Currently Browsing: Politics
May 21, 2013
Posted by Bitter in Anti-Gun Folks, Pennsylvania | 1 comment
It’s primary day in Pennsylvania for most municipal elections, and it’s a great day to vote. Here is a partial list of MAIG mayors who may be on the ballot this year. It was written before filing deadlines, so a few of those mayors may have decided to retire. However, most have not.
After today, results will be more official, so it’s a great time to contact opposition to those MAIG mayors with serious challengers. There’s no reason to wait until 2014 to send the gun grabbers a message.
**Please excuse the post with relatively little detail about key races. I meant to do a better post on this topic yesterday, but the afternoon was largely spent watching KFOR in Oklahoma City online and helping spread word related to the statewide storms. My hometown was under a tornado warning for hours yesterday with multiple rotation areas detected throughout the day. Yet, through social media, folks were trying to get word out that the tornado sirens weren’t working for some reason.
Watching the live coverage had multiple veteran reporters losing the battle of tears on camera. There aren’t many places in the country where reporters will put down the cameras and join in the urgent searches, and yet that appears to be what happened in several cases when citizens were stepping up in areas where first responders couldn’t get quickly enough.
Join the Conversation (1 comment)
May 20, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Carrying / Self-Defense, Pennsylvania | 14 comments
Sorry for not noticing this, but it would seem our anti-gun Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, has revised our reciprocity agreements with Virginia and Arizona. If you hold a non-resident permit from either of these states, you can no longer carry in Pennsylvania. If you’re from out of state, and not a resident of a reciprocal state, or you’re a PA resident in Philly [Looks like Utah requires a license from your home state before they'll issue], and you can’t get an LTC because you forgot to pay a parking ticket or had a gun stolen once (two real cases), I would suggest looking into the Utah permit. Utah is recognized by Pennsylvania through statute, meaning Kane has no power to dinker with any agreement. You need to find a Utah certified instructor, but the State of Utah provides a convenient list. There are a number of instructors in Pennsylvania, and it’s a very widely recognized permit by other states.
Join the Conversation (14 comments)
May 20, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Gun Rights, New Jersey | 5 comments
From ANRPC:
This afternoon, the New Jersey Assembly passed 4 gun bills, as follows:
A3797(Requires NJ State Police to disclose confidential ATF trace data in violation of federal law). This bill now moves to the Governor’s desk.
A3796(Reopens “assault” firearms compliance window for only 180 days; fails to allow compliance for prohibited magazines and ammunition). This bill now moves to the Governor’s desk.
A3583(Creates school security task force). This bill now moves to the Governor’s desk.
A3717(Submits mental health records to NICS – no stated requirement of due process). This bill was amended today and will have to be reconsidered by the full Senate (next scheduled meeting is currently May 30th).
Major state house activity is not anticipated until the next full Senate floor vote.
Additional updates and action alerts will be forthcoming.
Is that it? If that’s it, you guys got off a lot lighter than I would have figured.
Join the Conversation (5 comments)
May 18, 2013
Posted by Bitter in Politics | 11 comments
We have seen stories in the last few weeks that indicated gun control may be moving in the House.
Yet, VSSA’s Dave Adams shared an update from a pre-party for the Virginia GOP convention:
Just saw @RepGoodlatte in the @MarkObenshain party. Said no #guncontrol will get through his committee.
It really makes me wonder if all of these previous stories are really just an attempt to make gun owners distrustful of the GOP in hopes that they will stay home in 2014.
Join the Conversation (11 comments)
May 16, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Guns, Politicians Suck | 5 comments
A Massachusetts Democrat introduces a bill in the House that would mandate smart guns, because he says the technology totally exists. I think what we really need is a Smart Congress Law… a technology that would automatically recognize the Constitution and only allow lawmaking duly authorized.
h/t Instapundit
Join the Conversation (5 comments)
May 16, 2013
Posted by Bitter in Guns, Pennsylvania | 7 comments
We all knew this, but apparently it’s still a bit of a surprise to the media. The Chester County Sheriff’s Department managed to raise around $20,000 raffling off an AR-15 and a bolt-action rifle.
This particular raffle drew the ire of the anti-gun crowd even after the Sheriff’s Department made very clear in the media that winners would undergo background checks. It really just goes to show that they aren’t about legal gun ownership at all.
Join the Conversation (7 comments)
May 15, 2013
Posted by Bitter in Pennsylvania, Shooting | 9 comments
Yesterday was the annual Congressional Shoot-Out by members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. I haven’t seen an official report yet, but word of somewhere around 3 dozen members of Congress took time out to hit the gun range.
Interestingly, not a single member of Pennsylvania’s delegation mentioned anything about attending on Twitter or Facebook. This is a shame because Pennsylvania native Olympic gold medalist Jamie Gray attended, and members of Congress from other states bragged about getting a photo with her.
