2010 – Page 116 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Correction on Georgia Airport Issue

I’ve been asking knowledgeable people (who unlike me have studied law) about GCO’s claim that the airport language is preserved even with the airport language being removed from SB308. GCO’s legislative counsel says it will be preserved. TheÂ knowledgeableÂ person I asked, after research, believes that will indeed be the case, but can’t speak with 100% certainty on the issue. This is due to the fact that the people who codify laws assume that the legislature passes everything for a reason, and that laws which are not in direct conflict with each other should preserve every bit of language that was passed in the codified law.

I feel a little good that it at least was a difficult question, because I’d hate to flub on something easy… but at this point I’m willing to accept GCO’s claim that if Purdue signs both bills, Georgia gets airport carry. A good thing. Though, that presumes that Purdue doesn’t veto SB291. It seems to be that GCO did not want to risk SB308 with the airport language, and NRA didn’t want to give the Governor that choice.

That seems to me to be a strategic disagreement rather than something that warrants a very public repudiation of NRA. There is history between the groups, as has been explained to me. I would encourage both organizations to bury past hatchets and try to work together. Working together, I think, has to mean not imparting poor motives to disagreements about legislative priorities and strategies. It also means, I think, treating other groups with respect and dignity, and treating their ideas and viewpoints with the seriousness they deserve. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Anti-Gun Shenanigans

Good news: We’re finally getting a committee vote on Castle Doctrine here in Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Bad news: The gun un-friendly leader of the House Judiciary Committee realizes how much legislative support it has and is releasing three anti-gun bills at the same time.

Good news: PAFOA has put together an alert that will let you (if you live in Pennsylvania) email and tweet targeted lawmakers on the committee who haven’t expressed their support of Castle Doctrine and/or distanced themselves from the anti-gun bills.

If you haven’t contacted your lawmakers yet, today is the day to do it. Tomorrow is the vote, so make sure they hear your voice today.

Shooter’s Eye View

Joe Huffman got a nifty toy at the Annual Meeting. Basically a set of shooting glasses that have a camera built in. I might have to get myself a pair of these.

Firearms Free Airport Act

Apparently Frank Lautenberg doesn’t appreciate the recent happenings in Georgia in terms of airport carry.

Lautenberg’s Firearm-Free Airports Act calls for banning individuals from carrying firearms into U.S. commercial airports. “In the post-9/11 world, it simply defies common sense that it would be legal to carry a gun into an airport,” Lautenberg says.

Lautenberg’s measure would make an exception for law enforcement, security personnel and military personnel on active duty. Passengers would still be allowed to check unloaded firearms in a locked case in their luggage.

The bill is S.3366 and needless to say is entirely unacceptable. It would essentially create a ten year federal felony for carrying in a building in any airport or on any airfield. It’s hard to see how this wouldn’t affect private pilots, who currently have no restrictions on transportation or carry in their own planes because they typically don’t move through a sterile area before boarding their aircraft, and aren’t subject to security screening under FAA regulations.

But for General Aviation, this isn’t just about carry. This would ban private pilots from transporting firearms in their own planes at all, unless they fly out of an unregulated airport, because they do not fall under a proper exemption. So basically, if you had a buddy up in Alaska who has his own plane (not uncommon for Alaskans), it would be unlawful for him to fly you out to his place for a hunting trip, because there’s no way you or he can legally possess a firearm once you’re no longer part of a commercial flight. Anyone who did this and got caught would be facing a ten year federal felony.

Lautenberg is a snake when it comes to this stuff. It’s amazing how just about every piece of gun control legislation he introduces makes it easy to commit and accidental felony. That’s probably the idea, really.

UPDATE: Looking at federal definitions for airfield, this bans having a firearm at any airfield. Since and airfield that does not run commercial flights can’t check your firearm according to federal regulations, all firearms in these facilities would be made unlawful, so no transporting firearms in General Aviation at all.

UPDATE: I’d also note that it doesn’t make clear you’d be covered if you were leaving the airport with a firearm in checked luggage. Presumably it would, but how fast do you have to get out of the airport? What if you stop in the bathroom?

Glock Thrown Out With the Trash

Apparently one man’s super-secret hiding place for his pistol was so good, even his wife didn’t know, which turned into hilarity when she took the trash out. I wonder how many years a Glock can remain functional in a landfill?

