I suppose I'll continue with my opining on the subject of guns, and why not? It's been a topic of much discussion here in Georgia as of late due to an impending revision of our state's gun laws.
For those not familiar with U.S. conceal carry laws, there are basically 3 categories the 50 states fall under when issuing permits for carrying a concealed firearm. The first type is "May Issue" which means that once a citizen applies for the license, the state may or may not issue the permit to the individual at its discretion. Reasons for declining a permit applicant can include being under 21, use of medication that may alter reason, or any other condition the individual state or jurisdiction may cite. These laws vary from state to state and sometimes from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Then there are "Deny Issue" states. These states are in the minority, and have prohibited their citizens from carrying a loaded, concealed sidearm under any circumstance. Though individuals can possess guns in their homes and in business for the sake of protection, once outside in public, carrying one is considered a crime. In addition, transport of firearms in these states requires that they be unloaded and in a case with the ammunition separate from the gun.
The last category is called "Must Issue," and Georgia falls under this classification. In these states, if the requirements for a permit are met, the permit must be issued without discretion. However, even in the state of Georgia, and other "shall issue" states, there are restrictions as to where the permit holder may carry a concealed weapon. In Georgia, permit holders are not allowed to have their weapons in places of worship, state parks, bars or the nebulously defined "public gatherings" which includes gun shows or political rallies.
Recently, the Georgia State Legislature proposed expending where licensed gun owners can carry concealed firearms. The bill passed in both the house and senate by an overwhelming majority, and if the law is enacted by Governor Sonny Perdue, permit holders will be legally allowed to carry in parks, on public transportation and in restaurants that serve liquor.
Needless to say, this revision to the state's carry law is drawing howls of protest from the usual suspects. The Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police opposes the bill, as does Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin (Who believes the expanded right to carry will "promote violence and vigilantism."), the anti-gun group Georgians for Gun Safety, the head of the rapid transit provider MARTA and a slew of mayors from around the state. Sadly, none of them can mount an intellectually honest debate against expanding the carry laws. Even more pathetic, they don't remember why these revisions were enacted in the first place.
It all started with Meredith Emerson, a student at the University of Georgia. She was reported missing on New Year's Day of this year after going on a hike with her dog in Georgia's Vogel State Park. It was here she ran afoul of drifter Gary Michael Hilton who incapacitated her with a blow to the head. She lived for 3 more days, and then when she died, Hilton decapitated her.
Hilton was charged with her murder, and was also found to be involved with the murders of an elderly couple hiking in the North Carolina mountains and another woman in a Florida state park. His M.O., like so many other criminals, involves picking a location where they know their victims are more likely to be unarmed. In this case, Hilton stalked state parks.
So why expand the carry laws to include MARTA? In 2007, MARTA's record on incidents of violent crime cannot be described as a "safe environment." There were 94 robberies (More than the previous 3 years), 74 aggravated assaults (Also the highest level in three years.), and 2 homicides (More than the previous 3 years combined.). While the overall number of crimes has dropped over the previous three years, the incidents of VIOLENT crimes has increased. To deny citizens the right to defend themselves at the very moment a violent incident occurs is in itself criminal!
I applaud the decision of Georgia's legislature to expand where law abiding citizens can carry their weapons. It's a bold move that flies in the face of political correctness, shows that lawmakers understand where the true threat lies and strengthens the average citizen's 2nd amendment rights. Now, in spite of the objections of gun grabbers and woefully uninformed politicians, the playing field for survival on the streets has been leveled a little more in favor of the average citizen.�
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Musings from a "Gun Nut"
I've been having a ton of fun with this story line...can you tell? The reason why extends beyond a typical leftist's claim that my toons reflect "the mentality a monolithic, right-wing gun nut." (I must confess that I love tweaking that collective of stupids! Their criticizes hum our me with their lack of originality and bumper sticker witticisms.) Unlike mentally deficient, gun-grabbers, I believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees the individuals' right to keep and bear arms and that right isn't a component of belonging to a militia.
More than that though, I am an avid shooter who enjoys going to the range to practice with my various fire arms. To do so effectively and consistently requires a ton of practice! Shooting with precision is a heck of a challenge, and each of these weapons requires different disciplines to shoot effectively! So if you'll indulge me, I'll explain why I enjoy shooting each of them and why.
My daily
carry pistol is absolutely one of the best I've shot and the first one I ever bought. It's a Taurus PT111 Millennium Pro chambered in 9mm. From the standpoint of reliability, it has performed admirably since I purchased it over a year ago. With over 2,000 rounds shot through it, the PT has misfired only 5 times, with 4 of those malfunctions attributed to bad ammo. It's small, extremely accurate and has light recoil. All good traits in a defensive carry piece.
