The five most conservative and liberal cities in the US

Bay Area Center for Voting Research in California examined 237 cities and claimed that the five most conservative cities were:

1) Provo, Utah
2) Lubbock, Texas
3) Abilene, Texas
4) Hialeah, Florida
5) Plano, Texas

Five most liberal:

1) Detroit, Michigan
2) Gary, Indiana
3) Berkeley, California
4) Washington D.C.
5) Oakland, California

"Armed citizen's quick thinking yields arrests" (Aug 11, 2005)

A citizen armed with a .44 Magnum stopped a suspected thief long enough for sheriff's deputies to make an arrest Tuesday morning.

The decision by Chuck Estes led to two arrests connected to a string of vehicle break-ins in a neighborhood near the intersection of Normandy Drive and View Ridge Drive, west of Lacey.

Estes didn't keep the gun -- a revolver with a 6-inch barrel -- pointed very long, he said. He holstered it immediately after determining the suspect didn't pose a threat, he said.

"I made it very clear to stay in the car and that he was not at risk and that I was not a threat," said Estes, 40, who has a concealed weapon permit.

It was about 4 a.m., and Estes was on his way to work when he noticed someone had sliced into his wife's convertible to steal her stereo and speakers. He didn't think he had time to deal with it right away.

Update on fake pro-gun website run by Democrats

An earlier post noted that:

Hunters and Shooters Website
"The AHSA press person, Dan Drummond, appears to be a familiar name in Virginia Democratic circles:

Dan Drummond
Chairman, Fairfax City Democratic Committee
dan@fairfaxcitydemocrats.org
703-218-4090

Mr. Drummond also has his own blog http://fairfaxcitydems.blogspot.com/

Well, apparently there was a Dan Drummond who used to work for Jim Moran (D-VA).

Self Defense Gun use in Memphis, TN (8/11)

A sanitation worker who unloaded six .357 Magnum slugs into an armed kidnapper won't be charged with a crime, officials said Wednesday.

And Jacob Evans didn't have a permit to carry the pistol, but won't be charged for that, either, officials said.

Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons said the shooting was justifiable.

Under state law, he said, a person can't be charged with not having a gun permit if the gun is used in a justifiable self-defense.

And Evans -- an outspoken 59-year-old -- said he definitely feared for his life. . . .

Evans was jumped by two men as he drove up to his home in the 300 block of Edsel Tuesday after work.

The two forced him into his Lincoln Town Car and made him drive to a bank where they wanted him to withdraw $10,000.

One man went into the First Tennessee at 1200 S. Third to fetch a withdrawal slip and gave his pistol to his accomplice, who already had a .22-caliber rifle.

Evans -- who'd been robbed of $465 by the pair three weeks ago -- reached under his car seat, turned and emptied his newly bought pistol on his armed captor.

He tried to shoot the second man when he returned, but his gun jammed.

Evans said after he was robbed, he bought the handgun from a friend at a parking lot for $75 the next day.

A new .357 Magnum can run anywhere from $250 to $500. The sale to Evans wasn't illegal, officials said, though the weapon should eventually have been registered.

The gun cost only $75 because the cylinder was stuck. Evans said he used baby oil to loosen it, but it jammed after he reloaded it. . . .

Thanks to Jason Morin for sending this.

Defensive Gun Use Story: "Owner wounds scrapyard intruder" (Aug 9, 05)

Paul Bronfman says burglars have gotten away with breaking into his Kansas City scrapyard for months.

Monday, he did something about it. He checked his scrapyard near 14th Terrace and Norton Avenue at about 5 a.m. and stumbled upon an alleged burglar wielding a wrench.

Bronfman said he fired two warning shots and then fired twice more at the burglar, who Bronfman said was advancing toward him. The 38-year-old man suffered non-life-threatening wounds to his shoulder and buttocks, police said.

The man remained hospitalized Monday while police investigated. When they are finished, police will forward their case file to prosecutors, who will decide whether to file charges.

Bronfman said he has owned the A/3 Auto Salvage scrapyard on East 14th Terrace about two years. In the past few months, criminals have stolen catalytic converters, aluminum wheels and just about anything else of value, he said.

“I feel that I was in the right,” said Bronfman, 49. “I’ve got to stop them somehow. I’m tired of them ripping me off all the time.”

Burglars began by crawling under his front gate. So Bronfman hauled three tons of rock to fill the gap under the gate. Burglars then used bolt cutters to clip openings in his 8-foot-tall chain-link fence.

“I just paid a guy $175 three days ago to fix one hole in my fence,” Bronfman said, adding that the thefts have kept him from sleeping.

He said he left his home about 4:30 a.m. Monday to check on the property. When he saw a new hole in his fence, he crawled through. Almost immediately, he said, he saw an intruder in a semi. When he fired two warning shots, the intruder started to climb out of the cab and fell.

