Cook County "Poll" on gun control

From the Illinois State Rifle Assn:

ISRA URGENT ALERT ? YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION REQUIRED

Larry Suffredin and his cohorts on the Cook County Board are up to
their old tricks again.

In order to justify passage of gun control ordinances designed to
close all gun shops and ban and confiscate most guns owned by
citizens of the county, the Cook County Board is conducting a
telephone poll where callers can vote for or against the gun control
ordinances.

Like everything else in Cook County, this poll is probably rigged.
So, it?s very important that you do the following:

1. Call 1-312 -603-6400 and select Option #1 when prompted. At the
next prompt, select Option #1 again. Then, when prompted to vote on
the gun control ordinance, press #2.

2. You should also forward this alert on to all your gun owning
friends and have them vote too.

3. You should also post this alert to any and all Internet bulletin
boards or blogs to which you belong.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A RESIDENT OF COOK COUNTY TO VOTE!

Let?s beat Suffredin at his own game! Vote early and often, and save your guns.

What do his students think of him?

Thanks to RateMyProfessors.com we get an inside look at what kind of person ATR is in real life. Does any of this sound familiar? LOL

Thanks to Robb at Sharp as a Marble for uncovering this gem!

"terrible. 8 AM class where he lectures often times about nothing we are doing. he will go on tangents for about 20 minutes. his tests are insane where he will give you a fill in the blank and the answer is just a random word (cool,boring) that you barely talked about in class. AVOID."

"He scares me. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!"

"He seems to hate all students, especially the kind of student who is really not smart enough to be in college but whose parents bought his way in anyway."

"alexander...needs to be more organized. tests are unpredictable... memorization--nothing conceptual. he talks to fast toward the end of class and gets on random tangents about things that arent important to testing. this class scares me. who knows about grades. hes kinda funny tho. interesting guy--shouldnt be a teacher"

Dreaming the implausible dream...

Consider this editorial by Joe Klock, Sr. of the Coral Gables Gazette. I've tried to break it down into manageable chunks, but just when I thought he'd stopped with the $#!^, there was even more.

I'll comment only on parts of his editorial, if you'd like to read the whole thing click here.

"As written, B.O.R. #2. reads, "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Some hold that this only protects our right to have well-organized militias, while others read the same words as sanctioning the private possession of lethal weaponry.

What Madison really meant was interred with his bones, leaving interpretation to generations of English majors, history buffs, pacifists, gun-fanciers and, in their current session, the oracular whizzes of our Supreme Court."

He would have to pick the version with the most commas wouldn't he? Different versions of the second amendment exist with varying numbers of commas. With or without the commas it makes perfects sense when read in context and by studying other things the founders had to say about it.

"After extensive thought, exhaustive research and pleasurable study of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," I have taken two firm positions on the issue: I will not speculate on what Founding Father Madison had in mind in 1789 or how he'd advise our Supremes in 2008.

Furthermore, I care not a rat's butt about that, although it might be interesting to know how he'd feel about private citizens owning AK-47s.

I do care that 30,000 Americans die annually as a result of guns in the hands of evil and/or irresponsible shooters."

Apparently you didn't do too much thought, exhaustive research and pleasurable study did you. Perhaps you'd have been better off researching the origins of the second amendment instead of a book of punctuation. Then again, since you don't care not a rats ass about the subject, you're just going to empty your gray and black water tanks on us in the form of this editorial.

Personally, I think Madison would have been fine with private ownership of Ak-47's by the unorganized militia.

Joe, would you care to back up your statistics from a non Brady or Joyce Foundation sponsored, or discredited study? I didn't think so.

"I also respect the rights of all people to defend themselves, their loved ones and their possessions against criminals, using firearms if need be.

Neither would I prevent millions of hunters from engaging in their chosen pastime, although such peculiar pursuits as shooting doves barely seem to qualify as sporting events.

