One filed complaint that was thrown out, and that’s it?

Leonel Barboza, Dog Owner: “He says, ‘I’m here to put him down. I’m here to kill him.’”

The officer told Leo Barboza there had been a complaint Bobby had bitten someone.

Barboza: “I said, ‘Do you have any proof or anything?’ He says, ‘I don’t need any proof.’”

So Leo got the dog while the deputy pulled out a rifle from his car. They walked a few feet from the Barboza’s home where Leo’s wife and his three year old son were inside.

Leo and the officer tied the dog to a pole when the deputy fired three shots. The dog then collapsed. Leo’s son heard the gunshots and opened the front door.

Don’t need any proof? Great. Then there should be no problem tying that officer to the tree, instead.

The Court and the Second Amendment

By agreeing yesterday to rule on whether provisions of the District of Columbia’s stringent gun control law violate the Second Amendment to the Constitution, the Supreme Court has inserted itself into a roiling public controversy with large ramifications for public safety.

For once, I couldn’t agree more with an editorial at the NY Times. HUGE ramifications for public safety. If handguns throughout major cities and even smaller rural areas are banned just like they are in DC, we’re SCREWED.

Something tells me, however, that’s not what the NYT editor had in mind in regards to “public safety” which in the NYT dictionary means something along the lines of, “the right to defend yourself with nothing more than a spork.”

The hope, which we share, is that the court will rise above the hard-right ideology of some justices to render a decision respectful of the Constitution’s text and the violent consequences of denying government broad room to regulate guns. The fear is that it will not.

Well then I hope that this is your worst, farging nightmare, you bastiches. Respectful of the Constitution? It’s quite clear that our Founding Fathers intent was to have the Constitution interpreted as such:

The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all documents is to construe them according to the sense of the terms and intention of the parties.

Justice Joseph Story, appointed to the Supreme Court by President James Madison

Far be it from the NYT to actually pay attention to history, and respect our Founding Fathers intent.

At issue is a 2-to-1 ruling last March by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that found unconstitutional a law barring handguns in homes and requiring that shotguns and rifles be stored with trigger locks or disassembled.

Right. There are more accidental drowning deaths involving swimming pools - by a large margin - than by handguns. Does that mean that we should be storing our pools without water and a diving board? It is massively unconstitutional.

The ruling upheld a radical decision by a federal trial judge, who struck down the 31-year-old gun control law on spurious grounds that conform with the agenda of the anti-gun control lobby but cry out for rejection by the Supreme Court.

Oh, here we go again with the “anti-gun control lobby.” If by that phrase you mean the millions upon millions of law-abiding gun owners who feel the need to protect their families against criminals who don’t follow the laws that misguided nanny-legislators put forth, then yeah, color us a lobby.

Much hinges on how the justices interpret the Second Amendment, which says: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Pretty damn obvious to me, but hey, I’m not a Supreme Court Judge.

Opponents of gun control sometimes claim a constitutional prohibition on any serious regulation of individual gun ownership. The court last weighed in on the amendment in 1939, concluding, correctly in our view, that the only absolute right conferred on individuals is for the private ownership of guns that has “some reasonable relationship to the preservation of efficiency of a well-regulated militia.” The federal, state and local governments may impose restrictions on other uses — like the trigger guards — or outright bans on types of weapons. Appellate courts followed that interpretation, until last spring’s departure.

Damn, I was so looking forward to putting a Sherman on layaway.

A lot has changed since the nation’s founding, when people kept muskets to be ready for militia service. What has not changed is the actual language of the Constitution.

Couldn’t agree more, asshole, thanks for making my argument for me.

To get past the first limiting clauses of the Second Amendment to find an unalienable individual right to bear arms seems to require creative editing.

And certainly the New York Times wouldn’t know a damn thing about “creative editing”, right? That must be why it’s so easy for you to see this issue the way you do. Creative editing experts!

Beyond grappling with fairly esoteric arguments about the Second Amendment, the justices need to responsibly confront modern-day reality.

