2012 – Page 161 – Shall Not Be Questioned

SOPA and Gun Control

Q: What does the proposed SOPA (â€œStop Online Piracy Actâ€) legislation have in common with gun control?

A: Both would punish the innocent for the bad acts of a guilty few.

The article proceeds to tear apart the logic of gun control as being virtually identical to that of SOPA. I had never realized until I started interacting with gun control fanatics more how they really are incapable of drawing a distinction between responsible individuals and misusers. Their position is quite simple that because we have no good way of predetermining whether someone is responsible, or will misuse, we have to assume everyone will misuse. This is a poor basis for a free society.

Civil Rights Victory & Setbacks

SayUncle notes a victory in the First Circuit which thew out a gun charge for someone who had been involuntary committed under state procedures that did not offer proper due process. This looks like a circuit court ruling, which is a bigger deal. This is now law in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island. Interestingly, it looks like the attorneys for the defendant (it’s a criminal case) were from the Federal Defender Office.

At the same time, there’s been a setback in the Ninth Circuit, where the Supreme Court has denied cert on an appeal of a ruling upholding a California Law which banned domestic violence misdemeanants from having firearms for ten years. For the record, I hate it when reporters, who ought to know better, characterize this as some kind of approval by the Supreme Court as to the law being challenged in the cert petition. Denial of cert means very little. For all anyone knows, the Court is looking for a better case through which to take up that issue. Certainly, if I were looking at it, I wouldn’t like the added complication of the prohibition being only temporary under California law. There could be a lot of reasons for cert being denied.

Also, ANJRPC/SAF recently lost a motion in district court challenging New Jersey’s carry statute. The judge ruled there was no right outside the home, but ANJRPC/SAF are appealing.

CNC Milled AR-15: Final Painting

To finish up the AR-15 pistol I milled on my CNC machine, I decided to try Alodine and then Duracoat instead of anodizing. I wanted a process I could do myself, and while I probably could have managed anodizing at home, the process seemed more complicated than I wanted to get into right now, nor do I have a good place to set things up. Buckets of acid wired to a high current power supply aren’t a good things to have lying around with small children in the house.

The basic process is to coat the parts with Alumiprep (aÂ phosphoricÂ acid based etcher/cleaner), wait a few minutes, rise with water, coat with Alodine, wait a few more minutes, rinse with water, let dry, and then airbrush on Duracoat.

The first attempt at applying Duracoat didn’t go so well. After I was done I noticed a few tiny areas around some bolt holes that I missed. I decided to just mix up a little Duracoat in a cup and do some touch ups with a brush. This turned out to be a bad idea for two reasons. One,Â Duracoat doesn’t look the same when its brushed on. The instructions do say only to airbush it, but I though that for such a small area (1mm so square) it wouldn’t matter. But it does. Two,Â DurocoatÂ dissolves plastic cups. After I was done when I picked up the cup the bottom fell out and I ended up with paint all over my work table. Luckily Duracoat wipes off pretty easily if you get it before it dries.

Then when I went to assemble the gun, even though I waited the recommended 24 hours for the paint to dry, it chipped off in a few places. Argh!Â So I airbrushed on a few more coats..

…and then put the parts in the oven at 120 degrees for a hour to speed dry it. This time there was no chipping and no funky spots from the brush touch ups.

Antis Having it Both Ways

We’re told by our opponents that the candle light vigils that occurred on the anniversary of the mass shooting in Tucson that claimed the lives of a number of people, and severely injured Congresswoman Giffords, were merely an expression of honoring victims, and is thus beyond reproach. But from a Minnesota Public Radio article, we can see even the people who supposedly organized against “gun violence” say it was a political stunt:

The nationwide “Too Many Victims” vigils demanded that public officials commit to stopping these needless deaths. We must start with the source of the guns.

So here we have two organizers fully admitting the goal of these vigils was political, while at the same time groups like CSGV and Brady shield themselves behind a veil of victimhood while they conspire to destroy our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. I’m calling shenanigans on that. The goal of this vigil was, all along, political in nature, as was painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain. That essentially means the event is not above criticism, no matter what kind of nonsense our opponents want to try to convince people.

In a sense, they really are victims. Politically, they are beaten, and by people they’ve always considered unenlightened and less civilized than are they. We are increasingly finding ourselves more mainstream, while they are more marginalized. They know this as well as anyone, which is why they having nothing left to do but lash out in anger. We have them on the ropes folks, and now is not the time to let up.

