2007 archive

Last night I visited this site and made a comment to this post. Which got me to thinking . . .

There is clearly no hope for any controls on guns in the United States. Regardless of whether or not one favors limiting the types and numbers of guns someone can own, it just ain’t gonna happen.

And (full disclosure) I don’t know that I favor limiting gun ownership for law-abiding citizens. I grew up around guns and enjoy plunking targets as well as the next person. As I have mentioned earlier on this site, I’m a pretty damned good shot when I’m in practice, and I’m proud of that.

Nevertheless, we clearly have a problem of guns falling–well, not exactly falling, more like cascading–into the hands of those who are not, and have no intention of being, law-abiding.

Therefore I propose this: controlling gun owners, rather than controlling guns.

And how? By requiring that those purchasing firearms demonstrate competence at time of purchase.

To avoid any (pseudo-)Constitutional issues, this process would be administered by the firearms retailer. To assist retailers in administering the program, the Guv’mint would help them construct the facilities they need to administer the program; to repay the Guv’mint for their assistance, the retailers would complete certification training and tests and be subject to requirous audits–by Democrats or at least not by Republicans trustworthy Federal employees.

The process would be simple:

When someone applies to purchase a firearm, he or she would, in addition to completing any legal background checks already required by his or her state, have to demonstrate competence. The competence test, like a driver’s test, would have two parts:

1. A written test on firearms safety and handling. Good safety stuff can be found here. If the prospective purchaser passes the written test, he or she would then have to pass a competence test, much like an on-the-road driving test.

2. The competence test would have multiple components, depending on the type of firearm desired.

• For long guns, the purchaser would have to put three shots out of five in a circle the size of a quarter at 100 yards. If the purchaser could not do that, he or she would be deemed obviously incompetent to own and handle a firearm and would be sent to attend firearms training.
• For handguns, the purchaser would have to put three shots out of five in a circle the size of a quarter at a distance of 15 yards. Once again, if the purchaser could not do that, he or she would be deemed incompetent and sent to improve his or her skills.
• For assault weapons, purchasers would be required to squeeze out a magazine without the kick of the firearm causing them to perforate the ceiling of the building with lots of tiny little holes as the weapon took control of them.
• For grenade launchers and the like, the purchaser would be required to blow up his or her personal vehicle, demonstrating both competence and dedication. If the purchaser blows up someone else’s vehicle, he or she would be required to replace the vehicle and attend training before attempting again to purchase a like weapon. There would be no reimbursement for the purchaser’s vehicle–that would be his or her “cost of doing business.”

By instituting such a program, we can insure that competent, law-abiding citizens who cannot reach orgasm without the feel of cold blue steel between their legs in their hands can take full advantage of their (pseudo-)Constitutional right to act like idiots; that street criminals who purchase (as opposed to steal) their weapons can at least hit what they are shooting at, thereby minimizing the terrible toll taken by stray bullets; and that absolute nutcases who want grenade launchers at least know how to use them.

ASZ

Adam Felber.

I was about to drift off to sleep to Law and Order reruns, but could not resist checking out just one more blog after spending all day writing about cooling towers.

And I stumbled upon this from Dan K. Thomasson:

I met an old friend and colleague on K Street the other day and she looked a bit weary. She told me that her son’s tour in Iraq had been extended because of President Bush’s surge and she expressed concern that his planned wedding although a year away might have to be postponed. Actually, the wedding worry was just a cover up for what really bothers her nearly every minute of every day — his safety.

(snip)

Then suddenly she stopped, looked at me and asked quietly, “Why is this president so stubborn?” In her tone was the unmistaken note of motherly despair, one that is now echoed by millions of other Americans who can see no end to or even reason for this debacle the president so glibly calls “winnable.” There can be no victory, nearly every expert agrees, only continued chaos as long as American troops are present.

“He is like a child who puts his hands over his ears,” my friend said demonstrating, “and shouts, ‘I’m not listening! I can’t hear you!’ “

I’ve had similar thoughts as I’ve read the news lately–If he can’t get his way, he really doesn’t know how to react.

Except with “Na na boo boo. I’m going to veto.”

Despite his fantasies, Abraham Lincoln he’s not. Hell, he’s not even up to Harding standards.

I don’t pay a lot of attention to polls. Yeah, I read them when they hit the news, but I don’t pursue them.

But Instaputz cites an interesting one.

I have mentioned before the hypocrisy of blaming the “Commaders on the Ground” for the political decision to create a war.

Find out here.

I’m batting 3 for 4.

Via Andrew Sullivan.

Barbaro’s vet to give talk in Horsham, Pa.

What better place?

Dr. S. asks the question:

Why does the Current Federal Administration keep saying, “Clinton did it”?

Especially when, as is often the case, Clinton did no such thing.

Why not, “Nixon did it“? After all, his dedication to the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties infuses the Current Federal Administration.

Domestic terrorism.

But somehow left out of the GWOT.

