The Cadillac of Nail Guns

The Wire, Season 4 Intro. The best one since the first.

More on Bloomberg's Terror Gap

ScrappleFace posted a quote of Bloomberg's that I couldn't resist.

“The FBI ought to be able to block the sale of these items, and perhaps others, to American citizens who have not yet been charged with a crime, but who are viewed as potential threats by the FBI,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Anyone who opposes closing the ‘terror gap’ is essentially an accessory to terrorism…a virtual member of al Qaeda, and a threat to our national security. In fact, opposition to my sensible proposal ought to provide grounds for putting someone on the no-buy list.”

Is it any wonder that hizzoner is shaping up as the number one antagonist of the gun rights crowd? It takes extreme measures to fight extreme people.

In fact, opposition to my sensible proposal ought to provide grounds for putting someone on the no-buy list.

Now, that should be the quote of the day on many of the gun blogs. What do you think?

$10,000 Reward Offered in GA Gun Theft

The Washington Examiner reports on the ATF's offer of a reward for information leading to the arrest of gun thieves.

ATLANTA — Authorities are offering a reward of up to $10,000 in hopes of catching two men accused of stealing two dozen guns from a shop in Woodstock.

The burglary occurred at Pannell's Firearms and Range on April 27. Security cameras show two men smashing glass countertops and putting guns into bags before fleeing the area at around 3:15 a.m.

Now, wait a minute, some people get so upset when I "blame the victim," but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to question the security measures taken by the gun shop. Don't they have jewellery stores in Atlanta that put all the stuff in a big safe at night for this very reason? Why in the world would gun dealers not be required to do something like that?

Jewellers take these common sense precautions in order to protect themselves and their property. What is the gun dealer thinking who leaves his merchandise under glass all through the night? To me this is the height of irresponsibility. If gun dealers don't have the common sense to take basic precautions against theft, then they should be held partly responsible for that theft.

I think the problem goes right down the line from the NRA lobbyists who enjoy the reputation of being among the most powerful on K Street to the individual gun owner who believes he's sanctioned by god to carry his gun anywhere he want to. It's a type of arrogance, an attitude which says I'm special and I'm different and I don't have to comply with common sense rules like everybody else. It's the attitude that says I can leave my gun in the glove box of the car or in the display case of the store and if a thief breaks in only he's responsible for his actions.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Austin Police Officer Fired

The Houston Chronicle reports.

AUSTIN, Texas — An Austin police officer who fatally shot a man in 2009 has been fired after being arrested in January for alleged drunken driving.

Police Chief Art Acevedo on Thursday fired Quintana, who in May 2009 fatally shot Nathaniel Sanders II.

A grand jury declined to indict Quintana. Sanders had been sleeping in a car that police were investigating as possibly being used in crimes.

A disciplinary memo says Quintana went out Jan. 11 and drank alcohol, then drove to Leander. A 911 call about a traffic accident led to his arrest.

Quintana's arrest came hours after he was questioned as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit into the fatal shooting.

I'm not sure if I understood it correctly, but I think they said he shot and killed a guy who was sleeping in his car, and the "grand jury declined to indict." Well, that certainly sounds like Texas and it certainly sounds like how they treat cops, not just in Texas, but other places too.

Then, I guess the bosses just had enough with his drinking and finally fired him.

What I'm wondering is this: will he now be just another unfit Texas gun owner with a drinking problem? If they didn't indict him for the shooting and he lost his job for the DWI, he should still be entitled to his sacred 2nd Amendment rights, don't you think?

I guess what it boils down to is he'll not take his place among the Famous 10%, until, of course, he does something else stupid enough to be classified as an out and out criminal.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Murder - Suicide in Florida Leaves 3 Dead

WDBO.com reports on a terrible shooting that left three dead in Florida. Like something you see in the movies, the enraged ex-husband came around with a gun and killed the new husband, the ex-wife and himself.

Nothing was mentioned about his criminal record or where the gun came from. But short of presuming he was just another legitimate gun owner gone berserk, I'll say this was not a gang-related drug shootout, which is supposed to account for the majority. So, what the heck, I may as well say it. This was another legitimate gun owner gone berserk.

