What a laugh! "Jefferson County [KY] Sheriff John Aubrey is investigating how a plastic pellet gun got through security at the Hall of Justice and into a juvenile court hearing Wednesday. The gun was brought out in court as the mother of a boy facing an assault charge tried to illustrate to the judge that it was just a toy, said Lt. Col. Carl Yates, sheriff's department spokesman. The judge then asked how the gun had gotten through security. Yates did not know which judge was presiding. As a result, Aubrey is reviewing a courtroom videotape and reports on the incident to determine whether deputies providing security need to change procedures or get additional training, Yates said."




Assault weapon irrationality: "The so-called assault-weapons ban is about to sunset. About time. It was one of the goofiest gun laws on the books. It outlawed guns because they look mean -- the perfect law for a superficial world. The assault-weapons ban was racial profiling for guns. Before we start, you should know I used to be like you when it came to firearms. I had a religious-like hatred of guns. In fact, I was a member of the anti-gun organization Handgun Control Inc. It was a long slow, conversion for me, spurred by the patient influence of my older brother Paul, who bought a gun. We weren't raised with guns. I thought he was nuts. He slowly taught me guns don't have free will. Mean-looking guns are not actually mean. We'd argue back and forth about gun-violence statistics and gun policy. Which just led me to do my own research and reach my own conclusions -- guns are not evil, only people are."




"The defendant in a manslaughter trial lived in fear of the 20-year-old he's accused of shooting near Vicksburg [MS] High School last September, witnesses said Wednesday. 'This was all done in self-defense,' Clyde Ellis, attorney for Walter Jefferson, said before calling teachers and others to the witness stand on the trial's third day. Jurors may deliberate this afternoon whether to convict Jefferson, 20, of manslaughter in the death of O'Dare Lee Earl Mims, who was 20.The state rested its case after presenting eyewitnesses to the single shot fired from the car Jefferson was driving into the chest of Mims, who had rushed up to the vehicle as the school day was ending on Sept. 20."

30 second gun-rights conversion

"I had argued with my antigun liberal friend about gun control in the past. She finally asked me today, "Why should someone be allowed to have a machinegun?"

"Why not?" I asked. This didn't work. She asked again.

And I said, "Do you think the Bush administration should have a monopoly on guns? To do here what it has already done in Baghdad? Isn't that scary? You know, every genocide in the 20th history began with gun control. One of the few differences between us and 1930s Germany is that we still have some of our gun rights left. As long as we do, we have some hope against fascism."

"You know, you're right," she said. "I never thought of that. It's so obvious, though. Why doesn't anyone realize that? It's so obvious. If you have all the guns, you're a dictator."

This wasn't the first time that invoking the frightening Bush administration has helped me make a liberal friend rethink his or her entire opinion on the gun issue".

(From the Rockwell blog.)




One of my readers reports a similar conversation: " A Leftist conceded that Mao's statement "all power comes from the barrel of a gun" is correct, he thus conceded that gun prohibitions are profoundly anti-democratic"

Anti-weapon campaign runs on fiction" "Touring the country in an effort to renew the 10-year-old ban on so-called assault weapons, the numerically challenged Million Mom March has been conducting a campaign built largely on fiction. As far back as 1988, gun prohibitionists figured they could fool the public into supporting a ban that, as history has shown, has been essentially symbolic. Sixteen years ago, Josh Sugarman with the Violence Policy Center put the campaign in its proper perspective, admitting, 'The weapons' menacing looks coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semiautomatic assault weapons -- anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun -- can only increase that chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.'"




Keyes can read plain words -- unlike anti-gun nuts: "Disabled gun control activist Jim Brady weighed in Wednesday on Republican U.S. Senate nominee Alan Keyes' declaration that the U.S. Constitution grants private citizens the right to own and carry machine guns, calling the remarks an 'insane' call for a return to 'the Al Capone days.' ... Keyes, a former presidential candidate from Maryland, said Tuesday he supports a system in which people undergo different levels of training before they would be allowed to own and carry various sorts of weapons. Keyes said the Second Amendment grants properly trained Americans the right to 'the kind of weapons our ordinary infantry people have access to,' including machine guns."

Taking guns from people who REALLY need them (in South Africa) : "KwaZulu-Natal continues to take the lead in destroying the most number of illegal firearms and today over 1000 weapons were destroyed by police in Prospecton, south of Durban, as part of Operation Sethunya. Sethunya was launched primarily to recover unlicensed firearms and ammunition and to ensure compliance with the Firearms Control Act. It forms part of a number of projects and operations that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has embarked on nationally to rid communities of illegal firearms and to make them safe and secure."




