Heller smells like victory…partial victory

This is good, but it’s only a partial victory. 

A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Constitution protects individual gun rights, striking down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and raising questions about weapons restrictions elsewhere.

The 5-4 ruling resolves a constitutional question that had lurked for two centuries: whether the Second Amendment covers people who aren’t affiliated with a state-run militia.

``The enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table,’’ Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority in the final decision of the court’s nine-month term. ``These include the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home.’’

It affirms the individual right to self defense, but the language is narrow, focused on home defense and handguns, and leaves a lot of wiggle room.  The limits of today’s ruling are explored at Reason.  It’s worth a read.

For states without a Castle Doctrine, that leaves a lot of places where states and cities can still try to gun grab.  It doesn’t matter to them how useless these laws are.  It doesn’t matter how ineffective gun bans are.  They won’t stop.  It’s a religion.

Next case please.  One that takes this even further and leaves these over-reaching nanny mayors and governors across the land with NO ambiguity; you shall not infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms.

It must suck to work for the Brady Center today.

Posted by JimK at 09:15 PM on June 26, 2008
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Categories: News,  Politics,  The Federal Government,  Guns - 2nd Amendment
Tags: firearms second amendment heller supreme court

Charlton Heston Dead at 84

Crossposted from Moorewatch

What a shame.  It’s a shame that such a massive man, in skill, heart and stature, was reduced by Alzheimer.s for so long.  What might be the biggest shame of all is that Heston’s last public appearance will be probably be remembered as Mikey (Moore) presented it in that travesty of a lie-filled, “creatively edited” segment in Bowling For Columbine.

I doubt Michael is capable of shame as a human being anymore - if he ever was - but if he is, I hope that for just a brief moment today, he is ashamed of what he did to Mr. Heston in that film, especially now knowing the man was in the early grips of a disease that confounds, confuses and erases the mind.

So...what was your favorite Heston role?  I must admit, I hated Branaugh’s Hamlet, but I thought Heston was great in it.  I’d have to say that my favorite role of his was George Taylor in Planet of the Apes.  All around, that’s the role of his that stuck with me the most over my life.  He played them all, though.  Marc Antony three or four times, Ben Hur, the Player King, Michelangelo, Jefferson, Richelieu, John the Baptist, Moses, Macbeth, Andrew Jackson...the list goes on and on. 

Rest easy, Chuck.  From our cold, dead hands now.  We’ll keep those damn dirty apes at bay.

Posted by JimK at 04:43 PM on April 06, 2008
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Categories: Entertainment,  Michael Moore(on),  News,  Guns - 2nd Amendment
Tags: Charlton Heston

Bush DOJ tries to screw us on Second Amendment

Bill Quick on David Hardy’s post about the amicus brief filed by the DOJ:

We have the first chance in almost eight decades to see the Second finally, legally established an an individual right (and all that potentially entails for liberty) and the farking George W. Bush compassionate conservative administration steps in and stabs us in the back!!!.

...

That’s it. I simply won’t vote for a moderate/liberal GOP candidate trying to masquerade as a conservative. I’ve had enough Bushes (father and son) to last two lifetimes. I want an actual conservative to vote for. If the GOP can’t provide me with one, then the GOP won’t be getting my vote.

Enough is enough.

I’m right there with you.  This has been a hot button issue for me for some time now, and I thought it was going to be a non-factor in this election cycle.  Leave it to Bush and his crew to find a way to poison the Republican/conservative base in yet another way.  I assume that the crew behind Dubya’s rise to the White House are thinking that if they can’t run the place - and they will not with Fred or Romney or Obama or Hillary in the big chair* - then no other conservatives should be allowed.  Therefore it’s in the country’s best interest if they fuck it up for the rest of us.

There’s no need for Bush Derangement Syndrome.  There is so much for which you can legitimately hate this man.  No conspiracy or over-statements or fudged numbers needed.  He’s a divider and a betrayer, and about as conservative as Medea Benjamin.

