Gotta get a Tour T!

From the PatriotPost.us

Arizona House Ok's new concealed weapons exemption

The AP reports a bill approved by the Arizona House would make it legal for a person without a concealed carry permit to have a gun in a closed purse in an automobile.
The bill carves out a new exception to the state's weapons misconduct law.
Violations of that law are misdemeanors punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to 2,500 dollars.
It's already legal under the weapons misconduct law for a person without a concealed carry permit to have a gun in a case, holster or luggage in an automobile or in the automobile's storage compartments.
The 51-4 vote by the House yesterday sends the bill to the Senate.

I'd pay to see video of the knife fight, wouldn't you?

“Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has been accused in recent days of padding her foreign policy rèsumè while First Lady, admitted today that she may have exaggerated about an encounter she said she had with al-Qaeda terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in 1998. In an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, Sen. Clinton told host Tim Russert, ‘I wrestled bin Laden in his cave in 1998 and had him pinned to the ground before the bastard got away.’ But a review of Sen. Clinton’s official White House schedule from that period revealed that the then-First Lady was nowhere in the vicinity of Mr. bin Laden on that day, but was instead greeting a group of honor roll students at Disney World in Orlando. ‘I may have misspoke about what went on that particular day,’ Sen. Clinton said today. ‘But it was a very busy time for me, what with having that knife-fight with Kim Jong-Il and all.’ Reporters peppered Sen. Clinton’s new press spokesman with questions about another purported exploit of hers, in which the senator claimed that she and a ragtag team of blue-collar drillers deflected an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth.” —Andy Borowitz

Florida House using common sense...

GunPundit tells us about Florida House allowing some gun owners to bring their weapons to work and leave them in their vehicles.

We already have that in Kentucky, with few exceptions. Now, just say that, even before the law allowed it, I had a firearm in my vehicle at work every day for the last, oh, say twelve years. Who did that hurt?

State legislators could use a good talking to from and about responsible, law-abiding gun owners who should be able to carry any where they have a right to be.

Need some clean drawers here...

Good example of typical PSH.

ATF says the increases (in AK type weapons. GBW) in the first half of the 1990s are partly the result of wider usage of its weapons database by local law enforcement agencies. But after that point, the numbers reflect a real increase in tracings of AK-type guns, the agency acknowledged.

The numbers corroborate what police chiefs around the country have been saying: AKs and other so-called assault weapons are terrorizing their communities and endangering their officers.

Gee, and all this time I thought it was CRIMINALS who were terrorizing their communities and endangering their officers. This must be an extremely rare variant of the AK-47 only found in the Southeast United States. They apparently have a BRAIN and LEGS with which to carry out their terrorizing and endangering.

Why, they just sauntered into that birthday part...

What? You mean they were carried in by PEOPLE?

Impossible! PEOPLE can't be the problem. Salt of the Earth, every one of them.

GUNS are the problem!! All those evil guns... Oh, the humanity!!!!

Right.

It's a good thing some of these "so-called assault weapons" (at least he got that right) apparently have brains, because otherwise there seems to be a severe shortage, at least as evidenced in certain journalistic circles.

Sheesh.

And the streets run red with blood...

.014% out of 50,000 Minnesota concealed carry permit holders used a gun in the furtherance of a crime, says John Reep in the St. Cloud Times.

Can't find the report online. If you know where it is, let me know. I thought the KY State Police were supposed to do something similar, but I've never seen it.

What will they think of next?

In keeping with my earlier post about what my young cousin may see in the next 89 years, I give you, "Printing Organs on Demand?"

According to MU, “the team used bio-ink particles, or spheres containing 10,000 to 40,000 cells, and assembled, or ‘printed,’ them on to sheets of organic, cell friendly ‘bio-paper.’ Once printed, the spheres began to fuse in the bio-paper into one structure.” Nature adds that “when they printed out cardiac and endothelial cells, the cells fused into a tissue after 70 hours, and began beating in time like regular heart tissue after 90 hours.”

Maybe they can do something with knees...

Gun statistics you seldom see...

from the Orange County Register. Common sense stuff. That's probably why we see so little of it.

