2012 – Page 120 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Charges Expected Against Zimmerman

Looks like the special prosecutor is going to bring charges. Probably manslaughter charges. The question is: will manslaughter appease the mob? Or will the media renew calls for Zimmerman’s lynching?

This is what justice looks like. Now the true facts will come out.

UPDATE: Nope, it’s 2nd degree murder. Either there is some new evidence in this case that we have not yet seen, or the special prosecutor has gone with total mob appeasement on a charge she knows the can’t win. If that’s the case, the hot potato now goes to the just who has to decide on Zimmerman’s eventual motion for immunity.

Justice Scalia’s New Hunting Partner

Justice Kagan? Perhaps this portends some positive news for the Second Amendment, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Consequences of Canadian Long Gun Registry Demise for Americans

Arma Borealis, an Alaska blog, has some pretty good discussion on the effects of the Canadian Long Gun Registry for Americans traveling through Canada. Apparently the long gun registration requirement had a very negative effect on Americans traveling to the great white north for hunting trips, into the 4 to 5 billion dollar lost range.

Keep in mind that the requirement did not ban Americans from hunting in Canada, they just had to register their long arms and obtain a 50 dollar license. The license fee is peanuts compared to the cost of a Canadian hunting trip, so if that many hunters, to the tune of billions of dollars, were unwilling to register their hunting guns, it should offer our opponents an example of why they will have such a hard time getting registration. There are certainly hunters out there who meet the classic definition of “fudd,” but there are also many, probably more, who have no more enthusiasm for registration than most hard core gun rights activists.

Challenge to Self-Defense Law

There’s an activist in Georgia who supposedly challenging SYG in federal court. In reality he’s challenging centuries of common law, and attacking the very core of self-defense:

“It is not clear what actions would create â€˜reasonable belief’ that deadly force is necessary,” said the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. “An individual seeking to stand their ground and assert self-defense has no way of knowing if their â€˜reasonable belief’ comports with the standards protected by the law and [they] want to ensure that they do not subject themselves to criminal penalties.”

Reasonable belief has always been the standard. This case is pretty obviously a publicity stunt, and I don’t believe the federal courts are going to overturn centuries of common law and statutory law. Besides, after Heller, there’s arguably a constitution right to self-defense. But it’s worth noting that there are enough hucksters out there capitalizing off this case, that they’ll try anything, even attacking the very foundations of the rule of law, to make a name for themselves.

Back in the Black

Cemetery tries to shoot an IPSC match with black powder:

Shot a local USPSA match yesterday, signed up for Single Stack in Minor, since real black canâ€™t deliver the power factor needed for major.Â Maybe, just maybe, SWISS 3f can squeak byâ€¦..and what about Triple Seven?Â Triple Seven is noted to be 15% hotter than any black powder in each grade, so thatâ€™s a possibility, but thatâ€™s a black powder substitute, and we donâ€™t need to discuss such things here.

I once joked with Cemetery at a local blogger gathering, that he ought to carry cartridges loaded with pepper, and at meals unseat the bullet and sprinkle it on food, offering up “a little seasoning” to the folks around him to see if anyone accepts. I thought it would be a nice touch.

Decision in Zimmerman Case: Next Three Days

The special prosecutor in the Zimmerman case (media keep saying the Martin case, but that is wrong) suggests that an announcement will be made in the next three days. If you live in a major city, be prepared. Thanks to the media, we may get some civil unrest out of this.

Zimmerman Case Gets Weird

His lawyers are withdrawing as counsel, citing that they haven’t been able to contact him. They say he is still in United States. Would you blame him if he decided to run off to Peru or something? Can he get justice after what’s happened in the media?

I also heard that he had ignored advice from his lawyers, and spoken directly to the police and prosecutors. If that’s the case, it’s a remarkably bad idea. But I’ll be honest, whoever Zimmerman’s lawyers were, I have not been impressed with their ability to handle a trial by media. To me you can’t let the family set the agenda in terms of public opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised, facing impending indictment because the mob demands it, if Zimmerman didn’t feel he was just not well represented.

Our Money: As Good As Anyone’s

Local businesses are apparently quite excited to have the NRA in town this coming weekend in St. Louis.

That event, which drew 64,562 in 2007, stands as the convention center’s second-biggest ever. The expectation is for more gun enthusiasts this time, in big part because of presidential politics.

Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich all plan to pump their Second Amendment pedigrees during a forum Friday. Other speakers include NRA favorites Oliver North and Glenn Beck.

I’m guessing Santorum won’t be there now, but perhaps we will break some more records this year. My concern about topping the record would be gas prices being so high. But our people often surprise me.

I have no idea what I’ll be doing at Annual Meeting this year. I haven’t really thought that far ahead, and head is only a few days. Too much has been going on here to think much about it.

“With so many of our members within a four-hour drive, St. Louis is a target-rich environment for us,” Arulanandam said. “We had a very positive experience in St. Louis five years ago.”

St. Louis won that chance by default. The NRA had planned to meet that year in Columbus, Ohio, but the Columbus City Council voted to ban assault-type weapons. That’s also why it won’t patronize the home of the Cubs, the team the Cardinals are hosting this weekend at Busch Stadium.

I had forgotten about this. St. Louis was a last minute change of plans. It would be impossible to have the convention somewhere that banned “assault weapons” since the exhibit hall will be full of them. I’d like to make it a goal, in that case, to host the NRA Annual Meeting in Chicago. I want to hear Mayor Rahm say nice things about us because he wants our money, and there’s not anything he can do about our guns. It would be glorious. I’ll also make it a goal, before I shuffle off the old mortal coil, to attend an NRA Annual Meeting in New York City, because we’ve fixed enough laws to make it viable.

The Dreams of Bloomberg

He wants to build a rival to the NRA. Unfortunately, for that, you’d need actual grassroots, and I don’t mean a handful of mayors that have a higher rate of criminality than concealed carry permit holders. That said, MAIG is now the only gun control group out there who can give us a run for our money.

By way of illustration, a spokesman for the mayor sent over some examples of the group’s public lobbying efforts aimed at swingable officials, includingÂ a full-page adÂ in theÂ Cleveland Plain Dealer inwhich 50 Ohio mayors implored then-senator George Voinovich to fight a provision very similar to the concealed-carry reciprocity now under consideration in Congress.

Voinovich subsequently votedÂ against the amendment.

And Vionovich was forced into retirement because polls were showing he was going to lose. Was that all guns? No. But politics doesn’t work that way. As long as your coalition can swing close races then politicians will pay attention to you, because most races are close.

I’ve always been frustrated because our grassroots seem to be slow to wake up and slow to anger, but when something really hits a nerve, it leaves even me, who pays close attention to the issue, pretty surprised. On the issue of national reciprocity, the number of permit holders in the United States is roughly 5 to 6 million and climbing. There’s no politician in the world that wants to write off the votes of 5 to 6 million Americans out of the gate.

Florida Self-Defense Law

Should Florida Change its self-defense law? Yes and No. At least we have a paper willing to print both sides of the debate.