2009 – Page 14 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Career Limiting Move

I’m going to guess the Director of Industry Operations at the Houston ATF field office won’t be advancing much in his career. This would be ATF compliance division rather than enforcement, I guess depending on which side of the plywood you’re on.

NYT Tolerance Goes too Far

According to a PBS host, the tolerance of the New York Times simply goes too far. Why? Because they accept without question that people eat meat and that some people hunt their own meat.

Yes, according to her, the Times staff should be treating hunters like cannibals because any killing of any animal is cruel.

Interestingly, Cemetery noted the anti-gun commentary in the piece. See, even though Bonnie Erbe wants you to immediately stop eating meat, she makes it clear that she’s even more opposed to hunting with firearms than bows and/or spears. Because apparently reducing the likelihood of a quick, clean kill, she’d prefer that animals be tracked for several miles while they bleed out.* Now that’s compassion!

*I’m not saying this as a knock against bow hunters. I just imagine that using a spear to get a deer would neither be a quick process resulting in a great shot to the vitals, nor would it be terribly effective.

UPDATE (By Sebastian): I thought Bonnie Erbe sounded familiar. She’s the one who doesn’t believe in the First Amendment. You know, it’s easy to accept that there are people out there who base their viewpoints entirely based on emotion and feeling, and lack any real intellectual or analytical capacity. It’s harder to accept that the media think it’s quality journalism to give them a column.

NJ Assembly Passes Not Quite Pro-Gun Bills

Cemetery has the news. One is a the NICS act which brings New Jersey into compliance with federal law. This actually changes New Jersey’s law in this matter very little. The other is the exceptions for their gun rationing law. I should note this bill differs from the Senate bill, which makes more exceptions. The Assembly bill only covers transfers between dealers, distributors and manufacturers. This is likely why it passed unanimously.

Obviously this isn’t a bad development, but if the politicians in New Jersey think this will make up for screwing over gun owners, yet again, with gun rationing, they are kidding themselves. This just keeps their original bill from being a de-facto ban, which it was.

Guns in Schools Save a Life in Harrisburg

A criminal justice instructor in Harrisburg managed to stop a stabbing in progress, but you know, guns in schools by LTC holders is just crazy!

Criminal justice instructor Michael Minto was leaving the Kaplan Career Institute in Swatara Twp. on Monday night when he spotted a man being stabbed, police said.

Minto pulled his gun and ordered the attacker to drop his knife, police said. The attacker fled, and authorities said Minto’s actions likely saved the life of Dillon Mitchell, 30, of Harrisburg.

If Minto had not intervened, “We might be talking about someone who died,” said Deputy Swatara Twp. Police Chief Jason D. Umberger. “There are not many citizens out there that would have the courage to take that action.”

How is this possible? I thought only trained police officers were capable of this kind of thing? And at a school? The devil you say! Granted, this is a private post-secondary vocational institution, so carrying is legal there. In Pennsylvania, schools are a grey area. They aren’t explicitly forbidden by the Uniform Firearms Act, but weapons in primary and secondary schools are forbidden with an exception for “other lawful purposes,” which would presumably cover self-defense, but I don’t think anyone wants to be the test case there. It’s legal to carry on college campuses in Pennsylvania, but most universities forbid the practice by policy, much like employers do.

UPDATE: I should point out that licensed carry is a grey area. While it is legal to open carry in Pennsylvania, it is not legal to open carry within 1000 feet of a school without an LTC because of the federal Gun Free School Zones Act, which makes an exception for state permits, but does not make a general exception. It’s my opinion that the Gun Free School Zones Act is unconstitutional on both Tenth Amendment grounds and Second Amendment grounds, and was thrown out on the former previously, but Congress rewrote it. Want to be the test case?

A key Second Amendment case is now being heard in US District Court in the DC Circuit. Looks like the Obama Administration is working to get the case dismissed for lack of standing. Basically, the case is brought by American expatriates, who wish to buy a gun for when they visit back home, but GCA ’68 makes this unlawful, because you can only buy as a resident of a state.