CAPTAIN’S JOURNAL: Analysis of ATF Study on the Importability of Certain Shotguns.

READER MICHAEL STEVENS ON TIMELINESS: “At 10:30 when Obama was originally going to announce the death of bin Laden, the news networks had not confirmed and had not revealed that bin Laden was dead. Imagine if he’d just made it on time and announced this news himself. Instead everyone found out from CNN, Fox News, Drudge, Twitter, whatever. Missed opportunity in my opinion.” Well, we bloggers appreciate the lead time.

IS THIS THE HOPE, OR THE CHANGE? Why food prices are rising and why they are likely to stay high for a long time.

CHANGE: Shortages Of Key Drugs Endanger Patients. We know. Helen’s had to dip into her emergency Tikosyn reserve because Walgreen’s can’t get it for her in time.

OBAMA TO SPEAK: Reader David Wegener writes: “NBC has had two crawls during Celebrity Apprentice that Obama intents to make an important announcement. Is he actually planning on preempting the end of tonight’s show?”

Here’s a report: “House Intelligence committee aide confirms that Osama Bin Laden is dead. U.S. has the body.” Well, good. Better late than never. Alas, since I don’t have working TV, I won’t be able to watch.

More here.

And reader Dan Mason writes: “Usama Bin Laden dead — Obama capitalizes on the continuation of another program started by the Bush administration.” First Gitmo, now this? Well, I approve. But, then, a warmonger like me would, I suppose.

UPDATE: It’ll stream live here.

And Jody Green writes: “We have the body? What now? This will be interesting. What do we do with it. Put it on trial in NY? Send it to the Royal Family? Send it to Gitmo? Just curious.” On Facebook, Dana Loesch was suggesting we exhibit it Mussolini style. Of course, if he was killed by a missile there may not be much to exhibit.

Plus, thoughts from Austin Bay: “Would that we had him in Fall 2001. However, time has worked against Bin Laden. He dies tarnished. A man who hides in a cave for ten years is no martyr. He quickly lost the aura of divine sanction — he was driven out of Afghanistan, and the US stayed. Moreover, the US took its counter-terror war into the heart of the politically dysfunctional Arab Muslim world. What’s the choice between tyrant and terrorist? Iraq provides a choice. Al Qaeda made Iraq a battleground and lost — lost to the Iraqi people and the US.”

Also, thoughts from Pejman Yousefzadeh. “I am more than happy to give the Obama Administration–and the Bush Administration before it–plenty of credit for having designed and implemented the military operations that brought about bin Laden’s demise. Here’s hoping that he didn’t die quickly after the mortal blow landed.”

And a reader emails: “This is why we continue to use drones in Pakistan.” [LATER: Well, it wasn’t a drone, apparently.]

Much more here.

And on Facebook, Rick Torres comments: “(Has) Been Laden.” Plus, Frank Warner emails: “ESPN is running the Mets-Phillies game in Philadelphia. Minutes ago, here in the cradle of liberty, the fans started chanting, ‘USA! USA!’ You know why.”

Meanwhile, reader Shane Boyd cracks: “When do we get to see the long form death certificate?”

And he didn’t preempt Trump, because he still hasn’t come on. Hurry it up, man. I’m going to bed soon.

Plus, from Rick Moore on Facebook: “Reports are Obama’s speech is being delayed because the CIA is still trying to notify bin Laden’s next of goat.” Cheap, but still funny.

And Debbie Eberts emails: “Interesting that Petraeus was tapped for the CIA about the time OBL was actually killed.”

And Bigwig emails: “Not to be a wet blanket, and I’m glad he’s dead…but isn’t it a mistake have the President of the US schedule an unprecedented Sunday night speech just to announce his death? Won’t that just burnish Osama’s status even more as far as the Islamists are concerned?” Meh. His status is Room Temperature. I don’t mind underscoring that.

Jake Tapper tweets: “Sources say OBL killed at a mansion in pakistan, human mission, shot, US has the body.” A mansion in Pakistan? That raises real questions about Pakistani complicity with Osama. Stay tuned for the followups, I guess.

And Prof. Stephen Clark emails: “With Bin Laden dead, on to al-Zawahiri. I hope the President takes the opportunity to make clear – abundantly clear – that regardless of the administration, this country’s policy is now and forever will be to hunt these bastards down, every last one of them; that they will be killed in the field, or brought to justice in this country – and that either outcome is satisfactory.” Well, if he ever comes on, maybe he will. I can’t wait much longer.

Will there be any complaints from the usual lawfare types?

MORE: He’s on now.

Good speech so far. Interesting that Obama referenced Bush in a positive way here, which has not been his pattern of late. And he pretty much picked up on Prof. Clark’s point.

And it was nicely short and to the point. Well done.

And Bill Hobbs tweets: “Dude who nailed bin Laden will never be ‘one-upped’ anytime he’s in a group swapping war stories.”

TORNADO RELIEF: Reader Maynard Schmale writes: “I live in the Anderson hills subdivision, in Harvest, Al. My home escaped damage but many of my neighbors were not as lucky. Over 60 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable in the subdivision. My wife and I were out helping our neighbors clean-up. I was utterly overwhelmed with the number of volunteers who came to help. There were lots of people from churches (I remember seeing Baptist church buses and talking to Methodists). And there were also lots of people who just came as individuals because it was the right thing to do. There were lots of people with chainsaws and people who brought food and water to the residents and the volunteers. It was amazing to watch 50 volunteers descend on a damaged home and move all of the movable debris to the street.” I guess Chuck Simmins called it.

