Carry a GUN, not SEASONING DAMMIT! Do it for the Children!

From the Los Angeles Times (in the Chicago Tribune)

ATTACKED BY A GRIZZLY (and totally sensationalized by the writer...)

A hike into horror and an act of courage

A California man visiting Glacier National Park with his daughter instinctively puts himself between her and the rampaging bear's claws and teeth.

By Thomas CurwenTimes Staff WriterPublished April 29, 2007 Glacier National Park, Mont. —

JOHAN looked up. Jenna was running toward him. She had yelled something, he wasn't sure what. Then he saw it. The open mouth, the tongue, the teeth, the flattened ears. Jenna ran right past him, and it struck him — a flash of fur, two jumps, 400 pounds of lightning.It was a grizzly, and it had him by his left thigh. His mind started racing — to Jenna, to the trip, to fighting, to escaping. The bear jerked him back and forth like a rag doll, but he remembered no pain, just disbelief. It bit into him again and again, its jaw like a sharp vise stopping at nothing until teeth hit bone. Then came the claws, rising like shiny knife blades, long and stark...
-------------------------

I will not be food. Don't ask. Don't tell. And for G_d's sake at LEAST carry a K-Bar or equivelent "human claw".

  ¶ posted by Old Ironsights 12:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Phillip Thompson Will NOT be Prosecuted... I'd like to take the credit for my initiative in beginning the Free Phillip Thompson campaign but I don't think it made a bit of difference. Phillip Thompson, aide to Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, will not be prosecuted for illegal anything with a handgun at The Capitol and I just think that the various agencies involved couldn't prove a crime. Too bad that Senator Webb has yet to speak out for gun owners (including himself), stand up for his friend (in public), or do anything that would show that he's more than a surrender monkey putz. I know, I'm too demanding.

Labels: Politics

  ¶ posted by Hobie 1:15 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  "Prohibited People"? Just what did we fight WWII to stop?

Sure, we fought it to stop a Mad Man from taking over all of Europe, but we also fought it to disavow the noxious principle of singling out a group of innocent people and making them, and their families, “prohibited persons”.

How soon we forget the lessons of the Shoah, because it looks like the idea that there can be “prohibited persons” is alive and well enough in the halls of Congress that I may just have to get my own forearm tattoo.

Not content to try to ban virtually all firearms with HR-1022, or opportunistically dance on the graves of the Virginia Tech dead with HR-1859, dictators-in-training McCarthy and Dingell have introduced a McCarthyesque (how appropriate, Joe would be proud) bill to compile and maintain information on every person in America… to determine whether or not they are “prohibited persons”.

Introduced back in January by Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D/S), HR 297 is intended among other things to dangerously broaden the definition of "mental illness".

Section (102)(c)(3) states:

"The State shall make available to the Attorney General ... the name and other relevant identifying information of persons adjudicated as mentally defective or those committed to mental institutions to assist the Attorney General in enforcing section 922(g)(4) of title 18, United States Code."

Can you imagine? ANYONE who has been to a mental institution or "adjudicated as mentally defective" would have their name and identifying information sent to the federal government - to be held in perpetuity and used however any current or future "Justice Department" sees fit.

It doesn't matter if you needed assistance coping with the devastating loss of a loved one or war-related post- traumatic stress disorder. It doesn't matter if you only stayed for a night because a spouse was worried about you, or you had Post Partum depression.

Regardless of circumstances, your information would be still be submitted and you would become a "prohibited person" - prohibited from whatever the US Department of Justice deems inappropriate for the "Mentally Ill".

In theory, if you were found not to have a mental illness, your name could be removed from the list. But in this day and age of such psychiatric diagnoses as "Oppositional Defiance Disorder" and "Caffeine Dependence Syndrome", what's the likelihood of escaping without such a label? Once a family member is designated as a “prohibited person”, the entire family (in community property states) will become, by simple proximity, “prohibited persons” as well. If one person in a household is “prohibited from possessing”, everyone in the household is. Guilt by Association – an American Tradition (since RICO anyway…)

The unintended consequences are obvious to any thinking person. As a result of HR 297, more people who really do need mental help will avoid getting it. Fearing the consequent loss of their rights, individuals will refuse to visit a therapist or mental facility, and will therefore be untreated and MORE likely to become a danger to themselves or others.

In one fell swoop, HR 297 will totally negate the decades of progress that have been made in de-stigmatizing mental therapy, while increasing the likelihood of repeating a Virginia Tech style slaughter.

People with a Diagnosis will forever be labeled as "undesirable" in the US legal system, and with more and more employers using DOJ data when doing background checks, it will be more and more difficult for even a stable, treated person to get a job... and the income/insurance necessary to remain treated.

Ostensibly, this obscene bill is about “gun control”, but as I have stated – you can’t ban what anyone can make. So it looks like they are going to ban people.

My wife is Bi Polar. Time to dig out my grand-uncle’s big yellow star.

(Poster's Disclaimer: some useful/well written text blatantly plagerized from GOA & JPFO alerts...)

Labels: CultureOfCorruption, Politics

  ¶ posted by Old Ironsights 12:03 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  This needs saying... and repeating... Just Do It There should be no glory, or history, in a dishonorable death.

(From the Editor of The Libertarian Enterprise)

"My feelings are hurt! Nobody likes me because I'm unlikable! I have no friends because I'm unfriendly! I hate everybody! Poor Me! Boo hoo! It's not my fault!" But of course, it IS your fault, you stupid git. Yes, you failed to learn to be friendly, to become likable, but IT IS YOUR fault, you stupid git! Why didn't you read "How to Win Friends and Influence People"? Eh? Eh? I've got a copy I picked up for 25-cents at a thrift store.

I'm hearby kicking off the campaign to always and forever more refer to that stupid git at Virginia Tech as "Stupid Git"—never speak his name, whatever it was; let it be lost to history. Just call him "That Stupid Git." Steal his tombstone and replace it with one that says "Here lies That Supid Git."

