The Treasury Department has announced that hours of bona-fide volunteers and volunteer emergency responders (e.g., us) do not count toward an employer's count of full-time employees or full-time equivalent (FTE) hours. The Affordable Care Act (ACA, i.e. "ObamaCare") requires all employers with more than 50 FTE employees to provide health benefits or pay penalties.

Another video today for people to think about. This is a presentation by a man who created United Hatzalah in Israel: an organization of volunteers who put ambulances on motorcycles to decrease response time and provide support for critical patients while the full-size ambulance fights it's way through traffic. Over the years, his organization has grown to thousands of volunteers in several countries and has become a vehicle for knitting together Jews, Arabs, and Christians.

The official report of the State of Connecticut on the Sandy Hook shootings was released today: "Report of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Danbury on the Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and 36 Yogananda Street, Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012" in a 44-page PDF. Unfortunately, the investigation did not reveal why the shooter chose the school as his target. Further commentary will appear here once I finish reading the report myself.

I have posted an article on Gun Debate detailing our recent trip to Reno Nevada for the International Association of Emergency Manager's Conference. The three-part travelogue describes changes in Nevada's CCW laws, how we dealt with them, issues with open-carry, the status of Auxiliary volunteers traveling to other states, self-defense law, the panel presentation I particpated in on active shooters in education environments, the school shooting in Sparks, Nevada and other issues.