Guns, and great responsibility

First off, I could be considered a "semi-avid" shooter, by that I go out to the range when money and time permit, which unfortunately isn't exactly a regular basis. I own a .357 revolver, and a couple semi-auto and bolt action rifles. I was taught how to shoot by an Army and a Marine Vietnam vets. These devices aren't toys, they're dangerous, very dangerous. And as very dangerous things, I know they come with a lot of responsibility.

Apparently people out there don't understand the kind of responsibility that comes with owning a gun. That's the only explanation for this kind of shit.

Yeah you're seeing this right. Some fuckwit really thinks it's funny to pretend to shoot kids.

Yeah some fuckwit really is seeling this to other fuckwits that thing it's funny. As a gun owner, this goes beyond irresponsible, I find this beyond repulsive. For one it just makes gun owners in general look bad. Most gun owners are careful and responsible. But the something like this comes along and grabs more negative attention. Negative attention that goes and fires up the anti-gun crowd. 

 

It's often said that people are scared of what they don't understand. When I talk to people about going out to do some target shooting I compare it to archery, and explain how I personally find it kind of meditating. Out on the range, it's just you, your rifle, and the target, you just tune everything out. And your awareness just rockets through the roof, you become aware of your breathing, and your heart rate, and sometimes I feel like I can even control my heart rate. That's how focused and in the zone you get. It's an awesome feeling.

But then along comes an ass like this guy and the ones who buy crap like this that just aggravate the feelings of fear with people unfamiliar with guns.

If I was a defending Zimmerman I would be beyond pissed over this. This is the sort of thing that could taint and bias a jury, by making gun owners look like a bunch of trigger happy cavemen.

The Constitution, on marriage. Like it or not it's the supreme law of the land

Alright I'm sure at this point everyone has heard about North Carolina amending their constitution to criminalize same sex marriages. I've come across several people saying something along the lines of "well the voted for it so tough for the gays" well slow down a moment...

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

That right there is the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Sum it up, the Constitution is more or less the final say in legal matters. Sure the U.S. Supreme Court likes to think that it is the final say, but they're only the final say on whether a law goes against the Constitution or not. Anyway moving on, there's more to talk about with the Constitution.

Incorporation - Constitutional law. The process of applying the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states by interpreting the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause as encompassing those provisions. 


 - Black's Law Dictionary 3rd Pocket Edition

Alright, what that basically means is that the Bill of Rights is applied to both the Federal government AND the States. Before it was only interpreted as applying to the Federal government.

So what does all this have to do with North Carolina and people voting for what they want?

Well... the Constitution, not the voters reigns supreme.

To pack it all together, basically it means that because of the 14th Amendment, the Bill of Rights now applies to the States. So now State government cannot pass legislation that violates the Bill of Rights.

Which now walks into Issue Two of this whole thing.

Does banning same-sex marriage violate the Constitution?

Well it can go either way right now. Flash back to 2008 and California's Prop 8. Passed but just a bare majority, like 53% or something like that. Shortly after it went to court and a Federal district judge ruled it unconstitutional. Violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The decision was later affirmed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Though on the other hand other states have laws banning same-sex marriages, but it might just mean no one there challenged the law's constitutionality.

Though the thing that's really scary about this, isn't even the whole same sex marriage thing, it's that there are A LOT of Americans there who don't even know how the Constitution works. I chalk that up to a failure on the part of the education system.

Many people, well many people on Facebook anyway, think that once something is voted on by a majority it's set in stone. Wrong, has to pass constitutional muster first.

So does this pass constitutional muster? Well it hasn't in the 9th Circuit, and if the Supreme Court decides to see the case and agrees with the 9th Circuit then across the country same-sex marriage bans will not pass constitutional muster, so it won't matter how big a majority votes for a ban, it's still not becoming law.

Meet Pastor Closet Gay

Maybe if this blog goes on long enough I'll have a series of entries called "Shithead of the Week".

This time we have Pastor Sean Harris, who advocates beating kids if they might be gay. Yeah that's right, this guy endorse and advocates child abuse. First we had Dominic Dieter encouraging sexual assault, now we have Pastor Harris who I quote: ""Man up. Give him a good punch."  http://theweek.com/article/index/227568/beat-the-gay-away-one-pastors-advice-for-parents

Now it's been about 2 and a half years since I took Criminal Law, but I'm pretty sure battery is a criminal offense. Honestly is this really what our society has come to? Advocating child abuse? Sure Harris apologized, but he apologized because he got busted.

