Clayton has some more detailed analysis of the circumstances and law on this matter. The circumstances under which this could apply are more limited. It’s always really going to come down to whatever a US Attorney thinks he can convince a jury of. If for some reason the authorities are looking to prosecute you, the constructive possession laws can go a long way.
Month: November 2011
No Tragedy Beyond Exploitation
Louise Slaughter brought up the specter of the Gifford’s shooting as a reason to vote against HR822:
“This is a pretty serious piece of work for me today because less than a year ago, one of our colleagues from Arizona was shot in the head while she was trying to convene with her constituents outside a supermarket,” Slaughter said, recalling the shooting that left six people dead and Giffords seriously wounded. “The horrible shooting of our colleague wouldn’t have been stopped with the passage of today’s bill, and no one is made safer by allowing guns in the public space.
Does Slaughter really think Laughner, who is completely out of his gourd, would have been influenced over whether or not it was lawful for him to carry the gun on his way to murder a groups of people including a Congresswoman?
The Giffords shooting was a failure of the mental health system. Letting crazy people wander the streets unmedicated and untreated is potentially dangerous.
A Bold Prediction
Jacob thinks Obama will sign HR822 out of political expediency. I think it could happen, but if I had to put money on it, I think he’ll veto. He’s not going to betray a large number of urban Democratic legislators in places like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and his home state of Hawaii. While a signature might help to make NRA’s opposition to Obama seem more ridiculous, who he’s going to put on the Supreme Court is still going to drive opposition.
So I see Obama’s pressures favoring a veto. While it’s true that the anti-gun people can’t do much to him, he’s going to need urban legislators and the machines they have access to get people turned out to the polls for him. I don’t think he’s going to want to risk that those folks are less than enthusiastic about him headed to the election.
HR822 Proposed Amendments
Looks like John Richardson did the work on this so I don’t have to, with a list of Amendments made in order. We don’t really want any of these amendments. Not all of the critters proposing amendments are anti-gun Democrats. Rep. Woodall (R-GA) has an amendment up, and I believe today in the hearing testified he wasn’t completely sold on this bill yet. He might need some extra pressure. If you’re in Georgia, especially in his district, it would be a good idea to provide that. His amendment I think is completely unnecessary, and is a solution in search of a problem.
Combining Your Inner Techno Geek With Gun Geek
Over at the Firearms Blog, they show a motherboard by Gigabyte that will help your inner techno-geek channel your inner gun geek. I don’t think it’s deniable that the design elements of this motherboard are related to the AR-15 aesthetics.
Even Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers are capitalizing on the black rifle phenomena? We are truly winning. I challenge our opponents to say otherwise. The AR-15 is mainstream now. Even if this is marketed to the Counterstrike Kiddies (is that even current terminology among the kids these days?) we’re still winning.
What is a Suppressor?
SayUncle notes that previously the ATF has declared a shoestring to be a machine gun, now it seems that if you have a Chore Boy copper cleaning pad, and some insulation, it could be an unlawful suppressor. This is “constructive possession” taken to a level of utter absurdity. It all really comes down to whatever a US Attorney thinks he can get a jury to buy. If you end up on his bad side, that could be a lot more than you might be comfortable with.
Let Them Eat Venison!
Hunters have done more to provide healthy meals for the nation’s poor than Michelle Obama’s crusade for Whole Foods arugula on every table. According to NSSF, hunters donated nearly 2.8 million pounds of game (mostly venison) to hunger programs in 2010. That provided more than 11 million meals for those less fortunate.
Ever since the early days of the recession, local news outlets have covered stories of food banks in desperate need of donations. Hunters have stepped up to help meet that need. The White House garden? That didn’t make 11 million healthy meals. I also bet that the carbon footprint of the average hunter taking to the woods is far smaller than that of the First Lady flying in her tax-funded plane with her entourage to Hawaii and traveling all around Oahu to find an organic arugula farm.
As an interesting side note, NSSF estimates that if they could account for all direct donations – those hunters make directly to friends & family in need without going through a food program – these numbers are easily doubled.
HSUS Training Game Wardens
In California. Apparently the extreme animal rights group Humane Society of the United States is a certified law enforcement training agency in California, being certified by the Butte College Academy. Sportsmen need to be on the watch out for this in other states. HSUS would love to get their fangs into state game agencies, and in a whacked-out state like California, the odds are better than in most others. I’d keep an eye out for this in New Jersey too.
Let Them Eat Steak
Looks like our First Lady has had her Marie Antoinette moment:
Visiting an organic farm in Hawaii on Saturday, First Lady Michelle Obama said that “arugula and steak†was her “favorite†meal and expressed her view that American children need to “get their palates adjusted†so they will begin eating properly.
Having been hoped and changed out of a job, it’s been a while since I had a nice steak. And have you seen the price of arugula at Whole Foods lately? Most people can’t eat as well as Michelle Obama because they simply can’t afford it. But I’ll be honest, what problem would you rather have? Our poor people starving because they can’t afford to buy food? Or our poor people getting fat because they eat too much inexpensive, processed food? This country tends to have a problem more with the latter, and I think that’s a good thing.
For Michelle, the problem really seems to be that the poor can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods, because those poor neighborhoods, after all, aren’t even likely to have a Whole Foods. What a tragedy. Are there really neighborhoods in America that don’t have a single place to buy fresh food? Even Wal-Mart has fresh food, though I know some cities have made a concerted effort to keep Wal-Mart out. It’s an evil corporation, after all.
Obvious News of the Day: Press Manipulated in F&F
Emails between senior Justice Department officials and investigators in the office of Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley show that congressional staffers leading the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious requested information about Operation Wide Receiver — a Bush administration program – and other similar cases, more than a full month before the DOJ leaked information to selected media outlets on October 31.
Manipulating the press is pretty easy when the outlets are already in the tank. Outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post have only been happy to help deflect the blow of this scandal.