Month: June 2009

Somebody Check the Temperature in Hell

I think it’s getting cold in the land of the damned. Via the Gun Rights Radio Network forum I found this story. An ABC news channel posted this story about most shooting occurring in gun free zones…

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/When-Seconds-Count-Stopping-Active-Killers/_yls0jTxAkK8QJR1NKbePA.cspx

From the surprising article…

Based on data from the SEALE study, an analysis by TDI, and our own painstaking research, we are able to say definitively that most “active killer” shootings have occurred in so-called “gun free” zones. The experts who say they may be “invitations” are also John Benner and Ron Borsch who have six decades of law enforcement experience and training between them.

I never thought I’d see something like this on an ABC page but here it is. This article also has the best quote in a liberal media site I’ve seen in ages…

As journalists, we are not interested in entering into the heated debate over gun control. We are, however, interested in reporting the facts. In this story, the facts point to the active shooters ignoring gun prohibitions and perhaps selecting those locations because they are “soft targets” where no resistance would be found.

When did they get interested in reporting facts instead of the usual anti-gunner rhetoric they normally spew? Don’t get me wrong if they decide to start posting real news accurately instead of drumming up fear and hysteria I’m all for it. Hopefully this becomes a more common thing.

Source: http://gunrightsradio.com/forums2/index.php/topic,1913.0.html

Man Twitters He’s Out of Town, House is Robbed

From John C. Dvorak’s blog a perfect example of saying too much on Twitter…

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10260183-83.html

A man sent Twitter notifications about being out of town. Of course this is a stupid idea for the reason that follows. After this information appeared on Twitter somebody robbed his house.

Point to the wise ladies and gentlemen, don’t let people know you’re out of town unless they need to know. It’s just asking for somebody to break in and take your stuff.

Source: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/06/10/man-tweets-im-out-of-town-house-gets-immediately-robbed/

New Hampshire Might Hike Non-Resident Carry Permits

Rather depressing news here…

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=4955

New Hampshire has a budget proposal that will increase the price of their non-resident carry permits from $20.00 to $100.00. Speaking as a man with one of these permits I find this sad since one of the things I like about the permit was the price and the fact their permit approval system wasn’t nearly as backed up as everybody else’s. I hope this item gets the axe from the budget but I’m doubting it will.

Shooting at Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.

A rather sad story from Washington D.C. the place where no shooting can every happen because the entire city is a gun free zone…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8094076.stm

A white supremacist dip shit shot and killed, Stephen Tyrone Johns, a guard at the Holocaust Museum. The dip shit is currently in critical condition. A third person was also injured but it was due to broken glass, not gun fire. Of course following the policy of never letting a tragedy go to waste this is already being called an act of “domestic terrorism” by the FBI…

Joseph Persichini, assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI field office, said the shootings were being investigated as a possible hate crime or a case of domestic terrorism.

Oh yeah and also a hate crime, because a murder is only hateful if it’s a racist prick doing it. This brings me to several points I’d like to make.

First the idea of a hate crime is bullshit. A person of one race, religion, or other such grouping who kills another of a different grouping shouldn’t be treated any different then two people from the same grouping killing each other. Murder and assault is wrong, period. The person convicted of the crime should be punished based on the fact he or she committed a violent act against another human being without justification.

Second I find it despicable that this is being considered domestic terrorism. I’ll be the first to say I think racists are stupid pricks. But I also believe those stupid pricks have a right to free speech and belief without being persecuted as terrorists. This might be one of the first big cases where the new definition of a right-wing extremist terrorist is used to nail a person to the wall not because they killed a person, but because their beliefs don’t agree with that of the government.

Finally the gun rights part of this. I’m sure this event is going to be used by the anti-gunners to say we need stricter control on firearms. This will be said even though Washington D.C. has a damned near complete ban on firearms. Also pay attention to this quote which will probably be thrown down a memory hole in a few days…

AP’s sources said the weapon used by the suspect was a .22-calibre rifle.

Right now it’s a .22 caliber rifle. I’m betting within a weeks time most news agencies will be saying it was an AK-47. And after this another push but the gun grabbers will be made to ban assault weapons.

Of course nobody will give a damn about Mr. Johns, the officer who was shot.

