But if he senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”

First, the man is supposedly a Jew, yet he is envisioning the Christian heaven, complete with an unmentioned St. Peter waiting at the gate. Because gee, that’s what they teach you when you go to synagogue regularly. Oh. Wait. No it isn’t.

As to the rest, well, I saw this Forbes “Forbes Thought Of The Day” recently that perfectly enumerates what’s really wrong with Bloomberg.

“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.” — Samuel Butler

Oh, and the contxt for the Bloomberg quote? He’s going to spend $50 million to form a “grassroots” organization to combat the NRA.

Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association.

I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means. I think he’s actually looking for the word “astroturf”.

There is also a perfect example of the utter hypocrisy of the media and the left when it comes to conservatives and liberals spending money to push their favored political causes. Note that the Koch brothers have literally nothing to do with the NRA, and yet, the Times reporter drags their name into the article. Because Koch brothers! Influencing politics with their money!

The plans call for a restructuring of the gun control groups he funds, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. They will be brought under one new umbrella group called Everytown for Gun Safety.

The strategy will focus not on sweeping federal restrictions to ban certain weapons, but instead will seek to expand the background check system for gun buyers both at the state and national levels.

The $50 million could be significant: In recent years, the N.R.A. has spent only $20 million annually on political activities. The political groups affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers, who are seeking to help Republicans take over the Senate, have spent about $30 million in the last six months.

And oh yeah–Warren Buffett, another billionaire, is going to sit on the board. But Koch brothers! Influencing politics with their money!

The hypocrisy is strong in this one.

I met a person today that I NEVER thought I’d meet in person. I met him on June 22, 2011 at exactly 4:04pm eastern. I work in a gun store in MI and as I walked towards our wall of holsters I met him and asked if he needed help.

He was buying a holster for his gun and I tried to find something for him. His eyes were red, and his skin was mottled and aged. He spoke with a lite German accent and seemed the kindest person I’ve ever seen.

I met a man today… that did something no man should ever have to do. He watched his sisters die. He watched as 9 members of his family were led away to be killed. He watched thousands die. He watched en entire generation perish and can still SMILE.

I saw it on his left arm. A bold large series of numbers, with what looked like an upside down stretched triangle under it.

Immediately I touched it, I stopped thinking of personal space or being polite, I touched it. Then immediately apologized. He didn’t mind, even started to smile.

“No. I’m sorry that the world let that happen.” Then I looked at his face, I had tears in my eyes, honestly I have them now. “I’m sorry that the world is bent on letting it happen again. I’m sorry.” There was nothing else I could say. Then something you taught me came to mind. “Am Yisrael Chai”. He stopped a a few seconds and then asked me if I was Jewish and I told him no which seemed to catch him off guard a bit.

I met a man today that watched his world collapse in Auschwitz, then found redemption in General George Patten at another camp when he was liberated. Delirious with typhoid he was brought back from the brink.

And he can SMILE. I thought of my whining, and complaining. About how I wasn’t getting the pay I want. Or that I lost my house and have to live with family. I met a man that lost EVERYTHING. And he can still smile.

“I can’t forget it. I can’t ever forgive it. But I have to live my life.”…

66 years he told me. It’s been 66 years. I guessed when asked, that he was 84, he told me he was 82. I’ve met WWI vets, WWII vets, Vietnam vets. And two men whom earned the Congressional Metal of Honor. I’m felt awe, fear, shock, respect and sense of meeting someone that stood as something I could NEVER be.

I’ve never felt it all at once.

I met a man today that put my life in proper context. I met a man today that I feel I owe more then to my own family.

I’m not a Jew. But NEVER again. I told him that as we parted.

And I mean it. I’ve always meant it. But now… It’s something else something deeper.

I met a man today, and I’ll never forget him. I never asked his name. But I’ll never forget those numbers.

Deny the Holocaust in front of me, and it’ll be the last time you lie around your teeth.

Meryl I’m sorry. I know the world is coming full circle, and hating Jews is becoming the norm again. But I won’t let it happen here. I can’t afford to fly to Israel to protect it. But I’ll die before I allow it to spread here.

I may not be much. But I will not sit by as people are rounded up and branded. I’m sorry. As much a a member of humanity can be. Meryl. I might not be able to stop it.

But I’ll put up a hell of a fight. Not for me. For the man that was unarmed and watched as his family was murdered in front of him, and even now arms himself at 82 to make sure he doesn’t have to watch again.

Am Yisrael Chai.

STOP RUINING THE NARRATIVE! Israeli soldiers treat wounded Syrians near the northern security fence.

Chicago: Deadlier than Afghanistan and Iraq. Afghan vet survives Afghanistan and is murdered in Chicago–shielding his two-year-old son from a sudden rain of bullets.

This is why you need a gun: Father killed trying to stop home invaders from entering his 11-year-old daughter’s bedroom.

Hiroshima times 30: That’s how strong the Russian meteor was when it blew up.

In the debate over firearms regulations, the voices of gun owners have largely been those of men. But at firing ranges across the country, a growing number of women are learning to use firearms and honing their skills.

Women’s participation in shooting sports has surged over the last decade, increasing by 51.5 percent for target shooting from 2001 to 2011, to just over 5 million women, and by 41.8 percent for hunting, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

And this woman is my new hero:

Advocates of tighter firearms regulations have argued in the past that advertising by gun manufacturers manipulates women into buying guns for protection. An advertisement by Colt in the 1990s showed a mother tucking a child into bed — “Self-protection is more than your right … it’s your responsibility,” the ad said — and academics argued in 1991 in The Whittier Law Review that such ads were intended to trick women.

But Ms. Tartaro bridles at the idea that women are not smart enough to decide for themselves whether to buy a gun. After the article appeared, her publication went on the counterattack, running a cover line that said, “Are You Too Stupid to Read This Magazine?”

Give her a Master of Juvenile Scorn™!

The police can protect you, and will, and do. And a gun in the house is not a guarantee of personal security — it is instead a standing invitation to family tragedy. The cold dead hands from which they pry the gun are very unlikely to be the hands of a heroic minuteman defending home and hearth against intruders. They are much more likely to be the hands of a troubled adolescent or a clumsy child.

Yes. Guns will kill you, and the police will protect you. Like they did with this rural teenaged mother.

McKinley said she asked the dispatcher, “I’ve got two guns in my hand — is it OK to shoot him if he comes in this door? I’m here by myself with my infant baby, can I please get a dispatcher out here immediately?”

“I can’t tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby,” the dispatcher said.

The 911 conversation lasted for 21 minutes. Then the door gave in.

“I waited till he got in the door. They said I couldn’t shoot him until he was inside the house. So I waited until he got in the door and then I shot him,” McKinley told KFOR.

You’re totally safe. Count on the police. They’ll protect you. Just like they did Sarah McKinley. But Frum thinks that taking away our guns will help protect our children.

In the land of the Second Amendment, nobody will take your guns away. But if you love your children, you should get rid of them voluntarily.

McKinley was facing two drug addicts who knew that her husband died of cancer and were invading her home to get his painkillers. She locked and barricaded her doors and waited for the police. The man who broke into her house was armed with a large hunting knife. She fired and killed him, and the other would-be thief ran away. Sarah McKinley loves her child. That’s why she kept the shotgun even though she sold some of her husband’s other guns after he died.

If she had followed Frum’s advice, she and the baby would likely have been killed.

Frum is an idiot. I’m keeping my guns, thank you, even though I live in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood.

The all-important items: A clock radio, a book light, a Chapstick, a phone, and a gun. It’s in a Lifejacket clamshell with the key inside, so that I can lock it and put it out of reach of children at a moment’s notice. There’s also a standing rule in my home that children are not allowed to go upstairs without an adult present, just in case I ever forget to lock it up.

My night table items have sure changed since I lived in NJ. Oh, wait, no. Only the gun has been added.

You know, before I had guns, if I heard a noise like that, my adrenaline would be pumping and my heart would be thumping as I crept downstairs with a baseball bat in one hand and the phone in the other. I used to think it was the good kind of adrenaline, but now I’m thinking not so much, because I was calm, cool, and collected while I checked the great room, the guest bedroom, and finally, the laundry room.

What a difference a gun makes.

It was a travel coffee mug that had fallen off the shelf, onto the dryer (which was running), and into the laundry basket.

My condo is now safe from flying coffee mugs.

Nah, I didn’t shoot it. I put it back on the shelf where it belongs.

Update: Thanks to the person who put this post on Linkiest!
Update: Thanks, Glenn and Bill!

He had a great time.

So did I. We’ll have an even better time if he gets a chance to visit me in Richmond, where we can shoot indoors. Or at least, if we go outside, in much warmer weather.

22 out of 25 in trap shooting the first time you’ve ever shot a real shotgun is pretty damned good. My nephew is, as my father would say, a chip off the old block. Dad was a marksman in the army in WWII.

Nephew is joining the Marines. He’ll be in boot camp in a couple of months, unless a slot opens up sooner. Things are going to get very different this year.

Things started out badly. Though I bought the gun last summer, I hadn’t used it yet, and I did not hit the target at all (I thought) with my first few shots. So I asked for help. Turns out I was just not used to the sight, and was sighting the angle all wrong. With a little help from one of the employees, and from the guy next to me, who turned out to be quite the marksman, my aim improved significantly. This is the target with the last 8 sets of practice, numbered so I could see where I was hitting with each set.

As you can see, I pull up and to the left, but overall, if that target was a man’s chest, I pretty much killed my guy.

Next time, I’ll bring my .22 rifle and do some plain old fun shooting. I’d forgotten how much kick a .38 has. And how LOUD the shooting range is. (Note to self: Put in earplugs before entering the range.)

Oh, and the very nice gentleman next to me, besides helping me to learn how to aim my new gun, let me fire his wife’s 9mm semi-automatic. It’s the next weapon I’m looking to purchase, because my revolver is a fun gun, but it only holds five rounds. For home defense, I want something with a little more to it.

Best comment of the afternoon was from the same guy, who, after seeing the target above, asked, “Is that the first time you’ve ever shot that gun?” And when I told him yes, he said that was pretty good shooting.

Overall, a very nice afternoon, ending with a lovely dinner at Sarah and Larry’s. Sarah’s going to learn to shoot with me sometime soon. Girls with guns. Gotta watch out for us.

LAKE LYNN, Pa. — An 85-year-old great-grandmother from Lake Lynn, Fayette County kept an alleged burglar at bay using a .22-caliber pistol.

According to police, a 17-year-old suspect was attempting to burglarize Leda Smith overnight.

That’s when Smith grabbed her gun and told the teen that she would shoot him if he moved, police said.

“I had the gun on him before he turned around and said, ‘you’ve had it,’ ” Smith told Channel 11-News.

According to police, Smith ordered the boy to dial 911 and then gave him some advice.

“Dial 911 and don’t attempt to throw the phone at me, or do anything bad or i’ll just shoot you,” Smith said.

When police arrived, they took the teen into custody.

Makes my .22 rifle seem a bit less of a toy and more of a serious weapon.