It's cases like this that prove gun control works. Laws that make it harder for people like this go get guns make it less likely that something like this will happen. It's simple.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

More on the Terror Gap

The New York Times published an op-ed about the Congressional discussions about closinig the terror gap. This has been pretty well covered by both sides, but this article contained some interesting points.

Yes, if you are on the terrorist watch list, the authorities can keep you from getting on a plane but not from purchasing an AK-47. This makes sense to Congress because, as Graham accurately pointed out, “when the founders sat down and wrote the Constitution, they didn’t consider flying.”

The subject of guns turns Congress into a twilight zone. People who are perfectly happy to let the government wiretap phones go nuts when the government wants to keep track of weapons permits. A guy who stands up in the House and defends the torture of terror suspects will nearly faint with horror at the prospect of depriving someone on the watch list of the right to purchase a pistol.

“We make it so easy for dangerous people to get guns. If it’s the Second Amendment, it doesn’t matter if they’re Osama bin Laden,” said Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

What do you think about that? How could people who accept illegal wiretapping of American citizens be so upset about the Constitutional implications of this proposal?

Please leave a comment.

Obama Hatred

The Obama haters are sometimes so silly it requires no response, but this one was too good to resist.

From The Rude Pundit.

Tell you what, motherfuckers, when dead people are left to rot in the sun because of the incompetence of the federal government, when corpses are floating in the streets, when the President passively ignores the pleas of the governors of Gulf Coast states, when entire neighborhoods have been physically destroyed, when the federal government strands tens of thousands of people without food or water, when the federal government starts to blame the local governments, when the President praises the work of a failed, incompetent bureaucrat while a major city rots, then you can say that this is Barack Obama's "Katrina."

What's your opinion? Is comparing this oil leak to Katrina one of the stupidest things you're ever heard, or what?

Please leave a comment.

Oklahoma Veto Upheld

The Associated Press reports on the failure of the Oklahoma Senate to overturn an important gubernatorial veto.

OKLAHOMA CITY — A group of Oklahoma state senators have failed to override their governor's veto of a bill that would exempt firearms and ammunition produced and kept in the state from federal regulations.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 28-16 on Wednesday with 36 votes needed to override Democratic Gov. Brad Henry's veto of the "Oklahoma Firearms Freedom Act." There was no debate.

Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon, who is running for governor, vowed to try again to override the veto.

The bill says firearms, gun accessories or ammunition made in Oklahoma would not be subject to interstate commerce laws and federal regulations if they remain in the state.

Henry warned the bill would give criminals easy access to a wide array of weapons.

Doesn't it seem like the gun rights crowd want whatever laws make their gun owning activities easier. If the fed limits gun control, they're all for it, but when a State wants to exempt itself from federal regulations, they're all for that.

Is there an inconsistency here? Or is it absolute in its consistency - less gun control, regardless of where it comes from?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Jon Stewart on the Times Square Bomber and Other Things

Explosive and the City 2

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Slipstream

Well the lush separation unfolds you --
and the products of wealth
push you along on the bow wave
of the spiritless undying selves.
And you press on God's waiter your last dime --
as he hands you the bill.
And you spin in the slipstream --
timeless -- unreasoning --
paddle right out of the mess.

Murder-Suicide in Winston-Salem

WXII12.com reports on the recent tragedy.

First his father died. Then he lost his job. Then his house was in the process of being foreclosed upon.

It became too much for 50-year-old Tony Guy Buchanan to handle and, like a volcano, he erupted on Tuesday afternoon, Buchanan's cousin, Dale Gallimore, told WXII 12 News on Wednesday.

"It has to be the economy," Gallimore said. "It has to be. Everything had gone against him and he didn't reach out and ask for help. If he had, we could have helped him.

"Police said Buchanan shot and killed his brother, 59-year-old Randy Buchanan, while Randy was working as a Winston-Salem inspector along Northwest Boulevard. Tony then turned the gun on himself.

When it becomes too much, what's a legitimate gun owner to do?

Please leave a comment.

Alaska Woman Loses Gun

The Associated Press reports on a stolen gun incident in Alaska.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A 24-year-old Juneau woman went into a public restroom packing heat and left burned. The Juneau Police Department reports Veronica Balle-Arnes was carrying a Ruger .380 — a small pocket pistol — worth about $400 with her Friday night.

