Tag: Minnesota

This is What Winning Looks Like

Andrew Rothman, Vice President of the Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (MNGOCRA) was good enough to e-mail me a few days ago to alert me that Minnesota would soon be exceeding 100,000 carry permit holders. Along with this notification Andrew also sent me the breakdown of permit holder statistics by age range:

21-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99 Total Percentage
Total Male 11,618 14,984 16,906 19.996 16,068 5,680 784 34 86,070 86.8%
Total Females 1,830 2,350 3,098 3,509 1,939 391 28 1 13,146 13.2%
Percentage Male 86.4% 86.4% 84.5% 85.1% 89.3% 93.6% 96.6% 97.1%
Percentage Female 13.6% 13.6% 15.5% 14.9% 10.8% 6.4% 3.4% 2.9%
Percentage Age 13.9% 17.5% 20.2% 23.7% 18.1% 6.1% 0.8% 0.04%

Raw numbers are boring though so let’s display some charts. What’s that you’re asking? I actually went out of my want to make charts? Heck no, these were also provided by Andrew who is obviously a far more productive man than I am. First we have the overall breakdown of permit holders by age range:

Not surprisingly the majority of permit holders are male although I’m sure a bunch of gun control advocates are going to point to this and claim it’s part of the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) secret conspiracy to war on women or something. In reality woman just aren’t as apt to enter the shooting sports or obtain carry permits although that is changing as woman become the fastest growing segment in the firearms market. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the male to female ratio change over the next several years. The next chart Andrew was good enough to send me was a breakdown of permit holders by age range:

The two largest age ranges are 50-59 and 40-49 although the age ranges between 21-29 and 60-69 are fairly evenly broken down overall. What I believe is the most interesting chart is the one that breaks down permit holders by county:

By far the highest percent of permit holder density per country population is in the more rural areas. This makes sense since firearm ownership and thus awareness is more common in rural areas than urban areas. In Minnesota people living in rural areas are more likely to be introduced to firearms than people living in urban areas. Because of this people in rural areas are generally more comfortable around firearms while those raised in urban areas have often had the misguided claim that firearms are bad crammed down their throats. As the firearm market grows I’m betting the density map will being changing as the number of gun owners in urban areas increases.

The final chart Andrew sent to me shows the percentage of females by age range:

It appears the percentage of female permit holders is pretty much in line with the percentage of permit holders by age range. Once again I’m guessing this chart will change as the number of female gun owners increase. In fact I would bet the percentage of female gun owners in the age ranges of 21-29 and 30-39 will increase are a faster rate than the other age ranges.

No matter how you look at the data one thing is clear, the number of permit holders in Minnesota is increasing. As much as it dismays the gun control zealots people are no longer listening to their malarkey claims. Gun sales are up, permit holders are up, and the influence of the gun control advocates is waning.

Who Comes Up with this Stuff

I’m not a fan of advertisements that try to scare buyers into purchasing a product. I find such a tactic to be underhanded and rather distasteful. Fear mongering is the tool of the state, it’s what the state uses to make people into obedient scared serfs, and seeing others sink as low as an organization built upon violence is just say, especially when that entity relates to firearms. Here’s an excerpt from a recent e-mail advertisement I received:

Christopher,

Do you believe me when I say Minnesota is just as dangerous as any other place on the planet?

Well it is… and I will show you what I mean…

No, stop right there. Minnesota is not just as dangerous as any other place on the planet. Let’s take a look at the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Unified Crime Report (UCR) for 2010. According to the UCR Minnesota has 1.8 murders per 100,000 people. Meanwhile the murder rate in Brazil for 2010 was 25 per 100,000 people (the numbers used on Wikipedia were sourced here but I can’t read Spanish so it doesn’t do me much good, Google Translate dues verify the numbers though). That means Brazil has a murder rate ~13.9 times that of Minnesota. I would say Brazil is likely a far more dangerous place than Minnesota.

Obviously one can become a victim of violent crime anywhere but the changes are higher in some areas than others. For example, my chances of being the victim of a violent crime are much higher in North Minneapolis than in the Bondry Waters. That doesn’t mean I can’t be a victim while kayaking the Bondry Waters but the chances are much lower than cruising through North Minneapolis on my bike, therefore North Minneapolis is more dangerous using any common sense definition of the words ‘more’ and ‘dangerous.’

I’m a huge proponent of self-defense, and I recognize the fact that you could be attacked by some no-good thug at any point in your life, but I’m not going to say Minnesota is just as dangerous as any other place in the world. That’s stupid. By that logic driving without wearing a seatbelt is just as dangerous as driving with a seatbelt because in either case you may die in a car crash.