Okay, that would violate the Z.A.P., so don't do that. ...

I agree with the bolded bits 150%. From here on out, I will also refer to the faceless freak of VT as "That Stupid Git"...

You should too.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Old Ironsights 9:53 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  HEADLINES FROM THE YEAR: 2029 (emails go around like a virus...)

• Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California . White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language.
• Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.
• Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped.
• Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.
• Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon ).
• Iran still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 10 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.
• France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica .
• Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking..
• George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.
• Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.
• 85-year $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss.
• Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.
• Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed, they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut.
• Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.
• Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.
• Average height of NBA players is now nine feet, seven inches.
• New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2036.
• Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.
• IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.
• Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.

Labels: Culture, CultureOfCorruption, Humor, Politics

  ¶ posted by Old Ironsights 9:05 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Abrogate the Constitution to Control Firearms Destroy the country to save "the children"....

The disarming of America Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Dan Simpson

LAST week's tragedy at Virginia Tech in which a mentally disturbed person gunned down 32 of America's finest - intelligent young people with futures ahead of them - once again puts the phenomenon of an armed society into focus for Americans.

The likely underestimate of how many guns are wandering around America runs at 240 million in a population of about 300 million. What was clear last week is that at least two of those guns were in the wrong hands.

When people talk about doing something about guns in America, it often comes down to this: "How could America disarm even if it wanted to? There are so many guns out there."

Because I have little or no power to influence the "if" part of the issue, I will stick with the "how." And before anyone starts to hyperventilate and think I'm a crazed liberal zealot wanting to take his gun from his cold, dead hands, let me share my experience of guns.

As a child I played cowboys and Indians with cap guns. I had a Daisy Red Ryder B-B gun. My father had in his bedside table drawer an old pistol which I examined surreptitiously from time to time. When assigned to the American embassy in Beirut during the war in Lebanon, I sometimes carried a .357 Magnum, which I could fire accurately. I also learned to handle and fire a variety of weapons while I was there, including Uzis and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

I don't have any problem with hunting, although blowing away animals with high-powered weapons seems a pointless, no-contest affair to me. I suppose I would enjoy the fellowship of the experience with other friends who are hunters.

Now, how would one disarm the American population? First of all, federal or state laws would need to make it a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine and one year in prison per weapon to possess a firearm. The population would then be given three months to turn in their guns, without penalty.

Hunters would be able to deposit their hunting weapons in a centrally located arsenal, heavily guarded, from which they would be able to withdraw them each hunting season upon presentation of a valid hunting license. The weapons would be required to be redeposited at the end of the season on pain of arrest. When hunters submit a request for their weapons, federal, state, and local checks would be made to establish that they had not been convicted of a violent crime since the last time they withdrew their weapons. In the process, arsenal staff would take at least a quick look at each hunter to try to affirm that he was not obviously unhinged.

It would have to be the case that the term "hunting weapon" did not include anti-tank ordnance, assault weapons, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, or other weapons of war.

All antique or interesting non-hunting weapons would be required to be delivered to a local or regional museum, also to be under strict 24-hour-a-day guard. There they would be on display, if the owner desired, as part of an interesting exhibit of antique American weapons, as family heirlooms from proud wars past or as part of collections.

Gun dealers could continue their work, selling hunting and antique firearms. They would be required to maintain very tight inventories. Any gun sold would be delivered immediately by the dealer to the nearest arsenal or the museum, not to the buyer.

The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm.

Clearly, since such sweeps could not take place all across the country at the same time. But fairly quickly there would begin to be gun-swept, gun-free areas where there should be no firearms. If there were, those carrying them would be subject to quick confiscation and prosecution. On the streets it would be a question of stop-and-search of anyone, even grandma with her walker, with the same penalties for "carrying."

The "gun lobby" would no doubt try to head off in the courts the new laws and the actions to implement them. They might succeed in doing so, although the new approach would undoubtedly prompt new, vigorous debate on the subject. In any case, some jurisdictions would undoubtedly take the opportunity of the chronic slowness of the courts to begin implementing the new approach.

America's long land and sea borders present another kind of problem. It is easy to imagine mega-gun dealerships installing themselves in Mexico, and perhaps in more remote parts of the Canadian border area, to funnel guns into the United States. That would constitute a problem for American immigration authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard, but not an insurmountable one over time.

There could conceivably also be a rash of score-settling during hunting season as people drew out their weapons, ostensibly to shoot squirrels and deer, and began eliminating various of their perceived two-footed enemies. Given the general nature of hunting weapons and the fact that such killings are frequently time-sensitive, that seems a lesser sort of issue.

That is my idea of how it could be done. The desire to do so on the part of the American people is another question altogether, but one clearly raised again by the Blacksburg tragedy.

Dan Simpson, a retired diplomat, is a member of the editorial boards of The Blade and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

This is why our state department can't work to defeat our enemies. The diplomatic corps believes, not in the values expressed in the Constitution, but in dictatorships, in totalitarianism, in oppression, in absolute control of the individual and it was well expressed here by a career diplomat. Be afraid, be very afraid, Mr. Simpson's ideas were incubated in the US State Department.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:27 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Surrender Monkeys Out in Force As noted here Iraq war dominates first Dem. presidential debate the Dem/S candidates all jetted down (in separate private jets) to the "debate" site and conducted their press conference. Of course this is all over the news with "in depth analysis" which misses the mark. The main point was that they would all surrender. That is the one reason that you absolutely should never vote for any one of these people. they would give your children and grandchildren to the radical islamists.

April 26, 2007
BY NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press
ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- Democratic presidential hopefuls flashed their anti-war credentials Thursday night, robustly criticizing President Bush's Iraq policy in an unusually early first debate of the 2008 campaign.

"If this president does not get us out of Iraq, when I am president, I will," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, one of eight contenders on the debate stage.

Sen. Barack Obama shares a laugh with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton prior to the start of the Democratic presidential primary debate of the 2008 election hosted by the South Carolina State University.

