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Robbed while Open Carrying?

June 10, 2010 by

Man Legally Carrying Gun Robbed at Gunpoint

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a man was robbed at gunpoint while legally open carrying. Since Wisconsin is one of only two states without any sort of concealed carry law, open carry was his only option. The reporter of this story wants to make it seem like he was targeted since he was open carrying which I think is doubtful

It is a shame this article didn’t go into the specifics of just how he was held up. I will go out on a limb and say this incident points out the need to for two things – situational awareness and more training.

Hat tip to Say Uncle.

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Is College Tuition the Next Bubble to Burst?

June 10, 2010 by

Naked Law speculates that college tuition is the next speculative bubble to burst and gives eight reasons.

Given the rate of tuition increases, the cost of attending college on average will double every nine years. Moreover, many students are saddled with student loan debt that can equal the cost of a house.

I graduated from a private, liberal arts college where tuition, room and board, fees, and books ran about $4,000 a year. By comparison, the flagship state university would have cost me about $2,500 a year. However, when one compared the after-financial aid cost of the two, they were about equal. I graduated with $300 in student loan debt that my Mom insisted we pay off the week after I graduated.

The cost of attending my old college is now $36,000 a year at the minimum. Costs of attendance there have risen on average 7.3% annually. Frankly, while I am proud to have graduated from there, I’m not sure I could justify sending my child – if I had one – back to my alma mater. I just don’t see the economic value of it.

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Follow-up on Fake Vietnam Vet Richard Blumenthal

June 10, 2010 by

As a follow-up to a blog post I wrote on Connecticut Atty General and Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate Richard Blumenthal, we now have a member of his staff saying that he lied to the staff member, a former Marine himself, “face to face”.

Richard Hine, State Asst Atty General for Connecticut, has worked for Blumenthal for the last 20 years in the Attorney General’s Office. He says:

Hine said Blumenthal first lied to him about his service record while attorney general as Hine was making preparations for service during Operation Desert Storm, the first Iraq War.

According to Hine, Blumenthal expressed concern about his family should he be sent to Iraq and made sure he would be available to Hine’s family should they need him.

“He then said that ‘you as a major would have it easier than I did as an enlisted man in Vietnam’,” Hine said, recalling that the conversation that happened in Blumenthal’s office on the seventh floor at 55 Elm St., Hartford. “I knew right there that he was lying.”

Although shocked, Hine said he did not say anything at the time because he was indebted to Blumenthal for his kindness toward his family.

Hine served for 13 years as a Judge Advocate in the Marines and was honorably discharged.

He goes on to say:

he felt he had to come forward after Blumenthal’s recent actions.

“This has to do with integrity, has to do with qualifications for office and with a very personal conversation back in January or February, 1991,” he said.

Surrounded by the mementos of his own life as a Marine, Hine said what Blumenthal did went against the code of being a Marine.

“As a Marine, you don’t lie,” he said. “He has forgotten whatever he learned at Parris Island.”

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God Texts Moses

June 9, 2010 by

The Complementary Spouse sent me this today.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl

no1 b4 me. srsly
dnt wrshp pix/idols
no omg’s
no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)
pos ok – ur m&d r cool
dnt kill ppl
:-X only w/ m8
dnt steal
dnt lie re:bf
dnt ogle ur bf’s m8. or ox. Or dnkey. Myob

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A Brit on the British Shooter in Cumbria

June 9, 2010 by

Perhaps Derrick Bird’s deadly rampages aren’t so ‘inexplicable’ after all

Yet another gun massacre is followed by yet another typhoon of psychobabble, sentiment and bogus declarations that ‘this must never happen again’, when everyone knows that it will.

It’s difficult to argue for tighter gun laws, since they’re already so tight, though I’m sure the authorities will think of something suitably irrelevant and futile, as they did after Hungerford and Dunblane.

They are determined to make sure nobody in this country is armed, apart from criminals and terrorists, the invariable effect of ‘tough’ gun laws that trouble only the law-abiding and have no impact on illegally held weapons at all.

I’m amazed that anyone left in the UK still had enough good sense to recognize this.

The truth is that until 1920, Britain’s gun laws were so relaxed they made Texas look effeminate, but we had virtually no gun crime. That only really began to increase here after we abolished hanging.

But that truth doesn’t fit the Leftist dogma which has ­everyone, including the Tories, the media and the police, in its grip, so the facts will be ignored.

What can we learn from the Cumberland murders? Well, first of all that the police are no use to anyone once a crime has been committed. They never were and they never will be, except if they can do first aid.

The British Empire may have faded but their writers can still figuratively wield a very sharp pen.

H/T to Dave Hardy for the link.

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Stupid Company Policies

June 8, 2010 by

Knives!? We Don’t Need No Stinking Knives!

If ever there was a company policy that should have been ignored for safety reasons, it was the no knife policy of Transocean, operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig. Survivors of the rig explosion who were in a life raft almost burned to death because they didn’t have a knife to cut the rope holding the raft to the burning rig.

Given the wide variety of sailor’s knives, I am astounded that any maritime company had a no knife policy. Knives are essential tools for working with lines and rigging as well as a safety tool.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

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Nikki Haley of South Carolina

June 8, 2010 by

If you live in Western North Carolina two of your three major television stations come out of the Upstate of South Carolina. As a result, I haven’t been able to turn on the TV for the last few months without seeing a political ad for the South Carolina gubernatorial race. You get the occasional Democrat but most of the ads have been for one of the Republicans – Nikki Haley, Gresham Barrett, Henry McMaster, or Andre Bauer.

Thus, I “know” that Gresham went to the Citadel, that Henry will assert South Carolina’s state’s rights, that Andre has been endorsed by Mike Huckabee, and that Nikki is against the power of the legislature and has been endorsed by Sarah Palin.

South Carolina Republican politics are also some of the most brutal in the country. Nikki Haley has been accused of having an affair with a blogger and a consultant for Andre Bauer (which she has strenuously denied), Gresham Barrett has been dumped on for voting for TARP, Henry McMaster has been accused of being a professional politician, and Andre Bauer is just a weasel. Oops, that last comment was mine but appears to be true.

However, this is a gun blog so where do they stand on the Second Amendment is important to me. The NRA has not endorsed any of the candidates nor has published their current grades. However, having examined the websites for all four, I’d guess that they would all get an A or A+ from the NRA. Of the four, the one that impresses me the most is Nikki Haley. She not only has a concealed weapons permit (CWP) but thinks that the South Carolina laws are too restrictive on where you can or can’t carry.

I find Haley’s response to be refreshing.

By the time this is published, voting in the SC Primary will be almost over. Polls have shown that Haley is the clear leader and that the other three are hoping to force her to a runoff. The accusations of infidelity have not hurt Haley but have, in fact, rebounded in the opposite direction. If Haley is forced to a runoff by failing to get 50% (a tough standard – most states now use the 40% rule), I am guessing that it will be either McMaster or Barrett and not Bauer.