Snowflakes in Hell

It seems air Marshals are having trouble with it:

False identifications based on a terrorist no-fly list have for years prevented some federal air marshals from boarding flights they are assigned to protect, according to officials with the agency, which is finally taking steps to address the problem.

And yet this asshole, and these people, are doing everything they can to apply this list to gun purchases?  I guess that’ll mean no guns for the guys in the Air Marshal program then.  I guess they’ll just have to use harsh language on the real terrorists.

Hat Tip to Instapundit

Based on this article, you would almost think a bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade is rat poison:

The Comerica cop estimated that Leo had drunk about 12 ounces of the hard lemonade, which is 5% alcohol. But an ER resident who drew Leo’s blood less than 90 minutes after he and his father were escorted from their seats detected no trace of alcohol.

“Completely normal appearing,” the resident wrote in his report, “… he is cleared to go home.”

But it would be two days before the state of Michigan allowed Ratte’s wife, U-M architecture professor Claire Zimmerman, to take their son home, and nearly a week before Ratte was permitted to move back into his own house.

The father, a Professor of Archeology at the University of Michigan, who doesn’t watch much television, apparently was unaware that it was alcoholic lemonade.  Easy mistake to make.

One 12 ounce bottle of hard lemonade isn’t going to hurt a 7 year old.  Hell, they used to tell parents to give whiskey to kids to fight teething pain (ask my dad about that one).  It was a simple mistake, and a bit of questioning should have revealed that, and that should have been the end of it.

Hat tip to Orin Kerr.

According to Dave Hardy, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals apparently knows how to read the plain English the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was written in.

People are often under the mistaken impression that the Philadelphia Zoo is located at 34th and Girard.  Those of us who have been to sporting events in the city know that it’s really on South Broad Street, as this visitor from Montreal found out:

My son and I drove from Montreal to catch Monday night’s Flyers-Canadiens playoff game at the Wachovia Center. Your fans have many reasons to be proud of their city and team, but how they treat their guests at a sporting event is not one of them.

As the game progressed, the level of threats and abuse heaped on us grew at an alarming rate. At one point, an unfortunate Habs fan had a glass of beer poured on her head, and her boyfriend thought it best for them to leave the arena. By the end of the game, we and other Habs supporters needed the protection of arena security and police to exit the building.

I can’t imagine what would have happened to us if the Flyers had lost.

Welcome to the jungle.  When I attended the Flyers-Capitals game a few weeks ago at the Verizon Center in D.C. (in the VIP booth, w/ free beer and food, sweet!), I was telling Bitter the reputation our fans had.  Despite a few beers, I resisted the urge to jump up and start cracking heads when people cheered on the Capitals.  I am a poor Philadelphian.

They just don’t get it.  Or they wont get it:

But “gun fatigue” has set in, and it’s unlikely any new gun bills will be brought up in Harrisburg this legislative session.

However, this represents a moment that Nutter could use to his advantage: exploit the political goodwill he has been forging in Harrisburg to help change the conversation about guns and find solutions. Face it: If anything substantial is going to change about the city’s ability to make gun laws, it will require a civil sit-down between Nutter and state leaders – something House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, who once kept gun legislation safely tucked away in the Judiciary Committee he once chaired – told this editorial board he’s willing to do.

Nutter was smart enough to build bridges with Harrisburg before he took office. We believe he’s smart enough to spark a more productive conversation with state lawmakers, and get them to see it’s in their interest to help the city grapple with our gun problem.

We are not passing gun control laws because the City of Philadelphia can’t control it’s crime problem.  That’s off the table.  Put it out of your minds now.  It is not that we don’t care about the city’s problems, it’s that we keep telling you that you can’t fix your problem this way, especially when the city is doing little to enforce the laws they already have.  Nutter and City Council are throwing this temper tantrum because they lack the political courage to tell their constituents something they don’t want to hear; that until they get off their asses and start taking responsibility for their communities and neighborhoods, and start working with the police to get rid of the criminals, drug dealers, and gangs, nothing is going to change.  And most importantly, Philadelphians need to  elect judges who are willing to put these individuals away for a very long time when they are convicted.

