Saturday, January 4, 2014

Majority of Republicans Deny Science

Growing partisan differences in beliefs about evolution - Pew Research and MSNBC.

I'm not surprised about the Republicans, I already knew they're mainly idiots.  But who the hell are the 27% of Democrats?

The New Executive Orders

Overweight, Out-of-Shape Gun Nut Explains Why He Carries Three Guns



Robert Farago followed this post up with another, equally fascinating: Why The Rabbi Carries Three Guns, And I Carry One
This is the Rabbi talking - he's the guy in the video pretending to kill imaginary bad guys:
I carry a back-up pistol, accessible to my support hand because I know through study of both real and simulated gun fights, there is a strong probability of getting shot in the dominant hand/arm.  In fights, adversaries focus on the threat and in gunfights, that’s the gun hand. With the eyes focused on the gun, the body and thus the aim point focuses there as well.
One reason a back-up may be needed: the primary gun may be disabled by being hit by a bullet, see above, or can jam for a multitude of reasons, such as being rolled around in the dirt during a fight, or simply a worn magazine spring. Additionally, guns, like all mechanical devices break, just because.
A back-up gun is also important if your primary gun gets taken in a gun grab.  Many altercations start as a physical fight.  If the gun is inadvertently discovered during the tussle, it may be grabbed from you. Likewise, it may be taken from you if deployed at the wrong time.
My third gun is on my ankle for two reasons. Through training, I know that accessing a belt-borne firearm, can be very difficult, if not impossible, if the fight goes to the ground–again a good likelihood. There are a few techniques that allow a draw from an ankle holster when your belt holsters are not able to be reached.  Ankle holsters are also very good for use in the car since they are not encumbered by a seat-belt.  Just like one type of gun, or one style of holster may not be perfect for all occasions, one carry location may not suit all needs either.
Lastly, having three guns allows me to give one to someone else (who is mistakenly, not carrying) in a emergency and still have a back-up.

Ronald Reagan on Home Defense

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Gun Control Outspent Gun Rights in 2013

An ad from Mayors Against Illegal Gun Violence

Advertising Age

In the year after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., gun-control groups spent $14.1 million on TV advertising. According to Kantar Media's CMAG, that gave such groups a seven to one advantage over gun-rights organizations, which only spent $1.9 million.
At the same time, gun-rights groups, led by the National Rifle Association, spent about $6.2 million on lobbying instead of advertising, according to a study by the Sunlight Foundation.
The gun-rights groups may have had the better tactic -- especially in a quiet election year.
White House efforts to strengthen gun-control laws went nowhere. Watered-down legislation to broaden FBI background checks of gun buyers failed in the Senate. And the GOP-controlled House did not even consider addressing gun-control legislation.

Texas Teens Hunting - One Goes to the Hospital

Local news reports

A teenager has been airlifted to the North Mississippi Medical Center as the result of a shooting incident in the Chickasaw County.

Chickasaw County Chief Deputy Jim Meyers says the 15-year-old was shot with a hunting rifle on County Road 190 in the Enon Community around 1 p.m.

The juvenile was carried to the Trace Regional Medical Center in Houston by ambulance before being airlifted with a gunshot wound to the head.  

Sheriff's investigators at the scene say the shooting appears to be accidental.

They believe the victim and another juvenile were deer hunting when the shooting occured.

Friday, January 3, 2014

The 17th Night of the Living Van Vliet - Captain Beefheart Festival 2013-2014

In the spirit of the Zappadan Festival, in which we celebrate each year the life and music of Frank Zappa from the date of his death to the date of his birth, I propose we do the same for Don Van Vliet.


January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010


Fans need no introduction, others can read the extensive Wikipedia entry. My own experience with his genius is this.

Although I was born in 1953, and experienced the music and culture of the 60s and 70s like everybody else of my generation, I somehow never got into Zappa or Beefheart. My friends and I were into other things, Jimi, Janice, The Doors and a little bit later, The Yes Group and Queen. 35 years passed in the blink of an eye and one day in 2009 I discovered the Zappadan Festival.  That prompted a full immersion in the many albums of FZ, which as everyone knows can keep one very busy for a very long time. Naturally this activity led me to Captain Beefheart.  I've never been the same since, music appreciation-wise.