*Note the “front runner” name I left off: John McCain.  John will make a deal with anyone in order to attain that seat.  He wants to be President more than anything in the world, and anyone who wants this particular job that badly shouldn’t get it.

Posted by JimK at 03:38 PM on January 12, 2008
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Categories: News,  Politics,  Guns - 2nd Amendment
Tags: firearms guns Second Amendment Politics

This guy is getting it put ON him tonight

And probably every night for quite awhile...Nathaniel Brooks is gettin’ lucky all around.

Good for him.  And her too.  :)

Posted by JimK at 04:57 PM on October 13, 2007
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Categories: News,  Crime and Criminals,  Guns - 2nd Amendment
Tags: Nathaniel Brooks guns crime

Canadian Firearms Registry a big fat failure

Two billion dollars and no results.

Canada’s homicide rate and number of gang-related murders has increased since the federal government’s firearms registry and licensing program was implemented, an indication that the program has failed to improve public safety, according to Hubris in the North, The Canadian Firearms Registry, a new report from independent research organization The Fraser Institute. “In 1995, the government promised Canadians that the gun registry would reduce total criminal violence, suicide and domestic abuse, not just gun violence,” said Gary Mauser, author of the report, senior fellow with The Fraser Institute, and a professor at Simon Fraser University. “But the legislation has failed to do that, primarily because it relies upon public-health research to justify a moralistic approach to firearms that exaggerates the danger of citizens owning firearms through pseudoscientific research methods.”

I know I wrote about this in the past.  Damn, it was in 2002.  Back then it was only $860 million. 

Everyone I know who owns a gun predicted this would be a colossal failure.  Not only has no gun crime been prevented and billions wasted, the crime rate went up.  That’s not good.  Scrap it.  Use the money for more law enforcement to break the gangs.  Stop blaming the guns and making them your focus.  Make the gangbangers who use them criminally your focus.

Posted by JimK at 01:06 AM on July 06, 2007
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Categories: News,  International Events,  Guns - 2nd Amendment
Tags: guns firearms canada gun control

Gamer take a bullet for security guard

This story is all over the gaming blogs.  Let me tell you why it is impossible.

1. Almost all forms of guns are banned or severely restricted in the UK, so no gun crime could possibly occur.

2. All gamers are homicidal, self-absorbed maniacs and therefore it cannot be that Adam Mapelson ran to help a woman being menaced by armed thugs.  All reason and ration dictates that he obviously went to help menace her, but due to the fact that murderous criminals and gamers are the same - and cannot get along - they began to fight amongst themselves and the gamer took the worst of it.  Of course he was never shot at all, since...well, see #1.

A HERO commuter who collapsed pouring with blood yesterday after he was blasted in the chest tackling armed robbers on his way to work has regained conciousness, said police.

Brave Adam Mapleson, 24, was gunned down as he raced to help a terrified woman security guard.

Fellow commuters watched in horror as two gun thugs — who had held up the woman as she loaded a cashpoint machine — shot the IT consultant outside his local rail station.

Adam, shot at close range, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.

Last night he was fighting for life with parents Michael and Carolyn at his bedside.

But today, a British Transport Police spokeswoman said Adam’s condition had improved.

She said: “Adam is in a comfortable and slightly improved condition.

“He has regained consciousness overnight but remains in the high dependency unit at Southend Hospital.”

In all seriousness, I hope Adam gets better fast.  He’s quite the credit to youth, gamers and general humanity at large.  We could do with a few million more gamers like this, no?  So how do we know he’s a gamer, by the way?  Myspace, of course.  He’s a Half-Life2/Counterstrike/GTA fan.  Sweet.  Hopefully as he recovers. someone will get him an Xbox 360 and a copy of Crackdown to while away the hours.  I’d be honored to run the streets of Pacific City with him.

