jdmidwest

On the wake of last weeks decision on the 2nd Amendment, the thinkers have come up with other reasons that guns are bad for us. Seems like if a gun is present, so is the chance for homicide or suicide. Read on... More tax dollars wizzed away for this one... What about overdoses, jumping out of something, slitting wrists, or walking down a crime ridden street w/o a concealed handgun? Surprising fact: Half of gun deaths are suicides By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer 2 hours, 29 minutes ago ATLANTA - The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves. Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There was nothing unique about that year — gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. In 2005, homicides accounted for 40 percent of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2 percent included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent. Public-health researchers have concluded that in homes where guns are present, the likelihood that someone in the home will die from suicide or homicide is much greater. Studies have also shown that homes in which a suicide occurred were three to five times more likely to have a gun present than households that did not experience a suicide, even after accounting for other risk factors. In a 5-4 decision, the high court on Thursday struck down a handgun ban enacted in the District of Columbia in 1976 and rejected requirements that firearms have trigger locks or be kept disassembled. The ruling left intact the district's licensing restrictions for gun owners. One public-health study found that suicide and homicide rates in the district dropped after the ban was adopted. The district has allowed shotguns and rifles to be kept in homes if they are registered, kept unloaded and taken apart or equipped with trigger locks. The American Public Health Association, the American Association of Suicidology and two other groups filed a legal brief supporting the district's ban. The brief challenged arguments that if a gun is not available, suicidal people will just kill themselves using other means. More than 90 percent of suicide attempts using guns are successful, while the success rate for jumping from high places was 34 percent. The success rate for drug overdose was 2 percent, the brief said, citing studies. "Other methods are not as lethal," said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore. The high court's majority opinion made no mention of suicide. But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer used the word 14 times in voicing concern about the impact of striking down the handgun ban. "If a resident has a handgun in the home that he can use for self-defense, then he has a handgun in the home that he can use to commit suicide or engage in acts of domestic violence," Breyer wrote. Researchers in other fields have raised questions about the public-health findings on guns. Gary Kleck, a researcher at Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, estimates there are more than 1 million incidents each year in which firearms are used to prevent an actual or threatened criminal attack. Public-health experts have said the telephone survey methodology Kleck used likely resulted in an overestimate. Both sides agree there has been a significant decline in the last decade in public-health research into gun violence. The CDC traditionally was a primary funder of research on guns and gun-related injuries, allocating more than $2.1 million a year to such projects in the mid-1990s. But the agency cut back research on the subject after Congress in 1996 ordered that none of the CDC's appropriations be used to promote gun control. Vernick said the Supreme Court decision underscores the need for further study into what will happen to suicide and homicide rates in the district when the handgun ban is lifted. Today, the CDC budgets less than $900,000 for firearm-related projects, and most of it is spent to track statistics. The agency no longer funds gun-related policy analysis.

Actually, I blew out my radiator in Bunker on the way up. The truck belongs to my friend and family that was going to be camping with mine. We were driving up together and stopped to top off our tanks in Bunker about 30 minutes from Montauk when I noticed the leak. I found some Barrs Leak and poured it in and limped back home with my tail between my legs. I managed to keep from overheating and made back home. Plastic and aluminum radiator had a crack in the plastic on one side. The Barrs leak plugged it as long as the engine was running. When I stopped for a bathroom break, the split opened up again and started pouring out. Spent Saturday replacing the radiator.

You are right, ammo is the next step. First to lose was the Winchester Black Talon, it caused too much damage? It was intended to kill what it hit and it did, Winchester renamed to Failsafe, same design. Lead bullets and lead shot get eaten by game birds and condors, so no more lead in the field. Then there is the bullet fingerprinting of the barrel rifling. And some are suggesting serial numbers on ammo. My other pet peeve is all of the lock devices that come with today's firearms. Handguns have a trigger lock, all come in a lock box or with a trigger lock. Reloading is taking a hit too. On top of prices going higher than gasoline, some are suggesting restriction on amounts and components. I read a great statement the other day, take your stimulus check and buy a gun. Let the government buy your next gun.

I put this in Conservation Issues because it was about the preservation and management of a 2nd Amendment Right that had been endangered the last 20 years. Now, with this decision, hopefully all of the nonsense of the anti-gunners and anti-hunters will go away. We have made great strides in the past 5 years with the expiration of the law that restricted Hi Cap mags and military type weapons as everyday sporting guns. There was a time that a "Black Gun" was almost extinct, now almost all major manufacturers offer one. MO now has a castle law and a concealed carry option. I want to see the import ban lifted and have access to the fine firearms like the H&K rifles again, which are still LE only.

