NRA Compared to the KKK?

Kurt sets us straight on this one.

I have had, and will undoubtedly continue to have, a great many disagreements with the NRA. That does not mean I will stand for them being compared to a group that epitomizes the worst of our nation's history. The KKK would love to deny the human right to keep and bear arms, to those whom they would like to terrorize. Gun rights advocacy groups, including the NRA, intend to thwart that sick goal.

It almost sounds like Kurt is claiming the Ku Klux Klan is primarily about preventing people from getting guns, sort of the antithesis of the noble NRA. Now, I can certainly understand someone being obsessed with guns, just look at my blog, but I do believe the KKK has a broader agenda than that.

About the tenuous connection between Ms. Kagan and the comparison between the NRA and the KKK, I wonder if Joe Huffman had a chance to pick up on that.

In handwriting that is almost certainly Kagan's (compare the document in question with a known sample of her writing), concern is expressed that a bill under debate at the time would benefit "bad guy orgs"--the NRA and the KKK.

Joe has other ideas, to which I had this to say.

Joe, I know you can back it up in your prolix way, and have actually done so already, but I feel your comparing Helmke to the Grand Wizard of the KKK is one of the stupidest things you've ever written. Of course I haven't seen all you've had to say, so I might be wrong about that.

I really can't decide which is crazier, comparing the NRA to the KKK or comparing Helmke to the Grand Wizard. You pick.

Pigeon Shoots in Pennsylvania

The Courier Times ran a story about something I'd never even heard of, pigeon shoots.

A court-appointed Humane Society officer from Dauphin County filed an animal cruelty citation Thursday against Philadelphia Gun Club in Bensalem.

Johnna Seeton of the Pennsylvania Legislative Animal Network said she believes pigeon shoots at the Philadelphia Gun Club violate state animal cruelty laws. Yet pigeon shoots are legal in Pennsylvania.

Yeah, they're legal in PA, and only in PA, according to the following video. I see Sebastian has given his carefully nuanced support of this ugly business too, with his usual qualifiers like "not a big supporter of, but..." He also says Pennsylvania is not the only state that allows this. "The animal rights folks are lying in order to embarrass us on that count." Well, I'll agree with the embarrassing part.




What's your opinion? Does that video give a false impression of hunting and shooting folks? Please leave a comment.

Charges Dismissed for Michigan Open Carry Man

Sheboyganpress.com reports on the dismissal of charges against a young open-carry man.

A judge dismissed a felony charge Wednesday against a Sheboygan Falls man charged with carrying a gun 954 feet from a school when state law requires a distance of 1,000 feet.

The 46-foot difference led to a count of possession of a firearm in a school zone, which is punishable by up to 18 months in prison. But Judge Timothy Van Akkeren ruled Wednesday there is not probable cause to pursue the case and refused to bind over 23-year-old Matthew N. Hubing for trial.

That sounds like a good ruling, but it left me wondering why the guy had been charged in the first place. It seems a little picky trying to determine exactly how many feet from the school he was. Later in the article it says he spent 18 days in jail and the prosecutors tried twice to charge him. What could he have done to make them so angry?

Hubing, of 85 Wisconsin St., was arrested May 17 after openly carrying a loaded handgun and unloaded assault-style rifle through Sheboygan Falls. Police — who questioned but did not arrest Hubing for doing the same thing the week before — contacted Hubing again after several residents saw him carrying the guns while riding a bike and wearing camouflage clothing.

I guess the police in Sheboygan Falls don't take kindly to that kind of brash demonstration of one's right to bear arms.

What is it with this civilian wearing of camouflage clothing while carrying guns? Is that normal? To me it sounds like the kind of fantasy acting out that might disqualify a person under the mental illness restrictions. I want my gun owners thoroughly grounded in reality, I don't know about you.

What's your opinion? Mine is that the police were overstepping their authority again. The worst the kid might have done was to stick it in their face the way open carry demonstrators like to do. The real problem here is that the law allows people to live out their silly fantasies and the society in Michigan encourages it.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

The Utah Execution by Firing Squad

Message from Kurt Hofmann:

I can't figure out why you haven't mentioned the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, by firing squad. Seems like a natural topic for you.

I see some argue that it's a better way to go than lethal injection.

Here's a video (not of the actual execution, of course).

There are worse ways to go, and the method was his choice.

There's no real reason for my not writing about this; it certainly is right up my alley. In that video they say the prisoner chose a firing squad because he had lived by the gun and wanted to die by the gun. That sounds like macho jail-house talk to me. I would guess the reason was to go out with a bang, to make the biggest sensation out of his execution he could.

The reason they have that method in Utah is related to the Mormon belief in Blood Atonement. Now, that's some pretty archaic eye-for-an-eye nonsense, wouldn't you say? In his wonderful book about Gary Gilmore, the famous author Norman Mailer went into great detail about how this philosophy plays a part in the thinking of the most hardened and non-religious criminals. It's fascinating stuff.

But my impression of Ronnie Lee was that he was nothing more than a poor aging murderer grasping for the last bit of drama and excitement left to him. I don't know if he realized it, but his story was big news in Europe and probably in the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the thrust of those news stories is always, "what's wrong with the United States that they still do stuff like this?"

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Wake Up America

The Other Greatest Vietnam Movie Ever

I can't decide between this one and this one.

Your Typical Ohio Gunowners

Ohh Shoot has a wonderful knack for capturing those incidents in gun lore that are both funny and scary at the same time.

An Ohio man got into an argument with his live-in girlfriend. She got the shotgun and fired a round into the air next to their porch. He grabbed the gun away from her and smashed it against a tree. That's when the gun went off, shooting him in the abdomen. He was taken to the hospital by Medflight and later charged with using weapons while intoxicated.

Pro gun folks hate these stories because they beg the question, "how common is this?"
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.