Posted by JimK at 11:54 AM on May 29, 2007
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Categories: News,  International Events,  Crime and Criminals,  Guns - 2nd Amendment,  Technobabble (Technology),  Gaming
Tags: Adam Mapelson, gamers, gaming, heroes, crime

More thoughts on privacy, public records and accessibility of data

Dig if you will, a picture: It’s an idyllic Saturday in spring, a typical suburban stripmall anchored by a mega-sized grocery store.  Two vehicles arrive near each other and park.  Out of one hops a 40-something Soccer mom and her two kids, her “Kerry 04” sticker gleaming in the sun right next to the one that says “Hillary 08.” She opens the side panel to her minivan and out pop two beautiful children, somewhere between 6 and 9 years old.

Out of the other hops Joe Citizen, who has a permit to carry his gun.  He’s also 40-something, has been around guns his whole life, has taken classes, practices regularly and follows all common sense safety precautions as well as all laws pertaining to his firearm.  No one can see his gun at any time.  In fact, SoccerMom has no idea if Joe has it with him.  What she does know is that Joe is in a bitter custody battle with his wife, and that anything she can do to help her friend Jane would be obviously justified.  It doesn’t matter than jane drinks and Jane is the one that cheated on Joe.  Jane is her friend and friends help each other.

It just so happens that in this morning’s paper, Joe’s name was on a list of concealed carry permit holders in her state.  A plan develops in Soccermom’s mind, and she walks to a pay phone outside the store to dial 911.

“Oh my God there’s a man with a gun in the grocery store!  He’s threatening people with it!  You’ve got to come quickly!” Eventually it’s discovered that Joe did nothing wrong, but before his name can be cleared and retractions printed in the media, his wife uses the incident to wrangle custody away from him.

All because true conservatives thought it a great idea to publish permit holders in the paper to make the information easily accessible to all.

Scenario two:

Mike and Steve were in love.  They decided to move to Massachusetts, a state that recognizes their right to be emotionally and legally bound as simply as a straight couple, and they got married.  Unfortunately for them, the Boston Globe publishes a list of all gay marriages on the front page of the paper so as to easily identify who is getting “gay married.”

Mike is a lawyer, and a damned good one.  He applies for a job with a law firm.  He’s infinitely qualified.  He’s perfect for the job.  But the hiring partner is a conservative Christian, and not only does he believe as a matter of religious faith that homosexuality is a sin, he knows his clients will be uncomfortable with a gay attorney.

Mike is not in any way a stereotype.  He could never pass for gay on TV, where ridiculous flamboyancy is exchanged for reality.  He’s just a regular guy who looks like any other guy, gay or straight.  he doesn’t talk about being gay to clients, he isn’t an activist, he’s not even associated with any gay causes or websites via a Google search!  The only way anyone would know Mike was gay is if Mike told them...or they read it in the Boston Globe.

What’s wrong with publishing lists like this?  After all...CCW permits and marriage certificates are public record, right?  Why make it difficult for the bigots (or worse) to procure the information?  It should be splashed across the sides of buses.

Right, Andrew?

Posted by JimK at 02:51 PM on May 10, 2007
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Categories: News,  Politics,  Guns - 2nd Amendment,  Other
Tags: Andrew Sullivan firearms guns civil rights

Once again, Andrew Sullivan gets it wrong *UPDATED*

Originally posted 2007-05-08 08:06 PM

Andrew Sullivan, a true conservative:

If gun rights are civil rights, why would anyone feel the need to hide the fact that they own one?

I just don’t understand how people think this moron is anything but a grandstanding poseur.  The answer to your stupid question is practicality and security, stupid.  Practicality to prevent hysterical, reactionary nitwits like you from freaking the hell out every time you see one and security in not making yourself a target of anti-gun whackos and criminals looking for an illegal way to get a gun.  How intelligent does one have to be to understand that?

Andrew Sullivan is equally as conservative as your average Democratic candidate for President.

*UPDATE*

Saint Sullivan of the Bleeding heart updates with this question, which if you can believe it is even dumber than his original;

But I’m not that impressed by wusses who don’t want to be ostracized by liberal elites at their neighborhood barbecues. Isn’t that part of the point of owning a gun - pissing off liberals?

