Hey, knock it off over there!!!

Uuum, a little bit too close to home there, sport. Keep the noise down!

Comments and other such things

Hi folks! I just wanted to say I appreciate everyone who comes here for a read, and I thank you for your comments!

No, I'm not going anywhere; it's just that I stumbled upon my spam folder in my email, and for some reason all of my comments have been going there. I thought I had that sorted out.

So, this whole time I haven't been getting my notices that someone had dropped by and left me a message. I thought that it was because of the holidays and all, or that I had been slacking so that nobody was reading.

I have a ton of comments to go through, to say nothing of the Movie Guns comments. I will get to it, but I am in a state of shell shock right now. Sorry about that.

As for Movie Guns, now that it is the new year I am on the hunt for a cheap and reliable computer to hook to my newly repaired Big Ass Monitor. Right now I have to resort to posting on my wife's little laptop, or bringing my work laptop home from time to time. Once I get a new computer, it's game on.

I'm looking forward to it, and I am looking forward to reading all of the stuff y'all have sent me in the past couple months.

Puff the magic adder

I haven't done a post on the assault snake menace for awhile.

Should there be a mandatory ten year sentence for possessing assault style snakes?

I mean, why would anyone neeeeeed a snake that deadly? And how much venom does it hold?

.375 H&H Space Pen

Coooooool.

I want one! Too bad they're sold out.

(Via Ace)

Not a human caused disaster

There's cellphone video footage of the Las Vegas courthouse shooting where you can hear the shots fired. It sounds like a hell of a shootout went down.

For what it's worth these days, the press is reporting that one officer was killed and another wounded, and that seven US Marshals engaged the scumbag before killing him.

The weapon used is mercifully unknown at this time.*

This seems to be the 'Duh' statement in all of this:

The shootings have immediately raised questions about security at public buildings in Las Vegas.

And elsewhere, as time and time again it has been proven that security ain't so secure.

*I see now that CNN is saying that the scumbag used a shotgun.

NBA players have their say about carrying guns

There is some good and bad in this NBC Washington article.

Most of the players interviewed know that they have the right to protect themselves and their families, and that is why they ignore the NBA commissioner's "pleas" to not own or carry firearms.

"We're grown men. We protect our families. We protect our homes," said Knicks guard Larry Hughes, who isn't licensed to own a gun. "Whatever the case may be, whoever is bearing arms, I hope everything is done, you know, legally, but you have that right."

This sentiment seems to be the norm amongst the players.

Well, except this one:

Jackson said he stopped carrying a gun after the trouble it caused.

****

"I have the sense that this is an environment that's come out of a lot of the kids' past," Jackson said. "Not only that, they've had situations that have happened in their own personal lives that makes them feel that it warrants it, but my message is it attracts violence. There's no doubt about it, and the violence that happens around guns is death usually."

"The trouble it caused?" "There's no doubt. . . [it attracts violence]?" Stephen Jackson would know about how a gun could take over your mind and make you do stupid things like attract violence: he's the guy who fired his gun in the air five times in "self defense" at a nightclub.

Pardon me for disregarding all of the advice that comes out of his mouth.

Some more fun stuff here from Knicks president Donnie Walsh:

"You don't need them, and if you have them, you have a better chance of something happening then if you don't have them."

Really? Do you care to back this up with some fact? I doubt that you can considering your team hails from the great New York City where guns are practically illegal to own and prevented from being carried by all but criminals.

Thinking about this for a moment, I'm hard pressed to name more than three people that I personally know who do not carry a gun, and I've never known anyone who has had something happen to them over carrying one. That's personal experience based on fact, but not really a qualifier for this post. No doubt Walsh has experienced, or know someone who has, violence at the end of a gun; but in NYC, what can you expect? There is no legitimate gun ownership there, so I gather that his voice carries little weight.

T.J. Ford seems to be the best voice of reason in this article; and of course he would be the guy raised in Texas and playing for the Indiana Pacers, so he at least is associated with two states known for a solid gun culture:

But Ford says, "You can't tell somebody how to protect their family."

That's it. Simple, ain't it? All the rules and regulations in the world will not stop a reasonable man, or woman, from protecting their family.

