Jamie Beyerle took fourth place in the Women’s 50m three position rifle at the ISSF World Cup. She’s the highest finish so far for an American shooter, and she’s from Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Month: May 2009
Some Things Never Change
Dave Markowitz shows us us a cartoon from the 1930s that would be just as fitting today. It always amazes me how much more detailed cartoons from the period seemed compared to today. Interesting elements in the cartoon for sure.
One one side you have what appears to be Trotsky, writing out a plan to destroy the United States, and on the other Stalin, noticing how red the sunset is getting. In the cart you have Henry A. Wallace, who was Roosevelt’s Secretary of Agriculture at the time. You know, the guy running around telling people they couldn’t grow their own wheat? Then you had Harold L. Ickes, who was Secretary of the Interior under Roosevelt, who administered many of the New Deal programs. Donald Richberg was one of the architects of the New Deal, having been a drafter of the National Industrial Recovery Act, and administrator of the National Recovery Administration. The NRA makes what Obama’s doing with GM and Chrysler look like child’s play. Driving the wagon, you have Rexford Tugwell, who I can’t help but notice bears a resemblance to Rahm Emmanuel. Tugwell was part of Roosevelt’s “Brain Trust,” which was a group of smart people who, if we could just get together in one room, were clearly all smart enough to centrally plan the national economy.
It’s amazing how history repeats itself. But I don’t worry about Obama, really, at least not in terms of being an FDR style game changer. Note the wagon says “the soundest government in the world.”  Does anyone believe that applies to our pre-Obama government? No. This bunch is taking over just as Uncle Sam’s credit card is about to max out, and that’s going to put the kibosh on how far he can really take it.
Democrat Turnout A Problem?
Jim Geraghty looks at the turnout numbers for the Pennsylvania primary, and concludes that Republicans might have a chance despite the registration disparity.
Making It Harder
Robb Allen notes that it’s getting harder for the anti-gun message to find a safe haven. It’s about time, I think.
Prop. 8 Upheld in California
The California Supreme Court ruled the only way I think it could and still maintain credibility. As it says on Volokh, it’s not really about gay marriage, but about whether the people have a right to alter their own constitution in ways the political elite would prefer they not.
While I would be in favor of gay marriage, passed by the legislature, I am not in favor of it being done through judicial fiat. The people of California have spoken. They do not want gay marriage. For gay marriage activists, that means changing hearts and minds, which is a hard thing to do, and takes a long time. By pushing this issue through the courts, without building up a real public consensus first, they’ve put their cause back decades. It’s a lesson that should not be lost on Second Amendment activists, but in general, I think we’ve done very well in building up a public consensus. Certainly much better than the gay marriage activists.
Kopel on Sotomayor
Dave Kopel discusses the new Supreme Court nominee’s likely views on the Second Amendment based on a very recent decision that Sotomayor played a role in coming out of New York. His analysis is fairly thorough, and he ends with this concern:
Judge Sotomayor’s record suggests hostility, rather than empathy, for the tens of millions of Americans who exercise their right to keep and bear arms.
Results of the NRA Board of Directors Election
In 2009, there were more eligible voting members of NRA than at any other time since I’ve started keeping detailed records of the votes. A total of 1,549,130 members were eligible either as life (or higher) members, or as consistent 5-year+ annual members. Here’s a breakdown based on a chart I posted earlier in the year that looks at whether or not NRA members really vote.
| Year | Ballots Cast | Ballots Not Cast | Ballots Sent |
| 2006 | 79,227 | 1,468,502 | 1,547,729 |
| 2007 | 99,785 | 1,443,256 | 1,543,041 |
| 2008 | 94,361 | 1,452,174 | 1,546,535 |
| 2009 | 93,472 | 1,455,658 | 1,549,130 |
As you can see, there was a slight decline in the number of ballots cast even though more members were eligible to vote, leaving us with only 6% of the eligible members returning a ballot at all.
This matters because the difference between the “last winner” and the “first loser” was only 725 votes this year. If you really care about a candidate, your vote and those of your shooting buddies can make a difference. (Even if a candidate loses, how well they place in the “loser” category often determines if members will support them in the election of 76th director that takes place at the Annual Meeting.)
With all of that said, our endorsed candidates did very well given the number of “celebrity” names on the ballot this year. Ronnie Barrett came in third, Robert Brown in seventh, Scott Bach in twelfth, Edie Fleeman Reynolds in thirteenth, Steve Hornady in fifteenth, and Joe DeBergalis in eighteenth. In fact, all of our endorsed candidates outperformed the new NRA president (Ron Schmeits) who came in at 19 – in the bottom third of candidates. Two of the candidates even outperformed the now past president and next president.
But many may be wondering about the status of George Kollitides, the candidate I raised questions about during the election given his lack of involvement. AR15.com leaders who endorsed him and came on to defend him appeared to be completely unaware that Kollitides wasn’t showing up for committee meetings. Well, he lost. In fact, he came in dead last – far beyond all of the other candidates.
| “Losing” Candidates | Vote Tallies | Difference from Previous Candidate |
| Donn DiBiasio* | 61,188 | 725 |
| Steven Schreiner | 60,688 | 500 |
| Robert Sanders** | 59,561 | 1,127 |
| Todd Walker | 57,130 | 2,431 |
| George Kollitides | 49,855 | 7,275 |
*Another Board member resigned after ballots went out, so Donn fills his seat.
**Robert was elected at the 76th Director.
As you can see, the members really smacked Kollitides down in the election. As I mentioned to someone at the Meeting, I don’t think the whole buying advertising in American Rifleman went over very well – it came off as trying to buy a Board seat. Considering what we know about his attendance, there’s little he could fall back on to counter that claim. Add in the Chrysler bailout, and there’s suspicion about him which I don’t think is completely misplaced since he, according to industry sources, never does interviews. If he refuses to talk to NRA members and their main media outlets, then who is he accountable to in the course of his service? It’s a fair question. Clearly, the members don’t think he answered it.
In other news, I am a little surprised by the performance of two “celebrity” Board members. Richard Childress won the final seat on the board, and John Milius came in just two spots above him. I would have expected that NASCAR (Childress) and Red Dawn/Rome (Milius) would bring them more votes.
Post Heller Crime in DC
It’s going down. Who would have guessed?
TSRA Highpower Rifle Championship
Texas State Rifle Association state championships here, and the winner here. It’s a sport I wish I had more time to participate in.
Maybe It’s Time to Look in a Mirror
The city is upset that it, once again, has to fight with Harrisburg to get more money:
Some chalk up the expected fight over the city budget to the normal politics of cutting deals in Harrisburg. But others believe the battle will be complicated and fueled by an entrenched anti-Philadelphia bias among lawmakers from other parts of the state who believe the city is rife with corruption and mismanagement.
It’s all true, and unfortunately for the City of Philadelphia, the perception people have in the rest of the state is entirely correct. I can’t blame people in Altoona for not wanting to pay for Philadelphia’s inability to govern itself. How many operations has the state had to take over from the City over the years because the City proved incapable of managing it? The Philadelphia School District and the Parking Authority come to mind.