Great! Cheaper Bullets ! ! ! !

More great news from south of the 49th!

Who knew you could actually save $$$ on guns and ammo just 'cuz it's a holiday weekend?

From the Miami Herald, but thank goodness, this is not about Florida for a change:

Louisiana debuts tax-free shopping for guns, ammo, more

By DOUG SIMPSON - Associated Press Writer

Paul McCrory won't go deer hunting until November, but Louisiana's new "sales tax holiday" on hunting equipment makes this weekend his best opportunity to shop for bullets and a new rifle.

Gun shop owners report customers like McCrory are enthusiastically planning to stock up on bullets, shells, shotguns, rifles and handguns - all of which will be sold without the 6 percent state sales tax or local sales taxes Friday through Sunday. That means a 9-percent tax break for Baton Rouge shoppers, several of whom said they planned to take full advantage.

_______________


Jim McClain, owner of Jim's Firearms in Baton Rouge, said his regular customers are well educated about the program: Dozens of regular customers have come to his store in recent weeks to have guns set aside, so they can return over the weekend and save money on taxes. Among the 80 firearms he's holding are a $3,500 shotgun - a purchase that will cost $315 less without taxes.

"It should be a fairly busy weekend. We've got quite a lot of weapons on hold right now," McClain said.

_______________


Adam Featherston, 21, said Thursday he was price shopping at Jim's Firearms and another store. The Baton Rouge auto mechanic said he planned to spend about $1,000 on bullets and two rifles over the weekend, for himself and his fiancee to use in deer season.

Featherston said he thought a tax break was especially appropriate for hunters because the cost of ammunition has shot up over the past year.

"It's a good idea because we're having to pay $5 extra now for bullets," he said. "I'm going to get everything I need now, so I'll be ready in November."

Saving $$$ on items to kill and maim living creatures.

What more could a self-respecting NRA member ask for ? ? ? ?

H/T "drf"

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Assault rifle at Obama speech a publicity stunt

for conservative talk radio show Declare Your Independence With Ernest Hancock.
Hancock and "Chris", the black man carrying the assault rifle, knew each other "through their work for presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)".

"We know what we're up against," Hancock, also packing heat at the health care rally, told CNN. "We're up against a tyrannical government that will rob the next generation as long as they can get away with it."

Just a couple of guys conducting a radio interview while cradling an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle at a health care rally where the President of the United States was speaking.
This is not really about healthcare then, is it?
From the "interview" :

"Is it your advocacy that by having guns here we're probably all safer?" Hancock asked.
Chris "absolutely" agreed. He then went on to explain how he was always armed, even when riding his motorcycle, though not always when he showered: "Sometimes when I take a shower I set it down on the sink."

Only sometimes. Presumably other times not. Banking with an assault rifle must be interesting.

Initial news reports included the information that the Arizona police who monitored the man at the downtown protest "wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him."
Now we hear from Hancock's interview on CNN:

"It was Thursday that I called and talked to Al Ramirez, the representative from the Phoenix police department, and we were discussing -- we've been around this rhetoric that was building up around William Kostric, who did this in New Hampshire."

These stunts at health care rallies, whether with or without the guns, were never about health care.

Oy Vey . . . .

A trip south of the 49th to the United States of Expensive Health Care was required due to some still-retained properties in Florida.

While here, between accomplishing some outside chores in the 90+F (32+C) heat and matching humidity, I dash in to the air-conditioned comfort of the house for a break periodically. I flip the TV on to check on the local news, weather, etc. Typically, the ads on TV here are mainly promoting the wonder drug du jour to fix your restless leg, fungus-infected toe nail or limp penis. To my surprise (?) the past couple of days the local television station has been running nearly non-stop advertisements for the "Gun and Knife Show" that is to be held this weekend. Please note how they cater to the "ladies."

Can I go home to Vancouver now, please ? ? ? ?

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Bang, Bang . . .

Per Congressional Quarterly today:

House Panel Adopts Amendment Allowing Guns in Public Housing
By Karoun Demirjian, CQ Staff | July 9, 2009 – 11:40 a.m.


Gun rights advocates scored a victory Thursday as the House Financial Services Committee adopted an amendment to allow guns in public housing projects.

The amendment, offered by Tom Price , R-Ga., would bar any housing authority from restricting legal ownership of guns. It was adopted by 38-31, as the committee continued its markup of a housing bill (HR 3045) the panel is expected to approve next week.

While the Department of Housing and Urban Development does not have a specific policy concerning guns in public housing, several local agencies have banned them in an effort to reduce violent crime in housing projects. Major urban centers began to adopt gun bans in the 1990s, and advocates of such steps argued they have improved the safety of public housing.

“There was a time during the ’70s and ’80s when public housing developments were considered killing grounds,” said Emanuel Cleaver II , D-Mo., who grew up in public housing. “It is just foolhardy to place guns in developments of poor people, many of whom are unemployed, and place these guns around children. . . . Why would we try to put guns in the most densely populated areas in the urban core? It’s just unbelievable.”

Well, now that makes perfect sense, don't you think?

