Althouse has a quick legal summary, and Malkin discusses the extraordinary (and extraordinarily sane) level of interest in the case. It's a good sign when

Getting into the hearing today is the hot ticket in town—the lines look like Hannah Montana concert lines.

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I had hidden it away so carefully from the prying eyes of the social worker, back when we thought we might adopt a baby.

It had my ammo, my gunleather, my sidearms—everything but the 20-gauge. I was about to tape it all shut and send it to storage when my .357 looked up at me and whispered, "let me stay."

"I can't let you stay," I responded. "We're selling the house. There will be showings. This place will be crawling with realtors and prospective buyers. It isn't that I don't love you; it's just that this isn't a good time for me."

"But what about your p0rn?" it asked. "What about your Hitachi Magic Wand? Aren't you leaving them here until Caravan Day, when your privacy in this house officially ends? Couldn't I take the last train out with them, and your lacy lingerie?"

So little Ruger—the Tomcat—went into storage today. Big Ruger is here, along with some .38 ammo and a few hollow-point .357 cartridges. Because it's just so well-made, and heavy and lovely. I had missed it so.

Wheelguns rawk.

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1 Heh heh. So your Ruger is nestled up next to you Hitachi Wand and beneath a layer of your lacy underthings... Gahwd I love women who love guns!

Posted by: Desert Cat at March 03, 2008 04:10 PM (B2X7i)

2 Yes, but I'm more low-tech than your wife--after all, she probably would have kept the semiauto, and sent the revolver away! To each her own . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 03, 2008 06:44 PM (ROU8v)

3 Don't forget to hide the medicine! Seriously!

Posted by: Greta Perry at March 03, 2008 07:41 PM (Xl4tG)

4 Mm hm. There's a 9mm pistol slipped in next to her battery-powered friend in her bedside drawer. Is it warm in here...?

Posted by: Desert Cat at March 03, 2008 07:58 PM (DIr0W)

5 Definitely!

Posted by: Attila Girl at March 04, 2008 09:16 AM (ROU8v)

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Gateway Pundit has a summary.

I've lived through exactly one set of riots (okay, okay: two—I was quite young during the Watts riots, and I lived many miles away in Whittier, so I was far from the flames).

But during the Rodney King riots in 1992, the saving grace was that some people had guns, and were able to defend their lives and property when they absolutely had to.

I know England has largely given up on there being a fundamental right to self-defense‐even when guns aren't used at all (for instance, when one uses any sort of blunt instrument against an attacker—this is often prosecuted.)

But has the rest of Western Europe done so as well? And when the veneer of civilization wears thin—as it does everywhere, from time to time—what recourse does the common person have against these, um, overly exuberant "youths"?

Self-defense isn't simply a human right; it is the human right.

h/t to Dean Esmay, who's been carrying the button/legend about self-defense forever. It always struck me as a fundamental truth.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Everyone knows that you ditch all your guns if you're going to a bar for more than, say, a single drink. Yes: even your church gun. All of 'em.

But going out to party is different than going out to dinner, no?

Actually, I love those cafes in Arizona that ask that "no weapons" be brought inside. What the hell do they expect me to do?—leave it in my fucking glove box? Now that's safe. Why don't I just leave 'em in the lost and found by the hostess' post, so they can be claimed by the local criminals?

I've got to get out shooting, soon. And remember: women need twice as much target practice as men do. It isn't an eye-hand coordination thing. It's the fact that we have to do the same drills wearing both flats and heels. More of a challenge. (I love shooting in heels; everyone asks if I'm a cop, and I get to act all excited, like, "oh, they've waived the height requirements, have they?" Men are so transparent; they might as well say, "I've seen you at this range before . . .")

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He'd fire it. If there were a home invader present and the closest gun at hand were the wife's Hello Kitty rifle, he'd use it to defend his family. (Though I recommend the Hello Kitty 20-gauge for that application.)

And I'm usually hesitant to get into the arena of "what do real men do?" I'm a chick, and I hate to issue directives to the complicated sex.

But in a heteranormative context, the real question is, Would a real man own a pink gun? No. Maybe one with cherry stocks. Hot pink, however, with a Hello Kitty logo on it? No.

Hell—I don't think I'd own one, despite the fun you all have regarding my hot-pink iPod and my flower-tattooed Motorola phone. A girl has to draw the line somewhere.

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. . . is getting emotional again, and Desert Cat is there to explain why we don't do things that way in this country. Why we shouldn't. Why we can't.

