"Burgled [UK] MP wants home stun guns"

It is obviously too politically incorrect to note that there are problems with stun guns (e.g., the criminal wearing rubber soled shoes or heavy coats) and that because of those problems guns have some advantages.

An MP whose house was burgled while his family and visitors slept has called for homeowners to be allowed to arm themselves with Taser stun guns. . . . .

Mr Davies added: "Shouldn't I, at the very least, be able to stand at the top of my stairs with a Taser - which isn't going to kill somebody - and use that as a means of self defence?" . . .

Although voicing support for Mr Davies, Victim Support Wales advised against home owners being armed with the electronic stun guns.

John Trew, Victim Support's national officer for Wales, said; "I don't think there is a problem with people using reasonable force to defend themselves."

But he said if there were burgling your house, people should "ring the police, don't try to take them on." . . .

New Orleans Police Chief backs off New Threat to take guns

From Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation:

Within two hours of an announcement that the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) was calling for a Justice Department investigation of New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley's plan to confiscate guns again if a major storm hits the city this year, SAF learned that Riley has backed off. . . . .

"Now, days after Riley told a New Orleans radio station that he was planning another gun grab," Gottlieb continued, "we have him suddenly back pedaling almost immediately after we announce our complaint to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. . . .

So will Canadians Become more Sympathetic to American's on the Terrorism Issue?

Will this scare Canadians to want troops withdrawn or will it convince them to stick closer to the US? I am not sure which will happen.

Suspects arrested last weekend in an alleged terrorism plot planned to storm the Canadian Parliament and hold politicians hostage, and at least one wanted to behead the prime minister if demands to withdraw Canada's troops from Afghanistan were not met, according to a summary of prosecutors' allegations read in court Tuesday.

According to authorities, the group also planned to bomb power plants in Ontario and invade the downtown Toronto studios of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., according to the written statement submitted to the court by defense attorney Gary Batasar and read into the record at his request.

NRA v. Gun Owners of America Differences

Fox News Video Ciip.

Rudy Giuliani most popular national politician

I am not sure why Obama is second (what has he accomplished?), but in any case here are the results.

Polling Data

I’d like to get your feelings toward some of our political leaders and other people who have been in the news. I’ll read the name of a person and I’d like you to rate that person using something called the feeling thermometer. You can choose any number between 0 and 100. The higher the number, the warmer or more favourable you feel toward that person, the lower the number, the colder or less favourable. If we come to a person who you haven’t heard enough about to form an opinion, you don’t need to rate the person. Just tell me and we’ll move on to the next one.

. . . . . . . Mean Rating . . . .Unknown to

Rudy Giuliani 63.5 __ __ 13%

Barack Obama 58.4 __ __ 55%

Condoleezza Rice 56.1 __ __ 9%

John McCain 56.0 __ __ 17%

Hillary Rodham Clinton 49.9 __ __ 2%

John Edwards 49.4 __ __ 21%

Joseph Biden 48.8 __ __ 55%

Evan Bayh 47.9 __ __ 74%

Mitt Romney 47.5 __ __ 67%

Mark Warner 47.1 __ __ 72%

George Allen 46.8 __ __ 72%

Al Gore 45.7 __ __ 3%

Chris Dodd 45.3 __ __ 64%

John Kerry 45.2 __ __ 6%

Russ Feingold 45.1 __ __ 62%

George W. Bush 42.9 __ __ --

Bill Frist 41.8 __ __ 51%

Donald Rumsfeld 41.5 __ __ 12%

Dick Cheney 40.5 __ __ 5%

Source: Quinnipiac University Polling Institute
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,534 registered American voters, conducted from May 23 to May 30, 2006. Margin of error is 2.3 per cent.

May be everyone does understand the importance of defensive gun use?

The votes on these bills have been absolutely overwhelming. If this doesn't show that everyone understands that guns are necessary to defend people when the police can't be there, I don't know what does.

Start of hurricane season triggers gun debate

By Carrie Sheffield
THE HILL
June 6, 2006

The start of hurricane season has become a selling point for gun-rights legislation spurred by Hurricane Katrina.
During the during storm’s chaotic aftermath, government officials hoping to ensure public safety seized hundreds of legally owned guns from Louisiana residents, some seeking to protect themselves from pillagers and assailants. The seizures have triggered outrage among gun-rights activists, spawning a lawsuit and bills nationwide to ban future confiscations.

