Snowflakes in Hell

Rachel Lucas talks about an English woman who was prosecuted for assault because she dealt with some hooligans who had been vandalizing a war memorial.  In the United States, I doubt, given the circumstances in the UK in regards to crime, you could find a jury who would be willing to convict this woman of anything.  This is why juries are important to any proper system of justice.

Many people may be technically guilty of a crime, but the rule of law itself is undermined if it’s applications don’t reflect the attitudes and values of the community it’s supposed to be protecting.

Chicago residents are standing up for what is theirs, and what crooks like Daley should never have the presumption to take away.

Hat Tip to Dave Hardy

It’s looking like it very well may become reality.  It needs to, because we can’t end up in an endless back and forth with DC city government before challenging Chicago.

Well, if you don’t have a pro-gun record, and you’re running for a Senate seat in Colorado, you can always just make up false pro-gun legislation you’ve supported to get the news media to run a pro-gun story about you.

Last night I went and shot an air gun match at the club.  One thing I’ve discovered: I suck at air gun.  You remember the last e-postal match?   Those chickens are 1/10th scale animals, the same size used for NRA air gun competition.  I hit about 21 out of 60.  When I shoot IHMSA small bore, which are 3/8th scale, 21 is about what I typically get out of 40.

Air gun I think is harder because for one, I’m shooting with iron sights instead of a red dot.  For two, the Crossman 2300S is CO₂; powered, and I’m not quite so good at compensating for more pellet drop as the match goes on.  Hopefully I’ll get my score up to something respectable eventually.  Air gun is a great way to sharpen your skills without paying a lot of money.  The guns are cheap, pellets are cheap, and air is free (though CO₂ costs some money). It’s a great way to stay sharp through these days of high ammo prices, and you can even practice at home.

Speaking of competitive shooting, I will be releasing some details about the Gun Blog Rifle Leauge shortly.  Stay tuned.

… this is the finest example of gun nuttery I’ve seen for quite some time.  Hat tip to SayUncle for this one.

Well, forget the quote.  You just have to see this.

One thing that’s really been bothering me lately is all this talk that suicide is driven by gun ownership.  It doesn’t just bother me because the notion that guns cause suicides is absurd, it bothers me because it’s obviously absurd, even to a casual uninterested observer.  Most reasonable people, I’d suspect, would not in the slightest be persuaded that we have to reduce gun ownership levels to reduce suicide.  Suicide is primarily a function of depression, and there are many effective ways of carrying out a desire to kill oneself.  Citizens of Japan kill themselves at a far far higher rate than Americans without needing guns to do so.

So why are the anti-gun folks pushing this so hard?  Are they desperate?  Are they stupid?  I think the answer to the former is a little, and to the latter, no.  I couldn’t figure out why they might be latching on to an argument that’s clearly not going to get any traction in the sphere of public opinion.  But thinking about it last night, it occurred to me.  It’s likely a ploy to develop a new constituency for gun control.

Most of us have interacted with gun control advocates.  The vast majority of the people I’ve come across who have become activists in the issue have been relatives of victims of gun violence.  Hell, even The Brady Campaign’s namesake fits that profile.  So does Bryan Miller.  The gun control movement’s bread and butter is tragedy; it’s what makes anti-gunners, and it’s what keeps their organizations churning.

In the pre-Heller world, various gun control groups were not performing all that well.  In the post-Heller world, it’s going to be even harder.  If you’re a gun control group, and you need to enlarge your base of core supporters, how can you ignore the largest pool of people who have been affected by tragedy involving the gun?  There are far more folks out there who have been affected by suicide of a loved one than have been affected by gun violence, and more importantly, families affected by suicide are often middle class, and have money and time to donate.

But why now?  Well, because Heller offers them an opportunity.  We can’t really deny that where law abiding people have access to guns, some small fraction of people will choose a firearm to commit suicide over other methods.  If the gun bans in Chicago and other major cities are struck down, the gun control movement is virtually guaranteed to be able to point to rising levels of suicide with firearms.  This creates new possibilities for them with gun control schemes, possibly including expanded mental health prohibitions, renewed calls for waiting periods, and various other requirements that could be plausibly linked with suicide prevention.

I had said previously the gun control movement will change post-Heller, and this might be an indication their focus is shifting away from crime control, which we’ve shown doesn’t work, to suicide prevention.  Regardless of how well the message resonates with the public at large, if it allows a larger constituency for gun control, and more money rolling into the coffers of gun control groups, they’d be foolish not to exploit the opportunity.  I think we’re seeing a deliberate shift in rhetoric.  Time will tell how it pans out, but we must be ready to counter it.