Even Forbes Recognizes Denial

Forbes has a rather excellent article on the firearms boom as we head into the SHOT show, noting that everyone at SHOT seems to be having a good time.

Indeed, this prolonged surge in gun sales has driven Sarah Bradyâ€™s group to some very creative spin; for example,Â Caroline Brewer, of the Brady Campaign,Â said, â€œThe research weâ€™ve seen indicates fewer and fewer people are owning more and more guns.â€

Sanetti doesnâ€™t think the Brady Campaignâ€™s spin has a syllable of truth in it; after all, he pointed out that the NSSFâ€™sÂ First Shots ProgramÂ (a program that holds shooting lessons for the public) has been growing fast. â€œFun, new action-shooting sports, such as 3-gun and sporting clays, are also bringing in a lot of new shooters, especially women,â€ he says.

And popular shows, such as The History Channelâ€™s Top Shots, have helped to showcase how much fun shooting can be[.]

So even Forbes thinks it’s ridiculous at this point, to deny that shooting is becoming popular, and is driving the sale of more guns. Somewhere in the past decade, they’ve lost control of the message and lost the initiative. While the media can still be counted on to get it wrong, or to deliver biased stories that parrot anti-gun group talking points, the number of outlets willing to run these is becoming increasingly small, and limited to jurisdictions that have already largely succeeded in destroying the shooting sports and lawful gun ownership.

TN Legislature Passes Resolution for Meredith Graves

Titled “A Resolution urging the State of New York to use common sense and sound judgement in the disposition of the case against Meredith Graves.” This would have about as much impact as New York asking 1950s Tennessee to go easy on the poor black fellow who happened to not understand that sitting at the wrong lunch counter was a problem. As it is, if they go easy on Meredith Graves, it’ll be because they fear spurring the passage of pending civil rights legislation and the filing of civil rights lawsuits. They certainly won’t be doing it out of a sense of justice, or because they’ve finally seen the light about the Second Amendment. The only way jurisdictions like New York join the rest of America when it comes to respecting all of the Bill of Rights is if it’s forced on them.

Inconsistency in Some SOPA Opposition

Eugene Volokh notes the hefty amount of corporate free speech going on today, and points out that many of the SOPA opponents were derisive of the idea that corporations can have protective speech. I generally think it’s poor business practice for corporations to get involved with controversial political issues, but in the case of something like SOPA, which has little if any real grassroots support, it’s probably safe. But while I think it’s a poor idea for companies to insert themselves into politics, I believe they have a right to speak.

More D.C. Gun Woes from Emily Miller

Emily Miller, who has been documenting her attempt to acquire a pistol legally in the District of Columbia, is apparently finding that obtaining crippled 10 round capacity magazines for some of the guns she wants is now rather hard. It would seem it’s turned on its head from the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. While for most firearms, >10 round magazines were always plentiful during the ban, for a few models, finding the standard magazines was difficult. I remember paying 130 dollars for a new standard factory magazine that held 15 rounds for my Glock 19. Ironically, 17 and 30 round magazines I seem to recall being much cheaper.

Either way, these are the reasonable gun laws that are supported by our opponents. Remember, they don’t support prohibition, and never have, according to them, but they sure don’t mind supporting what amounts to practical prohibition. Imagine how hard this would be for a poor person living in a crappy neighborhood who has to work two jobs to pay rent and put food on the table? Heavens… we don’t want those kinds of people having guns now, do we? Maybe we should be asking CSGV and Brady why they hate poor people.

Documenting the 1968 Battle

Stranger over at Extrano’s Alley is doing a series on some of the history behind the Gun Control Act. This post is November.

Some Amusing SOPA Related Content

I won’t be participating in SOPA black out day, since changing my theme is a pain in the rear, and I’m not really a big enough fish to have as much impact as Wikipedia and Google. But I do want to raise awareness, which I can do by linking to some humorous pieces folks have done to promote blackout day, including editing this note from MPAA Chairman and former Senator from Connecticut, Chris Dodd. We certainly heartily approve of this kind of mockery, especially directed to Senator Dodd, who’s family has been an enemy of freedom and the Second Amendment through their respective political careers.

Also amusing is this SOPA public service announcement. Just a warning, however: while it may be a funny cartoon, it’s not… entirely appropriate. You’ll see what I mean. If you’d like to take action against SOPA, visit either Google or Wikipedia, who are pulling out all the stops to save the Internet from the critters and the MPAA.