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Executive Order Gun Ban

 

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They're Getting Someone Locked Up

Man, the media makes me mad.
Today, some new laws for my state go into effect, one being that not only can you carry a loaded handgun on your person on your own private property (like always) now you can ALSO carry a loaded handgun on private property belonging to someone else, as long as you have permission of the owner. In addition, you no longer need a license to transport a handgun (provided it's unloaded and enclosed in a non-easily accessed place).
Up until this point, if you bought a handgun you could transport it (unloaded and cased) from the place you purchased it to your home or to and from a place of repair. But that's it.
Many gun owners who live in places where they don't have land to go shooting on were forced to pay for a license just to transport to a shooting range or to an NRA class or training.
This law makes it possible for people to participate in safety classes or just go plinking without paying a fee to the local police and to the state.
However, the Media is spinning it all wrong!! I can't tell you how many people have come into where I work and said that now anybody can carry without a license...because they heard it on the news! NOT TRUE!
If you do not have a license, you MUST have the handgun UNLOADED, CASED, and NOT easily accessed. You may load it when you get to the range, or to someone's private property (with their permission), but when you get ready to head home...UNLOAD it. CASE it. Put it where it's not easily accessed!
News anchors, journalists, editors of papers, and a host of other media types are irresponsibly reporting FALSE information and the well meaning law abiding gun owners are going to suffer! I'm not one that cries "Sue! Sue!", but in the case of someone going to jail, losing their guns, and creating a hardship on their families, I hope it will be possible to play back the broadcasts and place blame where it's due.
Be safe, Hoosiers. Check it out for yourselves here.

Senate Vote Today

Today there's a vote on the issue of letting people with permits carry their personal protection firearm into other states (with the stipulation of following the other state's laws). It is so unfairly presented to the public by the media, it makes me nauseous. No mention whatsoever about all the innocent lives saved everyday by permit holders, but you can bet they grandstanded the "at least seven police officers and 44 private citizens during a two-year period were killed by permit holders"!

I'm hesitant to even link the article from Yahoo News because the accompanying video is so full of misinformation it's not even funny.

At one point, there are a couple people quoted who are "sharing their pain" over having lost family members to gun violence. I don't begrudge them their grief, but I do think that two things are grossly misrepresented:
One being that they most likely lost their kids to ILLEGAL activity and criminals ILLEGALLY possessing guns.
The other being that the gun did not pull its own trigger nor aim its own muzzle at those people.

The man in the video states that "it can't be the right thing to do without people having a background check"...funny - I don't recall ANY state handing out permits without a background check!

The reporter then states that basically having this vote go in favor of carrying across state lines would only put more cops at risk!
She needs to talk to Allen County's sheriff, Ken Fries. He appeals to the public at large to seek training, pursue getting their license to carry, and to actively protect themselves since he knows cops can't be everywhere all the time. He also says that he believes trained/armed citizens are the cops' best defense line in a bad situation.

This New York senator (Chuck Schumer) has no realistic idea of what decent permit holders are like. He's making remarks about permit holders possibly coming into N.Y. with backpacks full of guns even if they are members of gangs like the Crypts or Bloods...and they are worried because alcohol abusers or people with misdemeanor convictions could carry guns there. I wonder if they know there are some of those people behind the wheel of potentially deadly vehicles when they might be walking across a street...

They also say that this carry law would make it easier for illegal gun traffickers to walk the streets. Uh...HOW?? Last time I checked, people who engage in "illegal gun activity" aren't really all that concerned about PERMITS. In fact, they aren't really concerned about laws in general!

I also found this quote funny: "Any city with MULTIPLE handguns in it is particularly problematic."
Wow...my house is particularly problematic then - For the BAD GUYS.

OK, enough of me kvetching...here's the link so you can judge for yourself.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

For your safety.

Taken from the Ohio EPA page:

Here are U.S. EPA’s guidelines for cleaning up a broken CFL:

1. Open a window and leave the room (restrict access) for at least 15 minutes. If you have fans, place the fans in the windows and blow the air out of the room. Note: If the room has no windows, open all doors to the room and windows outside the room and use fans to move the air out of the room and to the open windows.

2. Remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner.
* Wear disposable rubber gloves, if available (do not use your bare hands).
* Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard.
* Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe.
* Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.

3. Place all cleanup materials in a plastic bag and seal it, and then place in a second sealed plastic bag.
* If no other disposal or recycling options are available, private residents may dispose of the CFL in residential garbage. Be sure to seal the CFL in two plastic bags and put into the outside trash.
* Wash your hands after disposing of the bags.

4. The first time you vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag once done cleaning the area (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag and/or vacuum debris, as well as the cleaning materials, in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.

To review in summary:

EVACUATE.

Restrict access for at least 15 minutes.

Set up fans and open all windows and doors.

Wear gloves.

Scoop with cardboard or stiff paper. (NOT a broom or vacuum!!).

Use sticky tape.

Then a damp cloth.

Place in a plastic bag.

Seal bag.

Place that inside ANOTHER bag.

Seal second bag.

Wash your hands.

Vacuum: remove vacuum bag immediately or empty the canister and wipe it all out.

Place bag or cleaning cloth in a plastic sealed bag.

Place that bag into another plastic sealed bag.

Simple as that...and mandatory after 2012 when incandescents are no longer manufactured and sold in Kentucky. (You know...those *other* light bulbs that you just twist out, toss, and replace...without rubber gloves.)

Woot @ MT!!

UPDATED!
Today, Montana has signed into power a revolutionary law.
Montana now has a law defying the reach of the federal government pertaining to firearms!
If it’s manufactured in Montana for sale and use inside Montana, the federal laws have no applicability since they can only control commerce across state lines.
Our government fears an armed citizenry and will try every back door and loophole they can think of to confiscate every piece they can get their hands on.
Good job, Montana!! We’re on YOUR side!!
UPDATE:
Looks like Utah might follow suit to protect State's Rights.
Awesome.
UPDATE #2 Now Tennessee!

Two by two...hands of blue

A lot is being made of the idea to make welfare recipients take a urine test before receiving their checks. Many people think this is a great idea. I’d be inclined to agree if we were talking about a private business who can absolutely do what they want…but we’re not. We’re talking about the government.

I'm about to take an unpopular position, but being a libertarian leaning conservative, I've had a lot of practice and I'm getting used to it... so bear with me;

I do have a problem with the government testing people in exchange for money. I think it sets a precedent that will be the most slippery of slippery slopes.
It's a spring board into drug testing to get your tax returns back...and after that, maybe testing a full panel screen for the same.
Cholesterol/weight too high? No tax return for YOU. You might spend it on junk food. We'll give you the products we think you need instead.
Nicotine addiction? No return for YOU! You might smoke it up in public causing second hand smoke victims and straining the public health care system. We're spending it on a 12 step program for you.
See where I'm going with that?

By the way, an FYI is in order:
I do not smoke, do not do drugs, do not drink more than a six pack a year, never had an abortion, etc.
I do not advocate anyone else doing these things...but I'm not about to put a gun to your head in the name of the state and tell you that you can't do them either.

Slacktivism

One of the reasons why I’ve discontinued frequenting a few forums I used to enjoy was the onslaught of petition posters and bandwagon jumpers.
What a waste of time.
Seriously, I will never understand how people can put so much time and energy into creating and circulating a piece of cyber paper or an e-document when they could invest that time into actually trying to help fix whatever problem they think exists. The same goes for all the signers. Do they really think they are doing something worthy or tangible for any "cause" by E-signing?
All it really does is give them an emotional outlet for their anger or loathing of whatever they are protesting. I’m sure for that fleeting second of typing their name and aggressively hitting “enter”, they feel empowered. Justified. Necessary.

Now it’s starting on my FaceBook page. Ugh.