SALENA ZITO ON Democrats’ pursuit of the important bitter-gun-clinger vote. “Democrats’ bigger problem among Second Amendment voters is the Obama administration’s elitist approach. Ever since Pennsylvania Democrats’ primary race between then-incumbent U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and then-U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, Obama’s disconnect with people who work with their hands — and, as he put it, cling to guns and religion — has been obvious.”

UPDATE: A Bitter-Clinger Photo.

CARTER RERUN, CONT’D: Embassies Attacked In Tripoli.

YES, THESE ARE THE CRAZY YEARS: Mayor Bloomberg’s Plan To Repopulate Detroit. “I thought this was very odd. ‘Gulag’ came to mind.”

“MR. PRESIDENT, THEY’RE CATCHING ON:” Mickey Kaus: Why I Love Orgies Of Recrimination.

THE RISING MISSISSIPPI: Apocalypse Now? More here.

UPDATE: Worries in Memphis.

RISK: Applying The Union of Concerned Scientists Analysis Of Chernobyl to Commercial Aviation.

LIST: Favorite books of post-apocalyptic fiction. Okay, there are a few entries I’d quibble with. . . .

UPDATE: Many readers think Lucifer’s Hammer should have made the list. I agree.

ACADEMIA AND ARAB DICTATORS: The Sounds Of Silence. Well-paid silence, in many cases.

UNDERPERFORMING: LA Media Estimated 50K Would Show Up for May Day Rally, Event Draws Hundreds. It’s like they’re disappointed and dispirited.

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” How’s that Syria engagement policy working out, Mr. President?

TORNADO THOUGHTS from reader Felix Kasza:

I just do not get it. For how long have Americans known about Tornado Alley? For how long have they known that a typical house would not withstand a once-in-20-years tornado, much less a worse one?

And yet houses are still built of clapboard and a couple of two-by-fours. Just like New Orleans is being rebuilt just where it used to be, because that worked out so well the first time around. (I except the French, which were uncharacteristically smart and built on the only hill there.)

Bricks, stones, mortar, concrete, steel. When will America learn about building for inclement weather?

Well, it’s not as simple as that. Even in Tornado Alley, the likelihood that any particular house will ever be hit by a tornado in its lifetime is pretty low. (Also, brick and stone construction, while good for tornadoes, is bad for earthquakes; wood-frame buildings actually do better there.) And basically nothing except quasi-fortified structures will withstand an EF4 or EF5 tornado. Those are very expensive, and people don’t want to live in bunkers.

That said, relatively minor additions (e.g., hurricane anchors for roofs, shatterproof glass for windows) can make a big difference for less apolcalyptic conditions.

OBSERVING Victims Of Communism Day.

GALLUP SHOCKER: Americans Blame Wasteful Government Spending for Deficit: Prefer cutting spending over raising taxes as way for Congress to reduce deficit. “The large majority of Americans say spending too much money on unneeded or wasteful federal programs is to blame for the federal budget deficit, while 22% say the deficit is a consequence of not raising enough in taxes to pay for needed programs.”

THEY MATTER A LOT: Oval Office hopefuls make pitch to NRA convention-goers. Even if they do bitterly cling to their guns. Well, actually, in my experience they’re pretty cheerful about the gun-clinging.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Men Of Distinctions: “The incident was one of those things once known as the ‘fortune of war’; except of course that the Libyan operation is not war. . . . The target struck appeared to have the physical signature of a bunker. It wasn’t a frame house with a picket fence. But the reality is that individuals, including the families of high ranking regime figures, probably live in and among bunkers. That is not unusual. . . . And when bunkers get hit the occupants perish without distinction. The truth is that the families of enemy leaders die during a time of war. It is often unavoidable. But therein lies the difficulty of current Libyan operation. There is ostensibly no campaign for regime change; no enemy; there is not even a war on; not even a reference to Congress. But at the same time the armed forces of the NATO countries are being asked to achieve what amounts to war aims without either legal cover of belligerence nor the resources customarily allotted to it.”

WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT FAILS: VIGILANTES BAND TOGETHER TO PROTECT SEX WORKERS:

With police investigations in shambles, a group of self-described superheroes have formed to protect sex workers from the serial killer menacing the New York area.

Sounds like a worthy cause.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on top sellers in Tools & Home Improvement.

INTERNET UPDATE: So, our Comcast Internet is still down — and even though it’s supposed to be “Business Class,” the Comcast folks haven’t been very interested in doing anything about it. On the other hand, an AT&T guy came — when promised — and fixed our DSL and it’s now working. I’ve always felt that one advantage of DSL over cable was that when you call, you get a phone guy instead of a cable guy. To be fair, the Comcast techs we’ve dealt with have been fine when they showed up, but I don’t think the cable TV business has the culture of urgency that the phone companies have traditionally had.

SAYUNCLE HAS BEEN BLOGGING THE NRA CONVENTION and reports: “Also, on the way in, someone spotted us and noticed that Dennis from Dragon Leatherworks open carrying. The guy stopped us and thanked Dennis for openly carrying. We’re winning.” Uncle was open-carrying, too. We’ll have video on this at PJTV later.