Finally, I recognize that total prohibition of private gun ownership would be only a tad more popular and effective than the ill-fated banning of John Barleycorn in the Roaring (but seldom boring) 20's.

I submit, though, that those claiming the right to bear arms, either for fun or protection, assume concomitant obligations of responsibility and competence - not unlike those imposed on those who drive automobiles or perform heart transplants.

This question to those on both sides of the gun control controversy: Why not make training and licensure pre-qualifications for weapon ownership, with really heavy fines and jail sentences for those who don't comply?

No law-abiding and well-intentioned citizen should object to such a restriction, given its obvious benefit to society."

Oh my, where to start. First you respect the rights of individuals to protect themselves, their loved ones and their property with firearms. Second, you recognize hunters being able to pursue their sports whether you agree with them or not. Thirdly, you state (and I agree) that a total ban on firearms would be about as popular, and effective as prohibition was in the 1920's. Good on you for that, but then you had to flush it all away with your next statement. You state that you can't see how anyone would have an objection to treating gun ownership like driving a car. For someone who seemed to understand the rights of individuals earlier on, you prove that you really don't get it. I shouldn't be surprised.

Read the Bill of Rights Joe, I have. It's okay if you have to look them up online and read through it, I'll wait.

Done?

Okay, where in the Bill of Rights does it mention anything about driving a car, erm, horse and buggy? No? Okay, now what does the second one say? Okay, and no, it doesn't mean the National Guard or the government giving itself permission to form a militia (how stupid would that be). Now, how many times do you see "The People" and "The State" mentioned? Okay, now read the other nine (original BOR) and tell me whether or not it's clear on who has which right? Now why is the second amendment somehow different than the others? What's that? It says "Well Regulated?" Do yourself a favor and research the meaning of the phrase as it was used at the time for the correct context. Oh that's right, you really don't care about the "technical woo-woo's" as you put it.

Completely aside from this Joe, I and millions of other gun owners like me will never submit. Every gun confiscation in history was always preceded with registration. How do you think they knew where all the guns were? It sounds cliche, but "Legislation, Registration, Confiscation" has a lot more truth going for it than you'd imagine.

"This would counter the argument that if guns were banned entirely, only the criminals would be armed.

As to that lot of scoundrels, use of firearms in the commission of a violent crime could be raised to the level of a capital offense, with appropriate punishment. (Cruel and unusual, you say? Tell that to the victims and/or their families!)

Spare me, puh-leez, the legalese woo-woo and technical hair-splitting.

Simplistic though it may be, the remedy I suggest would save thousands of lives, make society safer and still allow private citizens to protect themselves, their loved ones, their hobbies and their worldly goods.

The doves are another matter, perhaps for another column when I really feel fearless."

"If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns!" *sigh* Okay, yes, it's true. Following your plan though, the government could decide to take them at anytime they want. As to more severe punishment for criminal misuse of a firearm. Before they start doing that, I think they should make murder, robbery, rape, etc... against the law first. Oh wait, murder is against the law already and many states have the death penalty. You'd think with that in mind there'd be no murders. Aren't criminals afraid of capitol punishment?

Also, regardless of what the Brady Bunch say, there are well over 20,000 gun laws already in existence with more being added all the time. It's a constant battle to make sure my rights aren't being infringed.

Simplistic? Nah, I'd never say that...I'm too polite to tell you that you're full of crap!

UPDATE: Robb over at Sharp as a Marble has an excellent post concerning the 30,000 firearm deaths a year the anti's like to crow about. Go read!

More Anti Tripe

The Brady Campa- er, I mean, The Denver Post spews out an anonymous editorial consisting of Brady Bunch talking points and some outright lies, like there's a difference. It's gratifying to see the vast majority of the comments take them to task on these and expose this editorial for precisely what it is.

Read the whole thing here.

"Matthew Murray has given us another reason to renew the ban on high-powered assault weapons.

