2009 – Page 133 – Shall Not Be Questioned

New Jersey Mailer from the 1990s

I’ve seen this mailer making the rounds for a while now.Â I can’t speak for Chris Christie, but I’ve spoken to Rick Merkt at a few ANJRPC events, and don’t believe he supports this position any longer.Â He’s one of those folks who was duped by the fully automatic/semi-automatic confusion, and no longer supports the ban, and in the mean time has become a gun collector himself.Â Having said that, it’s a moot issue, because the ban isn’t going away any time soon.Â Commenter NJSoldier hit the nail on the head when he said this:

It would be great to replace Corzine with any Republican. Further erosion of our rights, and further wasteful spending would be halted. But to make real reforms and roll back the damage done will require some serious gains in the legislature.

Emphasis mine.Â That’s one of the problems I had with Steve Lonegan’s candidacy, is that he was telling people he’ll get right-to-carry through the legislature.Â It’s a nice thought, and I appreciate Lonegan being willing to talk favorably on the issue in New Jersey, but anyone who knows Trenton knows that bill is going nowhere, and Corzine will be happy to scare voters in November about Lonegan favoring all manner of gun wielding lunatics running around their kids soccer games, around churches, shopping malls, and restaurants waving guns around.Â In New Jersey, that rhetoric works.

New Jersey’s percentage of gun ownship is 12.3%.Â Compare that to Delaware’s 25.5%, Pennsylvania’s 34.7%, even New York’s 18%, and Maryland’s 21.3%.Â Â Even Guam has a higher percentage of gun owners! The goal in the New Jersey’s governor’s race is to get someone in who will veto bad legislation, and give Second Amendemnt activists time to work on the legislature.Â The overall goal now is to stop losing ground, and see if perhaps we can gain in some minor areas that would allow that number to creep back up.Â Garden State gun enthusiasts need to mint more of yourselves.Â That’s going to be the only real way to turn things around.Â As much as I would like to be able to carry in New Jersey, or take my ARs over there to shoot high-power, your laws that make it tough for people to be introduced to the sport do far more harm than either of those things.Â I’d start there.

Congratulations to our Trophy Winner

A few of our club’s air gun shooters headed down to Winnsboro, Louisiana last week to take part in the Southern Nationals, and we were very happy to have Dave Carpenter (known as “Limey” to the locals there, because he is one), who runs much of our Silhouette program, come back with a trophy:

It says undernealth “Pat Steiger Memorial Bullshit Award.”Â And yes folks, that’s 100% real, gilded bullshit mounted on top of that trophy.Â I think it might even still smell a little.

Problem of Term Limits

A lot of conservatives are on board with the idea of term limits.Â While in principle it seems like a good idea, it’s one of those things I think is a bit of a double edged sword.Â This is one of the reasons why.

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen never has to face the voters again, so he can freely veto Restaurant Carry, and now Park Carry, without having to fear.Â Having gotten what he wanted, his NRA endorsement having helped him get re-elected, he no longer has any need for them, so under the bus they go.Â For most of our state governors, they will spend at least half their career as governors being completely unaccountable to voters.

We’ve had to endure that in Pennsylvania, where Ed Rendell was quite happy to run from his gun control record when he ran for Governor the first time, and kept it largely off his agenda during his first term.Â Â It was not until he no longer had to face Pennsylvania voters that he decided to make an issue he’d put political capital behind.

I think too many conservatives see term limits a a panacea, rather than seeing it has significant trade offs.Â I am not passionate about imposing them on Congress, and generally think it’s a fight conservatives and libertarians shouldn’t waste their time with.

This is Your Chance Republicans

The Sotomayor confirmation hearing is going to be a good chance for the Republicans to show us how much better they are than the Democrats when it comes to the Second Amendment, and kudos to DeMint for getting the ball rolling on this.Â Here’s another story on her position on the Second Amendment:

Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado said Sotomayor told him during a private meeting that she considers the 2008 ruling that struck down a Washington, D.C., handgun ban as settled law that would guide her decisions in future cases. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held that individuals have a constitutional right to guns.

But the statement gave little comfort to gun rights activists. Conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said that earlier in the week, Sotomayor told him in a similar closed-door session that she stood by an appellate court decision she signed this year that said the Second Amendment protection from curbs on the right to bear arms applied only to federal laws – not state or local ones.

This position is essentially no different than that of the Brady Campaign.Â Democrats may be reluctant to bring this issue up, because of not wanting to jeopardize their President’s nominee, and cross the leadership.Â The pro-gun Democrats will be at a disadvantage, and this is an opportunity for Republicans to show us they are better.

I still will not go so far as to say we should scuttle this nomiee.Â Let’s see what comes out in the hearings.Â It’s not that I don’t think Sotomayor is bad — I think she is.Â It’s a real worry that what comes behind her will be worse.

Sotomayor on Incorporation of the Second Amendment

This is a bit of bad news from Sen. Jim DeMint:

In my meeting with Sotomayor, she wouldn’t back away from her ruling that right to bear arms applies to just federal land, not the 50 states

Chris Christie, NRA Shill?

If only it were actually true.Â New Jersey is a tough state.Â Christie is not going to be able to be overtly pro-gun in his rhetoric, and still come out in the race.Â It’s one of the few states I know of where politicians smear their opponents as being pro-gun, and it actually works.Â Christie will be an improvement over Corzine, and will at least block New Jersey’s laws from getting any worse.Â Don’t expect him to lead the charge on concealed carry, or repealing New Jersey’s assault weapons ban, but being able to stop bad legislation is an advantage, and is step one in turning things around.

New Jersey has been on this path in 1966, when it passed most of its onerous gun laws.Â It’s going to be tough to get things turned around, and it’s going to take a long time.Â But I admire the folks who stay there, and don’t give up.Â It prevents the anti-gun folks from moving on to other states.

Gun Nutty Father’s Day?

Here are some suggestions.Â Might want to consider some of those knife options while they are still legal.

On National Concealed Carry

I’m not of the opinion that National Concealed Carry is constitutional under the guise of the commerce clause (possibly something could be done under the 14th Amendment), but I have to agree with Joe’s reasoning:

Although IÂ agree with Linoge on a philosophical basis I also am of the opinion that once our enemies violated that principle (Hughes Amendment, Lautenberg Amendment, etc.) it would be unethical for us to defend our specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms on an unequal playing field. We are only playing by their rules. So when they start whining just tell them something like, “Karma is a bitch ain’t it?”

I’ve heard others express similar sentiment.Â I also consider that if such language would kill the hate crime bill, it might be worth a try.Â Once the government starts creating hate crimes, they aren’t too far away from creating thought crimes.Â In fact, hate crimes are thought crimes, so strike that.

Are We Testing Missiles Here?

A fisherman catches a live air-to-air missile off the Florida coast in the Gulf of Mexico.Â Fisherman tells his buddies he almost had an Ohio Class ballistic missile submarine, but it got away.

Obama’s War on Knives

U.S. Customs has denied a request by the American Knife and Tool Instutute for an extension of proposed customs regulations that would treat folding knives as switchblades.Â It seems they are intent to ram through this new regulation.