Wow.  This is supposed to be the “soul” of today’s conservative?  What an asshole.  It’s also clear he knows absolutely nothing about guns or gun owners.  He’s as liberal as a NYC Democrat when it comes to guns.  Some conservative...Bush is more friendly to gun owners than Sullivan is, and Bush loves the “assault” weapons ban.

Like any good liberal on the internet, when Andrew finds himself in a hole, he just keeps digging…

A simple question: aren’t gun permits in the public record? If so, doesn’t the privacy defense crumble a little?

Yeah, because there’s no difference between a criminal having to go to the town hall and show ID or go to the local state police barracks and ask for the list as opposed to just spending 35 cents anonymously for a frigging newspaper.  No practical difference at all there.  You’ve spotted the flaw, Andrew.  You’re a genius. /sarcasm

Again I ask, who could take this clueless putz seriously?  Everything he claims to be as a conservative is betrayed by everything he actually says when all these little issues pop up.  He never puts this alleged conservatism into practice.  He tells you he’s a conservative, one of the few left in the known world, but he responds like a Democratic candidate for office when faced with most issues.  He’s not the “true” conservative soul that can salvage the Republican party.  He’s just trying to sell books and get invited back to Bill Mahr’s show.

But forget all that.  It doesn’t matter that Saint Sullivan of the Bleeding Heart pretends to be conservative.  The fact is he’s flat out wrong about this and has been from the start.  His inability to recognize that fact, coupled with his inability to admit that others called him on his bullshit, is what keeps him digging in this hole.  First rule when you find yourself in a hole you;ve dug - stop digging.  Second rule - open your eyes and assess the situation.  This is about publishing a list of gun permit holder in an easily accessible way that doesn’t leave any trail of accountability for accessing it.  What could that information be used for by the general public that would be good?  Can anyone think of anything that list could be used for that isn’t prejudicial and potentially harmful - or worse, fatal - to the people on the list?

How can a conservative really be advocating that we start printing lists of people who are obeying the law as if they were a sub-class of citizen who should be marked in public so as to be more easily identified?  What’s next, branding them with a letter of some sort?  A big scarlet “G” maybe.  Or a yellow cutout of a pistol sewn on their clothing so good and decent anti-gunners can know to stay away from them and not contaminate the purity of the blood.  Gun owners will be forced to put this symbol in the windows of their business so that pure Germans conservatives bigots morons will know not to do business with them.

Yes, that seems practical, conservative and definitely on the side of liberty and security to me.  I saw we implement this plan sofort mein Führer!  Schnell, schnell!  Mark the gewehrinhaber!  It’s perfect!  The German word for gun owner is “gewehrinhaber.  We can use a big yellow G!  Oh this is truly a great day for American freedom.  All thanks to the wit and wisdom of Andrew Sullivan, a true conservative.

Posted by JimK at 02:08 PM on May 10, 2007
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Categories: News,  Politics,  Guns - 2nd Amendment,  The Blogosphere
Tags: Andrew Sullivan firearms guns

Cartoons are terrorism - How we got here

This is not good.  Webcomic artist Matt Boyd was discussing buying a .22 bolt-action target rifle with a co-worker at his day job.  He specifically mentioned, with a bit of a sarcastic snark, that choosing such a rifle would make it damn hard to kill someone, it was expressly to plink at paper targets, so no one had anything to worry about.

Only some biddy, or group of nosey busybodies, decided there was something to worry about, complained, and Matt was fired.  Police showed up to check him out and everything.  It seems his jokes in the webcomic were taken as terroristic threats.  What.  The.  Hell?

So how’d we get here? 

Thank you favorite gun control advocate.  30 years of demonizing guns and gun owners has led us to this.  The Violence Policy Center, the Brady Campaign...they’re the biggest contributing factor here in my humble opinion. 

Thank your favorite lawyer.  A hundred-plus years of lawsuits for any and every little irritating thing has led us to this. 