Of course, whenever gun ownership rights are debated, anti-gun activists like to point out that about 30,000 people are killed by guns in America every year -- although they seldom note that about 60 percent of those deaths are suicides, or that the firearm murder rate has dropped by 40 percent in the past 15 years, or that far more people are killed by motor vehicles or medical malpractice every year than are killed by guns.

And they never mention how many crimes have been prevented by citizens bearing arms.

Once again, that's a hard thing to quantify. One U.S. government survey in the 1990s estimated that more than 80,000 Americans a year used guns in an effort to protect themselves or their property against crime. Other estimates put the number far higher, at more than 2 million crimes prevented each year by the presence of privately-owned firearms.

But those are estimates and extrapolations – which means we can argue about the numbers all day long.

Still, this much is clear. When faced with a violent criminal in his house in the middle of the night, it would be hard to argue that that homeowner in Irvine (CA) would have been better off without a gun.

89 years...

Posting has been a bit light, even for me. On the road quite a bit, house guests, my grandmother's 89th birthday. I'm fifty-something, but I'm still young enough that that boggles my mind. The 97 year old friend that was sitting beside her didn't help.

Five generations were present at her party. Her newest great-great-grandchild is eight months old.

I can't even begin to imagine what changes that child will see in the next 89 years, can you?

Outstanding!

If you can't do it at least this well, don't pick up the microphone.


Thanks to Red Sonya over at Sonya's Gotta Scream.

GOP Targets Yarmuth; McCain Leads Obama and Clinton

from Southern Political Report

March 21, 2008 — GOP Targets Five Dixie Democratic Seats

The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC) has included five Southern congressional districts among its 24 targets for making US House gains in this fall’s elections. The five Democratic incumbents that the GOP will focus on in Dixie are Nick Lampson (TX 22), Tim Mahoney (FL 16), Jim Marshall (GA 8), Ciro Rodriguez (TX 23) and John Yarmuth (KY 3). All are freshmen, when incumbents are traditionally most vulnerable, except Marshall, who was elected in 2002.

Kentucky: McCain Leads Obama and Clinton

A SurveyUSA poll of Kentucky voters released March 19 shows John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton by significant margins. McCain beat Obama 64% to 28%, a whopping 36-point margin, and beat Clinton by a still healthy 53% to 43%. While the Democratic candidates were not pitted against each other, the fact that even among Democrats, McCain garnered more votes than Obama suggests that Clinton will win the Bluegrass State’s May 20 primary.

Listen to D.C. v Heller oral arguments

on DownRange.TV HERE, and commentaries from David Hardy, Dave Kopel and others HERE.

"Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."

RIP Arthur C. Clarke.

(thx Tam)

Almost

Should be Model 20 in 10mm.

I am a: Glock Model 22 in 40 cal

What kind of handgun are YOU?

S.C Senate advances bill expanding reciprocity to Kentucky CCDW holders...

Columbia, SC - The state Senate, lead by the Republican Caucus, gave key approval today to a measure that will increase reciprocity for concealed weapons permit holders.  The bill (H.3212) increases the number of states that will recognize South Carolina’s concealed weapons permit while allowing an additional 14 states’ permit holders to legally carry a concealed weapon in South Carolina.
Senator Jim Ritchie (R-Spartanburg), Majority Whip, led the floor effort that led to Senate approval today. “The Senate-passed bill has the full support of both the NRA and South Carolina law enforcement,”
says Senator Ritchie. “We were able to maintain the high standards South Carolina requires to obtain a concealed weapons permit while expanding reciprocity to 14 additional states. This is a victory for the second amendment and the people of South Carolina.”
H. 3212 provides for the recognition of valid out-of-state permits by residents of a reciprocal state as long as the reciprocal state requires applicants to successfully pass a state and federal criminal background check and a firearms safety and training course.  Residents from other states will be subject to the same concealed weapons permit laws as South Carolinians while in the state.
States that currently recognize South Carolina’s concealed weapons permit include: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.
The bill passed today would expand the states recognizing South Carolina’s concealed weapons permit to include: Colorado, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska and Nevada.
South Carolina currently recognizes the concealed weapons permits of the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Today’s action will expand that list to include: Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. A reciprocity agreement with West Virginia is pending.
The bill is expected to receive a final Senate vote early next week.

Quotes of the week...

From The Patriot Post:

David Horowitz on the Left

“The Democratic party is very close to being the [Communist-controlled Progressive] party of Henry Wallace... Today’s left sees the world pretty much in the same terms as the Stalinists did. What has happened is that it has lost its faith in the working class, so its agenda is entirely negative. They’ve dropped the dictatorship of the proletariat and they all say they’re democrats, but so did Lenin. The vast bulk of the American left is a Communist left and they’ve introduced some fascist ideas like ‘identity politics,’ which is straight out of Mussolini. They don’t talk about the working class, they talk about women and race. There’s not much that they’ve learned from the history of the 20th century.” —David Horowitz

David Mamet from his recent announcement of his conservative realization.

Prior to the midterm elections, my rabbi was taking a lot of flack. The congregation is exclusively liberal, he is a self-described independent (read ‘conservative’), and he was driving the flock wild. Why? Because a) he never discussed politics; and b) he taught that the quality of political discourse must be addressed first—that Jewish law teaches that it is incumbent upon each person to hear the other fellow out. I, like many of the liberal congregation, began, teeth grinding, to attempt to do so. And in doing so, I recognized that I held two views of America (politics, government, corporations, the military). One was of a state where everything was magically wrong and must be immediately corrected at any cost; and the other—the world in which I actually functioned day to day—was made up of people, most of whom were reasonably trying to maximize their comfort by getting along with each other (in the workplace, the marketplace, the jury room, on the freeway, even at the school-board meeting).

I realized that the time had come for me to avow my participation in that America in which I chose to live, and that that country was not a schoolroom teaching values, but a marketplace. I began reading not only the economics of Thomas Sowell (our greatest contemporary philosopher) but Milton Friedman, Paul Johnson, and Shelby Steele, and a host of conservative writers, and found that I agreed with them: a free-market understanding of the world meshes more perfectly with my experience than that idealistic vision I called liberalism.”

Just ask me and I'll tell you...

Oleg Volk is a a national treasure. Click the link to see much more. He's referring to TN law, but it's a felony in Kentucky, too.

Way to go, Jack. I hope you're paying attention, Poodles. (but I'm not holding my breath)

The column by Nicole Brochu in The Sun-Sentinel is the usual mass of PSH cliches. And as usual, the comments are lively. Some not very well thought out, but lively

Poodles comments:

"A person would only have a split second to react, and that's only if they KNEW what was going on. If you listen to the witness statements, you'll notice that most folks weren't really sure what was going on until it was almost over. I don't know what the answer is, maybe we should start licensing guns the way we do cars, with titles and yearly fees - not that it would help if a deranged person wanted a gun, but we gotta start somewhere. Do they still have the gun buy-back program? We also need more AFFORDABLE mental health care. The average person struggling from check to check cannot afford it, and if they do have insurance, it's still so expensive that many feel it's out of reach for them. The free mental health care is often un-advertised to the point that most people don't know it exists.

And Jack Burton replies in the comments...

Do I need the governments permission to buy a car? No.
Do I need to buy the car from only certain people with licenses to sell cars? No.
Can I buy as many cars as I want each week/month/year. Yes
Can I buy small cars, big cars, slow cars, fast cars, cars that look dangerous? Yes
Can I buy Hummers virtually like the troops use? Yes.
Do I have to wait from 5 to 15 days to pick up my car. No
If I traded in one car for a newer model do I still have to wait five to ten days to pick the new one up. No
Can I modify my car to allow more fuel, more performance, or better cornering. Yes
Would I have to turn over to the government without compensation some models of automobiles that might be banned years after I buy them. No
Do I need a license to buy a car? No
(in most states)
Can I buy a car at age 16? Yes.
Are driving lessons mandated in most high schools? Yes
Can I buy a car from anyone in any state? Yes.
Can I sell my car to anyone in any state? Yes
Can convicted felons buy, own or drive a car. Yes
In some places (e.g. NYC or New Jersey) would I first need a permit to buy from the police department which sometimes takes up to 2 years to obtain. No
In some cities (e.g. Washington D.C.) would I have to store my car partially disassembled. No
Do I need to register a car that I own? No (as long as I keep it on my own property)
Do I need a background check or waiting period to buy a car? No
Is my car held responsible if I misuse it? No
Would failure to register my car be a federal felony (prevents me from owning another one). No
Do I need to "safe store" my car even though many are stolen and used for criminal purposes? No
Will I lose my driver's license if I violate the law with my car? Most likely not
Can I legally drive my car into any state/city in the nation with every jurisdiction honoring my registration/license? Yes
Shall I go on? Or do you really, really want to treat guns like cars?

