Month: June 2011

Denying Firearms to People on Government Watch Lists

Via a friend on Facebook I came across this article advocating that people on certain government watch lists be denied the right to own firearms. I will add that the friend who posted this fell for the anti-gunner bullshit and thought this was a good idea to which I pointed out why it wasn’t. I figured it would be worthwhile to bring up my arguments against this whole idea.

First my friend pointed out that people on some government watch lists aren’t allowed to fly and thus the government obviously doesn’t care about being consistent with rights. This seems to be a common argument made by those who wish to prohibit some people from exercising a constitutionally guaranteed right. In legal terms the important thing to note is the fact that the right to keep and bear arms is guaranteed by the United States Constitution while flying on a plane is not. The truth of the matter is airplanes are owned by private companies and thus they can deny you their service for whatever reason they desire (unless legally prohibited of course). There is no legal protection guaranteeing you the right to get on a plane and fly from one place to another. Thus comparing the right to own firearms to the ability to fly is like comparing apples to oranges. With that said I don’t believe the government should have the ability to interfere with an exchange between a private airliner and its customers but that’s a whole different argument.

The second major problem with taking rights from people on government watch lists is the simple fact no due process is required to place a name on any of the government’s lists. A jury trial isn’t required to get placed on the list just some bureaucrat in Washington D.C. claiming to have evidence that potentially ties you to a terrorist organization… maybe. In all seriousness we don’t know what criteria is considered before putting somebody on a government watch list because that information is kept secret for reasons of “national security.” There very well could be a criteria that says somebody wearing two different colored socks at the same time makes somebody a potential terrorist. Thus those who advocating barring people on a government watch list from owning firearm are advocating the arbitrary removal of constitutionally protected rights. Hell senators (who I argue rightfully belong on these lists) have had their names placed on some of these lists.

But the article I linked to has another twist:

In a video released [June 3rd] Al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn encourages terrorists to use American gun shows to arm themselves for potential Mumbai-style attacks. Gadahn’s video laid out a new tactic for Al Qaeda to continue their murderous terrorist agenda:

This whole argument is another scheme to end person to person sales in the United States under the guise of “terrorism.” Let’s consider two points here; first members of Al Qaeda seem to have the ability to obtain fully automatic AK-style rifles so why would they even bother trying to obtain semi-automatic rifles and second what right does the government have in interfering with a voluntary transaction between two individuals? The government claims the power to regulate firearm sales because such sales fall under the category of interstate commerce. This criteria is completely meaningless when two people in the same state decide to make a transaction where one sells his or her property and the other buys it for a mutually agreed price. If the government can interfere with the private sale of firearms why not the private sale of automobiles? I’m sure Al Qaeda members would be far less effective if they were unable to travel from one point to another via vehicle. Shouldn’t the government require similar background checks for automobile sales?

The bottom line is there are no good arguments for ending legal private transactions between individuals. Al Qaeda isn’t going to flood to American gun shows to obtain firearms as they have access to far better firearms for cheaper prices in the nations they operate. Why the Hell would somebody come to America to obtain an semi-automatic AR-15 when they could just stay in their country and buy fully automatic AK-47s and string missile launchers? Likewise nobody in this country should have their rights taken away just because their name appears on a secret list controlled solely by government agents.

A Case for Standard Capacity Magazines

Anti-gunners often claim there is no need for magazines that hold more than 10 rounds but Uncle points out yet another reasons why you want more than 10 rounds in your magazine:

Charges were filed early Monday against five teenagers allegedly involved in separate robbery attacks Saturday night.

Police say the teens were part of a mob of between 15 and 20 men and boys connected to four attacks in Streeterville and along the lakefront.

If you’re getting attacked by 15 or 20 people your 10 round magazine may not be enough. People aren’t always attacked by individuals, sometimes gangs are involved. When you’re being attacked by multiple assailants is helps to have enough ammunition in your firearm to fend off each of the attackers.

The purpose of carrying a firearm is to give yourself better odds in a self-defense situation. Having more ammunition in the firearm increases your odds and allows you to handle a greater number of attackers (for instance a pack of feral dogs). Meanwhile no purpose is served by artificially restricting the number of rounds in a magazine other than it makes the anti-gunners feel all warm and fuzzy inside (they are rather naive and believe criminals will follow laws even though criminals by definition don’t follow laws).

