Someone in New Jersey I guess had finally had enough of these flying grass to poop conversion factories. Only in the Garden State would this be considered a heinous crime, rather than a public service.
Month: July 2010
Serious Question
My question is to Colin Goddard, who’s testimony before the Congressional Panel on banning private gun transfers can be found here. It’s quite a chilling story. Given the circumstances described, if he had to go back in relive that day, would he have preferred to have a gun with him or not? It’s very difficult for me to understand how the answer could be no. Putting aside for a second the burdens of carrying a gun, it seems difficult for me to believe anyone would say no. I’m not sure what it says about your own belief in yourself, your abilities, and your self-image.
Perhaps it is pacifism. There are some people who simply could not bring themselves to do violence on another, even if the other person were trying to kill them and everyone else around them. I can accept that is a personal choice, but it seems to me to be a personal choice — not something to be imposed on others through force of law.
Sin Tax?
Reuters seems to be counting Pittman-Robertson dollars as sin taxes. PR has been around for quite some time, and as far as I know has been 11% pretty much its whole existence. The dollars used for fish and wildlife management, as well as public ranges. Even so, it might be unconstitutional. The Heller ruling probably puts upper limits on how much governments can consider firearms and ammunition to be a “sin” and tax it accordingly.
How Obama Loses
Great article on Politico about how the more Obama wins, the more he loses:
The problem is that he and his West Wing turn out to be not especially good at politics, or communications — in other words, largely ineffective at the very things on which their campaign reputation was built. And the promises he made in two years of campaigning turn out to be much less appealing as actual policies.
The big problem Obama has is that he knows how to give a speech from a teleprompter. That’s his real talent. He is unskilled in politics. Truth is I don’t see him as capable of reinventing his presidency, as Clinton did after 1994. In addition, my friends in DC say the Democrats are demoralized, a sentiment also echoed in this article:
Many Democrats on the Hill don’t much like Obama, or at least his circle of advisers. They think the White House makes them take tough votes, but doesn’t care that much about the problems those votes leave politicians facing in tough races in 2010. Numerous Democrats have complained privately that Obama only cares about Obama — a view reinforced by Gibbs’s public admission that Democrats could lose the House.
By 2012, the White House may have few friends left. This is good for us because we desperately need to make him a one termer if we’re going to preserve the gains we’ve made recently in the courts.
Unintended Consequences
Government regulation of airlines, intended to make life easier for passengers, has actually made things worse. Who could have predicted this?
Some Good Things about Carly
Even Clayton Cramer, who used to work for HP, can find some good in the California Senate race. Carly Fiorina has come out against bans on scary looking semi-automatic rifles.
Psy Ops
Looks like the Cal Guns guys were engaging in some psychological warfare against the Legal Community Against Gun Violence. The CalGuns guys are a very motivated and sharp group of people. I noticed this when Hardy linked to it the other day, and thought some of their ideas were pretty good, but some of them were kind of nuts. Now that it’s revealed it was just psychological warfare, good show guys!
Making a Statement
McCarthy pretty much admits she’s just lashing out at the NRA:
“I am making a statement. I will never forget why I am here. This is a push back to the NRA.”
Her bill makes it a felony to fail to report a lost or stolen firearm with 24 hours of discovery. You could spend a year in jail and have to pay a 1/4 million dollar fine. Your life would essentially be over, and you would be a prohibited person… all for being the victim of a crime.
The Great Difficulty with Clubs
I just had to tell Fitzpatrick’s campaign, who is very likely to carry the NRA endorsement he won in the primary into the general election, he was not welcome at my 100% NRA club, despite the efforts of a volunteer who was also a member. What kind of message do you think that sends if Fitz wins and faces a tough vote on our issue. Do you think he’s going to go to bat for people that told him to get lost? Gun owners far too often think they are in a position to dictate. This is not true. Gun voters are a minority. We only have power through participation and engagement.
It’s important for gun owners who care about Second Amendment issues to be involved in their local clubs. The great problem activists face is that club culture should be a lot more about shooting than politics, so a balance needs to be kept in that regard. Â Second Amendment activists need to keep that in mind when approaching clubs and club members. Priority number one is to shoot, stay safe, and have a good time. Political engagement should be somewhere down the priority list, but it needs to be there in some way. The trick is to make politicians think they have something to gain (and therefore something to lose) through the engagement process. This doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t, pre-occupy a club, but it has a great benefit for supporting the other activities clubs would like to do.
Doing the Math
Chris Byrne has an excellent analysis of this years race in November. The Dems are going to take a beating. This is uncontested at this point. But it’s not going to be a panacea. This is one reason I think it’s important Reid keep his seat despite the fact that I hate him on other issues. I would hate Schumer or Durbin just as much or more on those same issues, and they’d also sabotage NRA every chance they could find. It’s not that I like Reid, it’s just that he’s the best choice there is for that seat given the possible choices.