The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Sen. Mike Brubaker is trying to get a marriage amendment onto the Pennsylvania Constitution:
Tom Shaheen, vice president for policy at the Pennsylvania Family Institute, said it’s important to protect marriage in the state’s Constitution — especially considering its proximity to Massachusetts, the only state to allow homosexual “marriage.”
Apparently Tom Shaheen thinks gay marriage is a strange disease we might catch by hanging out near Massachusetts. Are these people for real?
Why is it that anti-gun folks love pushing bills in response to tragedy that would in no way shape or form have even remotely prevented it? Latest from Nebraska:
The NRA is urging its members to fight a bill in the legislature that calls for, among other things, mandatory trigger locks. The NRA is convinced this latest gun control plan would have a “drastic effect” on law-abiding gun owners.
But Action Three News has learned that victims of the Von Maur massacre, some who lived, some who’s relatives died, are ready to fight for the bill.
The trigger locks would be required on any gun, rifle, or assault weapon. In addition once gun owners know a weapon is lost or stolen, they’d have 48 hours to report it. Finally no one found mentally ill in the last 10 years could buy a gun.
Do these people really think a trigger lock would have stopped this guy? And what kind of “assault weapons” is not also a gun or rifle? This is the usual panel of gun control being pushed by the anti-gun groups everywhere else. In this case, exploiting people who are mourning the loss of loved ones promoting a political agenda, that wouldn’t have prevented their tragedy. The shooter in the Von Maur shooting was already prohibited from owning a firearm by existing laws.
UPDATE Joe’s Crabby Shack, which is a local Nebraska gun blog, has a lot more detail about this.
Finally, I managed to wrangle myself a pin for shooting ten chickens in a row. I shot a 35 out of 40 overall for that set. I came very close to getting a pin for rams, but by the time I was on the tenth ram, my pulse rate was so high I could see my heart beat moving the rifle, and I missed. Damn! But hey, I’ll take my chicken pin. Turns out I don’t do well when I don’t eat before going to the match. I do better when I eat first. I’ll have to remember that.
It looks like county executives are eager to find out exactly where Mike Bloomberg and his cohorts buy their Bill of Rights toilet paper. Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano has started his own anti-gun coalition so they don’t feel so left out.
The case of Fred illustrates for us, in living color, just exactly how far superior ideas go in the 21st century: They’re not worth much without an infrastructure to back them up.
In fact, as much as we want to believe otherwise, the man with the inferior ideas and superior infrastructure wins, and this pisses us off, it supremely offends our sensibilities.
This is one of the better observations of the situation out there that I’ve seen. Read the whole thing. There’s a lot of analogies that can be drawn between politics and the workplace, because the workplace is really a microcosm of how people react to each other in a society. Fred was the manager everyone likes, has great ideas, but who could never get any of them done. We all have seen executive types with the power suit and nice hair who lie, cheat and backstab their way to the top (Romney), and the quirky engineer who spends his days in his office wasting his time on crackpot designs that he always claims will save the company (Paul). Then there’s the folks that just bully their way to the top by sheer force of personality (McCain), and who drive everyone batty because they don’t think they can do any wrong.
If I ever ask Bitter to marry me, I have found the perfect engagement ring!
Sorry for the light posting today. Too much having to earn a living going on this week, and tonight is my weekly silhouette match. I thought, though, I’d give an update on some things I’ve learned with respect to reloading:
The main thing I’ll be looking to improve is my reloading speed. It can take me a few evenings to reload as much ammo as I can shoot in an hour at the range. Nonetheless, it’s a very fun winter time distraction, much the same way brewing beer is, except reloading isn’t quite as detrimental to health, well, except for the lead exposure risk.
Kim asks the question, Ahab has his answer. Here’s mine:
I think overall, the country is more conservative than progressive. But however any one of us defines conservatism, yes, we probably are a minority. Don’t fear, because here’s the catch: everyone’s political views are a minority political view.
Gun owners are minority in this country, and gun owners who care strongly about gun rights are an even smaller minority. Gun owners who care about gun rights enough to get as involved as many of us are, are a very small minority. But you know what? That’s the case of any special interest.  That’s why we form into associations, coalitions, and political parties in order to advance our causes, and why so often the compromises and vying interests along the political path often produce results and candidates that are less than we would desire.
Via War on Guns a quite good editorial taking The Administration to task for its brief:
Which raises the question: What the heck was the Bush Administration thinking? For decades, a critical component of the Republican coalition has been working class gun owners who are bothered by the Democrats’ embrace of gun control. Republicans actually seem to have won that battle, with Democrats backing off of gun control legislation in the recent Congress. Why after enduring so much hostile press would the Bush Administration sell out the NRA at this critical juncture? And why make the reversal in a difficult election year, when the support of gun control opponents will be so critical to Republican fortunes?
What’s it have to lose selling anyone out at this point? Bush is about as lame duck as they come, and I’ve never gotten the impression he’s all that concerned about his party’s fortunes. The Bush family are wealthy New Englanders with no real connection to the gun culture. As the article points out:
The less generous answer lies in the reality of the Bush Administration. Contrary to the caricatures painted by liberals, there are precious few issues that the Administration has not sold the Right out on. No Child Left Behind, the prescription drug benefit, monstrous budget deficits, McCain-Feingold, Patient’s Bill of Rights . . . all of these issues cross the gamut of modern politics, and all of them are issues where the Bush Administration’s Rovian plotting has placed it at loggerheads with standard conservatism. Even on judges, where the Administration usually wins plaudits, conservatives forget Harriet Miers, and forget that two of Bush’s first ten Court of Appeals appointments were Clinton appointees. Is it really that hard to believe that the Administration would lurch to the left on the issue of guns?
No, not hard to believe, but we still get to be pissed.
The Virginia Senate rejected the gun show bill 9-6.