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

What do you get when you decide to head to tornado struck North Minneapolis to help out those who were affected by the storm? It seems you get harrassed by the police and fined:

For a few years, Mike Haege’s sister lived in north Minneapolis. He knows the neighborhood at least a little bit, and when a tornado tore through the area on Sunday, May 22, he took notice.

On the news he saw trees strewn about lawns and streets. Then inspiration struck. He wanted to help. His schedule for Monday, May 23, was wide open. And, since he operates Custom Cut, a tree trimming business here, he figured his services could be put to good use.

“I thought it would be the perfect chance to help,” he said. “I knew there would be people needing help.”

He was right. By 10:30 a.m. Monday, he was signing paperwork with the Urban League to be a volunteer. He signed a waiver, hopped back into his truck and headed off to help out. The Urban Homeworks sent along a couple volunteers with him, too.

Mr. Haege should be commended for his willingness to head over to a disaster stricken area and offer his skills to help out instead he is being punished for his actions because he lacked the proper license from the city:

Tree trimmers who work in Minneapolis need to be licensed with the city. It’s a regulation in place throughout many cities, and something Haege knows all about. He’s licensed in Hastings and several area cities. Since he doesn’t work in Minneapolis, he isn’t licensed there.

Because he didn’t pay his extortion fee to the city of Minneapolis Haege is being punished for being a good neighbor and helping out those in need. This is how the state creates dependence, they punish anybody who attempts to help people in need. If nobody but the state can help you then you become dependent on them and thus their continued existence is ensured. It’s sick and honestly the people of North Minneapolis should be up in arms over the fact that some people who have come to help them have been not only harassed by the police but also fined:

Officers told him to leave. They told him he was going to receive a “hefty fine” in the mail, and that if he stopped on the way out, the fine would be doubled.

Much of this exchange can be heard on a cell phone video that Haege took.

Finally, Haege was cleared to leave. He went to the volunteer hub, checked out and went home. Last he knew, he was going to receive a citation in the mail for trimming trees without a license in Minneapolis, which he heard was a $400 fine.

Of course the city was magnanimous and decided not to fine him the full $400.00:

Haege got more bad news in the mail Wednesday afternoon. He received a $275 fine from the City of Minneapolis.

That’s right the cost of trying to help people in a disaster stricken area is $275. That’s $275 for trying to do the right thing and helping those in need. What the fuck is the sense in that? The city should be paying Mr. Haege for volunteering his services to help out those the city hasn’t gotten to yet (and probably won’t anytime soon).

If you live in North Minneapolis you should be calling your “representatives” and demand the city inspector be fined and that Mr. Haege’s fine be removed.

Did Somebody Say Corruption

I have a love hate relationship going with Texas. On one hand the state is one of the few that is willing to stand up to the federal government, until they fold at least, but on the other hand they enact many authoritarian rules. Take for instance the latest executive order issued by Texas governor Rick Perry which will require all girls entering to sixth grade to get the Gardasil vaccination.

This is a major problem for three reasons; first the governor used his executive order powers to enact this and bypassed the legislation, second this occurred shortly after a doubling of lobbying efforts, and third Gardasil has been linked to paralysis. Let’s first talk about the lobbying effort that preceded this executive order:

Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. His current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.

The governor also received $6,000 from Merck’s political action committee during his re-election campaign.

The order is effective until Perry or a successor changes it, and the Legislature has no authority to repeal it, said Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody. Moody said the Texas Constitution permits the governor, as head of the executive branch, to order other members of the executive branch to adopt rules like this one.

So it seems governor Perry received a fair bit of money from Merck which causes this entire situation to reek of corruption. Fuck the whole idea of parents having a right to chose what is put into their childrens’ bodies and fuck the possibility that this drug could cause paralysis. If I lived in Texas I’d honestly consider this action an abuse of power and look into what is needed to perform a recall on the governor. The story claims the only means of overturning this executive order is if he successor removes it thus is seems pertinent to remove the current governor as soon as humanly possible. Of course if you can make a religious or philosophical reason against jacking your kids with this shit you could get an opt-out:

Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit objecting to the vaccine on religious or philosophical reasons. Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say such requirements interfere with parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their children.

I wonder if parents can opt-out because the drug is potentially dangerous? That’s not a religious or philosophical reason but just common-fucking-sense. Just remember that the nanny state knows what’s best for you and your children so shut up and take the damned vaccine. If the vaccine causes your child to be unable to move afterward well that’s your problem not the state’s.

