Tag: ALERT! Lawful Activity Detected

Brady Campaign Can’t Do Math

It looks like Dennis Henigan, a favorite punching bag for Truth About Guns, has written another article complaining that his little Brady Campaign is getting beaten up by the big back bully gun enthusiast. From Mr. Hennigan’s piece:

In case you missed it, last Saturday was “Starbucks Appreciation Day.” No, it was not a gesture of support from lovers of strong coffee (like me). The “appreciation” was on behalf of Americans who believe it is their sacred right to have a handgun with them wherever they go – even to carry it openly to make sure the rest of us know who are the real defenders of the Second Amendment.

Reason number one why businesses should support us gun owners, we’ll support you back. That’s right because Starbucks was good enough to recognize our rights in their establishments we threw an appreciation day and spent money at Starbucks. You treat us well and we’ll treat you well. Did the anti-gunners throw an appreciation day for California Pizza Kitchen and Peet’s Coffee and Tea after they issued their no girls guns allowed policy? Maybe you guys should try supporting those who share you views instead of ridiculing those who do not. Next up:

For a glimpse into its future as the corporate best friend of the gun-toters, Starbucks should consider the experience of a California restaurant chain, Buckhorn Grill. On February 6, a Buckhorn restaurant in Walnut Creek, California, was visited by about 100 men carrying their highly-visible guns. A recent New York Times editorial said this must have “looked like a casting call for a Sam Pekinpah shoot-‘m-up.” Shortly thereafter, Buckhorn’s management made clear that the restaurant had always had a “no weapons” policy and apologized for the “misunderstanding” that had led to the “open carry” event. How many gun carriers need to show up at Starbucks for the company to realize what a nightmare it is creating for its customers and employees?

Wait 100 paying customers is a nightmare? Really? Although I don’t own my own business I will say if I did I’d be ecstatic to have 100 people show up at my business to spend money on my goods and services. Heck I’d not only be happy but I’d treat them extremely well so they would return. And I love this paragraph:

Over 27,000 Americans so far have signed the “no guns” petition circulated by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and CREDO Action calling on Starbucks to keep guns out of its stores. Please join them by going to www.bradycampaign.org. Tell Starbucks that, in your America, parents ought to be able to take their families into coffee shops without facing the intimidation and danger of guns.

27,000 signatures? That’s it? Really? Let’s do some math here. There are roughly 4,000,000 members of the NRA in this country. So the number of signatures they obtained is less than 1% (.675% to be exact) of the number of members of the NRA. Why is this important? It’s not really it’s just another method of showing the sheer scope of pro-gun people vs. anti-gun people and why businesses are better off catering to use than them.

Of course the important question lies in the title of the article which is called, “Starbucks Sticks To Its Guns. Why?”

Days of our Trailers points out the bloody obvious to Mr. Hennigan:

4+ million NRA members

>100K Brady Campaign supporters.

Do the math.

Apparently Mr. Hennigan has as much trouble with math as he does with basic logic.

Mayors Against Civil Rights Secret Document

Snowflakes in Hell let us know that California Gun Laws has obtained a copy of Mayors Against Illegal Any Guns Blueprint for Federal Actions. God I love Freedom of Information requests. Head over to the site, register, download, read, and get angry.

I’m still diving through it but Snowflakes in Hell already got through it and made a nice list of what those pricks are planning. And let me tell you it has nothing to do with illegal anything.

Congress Members Trying to Bar Posting of Sensitive Government Documents

Remember the lead of the TSA Standard Operating Procedures document a bit back? Well it appears as though three jackass congressmen want to make it illegal for websites to post such materials. From the article:

In their letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (.pdf) on Wednesday, Reps. Peter T. King (R – New York), Charles Dent (R – Pennsylvania) and Gus Bilirakis (R – Florida) asked, “How has the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration addressed the repeated reposting of this security manual to other websites, and what legal action, if any, can be taken to compel its removal?”