D'oh! They said what?!?

Mostly what Novak's article shows is that the GOP may have known how to  win the elections, but still don't have a clue how to govern.

The president and his senior staff were stunned to learn, on the day it was issued, that Clement's petition called on the high court to return the case to the appeals court. The solicitor general argued that Silberman's opinion supporting individual gun rights was so broad that it would endanger federal gun control laws such as the bar on owning machine guns. The president could have ordered a revised brief by Clement.

and

The more plausible explanation for Clement's stance is that he could not resist opposition to individual gun rights by career lawyers in the Justice Department's Criminal Division (who clashed with the Office of Legal Counsel in a heated internal struggle). Newly installed Attorney General Michael Mukasey, a neophyte at Justice, was unaware of the conflict and learned about Clement's position only after it had been locked in.

Ken Blackwell and Sandy Froman on D.C. v Heller

from Townhall.com

Part I
Judging Gun Rights: Are They Inalienable?

Part II
The Roe v. Wade of Gun Rights

Tuesday looms, and I am getting nervous. Waiting until June for the ruling will seem interminable.

He should get another five years for stupidity...

Let's see. (from WYMTnews.com)

Jury Rejects "Wrong Person" Claim In Drug Trial

WHITESBURG - A former Letcher County resident was convicted of drug trafficking after failing to convince a jury that police had arrested the wrong person.

Following a two-day trial before Letcher Circuit Judge Samuel T. Wright III, 31-year-old James Holland was found guilty of second-degree trafficking.

Holland, who now lives on Sama Road in Burnside (Pulaski County), had turned down a plea offer that would have given him probation.

Police arrested Holland on May 22, 2007, for selling Hydrocodone pills to an undercover UNITE detective on September 23, 2005.

During the trial, which began Monday, March 11, Holland's attorney argued that someone else had made the sale that police had arrested the wrong person.

Although Holland had changed his appearance, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Kevin R. Mullins presented evidence linking him with the crime.

Mullins showed that the vehicle used at the time of the sale was registered to Holland, that Holland had given the undercover detective directions to his home if he wanted to purchase more pills, and that Holland had stated he was behind on his child support payments - which was confirmed through court records.

Jury members recommended Holland receive the maximum 5 years in jail when he is formally sentenced at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 23.

 

National Academy of Sciences Says Ballistic Imaging Database "Should Not Be Established"

Anti-Gun Politicians, Are You Listening? NAS Says Ballistic Imaging Database "Should Not Be Established"

Friday, March 07, 2008

On March 5, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released Ballistic Imaging, the report of a committee it assigned to evaluate the feasibility, accuracy, and technical capability of a possible national database of so-called “ballistic” images from all new guns sold in the United States.

The committee considered dozens of factors, including the uniqueness of images, the ability of imaging systems to capture images, the odds against images in a database being matched with cartridge cases and/or bullets found at crime scenes, the fact that “there is a huge existing supply of weapons and ammunition that would not be entered into the database,” and the fact that criminals can beat the system by using guns that do not leave brass at crime scenes, such as revolvers. After all was said and done, the committee concluded, “A national reference ballistic image database should not be established.”

The committee’s chairman, John Rolph, a professor of statistics at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, additionally explained, “current technology for collecting and comparing toolmarks [left on bullets and brass cases] is not sufficiently precise in distinguishing extremely fine marks among so many images.” Among other limitations, “the type or brand of ammunition used in the initial firing of a gun would not necessarily be the same as the ammunition later used in a crime [and the] difference could be a significant source of error.”