Apple Announcements

Yesterday was Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). This is generally where Apple announces their new iOS and OS X related stuff and this year I must say they didn’t disappoint. I’ll just link to Engadget’s liveblog coverage as it gives the entire WWDC keynote.

First let me say I’m glad that Apple has finally decided to improve the way notifications are handled in iOS. Instead of those damned popup boxes that interrupt whatever you’re doing Apple is going to use the notification system they ripped off from Android. Basically when a notification comes in a little message will appear at the top of your screen and swiping your finger down from the top of the screen will bring down a full list of notifications. The one improvement Apple has added to Google’s system is the fact notifications will also appear on the lock screen so there is no need to unlock the phone to see what messages you have waiting for you. Overall I think this will fix the primary usability complain I’ve had with iOS for ages now.

Apple also announced iCloud, their new revision of .mac MobileMe. First Apple has finally done away with the stupid annual $99.00 fee which means I will actually try and possibly use this service (I could never justify spending money on something Google offered for free). iCloud also looks to expand greatly on MobileMe’s feature set by adding the ability for your iOS apps to store data on Apple’s servers allowing for back ups and syncing.

Speaking of things that no longer require tethering to iTunes for, Apple has also finally started work on freeing iOS devices from iTunes. Starting with iOS 5 devices will be able to sync and backup via WiFi instead of requiring you to physically plug your device into a computer running iTunes. I’m a huge fan of this as it may allow me to backup my device via WiFi remotely by using a VPN connection. Currently if you’re away from the system you use to backup your iOS device you’re kind of fucked should you need to do a backup and restore. It seems Apple is taking the best features from their competitors and integrating them into iOS and honestly it’s about damned time some of the features were added.

The last announcement that really got my attention was OS X Lion (10.7). Lion is being released next month via the Mac App Store (I’m assuming disk versions will be available as well) for $29.99 for the standard client version and $49.99 for the server version. This is big news as the server version previously costs a fuck ton of money (about ten times what Apple is now asking) and now will be affordable to most people. With a price like that I will actually upgrade my little Mac Mini server instead of letting it sit at 10.6 for the entirety of its life.

Overall I’m actually exciting about the announcements at this year’s WWDC and look forward to the release of iOS 5 and OS X Lion.

Double Your Fun

With some things in life more is generally better. One of these things is ammunition capacity, the more rounds you can hold the more fun you can have and California Competition Works is here to help with their PMAG coupler. Basically it’s a small device that allows you to take two PMAGs and couple them together to create a larger magazine thus you can get a 60-round magazine by coupling two 30-round PMAGs together.

A hat tip goes to Every Day, No Days Off for bringing this product to my attention.

Gun Rights Advocate Joel Rosenberg Dies

Yeah I said there weren’t going to be updates today but alas this one is important enough to get me onto the computer. I’m sad to report that Joel Rosenberg has died:

On Wednesday afternoon, June 1, 2011, Joel had a respiratory depression that caused a heart attack, anoxic brain damage and major organ failure. Despite the very best efforts of the paramedics and the team at Hennepin County Medical Center, Joel was pronounced brain dead at around 5:37 p.m. Thursday June 2nd, In accordance with his wishes, he shared the gift of life through organ and tissue donation.

Joel was a man who could polarize anybody, you either liked him or you didn’t. Whether or not you liked him though it can’t be denied that he did a lot for the carry movement here in Minnesota.

California Trying to Push Out More Businesses

Seriously are the legislators in California retarded? Don’t answer that, I already know the answer is yet. It just seems that at some point in California’s recent history the lawmakers there would have learned something. Apparently not as California’s economy is going down the tubes faster than an unwanted pregnancy on prom night and that doesn’t seem to be fast enough for their government. With rising unemployment and businesses fleeing the state the politicians in the Assembly just passed a law that would tax online retailers:

The state of California could collect more than $1 billion a year by taxing Amazon and other online retailers if a bill approved by the Assembly becomes law.

Of course this won’t bring in $1 billion a year as companies would have to stay in California to pay which they’re not going to do. Amazon has already left states that have attempted to extract tax dollars from them.

In order for this law to make money California is going to have to go full socialist and ban anybody from leaving the state without government approval. If California wants to make money they’re going to have to create a business friendly environment where companies can flourish instead of being trampled by the boots of government interference.

If you live in that forsaken state it would be wise to get out now before the prevent you from doing so.