January 2011 – Page 16 – Shall Not Be Questioned

It’s Heller‘s Fault!

So says Josh Horwitz, for the Coalition to Stop Gun Ownership:

This embrace of political violence has been part of far right wing ideology for decades, but was tamped down after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. It began to reemerge in 2008 with the Supreme Court’s landmark Second Amendment decision in D.C. v. Heller. In that 5-4 ruling, Justice Scalia overturned 200+ years of jurisprudence and parroted the National Rifle Association’s radical view of the Second Amendment, writing, “If… the Second Amendment right is no more than the right to keep and use weapons as a member of an organized militia… if, that is, the organized militia is the sole institutional beneficiary of the Second Amendment’s guarantee — it does not assure the existence of a ‘citizens’ militia’ as a safeguard against tyranny.”

This radical idea — which completely ignores our Founders’ tough response to armed insurrectionists during Shays’ Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion — flowered even further after the election of our first African American president in November 2008.

It was Heller, obviously, that motivated we violent, racist gun owners. It amazes me how little they realize how deeply insulting this stuff is to a large segment of American society. And they wonder why they have no relevance in the debate. But as they say, never interrupt your enemy when they are in the process of making a mistake. Ooops, did I say enemy? I guess even I can’t help the eliminationist rhetoric can I?

National Review Speaking the Truth

They are definitely getting better about covering Second Amendment issues:

That is not hair-splitting, inasmuch as high-capacity magazines for Glocks were and are commonplace â€” almost as commonplace as Glocks themselves â€” and remained so even while their manufacture and importation were banned. Most Glock 9mm magazines are usable in any Glock 9mm pistol, regardless of model. Glock makes at least four different 9mm pistols at the moment â€” 9mm being one of the most common calibers â€” and a high-capacity magazine sold for almost any of those could have been used in the Glock 19. Third-party manufacturers make them as well, and have made them for years and years, meaning that AWB or no AWB, finding one is not very difficult. The only difference the AWB is likely to have made is that the shooter would have had a used magazine instead of a new one (assuming he did in fact have a new one), and he probably would have paid five bucks more for it.

Most of the magazines I own I bought during the ban. Most of the magazines I own hold more than ten rounds. With the exception of Glock factory mags, which did get more expensive during the ban, prices were unaffected. Magazines are and were always plentiful. Glock aftermarket magazines were still cheap during the ban. There’s good evidence the shooter used an aftermarket magazine.

More Shamelessness

The Southern Poverty Law Center would like to note, that if you just look through the bat shit crazy, you’ll see, underneath, a tea partying, militia movement whack job. By this twisted logic, pretty clearly the movie industry was responsible for the shooting of Ronald Reagan, since it helped Hinkley cultivate his obsession with Jody Foster.

Not that I can say I’m surprised. The SPLC has been shameless for a while now, and much like MADD, who’s largely achieved what it set out to do, is also out to do whatever it can to avoid slipping into irrelevance.

3310.12

That’s the ATF designation for the multiple sale form for long guns that ATF is going to unlawfully insist dealers use. It won’t include having to send a copy to local law enforcement. After all, this is only meant to feather the nests of federal bureaucrats, not county sheriffs.

Concealed Carry Among Lawmakers

Like you and me, only better.

So Much Media BS. So Little Time.

The media garbage about the Tucson tragedy is piling up. The New York Times, apparently never having heard of Heller, claims that Glocks are a problem, despite the fact that if any gun would be the poster child for Heller’s “common use” test, it would be the Glock. They talk about what would have happened if he had been carrying a “regular pistol,” because in the New York Times’ vast ignorance of this topic, they have no idea a Glock is a “regular pistol.”

The News room of the Sacramento Bee, another den of ignorance on this issue, says it’s Arizona’s weak gun laws to blame. I’d be surprised if there was a state that would have rejected this guy. The man simply did not have a prior criminal or mental health history prior to this incident. For absolutely sure, in Pennsylvania he would have been able to get a gun. Even in restrictive states like top Brady Ranked California, I’m pretty sure he would have walked out with his Glock. What proposed law would have stopped this that still respected the fact that buying a gun is a fundamental right?

In the mean time, Boston Media are patting themselves on the back that this could never happen in Massachusetts. That’s funny, could have fooled me. I would bet money that, except for the jurisdictions in Massachusetts that routinely deny pistol licenses for arbitrary and capricious reasons (a practice not likely to be upheld under Second Amendment challenges) he would have gotten a gun. Not a Glock, because those are banned in Massachusetts, but there are plenty of substitutes which are equivalent to the Glock in performance characteristics that are not illegal.

Passing of a Notable Pennsylvanian

Dick Winters, who’s E Company’s exploits were made famous in the book and HBO miniseries “Band of Brother’s” has died. He was born in Ephrata and lived in Hershey, not too far from where my dad lives now. Maj. Winters always seemed uncomfortable with people calling him a hero. That’s true of most real heros.

Carrie McCarthy Set to Exploit Tragedy

From Politico:

â€œMy staff is working on looking at the different legislation fixes that we might be able to do and we might be able to introduce as early as tomorrow,â€ McCarthy told POLITICO in a Sunday afternoon phone interview.

And while Carrie McCarthy is busy making sure the Second Amendment gets shredded, fellow Democrat and Philadelphia Congressman Bob Brady is busy making sure the First gets sent to the slaughterhouse too:

Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Brady, a Democrat from Philadelphia, told CNN that he also plans to take legislative action. He will introduce a bill that would make it a crime for anyone to use language or symbols that could be seen as threatening or violent against a federal official, including a member of Congress.

Our political leadership is hopelessly vacuous. We have to keep giving them the boot until they get the message. The sad and unfortunate thing is, Bob Brady could strangle a puppy and his people will keep sending him back. The same would seem to be true for people like McCarthy and Quigley in Illinois.

I don’t understand city people. I really don’t. Are you really willing to keep re-electing these morons no matter what they say or do?

NORML’s Response to Tucson Shooting

After reading this, I don’t consider these people to be fellow travelers on the road to greater freedom, even though I agree with decriminalization of pot:

The part that really disturbs me is that just last year, Arizona Gov. Brewer signed a law that allows adults 21 and older to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, joining Alaska and Vermont as the only states where any citizen can be legally packing heat in public at a political rally without any sort of registration or training to do so. Â Had Loughner been approached by a police officer and that pistol was found in his pocket, legally there would have been nothing the police could have done.

But if Loughner had a joint in his pocket, police could have arrested him and he may haveÂ faced six-to-eighteen months in jail. Â If Loughner had been pulled over driving to the rally and a piss test revealed he had smoked a joint last week, heâ€™d be placed intoÂ mandatory 24-hour custody and faced six months in jail.

Maybe I’m nuts, but I don’t exactly want people driving around on the nation’s highways drunk or otherwise impaired, whether drugs are legal or not. Either way, the attempt to deflect blame onto other social policies, or onto the use of gun metaphors in political dialog, doesn’t strike me as a productive response to the blame pot smoking is going to take for this guy. It amounts to say “It’s this other freedom’s fault!”

It should be noted that even though there’s some credible science linking marijuana use to an increased risk for developing schizophrenia, the vast majority of people who use marijuana will never develop the disease. There’s been research, however, that shows it can dramatically increase the risk for people with a family history of schizophrenia, so there’s likely a genetic component to it as well.

Living in Star Trek

Looks like some folks at MIT are trying to make a flute that can be printed on a 3D printer:

So now we have a PADD, we all have bridge screens in our living rooms, we talk regularly on communicators, and now we’re getting simple replicators.

Hat Tip to Instapundit