The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
“The NRA is basically taking over the House and the Senate,” said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York. “If the NRA wins on each and every bill, the American people are going to suffer the most.”
That’s probably because the Democrats got into power by running moderate pro-gun Democrats. I for one will be happy not to have to suffer breaking the law when I cross a National Park boundary with a pistol in the glove box.
The House passed the amendment 249 to 147. I believe this puts the bill on Obama’s desk. I fully expect he will sign this important consumer protection bill, and make no mention of what else is in it.
UPDATE: NRA press release here.
UPDATE: Looks like my Congressman, Patrick Murphy, was a yes vote. Good on him. Maybe he can upgrade that NRA grade from its current D. I am also happy to see Chris Carney on board, Jim Gerlach, and Katherine Dahlkemper. Of the suburban Philadelphia delegation, only Sestak and Schwartz voted against it. Two out of four ain’t bad.
UPDATE: Moving in the opposite direction in New York State. New York has apparently gotten insanely jealous of California’s number one Brady ranking, and is busy trying to show California how its done.
Exurban Kevin reviews the door prize he won from one of our sponsors of the Blog Bash. The Insight M3X. I didn’t win anything at the Bash, but I never win things. Except at Friends of the NRA dinners. I figure that used up all my winning luck for a while.
We had one endorsed candidate in the Pennsylvania primary yesterday, who did very well. Congratulations to NRA-PVF endorsed candidate Judge Joan Orie Melvin. NRA doesn’t typically endorse in primaries, but in this case, it seems to have paid off:
ORIE MELVIN, JOAN (REP) 264,535 55.7%
PANEPINTO, PAUL P. (REP) 82,279 17.3%
ALLEN, CHERYL LYNN (REP) 127,819 26.9%
Winning a comfortable majority in a three way race is pretty impressive. I understand why NRA is leery of endorsing in primary races, but pretty clearly in primaries their endorsement carries some weight.
Dave Hardy notes some happenings. I could only stay for an hour and a half of it, because we had to catch our flight. John Sigler is no longer President of NRA, which is a shame, because I thought John was an outstanding President, especially for helping us deal with issues here in Pennsylvania. His law enforcement background was invaluable in blunting some of the other side’s arguments. NRA presidents only serve two year terms, and then it’s someone else’s turn. This is typical. Heston was an exception, but that’s true in a lot of ways.
For the next two years, it’ll be Ron Schmeitz, and I wish him all the luck in the world. These are challenging times, even if we’re in good shape, and it’ll take a strong leadership I hope Mr. Schmeitz can find.
Getting myself back to work. It’s going to take a bit of work to get caught up, so forgive me if I seem out of it for a day or so as I get back into my routine. One thing that happened while I was gone is Front Sight apparently went into receivership. I guess my training certificate isn’t really worth much now. I think they are still operating, but who knows for how much longer.
UPDATE: I should make clear, I never really thought the cert was worth much. He handed those out like candy.
From the New York Times, Barbara Boxer comments on the clout of the NRA:
“It is a shame,†said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California. “But you have to come to a realization around here that at this point in time, the N.R.A. gets the votes,†she said referring to the National Rifle Association.
“Either you are going to bring down the whole Senate and never do anything or you or going to swallow hard and say, ‘I will just vote my conscience on those amendments and speak out until people get a hold of their senses,’ †Mrs. Boxer said.
It must be painful for them. I would say I feel sorry for them, but I don’t really. What a pity your little plan to trash part of the Bill of Rights is falling on difficult times. It’s difficult times for everyone, right?
US Citizen of Traction Control, who is a super nice guy for those of you who’ve never met him in real life, goes up to this guy at the NRA Banquet reception, who turns out is an NRA board member, and just starts talking to him. It was Jim Gilmore, former Governor of Virginia. Before you know it, they were golfing buddies.
The Atomic Nerds have their recount of their encounter with the H-S Precision representatives on the exhibit hall of the NRA meeting.  Here’s a choice quote:
“No comment. That never happened. He was never affiliated with us. No comment. Move along. We do not include product testimonials.†Added emphasis mine. He continued to chant the “no comment†talisman while making sure the other two H-S Precision employees got the notion that they should keep quiet too.
“What about the apology? Your company didn’t even — †At this point, a white haired gentleman male stepped forward, visibly angry.
“What about an apology? Did they apologize for killing a US Marshall?â€
Go read the whole thing. These guys sure as hell aren’t PR geniuses. I’m told the McMillan people, in contrast, were quite nice.
Para has pretty much completed their move to North Carolina by this point, so I wanted to stop by, and talk to Kerby Smith, who arranged the whole thing with Todd Jarrett at Blackwater for us last year, and see which of their products they were excited about this year. This year they are touting their PXT 1911 Gun Rights Edition:
The production version will come with an NRA inscription on the token on the grip instead of the standard token showing here, and they donate a portion of the sale to NRA-ILA.  They also make a high capacity version of this 1911:
That’s Kerby holding the gun. He might have a career in hand modeling if he gets bored with this whole public relations thing. Finally, they are offering a plain government model 1911 called the GI Expert:
Para touts this as an entry level 1911. This model is pretty much a vanilla 1911, without the Para Power Extractor, and with a GI guide rod. Kerby offered to send me some of these guns to try out, and write about them, and I might take him up on it at some point. I just have to figure out whether I know enough about 1911s to be able to say anything intelligent in regards to how it performs compared to other 1911s.