The Episcopal Church Stand Tall

Against gun violence of course. For those unclear on how well gun free zones works, here's a helpful video. For those unsure about why such concerns need to be addressed here's another helpful video, by avowed atheists no less.

It's good to know that the Episcopal Church will be discussing such concerns. Because they care, deeply, about important issues that do not concern them in the least.

How To Travel And Keep Your Stuff

I've heard it from several people. Travel with firearms. Apparently that's the single best way to make sure your stuff arrives with you. FWIW, firearms includes flare guns.

NSFW talk follows on the subject:

Deviant Ollam - Packing & The Friendly Skies from Deviant Ollam on Vimeo.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

An indoor range has opened very near to us. If I can somehow start getting income again, life would be lovely.

The Grass is Always Greener

Right now, I'm wishing I lived in South Carolina. It's been at least a decade since I enjoyed CLE.

{H/T David Hardy}

Fueling the Recovery

No one can accuse the U S Supreme Court of ducking their responsibilities. As expected, McDonald vs City of Chicago came out today. The opinion and dissents weigh in at 216 pages, give or take.

I ran out of paper. I ran out of toner. Office Max now has some of my hard earned money. I'm sure the economy is better for it.

What do I think of the case? I dunno. I haven't read it for myself. The news articles don't have any real surprises, although the Justice Thomas concurrence sounds interesting and Steven's dissent sounds like he's retiring a little later than he should have.

This Just Made Me Happy

From Tam

Friday Physics Fun

{H/T Slashdot}

The Intersection of Enthusiasms

The redoubtable computer review site, Tom's Hardware recently had what they term the "Biggest CPU Shootout, Ever". They held it in Austin, Texas, which just plain sucks, but there you are. To say that I am jealous of the participants is to understate the case.

For My Friend Paul

A Russian girl, AC/DC and full auto, what more could you possibly want? Enjoy!

For Mike from Liverpool, UK

For our British cousins, I can buy any of the weapons shown (assuming I have the cash). Oddly enough, there is next to no crime in my neighbourhood.

One of the many reasons I love my country.

Beach Reading

I'm heading off to the beach for a family reunion in just a couple of hours. If anyone is curious just what I might be reading during those idle moments, the answer is the Supreme Court opinion in District of Columbia vs. Heller, which has just been decided (affirmed, 5-4, if anyone is curious).

Addendum: Premature posting can be awfully embarrassing. For now, I'll just link to this guy's humiliation. If I have some bad fish or the trip home goes badly on Sunday, I may get sarcastic or something.

Synchronicity and Grass Roots

The blogosphere has been abuzz with various discussions of fake 'grass roots' anti-firearms organizations for a while. The groups are usually dubbed 'astro-turf' organizations by their detractors. I'd been gestating a post on the subject when I saw an unrelated post over at StandFirm about the Dean of Seabury-Western's latest sermon.

The sermon, which appears on his blog, is on the old idea of 'living for the moment'. Which is generally good advice and is biblical. But the phrasing of his sermon reminded me of the old sixties song "Let's Live For Today" by a band called The Grass Roots. My curiosity piqued, I turned to Wikipedia to learn more about the band. And astonishingly enough, the Grass Roots would have been more accurately called the Astro-Turfs. And it all comes full circle.....

Interesting images

Oleg Volk takes both beautiful pictures and thought provoking ones (sometimes simultaneously). A gun-control site picks up the images and calls them terrifying. Much commentary follows.

Interesting Survey

The last election pretty much eliminated what remaining faith I had in public opinion polls, but Gallup has released the results of a survey they did on the Second Amendment. As usual, the wording of the questions is almost more interesting than the responses.

Self Defense

As a human right. Excellent article on the subject may be found here.

{Warning! Law Review}

Guns and Violence

I am a supporter of the US Constitution. I think it is a good set of laws and that we have managed adequately for the past two hundred or so years. I am much more fervent about the first ten Amendments and the thirteenth and fourteenth Amendments.

I think that they represent the best protection against government over reach in the world. My main beef with the Bush Administration, and also with Congress has been the erosion of our rights since 9/11. I do not think terrorism can best be fought by trying to make us more secure. Leaving aside how effective or ineffective the measures taken have been, the best way to fight terrorism is to be more free. Terrorism fights by spreading the perception of fear. Our responses so far have served to affirm that perception.

