The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
I have to agree with Jeff Soyer on and Bitter this one. It’s pretty tasteless to want to hold a gun control rally on campus on the anniversary of Virginia Tech, and kudos to the administration for throwing a flag on that play.
Of course, if it had been NRA wanting to hold a campus concealed carry rally, don’t you think the media would be all over it?
As many as 320,000 guns for hunting and sporting competitions are legally owned in Japan. Within the five years leading up to 2007, there were 19 cases of murder or attempted murder involving legally owned firearms.
Also fresh in our memory is an incident in which a rifle accidentally went off at a doctor’s house in Tokyo, killing a 2-year-old child.
I’m actually surprised there’s that many in legal possession. But still, 20 incidents out of 320,000? The interesting thing is they are tightening their requirements for rifles and shotguns to look more like ours.
The law revisions are aimed at broadening the scope of these disqualification clauses. Past offenders of stalking crimes and domestic violence as well as those who committed heinous offenses without guns will be barred from owning firearms. It goes without saying that such people should never be allowed to own guns.
I would have figured they already had their own “Lautenberg”. But before you go thinking this measure will be enough.
We think the system should be changed so that guns and ammunition are not controlled by individuals, but stored in specified locations except for those occasions when they are to be used. If a firearm is not in constant proximity, it would be difficult to use it rashly in a fit of rage.
The NPA did consider this idea, but shelved it on grounds it is too difficult to implement at this stage. This is because existing gun depositories can store only 30,000 guns.
Because the people who own these things are obviously steaming kettles just waiting to boil over. Centralized storage is something I’ve heard from gun phobic people here as well. Fortunately, it’s very impractical, but you do hear it.
After the Sasebo shooting, more than 5,000 people throughout the country returned their gun ownership permits voluntarily. In some cases, the police persuaded registered owners to return their permits, citing reasons such as “problems with neighbor” or “advanced age.” A systematic structure is necessary to catch the warning signs of someone likely to commit a crime, and revoking gun permits even after they have been issued.
It’s a very different culture, for sure. One where the needs of society are put before the rights of the individual, and where individuals can be shamed out of gun ownership. It is not America’s culture. It should never be America’s culture.
After we had our rally in the Capitol Rotunda, we split into groups to go around visiting representatives. I went off with the PAFOA group, lead by Kim Stolfer, Chairman of Firearms Owners Against Crime. We did go around to several representatives, both to pro-gun, to offer them our thanks for their support, and anti-gun, to air out areas of disagreement, and to make sure they understand that the gun lobby isn’t some nefarious cabal, but is made up of real people, who are willing to take days off work to defend their liberties.
Several of the anti-gun representatives weren’t in, but I did want to point out that Representative Angel Cruz, who we have much to disagree with, took the time to invite us into his office and listen to our concerns. Given the nonsense from certain Constitution Party bozos at last year’s rally, it was very classy of Representative Cruz to engage with us as reasonable people. Cruz stated he is concerned that certain judges in the Philadelphia court system don’t seem to want to get tough with criminals in that city, and this is a concern that we very much share. We may not agree on the gun issue, but Cruz is correct that judges’ unwillingness to send violent people to prison for a long time is a significant part of the problem. Earlier this evening I sent Rep. Cruz an e-mail:
I was part of the group today that attended Rep. Metcalfe’s Second Amendment Rally that you met with briefly in your office. I wanted to thank you for taking the time to meet with us. It speaks highly of your character that you were willing to invite us into your office to hear our concerns.
Many of us, especially those like me who regularly venture into the City of Philadelphia, are very concerned about getting violent crime there under control, and though we may disagree on much about how to combat it, I do hope there are things we can do to help the City that we can all agree on. Thanks again.
Representative Cruz’s character is very sharply contrasted with that of Representative Babette Josephs, who we heard berated a group of gun rights supporters because she was angry that we raffled off a gun in the capitol. Well, for one, we didn’t raffle off a gun. A gun was donated by Ace Sporting Goods, and the winner of the drawing received a voucher to go to Ace, fill out the various forms and affidavits, submit to the background check through the Pennsylvania Instant Check System, and then, only if cleared as being legal to own a gun in Pennsylvania and under Federal Law, may they take possession of said firearm. But apparently that is not good enough for Representative Josephs. We raffled a gun in her capitol! Having heard of this incident, myself and a group of other members of the Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Assocation decided to pay Representative Josephs a friendly visit, to explain to her exactly what had taken place on The Rotunda, lest there be any confusion that we actually had a gun in the Capitol building in violation of state law. The Representative was not in, but upon trying to explain the situation to one of her staff, we were promptly asked to leave.
