Got an old TV? Don’t shoot it! That’s the word from federal wilderness officials. The people at the Bureau of Land Management in Utah’s west desert are worried some folks might want to use their old sets for target practice.

They warn it can cost up to $7,000 to clean up after a television set has been shot.

So I bought a .44 magnum it was solid steel cast
And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast
’Til my TV lay in pieces there at my feet
And they busted me for disturbin’ the almighty peace
Judge said “What you got in your defense son ?”
“Fifty-seven channels and nothin’ on”

At the end of the article:

Some stories, they say, are hard to believe.

The lamest so far came from a police officer: He said he bought a few military-style rifles, left them in his car and — on the same night — forgot to lock a door. He couldn’t explain why he didn’t file a police report or why he visited Mexico the day after the alleged theft.

Via Instapundit.

Proposed Irish legislation would ban new handgun licenses except for those needed for Olympic sports.

[Minister for Justice] Ahern said he was determined to stamp out a practice known as “practical shooting”. His department had monitored with concern “competitions in which people shoot their way through multi-stage target courses based on real life combat scenarios, such as a home invasion or a hostage rescue”.

He said: “This activity is one that seeks to glorify and normalise attitudes to high-powered handguns and promote their use and ownership,” he said. Mr Ahern said “practical shooting” was a “highly undesirable” recent development in Irish shooting sports.

And here is why “practical shooting” is not practical:

“It’s simply not in the public interest to tolerate the development of a subculture predicated on a shooting activity which by the liberal standards of the US is regarded as an extreme shooting activity.”

He said any cursory research on the internet showed that these activities were marketed as being at the “extreme end” of handgun ownership and were “anathema to the tradition of Irish sporting clubs”.

Ah. Cursory research on the internet shows that practical shooting is extreme. Might he be a bit selective when conducting research? Perhaps taking folks like the Brady bunch as the experts with the final word?

“Rural Ireland isn’t like rural America of the George Bush Republicans, with a chicken in every pot and a gun under every pillow. We have no such tendencies in this country,” he said.

Nope. No bias there.

How many handguns have been licensed under the current system? 1,800 in the past five years.

Hat tip to the reader who sent this in.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been able to get beyond the index page.

Rule #1: Bullets don’t work!
Rule #2: The offender has the upper hand.
Rule #3: FBI “Law Enforcement Officers Killed” summaries do not mean that we waste time learning to shoot at distance.
Rule #4: Guns are “remote control” weapons.
Rule #5: Up close, guns can be more trouble than they are worth.
Rule #6: Know that you can get injured and accept it.

Check out the article for the details on each rule. (It’s a the bottom of that page.)

This seems counterproductive. And business as usual for the civilian side of HK, such as it is. That’s too bad.

Via Uncle.

Murdoc’s always viewed scout rifles as a sort of jack-of-all-shots, something you’d carry in your hand or on your shoulder for quick use. I wonder if 5.56, for instance, would always get the job done, but it certainly would make for a lighter rifle.

Something I happen to like is the new Marlin 1897 SBL, a lever-action in .45-70:

Marlin 1895 SBL in .45-70 (top) at the 2009 SHOT Show

If we’re talking lighter rifles and cartridges, an M1 Carbine wouldn’t be too bad, either.