July 2012 – Page 5 – Shall Not Be Questioned

On Blogging Fatigue

SayUncle speaks of blogging while being busy.Â He’s been busy starting a new business. Blogging can be difficult thing, and the circumstances that made you start blogging aren’t necessarily what keeps you doing it. Motivation can be difficult, and there are times when there’s just no time, and you have to phone it in. It can feel like a waste sometimes, especially when you look at what you give up by spending time doing something that barely covers what it costs you to do it.

I’ve toyed with the idea of a group blog a-la The Volokh Conspiracy, with multiple contributors and more diverse subject matter (but probably still 2A topics). But there are sticking points. For one, there needs to be a fair way to share in meager revenues once the blog covers costs. In addition, willing contributors that have strong expertise to share, can write, and have a good editorial sense also don’t come along every day. It would be easy to find co-contributors, but keeping the quality of the product high necessitates the use of much rarer, high quality co-contributors. Co-contributors who are willing to blog for essentially no money.

There is no getting around the fact that finding material to write about nearly every day is draining, and that is a necessary, nearly daily task if you want to be successful. Readership is a function of posting frequency. Too little and people don’t bother to check as often, or get bored with you and wander off. Too much and people can’t keep up, which as a reader I always find frustrating. But you have to be consistent no matter what you do, and for one and sometimes two people, that’s hard. I’ve always envied the folks over at Volokh, who can get busy, drop out for a few days or weeks, and count on the other contributors to keep the conversation moving. Phoning it in, I can do five posts or so, spending less than an hour a day. Ordinarily it’s more like two to four hours a day, very little of which is actually writing. Most of it is hunting for material to talk about, and keeping up with things.

While there’s no danger of me quitting any time in the near future, I do question how long I can keep doing this. I am a fairly restless person. If I gave up blogging, I’d have to find something else to do with my time. When I was unemployed, I had to start a side programming project to keep myself from going insane. If I ended up giving up blogging, it would probably be because I found a better (and hopefully more profitable!) way to occupy my free time, and not out of blogging fatigue.

Should You Be Sued for a Murderer’s Actions?

One New Yorker tells the Daily News that he would like to see the National Rifle Association sued for the actions of criminals and for daring to have different policy ideas than he might prefer.

Flushing: The National Rifle Association cannot be defeated in the political arena. But what if the victimsâ€™ families sued the NRA for creating laws that allowed this tragedy to happen? What if Mayor Bloomberg and Mayors Against Illegal Guns sued the NRA as an accessory to gun deaths and injuries in their cities? If even one lawsuit succeeded, it would establish a precedent for holding the gun lobby accountable. Plus, defending against a blizzard of lawsuits would cripple the NRAâ€™s finances. Richard Reif

Mr. Reif considers it perfectly acceptable that the American citizens who support the Second Amendment should see any attempt they make to organize to petition their government silenced by frivolous lawsuits. I am curious to know if Mr. Reif also wonders just why many people believe the political atmosphere is less civil these days.

You can also take your choice of comments from other New Yorkers and readers:

The right to bear arms should be limited to a simple, single-shot handgun for protection in the home or a single-shot rifle to be used during hunting season. No normal citizen needs anything more than that. Irene Goldsmith

I guess Dick Heller and Otis McDonald aren’t considered “normal citizens” to Irene. Perhaps she believes that the only people who should be deemed “normal” are those who think and live exactly like her – so much for tolerance.

To imply that President Obama is responsible for the Colorado tragedy and the proliferation of guns is disingenuous. Place blame on the NRA, where it belongs. James P. Hetzel …

The NRA is a group of unprincipled thugs who threaten any elected official who tries to limit its power; witness the cowardice of both Obama and Romney on gun control. Thanks for giving voice to the obvious and having the will to say what should be said. Suzanne Tenney Sutter Augur

Merely belonging to an organization that supports lawful gun ownership and use is enough for James to convict you of ties to the Colorado murders. Suzanne thinks you’re an unprincipled thug who shouldn’t have a voice with your elected officials anyway.

It’s just another glimpse in the world where anti-gun advocates don’t even believe that you should be allowed to participate in the political sphere because you don’t believe the very same things.

Olympic Shooters & Their Medals

Wall Street Journal highlights how surprisingly common it is for Olympic athletes to lose their medals. Of the athletes they interviewed, many report that their medals were stolen; though a few cited circumstances that may have been a bit more in their control. There are two shooters mentioned in the story:

Some Olympians don’t like talking about their absent-minded moment. Glenn Eller, a shotgun shooter who won gold in Beijing, says only that someone took it while he was out with colleagues in Fort Worth, Texas, in late 2008. “I put myself in a situation that I probably shouldn’t have been in, and someone stole it out of my pocket,” he says. “I’m trying to forget it and go ahead.” He has since received a replica. …

Corey Codgell, a shotgun shooter who won bronze in Beijing, doesn’t take any chances. She usually keeps her nicked-up medal in her front pocket when she travels. Before letting an audience at an event handle it, she warns everybody: “No one leaves this room until I get my medal back.”

