Friday, June 4, 2010

Pro bono

Went to a Chinese buffet for lunch today. They’ve got a good variety of hot dishes, salads, fruits, shellfish, desserts and some damn fine sushi. Their sticky rice is amazing and almost entirely free of lead paint. Ya, it has a tad bit of Cadmium, but since chemistry is my thang I know I can neutralize the harmful effects by chugging a gallon of Yak piss chilled to 13 degrees Celsius. I did a paper on it.

Anywho, I’m the type that simply must have reading material whenever I eat alone. I’ve got reams of amicus briefs, anti rants, fact check reports, you name it on hand at home, work and in my vehicle so I’m prepared should a meal decide to run out in front of my car. So today I was re-reading something printed before the ‘08 elections about the Light-Bringer’s positions, quotes and votes on gun control compiled by “Vote Smart.” I was looking back at it to try and inspire a blog post. I put it down on the table and started making my way for the sushi when, I have to assume, the guy at the table next to me glanced over and read the large bold-faced title. I came back a few minutes later with a plate full of MSG goodness and started to throw groceries down my neck and skim the pages looking for something to write about.

The guy next to me was mopping his plate with a piece of garlic bread and getting ready to leave. He got up, took a few steps, then turned, walked back and faced me.

I acknowledged him and he apologized for interrupting and asked “Just what is his position on gun control?”

I didn’t know if I was about to engage a pro-2Aer, an anti or a neutral so I played it safe and did a brief run down of his senate voting record. Basically a bullet list of everything easily confirmed by a number of government records.

His response of, “I didn’t know that.” didn’t really help me in determining who I was engaging but then he asked me about “that gun thing in Chicago before the Supreme Court.” Ok, I thought to myself, I’ve got a real live anti wanting to talk about “that gun thing” while I’m trying to enjoy some baked salmon with sautéed mushrooms. Before I could respond with what would have been a polite recap of history, he surprised me by saying, “I hope Chicago gets struck down just like DC did.”

I put my fork down and motioned him closer.

He sat down on the other side of my booth in a most familiar way…butt-cheeks on the corner of the seat with one foot under the table and the other foot outside the booth folded back with most of his weight on it.

It was only then that I realized that I hadn’t given any clue as to whether or not I was a pro-2Aer, an anti or a neutral either.

I said, “So do I, the decision should be out before the end of the month.”

Without even exchanging names, we talked for the next 20 minutes as my food got cold. He just moved to Oregon from Texas and had a Utah CCW permit. He was ex-military and had bought an AR-15 right after the election because he had trained on that platform and heard rumors that the Messiah did not secretly wish to wash the feet of Charlton Heston.

All things considered, I felt like I made a difference in some small way. But I was a bit disappointed that I needed to inform someone who was licensed to carry a gun and WAS carrying a gun while slurping hot-n-sour soup next to me.

I’m tempted to tell how I knew he was packing, but for every temptation, there is an equal and opposite anti-temptation.

Carry a gun yourself, even if only on your own property. Watch your body language and really see it.

Then and only then will you see it in others.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Always Check Your Sources.

In a recent 'debate' (and I use the word loosely) on Huffpo, a commenter made the claim that Michigan had a higher violent crime rate than DC. Obviously that was quickly shown wrong by a look at the FBI UCR. The commenter then moved the goalposts and claimed that MI 'used' to have a higher violent crime rate than DC. It took awhile but this individual finally showed his 'source'. Wikipedia.

I'll give him credit. It DOES show MI as having a higher violent crime rate than DC in 2004. It also shows the state having a murder rate of 6776.4 / 100,000 equaling over 685,000 murders that year. Nevermind the murder rate of 2887.6 for Hawaii.

Did anyone else hear about a nuclear war and not tell me about it?

Again a cursory glance at FBI.gov (aside from a little commons sense) shows that someone 'fat-fingered' the keyboard.

So let this be a lesson for 'our side' as well. Always double check your information. Getting a number from Billy-Joe-Bob's blog doesn't necessarily mean it's accurate. Even getting a number/cite from the NRA/SAF/Etc. may not be good enough. Go to the source. Read the original documentation. When you're quoted a number from the other side, get the source and trace it down. Not only does this ensure your accuracy and make your argument stronger but you might be able to find where they misquoted, took information out of context, or just flat out made things up.

