HR 1022 gets a little play

Yesterday sometime HR 1022 picked up twelve co-sponsors. Here is a list of the traitors to the constitution:


Rep Ackerman, Gary L. [NY-5]
Rep Crowley, Joseph [NY-7]
Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2]
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51]
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4]
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18]
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14]
Rep Meehan, Martin T. [MA-5]
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8]
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9]
Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29]
Rep Van Hollen, Chris [MD-8]



Please contact your rep ASAP and tell them you completely oppose this legislation.



Here is a link for the bill itself:



HR 1022

Took my Fly Pole to school

I really didn't think it would be a big deal. I'm taking an art class at a local community college to fill out the last of my core credits for a degree.



We were drawing just stuff for one of our projects and I thought to myself I'll go out and get my fly pole and some flies to draw. That's manly, instead of the feathers, sea shells and foofy stuff that all the girls in the class were drawing. (I'm one of the three guys in the class to about 15 women).



So I went out to my car and grabbed my pole. It's kept in the typical fly pole case to prevent it from getting damaged.







I walked in without even thinking about it and the instructor stopped what she was doing and looked at me like a deer caught in headlights.



"That isn't going to hurt anyone is it?"



I looked at her like I didn't know what she was talking about and said "Not unless I pull it out and accidentally smack someone with it." I continued to my work area.



She still looked scared and asked "what is it?!"



One of the girls in the class piped up and said "It's his fly rod!"



About this time I got to my station and started to pull out my rod. The entire time the instructor keeping an eye on me till I got the fly rod out of the case, and only then did she relax.



... sigh. Apparently zero tolerance extents to anything that could possibly look like some form of weapon.



To be fair though after class when I was putting the fly rod back in it's case I accidentally poked a girl walking by.



Oops, guess it did hurt someone. No harm though and the girl said it was her fault.

Every 48 Hours

There is a new "study" floating around Maryland and the internet put out by CeaseFire Maryland. It is called "Every 48 Hours"(pdf). The study was published in September 2006. Quoting the "study":

On average, assault weapons are so frequently used in crime that one assault rifle is traced back to a Maryland crime every 48 hours.

Specifically to arrive at this "every 48 hours" were five "assault" rifles that were traced to crimes between Jan 2, 1998 and Dec 31, 2001, a span of four years. These rifles were the AR-15, M1 Carbine, Ruger Mini-14, HiPoint 9mm Carbine, and Norinco SKS.

Sounds pretty scary. Every 48 hours one of these weapons is used in a crime in Maryland. This study is cited as reference to a new bill in that state to ban assault weapons. This "study" is also very dishonest in it's reporting. Let's take a look at some of the factors.

The study focused on 789 "assault" rifles traced back to crime in Maryland during the dates mentioned above. The five rifles they mention accounted for 508 of these crimes.

The "study" looked at "traced" back to crimes. This is where the "study" is REALLY dishonest. A crime trace involves tracking the serial number of a firearm reguardless of what that firearm was used for. The trace finds out where the firearm came from, and who the supposed owner is. It is the same trace used for vehicle identification numbers (VIN) on stolen and abandoned cars.

So a "trace" on a firearm could be because the firearm was stolen and recovered. A trace on a firearm could be caused by a drug dealer being busted and a firearm found on him or his property, even if the firearm was not in use at the time. This trace is triggered by the drug bust.

These are just two examples of a "trace" that can happen to firearms. Any time a firearm is found during a crime investigation of any kind that firearm is traced even if the firearm itself was not involved in the crime commited.

For more information on BATF gun tracing see this article:

BATF AW 'traces' by Kopel

For examples of the crimes mentioned in the "study" not one of them actually occured in Maryland. The closest in geography was the DC Snipers in 2002 (which incidentally occured DURING the national Assault Weapons Ban that did not expire until 2004). All the examples the study specifically mentioned were national high profile cases.

Before signing on to any gun grabbers claims please research any "study" they cite yourself before jumping on the wagon.

Remember this "study" when HR1022 comes up here in a few months, if it gets out of commitee. I'm sure someone with a D next to their name will bring it up as evidence.

Boise State 13-0. BSU wins the Fiesta Bowl!

The Fiesta bowl could be the best of the 5 college football games.

You heard it here first!

Okay no more sports. Really.

Illegal Immigration Fencing

So you wanna keep a dog in your yard, or keep the neighbor's dogs out of your yard. What do you do? Build a fence.

Now granted some dogs will just dig under the fence and some dogs will stick their paws in the holes in chain link and climb right up over the top. To stop this you put slats in the chain link or use something they can't climb like a standard wood plank fence.

Which ever you choose though you have a fence that will keep the majority of dogs in or out of your yard depending on the purpose of said fence.

The dogs that do get through? Well that's what BB guns are for.