Feisty gal: "Jennifer Hawk stepped up to the demonstration kiosk at the Fraternal Order of Police's national convention in Orlando Fla., curious to see how she would fare in digital target-shooting. 'The instructor asked me, 'Are you sure you know how to do this,'' Hawk remembers. 'I'm like, 'Yes.'' The ensuing display Hawk put on left observers in awe, including an Orange County (Fla.) cop, who was beaten by Hawk in a friendly competition. 'He was kind of embarrassed,' Hawk said. 'That was something.' That was seven years ago. Hawk was 11 years old. Ever since, the soon-to-be senior at Penns Valley High School has maintained her sharp-shooter's eye."




Armed society is a polite society: "I read Sara Darcy's essay 'Of guys and guns.' I do not wish to be either disrespectful or flippant, but would like to suggest that there is an inextricable link between true political freedom from the oppression of the Central State and sovereignty over one's own homeland on the one hand, and the right to bear arms as articulated by the Founding Fathers of the United States in the 2nd Amendment. Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia are but two tragic examples from the last century regarding what despots and statist philosophies like Fascism and Communism can and will do in the face of unarmed citizens."

**

They Couldn't SWAT a Fly

Government goons no substitute for self-defence

"Federal and Colorado officials have transformed the April 20 killings at Columbine High School into a law enforcement triumph. Attorney General Janet Reno praised the local police response as "extraordinary," "a textbook" example of "how to do it the right way." President Clinton declared on the Saturday after the shooting that "we look with admiration at...the police officers who rushed to the scene to save lives."

In fact, the excruciatingly slow response by Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams and other lawmen to the killings in progress turned a multiple homicide into a historic massacre. And federal aid to local law enforcement, by spawning the proliferation of heavily armed but often flat-footed SWAT teams, may actually undermine public safety......

Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone later explained: "We had initial people there right away, but we couldn't get in. We were way outgunned." Jefferson County SWAT Commander Terry Manwaring, whose team entered the school but proceeded at a glacial pace, said: "I just knew (the killers) were armed and were better equipped than we were." SWAT team members had flak jackets, submachine guns, and fully automatic M-16s--rather more formidable protection and weaponry than the teenagers' shotguns, semiautomatic rifle, and shoddy TEC-9 handgun (which Clinton ludicrously described as an "assault pistol").

SWAT teams made no effort to confront the killers in action, but devoted their efforts to repeatedly frisking students and marching them out of the building with their hands on their heads. Jefferson County Undersheriff John Dunaway bragged to the Denver Post that the evacuation of students "was about as close to perfect under the circumstances as it could be." Even though none of the SWAT teams came under hostile fire, Denver SWAT officer Jamie Smith claimed: "I don't know how you could have thrown in another factor that would have made things more difficult for us."

Television cameras captured a SWAT team creeping toward the school behind a firetruck, each officer taking one small step after another, with the group hunched together as if expecting an attack at any moment. This maneuver occurred long after the perpetrators were dead.

SWAT team members did not reach the room where the killers lay until at least three hours after the shooting stopped."

More here.




Wacky toy-hater: "In the effort to eliminate guns in the United States, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch has become a prominent crusader. Lynch is leading a campaign to smash toy guns throughout the state using a machine built by students at the New England Institute of Technology. It's called the Bash-O-Matic and it's used to pulverize the toys during Toy Gun Bash events. To date, the "Bash-O-Matic" has destroyed upwards of 1,000 toy guns, everything from water guns to gun replicas, according to Michael Healey, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.... While "sweeping the city's streets of toy guns," Attorney General Lynch disseminates his gun-control platform to educate the general public. He's stated that "children and adults alike find it hard to distinguish a toy gun from a real gun." (!!)

AN EXCELLENT ANTI-GUN SPOOF

"Every gun turned in through a buyback program means potentially one less tragedy," President Bill Clinton declared at a Sept. 9, 1999, White House photo op with mayors and police chiefs. Clinton was announcing that the Department of Housing and Urban Development would be allocating $15 million to buy up to 300,000 guns from private citizens.

Unfortunately, such programs have serious flaws. For instance, gun buyback programs have made no attempt to round up the guns of one of the most aggressive groups in society: federal lawmen. However, after the Elian Gonzalez raid, it is clearly time to reduce the number of machine guns in the hands of the INS, the Border Patrol and other federal law enforcement agencies. In the now-famous photograph, a Border Patrol agent pointed an HK MP-5 toward a 6-year-old boy and his fisherman rescuer. The HK fires 800 rounds a minute. Most experts agree that, when carrying out a nighttime raid on a home with unarmed men, women and children, weapons firing only 700 rounds a minute are sufficient.