It ain’t just furriners, folks.

Phillybits.

Rahm Emmanuel gave a speech at the Brookings Institution. Read the whole thing. It’s pretty frightening to see the laundry list.

Under this Administration, the federal government has become a stepchild of the Republican Party, and in promoting its partisan interests, absolutely nothing is out of bounds — from our national security to our justice system and everything in between.

Principals and supporters of the Bush Administration have taken to attributing its myriad failures to mere incompetence. That is an ironic defense for an Administration that once touted President Bush as the first MBA president and then boasted about a cabinet filled with CEOs and MBAs.

With a tip to Linda.

We grow ’em smart here in Delaware:

Three men who carjacked a motorist putting air into his SUV’s tires late last night chose the wrong vehicle to steal, state police said today.

After fleeing with the victim’s SUV from the A-Plus Mini Mart in Claymont, the trio headed up the interstate when the vehicle promptly broke down just over the state line on northbound I-95 and the alleged carjackers needed help.

A Delaware state trooper came to their rescue about 11:30 p.m., minutes after the Isuzu Rodeo was stolen, and called for back-up, . . . .

I have to admit, I don’t understand townships.

In Virginia, where I grew up, your local government was either a city or a county. There was no overlap–cities under Commonwealth law are independent of counties. There was also no question where to turn for local services or who to vote out of office when things weren’t working. (Within counties, there can be towns, which would provide some limited additioinal services, but schools, the jails, and major services are still the purview of the county.)

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I lived in a borough, which was in a township, which was in a county. I never did figure out which one did what, though, apparently, the county didn’t do much in terms of day-to-day services except run a sheriff’s office (though the township and the bourough did the policing–as near as I could find out, the sheriff’s office was like a marshall’s office, escorting prisoners to court and the like) and create jobs.

It was a relief to get to Delaware, which has counties and cities, and you know what’s what and who’s who.

Apparently, I’m not the only person confused by townships:

Consider Maureen Meehan’s story.

She’s a school business administrator in Washington Township, Gloucester County, still rankled by a $20,000 insurance bill that arrived 10 years late. During that decade, the bill had landed repeatedly at one of the (six in New Jersey-ed.) other Washington Townships.

Meehan figured the bill was so old by the time she saw it that she was within her rights to refuse to pay. She lost in court.

“It’s one of the problems of having one name for several towns. The bills went to a different Washington Township, and they were just throwing them in the trash,” sighed Meehan, who for 14 years has worked in New Jersey’s southernmost Washington Township, known more for sprawl than the famous George.

It’s just one of the mail mix-ups, clerical mistakes and skewed checkbooks caused by same-name towns.

Dick Polman casts the cold light of day on the Current Federal Administrator’s lies:

Meanwhile, here in the tumultuous present, we have a fresh half-truth from President Bush. In remarks yesterday, he maligned the Democrats for seeking to suggest a troop withdrawal timetable, and said this: “To accept the bill proposed by the Democratic leadership would be to accept a policy that directly contradicts the judgment of our military commanders.”

A policy that contradicts the judgment of military commanders…The sheer effrontery of those Democrats! But wait – I seem to recall that, last autumn, when Bush’s military commanders openly voiced skepticism of a troop hike in Iraq, Bush proceeded to contradict their judgment by replacing them.

I have had teenaged daughters.

I love them to death, even though they are no longer teenaged. And even when they were, I loved them to death.

But, frankly, Jon Swift has a point.

My two or three regular readers know that First Son is a member of an elite unit now serving in Afghanistan (an effort, by the way, which I believe should have been finished, rather than abandoned for the Current Federal Administrator’s masturbatory dreams in Iraq. First Son did his turn in Iraq in 2005, fighting for Bush’s lies).

And don’t ask Second Son to comment on this. He hits the shift key and comes out with all those symbols above the numerals on the top row of the keyboard.

That unit suffered loss yesterday in Iraq.

As proud as I am of First Son’s accomplishments (he’s an officer now and benching 250), I pretty much deal with First Son’s career by not dealing with it. I try not to think about it. I can’t change anything, I can’t stop anything, I can’t control anything.

I have done what I can by my children; they are launched into life, and now I am a bystander.

And life, I hope, goes on.

But, heaven forbid, should something bad happen, I want those lying S. O. B.s in the Pentagon to tell the truth about it, as they did not in the Tillman case, nor in the Lynch case, and nor in God knows how many other cases.

Anything else would betray his memory and the memories of all who have served before him, served with him, and will serve after him.

But, then, lies and betrayal are small beans to the Current Federal Administration and its minions, who sow deceit and feed us lies.

More:

ASZ

Atrios.

Tom Tomorrow:

Via Huffington Post.

Delaware License plate on a red Mustang ragtop:

TOPPLSS.

The car was. The driver, sadly, wasn’t.

Also seen, another red convertible (GM, not Ford), also topless (the car, that is), with a female driver eating strawberries with both hands and steering with heaven knows what.