Alphecca points out this: Motorists’ habits spur call for tax increases:

WASHINGTON – Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren’t raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs.

A federal commission created by Congress to find a way to make up the growing revenue shortfall in the program that funds highway repairs and construction is talking about increasing federal gas and diesel taxes.

A roughly 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

This isn’t great, of course. But the doozy in the story is actually buried down there a ways:

According to a draft of the financing commission’s recommendations, the nation needs to move to a new system that taxes motorists according to how much they use roads. While details have not been worked out, such a system would mean equipping every car and truck with a device that uses global positioning satellites and transponders to record how many miles the vehicle has been driven, and perhaps the type of roads and time of day.

I know that this idea of every vehicle with a built-in GPS seems unbelievable. But it isn’t.

It’s one of those “Be afraid. VERY afraid.” moments.

The GPS thing has to be fought tooth and nail by everyone with a pulse. (And if the rest of the Detroit voters could help out, it sure would be nice…)

However, Murdoc wonders if this is a game of “Scare them with the GPS thing so the tax increase doesn’t look so bad.”

Knowing Washington, it’s probably a game of “Scare them with the GPS thing so the tax increase doesn’t look so bad. Then, after the tax increase is in place, go ahead with the GPS thing too.“

Caleb:

Novak is now producing a sight that fits the existing dovetail on the PT-1911 and the 24/7 OSS pistols. This means that you can now replace the factory sights (which are actually excellent Heinie sights on those pistols) with a Novak fiber optic or tritium sight.

Sebastian notes that Minnesota might be next.

For the record, I’ve got no problem with manufacturers making no-lead and other forms of “green” ammunition. For voluntary use.

James points out a great post by Dan from Madison: If I Had Hair On The Back Of My Neck It Would Have Been Standing Up

Rather than me excerpting bits and pieces, you should just go read the whole thing to see what situation he found himself in and how it ended up.

I’ve got a couple of comments:

• Madison is in Wisconsin, and Wisconsin is one of two states with no form of concealed carry available to the general public.
• So Dan “armed” himself with a knife and a flashlight to confront a potential threat who had both hands in his pockets.
• Talk about walking into indian territory.

It all ended okay and might even have been nothing but a lost driver who was a few cards short of a full deck. But I would never have bet money, let alone my life, on it.

And I’ve got to quote one little snippet about how the store’s cashier called the cops:

I saw them with rollers on coming toward the convenience store a mile down the road as I was driving away. This was a good three minutes after the incident happened. I could have been dead if that guy had attacked me and I wasn’t able to defend myself. Self defense is up to you. Do not count on the professionals to save you.

Dan mentions that, upon reflection, he “probably should not have exited the vehicle at all until that guy was in a range I was more comfortable with.” That’s probably a good point, but now that this incident is past he can incorporate lessons learned into future encounters. He’s got a real-world example of how he reacted, and he remembers how he felt while it was unfolding. That’s a hell of a lot more valuable than any advice in any book.

Finally, though the only weapons he had available were the knife and flashlight, Dan went into indian territory with both eyes open, aware of the potential danger and ready to fight. That mindset is absolutely crucial to winning. If this same thing had gone down in the heart of Texas and Dan possessed a concealed gun but no will to fight, he would have been much worse off.

James calls the unexplainable feeling of imminent danger “The Monkey”. I call it (despite Murdoc being a DC guy and not a Marvel guy) my “Spider Sense”. Listen to it.

Suspicious driver arrested near White House

The driver was questioned before being arrested for possession of unregistered ammunition (shotgun shells) and having an unregistered vehicle, said Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service. The car was found to be safe about two hours later, he said

Did I miss something?

The post with a picture of Charter Arms’ new Rimless Revolver continues to get a fair amount of traffic.

I’m looking forward to checking one out at the SHOT Show in a few weeks.

Suicides in national parks increased in 2008

This AP story on MSNBC.com starts with the tale of unemployed former business executive Bruce J. Colburn who shot himself to death in Glacier National Park last October. Tragic, but I was wondering why they compared 2008’s number to 2006’s and not 2007’s.

It might be because the number is only up 27% in 2008 compared to 2007, rather than 83% over 2006’s number.

Here are the numbers from the article:

• 2004: 16
• 2005: 18
• 2006: 18
• 2007: 26
• 2008: 33

The cynic in me suspects that this will end up being part of the “guns in National Parks are bad” narrative, with the number of suicides in 2009 also being compared to 2006 and declared some sort of proof of something or other.

I’ll point out a few things today so that we can all reference them in the future:

1. Let’s say the 27% increase for the past year is duplicated this year. That will mean about 42 national park suicides will be committed in 2009.
2. If that happens, I predict we’ll be hearing about the 133% increase since 2006, not the 27% increase since 2008. “More than doubled” is the terminology they’ll use.
3. The fact that Colburn’s suicide in 2008 and others before concealed carry became legal in some parks were committed with firearms will not be mentioned.
4. Firearms suicides in national parks where concealed carry is not permitted (due to state limitations) will be included in the overall total of firearms suicides.
5. We will only hear about the total number of firearms suicides in national parks, not the percentage change in firearms deaths from previous years. Because firearms suicides in national parks are going to be sold as a new thing.

We’ll look back at this a year from now. Hopefully, the numbers will be down.