Hot Head is the first cut on Doc at the Radar Station


She can burn you up in bed
Just like she said
Cos she's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

She can throw uh pot t'show (?)
She can start a fire aglow
Cos she's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

She puts her head into the fire
Makes you red hot perspire
Cos she's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

She was burnt before she was born
Burnin' up a storm
Cos she's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

Lick out like flame
'n' burn you to a shame
'n' bite the burnin' flame

Things are burnin' big
She's a red hot pig
She's a hobo wire toaster
She's a circle on a spit

She's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

She can stitch you to a wheel
Take you to her fire
'n' spin you round 'n' round
Boy, you take you down

Fire Fire Fire

She's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

Burn you up in bed
Just like she said
Cos she's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

She can lick out like a flame
Burn you to a shame
Yeah, bite a burnin' flame

She can burn you up in bed
Coil you up instead
Cos she's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head

She can throw uh pot t'show (?)
She can start a fire aglow

Mississippi Pellet Gun Death - No Charges - It Was Just an Accident

Local news reports

A 6-year old girl has been confirmed dead after what investigators are calling an apparent accidental shooting in her family's home in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

She was rushed to Southwest Regional Medical Center in Mccomb where she passed around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, shortly after her 13-year old brother untimely discharged his pellet gun inside the home.

Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing spoke with WLBT TV regarding the incident, and confirmed that no charges have been filed up to this point.

Missouri 12-Year-old Shot by another 12-Year-old - No Arrests



More facile advice from the idiot gun-nut cop on the scene.

Wyoming Dropped Gun Injures Woman

KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, Sports

The bumbling female gun owner probably had a concealed carry permit.  The questions are will she be charged with anything and will this incident make it into the statistics about how irresponsible the permit holders are in Wyoming.

My guess is no and no.

Gun Re-registration Begins in D.C.


For the first time in the United States, a citizen who has legally registered a gun will have to submit to a renewal process. The consequences of not knowing about this new law or missing the specific 60-day window are dire.

Starting on Jan. 2, every single D.C. resident who has registered a firearm since 1976 must go to police headquarters to pay a $48 fee and be photographed and fingerprinted.

The Metropolitan Police Department estimates there are at least 30,000 registered gun owners.

If the registrant does not go to the police station within three months after a set time frame, the registration is revoked. That citizen is then in possession of an unregistered firearm, which is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.

The gun itself is put into a category of weapons that can never be registered, just as though it were a machine gun or a sawed-off shotgun.

The city has not made clear how it will enforce the law, but the police are in possession of all registrants’ home addresses so confiscation and arrests would be simple.

Milwaukee Had a Bad Year - 2013 City Homicide Tally to 106

Annette Payne cries during a vigil Monday for Milwaukee’s homicide victims in 2013 at St. Gabriels Church of God. Payne’s son Keenen, 16, was killed in August.
Annette Payne cries during a vigil Monday for Milwaukee’s homicide victims in 2013 at St. Gabriels Church of God. Payne’s son Keenen, 16, was killed in August.

Local news reports

A fatal shooting on New Year's Eve and a couple of nonfatal shootings concluded a violent year in Milwaukee in which more people were killed by assailants than in any since 2005.
If the unofficial tally holds up, Milwaukee will have had 106 homicides in 2013, the largest number of such deaths in the tenure of Police Chief Edward A. Flynn, who was hired more than five years ago.
Police have released few details of Tuesday's fatal shooting. A man was found on the street in the 7400 block of W. Appleton Ave. No one had been arrested Wednesday in that death, a department spokesman said.
Two other people were shot in separate cases Tuesday night, and two nonfatal shootings happened in the early hours of Wednesday.
An arrest was made in one of Tuesday's shootings and one of the shootings Wednesday morning.
Much of the last year's violence occurred in August, which saw 20 homicides. That month also had the third-highest monthly number of nonfatal shootings — 78 — since the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission began keeping those records in 2006.
The violence spilled over into September, when 14 more homicides were recorded.