The NBA needs to get with the program and stop barring players from exercising their rights. If they act like idiots, then let them face the penalty for it.

*Just found this. Arenas has released his statement about the guns in the Verizon Center, as well as his defense on what happened. A snippet:

As I have said before, I had kept the four unloaded handguns in my house in Virginia, but then moved them over to my locker at the Verizon Center to keep them away from my young kids. I brought them without any ammunition into the District of Columbia, mistakenly believing that the recent change in the DC gun laws allowed a person to store unloaded guns in the District.

On Monday, December 21st, I took the unloaded guns out in a misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate. Contrary to some press accounts, I never threatened or assaulted anyone with the guns and never pointed them at anyone.

It would seem that he's not quite the idiot that I, or anyone else, may have thought. Bringing them out for some sort of joke or intimidation factor wasn't smart, but if he didn't point them at anyone it wasn't reckless either. Perhaps this is another example of the press blowing things out of proportion. Also, this might be an example of how DC's convoluted gun laws have negatively impacted someone's life.

Rubber rifle, you're the one. .. .

. . .you make gun buybacks lots of fun!!!

The VCDL blog The Sentinel is quick to point out that the Assault Thingies turned in during a LA gun buyback program were as fake as fake can be. Good eye!

Also pointed out in comments at the LA Times article is that since the guns are made of rubber and scrap metal, they can't actually be "cleared" because they don't fire cartridges and they don't have removable magazines! What were those deputies thinking?

Nothing like getting $5,800 for some junk!

This story is cross posted at Captain of a Crew of One. Stop by and check it out!

Guns of the NBA

No doubt you've heard about the two Washington Wizards players pulling guns on each other, and if you haven't, then read up here.

To level things out, lets get to the bottom of the details of what's going on here.

Some facts:

1. The NBA Commissioner David Stern doesn't like guns, and the NBA forbids possession of them in any facility where the players are.
2. The former owner, Abe Pollin, said the word "bullet" reminded him of "guns and violence," and this idea was somehow reinforced when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, so he changed the teams name from the Bullets to the Wizards.
3. One of the players who pulled a gun in the locker room, Gilbert Arenas, kept his firearms unloaded, locked in a box, because he had kids at home and wanted to keep his home safe.
4. It is illegal to keep firearms of any kind outside of your private residence in DC.

Now, despite Arenas effort to keep his guns separate from his kids, he is a negligent moron if he really did point a gun at his teamate for any reason except to prevent a violent criminal act. This is not the case; and there seems to be little dispute that the two players pointed guns, so they are both idiots who should be treated as such by the legal system before they are punished by NBA by-laws.

If the NBA is going to continue on with creating and enforcing fascist laws that prevent the thousands of non-negligent players from using firearms to protect themselves, than they need to come up with a way for their players to safely store their guns instead of leaving them with no recourse other than to break said laws and jeopardize their careers. And regardless of David Stern's uneducated opinion, it is not "fact" that guns make people less safe. He announces this opinion without any supporting evidence, which is what is expected from such moral cowards who would prevent players from exercising their basic human rights using fiat laws in their contract. There is substantial Fact showing that gun ownership actually makes people more safe.

Lastly, the family of Abe Pollin seemed to be on the right track with their statement about the two players pulling guns, but then they run right off the rails by stating that "the fact that guns were brought into the Verizon Center is dangerous and disappointing and showed extremely poor judgement," and "Guns have absolutely no place in a workplace environment and we will take further steps to ensure this never happens again." Wow. It would seem that imposing contractual by-laws, not to mention DC code, had no impact whatsoever of preventing two jackasses from bringing firearms into a league arena and pointing them at one another. So I take it they're going to make things illegaller this time. Let's try again!

Down with the sickness

Sorry about the lack of posting lately. One by one, my entire household acquired a nasty flu, and we've been stuck in this house for over a week.

Normally, my awesome immune system would keep me safe and sound, but both of my kids got it and, if you've ever seen how stomach illnesses effect kids, you know how much vomit, poop, and snot can be generated in a very short amount of time. I was bound to fall to it eventually.

Things are looking up though. I may have to call into work sick tomorrow, but probably not. I'll post more when I'm better.