Exactly. Bans don’t work because criminals don’t follow the rules. Major cities that have areas of poverty, crime along with handgun bans simply take the law-abiding individuals who would normally have need to protect themselves, and offer them up for the slaughter. Let the foxes in, and lock the hen house door.

A decision that upends needed gun controls currently in place around the country would imperil the lives of Americans.

It would imperil the lives of Americans who have been able to run free through “gun-free zones” with their weapons of choice, kicking in teeth, mugging, robbing, and killing innocent civilians who are unarmed because the tool is being blamed above the crime and the criminal.

Ick. Just read through an entire NYT editorial. Now I need a shower.

Dinty Moore Beef Stew cans TREMBLE when I draw near! Only trouble is, if I want good targets, I have to eat that crap.

I highly prefer raining lead death upon steel cans as opposed to your general aluminum Moxie can. So in that case, no, don’t make mine a Moxie. A .22 round hitting an aluminum can will simply rip right through it and in many cases the can won’t even jiggle. I prefer steel cans that jump with each successful shot.

Coroner’s Report: “Victim sustained repeated bullet wounds from various calibers. Victim had a massive contusion upon upper steel support ring. Cause of death due to multiple plinking injuries.”

Every day should be National Ammo Day. I ended up splitting my Ammo Day up since my local shop is closed on Mondays.

My take …

1000 rounds of .22lr
300 rounds of .40sw (not entirely pictured)
20 rounds of 7.62×54R

Here’s the snapshot of … well … most of it.

Over at DP, Bill Quick is Holding His Breath on the DC gun case but finds optimism nonetheless.

Further, the court is a political animal. The justices, I’m sure, took note of what happened with the recent immigration debacle. They can only imagine what would happen if they threatened the RKBA of some 80 million gun owners, some tiny percentage of which are the sort of whackjobs who might take umbrage at the individual justices themselves. Politicians have never been famous for seeking out that sort of potentially lethal disagreement.

Hell hath no fury like millions upon millions of very enthusiastic gun owners pissed off at politics and tired of getting the shaft over ridiculous liberal arguments that aren’t based in common sense. At least, that’s how I think the saying goes.

After all …

And what country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.

Thomas Jefferson - U.S. President, Signer of the Declaration

The notion that the 2nd Amendment is not based on an individual right is pure garbage and all the usual suspects know it. That being said, if the court comes down on the wrong side of this - and make no mistake, it is currently already on the wrong side considering all of the ridiculous bans and legislation out there - expect to see lots of angry people with the “spirit of resistance” immediately open carrying their firearms in public the moment a possibly cowardly ruling comes down.

Let them take arms, indeed.

And like I said previously - this issue has a chance to absolutely dominate the 2008 election and I couldn’t be happier about it.

“Go Time” indeed …

The 2008 Election just got a whole lot more interesting.

Nevada leads in gun deaths, ownership - by Andrew Pridgen

Please, somebody stop me from digging up this feckless, socialist, gun-grabbing drivel. I should find a better way to punish myself in my spare time, like maybe … oh, I don’t know … driving railroad spikes under my fingernails?

With more guns sold and registered per capita than anywhere in the U.S., Nevada is a gun state - always has been.

It also is the gun-death state. According to the Center for Disease Control, since 2000, Nevada has led the nation with an average of 26 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people.

War-torn Iraq averaged 32 gun deaths per 100,000 people last year, according to the same study.

At least once a year, an accidental gun death here makes national headlines.

And with that, we’re careening off on yet another bumpy roller coaster ride in the dumb-ass amusement park.

It’s hard to know where to start with this one, so let’s check out the CDC data … Oh WISQARS? Come ‘ere, boy!

From CDC statistics … show me all homicides related to firearms in the state of Nevada for all age ranges between the years of 2000 and 2004 (the most recent date of available data):

583 total. 5.38 per 100,000 of population.

Hmmm. Okay, show me all unintentional firearm deaths under those same conditions:

22 total. .2 per 100,000 of population.