They also asked if DHS is “considering issuing new regulations pursuant to its authority in Section 114 of Title 49, United States Code, and are criminal penalties necessary or desirable to ensure such information is not reposted in the future?”

That’s right Peter T. King, Charles Dent and, Gus Bilirakis want to bar websites from posting leaked government documents because our transparent government by the people and for the people doesn’t want citizens to see such documents.

Because I’m in a rather prickish mood I thought I’d do my duty and post the document on this site. So here it is everybody a copy of the TSA Standard Operating Procedures [PDF] document. Enjoy.

Alan Grayson is an Asshole

That’s my official stance since Random Nuclear Strikes has reported Florida Representative jackass Alan Grayson has threatened to give fives years of prison time to somebody who dares criticize him.

Well when I see somebody doling out threats to people using the first amendment I like to help by exercising my freedom of speech. Mr. Grayson I provide you with this:

Go fuck yourself with it. Also you’re an asshole.

Kid Suspended for Having Shotgun in Truck Off School Property

Here’s another story complements of Says Uncle that really makes my blood boil. A student has been suspended from school indefinitely for having a shotgun in his truck during school hours. But here’s the kicker, his truck wasn’t parked on school property.

The school officials feel they have the authority to enforce their policies off of their property now. Next up suspension for owning firearms, period. Here is something interesting:

Parisio said she will appeal the district’s decision to the Glenn County Board of Education. If the decision is upheld and her son is sent to a continuation school, Parisio said she would likely home-school Tudesko.

Personally if the school’s decision is upheld I hope the kid’s parents take that school to court. I did a quick jaunt through Google and it seems Willow High is a public school and therefore the kid’s parents are paying taxes to the school.

The Truth Behind the FN FiveseveN

Well the media is at it again. They are proclaiming the FN FiveseveN to be a high powered “cop-killer.” Well Says Uncle points us to a story that reminds everybody that the FiveseveN is nothing more than a slightly more powerful .22 magnum.

See the Brady Bunch way back when were proclaiming that commercial 5.7x28mm ammunition could penetrate body armor. This was bullocks though as the ATF showed. The only ammunition in 5.7x28mm that can penetrate body armor is SS190 AP which civilian can’t get. Why can’t they get it? Because it’s considered armor piercing ammunition under United States law. From Title 18, chapter 44 of United States code we get the following:

(B) The term “armor piercing ammunition” means –

(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a
handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence
of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of
tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or
depleted uranium; or

(ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber
designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a
weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the
projectile.

As the Cheaper Than Dirt post mentioned SS190 AP ammunition has a steel core. Since the round can be shot out of a handgun this makes SS190 AP ammunition armor piercing under United States law and therefore not ammunition any civilian can purchase as the Brady Bunch tried to say.

The FN FiveseveN is nothing more than a slightly more powerful .22 magnum. It’s not a “cop killer.” Anyways Massad Ayoob already mentioned he can’t find a single case of a police officer being killed by this weapon.

The Danger of Gun Registration

I hear a lot of anti-gunners say there is no harm in gun registration. In fact there is, the government knows what you have. Because they know what you have they may decide to go door knocking and search your inventory. Don’t think it can happen? Days of our Trailers will prove otherwise. There are reports of Maryland police questioning citizens about their guns. Remember in Maryland you have to register semi-automatic military pattern rifles and handguns firearm. From the article:

According to the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore (AGC) has received several verified reports of the Maryland State Police questioning citizens about the firearms they legally own.

These incidents involve citizens and firearms that have no apparent connection to any crime, or any illegal activity.

Yup no real reason behind these inquires, they apparently just feel like doing it.

Mandatory Services Equal Money

Walls of the City points out a little fact involving supply and demand. Apparently some federally licensed gun dealers are all for abolishing private sales between individuals (the anti-gun lobby coins this the “gun show loophole” even those it has nothing to do with gun shows or loopholes). Why would an FFL holder do such a thing? Aren’t they in the fight for the second amendment?

Well think about the service they provide. Think about it. If you haven’t come to the answer yet hit the link and read the post.

