Robb brings a bit of good news:
Senate Bill 234 has been amended to remove the offensive provisions I discussed yesterday.

So no more Panty-Twisting OC BS but we lose Campus Carry. The fight will continue.

SB 234 has been modified by adding the following language:

(b) Carrying openly requires that the carrier display his
47 or her license to carry a concealed firearm in a clear sleeve on
48 or near the holster in such a manner as to be visible.

Which brings back memories of other successful Mandated Visible Identification requirements for dangerous people:

Almost 25 years of Concealed Carry have demonstrated that Law Abiding Floridians have not abused our rights. We have been ridiculed and put down by every “expert” out there and proven them wrong again and again yet in something as simple as Open Carry by lawfully licensed individuals, we suddenly need to be stamped as to soothe some panty-twisted individuals that still did not get the message that they are much more safer among Us than your average pedestrian. That this and other amendments were passed almost in total obscurity and without the input of gun owners shows we cannot trust the legislature to do what is right.

We are not asking for some special favor. This is not the 80’s where the question of the Second Amendment was still up for debate. We are in the Post Heller & Post McDonald times where the 2A has been ratified as an individual right. This is almost a quarter of a century of showing that guns save lives, that the worst predictions of blood running down the streets never came to happen, that violent crimes not only did not increase but actually subsided, yet we must make sure we do not scare some uninformed LEO or a High Society Palm Beach resident on her way to buy organic Tofu shrimp for the Oh-So-Social event of the night.

Kudos to the Florida Legislature for such tactful addition to Open Carry in Florida. Keep it Classy!

On the bright side, they did not impose the tattooing of our permit number in the inside our forearm. I guess you can call that good news.

“Police, on average, for every 10 rounds fired, I think, actually strike something once or twice, and they are highly trained,” said Bill Bratton, the former New York City police commissioner.

That quote extracted from the Op-Ed column School of Glock by Gail Collins is one of those myths (OK, lines of absolute BS) that Anti Gunners use to tell everybody we are too stupid to handle a gun. I am sure that Ms. Collins truly believes that and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens in dear old NYC, where the average Big Apple dweller only shoots out of an XBox, but the rest of the US (Yes Gail, there is a Rest Of The Country) knows the average cop can’t shoot worth a damn.

The sad part is the reason cops cannot shoot is because people like Bill Bratton spent more of the budget on training cops on how to be touchy-feely/Kumbaya My Lord/Patchouli effeminate than ammunition for training. Most police officers do not train in a regular or even infrequent basis. They get to qualify with their firearm maybe twice a year, shooting perhaps some 60 rounds while the average gun owner shoots his firearm about six times a year and 100 rounds each time.

Smart cops that can afford it, usually practice more on their own and even spend a pretty personal penny seeking advanced instruction. But unfortunately, they are a very minuscule group and they are seen by some as Rambo-wannabes. Others join shooting clubs with action shooting sports that will give them a distinctive edge over their colleagues when the S hits the F. One such officer confided that he is scared shitless amongst his fellow officers manipulating guns but he does not even blink an eye at the range among the civilians in our club because we (civilians) are more respectful and more proficient with a gun in our hands.

Via Say Uncle

Honorable Facepalm award with Dumb Asss clusters recipient shown in the video had his finger in the trigger and injured not only himself but a fellow officer. That he dropped & abandoned the gun a couple of feet away from what appear to be NOT choir boys is just icing in the Crap Cake.

Our club runs four matches & practices every month. Number of attendees run from the low 40s to the 70s and in an over a decade of me being a member we had absolutely zero gun-related injuries. It is not unusual to read about a police-generated gun accident every month but yet, we are supposed to believe that they are better prepared than civilians?

Hippie Please!

Sad but true….

Update: The creator of the sign found. With h/t to Eyes Never Close.

According to Six over at The Warrior Class, I and worthy of the Stylish Blogger Award thus confirming at least one of his three major concussions.

As per the “rules,” part 1 requires that I must fess up seven things about me that must people do not generally know. So here I go:

1. I can make old school home-made napalm: Gasoline and real soap. It is tricky as hell to make but it burns better in my opinion than the Styrofoam & gas mix. It also came in handy a couple of times as deterrent South of the Border.
2. I have no phobias or any other type of irrational fears. I do have a healthy animosity against snakes and I’ve been known to dispose of them with the above-mentioned method.
3. I inherited my mother’s green thumb but hate gardening. If I had my druthers, the small garden we have would be covered in paving bricks with a twice-yearly application of eradicator for any wandering blade of weed.
4. I used to hate cats till I got married. My wife won that fight among many others and now I serve a feline.
5. I drive like an old lady and respect the posted speed limits plus 5 mph. I have never got a moving violation in my life. However, if you are in my vehicle, do not taunt me and dare me to drive fast as you will finish the trip with gray hair and a bad ticker.
6. I hold grudges forever. I am still holding on 2 from my second grade.  I will easily rescind with a heartfelt apology but there is an expiration date depending on the quality of the offense.
7. I will not step into any body of salt water. The damn seas tried to kill me three times plus I get seasick. I am dumb and slow to learn lessons, but this one is officially engraved in my neural pathways. “But you live in Miami!” you say. Yes, but 11 miles inland.