We have a lot of guns in this state outside Philadelphia, and we do not have a violence problem.  The reason we don’t is that we would not tolerate it in our communities, and we’d hold the politicians and judges feet to the fire until they started dealing with it.  Really dealing with it, not pretending to deal with it.

Residents of Philadelphia are being sold a bill of goods by their politicians and by the media, that their problems have an easy solution, and it has to start with gun control.  As long as Philadelphia residents are willing to buy that line, and keep electing politicians who peddle that instead of doing something, nothing is going to change in that city.

Take a good long look at this list.  They want to ban rifles like the Ruger 10/22 and the Anschutz model 525 Deluxe.  Granted, this bill is probably not going anywhere, but it’s a useful exercise to see exactly what these people would get away with if they had the chance.

But we’re all just paranoid nuts I guess.  They’ll never ban our guns, right?

Under Bill Clinton’s administration, NICS records were being illegally kept by the FBI.  This practice was ended under the Bush administration.  Frank Lautenberg, the senator from the state that has pretty much killed lawful gun ownership, wants to let the FBI keep those records for six months.  Ten years if you’re on the terrorist watch list.

New Jersey has, for the most part, pretty effectively extinguished the culture of lawful and responsible gun ownership.  Most gun shops there have closed, along with most ranges.  Criminal gun ownership is still, of course, quite fashionable in the Garden State.  California is now heading down the same slippery slope.  Hunters and Shooters who don’t think any of this stuff matters, because they “aren’t coming after my gun” need to realize that the shooting sports are an ecosystem, and without the rest of us to keep it healthy, it dies.  They don’t need to come after anyone’s gun if there’s nowhere to buy them and nowhere to shoot.

Uncle beat me to it.  I will have to go one of these years, before peak oil drives us to start eating the family pets.

Apparently there’s a company making my lego alter ego.  I think I need to get a helmet that matches that one.

This one hits close to home, since I live in this area.  Always a good idea to carry where you are legally able to.  This is one of the reasons why.  Robberies are a tough situation.  In most cases, the best course of action is to let it go down, and make sure to get a good description for the police, if the robbers are content to take the cash from the till and go. But robberies can go south quickly, so it’s wise to be prepared.  So far the places that have been robbed:

• State Liquor Store
• Subway sandwich shop
• Pizza shop
• Rite Aid pharmacy
• Hair Salon
• Dollar Store
• Auto Zone

This guy seems prone to tying people up.  Never a good idea to let the robber control the situation.  If he’s not content to get the cash and get out, draw and fire, because that guy is dangerous, and will kill you as soon as look at you.  Most of the places on this list are easy targets, but mom and pop pizza joints in this area are generally packing heat.  Someone willing to rob family businesses is someone willing to risk taking a bullet, and not someone to give the benefit of doubt.

Countertop notes that Virginia residents can now apply for a temporary recipricol permit if they are visiting the US Virgin Islands.  Why would you visit the Virgin Islands?  This would seem to be a good reason.

From Cam Edwards.  Go read it.

Bitter is not happy about the NRA alert she got tonight. I saw it too and thought it was a bit hyperbolous. Either way, it’s not quite as important as the advances we just made with National Park carry, and the fact that there would be lawsuits on the Florida parking lot bill is predictable.

Air gun, 200 dollars. Tin of 500 .177 caliber pellets, 7 dollars. 25 box of CO2 cartridges, 15 dollars. Being able to pop the ram between each of these sentences, priceless!

So today I picked up a Crossman 2300S so I could do IHMSA air pistol class.  Those are 1/10th scale animals, with chickens at 10 yards, pigs at 12.5, turkeys at 15 and rams at 18 yards.  I also got one of these for practice in the house.  I am disappointed that the animals look nothing like IHMSA standard animals, but are merely vague approximations.

