A comment-writer observes how little a “problem” Tennessee’s own “stand your ground” provision has been.  The lawyer who commented is well-versed in firearms-related law.  He writes:

Since 1989, Tennessee has had the equivalent of ‘stand your ground’ when the legislature added “there is no duty to retreat”.  In the 13 years since, I am not aware of any rash of questionable shootings where self-defense was claimed.

I am sickened by lawyer-commentators who ignore the requirement for deadly force in self-defense: the reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm by another.  How many times has someone claimed you can shoot ‘when you feel threatened’?  Sorry, but unless a judge or jury finds the fear was objectively reasonable, you lose on self-defense.

Yes, it is a subtle lie to try to sell these laws as letting blustering bullies blast bullets all over the neighborhood at the slightest provocation.  Without these statutes, the ordinary, law-abiding, but armed citizen might be picked to pieces over the tiniest details of the shooting scenario, and then prosecuted.  Decisions made under terror, in seconds, in your own home, or under attack outside, might send the citizen to jail for life.

I thank my legislators for looking out for us and decriminalizing the act of lawful self-defense.

I will add: The armed citizen who defends himself against an attacker trying to kill or maim deserves thanks and a medal, not the prosecutor’s persecution.  We all—even the unarmed helpless—benefit by that citizen’s lawful act of self-defense.  It is no tragedy when someone trying to bash your skull in gets shot.  The multiple tragedies behind a life gone bad occurred over time, under the not-so-watchful eyes of people responsible to love and train that life.  Neglect and abuse and sin in general built that pathway to perdition ending in a bullet.

These laws should be called, “Honoring self-defense” laws.

You!  Taxpayer!  People who actually work!  You private company union members!  Tired of paying for other people’s frolics?  Well, reach for your checkbook.  The European Union and the power-brokers who run the International Monetary Fund want your paycheck.  Big question: Will your administration, in this election year, go along like they would like to, or will they understand that coughing up (borrowing) billions more to pay European workers to retire would put the Republicans back into the White House?  Mitt Romney: I want to hear your promise that America will not borrow a single penny to put any more money into the power-brokering game called the International Monetary Fund.

We had all better watch this one closely.  The traitorous American left is whining that America “has to” lead this bailout.  Leftoids from Brasilia to Barcelona will be chastising us for failing to keep our “commitment.

Just sent in checks that I wanted to use to hire a heat and air contractor.  Instead, I sent those dollars to Vegas so a federal employee could lift up a glass to his fellows, and mock me.  In the meantime, this administration’s tax hypocrites get off light.

Tax reform?

Yes, cutting taxes transfers personal power back to the citizen who earned the money.  But, that income tax system remains in place, and it offers thousands of little dials, switches, buttons, and levers for the Wizards of Washington to play with to control the rest of us.  There is no such thing as income tax reform.  The flaws and abuses are inherent in a tax on income.  Repeal the income tax.  (A “flat tax” is nothing but an income tax temporarily toned down to trick you.)

In the meantime, people who are enraged that Google knows too much about them are happy to subject themselves to Congress’s bureaucrats who may demand to see their daily diary (their check register) any day.

Wanted Judge Andrew Napolitano to run.

Excited that Ron Paul could get so far.

Enjoyed some of the Cain, Perry, Gingrich verbiage.

Voted for Rick Santorum.

But, just like I knew it would be, all of a sudden that Mitt Romney seems OK after all.  In fact, I guess after his rousing speech at NRA, I could put up a yard sign.  By the time the election rolls around, no doubt, I’ll be sending in contributions and firmly on board.  Until he sticks it to us with a wishy-washy Supreme Court appointment, Mitt Romney is THE MAN!

The Republicans have done it to us, yet again.

When is the next Tea Party rally?

Quietly, the stock market is drying up.  ”Volume” measures the number of people showing up every day to trade.  While prices may have recovered some, volume has not since 2007.  If the stock exchange is the place businesses go to stand in stalls and sell shares, the streets are not crowded and the customers are going somewhere else.   The article speculates on the reasons, and worries that average people have lost confidence in the market, maybe forever.

Yeah, and I can tell you one reason for sure.  On one day, in 2010, stock prices plummeted almost instantaneously, and then bounced back up.  Harmless?  Hardly.  Traders set “stop loss” orders that trigger automatic selling if their stocks drop below a price they set.  It works like this, as an example: “I own 100 shares of Verizon at $35, but if it drops below $33, sell it!”  The investor does not have to watch the market constantly, and can control his loss.  He loses, but that loss is limited.  Well, the Flash Crash drop down triggered thousands of those orders, and stock owners lost money on the sale, only to watch that same stock bounce instantly back up again.

So what happened?   This article offers eight possibilities.  Predictably, The NYT and others place the blame on computerized-trading systems.  My point is that the Flash Crash remains unexplained, and the little investor got ripped off.  Investing is one thing; spinning a roulette wheel is another.  So, why would the average person invest if all of this stock market stuff is a charade and you are really just being called in by a hawker to play a rigged game?  They can talk all they want about high-volume trading programs, but the little investor feels screwed.  Wonder why he’s staying away?

I do not pretend to be a sophisticated stock investor.  I do understand “Fool me once….”

http://www.theeagle.com/business/Market-drop-still-unexplained

You never know how a pistol will shoot for you just handling one.  Must shoot it.  But this one, …. I would definitely like to try out the Arsenal Firearms Strike One.  Thanks to The Firearm Blog for the review.

This woman is the literal face of the argument for hanging murderers-–in something less than 20 years after the crime.  If you are not local, just search Christa Pike or Colleen Slemmer.  Short version: Christa Pike is a satanic torture-killer, on death row for her 1995 devil worshiper-inspired crime.  Two guys just tried to break her out of prison.  Tell me that 1) You really want Christa Pike out roaming out streets and 2) that frying her in the chair years ago would not prevent her jail-break.

Some people are just given over to evil.  Yes, there is such a thing as evil, as outdated as that notion may be.  She proves it.  Puuhleez do not try to explain her away by any mechanistic, “humans are just products of their learning” paradigm.  Evil.

And I do not want her out here among us.

For you habitual Democrat and Rhino voters who are outraged that she is still unexecuted: It’s your party.  You voted for the leaders, who appointed the judges, who neutered the states’ power to deal with pentagram chest-carving killers like Christa Pike.  It’s your fault she is still alive.  This abortion of justice has been going on in Tennessee now for decades.

First degree murder, and attempted first degree murder are not funny.  There is no other, comparable message to the would-be murderer like the sight of his buddy’s corpse, at the end of a rope, on the courthouse lawn on a Friday at noon.

For you gun controllers mouthing about “guns and crime.”  Prove you are serious about crime by advocating capital punishment; then talk to me about disarming law-abiding Americans.

The Patriot Nurse gives a 9-minute lecture on gunshot wounds here at PatriotNurse.com.  (Lots of good info here, too, for those preparing for The Great Zombie Invasion)

Aaron tells you the sites to go to for you to win free guns and equipment, at Weapon-blog.com.