Pro-Gun Texas Police Dept Teaches Concealed Carry for $10

How’s this for a slice of AWESOME?

Due to a backlog of applicants waiting to take the Texas state required Concealed Handgun License (CHL) course, the Oak Ridge North Police Department (just North of Houston) was given permission by the City Council to teach the class.   God Bless Texas!

From The Courier of Montgomery County:

The demand for concealed handgun licenses is on the upswing, and a local police department is meeting the need to teach people how to exercise their right responsibly.

The trend is widespread across Texas, and most people are attributing the increase to the presidential election of Barack Obama because people started fearing their right to bear arms may be limited under the new administration.

…

Montgomery County is no different than the rest of the state. The state granted 1,892 CHLs to county residents between Sept. 1, 2007, and Aug. 31, 2008. For the same period from 2008 to 2009, with two months to go, 2,464 have been granted to residents, which is a 30 percent increase.

The Oak Ridge North Police Department started receiving questions from residents earlier this year about where they could receive CHL classes. In an effort to help them exercise their right, the ORN City Council gave the Police Department permission to begin classes.Four residents attended the September class, and 10 completed the October class. The next class runs Nov. 12-14 and costs $10. Students are required to provide their own handgun and be familiar with gun safety, maintenance and operation.

Oak Ridge North Police Chief Andy Walters recognizes that offering the course is not common practice among police departments, but to him, it makes perfect sense.

“I have a deep-seated belief that people should exercise their right responsibly, and who better to help them do it than the police department?” Walters said.

A city council gives their pro-gun police chief and his department the go ahead to teach concealed carry to the public for $10?  Where else in the world will you hear that?!

Anyone supporting this just might want to send a ‘Thank You’ note to the Oak Ridge North City Council and Police Department (click the links for contact info).

Pocket Knife Ban Stopped! (latest news 10/20/09)

Just received this from Doug Ritter:

WE STOPPED CUSTOMS Pocket Knife Grab! The Senate has passed the conference report for the fiscal year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill with our amendment to the Federal Switchblade Act intact. The bill will now be sent to the President for signature. There is no indication that he would veto the bill.

This is the culmination of an incredible effort on the part of Knife Rights, American Knife and Tool Institute, NRA, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and many other organizations who contributed.  Each organization made key contributions to the effort, without which the end result might not have turned out so well. Not many folks gave us much hope of succeeding when Customs first proposed revoking their rulings and redefining what is a switchblade back in May.  At a time when bipartisanship is rare as hen’s teeth in Washington, we garnered support from both sides of the aisle.

We succeeded because the coalition of groups that came together to fight Customs represented a broad swath of American industry and grassroots.  We succeeded in large part because of YOUR contributions, letters and calls in support of our efforts. You can give yourself a pat on the back for your effort and a job well done against all odds.  It is time to pop the cork on that bottle of champagne and celebrate a victory for your knife rights and for all America.

To help you celebrate and commemorate this incredible victory, please purchase one of our collectable “WE STOPPED Customs Pocket Knife Grab” coffee mugs, t-shirts or sweatshirts, available for a limited time only: www.cafepress.com/KnifeRights

Proceeds will help pay off the incredibly high cost of accomplishing this victory.

Knife Rights has quickly grown to become America’s largest grassroots knife owners organization. This latest fight against Customs Pocket Knife Grab has validated the power and importance of a dedicated grass roots organization in defending your knife rights. Now we have to finish paying pay for this effort. It took a great deal of money to accomplish all this.  Carrying a fight like this to Washington cannot be done without lots of cash. The victory isn’t complete until we pay the bills. PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT THIS FIGHT FOR YOUR KNIFE RIGHTS!  http://bit.ly/Scvp9

In addition to all those who wrote and called their reps to get to this point, we owe http://www.KnifeRights.org a huge ‘Thank You’ for having the foresight to organize beforehand and therefore be in place in order to beat back the attempted restrictions of liberty our own government would seek to impose on us.

Slow blogging explanation = New Job!

Thank goodness, too.

I’ve been quite busy with the steep ramp up of my new position but hope to be back to regular blogging soon.

Thanks to all who check in from time to time.

Will ObamaCare Ban Guns?

Via the Gun Owners of America:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has something to say to gun owners:  “Own a gun; lose your coverage!”

