Cherry-Picking

Or just plain lying.

First, read SayUncle's Quote of the Day.

Then, read Joe Huffman's Quote of the Day.

Then, read the article Joe's QotD comes from.

The specific bit I'd like to point out from an article ostensibly about the accidental death of an eight-year-old is this:

Data collected by the Centre For Disease Control And Prevention shows that on an average day, three American children die in gun accidents or suicides.

(Emphasis mine.)

Are they intimating here that young Christopher Bizilj intentionally shot himself?

I went to the CDC's WISQARS site to check on their statistics.  Let's stipulate that "children" are 17 years old or younger.  Accidental deaths by firearm for children up through 17 years of age for the year 2007 (latest data available):  112.  Suicide by firearm for children up through 17 years of age for the same year:  325.  Combined, 437.

Four hundred thirty-seven divided by three hundred sixty-five is (carry the one):  not quite 1.2 per day.

Not three (3).  Not two (2).  One point two.

And to get THAT number, they have to combine accidents AND SUICIDES, where suicides represent THREE QUARTERS of the total.

I have to ask again:  The real numbers are bad enough - why must they inflate them?

(Edited to add)  More of the same here:

Meanwhile, the shootings continue – more than 30,000 deaths a year, most of them individual killings that are barely reported,

That's because more than half of them are suicides, by definition "individual killings" that don't merit much reporting seeing that the US is firmly in the middle-of-the-road for suicide rates, and at the lower-end for high GDP nations.

Match Report: Twenty-Two Rabid Beavers

We held the December Bowling Pin match at Tucson Rifle Club today.  Last month, fourteen people showed up, and the round count got a bit out of hand, so I decided to separate the "Major" (.40S&W and up) from the "Minor" (smaller than .40) groups in an effort to cut down the number of matches.

That laughing sound you hear is fate toying with me.

Twenty-two people showed up.  With 37 guns.  Not including me and the two guns I brought.

Twelve people shot Minor.  Thirteen people shot Major.  And fourteen people shot .22 rimfire.

Last month, we shot a total of 133 matches - 105 centerfire and  28 rimfire.  My tables looked a bit chewed-on.  Instead of building new ones, though, I re-skinned them with 1/4" plywood.  Today's match went on so long seven or eight people left early.

We shot (even with the DNFs) 156 matches, not including the reshoots on three (3) ties.

The tables didn't come home with me.  What's left of them resides in the dumpster at the range, minus what looks like the output of twenty-two rabid beavers remaining on the ground at the action range.  And we picked up the bigger pieces.  In addition, twenty perfectly harmless bowling pins gave their all for our entertainment.  About eight of them will live on as pin tops for the .22 class.

The plan had been to shoot all the minor shooters against each other, and all the major shooters against each other, then the two winners against each other for an overall victor. About 2:30PM, that idea went right out the window.  So here are your winners:

.22 rimfire:  Tie -  Travis Higgins with a Ruger MkIII and me, your humble host with a MkII; nine wins each.  Third place goes to Jim Burnett with a Browning Nomad and eight wins.

Minor:  Tie - Jim Burnett with a Beretta 92 and Larry Boykin with a Rock Island 1911 seven wins each. Third place is also a tie - Jim Walters with a EAA Witness, Ken Cabrera with a Springfield XD, and John Higgins also with a Witness - six wins each. (Sorry about missing your six wins on the first pass, John!)

Major:  Here we have a clear winner - Cliff Reed and his Norinco 1911with ten wins.  Second place  goes to Jim Burnett and his Clark Custom pin gun with six, and third place is a tie between me with my Kimber and Elaine Tab with hers and four wins each.

The lopsided win count is due to the number of shooters who left early. It's a lot of fun, but next month we've GOT to cut down on the number of matches.

Elaine and Bill Tab have promised me pictures, so those will be going up when I receive them.  Thanks to everyone who came, thanks especially to everyone who again helped set up, set pins, and tear down. Oh, and John Higgins won the drawing and the $37 pot.  Again.

Next month there will hopefully be FOUR tables to help speed things along. And an air-horn as a starting signal.  Sunday, January 9. Sign-up at 8:30, first round downrange at 9:00. See you there!

