March 2012 – Page 12 – Shall Not Be Questioned

NRA Getting Involved in Senate Primary Challenge

NRA usually doesn’t get involved with primary challenges, but it looks like they are getting involved in an attempt to unseat Dick Lugar:

Cox said the NRA isnâ€™t waiting for the presidential election to get involved, turning to key Senate races to endorse pro-gun candidates even in primaries. Wednesday, for example, the powerful lobby backed Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock over Sen. Dick Lugar in the GOP primary. â€œThe Supreme Court is certainly running in every Senate race in the country,â€ he told Secrets.

Looks like NRA wants to hedge its bets and try to improve the Senate in case we’re looking at another 4 years of Obama. I think the Senate is a weak check against Obama when it comes to court nominees, but any little bit can help. Lugar is not on any committees that could generally cause trouble for NRA, but he’d be quick to vote for cloture on a nominee who was just plainly unacceptable.

Hat Tip to Instapundit

Is This For Real? Say It’s a Hoax, McDonalds!

UPDATE: It’s a Hoax

Apparently McDonalds is teaming up with the NYPD to try to talk people into surrendering their 4th Amendment rights.

McDonaldâ€™s and the New York Police Department are launchingÂ Three Strikes, Youâ€™re In!, a new program that rewards New Yorkers for their patience with theÂ NYPDâ€™s â€œStop and Friskâ€Â policy.

This makes me glad I generally prefer to go to Wendy’s or Chic-Fil-A. But it gets better!

The company says that Three Strikes, Youâ€™re In! is a project of McDonaldâ€™sÂ 365Black.com, which celebrates African American culture and achievements all year round. Vouchers for â€œThree Strikes, Youâ€™re In!â€ may be downloaded at McDonaldâ€™s WebÂ site.

So McDonald’s idea of celebrating African American culture and achievements is, let me make sure I understand this, aiding and abetting the NYPD to stop and frisk more black people? To help convince blacks to surrender their rights under the constitution? To make them feel happy in the violation?

I think I feel pretty comfortable saying McDonalds is participating in a blatantly racist program here. Anyone out there among my readers who’s African American care to comment?

UPDATE: Hoax. Good. I don’t eat at McDonalds very often, but I’d hate to have to boycott it over something like this.

People I Don’t Need on My Side

The Coalition to Stop Gun Ownership has recently engaged in finding random jerks on the Internet, such as people who comment on YouTube (who tend to disproportionately be jerks, on any topic, and everyone knows it.) and trying to pass them off as pro-gun activists, rather than just random jerks you can find anywhere on the Internet. This has been rather humorous in the sheer level of desperation it displays. But like a stopped clock, they occasionally find a genuine case of someone I’d really like not to be on my side:

From what I have heard, they are in big money trouble (no one else is reading them either!) and all they have left is a bunch of “B” and “C” grade “journalists” (I use that term very loosely) who are tremendously LIBERAL and ANTI-GUN. Most are queers from what I’ve heard, so they often write about promoting queers to marry in Ohio (it’s not possible to have such a union, but I hear they are for it-they stick together, these queers).

In this case, I’m glad CSGV found this guy, who runs Gunrunner Online Auctions, because I make it a policy of mine not to do business with bigots. I now know to steer clear. I don’t bemoan anyone’s opposition to gay marriage. I think it’s possible to believe in the traditional definition of marriage, and not be bigoted. But when you’re talking about what the queers are doing to the soil? Sorry, you’re Â a bigot, and I don’t need you on my side.

If you want to understand the difference between our side and theirs, is that I’ll condemn what I believe is wrong, ill-spirited, and smelling of bigotry. The other side engages in it every time they display intolerance towards people who believe in a robust Second Amendment. I’ve been unsurprised this not only hasn’t drawn condemnation from more mature leaders in their movement, but is actively cheered on by its leaders! Many of the anti-gun leadership need not scour the Internet looking for jerks. All that is required to find one is to look in the nearest mirror.

Pennsylvania Texting Ban Goes Into Effect

It even bans sending texts using Siri, which can be done hands free. This is one of the more useless bans I’ve seen, and is already been rendered moot by technology. With Siri I can send texts and e-mails through my Bluetooth earbud, without having to touch the phone. Talking to Siri is no more distracting than talking to a passenger. Also, it’s been shown that texting bans actually increase accidents, because people keep their phones down and remove their eyes further from the road. The problem with politicians is, when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. In this case, their hammer is legislation.

Getting Rid of PICS

Looks like a bill might finally be introduced, but some have issues, needless to say:

But firearm foes say that the state database includes records that the federal database doesn’t, such as protection-from-abuse orders and 580,000 mental-health records that would prohibit gun ownership. They say that a mere federal check could allow violent or mentally ill people to buy guns, opening the door to such calamities as the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings or the 2011 attempt to kill former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Um, if they can go next door and buy a shotgun or rifle, shouldn’t it be a concern to gun control supporters that there are 580,000 mental health records that Pennsylvania is keeping to itself? It seems to me the solution here isn’t keeping PICS, it’s making sure those records end up in the federal system.

