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Gun Sales Up, Crime Down. Naturally

June 9, 2010 By Trey Garrison 10 Comments

Via PeterK, we have this from John Lott:

President Obama surely didn’t intend it, but he deserves some credit for last year’s 7.4 percent drop in murder rates. His election caused gun sales to soar, and crime rates to plummet.

At the same time gun sales were soaring, there was an unusually large drop in murder rates. The 7.4 percent drop in the murder rate was the largest drop in murder rates since the 1999. For those who don’t remember, 1999, when President Bill Clinton and Columbine occurred, was another time when gun sales soared. With people such as Elena Kagan serving as Mr. Clinton’s deputy domestic policy adviser were pushing hard for more gun control, Americans were worried that more gun bans were coming. And in response gun sales soared.

Arm Yourself with FactsWhile gun sales started notably rising in October 2008, sales really soared immediately after Mr. Obama won the presidential race. 450,000 more people bought guns in November 2008 than bought them in November 2007, that’s over a 40 percent increase in sales. By comparison, the change from November 2006 to November 2007 was only about 35,000. Over the last decade, the average year-to-year increase in monthly sales was only 21,000.

The increase in sales continued well beyond November 2008. From November 2008 to October 2009, almost 2.5 million more people bought guns in the 12 months after the election than in the preceding 12 months. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, doesn’t tell us how many guns each person bought just the number of people who bought them. Most likely though, gun sales rose by more than the number of people who purchased them.

Filed Under Guns, I Kan Rede, Writer on Deadline

Resident Obama Boxes Libertarian Strawmen

June 7, 2010 By Trey Garrison 6 Comments

But to be fair, a good deal of the other party’s opposition to our agenda has also been rooted in their sincere and fundamental belief about the role of government.  It’s a belief that government has little or no role to play in helping this nation meet our collective challenges.  It’s an agenda that basically offers two answers to every problem we face:  more tax breaks for the wealthy and fewer rules for corporations.

The last administration called this recycled idea “the Ownership Society.”  But what it essentially means is that everyone is on their own.  No matter how hard you work, if your paycheck isn’t enough to pay for college or health care or childcare, well, you’re on your own.  If misfortune causes you to lose your job or your home, you’re on your own.  And if you’re a Wall Street bank or an insurance company or an oil company, you pretty much get to play by your own rules, regardless of the consequences for everybody else.

June 2 address

Powerful stuff. (emphasis mine)

Total horse hockey, but great for the kabuki theater crowd.

The last administration and the GOP from 2000-2006 grew government spending and government regulation by more than any administration since Nixon, it turns out.

Figure_1

And while we watch BP and Obama scramble to get one up on each other over the continued oil spill, let’s just remember that a $75 million maximum liability that BP faces for the oil spill is a product of regulation, not the free market.

(h/t Hit n Run)

Filed Under FAIL, I Kan Rede, Politics

Creepy Collectivism from Mike Brady Mr. Obama

September 9, 2009 By Trey Garrison 12 Comments

Gary_Cole_in_A_Very_Brady_Sequel

If you quit on school, you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country….

Don’t ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

Fellow Dallasite and Reasonoid Jacob Sullum has the goods here.

Filed Under Creepy Guys in the Park, I Kan Rede, Writer on Deadline

My DMN Column is Up, Read it and Weep. Or Something.

September 3, 2009 By Trey Garrison 83 Comments

It’s in tomorrow’s print edition, but it’s online now. Here’s a taste – but the rest is on their site. Link below.

No, You Can’t, Mr. President

There’s no doubt the presidential address directed to the captive audience of the nation’s schoolchildren Tuesday will be nonpartisan and positive. Chock full of “study hard and stay in school.”

The problem? It’s not his place to deliver it.

That’s why my first-grader won’t have any part in this.

I know some people will say that we live in a democracy, he’s the national leader and the people voted for him.

Those people are wrong on all three counts. We’re a republic. He’s the president of a federation of states. And a majority of the members of the electoral college voted for him.

What could further cement this fundamental, dangerous misperception of the proper, limited role and power of the president’s office than to have him beamed into every classroom speaking virtually ex cathedra? I got nothing.

By the way, see how I haven’t mentioned the president’s name? That’s intentional…

The complete column is posted here.

Also, early yet, but already an awesome comment:

Is it because the president is a democrat? Is it because the president is black? Is it because the internet has turbocharged stupidity? Could be all or none of the above. Regardless, you should be ashamed of your role in fanning the flames.

UPDATE: From PeterK, Jawa Report has it all over me on this paragraph:

I don’t know about the rest of you parents, but if he doesn’t actually promise a Skittles shitting unicorn in every house, my 3rd grader probably won’t be listening. Because, like most girls in third grade, her free time is consumed with dreams of 3rd grade princesses frolicking in pastures with Skittles shitting unicorns, while the adults deal with idiots like that Mr. President guy interrupting her day.

Filed Under DMN Points and Viewpoints, I Kan Rede, Vainglorious Plugging

No Thank You, Dear Leader

September 2, 2009 By Trey Garrison 42 Comments

obamaleader2This nationwide address to children without their parent’s consent is just too Dear Leader, North Korea-style Orwellian for me.

Here’s the link to the “Recommended Study Materials” to go with Mr. Obama’s proposed Sep. 8 address to school children.

Select chapters and verse for this little trip down indoctrination lane:

Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?
What is the President asking me to do?
What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
No thanks. I don’t care if the president were zombie Milton Friedman, this is wrong.
The Girl will be at home Sep. 8 with me, reading either:
UPDATE: Tom asks a good question and I’m moving my response up to here.
Watching a general speech in school is one thing. Gotta learn civics and politics. No problem.

But one targeted to kids, with those kind of suggested, loaded questions such as “Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?” — that’ a horse of a different…ahem… that’s something else entirely.

And I’d object just as strong to McCain, to Reagan, to JFK — hell, like I said, if Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek or Herbert Spencer were president, I’d object.

It’s not the role of the president, and it creates this idea that these politicians are somehow important and should be followed.

What they say isn’t important. What we say — as individuals — and what we do — as individuals — is far more important.

This didn’t start with Obama — see the third book I linked to — but we’re treading closer and closer every year towards an ugly, led society, instead of a republic of free individuals who should only have to deal with government when they violate the rights of their neighbors or pay a general tax to support the few, constitutionally mandated and delegated duties government should be performing.

Filed Under Creepy Guys in the Park, Friendly Police State, I Kan Rede, Meddlesome Scolds, Zombies

Headline FAIL Trifecta Now In Play

April 30, 2009 By Trey Garrison 16 Comments

I only had a few minutes with the DMN‘s print product this morning, but right there on the front page we had this:

photo21

The one death was in Houston, and the kid had prior medical problems. Fort Worth’s panicky (over-re)action has nothing to do with the death. You’d never know that. Nice touch with the Outbreak style photo, taken in Irving, which is neither Houston nor Fort Worth, if wikipedia’s entry on the ‘burb is correct.

And right below the panic news we get Mr. Obama’s assessment of what is his favorite subject and his first and utmost priority, himself.

photo

Filed Under I Kan Rede, Media

On My Reading List: Jim Schutze’s “The Accommodation”

April 28, 2009 By Trey Garrison 2 Comments

Like Rod, I haven’t read it yet. But it’s now on the list for both the reasons Rod cites and because I just love reading Jim Schutze. Thus, The Accommodation is next, right after I finish this, this, and this. (h/t FB)

Filed Under City Owned Boondoggle, I Kan Rede, Media
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