HB 68 has been introduced in the Louisiana house, an “assault weapons ban” that includes a bunch of .22LR rifles.

Go read.

Sebastian blogs about what Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter’s (his real name, I swear) efforts to illegally install gun control and claims that “gun fatigue” has set in:

It is not that we don’t care about the city’s problems, it’s that we keep telling you that you can’t fix your problem this way, especially when the city is doing little to enforce the laws they already have…

Residents of Philadelphia are being sold a bill of goods by their politicians and by the media, that their problems have an easy solution, and it has to start with gun control. As long as Philadelphia residents are willing to buy that line, and keep electing politicians who peddle that instead of doing something, nothing is going to change in that city.

Go read the whole thing.

Murdoc is on the road (well, in the skies) today headed out to Denver for some day job training. I don’t think that it will hurt my posting much, but if someone invites me to either tonight’s or Thursday’s playoff hockey game between Detroit and Colorado, all bets are off.

Oh, and readers may be surprised to learn that this West Michigan resident is NOT pulling for the Red Wings. Though it doesn’t look good for my Avalanche right now, I’ll be pulling for them all the way.

Xavier:

At many gas stations, there is not a rachet in the pump handle to allow you to have both hands free while gassing up. You are on open display for every vagrant, criminal and gangsta wannabe, with your automobile unsecured, and you on the outside. I insert the gas cap in the handle at those times to keep my hands free. Here’s why.

Those gas stations where you have to hold it the whole time irritate me, but I’ll admit that I never stopped to think that it would put you at a disadvantage in a tough situation.

Robb Allen:

About the picture of my daughter

I had someone comment on why would I ever want to take a picture of my daughter with such a rifle.

Simple, I explained – I wanted a photograph that showed the juxtaposition between something that is generally associated with terror and mayhem and something that is innocent and innocuous, like the rifle.

Hilarious. Picture here.

Always follow them.

1. Treat all guns as if they are loaded.
2. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire.
3. Don’t point the muzzle at anything you don’t want to put a hole in.
4. Know your target, what’s behind it, and what’s around it.

Excellent discussion over at Monster Hunter Nation, and be sure to check out the comments.

I’ve seen a lot of guys get pretty upset when their safety standards are, um, a bit lax. Me? When I catch myself nearing or crossing the line I’m ASHAMED OF MYSELF and make damn sure I don’t do it again. My guess is that, at least in some cases, those that take offense at being corrected are simply embarrassed and don’t take well to public criticism, not people who really don’t care about safety.

Still no excuse, though.

Border agents to use paintball guns to fend off attackers

Border Patrol agents may soon use paintballs to defend themselves against smugglers along the border due to an increase in violence.

Surveillance video from an incident last year in El Paso shows a Border Patrol agent retreating after people pelt him with rocks. Some could argue the same about being hit by a paintball without protective gear, where a projectile from a paintball gun leaves a small welt on the flesh.

Small welt or not, human rights activists say it is a bad idea, even for a line of defense.

Murdoc’s weapon of choice to “fend off attackers” at the national border would not leave a “small welt.” But I still don’t think the “human rights activists” would like it.

Seen at Joe’s Crabby Shack:

As seen on the windows of UNO’s office of fuzzy-wuzzy involvement… (or some such organization):

“School shootings are no game. Shooting games teach violence.”

Then, 5 feet to the left also on the window:

“Student HALO 3 Tournament!!!”

I believe that UNO is University of Nebraska (Omaha).

Daley is an idiot. Not that you didn’t know that already.

Chicago mayor Dick Daley is backing a plan to equip all city police officers with semi-auto tactical rifles:

“Many times [the police are] outgunned, to be very frank,” Daley said at an event in the Englewood neighborhood. “When they come to a scene, someone has a semi-fully-automatic weapon, and you have a little pistol, uh, good luck.”

The city’s SWAT units already use the M4 carbines that Police Supt. Jody Weis is proposing for the rest of the 13,000 rank-and-file officers. Daley said the pistols the rank-and-file officers carry aren’t enough when they’re up against gunmen brandishing AK-47 assault rifles or other high-powered weapons. [emphasis Murdoc's]

“Semi-fully-automatic” weapons?

Is that anything like a “bolt-action gatling gun”?

Does Daley drive a car with a “manual-automatic transmission”?

Or gas up at a “self-full-service gas station”?

Via David Hardy.

Three guys looking to cool off:

Investigator Christy Carona said the three men broke into the storage home of Jack Busby on the 200 block of Cleveland Street and attempted to take two air-conditioning units.

She said Busby found the men and held them at gunpoint until police arrived. Busby later shot King in the lower back after he attempted to flee the scene.

Something that comes up fairly often in discussions involving defensive gun use is “but is your wallet/television/air conditioner really worth shooting someone over?“.

Though not 100% totally without merit, this question comes close. If someone were to rob me on the street, I wouldn’t really know if all they wanted was my wallet, or if things would continue to spiral out of my control from there.

When it’s a home invasion scenario, though, the question is totally 100% without merit. If someone comes uninvited into my home, my personal safe zone and the safe zone of my family, I don’t care if all they want is my television or my air conditioner. I’m not going to shoot them because they want to steal my property, I’m going to shoot them because they violated my ‘do not cross’ line.

And, believe me, I will do everything I can legally do to get myself into a position to shoot them. Unless they directly threaten my safety or, even worse, the safety of my family. Then I won’t spend any time making sure it’s legal that I shoot them.

Why doesn’t anyone ever ask the potential criminal “but is taking someone else’s wallet/television/air conditioner really worth getting shot over?” Instead, we have a criminal that intentionally breaks into someone’s home with intent to steal their property and/or harm the occupants and a homeowner that is often regarded as “dangerous” somehow because he defended his own life and property from the wrongdoer.