Further, PICS isn’t as inefficient as Krieger claims, Henry said. The state database was operational for 510,000 hours last year, yet experienced problems for just 69.9 hours, or 1.4 percent of the time, Henry said. He said that his bureau plans to add new technology that should erase such outages.

As an IT professional, I’d be utterly embarrassed at 69.9 hours of downtime a year. For a 24/7/365 operation, 99.97 is about what I’d consider to be the minimal target. It’s not hard to go beyond that either. The state is getting 99.20% uptime, if the 69.9 hours is correct, rather than the 1.4% number (which represents 122.6 hours a year, and would be totally unacceptable for that type of operation. 1.4% downtime and it’s time to fire the IT staff).

Of course, the real reason the powers that be will oppose trashing PICS and going with the federal system is because it’ll make it harder for the Pennsylvania State Police to maintain their registry of firearms that should be in violation of state law, but have gotten around by claiming in court that it’s a record of sale, which isn’t a registry. Unfortunately the courts have agreed with this. It’d be nice if the bill could fix the definition of “registry” in state law, so the courts don’t have a lot of weasel room.

UPDATE: A reader points out that PICS is not a 24/7 operation, and they are down outside of business hours. That means the 1.4% is correct, and that’s just pathetic. That’s fire the IT staff time.

I-GOLD 2012 March

I wish gun owners in Pennsylvania could get this fired up:

I dare say, we can probably thank Mayor Rahm for the success of this year’s Illinois Gun Owners Action Day. It must pain our opponents on this issue to see the pro-gun-rights side make such an effective use of their own tactics.

I think a big difference is that I-GOLD is organized by the grassroots. The Pennsylvania event has always struck me as a political rally. It’s not a bad idea, but the politicians need to be reminded of who we expect them to serve. Not the other way around.

Another Opinion Favoring the Right to Carry

Another interesting opinion coming out of the 4th circuit, which recognizes a right to carry, while upholding a prohibition on carrying on behalf of a felon who employes you. I think this is great constitutional news, since we have yet another court saying there is a right to carry. But I had never really considered this language in 922(h). If you work for a large corporation, then you’re employed by the corporation rather than a person. But what if you’re employed by a person who was convicted of insider trading? Could you be prosecuted for carrying a firearm to work for self-protection? Or is that possession not considered in the course of employment?

Tab Clearing

Time to clean out the old tabs again. I’ve been using a lot of what I’ve come across lately, since I haven’t had as much time to keep up with blogs, not as much builds up in the tabs:

Good news for people in Milwaukee. Homicide is down, but that’s only because criminals are becoming lousier shots.

Constitutional Carry is on the table currently in twelve states. South Dakota has a bill on the Governor’s desk, but he has not yet signed it.

Emily Miller reports on DC City Council passing an easement of the gun laws there.

The Baltimore Sun talks to some legal scholars, who think the decision which would make Maryland shall-issue will stand.

Dave Hardy talks about some old memories in regards to the fight over the Firearms Owners Protection Act’s passage.

Outdoor life runs an article on pigeon shooting, or more accurately, pigeon hunting. Apparently these shooters eat most of what they kill. I can’t say I find the thought of eating a pigeon very appetizing, but I’m more familiar with the flying rats that inhabit urban areas.

Since our opponents are always quick to demand this answer after a tragedy, the Ruger Mk.III target pistol used by the mass murdering teenager in Ohio was originally purchased at Gander Mountain. This was before the little murderer started criminal life by becoming a thief. I will not mention the little monster’s name here on this blog, and wonder if the media adopted my tactic, the idea of becoming notorious might not be so appealing to other off-balance teens.

Joe Huffman thinks it’s time for California gun owners to come out of the closet. I think that’s always a good policy, since if everyone knows someone who’s a gun owner that they think are normal, that prevents a key tactic of our opponents from working.

9 Ways Gun Owners Can Lose the 2012 Election. I’m there on 1-7, but 8 and 9 are a bit of a reach.

A couple of good articles over at Shooting Illustrated from people you may know.

“Armed Doctor Helps Others Flee”

Fordham Law has a pretty good seminar lined up this Friday. If you’re in or around New York City and have the time, you could go. I’d be tempted to go if I found out about it sooner.

More on Guns Sales

From Eastern Maine:

“I process the concealed weapons permits,” said Sgt. Paul Edwards of the Bangor Police Department. “And I’ve seen a lot of new ones, so just for me without really going in there and being able to start or finish at any set point to be able to determine if we have more, it just seems to me that there are more people, and even young people and older people it’s right straight through, seem to be getting new permits.”

And yet our opponents continue to deny this phenomena is real.

Museum Gun Show

This Sunday, in Lancaster, there’s going to be a gun exhibit on display “The Golden Age of an American Art Form: The Lancaster Long Rifle.” It’s going to be a yearlong exhibit. You can follow through for a slide show of pictures. I may have to go see this.