The Uninvited Ombudsman Report, No. 57

Taken from the most recent “Page Nine” Alan Korwin’s “The Uninvited Ombudsman Report”

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OBAMA WANTS YOU
In an extraordinary outreach effort, the president-elect is actively soliciting input from special-interest groups with no holds barred. Shockingly, not a single firearms group has responded (there are 39 pages just listing groups that have filed reports). Have we become so set in our fears that we might fail to ask our president for those values and laws that more than half the country would want? Reach out to your local and national pro-rights groups and make your voice heard. The president-elect's website is loaded with opportunities, but they mean nothing if we don't use them. I'm working on a proposal, will release it soon. Go here to start yourself:
http://change.gov/open_government/yourseatatthetable

CORRECTIONS:

In case it wasn't perfectly clear, the proposal to put serial numbers on every round of ammunition and ban all older ammo that isn't numbered was cockamamie nonsense from ignorant deluded dreamers, and did not pass anywhere (it showed up in 20 states). The idiotic/clever scheme would have banned ammunition, and everyone recognized that, especially its proponents. The National Shooting Sports Foundation made it clear: "Bullet serialization -- the process by which each individual round of ammunition is identified and marked with a laser engraved serial number -- is not feasible from a practical standpoint and any legislation mandating such action could rightfully be considered a de facto ban on ammunition." http://www.nssf.org/media/ The most dangerous part of the proposal is that there are people out there thinking that way -- and they have worse ideas, if that's possible -- http://www.gunlaws.com/Left-wing%20Gun%20Plan.htm

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2- Shooting Your Foot

The lamestream media told you:

Football star Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg with an illegal handgun, and now faces up to 15 years in prison. He had a handgun permit in Florida but it expired earlier this year, and wouldn't have mattered in New York. The NFL encourages its players to stay away from guns because they're too dangerous, with Hall of Famer Mike Ditka saying, "I don't understand the league, why can anybody have a gun? I will have a policy, no guns, any NFL players we find out, period, you're suspended."

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Sean Taylor was killed last year during a robbery at his house. Darrent Williams was killed in 2007 outside a nightclub. What makes these two events related is that Taylor played football for the Redskins, and Williams was with the Broncos.

While it's "only" two murders in a year, it calculates out to a murder rate of 118 per 100,000 (for pro-football players) compared to "only" 5.9 per 100,000 for the public. In other words, there is a 20 times greater chance of a football player being killed than you or me. It's higher than for even the highest risk group, black kids between 18 and 24 (a complex function of social and government policies, and the government-sponsored war on some drugs).

Rich, high profile, easy-to-spot football players are a natural target of the same perverse maggots that prey on the rest of society. Instead of recognizing this and screaming for their civil right of self defense to remain intact, the corrupt media screams at the man who shot himself in the leg. Then it provides ad space, disguised as "news," for a fat white cat who campaigns to deny the civil rights of black men to keep and bear arms. You have to have sympathy for Mike "Jim Crow" Ditka, since he comes off as wholly ignorant of the issue he addresses, promoting the disarming of the innocent, just like postbellum bigots in the south.

Immeasurable thanks to Dr. John Lott, who brought this my attention with his post for FOX News http://tinyurl.com/5mnfkz, and did all the math and background making my job a snap. John, you rule.

Not a single news story discussed gun safety, how to avoid shooting yourself in the leg, what errors this man made in gun handling, how he carried or anything that would benefit the public and help keep us safe. According to leading experts, that surprised no one.

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3- Economy's Great Elsewhere

The lamestream media told you:

The economy is in the pits, hard times are upon us, consumers aren't spending, you should be very worried and there's plenty of blame to go around. Stay tuned for the opinions again of three of our leading opinion talkers.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Economic activity at gun shows is exceeding all records, with attendance 30% to 100% above prior years. The last gun show attended by the Uninvited Ombudsman to sign books (the beautifully organized Crossroads of the West show in Phoenix) was packed to the rafters, ran long (three days not two), and had an astounding 2,300 tables in four buildings and two huge tents. Mountains of ammo were moved out in a constant flow of hand trucks and everyone was carrying packages. The idea that people don't have spending money is pure nonsense -- where there are good buys of desirable products the economy is way robust.