Murray was the troubled young man who killed four people last Sunday and injured others at religious organizations in Arvada and Colorado Springs. Almost exactly a year before the rampage, he purchased an AK-47 assault rifle and a large shipment of ammunition. Less than two months later, he purchased another.

He was armed with a Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle, the kind used by military and law-enforcement personnel, during his killing spree in Colorado Springs. He also had handguns. The AK-47 assault rifle was found in the trunk of his car.

Such extraordinary firepower is not meant for hunting animals or target shooting. We see only one other purpose. And so did Murray."

More PSH

Consider the following:

"Allowing people to run around with machine guns in order to maintain the integrity of the Bill of Rights is a sickening display of blind faith."

...and...

"The Second Amendment was drafted in the infancy of our nation and is not just inapplicable to our contemporary nation but detrimental to our contemporary nation."

45superman does an excellent fisking of another bottom feeding anti, masquerading as a journalist. Go read!

New Game! Spot the Anti Lies!

Philly gunning for more control

With more than 300 murders so far this year, Philadelphia has been struggling to contain gun violence.

If I was a Philadelphia resident, I could walk into any gun shop in the city and buy 50, 100, even 1,000 guns, just like that. All they would do is run an instant background check, and assuming my record was clean, I'd walk out with all that firepower.

There's no waiting period, no rules on who I can and can't sell those weapons to. In fact, state law says I don't even have to get a license for the guns or register them.

Could this be contributing to the gun violence in Philadelphia? So far this year, there have been more than 300 murders, and more than 85 percent of them were the result of a firearm, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

Ray Jones, a community volunteer with the group Men United, blames state lawmakers for not passing tougher gun laws and for keeping cities like Philadelphia from passing their own regulations.

"It's about survival," Jones said. "People are dying in the streets and we need to get help."

The fight over gun laws has turned into a power struggle between the state government and Philadelphia.

Back in 1994, the state legislature overturned an assault weapons ban, making AK-47s as easy to get as hunting rifles. The next year, rules were eased on concealed weapons. Today it's actually against the law in Pennsylvania for a policeman to ask anyone why they want to carry a concealed weapon.

At last check, there are now 29,000 permits to carry concealed weapons in Philadelphia, compared to about 800 applications for permits back in 1995. One law enforcement source told me the state is handing out permits to carry like "candy."

State Senator Vincent Fumo is a gun owner, and he supports the current laws. "People want to think that this is the wild west, and we don't have any laws. What we don't have is enforcement of those laws," he told CNN.

Many here in the city argue that if Philadelphia had "home rule", as it's called, and the city was allowed to pass more stringent gun laws, people would be safer.

"It really would be appropriate for the city to determine its own sort of destiny," Jones told CNN. "Now our hands are sort of handcuffed."

Who do you think has the right to set the ground rules when it comes to guns? The state or the city?

-- Randi Kaye, CNN Correspondent

Cool Toon

From Kevin Tuma


Click picture for a larger version. Found via Blogonomicon.

Robyn Ringler Takes Her Marbles and Goes Home

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but today on Robyn's blog she announced she was closing comments. This follows the Brady Bunch closing comments on their own blog after getting hammered by pro-gun commenter's with the facts on their side. She of course tries to blame this on everything from "Death Threats" to the phases of the moon, and singles out one blogger in particular.

Honestly, this isn't a big loss as she has been deleting comments from people who had facts to refute her mostly emotional pleas. If she did let a comment get through, it was invariably from someone who couldn't control them self, with the intention of painting the pro-civil rights commenter's in a bad light. This in addition of allowing people who agreed with her to flame those who didn't and then deleting the comments the person would make in their defense. There was never any real attempt on her part to openly discuss the issues.

Seriously though, we can still comment on her disinformation on our blogs and it'll automatically be linked to her blog and name, guaranteeing a search engine hit refuting her misinformation.

So long Robyn, it was fun while it lasted, even though you never did let many pro-gun comments get though.

BUY A GUN OR AMMO DAY TODAY!

This post remained at the top all day August 28th. Now that the day has concluded, I've dropped it back to the bottom.

Today is "Buy a Gun or Ammo Day" in counter-protest to Jesse Jackson, "Snuffy" Pfleger, "The Brady Bunch" and their hordes of misinformed anti-gunners.

Do what you can and buy something with which to exercise your second amendment rights!

Buy a Gun Day Redux

We're all familiar with April 15th as the original BAG (Buy a Gun) day. Now, in honor of Jesse Jackson and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership, I encourage everyone to buy a gun or ammunition on August 28th. Here's why:

RIVERDALE, Ill. (June 29, 2007)-- Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., founder and president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, announced today he will organize a national day of protest in 25 cities on Aug. 28, 2007, to rally support for legislation to restrict gun sales...

Once again, if you can, please buy a gun or ammunition on August 28th as a counter protest against those who would strip us of our constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Hoplophobe Shoots, Thankful He's Still Alive

ZUCK: Have gun, will tremble

Sunday, August 5, 2007 10:50 PM EDT

A weekend in Las Vegas! The lights, the casinos, the shows, the glitz, the noise, the - guns?

"This here's the easiest to start with. It's got less kick so it's easier to control."

Into my hand he plops a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver. It's only the second time in my life I've actually touched a gun (the first being during a Boy Scout trip). My hand droops under the surprising weight of the pistol. He chuckles. What am I doing here?

It's Saturday afternoon, and having lost too much money all too quickly at the poker tables, my buddy and I are seeking refuge from the dry Nevada heat at a gun club a few miles off the Strip. We can't remember whose idea it was, but neither of us thought we'd actually go through with it.

"That's a great little gun there," the other salesguy chimes in. "I'm giving one to my niece for her 21st birthday. She's a fine shot." I'm not sure whether he's boasting or poking fun at me - probably both. Apparently, I'm holding a girl's gun.

"Guns are great to have around," he continues. "Just like seat belts and fire extinguishers - you don't know when you're going to need one, but when there's an intruder in my house I'll be glad to have it." I look around and watch a dozen or so gun-toting, plaid-wearing bearded guys nod in agreement. I decide now's not the time to mention that children can't accidentally kill themselves by playing with seat belts and a fire can't steal your fire extinguisher and use it against you.

Having completed my eight-second firearm tutorial, I don my safety goggles and large red earmuffs and head for the shooting range. Carefully cradling my pistol and a box of 50 .38 Specials to my chest, I ease my way down to lane number six. Every few seconds I violently twitch as another gun is fired; even with ear protection the noise is deafening. I'll be glad to get out of here without soiling my undergarments.

I take my target - a large off-white sheet featuring a potential intruder's head and torso - and clip it to the metal pole above me. A flick of a switch sends it flying backward into space. I load my pistol and take aim, briefly wondering how much it hurts to accidentally shoot oneself in the foot.

I squeeze off shot after shot, jumping at the sound of each one. Some people feel powerful with a pistol in their hand; I feel terror. I reload rapidly, hoping I run out of rounds before I run out of luck and end up with nine fingers.

It's not until I leave that I relax enough to take a look at my target. Though I aimed at my intruder's heart on every shot, most sailed wide, past his right shoulder. When I find an intruder in my house, I'll just throw a fire extinguisher at him.

BILL ZUCK, a former Foxboro resident, is relieved to still have all of his digits. You can reach him at wcz78@yahoo.com.

Thanks to Sharp as a Marble for the PSH Alert! icon.
Story found on The High Road.

Anti Test!

Okay anti's, I know you visit my blog, so I've got a test for you. Get out a fresh sheet of paper and a #2 pencil, and put your name and date at the top. This isn't a timed test, but it is short.

Ready? No looking at your neighbors answers!

Here we go!

Which rifle below is a machine gun?




Got it? Okay... Pencils down and hand your quiz to the anti beside you and we'll grade your tests.

