The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
From What Starts with W. For those of you who might not remember, this is the case of the guy made to eat pavement for OCing a pistol down the streets of Philadelphia while in possession of a valid License to Carry. You can see the YouTube video that started it all here.
Apparently the verdict is not guilty. He was charged with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. I sincerely hope this helps his Civil Rights lawsuit.
I know that many of you won’t get the headline, but for those who do, well, you understand. For those who don’t, I’ll just let the article sum up why I’m shocked.
All last week, students at Smith College were buzzing over a rumor that the school was going completely vegetarian and locavore. There were protests and counter-protests, with slogans chalked on walkways. There was a Twitter feed that caught the attention of VegNews, “America’s premier vegan lifestyle magazine.’’ At a student government meeting, the dining services manager came under attack: How did she expect students to pass their midterms without coffee?
The rumor was started on purpose by two professors teaching a logic class. Half the class was to drum up support for a ban on meat and non-local goods while the other half was to demonstrate against it. Suddenly, it made sense. There’s no way that Smith students would actually protest in favor of meat unless it was an assignment.
What amazes me is that the rumor managed to get serious traction even though there were clear signs that it was fake. A fake student group was speaking out on favor of it, and yet the rumor spread. Did no one look the group up? On top of that, even the college staff pointed out that the campus would at least demand a committee to come to a decision like this.
For those of you not in the know about why this is newsworthy regarding Smith, there was one rumor that they could not get to catch on: grassroots support for an ROTC program.
While I generally don’t believe that OCing a rifle is a good public relations tactic, I’d much rather have dozens of OC protesters in the park near my house, carrying rifles, than I would a hippy drum circle. At least the OC guys will be quiet and go home at the end of the day. They probably also shower.
She says she didn’t know anything, because it was an ATF operation, and not under her authority. Really, either way this goes it’s not good. Either they are lying, or the Obama Administration are just a big group of know-nothing, do-nothing administrators who are essentially sucking away out tax dollars for not actually overseeing anything. You almost hope they are lying.
This is pretty funny, I don’t care who you are. For the uninitiated, it’s a parody of this post and comment thread over at TTAG, which has spawned much discussion both at Uncle’s and Caleb’s.
Looks like Media Matters is doing their best to try to make the latest polling results not seem so bad for them (or perhaps I should say their anti-gun paymasters) as they really are.
John Richardson has some links and a video that speak to exactly what HR822 does and does not do.
Record low support, at 26%, for a handgun ban, since Gallup first started asking in 1959. Has to feel awful for our opponents to be on the wrong side of history and public opinion. Of course, ask them now they don’t support handgun bans, they never supported handgun bans, and who are you to suggest that was ever so?
Of course, that’s not even the worst news for our opponents. Here’ the worst news:
For the first time, Gallup finds greater opposition to than support for a ban on semiautomatic guns or assault rifles, 53% to 43%. In the initial asking of this question in 1996, the numbers were nearly reversed, with 57% for and 42% against an assault rifle ban.
We are getting our message out there folks. Now we just need federal judges to get the message.
So a stake has been driven through the heart of the Canadian Long Gun Registry by Steven Harper’s Tory Government. This is a momentous achievement for Canadian Gun owners. But what comes next? This article offers a key insight:
But it will be shortly ending. The Conservatives have signalled they will introduce legislation to abolish the registry, fulfilling a campaign promise – a promise its predecessor party first made in 1997.
They are finding, however, that breaking up is hard to do because over the years the registry has been a stalwart friend, a gift that kept on giving. They have used the “Liberal†registry to raise funds and create division in opposition parties.
Canadian gun owners should understand that politicians do nothing out of the kindness of their hearts, or because it’s the right thing to do on general principle. There might be a few individual true friends here and there, but as a lot they are motivated by self-interest. That self-interest, for the most part, revolves around winning elections.
So Canadian gun owners need another issue that can be that “gift the keeps on giving” for the Tories. The key is to never be satisfied. Now that Canadian gun owners have their victory, now is definitely not the time to go back to sleep. Now is the time to wake up. The National Post might offer some guidance in this area, namely attacking licensing.
But gun owners in Canada need some organization. While the Canadian Shooting Sports Association has a decent online presence, The Canadian Institute for Legislative Action needs some serious help. This is an area some volunteers would be helpful, so if any Canadian citizens are reading, and have some free time, go offer to help out Tony Bernardo. Right now their online presence screams one man operation. That has to change if you want to move forward.
UPDATE: More ideas here. I wish our media would help us strategize!
Most of the time when one thinks of a gun shop, they imagine a fairly small and cramped space. At least, that’s been my experience with a majority of shops I’ve visited. Even the larger spaces I’ve seen (outside of the big box retailers themselves) aren’t actually terribly big. So, it’s rather amusing to read about a guy who wanted to open a gun range and gun shop who found an empty big box store to buy.
Perhaps the most unusual use of a former big-box store is William James’s Arms Room gun shop and shooting range, which opened last year in a former Circuit City store south of Houston. Mr. James spent nearly $5 million to buy the 20,000-square-foot space and convert it into a shooting range, a price he considered a bargain compared with building from scratch. The Arms Room offers handgun training courses in addition to traditional shooting practice, all in a popular shopping center anchored by Target Corp. and Home Depot Inc. stores.
“It was sort of providential,” Mr. James said in his Arms Room office, surrounded by antique swords and modern firearms. “I never dreamed of a place like this.”
The local PetSmart & Mattress Giant have both recognized the gun range for bringing in new customers. The Home Depot was willing to go on record before he opened that they had no problem with a gun range in the shopping center.
The only Pennsylvania example cited for a non-traditional use of retail space was a community theater in Harrisburg mall. It’s too bad. There’s an empty anchor store at one of our local malls that could use a gun range. :)