Flawless Victory

While the Ron Paul campaign has basically called the campaign off the fine liberty-minded folks decided to take over the Republican State Convention anyways:

Mitt Romney might be the Republican Party’s presumed nominee for president, but maverick candidate Ron Paul scored the bigger win Saturday at Minnesota’s state Republican Convention.

The Texas congressman’s backers seized control of the state convention, claiming 12 of 13 open delegate slots to the GOP national convention in August. The 13th slot went to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who failed to win it on the first ballot. Her opponent, a Paul supporter, conceded out of respect.

That’s right, we took 12 of the 13 delegate seats for the national convention. I’ve heard several stories regarding the reason the 13th seat was granted to Bachmann. It appears that her opponent didn’t hand in a political resume, which is required in the rules to get a seat. Instead of fighting this with an attempt to change the rules it was decided that Bachmann would be granted the seat as it would demonstrated “good will” to the Republican Party. You can tell I wasn’t running the show because I would have operated a scorched Earth police and went through with a rule change to get the Paul supporter the 13th seat. Either way it’s pretty good to see Minnesota, one of the strangest states when it comes to politics, pulling off another trick. We didn’t stop at the 12 delegates though, we also took most of the alternate seats:

Previously, 27 delegates were chosen. In all, 32 of Minnesota’s 40 delegates are confirmed to support Paul over Romney.

Let me also give an acknowledgment to my friend Nate Atkins:

“Absolutely not,” said Nathan Atkins, a Republican convention delegate and Paul backer from Minneapolis. “I really don’t think he’s that different than Barack Obama. He doesn’t represent change.”

Atkins was wearing a tinfoil hat, a nod to more traditional GOP activists who have ridiculed Paul’s backers as paranoid conspiracy theorists. He said if Paul isn’t on the presidential ballot, he’d likely vote for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.

Most of us in the Minnesota liberty movement fail to take politics seriously. Many of the Paul supporters at the convention wore red fezzes and referred to themselves as the Ancient Persian order of Mystic Republicans. Atkins went so far as to cover his fez in tinfoil to mock those who claim Paul supporters are just a bunch of crazy conspiracy theorists. They also had a Hunger Games theme going on:

I could never survive in the Republican Party because the higher ups take themselves too seriously. On the other hand the liberty movement is always quick to mock and ridicule to absurdity of The Party while having a ton of fun as well. I’m glad they did so well, especially considering the fact that the Paul campaign has basically abandoned us.

Let me close by saying it is an absolute honor to call so many members of the Minnesota liberty movement my friends. When reading through all the coverage of the state convention I could only smile when reading about the antics, statements, and other ongoings because so many of the “perpetrators” were personal friends of mine. I am in some of the greatest company living here in the Twin Cities and it makes all of the other crazy shit that happens here worth it.

War at Station 4

In case anybody is curious I just wanted to state that last night’s Sabaton concert was nothing short of awesome. The two opening bands A Sound of Thunder and Dawn of Valor were good acts (I greatly enjoyed Dawn of Valor, hopefully we’ll be seeing much more from this band in the future), which was a pleasant surprise because I’m used to the first and sometimes second opening bands to be total shit. Sabaton was amazing, easily worth the $15 entry fee.

At the peak of the concert I would estimate 150 to 200 people were attending. That sounds extremely small but it’s actually not too bad consider this is Sabaton’s first headline tour and the concert took place in St. Paul on a very nice spring day. Minnesota isn’t know for its metal scene but for the handful of us that are huge into metal we’re loud and try to ensure the bands playing are encourage by our screaming, jumping, and moshing.

Sabaton has to be one of the few bands where world flags are brought in by the audience. I saw an American flag, a Soviet Union flag (usually when I see these I shake my head and realize the holder has no grasp on history but at a Sabaton concert it actually makes sense as several of their songs are about the Soviets pushing back the Nazis), and what I believe was a Polish flag. I also met a couple of awesome metal heads there who informed me that the last time Sabaton was in St. Paul they were opening for another band but half of the people cleared out after Sabaton left the stage. That amused me to say the least.

It was a great night and I can’t wait for Sabaton to come back to St. Paul. Seeing the new members in action also left me feeling good, my previous concern about the band not being as capable as they previously were was entirely alleviated.

On an entirely unrelated side note my beater Armitron automatic watch with its cheap Chinese movement actually held up to the shock of jumping around for two hours. I’m quite impressed.

I Hope Bachmann Does the Right Thing

Michelle Bachmann, runner up for craziest Minnesota politician (Lynne Torgerson currently holds the title), has obtained a Swiss citizenship:

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has been granted citizenship in Switzerland.

Bachmann’s spokeswoman Becky Rogness says the congresswoman has been eligible for dual citizenship since she married her husband of Swiss descent in 1978.