She told police she took the gun out of her waistband and set it on top of a toilet paper dispenser in the women's room at the Fisherman's Wharf, a building on Juneau's downtown waterfront with a bar, eateries and shops.

She told police she forgot to pick it back up. When she realized it was missing a few moments later, she returned to the restroom but the gun was gone.

She did what? She took it out of her waistband? What would a 25-year-old woman possibly be doing going around the "eateries and shops" of Juneau's waterfront with a gun in her waistband? Is this why Alaska is supposedly so safe because the young chicks carry pistols in the pants like in the movies? But that brings up two problems.

In the movies, isn't it usually the bad guys who carry guns like that? And that supposed low gun crime in Alaska isn't all it's cracked up to be when you consider the population. Isn't that right?

What's your opinion? Do you think there might be many unreported incidents like this one? It must be embarrassing for a gun owner to admit such stupidity. But, of course there are no sanctions for it, lost guns can easily be replaced, again and again. Someone's got to feed that gun flow.

One more question, in a case like this, would young Veronica bear some of the responsibility for what happens next? Shouldn't her involvement in allowing the theft tie her right into whatever crime the gun is used for, let's say it's used in a murder tonight?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Bloomberg on the "Terror Gap"

The Huffington Post reports on the latest efforts by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to elicit support in Congress to close the so-called "terror gap."

With his city still on edge over this weekend's attempted truck-bombing in Times Square, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg heads to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to give Congress a piece of his mind on a closely related issue.

Bloomberg is upset about a federal loophole that, amazingly enough, allows people on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist to legally buy guns and explosives.

Current federal law specifies only a limited number of reasons the government can cite to block the purchase of guns or explosives -- and being in the FBI's database of those "known or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activity" isn't one of them.

Many people are concerned that the government puts people on the watch list too easily and sometimes for alternative reasons. I agree these are concerns which much be addressed. But the NRA position seems a bit paranoid to me.

"H.R. 2159 isn't about making America safe from terrorists; it's about giving the federal government new, arbitrary authority to prohibit loyal Americans from exercising their constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms. Cloaking it in terms of 'national security' doesn't change that fact."

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Disarming an Attacker

From The Truth About Guns.



It looks so easy in the sunlit park with a toy gun, but I wonder how it works in real life. Don't the pro-gun folks often talk about how quickly they can shoot. We've even seen a guy who can reload the gun in the time it takes for this guy to "disarm" his opponent.

The other problem I have with these things is why do we not hear of them once in a while on the gun blogs. I read ten or twenty gun blogs fairly regularly and I can only remember once when Caleb handled a would-be mugger with his cup of coffee.

If these violent incidents were as frequent as we're led to believe and if there were as many DGUs as they say, even the kind which require nothing more than brandishing the gun to scare away the bad guy, we would hear about them on the blogs.

But we don't. I think I know why. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Pennsylvania Gun Laws

Ohh Shoot provided this humorous / scary piece. My only response is, A MISDEMEANOR!?? Are they kidding? What's wrong with those people in Pennsylvania?

A 22-year-old Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his 20-year-old friend. Under the terms of the agreement he will serve up to four years in jail. He insists the shooting was an accident.

On the night of the shooting he unloaded the gun and set it aside to finish eating. When he picked up the .38-caliber handgun it unintentionally discharged, striking his friend in the abdomen, killing him.

Jonathan Reyes said he is "very against guns" but began to carry one to protect himself and his family. He said that he had had a gun pulled on him 12 times, his brother was shot at twice and his mother was "jumped by 30 people."

He said he "obtained a permit and carried a gun because he was the only one in his family who could do so legally."

Ohh shoot.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Randy Steidl on the Death Penalty

The Westprot Patch reports on the former death-row inmate who, having been exonerated, now speaks against capital punishment.

Steidl on Sunday recalled his 17-year saga of being found guilty of killing a newlywed husband and wife at home in their bed, having his death sentence reduced to life without parole because an Illinois judge found his trial attorney had not adequately prepared for his sentencing hearing, and being freed after a federal judge ruled it was "reasonably probable'' that a jury would have acquitted Steidl had his defense attorney done more to challenge the state's case.