But Clinton found herself on the receiving end of criticism moments later when former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said she or anyone else who voted to authorize the war should "search their conscience."

Edwards, in the Senate at the time, also cast his vote for the invasion, but he since has apologized for it.

Of eight rivals participating in the debate at South Carolina State University, four voted earlier in the day to support legislation that cleared Congress and requires the beginning of a troop withdrawal by Oct. 1. The legislation sets a goal of a complete withdrawal by April 1, 2008.

"We are one signature away from ending this war," said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. He said if Bush won't change his mind about vetoing the bill, Democrats need to work on rounding up enough Republican votes to override him.

In addition to Clinton and Obama, Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut also cast votes earlier in the day in favor of the legislation.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio also took part in the debate.

Bush is barred by the Constitution from running for re-election next fall, and the result is an extraordinarily early start to the campaign to succeed him.

The debate was 90 minutes long without opening or closing statements from the candidates. Instead, each of the eight fielded questions in turn.

While Iraq dominated the debate's early moments, Edwards was asked about having paid for a $400 haircut from campaign donations rather than from his own wallet.

"That was a mistake, which we remedied," he said. A wealthy former trial lawyer, he recalled once having gone to dinner at a restaurant as a young child and having to leave because his father could not afford the prices.

"I've not forgotten where I came from," he said.

Five of the eight -- Gravel, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich and Richardson -- raised their hands when moderator Brian Williams of NBC News asked whether they had ever had a gun in their home.

Asked about a recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld a ban on so-called partial birth abortions, several of the contenders replied they would not impose a litmus test on their own nominees to the high court.

At the same time, they stressed their support for abortion rights, and said their nominees would reflect their own values. "Any of my appointments to the high court would necessarily reflect my thinking," said Kucinich, who did not mention that he opposed abortion rights until he ran for the White House in 2004.

There were moments of levity, as when Williams referred to Biden's reputation for "verbosity" and asked whether he had the discipline to be a player on the world stage.

"Yes," the Delaware lawmaker replied with uncharacteristic brevity.

Asked why he was not supporting an NAACP ban on travel to South Carolina while the Confederate flag flies on the grounds of the State Capitol in Columbia, Biden noted that Rep. James Clyburn, a black member of Congress from another part of the state, had invited them to the debate.

The flag "should be put in a museum," added Obama, running the most competitive race in history for a black man.

The debate was about 40 minutes old when Clinton made the first mention of her husband, the former president. Responding to a question about the recent shooting spree at Virginia Tech, she began by saying, "I remember very well when I accompanied Bill to Columbine" -- the Colorado high school that was the scene of another shooting spree a decade ago.

Not surprisingly, Bush's Iraq war policy found no supporters on the debate stage.

"I am proud that I opposed this war from the start," said Obama -- a jab at those on the stage who voted to authorize the invasion.

"I would withdraw all of our troops by the end of our calendar year," and invite Iran and Syria to a regional security conference, said Richardson.

"The president has a fundamentally flawed policy," said Biden. "The president should start off by not vetoing the legislation he says he will veto."

Dodd said Bush was pursuing a "failed policy."

Kucinich jabbed at the senators on stage, saying it made no sense to oppose the war and then turn around and vote for more money as they did. The Ohio lawmaker voted against the legislation that cleared Congress earlier in the day.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Labels: Politics

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:07 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Letter to Senator Jim Webb Senator Jim Webb voted today on a "funding" and pork bill that puts a timeline to the war "in Iraq". So, I was motivated to write him, again, on the subject.

I notice that you say that you're proud to represent the citizens of Virginia. You must not be proud of representing me or any of the sservice people who live in the Commonwealth. Your vote today, trying to usurp the command and control of the US armed forces while giving aid and comfort to our enemies is reprehensible. Are you familiar with the term "quisling"? I suggest you bone up on your history. You might see a bit of what you're doing AND you might actually learn that it always harms the nation that tries it.

Please note that I notice that while Speaker Pelosi can travel half way 'round the world to treat with the Syrian dictator but can't spare 15 minutes to get briefed by the US commander in Iraq. I noticed that Senator Reid has decided, unilaterally, that we are defeated.

Labels: Politics

  ¶ posted by Hobie 1:19 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  For Fun... Sometimes a picture says it all...
But some people say it better:


Over the past 30 years, I've been paid to write almost two million words, every one of which, sooner or later, came back to the issue of guns and gun-ownership. Naturally, I've thought about the issue a lot, and it has always determined the way I vote.

People accuse me of being a single-issue writer, a single- issue thinker, and a single- issue voter, but it isn't true. What I've chosen, in a world where there's never enough time and energy, is to focus on the one political issue which most clearly and unmistakably demonstrates what any politician—or political philosophy—is made of, right down to the creamy liquid center.

Make no mistake: all politicians—even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership—hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician—or political philosophy—can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash—for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything—without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude—toward your ownership and use of weapons—conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

If he doesn't want you to have the means of defending your life, do you want him in a position to control it?

If he makes excuses about obeying a law he's sworn to uphold and defend—the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights—do you want to entrust him with anything?

If he ignores you, sneers at you, complains about you, or defames you, if he calls you names only he thinks are evil—like "Constitutionalist"—when you insist that he account for himself, hasn't he betrayed his oath, isn't he unfit to hold office, and doesn't he really belong in jail?

Sure, these are all leading questions. They're the questions that led me to the issue of guns and gun ownership as the clearest and most unmistakable demonstration of what any given politician—or political philosophy—is really made of.

He may lecture you about the dangerous weirdos out there who shouldn't have a gun—but what does that have to do with you? Why in the name of John Moses Browning should you be made to suffer for the misdeeds of others? Didn't you lay aside the infantile notion of group punishment when you left public school—or the military? Isn't it an essentially European notion, anyway—Prussian, maybe—and certainly not what America was supposed to be all about?

And if there are dangerous weirdos out there, does it make sense to deprive you of the means of protecting yourself from them? Forget about those other people, those dangerous weirdos, this is about you, and it has been, all along.

Try it yourself: if a politician won't trust you, why should you trust him? If he's a man—and you're not—what does his lack of trust tell you about his real attitude toward women? If "he" happens to be a woman, what makes her so perverse that she's eager to render her fellow women helpless on the mean and seedy streets her policies helped create? Should you believe her when she says she wants to help you by imposing some infantile group health care program on you at the point of the kind of gun she doesn't want you to have?

On the other hand—or the other party—should you believe anything politicians say who claim they stand for freedom, but drag their feet and make excuses about repealing limits on your right to own and carry weapons? What does this tell you about their real motives for ignoring voters and ramming through one infantile group trade agreement after another with other countries?

Makes voting simpler, doesn't it? You don't have to study every issue—health care, international trade—all you have to do is use this X-ray machine, this Vulcan mind-meld, to get beyond their empty words and find out how politicians really feel. About you. And that, of course, is why they hate it.

And that's why I'm accused of being a single-issue writer, thinker, and voter.

But it isn't true, is it?

(Permission to redistribute this article is herewith granted by the author—provided that it is reproduced unedited, in its entirety, and appropriate credit given. )

Labels: Culture, Politics

  ¶ posted by Old Ironsights 11:34 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Donald Walters, Lori Piestewa and Shoshana Johnson I thought I'd written about these two soldiers who were in the same firefight as Jessica Lynch and who's respective stories might have been rolled up into the Army's one story about PFC Lynch.

As you know, PFC (USA, Ret.) Jessica Lynch testified that the Army misled the public about the truth of her circumstances and she pointed out that others were the true heroes. Some have criticized her for not speaking up sooner. Frankly, I can't remember one instance where I heard her contradict her testimony. I think she was the first I heard say that she never fired a shot and I heard her a way back then say that others had done more to resist. As she has said, her fellow soldiers, SGT Walters and Specialists Piestewa and Johnson were the heros of that particular action and its aftermath.

Labels: MenOfHonor

  ¶ posted by Hobie 10:50 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  USC students hold off gunman The full title is Cops: USC students hold off gunman AP April 24, 2007

LOS ANGELES --Students wrested a gun away from a University of Southern California student who had been asked to leave an off-campus party after threatening a young woman, police said Tuesday.

Zao Xing Yang, 19, was arrested early Sunday and is being held without bail, Chief William Bratton said at a news conference.

Some students at the party, held at a student's home, overheard Yang making intimidating statements to the woman and threatening her with violence about 3 a.m. Sunday, Bratton said.

Yang began arguing with the host, who noticed Yang was holding a gun, he said.

"Several students wrestled the gun away from Yang and held him until campus security and then LAPD officers arrived," Bratton said.

Detectives searched Yang's off-campus room Monday and found a safe containing methamphetamine packaged for sale, a .44-caliber Magnum revolver and several hundred dollars in cash, Bratton said.

Yang is charged with making criminal threats, assault with a firearm and personal use of a handgun. If convicted, he faces up to 18 years in prison.

Defense attorney Nina Marino declined to comment.

Of course there will be comparisons to the Virginia Tech students. I feel I have to point out some likely (emphasis) differences.

First, some of these fellows were likely (again, emphasis here) enjoying some adult beverages which lower inhibitions. Clearly not to excess or they wouldn't have succeeded. Students going to class likely weren't affected by drugs or alcohol and so were more intimidated.

Second, they were in very close proximitiy to one another which has been proven to give soldiers greater confidence. The VT students, sitting at the desks or other furniture used in many classrooms, were/felt isolated and their movements restricted which made it easier to intimidate them.

Third, they probably were also in close proximity to the gunman and there were likely a number of them close to the gunman. At VT the students closest to the killer were likely at least 6 feet from him. While it isn't true in fact, 6 feet seems a great distance to the untrained.

I think, too, the USC kids were aware of what happened at VT and had changed or strengthened resolve. I'd like to hear from the students involved but I don't know that they want to be quoted. I know my kids would not want me to know that they were at a party at 3 AM!

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:23 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Name Change If you actually come here, not accidentally, you might notice the name has changed. That's because both Hobie (me) and Old Ironsights are old soldiers. 1+1=2 and all that. Just to maintain accuracy in reporting...

Labels: Administration

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:21 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  We Forgot Korea and 30+ thousand dead and now... we're apparently forgetting about Afghanistan. Troops are still there in Afghanistan, some are being wounded or killed. Strength was recently increased. There is even a push on in the mountains near the Pakistani border. But little news. Apparently there is also little support for the surviving families of service people killed in Afghanistan.

Well, we forgot about Korea pretty quickly it seems to me. 36,516 service men and women were killed during the conflict out of 1-3/4 million who served in theater. They were largely forgotten as well. Sometimes I meet veterans of Korea and they ask if I know about it. I do (I spent 4 years 9 months and a few days in the Republic of Korea). You can tell that they think nobody knows about or values their efforts. Now we hear that the families of the KIA in Afghanistan are forgotten. Will the surviving veterans be next?

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 6:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Global Warming, Climate Change or Whatever... Can you say scam? Well global warming or global climate change is one. Oh, I don't doubt that there are changes in climate here and there in the world. But I do doubt that changing anything that humans do is going to change anything at all. After all, climate change is what created a land bridge from Asia to the Americas permitting human migration here. Anyway, there's a real push on in the media to convince Americans that they are solely responsible for this and this includes the "chanteuse" Sheryl Crow who believes that we can save the world using only one square of toilet paper at a time. However, like Al Gore, Sheryl has a pretty nice house that consumes much more than she'd allow the rest of us.

Frankly, as has been said before, all I keep seeing is rich Dem/S telling everyone else what to do. I see that Al Gore was embarrassed by his wealth so he's adding solar panels to one of his mansions and making some other changes. But that's only one home.

Of course economic decisions are something we all have to do. I'm going to install a new hot water heater in my 81 year old home. I figure that with the tax rebate, higher efficiency heater, and updated piping I might cut my gas bill a bit and improve the saleability of my house. There's nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is being TOLD how and when and where to spend my money. It is just another form of tax...

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 4:25 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Welcome Old Ironsights I'd like to welcome Old Ironsights to this blog as, I hope, a regular poster. I'm looking forward to his posts.

Labels: Administration

  ¶ posted by Hobie 12:19 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Details, Details...

The first Broadside from Old Ironsights...



----------------------------------------------------
There is an old saw that claims that: "A Conservative is a Liberal who has been Mugged". However, I have found that is often not the case, particularly when it comes to "Ivory Tower" Liberal Utopians. Utopians are a strange lot. For them, impossibility is simply not a concern. Take, for example, the recent article published on CNN.com by Tom Plate, former editor of the editorial pages of the Los Angeles Times, and current professor of communication and policy studies at UCLA, titled "Let's lay down our right to bear arms".

Really? Lay down our RIGHT to bear arms and, by definition, get rid of our guns?

Sure Tom. Have you thought about this at all?

In the wake of the recent tragedies, many emotional people like yourself, as well as the regular political ideologues, have voiced that "We need to get rid of our guns."

What a magical quick fix to deep sociological problems that would be!

But, all 2nd Amendment questions aside, I have only one question to people like Tom... "How?"

How are you going to get rid of guns? With the “magic wand” of a Constitutional Amendment or a "War on Guns"?

The Volstead Act created Bootleggers, built the Mob (and the Kennedy Clan...) and gave us toxic home-made bathtub gin.

The "war on drugs" gave us "Mules", Gangbangers and Suburban Meth labs.

But, just as with Booze & Drugs, if criminals can't get smuggled or stolen guns, they will make their own.

The simplest firearm in the world to make is a fully automatic 9mm submachinegun. Mr. P.A. Luty, a British Subject, proved this can be done with hand tools, stock steel tubing and a few hours work.

Why try to steal a snubby when you can make a machinegun? They would both be just as illegal.

How are you going to get rid of guns?

What level of Kim Jong Il style authoritarianism are you willing to impose on honest citizens to attempt this? How much are you willing to impose on yourself?

How are you going to get rid of guns?

With Waco/Ruby Ridge/Elian Gonzalez style police raids on the homes of every American - in the off chance some of the MILLIONS of lawfully held firearms in this country aren’t turned in?

Even assuming you could legislate a nationwide turn-in, how are you going to take guns away from criminals and crazies?

They aren’t allowed to have them now, so they don't have to turn them in... that would violate their Right to eschew self incrimination (unless, of course, the turn-in is of the "no questions asked" variety - allowing criminals to turn in evidence for destruction...).

How are you going to get rid of guns?

You aren't. Ever.

You are only going to impose an authoritarian bureaucracy on the Law Abiding citizens of America... and criminals will still kill with "illegal" guns.

So much for Utopia.

(Note: This article was published in a slightly shorter & edited form as a Letter to the Editor in my local paper...)

Labels: Politics

  ¶ posted by Old Ironsights 10:30 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Dem/S Contribute to Global Warming... Let's call this satire.

Labels: Humor

  ¶ posted by Hobie 9:38 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  When a Shooter Meets Armed Resistance Said so much better than I can manage, Classically Liberal posts:

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
When mass killers meet armed resistance.

It took place at a university in Virginia. A student with a grudge, an immigrant, pulled a gun and went on a shooting spree. It wasn’t Virginia Tech at all. It was the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, not far away. You can easily drive from the one school to the other, just take a trip down Route 460 through Tazewell.

It was January 16, 2002 when Peter Odighizuwa came to campus. He had been suspended due to failing grades. Odighizuwa was angry and waving a gun calling on students to “come get me”. The students, seeing the gun, ran. A shooting spree started almost immediately. In seconds Odighizuwa had killed the school dean, a professor and one student. Three other students were shot as well, one in the chest, one in the stomach and one in the throat.

Many students heard the shots. Two who did were Mikael Gross and Tracy Bridges. Mikael was outside the school having just returned to campus from lunch when he heard the shots. Tracy was inside attending class. Both immediately ran to their cars. Each had a handgun locked in the vehicle.

Bridges pulled a .357 Magnum pistol and he later said he was prepared to shoot to kill if necessary. He and Gross both approached Odighizuwa at the same time from different directions. Both were pointing their weapons at him. Bridges yelled for Odighizuwa to drop his weapon. When the shooter realized they had the drop on him he threw his weapon down. A third student, unarmed, Ted Besen, approached the killer and was physically attacked.
But Odighizuwa was now disarmed. The three students were able to restrain him and held him for the police. Odighizuwa is now in prison for the murders he committed. His killing spree ended when he faced two students with weapons. There would be no further victims that day, thanks to armed resistance.

You wouldn’t know much about that though. Do you wonder why? The media, though it widely reported the attack left out the fact that Bridges and Gross were armed. Most simply reported that the gunman was jumped and subdued by other students. That two of those students were now armed didn’t get a mention.

James Eaves-Johnson wrote about this fact one week later in The Daily Iowan. He wrote: “A Lexus-Nexis search revealed 88 stories on the topic, of which only two mentioned that either Bridges or Gross was armed.” This 2002 article noted “This was a very public shooting with a lot of media coverage.” But the media left out information showing how two students with firearms ended the killing spree.

He also mentioned a second incident. And while I had read many articles on this shooting for an article I wrote about school bullying not a single one mentioned the role that a firearm played in stopping it. Until today I didn’t know the full story.

Luke Woodham was a troubled teen. He felt no one really liked him. In 1997 he murdered his mother and put on a trench coat. He filled the pockets with ammunition and took a handgun to the Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. In rapid succession killed two students and wounded seven others.