Us Second Amendment Supporters Sure are a Fickle Bunch

You know when it comes to groups I think us second amendment supporters can certainly take a title for one of the most fickle groups out there. We argue amongst ourselves at the drop of the hat. For instance there are long running battles in our group about what’s better the AR-15 or AK-47? what caliber is better for self defense the 9mm or the .45, and of course does open carrying help or hinder our movement?

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining, I love arguments. Arguments are how things get decided and I’m proud to say I’m part of a movement that is willing to argue about topics in detail. The other side of the coin are those who use simple talking points and always agree with one another. Those people don’t get anything good accomplished because they never take other sides into consideration.

Well this weeks argument seems to be about open carrying. Rob Allen is all for it, Sebastian isn’t a fan, and Uncle is all for it but doesn’t believe it promotes the second amendment to others. Of course I’m nowhere near these three as far as the popularity of my blog (or lack thereof) but that’s never stopped me from chiming in when an good argument is afoot.

Let’s face it most peoples’ exposure to firearms is in a negative sense. For the average Joe the only time they are exposed to another individual carrying a gun outside of a range is when the gun is in their face during a mugging or robbery or when they are interacting with a police officer (and if you’re dealing with their gun it’s probably not a good thing either).

Due to this the default reaction of most people is negative when they see another person carrying a gun. If a majority of peoples’ exposure to other carrying firearms was positive I believe this default reaction would change. That’s also why I don’t believe open carrying alone is going to do anything, you need to do it well.

What I mean by that if you are open carrying as a method to change peoples’ minds be polite as possible, dress well, and besides the gun look as harmless as possible. If somebody approaches you and decided to confront you on your choice to carry a gun don’t get in their face. Explain in a calm and collected manner why you chose to carry a gun. Scream, “BECAUSE IT’S MY RIGHT!” isn’t going to accomplish anything. On the other hand explain how you carry a gun to protect yourself and your family will give the confronter nothing they want and hence they will most likely move on.

If you’re walking around carrying a gun openly make eye contact and politely nod to anybody you pass by. Say, “Hello” or “How are you doing?” Just be a nice person. If you want people to become accustom to firearms their exposure must be positive. That’s the key.

When States are Poor it’s a Tax Dodge

OK I’m not a fan of Microsoft’s business practices in general but I’m becoming less of a fan of this whole desire to clamp down on so-called tax dodges. See it’s only in a time of economic downturn does the government start to consider legal business practices tax dodges. Let’s take Microsoft for instance.

Microsoft’s main headquarter is in Redmond, Washington. This is the location a majority of their development work is done. But development work isn’t their money maker, licensing their developed software is. Washington state charges a .484% software royalty tax, meanwhile Nevada charges no such tax. Microsoft, being a large business who knows how to handle tax codes, built their license center in Nevada. The license center is the arm of Microsoft that actually deals with licensing the software which is considered the sale.

This is how the United States works, if you don’t like one state you go to another. Washington knew they could generate revenue by establishing a software royalty tax since they had the worlds largest software company in their state. This means the state created an environment hostile to its largest company to make some more money. Microsoft realizing they are getting a bad deal moved their software sales department somewhere less hostile to their business.

Well some guy has decided that the way to fix Washington’s current budget problems is to charge Microsoft the software royalty tax anyways. These are the types of ideas that really piss me off honestly. The writer proclaims Microsoft is getting preferential treatment and is dodging taxes. I’ll be totally honest if I owned a business and after some time the state enacted a tax aim specifically to make money off of my company I’d have done the same thing as Microsoft. It’s probably not feasible to move the entire company due to having to move all the employees but if it were feasible I’d move the entire operation.

I’m not a fan of Microsoft, in fact they really don’t make any products beyond the XBox 360 that I like. But I get pissed off when somebody who doesn’t like a company decides that we should attack it via labeling them with some arbitrary title. In this case that title would be tax dodger, which as we know is becoming the boogeyman label given by our government.