UPDATE: Great Satan has a brief match report and a video clip up!

Bowling Pin Shoot - Tucson, Sunday December 12

(Bumped)

Tucson Rifle Club action range. Registration begins at 8:30 AM (we're starting a little later). Sign in at the range office, but if all you're going to do is shoot the match, you don't need to pay the daily use range fee - it's part of the match entry fee for non-members. $10 for the first gun, $5 each for additional guns. First round downrange (hopefully) by about 9:00.

After last month's mega-match, we're going to shoot Major (.40 and above), Minor (9mm and below), and .22 rimfire as separate classes, but each class will be a free-for-all. Everyone in that class will shoot against everyone else in that class, regardless of pistol type.

Smallest centerfire allowed: .38 Special. Hollowpoint and flat-point bullets work better at carrying pins off the tables than round-nose or FMJ bullets do, regardless of caliber.

If you show up, you'll be paired off against all other shooters in your class for one (1) man-on-man competition each. Bring enough ammo! We each shot in 14 centerfire matches last month, and most of us took way over five shots per table. This month should be a lower round count than that, but it's entirely dependent on how many people show up.  And, even if you lose the match, you get to keep shooting until you've cleared your table if you want to. Consider it practice for the next round.

Whoever wins the most tables will be declared victor of the class. The last match of the day will be a best two-out-of-three competition between the top Major and Minor shooters. Your only prize: the accolades of your peers.

Everyone who hangs around until the end of the match will be put in for a drawing. $1 of each entry goes into a pot. A drawing from the names of those present will be taken, and the winner gets the whole pot. It's been running a bit over $20, so you get your entry fee back, and a little gas money.

See you Sunday, December 12!

The "Public Option" portion of the Health Care Bill

Via email this morning from a coworker.

Quote of the Day - Space Edition

There otta be a dang Hilton on the Moon right now. It pains me that there is not. -- RobertaX

Me too, Bobbi, me too.

We're the Center of the Universe!

Yeah, right:

But by Jeebus, we're not surrendering!

This BEGS for a Caption

Found at AR15.com

Please, Drive Carefully

This ad is from Australia, but it's equally valid here.

WARNING:  Graphic content

A Land Fit for Criminals

One of the books in my queue is David Fraser's A Land Fit for Criminals:  An Insider's View of Crime, Punishment and Justice in the UK. The synopsis states:

In this meticulously researched study of the British criminal justice system, author David Fraser, a long-serving Senior Probation Officer, offers a clear-sighted and persuasive analysis of how and why the country faces the spiraling crime figures it does today. Fraser addresses government policy since World War II, showing how the belief that 'prisons do not work' became a central plank of criminal justice policy and charts the disastrous consequences that this had for the British public. He examines in detail how the workings of government, Civil Service, judiciary, police and Probation Service have all become perverted by a philosophy that seeks to uphold the 'rights' of the criminal rather than those of their victims. Finally, he argues that only by sending the country's large numbers of persistent criminals to prison for increasingly long periods will we be able to head off the social, political and civic catastrophe that looms in Britain today. Accessible and lucidly written, "A Land Fit for Criminals" will appeal to both those involved in the criminal justice system and to general readers concerned about the issues affecting Britain today.

The book was published in 2006. Four years later, nothing much seems to have changed.  In a recent headline from The London Evening Standard entitled Clarke tackles record jail numbers, we get this update on the British "justice" system:

Murderers could serve less time in prison under Government plans that would see shorter sentences, fewer criminals in jail and more offenders handed fines or community sentences.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke outlined plans which would give judges more discretion over how long killers should spend behind bars.

A "simpler, more sensible" approach that "leaves the judge to do justice in the individual case" will be put in place.

Other plans include letting foreign nationals escape jail as long as they leave the UK forever, wiping the slate clean for young offenders when they reach 18 so they are not hindered by a criminal record, and halving sentences for those who plead guilty early.

As I've noted previously, it appears that a "life" sentence for murder in the UK is actually about 15 years.

Nope. Not much has changed at all.

