posted by Caleb on Jul 31
Click the image to get the facts on Obama and your right to keep and bear arms.
Archive for July, 2008
posted by Caleb on Jul 31
I’m staying with Electric Boogaloo to reference Heller Round 2 because it drives Squeaks nuts, and that makes me laugh.
Here’s the NRA Press release on Heller 2.
On June 26, 2008, the U. S. Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller, that “the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.” The Supreme Court explicitly articulated that handguns are constitutionally-protected arms because they are in common use at this time, are typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, are considered by the American people to be the quintessential self-defense weapon, are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense in the home, and are the most preferred firearm in the nation to keep and use for protection of one’s home and family.
Pushing back gun control restrictions one at time - this is winning.
posted by Caleb on Jul 31
I want to continue to promote next week’s show on Gun Nuts: The Next Generation because I think it’s going to be one of our best shows ever. Remember the ultra-long thread(s) at Snowflakes in Hell where the topic of extremism in the pro-gun movement was debated at length?
Next week on Gun Nuts: TNG we’re going to be talking to Sebastian of Snowflakes in Hell, as well Kurt from Armed & Safe. While this won’t be a traditional style debate like you’d see from political candidates, we’re going to be having the gentlemen mentioned above discuss both sides of the issue, as they represent relatively opposite ends of the pro-gun movement. Squeaks and I will be neutral, keeping our opinions to ourselves and will really only serve to ask questions and drive the conversation.
The original thread at Sebastian’s had like 200 comments or some ridiculous damn number - a lot of that comes from the fact that we as pro-gun activists are extremely passionate about what we believe, which is why I am really excited about next Tuesday’s show. You can tune in live at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts - Tuesday at 11pm Eastern time!
posted by Caleb on Jul 31
Not that old, I suppose - Mrs. Ahab and I really hate going to the theatre, and we will really only go if there is a movie out we both are significantly interested in, such as The Dark Knight. Because of that, when I see a preview for a movie that looks good, I make a mental note to order it On Demand or Tivo it when it’s playing in HD on HBO or Starz.
Last night, we finally got around to watching our DVR’d copy of The Kingdom, starring Jamie Fox and Jennifer Garner (who is hot in a girl next door sort of way). I remember when this movie came out that people were saying that it was anti-war and anti-American or something, to which I can only conclude that they weren’t watching the same movie that I did. The basic gist of the plot is that some terrorists attack a western housing compound in Saudi Arabia, and the FBI does some political tap-dance and gets to send a team over to “The Kingdom” (hence the name) to assist with the investigation.
I actually thought the film was pretty solid - it did a decent job of portraying the difference between your average Muslim who just wants to live his/her life out and the crazy jihadists who want to kill everyone, without sliding into apologizing for terrorism or anything like that.
Now for the part that you people care about - there was a pretty cracking gunfight for the last 10-20 minutes of the film. Jennifer Garner spends most of it with an HK MP5K, Jamie Fox goes from an HK G3 to a 12 gauge shotgun, and then tosses that for a pistol grip AK. The badguys are pretty much universally armed with AKs, although you do see a Tokarev, and the goodguy Saudis are usually packing M4’s and Beretta M9s.
If you get a chance to see it for anywhere from $0.00 - $5.00, The Kingdom would be totally worth it, if for no reason other than the political intrigue (which I dig) and the big gunfight at the end.
posted by Caleb on Jul 31
Amidst all the intertrons hubbub about 1911s and Glocks (really?) Mike went and got himself a real man’s fighting handgun.
Say what you want, but an S&W Model 19 with a 2.5 inch barrel will do the job you want it to do every single time you pull the trigger. Plus, you get an additional +5 to your “Old School Cool” factor whenever people are talking about carry pieces. I mean, I love my Glocks and Berettas, but if someone looks at me says “Oh yeah, I’m carrying a Smith model 19″ I’m just going to say “you win”.
You see there’s cool, and then there’s the Model 19. I am insane with jealousy.
posted by Caleb on Jul 30
Some guy at Huffington Post that I’ve never heard of asks the question why more religious groups don’t call for gun control, especially in light of the recent church shootings in Knoxville and Colorado.
And of course, Paul Helmke is on hand to lie and twist the facts about the recent (and past church shootings, all to help bolster their failing cause.