"Unbelievable" is right . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Guns are U.S. . . . .

The gun culture in the U.S. is apparently alive and well.

Per Reuters this evening:

At least 10 killed in Alabama shooting spree
Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:48pm EDT - By Verna Gates

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - At least 10 people including the suspected gunman and his mother were killed in a shooting spree and car chase in southern Alabama on Tuesday, authorities said.

The shooter, who was in his mid-30s, killed five people including the wife of a local deputy sheriff and her 3-month-old baby at a mobile home in Samson, according to Wynnton Melton, mayor of nearby Geneva, Alabama.

His other victims included his own mother, two people killed at a convenience store and a man in a pickup truck who died during a car chase as the gunman apparently fired at random, said Melton.

The shooting began in Samson, a small town in the southeastern part of the state and ended after a car chase and gun battle in Geneva, the county seat about 12 miles away, according to the FBI and local police.

"Officer Ricky Morgan rammed his car to distract him and was rewarded with a hail of bullets," said Melton. "One bullet grazed the shoulder of police chief Frankie Lindsey."

A police officer in Geneva said the gunman "shot at several vehicles on the highway and then he shot at Wal-Mart and Piggly Wiggly," a grocery store.

A statement from the Alabama Department of Public Safety said state and local law enforcement agencies had responded to "a series of at least four shooting incidents" involving what was believed to be a lone gunman.

The suspect "left at least nine victims dead before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot," the statement said.

Police said they expected to find more victims. There was no indication of a motive for the spree in which a house was also burned in a nearby county.

Rural southeastern Alabama, which borders Florida, is a largely agricultural area with many low-income families. It relies partly on peanut crops.

Mass shootings have become a feature of life in the United States.
_______________

Guns are widely available for purchase in the United States, a country that prides itself on the right to own weapons for self defense and hunting.

This area in Alabama is about 50 miles from where we lived in Florida. We frequently drove through that part of the state travelling back and forth from Atlanta. Who knew a Piggly Wiggly parking lot could be dangerous to one's safety?

Talk about your weapons of mass destruction . . . .

Photo of a Samson, AL cotton field I took last fall


(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Pack Your Guns, We're Goin' to the Park ! ! ! !

Good grief, is there no end to the stupidity down there ? ! ?

From Congressional Quarterly on Thursday:

Senate Panel Votes to Permit National Park Visitors to Carry Guns

Sept. 11, 2008













With solid bipartisan support, a Senate panel approved legislation on Thursday to allow loaded guns in national parks.

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved, 18-5, a draft bill by Sen. Jim DeMint , R-S.C. It would allow people to bring loaded guns into national parks and wildlife refuges unless state laws bar them from doing so. Park Service regulations now allow guns only if they are unloaded and stowed.

“The purpose of this bill is to protect innocent Americans from violent crime in national parks,” DeMint said.

Park advocacy groups immediately decried the move and warned it could be far more difficult for park rangers to stop poaching. “America’s national parks shouldn’t be made a political football in the gun debate,” said Bryan Faehner, associate director for park use at the National Parks Conservation Association.

The push to allow firearms in the parks has been a rallying point for the National Rifle Association. A non-controversial public lands measure was held up for months when Tom Coburn , R-Okla., unsuccessfully tried to bring up a floor amendment on the same topic.

'Ya know, I don't know what to say.

So I won't . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

A town called malice

Why is it that the Excited States is viewed by many reasonsable people in other civilized countries as a sort of open-air barrier-free lunatic asylum? Reason #472: Kennesaw, Georgia

Kennesaw is the sort of picturesque Old Southern town that doubtless considers itself the very embodiment of Traditional American Values. So much so that back in 1982, when those Yankee pinkos and sissies in Morton Grove, Illinois, decided to ban handguns from their town in an effort to cut down on violent crime, Kennesaw's city council took umbrage. Such umbrage that they decided to make it mandatory for each home to have a gun and ammunition.

Not to worry though, those weapons are in good hands:

Dent "Wildman" Myers, 76, styles himself as a keeper of the flame when it comes to Kennesaw's gun ordinance. His downtown shop contains a cornucopia of artifacts, including old uniforms and dozens of flags of the Confederacy that fought the Union in part in defense of slavery in the Civil War. At the back is a Ku Klux Klan outfit with a noose and a hood.

There also are posters praising defenders of the white race, White Power CDs and a sign that reads: "No Dogs Allowed, No Negroes, No Mexicans." Someone had crossed out the first part of the sign and added "Dogs Allowed."

Myers said he wanted to protect the values that made the town and the South distinct from other parts of the United States.

"They destroyed anything historic and replaced it with the PC (politically correct) stuff. It's become a cookie cutter town," Myers said, his hands resting lightly on two .45-caliber guns at his hips. He said he considered his guns to be tools, much like a rake or a shovel.

