Yee-HA! California Makes Guns Legal

Hooray!  Somehow the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeals got something right.  They ruled that it is Constitutional for citizens to open carry guns for safety in California.

I live in California.  I have a gun.  Where can I get a good holster?

Note:  My commenting system isn't working for some reason.  I'll see if I can find out why.

DEBUNKED: Stanford Paper Claims Right-to-Carry Increases Crime

The information below was part of an earlier post, but I consider it important enough to have a post of its own.

Leftists are pushing back hard on the belief that right-to-carry laws deter crime.  Some liberals and liberal institutions (like a professor at Stanford University) are publishing papers that say the opposite is true:  that more guns means more crime and violence.  See conclusions of the Stanford paper here.

Intuitively, the professor's claims do not make sense to me.  If criminals know that a neighborhood has guns, would they be less likely to do home invasions or burglaries?  If criminals know that there are right-to-carry laws in effect, would they be less likely to shoot up schools and theaters?  I would think so.  What makes less sense is that otherwise lawful citizens turn into criminals when they have ready access to guns.  Absolute bunk, but liberals will believe anything.

REBUTTALS:  I found two sites that rebut the Stanford study as sophomoric and biased.  No surprise there.  Read MORE JUNK, LESS SCIENCE: New Stanford “Working Paper” claims right-to-carry increases assaults by 33%

Also read:  Right-to-Carry Gun Laws Linked to Increase in Violent Crime -- a rebuttal.

If liberals throw the Stanford study at you in argument, refer them to the above links.  The Stanford study is superficial and highly biased.

Grade School Fascism and Anti-Gun Hysteria

Yosemite Sam

Fascism is force.  Fascism is indoctrination.  Fascism is ostracism, punishment and intimidation of those who violate its tenets, however far-fetched the crime, however young and unwitting the perpetrators.

For several years I have watched in increasing anger and dismay at the severe indoctrination and intimidation of grade school children by progressive fascists, mainly over guns and knives.  The latest example is here, where a 7 year old was suspended for allegedly eating his pop tart into the shape of a gun.

The extremism of local school boards has reached unprecedented levels of absurdity, but it is not without purpose or design.  The current generation of grammar school children will someday grow up to be the adults who vote.  By then these new adults will be so terrified of guns that they will vote away the Second Amendment in a heartbeat.  To create the new docile and manageable American adult, any and all discussion or depiction of guns must be ruthlessly suppressed.

One must never be allowed to think about guns, mention guns, depict guns in any way, either by toy replicas, or by drawing guns, or by pointing one's fingers to simulate a gun, or by eating pastry into a gun-like shape.  Those who do will be severely punished, not for actual deeds, but for thought crimes.

"Come and Take It!"

It is time to counter such insanity with strong measures.  If it were up to me, the Maryland community that is served by this school would picket the school, hoisting signs and placards that depict real guns in photographs and drawings.  Informational pamphlets would be handed out to passers-by with pertinent facts, such as "this is a picture of a real gun.  It does not shoot.  It cannot harm anyone.  Depictions of guns harm no one!  Know the difference.  End anti-gun fascism now!"

They could hand out toy guns to school kids outside of school grounds, offer free pastries baked into gun shapes, post pictures of cartoon guns on telephone poles, patrol the school perimeter armed with super-shooter squirt guns, bubble guns and toy guns with barrel flags that say "BANG!"  Candy makers could make bubble gum in the shape of tiny handguns;  women could wear handgun earrings and (fake) bullet necklaces, men could wear gun-shaped lapel pins.  Informational pamphlets depicting real guns, and how they differ from imaginary guns, could be mailed to every member of the school board and teachers' union.  Planes could be hired to drop leaflets depicting comic guns with "bang" flags over all local school grounds.  T shirts with Yosemite Sam brandishing cartoon six-shooters could be worn by all protesters.  (What are they gonna do, arrest Walt Disney?)