How many said rifle (A)? Scary looking, isn't it? Rifle (B)? Ahhh.... The correct answer, is neither rifle. I'll explain.

The top rifle is a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle chambered in .223. It is gas operated and fires one shot for each press of the trigger. It does not fire fully automatically if you hold down the trigger. It is not a machine gun.

The bottom rifle is a Volquartsen Evolution semi-automatic rifle chambered in .223. It is gas operated and fires one shot for each press of the trigger. It does not fire fully automatically if you hold down the trigger. It is not a machine gun.

Got it? There is no functional difference between these two rifles. The only difference is how they look, and neither is an "Assault Weapon"!

Think about this the next time you support a ban on "Assault Weapons"!

The Fantastic Voyage of Billy The Bullet

I might be insulted if it weren't so laughable. Here the anti's go again, assigning human feelings and blame to an inanimate object.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you, Billy the Bullet!

P.S.: What are round nose hollow points anyway?

Ebay becomes even more Anti-Gun

New Listing Restrictions on Gun Parts

Matt Halprin

Hello everyone…In mid-August, we will be updating our Firearms, Weapons and Knives Policy to place more restrictions around gun-related items. Once these changes take effect, we will prohibit listings of any firearm part that is required for the firing of a gun. This includes items like bullet tips, brass casings and shells, barrels, slides, cylinders, magazines, firing pins, trigger assemblies, etc. Please read the Firearms, Weapons and Knives Policy for more details on our current policy.

As you may know, eBay does not allow the listing of any items which are regulated by individual states or the federal government; however, there are still a large number of firearm-related parts that are legal and are widely available in retail stores. These items have also historically been allowed on eBay.

After learning that some items purchased on eBay may have been used in the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April 2007, we felt that revisiting our policies was not only necessary, but the right thing to do. After much consideration, the Trust & Safety policy team – along with our executive leaders at eBay Inc. – have made the decision to further restrict more of these items than federal and state regulations require.

This new update continues to encourage safety among our community members and brings our policies in the U.S. and Canada in closer alignment with our existing policies in other markets around the globe.

Sincerely,

Matt Halprin
Vice President, Trust & Safety

Anti-Gunner Advocates Murder

ISRA Press Release:
Chicago Priest Calls for Murder of Gun Shop Owner

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

Nobody expected Saturday's Operation PUSH protest at Chuck's Gun Shop & Range to be anything other than a circus of the bizarre. However, nobody anticipated that an address by a Chicago priest would include a call for the murder of a suburban gun shop owner and legislators who oppose gun control.

During an address at an anti-gun rally in front of Chuck's, Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina's Church, exhorted the crowd to "drag" shop owner, John Riggio, from his shop "like a rat" and "snuff" him. Rev. Pfleger went on to tell the crowd that legislators that vote against gun control legislation should be "snuffed" as well. As many know, "snuff" is slang for especially violent murder.

The ISRA has a recording of Pfleger's remarks in MP3 format.

"Certainly Fr. Pfleger has offered Absolution to a murderer or two during his tenure as a priest," commented ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson. "That's why it's shocking to hear him actually advocate the murder of a gun shop owner who has never committed a crime in his life. He then compounds the problem by calling for the murder of legislators who disagree with his personal political views -- something I suspect is a felony in this state. Pfleger's comments were disgusting and dangerous. And, I seem to remember that the Fifth Commandment frowns on murdering one's neighbor." (Actually, it's the sixth, -Yuri)

"This week, I'll be penning a letter to the Archbishop, expressing my concerns over Rev. Pfleger's comments," continued Pearson. "I would hope that the Archbishop would reply with words of comfort for Mr. Riggio, his family, state legislators, and all others who were injured by Rev. Pfleger's thoughtless, inflammatory remarks."

The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful, and responsible firearms ownership. Since 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding firearm Illinois firearm owners.

This press release is posted at PRnewswire.

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