A clear discussion, at last, in the St. Petersburg Times. The ruling apparently upheld rights of employees to have guns in parked cars, but not the right of customers to. The latter was keyed to how the legislature worded the statute, so they can amend it to cure the problem.
In the meantime, I wonder how a company would enforce against a customer anyway? They can always demand to search employees' cars with threat of firing them, but a customer has a right to tell them to go to. I doubt any commercial establishment that actually searched customers' cars as a condition to coming into the store would be in business very long.
Man decapitates passenger aboard Greyhound bus in Manitoba
Grisly:
Garnet Caton, who was sitting in the seat in front of the victim, said he saw the attacker stab his seatmate, a young man sleeping with his headphones on.
Caton said he heard a "blood-curdling scream" and turned around to see the attacker holding a large "Rambo" hunting knife above the victim, "continually stabbing him in the chest area."
"He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times," said Caton.
"Like, just everywhere, arms, legs, neck, chest, guts, wherever he could swing it, he got it," said Olmstead.
"It looked kind of like a scuffle or an argument, you know, and then somebody's, like, 'Knife! Knife! Run!' so I was running up the alleyway, slapping people telling them to get going, move, get off the bus. I got pushed over, some lady got pushed over, I was just making sure everybody was OK, and we all got off the bus," said Olmstead
As panicked passengers fled the bus, "the attacker was over top of the victim ... continually cutting him. I think the victim was gone at that point," Caton said.
Even more grisly:
"When we came back on the bus, it was visible at the end of the bus he was cutting the guy's head off and pretty much gutting him up," said Caton.
The attacker ran at them, Caton said, and they ran out of the bus, holding the door shut as he tried to slash at the trio.
When the attacker tried to drive the bus away, the driver disabled the vehicle, Caton said.
"While we were watching the door, he calmly walks up to the front with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," said Caton.
Police arrived "about 10 minutes after the attack began."
Rep. Souder, who introduced a bill to curtail DC's resistance to Heller, has a well-written letter to the editor in the Washington Post.
Via Instapundit...
The A-Team has the best of both worlds: Lots of evil fully-auto weapons AND no one ever gets hurt.
This shouldn’t even be necessary:
Bi-Partisan Bill Introduced to Restore the Second Amendment Rights of D.C. Residents
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Fairfax, VA — Today, in a bi-partisan effort, Congressman Travis Childers, Congressmen John Dingell, John Tanner, Mike Ross and Mark Souder, along with 47 of their colleagues, introduced the Second Amendment Enforcement Act (H.R. 6691). This critical legislation overturns D.C.’s recently enacted emergency laws that continue to defy the recent Supreme Court ruling by continuing to restrict District of Columbia residents’ right to self-defense. This National Rifle Association-backed bill is needed to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller.
On June 26, the U. S. Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that “the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.” The Supreme Court clearly stated that handguns are constitutionally-protected arms because they are commonly used, are typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, are considered by the American people to be the quintessential self-defense weapon, are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense in the home and are the most preferred firearm in the nation to keep and use for protection of home and family.
The Second Amendment Enforcement Act will:
- Repeal the District’s ban on semi-automatic handguns. Semi-automatic pistols have been the most commonly purchased handguns in the United States over the last 20 years, and therefore a ban on those firearms is unconstitutional as decided by Heller;
- Restore the right of self-defense by repealing the requirement that firearms be disassembled or secured with a trigger lock in the home;
- Repeal the current D.C. registration system that requires multiple visits to police headquarters; ballistics testing; passing a written test on D.C. gun laws; fingerprinting; and limiting registration to one handgun per 90 days. The current system is unduly burdensome and serves as a vehicle for even more onerous restrictions; and
- Create a limited exemption to the federal ban on interstate handgun sales by allowing D.C. residents to purchase handguns in Virginia and Maryland. Currently there are no firearms dealers in the District of Columbia, and the federal ban prohibits residents from purchasing handguns outside of the District; therefore, District residents have no means of purchasing handguns.
Source: NRA-ILA
Commentary:
It is a scandal that Congress even needs to act in order to get the fascist mayor of Washington D.C. and his gang of thugs to respect the law. Fenty and Co. should be charged with civil rights violations. Heller shouldn’t have to sue. Congress shouldn’t have to make a special law just to get Fenty and his band of trolls to govern lawfully. Fenty should be indicted. It’s a disgrace.
The thing that really bothers me about Fenty is not Fenty himself. He’s a punk and we can bust his chops. What really bothers me is that I fear that Fenty is a foreshadowing of how a President Obama would deal with gun rights because I think that Obama carries many of the same attitudes toward self defense with firearms that Fenty holds.
When the citizens of the capitol city of this republic have to sue their own government in order to exercise their civil rights, enshrined in the Constitution, something is desperately wrong.