In other words, absurdity should be fought with counter-absurdity.  Everywhere the grade school fascists turn, they should see the comical depiction of a gun.  I say comical so they can't claim intimidation or interpret the depictions as any kind of implied threat.  The goal is to rub the fascist nose in the asininity of progressive paranoia while deliberately flouting its program.

Obama Fights the Walking Dead! (Photoshop)

They wanted free stuff, and Obama was only too glad to oblige! But then they wanted more and more, and finally, to eat the brains of the living!  Alas, this was one entitlement program that even Barack Obama had to oppose!

Barack Obama Firing AK 47 (Photoshop)

Obama Reaching Across the Aisle

Obama recently released a photo of him firing a rifle.  The White House stipulated that use of the photo should not include manipulation, i.e., Photoshop.  Yeah right.

Many others have Photoshopped the picture, and here's mine.  It doesn't really have a message, I did it to prove my Photoshop skill and for fun.  I took the original picture, increased the height of the photo to show more of Obama's legs, put bullet belts around his waist, and replaced the skeet shooting rifle with a Russian AK 47 automatic rifle with banana clip (talk about assault rifles).  Spent bullet shells can be seen flying into the air while Obama mows down....who?  The Constitution, perhaps.  Fox News?  The Second Amendment?  American prosperity?  Individual liberty?

Or maybe he's just testing the weapon before shipping thousands of them to Egyptian and Syrian armed forces, so they can better oppress their citizens and attack Israel.

The original, unretouched photo can be viewed here.

Update:  See next post where I found a better use for this Photoshop.

Statistics on Gun Use in Crime, Self-Defense (Graphic)

More good stuff from El Opinador Compulsivo:

The NRA: Target and Scapegoat for the Hyper-Angry Left

Over at Twitchy.com there are many examples of hateful tweets put out by famous celebrities.  The latest hate-fest is against the National Rifle Association, a target of misdirected ire over the Connecticut school shootings of a week ago.  The latest is from author Joyce Carol Oates, who wants NRA members to be victims of gun violence so that they can better sympathize with other gun victims and allow gun control.

One of the characteristics of the loony left is a hair-pin trigger for anger, over-developed adrenal glands and a strong tendency to find a scapegoat for the cathartic expiation of their emotions.  When the actual source of their anger (the shooter) is not available for punishment, a substitute will do just as well.  They need someone or something to hate, someone to act as punching-bag for their anger, someone to blame.

Their strange logic goes like this:  crazy man gets guns, kills people.  The NRA supports the rights of gun ownership.  Therefore, the NRA killed those kids in Connecticut.  Brilliant logic. Or not.

Actually, the NRA has, for over 100 years, supported the safe and responsible ownership and use of rifles and guns.  They teach firearm safety courses.  When I was around 11 years old I went to one of them, as a precondition for going deer hunting with my father.

There are those on the wacky right (the Alex Jones types) who find scapegoats of their own, namely, antidepressant medications, which have nothing to do with the murderous rampages of the insane.  But blaming the medication satisfies a human need to find someone or something to blame.

So is anything to blame for the recent murderous rampages of the insane?  Yes.  Just supply your favorite pet peeve here:  keeping God out of schools; the deterioration of family values; income disparity among the populace, etc, ad infinitum.  However, I think there are objectively considered, real reasons for the violence.  They may (with emphasis on "may," as an admission that I don't have all the answers) include:

1.  The mainstreaming of the dangerous insane, rather than institutionalizing them.  Yes, we want to avoid institutionalizing the non-dangerous insane -- like the professor in "A Beautiful Life" or the man who believed in a giant rabbit named Harvey.  However, when a mental patient has a history of hurting people or expresses a reoccurring desire to harm or kill someone, he should be institutionalized if, say, two independent psychiatrists agree.

2.  The creation of target rich environments by specifying certain areas as "gun free zones."  This is nonsense.  There is no logic in assuming that making people defenseless will make them safer.  All areas where lots of people congregate should make provisions for defending against the occasional mad shooter, areas like schools, colleges, shopping malls, train stations, airports and movie theaters.

3.  Absurdly restrictive Gun Control Laws.  California is a good example of how absurd gun control can be. You cannot carry a loaded gun in public, concealed or unconcealed.  If you are caught doing so, you are subject to arrest and imprisonment, even when such incidences are accidental.  If you carry a gun in your car, it had better be locked up and in the trunk; it may not be loaded, and the magazine may not be close by the gun.  This is allegedly to prevent traffic rage incidents where drivers shoot each other.  It also prevents defense from carjacking or robbery while in the car.  We need the right to carry loaded concealed weapons, under a reasonable training and licensing program.

4. Overly Lax Gun Control Laws.  Those who wish to carry concealed weapons should know what they are doing and how to prevent accidental discharge of weapons.  Along with mandatory training, testing and licensing, I wouldn't be opposed to some kind of psych examination of applicants either, at the very least, a questionnaire:  "Have you ever murdered anyone?  Do you plan to do so?  Are you a lunatic?"  The usual background check for a criminal past should also be a requirement for licensing.

Conservatives tend to oppose any kind of gun control, but I think that is going to have to end.  No one should be able to buy a gun without a procedure for licensing, training and a background check.  No buying guns at pawnshops, Craig's List or gun shows, without first undergoing a licensing and training procedure.  Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon with a pistol he bought at a pawnshop.

5.  Irresponsible Handling of Guns by Gun Owners.  Too often crazy killers get access to their parents' guns and then use them to murder.  Obligatory training courses for gun ownership should include restricting access to one's guns by unauthorized or unlicensed family members, with criminal penalties for those who fail to do so when such failure results in gun deaths.  Adam Lanza had access to his mother's guns and used them to murder school children.  The Columbine shooters also used their parents' guns to commit mass murder.

6.  Extreme Violence in Movies and Video Games.  It isn't clear how much the extreme violence in movies and video games contributes to insane gun rampages.  Logically, I would assume that they have some impact upon the impressionable and undoubtedly contribute to gun violence.   This would be especially true for psychotics who cannot differentiate between fantasy and reality.  More study is needed.

7.  One More:  Teenage Bullying in High Schools.  High school is a terrible time in the lives of many.  You are either one of the cool, in-crowd, or one of the despised and ridiculed masses.  Many teenagers love to bully, beat up and humiliate the less popular.  Sometimes the bullied get pushed too far and snap.  Harris and Klebold were two such teenagers, and finally struck back with mass murder.  Bullying in high schools cannot be allowed, with strict and swift punishment for those who practice it.

That's the way I see it.

The Aurora Shootings

Another grinning psychopath has committed mass murder for no particular reason.  This time it was in a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, where a lot of young persons were attending the first showings of a new Batman movie.  A lunatic entered, dressed in black and sporting two pistols, an assault rifle and a shotgun, and began firing.  Twelve people are dead so far, with another 58 wounded, some critically.

Hours later, not all the bodies had been removed from the scene of carnage, and cell phones were ringing in various parts of the theater.  Some of the phones were dropped by fleeing patrons, others were still on the bodies of the remaining dead.  Frantic families were trying to find their loved ones, hoping that, just one more time, a son or a brother or a daughter or a sister will answer, their familiar voice heard once again.  For twelve victims, that will not happen.

I feel sadness and compassion for the families who have lost loved ones.

Armed Robber of Detroit Barbershop Killed by Gun-Carrying Customer

Ha ha!  Two thugs in Detroit decided that they would rob a local barbershop, and walked in with guns drawn.  What they didn't know was the customer in the chair was legally armed, and he eased his pistol out of its holster under the cover of the smock.  Using one hand to sweep three children out of the danger zone, he used the other to empty his gun into the punk, who did the world a favor by dying on the spot.  His thuggy friend then beat cheeks out the door and down the street.

The news reports:

Police say the deceased has a long rap sheet. He was currently out on parole for an armed robbery conviction. They are still looking for a suspect that is described as a black male with scruffy hair between the ages of 22 and 30. They say he is six feet tall with a thin build and was wearing a white tee shirt and blue shorts.

Good guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

Read the news story here.