Colorado Arapahoe HS Shooting Victim's Dad Forgives the Shooter

Michael and Desiree Davis, parents of Claire Davis, hold up candles with others at a memorial service held for their daughter at the National Western Stock Show Event Center, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, in Denver. Behind them at left is Gov. John Hickenlooper. Claire Davis, 17, was fatally shot at her suburban Denver high school on Dec. 13, by a fellow student, who then killed himself.  MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; ; NEW YORK POST OUT; NEW YORK DAILY NEWS OUT Photo: Helen H. Richardson, AP / The Denver Post
Michael and Desiree Davis, parents of Claire Davis, hold up candles with others at a memorial service held for their daughter at the National Western Stock Show Event Center, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, in Denver. Behind them at left is Gov. John Hickenlooper. Claire Davis, 17, was fatally shot at her suburban Denver high school on Dec. 13, by a fellow student, who then killed himself. MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; ; NEW YORK POST OUT; NEW YORK DAILY NEWS OUT Photo: Helen H. Richardson, AP

Seattlepi

The father of a 17-year-old girl who was fatally shot at her suburban Denver high school said Wednesday that he and his wife have forgiven the killer, and he asked others to do the same.
Michael Davis said at a memorial service for his daughter Claire that the killer was blinded by anger and didn't know what he was doing.
"My wife and I forgive Karl Pierson for what he did," Davis said. "We would ask all of you here and all of you watching to forgive Karl Pierson. He didn't know what he was doing."
Sheriff's investigators say Pierson shot Claire Davis at Arapahoe County High School on Dec. 13. She died eight days later.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

The 2013 Bad Penny Award for gross hypocrisy on the right: Remember the Sarah Palin/ Bristol and Willow Palin/ David Letterman 'scandal' of 2009?

By Dog Gone and Cross posted from Penigma (this is attribution--got that?):











A lot of people refer to the religious and political right as the western equivalent of the Taliban.  The legislation against women and children, both in mandating intrusive, unwarranted medical procedures, and to require factually inaccurate medical information be provided, as well as attempts to suppress the scientific research of reproduction and human sexuality. So, it is clearly hypocritical of Sarah Palin to be supporting this guy's 'free speech' content, as long as he doesn't mention one of her own underage daughters by name:



Phil just LOVES shooting and killing things.
"My idea of happiness is killing things! boom boom boom! "
His attitudes about women and sex are equally primitive, focusing only on physical reproduction and male pleasure:
 
“It seems like, to me, a vagina -- as a man -- would be more desirable than a man’s anus," Robertson told GQ. "That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
On the one hand, he thinks all men should be vaginally oriented, with no other sexual options. 




The right, particularly the far right, holds beliefs that amount to a pro-rape culture, one which views women and girls as a commodity for their pleasure, not as full and equal human beings with minds and emotions that should be developed and fulfilled for their advancement, rather than servicing males.

Conservatives like this jerk like to use the Bible to justify bad things, ranging from misrepresenting slavery and the Jim Crow laws, to justifying pedophilia and statutory rape to a god given right to guns and violence.  We see it from Palin, we see it from Phil Robertson here.

They do the same thing with the founding fathers.  That claim about the quotation from George Washington is totally false.  It has been debunked here, at Snopes.
The complete quote that's (incorrectly, it turns out) attributed to Washington is,

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

Paul Boller and John George, who co-wrote They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions, indicate that no one's found any evidence that Washington ever wrote or spoke such a thing. And Boller's written separately on the topic of "Washington and Religion" before, so he would know.

(I see that some sites on the Internet maintain that Washington issued this statement on 17 September 1796, which happens to be the date on which he delivered his famous farewell address. That line in nowhere to be found in his farewell.)

We've touched on that here before, in particular the rural Minnesota culture of guns and the exploitation of very young girls. It is unique to the misogyny of conservatives, along with the utterly despicable notions of masculinity and femininity. The date for the trial of one of the prosecutors involve in a gun fight in the courthouse over the statutory rape of an underage girl, where that prosecutor, Tim Scannell is himself now on trial for the same thing, has been postponed to later this month after a change of venue. Read that here.

No one should be surprised at the close correlation between conservative sexual perverts and the obsession with guns. They go together.

No one should be surprised at the revisionist history with fake facts either; because the facts and objective reality are not the friends of the red neck conservatives.