Since 1995, the Pentagon has deluged local law enforcement with thousands of machine guns, more than 100 armored personnel carriers, scores of grenade launchers and more than a million other pieces of military hardware. Instead of relying on street smarts, police departments are resorting to high-tech weaponry courtesy of Uncle Sam. There are some cases in which government agents need high-powered weaponry. But, too often, the possession of the weapons has induced G-men to use far more force and intimidation than is necessary.... "

More here




Dangerous loony no loss: "A southeast Las Vegas [NV] homeowner was not expected to face charges after fatally shooting a mentally ill neighbor who broke into his house early this morning, Metro Police said. The incident unfolded about 1:30 a.m. in the 5300 block of Modena Drive, near Hacienda Avenue and Pecos Road, when a couple awoke to a loud crashing noise, Sgt. Mike Thompson of Metro's homicide section said. The male homeowner grabbed a handgun and told his wife to call 911. As the man stepped out of his bedroom he was attacked in the hallway, he told police. They got into a 'violent struggle,' Thompson said, and the homeowner received facial injuries. Fearing for his life, he shot the intruder."




Canadians scoff at gun laws: "More than a million guns remain unregistered in Canada, 18 months after a registration deadline, a document released by the Canada Firearms Centre confirms. The total number of valid firearm licence holders who still haven't registered a gun stands at a whopping 406,834."

Canadian nervousness: "Ed Hudson, a 59-year-old veterinarian and gun enthusiast, can't get himself prosecuted for being an unlicensed owner of 50 unregistered guns, no matter what he does. He has been arrested three times and had two shotguns seized after pulling stunts where he practically begged the police to charge him under the Firearms Act. But the charges that were laid -- having a weapon in a public place or obstructing a police officer (under the Criminal Code, not the firearms law) -- were always dropped. ... Hudson, who has been a Canadian citizen for 24 years but still speaks with the southern drawl of his native Atlanta, is impatient for the hearing to be held, eager to make in court constitutional arguments about a right to bear arms that he thinks would blow a hole in the federal gun licensing and registration law."



Homeowner won't be charged in shooting: "A Lowcountry homeowner was acting in self defense when he shot a 16-year-old intruder in the leg last May and will not face prosecution, Berkeley County [SC] Deputy Solicitor Blair Jennings said. Homeowner Jerron Richburg of Cross fired a shotgun at the teen, who is accused of breaking into the home using a file and a screwdriver. The teenager, who has not been identified becuase of his age, had to have his left leg amputated because of his wounds. 'Based on the information we've got now, (Richburg) acted lawfully,' Jennings said. 'The house is a person's domain. Clearly, you have the right to defend yourself in your house.'"

Ban icecream vendors! "Porous enforcement and limited government oversight have allowed unlicensed ice cream vendors around the Valley to operate nearly unwatched, and that has some residents and officials concerned about the peddlers' primary customers: children. Cities and law enforcement essentially work on the honor system and count on those who want to operate ice cream trucks to apply for permits with a city where they could be subject to fingerprinting and a background check. However, many vendors simply take to the street. The vendor requirements have come into question after the rape and impregnation of a 9-year-old Maryvale girl in June reportedly by a Phoenix ice cream vendor. Adrian Gonzales Cruz, 24, of Phoenix, who was arrested in connection with the crime, did not have a license to sell ice cream." [A licence to sell icecream would prevent rape? Wow! That's powerful! Just like licencing guns prevents killings, I guess]




Fem guns: "In 1985, Robee VanNorman dreamed of opening a gun shop. Not knowing how, she put the idea on the back burner to pursue a medical career. Now, she and her partner, Nancy VanNorman, operate Lavender Guns, Inc., which they believe to be the only female-owned gun shop in the state [of New York]. They incorporated the business a little over a year ago. ... Both women are certified by the National Rifle Association and take pride in working patiently to learn why a customer wants a particular product and how it will be used. At a recent gun show, they were amused when prospective male customers told them they'd wait to talk to the male representatives of the business. 'Our focus is towards women. ... don't get me wrong, we'll sell to men, but our goal is to educate women on the legal use of firearms and to gain confidence in protecting themselves and their families,' said Nancy VanNorman."

AN OLDIE BUT GOLDIE

This is one of the best comeback lines of all time. It is a portion of a National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Marine Corps General Reinwald who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?
GENERAL REINWALD: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?
GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?
GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.
GENERAL REINWALD: Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?
The radio went silent and the interview ended.






GUN BUYBACKS

"Here's my favorite example of a crime-control measure that is evaluated using exactly the wrong data: gun buy-back programs. Politicians regularly tout the number of guns collected as evidence of the programs' success:....

District of Columbia Police Department Press Release: "Saying that lives will be saved as a result, Chief of Police Charles H. Ramsey today announced the Metropolitan Police Department took in 1,787 firearms on Thursday, Friday and Saturday during the first phase of `Operation Save A Life,' the District of Columbia's gun buy-back program. . `Every one of the nearly 1,800 guns collected represents a step towards making the District of Columbia safer, and this weekend's buy-back served both as a national model and as an inspiration for buy-backs HUD is supporting in other communities throughout the nation,' he said."