But as for the airgun, the trigger is a little creepy for my tastes, but you can turn the pull down enough that it doesn’t much matter.  It shoots pretty well, regardless.  The plastic grips on it are pretty lame as well.  But still, 200 bucks and you have a gun you can shoot in a different class with and practice at home to boot.  I’m not complaining.  That’s not even mentioning the price of pellets and CO₂ compared to .22LR, or .44 Magnum.

I guess I can’t call this a range report, since I didn’t have to go to the range to zero the sights and try it out :) This will all be fun and games until someone loses an eye.

It’s the new Brady Channel.

I can’t help but notice that these kinds of stories seem to come from states with high Brady rankings.

I think Wretchard of The Belmont Club hits it out of the park on this one:

Now after Obama built up a big delegate lead on Hillary, the Democratic Party was essentially committed to carrying Obama whether or not Hillary found some way to overtake the lead. Remember, Obama once in the lead, is always in the lead. Otherwise it’s a lynching. I think Wright is essentially running up the Jolly Roger knowing full well that the Democratic Party will have sail under those colors or lose the black vote. He’s going to force the Democrats to take Obama on his terms. This is the revolutionary act. Wright believes he has an historic opportunity and he’s going to take it.

I think part of the messianic air about Obama was that somewhere in the national consciousness people saw him as absolution for America’s original sin.  In a sense, he literally was a messiah, come to forgive America for the sin of slavery and racism.  Someone who could lead us into the promised land of post-racial politics.  Reverend Wright, a man who built a ministry on racial politics, will apparently have none of that.  Obama is now a false messiah.

The public comment period has begun.  Just so you understand the process, in order to affect a change in the Code of Federal Regulations, the change has to be published in the Federal Register, and offered a public comment period.  That’s the part we’re in now.  You can examine the proposed rule change here.  Basic summary is this:

Under the proposed amendment, an individual will be able to possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded, and operable firearms within a national park area in the same manner, and to the same extent, that a person may lawfully possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded and operable firearms in any state park in the state in which the federal park, or that portion thereof, is located. Possession of concealed firearms in national parks as authorized by this section must also conform to applicable federal laws.

This is a big help to those of us in the east who drive thorugh NPS land regularly without realizing it.  I occaisionally travel through Valley Forge National Park when I’m heading to visit friends in that part of Chester County, and Independence National Historical Park is part of the City of Philadelphia, and doesn’t have clear boundaries.  Now, I would note that buildings within the park will still be considered a federal facility, and still off limits to carry.  That’s a different law, and will require an Act of Congress to fix/clarify.

This is a very interesting twist to the whole Wright fiasco.  It would seem that it was a backer of Hillary Clinton that arranged the media conference with Wright.  I have to hand it to them, nobody is as good at playing dirty as the Clintons.  Pretty clearly they knew if they could get the good Reverend in front of the cameras, he would have plenty of rope with which to hang himself, and by association Barack Obama.

Looks like the GOP in North Carolina ran an ad attacking Barack Obama, and by association the Democratic gubernatorial candidate for North Carolina, based on his association with Reverend Wright.  I’m not going to agree with some in the media that the ad was in poor taste.  I think the Wright issue is legitimate, as well as other folks Obama has close associations with.  I don’t agree that this has anything to do with race, and I don’t get why other people want to wave that flag.

But nor am I going to join Rush Limbaugh in condemning McCain for distancing himself from the ad.  From the McCain campaign’s point of view, it makes no sense to attack Barack Obama right now.  If McCain or the GOP attacks him, you’re lending credibility to the notion of him being the nominee, and we don’t want that to start becoming a settled issue.  With Hillary wailing away on Obama, and Obama outspending her six times over to not only lose, but to lose big, let the infighting continue.  McCain and the GOP stand to gain nothing by attacking Barack Obama now, especially not on Rev. Wright.  Let Hillary get dirty with him.