An example? Here is another comment made by Phil Robertson, where he demonstrates he has no idea about either religion and history than he does religion and biology.:

“For the sake of the Gospel, it was worth it,” Phil tells me. “All you have to do is look at any society where there is no Jesus. I’ll give you four: Nazis, no Jesus. Look at their record. Uh, Shintos? They started this thing in Pearl Harbor. Any Jesus among them? None. Communists? None. Islamists? Zero. That’s eighty years of ideologies that have popped up where no Jesus was allowed among those four groups. Just look at the records as far as murder goes among those four groups.”

What passes for wisdom and knowledge among conservatives is so badly flawed, that we do not dare let these people determine the course of our country. They are making us less secure, less competitive, less productive, and definitely lowering the national level of intelligent discussion. They are sick AND stupid.

Florida Lawful Gun Owner Shoots Himself in the Head Celebrating the New Year

Local news reports

A man celebrating the New Year while playing with a gun is fighting for his life. 

An unidentified man was celebrating New Year's Eve with his family, according to Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Sgt. Brian Shore. The man was playing with a gun around midnight, when he accidentally fired it and shot himself in the head. 

The victim was transported to UF Health Jacksonville where he is currently in serious condition. No charges are pending at this time.

You know he might have had a concealed carry permit, this being Florida and all. It's really hard to tell just how bad the permit holders are.  So many incidents keep happening and no one is checking what permits and licenses the idiot gun owners have in their wallets.

New Jersey Dad Arrested for Accidentally Shooting 2-Year-old Son

Aggravated assault charges have been filed against a southern New Jersey man who told authorities that he accidentally shot his 2-year-old son while they and other family members were in a vehicle.
Camden County Police say 38-year-old Sergio Rivera of Camden was also charged with child endangerment, drug possession and weapons offenses.
Authorities learned of the shooting late Tuesday, when they were called to the hospital where the boy was being treated for left arm and left leg wounds. But they say Rivera did not cooperate with detectives when they questioned him about the shooting.

Arizona Woman Practicing Constitutional Carry in Las Vegas Loses It

A woman was charged with attempted murder in a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that police say was related to road rage.
According to Las Vegas Metro police, Brittanie Merritt-Burwell, 21, was arrested on Monday in connection to the Dec. 23 shooting on Las Vegas Boulevard south of Harmon Drive.
In an arrest report, police said several witnesses saw a woman exit a white Chevy Impala and walk over to a vehicle's driver side. Witnesses told police the woman produced a handgun and shot at the driver inside the car.

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas): 'Liberal Tears' Are The Best Gun Lubricant

View image on Twitter

Opposing Views

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) recommended“liberal tears” as the best lubricant for cleaning guns in his most recent post on Twitter.
Stockman, who is running in the Republican primary against Sen. John Cornyn, tweeted a picture Monday of a spray can marked “liberal tears” and a gun. In the caption below the picture, he wrote that liberal tears worked as the best gun lubricant.
Stockman has been trying to win over Texans by supporting gun rights, and by being more aggressive about them than Cornyn. While Cornyn was endorsed by the National Rifle Association earlier in December, Stockman was endorsed by the Gun Owners of America, a group considered to be more assertive than the NRA.
“The right to keep and bear arms is granted by God,” Stockman wrote in a statement against the Arms Trade Treaty.
In May, the outspoken gun proponent even gave away a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle via his Twitter.
“Grab this gun before Obama does,” the tweet read.

Judge Upholds Most of NY Gun Control Law

Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny
A federal judge upheld most of New York’s new gun control law on Tuesday, rejecting arguments that its bans on large-capacity magazines and the sale of some semi-automatic rifles violate Second Amendment rights.
Judge William Skretny in Buffalo concluded those provisions are constitutional because they’re related to achieving an “important governmental interest” in public safety. Those two features make guns more lethal, he wrote, citing testimony submitted in the case.
The law “applies only to a subset of firearms with characteristics New York state has determined to be particularly dangerous and unnecessary for self-defense,” Skretny wrote. “It does not totally disarm New York’s citizens, and it does not meaningfully jeopardize their right to self-defense.”
Skretny upheld the ban on magazines that hold more than 10 bullets, but he struck down a restriction on gun owners loading more than seven bullets in still legal 10-round magazines. He said that seven appears to be “an arbitrary number.”

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Best Educated Vote Democrat - Worst Educated Vote Republican

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California Multiple Murder - Suicide - 4 Dead


A man apparently killed his wife and their two children before turning the gun on himself in a Southern California home, police said Tuesday.