Instead of an imaging database, the report recommended ways to improve BATFE’s existing database of crime-related ballistic evidence, called the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, or NIBIN.

The good news for gun owners is that a highly regarded committee of experts, including some who are known supporters of gun control, have concluded--as NRA has been saying all along--that an image database is not necessarily capable of the crime-solving solutions its advocates have long claimed.

On the other hand, the report also recommended research on micro-stamping of both guns and ammunition, noting that studies have not yet determined how durable micro-stamped marks are under various firing conditions, how susceptible they are to tampering, or what their cost would be for manufacturers and consumers.

That portion of the report will likely be cited by anti-gun groups and politicians as evidence in favor of requiring that bullets and brass cases be micro-stamped with unique codes, either by the manufacturer during production (proposed in 13 states recently), or by guns mandatorily equipped with special breech faces, firing pins, or other internal parts (mandated in California last year and proposed in Congress by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in February).

The danger, in addition to the fact that neither imaging nor micro-stamping has been proven to be able to help police solve crimes, or is in any way necessary for that purpose, is that neither could be effective without the imposition of laws that are anathema to the right to arms, such as registration of guns and ammunition to their purchasers and owners; a ban on private sales of guns and ammunition; and a ban on the manufacture, importation, sale and possession of guns from which images have not been taken, guns that do not stamp codes on fired ammunition, and ammunition that has not been stamped with a code.

Copyright 2008, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action.
This may be reproduced. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.

Liberty?

“The fact that an obese person becomes ill, or a cyclist has an accident, and becomes a burden on taxpayers who must bear the expense of taking care of him, is not a problem of liberty. It’s a problem of socialism where one person is forced to take care of another. There is no moral argument that justifies using the coercive powers of government to force one person to bear the expense of taking care of another... Forcing one person to bear the burden of health care costs for another is not only a moral question but a major threat to personal liberty. Think about all the behaviors and lifestyles that can lead to illness and increase the burden on taxpayers. A daily salt intake exceeding 6 grams can lead to hypertension. A high-fat diet and high alcohol intake can also lead to diabetes. A sedentary lifestyle can lead to several costly diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart failure. There are many other behaviors that lead to a greater health care burden, but my question is how much control over your life you are willing to give government in the name of reducing these costs? Would you want government to regulate how much salt you use? What about government deciding how much fat and alcohol you consume? There are immense beneficial health effects of a daily 30-minute aerobic exercise. Would you support government-mandated exercise? You might argue that it’s none of government’s business how much fat, salt or alcohol a person consumes, even if it has adverse health care cost implications. I’d ask: Wouldn’t the same reasoning apply to helmet laws and proposed obesity laws?” —Walter Williams

Write this 1000 times

An exemplary exercise for Members of Congress.

“I favor a policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the government. Every dollar that we save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.” —Calvin Coolidge

Gun-Free Zone sign.

from Rob over on Sharp as a Marble.

I have an "evil" handgun.

It's been 31 years, 119 days since this evil handgun came into my possession. I keep waiting for someone to knock on my door and tell me my handgun has killed someone, but it hasn't happened. Yet.

I'm sure it will. Handguns are evil. Handguns kill people. It's just a matter of time before my handgun kills someone. It has to happen. Blood will run in the streets. It's inevitable. That's what Mr. Helmke and his ilk tell us over and over. They've said it so long it must be true.

Apparently, it doesn't make any difference that the handgun's owner is a responsible, law-abiding adult who's never had more to do with LEOs than a few traffic tickets and benevolent association donations. That gun will kill. It has to happen. It's just a matter of time.

So, I'm waiting for that knock on the door or the article in the paper that reveals the true nature of my handgun. An object so bloodthirsty and evil by its very nature cannot hide its essence forever. It must rise up. It has to happen. It's inevitable. It's just a matter of time.

But, it has been a matter of many years. Maybe my handgun just doesn't have the force of will of those handguns who have killed. Yeah, that's it. My handgun must be one of those that has to simmer for a really, really long period of time before it boils over into violence. It must. It's evil. They've said it so long it must be true

Profiles of valor: Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble

From The Patriot Post:

On Monday, President Bush posthumously awarded Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble the Medal of Honor. Keeble, the first Sioux Indian to receive the nation’s highest award, died in 1982. “On behalf of our grateful nation, I deeply regret that this tribute comes decades too late,” President Bush said. Though fellow soldiers, family and friends had been trying for years—twice the paperwork was lost—the deadline for the award eventually passed. This year, Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced legislation to ensure the rightful awarding of this medal.

