Those Who Do Not Understand History...: The onslaught of the 24-hour A Christmas Story marathon on cable television tomorrow raises an interesting contemporary question: When is a Second Amendment-protected firearm just a gun and when does it become a much bigger threat to public safety? ...Your point is well taken. Even if you believe in an interpretation that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to gun ownership, the Amendment was written when muskets were not the deadly products that are mass produced today. Now a mentally unstable student can easily obtain two powerful handguns with multiple high-capacity magazines and commit mass murder, such as the 32 students and professors killed at Virginia Tech. As you said, a terrorist armed with a .50 caliber sniper rifle could target a chemical or industrial refinery in a horrific attack. Is this weapon a gun? I don't think so. (First of all, British troops were horrified at how effectively the rebellious colonists were able to snipe off the British officers because so many of the colonists used rifles, which were much more accurate than the smoothbore muskets in use by European armies. Secondly, while not common, due to their expense, privately owned cannon, crew-served weapons, did see militia duty in Colonial days and beyond.) http://coloradoindependent.com/18303/youll-shoot-your-eye-out-talking-about-guns-at-christmastime?disqus_reply=4635657#comment-4635657 --- Concealed-Carry Permits in Wisconsin?: The Wisconsin Department of Justice has issued 15 concealed-weapons permits to retired agents, the only former state police officers to receive the privilege. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he hopes the decision will show other state agencies they can do the same, as allowed under a 2004 federal law. But most haven't issued permits because they say the state hasn't listed consistent standards to do so. State agencies such as the State Patrol and Capitol Police don't allow their retirees to carry concealed guns, while a handful of local police and sheriff's offices do issue permits... (This article is actually about the failure to provide the required certification for most retired Wisconsin LEO's to qualify for nationwide CCW under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act [http://www.atf.gov/press/fy04press/072704lawenfsafteyact.htm]. The federal law actually supersedes the department policy about carry by retirees but, by failing to establish state standards or to provide retirees the opportunity to "qualify" annually, states and agencies can thwart the intent of the Act.) http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/wis_ap_madison_concealed_carry_200812260629_rev1 --- Horrors, He Owned More Than One!: A small cache of weapons and ammunition and the pants and sneakers that Plaxico Burress wore when he accidentally shot himself last month have been seized from the home of the New York Giants receiver, police said Wednesday. A 9-mm handgun, a 30.06-caliber rifle and ammunition, including a clip for a .45 gun, were taken from Burress' home in Totowa, N.J., by authorities executing a search warrant Tuesday afternoon, police said. Investigators are trying to determine whether the weapons are registered, so it is unclear whether Burress will face additional charges... (It's nice to live in a state where there is no legal provision for the registration of firearms.) http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/12/26/news/sports/20081226_sport_187711.txt --- Don't Try This at Home: [These] photos are of a Sig Sauer Pro that was left in an electric oven at 210°c / 400°f for 20 minutes by a French police officer. After cleaning it he put it in to dry but was distracted by a phone call... (Plastic polymers are divided into "thermoplastic," such as Kydex, which soften and can be reshaped when heated, and "thermal-setting," which, once "set" are presumed to be stable when heated. It's surprising to me that the SIG did not tolerate 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In the US we have seen cases where people hid their pistols in ovens and one or more rounds "cooked off" when the oven was lit. In one case I recall, involving a Beretta 92, the magazine and grips stocks were damaged as several of the rounds cooked off.) http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2008/12/22/sig-oven-bad-idea/ --- Pobre México...: Last year, around 2,500 Mexicans died in the twin wars drug cartels are waging against each other and against the Mexican state, using weapons smuggled in from the United States. In the first 11 months of this year, the death toll was 5,367, according to the Mexican attorney general. Next year? ...Weak Mexican border controls rarely feature in official or academic reports on a problem that has prompted some experts and U.S. publications to wonder whether Mexico is a "failing state". That's the headline over a cover story on Mexico in the latest edition of the business magazine Forbes. Mexican officials reject the label. But privately, they concede that Mexican authorities are doing a less-than-thorough job in searching and monitoring north-south traffic. They tend to point in the other direction, to the easy availability of guns in the United States, the armory of Mexico's criminal mafias... (A popular quotation in Mexico translates as "Poor Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States." Mexico has a long tradition of pointing fingers to the north, to divert attention from the systematic rape of the nation by its own corrupt politicians and functionaries. Full-auto AK-47's abound in the hands of Mexican drug gangs; these are much more likely to have come in from the south than the north, as does the cocaine that is trans-shipped to the US. Mexican army armories contain virtually every modern firearm of potential military use and the drug gangs routinely subvert members of that army. How is infringing on the RKBA in the US going to deprive those gangsters of firearms? At best, from Mexico's standpoint, it would only shift their sources. Sorry for the rant but I grew up in that country.) http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2008/12/18/american-guns-and-the-war-next-door/ --- Tangentially Related: A new study predicts that reapportionment in 2010 will add House seats in red states. Of course, by extension, this means the Electoral College will become slightly more favorable to GOP candidates. I guess friendly tax and pro-growth policies (and warm weather) eventually have political manifestations... http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/12/a_rare_bit_of_good_news_for_th.html --- Slow News Day: For better or for worse, the relative lack of articles to share today gave me space for more lengthy editorial comments than usual. -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .