Links and Minifeatures 04 16 Monday

Penn and Teller on Gun Control (28:00 video) Severe Language Advisory applies.



As the point has been made any number of times before, in events like today's top news story, if law abiding citizens could have guns, the tally would probably be a lot lower than 32, and I think there would be a lot fewer incidents, as any number of studies have shown that incidence of violence declines when the population is armed.



As the gang member interviewed says: Gun control laws don't keep him from getting guns. All they do is keep the law abiding citizens from being able to shoot back. Because, hard as this fact is to assimilate for some people, criminals don't obey gun control laws.



Michelle Malkin gives specifics



That and sympathy for the families of the victims is all I've got to say.



(I actually had the Penn and Teller link saved here a couple days ago. I would rather not have had such a fresh and graphic illustration of how right they are to accent it)

Indeed, from my perspective we should be doing the same things — working hard to reduce the use of fossil fuels — regardless of what you think about global warming. But the self-righteousness and exaggeration of the global-warming advocates does set my teeth on edge, and encourage mockery. As I wrote here: "I don't know a lot about climatology. But I know a lot about media bulldozing operations, and I see one of those in action at the moment on this subject. . . . However, my own position is that it doesn't matter much in terms of policy. We should be trying to minimize the burning of fossil fuels regardless of whether it's a cause of global warming or not. The rather patent hucksterism — and outright bullying — of some global warming advocates, though, will probably hurt that cause more than help it over the longer term."