Spree shooting in Finland

Update: Now the AP is reporting five people dead. Also, the AP doesn't even have the fundamental knowledge needed to report accurately on the type of weapon used. Way to go guys.

What a horrible thing for Finnish families to have to endure. Four deaths reported so far, and the gunman is still on the loose.

There are not too many details on the shooter yet. It hasn't been confirmed that the suspect is even the right guy, not to mention the circumstances leading to the shooting, but the press is already all over the gun control angle.

Who would have thought that big box reporters and journalists were such gamblers. How about waiting for some facts guys, and then get your blood dance on.

Yes, Finland has a strong gun culture; so it wouldn't be at all surprising for this ordeal to come to a swift end by some Finnish citizen closing the gunman's eyes with some well aimed fire from a Sako. Time will tell. Let's just hope that no more innocent lives are lost.

The MAC 10 Machine gun menace strikes again

This time in New Jersey where DEA agents find a MAC 10 Machine gun Kel-Tec SUB 2000 semi auto carbine. From the Spike TV show DEA:





Aaahh, fellas. . . .you should probably know that the gun is definitely not a machine gun.

Most law enforcement is not at all familiar with weapons other than the ones that they are issued, and even then they sometimes have problems. I realize that these guys probably don't know or care about the exact details of the gun that they just confiscated, but they do make it a point to throw around the words "MAC 10" and "Machine gun" quite a bit, and the difference is no small potatoes. This guy was probably charged as being in possession of such, and if so than he would have to defend himself against those charges. I don't know NJ firearm law, but federal firearm law is what the DEA is accusing this guy of breaking with that weapon, even going as to tell him that the sentence will be 10 years.

There is also the fact that they caught him with like 40 pounds of pot, and that having a gun in conjunction with pot ups his sentence. I got that. It just makes one wonder what other kind of simple stuff they get wrong, and what the impact of that could be.

I also note that in this episode, these agents pull up next to a guy who had gone into and come out of a store that they were watching, and basically jumped out at him while in plain clothes and took him down. One of the agents didn't have even his badge visible. I shudder to think of something like that happening to me in a case of mistaken identity. What would your reaction be if you were walking down the sidewalk when two cars come to a quick stop next to you and several guys dressed like scumbags come jumping out at you? Scary huh?

Armed churchgoing citizen thwarts armed robbery in Maryland!!

Actually, the churchgoing citizen is a cop. Mere citizens are too incompetent to be trusted to carry a gun to church.

"They saw the officer, he saw them, pulled out their weapon...fired, he fired back...as he tried to find cover, they ran off,” said Cpl. Clinton Copeland, Prince George’s Co. Police Dept.

Oh, by the way, the reason the Alexandria Police Department is supporting this shooting without an investigation is because the cop is one of theirs. Understandable that they would stand up for their brother officer, but the difference is that they give no such consideration for other people. We're not one of them.

If some regular Joe like me were on my way to church and shot it out with scumbags, do you think I would be given the same support? Me neither.

If you're a terrorist and you know it, stomp your feet!

Every time airline security comes up in the news, I'm reminded of the movie Idiocracy. I didn't like that movie, but it sure does hit the nail on the head when you compare our current security situation with Luke Wilson's character, Joe Bauer, getting released from prison by clueless guards. This morning I'm hearing that they're frisking babies, doing "body searches," telling passengers to "keep their hands visible," and all sorts of other measures that don't make any sense, but are being enforced anyways because the confusion displayed by TSA employees is somehow beneficial because it also confuses terrorists.

I'm waiting with bated breath for TSA to announce their new initiative to make every passenger stomp their feet while rubbing their stomach and patting their head, and then swear an oath on the Koran to not be a terrorist before letting them board.

This is the movie Idiocracy played out in real life. Raise your hand if you're OK with that.

And I can't help but to look on in wonder over how degraded my fellow man's spirit is to not only endure such measures, but to actually embrace them. The public is being told to bring snacks and books to read while standing in long lines in order to "keep calm," and that they need to "be ready for anything."

Does this sound like a free country to you?

Stop criminals from offending guns!

It's rude and offensive! Guns have rights!

