though that included toys and rusty junkers) , the station really puts the screws to the Chicago PD and their response time due to a shortage of thousands of officers.

This contrasts, though, with the CPD's reported decrease in crime this year. But as we've also seen, they've been caught ruling suspicious deaths as 'suicides'.

Do the 'Right' Thing? Go to Jail

Where the UK used to be comes this display of what gun control advocates want for the US:

A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty"...

Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a "strict liability" charge – therefore Mr Clarke's allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.

Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added.

Here's the money quote though:

"The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant."

This is the end result of 'gun control' as endorsed by IANSA of which the Brady Campaign and numerous Joyce Foundation groups (among other organizations) are members.

This is their goal here with their UN 'treaties'.

That is their goal while supporting 'reasonable' and 'common-sense' gun restrictions that restrict no-one but those who try and follow the law like the citizen subject of the UK above.

Anyone who denies that this is their goal in the face of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary is either fooling themselves or supporters.

There are no other options.

Armistice Day

Today, November 11th, marked the end of WW1 in 1918.

How better to celebrate than with a little Hitler rap.

Reasoned Discourse

Remember when Dennis Henigan forgot to quote a significant portion of the Second Amendment while defending the DC handgun ban?

Remember when the Brady Campaign then began erasing the video and transcripts of said Freudian slip?

Well now they're taking it even further by putting Winston Smith to work for their Ministry of Truth. Kurt Hoffman, 45Superman of Armed and Safe, has informed me that they're trying to have the video removed from any other place that has it posted under 'copyright infringement'.

They certainly don't like it when their real agenda gets exposed.

Update: Kurt posted an examiner column on this and noted that the Brady Campaign themselves have a history of improperly using materials by Howard Nemerov.

Can We be a little Less Biased Please?

In their latest bit of anti-gun 'journalism', the Huffington post shows a bunch of pictures of guns with captions stating how bad they are. They use this statistic on the US:

America leads the developed world for murders committed using firearms, with a rate of 0.0279271 per 1,000 people, according to UN reports from 2000.

As I've shown before, 'developed' is a very subjective term. Bryan Miller tried something like that once and this was my reply:

According to an IANSA document, Mexico is considered "industrialized", is a member of the OECD, and has a higher per capita homicide rate than the US. 5+ vs 3.11. Both Brazil, Russia and South Africa are also considered "industrialized" (all are G8+5 members) but are not members of the OECD and have higher firearm homicide rates than the US. 21.07,(homicide around 20/100K) , 22.04.

They also use the murder number from Switzerland which I've proven to be faulty and artificially inflated.

But the real telling thing is that, instead of linking to the actual UN reports with its nice little disclaimer on comparing international numbers and the most current information available, they cite NationMaster which uses data TEN YEARS out of date.

'Authorized Journalism' at its finest. I'm sure there's no agenda. Right?

The Ft. Hood Blame Game

So as more of the story comes out, it turns out the Ft. Hood massacre had nothing to do with 'weak firearm laws' and everything to do w/ an extremist who was under investigation multiple times by numerous federal agencies over the course of his career.

Now the agencies are pointing fingers at eachother trying to blame eachother why they didn't do anything about someone who was actively courting terrorist contacts.

But instead the response by groups like the Brady Campaign is to call for the type of gun he used to be banned and to oppose legislation that has nothing to do with the tragedy.

That's the way these people roll.

Primer on Firearms in Illinois

Talking to a bunch of friends this weekend showed that many of them were interested in firearms but had no idea how to go about it so I gave them some basic instruction on the legalities and requirements to legally purchase a firearm in Illinois. Since I'm sure there are others out there, I decided to put together a basic primer.

First you need an Illinois Firearms Owner ID card aka FOID. The application can be obtained here. You fill out the application, get a passport photo, and send those along w/ $10 to the Illinois State Police. Within 30 days you should get your handy-dandy card good for 10 years.

What this card does is allow you to legally purchase a firearm and/or ammunition in Illinois. You cannot legally buy either without one. Note that this is NOT a license to carry a firearm openly or concealed. We do not have that in this state.

