June 2009 – Page 6 – Shall Not Be Questioned

800 Gun Buyers on Terror List

Looks like the AP is playing along with Lautenberg’s game, trying to get some fervor whipped up over his terror watch list bill that was recently introduced in the Senate:

WASHINGTON â€“ More than 800 gun purchases were approved after background checks in the last five years even though the buyers’ names were on the government’s terrorist watch list, investigators said Monday.

The first thing that goes through my mind is, if NICS records are indeed being destroyed, how do they know this?Â Or are they already cross referencing NICS with the terrorist watch list, and making a new list.Â Which law authorizes the FBI to do this?Â Inquiring minds want to know, because I could swear there’s a law that says NICS records must be destroyed.

Glossy vs. Matte

Due to the recent departure from my company of the only other Mac user, I have acquired a new MacBook Pro 15″, and begun to use it.Â For two years I’ve used my own personal laptop for work matters, so I figured it was time to use a company computer once again.Â I even have one of the new chicklet keyboards.

The only difference, other than being a bit faster, and various other things you’d expect from a more modern laptop, is that it has a glossy screen rather than a matte screen.Â Every machine and LCD display I’ve had up until now has been matte.Â I’m not sure how I feel about glossy.Â On the one hand, the glossy display is pretty clearly more crisp and true, but I can also see myself in it, which I find annoying.Â But I love the clarity and sharp contrast of the display.

One of my other pet peeves about monitors is fingerprints.Â I hate them.Â I have long loathed people coming into my office and putting their booger hooks all over my display.Â With matte displays, I’ve found some measure of relief from my obsession with clean glass, but now the obsession is back with the glossy display.Â I actually had to get a matte screen filter for my iPhone, because I couldn’t deal with the fingerprints.

Philadelphia’s Failed PR Campaign

Lately, Philadelphia has spent untold amounts of money on their own television stations running a PR campaign begging people to visit.Â They even include a pitch to people in the suburbs, asking them to stop mowing their lawns to come to the city.

Except it’s hardly convincing. In fact, mowing the lawn may well be better than going to Philadelphia. Consider the following: Continue reading “Philadelphia’s Failed PR Campaign”

They Still Don’t Get It

The Brady Campaign still wants to paint an image of the NRA being the big bad puppet master of the vast right wing conspiracy, based on this passage from a New York Times article they found to be particularly compelling:

As if the wackos werenâ€™t dangerous enough to begin with, the fuel to further inflame them is available in the over-the-top rhetoric of the National Rifle Association, which has relentlessly pounded the bogus theme that Barack Obama is planning to take away peopleâ€™s guns.

What kills me is that I know the Brady Campaign reads our blogs.Â If they pay any attention at all they should understand the dynamic enough to know that the whackos won’t have much of anything to do with the NRA, becasue NRA isn’t extreme enough for them.Â But I suppose we have to have a monster, don’t we.Â A good scary bedtime story to get people to donate more money.Â It’s OK.Â Everyone in this issue is guilty of it.Â But like I said before, they’ve shown a real inability to talk to real people, and that is what’s dooming their cause, and will continue to do so in the long term.

Having a bogeyman is important, but having a real argument is more important.Â I know I’m not the only gun blogger who’s thought he could make the Brady case better than they do.

Lead Ban Expansion

The Hog Blog takes a pretty detailed look at California’s proposed extension on the lead ammunition ban.Â Â It doesn’t look good.

And thatâ€™s the second hot topicâ€¦ proposed regulation changes that will bring small game and upland birds under the lead ammo ban.Â Why?Â Are condors eating tree-squirrel gut piles, or feasting on the remains of huntersâ€™ quail?Â Not bloody likely.Â Then what is the purpose of the expansion to a bill that is specifically intended to protect the California condor?

It was never about the California Condor.Â That was just the rhetoric.Â They are expanding it because, quite honestly, they can.Â As long as Condors get sick, and hunters can be blamed for it, it will be the excuse necessary to every increasing restrictions.Â That’s what these people do.