“These people were left to defend themselves from criminals,” said Chris Cox, chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association (NRA). “It really became the proving ground for what American gun owners have always feared, and that’s the day that bureaucrats threw the Bill of Rights in the trash can.”

Cox and other lobbyists are pushing for a bill that would ban government officials from seizing firearms during emergencies, saying it would ensure protection for law-abiding citizens when they need it most. Opponents say it could hamper law enforcement’s ability to stabilize turbulent situations. . . .

Since Katrina, state legislators in Louisiana, Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida and Arizona have unveiled bills that would ban weapons seizures by state and local officials during emergencies. In Washington, S. 2599 and H.R. 5013 would prevent federal officials from making the confiscations. Proponents are using the start of the hurricane season last week as a selling point for moving the legislation swiftly.

“It’s a very important bill based on our experience, especially with hurricane season starting June 1 this year,” said the bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-La.).

Gun-rights strategists say they will easily garner enough votes to approve the federal measure, prompting critics to condemn what could result in the suspension of local gun-control laws and could make criminals of law-enforcement officials who confiscate abandoned weapons.

In the House, members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, including ranking member Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), approved the bill on a voice vote May 17. . . .

"Gun Sales Rise as Crime and Accident Rates Fall"

The data below was collected from the NSSF. I strongly disagree with their positions on issues such as gun locks and their position on Project ChildSafe, because I think that it actually costs more lives by making people fearful of guns. In any case, they have updated some interesting data:

NEWTOWN, Conn.--New statistics show that firearm and ammunition sales are on the rise, coinciding with steady downward trends in gun crime, suicide and accident rates, in the U.S.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry, has released U.S. Dept. of the Treasury figures indicating that 2005 retail sales of firearms and ammunition rose 2.6 percent for a total volume of $2.1 billion.

For the year, approximately 4.7 million new guns were sold, bringing the estimated number of citizen-owned firearms in the U.S. to more than 290 million. The number of American households with at least one firearm is now estimated at nearly 110 million.

Of the various firearm types, the sharpest gains were seen in retail sales of handguns (pistols and revolvers). Handgun sales rose 3 percent while long-gun (rifle and shotgun) sales rose 1.8 percent.

Ammunition sales rose 3.5 percent. . . .

Lack of news coverage by mainstream media about congressional candidate encouraging illegal aliens to vote in race

This is from John Fund writing in today's OpinionJournal's Political Diary:

But almost no national media outlet has covered the late-breaking news that may decide the election. Last Thursday, Ms. Busby addressed a group of supporters and in response to a question in Spanish about how someone who was an illegal alien could help, she answered: "You don't need papers for voting," she said. "You don't need to be a registered voter to help." Even more troubling for her is the fact that someone in the audience taped her statement and gave it to San Diego talk-show host Roger Hedgecock.

The San Diego Union-Tribune picked up on the story over the weekend, and included Ms. Busby's strained explanation that she intended only to say that people too young to vote could still help with volunteer work in her campaign.

The incident hurts Ms. Busby because much of her campaign has been focused on her fight against corruption, especially in the sullied area of Congressional "earmarks," the pork-barrel projects that figured prominently in Rep. Cunningham's votes-for-cash bribery scandal. Now Ms. Busby has been caught in an apparent endorsement of either vote fraud or, most charitably, encouraging illegal aliens to help in her campaign. Should she lose on Tuesday, it will be interesting to see if the national media belatedly identify her slip of the tongue as a factor in her defeat. Alternately, should she win on Tuesday, will media outlets ask any questions about possible voter irregularities, such as whether any of the thousands of newly registered voters in the district weren't eligible?.

Did New York CIty agents violate gun control laws?

New York’s lawsuit contends that between March 1994 and October 2001, “at least 15 guns sold by Old Dominion were recovered in New York City, both in the hands (of) individuals with no lawful right to possess a gun and in connection with a variety of violent crimes.”

The bottom line here is whether the gun stores in question violated the law. But in an added - and fair - twist to this story, the ATF has also started looking into the actions of the investigators who made the gun buys, The Associated Press reported last week. . . .