The man stepped toward him holding a wrench in his raised hand, Bronfman said, so he fired twice more, hitting the man. . . .

Armed Robbery stopped in Shreveport, LA (Aug 4, 05)

an armed man wearing a ski mask walked into Citgo in the 5700 block of South Lakeshore Drive in Shreveport about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, police Detective Mike McConnell said.

"The owner was working in the back of the store and heard the doorbell. He looks and sees one person dressed in all black standing behind the counter."

The 52-year-old recognized he was about to be robbed and pulled out a semiautomatic handgun he commonly carried, McConnell said. The unmistakable sound of the owner racking the gun's slide caused the would-be robber to turn and begin firing.

"The suspect fires first and the owner returned fire."

Several shots were exchanged, but no one was hit and nothing was taken from the store, police said.

The Democrats "game plan" on John Roberts?

Democrats know this nominee isn't likely to be filibustered; he's too well qualified. They assume he will be approved, barring any unforeseen developments. So here's the challenge: Find a smart way to lose.

Sure, the Democrats should do their reasonable best to get the full Roberts record. But they know the conservative story line here; they risk looking obstructionist if they go to the mat. Let's face it: Roberts is not John Bolton. When Democrats waged a battle over the release of information regarding Bush's nominee as envoy to the United Nations, they were on terra firma. Bolton's ex-colleagues had already provided reasons to question his character and conduct. If Bolton was Dr. Evil, Roberts is Ward Cleaver.

This is not to say that Democrats should just raise the white flag. Why not pick a few issues to press, thereby defining the differences between Democrats and Republicans? A good choice would be the right to privacy. Not just abortion; argue about the role of government in our lives. It's broader--and allows Democrats to revisit the Terri Schiavo case, in which the GOP angered a majority of voters by intervening. That way, says one Democratic strategist, "we can also talk to conservative men in the Midwest" who haven't been cheering Democrats on lately. The pitch: Roberts isn't a bad person; he's just the single best example of the different party views of the world.

Brain drain. Yet this is the sad news about the Democrats: For liberals, that won't be enough. In fact, Democrats who are polite to Roberts--and may even vote for him--will no doubt be considered a bunch of appeasing Neville Chamberlains. "We have lost our brains," one Democratic pollster confides. "The left wing controls all of the dialogue." Just last week, when Sen. Hillary Clinton called for an ideological truce within the Democratic Party, she was shellacked by liberal bloggers. Her crime: agreeing to come up with a more positive--and inclusive--party agenda. Imagine that. . . .

More facts on Democrats falsely posing as gun rights group

Dan Z sends me the following info:

American Hunters and Shooters Association's (AHSA) president, John E. Rosenthal, is also the founder of Stop Handgun Violence, Inc.

He also notes that "The AHSA press person, Dan Drummond, appears to be a familiar name in Virginia Democratic circles:

Dan Drummond
Chairman, Fairfax City Democratic Committee
dan@fairfaxcitydemocrats.org
703-218-4090

Mr. Drummond also has his own blog http://fairfaxcitydems.blogspot.com/

Other discussions on this misleading website can be found at here and here.

Thanks, Dan.

Canadian GUN REGISTRY BEING USED AS A SHOPPING LIST BY CRIMINALS?

August 3, 2005 – COMPLAINT TO INFORMATION COMMISSIONER WITH COPIES TO THE PRIVACY COMMISSIONER & AUDITOR GENERAL

. . .

We know from reports to our office by individual firearms owners (particularly owners of registered handguns) that there maybe as many as nineteen suspicious thefts in the Edmonton area alone. Most of these reported thefts involved the theft of multiple handguns from each residence and were reported to either the RCMP or the Edmonton Police Service or both. In the police reports filed by the victims, specific mention has been made about their suspicions that the thieves may be obtaining personal and private information about the types of firearms they own from the firearms registry.

It is inconceivable that these theft of handgun reports to the police haven’t raised red flags in the RCMP and in the CFC. At least, there should be reports saying that these suspicions have been investigated and that there was no evidence that the gun registration information systems had been compromised.

It is also just as inconceivable that both the RCMP and the CFC failed to anticipate the possibility that their firearms registration information systems could be compromised by officials with access to the systems or by criminals with the technological means. Both the CFC and the RCMP must have prepared reports and plans on how to deal with such an eventuality. Even CPIC is accessed illegally a few hundred times every year. This matter has also been a constant concern expressed by firearms owners and opponents to the gun registry (inside and outside Parliament) since 1995 and must have been the subject of reports, correspondence, Risk Assessments and Privacy Impact Assessments by both the CFC and the RCMP.

We hope your investigator can find out what these departments are doing about these suspicious firearms thefts and what they have done to allay the longstanding fears of firearms owners. As it is now, the CFC and RCMP responses to our ATI requests leads everyone to believe that they have done nothing.