Something’s not adding up here! The data must be wrong. That’s 605 total deaths in four years and it doesn’t come anywhere near being 26 per 100,000!

Okay, let’s see this one … Unintentional drowning deaths in Nevada from 2000 to 2004:

128 total. 1.18 per 100,000 of population.

Oh, crap! I’m going to need to register my pool! I’m going to need to wait a month to buy another pool!

Now let’s see how this boulevard of broken dreams known as Las Vegas affects these statistics. Show me suicides by firearm for the same time range in Nevada:

1,201 total. 11.28 per 100,000 of population.

Well honk my hooters would you look at that statistic. That’s a whole lot of people blowing their brains out, ain’t it! Ya think that has a bit of influence over those statistics? Let’s examine that, shall we?

Let’s see the national suicide rate according to the CDC related to firearms between 2000 and 2004:

84,220 total. 5.85 per 100,000 of population.

Congratulations, Nevada. You’ve nearly double the firearm-related suicide rate as the country. What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas, I suppose.

You know, the sad thing here is that I’m just poking around a freely available online tool. For some reason this Pridgen jackass is stuck on comparing Nevada with Iraq and truly has no business writing anything for anybody. Oh, but for the fun of it, we shall continue …

Next up in the article are some cherry-picked stories about teenagers and twenty-somethings shooting each other out of machismo and drunken stupidity. Nowhere do we get details about how it happened, where the firearms came from, or how any law on the books anywhere could have prevented any of it from happening.

Here’s the REAL juicy part:

“They don’t have any now and they’re crying out because of senseless deaths - especially for children,” said Brady Campaign spokesman Peter Hamm, of Nevada’s nonexistent gun laws.

Hamm! Truly you make all swine of your ilk jealous!

Especially for children … let’s have a look at that one. Nevada deaths - unintentional - for those aged 0-17 from 2000 to 2004:

2 total. .07 per 100,000 of population.

How old are these children of yours, Hamm? 45?

Here’s the obligatory “Brady Law Works” garbage:

Centers for Disease Control studies showed on the eighth anniversary of Brady Law in November 2001, gun deaths in the U.S. dropped 27 percent, from 39,595 in 1993 to 28,874 in 1999.

Consequently, in that time and since, the number of gun deaths in Nevada has increased, according to the CDC;

… but wait, there’s more. Are you sure we’re working with reliable data in this “Nevada is almost as bad as Iraq” piece?

… but the studies do not take into account the spike in population during the same timeframe.

Oh come on! Your reporting is about as messy as batting practice with colostomy bags. It’s like reporters don’t even try any more … they just lie because they’re too lazy, too stupid, or too entrenched in their own agenda. It’s batter up, and the readers are in the outfield.

Local law enforcement officials were reluctant to lump the irresponsible gun owners into one category, especially by age, socioeconomic background or race.

That’s because they’re local law enforcement officials. Look at the statistics, numbskull:

Whites:
337 total. 3.68 per 100,000 of population.

Blacks:
184 total. 21.78 per 100,000 of population.

Those are the CDC facts, asshole. Don’t go calling me a smug racist for actually … you know … looking up statistics.

The one commonality he saw was with those who come to his office, register their weapons, pick up locks for them or apply for carry of concealed weapon permits; these “responsible” gun owners he said, “are usually not the ones who pose a problem.”

Color me shocked. You mean criminals that purchase guns illegally, you know, the guns with the serial numbers scraped off and such … aren’t registering them! Sneaky bastards! Good to know that the REAL ones who don’t USUALLY pose a problem are the ones that come into your office and hand over their paperwork.

Furlong characterized most guns involved in crimes as unregistered guns used by untrained gun owners.

Captain Obvious sure is on a roll! Really? I thought there was this scourge of cowboy action shooters with muzzle-loaders mowing down innocent babies in senseless drive-by shootings! To think that most guns involved in crimes are ones owned by people who didn’t waltz into your office voluntarily to have their name, address, birthdate, social security number, and gun serial numbers all registered in your cute little database! Amazing that most of those out there committing crimes are of the “untrained” variety. You mean, thugs holding it sideways?

