Snowflakes in Hell

From Barack Obama campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki:

Barack Obama believes the Second Amendment creates an individual right, and he greatly respects the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms.  He also believes that the Constitution permits state and local governments to adopt reasonable and common-sense gun-safety measures.

This was their answer in regards to the question of why Barack Obama, if he’s such a supporter of the second amendment, didn’t sign onto the Congressional brief with 55 other colleagues asking the Supreme Court to find the DC gun ban violates the second amendment.  We can only assume that DC’s gun laws are “reasonable” and “common sense” in the senator’s eyes.

Over at Volokh.  McCain most definitely fits the mold of “National Greatness” conservative, and what National Greatness conservatives always forget is that it’s liberty that made this country great.

Got wood?

Very nice example of an M1903 Springfield. From the serial number, this is 1942 production.

Very interesting can opener.  Just remember, can openers are always loaded.  I once had a Russian guy show me how to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew if you had sufficiently decent knife to stab and twist the cork out with.  You won’t keep a Russian from his drink, apparently.

Rachel Lucas wonders how they ever managed to get by.

CSGV’s blogs (both blogs) appear to be approving pro-gun comments.  I’ve added a comment of my own.  We’ll see if it appears.  They are also responding to the comments.  Judging from the comments I’m seeing approved so far, I’m going to guess it’s selective moderation.  Not fully open debate, but I won’t ding them if they approve substantive comments without a bias.  If they don’t approve something, post your content here, and we’ll let it be judged whether their moderation is meant to foster open debate, or help them make their points.

It looks like a lot of Pennsylvanians are rejecting James Carville’s old tome about Pennsylvania being Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Alabama in the middle.  Having visited pretty much the entirety of the state, rural Pennsylvania is pretty much like Pennsylvania.  Frankly, it’s always looked a lot more like upstate New York than any of the cotton states.  If Carville meant that culturally, well, there’s plenty of the supposed ignorance urban dwellers like to attribute to rural people right here in the Philadelphia area.  Bitter can attest to that.

For folks who might live in Washington DC, I have a handy and timely doormat suggestion.

UPDATE: Check out this NBC 4 article:

If weapons are recovered, they will be tested and destroyed if they are not found to be linked to any other crimes.

A police spokeswoman said that if evidence of other crimes is found during voluntary searches, amnesty will be granted for that crime as well.

Nevermind the murderers and the rapists!  As long as we get that gun off the street everything will be peachy.  And they wonder why they can’t keep their crime under control.  These DC city politicians really do live in a fantasy world, don’t they?

h/t Instapundit

A win for federalism at the Supreme Court.

Today is the last day of my “early 30s”  From tomorrow on, for the next three years, I’ll have to consider myself in my mid 30s.  I might be able to push that to 37.  Sounds like a nice idea.  I’d only get two more years of “late 30s”, but that’s OK isn’t it?

One Stop Shopping For Stabbin’ Hobos

Hillary claimed she was subject to it in Bosnia.  Now she claims she misspoke.  Ahab thinks she’s just lying.  I think so too.  I’m pretty sure if I was ever under live sniper fire, that image would be seared… seared into my memory.

They ended up shipping fuses for nuclear warheads.  Ooops.  It’s one of those things, you have to wonder if it’s a legitimate mistake, or we’re (or were, rather) secretly arming Taiwan with nuclear weapons, and this whole story is a cover.

… keep shooting all week.

… there are folks that want to put these people in charge of our health care.

I’m greatly amused by the subject of this e-mail I got from my state representative: “King to hold Identity Theft and Document Shredding Fair”

Or they’ll lock you up, in Ohio.

… there is just no pleasing everybody.  I think next time I’ll just leave it at Happy Generic Holiday :)

A lot of non-gun folks don’t have a good understanding of body armor.  Too often you hear the term “bulletproof vest” bandied about, and that term is about the farthest from the truth as you can get.  There is no such thing as a bullet proof vest, only bullet resistant vests, and how much resistance you get depends on exactly what the vest is rated for.

An intrepid blogger actually did some real world experiments on this, to see what would penetrate and what wouldn’t.  The lowly .22 Magnum rimfire round fired from a rifle would seem to be enough to penetrate a level IIIA vest, which is considered sufficient to stop a .44 Magnum.  This seems surprising, but not really; penetration is always a matter of being small and fast.  I would like to see data on some other “pistol” rounds fired from rifles, to see what would happen there.  What about some of these hot small bore rimfire rounds like .17 HMR or .17 HM2?