87 Year Old Woman Protects Herself With Gun

East St. Louis

An 87-year-old woman who fatally shot a would-be intruder will not be charged with a crime, even though she did not legally own the gun, authorities said Monday.

On Feb. 7, Jacksie Mae King fired several shots through the front door of her house after she woke up about 2 a.m. to the sounds of someone trying to break in.

One bullet hit Larry Tillman, 49, who was on the other side of the door, standing on King's enclosed porch.

He lay dead on the porch in the 2100 block of Gaty Avenue for four hours before he was found by King's daughter, who came to bring breakfast about 6 a.m. Meanwhile, King stayed inside clutching the pistol.

"She was justified in using deadly force to defend herself against the threat of deadly force," said Robert B. Haida, the St. Clair County state's attorney.

King did not have a Firearm Owner's Identification card, which is required to own a gun in Illinois, Haida said.

He said it would be inappropriate in the interest of justice to prosecute her for the illegally owned gun.

King's daughter gave her the .32-caliber Colt revolver two months earlier after a man broke into King's house in December. That intruder beat her and stole some of her things. . . .

Has the New Orleans Police Chief Learned Nothing from Last Year?

Gun rights activists were up in arms Friday after New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley said he would confiscate weapons should disaster strike.

Frederick Thomas, from New Orleans, leaves New Orleans Police with his semi-automatic pistol that was confiscated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans on Monday April 17, 2006.

The chief’s comments came after a federal lawsuit forced the city to return hundreds of firearms that were seized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In an interview with WWL Radio, Riley said his officers would seize guns from people on the streets if another storm was to hit New Orleans. . . .

Most people favor the death penalty for a person convicted of murder

Are you in favour of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?


. . . . . . . 5/06 10/05 10/04

In favour 65% 64% 64%

Opposed 28% 30% 31%

Not sure 7% 6% 5%

Canadian Liberals in New Campaign Finance Donation Scandal

"Apparently all across the land, teenagers with a few hundred grand to burn are asking themselves: 'Do I buy a new sports car or support a long-shot for the Liberal leadership? Ferrari or Volpe?'" wrote Ottawa Sun columnist Greg Weston. . . . .

Man Shoots burglar

GRAND RAPIDS -- A man shot while trying to break into an Oakfield Township home last month was armed with a handgun, giving Marcus Diamond cause to fear for his life, Kent County Prosecutor Bill Forsyth has determined.

Forsyth said today he will not charge Diamond, 34, for the May 12 shooting that injured Fernando Olivas, 18, outside a rural home on 15 Mile Road NE. The prosecutor's decision is based on police finding a gun Olivas allegedly carried to the house. Olivas apparently reached for the weapon before Diamond fired.

"When Mr. Olivas 'reached into his pocket,' the shooter believed he posed an immediate threat of death or great bodily harm," Forsyth ruled. "The fact that Mr. Olivas was armed clearly validates his belief.


"Even if Mr. Olivas was not reaching for his weapon, the shooter had an honest and reasonable belief that he was."

Olivas and Edgar Hernandez, 17, who both face multiple felony charges, are accused of trying to enter the home of William "Jake" Kish. They believed Kish grew marijuana and had unregistered guns inside, court documents show.

Olivas, who was shot in the back, told The Press in an earlier interview he and Hernandez went to the house, 10739 15 Mile Road NE, with the intent to burglarize it. In the interview, Olivas denied having a gun.

He since has refused to comment on the incident.

Forsyth said declining to charge Diamond is not an indication of the teenagers' guilt.

Diamond's sister said the family was relieved to learn he would not face criminal charges. Diamond could not be reached for comment.

"He wasn't too worried, but it was good to hear," the sister said, declining to identify herself. "He did what he knew he had to do." . . . .

Thanks to Matthew Ledyard for sending me this link.

Krauthammer discusses Barry Bonds and Steroids

Charles Krauthammer has a good piece in today's Washington Post. I have made these basic points before, though he may have done a better job of expressing the point.

. . . The idea that an athlete of Bonds's stature, for whom the body is both temple and bank vault, would be mistakenly ingesting substances is implausible, made all the more so by the evidence dredged up by two San Francisco sportswriters detailing Bonds's (alleged) gargantuan consumption of every performance-enhancing drug from steroids to human growth hormone.