What’s kind of odd is that the HuffPo guy asks the question, but doesn’t actually provide an answer. I mean he sort of says that liberal churches don’t touch the gun issue because it’s surefire way to lose, and that conservative churches don’t touch it because it would distract from pro-life efforts (really? - ed) but he doesn’t actually think about the issue and why churches don’t usually touch the gun issue. He does note the “God not Guns Coalition”, the Brady Campaign “faith-based” anti gun group to which I’ve given a sound trouncing in the past; but that’s all he’s got.
It never occurs to our little HuffPoer that maybe, just maybe the reason that most faith based organizations don’t actively support gun control is that a majority of their parishioners don’t want them to? Take a look at my church again, which is actually pretty representative of a lot of modern churches. We have liberals, conservatives, old people, young people, you name it. But if I was reading the announcements section one day and it said “East 91st Street church plans to sponsor a gun buyback to get guns off the streets and needs volunteers” it’s a sure bet that I would be burning the phone lines down with calls - and I wouldn’t be the only one.
That’s the root cause, actually, so maybe the HuffPo guy was right. Gun control is a losing issue - especially in areas (like churches) that heavily rely on community involvement to be successful in their endeavors.
Ultimately, I’ll refer you back to last night’s podcast - as long as people, churchgoers and non-attendees alike still believe in self defense, it’s going to be a pretty tough row to hoe to get mainstream Protestant denominations involved in gun control. And by “tough” I mean “damn near impossible”.
posted by Caleb on Jul 30
I’m with Uncle, I’d like to see Ray Nagin locked up right next to Fenty and Daley.
Guns being seized in New Orleans during traffic stops now by cops flagrantly violating the law.
This is one of the negative aspects of modern police work, the “culture creep” or “new corporate mindset”. This is where the anti-gun/individual liberty attitudes of the administration seep down to the street level officers, whether by accident or intention. The officer wants to keep his job, so he plays along with the “corporate culture” until he or she doesn’t even think about it any longer.
It’s a sad thing, but it does happen. Now, while most cops in most cities are still good guys, you see this kind of corporate culture creep more and more in places like New Orleans, or Washington, DC. and Chicago where the city departments are run by hardline anti-gun mayors like the aforementioned guys.
What’s the solution to this? Get rid of the bums. You change the administration, you change who’s running the PD, you can change the culture in the PD. Then once you do that, you can with your local department to ensure that they’re educated on firearms laws; get involved with the city council to make sure that they’re not enacting policies which violate the right to keep and bear arms. In short, don’t just bitch about it, do something about it.
posted by Caleb on Jul 30
On last night’s show, which is still available at this link we for obvious reasons talked a lot about guns in church, and the entire concept of church carry. I mentioned that my church (which I haven’t been to in a while) has armed security staff on hand, complete with little earbud radios. I suspect that these guys are off duty cops or Special Deputies, but it doesn’t invalidate the point that my church has chosen to go the armed security route.
And yet, despite that, I still carry to church. We have a limited number of armed security, and they can’t be in every place at once - as was said several times, it’s my responsibility to defend myself and my family.
One of the items I wish we’d had more time to discuss last night was the actual dynamics of a situation like that. Bonnie brought it up when she was talking about how there had been kids running around, and in the event someone had returned fire, they would have run the risk of hitting a kid. Now, the anti-gunners would have us all believe that that’s exactly what a CCW holder is going to do - light the place up indiscriminately, which we all know is bullshit. But it does serve to reinforce my opinion that in a crowd like that, you don’t shoot unless you absolutely have to, i.e. the shooter is in between you and your getaway, or you’ve got a really clean shot and are “as cool as the other side of the pillow”.
I think we can all agree that gunfights are a Bad Thing(tm) that should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. That rule goes double for gunfights in places with blind angles and lots and lots of innocent bystanders. This is a big part of why I say that anyone who is going to carry concealed should really get training with their carry gun - go to gun school and learn everything you can. I’m not saying that a weekend at gun school is going to turn you into a long-range-low-heat tactical operator capable of making headshots on running targets at 25 yards, but it will certainly help you refine the skills you need to be able to defend yourself and your family in a crisis situation.
posted by Caleb on Jul 30
Oh podcast my podcast - yesterday’s show covered carrying in church, some of the moral issues and the divide between people who accept church carry a logical and reasonable thing, and the people who think it’s a bad thing.
You can listen to the full audio here at Gun Nuts: The Next Generation, or download the .mp3 file at this link or by clicking below.
This was a pretty good show, despite the technical difficulties we experienced. Our user feedback was great, despite not being able to take calls for half the show - the chat session is where a lot of the action is and it was popping tonight.
If you missed out, you can listen to the whole show here!