Another press release from the same source: "`Getting one dangerous and illegal firearm off our streets or out of a home is significant because of the potential pain and tragedy that single weapon can inflict,' said Chief of Police Charles H. Ramsey. `Getting more than 6,200 firearms off our streets and out of our homes is a momentous victory for safer children, safer families and safer communities throughout our city.'"

The problem, of course, is that purchasing a gun doesn't necessarily mean reducing the number of guns in the hands of the public. The gun buy-back might encourage the trafficking of guns into the region, if the price is high enough. If the price is low, it still might encourage people to trade-in old guns so they can purchase new ones (much like when an auto dealership offers to buy your old junker). And even if gun buy-backs succeed in reducing the stock of guns in the hands of the public, who's selling them - criminals, whose livelihoods depend on their guns, or law-abiding citizens who rarely need their guns? While it's possible that gun buy-backs reduce crime, the number of guns collected does nothing to prove it.

When I think about gun buy-backs' effectiveness, I recall the old story (possibly apocryphal, but still instructive) about the town of Abruzzi, Italy:

The city was plagued by vipers, and the city fathers determined to solve the problem by offering a reward for any viper killed. Alas, the supply of vipers increased. Townspeople had started breeding them in their basements. [from S. E. Rhoads (1985), "The Economist's View of the World: Government, Markets, and Public Policy", Cambridge University Press, p. 58]

And I'll bet that one of the city fathers trumpeted the success of the program based on the number of dead vipers turned in for the bounty.

More here

PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF

Yes. I know it was the Pharisees who said that! The point however is to see that gun deaths, like everything else, are relative. If even doctors kill and injure people whilst otherwise doing good, why should we expect any different from guns?


"The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) seems to believe that the only safe gun is no gun at all. This has been the view of most doctors who publish in medical journals in this country.

Data that have been collected about fatalities caused by America's health care system suggest that the anti-gun fervor of some doctors is born of a desire to shift the blame from their own shortcomings. Deaths from guns are more highly publicized than are deaths from malpractice, hospital-induced infections, careless prescriptions and other health care system causes, and that makes guns a handy target for diverting attention from medicine's own death toll. It is not good science to depict guns as the biggest threat to America's children, but it sure beats accepting responsibility for one's own shortcomings.

In an article by Dr. Gary Null, et. al., government statistics were gathered to present an overall picture of the extent of death-by-medical-system that afflicts the United States. Here is a summary of the data supporting Dr. Null's conclusion that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States.

For comparison, in 2001, the heart disease annual death toll was 699,697, and the cancer death toll was 553,251. The medical system death toll was 783,936!

Murder committed using firearms accounts for less than 10,000 victims and the accidental firearms death toll is little more than 1,000. About 120 or so kids under 14 are killed by gunshots. The medical system mortalities break down this way: adverse drug reactions: 106,000; medical error: 98,000; bedsores: 115,000; infection: 88,000; malnutrition: 108,000; outpatients: 199,000; unnecessary procedures: 37,136; surgery-related: 32,000. As Dr. Null explains, these are conservative estimates that do not attempt to overcome the considerable limitations of self-reporting regarding error and negligence.

In view of this information, it might be asked, is the patient more at risk at the hospital when the nurse and doctor are in his room, or when four of his armed buddies are visiting? When the pediatrician, following the AAP's advice, invades his patient's privacy and asks if daddy has guns and where they are, who or what is the most dangerous -- the pediatrician or daddy's guns?"

Source:

HESTON

Michael Moore in "Bowling for Columbine" tries to portray NRA president Charlton Heston as a racist. The trouble is Heston was campaigning for black civil rights before Moore left diapers. Heston has no qualms about his support for both civil rights and the Second Amendment. There is a great speech from Heston about it here. Excerpt:

"As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issue. No, it's much, much bigger than that. I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated. For example, I marched for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963 -- long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist. I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe". See also here.




THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS THAT ENGLISHMEN USED TO HAVE

Colin Greenwood on the 1688 English Bill of Rights (Excerpt):

"The full version should begin by referring to the various complaints against the Catholic King James II who had endeavoured "to subvert and extirpate the laws and liberties of the Kingdom".

There were thirteen specific complaints and the sixth of these, set well above matters such as free elections, was that King James had "caused several good subjects, being protestants, to be disarmed at the same time when papists were both armed and imployed contrary to law." The Bill did not seek to disarm catholics, but merely to place protestants on an equal footing by asserting that "the subjects which are protestants may have arms for their defence, suitable to their condition and. as allowed by law".

This statement must also be taken in the context of its day. The right to keep arms was a long established part of English Common Law but, because the Common Law is capable of change by various mechanisms, the right was not absolute and Charles II had modified it through his Militia Act of 1662 which continued the practice of requiring subjects to keep arms of a particular type according to their `condition and degree' -- that is their rank in society and their wealth.

