Guns & Gadget Daily’s Weird News Today, January 29

They have their weird news. We have ours.

Here’s all the weird gun-related news we missed while we were in Las Vegas…

There are two types of people who read the news: Those who skip straight to the “news of the weird” entries, and those who pretend they don’t. Thanks to the SHOT Show, we have to admit that in the last week we did slack off a bit on our normal vigilant, round-the-clock monitoring of the news. (And by “a bit,” I mean “did you know that casinos don’t have clocks?”) And although sadly we don’t have anything worthy of a classic New York Post headline, some weird stuff definitely piled up in the GGD hopper while we were nursing our hangovers and trying to figure out why that nice lady kept asking us for money in the morning…

Headline: “St. Louis officer charged after deadly game with revolver”

Let’s start with the obvious: Has the term “Russian Roulette” been removed from the AP Stylebook or something? Did it remind the writer of “Mexican standoff” or something else that’s now politically incorrect? Because that’s what this article is about: one police officer fatally shot a second while he (the shooter) was on duty…while playing a game of Russian Roulette. But that’s just where the weirdness begins, as you wend your way through the piece and discover that both the shooter and the shot were at the shooter’s house (while he was on duty, again); that the shooter’s partner begged them both to cut it out and was ignored; and finally, that the shooter was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Given that an officer of the law ought to know that pointing a loaded gun at someone else and pulling the trigger is very likely to result in their death, I don’t see the “involuntary” here.

And finally: There’s still a force out there that hasn’t gone to semi-auto duty weapons? Weird.

Here’s the link, for your enjoyment.

Headline: “The Supreme Court Has Taken a Strange Gun-Rights Case”

The only weird thing about this one is the use of the word “strange” in the headline; it’s actually all quite straightforward. With the backdrop of a rapidly changing Supreme Court, they’ve accepted a case challenging one of the screwier aspects of New York City’s draconian Sullivan Law. The law in question prohibits people who have a certain kind of gun permit from transporting their firearm anywhere other than seven specific gun ranges within the city. They can’t take it out of the city, or to a second home if they have one (and, I assure you, if you’re wealthy and important enough to qualify for a permit to own a firearm in NYC…you have a second home). The fact that the Court had to agree to hear this case is a little strange in the sense that both the Heller and McDonald decisions should have long since invalidated NYC’s law, but that’s NYC for you…they’re clinging to their gun control rather bitterly, aren’t they? The really interesting (but not very weird) part is that rumor has it that the Ruth Bader Ginsburg situation is pretty much Weekend at Bernie’s, D.C. Edition…

Here’s the link, for your edification.

Headline: “This ‘doomsday prepper dream home’ in the Nevada desert is on sale for $900,000 — take a look inside”

Don’t mind if I do! OK, this thing is called “Hard Luck Castle,” and it’s basically what would have happened if Burt and Heather Gummer from 1990’s Tremors had a dumptruck full of money and a team of ass-kicking architects. It’s a self-contained, off-the-grid fortress 10 miles away from the closest town, and I want it with every fiber of my being. (Go look; you will too.) The only thing “weird” here is the wondering, shocked tone of the article. Is it possible the author has never heard of prepping? And is it possible that in a post-Hurricane Katrina world there are still people who think stocking up on essential goods is a bad idea? I suppose it’s a little unusual the the house comes with…an actual working gold mine. And the bit about the two full-sized organs is a bit odd, I guess (but there’ll be three when I move in–heyooo!).

Here’s the link, for your green-eyed envy.

What’s the upshot? I suppose it’s that the vast majority of “weird gun news” out there isn’t really all that weird…