Kevlar vests have been a lifesaver for law enforcement, but they aren’t magic.  They defend against the kind of threats cops are likely to encounter, but it’s important for folks to have an understanding of the technology, and its limitations.

How long before Reasoned Discourse^TM commences?  I’ll give it a few weeks.

UPDATE: In the comments, it would appear that Reasoned Discourse has already commenced, as comments there would appear to be moderated.  That makes you wonder about this:

I came because of anger. But, I have stayed because of faith. A faith that tells me that love is stronger than hate. A faith in our cause that gives substance to our hopes for a safer society and makes us certain of realities we cannot see.

I would think someone that has faith in their cause wouldn’t be afraid of honest debate.  You also have to love the implication that they are the side of love, and we are the side of hate.

Once someone develops a pair of Heisenberg Compensators, I’m afraid we’re going to lose this line of argument.

There’s a movement to increase the pay of federal judges, currently being lead by Justice Roberts.  I agree that we probably should be paying federal justices competitively.  Here’s why:

The cost of not [addressing the pay disparity] will be a decrease in the quality of an increasingly important judiciary — and a change in its perspective. Fifty years ago, about 65 percent of the federal judiciary came from the private sector — from the practicing bar — and 35 percent from the public sector. Today 60 percent come from government jobs, less than 40 percent from private practice. This tends to produce a judiciary that is not only more important than ever but also is more of an extension of the bureaucracy than a check on it.

Absent competitive pay, the only reason someone has to take a federal judgeship is to power and prestige associated with the position, or a lack of ability in the private sector.  That’s probably the type of person we don’t want sitting on the bench.

Can be found here.  Hat tip to War on Guns for pointing it out.  I don’t really agree with Suprynowicz, in the sense that I think Gura did what he thought he had to do to win the case, but I don’t find this article particularly inflamatory.  What set me off on GOA was the implication that the people involved in this case were not on “our side.”  I think there’s a difference between offering criticism and using language that tends to undermine or downplay the contributions of others.

This case won’t be the end of second amendment litigation by far, just the beginning.  Will we rescue machine gun rights from this?  I’m doubtful, there’s a lot of damage to be undone in that area, but we’ll have to wait and see what’s in the opinion, and where we can go from here.  We will need groups that will make machine guns an issue, because it’s not going to be NRA carrying that torch.  But we need these other groups to carry a message of “We’re standing up for machine gun owners.”  Not a message of “We’re standing up for machine gun owners, and all these other people to our ’shock and horror’, who are on ‘our side’ are undermining us.” This can’t become “If you don’t agree with me on everything we’re enemies.”   That’s a great way to lose.

Apparently the politicians in Philadelphia want Obama and Hillary to take a stand:

Philadelphia’s Democratic leaders say they’ll press Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama to back stricter gun laws, despite the risk of angering voters throughout the rest of Pennsylvania and possibly damaging the party’s nominee in the general election.

Gun violence in Philadelphia — 331 homicides from gunfire in 2007 — thrust firearms laws to the top of the agenda for city voters, and they don’t care about the potential political pitfalls for the presidential candidates, said Carol Campbell, a Democratic ward leader in the city.

“If you can’t deal with it, then you’ve got a problem,” said Mrs. Campbell, who supports Mr. Obama and heads an alliance of black ward leaders.

So it’s not just the rest of Pennsylvania that has to pay because the Philadelphia politicians can’t control crime, the entire nation has to pay.  I actually hope they do take a stand on this.  That way gun owners across Pennsylvania won’t be fooled, and will be more likely to cross over and vote against these two.

It’s been a busy day over at HuffPo.  Josh Horowitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is apparently an expert on gun use for self-defense.  So much so that he is apparently disturbed the justices take a skeptical view of his ilk dictating on the topic to others:

A quick look at the NRA’s Gun Safety Rules webpage reveals just how far out of the mainstream these justices are. One of the NRA’s “fundamental” rules for safe gun handling is “ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.” The NRA also tells gun owners to always “store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons,” noting that “dozens of gun storage devices, as well as locking devices that attach directly to the gun, are available.” In a “Parents Guide to Gun Safety,” the NRA also points out the potential dangers to children, stating “a parent must, in every case, assess the exposure of the firearm and absolutely ensure that it is inaccessible to a child.”

Except that trigger locks are probably the worst way to ensure this.  Few argue that firearms need to be kept away from young hands, but different solutions are optimal depending on the situation.  This is a matter that ought to be left up to the individual, and not dictated by the state.

Eugene Volokh posts a bit about Heller over at the HuffPo, taking some left-wing commentary to task for suggesting conservatives are engaging in judicial activism in finding a second amendment right.