On a slightly related note, Pennsylvania is represented on this year’s shooting team by Jamie Gray and Joshua Richmond.

I also continue to be amazed by the number of Olympic shooters from states that aren’t exactly known for being gun friendly or having a strong gun culture – California has three shooters while Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey each have one Olympian with ties to the state.

Why Would Anyone Take the New York Times Seriously on Gun Policy?

When it comes to how much the New York Times knows about guns, a reader found me exhibit A:

New York Times Gun Reporting Fail

The caption says a .40 caliber Glock. The picture shoes a Les Baer 1911 in .45 ACP. So why, again, should anyone give a crap what the New York Times thinks about guns? Even your basic counterstrike kiddie (or whatever the kids are playing these days) can generally tell the difference between an M1911 and a Glock. I almost wonder if someone at the New York Times looked up this bit of satire …

Journalist Guide to Guns

… and thought it was real. I’ve been doing this long enough, when I see stuff like this now, I just want to declare the person unfit to have an opinion until they relieve themselves of ignorance. The real unfortunate thing is that people still read the New York Times, and thanks to New York’s gun laws, many of its readers are just as or more ignorant about the subject than the Times.

Searching for the old journalist guide satire, it turns out Extrano’s Alley has more to say about this picture going around.

UPDATE: That journalist guide had gone around so much I forgot it was Robb who created it, so credit should go to him.

The Madness of King Bloomberg

Bloomberg calls on police officers to go on strike until there’s action on gun control. Unfortunately for the Mayor, the vast majority of police are on our side. In the mean time, it looks like MAIG has been pushing editorials around the country that fall along this line. They are appearing everywhere. We’re very lucky that the media is increasingly irrelevant in influencing public opinion.

UPDATE: According to John Richardson, calling for a police strike in New York is illegal. Though, to be fair, because even Mayor Mike has First Amendment rights too, I think there would be serious free speech issues as to this law applying to Bloomberg’s statement.

Of course, if he did get busted for his speech here, all I would say is that Karma is a bitch. We all have to respect each other’s rights. It is the only way we maintain a free society.

UPDATE: Hat tip to Miguel for finding this gem of an open letter to Mike Bloomberg from a police officer:

How dare you, Mayor Bloomberg. How dare you in your arrogance assume that police officers are such lowly scoundrels that they would readily set their duties aside either to serve your interest OR to reduce the risk they face each day in a selfish attempt to force the public to support a given agenda. How dare you suggest that over 700,000 honorable, decent and brave men and women neglect their duty, forget their oath, and risk the public safety in the name of YOUR anti-gun agenda.

Word. Read the whole thing.

Another Media Meme That Annoys Me

Every time you have a mass shooting, you see headlines about how this latest shooting has “Reignited The Debate on Gun Control!” See this USA Today headlineÂ as an example.Â The only people I see debating gun control are journalists and vacuous TV talking heads like Piers Morgan. If ordinary people were debating gun control, I’d have people all over my blog taking exception to nearly everything I say. But where are they? This is called manufacturing news and controversy. My message to the media is this: we had a debate on gun control, and your side lost. Get over it.

That’s a Frummy Thing to Say

Certain segments in the media persist in this ridiculous notion that David Frum is conservative. This article would seem to indicate that notion is nonsense, rattling off nonsensical statistics about the dangers of guns in the home. Tam pretty effectively eviscerates his arguments. I always love the arguments from anti-gunners about how the presence of a gun in my home raises my risk of suicide. My risk of suicide is exactly zero. Would anyone say such a thing about the presence of rope or Tylenol? Would anyone suggest the presence of a railroad in my town, or a tall building, increases my suicide risk? No, most sensible people would say thats patently ridiculous. It’s just as patently ridiculous with guns.

Probably Not the Reaction Our Opponents Wanted to See

Since the Aurora mass shooting, guns sales are up 41%. Probably some combination of fears of new gun control, and some people thinking “Well, if there’s going to me homicidal mass murdering whack jobs out there wandering around, I want a gun, too.”

Breaking News in Maryland on Concealed Carry

Judge Legg has issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the requirement of needing a “good and substantial” reason to obtain a permit to carry in Maryland. The injunction isÂ to be effective in 14 days. Maryland Shall Issue talks about what this will meanÂ for Maryland residents. In theory, this should render Maryland a shall-issue state, but in practice there are probably ways the Maryland State Police can stall. This will be appealed to the Forth Circuit Court of Appeals, and they could side with the state. Nonetheless, this is excellent, excellent news. Kudos to the Second Amendment Foundation and Alan Gura, who brought this case. This is a substantive win for our side.

The Ma Deuce Lives

Steve from the Firearm Blog notes that the military is killing its program to replace the 50 caliber M2 machine gun, designed by John M. Browning in 1918. Think about how much more sophisticated our engineering tools are today, and our knowledge of materials. Yet all the king’s men can’t beat a gun designed by Browning in 1918.