"SF Gay Group Fights Handgun Ban"

The group, the Bay Area chapter of the national Pink Pistols group, said it is organizing a letter-writing campaign to the Board of Supervisors. "Outlawing handguns would raise crime," he said. "A handgun is a very useful defensive tool," said SF Pink Pistols spokesperson Tom Boyer.

It was probably too good to be true

Stories have been circulating that Michael Moore's bodyguard was arrested for bringing a gun into JFK airport. A denial was put out today by the firm that employed the bodyguard:

Our full-time employee, Patrick Burk, is not "Michael Moore's bodyguard." Accordingly, the headline in the Fox News Web site story is false and misleading. If you believe Patrick Burk was ever assigned to protect Michael Moore, or any number of other public figures, you might accurately report that "A bodyguard who was once assigned to protect Michael Moore..." You could as accurately say "A bodyguard that was once assigned to protect President Clinton," because Patrick Burk has also been assigned to protect President Clinton in the past - but you wouldn't be accurate if you said "President Clinton's Bodyguard."

I think that it is still interesting if Michael Moore has in the past used bodyguards who carry guns.

Fradulent website and e-mail sender Owns up to Deceiving people

During 2003 a website that pretended to be by me was set up by Eyebeam Inc. and by Jonah Perretti. Among other things the website sent out e-mails claiming that I opposed legislation to restrict suits against gun makers. I will probably be writing more on this later, but I wanted to post this now that a final settlement has been reached:

“The AskJohnLott.org site was created by The Eyebeam Atelier, Inc. This site was never associated, endorsed or otherwise affiliated with John R. Lott, Jr. E-mail sent from the AskJohnLott.org domain that was identified as coming from Lott was also never associated, endorsed or otherwise affiliated with John R. Lott, Jr. Eyebeam deeply regrets any confusion and offers a formal apology to John R. Lott, Jr. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

Jonah Peretti for Eyebeam
Director of Research and Development”

For those interested, a history of the website can be found here. There were some internet bloggers who tried to defend the website on various grounds, but obviously Eyebeam Inc. and Jonah Perretti found it necessary to apologize for the confusion that their website had created.

Bullet Ballistics System a Dud in Maryland

From today's Washington Times:

"The program simply has not met expectations and does not aid in the mission statement of the Department of State Police," the report said. Col. Thomas E. Hutchins, the state police superintendent, said he would like to spend the money instead on proven crime-fighting techniques. About $2.5 million has been spent on the program. "The system really is not doing anything," Col. Hutchins said.

Neal Knox passes away

While I can't say that I got to know him very well, he was always extremely nice to me whenever I had the chance to talk with him. It is very sad to know that he will no longer be with us, and I am sure that those who want to be able to use a gun for self-protection will find it more difficult to continue doing so without his help.

The cost of the Tort System

From today's Washington Post:

Tillinghast-Towers Perrin numbers I cited last week, less than half of the $246 billion that it consumed in 2003 went to compensate victims of misfortune, because more than half was eaten up in administrative and legal costs.

The CBO generally shies away from reaching policy verdicts, but this time it came close. "The current tort system seems to be an inefficient way to compensate victims," it stated.