Right Wing Nation

Buy a car, get $250 of gas or a pistol. So which of the two are most customers choosing?

The pistol, by a 4:1 margin.

Doncha love America?

McCain at the NRA convention.

More about it later — it’s Saturday, remember? Errands day. Scott’s roasted pork sandwiches day. Prince Caspian day. And I’m sorry to say, neighborhood yard sale day.

Link: sevenload.com

Hat tip to Don Surber for the latest idiocy from the Huckleberry. While speaking at the NRA Convention, he heard a noise, and made a “joke,” except it wasn’t funny (even the attempt at humor escapes me, and to judge from the dead silence in the audience, the NRA members), and actually, fairly offensive.

During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

What a moron — then, everything that has ever come out of his mouth since he crawled out from under his rock in Arkansas has been stupid. Can we stop this idiotic talk of putting him on the ticket now? And how did this blithering idiot ever get elected in the first place? Oh wait. This is Arkansas, the same state that elected Clinton. That’s how he got elected.

Sisters of Fallujah.

It’s not the best form to quote an entire post, but it’s short, and it’s Uncle, so it’s, uh, pointed:

Did you know Bob Barr is running for president on the Libertarian party ticket? Yes, Bob Barr of war on drugs, ban gay marriage, etc. fame. Those aren’t very libertarian positions. And the guy was in office for a while, he coulda gotten his libertarian on then, ya know. Instead of now, when he’s a political nobody. Just saying.

NRA members only. Go here to sign up (your NRA membership number is on the mailing label of your monthly magazine; it’s the long number after the pound sign immediately above your name). And if you sign up, kindly plug in my referral number on the form: FB593

I grossly underestimated what a shameful excuse for a justice system Philadelphia has. Sebastian has dug up the criminal records on the three cop killers:

Michael Cain was the trigger man in the Liczbinski murder. You can see his fifteen page criminal record here. Let’s look at all the violations of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act that Cain has been arrested for. Keep in mind we’re only looking at gun charges, since that is what this blog concentrates on. Over Cain’s criminal career he had thirteen arrests for unlawfully carrying a firearm, that were listed “Nolle Prossed,” meaning the prosecutor chose not to bring charges. In a further eleven arrests for violations of Pennsylvania’s firearms laws, the charges were either withdrawn or dismissed. In only three cases was he prosecuted and either plead guilty or was found guilty.

[ . . . ]

You can find Levon Warner’s criminal record here. His is only six pages . . . Previously, the Philadelphia DA’s office thrice declined to prosecute Warner for gun law violations. The Philadelphia judicial system chose not to try him for six other violations of Pennsylvania’s gun laws.

[ . . . ]

And last, but certainly not least, Eric Floyd . . . in 1994, he was arrested for robbery, and the prosecutors declined to prosecute him for carrying firearms illegally in two counts. Also in 1994, the courts declined to try him for two counts of carrying firearms illegally.

And those are just the gun charges (Sebastian has links to their records). Gun grabbers sneer at “enforce the laws on the books,” but note that had the criminal justice system done just that, Sergeant Liczbinski would be alive today, and those three scumbags would be in prison where they belong. Why is it that idiots who are always screaming for gun control don’t think it’s important to enforce gun laws? Could it be that crime doesn’t worry them at all?

And why do they even bother pretending to have courts in Philadelphia? Couldn’t they save millions of dollars by closing the courts altogether?

about this video of Philly police:

Excessive force?

For cop killers? Not enough force.

Of course, the Philly liberals are having fits and demanding an investigation. Tomorrow, they’ll be wringing their hands about crime and demanding more gun control. Me, I figure they deserve all the crime they accomodate down there. It’s just too bad more of them don’t get killed.

Grumpy, me? Naw!

Via Jonah Goldberg, this uplifting saga:

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — A couple fighting about which gang their 4-year-old toddler should join caused a public disturbance that resulted in the father’s arrest, Commerce City police said Thursday.

On Saturday, Joseph Manzanares stormed into the Hollywood Video store where his girlfriend worked, threatened to kill her and knocked over several video displays and even a computer, Commerce City police Sgt. Joe Sandoval said.

After he ran out of the store, police were called and the 19-year-old was arrested at his home.

His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to. The teen mother, who is black, is a member of the Crips. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, the woman said.

“They have different ideas on how the baby should be raised. Basically, she said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would ‘claim,’” Sandoval said.

How sad that instead of arresting him, the police did not give each one a pistol and encourage them to shoot each other. Everybody would have won: Society, the community, and most of all, the toddler.

Dave Kopel, on Hillary and Obama trying to get gun owners’ votes:

Imagine an election race of Pat Robertson versus James Dobson, each of them appearing at organic grocery stores and Starbucks throughout Massachusetts, with each candidate insisting that he alone deserves the vote of gay-marriage advocates. . . . A presidential candidate could of course swear devotion to the First Amendment, while declaring that the amendment’s purpose is to protect sports reporting and book collecting. And that candidate could still support government lawsuits against publishers, local bans on newspapers, and draconian restrictions on political commentary.

The only reason I know about this is because I saw a sign on the road, but just so’s ya know (if you live around here), there’s a gun show this weekend.

Apr 19-20 Centre Hall, Grange Fairgrounds, Outdoor Sportsmans Club, Patrick Cronin, 814-404-6933

McCain’s response to Obama’s smug comment.

Via Uncle. Jeff sez:

Gun control is the only kind of policy that we have where the proponents of it will point to its utter failure as evidence that we need even more of it.