The rights and liberties of Englishmen continued to expand under Common Law. In the 17th century, many of the supposed rights did not, in practice, extend to the bottom of the social ladder but by the 18th century, Common Law rights were well established. and of such a nature that Sir William Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765) was in no doubt that the right to keep arms was a vital part of the Common Law. Blackstone listed the rights or liberties of Englishmen and showed that to vindicate these rights when attacked, the Common Law provided that the subject was entitled to justice in the courts, the right Of petitioning the king and parliament for redress of grievance and, "the right of having and using arms for self preservation and defence."

It was Blackstone's statement of the Common Law which formed the basis of the American Constitution, for the revolutionaries complained that their Common Law rights had been violated by the Crown and, in the light of their experiences at that time, they placed great emphasis on their right to keep arms"......

Hey! Haven't Britain's strict antigun laws made this unneccessary? "A new drama about the growing gun culture is to tour Liverpool communities. The play, The Trouble With Guns, has been written by Liverpool writer Robert Awork.'I wrote the play knowing that people I had known had suffered as a result of weapons,' he says. 'I wanted to try to pass the message on to try to dissuade more young people from going the same way.' The play follows a spate of shootings in Liverpool. ... The drama will highlight the tragic consequences for young people that can result from easy access to firearms amid the growing gun culture in English cities including Liverpool."

Avoiding genocide: "It is long past time for the United Nations and the rest of the international community to do more than bemoan genocide after the fact. It is time for formal international law to recognize the natural right of self-defense, and to acknowledge the universal human right of 'having arms for their defense' so that, as a last resort, victims can 'restrain the violence of oppression.' As history has shown, as long as dictatorships exist, the only way to ensure the primary right to life is to guarantee the auxiliary right to arms."

19th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference. Marriott Crystal City Hotel. The theme of the conference is "Ban Gun Bans." The goal of the conference is to educate people on how to protect and advance the right to keep and bear arms across the country and in your communities. Books, monographs and other materials -- enough to start a Second Amendment library -- are free, as are Saturday Luncheon, Friday and Saturday evening receptions and morning and afternoon snack breaks. Other meals, travel and lodging are to be paid by attendee.

Pitcairn again: "At Pitcairn, the Brits have gone too far, interfering in local marriage customs and trying to steal twenty lousy guns from a poor people who need them to feed themselves. Knowing perfectly well what happened after Dunblane and in Australia, we have to ask ourselves if this isn't a deliberate, calculated attempt to elevate the island's violent crime rate as part of some long-repressed revenge they're getting on Fletcher Christian and his pals. Whatever the case, Great Britain must now be expelled utterly from the company of decent nations."

ALL self-defence is now suspect in Britain: "A man who admitted stabbing a suspected burglar with a bread knife to protect his wife and child is being investigated for assault. Antonio Caeiro, 33, who said he wounded a 19-year-old intruder at his home in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, said yesterday that he would do the same again to defend his family. The incident has similarities with the case of Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for shooting dead a teenage burglar in 1999."

Gun ban didn't reduce violence: "The federal assault-weapons ban, scheduled to expire in September, is not responsible for the nation's steady decline in gun-related violence and its renewal likely will achieve little, according to an independent study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). 'It is thus premature to make definitive assessments of the ban's impact on gun violence. Should it be renewed, the ban's effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement,' said the report .... NIJ is the Justice Department's research, development and evaluation agency -- assigned the job of providing objective, independent, evidence-based information to the department through independent studies and other data collection activities."

Guns count in presidential politics: "In most of the world, the language of human rights and liberty is used to discuss universal issues, like the right to vote, to speak freely, to chose the place you live and work. But here, as in much of small town U.S.A., there is a peculiar 'right' that sits curiously close to the American heart: The right to own and shoot a gun, which is protected by the vaguely worded Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. ... With the U.S. Presidential contest between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry just three months away, the right to bear arms is for many rural voters a passionate close-to-home campaign issue -- one that trumps more distant conflicts like a War in Iraq or more abstract ones, like a growing budget deficit."

Filipino wild West needs guns too: "Veteran print and radio journalist Juan Balagtas does not leave home in the volatile southern Philippine city of Zamboanga without a loaded handgun. He drives a van with tinted windows and pays a bodyguard to watch his back as he heads to the local radio station where his popular programme attacking corrupt politicians and Islamic militants airs daily. ... Six reporters have been killed this year. Police are investigating whether the killings were work-related and said they would ease restrictions on gun permits for journalists. The move has triggered heated debate in a country where a proliferation of unlicensed firearms is blamed for rising crime."

GUNS AS FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Gun violence at school: Do measures to stop it make it in fact more likely to happen? Is the violence partly caused by all the hype about how dangerous gun-possession can be?