The real insanity here is that neither he nor Dieter (well as far as I know) have been taken off the air after basically advocating violence on children. Why do we tolerate this shit? Homophobia has to be one of the biggest wastes of emotion. I mean how does consenting adults being gay affect your everyday life? I have a few gay friends and had some gay co-workers and at no moment did my quality of life go down because of them.

Well maybe Americans aren't tolerating this, more and more are walking away from organized religion. I'd say it's people like this guy who are partly the reason for that. http://theweek.com/article/index/226625/the-rise-of-atheism-in-america
I mean why would you want to stick around some so called "man of God" who encourages violences against some of the most vulnerable in society.

Though why did I call him Pastor Closet Gay? Well because of this recent report. http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/62664-homophobia-greater-in-closet-gays

The hidden costs of living large

Well I'm sure everyone knows about all the different health issues with being fat, from diabetes to heart issues. Well apparently it's more than just personal health issues. Stadiums have to make seats wider, buses need to have stronger components installed, hospitals need to buy bigger wheelchairs, and even toilets need to be redesigned. It even affects how much you spend on gas. Never really thought about it but it takes more gas to move something heavier than something lighter. So you're spending more gas to move a car full of your fat friends.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-obesity-idUSBRE83T0C820120430

Goes to show just how wide and far reaching this "obesity epidemic" is. At first I never put much thought into it, I figured if that person is ok with being that way, fine that's their life. But now with it leading to rising costs across the board of society, http://theweek.com/article/index/227428/the-heavy-price-of-obesity-in-america-by-the-numbers  well... this cost has to be made up somewhere? Increased cost on plane tickets, or more expensive bus fair? Would a trip to the hospital cost me more now? When it hits everyone in the pocket book, dropping a few pounds kind of becomes in everyone's best interest.

Though with all kinds of effort here and there to get/help people to slim down. Some are pushing back and trying to claim "size discrimination". I can tell you right now being fat will never be a protected class. When it comes to equal protection one of the key, if not the key thing is an immutable characteristic, that you're born that way and there is much you can do about it. You can't do much about the fact that you're male or female, or that you're Black, or Chinese, or etc. But you certainly can gain or lose weight, you can do something about your weight.

Florida, two standards, one state.

So in recent news a black person was involved in a shooting in Florida. No not Treyvon Martin, I'm sure everyone has heared enough about wannabe super cop George Zimmerman. Nope, this one involves Marissa Alexander and the notorious Stand Your Ground Law. http://ideas.time.com/2012/04/30/where-was-stand-your-ground-for-marissa-alexander/?xid=gonewsedit


Oh don't get me wrong this is a situation that from the sounds of it Stand Your Ground is supposed to apply.


Here is the so-called Stand Your Ground law. 

(3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

 

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0776/Sections/0776.013.html

 

So lets look at what happened to Marissa Alexander. She was at home just minding her own damn business till hubby came in and started kicking her ass. Sounds like she was somewhere she had a right to be and wasn't doing anything illegal. Here comes this guy ready to use force, sounds to me she ought to be able to use force right back, right? So she fires back at a guy coming at her who was choking her just a little while ago, she sounds like the person the law was meant to protect right? 

Well apparently the judge didn't think so. The judge even said she could have left the home and that “insufficient evidence she reasonably believed that deadly force was needed.” And now this mother is locked up in prison waiting sentencing.

 

So, she was getting beaten and choked and the judge here still thinks the law doesn't apply. Seriously how is this NOT self-defense. Basically to use force in self-defense the use of force needs to be reasonable. Here we got domestic violence in motion, it wasn't like Gray, Marissa's husband was walking down the street with candy and iced tea when she blasted him.

 

Seriously, what the fuck Florida?

 

How is it that George Zimmerman gets to shoot a 17 year old kid who had nothing but candy and tea and whom Zimmerman admitted to everyone that he didn't know if Treyvon was armed, gets to go off on bail, while Marissa gets tossed in prison. The situation with Marissa is pretty much a Criminal Law casebook example of self-defense. After all, when you choke someone, you might kill them, hence being lethal force, and therefore Marissa would be allowed to respond with lethal force. And in case you missed it, she's in her own damn house! What state, anywhere, would require you to flee from your home? Not even California, which is derided by 2nd Amendment supporters (like me) has a requirement to flee from your own home. What, is it racism? George certainly looks more White than Latino, and Marissa definitely looks black. Is it sexism? Is it because George is a man and Marissa is a woman? Is she supposed to be a submissive housewife who'll take a beating if her psycho ass husband feels like it?

 

I don't know, the White looking man gets bail and the black looking woman is sitting in prison. It's shit like this that makes people lose faith in the "justice" system.

A Man, A Motorcycle, and a Two Year Boner

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