I do not live in Representative Josephs’ district, only near it, but I am not an unreasonable person. I understand many of the Philadelphia delegation feel they are representing the interests of their districts by pushing for gun control. I disagree strongly with them on this, but that is their belief. It’s only through a free and frank dialog with elected representatives that a free Republic can function, and it’s distrubing that there are parts of Pennsylvania that are willing to elect a representative who will have none of that.
While I may disagree with Representative Cruz on many things, I can maintain respect for him because of his willingness to hear us out, and talk to us as reasonable people. For Representative Josephs, I can have no such respect, and sincerely hope the people of her district will choose to send someone to Harrisburg who will demonstrate the kind of professionalism we should demand from people we elect to serve us.
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Gun owners are “fed up” that the state isn’t fully enforcing laws on the books against criminals buying or using firearms, said Kim Stolfer of McDonald, chairman of Firearms Owners Against Crime and an activist with the Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League.
“We’re not going to allow them to enact more (restrictive) gun laws,” Stolfer said.
No, we’re not. Even the anti-gun reps we managed to talk to I believe realize they can’t get anything done in this state without running it by those of us who support second amendment rights. But that is not something to be taken for granted; it’s only achieved by hard work and sacrifice of people who are able and willing to demand it’s protection.
Everyone should go read Wretchard’s thoughts over at The Belmont Club. I get few opportunities to link The Belmont Club, since this is a gun blog, but it is one of my favorite blogs on all of Al Gore’s Internets.
One of the few restrictions on carry in Pennsylvania is that there are no guns permitted in court houses, and our state capitol is a court house, because it houses the Supreme Court:
Empty holster courtesey of Greg Rotz. You remember him right?
Photo snapped of several of myself and some other PAFOA guys in Harrisburg today, just outside the capitol rear entrance. I didn’t pose open carrying for the pic because I didn’t check my side arm with the Capitol Police, so I didn’t have it on me upon leaving.
A better looking bunch of gun nuts you’ll not see too many other places ;)Â From left to right, using forum names, as best as I can remember:
Doug, Myself, Pro2a, JDePietro, PA Patriot, and Gnbrotz
A fun bunch of gun guys to go activisting with, I do say.
UPDATE: A friend of mine chastizes my fashion sense, assuming that I have any to begin with.  To my credit, I realized my outfit was suboptimal, but at my workplace, every day is casual friday. I dress up pretty much never, and I was dismayed to find out that my shirts no longer fit because I’m getting too fat, so I didn’t have much to work with.
I have some of my own video, but looks like Rep. Metcalfe’s office is faster than I am with YouTubing:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5TBcz1Ylco[/youtube]
The rally went swell. I will have coverage as I manage to get caught up, and organized. Things look very good for gun rights in Pennsylvania, and we met with many representatives. I would like to personally thank Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Assocation, Firearms Owners Against Crime, and Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League for putting this event together and getting people excited about lobbying to protect the second amendment.
The bill HB1845, which contains a provision to eliminate the administrative ban on carrying firearms in state parks, as well as passes “Katrina” legislation, preventing authorities from confiscating firearms in a State of Emergency, has passed the house. In fact, it passed the house while myself, and several other Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association members watched from The House Gallery at the Capitol in Harrisburg.
Predictably, Philadelphia media is spinning this as a victory for gun control because of the provisions it has stiffening penalties for possessing a firearm with an altered or obliterated serial number. No doubt the anti-gun forces in that city are following the Brady Campaign model, where if you can’t win, you can claim to win, and it’s just as good.
The vote was unnanimous, 200 to nil. The only representative who got up to say anything negative about it was Kathy Manderino, who wanted to point out the problems she saw with the provision to issue emergency concealed carry licenses, and to remind everyone that the Coalition Against Domestic Violence is opposed to this bill. Why they are, I can’t imagine, since how is it not empowering to women to be able to successfully defend themselves against a man who means to rape, gravely injure, or murder them. One has to ponder what these groups think of the women they claim to represent, that they don’t believe them capable of making wise decisions in regards to their own personal security.  Nontheless, I guess Rep. Manderino’s objections weren’t that strong, because she didn’t vote against final passage.