"But whatever the explanation for why a few weird and unstable American teenagers choose to vent their spleen through shooting their classmates, the preoccupation with school safety that has made fear of violence in schools into a national obsession probably has not helped.

The preoccupation with safety in schools and the fear of violence in schools predates the infamous school shootings in Columbine (April 1999) or even Jonesboro (March 1998). Since the early 1990s, school boards and principals have been keen to enact high-profile 'zero tolerance' campaigns against weapons in school.

State legislatures have also put much energy into being seen to take the matter of school safety seriously. A whole range of measures are now commonplace in US schools, from surveillance cameras on school buses to metal detectors at school entrances, and from the banning of anything that could be deemed gang insignia to the permanent police presence within some school campuses....

When all of this is taken together, it is clear that US schools convey a very clear message to students. Students - especially teenagers - are to be feared and, without rigorous regulation and policing, adults believe students will naturally be violent and dangerous. In this kind of atmosphere, is it so incredible that some nutcases choose to play the part?"




Prohibition generally is counterproductive:

"The psychology of prohibition can inform our views about how censorship works. A few weeks ago, in the now-completed trial of Frank Quattrone, the judge ordered the media not to release the names of jurors pending the trial's outcome. Despite the fact that there was general agreement among the media that jurors' names should not be released, several newspapers hired a lawyer to protest the judge's ruling. The judge had, in effect, made something appealing that had previously had no appeal.

Many years ago, when struggling author Mark Twain released his book "Huckleberry Finn," he got an unexpected gift from the city of Boston. The book was "banned in Boston," and naturally went on to become a must-read everywhere. Federico Fellini, the Italian filmmaker, once said, "Censorship is advertising paid by the government."

Want Howard Stern's show to attract a few more listeners? Get Clear Channel to pull him of the air. Ted Koppel read the names of soldiers killed in Iraq without embellishment for half an hour. One media provider blacked out the show on its ABC affiliates and viewership climbed by 30 percent."

Your government will protect you: "Federal air marshals protect less than 5 percent of daily U.S. flights, and the numbers are declining, despite assurances by the federal government that most planes would be protected, according to estimates provided by marshals, pilots and a retired airline executive. 'They are flying on a relatively limited number of flights due to availability,' said Capt. Stephen Luckey, chairman of the national-security committee of the Air Lines Pilots Association, which represents 64,000 pilots. The number of federal air marshals who protect planes from terrorist attacks is classified, and the Department of Homeland Security has refused to discuss it. The sources said they are confident that terrorists already know the numbers based on open-source documents that can be found on the Internet, ongoing surveillance in airports and aboard planes, and in news reports."

Ban all knives! "A schizophrenic allegedly beheaded his father with a knife, a court heard yesterday. Christian Simionescu, 25, briefly faced Burwood Local Court in Sydney yesterday charged with the murder of his father, Emil in June. According to facts tendered to court, Simionescu was arrested the day after the alleged murder in Roselands when police found he was allegedly "prone to violence and has a fascination with knives". A knife was found at the scene. The victim's body was discovered by his wife on the living-room floor. His head was found in a bag on the garage roof".

Robbery foiled: "An adult video store clerk shot a robber in the arm, and then himself in the hand, while fending off the assailant who came in demanding money Saturday afternoon, Suffolk [NY] police said. John McMurray was working at the store on Jericho Turnpike at about 4:30 p.m. when a man armed with a metal pipe arrived, police spokesman Officer Sonny Di Stefano said. McMurray, 67, of Bohemia, gave the man, Stanley Hagzan, 50, of 29 Johnson Ave. in Kings Park, some cash. Hagzan then tied up McMurray, Di Stefano said.The clerk was soon able to free himself and then reached for his licensed revolver and shot at Hagzan."

Burglar who was shot by homeowner gets seven years: Chicago Sun-Times "A Chicago [IL] man who was shot after he twice broke into a Wilmette home pleaded guilty to residential burglary Thursday and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Mario Billings, 32, a convicted thief, entered his plea before Judge Timothy Chambers in the Cook County courthouse in Skokie, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office said. Billings also pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle in the 2003 incident. The case drew widespread attention from gun-rights advocates after prosecutors determined the homeowner, Hale DeMar, shot Billings in self-defense but still charged DeMar with failing to renew a firearm card. The charges were later dropped."

Would-be victim shoots robber: "Police say two robbery suspects face capital murder charges for the death of another man who was working with them, even though neither actually shot him. Reginald Scroggins, the man whose bullet killed Cortelyous Johnson, has not been charged because it appears he was acting in self-defense. ... The men charged with killing 28-year-old Cortelyous Johnson are 22-year-old Jarrett Johnson and 23-year-old Gregory Williams, 23. They're also charged with two counts of committing a terroristic act and four counts of aggravated robbery."

