A Geek With Guns

After scaling the Walls of the City I saw the city introduced legislation to register ice cream truck workers. Shortly afterward I climbed the way to escape.

Seriously what the fuck?

Good news British subjects! If you are selected to go through a full body scanner at either Heathrow or Manchester airports you must submit or you don’t get to fly:

It is now compulsory for people selected for a scan to take part, or they will not be allowed to fly.

Previously if you were selected to go through a body scanner you could opt for a full body pat down instead. Personally I’d go that route, if somebody wants to see me naked I better be getting free drinks out of the deal.

Wow I couldn’t say I saw this coming. Another, “No Shit. How could people not get that?” post on Bruce Schneier’s blog leads to a research paper stating that people can improvise weapons on an airplane.

Really? NO WAY! I present the paper’s abstract:

Commonly available items including a ball point pen, a plastic knife, a broken wine bottle, and a broken wine glass were used to inflict stab and incised wounds to the necks of 3 previously euthanized Large White pigs. With relative ease, these items could be inserted into the necks of the pigs next to the jugular veins and carotid arteries. Despite precautions against the carrying of metal objects such as knives and nail files on board domestic and international flights, objects are still available within aircraft cabins that could be used to inflict serious and potentially life-threatening injuries. If airport and aircraft security measures are to be consistently applied, then consideration should be given to removing items such as glass bottles and glass drinking vessels. However, given the results of a relatively uncomplicated modification of a plastic knife, it may not be possible to remove all dangerous objects from aircraft. Security systems may therefore need to focus on measures such as increased surveillance of passenger behavior, rather than on attempting to eliminate every object that may serve as a potential weapon.

Hell I might even be able to use my laptop as a bludgeon weapon! I could also choke somebody to death with the power cord. Wait scratch that I could beat somebody to death the the power brick end of the power cord. Fuck it’s almost like I could even use my bare hands to kill or injure somebody on a plane.

I couldn’t have seen that coming. Anyways I apologize for no direct link but the paper is on a site that requires a subscription to gain access to their papers.

Well it appears as though the anti-gunners have been handed a new weapon. I say that in a rather snarky manner as it’s really a new weapon handed to everybody online, at least in the state of Texas. Texas’s H.B. 2003 law took effect September 1, 2009 and the first arrest under this law has occurred:

The new Texas law criminalizes online harassment on social networking sites and through e-mail or text messaging. H.B. 2003 states a person commits a third degree felony if the person posts one or more messages on a social networking site with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten another person.

You read that right if you post more than one “harmful, fraudulent, or intimidating” (quotes are donating idiocy not direct quoting) post on a social networking site you are a felon under Texas law.

Why do I say it’s the anti-gunner’s new weapon? Because they are usually whiney assholes who would use such laws as are most people who base arguments on emotions instead of facts. Remember according to anti-gunners just mentioning the word gun can be threatening to them. Anyways if you’re in Texas just beware of this law before you post anything on any social networking site.

Further Research

You know I just love the random and weird stories I find on Dvorak Uncensored. But sometimes they depress me. Because there is an apparent lack of actual issues to deal with Representative Anna Eshoo from, wait for it, California has introduced the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (the acronym is CALM, very clever Mrs. Eschoo).

What does it do? Well it would require the FCC to enforce a rule that television commercials can’t be “unreasonably” loud. Yup while our country is in an economic depression, our money is becoming worthless, we’re at war with several nations, we have government striving for more control over the health care industry, and the PATROIT Act is still in force somebody decided to waste time with the volume of television commercials. You’r tax money at work.

From John C. Dvorak’s blog we get a story that starts like this:

During the conversation the frail widow, who fled to Britain from Communist East Germany

Sadly it appears as though she hasn’t ran far enough to escape a police state:

A disabled pensioner was hauled before the courts and charged with assault after she prodded a teenage ‘hoodie’ in the chest with her finger.

Renate Bowling, 71, confronted the 17-year-old youth in the street after stones were thrown at her home.

Yes some punks threw stones at her house and she confronted them because she’s old and therefore is from a generation that has a spinal cord. During the confrontation she pokes one of the hooks in the chest with her finger and ,being this is Britain, is brought up on assault charges.

Is there anything that is legal in that police state across the pond?

