Tag: Minnesota

Criminal Use of Suppressors

Say Uncle linked to a very good study on the use of suppressors in crimes [PDF]. The study concludes that most crime involving suppressors are only crimes because the people in possession the suppressors failed to pay the government extortion tax to get a stamp saying it’s all good to own them. The use of suppressors in actual crimes is very rare. The other thing concluded by the study is the fact that banning suppressors is pointless:

A more telling criticism of laws against silencers is the ease with which they are avoided. Since one can ef- fectively muffle a firearm by doing nothing more than wrapping it in a towel it is unlikely that laws banning professionally manufactured (or home-made) silencers are likely to have any real effect on crime. In one case, for example, the murderer used a towel as “a make-shift silencer” and yet because it was only a towel this was not an additional crime (People v. Garcia, 2006 WL 3307392, *7 (Cal. Ct. App.)).

This is very near and dear to my heart because Minnesota has a complete prohibition against owning suppressors. Suppressors are only courteous to your neighbors as it reduces the amount of noise produced by firearms and therefore also reduces the number of noise complaints. I know one of the bigger headaches for firing ranges is when somebody new moves in and shortly afterwards complains about the noise from the fucking gun range that’s been there for over 80 years. Instead of realizing how stupid they were to miss a long established range these people try to get the range shut down and ruin it for everybody. Legalized suppressors would be beneficial for both the dip shit and the range members.

Bugger Off Mother Nature

If driving my truck causes global warming as Al Gore keeps claiming I’m going to start driving more. Here in Minnesota we just got down with weather involving temperatures in the 50s and now we’re looking at a foot of snow. Did I also mention that we’re under a flood warning to boot? Mother nature sure is doing her damnedest to kill Minnesotans.

Where the Hell is that global warming Gore has been promising?

For Those of You Who Say Paying Taxes is Patriotic

I bitch about paying taxes as I don’t like money being stolen from me by the state. On the opposite side of the field there are people who say they will gladly pay more taxes and that paying taxes is patriotic (obviously it is as this country was founded on the idea that paying taxes is… a bad thing). Well for those of you who think paying taxes is a good thing you can finally put your money where your mouth is:

Last month, a check for $1,677.97 was sent to Gov. Mark Dayton’s office with instructions to pay down the budget deficit.

Roughly a year before, two checks totaling $136.42 landed at the state treasury with notes saying the same. Some real cash rolled in back in 2008, when a check for $22,685 landed at the state treasury “to help the needy and sick.”

You can give more money to the state if you want to. Of course when people say paying taxes is patriotic or they would gladly pay more taxes what they usually mean is other people paying taxes is patriotic and they are will gladly have anybody who makes more than themselves pay more taxes. Needless to say everybody who has been proclaiming paying taxes as being a great thing generally won’t put up when the opportunity arises.

Thus if you’re advocating for an increase in taxes and you’re not sending money to the state your argument is officially null and void. In other words shut the fuck up.

The Raw Milk Battle Wages On

There has been a rather interesting although little know battle taking place in the state of Minnesota. The battle is over raw milk which is legal to sell in this state so long as some guidelines are followed. One of the problems, as pointed out by Nathan Hansen, is the fact the guidelines are fucking ridiculous. I think the most messed up one is the following:

4) Consumer must bring their own bottling materials. Forget about buying a nice jug of milk from an already inspected bottling facility. Bring your own jug, bring a bucket, bring your oil pan, bring your cat litter pan, all of these are acceptable over the dreaded farmer bottling the milk.

I’ve never understood what right a state has to tell you what you can and can’t put into your body. When somebody else is able to determine what you do with yourself you can no longer lay claim to self-ownership. If I wish to consume raw milk that’s my business, if I choose not to that is also my business. By coming in and trying to do everything by ban the sale of raw milk the state is laying claim to you as a consumer. They are claiming that you’re too stupid to make your own decisions and thus need somebody to step in on your behalf and tell you what you can and can’t do.

If a farmer wants to sell raw milk they should be allowed to. If you want to consume raw milk you should be allowed to. If you want to consume raw milk and a farmer wants to sell it the two of you should be allowed to make a voluntary transaction that is mutually beneficial.

