Ban Assault Limbs

Check out Breda's latest. She fears it will soon be high time to ban "assault limbs."

And Miss Breda, I completely agree with your hesitation to go through airport security these days, particularly facing TSA with a prosthetic limb. Somehow, being "swabbed" seems a rather icky way to begin a flight.

Jeff Knox On Bush And The DOJ/DC Brief

Updated Jan. 25, 2008, 8:26 am -- Faux paus on my part. Neal Knox was head of NRA-ILA from 1978 to 1982. Chris, thanks for the correction!

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Updated Jan. 23, 2008, 10:57 pm -- BTW, Jeff was present for the "lie-in" gun show protest, where some 200 pro-self defense activists, quietly observing the goings-on, picked up more publicity than the gun grabbers. He noted to one of the protesters that he was armed when he was in college, though it is illegal now, and that if students had been armed at Virginia Tech, the massacre would have been stopped shortly after it started. The young man, who survived four gunshot wounds during the attacks, told Jeff he felt sorry for him.

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Jeff Knox, along with his brother Chris, run The Firearms Coalition. Great thinkers, even better writers. They carry on a tremendous legacy left to them by their dad, Neal Knox, the first executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

Here is Jeff's take on the Department of Justice brief backing the District of Columbia's handgun ban:

"It appears that the "pro-gun" Republican Department of Justice fears that any decision from the Supreme Court which held that banning any class of weapons was an infringement of the Second Amendment, might open the door to challenges against bans on dreaded machineguns. It is worth noting that Congress recognized back in 1934 that banning machineguns would be a violation of the Second Amendment, so they instead devised a plan whereby they could control such firearms with burdensome taxes and paperwork restrictions."

You should take a moment to read his full commentary. Nicely written Jeff!

Ban Assault Plungers

A drunken man in Leavenworth, Kansas attacked his father early Monday morning, stabbing him 16 times with the handle of a toilet plunger. The victim survived the attack. The assailant is in jail accused of attempted murder of both his parents.

But America will soon be asking, what reasonable steps can we take to avert plunger violence?

Great Report From Weekend Virginia Counter-Protest; State Senate Ultimately Rejects 3 Bad Gun Control Bills

I strongly urge you to take some time to read this report from the weekend counter-protest staged over the weekend outside the Virginia General Assembly building. Photos included. Pro-self defense advocates outnumbered the antis 2 to 1. Many were armed and no one got shot. It was probably the safest place to be in Virginia that day, though gun controllers would never admit it.

The good guys won this round. Three gun control measures were defeated in the Virginia Senate just yesterday and today, and a big reason (besides the senseless nature of the proposals) was the ongoing efforts of the Virginia Citizen’s Defense League. One of the bills was to close the so-called "gun show loophole," which, as everyone knows, isn't a loophole and was not a factor in the Virginia Tech shootings last year. If they only had a brain. Fortunately, senators did think it through and made the common sense choice. Check out the reaction by anti-gun senators to the defeat of the gun show sales ban bill.

Back to the report on the weekend protest/counter-protest. In this piece, the author notes something that has been echoed in other states (fellow blogger Ahab over in Indiana has noticed it, too), as well as here before our own Ohio General Assembly. The people who want to pass gun bans and stringent regulations are often very angry. I haven't seen it always. But when it comes out, you see it in their eyes and their body language. It manifested itself in a big way (and opened my eyes) when several of these advocates for registration of people and firearms refused to step onto an elevator with me a couple of years ago. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they wanted to plot strategy in private. Or. . . .

The report from Virginia about the counter-protest to the “lie-in,” the latter staged by a new anti organization -- "Protest Easy Guns" -- is a long read, but definitely worth your time. Please see what can happen when people ACTUALLY get involved, instead of just sitting back and firing off emails to their legislators.

Kudos to SailorCurt at Captain of a Crew of One for his excellent overview of the events this past weekend. And congrats to all the folks at VCDL for a job well done!

Another Reason Why Suits Against Firearms Makers Over The Actions Of Criminals Is . . . Well, Criminal

No matter what you think of Enron, and that entire debacle, here is another reason why gun manufacturers (third parties) should not be sued and cannot be held responsible for the illegal activities of criminals.

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. Just another regular guy who raises an eyebrow every time class action lawyers try to hold everyone else accountable, other than those who actually committed the crime.

Some News On Tiahrt Provision

In case you didn't know, the combined federal appropriations measure for 2008 that was approved by the House and Senate before lawmakers left for their Christmas holiday break included the Tiahrt Amendment, which New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his anti-gun coalition had been trying to kill.

The amendment, authored by Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), which has been renewed for the past three years, will continue to restrict the sharing of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gun trace data to law enforcement agencies for another year. Bloomberg and cohorts had wanted the data for use in lawsuits against the firearms industry, including licenses gun shops around the nation.

Via GunWeek

'Shiny Toy Guns' Music Sells Razr Phones

Awhile back I posted a music vid from a band called "Shiny Toy Guns" for no other reason than I liked their music . . . and their name.

Motorola likes them also. Shiny Toy Guns' same song, Le Disko, is now the background music to an action-packed TV commercial promoting the Moto Razr2 line of mobile phones. Some interesting martial arts, and creative use of a heretofore never dreamed of dueling tool. You'll get it. See the full, uncut commercial here.

I'll say this. They are sharp looking phones. Pun intended.

Virtually No Difference In Likely Prez Choices

Well this pretty much sums it up:

"We are going to have a choice in the general election. A choice between a far left statist, and a left leaning statist (quiet possibly a left leaning, authoritarian statist)."

Read the full piece from A Keyboard and a .45.

h/t to Snowflakes in Hell