2011 – Page 129 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Self-Defense Options in New York City

SayUncle is headed into the belly of the beast, and asks about self-defense options. My first suggestion would generally be spray, which is legal just about everywhere, except for places that have been controlled by the left for years. Sadly, New York City is among those places, at least not without a permit of some kind. New York State is not much better, but the New York Penal code treats spray very strangely by my reading of it. It specifically mentions spray as an exception, but nowhere in the rest of the statute, that I can see, does it criminalize possession of it, except in the case where that possession is with criminal intent. It does criminalize “disposal,” which includes sale, transfer or other type of disposition, without being an authorized seller (firearms dealers and pharmacists). I can’t find anything about it being unlawful to bring pepper spray into the state for personal use for lawful self-defense.

Either way, I’ve never thought the Second Amendment should be limited to firearms. Defensive sprays are neither particularly dangerous or unusual. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be covered. Not that it helps if you can’t get a judge to agree with you, though.

SAF, NYSRPA, Files Suit Against New York City

This is what we’ve been waiting for, a direct attack on Bloomberg’s unconstitutional edifice. The metaphorical equivalent of this is the Doolittle raid. It shows we can attack him where he lives, and where he controls. It is also, as is the SAF/Gura modus operandi, a narrow question. I believe this is wise.

The New York Times is paying attention. This won’t be the last. My goal in all this is to be able to legally carry in the heart of Manhattan. Five years ago I would have said it was a pipe dream. Now I don’t think so.

New Gun Introduced in Indiana

The Glock service revolver. Glad to see them entering this vital market.

Coalition to Waste Time and Money

Ladd Everitt, and the other fine folks over a Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, are doing a fine job at bringing the vast diversity of the right to keep and bear arms movement together. They don’t seem to have much time these days to use their Twitter feed for anything other than sniping at bloggers.

This is not honestly surprising. You can see it’s not a wealthy organization. None of their money comes from any kind of membership dues, so they are not accountable to individuals. In fact, if you look at their 2008 tax forms, of the 219,000 or so CGSV took in, less than 95,000 dollars went to program services. One hundred eight thousand dollars of that went to something called EFSGV Consulting. That would be the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. As of 2008, EFSGV itself was hemorrhaging money, while having cut their overall budget substantially over the past five years. They took in approximately 346,000 dollars, 108,000 of which we know came from their nearly bankrupt 501(c)(4). BecauseÂ 312,000 went to salaries and benefits of the people who are spending their time taunting bloggers, they had to cut substantially into cash to pay for programs. I can’t imagine anyone who’s donated money to this farce would be very happy about this. Charity Navigator won’t even track them, and tell me how well they do with this guideline.

As quipped on Twitter Â yesterday, we bloggers are the diversionary troops. Yes, please, pay attention to us, by all means. Ignore the Gucci loafered fellowÂ on his way to Capitol Hill to lobby for more and more Second Amendment freedoms. Ignore all evidence of the new legal framework we’ve established. Continue to fiddle, while the anti-freedom movement around you burns. We “anti-Constitution insurrectionists” are watching with delight.

Story of Gun Shop Records Being Seized by ATF

I’ve seen this rumor going around about ATF seizing the records of a shop that closed in PA. By law ATF is entitled to the records of an FFL that is going out of business. They typically scan the 4473s into a computer system and store them as images. While it’s quite possible ATF did something wrong here, this could very well be a rumor generated by someone who doesn’t get that when a shop closes, ATF is going to demand the records. This could very well be an embellishment on a story of a gun shop that just closed, or a case of someone forgetting to file their FFL renewal and finding out by ATF showing up and demanding he stop selling guns and turn the records over as the law requires.

If ATF did indeed misrepresent the law, and the owner capitulated without a fight without even contacting NRA, or someone else who could help with that kind of thing, there’s not much that can really be done after the fact, after the license has already been forfeited.

Two Things Don’t Add Up

The media is so full of crap, they don’t even smell their own half the time. This statement:

Police inÂ Colorado spent early Tuesday morning in a terrifying standoff with a suspected sniper who pinned down officers with shots from a semi-automatic rifle.

Does not jive with this statement:

As two officers approached the house, a gunman opened fire from close enough that one of the officers said he could hear the spent shells hitting the ground, Edgewater cops told Colorado’s KUSA television.

But he’s a sniper. Just look at the picture in the headline, which is clearly what he must be shooting with. Doesn’t that scare you? Plus, apparently despite this being at a frighteningly close range, the article would seem to suggest that he missed. I swear, if he had thrown a trombone at the cops, the Daily News would headline “Colorado Police Assaulted by Trombone Virtuoso.” If he had thrown a cabbage “Police in Standoff with Executive Chef.” A baseball? “Colorado Rockies Star Reliever Held Up in Home.”

But put a gun in his hands and suddenly everyone in the press room turns stupid.

State College Bucking Preemption

They want to ban guns in parks, or rather continue to ban guns in parks. They are weaseling around the preemption language by dishonestly arguing that application of such ban is not a law “inconsistent with the laws of this commonwealth,” quoting from our preemption statute, and is therefore not preempted.

It approved sending a resolution to the Central District meeting of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities later this month, requesting it support legislation prohibiting firearms in municipal parks and buildings, treating them like courtrooms and schools under state law.

Got that? Because the state bans guns in courthouses and schools, it’s consistent for towns to then ban guns in their own buildings. Additionally, because hunting regulations don’t allow discharge in certain zones in parks, banning all firearms period in any municipal park is consistent with state law.

This is delusional legal thinking. This issue needs to be pressed. Let them enforce it, and then sue them. This is well established in this Commonwealth that only the state legislature may regulate guns.

More on Craigslist Killer Idiocy

This time from the Boston Globe:

Showing up at the State Line Gun Shop in Mason, N.H., Markoff presented an ID that wouldnâ€™t pass muster at a campus dive bar. The blond Markoff showed an old New York driverâ€™s license belonging to Andrew H. Miller, who is dark-haired and heavier.

Except here is a picture of the two licenses. I wouldn’t necessarily say they are identical, but there is a resemblance. We could always try some laws like making it unlawful to present a fake ID, or impose penalties for making false statements to authorities. That will surely put a stop to incidents like this.

Hawaiians Arming Themselves in Record Numbers

I am heartened by this news that even in Obama’s home state, there’s been a great Obama gun rush. The really interesting thing is that it seems to have started in 2004. It is unfortunate, that the newspaper was deceived by liars and swindlers at the VPC:

But national surveys indicate that Hawaiiâ€™s registration increase is bucking the national trend, Rand said.

â€œThe gun lobby is out there pushing the story that everybody wants a gun, people are flooding out to get a concealed carry license and the gun industry is booming,â€ she said. â€œBut surveys show a consistent decrease in household and personal gun ownership (nationally).â€

That’s funny, because the actual numbers suggest the trend is indeed national, and it’s not just limited to guns in the home. It’s disappointing that the Honolulu advertiser was taken by these frauds. Even more disappointing they didn’t take the five minutes necessary to fact check them.

Crack Down on Rapid Fire Ammo

I’m not really sure what rapid fire ammo is, but at least one New York newspaper talks about the drive to ban it. Maybe you could make the primers ignite a little slower, maybe. Or use a slow burning powder.

UPDATE: Looks like they’ve changed the headline. I am happy to help out. My editing fee is not steep. Please see the side bar for billing inquiries.