Quote of the Day - A Little Socialism Edition

Simply put, socialism is a system where citizens are promised results, not just opportunity. Our Constitution promises the “pursuit of happiness,” but does not guarantee that any particular citizen will attain anything, but will not be restricted from pursuing any legal goal. Socialism preaches that every citizen has the right to certain entitlements, and the state endeavors to provide them to its citizens. Socialists believe that under capitalism, too much wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of too few, who then exploit the less privileged. Socialists advocate a more even distribution of wealth and power, “spreading it around,” to quote a recent Obama phrase.

Under the socialist ideal, effort is rewarded, regardless of results, and accumulation of wealth by a few is prevented, so that more may enjoy the benefits of what society has to offer. The sad fact is that often even a minimal effort is not required, and everyone gets entitlements, deserved or not.

So, what is wrong with wanting to make sure that all citizens are provided for, and that more can have a better lifestyle by taking from the overabundance of the privileged few?

The problem is that to implement socialism, basic freedoms have to be curtailed or abolished. For starters, socialism is built on government ownership or very tight control of industry and commerce. This means, obviously, that citizens' rights to freely pursue business opportunities are severely limited by the government. Property rights must also be greatly curtailed, and the personal accumulation of wealth abolished. The government becomes the arbitrator of who succeeds, and to what extent.
-- Gene Retske @ I'm Sick of the Crap, "What's wrong with a little Socialism?" from February of 2009

And, as Shepherd Book stated so succinctly in the Firefly episode "War Stories,"

A government is a body of people, usually, notably ungoverned.

Quote of the Day - Poetry Edition

WESTERN CIV, PART II

The party goers and well wishers
Deny the facts, deny the fissures
They dance atop the speeding floe
That hurtles to the falls below
We have our rights! they scream and shout
You cannot turn this floe about!
There are no falls around the bend
And if there are, it’s not the end
So we will dance and sing all night
And hope that all will turn out right
America will save us soon
Did not they put men on the moon?
Are not they friends who won’t forget?
Will they not come to pay our debt?
They’ve saved us from much worse before
They saved us twice from reckless war
They saved us from the Russian bear
Deny us now they would not dare
No we will dance, watch our debt climb
While fearful they won’t come this time
With pieces breaking off the floe
Here come the falls, the rocks below
Two thousand years, a goodly run
We’ve thrown away for decades fun
No babies born, but what the hell
I’m sure Islam will treat us well

- Walter Erickson, found at Belmont Club

Quote of the Day - Tough History Coming Edition

From Daphne at Jaded Haven in Last Call:

Today’s stark refusal of the senate to heel in their most venal, basic impulses over the country’s dire need for prudent management during our current economic implosion, a feat they foolishly orchestrated in all of their glorious incompetence, tells me we’ve crossed the abyss into no man’s land.

The crisp suits we’ve elected to spend and manage our money don’t have a single ounce of respect for the work and sacrifice we provide to fund their sickening folly. Their disdain for the republic is manifest in every piece of statist legislation under consideration, their privileged contempt for our conscripted dollars evident in every spendthrift measure they pass.

I believe it’s finally time to start discussing alternatives to our present system. The republic of the founding fathers no longer exists.

It hasn't for quite some time, Daphne.

Update on the Comment Import Saga

I received this from Disqus tech support this afternoon:

Hi,

The reason why these comments from Echo aren't importing is because they aren't given a URL to link the comment to, unfortunately. We'd love to be able to offer a way to bring them in, but for now it's not possible with this format. We've opened a ticket with our development team for any possible ideas of how to do this, but it's still in the planning phases.

We're sorry for any inconvenience, we know it's important to import your existing comments, so hang onto those files.

Thanks again for using Disqus

So apparently the export files from Echo/JS-Kit don't have identifying tags that Disqus can recognize. But Chris Byrne was able to successfully import his comments. I'm alone in having fvcked-up export files?

AAAAAAAAGGGGH!

Your Moment of Zen

Dr. Sarah sent me the link to this one:

It's from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site.

"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."

That's from the Orange Catholic Bible from Frank Herbert's classic 1965 SciFi novel Dune. (Which reminds me - it's time to read it again.)

