From Cam Edwards. Go read it.
Year: 2008
Unhappy Bitter
Bitter is not happy about the NRA alert she got tonight. I saw it too and thought it was a bit hyperbolous. Either way, it’s not quite as important as the advances we just made with National Park carry, and the fact that there would be lawsuits on the Florida parking lot bill is predictable.
It’s Everything You Want to Shoot
Air gun, 200 dollars. Tin of 500 .177 caliber pellets, 7 dollars. 25 box of CO2 cartridges, 15 dollars. Being able to pop the ram between each of these sentences, priceless!
Air Gun Happiness
So today I picked up a Crossman 2300S so I could do IHMSA air pistol class. Those are 1/10th scale animals, with chickens at 10 yards, pigs at 12.5, turkeys at 15 and rams at 18 yards. I also got one of these for practice in the house. I am disappointed that the animals look nothing like IHMSA standard animals, but are merely vague approximations.
But as for the airgun, the trigger is a little creepy for my tastes, but you can turn the pull down enough that it doesn’t much matter. It shoots pretty well, regardless. The plastic grips on it are pretty lame as well. But still, 200 bucks and you have a gun you can shoot in a different class with and practice at home to boot. I’m not complaining. That’s not even mentioning the price of pellets and CO2 compared to .22LR, or .44 Magnum.
I guess I can’t call this a range report, since I didn’t have to go to the range to zero the sights and try it out :) This will all be fun and games until someone loses an eye.
All Tragedy, All the Time
Men in Black
I can’t help but notice that these kinds of stories seem to come from states with high Brady rankings.
Why Wright Did It
I think Wretchard of The Belmont Club hits it out of the park on this one:
Now after Obama built up a big delegate lead on Hillary, the Democratic Party was essentially committed to carrying Obama whether or not Hillary found some way to overtake the lead. Remember, Obama once in the lead, is always in the lead. Otherwise it’s a lynching. I think Wright is essentially running up the Jolly Roger knowing full well that the Democratic Party will have sail under those colors or lose the black vote. He’s going to force the Democrats to take Obama on his terms. This is the revolutionary act. Wright believes he has an historic opportunity and he’s going to take it.
I think part of the messianic air about Obama was that somewhere in the national consciousness people saw him as absolution for America’s original sin. In a sense, he literally was a messiah, come to forgive America for the sin of slavery and racism. Someone who could lead us into the promised land of post-racial politics. Reverend Wright, a man who built a ministry on racial politics, will apparently have none of that. Obama is now a false messiah.
National Park Carry Update
The public comment period has begun. Just so you understand the process, in order to affect a change in the Code of Federal Regulations, the change has to be published in the Federal Register, and offered a public comment period. That’s the part we’re in now. You can examine the proposed rule change here. Basic summary is this:
Under the proposed amendment, an individual will be able to possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded, and operable firearms within a national park area in the same manner, and to the same extent, that a person may lawfully possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded and operable firearms in any state park in the state in which the federal park, or that portion thereof, is located. Possession of concealed firearms in national parks as authorized by this section must also conform to applicable federal laws.
This is a big help to those of us in the east who drive thorugh NPS land regularly without realizing it. I occaisionally travel through Valley Forge National Park when I’m heading to visit friends in that part of Chester County, and Independence National Historical Park is part of the City of Philadelphia, and doesn’t have clear boundaries. Now, I would note that buildings within the park will still be considered a federal facility, and still off limits to carry. That’s a different law, and will require an Act of Congress to fix/clarify.
Hillary Set Up Us The Bomb
This is a very interesting twist to the whole Wright fiasco. It would seem that it was a backer of Hillary Clinton that arranged the media conference with Wright. I have to hand it to them, nobody is as good at playing dirty as the Clintons. Pretty clearly they knew if they could get the good Reverend in front of the cameras, he would have plenty of rope with which to hang himself, and by association Barack Obama.
GOP Ads in North Carolina
Looks like the GOP in North Carolina ran an ad attacking Barack Obama, and by association the Democratic gubernatorial candidate for North Carolina, based on his association with Reverend Wright. I’m not going to agree with some in the media that the ad was in poor taste. I think the Wright issue is legitimate, as well as other folks Obama has close associations with. I don’t agree that this has anything to do with race, and I don’t get why other people want to wave that flag.
But nor am I going to join Rush Limbaugh in condemning McCain for distancing himself from the ad. From the McCain campaign’s point of view, it makes no sense to attack Barack Obama right now. If McCain or the GOP attacks him, you’re lending credibility to the notion of him being the nominee, and we don’t want that to start becoming a settled issue. With Hillary wailing away on Obama, and Obama outspending her six times over to not only lose, but to lose big, let the infighting continue. McCain and the GOP stand to gain nothing by attacking Barack Obama now, especially not on Rev. Wright. Let Hillary get dirty with him.
Let’s also not forget that the Republican have a lot of problems with the race issue, in terms of having certain people in the party who enjoy opening their mouths and inserting their feet. Not that the Democrats deserve a pass on this, by any means, but it matters little whether the the Wright ad was racist or not. There’s a public perception of the GOP as not being as good on racial issues as Democrats, and the media is only happy to foster that. The media meme was that the ad was racist, so McCain had everything to gain and nothing to lose by distancing himself from it. It allowed McCain too take the high road, while leaving Hillary to continue weakening Obama, and herself in the process. Either way this turns out, McCain gains. I would have imagined that people who follow politics as closely as Rush Limbaugh would realize that, but I have to wonder if they are too clouded by a seething hatred of McCain by this point to realize it.