Boy arrested over BB gun: "A concerned mother whose teenage son was arrested for carrying a ball bearings gun in town is warning people it is illegal. The 42-year-old Bracknell woman was shocked after her 13-year-old son was detained by police for possessing the imitation firearm in a public place. The student was unaware her son had bought the BB gun on a shopping trip to Bracknell on Tuesday, August 3. ... Police are warning youngsters that in line with new legislation in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 which came into force in January this year, anyone seen carrying an imitation firearm in a public place without reasonable excuse may face a six month prison sentence or 5,000 pound fine."

A gun rights victory: "It's a victory for gun rights advocates this morning. Guns are now allowed back in Henrico County [VA] parks. The Board of Supervisors approved the ordinance at last night's meeting in a 4 to 1 vote. The county approved allowing guns back in public parks to bring the county under compliance with a new state law that took effect July 1st. That law says counties no longer have the authority to regulate firearms."




BANNING TOY GUNS: REVISITED

I noted on 13th that the authorities in at least one Australian State have now started banning "realistic" toy guns. There was a similar move in Britain last year -- which drew the following acerbic comment from Mick Hume of "Spiked". (Excerpt):

"It may come as a shock to new Labour policymakers, but criminals do not obey their rules. Gangsters can always get guns, and the proposed restrictions on replica weapons and airguns (which can be adapted to fire live rounds) will simply give them more laws to ignore. The people affected by Britain's ever-tighter gun controls are the citizenry, denied access to firearms for leisure or self-protection. Talk of a 'gun culture' in Britain is wildly exaggerated. Insofar as there is an increased use of guns connected to the inner-city trade in drugs such as crack cocaine, it is a complicated problem with deep social and economic roots. An opportunity, perhaps, to make good Mr Blair's promise and get 'tough on the causes of crime'.

However, the authorities seem to have one thing in common with the Birmingham murderers: they are tough enough only to shoot at easy targets. The supposed 'causes of crime' that politicians and police chiefs appear keen to crack down on include gangsta rap music, violent video games, and other aspects of 'teen culture'. There are also proposals to tighten controls on visitors from the Caribbean and the Balkans. If we could just stop those Albanians coming over here, listening to our So Solid Crew CDs and playing shoot-em-up Playstation games, no doubt all would be well in inner-city areas such as Aston...."

Laws enforce zero tolerance for common sense: "In January, Adam Liston made a serious mistake. Liston, 18, a senior at Davis (CA) High School, dropped off a few friends at school on his way to the gun range with a new shotgun in his gun rack. Someone reported seeing the gun, and the next day, the vice principal asked to search Liston's Ford F-250 truck. Liston readily agreed.Six police cars arrived and officers swarmed the truck. As they searched, his heart sank. He realized he had forgotten to remove the shotgun, unloaded and still in its original box, from his truck after target shooting. Liston broke down in tears as officers confiscated the gun and arrested him. He was handcuffed and taken to the Yolo County Jail."

Feisty reporters: "A radio reporter and his two companions survived an 'ambush' Thursday night on Natalio Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City [Philippines] by firing back at their assailants. Using an Ingram machine pistol and .45 caliber pistols, George Benaojan, a reporter of El Nuevo Bantay Radyo, said he and his two volunteer reporters scared the gunmen away with superior firepower."

Texans fought for their right to arms: "In September 1835, Santa Anna sent his brother-in-law, General Martin Perfecto de Co's, to Texas to confiscate the inhabitant's arms and to arrest Santa Anna's political opponents. Like the Americans in 1775 who demanded their English common-law rights, the Texans of 1835 demanded their rights under the Mexican Constitution of 1824. They realized these rights could be protected only by an armed populace. Sam Houston, commander of the Texas citizens army, urged the North Americans: "Let each man come with a good rifle and one hundred rounds of ammunition and?come soon. Our war cry is `LIBERTY OR DEATH!'"... Now, as in 1836, there are those who would deprive Texans of this most basic right of free men. All other rights flow from this one: Without the means to resist oppression, none of our rights can he guaranteed.

The real agenda behind the assault weapons ban: "The 1994 semiautomatic or so-called assault weapons ban expires Sept. 13. The media drumbeat to reauthorize it has begun, and some politicians are dancing to the familiar tune. Instead of merely reauthorizing the ban, however, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-L.I.) seeks to ban more guns and implement a national registration scheme. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the assault weapons ban sponsor, said on CBS' '60 Minutes,' 'If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate for an outright ban, picking up every one of them -- Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in -- I would have done it.' The gun control agenda has never been stated more honestly."

Home invaders lose: "According to police, two young men were the victims of an apparent home invasion, by two other young men armed with guns. The victims inside the home had guns of their own and shot at the two intruders injuring one of them. One injured man made his way to an Aurora [CO] hospital later in the day. The other suspect is presumably on the loose. Police report the intruders were shot by a teenager inside the house."