I was unaware the Rusty was taken to the hospital. Squeaky reports he’s doing well.
Back on Monday, we had a pretty good discussion going about hate crimes. Frequent Lean Left commenter LarryE expands on this theme:
The usual (flawed) understanding of “hate crimes” legislation is that it would make the hate itself, rather than any actions based on the hate, the crime. It’s that misunderstanding that leads people to fear that “hate crimes” will lead inexorably to “thought crimes,” to people being prosecuted strictly for their opinions.
The thing is, I don’t know of anyone who’s proposed anything approaching that, i.e., proposed a law to make hate itself illegal. “It’s now illegal to be a bigot.” Besides the Constitutional issues, it’s absurd on its face to seriously entertain the notion of being able to simply outlaw racism or ban sexist or homophobic remarks or whatever - or at least it’s absurd to think any such law would actually achieve any of those ends or even be enforceable. So let’s drop that particular misconception and focus on the real argument, one which, as is explicit in the very phrase “hate crimes,” refers to “crimes motivated by hate.”
The whole thing is worth a read.
Utah became the first state to allow concealed weapons on state-supported colleges in 2007. At least a dozen states are considering such bills, and state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said he will introduce a similar bill when the Legislature convenes in January.This is the first I have see of names introducing a bill. I had thought Representative Driver was introducing a campus carry bill, he may still be. It is possible that several bills could get introduced this next session. I'll try to dig up some more specifics.
Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, and Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, agree with the idea and said they will likely support Wentworth's bill.
Lewis said he would oppose letting students carry concealed weapons on campus.Hey Chief, are 10% of your students over the age of 21? Can they pass the local, state and federal background checks currently required to obtain a Texas CHL? Would they be interested in jumping through the hoops to get a CHL? If so, then I can imagine that you would probably have the most mature and responsible student body of any small town college in Texas. Y'all should be proud of yourselves.
"We're a small college — about 5,000 students," Lewis said, "but could you imagine if just a tenth of our student body — 500 people — were carrying weapons?"
Details of the compromise were still incomplete late Wednesday, but a bill is to be introduced Thursday that would narrowly enforce a June Supreme Court decision rejecting the District?s decades-old handgun ban.
A vote on the bill could occur this week, but is more likely in September. Such a delay could give opponents of such a deal time to organize against it.
Republicans have filed a discharge petition to bring a broader D.C. gun-rights bill, sponsored by Ross, to the House floor. The goal was to capitalize on the Supreme Court decision and put pressure on conservative Democrats to buck their leadership on the issue.
Looks like that pressure NRA was putting on Pro-Gun Dems earlier is paying off.
Oil is the fuel of free nations, guns and speech the tools of free men. Thus the three have freedom in common. Ironically, oil, guns, and free speech have something else in common as well: all three are scorned by the Left.A.W.R. Hawkins has written The Tools of Free Men, an editorial for Human Events that is well worth your time.
It's one of several Illinois communities — reluctant to spend money on legal fights — rushing to repeal their gun bans after the court struck down a Washington, D.C., ban, even as cities such as Chicago and San Francisco stand firm.
For some reason, that bit about Frisco doesn't sound quite right. But the hold 'em/fold 'em reactions to these post-Heller challenges bring to mind a question for those more pragmatic than me: Say a liberal court like the Ninth Circuit twists the ruling and allows a ban to stay. Then say SCOTUS ducks the issue and refuses to hear the case.
What next? Elect better representatives and change the law? In California?
Is that it? "Majority rule democracy" is the end word? And until that changes, tough luck for blue-staters and urbanites who wish to exercise their rights?
Under those circumstances, you'd condemn civil disobedience and self defense against those who would deny rights? Would this apply across the board to all rights, or just to RKBA?
Since some of the "radical" sentiments expressed by some of us are dismissed out of hand, I think it's fair to ask where more moderate guidance could ultimately lead us.
Is there a pragmatic line in the sand? What is it? What happens if it's crossed? (Assuming discussing it openly won't traumatize the melanin-deficient, of course...)
What'll it be--fight or flight? Assuming there will always be a place to flee to if no one ever make a stand...
[Via Jeffersonian]
Alabama Boy Gets Death Threats for Hunting 1,000-Pound ‘Monster Pig’Anonymous cowards wishing death on children they hate. How very courageous.
Mayors dogs killed in drug raid. This one is a bit odd. Seems the mayor had 30 pounds of weed mailed to him:
“My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs,” Calvo said. “They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don?t think they really ever considered that we weren?t.”
And a bit of like you and me only better:
“You can?t tell me the chief of police of a municipality wouldn?t have been able to knock on the door of the mayor of that municipality, gain his confidence and enter the residence,” Murphy said. “It would not have been a necessity to shoot and kill this man?s dogs.”
