Color Me Unsurprised: Bradys Attack Paint

It’s quite probable that not too many people would have ever heard of Lauer Custom Weaponry if it hadn’t been for Mayor Bloomberg, and now The Brady Campaign.  In the tradition of “There’s no such thing as bad publicity!”, there’s little doubt in my mind the notoriety they’ve gained through the pant shitting hysterics of leading anti-gun groups is bound to drive the sales of their product through the roof, and make even the grizzliest of grizzled gun guys long to paint their rifle pink.  Why?  Because there’s one thing The Brady’s and Mayor Bloomberg don’t understand; we gunnies hate people presuming to tell us what is and what isn’t acceptable when it comes to our private affairs, and we’ll go out of our way to patronize companies and products just to piss them off.  The more hysterics they cry, the more colorful guns will be out there.

I’m not going to run out to buy any of the Bloomberg Collection any time soon, because I’m a traditionalist, and I like my rifles like I like my coffee: black.  But make a serious effort to ban this stuff, I might just do up an AR in Barney Purple just as an act of defiance.  Yeah, because I’m like that.  Most of us are.  So go ahead, Brady.  Continue to vilify this stuff, and Lauer will be seeing $$ in their eyeballs for every nasty editorial.

But what of colored guns?  Are they really a threat to law enforcement?  As much as I’m trying to imagine that drug dealers and gang bangers are going to run around with a Bryco 9mm painted in Barney Purple, I’m having a difficult time.  Besides, colored gun are not anything new.  They’ve been around for a long time.  Here are some examples:

So are the Brady’s wanting to be the deciders of what is and what isn’t part of the art of gunsmithing?  Do they want to dictate which decorations on guns are OK, and which aren’t?  I have no doubt they do, but decorating guns is a tradition as old as guns, and this is merely the latest incarnation.  I’d be more sympathetic to the arguments that if these dasterdly paints ever fell into criminal hands, all holy hell would break loose, if brightly colored spray paint weren’t available in every home depot.  Sure, it won’t look as nice as the custom paint Lauer makes, but if you’re a gang banger and want to paint your gun Barney Purple so the fuzz will hesistate to shoot you, well, the technology to do so has been readily available for years.  If painting guns suddenly becomes the fashion among criminals now, we’ll know who to blame, and it won’t be shooters, or Lauer Custom Weaponry.  Color me skeptical that will happen, though.

New Handgun Sniper Threat

I can see our friends at the VPC blog are in hysterics over the threat of handgun snipers.  No doubt this threat is real.  Here’s some video of these dangerous individuals training:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtsxt7xgbpc[/youtube]

What’s even more scary, is you can tell those folks aren’t only training to assassinate pigs, turkeys, rams, and chickens, presumably to be followed by babies and small children (obviously they kept the baby silhouette’s hidden for the cameras), they actually seem to be enjoying themselves!

UPDATE: Note they use the small children for what they call “target setting” and force these poor kids to hide behind bunkers while these people practice their asassination techniques.  No doubt one day these kids will be in the crosshairs.

Media Reaction

In Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

The House yesterday rejected a measure aimed at curbing illegal handgun trafficking, the first substantive gun restriction considered by the full chamber in more than a decade.

By a vote of 128-75 the House defeated an amendment – attached to a separate gun crime bill – that would have made it mandatory to report lost and stolen handguns.

The amendment won overwhelming support from Philadelphia-area lawmakers, where polls show majority support for the reporting requirement. House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, a Republican, was the only representative from Philadelphia to vote against the measure.

O’Brien said he could not support what he called a “flawed bill” and felt it could have “unintended consequences” for legitimate crime victims, such as felony charges for not reporting multiple missing weapons. “It’s a difficult vote to explain why you’re not for it, but the deficiencies were glaring.”

Hat tip to Speaker O’Brien for knowing a turd when he sees it.  I wish more Philadelphia area reps were able to see through the bullshit.  It’s going to be the poor who own guns to protect their homes in Philadelphia who are going to be most at risk for being prosecuted under this bill.  I’m glad to see Speaker O’Brien realized that.

Gun-control proponents hailed the vote itself as a historic achievement for opening floor debate on gun violence and forcing lawmakers to take a formal position on controversial legislation.

You know you’re in good shape when gun control people are happy just to have a vote, even if that vote meant they lost resoundingly.  I agree it’s good to have these reps on record, because now we know who is and who isn’t on our side.

Rep. David Levdansky (D., Allegheny), the amendment’s sponsor and an avid hunter, argued that most sportsmen do not have an issue with reasonable handgun restrictions.

Notice how our opponents these days are always avid hunters?  The media seem eager to make sure you know that.  I mean, how else are you going to make the people who are against this look no better than kooks?

“We find it disappointing that even the most commonsense crime-control legislation can’t muster a majority in the House at this point,” Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. “But we will continue working with our allies to build support for another day.”

Keep spinning Ed, because we’ll be doing the same thing, and there are more of us than there are of you.

UPDATE: Armed and Safe has more.

I’m Number 4!

It’s not number one, but when you’re competing against that many shooters who are that good, you end up pretty happy with fouth in class in the latest March E-Postal match.  My fly swatting was good, ended up in a three way tie for second in that part.  Could have done better on the bullseyes.  I need to work on follow up shots.  Overall, I scored 7.  Mr. C. is a tough man to beat, and so is Merle.  Looks like JimmyB is going to be as well.  Gotta worry about Denise too, and then there’s Ahab, who didn’t shoot this match, but no doubt will shoot others.