He had the incident planned out. He would start shooting students and continue until he heard police sirens in the distance. That would allow him time to get in his car and leave campus. From there he intended to go to the nearby Pearl Junior High School and start shooting again. How it would end was not clear. Perhaps he would kill himself or perhaps the police would finally catch up with him and kill him. Either way a lot more people were going to get shot and die.

What Woodham hadn’t planned for was the actions of Assistant Principal Joel Myrick. Myrick heard the gun shots. He couldn’t have a handgun in the school. But he did keep one locked in his vehicle in the parking lot. He ran outside and retrieved the gun.

As Myrick headed back toward the school Woodham was in his vehicle headed for his next intended target. Myrick aimed his gun at the shooter. The teen crashed his car when he saw the gun. Myrick approached the car and held a gun to the killer who surrendered immediately. There would be no further victims that day, thanks to armed resistance.

So you didn’t know about that. Neither did I until today. Eaves-Johnson wrote that there were “687 articles on the school shooting in Pearl, Miss. Of those, only 19 mentioned that” Myrick had used a gun to stop Woodham “four-and-a-half minutes before police arrived.”

Many people probably forgot about the shooting in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. It was a school graduation dance that Andrew Wurst entered to take out his anger on the school. First he shot teacher John Gillette outside. He started shooting randomly inside the restaurant where the 240 students had gathered.

It was restaurant owner James Strand, armed with a shot gun, who captured the shooter and held him for police. There would be no further victims that day, thanks to armed resistance.

It was February 12th of this year that a young man entered the Trolley Square Shopping Mall, in Salt Lake City. The mall was a self-declared “gun free zone” forbidding patrons from carrying weapons. He wasn’t worried. In fact he appreciated knowing that his victims couldn’t defend themselves.

He opened fire even before he got inside killing his first victims immediately outside the front door. As he walked down the mall hallway he fired in all directions. Several more people were shot inside a card store immediately inside the mall. The shooter moved on to the Pottery Barns Kids store.

What he didn’t know is that one patron of the mall, Kenneth Hammond, had ignored the signs informing patrons they must be unarmed to enter. He was a police officer but he was not on duty and he was not a police officer for Salt Lake City. By all standards he was a civilian that day and probably should have left his firearm in his vehicle.

It’s a good thing he didn’t. He was sitting in the mall with his wife having dinner when he heard the shots. He told her to hide and to call 911 emergency services. He went to confront the gunman. The killer found himself under gun fire much sooner than he anticipated. From this point on all his effort was to protect himself from Hammond, he had no time to kill anyone else. Hammond was able to pin down the shooter until police finally arrived and one of them shot the man to death. There would be no further victims that day, thanks to armed resistance.

In each of these cases a killer is stopped the moment he faces armed resistance. It is clear that in three of these cases the shooter intended to continue his killing spree. In the fourth case, Andrew Wurst, it is not immediately apparent whether he intended to keep shooting or not since he was apprehended by the restaurant owner leaving the scene.

Three of these cases involved armed resistance by students, faculty or civilians. In one case the armed resistance was from an off-duty police officer in a city where he had no legal authority and where he was carrying his weapon in violation of the mall’s gun free policy.

What would have happened if these people waited for the police? In three cases the shooters were apprehended before the police arrived because of armed civilians. At Trolley Square the shooter was kept busy by Hammond until the police arrived. In all four cases the local police were the Johnny-come-latelys.

Consider the horrific events at Virginia Tech. Again an armed man enters a “gun free zone”. He kills two victims and walks away long before the police arrive. He spends two hours on campus, doing what is unknown. He then enters another building on campus and begins shooting. He never encounters a police officer during this. And all the students and faculty present had apparently complied with the “no gun” policy of the university. So no one stopped him. NO ONE STOPPED HIM! And when he finished his shooting spree 32 people were dead. It was the killer who ended the spree. He took his own life and when the police arrived all they dealt with were the dead.

There were many further victims that day. The shooter never met with armed resistance.
Labels: gun control


posted by CLS at 4/18/2007 01:14:00 AM

And Classically Liberal is such. He complains of George Bush as being a facist but hides his face and name on his (?) blog. Still, the obvious logic doesn't get by this blogger. Firearms are freedom from fear just as much as unfettered access to vanilla extract.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 7:48 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  I'm just so glad there's young people to carry on...

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 3:28 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  The Copycat Effect - A MUST Read First, read Mr. Coleman's blog, then buy his book, "The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines".

You can save the crying for our country until later.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 1:23 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  From Stop the NRA...

My heart continues to ache for the victims, their families, and the Virginia Tech community. After my husband was shot by a deranged man, our lives were never the same. But at some point, Jim and I decided to stop hurting and take action.

Eight years ago today was the horrific tragedy at Columbine High School. And in that eight years, no significant action has been taken in our country to prevent gun violence.

Elected officials continue to ignore our gun violence problem. It’s time for them to answer one question: "What are YOU going to do about it?"

We’re waging a campaign to ask our nation's leaders . . . the President, the Congress, the presidential candidates, state officials and local governments . . . asking them, "What are YOU going to do about it?"

32 people were murdered on Monday at Virginia Tech
32 people are murdered every day by gun violence in America

As a nation we must do better

A clever donor has started her own email campaign asking her contacts to contribute $32 or more today to help sustain our campaign to ask our nation’s leaders, "What are YOU going to do about it?"

What a great idea. Will you join her by making a gift today and asking your contacts to join you?

Right now, we are focusing on the Presidential candidates all of whom have been disturbingly silent on the issue.

Call those who want to be President, and ask them "What are YOU going to do about it? What we're doing now is not working. Doing nothing is not an option. Please take action now."

Your support is the life of our campaign. This is an unbudgeted project that can only be sustained with your generous support today.

We can no longer wait and we must take action . . . too many lives are being lost. So today, I respectfully ask, "What are YOU going to do about it?"

