The Pittsburg Tribune has a pretty good story on the increasing number of ARs showing up in the hands of hunters: AR-style rifles spurring some debate

(“Spurring some debate” is the unofficial middle name of the AR, by the way.)

There are still some states — just how many the NSSF hopes to determine via survey within a week or so — where it’s illegal to hunt with a semiautomatic rifle.

Pennsylvania is one of those.

“It’s not the AR styling per se. That really has nothing to do with it,” said Scott Tomlinson, law enforcement supervisor in the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s southwest region office in Bolivar. “It has to do with the capacity for shooting multiple rounds.”

That issue is easily addressed with low-capacity magazines. I’ve never really understood that limitation. Is there fear that someone with a 30-round mag is going to mow down an entire herd of deer at once? Do they have tags for all those deer?

Even within the hunting community, some “traditionalist” hunters dislike the rifles. That’s led the NSSF to mount a campaign aimed at getting sportsmen to quit arguing amongst themselves.

Because it’s unusual for gun owners to argue amongst themselves.

You want to really see the fur fly? Call that 5-round low-cap hunting magazine a “clip”.

Earlier this month in Philadelphia:

A southwest Philadelphia police district was evacuated after the man brought in a 105 mm projectile for a howitzer.

Police say the 53-year-old man got the shell in 1977 from a friend who was a Marine and kept it in a storage facility since then, and decided to turn it in for safety reasons.

The police say it was a live shell.

White Philly officer told to get rid of cornrows

Police in Philadelphia say a white officer who came to work with cornrows was ordered by a black superior to get a haircut because the braids violated department standards.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported Monday that Officer Thomas Strain was put on desk duty this month because of the braids, even though the paper reported dozens of black officers wear cornrows [Emphasis Murdoc's].

No, not a big thing in the grand scheme of things. But it doesn’t sound right.

Sestak the Gun Grabber

UPDATE: Bitter points us to Sestak coverage over at PA Gun Rights.

Police questioned club gunman, let him go

The man who carried out a massacre in a women’s aerobics class had been questioned a week earlier by police because he matched the description of a man seen pulling what appeared to be a grenade from a computer bag, authorities said Monday.

George Sodini, 48, of Scott Township, was ultimately let go by Port Authority of Allegheny County police because they couldn’t confirm he was the man on the bus July 28, authorities said.

As told in this article, it seems tough to fault the police on this one.

Philadelphia area:

PORT RICHMOND – August 9, 2009 (WPVI) — A pizza shop owner in Philadelphia fought back when a man tried to rob him at gunpoint.

The attempted robbery happened inside Tony’s Pizza on the 2900 block of Frankford Avenue in the city’s Port Richmond section.

Police say an armed gunman walked into the pizza shop at 11:45 Saturday night demanding money, but the owner pulled out his own gun and shot the robber.

The would-be thief is now in critical condition.

The ‘Pizza Guys‘ category was originally intended for delivery drivers defending themselves against would-be robbers, but it’s basically expanded to include pizza shops as well.

Murdoc likes him some pizza, and crimes committed against the makers and deliverers of pizza are essentially an attack on Murdoc’s way of life.

Gym killer leaves dark Web diary, details of plot

A man who sprayed bullets into a fitness class filled with women, killing three and then himself, apparently kept a Web page in which he wrote about years of rejection by women and an earlier plan for violence at the gym in which he said he “chickened out.”

Neighbors described 48-year-old George Sodini as anti-social, and the Web page in his name showcased a resume setting forth his credentials as an unhappy loner. It listed his date of death — Aug. 4, 2009 — and his status of “Never married.” The page ended with the words “Death Lives!”

Obviously not a “he just snapped” moment. He’d been planning this since at least November and had actually gone in on January 4th intending to go before chickening out.

If he thinks he was lonely, unhappy, and unfulfilled while alive, I wonder what he thinks about his situation right now.

Witness says up to 15 shots fired at L.A. Fitness Center

Some guy apparently walked in, turned off the lights, and started shooting.

UPDATE: One of the four is the shooter. More here.

First Amendment Rights Trampled by Pittsburgh College after Student Advocates for Concealed Carry of Firearms on Campus

PITTSBURGH, May 27, 2009—A student who wants to form a gun-rights group at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) has been threatened with disciplinary action for her efforts. Student Christine Brashier has turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help after reporting that administrators banned her informational pamphlets, ordered her to destroy all copies of them, and told her that further “academic misconduct” would not be tolerated.

This is the gem:

When Brashier stated that she wanted to be able to discuss this policy freely on campus, she was told to stop doing so without the permission of the CCAC administration. Dean Burns reportedly said, “You may want to discuss this topic but the college does not, and you cannot make us.”

Waaaahhh! (via Instapundit)

Happened across this on the Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association forum in a thread about what laws should gun owners be pushing for in 2009:

At the very bottom of the list are “stand your ground” and “castle doctrine” laws. I’d rather have more freedom to carry guns in order to protect my life and the lives of loved ones, than to be able to shoot someone for stealing a lawn gnome or running away with a case of beer.

Below, the writer adds

Ya caught me… I was using hyperbole.

Take my opinion what it’s worth, but it seems to me that it would be more beneficial to allow more people to more easily defend themselves against crimes for which lethal force is currently justified for self-defense, than to expand the justifications for the use of lethal force for the same number of people who are carrying now. It would be nice to do both, but we only have enough political capital to do one or the other.

This is actually a pretty good point, though I don’t know that I happen to agree with it. ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws won’t help a lot if only the bad guys have guns (which often seems to be the case in certain parts of Pennsylvania, I gather), but if attackers (or their survivors) can successfully sue those who defend themselves there is still no balance.

Still, I’d rather put down a bad guy today and get sued tomorrow than not have a gun when I need one.