AHSA On Obama

SayUncle points out that American Hunters and Shooters Assocation is shilling for Obama the Socialist Messiah.  AHSA has pretty thoroughly unmasked itself as an anti-gun false flag operation, especially with Bob Ricker occaisonally making appearances in the comments of gun blogs berating gun rights activists.  The Jolly Roger is flying high on AHSA mast, but that actually doesn’t matter too much, in their minds.  What Ricker and Schoenke are hoping for is that most hunters and shooters don’t know what a pirate ship looks like, and will hear their endorsement and think it means Obama is down with the hunters, and by association gun rights.  The problem is, people aren’t that stupid, and the word is getting out there.  It takes an extra special kind of prick to take people for such fools, but that’s exactly what the Schoenke and Ricker do.

New Theme

Obviously, as you all have noticed by now, I’m playing around with a new theme.  The one I was using was getting pretty long in the tooth, and didn’t support WordPress widgets, so I decided to grab and heavily modify a theme that did.  I tried to do my best to change as little as possible from the way the old theme works, but there are differences.  Feel free to let me know if you find anything particularly annoying, as changes can be made.  Especially let me know if something doesn’t look right in IE, Opera, or some other browser I don’t use.

Added benefit to the new widget based theme is I’ve added a “Top Commenter” sidebar, which shows those of you that most need to get a life ;)  Don’t feel bad, I’m really the top commenter, but I figured it wasn’t fair of me to compete against you all in the “need to get a life” category, so I excluded myself.

UPDATE: Folks seem to like it.  I might have to put up a poll after a week or so.  I’m still getting used to it myself.  It’s like looking at someone else’s blog.

How They Voted

You can follow this link to see how legislators voted on Levdansky’s “Lost and Stolen” amendment.

My state representative, Chris King, voted for this turd, voted against Rep. Metcalfe’s emergency license to carry provision, voted yes on the emergency powers amendment to prevent a Katrina-like incident in Pennsylvania, and voted yes on revoking the restriction on concealed carry in state parks. Two out of four gets you a C. Ultimately, I’m pleased the “Lost and Stolen” provision Mr. King voted for didn’t pass, and the Metcalfe amendment passed despite his vote, but it’s the vote that counts.

Details on HB 1845

Amendments passed to HB 1845:

A06414 (GODSHALL) 202-0 Allows chiefs of police and police commissioners to be exempt from UFA requirements for purchasing firearms for official purposes
A06170 (HARPER) 159-44 Make it a crime to falsely report the loss or theft of a firearm.
A06346 (FAIRCHILD) 203-0 Extends Licenses to Carry expiration for deployed military personnel until 90 days until after return from duty.
A06467 (FAIRCHILD) 180-22 Prevents law enforcement from seizing firearms, ammunition or accessories during a state of emergency, unless such a seizure would be lawful absent the state of emergency
A06378 (ADOLPH) 202-0 Extends the statute of limitations to five years on unlawful firearms transfers.
A06465 (D. O’BRIEN) 202-0 Amends the original statute of limitations to no more than eight years, but allows for prosecution for up to one year after discovery of crime by authorities within that eight year window.
A06348 (METCALFE) 147-55 Provides for immediate issuance of temporary emergency licenses to carry that last for up to 90 days. Bill would allow someone to walk into the sheriff’s office, file proof of danger, swear an affidavit, undergo a background check, and walk out with the temporary license.
A06415 (O’NEILL) 202-0 Enhances penalties for making false statements in connection to purchasing a firearm.
A06178 (LEVDANSKY) 75-128 (failed) Requires a Lost or Stolen Firearm to be reported or face criminal penalties.
A06542 (GODSHALL) 202-0 Creates a registry of lost and stolen firearms. Entries to be deleted after 20 years, or upon return to lawful owner.
A06547 (STABACK) 197-5 Allows for carry in state parks by License to Carry Firearms holders, and also for law enforcement officers.

This, overall, is a good deal for gun owners. The Philly politicians are getting several new tools they can use to go after criminal trafficking of firearms. We will, of course, want to see Philadelphia actually using these laws on criminals. It does no good to not enforce them, and then come back bitching to gun owners they need more controls. This bill gives them some good things, and they need to use them.

We contacted our reps to tell them to oppose the Lost and Carry bill, and it made quite a difference. Now it’s time to contact them and encourage them to support final passage of HB 1845.

Breaking News!

A vote happened on House Bill 1845 tonight.  The Lost and Stolen amendment went down in flames 75-128.  In it’s place, an amendment was filed that makes it a crime to falsely report a firearm as stolen, and this amendment passed.  The “emergency powers” amendment was also passed, along with a provision to get rid of the ban on carry in state parks.  A final vote on the bill will happen tomorrow.  Needless to say, we want to support passage of this bill as amendment.

Great work by the NRA, and all the other groups who were involved, and all the individual citizens who called their state representatives, in defeating the Lost and Stolen bill, and making sure gun owners got something out of it.  I certainly won’t complain about the state park provision!

UPDATE: Looks like we didn’t get castle doctrine, but I’m hearing that will get another committee hearing.