But according to Steidl, there was more than poor representation by counsel that resulted in his plight. He pegged a local businessman involved in organized crime as a suspect, saying he was a big contributor to the Illinois governor's campaign and was the boss of the woman murdered.

Steidl, 58, described how he went from conviction in 1986 to exoneration in 2004 before about 60 people in the sanctuary of the Westport Unitarian Church on Lyons Plains Road as part of a "Death Row to Freedom Tour," organized by the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Steidl said his speaking engagements before legislators, faith groups and college audiences are "kind of my therapy, it keeps me sane," when he considers he is among almost 140 people who have been released from death row because of wrongful convictions.

Following Steidl's presentation, Andrew L. Schneider, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, told the audience the death penalty is not only immoral in principle, but is unfair and discriminatory in practice, assures the execution of the innocent and is the ultimate denial of civil liberties.

In the upcoming elections for statewide office, Schneider said, "We have a great opportunity here in Connecticut of abolishing this unjust and inhumane institution."

Schneider said the death penalty is mistakenly thought to be a deterrent to committing crimes, while states that have the death penalty have a higher rate of violence than those that do not.

I don't think I've ever read my own sentiments summed up so well. "The death penalty is not only immoral in principle, but is unfair and discriminatory in practice."
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Super Sniper

From FishyJay again. The Mail Online reports.

An army sniper has earned a place in military history by killing two Taliban machine gunners from more than a mile and a half away.

Craig Harrison's record breaking shots felled the insurgents with consecutive bullets - even though they were 3,200ft beyond the official range of his rifle.

The Household Cavalry veteran's kills from a distance of 8,120ft beat the previous record by 150ft.

He was using the British-built L115A3 Long Range Rifle, the Army's most powerful sniper weapon.

He was so far away that the 8.59mm-calibre bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target. Scores of Taliban gunmen h-ve fallen to the gun which has been nicknamed The Silent Assassin.

It is only designed to be effective at up to 4,921ft - just less than a mile - and capable of only ' harassing fire' beyond that range.

But Corporal Harrison took his record-breaking shots after his commander and Afghan soldiers were attacked during a patrol in Helmand in November last year.

His vehicle was further back on a ridge, with his sights trained on a Taliban compound. He said: 'We saw two insurgents running through its courtyard. They came forward carrying a machine gun and opened fire on the commander's wagon.

'

I don't mean to be too sceptical, but is something like this even possible? I honestly can't picture it. I realize the implication that there's a conspiracy to invent this guy as a hero is equally difficult to believe, but I just can't imagine a shot like that is possible, let alone two in a row.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Nevada ACLU

FishyJay provided a wonderful link for us.

The Nevada ACLU has declared its support for an individual’s right to bear arms, apparently making it the first state affiliate in the nation to buck the national organization’s position on the Second Amendment.

The state board of directors reached the decision this month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to own handguns.

“The Nevada ACLU respects the individual’s right to bear arms subject to constitutionally permissible regulations,” a statement on the organization’s Web site said. “The ACLU of Nevada will defend this right as it defends other constitutional rights.”

“This was the consensus,” said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for ACLU of Nevada. “There really wasn’t a lot of dissent.”

But the state affiliate’s position puts it at odds with the national organization.

The New York City-based ACLU disagrees with the Supreme Court ruling, saying in a statement that it interprets the Second Amendment as a collective right to own guns and not an individual one.

Here's the ACLU's position.

Given the reference to "a well regulated Militia" and "the security of a free State," the ACLU has long taken the position that the Second Amendment protects a collective right rather than an individual right. For seven decades, the Supreme Court's 1939 decision in United States v. Miller was widely understood to have endorsed that view.

The Supreme Court has now ruled otherwise. In striking down Washington D.C.'s handgun ban by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in D.C. v. Heller held for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, whether or not associated with a state militia.

The ACLU disagrees with the Supreme Court's conclusion about the nature of the right protected by the Second Amendment. We do not, however, take a position on gun control itself. In our view, neither the possession of guns nor the regulation of guns raises a civil liberties issue.

What's your opinion? Is the dissent of the Nevada branch of the ACLU a hint of things to come? Couldn't the same thing happen in other gun-friendly states?