Wind Power in Minnesota

The greenies love to talk about how great wind power is and then proclaim that every state should start building wind turbines. Because the states of Minnesota is composed largely of suckers there have been several locations where wind turbines have been built. As the state likes to show off accomplishments to make an argument for their existence they put up a website that provides a live feed of the output of various wind turbines.

The problem is this website gives live feeds and most of the time the turbines site at producing 0kW. As I write this the only two places where the turbines are producing remotely usable power output are Olivia (~90kW) and Winthrop (~70kW). Most other areas are reading 0kW or less than 10kW. For the cost of constructing these behemoths it’s not work it. I’d say we could build a couple of nuclear reactors but that’s not kosher anymore due to the third nuclear incident in the 60+ years we’ve been using nuclear power.

Here’s the problem, wind power only works if there is wind. Minnesota isn’t known for extremely high winds so we’re not the best place to build these things. Maybe on a coastline it would make sense and there is generally higher winds but in Minnesota these things are mostly an expensive mistake.

Placing Carry Instructor Requirements into Minnesota Law

The Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) is pushing to establish the requirements of Minnesota carry instructors into Minnesota law. I’m not a carry instructor so I’m not 100% what is all involved but I do know the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety gets complete authority to determine what is required to become a carry instructor.

Like most government agencies granted authority by the legislator the commissioner can also change the rules on a whim without justification. The legislation GOCRA is proposing would place the current requirements for a carry instructor into law and further establishes a requirement for the Department of Safety to prove cause for revoking an instructor license.

I’m always a fan of taking the establishment of requirements from the hands of government departments and placing them into law (I’m even a bigger fan of completely abolishing such things but alas that won’t be an option here). That way no single person has ungodly authority and everybody can be somewhat assured changes won’t be established on a whim.

Tell the Truth, Get Sued, Lose $60,000

Johnny Northside, like myself, is a blogger. Unlike myself Mr. Northside has been sued because he told the truth:

Though blogger John (Johnny Northside) Hoff told the truth when he linked ex-community leader Jerry Moore to a high-profile mortgage fraud, the scathing blog post that got Moore fired justifies $60,000 in damages, a Hennepin County jury decided Friday.

The jury awarded Moore $35,000 for lost wages and $25,000 for emotional distress. The civil verdict culminated a nearly two-year legal scuffle between John Hoff, whose blog, The Adventures of Johnny Northside, has 300 to 500 readers daily, and Moore, former director of the Jordan Area Community Council.

Moore was fired by the University of Minnesota in June 2009, the day after Hoff’s post.

Mr. Northside’s blog post that ended the job of Mr. Moore wasn’t libel or slander, it was factual. Yet a jury decided that telling the truth is a bad thing and thus found Mr. Northside in error, $60,000 worth of error. Not only that but $25,000 of that fine was for “emotional distress.” How does one calculate the value of emotional distress? Is there some kind of formula I’m unaware of or it the value just set all willy-nilly at the end of the court case?

Obviously Mr. Northside is appealing as this is certainly a bum result. Mr. Moore was an employee of the state since he worked at the University of Minnesota. As an employee of the state it is the right of every Minnesotan to have him terminated from our employ if he does something we find undesirable. My tax dollars shouldn’t be going to fund something whom is committing any form of fraud. Hopefully Mr. Northside wins his appeal and Mr. Moore ends up paying Mr. Northside $85,000 (repay the $60,000 and add another $25,000 for emotional distress).

Minneapolis Police Chief Dolan Seems To Think Police Have a Duty to Kill

Somehow the anti-gunners came strolling through my neck of the woods and I completely missed it. Mayors Against Illegal All Guns strolled through Minneapolis with their big truck. Either way Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan has signed on to demand civilian ownership of standard capacity magazines:

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan spoke out Friday in support of federal legislation that would ban ammunition magazines that hold a large number of bullets.

“Law enforcement should not be outgunned by criminals: it’s just common sense,” Dolan said Friday, according to remarks prepared in advance for an event to draw attention to loopholes in the nation’s gun background check system.

Wait,the police, who have access to fully automatic rifles, body armor, urban assault vehicles, and a legal authority to use force, are somehow outgunned by criminals who have access to standard capacity magazines? What? That makes no fucking sense.

