2009 – Page 213 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Sign of the Times

Raising Farrahzona did everything right, but is now way upside down on her mortage.Â She’s wondering if it wouldn’t be better to just walk away.Â A lot of people are in this situation right now.

I would have a hard time walking away, even if I could accept that I’d be financially better off.Â Just because something would seem vaguely wrong about sticking the bank with my problem.Â But really, there are two people who take a risk when property is purchased with a mortage.Â You, and the bank.Â The bank has every incentive to keep a homeowner in their house.Â If they walk away, the bank is stuck selling the property at a significant loss.Â The bank might we willing to negotiate, and I think I would try to come to an agreement with my bank before walking away.

My home value has been falling as well.Â I purchased in 2004.Â The value is still higher than what I paid for it, but a few more months of this and I’ll be at the price I paid for the house.Â Because I put 10% down, and have another 10% in a seperate home equity loan, It’ll be a while before I’m actually underwater.Â I have the cash to pay off the equity loan if the bank demands it because of falling prices.Â I’m in a far better position than a lot of folks, but Pennsylvania hasn’t gotten soaked as much by falling prices as other places.

Haven’t We Angered Bowhunters Enough?

I’m glad to see NRA backing away from a proposal to open up a firearms season in bow hunting counties in West Virginia.Â The crossbow issue seems to antagonize bow hunters in Pennsylvania enough as it is.Â Let’s not get people pissed at NRA next door too.Â Also, can we not insult the bow hunters as we’re trying to calm their fears?

When the NRA sent out its postcard poll, Austin said, the West Virginia Bowhunters Association â€œflipped and thought we were going to try to run a bill.â€

â€œThat just shows they have no knowledge of the process and how it works,â€ he said.

â€œWe were just in it to see if there was an interest. And there is no interest. We have no desire (to seek changes). Weâ€™re a membership-driven organization.

Emphasis mine.Â Even if it’s true, you don’t say it to the media.Â I sincerely hope that was a misquote on the part of the paper.Â It’s important to tread carefully on issues like this.Â They have the potential to divide our community at a very critical time for us politically.

Parking Lot Law Upheld in Oklahoma

I do not agree with NRA on the parking lot issue.Â I will just state that categorically.Â But this is a welcome victory.Â Why?

The challenge to Oklahoma’s bill presented some serious risks to gun owners, in that it was argued that the Occupational Safety and Health Act, through the Supremacy Clause of the constitution, really mandated a federal ban on firearms in the workplace, which state law could not contravene.Â If this outlook had prevailed, it employers would presumably be obligated under federal law to ban firearms in the workplace.

So I am very glad this line of reasoning was shot down by the courts.Â But there’s still a problem:

“We disagree,” the appellate judges wrote in a 23-page decision. “OSHA is aware of the controversy surrounding firearms in the workplace and has consciously decided not to adopt a standard” banning firearms from the workplace.

What if OSHA did adopt a standard because a certain President directed them to?Â In addition to disagreeing with the NRA on principle on this issue, I also just don’t like the politics of this issue, and this is one of the reasons why.

Engel Letter Tied to the Mexican Issue

The Modesto Bee doing the heavy lifting:

On Tuesday, federal police fighting gunmen in the northern border city of Reynosa had to call the army for help. After the fighting, which left five gunmen dead and seven police injured, authorities seized several assault rifles and even a 60 mm mortar.

In a recent report, the federal Attorney General’s Office said Mexican authorities have seized the most weapons from the Gulf drug cartel and its gang of hit men, known as the “Zetas.” Members of the cartel have been found with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and weapons capable of piercing armor.

Yeah, because if we don’t stop these 60mm mortar parts kits, and the RPG-7 parts kits, from coming into the United States, Mexico is doomed.Â Do any of these journalist even bother to check what the law is?

Drug Dealers and the Second Amendment

Eugene Volokh talks about a case out of the 7th Circuit that denies Second Amendment rights for drug dealers conducting drug sales.Â I’m particularly interested to read the final publication of theÂ draft law review he’s working on, which is quoted in the post.Â I think he gets the balance right in terms of gun possession in the facilitation of crime.

Last Call for Questions

I’m hoping to get the questions wrapped up by Friday, so if you want to ask Scott, Edie or Joe some questions, submit them here.Â I’ve already gotten several good ones.Â I’m particularly looking for questions that are competition related for Edie.

Back in the Day when the NYT Reported instead of Opined

Once upon a time, the New York Times actually reported on the NRA’s efforts and activities in a balanced way.Â Bitter has been combing through their older archives to find stories about their meetings that were reported without bias in the paper of record.Â What follows are a few of the highlights.

Creedmoor’s far-famed rifle range resounded from early morning until nearly sundown with the “ping, ping” of the marksman’s bullet. The occasion for this lavish expenditure of gunpowder and lead was the sixteenth annual meeting of the National Rifle Association of America.

Creedmoor was the NRA’s first rifle range out on Long Island, and this report on the annual meeting was featured on page 8 in 1888.Â The range was serviced by train, and one meeting report from 1879 discusses regular train service out to the range for shooters.Â According to NRA’s history page, the political climate in New York changed rapidly after that story.Â Political pressure forced the NRA to give up Creedmoor in 1892 and move to a friendlier location – New Jersey.

After reviewing just a few of the many reports the NYT features, it appears that many of the debates we have today were not uncommon 100+ years ago.Â In 1900, the Times reported that the NRA board underwent changes expanding it to 36 directors and electing new officers who pledged:

[to] be aggressively active from now on in the interest of rifle shooting, and to make this sport one of the popular pastimes of the people. …

[and to] …break away from antiquated ideas and customs and to increase innovations in the way of running-man targets, disappearing targets, up-to-date skirmish matches, and other attractive features at annual meetings.

That sounds familiar.

It is sad to say that we can’t expect such fair or positive coverage at this year’s Annual Meeting & Blog Bash.Â However, past experience does tell us that you can expect to be misquoted.

Soldier of Fortune Board Endorsements

Soldier of Fortune is offering their own board endorsements here.Â We are pleased to see there is significant overlap with our NRA board endorsements, with Scott Bach, Joe DeBergalis, and Edie Fleeman (Fleeman is her married name, she’s typically gone by Reynolds for the board elections, but I notice it was “Fleeman ‘Reynolds'” on the ballot) .Â Also, Bob Brown is one of our other endorsements, and is publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine.

WSJ Covers Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show

Very positive coverage, I would say, from this article.Â Looks like outfitters aren’t doing too badly during the bad economy either.Â I’m wondering if hunting is benefiting from reductions in gasoline prices as much as it might be hurt by the economy.Â With travel not costing as much, it might be a good explanation.

More on Importation Rules

We’ve discussed pretty thoroughly the letter from Congressman Engel here, here, and here.Â It turns out it’s not just so called “assault weapons” that we need to worry about, it’s also pistols.Â I was talking to SayUncle the other night, and he brought up this old post of his which outlines the ATF point system for pistols.Â The interesting thing about this, is if this is the system ATF uses, it’s just an ATF policy.Â The regulation actually says on the importation Form 6, the importer must include:

(F) If a firearm barrel for a handgun, an explanation why the handgun is generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.

This, folks, means the Glock you’re carrying on your hip could be banned just by a mere policy change, which could be done by executive order with no rulemaking process at all.Â ATF can just change it’s policy to exclude Glocks, because they aren’t suitable for sporting purposes.