The bill was named in honor of 18-year-old Aaron Sullivan, who was shot and killed by a SKS 7.62-caliber rifle in Seattle in July. The legislation focuses on “military-style” assault weapons, which can fire rapidly and carry large magazines of ammunition.

The SKS? Large magazines of ammunition?

And I won’t even mention “7.62-caliber,” which would be the main armament of a World War 2 heavy cruiser.

Gunsite owner going for the top spot in the Grand Canyon State:

A political unknown has thrown nearly $2.1 million of his own cash into his bid to become governor, a move that could change the landscape of the race.

Owen Buz Mills, a member of the National Rifle Association board of directors, filed a report with the Secretary of State’s Office this week detailing the funding.

Everyone is up in arms about this because they have to wait in a longer line at the airport or because they can’t get out of their seat. Nearly everyone can agree that it’s stupid and won’t do much (if anything) to help solve the problem of airline terrorists. On top of all this, the only people that can really be counted on when it comes time to deal with a threat, the law-abiding citizens, are the ones at risk and the ones who have more restrictions placed on them when someone else shows how useless the restrictions are.

It’s tough to tell whether it’s gun control or airline security we’re talking about, isn’t it?

Nothing that anyone in the US government says about anything related to security can be taken at all seriously until she is kicked out on the street.

Fire her immediately.

Fire Janet Napolitano Now

She shouldn’t be fired because a terrorist almost blew up an airliner on Friday. She should be fired because she says “the system is working.” She went on national television and told America that everything is under control.

If the system was working, a terrorists would not have almost blown up an airliner on Friday.

A couple of hours after she reassured everyone, another guy from the same place on the same flight locked himself in the bathroom and then became “unruly.” Instead of shooting him they arrested him.

Fire Janet Napolitano. Until they do, nothing the Federal government says about security can be taken seriously.

(cross-posted from Murdoc Online)

Obviously, folks reading a site like GunPundit.com are probably as interested in the Second Amendment as much or more than any of the others. And some of the items, such as the Third, don’t have a lot of impact in today’s society.

I’ve always thought that the Bill of Rights, and the battle surrounding it and the ratification of the US Constitution, are significant not only for the actual rights guaranteed, but as a signal that even back then people were terrified that government would overstep its intended bounds.

Alexander Hamilton, I think, once wrote that an amendment guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms was not necessary. Someone found that and tried to use it in an argument against me one day. But they either didn’t know or didn’t care WHY Hamilton thought that. In essence, he believed that the right to keep and bear arms was self-evident and that a limit on government’s power to regulate it was totally unnecessary. Fortunately, enough people had the foresight to know that, despite the Tenth Amendment, the government would eventually try to control everything that wasn’t specifically forbidden.

Incidentally, my reply to the argument was that I didn’t think we needed an amendment guaranteeing the right of US citizens to breathe even though I was opposed to regulation on such activity.

Mexican officials want a ban, saying that 90 percent of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives originate in the United States, including most assault rifles.

Whoa, cowboy. “Assault rifles”?

No assault rifles in the hands of Mexican drug gangs come from the US civilian market. Zip. Zero. Nada.

The panel also notes that by legalizing most of the illegal immigrants, Mexico should be able to control the flow of illegal immigrants.

Duh.

Why not remove all speed limits on all US roads to cut down on the number of people who violate speed limits?

Via Sebastian.

Even though police say they have not yet determined what weapon was used, Ralph Fascitelli, president of Washington CeaseFire, says he plans to cite [police officer Timothy] Brenton’s murder when lobbying for the bill in the next legislative session.

“Maybe this particular [police victim] wasn’t killed with an assault weapon, but the next one maybe will be,” Fascitelli says, adding that police safety was a key reason that automatic weapons were banned decades ago and that the International Association of Police Chiefs supports a ban on military-style semiautomatic weapons today.

Based on “the next one maybe will be”, this guy is going to take it to the state government. Must be nice to not need any proof or any evidence or even any case to back you up.

Four gun-rights organizations, including the National Rifle Association, are suing the city of Seattle and Mayor Greg Nickels over the new ban on guns in city parks.

