Good piece on Politico by Gaspar Perricone, head of Bull Moose Sportsmen, an organization of hunters. He wrote in favor of universal background checks. Some points:

• A poll of their organization showed 72% support universal background checks, with exemptions for some sales between private individuals.
• 84% of their members oppose an assault weapons ban.
• “We believe background checks fall within an ethic of responsible gun ownership sportsmen have been living and teaching for generations.”
• “Aside from reasonable exceptions, like giving a gun to a family member or sharing a gun on a hunting trip, every person buying a gun in America should go through a background check. Private sellers and buyers can go to a gun dealer to process the checks and an online site to process checks should be explored.”
• “For all checks, licensed dealers should keep a record of the sale. This is merely an extension of the existing system that has been in place and has worked well for the last twenty years….Dealer record-keeping ensures checks are being done and aids law enforcement in tracking guns used in crimes.”
• “Felons, domestic abusers, and the seriously mentally ill should not have access to guns.”
• “Three out of four hunters we surveyed believe we can protect our Second Amendment rights while making it more difficult for criminals to get guns. A background check is the best method to prevent dangerous people from getting them, and a licensed dealer record is how we prosecute those that commit crimes with guns.”
• “Our support for a background check for all gun sales does not mean we support a government firearm registry of any type. We do not. The gun checks bill proposed in Congress does not and will not create a registry. The law already ensures that only dealers keep a record – and that all federal records for background checks are destroyed within 24 hours.”

This newly released photo from North Korea shows Kim Jong Un inspecting some “new” military technology. Now, doesn’t that look like one advanced piece of equipment? Note the state-of-the-art trackball. I would love to see the monitor. I’m guessing amber. And is that a North Korean wifi antenna in the background? They all seem very proud.

Tom Gara of the Wall Street Journal tweeted, “North Korea appears to have crossed a dangerous threshold and developed a fully-functioning calculator.”

The Catholic Cardinals begin meeting on Tuesday, March 11, to select a new Pope. Only those age 80 or under can vote, and news reports say there will be 115 such cardinals.

I’m very interested in all of this. There is speculation about the cardinals, for the first time, electing a Pope from outside of Europe–perhaps Africa. Curious, I went to Wikipedia for a list of cardinals, wanting to see how they broke down by region of the world.

Number of voting Cardinals from Europe: 64
Number of voting Cardinals from the rest of the world: 63

Those are just the cardinals eliglble to vote. My own numbers from Wikipedia aren’t definitive, obviously, since they add up to a dozen more cardinals than the 115 expected to attend the conclave. But it’s at least in the ballpark.

Italy alone has 49 cardinals, of whom 28 are eliglble to vote. You can hardly walk down the street without bumping into a cardinal. The US has the second-largest contingent, with 13 voting cardinals.

Here’s an extended list of the total number of cardinals in various countries. The number of cardinals obviously isn’t based on the number of Catholics in the country.

• Brazil: 9 cardinals (123 million Catholics)
• Mexico: 4 cardinals (96 million Catholics)
• Philippines: 3 cardinals (75 million Catholics)
• USA: 19 cardinals (74 million Catholics)
• France: 8 cardinals (54 million Catholics)
• Italy: 49 cardinals (53 million Catholics)
• Nigeria: 3 cardinals (37 million Catholics)
• Spain: 10 cardinals (36 million Catholics)
• Colombia: 3 cardinals (39 million Catholics)
• Congo: 1 cardinals (36 million Catholics)
• Argentina: 4 cardinals (36 million Catholics)
• Poland: 7 cardinals (35 million Catholics)
• Germany: 9 cardinals (26 million Catholics)

The selection process is somewhat secretive. How political is it? I have no idea. But I’m fascinated.

Here’s a fascinating graphic about how Iran conducts stonings. The executions are quite regulated…and still quite barbaric. But hey, the mullahs are trying hard to give a patina of civilization to their 14th Century ways. (You can also view this PDF file.)

One rule says, “The size of the stone used in stoning shall not be too large to kill the convict by one or two throws, and at the same time shall not be too small to be called a stone.”

Another rule says that adulterers can go free if they manage to wriggle out of the hole in which they are buried. Men are buried up to their waist, women up to their chest. Advantage (no surprise, this being Iran): men.

Stonings typically take 30 minutes to 2 hours for the person to die. A doctor periodically checks to see if the person is dead yet.

Throughout the internet, including numerous posts on Facebook, you’ll find conspiracy theorists claiming that a Bushmaster was never used in the Newtown shootings. That Adam Lanza went into the school with four handguns, and the Bushmaster AR-15 was left in the car. All of which is bunk, perpetuated to defend the AR-15.

They often post an article which begins, “So they finally had to come out and admit it, now that the Coroner has released some info along with police.” And with it is a link to an NBC video. That video report, though, aired on December 15, the day after the shootings. It apparently aired before the police press conference that morning, when reporters were scrambling to learn anything and got a whole lot of things wrong. But the conspiracy theorists, charging a liberal media coverup (while, ironically, simultaneously citing an NBC news report), take this single video as the Gospel Final Word on Newtown.

It is SO intellectually dishonest. The only conspiracy is from the gun crowd wanting to put out disinformation in order to defend assault weapons.

As for the people who lap up these tales about the supposedly falsely-accused AR-15 rifle: have they considered the difficulty of shooting accurately with a 9mm or 10mm pistol, compared to a rifle? If the principal and school counselor had rushed Lanza when he was only brandishing a pistol, they may have had a chance. But not when he was armed with a Bushmaster. It would certainly not have been easy to shoot so many small targets–and to kill every one of them, often with multiple hits. But a Bushmaster could–and did–do that.

The State Police were prompted to issue this restatement about the weapons used on January 18. It drips with frustration about the false information going around, and refers to previous press conferences when they “clearly identified” the weapons used.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2013

** UPDATE **

STATE POLICE IDENTIFY WEAPONS USED IN SANDY HOOK INVESTIGATION;

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

In previous press conferences, the Connecticut State Police clearly identified all of the weapons seized from the crime scene at Sandy Hook Elementary School. To eliminate any confusion or misinformation, we will again describe and identify the weapons seized at the school crime scene.

Seized inside the school:

#1. Bushmaster .223 caliber– model XM15-E2S rifle with high capacity 30 round clips

#2. Glock 10 mm handgun

#3. Sig-Sauer P226 9mm handgun

Seized from suspect’s car in parking lot:

#4. Izhmash Canta-12 12 gauge Shotgun (seized from car in parking lot)

This case remains under investigation.

I’m against the assault weapons ban. But I’m even more against people believing or perpetuating lies about what happened to 26 innocent victims at Sandy Hook.