Rinse & Spitzer

Disgraced former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer recently took time off from being felated by high priced hookers to cowrite an opinion piece for Slate. Why anybody still takes him seriously is something that baffles me, but then again, I fail to see how Ted Kennedy keeps getting elected too.

Enjoy…

In this era of government ownership of financial institutions, we are getting more used to the notion that government as an economic actor can exercise its power in differing ways. After all, firms that received TARP money are subject to a bevy of pay restrictions—wisely constructed or not—and were forced to cancel showy parties and retreats.

If we can use a capital infusion to a bank as an opportunity to control executive compensation and to limit use of private planes, why can’t the government use its weight as the largest purchaser of guns from major manufacturers to reward companies that work to keep their products out of criminals’ hands? Put another way, if it is too difficult to outlaw bad conduct through statutes, why not pay for good conduct? Why not require vendors to change their behavior if they want our tax dollars?

…

More fundamentally, companies could be told to stop selling certain types of weapons to the general public. If a manufacturer did not comply with any of the limitations, then it would be excluded from the list of companies with which the government would do business.

In 2000, this idea’s time had not come. The government did not so boldly exercise its prerogatives as owner and purchaser. It did not freely insist that companies receiving our tax dollars change their practices—even in fundamental ways—if they wanted our money. Today, of course, this is the way business is done.

If President Obama wants to devise a creative way to limit gun violence, he will use his power as the world’s largest consumer to require the cooperation of gun manufacturers. If government cannot legislate the conduct it wants, then it can use market power to buy it. For the money we are spending, we should buy not only guns but some peace from gun violence.

What’s My Motivation Again? »« Well, I went and did it…

Well, I went and did it…

I was talking to Breda in the IRC channel today and we were discussing a children’s book on the Second Amendment she’d blogged about. I expressed my disgust at the ideas presented in the book and the reliance on other people to provide your protection. It was then I did it… I stated that I could write a better children’s book on the Second Amendment than that. So the gauntlet was thrown down. Guess what I’m going to be doing?

I haven’t decided on a title or anything else yet, but I’ll try and keep you updated on my progress.

-Yuri Orlov

Rinse & Spitzer »« More of the Same

More of the Same

Martha Rosenberg got sick one day and threw up an anti-rights diatribe. She scraped the soggy bits together and mailed them to The Epoch Times. Inexplicably they decided to print it. Some people children…

What’s also changing is newspapers like the Memphis Commercial Appeal are publishing searchable bases of state permit holders, despite gun owner identity “seal” laws in some states like Florida, Ohio and South Dakota, so people can see if their daycare worker or dentist is armed.

Now, the gun lobby that used to say the worst thing that can happen to a citizen is people finding out he or his house is unarmed because it might invite crime says the worst thing that can happen to a citizen is people finding out he or his house is armed because it might invite crime! Someone may steal your firearms says the gun lobby as if they were Fabergé eggs instead of “defense” weapons.

Which is more embarrassing for the gun lobby—the image that it’s afraid of you and or the image of it begging the government to protect it from you and me? What happened to no government interference? And why are they so scared, anyway? They’re the ones that are armed.

It makes you think of Larry Singleton who attacked and mutilated 15-year-old hitchhiker Mary Vincent near Sacramento in 1978 because he was “afraid of her.”

Martha Rosenberg is a writer in Chicago.

There’s more there, but be prepared to lose your lunch too.

Well, I went and did it… »« Rifles, Blades of Grass, etc…

Rifles, Blades of Grass, etc…

Apparently in the first three months of this year, law abiding Americans have purchased enough weapons to outfit the armies of China and India combined. Also since NICS is per purchase and not per gun, the number of weapons is potentially much higher.

I of course don’t see this as a bad thing. Now if only we could get some ammo to go in them as well.

From here.

Federal NIC Instacheck Data

BATFE

Washinton, DC - -(AmmoLand.com)- It seem that readers of our recent post about honest Americans buying enough guns to outfit the current active army’s of China and India have been having trouble finding the hard data and facts to substantiate this article.

Here is the link to the NICS: The National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

As reported earlier each of the last few months has been a record for firearm purchases or sales in the USA with a record 1,529,635 background checks being performed in March of 2009. Firearm Sales Continue to Climb in March 2009

Chinese and Indian Standing Army Numbers:

• China
• India

More of the Same »« Make Up Your Own Joke