Well, now that this has happened to somebody important, maybe something will be done about it.
One of the UU guys that stopped the shooter left a comment at Walls of the City.
Bitter on why a professional web presence should matter to NRA.
I should note that the offending blog is offering good coverage of the National Matches at Camp Perry.
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to debate two bills that could give the federal government unprecedented control over the way parents raise their children – even providing funds for state workers to come into homes and screen babies for emotional and developmental problems.Securing the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, government-style, I see...
I wouldn’t say I support McCain, so much as I oppose Obama.
feeling torn between my affiliation with both what i?ll call ?gun culture? and the ?trans community??.
Like Chris said:Only on the interweb, could you find such a group of people arguing with each other.
“I’m shocked - completely shocked,” Raynham Police Chief Lou Pacheco said of Valerio Rodriguez’ no-show at Taunton District Court on July 29.Yeah--after reading about how you let the groper go, Chief, and went after the child victim's father, why would any reasonable person believe the suspect was a flight risk?
So, after nearly six years of doing this for free, I decided to put up a tip jar figuring you freeloaders may want to tip your host, with whom you are six years in arrears, btw. There’s two over there on the right, currently below the empty ad slots (note empty). One for you Amazon people and one for you PayPal people. Full disclosure: PayPal tips go the the Mrs. since I canceled my account.
I’m not demanding you tip, nor even asking. You can if you choose. Or not. I’m not going to quit blogging if you don’t. And I don’t need money for surgery or motivation or to put my kids through school or any of that other stuff people point to their tip jars for. I’d spend the money mostly on guns and toys, to be honest. And you’d be gifted with subsequent range reports and gun porn.
I probably won’t mention it much.
So, there you have it.
A good read on carrying a concealed handgun in our neighbor state. And restaurant carry.
I thought it was a parody. But it turns out it really is Barack En Vogue Obama’s new ad.
These people really, really scare me.
Sticking with bad movie sequel themes.
Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia?s gun ban, the District, Mayor and City Council are being sued again over the District?s thinly veiled attempt to continue its restrictions on firearm ownership. D.C. residents Dick Anthony Heller and Absalom F. Jordan, Jr., in conjunction with lawyers for the National Rifle Association (NRA), filed a complaint against the District of Columbia and Mayor Adrian Fenty challenging D.C.?s Firearms Control Emergency Amendment Act of 2008.
Kinda puts to rest the conspiracy theories about how NRA didn’t want Heller to win so they could stay in business, eh?
Considering the Supreme Court’s broad decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, I’m surprised that The Post would continue to raise the tired old canard of home rule [...]
Moreover, when Congress chose to delegate home rule to the District in the 1970s, it specified that legislation enacted by the District must be “consistent with the Constitution of the United States,” and it “reserve[d] the right, at any time, to exercise its constitutional authority as legislature for the District, by enacting legislation for the District on any subject.”
The time is now for Congress to step in to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans.
Local man who is a felon is challenging his arrest for having a gun. Unfortunately for him, this guy is a killer, a felon, and had a machine gun hidden in a wall. Oh, and that whole bit in Heller about how it should not be read as invalidating laws banning felons from possessing firearms.
Seems that Paul Helmke, Keith Olbermann, and Kevin Drum are all butthurt because the NRA (which actually has members, resources, and stuff) engaged in a bit of deception.
Now, what is funny is that I’ve seen no evidence that Mary was actually working for NRA. But we’ll see.
PGP is equally nonplussed about the whole thing.
The other amusing bit is that this shows a serious weakness in the anti-gun groups. They simply will take whoever will join (including bigots, UFO nuts, and those prone to violence). If you have a pulse and time, they’ll take you. However, a group that actually has operating capital and actual members has a pretty developed election process to weed out that sort of stuff.
I find it amusing.
People say to me Hey, Uncle, don’t you find these dirty tricks to be, well, dishonest? Sure. But then the anti-gunners have staked all their political capital on being dishonest (assault weapons, blood in the streets, and a whole host of other pants shitting hysteria they peddle). So, don’t really mind so much. They are my enemy. I want them destroyed. And any lawful means will do. And I like seeing their tactics of deception used against them. It’s some fantastic irony.
I’d love to know what sort of inside dirt Mary has on these groups.
A family whose house was raided by police in error is outraged that eight officers involved were honored. Police say the eight, who also took fire, "performed bravely."Fine.
The Citizen’s Award of Valor may be awarded to citizens for exemplary and heroic acts that expose them to considerable danger.I'd say Mr. Khang qualifies just as much--if not more so--than his assailants. Since the award needs to be initiated by a MPD employee, I call on Chief Timothy Dolan to nominate and approve him for the award.