Actually, it applies equally well to any pet liberal policy. Welfare. Entitlement programs. Education funding. They’re failures, you see, because we’re not doing it enough!

Wait, Jeff was quoting a . . . Canadian, as in a French Canadian?

Wow.

Sebastian has a post up about the rally in Harrisburg, including an anedcote about a hysterical liberal politician, a Representative Josephs. Don’t get the idea all of our state reps are diaper-wearing wussies. For a contrast, see “Rallying in Support of Your Right to Keep and Bear Arms,” by Rep. Sam Rohrer.

But it’s not just an essay. It starts off:

I recently joined Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) along with a united coalition consisting of more than 40 pro-gun lawmakers, leading state and national Second Amendment advocates and hundreds of gun owners and outdoorsmen in the state Capitol Rotunda for the Third Annual Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally.

You got the “I recently joined” part, right? So instead of just scoring political points, or schmoozing with the reps in the state house, Rep. Rohrer was part of the rally. With the citizens, not the politicians. Oh, and there’s a video at his link.

Sebastian wrote an article about all of the gun control legislation the Philadelphia Democrats are pushing, and I commented:

I hate to state the obvious, but if those people are so worried about crime, they might try locking criminals up and throwing away the keys instead of patting them on the top of the head and making them community heroes. Remember that guy this spring who held up all of those pizza places and convenience stores here? He was convicted and sentenced to 223 years, and the prosecutor is appealing the sentence because he says it should be 455 years.

Maybe our prosecutor could go to Philly and give a seminar on crime prevention.

And why 455 years, instead of 223? Because he used a gun. Note to Philly morons: This is what is known as enforcing the laws on the books, you know, like what the NRA is always saying government should be doing, rather than passing more laws that do nothing except disarm law-abiding citizens.

Of course, you can debate whether 223 years is sufficient, gun or not, for a string of robberies, but that’s really beside the point. If you want to cut the crime rate, then you heavily penalize criminals. Sending criminals to group therapy sessions to sing kumbayah and weave baskets, or turning them into local heroes, doesn’t seem to be working down there, does it?

From Say Uncle, this:

At that point, a reporter interjected: “the Mayor (DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty) says the handgun ban and his initiatives have significantly lowered violent crime in the District. How do you answer that, Mr. Heller?”

The initial answer certainly wasn’t expected – Dick Heller laughed. Ruefully.

Pointing at the Mayor who was making his way across the plaza, surrounded by at least six DC police officers, Heller said, “the Mayor doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“He doesn’t walk on the street like an average citizen. Look at him; he travels with an army of police officers as bodyguards – to keep him safe. But he says that I don’t have the right to be a force of one to protect myself. Does he look like he thinks the streets are safe?”

There was no follow-up question.

No comment for the same reason there was no follow-up question.

Link:

Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on District of Columbia v. Heller, a landmark case for all Americans who believe as I do that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. I am proud to have joined in an amicus brief to the Court calling for a ruling in keeping with the clear intent of our Founding Fathers, which ensures the Second Amendment rights of the residents of District of Columbia are reaffirmed.

The Brady Bunch came out with their state gun-control rankings about six weeks ago, and I downloaded their rankings, then the FBI violent crime rankings for each state. I got as far as editing the state labels so I could use vlookup() to get both sets of data in one file, but then I got distracted by something else and until just a few minutes ago, forgot about them.

The higher the ranking, the more gun control — hence, the higher Brady rank. I opened the data in SPSS and ran Spearman correlations (Spearman because the Brady rank is, well, ranked data). Here are the results:

So here is the evidence, using Brady’s own data, that the more gun control a state implements, the higher the violent crime rate. The r-squared is 0.5975, so the variation in gun control measures accounts for 59.75% of the variation in violent crime rates.

Do you suppose Brady ever bothers to, you know, actually analyze their own data?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hot appointment to get a haircut, which I badly need.

Ahab reports that background checks increased 5.3% in January. This happened before, in 1993.

US Firearms Production, 1985-2004 (PDF source). Note the bolded years:

Here’s a line chart of the above data, excluding totals, to emphasize the spike in sales:

So why the spike in sales in 1993? What happened in 1993?

The Brady Bill.

So here’s a cold, hard lesson for gun-grabbers. Pass gun control legislation, and we buy more guns. Watch for sales to continue going up.

I’m not much of a wheelgun kinda guy, but then I saw one of these:

It’s a Redhawk with a 4-inch barrel, .44 Magnum, carry size. Specs:

• Sturm Ruger Redhawk Revolver
• Action: Single/Double
• Caliber: 44 Magnum
• Barrel Length: 4 Inch Barrel
• Capacity: 6 Rounds
• Safety: Transfer Bar
• Grips: Rosewood
• Sights: Adjustable
• Weight: 46 ounces
• Finish: Stainless

46 ounces is a little on the heavy side to carry around all day, but I’m sorely tempted.

They call them cheeseheads for a reason, apparently:

Two Sheboygan County youths attempting to drill into a high-powered rifle bullet sparked an explosion Monday afternoon but escaped with only minor injuries, according to the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department. …

Benjamin G. Fisher, 18, and a 17-year-old friend who was not identified were attempting to remove the gunpowder, Adams said.

Okay. So why didn’t they just buy some gunpowder? The story doesn’t say.

They cut off the tip off the bullet and drilled into what remained, hoping to force the rest of the slug out of the casing, Adams said. The gunpowder in the round exploded as the drill bit came into contact with it.

