2007 – Page 26 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Bureaucrats Answer

Looks like we know how the EU Bureaucracy is going to respond to the school shooting in Finland.Â In addition to raising the age of possession to 18, they also plan:

Â In addition to making the age-limit more rigid, the EU wants its member states by 2014 to set up computerized databanks containing detailed information on each firearm and the names and addresses of both the supplier and buyer.

The data would be accessible to police and judicial authorities and would be kept on file for 20 years.

I’d say “Oh my, how horrible!” except that’s pretty much what we have here now, except the records aren’t computerized.

There’s a rumor circulating among Ron Paul fans out there that NRA was snubbing Ron Paul by not listing him as a candidate on the web site showing here. Well, the reason is because he didn’t come to the Celebration of American Values where the NRA hosted many presidential aspirants. I decided to e-mail them and ask them about this, and here was the response I got:

Congressman Ron Paul was invited to the National Rifle Association’s Celebration of American Values. The NRA did not receive a response from him. As a result, there is no mention of him in the article. If Congressman Paul had accepted the invitation, or contacted the NRA prior to the event, every effort would have been made to accommodate his appearance. In fact, NRA did work with a number of candidates who did not RSVP and we facilitated their appearance in person or via videotaped message. The same courtesy would have been given to the Ron Paul campaign had they contacted us. If and when the NRA has another candidate forum, we hope that Congressman Paul would participate – either in person, or via videotaped message.

I have to wonder how many people who started spreading this rumor even bothered to try to find out what the truth was.Â At least the guy I liked to e-mailed.

Preemption

We always hear the Brady’s whine about how preemption prevents local communities from being able to enact reasonable gun control that is appropriate for those communities.Â Â Apparently in Illinois, they are pushing for preemption on local ordinances in an effort to close FFLs, like Chuck’s Gun Shop.

So, preemption is bad, unless if course it puts gun shops out of business, then it’s good. Â Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership indeed.

Paul Helmke Wouldn’t Know an AK-47 …

… if he shot himself in the foot with one. The Brady’s are incorrect that Jay Fox had an AK-47:

In last nightâ€™s Republican YouTube debate, a questioner submitted this video of himself shooting what looks like an AK-type semi-automatic assault rifle at a target in the desert. In less than two seconds, self-identified NRA Life Member Jay Fox fires off six rounds. (Check the timing of the video yourself.)

It’s not an AK-47. You can see clearly in the screen shots that it’s not:

That’s clearly a monte carlo stock, and not a pistol grip that you’d expect to find on a Kalashnikov.

The magazine lacks the banana shape of the AK-47 magazine. Pretty clearly this is some type of .223 semi-automatic rifle. And, like we’ve been saying, any semi-automatic rifle can fire six shots quickly, even ones that are available, as this firearm would be, in all the states that have assault weapons bans because this firearm is not an assault weapon by any legal definition. And no state bans 10 round magazines.

So Paul may have thought this was a clever “gotcha” moment to introduce his admonishment that gun violence isn’t funny, but it’s another distortion. Besides, what does a guy having some pinking fun with a semi-automatic rifle in the desert have to do with gun violence? Do you think Jay Fox is going to go mow down a school next? This tells you a lot about how these people think.

UPDATE: Turns out Jay Fox is a resident of California, which bans assault weapons. So that rifle is most definitely NOT an assault weapon. Brady wants the entire country to pass a California style ban, yet they are still unhappy with this ordinary semi-automatic rifle’s rate of fire, which any self-loading firearm is capable of. Of course, they say they don’t want to ban all semi-automatic rifles, but do you believe them? I don’t.

UPDATE: I just got an e-mail from Jay Fox. It’s a Kel-Tec SU-16 rifle, which is not an assault weapon, and legal in California. He also mentioned the shotgun in the video was unloaded, and was tossed rather than handed for effect. Hey, it worked didn’t it? His video got picked. I thought it was pretty good.

I’d Be Afraid to Let Him Down

Clayton has a rather amusing story involving a moose and some power lines.

Contact State Attorneys General

David is prompting gun owners to contact their Attorney General. Yesterday I sent a letter off to Tom Corbett who is Attorney General for Pennsylvania. He’s on the short list for a run for Governor when Fast Eddie’s term is up in 2010, and I think this would be a great way for him to get a leg up on other Republicans candidates, and provide some hope for gun owners in Pennsylvania who are getting sick of Ed Rendell.

Bitter and I were talking last night about how it would be great if we could get briefs filed by attorneys generals from enough states to re-ratify the second amendment. That would be a powerful message to The Court.

Let me know if you need help with figuring out how to contact your state attorney general. It’s important that we get on this, because the stakes have never been higher.

