2011 – Page 110 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Our Freedom Loving Opponents

Our opponents think it’s very important to look at interesting and novel ways to eliminate gun violence in society. They are willing to sacrifice anything to reach their dream where everyone trades in their guns for flowers and unicorns. Apparently even their freedom and privacy. Let’s take a look at this gem from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Facebook page:

Body Scanner Busy Body

Apparently this gun free fantasy extends to the point of putting body scanners in public places, so your bank can stare at pictures of Â your nude body. Ladd gets an A for trying to steer this particular supporter off the crazy, and back on the path to productive activism, but it was too late.

Our opponents will be the first to vote for a pervasive police state to carry forward their idealist fantasies.

Philly OC Abuse Case Getting Media Attention

Folks might remember the YouTube sensation from a month or so ago of a Philadelphia man who was threatened by a Philadelphia Police officer for legally carrying a firearm. You might also remember that the City is charging him with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. This weekend activists held a protest to demonstrate against this kind of treatment. This, to me, is a textbook example of how to use open carry effectively as a form of protest.

Today, the media is on fire with the story. First, from the Daily News, complete with a transcript. Next John Stossel has picked up on it at Fox News Business. The Daily News notes that they will be retraining officers on open carry:

“Our officers weren’t up to speed [because] we never really addressed it,” said Lt. Francis Healy, the department’s lawyer.

“In the last several weeks, we’ve done a lot of training and put out a lot of information about what is allowed and what’s not allowed. Right now, our officers are better-versed on the subject matter.”

Of course, this isn’t entirely true, as this directive from last year demonstrates. This is a very interesting case, in addition to being an utter disgrace. Pretty clearly Fiorino has a pretty good case for a Civil Rights lawsuit, but we’ll have to see what happens with these charges. It’s hard to believe that they will stick, given he was exercising his rights and was within the law.

2012 Is Looking Up

I shouldn’t really say looking up, since the GOP is still without an interesting or desirable candidate, but I’m happy that Huckabee is out, and I don’t have to spend 2012 listening to him talk about what kind of big government “Jesus juice” he drinks. Now Trump is out, and I don’t have to ponder the possibility of Â a guy that lost a fortune in the casino business trying to figure out how to solve our massive deficit.

Now if only Mitt and Santorum would exit stage right (or stage left for Mitt?), things might to start to actually look up. Sure, there’s still Gingrich, but we can still hold out hope that the 90s will call, and ask for their candidate back.

Restaurant Carry Bill in Ohio

Our opponents areÂ already in hysterics over the bill, and appear to be conceding the Senate vote on the matter, and are appealing directly to Governor Kasich by asking him to veto it. This is good.

This weekend I took advantage of Virginia’s new restaurant carry provisions, and somehow, by some miracle, managed to avoid consuming alcohol while carrying as prescribed by law, and managed to avoid shooting up the place. That’s in contrast to back home in Pennsylvania, where you can have a glass of wine with dinner while carrying. Clearly back home I’m shooting up restaurants on a regular basis, along with all my other fellow 600,000 LTC holders in the Commonwealth.

Weed and Guns

A Rhode Island Superior Court has upheld the gun rights of a person growing medical marijuana under the state’s medical marijuana law. Obviously this only applies to a state action, the feds could still take a whack at this defendant if they chose to do so.

SAF Lawsuit in Illinois

SAF has filed Moore v. Madigan. Over at Only Guns and Money, John Richardson talks about the plaintiffs. John also noted that the NRA suit is filed in the Southern District of Illinois, and the SAF suit is filed in the Central District, so the cases cannot be combined. I believe, however, they could be combined on appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, much like McDonald was with NRA’s case. Either way I don’t think it’s bad for the circuit court to have more than one case to choose to hear in the event this gets appealed, which it probably will.

Quote of the Day

Via Volokh commentary on the decision by the Indiana Supreme Court to eliminate the right to resist unlawful entry of a government agent. This quote is attributed to William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, after whom the city if Pittsburgh is named:

The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England cannot enter â€“ all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!

Indiana is not alone in eliminating common law provisions in regards to resisting unlawful intrusions by the state on property or person. A number of states had already eliminated this right by statute, including, in part, Pennsylvania (no right to resist an unlawful arrest). We’ve strayed from William Pitts’ ideal, and I don’t think we’re better off for it.

New Gun Owner

Came down to Roanoke this weekend because Bitter’s mom, who has previously not been a gun owner, decided that, being a woman living on her own, it was time to take the plunge. Since she was looking to save money getting a used gun, I decided to tag along to check it out before she bought it. The first shop we went to was Trader Jerry’s in Salem, Virginia. We had planned to visit several shops to do a bit of comparison shopping, but first stop we ran into this:

I know the stereotype of getting the little lady a snub-nose .38, but in her basic pistol course, and after trying a lot of guns, she prefers the shorter barreled revolvers to heavier revolvers or semi-autos. This is a Smith & Wesson Model 36 Chief’s Special. The reason this was such a great find was that we were looking for a used J-frame in .38 Spl. This is a used gun. It was bought by a guy who returned it because he didn’t like the grips, and had not been fired. It looked brand spanking new, based on everything I could see. The price was a good bit less than new. I think it was actually a great find for her.

Trader Jerry’s seemed to be a pretty good shop. Her experience was very pleasant, and comparing to prices back home, they were pretty good in that area too. She had to fill out her 4473 twice because of making a mistake on the first one. After filling out all three forms, she commented “My, this is worse than doing my taxes!” A quick call to the Virginia Instant Check System, and the gun was hers. I got her some .38 Spl Low Recoil Hydrashocks and some snap caps to refresh her on loading and unloading.

Next step for her will be a refresher pistol course, then some range time. Then she wants to do a concealed carry course and get her license to carry.

An Evil Plot Uncovered

Miguel notices CSGV has busted one of NRA’s most closely guarded secrets wide open

NRA Suit In Illinois

NRA is filing suit against Illinois’ total prohibition on carrying firearms. I have not yet read the complaint, but will take a look at it as soon as I have time. It’s worth noting that the Concealed Carry bill was pulled before all the votes were in, so it’s still alive. This presents a cash strapped state with two options. One option is to spend a lot of money fighting a lawsuit in the courts, the other is to pass the concealed carry bill, which will be a source of revenue. The choice is theirs.