More Holster Controversy

Mostly Genius thinks that junk holsters are worthless.Â The Defense Handgun Blog highlights hybrid models that are available.Â I can see the point a few people have made that cheaper holster offer an inexpensive way to try out a carry method.Â I have, somewhere, a Galco shoulder rig which I paid good money for, only to find out that shoulder rigs don’t work for me.Â Strong side carry at 4:00 is the only thing that I feel comfortable with.

But I think if you’re going to bet your life on something, spend a little extra money and get something that works.

Green Americans

One problem I think we’re going to have doing anything about global warming is the fact that most people, while they say they want to do something about it, don’t really want to when it gets down to details.Â Take this recent poll for instance:

The survey, which polled 1,006 consumers across the country, found 60 percent of Americans are looking for greener products. However, given a choice between their comfort, convenience or the environment, 38 percent of respondents said they’d choose their convenience, 36 percent said they’d choose comfort and 26 percent said they’d choose the environment, the survey found.

Only 7% would be willing to give up their computers.Â More people, at 13%, were willing to give up their TVs (that number should worry cable providers and network TV).Â The least popular consumer product?Â The iPod.Â 38% would be willing to do without one to help the environment.

For me?Â I don’t particularly relish giving up anything for this Mother Gaia Lenten ridiculousness.Â Though I suppose I could be persuaded to install a programmable thermostat, as long as it’s not the California model.

Mondays Off

I’m taking three day weekends for the next three weeks starting today.Â Independence Day weekend will be a four day weekend.Â I will do my best to keep the regular blogging schedule, however.Â I needed the extra time because I’ve been dealing with a Repetitive Strain Injury in my elbow that’s been caused by my leaning on it when I type at my workstation at work.Â Causes a little tingling in the pinky and ring fingers of I bend my elbow all the way, which is indicative of swelling in the part of the elbow the ulnar nerve passes through.Â I’ve had this problem before, and rest usually deals with it in a few weeks.Â Symptoms are mild.Â No numbness or weakness in my hands, but if it doesn’t get better, it’ll have to be a trip to the doctor, which I hate.

Bangor Daily News on National Park Carry

They believe they’ve discovered a loophole:

The carefully worded gun amendment forbids any Interior Department regulation that â€œprohibits an individual from possessing a firearm including an assembled or functional firearm in any unit of the National Park System.â€ But it includes a loophole, presumably out of deference to the Tenth Amendment, which reserves undelegated powers to the states.

The loophole says that the new permissive rules must be â€œin complianceâ€ with any state law where a park is located. An Interior Department spokesman agrees that a state law would take precedence over the new federal law.

It’s not a loophole, it was the exact intent of the bill.Â If states wants to prohibit firearms in National Parks, they are free to do so.Â I’m rather amused by a bunch of reporters at the Bangor Daily News sitting around thinking they’ve figured out a way to pull a fast one on us knuckle dragging gun owners.

Stamping Out The Shooting Sports

The Irish aren’t even being discrete about it:

Mr Ahern said he was determined to stamp out a practice known as â€œpractical shootingâ€. His department had monitored with concern â€œcompetitions in which people shoot their way through multi-stage target courses based on real life combat scenarios, such as a home invasion or a hostage rescueâ€.

He said: â€œThis activity is one that seeks to glorify and normalise attitudes to high-powered handguns and promote their use and ownership,â€ he said. Mr Ahern said â€œpractical shootingâ€ was a â€œhighly undesirableâ€ recent development in Irish shooting sports.

So government bureaucrats get to decide what is and what isn’t a shooting sport?Â No consideration for police to participate in these types of sports to hone their self-defense shooting skills?Â That’s why they are called “practical” sports, and apparently it appalls Irish authorities that people might make a shooting game out of it.

I kind of wonder if Airsoft and Paintball are illegal in Ireland, which involves people actually pointing guns at other people, and practicing things like assaults on fixed positions, etc.Â How appalling is that?Â I’ve also heard there might be some kids playing army in Derry.Â Gotta put a stop to that!