Here’s a curious argument against private weapon ownership in the comments section of a news item about open carry in Michigan:

bewise wrote:
I think only police, FBI, CIA, and whoever has to deal with secret documents or big amount of money, should be armed, and no body else. The reason I say that is based on a personal experience in Europe. I could have killed someone who kept half of the money from my job that he liked a lot, but saying that he was very short in money. We had not made a written contract, so he was taking advantage of that. He owned me 8,500 Euros. Over the hot debate I could have sent him to meet with Saint Peter, and I would have spent the rest of my life in jail. I know that you will bring me thousands of counter arguments, but still, I will not be convinced.

Very clearly, if this guy thinks that he would have killed a man over a money dispute (in a situation where he apparently didn’t take responsibility to bother with a written contract) he should not carry a gun.

But just because you think you’d exercise very bad judgment and commit murder doesn’t mean anything about anyone else. You think you are incapable of carrying a gun? If you really think so, I agree with you. You ARE probably incapable of carrying a gun.

That doesn’t say anything about me or anyone else, though.

It would be interesting to know if this individual grew up in Europe or in the US.

Go check out the story on some high-tech guns at Wired’s Danger Room by Aaron Rowe: Digital Revolvers, Koosh Bullets and Triple-Tasers. Photos by Bryan William Jones.

The lead product in the story is the Amratix Smart System .22 pistol which won’t fire unless it’s within a few inches of a special wristwatch. The idea is that you have to wear the watch on your shooting hand, and anyone not wearing it cannot fire the gun.

The cost: €7000, which converts to over $9700.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

(Sorry.)

At one-tenth that price, the gun would be the biggest rip-off I’ve ever heard of.

This site starts off

This seems like a really good idea.

and ends with

…definitely a niche item at first but perhaps the technology will become more widespread in the future, causing prices to decrease.

They decrease to one-thirty-fifth or one-fortieth, and you’d have a cool conversation piece.

Personally, if I was the cops in Germany, I’d be working on a jammer to use on people with these guns. And if I was a citizen of Germany and owned one, I’d just strap the watch to the grip.

Got a request for a little support from a group promoting gun rights in Turkey. Bireysel Silahlanma ve Savunma Hakkı (Rights for individual armament and defense initiate) is a non-partisan organization that demands fair armament rights for all Turkish citizens.

We as an Turkish citizens are being under ruthless laws to being armament and needs too much public support whereever it come from(Turkey or abroad) so I just would like to inform you as a gun enthusiast from Turkey and request any kind of support from you (for example a little paragraph article or something like that about our movement)

Here are the links to the sites (in Turkish):
www.bssah.com
bireyselsilahlanma.blogspot.com

Here’s one of their graphics:

BSSAH: Promoting Civilian Gun Rights in Turkey

The page the image is from seems to say something to the effect of:

If you think guns are for men only you may discover that women can be compromised if left defenseless. Your loved ones can protect themselves if they are appropriately prepared.

Here’s another good one:
(more…)

Kenya:

A lone elephant charged out of the brush as an American family was hiking near Mount Kenya and trampled to death a mother and the 1-year-old daughter she held in her arms, officials said Wednesday.

Four adults and the baby were walking with an unarmed guide just outside Mount Kenya National Park on Monday morning when the elephant charged, said Kenya Wildlife Service official Michael Kipkeu.

Apparently the guide was from their hotel and was not allowed to be armed.

Pics as the Firearm Blog.

Also: British adopting AR-10 style sharpshooter rifle by Lewis Machine & Tool.

Gunman kills 5 in Finland, then self

A gunman clad in black went on a shooting rampage Thursday, killing his ex-girlfriend then slaying four workers at a suburban shopping mall near Helsinki before apparently turning his gun on himself, police said.

Finnish police said one woman and three men were shot dead Thursday morning at the Sello shopping mall in Espoo, six miles west of Helsinki.

And this:

The ex-girlfriend, a Finnish woman born in 1967, also worked at the mall and had taken out a restraining order against Shkupolli, police said.

Restraining orders only work for those who abide by the law. Of course, few law abiders are really enough of a threat to require a restraining order in the first place. In any event, a court order won’t stop a determined killer any more than a law against killing will.

It sounds as if he killed the ex-girlfriend in a nearby apartment, went to the mall and killed four mall workers, then went back to his apartment and killed himself. Authorities haven’t said whether the mall workers were specifically targeted, but it sounds like he went there with a purpose and left when he had completed it.

A witness said he used a “long-barreled pistol.”

On JeremyBell.com:

If you happened to be walking by my office last night, you may have noticed a little police activity. A co-worker said she saw at least 6 SWAT, 2 uniformed officers, 2 undercover and a chopper in the air. I’ve since been told that the surrounding streets were blocked off with five cop cars in total, two ambulances, and a dozen cops all taking positions of cover around the office.

Ya, I’m a little embarrassed to say this was all for me, as last night I got arrested by the SWAT team because of a Lego gun.

(It was in Canada.) Go read the whole thing.

What I find most interesting about this, even more than the idea that SWAT arrived to deal with a guy with a Lego gun, is the fact that someone had to call it in in the first place. It apparently was a guy in a neighboring apartment who could see in the office building window.

Dog steps on shotgun left lying on ground and wounds two hunters in Perthshire, Scotland

Some criminals in Australia are using toy guns to rob people, so toy guns must be tightly regulated.

I’m on record saying that I won’t allow my kids to go out into the world and play with toys that look just like the real thing. But that’s for their safety. So that they don’t get shot by someone who thinks it’s real.

That’s a lot different than restricting toys.

Banning toys is one of those “reasonable restrictions” that gun control advocates say is they want.

A Tayside man is calling on Gordon Brown to block an attempt to hand legal control of airguns to Scotland.

Mr Lamb, of Dundee, fears the SNP government will use the power – if granted – to ban all unlicensed air weapons.

His petition says: “This measure harms the legitimate sporting shooter and fails to address the real problem, that caused by unlawful use of airguns.

What? Use of gun control to limit the rights of law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to criminals? Is that possible?

Via Sebasitan, who writes

Yes, even airgun sports are not safe if our numbers and political power are dropped to a sufficient degree.

In Michigan, my 14-year-old son cannot purchase BBs for his air rifle.