Year: 2009

Reality for Female Business Owners

In Florida, the media seems to have found several female business owners who have decided it’s time to step up and defend themselves.

Lake Worth business owner Mayra Ramirez has been practicing at the Palm Beach Shooting Range in Lake Worth for months.

“I was always against guns but from watching the news and seeing so many things happen, I figured it was time to get one,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez is arming herself because she’s fed up with the crime around her business. A week ago a man was shot just steps away from her storefront.

“At the beginning, firing a gun was terrifying,” she said. “When I first started I couldn’t stop shaking. “But after your first few times, you look forward to coming in.”

A few doors down from Ramierz’s store, coffee house owner Marilin Garcia is also arming herself for the first time.

“You can protect yourself just being alert and in case you see danger, it’s there for you to use,” Garcia said.

It’s always a reason to celebrate when a couple of empowered women decide to learn how to use firearms safely.

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Stepping Up: Eric Shelton’s Six Percent

Eric Shelton issued a challenge on his last handgun podcast, for a handgun podcast 6%ers.  I guess you could call them sixers, but I think our local basketball team might take issue.

Six Percent is almost embarrassingly low.  It’s actually kind of sad to think that that’s all I feel I can reasonably expect to get involved.  But the good news for you guys is it dramatically increases your chance to win!  Post email replies or scanned images of mailed replies from your elected officials here, when you contact them about your Second Amendment freedoms.  They’re politicians, so I don’t expect them to say anything worthwhile in their letter.  But knowing that you contacted them enters you to win the Handgun Podcast pistol that will be awarded in Episode 100.

I’ve said that with twenty motivated people, I could change the politics of this whole Congressional district when it comes to guns.  It doesn’t really take much.  Kudos to Eric for putting up a gun as a prize for getting people more involved.

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Virginia Primary Tomorrow

I’m pulling for Creigh Deeds to come out as the Democratic candidate.  Virginia Shooting Sports Association has a very nice guide to the Dem primary (Part 1 and Part 2).  He’s the best candidate in the race for gun owners, I think.  The Democratic establishment is busy pushing Terry McAuliffe, including my governor.  McAuliffe is even running against guns, which seems to me to be a stupid idea in Virginia.

My understanding is Virginia has open primaries, so if you’re a gun rights supporter, I would encourage you to go vote in the Democratic primary for Creigh Deeds tomorrow.  Virginia deserves better than another Tim Kaine, and I don’t think we’d go wrong with Deeds.

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Because It’s Worked So Well

Tom Coburn, who is a smart enough man to realize the futility of gun control, doesn’t seem to think you or I should be able to light up.  Just what we need!  Another drug to have a war on.  Because, you know, it’s worked out so well for all the other ones.

Note to Senator Coburn: this kind of crap is why Republicans lose.

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So Much for Federalism

When the federal government controls energy, there really is no practical limit on the power of the national government, and state sovereignty, even if not technically eradicated, is effectively eradicated.   This isn’t the commerce clause our founders envisioned.

It’s high time we start telling the federal government where they can shove their legislation.

UPDATE: Really, I think even Hamilton would be appalled.

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Can Count Federal Gun Laws on One Hand?

Doug Pennington of the Brady Campaign says:

Doug Pennington, with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, finds it curious when gun-rights supporters rail against federal gun-control measures, considering how few such measures there are.

“What people don’t realize, at the national level, at least, is that I can count the federal gun laws on the books on one hand. I don’t even need all five fingers to do it,” he says, quickly rattling off the 1934 ban on machine guns, the Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibiting gun sales to felons, and the Brady Law, which requires licensed gun dealers to perform criminal background checks.

Smart rhetoric, since most people don’t know better, but very misleading.  Anyone’s who’s ever had to deal with the maze of regulations that is our federal gun laws knows better.  It underplays just how significant GCA ’68 really was.  Let’s look.  The relevant parts of the United States Code, which is Title 18, Part I, Chapter 44.  Load that, and keep scrolling.  Does that look like a handful?  Easy to understand because it’s so trivial?  And yet, that is only part of our federal gun law.  Let us not forget, also, that the National Firearms Act is to be found in the Internal Revenue Code, Title 26, Chapter 53.  Keep scrolling there too.   But wait!  We’re not finished.  We haven’t looked at the Code of Federal Regulations yet!

And this isn’t even comprehensive, as I’m leaving out the various federal codes and regulations that do things like, regulate firearms on aircraft, or on certain federal lands.  Does Doug Pennington still want to argue that he “can count the federal gun laws on the books on one hand?”  Could you understand all this without having a lawyer explain it to you?   Even the lawyers get it wrong sometimes.

Hat Tip to Joe Huffman, who takes a similar line of reasoning.  I thought it would be useful to see visually exactly how large this body of law is.   Do the gun control people still want to argue guns are less regulated than teddy bears?

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Running With Guns

It’s a bit more problematic than running with scissors.  Fortunately, if safety rules are followed, it’s more an embarrassment than anything else if you trip and fall.  That’s probably why IPSC and IDPA are considerably less forgiving of safety violations than other shooting sports.

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