Any pics of the boat?

Nobama has been for and against guns, depending on what his speech writers feels the crowds want to hear. No matter what happens, he will change it.... McCain will probably be for them unless the dems convince him to vote the other way. Isn't the Brady Foundation headed by Sarah Brady, wife of the secret service agent that caught the bullet for Reagan? I don't think Mr. Brady is that vocal about the gun control.

And the criminals don't use legal guns. This is just going to affect the normal, law abiding citizens. Here is the story out of the local paper with each judge that was for or against. Supreme Court affirms gun rights in historic decision Friday, June 27, 2008 By MARK SHERMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Silent on central questions of gun control for two centuries, the Supreme Court found its voice Thursday in a decision affirming the right to have guns for self-defense in the home and addressing a constitutional riddle almost as old as the republic over what it means to say the people may keep and bear arms. The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns and imperiled similar prohibitions in other cities, Chicago and San Francisco among them. Federal gun restrictions, however, were expected to remain largely intact. The court's historic awakening on the meaning of the Second Amendment brought a curiously mixed response, muted in some unexpected places. The reaction broke less along party lines than along the divide between cities wracked with gun violence and rural areas where gun ownership is embedded in daily life. Democrats have all but abandoned their long push for stricter gun laws at the national level after deciding it's a losing issue for them. Republicans welcomed what they called a powerful precedent. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said merely that the court did not find an unfettered right to bear arms and that the ruling "will provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country." But another Chicagoan, Democratic Mayor Richard Daley, called the ruling "very frightening" and predicted more violence and higher taxes to pay for extra police if his city's gun restrictions are lost. The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia, a once-vital, now-archaic grouping of citizens. That's been the heart of the gun control debate for decades. The answer: Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said an individual right to bear arms exists and is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted. President Bush said: "I applaud the Supreme Court's historic decision today confirming what has always been clear in the Constitution: The Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear firearms." The full implications of the decision, however, are not sorted out. Still to be seen, for example, is the extent to which the right to have a gun for protection in the home may extend outside the home. Scalia said the Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home." The court also struck down D.C. requirements that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns. The district allows shotguns and rifles to be kept in homes if they are registered, kept unloaded and taken apart or equipped with trigger locks. Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police." But he said nothing in the ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings." And in a concluding paragraph to the 64-page opinion, Scalia said the justices in the majority "are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country" and believe the Constitution "leaves the District of Columbia a variety of tools for combating that problem, including some measures regulating handguns." D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty responded with a plan to require residents to register their handguns. "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence," Fenty said. In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons." He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found." Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate dissent in which he said, "In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas." Joining Scalia were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The other dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter. Gun rights advocates praised the decision. "I consider this the opening salvo in a step-by-step process of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of this freedom," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. The NRA will file lawsuits in San Francisco, Chicago and several Chicago suburbs challenging handgun restrictions there based on Thursday's outcome. Some Democrats also welcomed the ruling. "This opinion should usher in a new era in which the constitutionality of government regulations of firearms are reviewed against the backdrop of this important right," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. The capital's gun law was among the nation's strictest. Dick Anthony Heller, 66, an armed security guard, sued the district after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his Capitol Hill home a short distance from the Supreme Court. "I'm thrilled I am now able to defend myself and my household in my home," Heller said shortly after the opinion was announced. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in Heller's favor and struck down the district's handgun ban, saying the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to own guns and a total prohibition on handguns is not compatible with that right. The issue caused a split within the Bush administration. Vice President Dick Cheney supported the appeals court ruling, but others in the administration feared it could lead to the undoing of other gun regulations, including a federal law restricting sales of machine guns. Other laws keep felons from buying guns and provide for an instant background check. The last Supreme Court ruling on the matter came in 1939 in U.S. v. Miller, which involved a sawed-off shotgun. Constitutional scholars agree it did not squarely answer the question of individual versus collective rights. The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290.

Well the ruling upheld the "Right To Keep and Bear Arms" stated in the second amendment. Keeping arms is owning, possessing, buying, selling, trading, displaying on one's person, property, home. Bearing arms is the carrying, transportation, and use of the firearm. It does not usually assume you can conceal. The DC law forbide the ownership of guns. The high court's 5-4 ruling Thursday said for the first time that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms, similar to the First Amendment right to free speech. This should turn the tide back against all the infringements that have happened in other states. We have been lucky in MO. I feel that while background checks are needed to weed out the nuts, there should never be any fees or taxes on gun ownership as it is an infringement on the Second Amendment also. NY Times report on the ruling.