Baucus’ socialized health care bill comes up for a Finance Committee vote on Tuesday.  We have waited and waited and waited for the shifty Baucus to release legislative language.  But he has refused to release anything but a summary — and we will never have a Congressional Budget Office cost assessment based on actual legislation.  Even the summary was kept secret for a long time.

But, on the basis of the summary, the Baucus bill (which is still unnumbered) tells us virtually nothing about what kind of policy Americans will be required to purchase under penalty of law — nor the consequences.  It simply says:

* “all U.S. citizens and legal residents would be required to purchase coverage through (1) the individual market…”;

* “individuals would be required to report on their federal income tax return the months for which they maintain the required minimum health coverage…”;

* in addition to an extensive list of statutorily mandated coverage, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would be empowered to “define and update the categories of treatments, items, and services…” within an insurance plan which would be covered in a policy constituting “required minimum health coverage.”

ObamaCare and gun control

It is nearly certain that coverage prescribed by the administration will, to control costs, exclude coverage for what it regards as excessively dangerous activities.  And, given Sebelius’ well-established antipathy to the Second Amendment — she vetoed concealed carry legislation as governor of Kansas — we presume she will define these dangerous activities to include hunting and self-defense using a firearm.  It is even possible that the Obama-prescribed policy could preclude reimbursement of any kind in a household which keeps a loaded firearm for self-defense.

Please read the rest and then call your Senators to strongly oppose the Baucus Bill.

Geek Fix: Amphibious Car Showcase (with Videos)

Over at HowStuffWorks, Marshall Brain’s latest blog entry introduces us to the WaterCar Python Edition.  He also takes us through a multi-video tour of other amphibious car designs, including the original Amphicar, the Aquada, and the Rinspeed Splash hydrofoil.  I watched them all.

[Be sure to watch til the end of the Aquada video…. WANT!]

Sunday Breakfast: FlapJack O’ Lanterns!

Boo!

The FlapJack O' Lantern

Just setting the mood for the season.  I even mixed up orange batter (added food coloring) for the occasion.

Win a Ruger LCP – Today (10/10/09) Only

Downrange Television has partnered with the Outdoor Channel to give away daily prizes in the ‘Gear Up and Go’ sweepstakes.

Today’s prize is a Ruger LCP .380 with Crimson Trace Laser.

Go here to enter

Sad Joke: Obama Gets Peace Prize; 3+ More Years to Go

Showcasing again that receiving a Nobel Peace Prize is as legitimate as getting an Academy Award…

The Times announces:

Absurd Decision on Obama Makes a Mockery of the Nobel Peace Prize

The award of this year’s Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably deep embarrassment by the President himself.

Mockery? Yes.  Incredulity?  Yes.  Consternation?  Absolutely.  Embarrassment? By the President?! WRONG!

That statement presumes that The Anointed One is capable of embarrassment, or shame.

In case you were wondering (again) how much longer we have to endure our embarrassment of having BHO as POTUS go here.

Update: Remembering the story of Irena Sendler, who lost the 2007 Peace Prize to Al Gore’s slide show, I have to wonder who got snubbed this year?

Link: Outstanding Video of Slow Motion Bullet Impacts

Ten minutes of amazing footage – watch super slow motion bullet impacts against a variety of materials (metal, paper, gelatin, glass), plus mid-air collisions, shot patterns against steel, etc.

The Firearms Blog has it.  Way Cool!

[Watch it full screen]

Hypocrisy: Anti-Gun Sen. Shoots in Self Defense

From the Richmond Times Dispatch

TABOR CITY, N.C.  — A sheriff says a North Carolina state senator shot one of two intruders at his home and hospital officials say the man is in fair condition.

Multiple media outlets reported that Columbus County Sheriff Chris Batten said that 74-year-old Sen. R.C. Soles of Tabor City shot Kyle Blackburn late Sunday afternoon.

A spokeswoman at Loris Community Hospital in South Carolina said Monday that Blackburn was in fair condition.

Batten says the shooting occurred when two men went to the senator’s house and tried to kick in his front door. No charges have been filed.

John Jacob H has the story of the Senator’s voter rating:

As posted on the in- state 2nd Amendment Civil Rights Organization Grass Roots North Carolina website 2008 Voter Evaluation Guide Senator Soles voting record on the Right To Keep And Bear Arms was evaluated at *ONE* Star.

Wow.  It’s like Michael Moore saying he didn’t benefit from capitalism, or something.