What about the idea that all the other ACLU affiliates support the national policy? Do you think they're all wrong? Isn't each branch comprised of lawyers and other professionals who have qualified opinions? We're not talking about a fringe element of radical thinkers, we're talking about the ACLU which represents a major segment of American politics.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

When Money is No Object

MEXICO CITY — Mexican soldiers have seized an arsenal of gold-plated, diamond-encrusted weapons believed to belong to the Valencia gang, allies of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, prosecutors said Monday.

Photos of the weapons show that most of the 31 pistols found in a raid on a home in western Mexico had gold or silver-plated grips or glittered with diamonds — apparently flamboyant examples of the sort of gaudily customized weapons favored by some drug gangsters.

Three of the assault rifles are almost entirely gold-plated.

Wouldn't some rap singers in the States like these things? Wouldn't anyone with enough money and this particular kind of taste go in for something like this?

What's your opinion? If money were no object, what would you do?

Please leave a comment. This came from FishyJay, who is becoming my main source.

Christopher Walken Sings Delilah

Off-duty Cop Commits Murder in Philadelphia

CBS3.com reports.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― Prosecutors say an off-duty Philadelphia police officer has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a man during an apparent dispute over a neighborhood water fight.


Authorities say 26-year-old Rudolph Gary shot and killed 22-year-old Howard Williams in an altercation that witnesses say started when children and adults tried to beat the heat by spraying each other with water. Investigators say two others were wounded in the Sunday evening shooting.

Prosecutors say Gary, an officer since November 2008, was charged Monday with murder, aggravated assault and simple assault. Police say he has been suspended with intent to dismiss.

What's wrong with the Philadelphia Police Department? Don't they screen these guys at all? Gun-rights advocates claim the average gun owner is more responsible and more careful because they realize what's at stake, but if that's true, shouldn't it count for cops even more?

Maybe the answer is the same for both cops and civilians. Before you can own a gun, you need to demonstrate the capacity to handle it properly, that's both mental and physical capacity.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Neighborly Disagreement in Maryland

The Washington Post reports on a Maryland shooting.

A double shooting in broad daylight in a quiet Brandywine neighborhood on Sunday afternoon stemmed from a neighborhood dispute and left one man dead and his teenage son wounded, Prince George's County police said. It was one of a spate of shootings that left three dead and nine wounded during a 24 hour period.

The name of the victims were not released. Officer Evan Baxter said a neighbor who apparently had a longstanding disagreement with the dead man was taken into custody after the shooting and was being questioned.

Residents of the 8800 block of Charm Court told news reporters that they were aware of the dispute between the men, but never suspected it would lead to violence.

These guys sound like ordinary citizens, probably law-abiding folks up until the time the dispute went over the line. In other words these are exactly the kind of people that are affected most by gun control laws.

This is the kind of incident which is made more commonplace with the easy availability of firearms.

What's your opinion? Doesn't a story like this put the lie to the old rationale that gun control laws are ineffective because criminals don't obey the laws?

Please leave a comment.

Another New Favorite Blog

Robert Farago runs a pro-gun blog with a difference. On The Truth About Guns, you're liable to read such things as The Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day, complete with video proof and commentary, and most impressive of all, official retractions when proven to have been wrong.

I realize these blogging standards are unusual across the board, but I find them especially noteworthy in the gun rights world.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Cute Cartoon from FishyJay

Dan Choi - Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Advocate.com posted a wonderful article and video about the issue of gays in the military.

As Lt. Dan Choi and about 100 LGBT activists staged a “don’t ask, don’t tell” protest Sunday afternoon across the street from the White House, six plain-clothed civilians chained themselves to the White House gates.

Choi, who has twice been arrested after handcuffing himself to the White House gates and has now been court ordered not to enter a certain perimeter around the White House, was joined by a handful of other speakers, including former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, Servicemembers United executive director Alex Nicholson, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis.

The protest came on the heels of a letter leaked late Friday afternoon in which Department of Defense secretary Robert Gates urged House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton “in the strongest possible terms” to delay legislative action on repeal until the Pentagon completes its assessment of how to implement repeal.

In the video, Choi explains that the current policy results in enforced closets for gay soldiers. What do you think about that? Is it a problem?