Back in 2008 I reported on the successful creation of the fourth fundamental electronic component.  To complement the inductor, resistor and capacitor, researchers at Hewlett-Packard had finally created the Memristor. The characteristic of the memristor is that its resistance changes based on the direction current flows through it.  In one direction the resistance goes up, in the other direction, down.  But the key characteristic is that after the current flow stops, the resistance of the device stops changing and remains fixed.  It is, in effect, a non-volatile memory device.

At the time the story was that several neuroscience and engineering labs were looking at the memristor as the key component for systems that emulate neural networks.

And they still are. Now the research is being funded by DARPA. If you're at all interested in artificial intelligence, it's a fascinating article.

And the Singularity grows nearer.

"When dealing with guns, the citizen acts at his peril."

Sorry about not posting. Life intrudes.

Most of the gunblogosphere has been commenting on the case of Brian Aitken who is now serving a seven year sentence for doing something perfectly legal in almost every other state in the union.  It's even legal in New Jersey, unless a prosecutor can convince a jury otherwise.  A New Jersey jury, but a jury all the same.


The title of this post comes from a New Jersey Superior Court decision wherein a man was convicted of possessing an "assault weapon" - a Marlin Model 60 .22 caliber rifle he'd won in a shooting competition and had never even taken the manufacturer's tags off the triggerguard - because said .22 could hold more than fifteen rounds in its tubular magazine.  Another law unique to New Jersey.

Do you want to know why McDonald v. Chicago was such a big deal?  Because laws like the one that put Mr. Aitken in jail exist only because of the 1875 Supreme Court case U.S. v. Cruikshank wherein the Court stated that the Second Amendment protected the right to "keep and bear arms for a lawful purpose" only from FEDERAL infringement.  The states were free to infringe to their heart's content.

And New Jersey has.

McDonald says that the right is and should be protected against state infringement as well, and if the Federal government can't make it illegal, no state government can either.  Make no mistake, this fight is going to take decades, but if we don't keep it up people like Brian Aitken and Albert K. Kwan, and people you'll never hear about will continue to get railroaded.

Well No WONDER He Didn't Read the Obamacare Bill!

Remember this?

It wasn't that he needed two days and two lawyers, it was because there weren't any pictures!

Srsly, dood?  Reading Looking at Playboy on a commercial flight?  At least Nancy has the, er, "decency" to fly private.  He needs to read Chapter IX of Despotism Made Easy. Of course, Conyers' wife is currently in prison, so perhaps the octogenarian needs a little "outside stimulus" that doesn't involve ten-digit dollar figures, but still...

Quote of the Day - Despotism Made Easy Edition

Nothing puts a damper on a reformer's day like a populace that will not embrace utopia. Of course, once dissenting voices are muzzled, the objections of the people will become more like white noise; an irritant but tolerable. But, and this is an important but, if the people are armed they can really play havoc with your agenda and legacy. Perhaps most disheartening to the reformer is the realization that armed resistance signifies that the people do not appreciate all you're trying to do for them.

History teaches that radically altering the social, political and economic order without first disarming the populace is untidy. Most citizens, given enough incentive, will get with the program, by why chance it. An accelerating program of firearm restriction, registration, taxation and confiscation will do much to ensure a smooth transition to a new era of social justice, equity, fraternity and solidarity.

Despotism Made Easy: A Self-Help Guide for the Aspiring Tyrant by Brad Lena, Chapter I: Disarm the People

H/t to Day by Day for the link. I wish I could say I thought it was funny, but it's uncomfortably close to the truth. Runner-up for QotD, same source,

At the end of the day remember that inmates of Communist slave labor camps in Siberia openly wept at the passing of Stalin so there will always be hope for your legacy if not actual change.

From Chapter X: Know When It's Time to Leave

Quote of the Day - Tam Edition

You know, for the last hundred years there has been entirely too much Promoting of the General Welfare and Creating a More Perfect Union and way too damned little Securing of the Blessings of Liberty. - Tam, from Getting down to brass tacks...

Can I get an "AMEN!"?

Gobbledammerung II

Heh.