has passed and has been signed!
Arizona cities and counties that hold community gun buyback events will have to sell the surrendered weapons instead of destroying them under a bill Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Monday.
The bill was championed by Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature who argued that municipalities were skirting a 2010 law that was tightened last year and requires police to sell seized weapons to federally licensed dealers. They argued that destroying property turned over to the government is a waste of taxpayer resources.
Democrats who argued against the bill said it usurps local control and goes against the wishes of people who turn over their unwanted weapons to keep them out of the hands of children or thieves.
As if purchasers from licensed dealers consist of children and thieves – both of who must pass a federal background check – Guffaw
Buybacks are popular among some police and elected officials who either pay cash or hand out gift cards in exchange for weapons. Tucson and other Arizona communities destroyed weapons from the events, arguing that because the guns were voluntarily surrendered, the laws concerning weapons seized by authorities didn’t apply.
Read the rest of the article: http://www.startribune.com/nation/205333731.html
h/t The Weapon Blog
Join the fun! The Wall Street Journal asks this question today in it’s poll.
Of course, I don’t see any polls regarding BANNING of other inherent rights? (But, I’m silly that way!)
If you wish, visit the link and give your $00.02 worth. As of this writing, it looks as if rights are winning – by a nose.
WSJ Magazine Ban Poll
h/t Tam et al
PS – Per the WSJ, this link no longer works after December 17!
“They: The makers of the Constitution: conferred,
as against the government, the right to be let alone –
the most comprehensive of rights and
the right most valued by civilized men.”
- Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis
What the Hell ever happened to this concept?
For the past seventy years (or more) there has been an eating away at the substance that used to be American Culture. Not just political correctness, multiculturalism and unreasonable inclusion, but who we are as individuals.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.[1]
Except:
The USA Patriot Act, NDAA, FISA, no-knock warrants, cameras on every corner, warrants unnecessary for GPS attachment, sobriety checkpoints, citizenship checkpoints, TSA rifling through personal belongings and groping etc., etc. And this from an NSA whistleblower:
Perhaps the degree to which you’re being watched is surprising: this former NSA agent says “Everyone in the U.S. is under virtual surveillance.”
They’ve apparently turned it up to 12, and it’s accelerating, he says. Scary stuff.
More from the whistleblower:
“The problem is if they think they are not doing anything that’s wrong, they don’t get to define that. The central government does, the central government defines what is right and wrong and whether or not they target you. So, it’s not up to the individuals. Even if they think they aren’t doing something wrong, if their position on something is against what the administration has, then they could easily become a target.“
(emphasis in original post)
We’ve devolved from Norman Rockwell to George Lincoln Rockwell. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?
h/t Rev. Paul
The War on Guns alerts us to Mike’s recent health issues. David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh continue to be at the forefront of the fight to keep our gun rights. And Mike has had some health ‘issues’ for some time now.
Please keep a good though, and if you are the prayer type, please feel free.
As David wrote:
Just spoke with Mike–they’ve given him meds to control the hiccups, which he says has “knocked me for a loop.” If they can keep that under control they can address areas damaged by the strokes–he anticipated being in the hospital at least a week. I asked him how Rosey is holding up and he said she’s doing OK.
Again, hold off on sending him emails or posting comments to Sipsey Street. You can send him well-wishing cards at either at P.O. Box 926, Pinson, AL 35126. or also through Trinity Medical Center. If you felt like enclosing a voluntary subscription or gift, I’m sure they could really use it.
And, of course, you can send prayers directly from where you are right exactly now.
(as stolen borrowed from Neatorama – Guffaw)
With the complaint that listed “screaming, loud moaning, swearing and raised voices,” Colin MacKenzie and Jessica Angel became the first couple charged with offenses under Australia’s Environmental Protection Act for … noisy sex:
Police patrols have been to the couple’s unit 20 times since April. The latest callouts – last Sunday night and twice early Tuesday morning – resulted in the couple being charged with disturbing the public peace and hindering an environmental protection officer.”We exceeded the noise pollution to the point we were arrested and taken out of our own house and told we couldn’t have sex,” a stunned Ms Angel said.Mr MacKenzie said: “It is completely over the top. I have been fined for having sex in my own house.” [...]“It is mostly Jessie,” he said. “Our average sex goes anywhere from four, six, seven hours, basically five nights a week.