Navy Forbidden to Wield Swords, Rail Guns OK

This is just a day of stories symbolizing stupidity in it’s purest sense. The Graduates from the Naval Academy won’t be allowed to use their ceremonial swords…

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/21/inside-the-beltway-97423759/

Graduating midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis are being told in writing to leave at home or in their vehicles all “ceremonial swords” and anything else “that might be considered a weapon or a threat by screeners” for Friday’s outdoor commencement ceremonies…

So let me get this straight they can’t be trusted with their ceremonial swords or anything other item that could be considered a weapon. Yet they can be trusted with fucking rail guns…

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_railgun_test_080129w/

Talk about a crock of shit. If you’re training this men and women for war then by God they should be trusted with weapons at all times.

The Same can be Said About Guns

A good quote from Bruce Schneier…

Criminals have used telephones and mobile phones since they were invented. Drug smugglers use airplanes and boats, radios and satellite phones. Bank robbers have long used cars and motorcycles as getaway vehicles, and horses before then. I haven’t seen it talked about yet, but the Mumbai terrorists used boats as well. They also wore boots. They ate lunch at restaurants, drank bottled water, and breathed the air. Society survives all of this because the good uses of infrastructure far outweigh the bad uses, even though the good uses are – by and large – small and pedestrian and the bad uses are rare and spectacular. And while terrorism turns society’s very infrastructure against itself, we only harm ourselves by dismantling that infrastructure in response – just as we would if we banned cars because bank robbers used them too.

Summed up criminals use the same tools as everybody else, just illegally. I agree here and wonder how guns should be any different.

Source: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/01/helping_the_ter.html

More Stupidity from Across the Pond

Two stories of idiocy coming from The Commonwealth of Britain (also known as Oceania). First off we have a story from Bruce Schneier’s own blog…

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburn/4425941.East_Lancashire_youngsters_see_film_on_
terrorism_danger/

The Party is showing videos to children aged at 10 and 11 years. From the article…

More than 2,000 10 and 11-year-olds will see a short film, which urges them to tell the police, their parents or a teacher if they hear anyone expressing extremist views.

This is stupid on enough levels to recreate Dante’s Inferno. First of all you know “extremist views” are anything The Party doesn’t agree with. I’m sure most people who read this blog would fall under this category, I know I do.

The terrorism message is also illustrated with a re-telling of the story of Guy Fawkes, saying that his strong views began forming when he was at school in York. It has been designed to deliver the message of fighting terrorism in [an] accessible way for children.

It’s funny I know Britain celebrates Guy Fawke’s Day. It’s celebrating by lighting bonfires (at least it was, I know many cities have outlawed bonfires). But now The Party is saying he’s an example of terrorism. I’m sure us Americans are terrorists two since we broke away from Oceania long ago.

Source: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburn/4425941.East_Lancashire_youngsters_see_film_on_
terrorism_danger/

But that’s not all ladies and gentlemen. From Say Uncle we have another story involving Oceania’s stupidity…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5310445/Golfers-arrested-after-fighting-off-gang-attempting-to-steal-clubs.html

In the story some teenagers wielding planks of wood (I thought no violent crime could happen once you took away guns) tried to rob several people playing golf. Apparently they didn’t realize that golf clubs are equally effective at bludgeoning people as wood planks. The golfers defended themselves as they should have the right to.

Being this is across the pond though they were arrested for defending themselves. And of course the golden quote…

Mr Walden said: “I cannot say who was at fault and who was not at fault yesterday.

Maybe I can tell you what happened, some punk kids thought they saw some easy targets, they were wrong. Man I hope the people of Oceania rebel sooner rather then later.

Source: http://www.saysuncle.com/2009/06/09/where-defense-is-outlawed/

Apparently AR-15s and AK-47s are Unreliable

Here is our idiot of the day…

http://www.cnbc.com/id/30266124#

Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania was asked about “assault weapons” on an CNN interview.

It’s nuts for ordinary citizens to go out and buy assault weapons. Assault weapons are difficult to operate, they jam easily, if you want a gun to protect your home it’s the last thing you should have.

That’s hilarious actually because I own several “assault weapons.” None of them are difficult to operate nor unreliable. Hell if you cant figure out how to operate an AR-15 or an AK-47 you’ve got issues. And both are pretty well known for being reliable rifles. If I needed to defend my home with a rifle (personally I’d prefer a shotgun in most cases) I’d certainly select one of the two.