I purchased this pistol for one reason only: Self protection. I believe that it's MY responsibility to take the steps necessary to protect myself and my loved ones. Others my think that police are supposed to be the protectors of the citizenry, the simple fact is that they cannot be everywhere at once. If I'm under attack, I have the means to defend myself on the spot no matter where I am! And folks, let's face it, there are just too many incidents of random violence and often in places one does not expect like malls or offices.
My next
pistol is also a 9mm and is Austrian. No, it's not a Glock, I'm just a little too much of a contrarian for that. It's a Steyr M9-A1, a pistol that is ergonomically superior to anything I've shot from manufacturers like Glock, Beretta, Taurus or even Kimber. It's my sidearm of choice for competition shooting in IDPA because of its front sight which allows quick target acquisition and accuracy. I affectionately refer to it as "Die Über Pistole" and have made believers out of everyone I let shoot it!
Next up is the Win
chester Model 1200 shotgun I got at a gun show for $75 (And yes, there was paperwork and a background check done at the show!). Anyway, this gun is a necessity in a well defended home for 2 reasons: First, the sound of a shotgun being racked is a universal warning for an intruder that lets them know they have the potential to wind up on the business end of a nasty weapon. If they're smart, they leave the premises. Second, if the situation calls for it, a shotgun will dispatch just about any threat. Add to those qualities its extreme mechanical simplicity, how little training is required to operate it well and it's ability to be used to put food on the table, and you have a firearm that is an essential part of a shooter's collection.
How old can a fire
arm remain in use? Good question, because my next gun was made in 1946 and shoots like a champ 62 years later! It's a Russian military surplus rifle called a Mosin-Nagant M44. I don't know what's been more fun for me with the Mosin, shooting it or doing the historical research on this weapon. Best of all, when I take it to the range, I'm a rock star! Someone inevitably asks me about it either when they see it or after I pull the trigger and the massive "bang" erupts from its muzzle with 3 feet of flame. Trust me, it's an awesome rifle, and all this fun only cost me $50! Can't beat it!
Finally, I have in m
y possession a neat little piece that belongs to my father. It's a Mossberg
142-A, .22 caliber rifle. What's really neat about the gun is the time in America it invokes. My father grew up in Wisconsin as a child, and when he was around 12, he went into a drug store and purchased the Mossberg. No parents. No older brother. No background check. Just him.
This whole scenario would be regarded as ridiculous fiction today and that is a sad commentary of where we are in America as a whole with regard to firearms. And what did this young kid do with the gun? He'd go hunting for small game in the early morning and bring home his quarry for an evening stew. Pretty cool if you ask me, but oh so politically INcorrect for today's times! Imagine that...a kid not only purchasing a rifle by himself legally, but also using it responsibly!
There's no doubt that times have changed since my Dad bought his rifle, and things have gotten worse violent crimes involving firearms. However, I think that the problem today isn't that we need more regulations or firearms prohibitions. All that have been tried have been ineffective. No, what we need to do is foster a better understanding of what firearms are for, respect the right of responsible citizens to own them and put fear behind us...or in the cross hairs. �
More than that though, I am an avid shooter who enjoys going to the range to practice with my various fire arms. To do so effectively and consistently requires a ton of practice! Shooting with precision is a heck of a challenge, and each of these weapons requires different disciplines to shoot effectively! So if you'll indulge me, I'll explain why I enjoy shooting each of them and why.
My daily
carry pistol is absolutely one of the best I've shot and the first one I ever bought. It's a Taurus PT111 Millennium Pro chambered in 9mm. From the standpoint of reliability, it has performed admirably since I purchased it over a year ago. With over 2,000 rounds shot through it, the PT has misfired only 5 times, with 4 of those malfunctions attributed to bad ammo. It's small, extremely accurate and has light recoil. All good traits in a defensive carry piece.I purchased this pistol for one reason only: Self protection. I believe that it's MY responsibility to take the steps necessary to protect myself and my loved ones. Others my think that police are supposed to be the protectors of the citizenry, the simple fact is that they cannot be everywhere at once. If I'm under attack, I have the means to defend myself on the spot no matter where I am! And folks, let's face it, there are just too many incidents of random violence and often in places one does not expect like malls or offices.