The Supreme Court of the United States of America today UPHELD the rights of gun owners to the Second Amendment right to have a gun, carry a gun, own a gun, and use a gun if you want to. Sorry BRADY, Nobama, DC Liberals, criminals, and all others that oppose my 2nd Amendment Right. Things are starting to turn back to the good.

I am heading to Montauk in the morning for a weekend of family, friends, and fishing. Its starting out great, a thunderstorm just rolled thru and knocked the power out so the camping gear is getting used inside now. Camping in loop 4 in a popup next to a camper with an Overhead Door Service truck. Stop by and say hi. We had original reservations in April the week it flooded the second time. This was the first weekend that we could reschedule. I had alot of things to do, and the storm knocked the power out. Cooking on the camp stove and using the lantern. I will have to repack in the morning grrr. Looks like lots of storms this weekend, we need the rain.

Beetles have always worked great there, ants too are a killer. I am heading up in the morning, reservations that we rescheduled from April.

Great Article. I had read about the rainbow's history in MO, not the Browns history.

The above is true for Rainbow Trout. Like other streams, Browns, Brook Trout, and Cutthroats have a size limit and a catch 16" and 2 fish per day restriction (Brooks 14", 2 fish per day). No Trout Stamp required to fish there, it is to keep trout. Arkansas fishing rules and regs are here. Arkansas Fish Regulations

Looks like a nice one, too bad you don't have the original tube. All sections are straight and the same length. Looks like it is in great original condition. Would be a nice rod for someone.

The Heddon 17 Black Beauty probably sold for $17 new. Heddon used the model number as the price point for selling, so I have read. Some of the best rods were the Heddon 125's. The Black Beauty was a very nice rod, nicely colored and simple black wraps. Its a bass rod or big river trout rod. I have watched the Heddon rods for years on Ebay, they sell very well, but prices vary as does the quality. Old bamboo rods could be mistreated and you could end up with a lemon. Bamboo rods were all they had 50 years ago, alot of nice ones were made, and alot of poor ones were made. I have just started fishing a few bamboo rods I have picked up on Ebay and enjoy them. You could build them with slow actions and medium actions just like graphite and fiberglass. I fished a 7' 6" rod this weekend at Montauk and had a blast. I used a 7wt line on it and it cast it well. I believe it was designed to be a bass rod also, but I worked soft hackles and streamers with it. I don't think it will be a dry fly rod. I also have a 9' rod that casts a 5wt well and it does well as a dry fly rod. Name your price or post some pics, it would give us an idea what you want.

My daughter and I have been going camping on Father's Day weekend for the last several years. This year I decided to take her back to Montauk and start her off trout fishing. I also decided it would be a good time to teach her to flyfish. We have been lake fishing in the boat and have fished ponds with spin gear in the past, but this was her first time with the flyrod. We drove up Saturday and found a spot in the park to camp around noon. We set up camp and at lunch at the lodge then headed up into the fly area. This is the first time I had been to the park since the floods. The river has changed for the better, the stream had a good flow throughout the park. I tied a bead head on for her and let her go. She caught a sculpin before I had my rod rigged up. A short while later with some instruction and a few flies, she had her first fish. As you can see in the pics, she was excited. I did not really get to fish much, I was too busy retying flies, straightening out knots and tangles, watching her backcast, and trying to teach her to watch for fish picking up the fly. We fished Sunday for a while from about 8:30 till noon. I was fishing my new Sport King bamboo rod. Its 7' and was told it cast a 5 wt line. I found it to be more like a 7 wt rod and it will probably be for bass and bigger rivers. It was made back in the 50's for Montgomery Ward by Horrocks Ibbotson and is still in great shape. I traded some computer work for it and I think I came out ahead. I am afraid I am taking a liking to the bamboo. It may cost me dearly. The campground was maxed. The stream was crowded even at the later hours. There were lots of fish in the fly area. I did not see anyone catching very many though. Sunday, while fishing above the bluff in the fly area, I had a solo whitewater kayaker paddle upstream by me with his helmet and nose plugs and his wet suit. It was quite a site, I wish I would have taken a pic of him. I asked him if he was lost and told him he would probably get a ticket if he was caught in the park waters as there is no swimming or boating allowed. He informed me that he asked permission and it was Federal water so they could not stop him. The park Ranger had a different view as I met him going by to find the guy. I wonder how that turned out. Maybe I'll take my yak next time. Here are a few pics of my best Father's Day yet.