But why should we care? What is really wrong with performance enhancement? We say we are against it because it diminishes striving, devalues achievement, produces a shortcut to greatness, etc. But in many endeavors we don't really care about any of that. Medical residents at hospitals have been known to take Ritalin to keep themselves alert on overnight shifts. If it enhances their thinking in the emergency room, what's the objection?

Many public speakers, performers and even some surgeons take beta-blockers to literally still their hearts and steady their hands. I've never seen a banner at the opera complaining: "Pavarotti does it on pasta." And what about the military, which pioneered some of these performance-enhancing studies to see how they could help soldiers survive the most extreme stresses? Isn't that an unqualified good?

Performance enhancement turns out to be disturbing only in the narrow context of competition, most commonly in sports. And the objection is not cheating nature but cheating competitors. It's basically a fairness issue.

When everyone has access to technological improvements (graphite tennis rackets, titanium drivers, more tightly wound baseballs) the sport may be transformed, but the playing field remains level. When technology is enhancing the equipment, fans become quickly reconciled to the transformation. (And it can be radical: The transition from bamboo to fiberglass totally changed the pole vault.) But when technology enhances the physiology of the athlete, we tend to recoil. . . . .

Has Europe gone nuts?

I am still trying to figure out how free train travel fits in with the other proposals, though may be it is just obvious so that people can see each other to do the other things that the party is advocating. It seems amazing to me, but this new party seems to be getting some support.

Last month, the NVD [Charity, Freedom and Diversity Party] presented its platform. The party seeks to lower the legal age for sexual relations in the Netherlands from 16 years to 12 years, decriminalize child pornography, bestiality and the consumption of all drugs, and make train travel free.

In order to officially take part in the January 2007 legislative election, the NVD requires 570 signatures of support. Party co-founder Ad van den Berg explained his rationale for allowing paedophilia, saying, "A ban just makes children curious." . . . .

50 songs that conservatives love?

50 songs that conservatives love? I am not sure that I agree with all of these. The ones that I owned of these and liked are:

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down -- I have it by Joan Baez, not The Band (What can I say, I have a weakness for the South.)
Who'll Stop the Rain -- Greedence Clearwater Revival
Janie's Got a Gun -- Aerosmith (I like this song, but it has never been completely clear to me that she was going to use it wisely.
Get over it -- the Eagles
Taxman -- Beatles (Obvious)
Revolution -- Beatles (Obvious, though for some reason it is not on their list.)

"Intruder shot after breaking into Boring woman's home"

KATU.com BORING, Ore. - Clackamas County Sheriff's Deputies say a Portland man was shot multiple times early Tuesday morning after he allegedly forced his way into the home of a woman who claims the man had been harassing her.

Investigators report the woman was in the company of her present boyfriend and was intruded upon by Joe Ray Estes, 49, reportedly her previous boyfriend.

Officers say it appears to be a situation where Estes allegedly objected to the presence of the other man and came to the residence and physically forced his way into the woman's home.

Investigators working this investigation are under the impression the multiple gunshot wounds Joe Ray Estes received during this altercation are not considered life threatening.

Estes was listed in stable condition after being flown by helicopter to Legacy Emanuel Hospital. . . . .

Entrapment?: OK, I confess that I have some sympathy for this clerk

Well, she LOOKED 21 anyway, maybe older, and what's more the clerk at the small store in this Coos County town says he was much distracted by what he called the young lady's scanty attire. So distracted, he said, that he didn't see the "Minor until 2007" stamped on her driver's license. She got the six-pack, and store owner David Cardwell got a $1,320 fine. The clerk had to pay $750.

Cardwell is hollering "Entrapment," "Draconian" and more.

Rather than pay, Cardwell says, he will take the alternative and close the store for a week. He says it doesn't make that much in a week in any case.

His clerk had been stung by an Oregon Liquor Control Commission decoy sent to test for underage sales.

His two clerks will be jobless until June 7.

Cardwell is not denying his employee erred, but says it was hardly fair.

"This young woman was dressed in very provocative clothing more suited for the bedroom," Cardwell said in a letter to the OLCC. "I would not allow my daughter to leave the house dressed in such a way." . . . .