They were joined by five individuals, including two Department of Corrections workers who say they need to carry their personal weapons in city parks to protect themselves against criminals.

“The city is acting illegally in putting a ban into effect,” said Alan Gottlieb, with the Second Amendment Foundation, and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court. “Lots of people in Seattle need firearms for self-protection.”

The story is discussed (term used loosely) at a site called Slog:

The insistence of this form of stupidity, gun rights, is like the backside of a proud water buffalo.

And the conversation (term used loosely) continues in the comments:

Let’s legalize guns in schools too, right? Legalize guns in courthouses, jails, and bars too, am I right? After all, a #2 pencil can kill someone too, right? And let’s legalize poison gas and explosives, since it’s the people killing other people, not the poison gas.

Pro-gun rights arguments are so leotarded.

That guy’s user name is i heart hunting accidents. No, I didn’t make that up.

Here’s another good one:

I failed to mention my respect for the second amendment despite personal sentiments. I just don’t respect the white man’s burden blubbering, tea-baggers who carry them.

But at least someone has a solution:

I think any law-abiding citizen should be able own and carry guns, but I also think that guns should be much more strictly regulated.

“But.”

Here are the proposals to incorporate that “but”:

Buying and selling of guns should be tightly regulated. All transfers of ownership should be registered with the state, even when between private parties. Perhaps a gun can be “scanned” out of one license holders inventory, and scanned into another. Obviously close the gun show loophole too.

All guns should be inventoried every two years. Since each transfer of a gun would have to be registered with the state, we would theoretically know who had every gun in the state.

Marin County, California:

In August, a man shot two people to death on a bridge near San Francisco. At the moment of the killings, two on-duty Marin County sheriff’s deputies were within 100 yards of the shooter. One was close enough to see the muzzle blast of the shotgun. The police officers, however, did not move against the culprit. One, stuck in traffic, called in a description of the killer’s vehicle as he fled. The other positioned her car to prevent traffic from entering the crime scene.

These two law-enforcement officers did what police officers tell the public to do: Don’t intervene. Get a description of the offender. Call the police. Be a good witness.

Much debate ensued about whether the officers’ behavior was appropriate, but the real tragedy is that the victims of this rampage did not have the legal opportunity to arm themselves. To them, the message was clear: Be a good victim.

“May Issue” can be better than “No Issue”, but it’s a compromise that can work against the God-given and Constitutionally-guaranteed right to bear arms. Sheriff Robert Doyle in Marin County requires applicants to demonstrate “extreme need” before he’ll okay a permit. That’s like forcing drivers to demonstrate that they’re going to be in a traffic accident before the government allows them to put on their seat belts.

Rittgers writes about the District of Columbia and concealed carry, adding:

Tom Palmer (disclosure: Tom is my colleague at the Cato Institute), once used a handgun to deter a mob of violent aggressors who were yelling death threats at him. Tom’s right, and the right of any other citizen, to arm himself should not be subject to approval by a civil servant who will not be present to protect them.

Criticism leveled at he Marin sheriffs for the August incident may not be warranted. Though close, they may not really have been able to do anything.

Which is exactly the point.

The three men often discussed their desire to participate in “violent jihad against American interests” and talked about “their desire to die on the battlefield,” prosecutors said. But when they were unable to join terror groups in Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan, they found inspiration in the Washington-area sniper shootings and turned their interests to domestic terror pursuits while they plotted the attack on shopping malls, authorities said.

And get this:

Mehanna had “multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people in shopping malls,” Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks said. Prosecutors would not say which malls had been targeted.

Loucks said the men justified attacks because U.S. civilians pay taxes to support the U.S. government and because they are “nonbelievers.”

The mall plan was abandoned after the men failed to track down automatic weapons, Loucks said.

We’re all told how simple it is for just anyone to pick up assault weapons at gun shows. We’re all told how automatic weapons are flowing over the border and fueling the drug war in Mexico. We’re all told these things over and over by government officials, the media, and activists.

Yet three wannabe terrorists were unable to arm themselves with automatic weapons.