Dueling Op-Eds

Professor Lawrence Rosenthal argues that the Second Amendment isn’t protecting a right that’s sufficiently fundamental to warrant incorporating it. Joyce Lee Malcolm takes the other side of the coin.

I guess the Inquirer is making at least an attempt at balance in its opinion pieces.

So, Lost

Sebastian is in the disappointed camp. I’m in a camp where I thought they needed to do more in earlier episodes to answer basic questions people have had since season one. But overall, I liked it. Vincent definitely made it a tearjerker.

UPDATE [By Sebastian]: I’m less disappointed now than I was last night. Really, the show “Lost” about the characters wrapped up cleanly. The bigÂ remainingÂ questions are about the Island, namely what the hell is it and how did it get there? What’s it’s history? How does the giant wheel manipulate space and time? And how did Hugo and Ben run the Island after they took over from Jacob who took over from Jack?

But maybe in the end the Island doesn’t really matter all that much. Presumably the people on the plane got off, and lead full lives thereafter, and Hugo and Ben spent a long time protecting the Island. The sort of “flash-sideways” seems to have been a sort of parallel dimension where they were all dead but didn’t realize it, but had to realize it in order to move on.

From the Floor: Miniature Arms Society

I ran into some folks from the Miniature Arms Society at their booth in Phoenix, on the show floor, and again in Charlotte. I meant to blog about this last year, but just never got around to it. They say they will be in Pittsburgh, and if they are, I highly encourage stopping by. Hell, coming to Pittsburgh just to see their craftwork is worth the trip, I think. The scale version of the guns in their booth is, quite simply, amazing.

These folks basically produce scale versions of firearms. The are so well done, I had to start using something for reference, because just looking at pictures, you can’t tell they are scale. Here’s one of a lever action gun, that was probably only about a foot long.

At the booth in Phoenix I talked to a gentleman by the name of David Kucer, whoÂ made a number of the guns in their display case. He is a veteran of World War II, and the first miniature gun he made was a replica of the M1911, a version of which he carried in the service. He was kind enough to retrieve this very gun, which was not in their display case, and show it to Dan and me. In order to give a good idea of just how amazingly small this completely functional 1911 is, I had to take the picture in hand to scale.

Scale M1911 Made by David Kucer of Miniature Arms Society

It’s just completely amazing to me that the miniature 1911 has all functioning parts, including a functioning slide. Mr. Kucer also made this pepper box pistol, and I’m guessing they make all the cases for these items as well. The amount of craftsmanship and skill that has to go into making one of these, not even mentioning the time, is just fascinating to me. I have a step stool I built in wood shop in high school, but other than that, I don’t really have any creations like this to my name. Certainly not works of art like these. Their booth is literally filled with tiny little creations, including a brass knuckle, pistol combination, a Webley break top revolver about the size of an iPhone, miniature pen knives. You name it.
In their booth you could also find a lot of other various items, from scale artillery and mortar pieces, to scaled down rounds of ammunition. You can see some of those items in the picture to your left. How about the Weston 3mm Centerfire? Or the the cartridges meant to fire in the 1/6th scale Gatling Gun? One mike-mike percussion caps? All pretty neat stuff. If you can get out to Pittsburgh next year, they said they will be there. Stop by. You can tell these guys are very proud of what they do, and they ought to be. They’ll be happy to show you their craftsman and artisanship. And how would all you 1911 lovers out there like to hang this on your wall?

A Day at the Range: Media Style

If the MSM reported your day at the range, from the Onion. Funny stuff.

President Calderon Statements Before Congress

I thought for a bit about how to cover this, but I thought that Jim Geraghty and Cam Edwards of NRANews did a better job than I could ever do commenting on the remarks of Mexican President Calderon before the United States Congress.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNe06W4xosM[/youtube]

Normally I would agree that this is pretty bad diplomacy, but I think there’s a domestic contingent that is quite happy to have the Mexican President come before the Congress and demand we re-instate the assault weapons ban. I don’t think this was an accident, and we should be angry that so many Democrats applauded him.

But why don’t we have these problems on our side of the border? This came up during the segment too, and my take is that, in addition to having a relatively uncorrupt police force and military, Americans have a fairly long history of dealing harshly with unsavory elements that try to terrorize communities into submission. In terms of the conflagration boiling down in Mexico, that has in our history crossed over our borders, and we have a history of arming ourselves against it. Dave Hardy posts an advertisement from Auto Ordinance from the 1920s which clearly markets the gun as a way to repeal border raiders.