Look, Greg K… I realize in the fifth grade I was madly in love with you and even wore the flower ring until the plastic petals all fell off and the band turned my finger green…but I’m not signing your stupid anti-bailout petition. Instead of circulating a document asking for signatures that can never be verified (and many are fake anyhow) and will never reach the intended party anyway, why don’t you put your effort into contacting your representatives and express your displeasure with your vote? I know we actually held hands skating to Beth from the Destroyer album…but dude, I can’t… no, I *won’t* sign your e-petition. Nothing personal, but it’s not worth the pixels it took to create it.

You know what really gets mad props from your congressmen? Real letters from real voters who took the time to sit down with actual pen to actual paper are afforded much more respect than cyber whining. Sure it takes longer. But likewise is the potential for making a real difference.
So who is your representative?
Where do you find the contact information to write to them?
Who.
Where.
Anyhow, the E-petition is in the E-trash. Sorry.
Do you want the flower ring back?
Just sayin'.
~

Send the cracker home.

Nanny State 2008

A run down of the bannables during the past year:

Backing Down

From the Indiana Gun Owners’ forum (linked on the left as “Hoosier Shooters”), member “Full-Auto” had this info to share and didn’t mind me replicating it here. Thanks, Full-Auto!

Within hours of obtaining the status of "President-Elect", this appeared on Obama's site:

Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.

The NRA news letter:

"Yes We Can . . . Ban Guns"--Obama Announces Gun Ban Agenda Before The Final Vote Count Is In

Friday, November 07, 2008

Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign slogan, "the audacity of hope," should have instead been "the audacity of deceit." After months of telling the American people that he supports the Second Amendment, and only hours after being declared the president-elect, the Obama transition team website announced an agenda taken straight from the anti-gun lobby--four initiatives designed to ban guns and drive law-abiding firearm manufacturers and dealers out of business:

"Making the expired federal assault weapons ban permanent." Perhaps no other firearm issue has been more dishonestly portrayed by gun prohibitionists. Notwithstanding their predictions that the ban's expiration in 2004 would bring about the end of civilization, for the last four years the nation's murder rate has been lower than anytime since the mid-1960s. Studies for Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the National Institute of Justice, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found no evidence that gun prohibition or gun control reduces crime. Guns that were affected by the ban are used in only a tiny fraction of violent crime-about 35 times as many people are murdered without any sort of firearm (knives, bare hands, etc.), as with "assault weapons." Obama says that "assault weapons" are machine guns that "belong on foreign battlefields," but that is a lie; the guns are only semi-automatic, and they are not used by a military force anywhere on the planet.

"Repeal the Tiahrt Amendment." The amendment--endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police--prohibits the release of federal firearm tracing information to anyone other than a law enforcement agency conducting a bona fide criminal investigation. Anti-gun activists oppose the restriction, because it prevents them from obtaining tracing information and using it in frivolous lawsuits against law-abiding firearm manufacturers. Their lawsuits seek to obtain huge financial judgments against firearm manufacturers when a criminal uses a gun to inflict harm, even though the manufacturers have complied with all applicable laws.

"Closing the gun show loophole." There is no "loophole." Under federal law, a firearm dealer must conduct a background check on anyone to whom he sells a gun, regardless of where the sale takes place. A person who is not a dealer may sell a gun from his personal collection without conducting a check. Gun prohibitionists claim that many criminals obtain guns from gun shows, though the most recent federal survey of convicted felons put the figure at only 0.7 percent. They also claim that non-dealers should be required to conduct checks when selling guns at shows, but the legislation they support goes far beyond imposing that lone requirement. In fact, anti-gun members of Congress voted against that limited measure, holding out for a broader bill intended to drive shows out of business.

"Making guns in this country childproof." "Childproof" is a codeword for a variety of schemes designed to prevent the sale of firearms by imposing impossible or highly expensive design requirements, such as biometric shooter-identification systems. While no one opposes keeping children safe, the fact is that accidental firearm-related deaths among children have decreased 86 percent since 1975, even as the numbers of children and guns have risen dramatically. Today, the chances of a child being killed in a firearm accident are less than one in a million.

