The failure of the jury in the Michael Dunn case to convict Dunn of First Degree Murder or any of its lesser included offenses in the killing of Jordan Davis has led to a predictable outpouring of claims that that the case reflects societal racism, if not racism in the judicial system.  Dunn was convicted only of attempted murder and unlawfully firing a missile into an occupied vehicle — none of which relate to his killing of Davis.

As with the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, there was a rush to blame Florida’s Stand Your Ground (SYG) law.

Unfortunately, many of the people writing about SYG are doing so in apparent ignorance of what SYG is and what it is not.  By conflating “SYG” with other completely distinct self-defense legal concepts they only contribute to confusion over these self-defense law issues and complicate good faith debate of them.

via Michael Dunn Trial | Stand Your Ground | Paul Campos | Salon.

Andrew Branca does a double here: A nice fisking that also gives us a detailed and concise legal explanation on SYG and Self Defense. You may want to bookmark it for future reference.

Sales of guns and ammo are losing steam after a frenzied run-up sparked by fears of greater restrictions in the wake of the Newtown shooting and other massacres.
Background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, considered to be the most accurate means of tracking gun sales, plunged by a third in January compared to the year before. There were about 1.66 million background checks last month, and nearly 2.5 million in January the year before.

via Gun sales are plunging – Feb. 14, 2014.

In a sense, they are right, but the overall sense of panic/celebration needs to be moderated just a tad.

Let’s check the NICS numbers, shall we? Comparing the number for Decembers of one year against the January of the following year:

• Dec 1998 = 871,644, Jan 1999 = 591,355
• Dec 1999 = 1,253,354 , Jan 2000 = 639,972
• Dec 2000 = 1,000,962, Jan 2001 = 640,528
• Dec 2001 = 1,062,559, Jan 2002 = 665,803
• Dec 2002 = 974,059, Jan 2003 = 653,751
• And it goes on pretty much the same

Even during the bubble, the sales in January were less than the sales in December. Maybe not such a big margin, but there is a descent in sales. Click on the link above and check it yourselves.

What we are seeing is perhaps a normalization of gun sales. December is a month of high sales as seen in the NICS table and probably because of the obvious: It is frigging Christmas time! Gifts anyone?

Captain Obvious, please report to the bridge.

Authorities should use the background check database as a way to find assault weapon purchasers who might not have registered those guns in compliance with the new law.

via Thousands have failed to register their military-style assault weapons. – Hartford Courant.

As far as I can tell, Connecticut uses NICS for its background checks instead of a state database of criminal records.

And it is a clear demonstration why we do not want not only Universal Background Checks that Charlie Schummer was so anxious to get, but also any kind of registration and even destroy any registration anywhere in the US.

“No dear plebeian, you are being silly! This registration is only to make sure that the guns don’t fall in the wrong hands…. of course we would not change our minds…well, of course if the law changes, we will use it to “legally” confiscate your weapons and if you refuse, a nice SWAT team will descend upon your household.”

Hat tip to Sebastian.

I really do not understand the mindset of these people:

If being prepared for such a contingency is bad and the solution is another law,  I say that we make heart attacks illegal and we can stop training people in CPR.  Choking on a piece of food? Illegal and that way we don’t have to teach the Heimlich maneuver. I would go as far as prohibiting fire so we don’t have to learn how to use a fire extinguisher and PASS.

At the end, I guess they fear self-reliance the most. Useless people resent those who can take care of themselves…. and they want laws to stop us.

Update: Moms Demand join in the demand for ignorance:

The Polite Society Podcast (formerly known as Prince…er… Politics and Guns Podcast) is one of the few podcast I am able to listen in halfway peace. They are fun and informative putting out two shows a week which in my opinion it is enough.

But  apparently they were in dire straits finding subjects to interview so they were forced to scrape underneath the bottom of the barrel and were forced to call upon my limited persona.

Short interview so you guys don’t have to suffer my voice.  We covered a bit of what was happening in Venezuela and the price you pay when those who swear to protect you (in exchange for you being “Gun Free”) turn out to be the outright aggressors. I think it will be out next week I think….if they don’t decide to can it altogether.

Subscribe to the podcast and enjoy it.

Mad skills… and not a bad looking pool table accessory.