Warm regards and growing optimism,

Sarah Brady, Chair
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do Sarah. I'm going to contact 32 friends and ask them to each contribute $3.20 or $32 or $320 or $3200 as they can afford to a pro-gun organization of their choice and to contact 32 of their friends to do the same. You see Sarah, it might just have been that if a student had not been denied his/her CHP use on campus or the magistrate had not made Cho's committment voluntary or if... well it goes on and on but the upshot is that a gun didn't do the deed, Seung-hui Cho killed those people. He was insane. Hinckley was insane. Do you see a pattern? Maybe you ought to go round up 32 crazy people. Might be more efficient. And since doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is insane perhaps you can check in to a facility yourself. IF you need references, just point to the gun-"free" zones in Washington, D.C., Virginia Tech, New York City where criminals still committ the criminal act of murder against the defenseless due to misguided attempts to disarm the lawabiding while criminals obey no laws.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 7:28 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  "Dumb" Blonde? I don't think so....

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 3:33 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Quisling Reid Still Gets My Goat
“I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week.” Senator Harry Reid, April 19, 2007

This still chaps my ---. Sorry, but that we have such idiots (?) and/or traitors in our Congress much less in leadership positions in that body just ticks me off. This moron thinks that when we attacked the enemy wouldn't resist as best they could? No, I think he did expect that the enemy would resist our stepped up attacks and waited until 100s of Iraqis had died (and the Virginia Tech shootings started to rotate out of the news cycle) before he came out with this statement of his opinion. But, I don't believe him. I believe he knows the "surge" is working. He knows that we are hurting them and they are struggling to resist. I think he knows we could win the "war". I think he knows he can hurt the stability of the Iraqi government with his statements. Harry Reid knew the "surge" would work when he called for it before he opposed it (in direct opposition to the POTUS's opinion). In short, I think Harry Reid knows exactly what he's doing and he is happy to do it. In short, I think Harry Reid is a traitor.

Now, all you folks who sent the POTUS a "message" by not voting or voting for one of the Dem/S (blue dog or not), kiss your babies and grand-babies good night every chance you get. Oh, and pray for them.

Labels: Politics

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:20 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Quisling in Chief Declares War Lost Iraq war is 'lost': US Democrat leader

I guess Reid had to do something to draw attention away from Pelosi who's been getting so much press he tried to hijack her press conference the other day. Of course he can be counted on to do something stupid. I can hear him now, "I've go to do something to get back in the news cycle..."

Labels: Politics

  ¶ posted by Hobie 7:54 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Thanks Grandfather My 10X great grandfather who was here and to whom, along with other of my grandfathers, I owe a debt of gratitude for making it possible for me to live in this country these past 52 years.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 4:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  From another, 10 second gun control argument... "You know... killing people is illegal."

and

"We should ban guns. After all that's how we eliminated illegal drugs from this country."

(followed by a rolling of the eyes and walking away)

Pretty much says it all.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:26 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Now Cho's Famous - Good or Bad? Well, Cho was a good publicist for sure. He thought to forward a selection of video and photos (digital of course) to NBC so that we are now inundated with images of him mumbling, raging, posing and so on.

So, the question is, will this encourage other ill persons to do something similar? What a reward, in their minds, to finally matter, to be important. Or... are we learning something from this that will help prevent another incident?

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:21 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Worst School Attack and Other Random Thoughts From Wikipedia:

The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, USA, on May 18, 1927, which killed 45 people and injured 58. Most of the victims were children in second to sixth grades attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history. The perpetrator was school board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset by a property tax that had been levied to fund the construction of the school building. He blamed the additional tax for financial hardships which led to foreclosure proceedings against his farm. These events apparently provoked Kehoe to plan his attack.

On the morning of May 18, Kehoe first killed his wife and then set his farm buildings on fire. As fire fighters arrived at the farm, an explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing many of the people inside. Kehoe used a detonator to ignite dynamite and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol which he had secretly planted inside the school over the course of many months. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and the school superintendent, and killing and injuring several others. During the rescue efforts, searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol planted throughout the basement of the school's south wing.

Now, just how would "gun control" have prevented this? Please note, that this was in 1927.

But in Grundy, VA, on Jan. 16, 2002, a dean, professor and student were killed and three wounded by recently dismissed student Peter Odighizuwa, 43, at Appalachian School of Law. Odghizuwa was stopped by other students. The school then was forced to settle 4 lawsuits:

Once again the deep pocket pays for the crime: at the end of last year the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va. agreed to pay $1 million "to settle four lawsuits over a deadly shooting rampage by a struggling student. ... The lawsuits accused the [school] of ignoring repeated warnings that Peter Odighizuwa was a threat before he opened fire in 2002, killing the dean, a professor and a student and wounding three other students. Odighizuwa pleaded guilty earlier this year and is serving six life sentences. ... The plaintiffs had argued that the school should have foreseen the violence because the 46-year-old Odighizuwa -- who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia -- had a history of outbursts, threats and other disruptive behavior." On the other hand, the Nigerian-born Odighizuwa "told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this year that the students should not get any money from the school. 'The law school isn't a psychiatrist. It doesn't know what's in my head,' he said."

So, I suppose we can look for Virginia Tech to be sued by one or more families as Cho was indeed identified as a threat and allowed to continue at the school and to live in the dorms. (Please note that he kept his guns in the dorm in violation of the school policy. Again, the criminal ignored prohibitions.) However, I think the school should end the policy of prohibiting carry by CHP holders on campus as part of any settlement. Fat chance of that though...

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 4:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  CHP Holder Dis-Armed Courtesy of Virginia Tech Unarmed and vulnerable by Bradford B. Wiles

Wiles, of New Castle, is a graduate student at Virginia Tech.


On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."

Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.

It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.

Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech's student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.

I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out.

First, I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police.

Second, I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.

Third, and most important, I am trained and able to carry a concealed handgun almost anywhere in Virginia and other states that have reciprocity with Virginia, but cannot carry where I spend more time than anywhere else because, somehow, I become a threat to others when I cross from the town of Blacksburg onto Virginia Tech's campus.

Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.

That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.

I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."

