I say, aren't those guns wonderful, Cyril?

in Kennesaw, Georgia, police estimate that half the residents are lawbreakers.

That's all right, though, because rapists, burglars, and similar vermin don't know which half does honor Kennesaw's mandatory gun ownership law. So they ply their trades in other towns, and Kennesaw is the safer for it.

Even the Financial Times of London seems impressed that Kennesaw sports an amazingly low crime rate.

Reporter Anna Fifield, a New Zealander who proclaims herself a liberal, writes:

"But almost 30 years after the law was passed, it is still in place and still popular, not least because Kennesaw’s crime rate has remained disproportionately low, even as the town’s population swelled from 5,000 in 1982 to almost 35,000 now. According to the latest FBI statistics, Kennesaw recorded 31 violent crimes – mainly robberies and aggravated assaults – during 2008. In other similar-sized local towns the figures were much higher – 127 in Dalton and 188 in Hinesville. For property crimes – largely burglaries and thefts – Kennesaw recorded 555 while Dalton had 1,124 and Hinesville 1,802.." 


I think we'd like Anna.  As she interviewed sources at Nick's Gun Shop there was some talk of taking her in back for a bit of shooting.

"But the trainer is out and the firing range at the back of the shop is busy. I spot groups of women in purple earmuffs, and fathers and sons lining up in the 10 alleys to shoot bullets into posters of deranged zombies called Bob and Steve. I am relieved: while I am game to try shooting, I am afraid I might enjoy it." 


(h/t  Jeff)

How to talk to a hoplophobe

A guy seldom runs across a piece of writing he can call beyond improvement, but Joel is close, if not actually there. 

It illustrates, among other things, that you can create intelligent answers to idiotic questions.
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Political Quick Take -- The Pledge to America

The Republican "Pledge to America" was a mistake, the seriousness of which remains to be seen. Anti-Democrats were on a roll. Obama-ite iberals looked  at November in despair.

The "pledge" gives them a fresh target and a news peg to reopen dialogs on points already conceded to the GOP by likely voters. It violates a first principle of campaigning: When you're ahead, don't debate.

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Besides, most everyone knows they don't mean it.

An addition to the TMR blog roll. 

Cowboy Blob. 
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