The media, in an effort to scare the public and present its twisted view of reality, took a 3% increase in sales on black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and called it "cautious" "tentative" "limited" and anything but a welcomed increase.

Vigorous sales activity at the gun show -- and around the nation -- have been attributed in part to threats against gun rights made by president-elect Obama. "He's selling more guns than anyone," said one dealer, reflecting on how Slick Willie Clinton had a similar effect. Signs sprang up with Obama's picture and a caption of "Employee of the month."

In other news, after a two-year drought in California due to especially repressive gun laws, a new pistol has finally been approved for sale in the state. Government efforts to slow the economy by limiting what can be sold is so un-American it defies words.

The SR9 by Sturm Ruger (NYSE:RGR) has also been approved for sale in Massachusetts, another leading anti-gun-rights state. The 9mm striker-fired sidearm offers an internal trigger bar interlock and striker blocker, trigger safety, magazine disconnect, and a visual and tactile loaded-chamber indicator. http://www.ruger.com/News/2008-11-26a.jsp?P=F

Some critics are concerned that California's restrictive approach to firearms is driving the direction of gun makers, and the impediments to sales, increased costs and mandated design features may not be in the best interests of a free market or a well-armed public. Anti-rights legislators often take their cues from the Eureka state, known affectionately as The Land of Fruits and Nuts.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation also notes that Ruger announced that its board of directors has authorized a stock repurchase program that allows the company to repurchase up to $5 million of its common stock from time to time in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. Gun stocks are seen by some analysts as a choice investment.

In still other news, Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ:SWHC) announced it has filled orders from three state agencies for duty firearms for its Military & Police (M&P) Pistol Series. The agencies include the Washington Department of Corrections, Texas Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigations.

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9- Permit Carry Expands

The lamestream media told you:

Defying logic and any sense of safety, Bush's government has avoided Congress and changed the gun laws through regulatory process. People with concealed-weapon permits will now be allowed to roam the National Parks armed at will. "We should not be making it easier for dangerous people to carry firearms in our parks," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign, in a prepared statement.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Why Mr. Helmke thinks that trained, FBI-certified permit holders are dangerous people instead of safe people was unreported. Statistics show that permit holders are, on average, five times below the national average for commission of crimes.

However, continuing the rights-denial policies now entrenched in the halls of federal power, quasi-government agents -- people with perpetually monitored government-issued firearm-carry permits -- will be tolerated in U.S. National Parks for now. The National Park service banned the possession of working firearms from their entire spread of lands (83 million acres, 376 separate areas, in 49 states) decades ago, with no apparent delegated legal authority to do so.

Now, the one or two percent of the public that has bent over and been granted government permits will be able to keep and bear arms on this federally controlled land with little fear of arrest.
The rights of the rest of the public, supposedly guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, remain denied.

No effort is underway or planned for reinstating freedom for the general population. Any "non-licensed person" caught in National Parks in possession of private property, if the property is a workable firearm, will be subject to fines, confiscation of the property, arrest and prosecution. That part of the plan got no "news" attention at all, but we the people noticed it.

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Contents:
(searchable by item number)
1- Caroline Kennedy's Gun-qualified
2- Shooting Your Foot
3- Economy's Great Elsewhere
4- CNN Poll Nonsense
5- Internet Censorship Coming
6- Story Placement Bias
7- Real Presidential Numbers
8- Bureaucrats Bounce Businessmen
9- Permit Carry Expands
10- SPJ Misses Mark
11- Special Guest Columnist Craig Cantoni --
Obama to Give Alcohol to Alcoholics

Page Nine is now a blog! You can sign up for automatic RSS feeds and find a wealth of interesting information at PageNine.org

Thanks for reading!
Alan Korwin
The Uninvited Ombudsman