Duh.

A deputy noted in his report that the boys had no specific plans for the gunpowder, “but did admit to horseplay and suggested they would have found a use for it.”

Uh, okay.

Hat tip: Bitter Bitch

The following 31 states filed briefs on behalf of Heller — that is, against the DC gun ban:

Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wyoming

These five states filed briefs supporting the gun ban:

Hawaii
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York

I couldn’t find a list of state online. All I could find were maps. Isn’t it fortunate that back in the dark ages when I was in elementary school they made us memorize the states?

A couple of weeks ago, a number of Representatives signed a brief supporting the DC gun ban in the Heller case. They are:

Representative Robert A. Brady (PA-01)
Representative John Conyers Jr. (MI-14)
Representative Danny K. Davis (IL-07)
Representative Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Representative Sam Farr (CA-17)
Representative Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Representative Al Green (TX-09)
Representative Raul M. Grijalva (AZ-07)
Representative Michael Honda (CA-15)
Representative Zoe Lofgren (CA-16)
Representative Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04)
Representative Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Representative James P. Moran (VA-08)
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
Representative Bobby L. Rush (IL-01)
Representative Maxine Waters (CA-35)
Representative Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06)
Representative Albert R. Wynn (MD-04)

Yesterday, a brief against the gun ban was signed by the following:

Vice President Richard B. Cheney
Senator A. Lamar Alexander (TN, R)
Senator A. Wayne Allard (CO, R)
Senator John A. Barrasso (WY, R)
Senator Max S. Baucus (MT, D)
Senator Robert F. Bennett (UT, R)
Senator Christopher S. Bond (MO, R)
Senator Samuel D. Brownback (KS, R)
Senator James P. D. Bunning (KY, R)
Senator Richard M. Burr (NC, R)
Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (PA, D)
Senator C. Saxby Chambliss (GA, R)
Senator Thomas A. Coburn (OK, R)
Senator W. Thad Cochran (MS, R)
Senator Norman Coleman, Jr. (MN, R)
Senator Susan M. Collins (ME, R)
Senator Robert P. Corker, Jr. (TN, R)
Senator John Cornyn, III (TX, R)
Senator Larry E. Craig (ID, R)
Senator Michael D. Crapo (ID, R)
Senator James W. DeMint (SC, R)
Senator Elizabeth H. Dole (NC, R)
Senator Pete V. Domenici (NM, R)
Senator Michael B. Enzi (WY, R)
Senator Russell D. Feingold (WI, D)
Senator Lindsey O. Graham (SC, R)
Senator Charles E. Grassley (IA, R)
Senator Judd A. Gregg (NH, R)
Senator Charles T. Hagel (NE, R)
Senator Orrin G. Hatch (UT, R)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX, R)
Senator James M. Inhofe (OK, R)
Senator John H. Isakson (GA, R)
Senator Timothy P. Johnson (SD, D)
Senator Jon L. Kyl (AZ, R)
Senator Blanche L. Lincoln (AR, D)
Senator Melquiades R. Martinez (FL, R)
Senator John S. McCain, III (AZ, R)
Senator A. Mitchell McConnell (KY, R)
Senator Lisa A. Murkowski (AK, R)
Senator E. Benjamin Nelson (NE, D)
Senator C. Patrick Roberts (KS, R)
Senator Kenneth L. Salazar (CO, D)
Senator Jefferson B. Sessions, III (AL, R)
Senator Richard C. Shelby (AL, R)
Senator Gordon H. Smith (OR, R)
Senator Olympia J. Snowe (ME, R)
Senator Arlen Specter (PA, R)
Senator Theodore F. Stevens (AK, R)
Senator John E. Sununu (NH, R)
Senator Jon Tester (MT, D)
Senator John R. Thune (SD, R)
Senator David B. Vitter (LA, R)
Senator George V. Voinovich (OH, R)
Senator James H. Webb, Jr. (VA, D)
Senator Roger F. Wicker (MS, R)
Representative Robert B. Aderholt (AL-04, R)
Representative W. Todd Akin (MO-2, R)
Representative Rodney M. Alexander (LA-5, R)
Representative Jason Altmire (PA-4, D)
Representative Michael A. Arcuri (NY-24, D)
Representative Joe Baca (CA-43, D)
Representative Michele M. Bachmann (MN-6, R)
Representative Spencer T. Bachus, III (AL-6, R)
Representative Brian Baird (WA-3, D)
Representative Richard H. Baker (LA-6, R)
Representative J. Gresham Barrett (SC-3, R)
Representative John J. Barrow (GA-12, D)
Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett (MD-6, R)
Representative Joe L. Barton (TX-6, R)
Representative Marion Berry (AR-1, D)
Representative Judith B. Biggert (IL-13, R)
Representative Brian P. Bilbray (CA-50, R)
Representative Gus M. Bilirakis (FL-9, R)
Representative Robert W. Bishop (UT-1, R)
Representative Sanford D. Bishop (GA-2, D)
Representative Marsha W. Blackburn (TN-7, R)
Representative Roy D. Blunt (MO-7, R)
Representative John A. Boehner (OH-8, R)
Representative Josiah R. Bonner, Jr. (AL-1, R)
Representative Mary Bono Mack (CA-45, R)
Representative John N. Boozman (AR-3, R)
Representative D. Daniel Boren (OK-2, D)
Representative Leonard L. Boswell (IA-3, D)
Representative Frederick C. Boucher (VA-9, D)
Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (LA-7, R)
Representative F. Allen Boyd, Jr. (FL-2, D)
Representative Nancy Boyda (KS-2, D)
Representative Kevin P. Brady (TX-8, R)
Representative Paul C. Broun (GA-10, R)
Representative Henry E. Brown, Jr. (SC-1, R)
Representative Virginia Brown-Waite (FL-5, R)
Representative Vernon G. Buchanan (FL-13, R)
Representative Michael C. Burgess (TX-26, R)
Representative Danny L. Burton (IN-5, R)
Representative Stephen E. Buyer (IN-4, R)
Representative Kenneth S. Calvert (CA-44, R)
Representative David L. Camp (MI-4, R)
Representative John B. T. Campbell, III (CA-48, R)
Representative Christopher B. Cannon (UT-3, R)
Representative Eric I. Cantor (VA-7, R)
Representative Shelley M. Capito (WV-2, R)
Representative Dennis A. Cardoza (CA-18, D)
Representative Christopher P. Carney (PA-10, D)
Representative John R. Carter (TX-31, R)
Representative Steven J. Chabot (OH-1, R)
Representative A. Benjamin Chandler, III (KY-6, D)
Representative J. Howard Coble (NC-6, R)
Representative Stephen I. Cohen (TN-9, D)
Representative Thomas J. Cole (OK-4, R)
Representative K. Michael Conaway (TX-11, R)
Representative James H. S. Cooper (TN-5, D)
Representative Joseph D. Courtney (CT-2, D)
Representative Jerry F. Costello (IL-12, D)
Representative Robert E. Cramer, Jr. (AL-5, D)
Representative Ander Crenshaw (FL-4, R)
Representative Barbara L. Cubin (WY-AL, R)
Representative R. Enrique Cuellar (TX-28, D)
Representative John A. Culberson (TX-7, R)
Representative Artur G. Davis (AL-7, D)
Representative David Davis (TN-1, R)
Representative Geoffrey C. Davis (KY-4, R)
Representative Lincoln E. Davis (TN-4, D)
Representative Thomas M. Davis, III (VA-11, R)
Representative J. Nathan Deal (GA-9, R)
Representative Peter A. DeFazio (OR-4, D)
Representative Charles W. Dent (PA-15, R)
Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21, R)
Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25, R)
Representative John D. Dingell (MI-15, D)
Representative Joseph S. Donnelly (IN-2, D)
Representative John T. Doolittle (CA-4, R)
Representative David T. Dreier (CA-26, R)
Representative Thelma D. Drake (VA-2, R)
Representative John J. Duncan, Jr. (TN-2, R)
Representative T. Chester Edwards (TX-17, D)
Representative Brad Ellsworth (IN-8, D)
Representative Jo Ann H. Emerson (MO-8, R)
Representative Philip S. English (PA-3, R)
Representative R. Terry Everett (AL-2, R)
Representative Mary C. Fallin (OK-5, R)
Representative Thomas C. Feeney, III (FL-24, R)
Representative Jeff Flake (AZ-6, R)
Representative J. Randy Forbes (VA-4, R)
Representative Jeffrey L. Fortenberry (NE-1, R)
Representative Virginia A. Foxx (NC-5, R)
Representative Trent Franks (AZ-2, R)
Representative Elton W. Gallegly (CA-24, R)
Representative E. Scott Garrett (NJ-5, R)
Representative James W. Gerlach (PA-6, R)
Representative Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8, D)
Representative Kirsten R. Gillibrand (NY-20, D)
Representative J. Phillip Gingrey (GA-11, R)
Representative Louis B. Gohmert, Jr. (TX-1, R)
Representative Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (VA-5, R)
Representative Robert W. Goodlatte (VA-6, R)
Representative Barton J. Gordon (TN-6, D)
Representative Kay M. Granger (TX-12, R)
Representative Samuel B. Graves, Jr. (MO-6, R)
Representative R. Eugene Green (TX-29, D)
Representative Ralph M. Hall (TX-4, R)
Representative Richard N. Hastings (WA-4, R)
Representative Robin C. Hayes (NC-8, R)
Representative Dean Heller (NV-2, R)
Representative T. Jeb Hensarling (TX-5, R)
Representative Walter W. Herger (CA-2, R)
Representative Stephanie M. Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL, D)
Representative Brian M. Higgins (NY-27, D)
Representative Baron P. Hill (IN-9, D)
Representative David L. Hobson (OH-7, R)
Representative Paul W. Hodes (NH-2, D)
Representative Peter Hoekstra (MI-2, R)
Representative T. Timothy Holden (PA-17, D)
Representative Kenny C. Hulshof (MO-9, R)
Representative Duncan L. Hunter (CA-52, R)
Representative Robert D. Inglis (SC-4, R)
Representative Darrell E. Issa (CA-49, R)
Representative R. Samuel Johnson (TX-3, R)
Representative Timothy V. Johnson (IL-15, R)
Representative Walter B. Jones, Jr. (NC-3, R)
Representative James D. Jordan (OH-4, R)
Representative Steven L. Kagen (WI-8, D)
Representative Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11, D)
Representative Richard A. Keller (FL-8, R)
Representative Ronald J. Kind (WI-3, D)
Representative Steven A. King (IA-5, R)
Representative John H. Kingston (GA-1, R)
Representative John P. Kline, Jr. (MN-2, R)
Representative Joseph C. Knollenberg (MI-9, R)
Representative J. Randy Kuhl, Jr. (NY-29, R)
Representative Douglas L. Lamborn (CO-5, R)
Representative Nicholas V. Lampson (TX-22, D)
Representative Thomas P. Latham (IA-4, R)
Representative Steven C. LaTourette (OH-14, R)
Representative Robert E. Latta (OH-5, R)