Which brings me to the Second Amendment. We saw another mass killing on a university campus this past week. The malefactor apparently had not been taking his medications and went off the rails. He legally purchased two firearms and went to the school to appease his demons. The school was a 'gun free' zone and while I am sure law enforcement responded quickly, it was not quick enough to save the lives of those who were shot. What happened was horrible. The responsibility lies with the young man who did the shooting. It lies entirely with him.

The gun control zealots are arguing that had guns been harder to obtain, fewer would have died. The gun rights advocates are arguing that had the school not been a 'gun free zone' fewer people would have died. I disagree with both.

I do not wish to scare anyone, but if I really wanted to kill, maim or injure hundreds or possibly thousands of people I could do it. I could do it without recourse to firearms and without violating any laws, other than murder. I could do it with a minimum of planning and expense. I could do it despite having no formal training in explosives. It is not that terribly hard to make bombs. And if one is not concerned with self-preservation, then murder and mayhem become much simpler. Israel has learned this, much to her sorrow. {No one should worry about this. I do not have any homicidal urges.}

My family has lost two men to 'gun violence', both in or near Charleston SC. My cousin Rob was murdered by some young men who ordered a pizza, arranged for him to deliver it to an abandoned home, and then slaughtered him for the money in his pocket. My cousin Tim killed himself in an empty condominium with a shot gun.

The responsibility for Rob's death does not lie the gun, the gun manufacturer or the gun dealer. It lies with the young men who murdered him. The responsibility for Tim's death does not lie with the shot gun, the shot gun manufacturer or the dealer who sold him the gun. It lies with Tim, and Tim alone.

Even assuming all guns had been gathered up and thrown into the ocean, both men would be dead. My cousin's murderers would have used knives or bats or some other weapon. Tim still would have killed himself. Guns have as much to do with both of their deaths as does their geographical location. That is to say, little or no relation.

So what deaths would eliminating guns prevent? Criminals are not deterred by making something illegal. In the UK, where violent crime has increased dramatically over the part two decades, gun control does not seem to be effective. Further, there is strong anecdotal evidence that the official statistics are being fudged in that regard so as to keep the public from realizing just how awful it is over there. Suicides, who constitute the bulk of gun related deaths in this country, likewise will not be deterred by any gun ban.

The answer turns out to be criminals, primarily burglars. The one crime that simply does not happen very often in the US, but is quite common in the UK is home invasion. In the US the criminal is faced with the likelihood that the occupied home has a gun or two. In the UK the criminal is faced with the certainty that they do not. In most of the states, the homeowner has an absolute right to defend their home with deadly force. The homeowner has no such right in the UK. Further, the home is where most people keep their firearms.

I target shoot. I keep firearms primarily for that activity. The ammunition I have, the sorts of firearms, and where they are kept are all shaped by that primary motivation. That such a firearm could be used to shoot at an intruder is an added benefit for me, but not the main reason I have them. My wife keeps her firearms because they were her brother's and she is sentimental. Other citizens keep them for hunting. But the average American household has at least one firearm for self defense.

The result is that while thieves may very well break into our homes and steal, they rarely do it while we are there.

So the question I will leave you with is: How can we eliminate or reduce lethal violence? And secondly, what other consequences flow from the changes you want made?

I have not been able to think of any solutions that would have saved the lives of the students in Illinois or either of my cousins.

Second Amendment

David Kopel is tracking all the amicus briefs filed in DC vs Heller.

The Right to Self Defense

The reason why I support a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment is that I see it as a statement of the natural right to self defense. In other words, I have a right to exist. You have a right to exist as well.

Once a state takes away the right to defend yourself, then you no longer have a right to exist.

It really is that simple.

W00t! We're 29th!

The Brady Campaign (the anti-gun, anti-fun wingnuts) have released their 2007 rankings of the states and Georgia came in tied with Vermont and Texas in 29th place.

The difference in points between #1 California (79 points) and #49 Kentucky and Oklahoma (2 points) is 77 points. Georgia had 9 points, so we are only 7 points higher than the bottom feeders. I have every confidence that with diligence and hard work we can be last in the nation, where we belong.

Also interesting is that all but 12 of the states have 20 points or less. The big divide is between #8 Hawaii (43 points) and #9 Illinois (28 points).

My dream is that one day we will have a zero point nation and all 50 states will be tied for last.

H/T Tam

Effective Propaganda

The very best propaganda is the truth. Here's some truth about the 2nd Amendment.

H/t Laurel Zimmer via Instapundit