Not too long ago, those showing the Gadsden Flag were potential domestic terrorists. Now they’re Tea Party members.

Ariz. man battles neighbors over tea party-linked flag

The Gadsden flag is not on the approved list of the local homeowners’ association. Homeowners’ associations are an issue of their own, in Murdoc’s humble opinion.

When Murdoc was a kid, he had a stack of Gadsden flag stickers and after slapping a few on the red shelves in his bedroom, he saved the rest for special things. More recently, he had a rattlesnake “ribbon” magnet for his car, but some nice person borrowed it a while back and forgot to return it.

Plus, this bit cracks me up:

He notes that the banner, the Gadsden flag, has been widely used over the years and was even featured on the cover of a rock album. “Am I a Metallica fan because I’m using the flag?” he asked.

Over at Murdoc Online, I’ve displayed the “Don’t Tread On Me” First Navy Jack for years. When someone sent me a flag and I took it into work, a co-worker asked me if I was aware that Metallica had written a song called “Don’t Tread on Me” way back in 1990 or 1991.

For what it’s worth, the redesign of the GunPundit site puts the Gadsden flag in the header. Good thing my site isn’t part of any homeowners’ associations.

Does Dressing Up as a Cop, Staging Fake Traffic Stops, Looking for Drugs, and then Keeping the Drugs Violate the Fourth Amendment?

At the Volokk Conspiracy:

In United States v. Torres-Sobrado, — F.Supp.2d –, 2010 WL 3290958 (D. Puerto Rico 2010), handed down last week, twelve defendants allegedly dressed up as police officers and pulled over motorists for traffic violations. One of the twelve was an actual police officer, but apparently the rest were not. They would then look for drugs, and when they found drugs they would keep the drugs and later sell them.

At least one man was killed during the, um, operations. Among the charges against them was an accusation that they violated the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

But

In last week’s decision, the defendants moved to dismiss this count of the indictment as a matter of law. They made two arguments. First, the defendants argued that they are not real police officers, and therefore are not state actors under Fourth Amendment law. Second, they argued that even if they were state actors, they did not violate the Fourth Amendment because their stop and seizure complied with Fourth Amendment standards. The stop was based on probable cause, the drugs were in plain view, etc.

One commenter writes:

I certainly think it’s just for those that pretend to be state actors to suffer the same consequences of their actions as if they were in fact state actors. If we are going to enhance the punishment for a cop that uses his badge and uniform to assist him in carrying out a crime, why would we not want to treat an impostor in the same way?

That makes me wonder about places with minimum sentences for using a gun during a crime. Does that minimum sentence apply if the defendant uses a fake gun which the victims believe to be real? How about “assault with a deadly weapon” if the “deadly weapon” is not real?

Another commenter:

I think that the civil rights violation is the least of their problems.

Agreed. And I guess I sort of wonder why that charge was made in the first place. But all I know of the case is what I quickly read today, so there is certainly a lot of detail that I am ignorant of.

Via Instapundit.

Jay Tea over at Wizbang writes about how pro-gun-control Dan Baum went to A15.com and asked for forum members who “cache” guns to contact him for an article he’s working on. Hilarity ensued. I have been watching this for a couple days and have been getting a good laugh.

A commenter sums it up with

Obama Supporter who is hostile to gun owners and doesn’t understand the culture comes to the biggest gun board on the internet and wishes to discuss with people where they hide their guns.

Jay writes

Reading the responses to Mr. Baum’s inquiry, it seems that the readership of that forum are incredibly stupid. They keep loading all their guns on boats, which then subsequently sink into lakes — leaving all those guns forever lost and unaccounted for. What’s worse, they can’t even learn the most basic lessons — many of them used the exact same model of boat, which sank in the exact same fashion.

And even those who didn’t use a boat ended up losing a great deal of weapons in other unfortunate, unforeseeable actions that left the firearms in question unaccountably and permanently lost. Such clumsy fools they are.

It’s depressing when I think of all the guns and ammo I’ve lost in sunk boats.

Came across this online:

Does anyone know the source? My guess is that it’s some drug lord’s conversation piece. Some WEIRD drug lord.

Bonus points for still having a bayonet lug, though.

Murdoc is guessing that shooting the No Shooting sign is not permitted.

Pitbull shot in Grand Rapids; its puppies remain missing

Very odd. The missing pups were offspring of the shot dog. My guess is that it was the mother and she was defending her pups and property. It was still alive when police arrived but had to be put down.

There’s no indication that the pups are somehow particularly valuable. Was it worth shooting a dog over?

Murdoc is not really a dog person, but we’ve got a couple and love them. And I’ve never been a fan of the pit bull thing, but unless the dog had done something to warrant it, this is obviously out of line.

I’ve always thought that the way people treat animals says a lot about them.

North Carolina Allows Crossbow Hunting But Requires Concealed Handgun Permit

This is odd to Murdoc:

State law requires that anyone buying or otherwise receiving a crossbow in North Carolina first obtain a pistol permit from the sheriff’s office in their county of residence or hold a valid concealed handgun permit.

From what I understand, this is not related to the new opportunity to hunt with crossbows in North Carolina but has always been a requirement of purchasing or receiving a crossbow.

What do concealed handguns or the permission to carry them have to do with crossbows?

Gold and silver-plated jewel-encrusted guns allegedly owned by drug cartel boss are seized in Mexico

More pics at the Telegraph.

Was sorting through some photos last night and realized that I had never posted this shot of the huge billboard along I-90 in Boston just outside of Fenway Park:

We Sell Guns Billboard in Boston

No ID Required. No Background Checks. Criminals & Terrorists Welcome!

What I find most amusing about it is that not only is it NOT accurate as far as gun shows go, it’s actually pretty accurate as far as US border policy goes. These folks want to close a “gun show loophole” that doesn’t exist but (and I’m guessing here) would probably not support building a wall to close the “border loophole.”

I don’t know who funds this billboard.

Father killed in failed plan to get custody of child

Dwayne Lamont Moten wanted custody of his child. So he devised a plan with another man to get the new boyfriend of the child’s mother out of the way, according to Dallas police.

Jacob Wheeler would shoot to wound Moten. Then Moten would call 911 and pin the shooting on the third man.

Except instead of shooting Moten in the thigh and shoulder, Moten ended up somehow shot in the chest and dying of his wounds.

The shooter was arrested on an unrelated charge and was later charged with murder.

It sounds like something out of a Coen Brothers movie.