I hope Bachmann does the right thing and renounces her American citizenship. The quicker she’s out of the country the better this country will be.

Push to Prohibit Stand Your Ground Laws Federally Abandoned

No sooner did several Democrats introduce a bill (named after Trayvon Martin of course, can’t let that crisis go to waste) to repeal stand your ground laws federally it has been rescinded:

Democrats backed off of their effort Tuesday to offer a “Trayvon amendment” to pressure states to drop their stand-your-ground laws after learning it was likely to be ruled out of order under the evening’s rules for debate on the House floor.

Rep. Keith Ellison, Minnesota Democrat, said he will still try to force a debate at a more “appropriate” time in the future, saying action is demanded by the case of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who police said was shot dead in a street encounter with a neighborhood watch volunteer.

The Ellison amendment would have docked federal criminal justice grants to states that have stand-your-ground laws, which allow residents to use deadly force to respond to an attack without first having to retreat.

No debate is needed, stand your ground laws are basic common sense. Why should I be forced to face possible prison time because some punk decided to attack me outside of my home? Why should I be subjected to possible criminal charges because some schmuck fabricated a way I could have fled a location where I was attacked? Why should be I prohibited the right to self-defense in a life threatening situation?

I’m not at all surprised that an idiot like Ellison (why do these idiots have to be from my state) introduced a bill that would further disarm individuals and benefit violent criminals. Let’s face it, Ellison isn’t concerned about stand your ground laws. The Trayvon Martin case is the perfect platform for one to boost their political career. Public opinion has ruled Zimmerman guilty or murdering Martin so any politicians who can successfully exploit the tragedy is looking to get a little boost at the polls. This is pure exploitation plain and simple.

So it Shall be Written, So it Shall be Done

If you’re in Minnesota you likely know about the “vote” being taken by our “representatives” at the Capitol regarding the Vikings Stadium. I use the word vote in quotation marks because this isn’t a vote, it’s a formality. The bottom line is this stadium was ensured to be built the second Zygi Wilf, the owner of the Vikings, said he wanted the state to fork over a large part of the stadium’s cost. Zygi is a politically well-connected billionaire meaning anything Zygi wants Zygi will get, he merely needs to make the right deal. Apparently he made the right deal since the Minnesota House voted in favor of the stadium:

The Minnesota Vikings won a decisive and long-awaited political victory late Monday when the House passed a public subsidy package for a new stadium, sending the project marching toward final passage at the State Capitol.

When the final vote was announced, two dozen Vikings fans — most clad in team jerseys — cheered loudly outside the House chamber and sang the team’s fight song. Afterward, amid chants of “Build A Stadium, Save Our Team!” Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak made his way through the crowd and was congratulated by smiling fans.

The final vote came after a day of high drama and a weekend of intense lobbying by Gov. Mark Dayton and the team, and produced a relatively easy 73-to-58 approval in the House. Though Republicans hold a majority in the House, DFLers did the heavy political lifting on the final vote, producing 40 of the 73 votes. The victory was also noteworthy because House Speaker Kurt Zellers — the leading Republican in the House — voted against the project.

There is much to be said about this entire fiasco. First let me address the rampant hypocrisy involved in this decision. Many people who are demanding the state pay a chunk of the stadium are also demanding the state tax the wealthy more. In fact the Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL) is usually the party working to increase taxes on the wealthy yet were the ones to vote most favorably towards a publicly funded stadium. The hypocrisy is almost palpable, they just voted to give a bunch of money to a billionaire. Perhaps they believe the state should tax the wealthy more but subsidize the super wealthy?

Outside of the hypocrisy a question must be asked: what do the Vikings have to offer the politicians? Deals like these must be mutually beneficially and therefore Zygi must offer something of value to get his subsidy. Unfortunately these deals are always performed behind closed doors and thus we never learn about them until after the fact. Beyond campaign contributions I believe another thing of value was likely offered, jobs. When things were looking bleak for the Vikings stadium deal the National Football League (NFL) entered the game. What does the NFL consistently try to do? Get public funding for stadiums. What do you need to get consistent public funding? Lobbyists. As a general rule politicians are often offered plush lobbying positions by large corporations for favorable legislation so I wouldn’t be surprised to see several prominent Minnesota “representatives” receive jobs with the NFL after they exit politics.

What’s done is done. I am merely a commentator and thus have no power to influence the game, but I do have the ability to make some predictions. It’s no secret that the economy is getting worse, which would make an intelligent person ask why the Vikings want to build a new stadium now. With a crumbling economy won’t people become less willing to buy tickets to see a game? Of course. Does it matter to the Vikings? Absolutely not. Why? Because the same arguments they use to get public funding for a new stadium can be used to get ticket prices subsidized.