Officers called to the home at about 8:30 p.m. Monday found the bodies of Ramon Miranda, 38, and Silvia Miranda, 34, and their children, 12-year-old Ramon Jr. and 10-year-old Rayna, according to the San Bernardino County coroner's office.

The woman and the children had been shot several times and the man was shot once in the head, police spokeswoman Martha Guzman-Hurtado said.

Investigators found a handgun.

"Everything that has been confirmed so far indicates it could be a murder-suicide, but that has not been confirmed," Guzman-Hurtado said. "They are questioning other people before making that conclusion."

Alabama Gun Negligence Leads to 10-Year-old's Death - The Sheriff Ruled it a Simple Accident - No Charges

WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather

More on the Women Love Guns Too Nonsense



Yahoo News reports

Armed Mommy, an anonymous, gun-toting, Denver conservative, has almost 47,000 fans on Facebook. She's been posting her own memes for just a year, developing #tcot clout in the process. Her schtick? She's a hot mom who's ready to shoot and kill anyone who tries to enter her home uninvited. In her cover photo, she's looking out towards the sunset with a toddler on her hip and what looks like an AR-15 slung over her shoulder.

But, guess what, those 47,000 fans are almost all men. What a joke.


Armed Mommy is doing her part to push the idea that ladies love rifles. But a NBC News/Wall Street Journalpoll released in April found that 65 percent of American women want stricter gun laws, compared to 44 percent of men. In September, a National Journal poll found that 71 percent of women think an assault weapons ban would help prevent mass shootings, compared to 44 percent of men. And according to Gallup polling from 2007 to 2012, only 15 percent of women own guns


And that 15% is almost all women who really live with gun-nut men, women who on their own would not own guns at all.

We covered this pretty well the other day.

Arizona Lawful Gun Owner Shoots Himself - No Charges - Of Course

A man in northwestern Arizona was sent to the hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the foot, authorities said.
The Mohave County Sheriff's Office were called to a reported shooting Friday evening in a desert area east of Lake Havasu City, which is about 155 miles south from the Las Vegas Valley.
According to the sheriff's office, deputies found 20-year-old Shane Roe with a gunshot wound. He was rushed to Havasu Regional Medical Center.
Citing evidence and witness statements, deputies said Roe was target shooting in the area with his girlfriend. When he was kneeling down for a shot, he accidentally discharged a shotgun, hitting himself in the foot, the sheriff's office said.
There was no word on the man's condition.

Bumbling Gun Owner in Washington State Shoots His Girlfriend by Accident - No Problem - It Was an Accident

Local news reports

A Mountlake Terrace woman was taken to the hospital Monday after her husband reportedly shot her by accident, police said.
The woman, 20, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with injuries to her abdomen and leg. They weren't considered life threatening, Mountlake Terrace police Cmdr. Doug Hansen said.
The bullet grazed the woman and was recovered from a chest drawer.
Her husband, 22, recently received the handgun as a gift.
"He was trying to secure it to put it away into a small safe," Hansen said.

Virginia Lawful Gun Owner Shoots Himself by Accident - No Charges

A man ended up at the University of Virginia Medical Center on Saturday night after he accidentally shot himself in the leg, according to Charlottesville police.
It happened around 11:45 p.m. on Prospect Avenue in Charlottesville.
Police taped off the 700-block of the street while they investigated.
Police say the 20-year-old gunshot victim was in a car at the time of the accident.
His injuries are not life-threatening.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The 14th Night of the Living Van Vliet - Captain Beefheart Festival 2013-2014



from Oscar's Wild Years

Here in “Grow Fins” Beefheart wants to negate the results of millennia of evolution and slip back into the depths of. He wants to abandon the burden of land, the burden of humanity, even the burden of sentience. He wants to destroy the self, and to survive it.
Tell me he doesn’t sound serious. That beat doesn’t sound real to you? That howl sound light? Seen the guy around recently? Heard any albums from him in the last three decades? I think he was serious. I think he’s left this life for something lesser and simpler and better. They say he’s retired to become an artist, but I think he’s fooled us all. I think he’s grown fins.