Hell, yes! Those shooting irons absolutely are tools, just like a rake or a shovel. All tools have a purpose. You use a shovel to dig holes, a rake to break up and smooth soil or gather fallen leaves and you use guns to kill people. They are just tools, just like Mr. Myers. And thanks to the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Washington D.C. handgun ban, even places like Morton Grove are going to have more tool than they want.
And speaking of tools, the Ole Perfessor has also muddied the waters, fortunately Paul Helmke at the Brady Project unmuddies them.

This just in: Satire still dead

Obviously some stereotypes have roots in imagination and legend, others walk among us.
"Blessed are the (Colt) Peacemakers"
Because nothing says "Follow the Prince of Peace" like giving away an assault rifle to a teenager.

(hat tip to Tbogg)

Crossposted from The Woodshed, where we have a new Spiritual Leader of the Moment

Granny get your gun

This silly little story on CNN the other night can be spun this way- America is gun crazy - and that-This brave pistol-packing old woman was defending her property, as is her right. I don't know that I would call it a "gun incident" if I were writing it up or claim the journalist was "almost shot" but many of the comments are hilarious and a perfect crystalization of what is wrong with a certain subgroup of Americans.

Joe Adams

March 2nd, 2008 6:40 pm ET
Foreigners need to bone up on Texas law before they go wandering across the terrain. They need to remember that bullets don't care who you are. Bravo, lady!!!
If he got shot, she'd be on solid legal ground for the hole in his body.

David

March 2nd, 2008 6:43 pm ET
This story seems a bit biased. I see nothing wrong or unusual in a home owner being legally armed on her own property, it would be stupid to do anything less in this situation. I say good for her. A strange man person standing in my front yard would receive a similar welcome.

Ben

March 2nd, 2008 6:46 pm ET
Sounds like someone needed to pay better attention to their surroundings. That being said, I doubt the old lady would of really done anything unless the reporter seemed threatening somehow. That being said, the old lady certainly had the right to
point that gun at him for being on his property.

Mike
in Indy

March 2nd, 2008 7:17 pm ET
She had every right to protect her property and herself he could have been a nut job. She is elderly living in the country and if it were my mother I would want her to be able to do the same.
This probably happens all to often living close to the President's ranch. I'm sure all these people are just sick of the populous showing up and sneaking on their property either to protest or to photograph the President. I for one am sick of the prying eyes of the media in everyone's lives. Bravo to this young lady! If Denmark and other Europeans don't like it than stay in Europe.

son of liberty

March 2nd, 2008 7:17 pm ET
Idiot Europeans and other socialists/communists (xiaoli, chinese?). This sums up everything that's wrong with YOUR countries. Trust your government fools, in America power is in the hands of the people.

Life, Liberty and Property.

Dr.Richard Gaines(Cicero)

March 2nd, 2008 7:18 pm
Good for the lady. Media people do not own our world;especially foreign media people. Watch the hell where you wander,Old Boy !!!

Terry

March 2nd, 2008 7:19 pm ET
He should have been more aware of his surroundings. When in foreign countries I pay extra special attention to my surroundings.
She was well within her rights, and as long as we keep the likes of Hillary or Obama out of the White House citizens can count on being having the right to defend their property


Samuel Mullen-Perron

March 2nd, 2008 9:55 pm ET
You know, She did not know who he was or what he was doing there. As far as she knew, he may have been there to hurt her or burglarize her home. the way I see it she did what any normal red blooded American would do. I am from Oregon and they do the same thing there as in Texas. Oregon Legislature though is trying to get rid of the rights of Gun Owners. Alot of that is because of the Homosexuals who want their rights to do what they want and they figure that their lives are endanger because of the Gun owners. Good, let them think that. As for this incident, Great! I am pleased that people are taking a stand for their rights for a change and not backing down from a Facist Government who wiretaps our phone calls, monitor our emails, you name it! Maybe the Secret Service and that idiot that they are protecting will take note now and realize just who runs this country.

David

March 2nd, 2008 9:55 pm ET
Maybe she thought it was an immigrant crossing the border…..to avoid things like this in the future we should re-deploy our army in Iraq and put them on the border with orders to kill anthing that crosses the border….problem solved YAY!

And those are not the most extreme examples of the mind set I'm talking about. Admittedly about half the commenters expressed embarrassment on behalf of the United States or dislike for gun-toting Texicans or suggested the reporter was lucky it hadn't been Dick Cheney who came out packing heat. One simply said that Cheney's mom needs to relax.
Seriously though, while I agree that old people everywhere have the irrefutable right to tell young whippersnappers to get the hell off their lawns, bringing a piece along to show you're serious is not done in the civilized world. The cowboy noise about how this "pore ole woman lives out in th' cuntry an needs to protect herself" is such bullshit. She lives down the street from the president. If the guy on the cell phone in her front yard had been Secret Service, she'd be pushing up daisies now. It's not like she shouldn't have had some idea he was a reporter, there were a crowd of the them across the street.

As PJ O'Rourke once said (about Somalia and Ethiopia if I recall correctly) they might be past helping, the only solution might be to fence the place off, pat people down when they leave and drop ammunition inside for the rest until they finally kill each other off.

crossposted from the New, Improved Woodshed, now with extra bloggy goodness at the same low, low price!