Blue Force Gear Quote of the Day: The Funhouse Mirror World of the New York Times

“(T)he NRA, in its own words, ‘doesn’t oppose the development of ‘smart’ guns, nor does it oppose the ability of Americans to voluntarily acquire them.’ Only in a New York Times editorial could you construe an explicit statement from the National Rifle Association to mean the exact opposite of what it means.” – Daniel Payne in Sorry, New York Times, But … Read more

Springfield Armory Daily Digest: The Clown Contingency, the Spousal Suspicion, and Fun Without Guns

  What caliber for clown? Some Florida parents plan to arm themselves while going trick-or-treating over clown concerns – “Kimberly Kersey told Florida Today that she plans to carry a gun while taking her sons around her Palm Bay neighborhood after two men were arrested last week for allegedly threatening people while dressed as clowns. ‘I’ll be … Read more

Springfield Armory Daily Digest: Hollywood Gun Hate, Spreading the Infection, and Marketing Genius

Oh look…another Hollywood mogul who doesn’t like guns: ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ Producer Launches Campaign to Defeat NRA – “How to Get Away with Murder executive producer Bill D’Elia just launched Make US Safer, a campaign designed to defeat the NRA by raising money for Congressional candidates who support more restrictions on the Second Amendment. D’Elia … Read more

Beginner’s Guide To Media Interviews

  The mainstream media industry isn’t your friend. Even your local newspaper or television station, unless it’s a small market, probably isn’t all that supportive of gun rights. (One litmus test:  Do they post their offices with “NO GUNS” signage?) How do you handle an interview if you’ve been singled out or contacted to give … Read more

OMG! New Yorkers Resist Armed Robbers! OMG!

Armed robbery aftermath (courtesy owegopennysaver.com)

“From any perspective of rationality, the thing to do with a robber is to cooperate politely.” So sayeth Franklin E. Zimring in The New York Times article Robbed at Gunpoint, Some Bronx Victims Resist. “You don’t have much money on you; it’s nuts for the victim to refuse. Here’s the second layer of nuts: You’ve got a rational robber. If the victim refuses, why doesn’t he just find somebody else?” Mr. Zimring is a criminologist at Berkeley Law School. Their motto: “Big Ideas, Bold Action.” And there’s your morning dose of unintentional irony. But wait! There’s more!  . . .

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Book Review: Left Turn

Media Bias.

What if you had the power to change history? What if you could influence the future? How ’bout an election or two? Let’s assume that’s possible for the nonce. Would you use that power for good or evil? Would having the power corrupt you, sooner, later, or eventually? And here’s the kicker – would you know if you had it, and if you knew, would it make any difference in your behavior? That’s a lot of what ifs. But that’s the price you pay for reading a book that can turn conventional wisdom on its ear, as does Left Turn, a book by the Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics at UCLA, Professor Tim Groseclose. But the more interesting question the book raises, is how does this affect the fight over our 2nd Amendment rights?

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AP: Loners Hard to Catch. In Other News, Water is Still Wet.

Yep. The crack reporters at the Associated (de)Press(ed – hat tip to Mark Levin) are rested, ready and a-rarin’ to go, with coverage on the Jared Lee Loughner phenomenon. Well, that is if you count “incompetent sheriff’s apologist” as Excellence in Journalism. When even the New York Times feels obligated to point out that the police and sheriff’s office knew about Loughner long before the attack, and had several run-ins with him, you’ve got to enjoy the contortions the AP’s going through, to spin the story to exonerate the sheriff, and implicate the Right.

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New York Times to Gun Lobby: STFU

The New York Times reckons that the National Rifle Association (NRA) should keep its big yap shut. More specifically, the gun rights group should have been shamed into silence (re: its opposition to banning guns sales to citizens on the FBI’s highly inaccurate Terrorist Watch List) by the recent near-miss non-bombing in Times Square. “Congress, for example, is cowering before the gun lobby insistence that even terrorist suspects who are placed on the “no-fly list” must not be denied the right to buy and bear arms. Suspects on that list purchased more than 1,100 weapons in the last six years, but Congress has never summoned the gumption to stop this trade in the name of public safety and political sanity.” Just out of curiosity, how many of those “terrorist suspects” subsequently used those guns for a terrorist attack? Never mind. And while you’re not at it, don’t define the “gun lobby.” You know; other than the NRA. All of whom are evil, evil people for daring—daring I tell you—to use the political process to promote their legislative agenda.

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