Penny Dean and Your Rights

The <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262834/ct-considers-confiscating-la... Review</a> discusses a law being considered in Connecticut which would make you a felon if you don't turn in your "high-capacity" magazine.

This appears to be illegal, unconstitutional, and simply ignorant... yet it's being discussed as if it could happen.

"If a little is good, then a lot must be really great." -- said in jest at a cooking school.

The above quote is commonly heard by master chefs when teaching new students about how much spice to use in a recipe. In reality, the right amount of any spice is "not too much" and "not too little" at the same time. This is also called "in moderation."

<img src="http://cmsimg.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DP&Date... align="right">At PNJ.COM we read about a homeowner who opened the door to strangers and was met with a metal baseball bat over the head.

<blockquote>AMHERST - Police chief Peter Lyon said Amherst Street resident and state Rep. Peter T. Hansen acted appropriately and well within the law when he detained at gunpoint a man who had broken into his home late Tuesday night. -- The Nashua Telegraph, front page 1/6/11</blockquote>

and in the same column of the same front page:

<blockquote>CONCORD - The House of Representatives [ended the] ban on carrying [...] weapons inside the chamber. -- ibid.</blockquote>

According to Reuters, other countries are suffering from violent drug dealers. Sometimes they do not blame legally operating gun shops for the problems, either:

<blockquote>
"These people had kidnapped innocent citizens a number of times, and after receiving money from their families they still killed some of their victims," Fars quoted provincial prosecutor Ebrahim Hamidi as saying.

We have all seen those articles with a title like "This Year In Review" or maybe "The 10 top [whatever] of 2010" and similar stories. They do it every year, and we always look at them and we either laugh, cry, reflect, or even vow to make a New Years' resolution to do something about it. Right?

It's the most wonderful time of the year... and during various holiday seasons, we expect employers and vendors to have special holiday celebrations and games.

N.J. Governor Chris Christie Commutes Gun Owner’s Prison Sentence
NRA Hails Decision, Calls for Real Reform

Fairfax, Va. –The National Rifle Association praised New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for commuting the prison sentence of Brian Aitken—a gun owner who was arrested, convicted and imprisoned for illegal possession of firearms, even though he had made every effort to comply with New Jersey’s restrictive and confusing laws. The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund supported Mr. Aitken’s case.

According to Ken Melson, the Acting Director of ATF, here are the “reasons” that law abiding gun owners should not be afraid or concerned about more onerous registration of firearms owners. This is all about the “Southwest” violence, this “limited reporting” of multiple sales of certain long guns they claim will only apply to FFLs doing business in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, which are major source states for crime guns seized in Mexico and traced to federal firearms licensees.

This story is sad in that someone was killed by a handgun. It is also sad that someday, somewhere, an anti-gun nut will use it as "another teen-ager killed by a handgun."

The facts seem to be that these two fine young fellows decided to threaten deadly violence to steal money from a small business owner. This business owner happens to be a law-abiding, responsible gun owner who has spent some time on the firing line.

You can pick up the story here: http://www.wsbtv.com/video/26040997/index.html