We’ve been talking a lot about firearm regulation here at Plunderbund this past year, and I even mentioned in passing I was taking a CCW/handgun safety course earlier in December. Last week, I purchased a handgun. As of today, I’m licensed to carry that handgun concealed. I wanted to relate my impressions of the process.
The good:
The training course I took. The state mandates certain minimum training requirements to apply for a concealed carry license, which this class met and exceeded. It was fun and informative. Frankly, I wouldn’t be disappointed if state law were amended to make the 12 hour course I took be the minimum. More later.
The CCL application process. Fill out a form, provide a passport photo, your training certificate, and $55 and the county sheriff will run an FBI background check to make sure you aren’t on the bad guy list. In my case, my license was ready in under a day because (unlike what some right-wing “journalists” might say about me) the government already trusts me enough to tell me state secrets. In Franklin County, due to the professionalism of the sheriff, turnaround is usually about a week for the average citizen.
The firearm purchasing process. Again, a form to be filled out and an “instant” (about 10-15 minutes) background check with the FBI. I don’t know exactly what the feedback to the merchant is (yes/no, or more detailed), but the process is relatively painless.
What I didn’t like about the process:
I know the training requirements are relatively low – like I mentioned before, I’d like them increased to meet at least what I underwent. Perhaps more. While our instructors were quite good, there is still very limited range time, and I saw unsafe practices by other students a few times that really ought to be trained out of them before they have an accidental/negligent discharge.
I’d like the purchasing process to be both easier and harder. In other words, I think someone should be required safety training (via a current “firearms license”, pretty much identical to the CCL) in order to purchase, and the verification process should consist of simply showing your license (and having it verified as legit – say via a scanner like a credit card authorization). Easier and harder at the same time.
There are some goofy aspects of the law that should be fixed. For example, to be carrying a gun in a car legally if it’s not on your person it must be (a) in a visible case (that may be unlocked) or (b) in a hidden case that must be locked. Huh? Similarly, it’s a 4th degree felony to be carrying concealed in an establishment with a class-D liquor license (ie, serves “for consumption” on premises), but it’s a 5th degree felony to be waving a gun around while rip-roaring drunk in public. Goofy.
Supreme Court cases reviewing laws pertaining to firearms have held that the “a well regulated militia” phrase of the 2nd Amendment means that reasonable regulation of firearms ownership is constitutional. Given the consequences of irresponsible gun ownership, a certain minimum standard of training in proper safe handling and use of firearms as a prerequisite to ownership is entirely reasonable. Based on my experiences, I think the training I received has been very useful towards teaching and beginning to ingrain safe handling practices, and every gun owner should undergo similar training at a minimum. Firearm ownership is constitutionally protected, and there are many legitimate reasons for firearm ownership from sporting to defense to hunting to an unorganized militia to a safeguard against governmental tyranny. An educated and capable citizenry is in everyone’s best interest.
(Photo of my Smith & Wesson Military & Police model 9mm sidearm, personal defense rounds, and my concealed carry license.)
Despite being a “hard-core” liberal, I’m not a party “loyalist”. I don’t agree with every plank, and I like to look at candidates as individuals. Up until today, there was one permutation of the GOP candidates versus the Dem candidates where I might well have voted for the GOP candidate. The GOP candidate in question was Ron Paul. Yes, he has nutty glibertarian views about abolishing all kinds of government departments. Yes, he has a fanatical, almost fundamentalist army of hard-core supporters. I was able to look past that stuff because he seemed quite principled, honest, and reasonable.
Then I saw this.
Yes, Ron Paul “does not accept” evolution. In fact, his answer is full of the typical right-wing BS about evolution. I think I’ve finally come to a litmus test that can automatically disqualify a candidate from consideration for my vote, and a reader of Andrew Sullivan explains why:
[Paul's rejection of evolution] is important because it says much more about him than merely what his religious beliefs are. It illuminates a major element of his thought process.
It tells me that he is able to completely filter out an entire planet full of empirical evidence supporting Evolution, because this evidence conflicts with his beliefs. Notice his choice of words: “don’t accept”. Its an act of outright denial. How could you possibly live in our world, as an educated person in 2007, and refuse to acknowledge that you see natural selection occurring everywhere around you? It is as if he is an ostrich, burying his head in the sand because he is too scared to acknowledge reality. It is truthiness, in its finest form, and it reminds me of the way Bush thinks.
This to me, has major implications for a presidential candidate. If he is able to turn a blind eye to Evolution, and deny it simply because it conflicts with his religious beliefs, how can I ever trust him to have sober judgment when it comes to serious issues facing a presidency? He has now demonstrated the ability to look away from reality when it proves inconvenient to his own beliefs. How could we ever trust him to deal with Global Warming, or Islamic terrorism, or any other issue that requires wide open eyes?
As I’ve said before, this isn’t some anti-religion screed. The Vatican’s position on evolution is completely reasonable – and it’s from over 25 years ago.
The Bible itself speaks to us of the origin of the universe and its make-up, not in order to provide us with a scientific treatise, but in order to state the correct relationships of man with God and with the universe. Sacred Scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was created by God, and in order to teach this truth it expresses itself in the terms of the cosmology in use at the time of the writer.
I understand that this is a problem for people who believe in literal inerrancy. Well, too frickin’ bad. We need leaders who can critically assess evidence to come to a better understanding of what is really happening in the world in order to face and attempt to solve those problems, rather than leaders who come to a decision first and then try to “spin” the fact to support that decision. For example, declare that Iraq is a “clear and present danger” and proceed to ignore every piece of evidence to the contrary (and even fabricate some intelligence to support the faulty conclusion). Belief in evolution is no different, and that kind of thought process is unacceptable.
I still have preferences about who I hope will win the Democratic primary, but when it comes down to election day next November, I’ll push the button next to any of the Democratic candidates over any of the GOP candidates. I prefer each and every one of them to every GOP candidate. And that’s a sad statement about the modern GOP. How ironic that Goldwater’s 1960 run ultimately gave us this.
Here is an absolutely hilarious article about the 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2007. A healthy dose of sarcasm aimed at virtually everybody who didn’t have their head down in 2007. I wish I could pick a favorite entry, but it was just too difficult.
the AP is reporting that “The U.S. military is giving the Ohio National Guard its biggest call-up since World War II this week.” Ohio will be sending another 1,600 troops to Kuwait and Iraq to fight George Bush’s highly unpopular war.
Let’s just hope Ohio doesn’t face any serious state emergencies this year that would require the help of the national guard- because they won’t be here, where they belong, to help.
In a related story- CNN is reporting that 2007 was the deadliest year in Iraq for US troops- with 899 deaths.
The PD is reporting that a new charter middle school is coming to Columbus this fall. And this time- it looks like it might actually be a good thing for a change.
That’s because this school will be opened by The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP)- a non-profit charter-school chain often called the nation’s best.
KIPP schools are open enrollment, college-preparatory, public charter, and contract schools that seek to provide educationally underserved students in urban and rural communities with the knowledge, skills, and character needed to succeed. Students are accepted into KIPP regardless of prior academic record, conduct, or socioeconomic background.
KIPP schools serve overwhelmingly poor minority students but unlike other charter school organizations (e.g. K12, White Hat) KIPP schools seem to produce results- not just excuses.
On average, fifth graders enter KIPP-operated schools at the 28th percentile. And students who complete all four years at KIPP leave testing in the 74th percentile. According to the Gates Foundation, that means that “by the eighth grade, 100 percent of KIPP schools outperform their districts in both subjects.”
Obviously- the schools aren’t perfect. They do have a very high student attrition rate- and the school’s teachers will not be subject to the union contracts of Columbus city schools.
But if charter schools have any chance of working in the state- then it’s going to be one like this- not one of the low-quality, for-profit schools that suck money away from Ohio’s children and into the pockets of assholes like David Brennan.
There are only a few more days left until Iowa- and I’m still undecided on my choice of candidates.
So I thought I’d try out another online candidate matching tool- this time one from WTXF- a FOX affiliate in Philadelphia called MyFox Candidate Matchmaker.
It’s only 20 simple questions- so I recommend you try it out of you are still trying to decide.
Supposedly, I am a match with the following candidates:
43% John Edwards
40% Bill Richardson
38% Chris Dodd
38% Dennis Kucinich
Funny thing is: Both Barack Obama and Ron Paul returned a match of 30% for me. Kind of weird.
I generally don’t agree with the liberal-bashing action over at The Politically Incorrect Gazette, but the person they honor in this year’s Steaming Load of the Year post is a choice I can really support.
That’s because it’s our favorite christfascist asshat Phil Burress!
According to PIG…
Phil Burress is a man with a plan and, when he’s finished, the Buckeye State will be a Cross Cult theocracy under his direct control. Under Ayatollah Phil, Ohio will be indistinguishable from Afghanistan under the Taliban, Iran under Phil’s hero, Ayatollah Khomeini, or the Sandbox with its religious gestapo.
According to an article in today’s Baptist Press, John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute wants to take the National Football League to court because the NFL won’t let churches violate copyright laws for their Super Bowl parties.
In short: copyright laws forbid anyone from showing NFL content, like the super bowl, on screen larger than 55 inches. And the laws forbid people or groups- including churches- from charging people to see televised programming produced and broadcast by the NFL.
For some reason John Whitehead thinks churches- organizations that already get out of paying taxes- should be able to break federal copyright laws. He also thinks that the NFL’s insistence that churches should follow the law is wrong- and it “ought to offend Christians.”
But that shouldn’t surprise us. John Whitehead has a long history of crap like this…
For example, you may remember Mr. Whitehead and his conservative Rutherford Institute from such worthless causes as the Paula Jones lawsuit against Bill Clinton as well as his/their many attempts to stop condom distribution in public schools.
His latest worthless cause, however, seems to be a lot harder to sell. Supposedly John is “aching to take the National Football League to court” but he needs a church willing to take on the NFL. And so far, he’s been unable to find one.
Maybe it’s because Churches have better things to do than sue the NFL.
Congressional Quarterly has been running an interesting online series about the history of U.S. Presidential Primaries. They posted Part 6 today covering the 1996 primaries- probably one of the first primaries that I actually remember following.
Then-president Bill Clinton was, of course, the Democrat’s presidential candidate so the Dems were able to avoid a primary. But the Republicans had just won back the House and the Senate in 1994 with their “Contract with America”- so the win was certainly not guaranteed for Clinton. Actually- it was looking pretty good for the GOP in 1996.
You can read more about the ‘96 Republican primary between Bob Dole, Phil Gramm, Dick Lugar, Lamar Alexander, Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes at CQPolitics.com.
The White House announced today that Bush will veto the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill that passed the Senate with bipartisan support at 90-3.
Bush is going to veto the bill because the Iraqi government didn’t like a provision it contains- a provision intended to ensure that “victims of state-sponsored terrorism their day in court”
By vetoing the bill the president is also delaying a 3.5 percent pay raise and other benefit improvements for the troops.
It looks like Bush has made his loyalties and priorities clear: it is more important to protect his friends from lawsuits than to provide the troops with benefits and pay increases.
I’m really getting sick of hearing the wingnuts claim that Democrats are anti-military and weak on defense.
The fact is: Democrats are much better at diplomacy and are more willing to work out a peaceful solution to our differences with other countries. Democrats take war seriously and personally. Democrats don’t put American troops in harm’s way unless the cause is righteous and noble and ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
And Democrats don’t go to war unless the action has overwhelming support from our allies – and I’m not talking about some half-assed “coalition of the willing” crap with the hundreds of thousands of US troops accompanied by 60 soldiers from Slovakia.
When Democrats DO go to war- they do it right and they do with international support and, as the following overview of recent US wars shows, the US tends to win.
WORLD WAR I
US President: Woodrow Wilson – Democrat
Length: 2 years
Outcome: Allies Win – Germany Surrenders to Wilson
World War II
US Presidents: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman – Democrat
Length: 4 Years
Outcome: Allies Win – Germany surrenders to Roosevelt, and Japan Surrenders to Truman
KOREA
US Presidents: Harry S. Truman (Democrat) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
Length: 3 Years
Outcome: Tie – Korea Divided at the 38th parallel
VIETNAM
US Presidents: Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat), Richard Nixon (Republican), Gerald Ford (Republican)
Length: 10 Years
Outcome: US Defeat – Ford withdraws troops and Saigon falls to the communist forces of North Vietnam
IRAQ
US President: George W Bush
Length: 5+ Years
Outcome: No End In Sight
This story about Cincinnati got national attention today:
The architect designing what could be Cincinnati’s tallest building wants to top it off with an arching crown inspired by Princess Diana.
And all I can think is: REALLY? Princess Diana? Am I the only one who doesn’t like this women? She embarrased the royal family and herself with her loveless, gold-digging marriage, her sleezy affairs and her horrible, horrible haircut! Yet everyone seems to love and adore her now that she’s dead. I don’t get it.
Anyway- the architect of the building in Cincinnati supposedly loved the idea of using her tiara on his building: “That’s perfect”, he said “Here we have the crown of the building, and the nickname for the city is Queen City.”
This is totally ridiculous for SO MANY REASONS but mainly because Diania was never the queen. She was the princess of wales. The idea might work if Cincinnati was the Pricess Of Wales city- but it’s not. It’s the Queen City.
But if you do want to use the whole Queen City thing as your motivation- then why not top the building with a replica of Freddie Mercury’s mustache…
Or the wart-covered nose of the evil queen from Snow White…
Last week I read another horror story about selfish charter school operators screwing Ohio’s children.
This time it’s the A. B. Miree Fundamental Academy – a charter school in Cincinnati, OH that might not re-open after the winter break because “the school’s founders are trying to evict the school from its building.”
The founders, Alfred and Pauline Olverson, say the school owes them $150K for “hold-over fees” – and if they don’t get paid then the kids are out in the cold.
Back in 2000, after starting the charter school, Alfred Olverson
admitted that he intended to profit from the charter- and that is exactly what he has done.
According to a lawyer for the school, the school is out of money because of
“concealed, related-parties transactions” associated with contracts the school signed with Olverson-owned companies back when Alfred was a member of the school’s board. These contracts led to “excessive rents” and “contractual services at an abusive rate.”
These contracts include handling of the school’s insurance by Olverson’s insurance agency as well as a custodial and property maintenance contract with a company Alfred co-owns with his son.
How many examples do we need to see before we start realizing that schools are for teaching our kids- not for making a profit?
Rep. Robert Wexler- a Florida Democrat who sits on the House Judiciary Committee- has created a website to gather signatures in support of impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney.
The charges are too serious to ignore. There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unneccesary (sic) war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings.
Right now he’s received 136,620 signature – still short of his goal of 250,000.
Here is an absolutely hilarious article about the 
This 
My journey into firearm ownership
by Brian on December 31, 2007 · Comments
The good:
What I didn’t like about the process:
Supreme Court cases reviewing laws pertaining to firearms have held that the “a well regulated militia” phrase of the 2nd Amendment means that reasonable regulation of firearms ownership is constitutional. Given the consequences of irresponsible gun ownership, a certain minimum standard of training in proper safe handling and use of firearms as a prerequisite to ownership is entirely reasonable. Based on my experiences, I think the training I received has been very useful towards teaching and beginning to ingrain safe handling practices, and every gun owner should undergo similar training at a minimum. Firearm ownership is constitutionally protected, and there are many legitimate reasons for firearm ownership from sporting to defense to hunting to an unorganized militia to a safeguard against governmental tyranny. An educated and capable citizenry is in everyone’s best interest.
(Photo of my Smith & Wesson Military & Police model 9mm sidearm, personal defense rounds, and my concealed carry license.)
{ 3 comments }