In the past I've often gotten it into my mind that all Western countries have similar intellectual frameworks, but the older I get the more I realize our particular system is unique: we have a system of government that includes a Bill of Rights, and our Constitution has a "by the way" clause in it that points out whatever ain't spelled out in here is not something the government can do. Of course it doesn't work out that way completely in real life, but that language does keep the state from overreaching to the degree that it does in Western Europe, and in some other English-speaking countries.

As for anyone who thinks we can marginalize and "shoot on sight" members of any group that is well-armed represents a minority point of view . . . I've got one word for you: Waco.

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on the Omaha mall shooting, and mall owners' potential liability for enacting a gun ban on the premises:

A mall is a place of public accommodation. In addition, business owners generally take on a higher duty of care for customers on their premises, including a duty to protect them from the violent acts of third parties if those acts are reasonably foreseeable. The question is, given the tendency of mass shootings to occur in places where guns are banned, and given that gun bans take away customers' ability to defend themselves -- and other customers -- does this result in liability of shopping malls when such shootings occur? Or, at least, produce a duty to have more armed security than they otherwise would have (the Omaha mall appears to have had very little) in order to make up for the increased insecurity created by the gun ban? The question isn't open and shut, but it seems to me to be ripe for litigation.

(Yeah: I quoted almost his entire entry! Breaking the blog rules! Stealing potential traffic from Instapundit!)

His original post that takes up the idea of liability is here, and it's ripe with links, so get over there. In the meantime, I agree with his first point (yawn . . . another mass shooting in a "gun-free zone"), and applaud his second suggestion (that it might be time to consider litigation—"If it saves just one life, it's worth it."). Well, of course.

I don't really have anything to say that I haven't said before. But it's worth noting -- since apparently most of the media reports haven't -- that this was another mass shooting in a "gun-free" zone. It seems to me that we've reached the point at which a facility that bans firearms, making its patrons unable to defend themselves, should be subject to lawsuit for its failure to protect them. The pattern of mass shootings in "gun free" zones is well-established at this point, and I don't see why places that take the affirmative step of forcing their law-abiding patrons to go unarmed should get off scot-free. There's even an academic literature on mass shootings and concealed-gun carriage.

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Still one of my favorite gay boyfriends.

Also, unlike the case with Jeff, I don't have to fight over him with the other Cotillionites. *

Seriously. There are a handful of demographic subgroups that need to know how to handle guns. These are: (1) Jews, (2) women, (3) blacks, (4) gays, (5) the elderly—and (6) everyone else.

* Actually, the other ladies backed off after I told them I once out-shot Jan Libourel (then with Handguns, now with Gun World). It's a long story, but a true one. (It's Mr. Libourel who is responsible for my lifelong ambition of owning a Colt Commander. What a sweet gun: Jan has one with ivory inlays that shoots .38 Super. You didn't even know that gun existed in .38 Super, did you?

But first, like everyone else on the planet, I want a German Luger. Bad.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The water's fine!

I'd go for revolver, first. Maybe a .357 that you only have to shoot .38s out of. The additional weight seems to help form a stabler platform, and it'll keep your shot groups tight.

My first revolver was actually a little Chief's special, because I wanted the option to carry. That worked fine, though a hammerless spur is actually better for concealed carry. That little snubby is the one my mother stole from me, which is good. Larger guns are a bit more intimidating, though: maybe I should trader her for the .357.

I've got to get to the range again, though: I don't want to get too rusty. Also, I haven't had a chance to play with my 20-gauge at all.

And people at most ranges and gun shops are so helpful: I actually did a couple of stories a few years ago in which I went "undercover" to some local establishments as a gun novice, to see whether the advice I got was sound, and whether I got patronized as a short woman. I was treated with complete respect, and no one tried to pull the "little woman, therefore a little gun" garbage with me. All the businesses passed with flying colors, and I was encouraged to start with a revolver—which is the advice I always give, too.

Via Glenn.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:27 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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on the gun grabbers' folly in DC.

Via Insty.

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"People don't stop killers. People with guns do."

Via, well . . . Glenn.

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It might be time to start researching other web-based email programs. I certainly don't like Yahoo's user interface, but I know there are plenty of options these days.

But at some point the disconect between Google's motto and its behavior is bound to strike every thinking person. And at that point, like all the other rats, I'll be looking for a way off the sinking ship.

Via View from the Porch, which is now one of my favorite firearms-centered blogs—along with Zendo Deb's excellent TFS Magnum, of course; I like men just fine, but clearly women make better gunbloggers. . . . right?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:53 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 I like to think so. Thanks for the link.