The policy that forbids students who are legally licensed to carry in Virginia needs to be changed.

I am qualified and capable of carrying a concealed handgun and urge you to work with me to allow my most basic right of self-defense, and eliminate my entrusting my safety and the safety of my classmates to the government.

This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety.

Oleg Volk's response(s)...



  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:42 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  CBS, First with a Hit Piece Directed at Gun Owners? As I type this CBS is airing a 48 Hours look at the Virginia Tech tragedy but the first 10 minutes was really a hit piece on gun owners and the Glock pistol as an "ideal" weapon for "mass murder." I can only recommend that if you listen to such folks you know how to identify any or all the logic faults. They've hit a few already.

I may have to buy a Glock just to protest this stupidity. It will be another of my guns that has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car or maybe even Al Gore's house.

Labels: Politics

  ¶ posted by Hobie 10:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Virgina Tech Fallout... Already today, from our "friends" at Stop the NRA...

Yesterday, we witnessed America's worst mass shooting on the campus of Virginia Tech. Thirty-three students and faculty were killed, including the gunman. At least fifteen more were wounded.

How many deaths and injuries must we endure before our nation's elected officials act to end gun violence? We must ask our leaders: "What are you going to do about it?" What are you going to do to make our schools, workplaces, and communities safe from gun violence?

President George W. Bush said yesterday that schools should be a place of "safety and sanctuary for every student," but he and other national leaders do nothing to ensure that safety. They provide condolences, and then do nothing to stop future tragedies.

Eight years ago this week, we watched in horror as students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado fled a mass shooting. Twelve students and one teacher were killed. Just seven months ago, five girls were gunned down in a school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

These aren’t isolated incidents. February 12, 2007, Salt Lake City: A teen opens fire in a mall killing five and wounding four. On the same day in Philadelphia: Three men fatally shot and a fourth wounded at a board meeting. January 11, 2007, Indianapolis: A man shoots four fellow employees. The list goes on and on.

There are common threads in all of these tragedies — it is much too easy for the wrong people to get high-powered, deadly weapons and our leaders fail to do anything about the problem.

It is urgent that you email or call your elected officials today.
They must hear that you want action to keep guns out of the wrong hands.

The truth is that screened, legal and licensed owners of handguns might have been between Seung-Hui Cho and at least some of the 32 killed IF the school had permitted them to be on campus. Unfortunately, CHP holders being the law abiding citizens they are, there were none. Killers, by definition being the law breakers they are, Cho had no problem sliding past police officers and security locks on dorms to kill.

As a CHP holder I've been vetted. I've been fingerprinted and thus IDed as a the same person who was a soldier for 27½ years. My record as a law abiding citizen has been reviewed (as it was for my security clearance) and I've been found to be responsible. I've shown that I've had some training to make me a safe handler of firearms. AND I've given up some anonymity to register myself as a carrier of a concealed handgun. It is highly unlikely that I would do anything wrong, very likely that I would put myself between danger and the unarmed.

Unfortunately, the VA Tech administration's approach was shown to be unsound, and the defeat of a bill in the Commonwealth's legislature that would force this government school to adhere to state law was shown to be unsound and there was no one there, immediately there, to help those students and faculty. If, say, Professor Librecu had had a five shot revolver, he could have stopped the killer right there. How many MORE would he have saved than he did? Perhaps himself and all those killed after him?

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 6:13 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  VT Shooting Update It has been announced that the shooter was 23 year-old Cho Seung-Hui (Cho being the surname), a South Korean here as a resident alien. Also reported is that two pistols, one 9mm and one .22 caliber, were recovered. The serial numbers on the two weapons had been filed off, the officials said.

Apparently he immigrated with his family as a child and had no military service. I should note that I expect that Cho's parents and all other family members are likely mortified as well as grieving for their son.

Now it has been reported that Cho was found with a backpack containing a receipt for a Glock 9mm pistol that he had bought in March. Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-hui reportedly left a note listing his grievances against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans." The Chicago Tribune reports the note was found in Cho's Harper Hall dorm room on the Blacksburg, Va., campus. Cho, 23, a legal permanent resident who came to the United States in 1992, was described as a loner by university spokesman Larry Hincker. Also that it may have been he who was testing the security with multiple bomb threats in the last month. That he was on medication to treat depression.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by Hobie 9:35 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Men of Honor - Liviu Librescu and Ryan Clark We are very saddened that to add Professor Liviu Librescu to our list.

Today it is being reported that Professor Librescu held a classroom door closed to the Virginia Tech shooter while students exited/escaped through the 2nd floor windows of that classroom. It is also being reported that he was a holocaust survivor.





Ryan Clark was a Resident Assistant who heard shots as Emily Wilscher was shot and ran towards them to help. Clark was called "Stack" by his friends, many of whom he met as a resident assistant at Ambler Johnson Hall, where the first shootings took place.

We honor Professor Librescu and Ryan Clark as a representative of all who made personal sacrifice for others in this horrific incident. We continue to pray for the victims, their families and friends.

Labels: MenOfHonor

  ¶ posted by Hobie 8:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  VA Tech Shooting and Comments
HB 1572, which would have allowed handguns on college campuses, died in subcommittee.

By Greg Esposito
381-1675

A bill that would have given college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the General Assembly.

House Bill 1572 didn't get through the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage, the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.

The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Gilbert was unavailable Monday and spokesman Gary Frink would not comment on the bill's defeat other than to say the issue was dead for this General Assembly session.

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."

Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, would not comment Monday because he was not part of the subcommittee that discussed the bill.

Most universities in Virginia require students and employees, other than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon entering campus. The legislation was designed to prohibit public universities from making "rules or regulations limiting or abridging the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun permit ... from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun."

The legislation allowed for exceptions for participants in athletic events, storage of guns in residence halls and military training programs.

Last spring a Virginia Tech student was disciplined for bringing a handgun to class, despite having a concealed handgun permit. Some gun owners questioned the university's authority, while the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police came out against the presence of guns on campus.

In June