Hey guys – I just noticed today that some legitimate comments were getting picked off by my spam filter.
If you had a comment that you made that didn’t appear on any of the post, I’m sorry. Post here to let me know.
Fan Mail
I love having my email address posted on the website. I get such wonderful, happyjoyfull emails from my dedicated fans:
To whom it may concern:
I was greatly disappointed to see your website begin to display a banner from the NRA. By repeating their anti-gun lies, you only serve to further spread the untruth that the NRA supports our right to keep and bear arms.
The NRA has been in bed with the antis for years now. Just buying into their lies show’s the world that your not a true defender of freedom, and would rather be oppressed just like all the other sheep.
I hope that you take my words to heart, and that you should possibly rethink your presidential endorsement of Mick Huckabee – he is no friend of ours. A better, pro-freedom candidate would be Ron Paul, the only presidental candidate interested in preserving our freedom.
I love my readers.
Why I hate gunshops
I am in 100% agreement with The Gun Shots on this issue.
My pet peeve—besides not being greeted by the staff—is to walk into a poorly lit retail operation and realize the shelves haven’t been dusted since the end of the Bronze Age.
The local area gunshops in Indy are pretty dismal, actually. It’s one of the reasons why I actually prefer to pay the higher costs and go shopping at Gander Mountain, instead of one of the local joints. Despite the fact that the costs are higher, sometimes it’s worth it to go to Gander Mountain, because at least one of the employees will talk to me like I’m a customer.
Now, the guys that run Eagle Creek Range do have a gun shop which I haven’t been to because it’s out in Plainfield – which might as well be Egypt. I would imagine that if they run their shop like they run the range, I’d have a pretty good experience.
But here’s my “gunshop horror story”. If you’ve seen my picture, I have a youthful face. I look about 19-21 most of the time. When I go into a lot of gunshops, I get treated like a dumb kid 90% of the time. It’s really freakin’ annoying. For example, I was in a local establishment not too long ago, and they had a Steyr 1911. I WANT one of those, and have been interested in picking one up. They had one, it was in decent condition, and in my price range; when I asked about it they said “Why would someone your age want that? How about a Glock instead?” Needless to say, I left without spending a dime.
I guess it’s started
Paul Helmke wants you to “ask the candidates why military guns are okay for the public“.
Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Thursday that the 30-round ammunition clips Robert Hawkins reportedly used in Wednesday’s shootings in Omaha would have been illegal to purchase under the assault-weapons ban.
Too bad that’s not true. You just had to buy pre-ban magazines, which were perfectly legal. Expensive at times, but if I wanted a 20 or 30 round magazine for someone, I just had to buy it. In fact, for Christmas one year I got a girl three milsurp 30 rounders for her AR.
“If this is something that can take a 30-round clip and fire them off quickly, it should be banned. This is a weapon of mass murder,” he said.
You know, I’m actually glad that he said that. It demonstrates quite clearly their criteria for what should be banned – which means that your Ruger 10/22 is on the list, your cherry Yugo SKS is on the list, pretty much any semi-automatic firearm (except for shotguns) is on that list.
Helmke said Iowans should demand responses from the presidential candidates campaigning before the caucuses. He said they should ask why Americans are allowed to buy guns designed for the military.
“Basically, should the public be able to get the types of guns we use in Iraq?” he said.
And the final piece of the lie – the cherry on the sundae as it were. These are not the kind of guns we use in Iraq. These are semi-automatic rifles, they are not functionally different from semi-automatic hunting rifles, or expensive Benelli shotguns. There is a significant technological difference between an automatic military weapon, and the semi-automatic rifles that share the same appearance.
Best blog title ever
Coming from Blogcritics, with their piece called Ron Paul, Hugo Chavez, and the White Supremacist 9/11 Gun Control Conspiracy.
The post itself has nothing to do with any of the above topics, but rather the sometimes startling efficiency of detractors/proponents of the people/theories in the title to magically show up at blogs and comment.
Of course, it’s not only Dr Paul who triggers this behavior. The title of this piece incorporates – in a blatant and potentially suicidal attempt to get as many comments as possible and clog up the author’s e-mail – most of the other topics which tend to attract political ‘bots’.