Representative C. Jeremy Lewis (CA-41, R)
Representative Ron E. Lewis (KY-2, R)
Representative John E. Linder (GA-7, R)
Representative Frank D. Lucas (OK-3, R)
Representative Daniel E. Lungren (CA-3, R)
Representative Cornelius H. McGillicuddy, IV (FL-14, R)
Representative Timothy E. Mahoney (FL-16, D)
Representative Donald A. Manzullo (IL-16, R)
Representative Kenny E. Marchant (TX-24, R)
Representative James C. Marshall (GA-8, D)
Representative James D. Matheson (UT-2, D)
Representative Kevin O. McCarthy (CA-22, R)
Representative Michael T. McCaul (TX-10, R)
Representative Thaddeus G. McCotter (MI-11, R)
Representative James O. McCrery, III (LA-4, R)
Representative Patrick T. McHenry (NC-10, R)
Representative John M. McHugh (NY-23, R)
Representative D. Carmichael McIntyre, II (NC-7, D)
Representative Howard P. McKeon (CA-25, R)
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5, R)
Representative Malcolm R. Melancon (LA-3, D)
Representative John L. Mica (FL-7, R)
Representative Michael H. Michaud (ME-2, D)
Representative Candice S. Miller (MI-10, R)
Representative Gary G. Miller (CA-42, R)
Representative Jefferson B. Miller (FL-1, R)
Representative Harry E. Mitchell (AZ-5, D)
Representative Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1, D)
Representative Jerry Moran (KS-1, R)
Representative Timothy F. Murphy (PA-18, R)
Representative John P. Murtha, Jr. (PA-12, D)
Representative Marilyn N. Musgrave (CO-4, R)
Representative Sue W. Myrick (NC-9, R)
Representative Robert R. Neugebauer (TX-19, R)
Representative Devin G. Nunes (CA-21, R)
Representative James L. Oberstar (MN-8, D)
Representative Solomon P. Ortiz (TX-27, D)
Representative Ronald E. Paul (TX-14, R)
Representative Stevan E. Pearce (NM-2, R)
Representative Michael R. Pence (IN-6, R)
Representative Collin C. Peterson (MN-7, D)
Representative John E. Peterson (PA-5, R)
Representative Thomas E. Petri (WI-6, R)
Representative Charles W. Pickering, Jr. (MS-3, R)
Representative Joseph R. Pitts (PA-16, R)
Representative Todd R. Platts (PA-19, R)
Representative L. Ted Poe (TX-2, R)
Representative Earl R. Pomeroy (ND-AL, D)
Representative Jon C. Porter, Sr. (NV-3, R)
Representative Thomas E. Price (GA-6, R)
Representative Deborah D. Pryce (OH-15, R)
Representative Adam H. Putnam (FL-12, R)
Representative George P. Radanovich (CA-19, R)
Representative Nick J. Rahall, II (WV-3, D)
Representative Dennis R. Rehberg (MT-AL, R)
Representative David G. Reichert (WA-8, R)
Representative Richard G. Renzi (AZ-1, R)
Representative Silvestre Reyes (TX-16, D)
Representative Thomas M. Reynolds (NY-26, R)
Representative Ciro D. Rodriguez (TX-23, D)
Representative Harold D. Rogers (KY-5, R)
Representative Michael D. Rogers (AL-3, R)
Representative Michael J. Rogers (MI-8, R)
Representative Dana T. Rohrabacher (CA-46, R)
Representative Peter J. Roskam (IL-6, R)
Representative Ileana C. Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18, R)
Representative Michael A. Ross (AR-4, D)
Representative Edward R. Royce (CA-40, R)
Representative Paul D. Ryan (WI-1, R)
Representative Timothy J. Ryan (OH-17, D)
Representative John T. Salazar (CO-3, D)
Representative William T. Sali (ID-1, R)
Representative Jean Schmidt (OH-2, R)
Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (WI-5, R)
Representative Peter A. Sessions (TX-32, R)
Representative John B. Shadegg (AZ-3, R)
Representative John M. Shimkus (IL-19, R)
Representative J. Heath Shuler (NC-11, D)
Representative William F. Shuster (PA-9, R)
Representative Michael K. Simpson (ID-2, R)
Representative Adrian M. Smith (NE-3, R)
Representative Lamar S. Smith (TX-21, R)
Representative Mark E. Souder (IN-3, R)
Representative Zachary T. Space (OH-18, D)
Representative Clifford B. Stearns (FL-6, R)
Representative Bart T. Stupak (MI-1, D)
Representative John M. Sullivan (OK-1, R)
Representative Thomas G. Tancredo (CO-6, R)
Representative John S. Tanner (TN-8, D)
Representative G. Eugene Taylor (MS-4, D)
Representative Lee R. Terry (NE-2, R)
Representative W. McClellan Thornberry (TX-13, R)
Representative W. Todd Tiahrt (KS-4, R)
Representative Patrick J. Tiberi (OH-12, R)
Representative Michael R. Turner (OH-3, R)
Representative Frederick S. Upton (MI-6, R)
Representative Timothy Walberg (MI-7, R)
Representative Gregory P. Walden (OR-2, R)
Representative James T. Walsh (NY-25, R)
Representative Timothy J. Walz (MN-1, D)
Representative Zachary P. Wamp (TN-3, R)
Representative David J. Weldon, Jr. (FL-15, R)
Representative Gerald C. Weller (IL-11, R)
Representative Lynn A. Westmoreland (GA-3, R)
Representative W. Edward Whitfield (KY-1, R)
Representative Charles A. Wilson (OH-6, D)
Representative Heather A. Wilson (NM-1, R)
Representative Addison G. Wilson (SC-2, R)
Representative Robert J. Wittman (VA-1, R)
Representative Frank R. Wolf (VA-10, R)
Representative Donald E. Young (AK-A)

