Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

FLORIDA COUNTY SHERIFF URGES CITIZENS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY

From the Hot Air website:

In Brevard County, Florida, Sheriff Wayne Ivey has made a name for himself as being “one of the most politically incorrect” people in law enforcement. And by his own admission, he’s fine with that. But he’s drawn national attention for a new video which his department released this month, encouraging people to arm themselves and learn how to fight to protect their own lives and families in the event of a spontaneous terror attack such as we’ve been seeing around the globe. It’s about six minutes long and is quite well produced, so give it a look.

Me: The video has produced a lot of backlash, but to my mind he is just advocating common sense.  The video has served the good purpose to remind me of things I needed to be reminded of.

 

QUICK TAKES

Links from the Drudge Report:

     -  Ann Arbor priest urges his parishioners to get concealed carry licenses   

                    He titles his letter, "We're Not In Mayberry Anymore."

     - USDA urges citizens to eat expired food.

                   I've always known "expiration dates" needn't be observed.

    - Google allows you to see everything you've ever searched!

                   With all that data available to people and advertisers, your life is an open book 

    -  Facebook takes another step in controlling media content.

                  "In a post entitled, “News Feed FYI: Balancing Content from Friends and Pages,” Facebook Product Manager Max Eulenstein and User Experience Researcher Lauren Scissors lay out how “media content” will be altered under the site’s newest algorithm."  Translation:  Facebook is the boss!  

     - Report: JPMorgan Chase Bans Storage of Cash In Its Safety Deposit Boxes

                   Wow.  A sign of a growing "war on cash."

Article:  As of last month, Chase has also instituted a new policy which, “restricts borrowers from using cash to make payments on credit cards, mortgages, equity lines, and auto loans,” writes Professor Joseph Salerno of the Mises Institute.

The news arrives on the back of comments by Citi’s Willem Buiter, who recently advocated abolishing cash altogether in order to “solve the world’s central banks’ problem with negative interest rates”.

Last month we also reported on how the Justice Department is ordering bank employees to consider calling the cops on customers who withdraw $5,000 dollars or more.

Efforts to impose restrictions on the use of cash by banks are seen by many as an attack on anonymity and an example of how financial institutions are positioning themselves to handle the fallout of the next economic crash – at the expense of customers.

Great Article by David Mamet in Newsweek

I know that's not the greatest heading, but it will have to do.  Please go and read the entire article.  It will do you good, and enhance your sense of logic and good sense.  The article begins:

Karl Marx summed up Communism as “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This is a good, pithy saying, which, in practice, has succeeded in bringing, upon those under its sway, misery, poverty, rape, torture, slavery, and death.

For the saying implies but does not name the effective agency of its supposed utopia. The agency is called “The State,” and the motto, fleshed out, for the benefit of the easily confused must read “The State will take from each according to his ability: the State will give to each according to his needs.” “Needs and abilities” are, of course, subjective. So the operative statement may be reduced to “the State shall take, the State shall give.”

All of us have had dealings with the State, and have found, to our chagrin, or, indeed, terror, that we were not dealing with well-meaning public servants or even with ideologues but with overworked, harried bureaucrats. These, as all bureaucrats, obtain and hold their jobs by complying with directions and suppressing the desire to employ initiative, compassion, or indeed, common sense. They are paid to follow orders.  [more . . .]

MAN WITH CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT STOPS A STABBING RAMPAGE

Wintery Knight (via All American Blogger) posted this current story reminding us that "Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens can be used to save lives."  The story (with video interviews) can be found at KSL TV, in Utah.

A man stabbed two people at the Smith’s Marketplace grocery store in downtown Salt Lake City before being subdued by a bystander.

The attack took place around 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the store at 455 South and 500 East. According to a witness, it appears one man was stabbed in the side of the head and another was stabbed in the stomach. The exact condition of the victims is unknown, but police believe the injuries are very serious and possibly critical.

Police say a bystander with a concealed carry permit witnessed the attack and stepped in to keep it from escalating.

“(The bystander) was suspicious of what might be going on, and when he saw the stabbing, he just drew his pistol and challenged the individual,” which caused the alleged attacker to lie down on the ground, Brian Purvis with the Salt Lake City Police Department said. By the time police officers arrived on the scene, the man was subdued and is now in custody.

The attacker apparently bought the knife inside the store.

MORE GUNS MEAN LESS CRIME

It may seem counterintuitive, but facts are facts.  John R. Lott, Jr. reports:

President Obama undoubtedly didn’t intend it, but he deserves some credit for the recent report that all violent crime rates dropped in 2009, murder rates by 7.4 percent, robbery rates by 9 percent: His election caused gun sales to skyrocket, and crime rates to plummet.

Gun sales started notably rising in October 2008, and sale really took off immediately after Obama won the presidential race: 450,000 more people bought guns in November 2008 than bought them in November 2007. That’s over a 40 percent increase in sales. By comparison, the change from November 2006 to November 2007 was only about 35,000. Over the last decade, the average year-to-year increase in monthly sales was only 21,000. . . .

At the same time gun sales were soaring, there was an unusually large drop in murder rates. The 7.4 percent drop in the murder rate was the largest drop in murder rates since the 1999. For those who don’t remember, 1999 — when Bill Clinton was president and Columbine occurred — was another time when gun sales soared. With Clinton domestic-policy advisers such as Elena Kagan pushing hard for more gun control, Americans  were worried that more gun bans were coming; in response, gun sales soared.

Higher arrest and conviction rates, longer prison sentences, and the more frequent use of the death penalty all reduce crime, and so does letting victims defend themselves with guns. More certain or greater penalties make it more risky for criminals to commit crime. Victims who can defend themselves can also make committing crime more dangerous and deter criminals. . .

Note: John R. Lott Jr. is a FOXNews.com contributor, an economist, and author of the just-released revised edition of More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press, 2010).

OBAMA ELECTION TRIGGERS NATIONAL GUN RUSH

According to WorldNetDaily,

Gun sales have skyrocketed since Barack Obama was elected, and many gun owners say they are concerned the nation's next president and a Democratic-controlled Congress will impose a ban on assault rifles and firearm ownership.

From Nov. 3 to Nov. 9, the FBI reported 374,000 background checks on people purchasing guns – a 49 percent jump from last year. Dealers are reporting larger-than-usual sales since Election Day, according to the Chicago Tribune. The rush to buy weapons is more intense than in the days following Y2K and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  [more . . .]

Do Legislators Understand The Bills They Propose?

That's a good questions, isn't it?  Do they even have the integrity to find out?  Example: Dean Barrett refers to a TV interview Tucker Carlson conducted with Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy who doesn't understand her own gun-control legislation.   Barrett writes:

McCarthy proposed a piece of gun-control legislation that would ban barrel shrouds. Tucker asked her three times why she was so worried about barrel shrouds. She dodged the question, obviously not knowing the difference between a barrel shroud and a howitzer. (Neither do I, but in my defense I’m not proposing a bill eliminating barrel shrouds, and generally speaking Jews don’t know from guns.) Tucker eventually asked her point blank if she knew what these barrel shrouds are that she so desperately wants to make illegal (for the children!), and she had to confess that she didn’t.

A couple of takeaway points here: Such is the intellectual incuriosity of many Congress-critters, Tucker had 100% confidence that McCarthy wouldn’t understand her own piece of legislation before she went on the air. He was probably licking his chops looking forward to ambushing McCarthy all afternoon. The other thing is that McCarthy is all too typical. Many of our leaders imperiously hold forth on subjects on which they are essentially clueless. Worse still, they also draft laws and craft policy on subjects on which they are essentially clueless.

Should Handguns (i.e. Those With Valid Concealed Handgun Permits) Be Allowed on College Campuses?

Update:  Glenn Reynolds has a terrific article in the NY Daily News:  "People Don't Stop Killers.  People With Guns Do.""

**
Michelle Malkin thinks so.    So do I.

As news was breaking about the carnage at Virginia Tech, a reader e-mailed me a news story from last January. State legislators in Virginia had attempted to pass a bill that would have eased handgun restrictions on college campuses. Opposed by outspoken, anti-gun activists and Virginia Tech administrators, that bill failed.

Is it too early to ask: "What if?" What if that bill had passed? What if just one student in one of those classrooms had been in lawful possession of a concealed weapon for the purpose of self-defense?

If it wasn't too early for Keystone Katie Couric to be jumping all over campus security yesterday for what they woulda/coulda/shoulda done in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and if it isn't too early for the New York Times editorial board to be publishing its knee-jerk call for more gun control, it darned well isn't too early for me to raise questions about how the unrepentant anti-gun lobbying of college officials may have put students at risk.

The back story: Virginia Tech had punished a student for bringing a handgun to class last spring—despite the fact that the student had a valid concealed handgun permit. . . (more)