Don't Tread On Me

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North Carolina Idiot Gun Owner with Concealed Carry Permit Drops Gun Causing it to Discharge



Greg says no charges are called for since on one was hurt. I think that's an excessively lenient take on it. I find Greg's attitude a bit puzzling too.  If I were a responsible gun owner I would be the first one decrying the irresponsibility of gun owners like this one. They give everyone a bad name, that would be my position.

Concealed carry permit holders are no different than gun owners at large, despite the bizarre claims to the contrary from some of their number. The fact is permit holders commit many acts of bumbling and dangerous gun misuse for which they receive nothing more than a verbal warning to be more careful, if that.

One might think they receive the same special treatment which they continually claim is reserved for the police.

Put the Guns Aside

Chicago Woman Brings Gun to the Airport Gets Arrested

A suburban Chicago woman has been charged with boarding an aircraft with a weapon after allegedly bringing a loaded gun into Midway International Airport.
Josephine Coleman of Country Club Hills was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 on Sunday. According to police reports, the 25-year-old was arrested Saturday after allegedly putting a bag containing a loaded handgun on a Transportation Security Administration X-ray machine. Police say Coleman said she didn't realize the gun was there.
The police report states Coleman has a valid Firearm Owner's Identification card and she told police she is in the military.

The 12 Worst Things The NRA And Its Media Allies Said In 2013

Media Matters




NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre was ridiculed for a February op-ed on a conservative news website that recommended buying guns and joining the NRA in order to ensure "survival" in the face of possible coming calamities including: "Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals," the threat of "Latin American drug gangs," and "the possibility of Euro-style debt riots, civil unrest or natural disaster." LaPierre concluded: "It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival." Widely mocked for its over-the-top rhetoric and factual inaccuracies, the op-ed was also criticized by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough for being "so laced with racial overtones."

Upstate New York Dropped Gun Shoots Its Owner in the Ear

State police responded to the report of a 22-year-old man with a gunshot wound about 2 p.m. Saturday.
Unconfirmed reports from radio traffic indicated the report was made from the Gouverneur Fire Department, though the gunshot may have been inflicted near Route 3.
Dispatcher Jeremy Ward said he heard over the radio that a young man had dropped his gun and it fired and shot him in the ear.
Personnel at E.J. Noble Hospital could not say whether they had a patient matching that description.
Officers who attended the scene could not be reached.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Protect Your Home from a Killer

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Gun Advertising in Tennessee

Shall Not Be Infringed (written by Bitter, the female co-blogger)

I find it funny that you can’t drive 10 miles in the Nashville area without passing a billboard for some kind of gun shop or seeing a gun shop from the road.

Even if many of them are very simple with their graphics and their messages, it’s entertaining. It certainly reflects that the gun culture is healthy even in an urban area.

However, there’s one that drives me up the wall in all of the years I’ve been driving through from the East Coast to Nashville area. It’s Outdoor Junction at exit 290 off I-40. In all of the years they have been advertising on billboards along I-40, they have only catered to men. They bill themselves as a place to buy “Men’s Toys” with a picture of a handgun. It would be one thing if, somewhere in their advertising corridor, they included a billboard catering to women. They don’t. They have multiple billboards to promote how they appear to only sell things to men. I can tell you right now that I would never be willing to walk in because their advertising sends a message that they simply don’t even acknowledge women as customers shopping for themselves as opposed to shopping for their men.

What's funny is when a female gun nut pretends that she's surprised at this. I suppose she's really unaware that gun ownership, gun rights, gun nuttiness and all other things about guns are largely dominated by and geared towards the men folk.

Here's one indication, if the outdoor advertising in Nashville is not sufficient.  The Truth About Guns, which is the undisputed leader in on-line gun fanaticism conducted a reader survey last year. The results were anything but surprising.

Toby Keith Bans Guns at His Virginia Restaurant

The Poor Persecuted Connecticut Gun Owners

Saddled by what they feel are the most restrictive weapons laws in the nation, some Connecticut gun owners are champing at the bit for next year's gubernatorial election, when they hope to put in office someone whose views of the Second Amendment are more closely aligned with their own.
There's just one problem, as The Connecticut Mirror, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news website reported last week: None of the leading candidates, especially Democratic incumbent Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, appears likely to support overturning the state's strict controls over the purchase of guns, ammunition and large-capacity magazines.
After all, the governor himself championed the new restrictions and became one of the most visible and ardent advocates for tough gun legislation after the December 2012 shooting massacre at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School left 20 youngsters and six adults dead.