That’s 305 signatures — 306, counting the Vice President’s — against the gun ban, and 18 for. Even taking into account cynicism (there is an election coming up), those aren’t good odds for the gun-grabbers.

Not that I’ve changed my mind about Heller. I still think bringing the lawsuit and forcing it to the SCOTUS was a tremendously bad idea, but I’d love to be proved wrong. Still, 305:18 isn’t great.

Note that all of the politicians who signed the brief in favor of the DC ban are Democrats, but they’re a minority even in their own party. Of the 305 (306) who signed the brief against, 76 are Democrats. Still not good odds.

Now, I have no doubt that many of these 76 Democrats if pressured would vote for a gun control bill, but that’s a different issue. 305 (306) congressmen publicly went on record as supporting the Second Amendment and opposing the DC gun ban. Only 18 did the reverse.

And since I have particular interest in two states, Indiana and Pennsylvania, I note that neither Bayh nor Lugar was willing to sign either brief, but that seven of Indiana’s nine representatives signed against the DC gun ban — and those who did not are the two you’d expect, namely, the 1st (the Region, Greater Chicago), and the 7th (except since Julia Carson died, is there anybody in that seat now?)

Both of Pennsylvania’s senators signed against the ban, but of the nineteen representatives in the House, only 13 signed. Two of the remaining representatives, Robert A. Brady (PA-01) and Chaka Fattah (PA-02), signed in favor of the ban.

The signatories in an Excel file are here, if you want to play with them.

The following Indiana Senate bills are all likely to pass, thank God:

SB 29. Prohibits a local unit of government from imposing a minimum lot size on which a shooting range may be located. Prohibits a local unit of government from regulating the lawful discharge of a firearm, except for: (1) the discharge of a firearm on land, in a building, or on other real property owned or administered by a unit, including a highway or a public highway; or (2) using the unit’s planning and zoning powers to regulate the discharge of a firearm within 200 feet of a school.

SB 65. Provides that a person who possesses a valid Indiana license to carry a handgun may not be prohibited from possessing a handgun on land or in buildings and other structures owned or leased by: (1) the state or a political subdivision of the state; or (2) a nonpublic elementary school, nonpublic secondary school, or nonpublic postsecondary educational institution. Provides exceptions for airports and penal facilities.

And nearly identical (and already out of committee, so it’s likely to come up for a vote soon):

SB 356. Provides that a person who possesses a valid Indiana license to carry a handgun may not be prohibited from possessing a handgun: (1) on land that is; or (2) in buildings and other structures that are; owned or leased by the state or a political subdivision of the state. Provides exceptions for airports, county courthouses (including a building connected to a county courthouse), and penal facilities. Permits a court to adopt a court rule authorizing persons licensed to carry a handgun to carry a handgun in a county courthouse.

Also nearly identical, but just so colleges and universities understand that the law applies to them:

SB 158. Specifically disallows universities from forbidding carry by IN LTC holders, but unlike SB 65, does not discuss other buildings (and I think it excludes private universities, not sure) This bill’s summary is not yet online at the official site.

And I’m a little confused about this one. Didn’t this already pass last year?

SB 66. Prohibits a person from adopting or enforcing a policy or rule that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting an individual from legally possessing a firearm that is locked in the individual’s vehicle while the vehicle is in or on the person’s property. Excepts possession of a firearm: (1) on school property or a school bus; (2) on certain child care and shelter facility property; (3) on penal facility property; and (4) in violation of federal law. Provides that a person who, in compliance with the prohibition, does not adopt or enforce such a policy or rule is not liable for resulting injury or damage. Authorizes a civil action for damages, costs, attorney’s fees, and injunctive relief to remedy a violation.

Here’s another one. Didn’t this pass last year?

SB 1043. Prohibits the state, a political subdivision, or any other person from prohibiting or restricting the lawful possession, transfer, sale, transportation, storage, display, or use of firearms or ammunition during a declared disaster emergency, energy emergency, or local disaster emergency. Repeals provisions that allow certain political subdivisions to adopt emergency ordinances to regulate firearms if a local disaster emergency has been declared.

If even one of these bills was in the Pennsylvania legislature, Fast Eddie would be huffing and puffing and beating on the podium. Fortunately for Hoosiers, Mitch Daniels is not Ed Rendell.

Wait. Didn’t we throw the school board idiots out on their cans? These are the bozos who voted against allowing — wait for it — a local BB gun club to hold their state tournament at State College High:

• David Hutchinson
• Chris Small
• Gowen Roper
• Donna Queeney
• Lou Ann Evans

And the biggest idiot of them all, at least from what I read in the local rag, is David Hutchinson, who said:

Most board members against the exception said their decision was not against the value of the club or gun safety in general — it was about the process of making exceptions to a “zero-intelligence” “zero-tolerance” policy.

