Oink Oink

This year’s pork book is out. Read about here. then check out the full thing here.

This year it seems Democrats top the list of porkers, which I am sure we all find so shocking.

Hawaii Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono, both Democrats, topped the list for earmarks in the House of Representatives. Abercrombie’s pet projects received a total of almost $257 million; Hirono’s received almost $153 million.

The annual Pork-a-saurus award goes to Sen. Harry Reid for requesting $143,000 for the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. Dude, there are museums in Vegas? I mean, besides the Elvis one…

Three Great Reasons to Pay Your Taxes

From Reason.tv

Gun Show Saturday and Some Cursory Gun Control Thoughts

I attended a gun show this past weekend. It certainly was not my first and won’t be my last. This was one was very average to say the least. I didn’t really go with anything in particular in mind to buy, but was just looking for bargains. I did manage to pick up a gently used  Beretta 8040F (chambered for the .40 S&W round). I really didn’t want another .40 as I already have one I am quite happy with. They tend to be expensive to shoot, with a box of .40 ammo going for about $5 – $7 more dollars than a box of 9mm Luger for 50. Considering I shoot around 200-300 rounds per gun per trip, that adds up. I’ve read that some folks have had accuracy issues with this model, which I suspect is due to the heavy trigger pull, but I haven’t had it out at the range yet. I’ll give a report as soon as I do. My dad is a former law enforcement officer who carried a Beretta 96 for the last few years of his career, was quite jealous.

One of the things I did notice is that the price of EVERYTHING has gone up. From ammo to common guns, everything is through the roof. This is especially the case with semi-automatic rifles. Last year at this time, it wasn’t uncommon to see AK’s in the $400-$500 range, SKS’s in the $150 range, and AR-15’s for around $1000. This is not the case anymore. The cheapest AK I saw was a Norinco that had been beat all to hell, and it was still $699.  Russian made SKS’s were in the $400-$500 range, and Chinese made a little less. AR’s were through the freakin’ roof. The fear that there will be another gun ban has really driven prices up. In fact, I heard more than one person tell the dealers that they were looking for guns that would be targeted under a ban. Hi-cap magazines were going at a steady pace as well.

Given some of the senseless violence that we have seen over the past few days and weeks, it would surprise me if there wasn’t a renewed push for more stringent gun control laws. There is nothing worse than cowards who go after soft targets or set up ambushes intent on killing innocent people. No, we don’t want people like that to have guns. But people intent on killing others will find a way to do it regardless of what laws are on the books. Guns are readily available on black market. Restricting law abiding citizens from legally purchasing and using firearms is counter-productive and counter-intuitive. With all due respect, I think that Americans should want some people to own guns, especially those of us who grew up handling them from childhood, who have been thoroughly trained in their use, who are licensed by their state to carry them in defense of self and others.