Abortion and Crime "debate" at the University of Chicago Scheduled for May 25th

The University of Chicago Federalist Society has tried for a third time to set up a debate between myself and John Donohue. Since the last two debates on the issue of guns at the University of Chicago were canceled at the last moment with Donohue withdrawing from one debate with just 2 days to go, I thought that we might have more luck scheduling a debate on another topic that is getting a lot of attention these days: abortion and crime. Donohue and Steve Levitt were the coauthors on a paper that got a lot of attention on this issue and Levitt as also recently coauthored a book with Steve Dubner that again goes over the issue. All three were asked to pick a time to debate the issue, but even though Donohue is free on the 25th and despite all the attention currently being given to the abortion research, none of them were willing to debate their work on abortion with me. (I think that I know why.) I will still be presenting on the 25th with the hope that Donohue will change his mind and defend his research.

Further discussions about John Donohue, including his backing out of one of the two previously scheduled debates on guns, are here.

"No graduation ceremony for student in toy gun incident"

Seems like a case where a kid accidentally broke the rules, simply not realizing that they applied to an obvious toy gun in the parking lot.

Tucson, AZ.

A year-long suspension is mandated for any student bringing a real or simulated weapon to school, said Alan Storm, Sunnyside's assistant superintendent . . . . Gradillas said he never brought the 4-inch-long plastic guns with orange tips into any classroom, instead showing them to friends in the parking lot.

Police SWAT team protects school from Burrito

These days you just can't be too safe:

CLOVIS, N.M. A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. All over a giant burrito.

Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy carrying something long and wrapped into Marshall Junior High.

The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item was identified as a 30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos and wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.

"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," school Principal Diana Russell said. . . .

Fortunately, the police confiscated the dangerous burrito.

Robbery foiled by a gun

Miami, Florida, April 30

A couple who police said was being robbed turned the tables on the would-be robber, hitting and shooting the man, NBC 6 reported.

The alleged attempted robbery took place outside the pair's home in the 10000 block of Southwest 40th Street.

The husband and wife fought back against the alleged robber. The wife hit the alleged robber with a sharp object and the husband pulled out a gun and shot the man, who hasn't been identified.The alleged robber then took off.

More on the 129 Vote Gubernatorial Election in Washington State

From John Fund's Opinion Journal.com's Political Diary: "On Monday, Chelan County Judge John Bridges ruled in favor of a Republican motion on a proportional method of allocating dozens of illegal votes from felons and dead people that had previously been uncovered. GOP lawyers contend that since most of the illegal votes came from Democratic King County, Ms. Gregoire should have more votes subtracted from her total than Republican Dean Rossi. Democrats claim they will respond by producing their own evidence of voter irregularities in counties carried by Mr. Rossi. The final court ruling may turn on which statisticians Judge Bridges finds most credible."

Missouri finishes implementing their right-to-carry law

Finally, St. Louis And St. Louis County must begin issuing concealed handgun permits.

Thanks to Michael Gordinier for telling me about the change.

Is the Brady Campaign Violating Federal Tax Law?

An interesting discussion on how the Brady Campaign may have been violating Federal Tax law.

Florida as a gun-law trendsetter

Predictions that ''Castle Doctrine" will spread to other states

The Florida measure says any person ''has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm."

Florida law already lets residents defend themselves against attackers if they can prove they could not have escaped. The new law would allow them to use deadly force even if they could have fled and says that prosecutors must automatically presume that would-be victims feared for their lives if attacked.

The overwhelming vote margins and bipartisan support for the Florida gun bill -- it passed unanimously in the state Senate and was approved 94 to 20 in the House, with nearly a dozen Democratic cosponsors -- have alarmed some national advocates of gun control who say a measure that made headlines in Florida slipped beneath their radar.

''I am in absolute shock," Sarah Brady, chair of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in an interview. ''If I had known about it, I would have been down there."

Gun Use and One's Love Life

Take it from two experts in romance:

For Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, happiness is a warm gun. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Jolie says the two actors came to trust each other while taking gun training for the upcoming "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." In the movie, they play married assassins.

"You had to trust each other to cross under or over and only move when the other person moves, so the trust, when somebody's got a loaded gun at your back ... it made us trust each other quickly," Jolie said in the magazine, on newsstands May 10.

More on Affirmative Action for Police

Here are a couple of interesting articles: "How Racial P.C. Corrupted the LAPD" and "Q. How do you help criminals get away? A. Easy, recruit women officers". As I have done in my research and op-eds, I would have also mentioned the benefits from having minorities or women in the police force in the London Mail on Sunday piece, but overall it is a useful piece. On the other hand, it does have a very good title.

Polls in the UK

Apparently Blair's lead in the polls depends on counting everyone and not just likely voters. The race this Thursday could be interesting.

All the opinion polls give Labor a clear lead that varies from 3 to 10 percent - but that is polling everybody, and apathy and distrust of Blair points to a low turnout. And all the polls also say that the result is too close to call, and the Tories might even have their nose ahead among those determined to vote on Thursday.

Useful info on Canadian Firearms regulations

If you are interested in Canada's firearms policy debate, this webpage is a good place to start. The site contains such interesting information as:

# OF INSURANCE COMPANIES WHO THINK OWING A GUN IS A RISK = ZERO
GOV’T ADMITS WHAT GUN REGISTRY HAS COST & WILL COST = $1.4 BILLION
COST OF ENFORCING THE GUN REGISTRY = GOV’T DOESN’T KNOW
Etc..

Review of Judge Andrew P. Napolitano's Constitutional Chaos

My son Roger has a review of Judge Andrew P. Napolitano's Constitutional Chaos. For a twelve year old who got absolutely no help from me, I think that he has put together an excellent review and it is well worth looking at. Of course, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano's Constitutional Chaos is well worth reading also.