They do agree that it’s highly unlikely, as well as not supported by evidence, that the people referred to as “bots” actually are, or use bots to find articles on their hero/savior/mortal enemy. More likely than anything else, it’s because that dynamic people like Ron Paul attract very dedicated and loyal grassroots followers to their (often crazy) causes.
You can actually take the people of the gun as an example of that. Most of the bloggers, as well as readers of this blog, who are pro-gun are ardent defenders of our beliefs, and sometimes we will seek out opposing viewpoints just to confront them. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it does serve as an example of the type of behavior that “True Believers” are going to espouse. I’m sure if titled a blog entry “Harry Potter Kills Jesus” that I’d get quite a few angry comments from both Christians and Harry Potter fans.
Speed Racer
I had no idea that the guys behind the Matrix were/had made a Speed Racer movie.
Speed Racer was probably the first anime-style show I ever watched, and I still hold a fond spot in my heart for it. It’s one of those things that if I watched it now, I would probably think it sucks.
That being said, the previews look like the rather do capture the feel of the cartoon, so that gives me hope. For you old schoolers out there – here’s the original intro.
Some of his best work
It seems I’ll spend today agreeing with Sebastian.
Somewhere out there, there is another person who’s life is crap, who feels powerless, who is watching this, and entering his own murder-suicide fantasy. The media, who are only happy to portray a man with a gun as a force that strikes fear into the hearts of mere mortals, by parading the victims before the camera to talk about how scared they were, by prattling on about the power of the weapon he used, and by repeating the killer’s name far and wide to the point it becomes a household name.
Read it all.
If you’re looking for a finger to point, point it at the news media. They’re the people who empower the Va Tech shooters, they’re the people who provide incessant coverage after the fact.
And because I don’t want the finger of hypocrisy waved in my face, I’m done talking about this. Unless the Brady Campaign or other anti-gun groups start shouting lies based on this case, you won’t hear another word from me about it. I’m sick of the media blasting us with constant coverage about every dirt bag that decides to kill other humans as an attempt to validate his own pathetic existence.
Something on which to comment
I did find this op-ed in the Aussie news today, immediately in the wake of the mall shooting in Nebraska.
NEBRASKA, the farming state with the highest per capita gun ownership in the US, began the year with LB-454, a new state law allowing people 21 years and over to carry a concealed handgun pretty much wherever they go.
Applicants must pass a routine police check, complete a basic handgun training course (most are run by ex-cops) and pay $US100 ($115) for a five-year permit. It’s as simple as that.
Nebraska marked the end of the year yesterday with a bloodbath at the Westroads shopping mall in Omaha, the state’s largest city. Eight people were shot dead and several others are fighting for their lives.
The author of the op-ed uses the tragedy to rail against concealed carry in the US, when in fact there is no evidence that the shooter had a concealed carry permit. In fact, since he was under 21, he was legally barred from having a concealed carry permit. Add to that the fact that the shooter didn’t even use a handgun, and the article I’m referencing is reduced to so much useless drivel.
I’d like to say that it was just this one piece, but I am really sick of the media using tragedies to push their own personal agendas, or in the case of Matt Lauer, just be totally clueless.
I accidentally turned on The Today Show, or Good Morning America, whichever morning show he was on, and he was interviewing one of the survivors of the shooting. The interviewee had a serious case of “thousand yard stare” and just sort of seemed dazed by the whole experience. I got there just in time for Lauer to say “so, have you been thinking about how if these bullets had hit just a foot to the left or right, you could have been hit in the head?” Nevermind for the moment how stupid a question it is to ask a guy who’s just lived through a shootout; but the poor guy in the chair said “uh…yeah. All day”.
That’s stuff that I feel safe to comment on – it’s sickening to me to watch people’s lives get played with for entertainment value, or to use the deaths of others as a platform for whatever political agenda you feel like pushing.
Update on Nebraska Shooting
As a convicted felon, the shooter was prohibited from owning firearms.
No details as to yet on how he obtained the rifle, but I’m guessing that the rifle that his landlord saw was the one used in the shooting. Like I said, once I get more facts, I’ll have an in depth commentary.
Nebraska Mall Shooting
My condolences and prayers are with the families of the victims.
Other than that I agree with Sebastian that I’m pretty pissed off about this, I’m going to withhold further comment until I have as many facts as possible.