Thank your favorite Human Resources officer.  50 years of bastardizing the useful (and needed) rules and laws about sexual harassment, then turning it into a ruthless campaign of attempting to eliminate virtually any and all natural human interaction in the workplace has led us to this.

Most importantly, thank your favorite Democrat politician.  In order to get elected, they’ve been simplifying these issues, reducing them to “with us or against us” (the irony!), demonizing anyone who doesn’t agree (on both sides of the aisle), and pushing for more and more and more governmental control over the whole mess.  They coddle the lawyers, they despise the gun owners, they turn good ideas into a quagmire of workplace etiquette that feels no more natural to a human than the set of an old episode of Star Trek.  They don’t do it to help you...they do it to get elected and stay elected, simple as that.

Oh, Democrats get help from plenty of Republicans too...take George Bush for example.  He’s no friend to gun owners.  He’s no fan of reducing the number of hoops one must jump through just to get through the day.  He’s no fan of reducing the...enthusiasm...with which law enforcement responds to nay given situation.  He’s no champion of personal responsibility.

This all comes full-circle back to what is wrong with this country - we all want our nanny to take care of every tiny little thing that brings us the slightest discomfort.  We can’t just let things go anymore.  We can’t laugh anything off, or use sound judgment to determine that someone isn’t a threat.  We just don’t use common sense anymore.  We’ve gotten so used to the government, or the HR department, or the cops or anyone else taking care of everything that we’re no longer able to do it ourselves.  Bad day?  Take a pill.  Offended by something?  File a lawsuit.  Don’t like some part of the culture?  Get a law passed that outlaws it.

We have too much help in avoiding life, and not enough help in learning how to deal with living in a society that is immensely diverse.  There’s another one...diversity.  To me, that means variety, with distinct differences that are celebrated and enjoyed.  To others it means crushing any sense of individuality until we all think and look and talk the same.  Diversity is not homogeneity.

I suppose ultimately I’m saying we’re no longer a nation of adventurers and builders and discoverers and dreamers.  We’re now a nation of simpering, sniveling pussycats who cry every time a dog walks by.  We chose this life and now we’re stuck with it.

Or are we?  Can we fix this before we end up like ancient Rome?

Posted by JimK at 04:59 PM on May 05, 2007
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Categories: Humor,  News,  Politics,  The Federal Government,  Guns - 2nd Amendment,  The Stupidity Of Man,  Things To Ponder
Tags: Matt Boyd guns firearms Second Amendment politics

Politics makes people crazy

Oh my God!  A Republican gun nut assaulted and threatened an office full of Democrats unless they voted to support Bush’s policies in Iraq!  Great.  Just what we need...a frigging righty gun owner making us all look////

Oh wait a minute, it’s actually the exact opposite of that.

A man accused of threatening a Nevada Republican Party official with a rifle was arrested Tuesday in a vehicle in which police found swords, knives, a shotgun, shells and a flare gun, authorities said.

Matthew Hunter Kramer, 31, did not resist officers who arrested him on a warrant issued after the April 3 confrontation at state Republican Party offices in Las Vegas. It wasn’t clear why he was not arrested earlier.

Zachary Moyle, executive director of the state GOP, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kramer invited him to look at something in the trunk of his Mercedes before pulling out a rifle, pointing it at his face and warning that he would be back if
President Bush vetoed an emergency war spending bill being considered by Congress

Look for the media to suppress his political leanings - which were the entire point and reason behind his actions - as they barely report this story.  Meanwhile if it were as I described in the beginning, they’d be leading with “A REPUBLICAN gunman” and so forth.

Oh, that liberal media.

P.S. Dude’s got three names.  I’m telling you, don’t give your child three names.  Two or four...never three.

Posted by JimK at 08:50 PM on April 26, 2007
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Categories: News,  Politics,  Crime and Criminals,  Guns - 2nd Amendment
Tags: Matthew Hunter Kramer firearms politics media