Adelaide Now has the story, complete with photo of the amorous couple: Link – via Fark
(don’t visit the link – not exactly spokesmodel material – Guffaw. And the local residents voted in support of the government citing the couple.)
Is this the kind of government Aussies want? I wonder…
(attention U. S. EPA, pay no attention to what Australia is doing. Seriously.)
Larry Correia is probably familiar to most of you. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the Monster Hunter International series, the Grimnoir Chronicles, and the thriller Dead Six.
Personally, these are not my cup of tea. What IS my cup of tea, however is the skilled author, former gun store owner and CCW instructor taking apart an opinion piece published by CNN (you know, that balanced news organization (sarcasm) regarding – you guessed it! – Gun Control, yet again.
Like earthworms after a rain, it seems every time there is a multiple homicide, the usual suspects ooze out of the ground and spew not only tired rhetoric, but misinterpretations and outright lies in an effort to abrogate the rights of all law-abiding U.S. citizens.
And CNN is part of this nonsense, yet, again.
So, Larry comes to the rescue with a point-by-point refutation of the CNN article. It’s a little long (for those of you who like more pictures! 
) , but well worth the read.
Now, if only the loyal opposition would read it, digest it and leave the law-abiding alone!
An occasional blog reader (and a good friend) sent me a link to a news story.
The theme surrounds an algorithm via computer, touted to predict crime ‘hotspots’ before crime occurs, so that patrol officers can ‘disrupt’ the activity, perhaps even before a crime happens.
As it states in the article:
The software generates prediction boxes – as small as 500 square feet – on a patrol map. When officers have spare time, they are told to “go in the box.”
The goal is not to boost the number of arrests, a common police benchmark to reflect crime reduction. Officers want to either intercept a crime in progress or deter would-be criminals.
“I want to disrupt an activity before an arrest is made,” Malinowski said. “You can’t arrest your way out of some of these problems.”
Police say they are having success with a computer algorithm model that helps determine where to send officers to prevent or possibly interrupt a crime, which may serve as a model for other cash-strapped law-enforcement agencies.
As a fan of television procedural crime drama, the show Person of Interest came to his mind. And, after reading the article, it did to mine, also.
Can Minority Report be far behind?
Another Hollywood reference then came to mind, “Badges Constitution? We don’ need no stinking badges Constitution!”
h/t Kevin, The Durango Herald
I was reading A Girl and Her Gun (which if you’re not reading, you should!) and she linked to The GunDivas, wherein she was a guest blogger (!)
And there was an earlier post in The GunDivas that caught my eye, specifically, How Many is Too Many?
I’ve never considered this concept as valid. How much Free Speech is too much? How much Religious expression (OR purposeful avoidance of Religious expression) is excessive?
Or petitioning redress of grievances? How many complaints are allowable?
It’s a spurious question, as in “When did you stop beating your wife?”
Whether I own one firearm (a single-shot H&R Topper shotgun) or three-hundred (assorted pistols, revolvers, military-style rifles, shotguns) is of no consequence. And it’s certainly no business of anyone else, or the government.
It’s Our Right. Period.
And the blog post made mention of the word arsenal. Sadly, in today’s culture, this word has developed a negative connotation.
I use the word collection. It’s more benign. Even though I no longer have one.
PS – It always kills me when I hear, especially in media reports “the alleged bad guy had X number of guns AND Y amount of ammunition.” Again, how much is too much?
There are reports of more small arms ammunition shortages, as we had in 2009. Because we are running up to the election? Whether Tweedledee or Tweedledum win, both are not ardent proponents of the civil right enumerated in Amendment the Second.
Sigh.
h/t GunDiva, A Girl and Her Gun
example - photo rights-content art, courtesy Oleg Volk
Oleg Volk
Photographer extraordinaire, civil rights advocate, gunnie, and all around good guy, usually posts photographs of guns, and pretty women with guns, and more guns. And more pretty women.
Sometimes, his rights advocacy is shuffled aside – except in his photo rights-content art – at least by me.
Today, no photo. Just truth regarding how we get used to the ursurpations of American bureaucracy.
As he eloquently states:
The greater the amount of effort required to live unmolested by the authorities, the less free a society is. United States does not look good in that respect…unfortunately, neither does the rest of the world.
Go and read at the above link. Before it’s prohibited to do so.