Keeble was a veteran of World War II and Korea, where he received more than 30 citations, including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with combat “V” for Valor and two Purple Hearts. It was in Korea that his actions earned the Medal of Honor. In 1951, Keeble was fighting with George Company of the 164th Infantry Regiment. He was wounded in battle on 15 October, and then again on 17, 18 and 20 October. He received the Silver Star for his bravery on the 18th, and on the 19th doctors removed 83 pieces of shrapnel from his body, including his face, and tended to two rifle wounds in his left arm. On the 20th, Keeble was back in action; he killed a dozen enemy soldiers and took out three machine-gun bunkers, saving a number of his men. His men recommended him for the Medal. During Monday’s ceremony, the President concluded, “We can tell his story, and we can honor his memory, and we can follow his lead.”

Multiple gunmen attack Jerusalem seminary killing at least seven...

Full story here. I don't think the police ever got a shot at them because...

Yitzhak Dadon, a seminary student, said he was armed with a rifle and waited on the roof of a nearby building during the attack.

"He came out of the library spraying automatic fire. ... The terrorist came to the entrance and I shot him twice in the head," he said.

Medic Yaron Tzuker said he arrived as the gunfire was still going on.

"They were still shooting when we got here," he told Channel 10 TV. "We took cover and the ambulance was hit. It's horrible inside - dead bodies and wounded - it's horrific."

Another witness told Israel TV that he heard both single shots and automatic gunfire from inside the building, and it lasted for about 10 minutes.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said one of the gunmen who attacked the seminary was wearing what at first appeared to be an explosives vest but turned out to be a belt holding extra ammunition.

"One or two terrorists infiltrated the Mercaz Harav seminary and opened fire in all directions," the police spokesman said. "One terrorist was killed in an exchange of fire, and apparently he had an explosives belt."

The Israelis understand you must protect yourself. It is often death to depend on others to protect you.

Update: Eight deaths are now reported. gbw

It's not about "school security", it's about personal security and self-defense.

This cartoon by Bruce Plante ran in the Tulsa World

Reader comment #10 from TU Student was

I dont think that the question is should be be able to carry guns but rather how can we reform security on campus. Maybe reinventing school security into a stronger force will quell the pro gun students after all isnt this topic just a question of school security? However i dont call for every security officer on campus to carry an assualt rifle but rather be trained in the proper use of firearms and have a somewhat selfless attitude while on the job unlike the police around the country that stand by and watch the situation play out. (sic)

TU Student, this is not a problem of "school security". It is a problem of personal security and self-defense. No school can ever be secure. Weapons, sometimes firearms, are found in "secure" prisons on a daily basis.

And as so many have said before, unless you have a personal security officer assigned to you 24/7, if something happens you still have to call them (if you're able) and wait for them to get there.

Suppose you are sitting in class, and someone walks through the door, shoots the teacher, and turns and points his weapon at the class. Your mobile phone is on your desk. While the gunman is deciding who to shoot, you pick up your phone, dial 911 to call the police (or perhaps you have a speed dial to campus security), and wait for them to answer the phone. You give your name and location and describe the situation to the operator who immediately dispatches someone to your location.

Suppose there is a police car with two officers on the next block and they respond immediately. How long from the time you dialed the phone until they pull up out front? How many people will die before the officers know enough about the situation to do anything about it? Will you be one of them? Would it be a stretch to assume the gunman might target anyone making a phone call? Wouldn't it be more likely that no one would be making that call, but trying desperately to get away and thereby increasing the time that initial call is made?

Beefing up security isn't a bad idea. But wouldn't you much rather be able to, if you choose, have the ability to defend yourself instead of waiting for help that will always come too late?

Responsible, law-abiding adults should be able to carry anywhere they have a right to be.