“There was a lot of public input that went into the policy in the first place,” board member David Hutchinson said.

Morons.

I’m not going to start whining about “positive images” on television, but the reason I changed the channel to hear our math whiz show off her skills was a particularly annoying anti-gun show. Anyway, I started thinking about the portrayal of firearms owners on television.

Out of all the shows we watch, I can only think of two that ever portray gun owners as normal human beings, and the main characters don’t freak out when they find out somebody owns a gun: CSI and CSI: Miami. And that in turn got me thinking about gun nuts portrayed as normal human beings who are also main characters on shows.

There’s only one I can think of: Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Proctor’s character on CSI: Miami). She’s one of the main characters, and she’s, well, more than just a gun nut. She’s the ballistics expert in the lab. In one episode when she goes to the armory, she looks around at the firearms and says, “Still my beating heart.” In another episode where they’re trying to catch a sniper, she and Caruso are on top of a building and he says something like, “A guy with a rifle, what’s your reaction?” and she says, “Hot flashes, but that’s just me.” In the same episode, we find out she’s dating a Marine sniper who owns a rifle range.

In fact, those are the only shows on television I can think of where a target range is shown as, well, a target range, and not some kind of crypto-meeting-place-for-neo-Nazis.

There are lots of shows that show uniforms with guns, of course. They don’t count. Calleigh Duquesne isn’t just a ballistics expert; she’s crazy about guns. Guys at the range just to shoot, and not to plot the overthrow of the New World Order government. Citizens who have guns, and aren’t criminals or nutjobs, and police who shrug their shoulders when they find out the citizens have guns. Oh, there’s Shatner’s character in Boston Legal, but he doesn’t count because he’s half nuts, and the show is rabidly anti-gun.

There aren’t many shows with normal gun nuts. Which ones have I missed?

Tell me this isn’t kewl. Baretta’s CX4 Storm:

Specs here.

I don’t own one, but I do own these (among others). Click to enhugen:

This is pretty cool, too (specs here), but .50-cal rifles are always cool. Ever seen what one of these babies can do to a watermelon? Click to embiggify.

I used to carry this Ruger P95DC (9mm). Too damned bulky, too damned heavy, too damned many angles, and too little stopping power (click to immensify).

So now I carry a .45ACP Glock (click for hugefied version), and of course, the minute the ugly weapons ban expired, I picked up a few high-capacity magazines for it:

But for plinking, the Mark II (.22LR) is my favorite:

And you can’t have too many of these — what’s better than .30-06?

For good prices on ammo, check out Cheaper Than Dirt, Cabela’s, Gun Broker, or your local Wal-Mart, especially for the 550-count bulk packs of .22LR Federal, for $9.99. Dick’s, in my experience, is way too expensive.

I don’t own a Desert Eagle, though I’ve thought about it, and I don’t own a Blackhawk either, mostly because I’m not a wheelgun kinda guy, but I’ve been tempted.

I haven’t bought a firearm since moving to Pennsylvania, mostly because of the de facto gun registration here. But it’s not like I didn’t bring plenty of firepower with me.

David Petzal — another lefty (no, not that kind of lefty) — says:

And so I swore that one day I would make rifles so wonderful that everyone would lust after them, but they would be made left-hand only, and right handers could only grind their teeth in envy. Well, I got into this business instead, but someone else has done what I swore to do. His name is Mike Morreal, and his company is called Bedrock Industries.

Bedrock is the distributor for Noveske Rifleworks LLC, which is run by a gifted and meticulous gunsmith named John Noveske. There are two lines of Noveske rifles. One is left-hand bolt-action sporters; the other is true left-hand ARs in various configurations. They do not make right-hand guns. I’ve wanted to write that sentence for 50 years so I’ll do it again. They do not make right-hand guns.

I understand exactly. Without descending into whiny identity nonsense, righties really don’t have a clue. Really. I once was at a mall with a number of other people, and found a store for lefties. I found a left-handed ladle, and was pretty excited about it (I’d never heard of one). Here’s the clueless part: I knew exactly what a left-handed ladle would be, and exactly why having one would be great. The righties I was shopping with just gave me deer in the headlights when I told them I’d bought a left-handed ladle. They had no idea what such a thing might be, or why anybody would want one. I had to explain it to them.

Then there are those right-handed desks in classrooms and lecture halls. I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but when seating students for exams, I would always end up with a few right-handed students in the only left-handed row, and I took a great deal of sadistic pleasure from hearing them whine that they couldn’t use the desk. Welcome to my world, kids. I used nothing but right-handed desks all the way through school. I relish your pain.

I also have always believed that if a few people from the companies that make those desks were forced to take a two-hour exam at a left-handed desk, suddenly, they’d change the design.

I’m old enough that when I grew up, there were no left-handed anything, of any kind, anywhere. My first-grade teacher sent me home with a letter saying that I “refused to learn how to print,” which meant that she couldn’t force me to do it with my left hand, after tying it behind my back, and whacking my knuckles. I learned how to print at home. The result is that even though I’m completely left-handed, I do most things right-handed. I can’t even use left-handed scissors.

Oh. And I shoot right-handed.

October 22-26 will be Open Holster Week at Penn State, to protest campus anti-gun regulations. Details here.

The iTaser: It’s an MP3 player! It’s a taser! Hat tip: Uncle.

Don Surber:

Michigan discovers how to beat crime: Arm the citizens.

Imagine a city of 155,000 people where only 175 people commit a crime in one year.