Then Full-Auto observed the following page and captured a screen shot for us:


"NEWS FLASH: Obama's team has removed the entire page from their site. It would seem an NRA email alert was sent out roughly at the same time and pointed their members to the same page. In response, Obama's cronies removed the page.
That's honesty for you people... We're in some deeeeeeeep excrement." ~Full-Auto.

Andrew Horning (L)

One of the candidates running for governor here in Indiana is Libertarian Andrew Horning. I watched the debate he participated in with Jill Long-Thompson (D) and current governor Mitch Daniels (R). I was impressed with his views and the conviction he had when expressing his opinion. When looking for sound bytes of the debate, I ran across this little clip that says so much in so little time. It’s kind of hard to hear in spots because there’s a lot of background chatter. I don’t know what the conversation was leading up to this, but here’s what I understood him to say:
(If you think it’s different, please post to that end in the comments)

[voice off camera: “So when applied to governments, liberties and freedoms have to be actually properly selected by the majority…’cause we have an issue with majority could actually choose to do very very bad things…do they have the liberty to do so?]

Mr. Horning: Well, government is an abstraction, remember…
There’s no such unit as “government”. Government is a fiction that we created and what we have to remember is that that fiction is composed entirely of violence. You know, government can’t do anything without at least the threat of violence.

[voice off camera: Or the monopoly on violence…]

Mr. Horning: Well, I mean to whatever the degree there is a monopoly, that is the government. So if a gang becomes powerful enough, it is the government. So, you know, basically, government is violence. Violence is, to some degree, government. Because to do whatever kind of restraining or whatever governing you wish to do, you have to impose force on something. So government being violence…you have to understand that giving violence liberties; giving it “freedoms”, is an extraordinarily dangerous thing to do. And that, you know, the history of humans, and their abstraction of “government” is really a 100% failure. To the degree with which we succeed at all for any period of time in civilization is how long and how well we restrain that violence. So if you put a leash on your politicians (whether that’s the leash of “law”; we call that “rule of law”), or whether you have [video trails off]

Dang. I really want to hear the rest of that. I think I will email him and ask him where it might be found if it exists.
Here’s the video:

Meet Philip Clarkson Webb

Mr. Webb is 78 years old.
He's a retired classics teacher in the U.K.
When he was walking home from a seminar on trade energy quotas, the police surrounded him, stopped him and confiscated his "offensive weapon". He handed it over and took a receipt for it and shuffled down the walk as best he could without his walking aid.
Adding insult to injury, when Mr. Webb tried to use the receipt to claim his property, he was informed that the authorities had lost it.
Link

Just in case, we'll take your guns...

Cops allowed to seize firearms before crime is committed
Excerpt:

A new report to the Connecticut state legislature shows police have used the state's unique gun seizure law to confiscate more than 1,700 firearms from citizens based on suspicion that the gun owners might harm themselves or others.
The state's law permits police to seek a warrant for seizing a citizen's guns based on suspicion of the gun owner's intentions, before any act of violence or lawbreaking is actually committed.
Link to article

Prior to the seizure of one man’s firearms, police cited in their application the man’s “extensive self-protection measures” that were installed on his property, “including alarms, cameras and spotlights.”

Sum it up with this:
Having a home alarm system, security cameras and floodlights is a cause for police to confiscate your guns on suspicion.
A neighbor who doesn't like you can call the police to have them come and take your guns.

Loop the Loop

Coming up here pretty quickly is a rather big gun show. The fam and I are doing the 3 hour trek to go there and check things out. It got me to thinking about one of the things that people who don’t know any better are all in a tizzy about. That notorious “Gun Show Loophole”.

If people took the time to fact find about gun shows, they’d learn that there is no loophole. Just like there’s no “gun show crime problem” and no reason to legislate more restrictions that infringe my rights and yours.