We’ve All Noticed It

So, anti-gun forces are on the march in Pennsylvania with the help of our Governor, to rally Mayors around the state to make a final push to convince the legislature to infringe on that which shall not be questioned.

In Washington, where Joyce is funding a conspiracy against the federal and Washington constitutions in an effort to get folks fired up about gun control in that state.

In Virginia now, they are pushing to end preemption, hoping that the change in power in the Virginia Senate will lend them some good fortune.

What is it we’re witnessing here? Â My opinion: desperation. Â They have to score a victory, and with the Heller case looming, it’s more important now than ever.Â If they can show no political progress on the issue, and Heller wins, they are in a lot of trouble.Â Bryan Miller may be ho-hum about it, but I believe within the next year we have the opportunity, if we work hard and are vigilant enough, to end the current incarnation of the gun control movement.

Don’t get me wrong, gun control isn’t going away.Â But a Heller win will force advocates of it to change tactics.Â It could put us on the offensive in a big way, and they know it.Â The immediate practical significance of Heller might be slight, but it’s a huge rhetorical defeat for the gun control movement.Â I predict if Heller wins, within several years you’ll see new opponents on this issue, with different tactics and ideas, with the debate on terms more favorable to gun rights.

Indoor Silhouette, Rifle This Time

So tonight I took the 10/22 to Indoor Silhouette night.Â We’re shooting at chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams at 25 yards.Â I scored 22 and 25.Â Standing position has never something I’ve been particularly good at, so I am hoping continuing to do this will improve my skills in this area.Â Â Maybe next time I will do better.Â The 10/22 was having issues because I haven’t cleaned it in a while.Â I’m thinking maybe a nice bolt action 22 is in order for this type of shooting.

Ho Hum

Bryan Miller is ho hum about the Supreme Court taking the Heller case.Â Joe Huffman and Thirdpower are already on it.Â Joe says:

[The second amendment is] overwhelmingly categorical and never been used to overturn a law since it was adopted, therefore we shouldn’t take it seriously and can enact laws that violate it without concern to the constitutionality of the law. Interesting logic. So, Mr. Miller, do you advocate treating the 13^thÂ amendment in the same way?

Read the whole thing.Â I actually think Bryan is right.Â The ruling won’t fundamentally be earthshaking…. over the short term.Â But over the long term, I wouldn’t be so ho hum.Â The first amendment similarly started out absent any earthshaking ruling, and with broad license for the government to regulate speech.Â Somewhere along the line, free speech went from this:

â€œThe question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.â€ – Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Schenck v. US, 1919

to what we have today, which are broad free speech protections that would never allow for something like the Espionage Act to stand today.Â I similarly expect the early second amendment cases to resemble the early first amendment cases.Â I don’t think the Supreme Court will ever bar all regulations of firearms, but I suspect the end result of this second amendment jurisprudence will probably leave us with much less gun control than Bryan Miller would like.Â I agree with Joe; you’re seeing masked frustration.

The Ron Paul Movement

Jim Geraghty thinks Ron Paul is a non-movement, and his votes aren’t going to translate into support for other GOP candidates.

Â I think that if and when Ron Paul ceases his presidential bid, his supporters will go in a thousand different directions, including many saying “to hell with politics.” They’re not inclined towards compromise,Â and they’re not going toÂ be harnessed byÂ half-a-loaf or evenÂ eighty-percent-of-the-loaf candidates.Â In other words, Ron Paulâ€™s support is non-transferrable.

Ron Paul has the most traction I’ve seen a libertarian minded candidate get, but I think the war has a lot to do with that.Â I have given up on libertarians for the most part, even though I still lean pretty heavily in that direction.Â My disdain of gun control grew out of a generally libertarian attitude, but I’ve given up on the other aspects of libertarianism, because I’d prefer to focus my efforts on just seeing a few bits of my libertarian ideals adopted by candidates who can win.Â I think that’s the only real way to be successful in politics, because politicians represent the aspirations of the various interest groups they represent, and those interest groups won’t always agree with each other.Â People complain about always having a “lesser of two evils” choice, but the political process almost guarantees it.

If Ron Paul’s candidacy represents a real and permanent movement within the GOP, I think it might be able to turn into something.Â It surely would drive the party, and its candidates, to adopt some more libertarian ideas.Â But I agree with Jim that’s not going to happen.Â When Ron loses the nomination, his supporters will scatter, and so will all the political capital they have built.Â Libertarians need to be interested in playing the dirty game of politics if they want to come out of the political wilderness, but among libertarians, I don’t see too many indications of that.

Year: 2007