Bad news for criminals

Glenn Reynolds:

SCENES FROM A NEW AMERICA: So I dropped the girls off at a movie, and — since the Insta-wife was lunching with her mom — stopped at a Sonny’s Barbecue for lunch. A man — late 40s, big, with a wife and a daughter — came in with an empty holster on his belt. As he sat down at the booth next to mine, the manager came by and asked him if he’d left his gun in the car. Yes, said the man, who had a permit but thought he wasn’t allowed to carry in restaurants in Tennessee.. Well, they’ve changed the law, said the manager, and if you want to go get it that’s fine with us. It’s legal now, and I’m happy to have you carrying — if somebody tries to rob me, it’s two against one.

The man stepped outside and returned with a Springfield XD in the holster, chatted with the manager for a bit about guns, and then sat down and had lunch with his family.

Scattershooting

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Chuck Nevitt:

Trivia I would never have been able to answer: Name the only two NCAA Division I colleges who have won a national championship in football (mythical, since the NCAA does not crown a champion at the highest level), basketball or baseball in each of the last four decades.

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Bob Novak brings us the sad story of how the Democrat leadership in the House, when forced to make a choice between saving US lives or increasing billable hours for trial lawyers, chose…well, you can guess.

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If the Lakers are invited to play Celebrity Jeopardy, it might be a good idea to leave Lamar Odom at home. After their February 6 loss in Atlanta Phil Jackson said his team was disjointed. When asked if he agreed with that assessment, Odom said “I don’t even know what disjointed means.”

Given Lamar’s past, he probably guessed it means it’s time to re-up.

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Have you noticed that every mass shooting happens in a “gun-free zone” – schools, post offices and the like? And that on those rare occasions when they are stopped it’s because they run into somebody else with a gun? There’s a lesson in there somewhere…now what could it be?

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Jason Kidd will be happy to get back to Dallas for so many reasons, but don’t overlook the fans. Earlier in the season, when asked why the Nets play harder on the road he replied "Maybe more people in the seats?"

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It was nice to see activist Bob Geldof effusively praising President Bush and our policies in Africa, a reminder that the wailing about how the perception of the US has dropped throughout the world is based more on the success of anti-American propagandists getting their message out than on reality. Usefully illustrating the point, major American papers ignored the story (as they do with pretty much any news that reflects positively on the US and/or the president), with only Investor’s Business Daily in addition to the linked Washington Times article even mentioning it.

Thankfully, there is a thriving alternative media out there. The bad news is that you have to work a little to find it, with most passively having their worldview shaped or at least influenced by anti-American elites.


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One more reason college basketball is a joke: Drake beat Iowa in Iowa City for the first time in 40 years due in no small part to the fact that Iowa shot 0, that’s zero/zip/nada, free throws.

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Trivia answer: Oklahoma (1974-75-85 football, 1994 baseball, 2000 football) and Cal State Fullerton (1979-84-95-2004 baseball).

Scared sensible

Another confirmation of that old saying, the definition of a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged:

It's funny how a gun can instantly change your perspective on things, make you wish you could rewrite history.

State Rep. Michael DeBose, a southside Cleveland Democrat, discovered this lesson the night of May 1, when he thought he was going to die. That's the night he wished he had that gun vote back.

[...]

DeBose twice voted against a measure to allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons. It became law in 2004.

DeBose voted his conscience. He feared that CCW permits would lead to a massive influx of new guns in the streets and a jump in gun violence. He feared that Cleveland would become the O.K. Corral, patrolled by legions of freshly minted permit holders.

"I was wrong," he said Friday.

"I'm going to get a permit and so is my wife.

"I've changed my mind. You need a way to protect yourself and your family.

"I don't want to hurt anyone. But I never again want to be in the position where I'm approached by someone with a gun and I don't have one."

DeBose said he knows that a gun doesn't solve Cleveland's violence problem; it's merely a street equalizer.

"There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited. They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent.