Titled:   Italy approves self-defence law

The Italian parliament has passed legislation allowing people to shoot robbers in self-defence.

The new law will allow people to use legally registered weapons to protect themselves or others, and their property and the property of others, from harm.

It applies if there is a danger of aggression and the attacker does not desist.

Wow. It sounds like the Italians finally get it.

Justice Minister Roberto Castelli backed the new law.

"Today criminals will have more to fear while there will be fewer problems for honest people," said Mr Castelli, who belongs to the Northern League.

However, the centre-left opposition expressed concern that it would encourage violence and lead to increased use of firearms.

Hopefully it will encourage violence and the increased use of firearms towards the perpetrators, not the victims as has been the case.

We should keep an eye on the crime figures over the coming months.

(Hat-tip to John Lott)

 

Titled:   Police say man thought gun wasn't loaded

Police say a man who fatally shot himself in the head with a .45-caliber handgun did not think the gun was loaded.

This stunning piece of insight comes to you from the New Hampshire police. How they arrived at this conclusion is at this time unknown, although it may have something to do with the fact that this was clearly not a suicide but another stupid accident.

Rules of safe firearm handling might need a new rule:

Do NOT point a gun at your head (or anyone elses) and pull the trigger even if you KNOW the firearm is not loaded. Failure to follow this rule will probably result in a loud bang, a very brief headache and the even briefer, stunning realization that something is not quite right. Often, local police will make obvious statements about you in the press later.

As a public service to folks out there who have trouble with the obvious, here are a few laws to follow:

1. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.

2. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.

3. ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

Keep any ONE of these three and you are likely to be safe. Ideally, follow ALL three. And kids - just keep away and let an adult know.

 

Titled:   Poll finds surprising optimists

Iraqis and Afghans are among the most optimistic people in the world when it comes to their economic future, a new survey for the BBC suggests.

In Afghanistan, 70% say their own circumstances are improving, and 57% believe that the country overall is on the way up.

In Iraq, 65% believe their personal life is getting better, and 56% are upbeat about the country's economy.

Oh, how it must have hurt to write that. Of course the report was not without a dig too:

The experts at polling firm Globescan, who conducted the survey, venture the guess that war may have created a "year zero" experience of collectively starting again.

Yes - Afghans and Iraqis can't remember anything from before the war - it erased their memories. So they must all be deluded, the poor simple idiots, probably brainwashed by Carl Rove and mind control waves.

Zimbabwe and France appear to be at the bottom of the table with over 80% pessimism about the future.

The detailed findings also report a drop in the ratings for the UN, an average of ten points.

The US MSM takes a hard hit too:

No country was more negative about the news media than the United States. Sixty-four percent of Americans felt the media was a negative influence; only 28 percent saw it as positive.

On the self delusion front, Iran had the strongest majority positive about world public opinion with 68%. Yes - Iranians think that the world loves them.

By a substantial margin Americans have the largest percentage giving a negative rating of world public opinion—39 percent. This may be a reaction to polls revealing negative attitudes toward the US over the last few years.

Thank you MSM! We think everyone hates us. And thanks to some of the stories publishes in the last few years, they probably do.

 

Titled:    Unarmed Cop Shot At By Gun Nut

It is hard to believe how quickly a country can go from a respect for firearm rights to their total demonization. This story comes from Airstrip One the UK and is full of the rich language of gun hate that is now creeping into US media reports. The longer this type of language appears and the more frequently it is used, the more it gets ingrained into the minds of the readers.

An unarmed policeman had a miracle escape when a gun nut fired a hail of bullets during a terrifying late night chase, it emerged today.

The gunman fled on foot after cops pulled over his Volkswagen Passat in south London in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The unarmed officer, who has not been named, cornered him in an alleyway off Croxted Road in Dulwich, but the ruthless thug pulled a gun and opened fire.

The brave cop dived for cover, escaping unharmed.

So lets look a little further into the miraculous escape: 

Police marksmen surrounded the scene but found no trace of the gunman who is believed to have fired at least three rounds.

Three rounds - a hail of bullets? Must have been one of those machine-gun thingys.

Chief Superintendent Ian Thomas, head of Southwark Police, vowed to hunt the gun nut down.

He said: "This was very serious. For someone to fire at officers with absolutely no provocation is extremely worrying.

"Absolutely no provocation" such as a car chase with sirens and flashy lights, a chase on foot with a cop carrying a long stick, handcuffs and probably pepper-spray, plus undoubtably some criminal guilt thrown in? I'm sure the gun nut, gunman, ruthless thug guy was in fear of his personal liberty for the next few years at least for firearm possession alone.

They sure do have fun writing this stuff.

 

Titled:   Iris Scanning For New Jersey Grade School

Iris scans have become part of everyday life at a New Jersey school. Everyone that wants to enter the school has to provide a drivers license for initial registration and submit to a scan:

When a parent arrives to pick up their child at one of three grade schools in the Freehold Borough School District, they'll need to look into a camera that will take a digital image of their iris. That photo will establish positive identification to gain entrance into the school.