Posted by: Zendo Deb at September 30, 2007 05:32 PM (+gqOq)

2 "women make better gunbloggers" We certainly seem to have more fun at it.

Posted by: Tam at October 01, 2007 10:25 PM (IzY02)

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. . . Amazon account.

Kyle Cassidy's new book about American gunowners looks really, really cool. Newsweek's site has an audio-visual digest of the book that contains a little intro from Cassidy himself, along with some recordings of the featured families/individuals from the book: ordinary Americans talking about why they have guns.

Go here, check that your sound is on, and hit the red link. It's good stuff. Best phrase: "wrangling the gun vote."

Hat tip: KC.

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as "too pro-gun."

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This person may want to identify herself, but I'll leave that up to her:

I was 12 years old when Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the Texas University clock tower and started murdering people below.

I had to refresh that old memory of grainy, black-and-white TV coverage by
doing some research, but one of the reasons he didn't kill MORE people than
he did was that not only did the local police fire upward at him, trying to
keep him down . . . but LOCAL CITIZENS ran to their homes and cars and brought back their guns and rifles and joined in on firing up at the tower.

Now we all just wait around for the SWAT teams and heaven forfend any
civilians try to help.

But the police aren't doing much either: they're too busy "securing the perimeter," as Attila the Hub points out. They don't try to get the shooter, so lives can be saved: they just seal off the campus, as they did at Columbine. Meanwhile, the students we've disarmed so V-Tech can be a nice, safe "gun-free zone" are being systematically executed. Law enforcement wasn't there. School security wasn't there. Those students who owned guns weren't permitted to have them on campus.

And we've told kids that when someone has a gun, we ought to do what they say. So when they were told to line up, that's what they did.

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Barry Saunders of Raleigh, North Carolina's, News & Observer encapsulates the "reasoning" we'll be hearing a lot of in the weeks and months ahead: that if only a big magnet in the sky could suck up all the firearms on the planet, no one ever need fear "gun violence" again. And events like those at Virginia Tech would need never happen again.

I'm too angry to send him a polite, reasoned reply. Perhaps I'll be capable of it later.

There's an e-mail address at the end of the piece: you might try sending him a note if you can compose one that will create reasonable doubt in the back of his mind about the wisdom of his views. Don't just vent. It won't do any good.

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. . . for Gun-Free Zones.

Does anyone have a current body count from these very-safe gun-free zones?

I mean, at least high-risk activities like sky-diving aren't generally considered critical to one's career (in the case of colleges) or mandated by law (in the case of high schools).

Our schools are turning into do-it-yourself killing fields, due to the proliferation of gun-free zones—which are, in effect, target galleries for the unhinged.

Ed Isler points out:

Pollsters have found that 85% of Americans would find it appropriate for a principal or teacher to use "a gun at school to defend the lives of students" to stop a school massacre (Research 2000 poll).

The words of Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker should be haunting him in the wake of the massacre at his school. Last year, a bill was killed in the Virginia legislature to enable those with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns at schools. Hincker said that "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."

I'm sure the parents of the dead kids appreciate it very much.

UPDATE: More here, via a fairly good Instapundit roundup. I am just enraged that we disarm people, and tell them never to resist the nice guy with the weapon. Thirty-two innocent people dead. With a different public mindset—and different policies—it could have been one or maybe two, including the gunman.

Don't let the silly words of Larry Hincker die: make sure he and the other state legislators around this country know that we don't want to feel safe. We want to be safe—at least, as safe as we can be in a world that includes the criminally insane.

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ABC is apparently asking for stories from ordinary citizens who have used guns in self-defense (including by brandishing them). No word on whether John Stossel is involved, but it is for 20/20, and we should probably send our stories in. More here.

Via Insty.

FWIW, I once appeared on a small segment on CNN as a gun owner/Second Amendment advocate who considered herself a feminist (this was in the early 1990s, and another of those "women against gun violence" groups had just formed—I was the "equal time" tokenette). Those who saw the segment said I came off pretty well, despite the fact that the woman who interviewed me was a major consumer of the gun-control Kool-Aid.

So it's worth doing even if the 20/20 segment in question is not produced by St. John.

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. . . has discovered the Bill of Rights.

I've been wondering how long we would continue to treat residents of the District as serfs of the Feds. This is long overdue.

Insty has an update here.

Eric of Classical Values: "Great news." And he has more links.

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. . . you'll ban paring knives, and make people tear veggies apart with their hands when they want to make stir-fry.

And we'll all be safe.

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