Let’s also not forget that the Republican have a lot of problems with the race issue, in terms of having certain people in the party who enjoy opening their mouths and inserting their feet.  Not that the Democrats deserve a pass on this, by any means, but it matters little whether the the Wright ad was racist or not.  There’s a public perception of the GOP as not being as good on racial issues as Democrats, and the media is only happy to foster that.  The media meme was that the ad was racist, so McCain had everything to gain and nothing to lose by distancing himself from it.  It allowed McCain too take the high road, while leaving Hillary to continue weakening Obama, and herself in the process.  Either way this turns out, McCain gains.  I would have imagined that people who follow politics as closely as Rush Limbaugh would realize that, but I have to wonder if they are too clouded by a seething hatred of McCain by this point to realize it.

Last night I decided to completely disassemble my Nagant 1895 to troubleshoot a problem with the double action trigger.  When I would squeeze the trigger, the cylinder would rotate, but the hammer wouldn’t cock.  Worked fine in single action mode.  Upon taking it apart, I discovered that at some point, someone had apparently whacked the trigger with a punch in order to push some metal up so the double action fly on the hammer would catch more properly.  I believe this was done to make up for a weak double action fly spring, which was allowing the fly to push in too readily, rather than catching on the trigger.   I took out the fly screw, and stretched out the fly spring, and bingo, it started working again.  I may have to order a new fly spring if it happens again.  There is actually a place you can buy Nagant parts (and from whom I shamlessly ‘borrowed’ the above image).  I decided to write this up, because I couldn’t find much information on Nagant troubleshooting, I’m guessing because most people faced with a broken 1895 Nagant revolver just ceremoniously bury it in the back yard, then scrounge the sofa for the money to buy another one.  But to me, the death of any gun is a tragedy, so I will commit myself to making sure this one stays in working order.

Continuing a thread that started with my post about police rifles, I wanted to note that what I’m speaking of is not what interpretation of the second amendment is most correct historically, but which interpretations protect the widest array of firearms that the federal judiciary would adopt.

Note that there is no way the federal judiciary is going to accept a standard that laws regulating any kind of arm is by default unconstitutional.  There will be lines drawn with certain classes of arms being protected, and certain classes not being protected.  We have it on pretty good authority, both from Alan Gura, and various other folks with legal knowledge in the issue, that it is extremely unlikely that the federal judiciary will even rule that automatic firearms are protected arms under the second amendment.

So I think it behooves us to think of a standard that the federal judiciary will accept that nontheless, protects an awful lot of firearms.  My “common police use” standard wasn’t meant to be an all inclusive rule, just one way to think about the problem.  For instance, Bryan Miller’s crown jewel, the New Jersey Smart Gun ban would fail the common police use test, since police are exempted from it.  The beauty of the test is that it forces politicians to seriously consider actions like what Chicago may be doing.  If it can be shown that M4s are in common use in police departments, the constitutional case for restricting them starts getting weak.  Certainly magazine size limits and bans on so called “assault weapons” would not pass this test already.

That’s not to say I think the “common police use” test should be the only one.  I would propose a three fold test to determine whether the arm is protected under the second amendment:

1. Is the arm usable for personal self-defense, or
2. It has a function in the preservation of or practicing skill at arms, and
3. It is of a type or functional variant of a firearm in common police or civilian use.

Type or functional variant makes this pretty broad, so many types of firearms fall into this.  This test also doesn’t shut the door forever on machine guns, but nor does it directly address whether they are protected.  It’s also a bit stronger than the “common civilian use” test that the court alluded to, since pretty obviously that would close the door on machine guns.

But this is only meant to be a standard of interpretation for what is an arm under the second amendment.  At some point we also have to address what constitutes an infringement.

Reverend Wright is the gift that just keeps on giving:

The Chicago pastor refused to apologize for suggesting black Americans should sing “God Damn America” instead of “God Bless America” and for suggesting America brought 9/11 on itself because, as he put it, “we have never apologized as a country” for slavery.

“Britain has apologized to Africans but this country’s leaders have refused to apologize,” he said. Wright also said, “You can’t do terrorism on other people and not expect it to come back on you.”

Speaking as someone who has never enslaved another human being, nor knows anyone who has, I think I can fairly tell Reverend Wright to go to hell.  One of the key concepts in American liberty is that we are not held to account for the sins of our fathers.  And speaking of our forefathers, is this not enough of an apology for you Rev. Wright?