Kristen Houghton is a blogger whom, before this morning, I had never heard of, until I read this article. In it she juxtaposes her personal fear of guns against her rejection of many of the anti-gun talking points using a more rational view of the rick of being a woman in modern society. It all leads up to her decision to get firearms training for self-defense.
"I may not like it but society has very likely made women and guns a necessity. Even I see the reasoning behind knowing how to protect yourself with a firearm. If a gun is what I need then I'm going to make sure I train well and practice my shots. I also know that I have to keep it loaded. Having to take time to load a gun when danger presents itself is ludicrous."
Yes indeed, the times they're changin'.
Most of her blog pieces seem to end up on the Huffington Post. It will be interesting to see how the reader respond to this article if it appears there.
Forbes has this article on climate change today. In it, Louis Woodhill writes:
But don’t the climate scientists’ computer models prove that carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels are causing climate change? No. First, no computer model can ever prove anything (see the definition of “science” given above). Second, we do not have the capability to model a system as complex as the earth.
It has been said repeatedly, and I agree, that one huge problem that the pro-global warming people have is the tendency to use computer model results as if they are data. They are NOT! Something resulting from a computer model does not dictate that that same thing will be observed in nature. And guess what? Predicted rises in global temperature have not occurred in the last 10 years.
Oops.
Karl Rove makes some political predictions in this Wall Street Journal article. One prediction in particular stood out:
Scandals surrounding the now-bankrupt Solyndra, Fannie and Freddie, MF Global and administration insider deals still to emerge will metastasize, demolishing the president's image as a political outsider. By the election, the impression will harden that Mr. Obama is a modern Chicago-style patronage politician, using taxpayer dollars to reward political allies (like unions) and contributors (like Obama fund-raiser and Solyndra investor George Kaiser).
An evil thought occurred to me: is it possible that Rove already has information about additional scandals involving "Chicago-style patronage" that he has held back, waiting to use it to derail the Obama re-election campaign?
Maybe, just maybe.
Article is here.
I commented on the article and reproduce it below:
----- Comment Start -----
"Most states require training and safety courses before using firearms, and there are programs popping up throughout the country teaching women to do just that."
This is untrue. Most states do not require any training or license to purchase and use a handgun or any firearm. In fact New York City and New York State is only one of a small number of states that require a license to own handguns: the vast majority of states have no such requirement.
Most states to require a license and training to carry a concealed weapon, but that is entirely a different matter than owning and using a gun at a gun range.This problem stems from most writers at the television networks being based in New York City naturally assuming that New York City laws are typical, when in reality they are atypically strict when compared to almost everywhere else in the United States.
---- Comment End ----
This alludes to another thing I hear all the time, even in California: the phrase "licensed gun owner". I hear it in conversations, and I read it in articles like this one. To most non-gun owners it seems to be held as a truth that one must be licensed to own a gun.
I blame television shows for this. How many times have we seen characters in procedural police dramas say lines like: "We recovered an unlicensed gun at the crime scene." Many TV writers are ignorant of gun laws in general, and many are based in New York City where one must obtain a license to possess a handgun in ones home, so they assume that such laws apply everywhere. There we hear TV show characters talk of licensed firearms and licensed gun owners in shows set in places like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, or Atlanta even though those places do not require a license to possess a handgun.
This leads new gun owners to be ignorant about the law, assuming that one must get a license to own a gun. I have actually had people ask me how to get a handgun license in California, and I tell them that it is pretty much impossible in Santa Clara County, only to learn that they want to BUY a handgun, not carry a concealed handgun.
Even though firearms are becoming ever more popular, I really don't see this changing.
Hat tip to David Hardy at Arms And The Law.
President Obama in a signing statement has alluded to his intention to ignore budgetary prohibitions against spending for certain research projects that seek to justify increased gun control.
But David Hardy points out that spending money in ways not authorized by Congress is unconstitutional and illegal.
I wonder, if President Obama proceeds to spend money to fund the prohibited programs, breaking the law, who would enforce the law? the "Justice" Department? It is to laugh!
Ever wonder what would happen in California if the state started issuing LTC permits on a shall-issue basis? Iowa may have provided a glimpse of the future during 2011.
“The majority of people I’ve talked to said they’d just always wanted one,” said Pals, the Cerro Gordo County sheriff. “And now they can in Iowa and they are following through with it. The training that’s required is a lot easier now.”
There is undoubtedly a huge backlog of gun owners in California that would apply for a permit if the process was not discretionary. If only 2% of Californians got a permit California would expect to increase from approximately 32,000 permits held today to somewhere around 600,000 permits.
Given the state of current court cases, there is a possibility that such a scenario may eventually come to pass in the next few years. To help it along, donate to the Calguns Foundation.