And now I must nominate 10 bloggers to become also recipients of the Stylish Award.

• Suburban Sheepdog. My shooting friend Robert (The loudest Voice in IDPA measured in decibels alone) recently started his blogging discipline.
• Monster Hunter Nation. Larry Correia (and I announce it Portuguese) and the whole MHI world.
• Uncommon Gunsense. Gail being Gail and I am not saying more because I am afriad of her abilities with a knife.
• My Gun Culture. There is something wrong with the mind behind this blog…I love it.
• Every Day, No Days Off. On design alone is deserving, but the content sometimes is apotheosis.
• Anthroblogogy. The description of the blog is worth the award alone. I still cannot pronounce the damn name of the blog.
• The Massad Ayoob Blog. It is Mas… what else do you need to know?
• no guns – keine waffen ! A German pro-gun Blog. It is hard and ballsy to be the lone voice in the ordung wilderness. No, I don’t read German but I abuse Google Translate.
• Day by Day. I really don’t know if you can call it a blog in the strict sense of the word, but it comes out daily and it bites hard. Plus it has the hottest cartoon chicks since Jessica Rabbit.
• Conservative Scalawag. The name alone is stylish!

I am missing many more and probably repeated awards, but that is my list and I am sticking to it.

(sent via email by my beloved blond)
An old prospector shuffled into town leading an old tired mule.

The old man headed straight for the only saloon to clear his parched
throat.

He walked up and tied his old mule to the hitch rail.  As he stood
there, brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a young
gunslinger stepped out of the saloon with a gun in one hand and a bottle
of whiskey in the other.

The young gunslinger looked at the old man and laughed, saying, “Hey old
man, have you ever danced?”
The old man looked up at the gunslinger and said, “No, I never did
dance… never really wanted to.”
A crowd had gathered as the gunslinger grinned and said,  “Well, you old
fool, you’re gonna dance now,” and started shooting at the old man’s
feet.

The old prospector –not wanting to get a toe blown off– started
hopping around like a flea on a hot skillet.  Everybody was laughing,
fit to be tied.

When his last bullet had been fired, the young gunslinger, still
laughing, holstered his gun and turned around to go back into the
saloon.

The old man turned to his pack mule, pulled out a double-barreled
shotgun, and cocked both hammers.

The loud clicks carried clearly through the desert air.
The crowd stopped laughing immediately.

The young gunslinger heard the sounds too, and he turned around very
slowly.  The silence was almost deafening.

The crowd watched as the young gunman stared at the old timer and the
large gaping holes of those twin barrels.

The barrels of the shotgun never wavered in the old man’s hands, as he
quietly said, “Son, have you ever licked a mule’s ass?”
The gunslinger swallowed hard and said, “No sir….. but… I’ve always
wanted to.”

There are a few lessons for us all here:

Never be arrogant.
Don’t waste ammunition.
Whiskey makes you think you’re smarter than you are.
Always, always make sure you know who has the power.
Don’t mess with old men, they didn’t get old by being stupid.

Just so we are clear: It will not happen anytime soon.

The reason? The “A” part and the “T” part in ATF. The yearly income for  excise taxes for Alcohol and Tobacco is somewhere in the 25 to 30 billion dollars range according from what I quickly gathered in the interwebs which goes to fund SCHIP and killing funds for that program is political suicide anywhere.  Excise taxes for firearms and ammunition in comparison rack under 500 million dollars yearly which half goes back for wildlife conservation (Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act) which is not politically sexy across the board.

So if instead of Blog Chest Puffing we use a bit of common sense, we could achieve what needs to be done.

1) Have Congress create legislation that separates any weapons criminal investigation from BATFE and have it transferred to the FBI. Also anything that is related to NFA records and compliance.

2) Keep the excise tax control in the hands of the Treasury Department so they do not have their accountant bitch too much.

3) Have the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility review the files of every ATF agent involved in weapons’ investigations and, if their credentials are impeccable, allow them to transfer to the FBI or given a choice in another Federal Law Enforcement agency. Prosecute only the most blatant of violators and let the rest go.

It is my opinion that this will be the smartest way to amputate the rogues in the agency and bring peace to gun owners.