Over at The Atlantic Andrew Sullivan asks “If gun rights are civil rights, why would anyone feel the need to hide the fact that they own one?” in regards to a story that the Tennessean published the names of all owners of concealed carry permits in the state.” Those records are public and thus fair [...]

Interesting article from the BBC about how the Swiss handle the gun situation. Because, for being such a historically neutral country, they’ve certainly got a very militaristic attitude: The country has a population of six million, but there are estimated to be at least two million publicly-owned firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 [...]

The creepy thing is I was at that mall on Saturday seeing a movie at the exact same time the shooting happened on Sunday. Also, it’s rumored that the shooter had mental health problems.

If the laws had been followed, it look as if this crisis could have been averted. From the NY Times: WASHINGTON, April 20 � Under federal law, the Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho should have been prohibited from buying a gun after a Virginia court declared him to be a danger to himself in late [...]

*sigh* So, the meme that a couple on the right are trying to start after the tragedy at VTech is “Did a liberal college education enable, encourage and inform Cho’s psychotic rage?” I would hope that any rational person would agree that Cho was A) mentally unstable and therefore should have B) been heavily medicated [...]

With all the different theories floating around out there right now about why Cho did what he did…I think the comic that Reason offers today has the most logical explanation. Hop on over.

Loren Coleman wrote the following on March 28… Here is my prediction of what to expect in the next two months: There will be new school shootings with increased violent outcomes by “outsiders.” Plots will be discovered, and students, especially girls and women, will be targets, victimized by adults using the vulnerable landscape of schools [...]

After he killed the first two people, he took some photographs, shot a video and sent it in the mail to NBC. This is most likely THE explanation as to why there was a lull in the violence at VA Tech that day. From MSNBC: Sometime after he killed two people in a Virginia university [...]

Found this Wikipedia entry on reddit… On January 16, 2002, Peter Odighizuwa, 43, of Nigeria, a student at Appalachian School of Law, arrived on the campus. While it was widely reported at the time that Odighizuwa had flunked out of school, he had evidenty voluntarily withdrawn because of his poor academic performance. Odighizuwa first discussed [...]

Tragic news coming out of Virginia Tech. From the AP: BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people and wounding another 21 before he was killed, police said. On the Web site, Tech reported the shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre [...]

I certainly wasn’t expecting this on a Friday in March, but it’s a good decision. From Bloomberg: March 9 (Bloomberg) — A U.S. appeals court struck down a three-decade-old District of Columbia law that bans residents from keeping a handgun in their homes, saying the Constitution’s Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms. [...]

“…if Dick Cheney comes out of his hole and shoots an old man in the FACE (!), 6 more weeks of winter.” More jokes here.

Check it out at The Moderate Voice.

Since Cheney shot somebody in the FACE(!) yesterday, I thought this was an appropriate video to share. (thanks Matt)

(In follow-up to the previous post.) This is what you get when R & D is driven by military interests. The Kinetic Energy Anti-Satellite being developed by Boeing is intended to provide the United States the ability to neutralize hostile satellites. The image was attached to a Foreign Policy Q & A with Lt. Gen. [...]

The Pentagon has stopped Israel from selling China “Harpy attack drones and other advanced technology.” The Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that it had signed an understanding with the Pentagon “aimed at solving past problems which had seriously harmed relations … in the realm of technological security.” Israel will take “further [...]

Pakistan has produced and tested a cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads and with a range of 310 miles. Why? “India has global ambitions, which the United States is supporting, so it is building up its military capabilities,” said retired Pakistani Gen. Talat Masood. “This gives rise to Pakistani insecurity, and as a consequence, [...]

My friends on the center-right all know the work of Michael Yon, the Ernie Pyle of the Iraq War. But perhaps the center-left readers here haven’t been introduced to him yet. In that case, here’s an opportunity. When the Deuce-Four soldiers started loading their two detainees onto the Stryker–crack! A sniper fired. The bullet raced [...]

… and your enemies. “This is an amazing model of an F-14. At first I thought the guy just built a stationary model. But the thing really flies. Friggin awesome. “ Editor’s note: The quote IS the link.