Massive NRA conspiracy: gun blogger talking points revealed

I just received the new talking points from the National Rifle Association with my latest check. (Yes, the NRA is so desperate they even pay bloggers with only a handful of regular readers) Though I fully expect to be removed from their payroll, I feel I had no choice but to reveal this massive conspiracy.

In good conscience, I can no longer abide by the code of silence and so list these points publicly.

1. A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
2. All firearms are loaded. Always.
3. Never point a firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy.
4. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.
5. Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

I'm sure every anti-gun blog will immediately jump on this and publish these talking points on their sites. Surely, anyone who reads gun blogs will see that we all follow this same script. Of course, everyone embellishes freely so it seems we are coming from different directions, but close examination will certainly reveal the above similarities.

Now I can sleep at night.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

but aren't most of the folks who are so excited about Obama the ones that usually don't make the effort to turn out on election day in November?

The only good cockroach is a dead... Huh?

Hard to take.

The Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai, is almost identical in appearance to the German variety and is also active at night. But instead of leftover pizza, it feasts on insects harmful to crops.

Cornell Daily Sun editorial puts "shoot me" sign on students' backs

"Way off Target" describes the editorial much better than they realize.

Some may feel comforted by guns; for most, they are instruments of fear. More than anything, a university is an open society — it is a place that values free inquiry, unhindered debate and giving full credence to the kind of opinions that make people cringe.

In this spirit, weapons of intimidation have no place here. If, in the last analysis, we remain less safe, it is a risk well worth taking. ...

There are certainly areas in which Cornell can do better. More CUPD officers walking beats would go a long way towards fostering a sense of safety on campus. And adding to Cornell’s impressive record on mental health services would do much towards preventing potential shooters from developing in the first place. Cornell ought to be a place where no community member ever feels so despondent, so forlorn, so unloved as to resort to violence.

And a response from the Cornell Repulicans' treasurer.

Instead, The Sun prefers to live in a fantasy utopia, valuing “the comfort that comes with the assumption that your lab partner isn’t packing heat” and a “sense of safety.”

It would behoove The Sun to enter the real world. Assumptions do not reality make, and safety is not achieved simply by perceiving it.

I don't think the responsible, law-abiding adults who desire to carry on campus are going to let this die. And shouldn't they have a right to carry any place they have a right to be?

Thx to GunPundit for the tip.

Improve the odds

In a letter to the Topeka Capital-Journal, Kansan Ken Smith says, and quite well, too...

I take issue with Pete Goering's comments in his column Feb. 17, which related a few of the recent killings on campus under the headline "Violence becoming way too common," then concluded that what really concerned students here was passing finals.

Pull your head out of the sand. Kansas has now and for the foreseeable future will have a significant population of potential active shooters. The headline might more accurately said "Violence becoming way too easy."

What can we do about increasing public safety given that the risk is common? The policy of creating "gun-free zones" to prevent concealed carry on campus increases the risk to students, staff and visitors. People who seek notoriety by mass killing want helpless victims and time to do their work. Gun-free zones dramatically increase both. It isn't by accident that these attacks occur most frequently in schools and malls, the preeminent gun-free zones.

Allowing people to carry concealed on college campuses won't stop attacks. It will, however, change the odds of surviving such an event.

We live in a world where bad people sometimes harm others, and a responsible government shouldn't actively assist the wolves by penning us like sheep. Gun-free zones on campus guarantee that some students will lose more than a final grade.

KEN SMITH, Hoyt

Humor and eggs

from James R. Carroll at the Courier-Journal comes this...

The Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual congressional breakfast last week produced a couple of good lines.

Rep. Geoff Davis, R-4th District, appearing after Rep. Hal Rogers, R-5th District, said he was dismayed to be following a head of state. Davis said southeastern Kentucky, which Rogers represents, is known as "Hal Rogerstan."

And Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, got one of the bigger laughs with this:

"I recently said to my wife, 'In your wildest dreams, could you have ever imagined I would be representing my hometown in the House of Representatives?' And she said, 'John, I'm sorry, you're not in my wildest dreams.' "

Now that's just funny. Being a former resident of "Hal Rogerstan" I agree with Mr. Davis' remark. I must admit feeling some kinship with Mrs. Yarmuth, too.