Via Just One Thing comes an excellent list of sports-related novels. The baseball list is especially noteworthy, highlighting quite a few fantasy-related baseball novels such as Robert Coover’s The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop..
Day: February 28, 2002
Women Obtaining Concealed Weapons Permits in Michigan
A concealed weapons permit system went into effect in Michigan several, and the Detroit Free Press focused on women who are lining up to obtain their weapons permits. Under the new state law, anyone with a clean criminal history can obtain a concealed weapons permit.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that large numbers of women are obtaining the permits. So far 3,278 pistol permits have been issued in Michigan. The law forbids the release of information about the identities of those seeking permits, but a gun shop owner cited by the Free Press estimates that as many as 40 percent of those seeking permits are women.
Jessica Lutz of Huntington Woods, Mich., tells the Detroit Free Press,
When I found out how much safer women could be . . . what’s my choice there? One of the things taught in my house was, you have to be self-sufficient.
The article also quotes Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence spokeswoman Nancy Hwa claiming that in other states permits have been revoked after permit holders committed crimes. Of course she forgets to mention that permit holders in those states have tended to commit gun-related crimes at rates that are often even lower than those committed by off-duty police (and, frankly, I’d be more inclined to trust a woman with a concealed weapon than an off-duty Detroit cop).
Source:
Weapons law draws women to get arms. Kathleen Gray and John Masson, Detroit Free Press, February 21, 2002.
Throw the Bums in Jail
A Canadian judge was very angry this month for a very odd reason — a man who admitted he wrongfully accused his wife of assaulting him was arrested and jailed for several days. Judge Dianne Nicholas railed against prosecutors, arguing that the man should not have spent a night in jail!
Nicholas’ reasoning is straightforward. She told prosecutors that routinely sees women recant claims of assault against men, and yet such women are not arrested. Why should the policy be any different when it is a man who is making up the allegation? The Ottawa Citizen quoted Nicholas as “fuming” that,
It smacked to me of discrimination on the basis of gender. Women lie every day. Every day women in (domestic) court say ‘I made it up. I’m lying. It didn’t happen’ — and they’re not charged with obstruct …
Although this might seem like a blow in favor of sexual equality, this writer has to wonder about the effects of not imposing any sort of punishment at all on men or women who make up false allegations of assault or abuse. How can we possibly trust that such allegations are genuine if there is no penalty for making up a false allegation?
Spending a few days in jail might do a lot of good for people who admit making false allegations, regardless of their sex.
Source:
Gender-bias issue raises ‘optics’ problem in domestic court. Dave Brown, The Ottawa Citizen, February 21, 2002.