Gun Humor: Why Southern California Is Different than Real America

You may have heard on the news about a southern California man put under 72-hour psychiatric observation when it was found he owned 100 guns and allegedly had (by rough estimate) 100,000 rounds of ammunition stored in his home. The house also featured a secret escape tunnel.

My favorite quote from the dimwit television reporter: “Wow! He has about a quarter million machine gun bullets.” The headline referred to it as a “massive weapons cache”.

By southern California standards someone owning 100,000 rounds would be called “mentally unstable”. Just imagine if he lived elsewhere:

In Utah , he’d be called “moderately well prepared”, but they’d probably reserve judgment until they made sure that he had a corresponding quantity of stored food.

Great Moments in Government Regulations: Special Accommodations for Pee-Shy Employees

Regulation is a hidden tax that in many cases raises the cost of creating jobs and generating wealth. Here are some staggering numbers.

Americans spend 8.8 billion hours every year filling out government forms.
The economy-wide cost of regulation is now $1.75 trillion.
For every bureaucrat at a regulatory agency, 100 jobs are destroyed in the economy’s productive sector.

But those numbers probably don’t mean anything because they are so large. So let’s look at an example of regulation run amok. Here are some of the details from a report at the Daily Caller.

It could cost U.S. employers between $2 billion and $4 billion to comply with an obscure Americans with Disabilities Act regulation meant to protect workers who are gun-shy in public restrooms. According to an informal discussion letter the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued in August 2011, “paruresis” — more commonly known as “shy bladder syndrome” — qualifies as a disability under the amended Americans with Disabilities Act. …If every employer large enough to be subject to the ADA were to hedge against future lawsuits by adding segregated restrooms for timid tinklers, the cost would exceed the gross domestic product of many small nations. …Failure to comply with EEOC regulations could open businesses up to potential lawsuits from shy leakers because, according to the commission, employers must provide reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. The EEOC reports that the median cost of complying with an ADAAA-covered disability is just $240 – substantially less than the thousands of dollars it could cost to accommodate a social phobia by building a new bathroom.

I’m not a big fan of going to the bathroom in front of other people, so I’m not unsympathetic to those who don’t like crowded public restrooms. And I certainly can sympathize with those who don’t like having to pee in a cup for a silly drug test.

But I also believe in common sense, and that’s one thing that’s often missing at regulatory agencies. If you think this story is out of character, then consider these examples.

Putting a store out of business for selling toy guns.
Regulations making it difficult for trucking firms to weed out drunk drivers.
Year-long sting operations by federal milk police.
Rules harassing coffee shops with bikini-clad sales staff.
OSHA requirements for expensive safety harnesses for people working 11 feet off the ground.

Gee, it’s almost enough to make you think regulation is part of the problem, not the solution.

OSHA requirements for expensive safety harnesses for people working 11 feet off the ground.

Over 6 feet in a lot of the oil patch...

Now, NFPA 2112 compliant garments (flame resistant) required by just about everyone on location (even those only rarely in an area where fire is possible), at 50 bucks for a shirt, 60 bucks for a pair of pants, coveralls over $100, and that's the summer weight stuff.

I bought a compliant parka and set of insulated bib overalls, and the tab came to $800.00 for both.

Now, I understand that the purpose of the standard is to keep my clothes from melting to my flesh in the event of a fire, but the (much cheaper) cotton fabrics I normally wore wouldn't have done that, either.

I am a former firefighter trained in flammable gas and liquids firefighting.

I spend less than 30 minutes total per day on average in an area where flashover is of any serious concern short of a blowout, and I know what formation we are drilling in, mud gas levels, drilling fluid properties, etc., so I can realistically assess the risk.

But the OSHA required plastic hard hat on top (metal ones are banned over electrocution hazards) makes me safe...because I shelled out another 50 bucks for a Flame Resistant liner...

Someone, somewhere, is cashing in...and the fines for failure to comply make the clothing look cheap.

Oh well, I wanted some new clothes...but for the money, I coulda had Brooks Brothers.

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