For the mathematically inclined that means 99.8% of the the people are law-abiding, upstanding citizens.

What would you call such a city? Nirvana? Utopia? Poca-on-Steroids?

No, you would call it Michigan.

Dawson Bell of the Detroit Free Press reported on Sunday that since Michigan loosened up its gun permits laws in 2000, gun-related deaths are down.

The experts were wrong.

The sixfold increase in legally armed people led to less crime, not more.

And there’s the first duh! Somebody explain to me what’s happened to the common sense gene. Seriously. If you were a criminal, would you rather go after somebody you know isn’t armed, or somebody who might be armed? Is that a hard question? What’s the cognitive block here?

But the gun-grabbers go way beyond idiocy, into delusion:

“I think the general consensus out there from law enforcement is that things were not as bad as we expected,” said Woodhaven Police Chief Michael Martin, cochair of the legislative committee for the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. “There are problems with gun violence. But … I think we can breathe a sigh of relief that what we anticipated didn’t happen.”

“What we anticipated” would be BLOOD IN THE STREETS! WILD WEST! GUNFIGHTS! SKYROCKETING VIOLENCE!, and that might be understandable, except that 48 states allow citizens to carry firearms (only Wisconsin and Illinois prohibit the right to keep and bear arms to all citizens), of those 48, 41 prohibit law enforcement from infringing upon the right based upon whim, in every case when a state passed liberal gun carry laws, the gun-grabbers shrieked BLOOD IN THE STREETS! WILD WEST! GUNFIGHTS! SKYROCKETING VIOLENCE! and it has never happened. Anywhere. So with 41 examples that BLOOD IN THE STREETS! WILD WEST! GUNFIGHTS! SKYROCKETING VIOLENCE! does not result, these idiots just cannot comprehend it.

They’re completely out of touch with reality. Pragmatically speaking, insane. So tell me: Why should we listen to anything these idiots have to say, ever, about anything?

The pics. Click to biggify.

The shoes, waiting for the shuttle bus:

The first thing we saw — Helmut’s strudel stand! These folks make amazing apple strudel — they come to State College for the art fair:

Speaking of apples:

The obligatory Steelers stand (there were several of them, and if you don’t know why obligatory, then you don’t live in Pennsylvania):

There was an elementary school rodeo going on, which for some odd reason (and I don’t know why) reminded me of NYC Educator:

This is a fifth-grader on the horse:

Speaking of NYC Educator, these are angus cattle:

There was plenty of food:

No Pennsylvania festival would be complete without a few of these:

And for Wyatt, there were almost as many of these as there were Steelers logos:

And speaking of Wyatt, I found the State Police. They had a big table set up:

And the State Police are raffling off this beauty, to raise funds for the State Police Memorial (yes, I bought a raffle ticket). Hard to imagine, say, the New Jersey police holding this raffle, isn’t it?

And for all of our PETA-moron pals, this is what angus cattle are for:

To see the whole set of pics, click here.

but sure to make GFWs wet their panties (hat tip to Sebastian). The NRA doesn’t endorse primary candidates, but it seems that the Victory Fund has spent $8998.09 setting up a mailer for (here’s the surprising part) Bill Richardson. As far as I know, the VF has not done this for any of the Republican candidates.

A Bill Richardson video is also featured prominently on the NRA-ILA front page today.

Hat tip to Say Uncle for this, which I never would have seen otherwise (and that’s part of the point). It’s nowhere to be seen in the MSM, except for this Chinese site (I’m cleaning it up, because it’s pretty messy):

A recent poll conducted by Zogby International for Associated Television News

Stop there. Note that this is not some weird Chinese poll. This is a Zogby poll. A Zogby poll I’ve so far only seen referred to in the Chinese press. Anyway:

A recent poll conducted by Zogby International for Associated Television News shows that voters value the endorsements of the National Rifle Association, by former President Clinton and President George W. Bush over influential organizations like the AFL-CIO and the National Council of LaRaza or celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Barbra Streisand.

The interactive poll, conducted December 13-17, 2007, surveyed 6,072 likely voters nationwide and has a margin of error of +/- 1.3 percentage points.

Let’s see how those poll numbers stack up:

Q. Considering the presidential election and messages that may be sent to you from the following people or groups, how important are those messages to you when considering for whom to vote — more likely to support, less likely to support, or no effect? Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, National Council of LaRaza, AFL-CIO, National Rifle Association, The National Right-to-Life, Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand.

See that? An NRA endorsement could affect 56 million votes. Compare that with the potential voting blocks for Babs Streisand or Oprah Winfrey. And that’s the best thing about this poll, of course, that we are not, in fact, a nation full of mindless Oprah Winfrey fans.

Join or renew here. NRA News here.

Hat tip to Ragnar.

Ironic funny. Now that Julia Carson is no longer among us, Pete Visclosky (IN-1) is Indiana’s number one gun-grabber and soft-on-crime advocate.

He was mugged. In his own district. Hat tip to Frugal Hoosiers for the link.

It seems the morons running the Peoples’ Republik of New Jersey have decided to abolish the death penalty. I guess they figured they didn’t need one as long as their criminals crossed into Pennsylvania.

The woman who took out the scumbag was not a security guard, as the MSM claimed. She was just a parishioner who was carrying a handgun.

America’s North Shore has more. Glenn Reynolds yet more (follow the links).

Don’t expect to see this detail in the MSM. That would get in the way of their gun-grabbing liberal narrative.