Zygi Wilf isn’t an idiot and thus has likely already come up with the same idea I’m about to present. Throughout this entire stadium fiasco the primary argument used by proponents of public funding for the stadium have been based on supposed economic benefits brought by the Vikings. The beauty of such arguments is they can be used to justify almost any subsidy. Let’s step ahead several years where further economic failures have caused ticket sales at Vikings games to falter. Zygi, seeing his profits plument, has decided he needs another subsidy. How can he sell it? Easy. All it has to do is tell the politicians that he will sell off the Vikings if they fail to be profitable. Such a sale would cause them to move elsewhere and thus deprive Minnesota of the economic benefit the team supposedly brings. Since the Minnesota economy is already at a very vulnerable point the loss of the Vikings will cause complete collapse and therefore the economy of Minnesota depends on subsidized ticket prices from the state. Using this argument the politicians will vote to subsidize some arbitrarily chosen percentage of ticket prices so more fans can enjoy the games and the Vikings can remain profitable. It’s all for the greater good after all.

Many people reading that likely scoffed and rolled their eyes but I believe my prediction is pretty sound. We must only wait and see (and if it does happen I’m going to be doing the biggest “I told you so” dance anybody has ever seen).

Carry Permits Up in Hennepin County

Even though, according to some gun control advocates, gun ownership is down the number of carry permits being issued in Hennepin County are way up:

Applications for gun permits were up 54 percent from last year over the first four months of 2012, according to a report released Monday by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials said the sheriff’s office has received 1,875 applications for permits to carry a gun over the first four months of the year. Over the same time last year, there were 1,220 applications that were received, an increase of 54 percent.

Last year was the second-busiest for new gun permit applications since the permit law took effect in 2003. Officials said renewal applications account for about 20 percent of total applications, and renewals are required every five years.

A 54 percent increase? That’s pretty good, especially when only 20 percent of the applications were for renewals.

Cops Handing Out Drugs

Last year a story on local CBS site brought my attention to the Drug Recognition Expert program being run by the federal government. It’s an interesting program that involves police officers actually giving illicit drugs to volunteers and studying their reactions:

Police can easily pull over and pick up drunk drivers. But pinpointing drivers on drugs is another story.

When an erratic driver doesn’t show any trace of alcohol on a breathalyzer, police need expert training to tell if they are high on something else. That’s why police recently requested a whole new set of recruits — drug users.

[…]

Officers from all over the state have come to Minneapolis’ Fifth Precinct for two weeks of intense training that will certify them as one of Minnesota’s Drug Recognition Experts.

“It’s not your typical police-subject interaction,” said Sgt. Don Marose of the Minnesota State Patrol, who trains officers for the state’s DRE program.

He said the program is nationally recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and has been in Minnesota since 1991. Marose said since then, 190 officers at 85 Minnesota agencies are drug-recognition trained officers at their departments.

Marose said when the State Patrol needed a real-life laboratory, the Minnesota Aids Project, Needle Exchange program, helped out.

The organization put out an ad to its clients, many who use drugs. It asked them to show up under the influence — and get rewards and incentives in return.

I didn’t look too much into it as I couldn’t really find much about it. Am I surprised the police are giving drugs to people? No. So why did I bother writing this post? Because it seems members of Minnesota’s finest are now recruiting OccupyMN potesters for this study:

A video report put together by local independent media activists and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality finds that police officers and county deputies have been giving drugs to young people hanging out near Peavey Plaza as part of an impairment study.

One officer who spoke to journalists said he never gave subjects drugs, but numerous young people who spoke on the record said police gave them marijuana, cigarettes, food, and other incentives as compensation for participating.

The report indicates that police patrol downtown Minneapolis looking for impaired people, then drive them to a testing facility in Richfield for examination of their capabilities while intoxicated. But in some cases where no previously impaired people could be found, police seduced prospective participants with drugs. The study has been ongoing since early last month.

Granted City Pages isn’t exactly a reputable source so I’m guessing much of this story is conjecture. With that said it’s interesting that police are patrolling OccupyMN looking for people who appear to be high on drugs. I also wouldn’t put it past the police to peddle drugs to individuals who already look under the influence but it’s pretty brazen. A few members of OccupyMN appear to believe the police are doing this to discredit the movement but I don’t think the police have to go to such lengths to discret the Occupy movement. Has anybody else heard of police going around recruiting apparently high individuals? I am under the assumption that police departments seek out volunteers for the Drug Recognition Expert program through advertising, not cruising around looking for people who are already under the influence.

Anyhow I don’t have anything substantial to report but if anybody has any information about this program I’d love to hear it. This has been a little back burner project of mine for a while but nothing really interesting ever crops up regarding the program.