The media’s talking heads are really good with whipping up frenzy about how “loophole gun sales” are getting guns on the streets and into the hands of criminals.
Firstly, gun laws apply at gun shows just like they do in gun stores or sporting goods stores where guns are sold.
Secondly, a Department of Justice survey of inmates found that the most common sources were family or friends and the guns that changed hands were in no way connected to gun shows.

The media would like you to believe that private sales taking place between individuals who are not part of the gun show are in fact what the “loophole” is about.
An individual who is not in the business of selling firearms, yet trades or sells a firearm to another private individual, is not obligated to obtain the federal license required of gun dealers or to call the FBI before completing the sale. This is a PRIVATE transaction and thus is not part of a “gun show” and is by default not part of any “loophole”.

In essence, “gun show loopholes” are akin to the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. The jury is still out on Santa.

Where do I even start?

There’s a leader of a church in Palm Beach who is trying very hard to help the less fortunate members of his community. He offers them a safer place to sleep than in some alley or park.
The problem is that now they are in defiance of a county order and have been fined a thousand dollars a day for helping the homeless.

Buckle up, here we go:

Westgate's leader, Bishop Avis Hill, said he put up the 40-by-60 feet tent because the number of homeless people who have turned to the church for shelter has grown too large. In the few weeks since the tent was put up, as many as 55 men have been sleeping in the tent, he said. Women of all ages and men over 55 sleep inside the church buildings.
Let’s see… people are turning to the church because they know they can get help even if just for a night of safety to sleep. A church. That would be a privately funded organization on private property… which is opposite of state or federal funded programs through which our taxes are funneled to support social programs…like helping the homeless. Wait, wha?

Follow along:

Hill said he understands the county's position that the church is not zoned for a large tent where people can sleep. He offered to move the tent to any land the county will provide for Westgate to provide food and shelter for the homeless.
So the Bishop even offered to move everything to a new locale that would possibly be provided by …who was that? Oh yeah, the people funneling our taxes through social programs to help the homeless. See where I’m going with this?
I guess it’s creating some sort of a problem but let’s hear what Terry Verner, director of Palm Beach County Code Enforcement has to say. Then maybe it’ll make some sense:
“We are looking to enforce the codes and make sure what facilities are being provided are safe. And in our opinion, allowing people to sleep in a tent in this fashion is not a safe thing to do."
OH!! Because sleeping in a tent provided by a church in the community is WAY more dangerous than sleeping in some dumpster behind a bar or something! I completely understand now! Not! Meanwhile, while this church is trying to reach out in compassion as the county is simultaneously trying to legislate it, the church is several thousand dollars in debt and getting deeper every day.

Bishop Hill says,"Our contention is we are not a business but a church and under the constitution, we have certain rights to worship the Lord under the dictates of our heart," he said. "The purpose of the church is to help people who are hurting."
And therein lies the point of reason: “Under the Constitution, we have certain rights…” As a refresher, those would be property rights, freedom to assemble, & freedom of religion.
Currently Palm Beach is prohibiting the free exercise of religion which is unconstitutional at best and uncompassionate to the people in its own community at worst.
Link to story

Georgia on my mind…and Florida, too.

I didn’t blog about this when I thought about it…but there’s no time like the present.
Georgia and Florida expanded state gun laws. People can now bring guns to work, so long as they leave them in their parked cars. That brings the list of similarly legislated “take your guns to work here” states to:
Alaska
Kansas
Minnesota
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Georgia
Florida
Tim Beardon, a State Representative who wrote Georgia's new gun law, said “It's about time that we started standing up for the innocent, law-abiding citizens instead of making excuses for the criminals all the time”.
RIGHT ON!!

I love John Stossel.

Snagged from TheHighRoad.org

Sooo Disappointed!!

~
I've waited so long to catch a gun spontaneously firing all by itself...
I really thought that today's AWESOME ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States on D.C vs Heller that upholds individual gun owner rights (you know, that Second Amendment thing) would be the catalyst that would bring it to that end.
But I checked the cam myself... Not one happy dance. Not one excited shiver. Not one shift indicating motion. Not one movement. Not one action. None.

See for yourself

Dang.
~