My next
pistol is also a 9mm and is Austrian. No, it's not a Glock, I'm just a little too much of a contrarian for that. It's a Steyr M9-A1, a pistol that is ergonomically superior to anything I've shot from manufacturers like Glock, Beretta, Taurus or even Kimber. It's my sidearm of choice for competition shooting in IDPA because of its front sight which allows quick target acquisition and accuracy. I affectionately refer to it as "Die Über Pistole" and have made believers out of everyone I let shoot it!Next up is the Win
chester Model 1200 shotgun I got at a gun show for $75 (And yes, there was paperwork and a background check done at the show!). Anyway, this gun is a necessity in a well defended home for 2 reasons: First, the sound of a shotgun being racked is a universal warning for an intruder that lets them know they have the potential to wind up on the business end of a nasty weapon. If they're smart, they leave the premises. Second, if the situation calls for it, a shotgun will dispatch just about any threat. Add to those qualities its extreme mechanical simplicity, how little training is required to operate it well and it's ability to be used to put food on the table, and you have a firearm that is an essential part of a shooter's collection.How old can a fire
arm remain in use? Good question, because my next gun was made in 1946 and shoots like a champ 62 years later! It's a Russian military surplus rifle called a Mosin-Nagant M44. I don't know what's been more fun for me with the Mosin, shooting it or doing the historical research on this weapon. Best of all, when I take it to the range, I'm a rock star! Someone inevitably asks me about it either when they see it or after I pull the trigger and the massive "bang" erupts from its muzzle with 3 feet of flame. Trust me, it's an awesome rifle, and all this fun only cost me $50! Can't beat it!Finally, I have in m
y possession a neat little piece that belongs to my father. It's a Mossberg142-A, .22 caliber rifle. What's really neat about the gun is the time in America it invokes. My father grew up in Wisconsin as a child, and when he was around 12, he went into a drug store and purchased the Mossberg. No parents. No older brother. No background check. Just him.
This whole scenario would be regarded as ridiculous fiction today and that is a sad commentary of where we are in America as a whole with regard to firearms. And what did this young kid do with the gun? He'd go hunting for small game in the early morning and bring home his quarry for an evening stew. Pretty cool if you ask me, but oh so politically INcorrect for today's times! Imagine that...a kid not only purchasing a rifle by himself legally, but also using it responsibly!
There's no doubt that times have changed since my Dad bought his rifle, and things have gotten worse violent crimes involving firearms. However, I think that the problem today isn't that we need more regulations or firearms prohibitions. All that have been tried have been ineffective. No, what we need to do is foster a better understanding of what firearms are for, respect the right of responsible citizens to own them and put fear behind us...or in the cross hairs. �
Monday, March 17, 2008
Just some stuff I've been pondering.
Don't look for anything too deep here...
1) Geraldine Ferraro is catching a lot of flack about her comments about Barack Obama.
Last week in an interview with "The Daily Breeze" (A powerhouse of a newspaper to be sure!) of Torrance, California, she said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if
he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”
You know what? She's right! Obama has no experience in leadership, governance or management of any kind, yet he sits at the cusp of being the first black man ever elected president. He is the very personification of the "doughnut hole" candidate with his only marketable skill being that he knows how to deliver a good speech.
So what's the bottom line here? Obama's true ascension is nothing more than affirmative action gone mad, and the TRUE change that he is pushing, and the one thing that his wife is so proud of (You know the ONLY thing she's proud about in her adult life in America) is that for the first time it looks like a black man may be president.
Forget qualifications, they've become irrelevant in the Democrat party!
2) Regarding the deaths of the two Atlanta-area coeds in Chapel Hill and Auburn: How much longer are we going to allow our universities to be killing grounds for every thug, punk and social reject on the planet?
I believe that universities should allow students the option to carry
concealed firearms if they are legally qualified to do so. The effect will be twofold: First, those with the permits who do carry will be able to respond to an emergency faster than the police. This will not prevent violence on campus completely, but it will aid in lessening the damage one psycho can do.
Secondly, the knowledge that every student has the POTENTIAL to be armed is a deterrent to criminals. Whether they are or not is irrelevant. Criminals prefer an easy target that they know is defenseless. This is why they attack in locations where they know nobody has the means to defend themselves! If a college or university enables students the option of concealed carry, then the criminal doesn't know which ones are in am position to fight back. This will also serve as a deterrent!
Don't believe me? Check out these articles about a town just outside of Atlanta called "Kennesaw." There it's a law that all heads of household need to be armed. While obviously not all of them are armed, the criminals who are looking to get into some mischief don't know which ones ARE! Check it HERE, HERE and HERE.
3) Ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is an idiot on a galactic scale:
What kind of hypocrite does it take to employ the use of high-end call girls KNOWING the whole time that he prosecuted people for the same crime? One like New York Governor Eliot Spitzer! Unbelievably, the state obtained evidence of his crime using the same methods Spitzer employed to build HIS cases against New York's johns and whores! In other words, he knew how the evidence would be gathered! Yet he did nothing to circumvent detection by methods he knew about!! Without a doubt, this catapults Spitzer to legendary status in the annals of stupidity!
And what of the wife? Poor thing, she had no idea the man she married was mentally defective AND a cheater! How humiliated must she be after her husband's alter ego of "Client #9" became public. My sympathies go out to her and the kids, and I hope she destroys him financially and takes him for everything he owns!
Finally, what kind of man goes to the altar, swears before family, friends and God that he will "forsake all others" for his wife, then gets busted with a whore? A truly pathetic one! There's never any reason to cheat on your wife! If the marriage falters, that's one thing, but to spin a web of lies and deceit and have infidelity at the center of divorce? That's the M.O. of a pathetic worm incapable of controlling his baser instincts. It's also the M.O. of dogs that spontaneously hump your leg.
Eliot Spitzer is just such a dog.
And here's a prediction: Spitzer will at some point play the victim card. My guess is that he will announce he's going into rehab for sex addiction or some other such nonsense on Monday when he formalizes his resignation. Bet me.
That's all for today! Later!
Scott
1) Geraldine Ferraro is catching a lot of flack about her comments about Barack Obama.
Last week in an interview with "The Daily Breeze" (A powerhouse of a newspaper to be sure!) of Torrance, California, she said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if
he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”You know what? She's right! Obama has no experience in leadership, governance or management of any kind, yet he sits at the cusp of being the first black man ever elected president. He is the very personification of the "doughnut hole" candidate with his only marketable skill being that he knows how to deliver a good speech.
So what's the bottom line here? Obama's true ascension is nothing more than affirmative action gone mad, and the TRUE change that he is pushing, and the one thing that his wife is so proud of (You know the ONLY thing she's proud about in her adult life in America) is that for the first time it looks like a black man may be president.
Forget qualifications, they've become irrelevant in the Democrat party!
2) Regarding the deaths of the two Atlanta-area coeds in Chapel Hill and Auburn: How much longer are we going to allow our universities to be killing grounds for every thug, punk and social reject on the planet?
I believe that universities should allow students the option to carry
concealed firearms if they are legally qualified to do so. The effect will be twofold: First, those with the permits who do carry will be able to respond to an emergency faster than the police. This will not prevent violence on campus completely, but it will aid in lessening the damage one psycho can do.Secondly, the knowledge that every student has the POTENTIAL to be armed is a deterrent to criminals. Whether they are or not is irrelevant. Criminals prefer an easy target that they know is defenseless. This is why they attack in locations where they know nobody has the means to defend themselves! If a college or university enables students the option of concealed carry, then the criminal doesn't know which ones are in am position to fight back. This will also serve as a deterrent!
Don't believe me? Check out these articles about a town just outside of Atlanta called "Kennesaw." There it's a law that all heads of household need to be armed. While obviously not all of them are armed, the criminals who are looking to get into some mischief don't know which ones ARE! Check it HERE, HERE and HERE.
3) Ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is an idiot on a galactic scale:
What kind of hypocrite does it take to employ the use of high-end call girls KNOWING the whole time that he prosecuted people for the same crime? One like New York Governor Eliot Spitzer! Unbelievably, the state obtained evidence of his crime using the same methods Spitzer employed to build HIS cases against New York's johns and whores! In other words, he knew how the evidence would be gathered! Yet he did nothing to circumvent detection by methods he knew about!! Without a doubt, this catapults Spitzer to legendary status in the annals of stupidity!
And what of the wife? Poor thing, she had no idea the man she married was mentally defective AND a cheater! How humiliated must she be after her husband's alter ego of "Client #9" became public. My sympathies go out to her and the kids, and I hope she destroys him financially and takes him for everything he owns!
Finally, what kind of man goes to the altar, swears before family, friends and God that he will "forsake all others" for his wife, then gets busted with a whore? A truly pathetic one! There's never any reason to cheat on your wife! If the marriage falters, that's one thing, but to spin a web of lies and deceit and have infidelity at the center of divorce? That's the M.O. of a pathetic worm incapable of controlling his baser instincts. It's also the M.O. of dogs that spontaneously hump your leg.
Eliot Spitzer is just such a dog.
And here's a prediction: Spitzer will at some point play the victim card. My guess is that he will announce he's going into rehab for sex addiction or some other such nonsense on Monday when he formalizes his resignation. Bet me.
That's all for today! Later!
Scott
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