It’s such a disappointment to see so little support outside of the House chamber for our sports. We’re not even talking a politically contentious side of the issue. With multiple Olympians in attendance, including a Pennsylvania gold medal winner, there are ways to make this event a completely positive photo opportunity that gets a few points with gun owners while creating no media headaches.
However, I’m tempted to give Rep. Glenn Thompson a pass since, during my search this morning to confirm the lack of Facebook posts about attending, I did stumble across an announcement for a trap shoot fundraiser on his campaign page.
UPDATE: Well, good news for some Pennsylvania gun owners. According to a comment, Rep. Glenn Thompson was actually in attendance. It just hasn’t been promoted by his office as of today.
UPDATE II: A formal report is now available:
Current CSC Co-Chair and team captain Representative Bob Latta (R-OH) was joined by his co-captain, CSC Vice-Chair Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA) as they accepted the trophy on behalf of team Republican, who edged out the Democrats by a score of 242 to 201 to take the Member Trophy for a second consecutive year. Team Democrat was lead by current CSC Co-Chair, Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Vice-Chair, Representative Tim Walz (D-MN). …
In the individual category, Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) was named the overall Top Gun Member of Congress. The Top Gun from team Democrat was Representative Collin Peterson (D-MN) and the Top Gun from team Republican was Representative John Kline (R-MN). The Top Skeet shooter was Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI); Representative Steve Southerland (R-FL) won the Top Trap competition and Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) won Top Sporting Clays.
Join the Conversation (9 comments)
May 14, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in New Jersey | 4 comments
Most of the “uncontroversial” (only to NJ politicians) made it through the Senate, save one:
The Senate also continues to refuse to take up a bill approved by the Assembly to reduce the number of bullets permitted in a magazine from 15 to 10 rounds, although Assembly leaders appeared to have softened their position on blocking the Senate gun bills in return.
A big unknown in all this is how serious Chris Christie is about his presidential ambitions. Even if he plays the Schwarzenegger game of symbolically vetoing one provision or two, but signing the rest of the package, it’ll be over for him. There’s not much middle ground left on this issue anymore. The states that have generally been pro-gun have grown their gun culture, and gotten more pro-gun, and the states that successfully destroyed it have gotten more anti-gun. Christie has the misfortune of being a Republican in an anti-gun state, but I think even New Jersey Republicans have seriously overestimated the ability of this issue to hurt them. Christie could veto all of this, still get re-elected, and still be a contender in a Presidential run.
Join the Conversation (4 comments)
May 13, 2013
Posted by Sebastian in Gun Rights, New Jersey | 5 comments
From ANJRPC, here are the bills that are currently up in the NJ Senate:
S2723(Throws out existing FID cards & replaces with driver license endorsement or other form of ID; suspends Second Amendment rights without proof of firearms training, including for all current handgun owners; imposes 7-day waiting period for handgun purchases; ends all private sales; effectively creates a registry of ammunition purchases and long gun sales; additional impacts).
S2178(fifty caliber ban)
S2485(Suspends Second Amendment rights based on a secret government list – no due process)
S2718(Requires NJ State Police to disclose confidential ATF data in violation of federal law)
S2492(Submits mental health records to NICS – no stated requirement of due process)
2719(License suspension and imprisonment of firearms dealers; vehicle forfeiture for traffickers)
S2468(Impounds vehicles for unlawful possession)
S2722(Reopens “assault” firearms compliance window for only 180 days; fails to allow compliance for prohibited magazines and ammunition)
S2720(Mandates public disclosure of total numbers of FID cards and handgun permits issued)
S2430(Establishes “violence” study commission; fails to include 2A community member on commission)
S2715 (Requires Dept. of Education to prepare anti-violence pamphlets)
S2724(Creates school security task force)
S2552(Protects gun owner identity from public disclosure)
S2725(Reduces penalty for airgun possession from second to third degree)
UPDATE: More here from the Star-Ledger.
Join the Conversation (5 comments)
May 10, 2013
Posted by Bitter in Carrying / Self-Defense, Pennsylvania | 6 comments
Here in Pennsylvania, our governor is just terrible. I mean terrible. His administration directed publicly funded colleges to review their rules and regulations and–gasp–make sure they are all constitutional! Oh, the horror of making sure that government agencies/departments/institutions aren’t violating the state constitution!
The directive that prompted Kutztown University to allow people to carry guns on campus came from Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration.
Corbett’s office of General Counsel directed all 14 state-owned universities to review their policies restricting guns on campus to determine whether the policies would withstand constitutional muster, said Kutztown University spokesman Matt Santos.
If I see an attack ad on this issue next year, I’m going to probably hit my head against a desk. I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, you should support a directive to make sure that the government isn’t violating rights. If anything, from a liberal perspective, it makes it less likely that these institutions will be sued.
Join the Conversation (6 comments)