Funding for the project, more than $369,000, was made possibly by a school safety grant through the National Institute of Justice, a research branch of the U.S. Department of Justice. "The idea is to improve school safety for the children," said Phil Meara, superintendent, Freehold Borough School District, on Monday. "We had a swipe-card system that operated the doors, but the technology was obsolete."

It seems crazy to install such an expensive, high-tech system for such a low tech purpose. If you wanted to gain access to the school to do harm, you would expect a criminal just to walk in with someone who is registered on the system, probably at knife or gun-point. The security system wouldn't know any different. And it would probably stop external responders from coming to the rescue too.

Wouldn't it just be easier to issue RFID keytags? Or are they obsolete too? Or an armed guard?

 

Titled:   Bills give victims more right to use force

An encouraging piece that shows the move towards protecting users of firearms is gaining ground across the nation.

What makes this unusual is that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution starts with a very bi-partisan message:

Republicans, Democrats and the National Rifle Association are backing bills this session that would give people more leeway to use deadly force to defend themselves and others from serious crimes, such as robbery and rape.

A House version, sponsored by Democrats, even offers protections against civil lawsuits.

Democrat support for the rights of gun-owners? Almost enough to make me choke on my cornflakes! So I read a little further and all became clear. Despite the support of a few Democrats, their true nature still poked through:

Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), an attorney, said: "I am very concerned about any legislation that expands the perception that people should use guns against other people.

"There's too much gun irresponsibility, and there are too many trigger-happy people for me to feel comfortable giving people the perception they can shoot people in their yard anytime they want to."

Yup - that's a good weekend for us simple gun-owning types - sitting on the porch shooting at passers-by. I don't see anything that says that people should use guns against other people. This is about using guns to protect you and your family against criminals invading your home and car when you are in them. If you shoot without reason, the full weight of the law will still fall upon you. I guess that is just too difficult for this representative of the people to understand. Maybe she went to college recently? 

 

Titled:     Just for fun

Something new for a change

 

 

Titled:   First Pistol

Thinking of buying your first pistol? Say Uncle points to an excellent short piece by Catfish on the Texican Tattler.

His advice comes down to a choice between a Springfield XD and a Glock, pushing aside Say Uncles favorite Sig. I know that our very own Buck is rather partial to the SIG too, though he too considered the XD.

I have both a P226 Sig in .40 S&W as well as a Springfield XD9 Sub-compact. When I bought the SIG as a first handgun, I wanted it for home defense and range shooting. When I made the transition to CCW a little later, it was a concealed carry weapon too. And very heavy it was, with that dig-in-the-kidney character. Still, it was supposed to be comforting, not comfortable.

The XD Subcompact was an attempt at compromise. It is certainly compact and comes with a great reputation. I wanted an XD40 too, but after 3 months, was unable to find one, so I settled on a 9mm from a Lansing gun show. It cost a lot less than the SIG too, almost by half, and is a neat Bi-tone color, with extra magazine and holster.

Carrying became easier, more comfortable and more frequent. And soon I took up IPSC competitive shooting to get real acquainted with it under pressure. It shoots very well, functioning a lot more reliably that most of the 1911 race-guns there. I can't say its a competition winner - it is after all handicapped by my ability, the low power rating of the 9mm round, short 3 inch barrel and the 10 round magazines that the Production Class calls for. But it doesn't let me down.

After a year or so, I remembered the SIG back in the gunsafe, and I took them both out for range time together. I had always assumed that the SIG would outperform the XD. But next to each other I was better at and preferred the XD. The SIG had the edge on long distance slow shooting, but for up-close speed and accuracy, the XD works best for me.

So if the bump in the night happens, and I reach for a handgun, which would I choose?

Probably the XD.

And that says it all.

 

Titled:     Capital gun crime rises by 50 per cent

The War on Guns Blog highlights continued coverage of the UK's slow-but-steady slip into depravity.

Not content to criminalize victims and remove what little rights to self-protection there were in the UK, they are now casting about for new reasons to blame for the violence. As if drugs, gangs and racial hatred weren't enough.

Record levels of gun crime are being blamed on the fact that more people than ever are carrying firearms as fashion accessories.

Figures published this week by the Home Office are expected to show that offences involving guns have soared by as much as 50 per cent in some parts of the country.

The greatest rises have been in the number of people found in possession of firearms and in the number of attempted murders.

So the new culprit is fashion? Seems like another ban will be needed...
 

Titled:    More Eminent Domain Thievery

SayUncle points to a worrying article of eminent domain abuse. It seems the Port of Houston is taking someone's land that has been in his family for a hundred years for less than a cent an acre.

The guy concerned is not a speculator or some wealthy investor. The land had been in his family over 100 years. But even if he'd just bought it the week before, he should be entitled to more than a fair price, to make up for the fact that the state is taking it at the point of a gun, whether he wants to sell or not, and his expenses of fighting the condemnation, which he did not ask for, and fairly evaluating the land should rightly fall on those initiating the suit. Last I checked, it wasn't a crime to own land. Even felons and illegal immigrants and foreign nationals who never set foot in our country are permitted to do so. Why are we punishing our own citizens?

Read the rest at Searchlight Crusade while you still have a house to live in.