The War on Guns reminds us that there is a law against doing almost everything. Sally Harpold is a dirty criminal. Why? Because she dared to purchase a box of Zyrtec-D and a box of Mucinex-D in the same week. See both of these common medicines contain pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in meth. Under Indiana law you can only purchase 3.0 grams of pseudoephedrine in a week. Her combined medicine purchase netted her 3.6 grams. Hence she is a criminal.

Always remember the nanny state knows best and enacts these laws to protect you from yourself. After all even if you are purchasing medicines containing pseudoephedrine for your cold you probably aren’t aware that purchasing more than 3 grams will actually alter your thinking and make you want to produce meth.

Well it looks like the British nanny states strikes again. Scouts in Britain will no longer be allowed to carry pen knives on camping trips.

Penknives may have formed as much part of the scouting experience as badges and campfires, but according to advice from the Scout Association they must no longer be brought on camping trips, except when there is a “specific” need.

Modern Britain’s knife culture, including the rise in fatal stabbings, has been cited by troop leaders — although some have countered that the code contradicts the tradition that Scouts are to be trusted for their honour.

Yes that’s right Britain doesn’t want scouts wielding those dangerous pen knives because of their new found fear of knife crime. After seeing how well the gun ban brought down the number of shootings it only makes sense to ban knives to bring down the number of stabbings… hey wait a minute! If banning guns didn’t stop shootings than why the fuck is banning knives going to bring down stabbings? It’s not. Especially considering they are taking knives away from scouts who have legitimate uses for them.

Just because the tool can be used as a weapon doesn’t mean it should be banned. But hey the first step in establishing a fascist government is to completely disarm the populace.

Wow Britain I have to hand it to you, when it comes to being a nanny state no other can touch you. The Home Office commissioned a new design for pub pint glasses. Well glasses will no longer be the word since the newly designed ones are made of shatter resistance plastic. The reason? They don’t want pint glasses to be used as weapons:

The Home Office has commissioned a new design, in an attempt to stop glasses being used as weapons.

Official figures show 5,500 people are attacked with glasses and bottles every year in England and Wales.

Yes that’s right now that there are no guns to be scared of and the anti-knife campaign is well under way they are looking at the next available weapon. Broken glass appears to be it. Next they will require all beer to come in shatter resistance bottles, house windows will have to be replaced with plexiglass, and owning crystal drinking apparatuses will be illegal.

But remember they are doing all of this to protect you.

As with many things I find Snowflakes in Hell has a link to an article on the book ban Congress passed. I know what you’re thinking, how could Congress pass a ban on books? The first amendment protects the freedom of speech.

Although that’s true Congress didn’t base the ban on a book’s content but on the ink. Remember last year when there was a panic over Chinese toys that contained lead? As a knee jerk reaction Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This act in essence banned any amount of lead from childrens’ items and it was retroactive. We’re not talking simply lead paint on toys but lead in any products aimed for use by children.

So how does this ban books? Well before 1985 there was no law regulating the use of lead in dyes and inks used in children’s books. This means any children’s book printed before 1985 must first be tested for lead before it can be sold. Failing to to this means you a used book you sell can be an illegal item for resale and you could face up to a $100,000 fine or even prison time.

This law was appalling to begin with but is doubly so to me since I’m an avid reader with books printed before 1985. If I should allow a child to read such a book I can be brought up on charges. And this is how the government works people. If they can outright ban something they do it through regulations. Granted I don’t believe banning childrens’ books was the intention of this law but due to its poor wording that’s what it has accomplished.

But government does use regulations to ban items directly. The assault weapon ban of 1994 a perfect example. The government knew it would be hard to flat out ban specific guns so they regulated the features hoping that would accomplish the ban. They made a list of features which were not illegal when a certain number of them were on a single gun. Everything from bayonet lugs to pistols grips fell on this list. Furthermore any magazine with a capacity beyond 10 cartridges was now illegal to produce. Unlike the law this article primarily aims at the assault weapon ban was not retroactive.

The scary thing is anything can be regulated so long as it can be found to be bad in some way. Lead ammunition is being restricted more and more in the Peoples’ Republic of California because it’s “harmful to the environment.” The federal government could pull the same thing. Being you can still get ink poisoning it is possible to regulate anything that uses ink period. Granted that’s an extreme case but it is meant to be to show the extent unregulated government to reach.

This is why we need to fight pointless and knee jerk laws. They never accomplish solving anything and always accomplish harming people whom were not criminals before the passing of the law.

Further Research