May 2012 – Page 5 – Shall Not Be Questioned

OC Debate: Ride the Llama

Caleb seems to have decided to ride the Drama Llama, along with Rob Pincus, on the issue of open carry. Says Pincus:Â â€œI am vehemently against the ass-clownery of people carrying openly to make a political statement.â€Â So let the Llama come.

I would not go so far as Pincus, to suggest there is never any instance where open carrying to make a political statement is a bad idea. In fact, if the Supreme Court were to uphold carry rights in a manner that allowed New Jersey to have to pick, and it picked open carry, I’d suggest everyone should do that there, all the time. Why? Because if it’s a protected right, I believe you may be able to get people and politicians to agree to allow concealed carry in order to make the issue go away such that they no longer have to deal with it. There are plenty of instances I can think of where OC, as a political statement, can have potential benefits.

But I am in agreement with Pincus that this was not a wise move in California, and California’s legislature’s behavior was entirely predictable. Chris in Alaska suggest blaming the activists is like blaming battered women for domestic violence. Ultimately, the California legislature is the one responsible for its constitutional infringements, much like a bear is responsible for mauling you. But if you poked the bear with a stick? The bear is being a bear, and legislatures will be legislatures. We do not have the political power in California to stop anything. Even bullet buttons are now possibly on the chopping block in the Golden state, and as Joe notes, the politicians are basically telling gun owners to shut the hell up and BOHICA.

California has been pushed over the edge. It’s not coming back except through court mandate. I believe pushing OC as a political statement there was foolish, but I can’t agree that all instances of it are. As Robb notes, much depends on how you approach the issue.

Polling in Zimmerman Case

Rasmussen shows that 40% of the public believe Zimmerman’s shooting Martin was self-defense, versus 24% that think it was murderÂ (WARNING: This link will auto-play an ad, but I couldn’t find a version that did not, but I provide it for reference).

Our opponents bet a lot that this was the horse that was going to help get them back in contention. It’s looking increasingly like this has turned out to be a lame horse.

Eddie Eagle

Our opponents are always cynical, and critical of the effectiveness of NRA’s Eddie Eagle program. Well, here is one instance where a kid found a gun and did the right thing. In their minds, Eddie Eagle has to be a sinister, cynical plot by the gun lobby, because if it’s not, and if it actually works, it means our side is doing more to reduce gun violence than they are.

Leaky

We’ve got rain in the forecast for the next seven days. We burned through all the nice, bright sunny days fixing issues with the roof that were unexpected, so we’re going through this weather with noting but tarpaper between the house and the weather. Last night we got a leak which came down the ceiling fan and soaked part of the bed, unfortunately, so up I go into the attic crawlspace with buckets at 4AM. I had to tack old business cards to where it was coming in to keep the water from following down past where I was putting the buckets, and that seemed to work.

Everything I’ve read about roofing says the paper should keep the weather out temporarily, and its working fine on the front roof. A call is in to the contractor, who is coming over shortly to look at it. Fortunately, I’m a lot less cranky than I was last night.

More from Gander Mountain

From local news up in Wisconsin:

On Facebook, Gander Mountain said it has been a long-time partner with the NRA â€“ but its customers have diverse and varied interests. So the chain created a new policy that prohibits hosting events for political causes and candidates.

Political neutrality on the issue of guns and the Second Amendment is simply not an option for companies in the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry. I thought Bitter’s post on this subject hit better points than mine didÂ in this regard. Nothing in Gander’s reaction has convinced me to ever shop there again.

Dueling with Wax Bullets

In New York City, around the turn of the century, after dueling had pretty much died out, a dedicated group of eccentrics dedicated themselves to keep the craft alive. The 19th century seemed to be full of rich eccentrics. For instance, I have a bird living in my wall, a Starling, that are descendants of about 20 birds released in Central Park about by Eugene Shieffelin 120 years ago. He was Chairman of the American Acclimatization Society, and he made it a society goal to introduce every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare to the Americas. Why? And Why Shakespeare? Maybe this is what happens when you combine money, education and boredom.

“Military Grade Weapons”

The police and media in Colton, California are patting themselves on the back for getting a highly dangerous fiberglass tube off the streets. And a military grade BB gun.

MAIG Activism Funded by Taxpayers

Sean Caranna over at the blog All Nine Yards has a fantastic find about MAIG activists getting bankrolled by the City of Orlando. The person they appear to have hired is a long time gun control activist, with a history with the Brady Campaign, Florida anti-gun groups, and MAIG. The position is funded partially (the rest by taxpayers) by a granted from United Against Illegal Guns Support Fund, which is managed by John Feinblatt, who works out of Mayor Bloomberg’s office. You can find the organization’s form 990s here. The organization is a 501(c)(3). Keep in mind that if Linda Vaughn does any lobbying activity in this role, she’d be putting the tax status of this organization in jeopardy. Bloomberg is no fool, so I’m sure this is on the up and up non-profit tax wise, but it’s something to keep an eye on. Also worth noting that Bloomberg’s non-profit arm of MAIG is funded quite heavily by the Joyce Foundation.

Now, this is happening in New York already. But the big difference here is that, as rumor has it, the Second Amendment community has some sway over the Florida legislature. If positions like this are being hired to promote MAIG’s agenda, taxpayers should not be funding it. The legislature of Florida, indeed any state where this is happening, needs to step in and forbid cities from spending taxpayer dollars in this manner.

UPDATE: Going through this document some more, there are a lot of duties for this position that are not supportable under 501(c)(3) auspices.

Second Amendment Textbook Now Available

We are, of course, very pleased to hear that Firearms Law & the Second Amendment; Regulations, Rights, and Policy co-authored by Professors Nicholas Johnson, Dave Kopel, George Moscary, and Michael O’Shea, is now available. We’re also pleased to hear it’s running along side Ted Nugent’s book in popularity for the category of Gun Control. I feel that a textbook such as this is sort of just spoils of war. The big advantage to having won Heller and McDonald, through a combination of good lawyering and years of scholarly research and writings, is that future legal minds will now be molded by textbooks such as this. All law students will learn that the Second Amendment is a fundamental, individual right.

More on Stand Your Ground

Miguel notes some history of the concept, from 117 years ago, in two federal cases from 1895 and 1921. That’s right folks, there’s no duty to retreat under federal law, and that’s been the case since 1895 at least, and this duty was not unknown prior to this as well, as most western states never required such a duty, including California, which was admitted into the Union in 1850.

As a side note, I normally would not advocate debating CSGV, as opposed to pointing and laughing, since it’s about as pointless as beating your head against a wall, and about as entertaining as watching the grass grow. But you’ll note the other person involved in that conversation is a CNN legal analyst and anchor. If there’s even a chance that you can raise some doubt about CSGV’s, ahem, honesty, that’s worth beating your head against a wall for a little bit, don’t you think? She has a pretty interesting legal background. Clerked for the Chief Justice of Maryland’s Supreme Court, and worked for a bit as an AUSA in D.C.