Year: 2008

How Not to Earn an Endorsement

Of the entire Bucks County delegation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I have only two endorsed candidates: Paul Clymer of District 145 and Gene DiGirolamo of District 18.  Scott Petri of District 178 is a B+ rated candidate, and we can see what issues he’s weak on:

Petri, who has been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, said he wants a Pennsylvania State Police-maintained database and an enforceable, constitutional provision that requires people to report lost or stolen handguns. He said he will introduce legislation that would make straw purchasing a second-degree felony, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He also wants any gun dealer who sells a weapon to a straw purchaser to lose his or her license forever.

The third party opponent seems to be pretty good on guns, and Petri does not carry an endorsement.  Nonetheless, I would say he’s the lesser of the two evils for people who the gun issue is important to.  It’s not a good idea to tell gun voters that your vote against a gun control provision is because it did not go far enough, and you’d be happy to vote for one that did.  Also, while I agree with prosecuting straw purchasers, how is the dealer to know that the person he is selling to is a straw purchaser?  The whole idea of the strawman is to put someone forward who will appear to not be a criminal, and who will pass the mandated background check.  The moral culpability for the crime lies with the straw purchaser, who unlawfully buys the firearm, then unlawfully passes it to someone with a criminal record.  Dealers do not have ESP.  They can’t read people’s minds.  If a dealer knowingly makes an illegal sale, that’s already a crime, both under state and federal law.  They don’t just risk losing their license, they risk going to prison.

This is how politicians lose NRA endorsements, and why Scott Petri isn’t getting any of my volunteers this election.  I appreciate he’s a B+, and his opponent is likely worse, but he needs to talk to some gun people in the area, and get an idea for how to speak about our issue in a way that gets tough with criminals, but signals to us that you understand our concerns, and will respect our rights.  Petri is failing at that this election.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Details on the Colosimo Case
  2. One-Gun-a-Month Flip Flops
  3. Quotes from the Governor

Gun Review: Marlin 917VS-CF

I managed to get the Marlin rifle I won at a Friends of the NRA dinner out to the range.  It’s a 917VS-CF in .17HMR.  This is the first rifle I have ever shot in .17HMR, and I have to say, I’m impressed with the round.  I threw a halfway decent Bushnell rimfire scope on it before I left, and once I got zeroed, I was able to punch out the X ring at 50 yards off the bench.  If I had used a sandbag to prop up the rifle instead of a wobbly piece of wood, I think the rifle would have punched a single hole in the A23 target.  Report was louder than I would have expected for something that shoots like a pellet gun.  Of course, no pellet gun could send a round downrange at 2500fps.  I tried shooting a bit offhand, and managed to get everything inside the black on the A23 target at 50 yards.  Not too bad.  Trigger pull is six pounds, but it’s a nice single stage trigger.  Marlin’s T-900 trigger is a lot better out of the box than a Ruger 10/22.

Three drawbacks to the rifle, all of which are my problem, not Marlin’s.  One is that I won a gun that’s a different variant of the 917 than I would have bought.  It’s meant to be a scoped gun and I shoot iron sights pretty much exclusively.  Second drawback is the .17HMR is expensive compared to the .22LR.  At about a quarter per trigger pull, it’s still cheaper than most center fire rounds, and it shoots very flat.  Third drawback is I can’t shoot it indoors, because our indoor range backstops can’t handle magnum rounds.  Not useful for silhouette either, because the .17HMR would destroy the animals.  I’ll admit, it’s not a rifle I would have bought if I hadn’t won, because I just don’t have too much use for .17HMR, but if needed something for varminting, or an accurate scoped rimfire rifle for target shooting, it’s a great gun for the price.  My main use for this gun will be for new shooters.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. I Won a Gun!
  2. Forget One Gun a Month
  3. Knights Armament PDW

Falling Assets

This article by Tyler Cowen talks about how we came to the current financial crisis.  This has me wondering something:

It now seems that a wide range of asset prices were artificially inflated. The market for contemporary art, which depends almost exclusively on very wealthy buyers, will probably be the last market to plummet but that development is almost certainly on its way.

Know what other asset market depends on wealthy buyers?  Title II firearms, which have also skyrocketed in price in the last 8 years.  Could it be that we’ll see lower prices for registered transferrable machine guns?  We’ll see.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Sign of the Times
  2. Fighting the Free Market
  3. The Question of Machine Guns

Shortage of Scientists and Engineers

I’m glad someone is finally calling bullshit on this meme.  There is no shortage.  There hasn’t been since the .com bubble burst, and the Y2K issue got cleared up.  I know plenty of scientists who have Ph.D., and are well respected in their fields, who are having a hard time finding work in this market.  Pharmaceutical research jobs have been hard to come by for almost a decade.  I left computer hardware engineering because jobs in information technology paid a lot better, and IT managers don’t work to the same types of unrealistic deadlines that software and hardware people often have imposed on them.

If there were really a shortage, salaries would be going up in response, and jobs would be easy to come by.  That’s not the case.  There is no shortage, except in the minds of politicians.

Hat tip to Instapundit

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Myth of STEM Shortage
  2. On the Lack of Scientists
  3. Quote of the Day

Straight Talk Express Takes Gunfire

I agree with this blogger that if the Obama bus had taken gunfire, it would be all over the news media.  But hey, the media has an election to win.

UPDATE: You know, I can’t find any independent corroboration for this story.  It’s only reported by one blogger, and not even local media is reporting on it.  I can buy the media burying an important story, but no media reports from anywhere?   That’s a bit harder to buy.  Take this one with a grain of salt.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Mass Shooting in San Bernardino, California
  2. Plainfield Touts Buyback, Gun Shot Detector
  3. Winning: Headlines I Never Thought I’d See