Making gun-sport easier on the ear: "Having never fired a gun in her life, Faamati Winey pulled up on a flying clay pigeon and dusted it with the latest version of the Quiet Gun. A small audience at the Metro Gun Club in Blaine gave an enthusiastic cheer for Winey, who grinned and said, 'Hey, this is easy.' Inventor Wendell Diller, who developed this shotgun with its characteristic long barrel, beamed proudly. He then watched as Winey, his boss's wife, broke another clay target, scoring 2 out of 4 in her introduction to shot gunning. 'People look at the long barrel and think it's going to kick or that it's too hard to shoot,' he said. 'Well, we're here to show that's not the case.' Three more shooters put the shotgun with a 31-inch extension barrel to their shoulders and dusted clay targets, while the gun emitted a pop slightly louder than a pellet rifle."

Second amendment does not bar assault weapons: "Putting aside the fact that the banned guns are not really 'assault weapons,' our right to protect our lives, liberty and property isn't limited by someone's notion of which firearms we can own to do so. Those rights are protected by the Second Amendment, set up by the Founding Fathers in a time when the militia was our nation's defense from enemies, foreign and domestic. Despite the argument that those militias have become the National Guard, we hold to the original intent of the Founders, that firearms in the hands of citizens are one of the surest ways to protect the liberties we all enjoy. In order to do so, those citizens must be independent of government, national or state. To argue that the government will protect us from the excesses of the government is self-contradictory."




REFLECTIONS ON THE KAREN BROWN CASE

The Australian security guard who shot the man who robbed her as he was making his getaway. Excerpts:

"Australia does have a "statistical problem" with rising violent crime rates. So does Britain -- and both countries took unprecedented steps a few years back to not only regulate firearms, but to confiscate them. Australians spent at least half a billion dollars to collect and destroy hundreds of thousands of legally owned guns, and the result? No decrease in violent crime, armed robberies up by 166%.

These disturbing trends have given a new weapon to the North American gun lobby, which also points to a dramatic drop in violent crime in the U.S. during the same period, as state after state -- 20 in the past two decades -- relaxed the rules for carrying concealed handguns for personal protection.

The connection between stripping citizens of the right to bear arms and the likelihood of their becoming victims of crime is "really hard to tease out" of available data, says Gary Mauser, a professor of business at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University. "The advocates on both sides tend to cherry-pick their numbers," says Mauser, who wrote a paper last year for the Fraser Institute on the "failed experiment" of gun control in Commonwealth countries.

But he added the increase in gun ownership and parallel decline in violent crime in the U.S. is "the most reasonable link" yet to firearm possession and personal safety."

More here

ARE GUN-OWNERS CROSS-EYED NUTCASES?

Which is what the media would like people to believe

The late actor Robert Stack was right on target when he said, "You meet the nicest people at a shooting range." But the general public doesn't know that because many people have never touched a real gun, let alone shot one or been to a range. And as John Lott Jr. points out in his most important book "The Bias Against Guns," the media have a heavy negative bias against gun owners and firearms manufacturers. People need to understand who gun owners and manufacturers really are in order to make reasonable decisions about gun issues and see through the anti-gun hysteria.....

In "Shooters: Myths and Realities of America's Gun Culture," (Oxford University Press; $29.95) anthropologist Abigail A. Kohn uses ethnographic research with recreational shooters to shed light on America's gun culture. Kohn paints accurate portrayals of those who she interviews and demonstrates that the core values of gun owners are freedom, independence, individualism and equality.....

To Kohn's credit, she admits she was not a shooter when she began her research and she expected to find people fitting the popular negative stereotypes. However, when she met so many friendly, safe and sane people as you tend to find at shooting ranges, she was transformed. Kohn has not only has written a much-needed study about who firearms owners really are, she has ended up becoming a cowboy-action shooter herself.

More here




GUNS AND ENGLAND

Recent years have been bad for anti-gun freaks

"Old stereotypes die hard and the vision of Britain as a peaceable kingdom, America as "the wild west culture on the other side of the Atlantic" is out of date. It is true that in contrast to Britain's tight gun restrictions, half of American households have firearms, and 33 states now permit law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons.

But despite, or because, of this, violent crime in America has been plummeting for 10 consecutive years, even as British violence has been rising. By 1995 English rates of violent crime were already far higher than America's for every major violent crime except murder and rape.

You are now six times more likely to be mugged in London than New York. Why? Because as common law appreciated, not only does an armed individual have the ability to protect himself or herself but criminals are less likely to attack them. They help keep the peace. A study found American burglars fear armed home-owners more than the police. As a result burglaries are much rarer and only 13% occur when people are at home, in contrast to 53% in England."

More here