Enough of my satire. What we have here this morning is the announcement that 2009 will be DC's year of having the lowest number of murders in 45 years. I often cast a lot of negative light on DC, but I'm glad to see some real progress here. That city can often be a battlefield, and that less people are getting killed there is something to commend.

DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier told FOX DC why there was a reduction in murders, and I was interested in her response:

The first is focusing on those repeat violent gun offenders,” said Chief Cathy Lanier in an interview in her office Monday. "It's a small number of people who consistently carry guns and engage in repeat violent gun offenses. If you can focus on those people and get them off the street that is the number one key ingredient."

To me, the term "repeat violent gun offenders" is a misnomer. I know what she is implying, that they are focused on catching violent criminals who use guns to their advantage, but that's not what the words add up to, and is the reason for my mocking title to this post. Either way, it makes sense to go after the violent offenders, and I can see how that helped. To further this idea, why not focus on keeping the violent criminals in prison to start with; you know, not let them become "repeat" violent offenders? Why is it that criminals get a second, third, or fourth chance at showing how little they care about human life?

I opine that instead of paroling a thug who robbed a bank at gunpoint, or some crackhead who beat his girlfriends face in with a brick, that DC would instead. . . . oh I don't know. . . .keep them behind bars for another forty or fifty years. That's a nuance, right? Instead of a ten year sentence that is never fully served, just keep them for a little extra just to be sure that if they do get to rejoin society, that they will be using a walker instead of a Jennings.

What do you think?

Getting Frisky

Americans do indeed love them some "extra security." Love it. Sure, you can pat me down Mr. TSA man. Make me feel safe sir!

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks that these new safety precautions for air travel will make them safe is a fucking moron. Really.

At this point I absolutely could not disagree more with the status of airport security. And the question begs to be asked: just how stupid and incompetent does a government employee have to be to get fired for saying something absolutely retarded?

Another question is what exactly is the point of having all these government lists if they do nothing to stop an attack? These are the lists that congress wants to use to ban people from having guns? Lists that are there only because they tie the word "terror" to a name? Perfect! What could possibly go wrong?

This whole system is ass backwards, ineffective, and against all known common sense, to say nothing of the constitutional issues. Unfortunately, there is no turning this ship around. You know it, and I know it. Captain Beautiful is going to do an immediate but somehow thorough eight to twenty month review on transportation security and, absent any fault whatsoever with the creation of the most complicated and asinine security infrastructure known to man, come up with the ingenious idea to throw a boatload of taxpayer money at the problem.

Coolest Christmas video ever!

A history of violence

More details emerge from the post office standoff in VA.

No doubt there are some people jumping up and down about Warren Taylor's alleged service in the Marines - which may or may not be true - and correlating it to the Homeland Security memo warning about violent, anti-government, right wing veterans who pose a threat on the country.

What has been confirmed is that Taylor is a bona fide violent psycho that served time for shooting his ex-girlfriend three times while she was on her way to work, while he was wanted for having sex with a child. That he was a free man that had the time to plan and execute an attack on a post office instead of being behind bars for the rest of his life is the direction to be focusing the blame.

Someone who is unstable enough to try their damnedest to kill another human being should not be allowed free. How many times does this lesson have to be demonstrated.

It does not matter whether he is a veteran, right winger, left winger, environmental activist, or a transvestite rodeo clown, he had previously demonstrated that he could not be trusted to be among us in society.

My bet is that we will continue to see proven violent people prey on innocent people for years to come, and that all that was needed to stop such an attack was to simply not let them walk out through the prison gates.

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone is enjoying themselves!

Stay safe out there.

One tough Marine

To think that at his age, this man is still serving his country.

A Korean war veteran, you have to read his story to believe it.

Sanford, thankful to be wearing a protective shrapnel jacket on his upper half, flipped over into a trench at the bottom of Hill 104 and waited. He figured the grenade would explode before it reached him, but it didn’t. It exploded on top of him.

On top of that, virtually his entire unit was killed. Truly horrible. For him to still be as driven as he is is a testament to the Marine Corps.

Semper Fi sir!

Hostage standoff in VA

"It proves it can happen anywhere at anytime."

Indeed. I'm glad things ended well.