Editorial in a Florida rag

Make no mistake, the proposed new penalties in Florida involving buying, selling and using assault weapons are not the ultimate answer to a growing problem.

What would be best for everyone is to restore the federal ban on assault rifles that expired in 2004. That’s a federal issue, but state legislators should certainly be pushing for that.

I’d be shocked if 50% of the legislators could actually tell you what an assault weapon is. Actually 50% isn’t anywhere near fair. I’d say, as 10 legislators, and you’ll receive at least 9 different answers.

What’s really important in the proposal aren’t the increased penalties that call for a minimum mandatory 25-year-prison term for using a semiautomatic or automatic weapon in a crime. There is already a 15-year penalty in place for that, so its questionable whether the added years would really be a deterrent.

There’s already a law! Make it more illegaler I say!

This is also not an attempt to hinder anybody who buys and sells hunting weapons, unless you like to hunt pheasant with an illegally procured AK-47.

Somehow, I doubt if you’d have no problem whatsoever if I was hunting pheasant with a “legally procured” AK-47. You’d probably shit yer pants just as violently.

Again, getting assault weapons off the street is something that needs to be addressed, on a federal level. But that won’t happen immediately.

Describe it. Then we’ll see what you know and what you’re paying attention to. Until then, this is just high-school grade spouting.

And the grand finale …

And right now, many police organizations — the cops have to look at the angry end of these weapons all too often — around the state are supporting the assault weapons bill in the Legislature.

1) Data to back up that claim? There is none. Cops are not getting shot at by inconceivable assault weapons “all too often.”

2) What’s with the assault weapon personification? Guns don’t have “angry ends.” They aren’t angry. They aren’t evil. They aren’t any more deadly than a toaster (which, by the way, can be way deadly if you plug it in and drop it in your bathtub). Carelessness is dangerous. Criminals are angry. The guns themselves do not have beady little eyes and a mean streak. It’s a metal object.

So pretty please. With a cherry on top. Leave the bullshit emotional bleeding-heart baggage behind. If you want to run to a closet and piss yourself because of an AK-47, enjoy. Otherwise, stop with the fucking psychological projection and stick to facts.

This is precisely what happens when a bunch of retarded legislators get together with time on their hands and political points up for grabs.

Senate committee OKs guns in restaurants, but not bars

With the state’s restaurants no longer opposed, a Senate panel on Wednesday agreed to let Arizonans carry their pistols into places where they eat lunch, even if liquor is sold there.

Sounds great, right? Not so fast …

The 42 vote by the Senate Committee on Commerce and Economic Development came after it was crafted so that weapons would be allowed only in restaurants where the owner or manager first posts a sign specifically permitting patrons to be armed. And the scope of the allowable weapons was narrowed to sidearms, eliminating the possibility that diners could bring in their rifles and shotguns. That was enough to convince the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association to drop what has, until now, been perennial opposition to the idea.

I see. Sure, we’ll allow carrying of firearms into restaurants, but first the restaurant owner has to post a sign saying, “Gun-carriers welcome here!” Which, of course, nobody is going to do, so you’ve effectively banned it.

Some smart individual is going to realize that there’s nothing to shit your pants over, and they’ll post up a big “We respect the 2nd Amendment” sign and - hopefully - they’ll get enough business to retire on after a few years.

Dave Kopp, president of the Arizona Citizens Defense League, said the bill is now unacceptable. He said weapons should be presumed allowed in restaurants unless the owner posts the premises as a gun-free zone.

Amen, brother.

But the change that bothered Kopp was, in fact, what was needed to keep the measure alive: Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, who owns a wine and cheese bar, said he believes few, if any, business owners will actually decide to post signs to allow weapons, if for no other reason than how it might affect their liability insurance.

So typical. So tiresome. Cheap legislative tricks to get what you want. “Now they must post a sign saying that they willfully don’t unexplicitly won’t not allow firearms on opposite day!”

Before approving the measure, the committee agreed to grant guncarrying privileges to anyone legally entitled to have a firearm. That means anyone without a criminal record, as long as the gun visible.

By contrast, the original version of the legislation limited the ability to bring guns into restaurants to those who have a state permit to carry a concealed weapon.

So CCW is out the window. Now we’ve got “you must put a sign explicitly allowing carrying of weapons in your facility” and “only for open carry” and “not if there’s alcoholic beverages served”. Who else is unhappy?

Don Isaacson, lobbyist for the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association, said that change makes the bill unacceptable to his organization’s members who include owners of bars and restaurants with liquor licenses.

He said getting a concealedcarry permit requires attending attended a stateapproved training program covering weapons use and safety as well as the laws about when people can use guns to defend themselves. Permit holders also are fingerprinted and undergo background checks.

“A CCW permit holder knows the law, is backgrounded, and there’s a level of protection,” Isaacson said.

Unless theyr’e a thug with a pistol in their pocket, in which case they really don’t give a shit about background checks or cute little signs posted in the window. Make sure the signs just have pictures, because thugs can’t read.

But Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, said she sees no reason to decide only certain people can bring guns into restaurants. She said Arizona law has long allowed anyone to carry weapons in the open “and there’s not bloodshed on the streets from law-abiding people.”

Of course not, law-abiding people follow the law. Criminals don’t. That’s why they’re criminals. How come it feels like we have to explain this to 3-year-olds? And they still don’t get it? Senator Leff gets a thumbs up for at least trying.

And Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem, said there are people who choose not to get concealedcarry permits because they don’t want to have to register with the government.

Some intelligence yet left in that desert.