This is just another way we win.

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Obama Voted for Conviction

There are now two instances of Chicago individuals defending themselves w/ unregistered handguns. We have the 80 yr old vet against a lifelong criminal and now this:

A South Austin resident shot and wounded a man who crashed through the window of his home while fleeing police early this morning, officials say.

As some have noted, charges are, as of now, not being filed against these individuals who are victims of real criminals. Obama, on the other hand, would have these men prosecuted for defending themselves. In 2004, he voted multiple times against the 'Hale Demar Act' that provided an affirmative defense for individuals legitimately defending their homes with firearms regardless of local laws.

The fact remains that even though he's bent to the political wind in DC, his political views are towards 'gun control', no matter the cost to the citizenry.

Interestingly, the act's not been mentioned by the 'authorized journalists' nor the CPD. IMO they're trying to show their benevolence in not pressing charges instead of the fact that they would lose if they tried.


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We All Know What Happens Next...

The shooter in the UK was a licensed owner. So of course the next calls will be to ban shotguns (and probably airguns) entirely.

What this shows though, is that no matter how strict the laws, someone going nuts will find a way to do it. Arbitrary licensing, expensive registration, outright bans... All of it failed and will continue to fail.

It's a good thing we have organizations like the NRA, SAF, CCRKBA etc. here in the US or we would be in the same boat the Brits are right now.

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Well Duh...

From the St Louis GRE:

That brings us nicely to MexiData's "An Inside Look at Mexican Guns and Arms Trafficking." Quoting the Mexico City newspaper El Universal, it tells us about a Mexican "crime gun" source that Calderón, the Brady Campaign, the Violence Policy Center, and others would like us not to know about, because it's obvious that no combination of restrictions on American civilians can do anything about it.
A percentage of the weapons, the seller said, come from Mexico via Ministry of Defense personnel who provide [them] in part from weapons seized in raids, or stolen from the ministry's own arsenal.
Corruption in the Mexican government? I'm shocked, I tell you--shocked!


Anyone w/ a shred of honesty and/or their heads not up the darker portions of their nether-regions have known this for some time.

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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Pre-emptive Damage Control

Dennis Henigan of the Brady Bunch says that, in reality, we lost Heller and, even if we win McDonald, we'll 'lose' there as well.

His primary argument? Criminals will use them as twinkie defenses and will lose.

They realize that they're effectively irrelevant.



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Monday, May 31, 2010

It's a Hot Time in Chi-Town Tonight

From Sat. afternoon to Mon. morning, almost 3 dozen people were shot w/ 4 killed in the Brady 'Gun Free' Paradise of Chicago.

Update: Throw in another half-dozen plus over the rest of the day and overnight.

How's that gun ban working out for you Daley? Is this the 'System of Ordered Liberty' it was supposed to create?


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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Even More Wishful Thinking..

A lawyer who claims to have sat next to Otis McDonald during proceedings is REALLY REALLY hoping that the SCOTUS reverses its decision in Heller and allows Chicago to keep its handgun ban.

While it is true
the justices did not look favorably on Gura's P&I argument, they bitchslapped Chicago's lawyer left and right as he tried to re-argue Heller. No mention of course is made by Saunders of Clement's Due Process argument. Most likely because it's the most likely option and opposes Saunders' bigoted view of the 2A.

Bigotted? Yeah, she is. She uses the worn out arguments that the Constitution 'gives' rights, which is ironic being that she blasts the court for ignoring precedent, and the old 'get an alarm system' fallback. Nevermind the fact that Daley has his own '24/7 alarm system' in the way of tax-payer funded armed bodyguards.

But the funniest bit of bigotry is her discrimination against Senior Citizens:

it's hard to get away from the picture of a grandparent who can't shoot straight or see straight without his spectacles"


No mention of the 80yr old vet who ventilated a lifelong criminal trying to burglarize his home. Now why would she neglect that little anecdote?

Oh, right. Nevermind.

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