The responsible gun owners are not the population the gun control lobby is pointing their fingers at, said Hamm. In fact, a new tack has been to recruit “responsible” gun users to combat scofflaws.

SHOOTOUTS IN THE STREETS!

“We tend to approach the gun problem in Nevada armed, I guess,” Hamm said. “You know one of the things we truly believe, the more guns there are the more gun violence there is.

Sit back and soak in that stinking pile of Hamm droppings for a moment, will you? More guns = more gun violence. I have more guns now than I did last year, yet the violence level in my home is unchanged! As a matter of fact, there are more shopping carts at my local Wal-Mart than there were last year, yet … shopping cart homicides have stayed at the same level.

Maybe … just MAYBE … there has to be some kind of person involved in this whole thing for it to make sense. Otherwise, we’d keep manufacturing guns and they’d keep killing more people all on their own.

I love this quote:

Recently visiting Carson City’s shooting range, a man who identified himself as a Lyon County sheriff’s deputy - but refused to give his name - said he’s seen “more questionable weapons, more automatics and more careless use, not so much at shooting ranges, but anywhere people go to drink and shoot.”

Mr. Sheriff’s Deputy? Where do people go to drink and shoot? Their basements? I mean really … if you go somewhere to drink and shoot you deserve every bit of harm you bring upon yourself for being that unbelievably stupid.

And he continues …

“But this is our right. I’m not going to ask anyone to have their rights taken away. I held my first gun when I was 5. I learned how to use it. I learned how to be responsible. I know how to defend myself. It’s like, if you don’t teach someone how to use a toaster, they’re going to get burned.”

Well yeah, if they’re a monkey maybe. I think people can generally figure that one out though. Like, “if you don’t teach people how to use a washing machine, next thing you know they’re inside of it going *flump flump flump* in a whirlwind of bubbles!”

There are some real stupid people out there that I’m sure would burn themselves on a toaster just because you have not bequeathed your toaster wisdom upon them. But to compare firearm safety to toaster usage is just … well … just what I’d expect from an idiot such as yourself.

It’s hard to believe that journalism has been reduced to something like this. It’s ironically fitting really, that a newspaper - something commonly used to cover the bottom of bird cages - is so thoroughly awash in …

… Pridgen shit.

Sebastian discusses “How Not to Win” and makes some excellent points about “Range Assholes”.

While jerks at the range aren’t nearly as bad a problem as the jerks who refuse to go and want the police knocking down doors to confiscate, it doesn’t mean it should be ignored. I’ve come across a few jerks in my trips to the range as well. Everyone from the guy whipping out one of 4 AKs and looking at you incredulously because you ask him to pause to set up a target 15 yards away, to those who keep shooting even after a range clear as you’re walking down range.

Squashing those without common sense or who are merely ignorant and uninformed is important, but it’s equally important - particularly to new shooters - that there are positive experiences to go around.

Let me describe my first trip to the range …

If I would’ve met “AK Man”, I wouldn’t have wanted to go back, it was a horrible first impression. Instead, my first trip out there were only two of us there, myself and an older gentleman who is a cowboy action shooter and performs in shows for young and old. I introduced myself, let him know that it was my first time out, and he took the time to talk to me about the range, a little about politics, and about what he does.

He let me try out a couple of old black powder revolvers he was shooting - reloading them for me and having me take a few shots at his target a few yards away. He showed me a little about how to grip it properly, showed off a little of what he can do with it (talk about a crack shot), and told me if I ever have any questions to let him know as he’s there pretty much every day.

What an excellent way to begin. If every new shooter had an experience like that their first time out, there would be lots of enthusiastic new shooters. Because of that experience, if I ever come across a new shooter, it’s my goal to be just as nice and make their first trip out just as pleasant as mine was.