There's also a reference to the fact that Democrats generally favor repeal of this law while Republicans do not. Why is that? Why do the Republicans have to be such nay-sayers?

I couldn't help but remember some previous discussions we've had in which we talked about the conservative / liberal divide. Conservatives, generally speaking, are against gun control, for capital punishment, racist against blacks and now we can add against gays in the military. Liberals are the opposite. I know that's a sweeping generalization, but is it true?

Opinione had a post about this the other day, but I wasn't sure what he meant by this.

Some of these soldiers look like should be in Key West and San Francisco, instead of a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Tam on Her Favorite Gun Control Cliché

Over at View From The Porch, Tam published a typically sarcastic post about a WSJ article opposing open carry. She likened the article to a "cliché stew," which according to her exaggerated commentary, contained every single cliché.

Well, except for one. If you're playing along at home and your bingo card has "penis compensation joke" on it, you'll have to wait for her next try, because she missed it this time 'round.

This is another case of the pro-gun person bringing up the stupidity of penis comparison.
On the Uncle post, which Tam hat-tipped, he made no mention of this silliness, but a commenter did. I guess that's where the idea came from. Of course, some of Tammy's commenters were right with her, even referencing Freud's On Narcissism.

What's your opinion? Why is it so often the pro-gun folks who bring this up? Why do they keep saying it's a gun control cliché when they're the ones who keep saying it?

Is this a case of putting words in the mouth of your opponent? The article in the WSJ presumably had enough to complain about, why was it necessary to introduce this too?

Please leave a comment.

The Great State of Texas

The Truth About Guns reports on the concealed carry situation in the Lone Star State.

Total number of active CHL licenses (including instructors): 404,795 souls, or roughly 2.25% of all [documented] Lone Star State residents.

That sounds like a high percentage to me. How would that compare to places like Arizona with their new law, I wonder?

Do you think Texas is safer because of all the concealed carry permit holders? Do you think it would be even better off if they'd adopt a policy like Arizona's?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

It Must Be Virginia

I just can't decide whether Virginia or Arizona tops the list. I guess it's Virginia, after all. Ohh Shoot reports.

A Virginia man bought a 9mm handgun. Two hours later while he was trying to clear the chamber he unintentionally discharged the gun. The bullet went through his apartment wall and into his neighbor's apartment. A 14-year-old girl lying on her bed heard the gunshot and saw a picture hanging on her wall break. The bullet was later found on her floor.

The bullet went through three walls and hit a fourth. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Virginia does not require any gun safety training when purchasing a firearm.

Ohh shoot.

Kids Shooting Each Other

Click on Detroit reports on the latest child shooting.

This has become such a familiar story there's no need to copy and paste it. The uncle was upstairs, the 4-year-old brother shot his 2-year-old sister in the head. She's in critical condition.

The video contained a couple interesting things. The police chief said, "The terrible thing about it is the parents have to be responsible..." I guess what he meant was the terrible thing is gun owners who are parents are not acting responsibly.

At the end of the video, the news guy said the police said there "could be charges, with the emphasis on could."

I guess that about sums it up. Even where responsibility is direct, charges are only possible. No wonder we can't seem to put an end to this stuff.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Sebastian on Outing the Opponents

I made a critical comment over on Sebastian's blog the other day, which I must admit was fairly well received. For some reason four or five of my most vicious detractors stayed out of it. Part of my remark, the gist of it really was this.

Thirdpower discovered this dirty secret about Josh Horwitz, just like that famous case with John Lott and his female alias. I say, “so what – who cares?”. What a waste of time for Thirdpower and what a waste of time for you Sebastian. Talk about getting off the topic, this whole topic is off the topic. This is immediate personal attack, nothing else.

FishyJay made an interesting follow-up comment.

I have not seen MikeB say “so what – who cares?” about the John Lott case when it comes up on his blog, but now I expect Mikeb do so in the future.

I guess that's a fair point, but unless I actively condoned the outing of poor John Lott in some way, it does not disprove my claim that I say, "so what - who cares."

In another post, Sebastian took up the idea for further clarification. Basically he laid out a description of the difference between attacking someone's political existence and his personal existence. I don't find the explanation very convincing. How about you?

Do you think this is all about personal attacks or is it like Sebastian says, some of it is political or professional and therefore in bounds?