The other fight on the Senate floor is likely to be over the issue of whether the right to carry firearms should be limited to sidearms. Gorman said hunters and others should not be forced to leave those weapons in their vehicles

Gorman said she isn’t trying to remove the restriction for personal reasons.

“I carry a semiautomatic .45,” she said. “It wouldn’t hurt me.”

But Leff said she does understand why larger weapons might be inappropriate. “Having an Uzi on the table might scare somebody,” she said.

Okay, I don’t think there’s a chance you’ll see someone at Applebees with an Uzi at their table. Though I’d sure as hell love to see the look on some server if you strolled in there with a .50 BMG.

Just added Iowahawk to the blogroll, shouldn’t have started the blog without that link on there (Chutch had always been my favorite). Go read “Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte.”

I’ve never been to Japan, but I have this - I’m certain - ridiculous notion that the place is rampant with weird ass robots and over-the-top anime tentacle pr0n wherever you look.

At any rate, I want one of these things for my driveway. I don’t care what it shits.

Reading some news over at Indystar.com about an 8 year old girl struck by a “stray” bullet (seems like some idiot thug was out for revenge and shot at the house when he knew kids were in there anyway).

Be mad at the thug, not the gun. But that’s not the purpose of this post. They have a sidebar up on this page:

What’s next
Emmanuel McClendon Jr. is being held without bond in Marion County Jail on a preliminary charge of murder. An initial hearing is scheduled at 8:30 a.m. today in Marion Superior Court. Prosecutors plan to decide on formal charges in coming days.
Funeral arrangements for Karissa Hitchings are pending.
— Star reporter Jon Murray

The unsuspecting
The Friday night killing of 8-year-old Karissa Hitchings was at least the eighth time in the past six years that someone was slain by stray gunfire in Indianapolis.

And the sidebar continues with each of these:

March 31, 2007: Jamitra Mitchell, 22 and pregnant, died after a stray bullet entered the home near 38th Street and Mitthoefer Road that she had moved into just hours earlier. Two groups of men arguing outside had started firing.

Oct. 29, 2006: David Cooper, 17, died after he was struck by a bullet fired into a car. He was riding with a friend in the 4400 block of North Arlington Avenue. They had just left a nearby gas station to avoid a fight. Authorities say the shooters thought Cooper and his friend had been involved in an earlier fight.

Sept. 18, 2006: Alexzander Anthony, 13, was fatally shot by a stray bullet as he walked to his grandmother’s house on North Rural Street. The bullet was fired by people shooting at each other from two cars driving down Rural.

Sept. 18, 2003: Teresa Killion, 40, died after she was caught in the crossfire of a gunbattle between two men near 31st Street and Graceland Avenue on the Near Northside. She was struck in the chest as she walked to a friend’s house.

Aug. 31, 2002: David Karol, 24, died after stray bullets entered a house he was visiting a block from his home on South Gray Street.

July 14, 2002: Rudy Valentine, 59, died after he was struck by a stray bullet as he watched TV in his home in the 3700 block of North Hillside Avenue. The bullet came from a nearby parking lot.

March 30, 2002: Collena Bradshaw, 52, died shortly after being struck by bullets that were fired into the home of a neighbor she was visiting in the 1100 block of North Warman Avenue.
— Star library research

Just to put 6 accidental deaths into perspective, Indiana has had 3,892 deaths by motor vehicle accident from 2002 to 2005 according to CDC data.

Unintentional death by drowning in that timeframe? 241

Unintentional firearm deaths within that timeframe? 67.

I don’t care what the size of their horns are … $65K is a hell of a lot of cash to shoot sheep. Heh.

I mean really …

Gloucester County officials have purchased an aerial digital imagery system to assist with public safety and emergency response.

Pictometry, purchased for $84,030 and paid for by the state Public Safety Answering Point grant, is similar to Google Earth.

Similar to Google Earth?

Pictometry’s high-resolution digital aerial images will provide a virtual image of every square foot of the county, according to a release. The system will also allow the county to automatically calculate acreage or square footage, review properties for planning rights of way and easements and review properties for additions, new construction and permits prior to field visits.

Innocuous enough.

“For police, if you have to execute a high-risk warrant at a house, now you can look at the property,” county emergency response coordinator Tom Butts said. “You can look at the doors and windows, outbuildings and know if there’s a doghouse. There are all kinds of safety things you can glean from this information that will be helpful.”

Currently, when an address is entered into the system, a map will come up allowing the dispatcher to look at streets and give the responding agencies directions. With Pictometry, not only will a map come up, but also a photo of the house from various angles, said Butts.

Sounds like quite the technological advantage. I could only imagine how easy it would be to seize an “illegal arsenal” with something like that on your side.

Too funny to pass up …

50 chickens close Phila. high school

Who let the birds out?

A fowl prank has closed a Philadelphia high school, canceling classes today for 3,600 students.

About 50 to 75 “full-blown live chickens” were discovered roaming the halls of Northeast Philadelphia High School this morning as faculty arrived before dawn.

“They’ve created quite a mess,” said Fernando Gallard, spokesman for the school district. “It’s going to take us at least a day to clean up.”

The cackling hens and roosters were let into the school on Cottman Avenue over the weekend.

Video surveillance shows that multiple culprits gained entry into the school about 9:30 p.m. Sunday to release the chickens and spread chicken feed on the floors, Gallard said.

Any break-in is supposed to trigger an alarm, but the caper was not discovered until 5 a.m. by a janitor, Gallard said. How the perpetrators got into the building and why the alarm apparently did not go off is still under investigation.

Bonus points if you catch the post title reference without looking it up.