Random Media Musings, 8-27-08

First up, via Fits at Shooting the Messenger, we have this (emphasis mine -- ed.):

Three "bigoted meth heads," armed with high-powered sniper weapons, were consumed by a seething hatred of Barack Obama, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Authorities recovered a terrifying arsenal that could have been used in a shocking attack: a Remington 270 sniper rife, a Ruger 22-250 sniper rifle, boxes of Remington and Winchester ammo, two-way radios, bulletproof vests, camouflage and wigs.

Wow, hyperventilate much, guys? I was under the impression that rifles like what was mentioned in this piece were your garden-variety hunting rifles -- you know, the ones that the gun-grabbers say they'll leave alone. I wonder what ole Jim Zumbo would say to such terminology -- or, rather, what he would have said before President's Day weekend last year. In any case, it just goes to show that an attack on one type of gun, sooner or later, turns into attacks on all of them.
Next up, I saw this in the Houston Chronicle yesterday on U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson but just didn't get a chance to comment on it:

Lampson, who represents the suburbs and towns south of central Houston, plans to cheer, clap and cast nominating votes with his fellow delegates for the groundbreaking presidential candidate from Illinois.
"I haven't tried to run away from my endorsement of him," the congressman from Stafford said. "I did endorse him sometime back, whenever it was."
But at a meeting with National Rifle Association members in Sugar Land last week, Lampson gently brushed away engineer Jim Allman's request for an evaluation of Obama.
"Well," Lampson said, "I want to say something about me and what I am running for Congress for."
"Thanks for the dodge," Allman responded.
Lampson spent most of the time addressing the day's selected subject of gun ownership rights. Lampson, whose House record gets an "A" from the NRA, recalled that as a youth, he shot ducks in a nearby corner of the 22nd Congressional District.
After the meeting, Lampson explained that he avoided the Obama talk not because he fears that he's being hunted by the national Republican Party in the Nov. 4 election, but because "it's my town hall meeting."
...
"I am proud to be in the position I am," he had just told the gun owners, "because I think that being in the majority party, and being in the party that has probably caused some of your interests more grief than the other party, helps the cause. We are on the inside of leadership and can try to make sure some of these (bills) never come to the floor."

No, Congressman, it was your constituents' town hall meeting, and if you'd had anything that had resembled a backbone you'd have answered that question, considering it came from, y'know, one of your constituents. Remember? The people you're supposed to represent? The people who put you into office? I am certainly glad you're not MY Congressman anymore...
And you know what I think would be just great? If politicians got a taser hit, a needle in the arse or something along those lines every time they started talking about hunting when the subject of gun rights came up. I'd pay to see that. As for blocking anti-gun bills from the floor, well, I've heard rumblings from here and there that George W. Bush told congressional Republicans to see to it that the renewal of Bill Clinton's "assault weapons" ban never made it to his desk. I guarantee you that if the shoe ends up on the other foot and Barack Obama, heaven forbid, makes it to the Oval Office, he WILL put pressure on the far-left Democratic congressional leadership to get that AWB renewal on his desk to sign it, and I'd bet money that it would include a ban on personal defensive arms as well. And the leadership will put pressure on the Blue Dogs to get in line, with threats of withholding perk positions in the House and the bacon from their respective districts or something like that, and, well, there you have it. I don't know if Lampson would cave or not, but based on his reaction to Jim Allman and his mealy-mouth platitude about shooting ducks when he was a kid, I am not so confident. Like I say, I'm glad he's not my rep anymore.