Personally I like to call people out when they fuck up so here is his contact information…

225 Main Capitol Bldg.
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Phone: (717) 787-2500
Fax: (717) 772-8284

And of course his washington office…

1001 G St., NW, Ste. 400 E
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: (202) 638-3730
Fax: (202) 638-3516

And for completeness his e-mail address…

ra-govnews@state.pa.us

Go ahead and contract this man and inform him (be civil of course) why he’s wrong.

The Million Dollar Solution to the Ten Dollar Problem

I’m sure you’ve all heard about the police officer in New York who accidentally shot another officer who was in plain clothes. Well it looks like New York is looking into a million dollar solution to the problem…

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525257,00.html

They want to create guns that can recognize another officer’s gun. Here is what they are coming up with…

One idea involves the use of radio frequency tags that would allow officers to pinpoint where other cops are in the city, Browne said. Another involves tags that would work gun-to-gun and use an infrared sensor: When a weapon is pulled from an officer’s holster it would trigger a signal that would be sent to the gun of a nearby officer. The signal may be seen or heard.

Well let us look at the technological problem with either case. The first is the fact that if the police can located other officers via radio transmission then so can any body else with the correct equipment. That means you can easily pinpoint an undercover of plain clothed officer. I’m sure criminals would jump for joy to have this technology.

Then there is the idea of using an infrared sensor on the gun. This again can be replicated and used by criminals to disable police officers’ guns. Also infrared is line of sight so if on officer was partially behind cover there is a good change the sensor will not function as desired anyways.

Now let us look at the cheap solution. Training. The plain clothed officer should have never been shot by the uniformed officer because police should try to identify their target if at all possible. I’m highly doubting a plain clothed officer would be dumb enough to pull a gun on any uniformed officer. That doesn’t make sense so the threat to the uniformed officer shouldn’t be anything at all since no gun would be drawn on them. Simple, elegant, and much more reliable then any gun disabling technology. Also it’s harder for criminals to use it to disarm the officers. Not every problem needs to be solved through the use of expensive technology.

AT&T. Because You Suck and We Hate You

It’s no small secret that the new iPhone was announced today. And taking a title from the famous “HK. Because You Suck and We Hate You” I present for your reading pleasure (unless you have an iPhone and are on AT&T) AT&T. Because You Suck and We Hate You.

First off let’s talk features. The new iPhone OS 3.0 will have two new features. These are tethering and multimedia messaging (MMS).

Tethering for those who don’t know is when you connect your phone to your computer and use the data plan on the phone as a network connection on your computer. I use it all the time on my Palm Treo 755p when I’m out and about (mostly because I don’t trust any network I don’t fully control but at least with being consistent and using Sprint’s I have a single point of attack instead of any random network). Well iPhone OS 3.0 now has this feature, and anybody with an iPhone can use it. Well that’s of course unless you’re in the United States and most probably on AT&T’s network…

http://www.tuaw.com/2009/06/08/the-dying-goodwill-toward-atandt/

Now from the same article let’s talk MMS. It’s more or less a stupid feature in my book. Think of it as enhanced text messaging. Instead of just text MMS allows you to send small pictures and video through your phone. Well iPhone OS 3.0 finally has this feature but alas if you are on AT&T it will be a while until you get it. But what’s a little wait huh? It’s not like this is a feature that’s been on every phone on the planet since the ’90’s, oh wait it is.

Finally AT&T being the bastions of super dickery they are have announced pricing…

http://www.tuaw.com/2009/06/08/iphone-3g-owners-and-atandt-upgrade-woes/

With most cellular phone carriers if you buy a phone you get a discount at the cost of having to sign a two year contract. Once this contract is up you often are offered a discount on a new phone for signing another two year contract. If you don’t opt for this then you are free to go from month to month with the ability to quit your business deal with your carrier at any time.

AT&T has decided that if you are not currently eligible for a new phone you will have to pay full price. Nothing unusual about that really, I paid full price for my current Palm Treo 755p. The difference is when I pay the full unsubsidized price with Sprint I don’t have to sign a new two year agreement. Well even though people may have to pay full price for a new iPhone they will also get the pleasure of being locked into a new two year agreement. That’s right you get struck twice with AT&T. You have to pay full price for the phone AND sign a new two year contract.

As you can see AT&T thinks you suck. After all they are giving your the privilege of owning an iPhone and using their network. And since the iPhone can’t be used on any other network (without some hackery) in the United States you are stuck with them if you want that iPhone.

As much bad mouthing that people give Sprint I think AT&T are far worse.