New York SAFE Act First Year Results

Nearly a year after passage of the state's new gun law, dealer sales of popular AR-15 semi-automatic rifles have ended in New York and arrest data show more than 1,000 gun possession charges in New York City were boosted from misdemeanors to felonies because of the changes.
Meanwhile, 59 people have been charged statewide with misdemeanors for possessing large-capacity magazines or having more than seven bullets loaded in a magazine, both outlawed by the law passed last January in the aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn.
A report from the Division of Criminal Justice Services shows only one person charged with the illegal sale or transfer of a gun defined as an assault weapon as of mid-December. The new law tightened that definition to include AR-15s. Owners may keep their older weapons but must register them by April 15.
"The numbers are indisputable. The SAFE Act has enabled the state to better protect New Yorkers," said Melissa DeRosa, spokeswoman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He pushed the legislation shortly after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead. Police said the 20-year-old gunman used a semi-automatic rifle and 30-round magazines.

Montgomery Alabama Shooting - 2 Dead - 6 Wounded

WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

The 12th Night of the Living Van Vliet - Captain Beefheart Festival 2013-2014



I cry but I can't buy
Your Veteran's Day poppy
It don't get me high
It can only make me cry
It can never grow another
Son like the one who warmed me my days
After rain and warmed my breath
My life's blood
Screamin' empty she crys
It don't get me high
It can only make me cry
Your Veteran's Day poppy.


Album reviews

A Question about Safe Storage Laws

"If you lawful gun owners were constrained by law to lock up your guns at home, that wouldn't lessen the number of guns stolen each year? Please answer that question straight up, yes or no."

To elaborate a bit, the question was put to Greg several times to no avail. Whenever he's faced with a difficult question, one whose answer would prove him wrong in an earlier comment, he dodges and obfuscates the situation to the point of tedium. His earlier comment which prompted my question was this:

"Mikeb, what I've said to you is that your proposals would disarm good people without removing guns from bad people."

My idea is that if safe storage were mandated by law, most gun owners would comply. They would go out and buy the gun safes that many of them have been intending to buy anyway.  Being motivated by the legal requirement, they would comply. They are law-abiding after all.

The other part of my thinking is that of the half-a-million guns stolen each year, very few of them were locked up in gun safes. They were kept in night-stand drawers or closet shelves, some under the pillow or mattress. Thieves come in and pick up the guns like picking ripe fruit off a tree. When a burglar is confronted with a locked safe he sometimes has the time and tools to break into it, but not always. In many cases, perhaps most, his priority is to silently take what's available and get out as quickly as possible.

The result of this one simple gun-control law would be quite the opposite of what Greg said in his hysterical attempt to defend his threatened freedom. NO good people would be disarmed and MANY guns would not end up in the hands of bad people.

California Registration of Long Guns Goes into Effect

Gun registration had always seemed like the “line in the sand” — a proposal that would so offend the nation’s gun-rights advocates that they would bring out their full political muscle to stop it. Yet a California law mandating government record-keeping for all new long-gun purchases goes into effect on Jan. 1 and few people even seem to know about it.
This year, gun owners were relieved that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the toughest gun-control measures that came to his desk, including one that would have banned sales of almost all semi-automatic rifles. But back in 2011, after much debate, the governor signed the registration law, AB 809, with a 2014 start date. It’s far broader than any of the bills the governor dealt with in the last session.
Supporters claim it’s not exactly registration, in that the law calls forthe state to retain background-check records of those who purchase guns and does not register specific guns to specific people. Opponents say that’s just semantics. The main element of registration is that the government can track legal gun owners. In this case the department will have a list of every owner and the specific guns each person buys. The state already tracks the purchases of handguns and “assault weapons.”

Nancy Lanza's NRA Membership Certificate - Denied by the NRA

Nancy Lanza NRA certificate

Business Insider

Back in March, separate police reports revealed that authorities discovered NRA certificates among the Lanzas' possessions. In a sharply worded statement then, the NRA said that neither were members.

"There is no record of a member relationship between Newtown killer Adam Lanza, nor between Nancy Lanza, A. Lanza or N. Lanza with the National Rifle Association. Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory," the statement said. According to the NRA's website, the association does not give out formal certificates for membership.