Once you obtain your FOID card, there are several ways to purchase a firearm. You can go through an Federal Firearms Dealer (FFL) at his/her place of business (you can find these online or in the Yellow Pages. There you can pick out what you want and fill out a form 4473 which is required by Federal Law. In this state there is a 24 hr waiting period to purchase long guns (rifles or shotguns) and a 3 day waiting period on handguns. Yes. That means you have to go back.

You can also purchase a firearm from another private citizen. You both must have FOID's and show them to do this legally. You may want to write down their information. The FOID card is a defacto background check and you don't need to fill out a 4473 form. Waiting periods still apply from the time the agreement to purchase is made.

Going to a gunshow is another method. FFL dealers and private citizens both sell at most gun shows. Here though, everyone fills out a 4473 and the waiting periods usually require a transfer of the firearm to an FFL local to you. How they organize it depends on the show so be sure to ask for details.

Online purchases can be made through companies or online auction sites like GunsAmerica or GunBroker. These must go through an FFL and will likely involve transfer fees.

Illinois also allows the private purchase of long arms in states with connecting borders such as Indiana, etc. but not in states w/ unconnected borders like Texas et al. That would require transfer through FFL dealers.

Now as to what you can own, that's a whole other issue. With the exception of Chicago and Cook County which we will get into later, you can generally own anything except machine guns and short-barreled shotguns. Handguns, rifles of all sorts, shotguns. All good.

Chicago. Now Chicago's a whole different world. Basically just take everything I said above and throw it out. Handguns are banned entirely. Many types of long guns are banned both in the city and Cook County. The long guns that are allowed need to be registered yearly (unless you're an alderman). We're working on fixing this but it's still going to be awhile.

Those are the basics. There's lots of other details but this will get you through your first couple of purchases. For more information, a great place is IllinoisCarry.

Dear God, make it stop

I woke up this morning as I have so many times before...to the sound of gunfire. The sharp crack of the gun is obviously drowning out the screams of the fallen innocents. The Oregon town I live in has about 300 residents. I have to guesstimate because we don’t even have a “Welcome” sign with the actual population listed.

I also estimate that we have about 3000 guns in town due to the neighbors I’ve met. And as everyone with a lick of common sense knows; where there are guns, there are gangs, violence and raw death. Not two days ago, I saw a child, no more than 12 years old, walking down main street with a shotgun slung over his shoulder. When he spotted me eyeing him, he threw up a gang sign I’m not familiar with; raising his right arm and rapidly pivoting his hand left and right.

I currently find myself in the crossfire with incoming rounds from the north and south of me; obviously a running gun battle between the rival gangs which infest my community.

MS-13 has taken up shop near a well established deer trail, definitely a high traffic venue where they can ply their drug trade. Their arch rivals, the Latin Kings have recently secured some defensive turf near the large oak tree down by the river.

The Crips and the Bloods have grown weak in the face of these new Hispanic gangs and only hold sway over two small neighboring pastures full of horse crap. There is talk of an alliance between these two traditional rivals in order to survive against the Rolling 60’s, which defend a nearby gravel bar and have shown interest in the fields of horse crap as a strategic expansion.

As soon as the first gangs established a presence here, I got rid of all my firearms in order to keep myself safe from the rising tide of gun violence. My preemptive action helps me feel a bit better knowing that I am not adding to the problem.

Since my town is so small, we don’t have a police department of our own and must rely and those in surrounding locals, a dozen miles away at the nearest.

When I dialed 911 this morning from behind a pile a sandbags in my kitchen, I got what I figured to be a lesson in the latest gang slang.

They were all talking about Turkeys, Toms and Gobblers.

When I asked how long it would be before they could respond to my plight, they coldly stated that they wouldn’t respond at all. Obviously intimidated by the strength of the gangs, even the police are apparently paralyzed in their wake of domination.

My only recourse is to form an alliance with the roving bands of Indian savages which roam the Northwestern United States.

I simply pray that a few shiny beads and bits of colored ribbon will be enough to turn them away from the dark side after the Trail of Tears, Wounded knee and the Custer thingie.

Pray for me…it’s the only protection I have.