Been here all my life except for a few years in STL and KY. Great area but a 3 hour trip to trout water. I usually spin fish out of the yak also, especially when travelling with a group. When I float alone, I get out and flyfish for the most part. Crawdad lures like the shad rap or the shallow shad rap work wonders on the smallies. Later in the summer, I break out the floating rapalas and nail them on top.

The area is great for smallies. Goggle eye and panfish too. It will be a long float but with water levels like they have been lately, you should move along well. I would take along a GPS to keep track of location if you are on a schedule for Sat. If you take time out for caves and fishing, you may have to paddle to catch up as there are some long holes in the stretch above 2 Rivers. Smallies are hitting well now, streamers and woollies are hot flies. Crawdad crankbaits and roostertails for spin gear.

Was one of the group named Shivelbine from Cape Girardeau? Mr. Woods from the canoe rental in Alton used to laugh about them, all they ever used was corn. He took them out one morning after they had been drinking all night and one of them remembered he had forgot the corn. He stopped at a little store on the way so they could pick up corn, he came back with a can and Woods nicknamed him "Cream Style" after that. In his state of mind he did not read the label when he picked it up. For some reason, alot of the locals around 11pt like to use corn, preferable Always Save. You see the cans everywhere.

Bears were around before, then were run or hunted out like most of our native game just like deer and turkeys. MDC is responsible for bringing back the deer and turkeys to the numbers we have today. I don't buy the theory that they came in from Arkansas, I think a few were planted as an experiment and they have took hold. I would not think that they would make it public that they have reintroduced a possible dangerous animal but that is just my opinion. I don't recall the specifics, but I remember a project that worked with the reintroduction of timber rattlers along I 40 or I 44. I don't think they actually traded anything for them, but I think they released them as a part of the project. The trading part is an inside joke with some of my friends. We blamed the poor turkey season this year on the MDC trapping all the turkeys and trading them for cougars or armadillos. Elk were native animals, but with our input, MDC decided against the reintroduction of them. So were mountain lions. Bears in MO would not be a bad thing, I would like to see enough to have an open season on them. The problem with bears is that some people feed them and they lose the fear for humans and can turn on them. Then there is an issue with livestock damage. Otters should be extinct again. Blue herons take alot of fish also and need to be thinned out also but they are a protected species. When can we decide that they need to be controlled also like the otter? What is the benefit of having the heron population?

Just read the article on Yahoo about monkeys learning the advanced art of fishing. Seems like they have not progressed to Catch and Release. Monkeys learn to fish.

This is what I see with Firefox 3 rc1 with ad blocker turned off. The google ad disappears with the adblocker ad on turned on.

Phil, I did a complete reinstall to version 3 rc1 and the banner ad disappeared. It was there before when I had 2.0.14 and 3 rc1 both installed. I also installed adblocker and flashblocker to stop all the animation. I know ads are a source of income to the web host, but they are an annoyance to the end user. I have never clicked on an ad or have ever bought anything off of one. Opera is good also, fast and clean. The graphics are a little lower resolution which gives it the extra speed.

I see the ad for google and rockaway. I do not have the ad blocker extension enabled. I use a flash blocker the stops all the animated ads from loading. It just shows an arrow that I can click to load.

Firefox 3 RC1 is out today and it looks pretty good. I have been using it from almost day one. I never had a use for Netscape. I find it hard to use Internet Explorer now. I have liked the tabs since day one while I have been stuck on dialup here in the country. I usually have 3 tabs running and switch between them to read content. Lately, Firefox had been slowing down. The version 3 is fixing some of those problems. I have been using the beta versions for a few weeks with no problems. RC1 is running smooth tonight with a little performance improvement. Tweaking Firefox has always been the beauty of it. Most config settings could be manipulated with the about:config file. Version 3 uses a Sybase database file that requires a little more programming knowledge to tweak. I have always used extensions like flash blocker and pdf downloader to control the way I surf the net. I have a version I carry on a memory stick along with other portable apps that I can use on any computer without loading anything on the host or leaving anything on the host computer. My bookmarks and prefs travel with me. You can't do that with IE. Opera is a good option too. I use it on occaision. It handles graphics differently to give it some speed so I never have much use for it. My eyes are fading anyway, I don't need extra fuzzies. Safari is okay, I never have give it much time though. From a security standpoint, most attacks are on IE based browsers. There have been some on Firefox, but they have been plugged pretty quick. If you are looking for something better, faster, more secure, go to www.mozilla.com and try it out.