You know what Mr. Dolan as a law abiding person I would like to not be outgunned by criminals. Can I have a machine gun, some body armor, an urban assault vehicle, and a legal authority to use force? Hell I’ll just settle for being able to continue purchasing standard OEM equipment magazines for my firearms.

It seems Mr. Dolan buys the anti-gunner’s party line that the only reason standard capacity magazines exist is to kill and many people as possible in a short span of time. He’s advocating for the prohibition of civilian purchasing of these magazines yet is advocating no such prohibition for the police force. It would seem Mr. Dolan believes it’s the duty of police officers to kill as many people as possible in a short span of time.

If I lived in Minneapolis I think I’d want a Police Chief who had a slightly less grim view on what the duty of a police officer is.

Since this attempted ban is being pushed by Mayors Against All Guns I think it’s important to remember which Minnesota mayors are members of this atrocious group. According to their website (not directly linked to due to a policy of not linking to anti-gun groups but can be copy and pasted: http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/members/members.shtml) the following Minnesota mayors are members of Bloomberg’s Posse:

Mayor Don Ness of Duluth, MN
Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis, MN
Mayor Chris Coleman of St. Paul, MN

These people are against your right to defend yourself and should be elected out of office. Hell if you can recall a mayor it would be a good idea to recall these three bozos.

The Difference Between The State and The Mob

What’s the difference between the state and the mob? The mob is honest about their intent while the state tries to hide behind the term “justice.” Although I’ll save you the specifics I will mention that I received a parking ticket on Sunday. First of all St. Paul needs to get their shit together because nowhere on the ticket does it state how much money they are trying to extort from me. How am I to pay them without knowing how much money they are demanding?

But this isn’t about the fine, it’s about the system. You ultimately have two options; pay the fine or fight it. If you pay the fine you are admitting guilt as stated on the ticket. If you try to fight the ticket you must use the same system that issued you the ticket to fight it. Basically you either are admitting that you’re a criminal or you have to deal with a massive conflict of interest.

In this situation I am against admitting guilt as there is no victim and thus I see no crime to admit guilt to. On the other hand if I try to fight the ticket I will have to take time off of work and possible pay a court fee (thus I will likely pay them either way which is why I use the term extortion). Either way I’m going to be out money and this is exactly how the police department wants it. The only reason all of these parking ordinances exist is to fill the coffers of the local police departments. There is no legitimate reason why my parking on a publicly owned and tax payer funded street should garner a fine of unknown amount.

Likewise there is a giant conflict of interest in having to ask an officer of the same precinct to determine a ticket as invalid. If I write you a ticket you should not have to beg me to rule it illegitimate. This is a problem right up to the Supreme Court where the legitimacy of federal laws are determined by the federal government.

Either way the system is stacked against the accused. Even if the ticket is ruled to be illegitimate I am still punished. My guilt matters not as I will receive the same punishment regardless of the outcome (an unknown monetary loss). The police have found a means of practically guaranteeing income by writing fines that are expensive to fight. I’m sure they are aware that a majority of people will pay the fine and accept the accusation made against them not because they feel themselves guilty but because it will cost them more to fight it.

Of course I have to wait at least three business days in order to fight it. I was under the belief that all these computerized systems would allow a ticket to be instantly filed with the court but alas I was incorrect. Apparently it can take up to 10 days to file a ticket with the court and you can’t fight it until it’s been filed. It’s nice to see they are held to no real schedule yet I am as if I don’t pay the fine within 21 days they assess a late fee.

Steve Lampi

I’ve recently learned that Steve Lampi, former mayor of Brooklyn Park, has died. It seems he’s been fighting with cancer that finally won the battle.

I know little about Mr. Lampi except for three things; he was the mayor of Brooklyn Park, he was a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and he was the only Minnesota member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns who responded to my Freedom of Information Act requests for information on the organization.

Although his membership in Bloomberg’s organization leads me to believe he was far from pro-gun at least his office was good enough to respond to my request for information. I won’t decry the man for belonging to Bloomber’s posse and in fact want to make this post thanking him for responding to my request. That was more than the other Minesota members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns members did.

So to you Mr. Lampi thank you. Unfortunately I know nothing else of you and hence can’t offer any further words. At least know I appreciated your willingness to respond to a request from a man who has never resided in your city.